Minerva II

Having had a really good cruise on Minerva II during April I have now done a review of this on the cruise review page for those interested in this ship.

Yes, we would be very interested in your review. Is it posted elsewhere?

Have the Minerva brochure - they have some interesting itineraries, and some very good "guest" lecturers.

Have sailed on her sister ship, the (new) Pacific Princess, and have booked a cruise on another of her sisters, Oceania's Regatta (all three are fomer Renaissance R class ships).

Nice sized smaller ships, with an easy deck plan.

sincve cruise critic changed i miss the reviews part is it somewhere else asx i thought it was very good. to see how the minerva 2 was as i was not overly impressed with the mini cruise i did on the ship[. long wait in the resturant for serrvice, no mini bar and no sign of the officers at tghe welcolm party

I agree with seabourndt. When I came to look for the review I did on Minerva II I cannot find it anywhere. I too miss the old review board. Why is it no longer there?

Anyway I will do a brief review here. Over the past thirteen years we have been on Swan Hellenic six times - seventh cruise coming up in January to the Indian Ocean and Malaysia. The first three cruises were on the Orpheus which we greatly enjoyed, the next two on Minerva I which to us always missed the mark. We went on Minerva II for the first time in April on the transatlantic which had the first week going along the North America/Canadian coast and then the Azores on route to Spain.

We really enjoyed the cruise. The ship is beautiful - like staying in a high-class hotel. The cabins were the best standard outside cabin we personally have been in. The food was very good indeed - the chef is Chef Eddie who came from Orient which is the other line we travel with fairly regularly. There are very good lecturers. The organisation and crew were very good.

I would possibly have only two criticisms and hasten to say that these would not apply to everyone. Firstly I would like cheaper fares and non-included excursions. In many places, particularly in places I have been before I would prefer to do my own thing. If you do this it is irritating because you have paid the ship's excursion in the fare. It is also annoying I am sure to someone who has paid the full fare to think people booking late at a cheaper rate are in fact getting the excursions at a reduced rate too. My other reservation is the entertainment. I have a gut feeling I am not highbrow enough for Swan Hellenic - I would like something a little lighter. Both these reservations will not I know apply to everyone. Neither is sufficient to put me off going again - hence the booking for January. The excursion programme question however, does mean I would only go on a cruise that was breaking new ground. If it was a repeat area I would definitely choose to go Orient. We have also wondered about Oceania - same ships, a really good reputation for food but without in my case the excursion/entertainment reservations. Perhaps next year!!!!!

Hope this helps. Any specifics I have not covered justs come back and ask.

Thanks for your information and comments about Minerva II and Swan Hellenic. Have you ever taken a pre or post land tour with them? If so, was the quality on a par with your shipboard experience? I am probably going to take Cruise M506 on March 11 2005 along with the Pre-cruise landtour M506(GT). Thanks for any information you or anyone else can send with regard to these subjects.

No we have not taken a pre or post trip with Swans. Two reasons really. Firstly they tend to be very expensive and secondly I think they will be quite hard going. They will also be very good with excellent accommodation and they will really look after you but from what I have heard they cram in far to much for me.

Is this the India add on you are doing. We are going with them on 1 Jan to Seychelles, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Andamans, Malaysia and Singapore.

Angela, I am very interested in the fact that you have been on Minerva 11 and note you are booked again for early January 05.

We are booked for 2 BTB/s in January/February (M503 and 504) but neither is the one you are on which seems to be earlier in January. Its our first with Swan H although we have cruised a few times before on other lines. However, this is our first more upmarket cruise and the first for an extended period of time. We are hugely looking forward to it. To be honest, looking at the brochure we would like to stay on board for pretty much all of 2005 as the majority of the itineraries look great!!!

I was trawling the internet for reviews of this ship and company and found your review most helpful. Just had one or two questions and was hoping to send you an email via this forum but as you have opted out of this facility can only post here and hope you spot it! I have registered to receive emails.

Going on board for 4 weeks is a longish period of time and we will be a wee bit tight on space and weight in our cases. We are also slightly concerned about our potential drinks and laundry bills which we will pay more attention to along the way than we might normally. Potential weight gain is another hazard but thats down to us!!

