Northern Europe Queen Victoria

[Minnie29]

We are booked on Queen Victoria Northern Europe cruise in April.

Can anyone advise on excursions in Hamburg, Bruge and Rotterdam?

How far is it from the port to Hamburg city and will Cunard provide a shuttle if we want to tour independently?

Will Rotterdam be worth a visit and how far is it to walk from the port into the city or would an organised excursion be better?

Bruge on our own would be our preference there but Cunard seem to charge a very high cost just for the coach transfers.

How much would a taxi cost from the port into Bruges?

Thank you

[Host Hattie]

You'll find Bruges and Rotterdam information here.

[exlondoner]

There is a free shuttle in Hamburg. After which it is easy to stroll round the city centre.

 

Rotterdam is nice and full of all sorts of interesting modern architecture. Again, there is a free shuttle.

 

There is a train from near the port to Bruges, which is markedly cheaper than the Cunard transfer. I wouldn’t risk it, but only because I am completely neurotic. Lots of people do. Otherwise there is a better value on your own trip to the very interesting city of Ghent.

[Pushpit]

Hamburg has 3 potential terminals, all some distance apart from each other.  If it's the 30 April, then it's down for Altona, which is next to the quay for the city's own public waterbus services 61 and 62, and so in a few minutes you can get to Landungsbrücken for a few Euros and get an external tour of the QV into the bargain. Ferries every 10-15 minutes, there is a self service ticket machine which accepts cards, cash and contactless. Cunard also puts on a bus to the Rathaus, but there's not much fun in that. And yes you can sort yourself out from there in terms of walking around.

 

Zeebrugge is more tricky. It is on Belgium's coastal tram service, or you can take that tram to Blankenberge instead and the train from there to Bruges (about 40 minutes). Zeebrugge has a train station at Dorp, but it's a full mile from the cruise terminal. I saw some enterpring couples there hiring the public bikes to get to Dorp station. Most people seemed to take Cunard's coach service, but I know the bike couples got to Bruges well before the coach and saved a heap of money in so doing.

 

Rotterdam is just about walkable (2 km) or you can get the metro from Wilhelminaplein, That metro line is on the E line so you can continue on through Rotterdam on to The Hague, though it takes a while.

[Winifred 22]

In November we got a taxi for 5 from the terminal at the port entrance, everybody has to get off here for security and either make independent arrangements or get back on the Cunard shuttle to Blankenberge. The taxi cost 50 euros to Bruges each way. He dropped us right in the main square and asked us if we would like him to come back later for us. We settled on a time and he arrived promptly. The taxi fares are set by the local authorities as a set rate so no embarrassing haggling. Definitely well worth the money. There were plenty there available. 
In Rotterdam there is a free Cunard shuttle that takes you right in the centre. You can visit Rotterdam itself or take a tram / train further afield. 

[vistaman]

be aware of taking trains in Zeebrugge - one every hour and even in the winter one every 2hours

you can take the tram to Knokke the most upscale place on  the Belgian coast

Blankenberge is far more popular : the train to Brugge is only 20 minutes

taxi's from Blankenberge are allowed to bring people back to the terminal but are not allowed to take people to Brugge from the ship however ??? 

in Zeebrugge there are some not so bad eateries and resto's and there is a Carrefour supermarket 

but it is not a good cruise port !! far away from everything ...

 

 

 

[Solent Richard]

22 hours ago, Minnie29 said:

We are booked on Queen Victoria Northern Europe cruise in April.

 

Bruge on our own would be our preference there but Cunard seem to charge a very high cost just for the coach transfers.

How much would a taxi cost from the port into Bruges?

Thank you

 

Hello there @Minnie29

 

You can find most of the information that you require on Bruges from these two links to my cruise blog...

 

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

 

 

And...

 

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

 

 

*****

[Lanky Lad]

I'm also on this trip. 

 

I have booked for the tulip festival from Rotterdam. 

 

There is usually a shuttle to Blankenburg where you can get a train to Brugge trains are every hour. 

[Minnie29]

Thanks for all the info guys. Really helpful.