samandlibby

19 hours ago, pitmindi said:

Hello.  Can you please suggest excursions in La Havre, either ship excursions or private tour excursions for La Havre.  I do not want to go to Paris since the bus ride of 6 hours is too long and Normandy is too expensive.  Any other suggestions?

We were in the same situation. Our top options included Honfleur, Rouen, or Giverny. 

We stayed at the Renaissance in April 2022 and found it in a very good location.  It was close to the Central train station and we just walked from station to hotel upon arrival (we fly carryon). We also went to Keukenhof and Haarlem one day by train, so again, the location was convenient to the train station.  The location was close to a tram stop so made it easy to get to museums like Riks and Van Gough.  We also embarked on a river cruise and wasn't quite sure where the longboat was ported so we did decide to take a taxi.  We feel like we got ripped off and would do something different next time.

The rooms and breakfast at hotel were great.  Concierge was awesome also.

9 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

Not as good value as their post-cruise offerings because they're limited by the need to get you to the cruise terminal by about 1pm. That's versus getting you to your central London hotel around 6pm - 7pm and no big deal if it's later.

So pre-cruise it's Windsor or Stonehenge, versus post-cruise it's Windsor and Stonehenge .....and Salisbury.

 

But those are the logistics & no way round them.😟

I think you've made the right choice

- Windsor Castle is excellent & interesting. 🙂

- But  altho visitors from the USA etc rate Stonehenge as amazing  like many Brit. CC members I rate it as a stack of old rocks 🙄

 

JB 🙂

Thanks!  I would like to see Stonehenge BUT, I’ve heard very mixed reviews. So, not enough time to do everything and have to make tough choices🙂

On 3/2/2023 at 8:07 PM, Medusa_lives said:

I'm doing an add on in London post Iceland cruise on Prima in June and I want to do a transfer to london with a side your to Windsor Castle. I don't need the driver to do the tour but I need that stopover built into the transfer. Does anyone have any experience/recommendations on a tour or coach operation that does this? Thus far all the cruise line has is a transfer to the airport. We will be a party of 4. Thanks 

I’ve never used this company but we are considering using them PRE-CRUISE for Windsor Castle. 
https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/shore-excursions-and-cruise-transfers.html#tour-tab2

The times are pretty accurate that Princess posts. However, we had one port In Turkey last summer where the Turkey authorities were on board and wouldn’t give the all clear for almost an hour. People had the stairs, Deck 4, elevators jammed waiting to get off. So, I’m times of Covid or foreign security requirements, you can’t be 100%. We had booked a private tour and all the various tour vendors were all lined up waiting for us to get off. 

We went to Amsterdam prior to a cruise in April 2022 and went to Keukenhof on our own.  We went to the Keukenhof website and purchased tickets directly from website. We purchased tickets for a timed entry on our own.  We were staying in Amsterdam so purchased a regional travel ticket that allowed us to catch an express bus to the gardens in the morning.  Afterwards, we went to Haarlem, and then back to Amsterdam Central Station by rail in the afternoon.  I would definitely advise to get tickets early in morning as the gardens get crowded as the day goes on.

From Rotterdam, I would suggest a cab to the Rotterdam Central Station> train to Leiden>Bus to Keukenhof.  It will probably be 1-1.5 hrs travel.  I'm sure there are other options.  You might go to the Keukehof website and contact them for the best suggestions as they know the special bus routes that will be available at that time of year.

On 12/7/2022 at 7:00 PM, itsawonderfullife said:

The cruise you booked with the itinerary below, Id love to know which cruise line it is.  We have similar interest for Norway and Scandinavia.  Thanks so much

Azamara has several Norway port intensive cruises that we are considering at some point--not sure which one OP has booked

On 5/18/2022 at 2:21 PM, euro cruiser said:

What interests you most?

 

It's not realistic to cram both the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum into one six hour time frame, you really need to choose one or the other (or neither, if they don't interest you), then build on that.

Agreed....we have booked a tour of the Colosseum/Forum in the early afternoon that includes the catacombs.  We're considering a 2 hour early evening walking tour that goes to different areas--seems low key and a nice way to wind down.