We each have a small pocket size set of binoculars which we like to carry around with us. The size is small enough to slip into a pocket or bag so very handy. We dont know whether to take one of these sets with us, or both, or none. What size are the cabin binoculars and is there one set or two? Can the cabin ones be taken ashore?

Theres a self serve laundry on board which we will use as the cost of the laundry service would otherwise be pretty high over 4 weeks. Is it coin or token operated? Or free? Should I take my own wash powder/liquid with me? Ironing facilities?

We are not big drinkers but enjoy wine with dinner, maybe a drink before and one or 2 afterwards. With 4 weeks, again we wont be too extravagant as the bills could run pretty high. What are onboard prices like? We also read in the brochure that "personal" bottles of alcohol are not permitted on board but will be retained and returned just prior to disembarking for the return trip home. Just how strictly is this enforced (if at all) If we buy our 2 duty free bottles at Gatwick before boarding the flight to Hong Kong to join the ship, will it be taken from us when we board? Do they x-ray or actually search cases and hand luggage for alcohol? Do they do this at each port of call when reboarding? Do they physically search cabins?

Is there anything we should be aware of that the brochure doesn't tell us? All tips and hints welcomed!!

Hope you can answer some or all of the above.

Thanks in advance.

I cannot now receive e-mails.

Please post any answers on this thread.

Hi there

Sorry about delay in replying but I have been having my ongoing problem of not being able to log in. Anyway managed it tonight.

I am sure you will have a great time on Minerva. The ship is lovely as I have said before and the food is very good. Some people complained the food was not plain enough but to us there seemed to be choices for everyone. I am not sure how much help I am on your queries but here goes.

Laundry. Unfortunately we did not use the laundry on our cruise in April. Just ran a few easy-dry things in the cabin bathroom - which dried a treat as ventilation from air conditioning excellent. We did use the laundry however on both occasions on Minerva I and assume they will run it the same. It was a free service and yes there are irons. There was also a soap dispenser but we cannot remember if it was coin operated or free. One of the things we do remember from Minerva I was that you had to watch your timings as the crew could often get there first. Of course I don't know if it is still a shared facility.

Drinks. Prices I think compare favourably with other cruise lines in fact I think the wine was cheaper certainly for house wine. Drinks in the bar were much the same as they do not add a service charge. We tended to have a drink in one of the bars before dinner - some nights we had no wine but generally we made a bottle last two nights. Most people seem to do this and it does keep the bill down a bit. I really do not know about taking bottles on board as we would not drink in the cabin anyway - if we want a drink we prefer the social scene. Going on and off board from what I remember they tended to use the hand held detectors - I suppose unless well hidden bottles would show up.

One pair of binoculars in the cabin - fairly small and I think they are only for use on board.

Generally once you have paid your fare (ouch!) Swan Hellenic are definitely very inclusive on costs. You have really only drinks and beauty treatments to pay for. However, like all cruise lines I think they are tightening up. In April they were charging £5 for yoga classes - doesn't affect me personally, the gym is for home, the cruise for holiday. Also I find it irritating that they charge for bottled water in the cabin and on excursions. I am never certain about cabin water yet we drink water in the dining room.

We fly from Heathrow on New Years Day. I have already started counting the days and reading guide books. Do report back how you like it when you return.

Angela

Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. The info you gave was helpful.

We are not solitary drinkers as such, nor are we anti-social, but we do sometimes find on a cruise that we need a little personal space just to ourselves. On occasion we will take time out and make ourselves comfortable in our cabin and have "a night/afternoon in" relaxing with a good book or watching a film or tv or whatever. Its sometimes nice to do this and not feel that we have to be sociable 24/7 We will then have a quiet drink or two. If its from our own personal supply (small and limited as it usually is) so much the better. We are discreet about where we keep it in the cabin, same goes for drinking it.

We had hoped to take just our 2 duty free bottles on board with us. Maybe when you return mid January you would be kind enough to say whether or not people had their duty free confiscated when they boarded after flying in to join the ship. If this happens, its likely you will hear about it on board. If nothing else, it will save us carrying it there and back!!

