New to Cunard: Help me with shore excursions

[schattenfell71]

Hello from Germany,

 

as you might know, we will do our first trip with the QM2 in June. We have two ports with the city of Brugge and St.Peter Port.

 

From today on I can book several shore excursions on the "My Cunard" site and I have some questions about it:

 

1. Will it be better to book these excursions right now or on board?

2. Will there be any transport from the harbours into the town for those who will not book a Cunard shore excursion?

3. Please tell me your thought about these excursion: Private or book with Cunard?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Greetings from Germany

Thorsten

[Bigmike911]

5 minutes ago, schattenfell71 said:

Hello from Germany,

 

as you might know, we will do our first trip with the QM2 in June. We have two ports with the city of Brugge and St.Peter Port.

 

From today on I can book several shore excursions on the "My Cunard" site and I have some questions about it:

 

1. Will it be better to book these excursions right now or on board?

2. Will there be any transport from the harbours into the town for those who will not book a Cunard shore excursion?

3. Please tell me your thought about these excursion: Private or book with Cunard?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Greetings from Germany

Thorsten

Here are some answers to your questions Thorsten, First, if you know which excursions you wish to take, it is wise to book now as they may fill up and you won't be able to book aboard.  Secondly, Cunard often provide shuttles into city centers. I would think the would for Brugge, but I am uncertain of St. Peter Port. Always book a Cunard excursion, as the ship will not depart with out all of their excursion passengers back aboard. If you do it on your own, they won't wait if you are delayed. 

[exlondoner]

21 minutes ago, schattenfell71 said:

Hello from Germany,

 

as you might know, we will do our first trip with the QM2 in June. We have two ports with the city of Brugge and St.Peter Port.

 

From today on I can book several shore excursions on the "My Cunard" site and I have some questions about it:

 

1. Will it be better to book these excursions right now or on board?

2. Will there be any transport from the harbours into the town for those who will not book a Cunard shore excursion?

3. Please tell me your thought about these excursion: Private or book with Cunard?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Greetings from Germany

Thorsten

 

I am on this trip too, I think.

 

1. It is usually cheaper to book in advance, but worth waiting if you've got on board credit you want to use.  In over twenty years of Cunard, I have never had a trip I want.sell out before boarding.

 

2. They do not provide a free shuttle to Bruges, only to Blankenburg Station, which is near Zeebrugge. If you look on the voyage personaliser, it will show you what trips to Bruges are available...and the price.

[turnip eater]

In St Peter Port,  the tender docks in the town. No need for a shuttle. 

[schattenfell71]

Thanks all for your help.

 

I guess I will book a excursion for Brugge now and discover St. Peter Port on my own or perhaps wait and see what will be available later on board for this town.

 

By the way: Cunard showed the Guest Speakers and/or Entertainemnt events for some routes on their old website. I can not find something similar on the new website. Am I right?

[bluemarble]

1 minute ago, schattenfell71 said:

Thanks all for your help.

 

I guess I will book a excursion for Brugge now and discover St. Peter Port on my own or perhaps wait and see what will be available later on board for this town.

 

By the way: Cunard showed the Guest Speakers and/or Entertainemnt events for some routes on their old website. I can not find something similar on the new website. Am I right?

 

Yes, you are right. The lists of guest speakers cannot be found on the new website. At least if they are there, I can't find them.

 

The latest speaker list I have from the old website does not list your voyage (M917). That voyage has two sea days, so I would think there would be guest speakers on those days.

 

 

[Lanky Lad]

7 hours ago, schattenfell71 said:

Hello from Germany,

 

as you might know, we will do our first trip with the QM2 in June. We have two ports with the city of Brugge and St.Peter Port.

 

From today on I can book several shore excursions on the "My Cunard" site and I have some questions about it:

 

1. Will it be better to book these excursions right now or on board?

2. Will there be any transport from the harbours into the town for those who will not book a Cunard shore excursion?

3. Please tell me your thought about these excursion: Private or book with Cunard?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Greetings from Germany

Thorsten

 

The trains from Blankenburg to Brugge take about 10 minutes and are very hour.  It's quite a walk from the station into town, but the tour bus can't get into the centre either.

