ozzandwitchy

Depends on your interests.  The town itself is walkable and a few things to look at, but not many attractions per se.  A bit out of town is the Cannon museum, Setesdal Mineral Park and the Setesdalbanen Vintage Railway.   

We did the railway, caught a bus to the town of Grovane and the train travels to Roykes return alongside rivers and lakes, only runs on Wednesdays and weekends however.

On 1/12/2020 at 5:31 AM, cruise kitty said:

 

Bay of Islands has a great free shuttle that will take you from the area that you're tendered to into the little town,  there are a couple of hiking trails there, as well as little ferries that will take you to the other small islands/towns with more beautiful hiking trails. Sightseeing boats to see the little dolphins as well.    There's also the amazing Waitangi Treaty museum within walking distance...  unless there's a particular destination you have in mind, I wouldn't bother with a car there.  

Agree with the car advice.  Unless you specifically want to see something outside of Waitangi, Paihia and Russell then I wouldn't bother with the car.  If you want to see Kauri trees or Kawiti Glow Worm Caves then the car is fine.  You can easily walk to Paihia from the pier in Waitangi along the coast and plenty of ferry boats and excursion boats to other islands.

There are three separate walks to do in Wai-o-tapu.  If you do all three it will probably take about 75-90 minutes, and allow another 30 mins to stop and take photos or walking breaks, so you could realistically do it in 2 hours without rushing.  The total walking is about 3 kilometres (almost 2 miles) and not really strenuous.  If you want to see the Lady Knox Geyser as well (erupts at 10.15am) then allow another hour, on a different road nearby (get there 20-30 minutes early for a good spot to see it).  This is probably why the website says allow three hours for the visit.

Hi roothy123.

I can add something here are the Motuara Island cruise.  We did this cruise in March 2019 (touring NZ by land, not a cruise).  We went with E-ko Cruises - they have a morning cruise 8am and a 1pm cruise (4 hours in duration).  Not sure what time your stay is in Picton if you have time to do it.  The times of the cruises are aligned to the Wellington-Picton ferries.

The cruise is great and you see plenty of wildlife (birds, fur seals and dolphins) both on the way to the island and back to Picton.   The boat will slow down or stop if there is any interesting wildlife.  The boat will also stop at the Motuara pier and then go on a one hour walk of the island where you will see birdlife and plants.  The guided walk stops at the top of the Island where there is a lookout with nice views of Queen Charlotte sound.

Great cruise.

Thanks!

 

And was wondering if you had the name of the tour company you used.

Hi Diane.

We used Alotau Tours. They don't have a website but do have a Facebook page with the tours and photos of experiences. The company is better contacted through Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/ALOTAUTOURS/

We ended up doing the Bawilai Village tour and WW2 History combo tour (4.5 hours), but they have individual or combo tours around Alotau. It was a great tour and a tour of 14 people.

The tour included: Bawilai Cultural Village

* meet local villagers, engage in discussions about our culture and way of life.

* demonstrations involving their daily activities including noni oil making and uses

*Forest Tour

* Traditional Cutural Dance

War History

* Japanese landing site at Ahioma

* John French Memorial

* Battle of Milne Bay memorial

* Turnbull Field memorial

* Gurney Airport (relic of anti aircraft gun)

I doubt anything will happen in the near future involving restrictions on tourists to Russia. In June/July is the Football/Soccer World Cup in Russia and there will be 100,000s of foreign visitors, which is one of the biggest sports events in the world so very unlikely anything will change until after that event. Russia has spent billions of dollars to ensure the facilities are up to scratch, they need to get their money back in tourists spending a pile of money.

Some cruises are specifically travelling to St Petersburg to co-incide with the matches so cruisers can go to the games.

No real beaches nearby, but if you want to have a swim you can snorkel off the jetty near the Waterfront Lodge. They also have an outdoor thatched roof area that serves drinks and food and also there might be music or other entertainment. It's only about a 10 minute walk from where the ship will dock. We ended up doing a half day WW2 tour with a private company then have a drink at the Waterfront Lodge before heading back to the ship. I believe there was a boat on the jetty that offered fishing and other snorkelling opportunities as well

Well, well. Those new payment machines presented tableside that have a tip line or percentage tip pre-set option. That's cheeky. Service charges are already built in the menu prices. You may feel pressured into tipping above and beyond this.

Ignore it. I tip cash if I feel like it and the service was great. I found up if I feel like it. I refuse to be bullied into tipping.

Oh, one thing in Australia that REALLY gets my blood boiling is the refusal of Australian restaurants, cafes etc to split bills. They always let customers work out their own share of the bill.

I think someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed yesterday.

The payment machines have set software that has the tip line/percentage built into the POS system (world wide software set for international markets). It is not a ploy by cafes/restaurants to gauge tips out of customers.

The shared bill (but itemised) is quite common as most tables with a group of people have shared items like bottles of wine or appetisers/starters/shared seafood platter so it's not up to the restaurant to decide who pays for what, the customers decide that (won't take long to calculate a few items).

Any updates?

 

Until the political issues calm down Russia is a no go for us, but we’d really like to see Copenhagen, Stockholm, Finland, Tallin, etc.