Will take our 2 sets of binoculars with us and some wash powder/liquid.

Our first info pack arrived a few days ago and we chose some of our excursions and returned the form. The excursions only covered the first few (5?) days which surprised us somewhat,as we thought we would get info on all of them. Do you book the rest on board? We also thought we would get info for both cruises, but the second wasnt mentioned at all. It must be coming later.

Beginning to feel that its actually getting closer as it seems ages since we booked. Like you, starting to read like crazy. Our expectations are high so hopefully no major disappointments along the way. We need to arrange our jags next as ours are out of date. Another step nearer!

Notice you have 3(?) ports in common with us. Think they are Andamans, Singapore and Malaysia, but dont have the brochure to hand. Does that mean you need an Indian visa just for Port Blair?

We might jump ship (if only for 1 night rather than 2) in Thailand as its our changeover port (3 days) and we spent 8 days in and around Bangkok in 2000. Will see what sightseeing options are on offer before deciding.

Hope you enjoy your trip. Whether or not we go again on Minerva depends on how this (our first) trip goes. We are starting to spread our wings now the kids growing up and looking forward to visiting all the places on our "wish list", most of which (at least initially) are long haul.

Fiona

Sorry, just one last question.

The info sent included the fact that we can receive e-mails sent by family to us at a cost of one pound for delivery each time. Seems very reasonable to us.

As far as outgoing emails is concerned, it just said that the prices were to be found in the internet area on board. Any idea of the cost of using the onboard internet facilities? On some ships it can be quite costly, especially as we have found in the past that it can be slow......or even veeeery slow........ Just wondering if we should think about using internet cafes ashore instead.

Hi there

thanks for your reply. Hey I wasn't suggesting you were unsociable drinking in the cabin - I was just saying we personally don't. What date do you actually leave because your reply suggests we have a break in between yours and ours so we can let you know all your queries when we get back - ie drink costs, taking alcohol on board etc and I will check out the laundry question for you. Actually in a hot climate even for a fortnight we will probably need to use it anyway. Again I cannot remember how much E-mails were (I will let you know that too) but we certainly used them and thought the price reasonable - something we don't do on Orient because their rates are very expensive. All these points surprise me that when actually faced with the questions how much I forget once back from the cruise.

The question of the Andaman Islands is a sore point. Yes we do have to get a visa for one day whether or not we get off the ship - though of course we would get off in any case. Looking at the internet we can't see why we cannot have a group type visa. However, we had to go to Birmingham in the rain and later snow on Thursday to get same. Yes, Swan Hellenic will do it for you at a cost of £50 service charge for the two of us. No thanks. Fortunately our daughter lives in Derby so we were going there for the night on Wednesday in any case, but it was a nuisance and took all day. Our fault - I suppose we should have just smiled and paid up. I suppose you are lucky coming from Edinburgh. There seems to be only London, Birmingham and Edinburgh who issue visas. I hope Port Blair is worth all the effort.

We are looking forward to Malaysia very much. We have never been to Penang and only had one day in Kuala Lumpur before and are keen to go back. However, the highlight for me of the whole trip will be Sri Lanka. Like you we have only got excursions for the first three ports which we have booked and are going in a semi-submersible boat in the Seychelles to look at the reefs, and have paid a supplement in the Maldives to go in a seaplane over the atolls, and at Sri Lanka to go on an old steam train up to Kandy.

They only send out the first few days excursions so they can make local arrangements - you should get the rest with your tickets.

We have to have our typhoid jab next week - the only one that is due for us, the rest do not expire for a while.

Just gone downstairs for the brochure. Yes you are a fortnight behind us so will definitely get in touch. Just looking at what you are doing. We went on a month with Orient lines two years ago on Crown Odyssey and had an amazing trip. Actually it was three weeks on the ship and two nights in Singapore at the Ritz Carlton and three nights at the end in Bangkok at the Shang-ri-la. Only the top grade cabins stay there but because it was my 60th birthday my husbands present to me was an upgrade of the hotels so I could stay on the river in Bangkok. Superb. Many of the places you are going to on the cruise we went to - Hong Kong, Halong Bay, Danang, Ho Chi Minh, Kuantan, Malacca and Port Klang. We also went to Borneo. Halong Bay is really beautiful - the sail in and out is quite long - make sure that one of the directions you are in the panoramic lounge and the top and you get the full vista. Actually the same things applies up the Saigon River - very interesting trip which I think took about three hours. Danang you have a hard choice between Hue and Hoi Ann. We choose Hoi Ann at the time because I do not like very long coach journeys on bad roads but so glad we did because it was my favourite town in Vietnam..They are both world heritage sites. Must finish now.

