Information Packs

[Jack of the Green]

Does anyone have pictures of the information packs that Viking Ocean hand out during the cruise. I was thinking of printing off some maps of Pisa, Montpelier, Aix and Monaco for advance planning - but my wife thinks there will be enough detail in Viking's offerings.

[ropomo]

In my experience, the port maps that Viking provides are pretty lame.  For our upcoming cruise, I have made a point of printing port maps for as many of the stops as I can find reasonable maps.

[Jack of the Green]

Thanks Ropomo - am printing now.

[lackcreativity]

I like to download the Google city maps for our ports on my tablet so they can be used offline. I locate and star places of interest and possible restaurants if we will be eating there as well. You could do it on your phone, but that screen is too small for me to use a map. Lots of fun for me to pass the time anticipating a cruise, but you have to wait until close to sailing date to do the download as they only stay available for a set period of time before you would need to refresh the download.

Edited February 2, 2019 by lackcreativity

[Jack of the Green]

Thanks, I've downloaded Livorno port map to I Pad. But am now going to print a few town/village centre maps I can scribble on.

My wife had located a video clip on the Viking packs, then lost it - but it sounds like they are probably not that comprehensive.

[lackcreativity]

12 minutes ago, Jack of the Green said:

Thanks, I've downloaded Livorno port map to I Pad. But am now going to print a few town/village centre maps I can scribble on.

My wife had located a video clip on the Viking packs, then lost it - but it sounds like they are probably not that comprehensive.

I agree, both high tech and old school have their value. It's not always convenient to pull our your tablet to figure out a direction, so I have sometimes printed maps too.

[ropomo]

One other thought.  I can't speak for Italian ports, but for our upcoming Baltic Cruise, I have found that many of the cities visitors sites have the maps available free by mail.  I have gotten several from Norway and Denmark so far.  They are a better size than 8.5 x 11 and are pre-folded to pocket size.

[Jack of the Green]

Thanks for that. I will give it a try. Attempting to distil the detail I want from Google maps on to one A4 page is tricky.

I lived in Riga in the 90's - the hostelries, the food and the beer in Riga, Vilnius and Tallinn, were then exceptionally good. Enjoy your trip.

[Parsley Cruises]

You can always get a heap of information from whatsinport.com .   Always be sure to look out for public/religious holidays!  We quite often look at online maps before a cruise, and if there's nothing suitable available onboard a ship we simply wait until we disembark at a port of call and then pick up a couple of the many handed out by locals at the port.

[Peregrina651]

20 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

I agree, both high tech and old school have their value. It's not always convenient to pull our your tablet to figure out a direction, so I have sometimes printed maps too.

 

I don't have a tablet but I do have a mobile phone and you can download maps to your phone just as easily as you can to you tablet (and it is much easier to carry).

 

Each night, I download the map I want for the next day.

 

GPS works even when in airplane mode, so in conjunction with the offline map, you can still use the map. I haven't tried getting directions but at least I know where I am in conjunction to where I want to get.

[lackcreativity]

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

I don't have a tablet but I do have a mobile phone and you can download maps to your phone just as easily as you can to you tablet (and it is much easier to carry).

 

Each night, I download the map I want for the next day.

 

GPS works even when in airplane mode, so in conjunction with the offline map, you can still use the map. I haven't tried getting directions but at least I know where I am in conjunction to where I want to get.

I didn't realize that GPS works in airplane mode. Thanks for the tip, it could come in handy in an emergency. The phone is so much easier to carry that it would be my preference, but the small screen is a struggle for me when using a map. I will usually carry the tablet around if we are planning to DIY, but when on an excursion we don't wander too far off the beaten path and my husband has an excellent memory for retracing our steps. (Except for that one time in Orvieto....)

[Jack of the Green]

We took our port maps from 'whats in port' and 'cruise mappers', but wanted good quality hard copy for off piste trips we are planning. The tourist visitor sites have now given us some good quality maps for some of these, with the Aix en Provence Tourist Office winning the prize for quality and detail. We use GPS on my wife's i phone, but we never rely solely on that - give me a piece of paper and a pencil any day . Also when I link the phone's GPS to my push bike's iWoc system, to map and track routes, it eats up the phone battery at alarming speed. My own phone is an old steam model and doesn't do maps, or the internet! Thanks to all for the input - we are good to go now, and low on printer ink.

[Islandbc]

This site might be useful for walking tours of cities.

https://www.gpsmycity.com/

I printed out the description of the walk and the map for Livorno .  We did the walk on our own while docked there.  It took a couple of hours and was easy to follow.  There are many other city tours offered.

You can also download walking tours of some  major cities from the Rick Steves site.

[Jack of the Green]

Thanks - will download the app to use in Pisa and Montepellier.  In Livorno though we are just going to head up the corniche three or four miles, then back - as everything is closed on that Sunday. Will check out Rick Steves. My wife watches his youtube videos a lot.

[coralfriend]

Try www.tomsportguides.com.  Maps and lots of info about ports around the world.

[Jack of the Green]

Thanks coralfriend  - TomPortGuides is a truly impressive site. Have already read Civitavecchia, Barcelona and Monaco write ups.

[JulieEscapes]

We use www.visitacity.com to plan out our itinerary. For major cities you can create your own itinerary (use the Pisa Guides 1-2 days). You can then customize the itinerary: you can delete or add attractions, add your hotel/port, create your own stops, and create breaks. Set your dates and VAC will tell you what the best order is, times open or closed, travel time between sites and give a description/review of the attraction. You can download to the VAC app and use offline with maps. We use this whenever we travel even if not doing our own thing, just to see what’s available so we don’t miss anything. I'm using it for Athens next Saturday on our Jupiter cruise and planned 1 Packed day. It's all free.  Now, they do offer paid tours - but I have never signed up for one of those. Happy Planning!

[Jack of the Green]

Hi MJAdventures - sure is a lot of knowledge out there. The visitacity one day Pisa guide mirrors the route I had painstakingly planned by dropping Google's little orange man a few dozen times in to Pisa's streets. Thanks for the introduction.