 

St Peter Port is a lovely town and the tender drops you off close to the centre so there is no need for a tour unless there is something you really want to see on the island.

[Underwatr]

On another line we hired a van taxi (which seated something like 6 or 8 of us) to go from the entrance of the Seebrugge terminal to the square in Bruges. It helped that the CC thread for that cruise had a member who loved organizing things like that.

[AspirationalFlyer]

Hello 

 

A few thoughts from me too: 

 

1. If there is something you are particularly keen on, do book in advance. I’ve only had one cruise where anything sold out (QV, Med, 2017) but it does happen. Also the tickets are either in your room on boarding or delivered shortly afterwards, so it’s far less hassle. If there are places where you are less fussed, perhaps wait until you are onboard. There have been presentations on previous cruises about the excursion options which have helped me and my family decide what we’d like to do. 

 

2. It depends on the location. In some places (for example in Kefalonia) it just wasn’t needed. In Zeebrugge there is a coach to the local town where you can take the train to Brugge. I visited Blankenberg in December, but I’d happily spend an hour or two on that beach in the summer. It is wide, long and sandy. 

 

3. I’ve always booked with Cunard directly because it’s easier. However, depending on the location, I’m sure there are better value for money options. Cruise ship excursions are expensive for what you get.  And the quality of the guides has ranged from excellent to average to fairly awful. 

[Solent Richard]

On 3/2/2019 at 8:56 PM, AspirationalFlyer said:

Hello 

 

A few thoughts from me too: 

 

1. If there is something you are particularly keen on, do book in advance. I’ve only had one cruise where anything sold out (QV, Med, 2017) but it does happen. Also the tickets are either in your room on boarding or delivered shortly afterwards, so it’s far less hassle. If there are places where you are less fussed, perhaps wait until you are onboard. There have been presentations on previous cruises about the excursion options which have helped me and my family decide what we’d like to do. 

 

2. It depends on the location. In some places (for example in Kefalonia) it just wasn’t needed. In Zeebrugge there is a coach to the local town where you can take the train to Brugge. I visited Blankenberg in December, but I’d happily spend an hour or two on that beach in the summer. It is wide, long and sandy. 

 

3. I’ve always booked with Cunard directly because it’s easier. However, depending on the location, I’m sure there are better value for money options. Cruise ship excursions are expensive for what you get.  And the quality of the guides has ranged from excellent to average to fairly awful. 

 

I think AspirationalFlyer has got it spot on with the options.

 

If there is something really particular in the ship's excursion list then I too would book in advance to avoid disappointment.

 

Meanwhile, if Thorsten is open minded then here are a few links to help make a decision...

 

https://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/2015/06/15/zeebrugge-for-dummies/

 

 

and of course Bruges...

 

https://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/2015/06/15/one-way-to-do-bruges/

 

[Host Hattie]

On 2/28/2019 at 11:29 PM, Underwatr said:

On another line we hired a van taxi (which seated something like 6 or 8 of us) to go from the entrance of the Seebrugge terminal to the square in Bruges. It helped that the CC thread for that cruise had a member who loved organizing things like that.

 

I booked a taxi for 6 of us, friends we sailed with and another couple from our roll call. It worked really well.

[schattenfell71]

Thanks again for all of your help.

 

@SolentRichard: This is very interesting...thanks for posting.

 

 

 

 

[Denny01]

I’m on an Aug 2020 cruise and no website excursions are listed yet. The site said to check back in a ‘few weeks’. Obviously, we have a while before the cruise but never been to Norway so interested in what is available so does anyone know long prior to a cruise does Cunard list excursions. Going to look at 2019 cruise to those ports to see what is normally available. 

 

Den

[Denny01]

I posted earlier that I’d look at other cruises that included Norway to see their excursions, but the way the Cunard website works, it doesn’t seem to allow us to view excursions on other itineraries you aren’t booked on. Oh well. I’ll wait until the excursions for my Aug 2020 cruise are opened. 

 

Den