Angela

Your trip sounds good too, and I like the sound of the semi submersible but would pass on the seaplane as I'm not wildly keen on small planes! I think Port Blair will be worth it. Its such a tiny island in the middle of nowhere that I cant imagine us ever making our way there, in part because we are not huge India fans.

Pity about the Indian visa. We know from the internet that we need a multi entry one for India and hope we can get it in Edinburgh. We called in a couple of weeks ago to ask about application form, photos, time it would take etc but timed it wrong as they had just closed. Will call in again next time I'm in town. SH havent told us about this yet as its cruise 2 and info should hopefully arrive on this cruise soon. At least we might save 2 service charges. We have the same problem in June when we are cruising the Baltic. Visas are needed for the 2 days in St Petersburg if we want to DIY it and if not, can only get off the ship if on an organised excursion. I think its £30pp also, but again we think we can get in Edinburgh if we decide to do this.

We also need a "one day" visa for Cambodia. I know from the internet that its $20pp or £15 from the London embassy but its a wee bit hazy as to whether thats 100% right. SH sent us Cambodian visa application forms together with instructions to complete and bring on board with us, together with photos. Unfortunately they didnt say whether there was a charge and/or service charge for this so have no idea if its "free" in the cruise price or not.

Thanks for saying you would pass on more info in January when you get back and before we set off. How will you do this? Do you want my home email address? Would you rather post on this board and if so, where? I am still a newbie on here and not 100% sure of how it works. I need to spend some time learning the ins and outs. Its completely different from the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forum on which I am a regular.

Its a pity that theres so few reviews and info on minerva anywhere online. Its hard to find much at all. I get the impression that there used to be a review section on this board but that its no longer available. A pity.

Fiona

P.S.

We are keeping fingers crossed for clear weather at Halong Bay. Its one of the main highlights but guide books indicate that January - March can be cloudy and/or overcast. We hope that the length of time we have there will mean theres a good chance of getting it clear enough at some point to enjoy what is supposed to be a spectacular sight.

The weather on our whole cruise to the Far East was good and dry. Only one fairly rough night. On one of the two days at Halong Bay the weather was overcast but apart from not being able to see the mainland hills that day everything else was quite visible. You are also there for two days so should have no problems. The only place on the whole cruise that was cold (very cold) was Hong Kong. We should have been warned as soon as we got on the coach and saw the guide had a heavy winter overcoat!!! Incidentally our cruise was Jan/Feb.

Indian visas. On the internet it does say that you can have a collective visa if the group is entering and leaving India together for a short visit and you are with an approved agent. This was why we were surprised. Presumably SH do not come into this category. When you get your docs for the second cruise you will get a blank application form from SH. You will also get an entry form for Port Blair. If Edinburgh operates like Birmingham you go and queue in the morning to hand in your forms, passports, photos and money and they tell you to return in the afternoon between 2 and 4.30 to collect them. That is why it took us all day - on the other hand you do need to collect them to check they are okay. Some people in the queue had mistakes. You need to be particularly careful about Port Blair. In addition to the visa itself they need to have stamped it with permission to land on the Andamans. We actually only understood this when Peter phoned SH to ask because frankly we did not know what to do with the second form which had on it hand to agent.