On 3/7/2022 at 2:33 PM, I object 2 said:

I recently contacted Through Eternity tours as we're planning for a 3 day pre-cruise stay in Rome in November.  They were quick to respond and emailed a short survey for us to complete so they have an idea of our specific interests.  We've spent a day in Rome during a previous cruise and are looking forward to more time in this fascinating city.  

We only have about 6 hours of "tourist" time in Rome on the day prior to embarkation.  Any suggestions on what to priortize in that time? It seems many of the tours break up the Coleseum/Forum vs the Vatican/Sistine Chapel.  

There is a luau on Kauai where you can do the show only for $15 per person.

https://www.smithskauai.com/garden-luau/smiths-kauai-luau-show-tickets/

Thanks everyone. So here's how it works for future posts--there is a big white tent outside the train station. We gave them our bags tagged for Princess and the next time we saw them was in our cabin. Very smooth!

For our seats, we were able to get seats on the right side. They do randomly assign seats. I'm not sure how we got the luck of the draw.

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Are you on Alaska Railroad cars or on you on Princess cars? If you booked through the cruiseline, You'll be on Princess cars.

 

On Alaska Railroad cars they tell you to check in an hour early. And there's assigned seats. The Alaska Railroad calls this train the Glacier Discovery train.

I'm on Alaska Railroad--alaska discovery train.

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We are taking a train from Anchorage to Whittier on Saturday morning. How far ahead do we need to be at the train station? And how are seats assigned? First come, first served? Or something different?

I heard that if our bags are tagged for Princess that someone would take them when we get to the station. Is that correct?

Thanks for your help!

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Hi. We're from St Louis also and leave for our land/cruise trip this coming Friday. We have a very similar itinerary as you. We are actually flying into Seattle in the evening and then flying out to Anchorage early on Saturday. That should give us the rest of day to pick up groceries and get to Denali. We're there 2 full days--shuttle trip, hiking, rafting, sled dogs. Then we make our way to Palmer. Based on weather we have several options that day. Then drive to Seward for 2 days/nights. Last night we spend in Anchorage. Return car and take train to Whittier to board ship. I should have thought to do what you are doing and return car earlier and figure out how to transfer from Seward to Whittier.

It's fun to plan these trips.

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If luggage is checked, can you fly with bear spray?

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For a camera we've purchased a Panasonic Luminex with 30x zoom. DMC-zs60. Got at Costco for $299--gets good reviews--we'll see. We did not want to spend more than this-there are obviously much higher quality zoom cameras with much higher price tags.

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For your cold and rainy day in Ketchikan, would you have recommended rain pants? What clothing would have made it more bearable?

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We will be on land prior to our cruise. Any shopping area recommendations in Seward or Anchorage? Or should we wait for the ports on our cruise?

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Columbia has quite a few options at various price points. I have a Columbia outlet near me and their prices are pretty good. I got those for my husband. I already had a pair of waterproof Merrels.

I don't think you have to have them....but in going during rainy season and want to be prepared

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So what is the advantage of tapatalk?

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I'm doing the same thing in September. I booked my own train tickets cause I had a discount through one of the coupon books.

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Big dummy here with very limited techno knowledge!

 

With the new cameras and new iPads how do you get the photos from the camera onto the iPad? I just used my old camera on a vacation but had to wait until I got home to get the photos onto the iPad. (Old iPad I had a connection that would hook into camera to download but none available for the new 2017 iPad and the old camera....or so I was told.) I had to download the photos onto my computer and then transfer to iCloud to get on my my new 2017 iPad. Is there an easier way with the new cameras? I would like to use camera in port but then get photos onto my iPad that night. Is that possible?

I'm probably as tech illiterate as you, but I think with newer cameras and wifi, you can download to iPad without a cable.

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Thanks for asking this question! We have an almost identical flight schedule in August and will be heading to Denali for 3 nights.

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Just got mine last week!!

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I booked the same tour and am taking the train back. Going early September.

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