Who are you cruising with to the Baltic? We went two years ago with Orient and really enjoyed it. We didn't get a visa for St Petersburg - I had insisted that I wanted to do ship's excursions at that point - coward that I am. We did however, do our own thing in Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallin, Copenhagen, Aarhus and the Norwegian ports. Much better, much cheaper. I am interested you are considering doing your own excursions in St Petersburg - it suggests you are generally free spirits. I will be interested to hear how you feel about being very organised on SH. Good as their cruises are, because of this we will only do cruises with them to new areas but do have a niggle that even there would sometimes like to be more free. Just wish they would reduce the price of the cruises and not include excursions. Oh well - can't have everything. Our trouble is the itinerary is all important and really we tend to only like the itineraries on Orient, Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery. All three have their strengths and weaknesses but which we end up on depends totally on which itinerary is best at the time. If all things were equal - which they never are - Orient is really my favourite. The ship is nowhere near as nice as Minerva being old, the food is similar, but we generally prefer the ambience. We prefer ships with mixed American, British, Australian and South Africans than all British, the excursions - or at least only one or two - are not included and there is more entertainment and of a lighter nature that SH. Voyages of Discovery (influenced to a strong degree by Orient) is a mix somewhere between the two. The flaw we found was that the food was not very good when we went. I think it is inevitable that we will go mainly SH in the future because now Orient only has one ship and is dedicated to the Antarctic in the winter period nearly all their cruises are round South America, or Europe or the Baltic. We have been with them to Europe three times, the last being a three week trip at the end of September. I'm not madly keen on the idea of South America and really want to do South Africa and more of the Far East.

Of course for the Baltic nearly all lines have good itineraries but in other areas a lot of ships visit very few ports.

I had a look at your details and note you do not have your E-mail address listed. If you want to let me have it I will reply direct otherwise I will post on the board.

Angela

Hi Angela and Fiona,

Happened to be browsing when I saw your post. I'm in Calgary, Canada. I too like port intensive, really informational tour. I have to travel solo so the single supplement plus the airfare from here really increases my costs. Despite 10 cruises, I didn't even know about Swan Hellenic. I'm booked on a Crystal Symphony cruise next May. The single supplement for lowest category cabin is only 125%.

I've been looking for info on a Nile river cruise. Have either of you done that?

By the way, Fiona, I did go to St. Petersburg on RCCL Grandeur of the Seas in 2003. I chose the ship's tours and was very glad that I did. Guides and buses were top notch. The ship had to berth at a pier very far away from main attractions (Hermitage etc.) I chose the all day tours each time, because I didn't want to waste time coming back to ship for lunch. That would have wasted 2 - 3 hours each day. The lunches were included and featured Russian cuisine, and even served bottled water, plus included folkloric entertainment both days. Absolutely worth the cost. I heard stories from other passengers of troubles when they tried do their own exploring, even though they had visas. The problem of just getting fast admission to museums was one I remember. Another had money stolen by local police who searched her bag. She couldn't prove it and anyway the ship was sailing.

I missed the ballet tour and now wish that I had booked that as well. All who went on that tour were raving about it the next morning.

If your biggest concern is to have time to shop, then the visa is worth it because the ship's tours alloted only a scant hour on the second afternoon for souvenirs. Otherwise, I'd suggest that in St. Petersburg you use the ship's tours. Of course you are not talking about Royal Caribbean, but I expect that my experience was pretty much what you would have on any other cruise ship.

Thanks for posting, Angela.

Thanks again Angela for all the info.

Just one thing I'm not clear on and need to double check if your patience not exhausted! Do you mean that the Indian High Commission need to stamp the 2nd form for Port Blair at the same time they issue the visa for India? Do we take it with us when we apply for the visa? Do we also need to take travel documents for the visa and/or Port Blair also? And thanks for the warning to double check in case theres any mistakes. Even although we might not know what mistakes to look for, we will look anyway. :0) We have a few Indian stops and fly back from Chennai so wouldn't like to have a problem anywhere along the way.

Living in Edinburgh means that its an awfully long trek to Southampton, Dover or Harwich from where the majority of "non" fly cruises leave. We spotted in the Thomson brochure that for the first time ever, they are running just a couple of Baltic cruises AND they are leaving from NEWCASTLE as well as Harwich in 05. As Newcastle is only a 2 hour drive and theres no overnight hotels involved either on the way there or back, we took a closer look and discovered that the Baltic cruise we are booked for will actually be going into EVERY capital plus a few other worthwhile ports (such as Gothenberg) As you are probably aware, not every Baltic cruise goes into every capital city, the majority seem to leave out a few. (the Harwich itinerary is not as good) As it was only going on 2 dates and we think it could be popular with northerners, we booked early in August. We are going on the first departure which is last week June, first week July. Theres no knowing if Thomson will do this again so we are going for it. If you look in the brochure, it says the ship is Spirit, but we recently had a letter saying it was now going to be on Celebration, which is its sister ship and supposedly identical. We had prebooked the cabin and thats not changing either. It will be our first "no flying" cruise from the UK. As I said before, our location means we usually prefer a fly cruise.

As for St Petersburg and the visa problem. Its because I was in Moscow, Kiev and St Petersburg (it was Leningrad then) in 1980. I spent approx 4/5 days in St Petes and did a fair bit of sightseeing then. It was an organised trip with a full programme of sightseeing both in town and out of it also. On the other hand my husband has not been there before. Its a relatively easy and cheap city to get around solo, and we hoped for some free time, in part because I really want to go back to the Hermitage for another solo visit. (I did this on the first trip also) That because on an organised tour of the Hermitage you MUST stay with the group and GO ONLY WHERE THE GUIDE TAKES YOU. If you have ever been to the Hermitage before, you will know thats its the most fabulous place and you really want to go off and see what you want to see and not what the guide wants you to see. The other drawback in the group is that everyone is at the same exhibit at the same time and you have to jostle to get a peek at whatever it is. And sometimes you want to see it for longer. We had thought that we could have done a day at the Hermitage on our own, and a day sightseeing in St Petes as 2 days will only give my husband a glimpse anyway. He would not have time to see everything in 2 days. St Petes is also rather a lovely city to simply walk around as theres bridges and canals everywhere and the architecture is stunning. I have wanted to go back again. On the other hand, I didnt take to Moscow at all, and left it knowing I would never go back again. Kiev was really good too, but after my visit came Chernobyl (sp?) so thats also off the list of "must do again"!

I'm a newbie on here so not 100% sure about giving out my email adress. I must read to see how it works. I dont want it on public view. On Lonely Planet its possible to send "private messages" to others WITHIN THE FORUM. The messages have no email addresses on them, so no risk of viruses, spam or anything else. What you and I have been saying would have been sent as "private messages" and would not have been on open view. I will read up on this forum as soon as I can.

Thanks again, Fiona.

PS

I was browsing the other day and came across a review on this site on Minerva 11. Its dated October 04. Theres only the one and its fairly brief but helpful nonetheless.

PPS. We are, and are not, "free spirits". We have travelled quite a bit with our kids so we were always paying for 4. Its only in the last couple of years that we are paying just for 2. Organised excursions are often expensive and try paying for 4 every time. We also sometimes prefer to see things we have a particulart interest in rather than go where the tour is going. And sometimes we just want to escape the crowd for a while. We will do organised trips if they are going someplace we cant easily do ourselves either on foot, by taxi or on public transport. Otherwise, we read up before we leave, have our maps, timetables etc with us, and set off. Its usually a fraction of the cost of the organised ones. We are going on this cruise because the tours are going where we want to go, and it will be interesting for us to see how we cope. On the plus side, there wont be any language problems, I dont need maps, timetables, directions etc nor will I need to find the bus, train,ferry etc. It might be a treat. That remains to be seen. We are also not big on bingo, cabaret, gambling, auctions or whatever. We do enjoy listening to music (esp Jazz) dancing, a film etc. Foodwise, as long as we dont need to shop for it, store it, prepare it, cook it or clear up afterwards, we will happily eat most things and enjoy them. And we appreciate the (usually) high standard of meals on board ships. we also like the service which is usually friendlyy and attentive.

Kamispal.

We have not yet been on a Nile cruise mostly because we only hear about people being ill on them. It ruins the trip if you are ill and the %age of ill people on board seems to be pretty high. We are not prepared to take the risk and go all that way to see things only to find we cant leave the cabin. Instead, we plan on basing ourselves in Luxor some time and visiting the sites we can do easily from there. The others we will just accept we wont get to. We have crossed the delta from Port Said to Cairo, visited the Pyramids and the Sphynx, and also the main museum there. We did that from a cruise on an organised trip. Alexandria was another port on the same cruise. Alexandria we did solo rather than a tour and pleased ourselves entirely. We saw the sights, shopped, strolled and had a lovely day.

You dont always have to pay solo charges. Its possible to opt to share with another single. I cant be certain, but I think if you do that and theres nobody to share with you might not need to pay the full supplement. You would need to check.

Interesting you are in Calgary. We were in Toronto end of Sept for 1 week.....our first Canadian trip. Wonderful food there and we did like a lot of things about Canada and Canadians in general. We hope to go back some day to see Montreal, Quebec, etc. We have friends who have expressed an interest in joining us for a Rockies/Alaskan trip. Have been looking into that as a DIY project. Might start Calgary, Rockies, head for Bella Coola, Discovery Coast ferry to Port Hardy, Vancouver Island, Vancouver and back from there. Or fly in and out of Vancouver and do the full circle. Might include an Alaskan cruise, or do it by ferry instead so more time in ports for land sightseeing, or might save that for another trip as its going to take at least 4 weeks min to do all that. We shall see. Its not for 2005 anyway.

If you are flying to the UK to join cruises, check out some of the low cost airlines flying these routes nowadays. Includes Zoom and Canadian Affair. We flew Canadian Affair on a special offer fare and they have recently been advertising some specials for 2005. We know people who have used both airlines. Its only in the last 3 or so years that UK/Canada flight prices have started to come down a bit.

Hi Fiona

Re visa. They do not stamp your passport with the indian visa - it is a whole page with your details and the dates it is valid, onto which they then stamp a permission visa for you to land in Port Blair. You do not get the second form back. The things you need to check is that the name matches your name in the front of your passport, that it is a multiple entry covering the correct dates and is a tourist visa and finally that you have the necessary Port Blair stamp on it. Probably over the top but an Indian man in the collection queue was warning the wet behind the ears Brits to do this and certainly we know of a lady ahead in the queue who found she had a tourist instead of a business visa. Being careful we did take our itinerary as well but no-one asked for it.

We don't generally like cruises from England because unless it is to Norway or the Baltic you waste so much time at sea. The P&O cruises from Southampton are a case in point. They seem to only get to about six places on a fortnight cruise. Our three week fly cruise to the Med in October with Orient visited 17 ports including our two days in an Athens Hotel. Actually our Baltic one was a fly cruise with Orient - Manchester to Stockholm going out, Copenhagen to Manchester coming back. Orient fly you from your nearest airport not necessarily via the London shuttle. Manchester and Edinburgh people usually go on the KLM shuttle to Amsterdam and then onwards.

I must admit that when you said you were doing your own thing in St Petersburg I assumed you were doing one of the Red October trips and had not realised you were going to go completely on your own. I think Kamispal's comments are worth noting. You probably need to check exactly where you are mooring. We like him were at the cargo port a long way from the centre. It was not really a very good area and apart from the distance you might not want to go in on your own. They may in fact not let you walk through the dock area which has an unprotected railway. I can remember coaches and the red october people carriers but I cannot remember taxis - but I may be wrong about that. One of the excursions was (horrific in my view) a day flying to Moscow which returned late at night at about midnight. The coach found a goods train across the port entrance but no-one was allowed to walk, and they had to sit there whilst the coach driver had to go and phone the port authorities who had to phone for a train driver to come and move the train. They got back on board about 3 am, very tired and not very happy. Presumably Thomson have been before so they should be able to advise you.

On the subject of the Nile, we too like you were not sure about going on a river cruise for health reasons. Can I recommend Voyages of Discovery's cruise to the Red Sea and Egypt which we did 12 months' ago. We flew to Sharm el Sheikh and visited St Catherine's Monastry, then went to Jordan for two days and visited Petra and Wadi Rum. We then sailed across the Red Sea where we docked for two days. Many people just had a beach holiday there, some went on a one day trip to Luxor but we took the overnight trip to Luxor giving us two days there. The supplement only cost £165 including meals. We then visited Cairo from Suez, sailed the Suez Canal and finished that cruise in Alexandria. We actually put two cruises together and did three weeks so got a second day in Alexandria and went on to two days in Libya etc, etc. We were happier doing Egypt that way and had a really good time.

Good luck with your visa.

Angela

wrote in part:

If it was a repeat area I would definitely choose to go Orient. We have also wondered about Oceania - same ships, a really good reputation for food but without in my case the excursion/entertainment reservations. Perhaps next year!!!!!

 

Hope this helps. Any specifics I have not covered justs come back and ask.

Just happened along your post ( usually hang out at the Oceania board ;-) and was going to suggest to you to try Oceania. Yes they are the same ships

although the "O" line has made millions of dollars of improvments .

They will be doing Orient next year I believe on their 3rd ship Nautica.

Angela, again many thanks. Sorry its taken me a few days to get back on here but things have been a bit hectic one way and another.

Your Indian visa info is really helpful. Our info pack for cruise 2 arrived yesterday and we would have had to contact them to ask if you had not already told us. There was really very little info on this, nor was a price mentioned for their visa service. Will be in town Friday so will stop by the Indian HC to ask about timescale etc.

Getting my Typhoid jag tomorrow. Both of us still unsure about anti malarial pills as we are in low risk areas, even including our 3 Indian stops. However nurse at GP surgery told us we should think about it for these 3 stops plus the days at sea in between and a further week afterwards. Will need to decide fairly soon on that. We are just concerned that the medication itself will make us ill. Malarone is being suggested which I understand is not as bad as Larium but could still have side effects which we would rather not have. Until now we have avoided going anywhere that we might need to take anti malaria. Pity in a way that these Indian stops are on the itinerary. Its not our principal reason for going on these itineraries.

Not all that happy with SH to be honest as we have once again to choose our excursions for the first few days of cruise 2 then return the form. Problem is that our changeover port from cruise 1 to cruise 2 is Bangkok and we are being asked to choose for cruise 2 without knowing the options for the Bangkok stop at the end of cruise 1. I have had to email them yesterday to explain this and ask if they can give us info on Bangkok options on cruise 1 so we can look at both together then decide. Its actually the one we want to take most care choosing as we spent 8 days in Bangkok in 2000 and saw pretty well most everything.

If its OK with you, I will log on here after your return mid January and will leave my email address so you can contact me directly with the queries re alcohol confiscation :0( and email charges on board. Its kind of you to offer. Please "head up" the email to us with something like Swan Hellenic or whatever, just so we know its not spam as we delete suspect emails unread. If you would rather an alternative (such as this thread?) please say. I will also log on from time to time in case theres any further additions to this thread.

As I said before, reading the itineraries in the brochure we just wish we could stay on for a full year! How we would get off though, I shudder to think. I would imagine a crane or stretcher would be needed after all that eating!!!

Will try to get an Orient and a Voyages of Discovery brochure as they sound interesting. I have never seen them in a Travel Agency although I think V of D advertise in newspapers. The only site I have so far found for Orient seems to be American as the brochure request link is set up for addresses in the USA.

In the meantime, do enjoy your trip, and many thanks.

Fiona.

Thanks very much Angela and Edinburgher for responding.

I have already twice experienced getting '!@#'s revenge' and agree that having to enjoy the facilities in my cabin is not what I really wanted to pay for. The last time was frightening enough to make me reconsider traveling at all. However I am now getting itchy feet again. I've really enjoyed reading your posts. So much different information than what I'm getting from those who are living in North America.

I will look into the Discovery Tours.

Your plans for Canada's west, Alaska sound great. Do you ever ask for information on the Fodor's talk site? If you ask there, you will usually get very specific answers, often from those who actually live in the cities you are considering.

KP...

I am a regular on www.lonelyplanet.com

The Thorn Tree boards are excellent. Have a browse sometime soon. It is a very active site across all boards. You might want to dip into it now and again. I will do likewise with Fodor.

www.swanhellenic.com is the site. Click CRUISES and CRUISE BY DATE. Clicking on the itinerary number gives you lots of info. I believe there are quite a few solos who return again and again. Maybe the single supplement isnt too bad? And you get air credits if you make your own way to the ship so you can fly a route from Canada with the saving. Overall it might be less expensive for you.

Fiona