 

 

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Exactly why is it a no go? Yes a few consulates have closed and diplomats sent home, but I wouldn't think that as a means to not go. If you not go to a country on political or moral grounds, there wouldn't be many countries left to visit. I doubt there would be an increased safety risk for the average tourist.

Most cruises include St. Petersburg as a destination, but an alternative is you can DIY and purchase ferry trips (eg. Stockholm to Helsinki, Helsinki to Tallinn, Tallinn to Stockholm).

Even though I think it's a bit of an overreaction for now, the cruiselines won't cancel just yet, unless it escalates to a worse situation, the stop is extremely profitable for the cruiselines. I wouldn't think for the regular traveller there will be much difference. Most of the Russian public don't really care about discussing political issues from the Kremlin or Whitehouse so I doubt you will experience any backlash from the general public.

The cruise won't just have Americans on board so the cruiselines won't just cancel a cruise because the American consulate is closed.

As far as tours go, I don't think it really makes a difference between ship tours and private tours.

With alternate ports, if it has to be cancelled, a lot of cruiselines have an overnight in Stockholm, but also there are nearby Baltic ports of Klaipeda (Lithuania), and Riga (Latvia) which can serve as an alternative.

We took the HOHO from the port to the city. It does run sooner than 10am. We docked at 7am and got on the bus about 7.30. It left about 8am when it was almost full and dropped us off at Market Square. You could either get off from there and walk around or get the regular HOHO route from there.

On the way back to port you have to meet at Senate Square in front of the cathedral to get back to port. In the shed at the port there are HOHO staff who will advise you when the first bus leaves and when the last one will leave the city for the port. No need to book in advance, perhaps just see how you feel at the time you reach the dock then choose either to use the HOHO or the tram to the city.

The HOHO bus from Senate Square to port was packed tight when we tried to get back. It was standing room only.

Helsinki is mostly walkable so we used a mixture of the HOHO and walking and the ferry to Suomenlinna fortress.

The Sibelius Monument is Ok, not fantastic. The problem is if there are too many people they clamber all over the monument so you can't really get any good photos.

Unfortunately the Olympic Stadium and tower is still under construction and closed until further notice.

The time difference is 3 hours and direct flights are 4 hours 10 minutes so you will only lose 1 hour 10 in time.

We will be on the Regal this coming June. I am trying to decide on an evening excursion while we are in SPB. I'm leaning towards either the folklore show or the Faberge Museum. In researching others opinions, I've seen posts that say there is a Russian folklore show on board the first night we will be in port. If anyone has seen this, can you tell me if it's any good? On stage or just in the atrium area? Thanks.

Hi travellingnana. There is a Folklore show on the ship. They will have 2 shows on the Regal in the main theatre, so you'll have plenty of room (this was in 2016). The quality if the show is very good, but hey, even the average folklore shows in Russia are of great quality. We decided to use this option than to do a night tour or a folklore show in St. Petersburg itself, especially with a busy day planned for day 2.

It's not uncommon. Rich travellers that need transportation to the city are probably willing to pay it than to explore other options. It's quite common for airports to have expensive public transport options to the town, much more expensive than regular public transport. It's not uncommon for buses and trains to cost $20 from airports to cities where regular public transport would cost $3-5, so some cruise ports would be the same.

There are plenty of tour companies that handle 2-day tours. I have used Alla which was great, but there are also many other great companies. Most focus on the similar attractions and sites and are much cheaper than the cruiselines.

If you book with the tour companies it is visa-free, you will receive a tour ticket that you need with your passport to provide to passport control. The tour companies have no control to issue visas or issue a blanket visa, it is simply a tour ticket for visa-free entry.

If you've already been to KI and Barossa then head to Robe.

Robe is nice, and you can go further and stay in Mt. Gambier and check out the Blue Lake and Sinkhole (also head to the coast - Pt McDonnell), then head back to Adelaide through the Coonawarra (wine area), Naracoorte (caves - World Heritage site) past Keith and Murray Bridge. This should take up a book 5-6 spare days.

As far as discount cards go there is the Oslo Pass which includes public transport and entry to many attractions. You just have to work out if you have time to visit enough attractions that you will save money. I found it good value as I managed to squeeze in Folk Museum, Viking Ship Museum, Maritime Museum, Fram, Kon-Tiki, Akershus Castle and Holmenkollen Ski Jump with public transport

https://www.visitoslo.com/en/activities-and-attractions/oslo-pass/

You can pick one up at the shopping stalls at the dock.

a local who is taking us fishing in July asked for the address our ship (Regal on July 28( will be at. I've googled and found where the REgal will be at the Oslo port on that day but cannot find the address. Can anyone give me a link? I'm feeling pretty dumb lol

The Oslo cruise schedule can be found here: http://oslohavn.no/no/cruise/

It will dock at SAK (Sondre Akershuskai), outside Akershus Castle. A port map of Oslo can be found here: http://www.oslohavn.no/en/passengers/passenger_traffic/cruise/

Not sure how long it takes to get them in hand? We leave in 10 days :)

Not enough time for processing and mailing of the Fan ID, so unfortunately it's not an option for this short term. The fan ID website recommends a delivery time of up to 30 days for foreign (non-Russian) addresses.

Yeah, sounds like a charter which will mean there is no way of doing it independently, which will mean, unfortunately, more cost.

You'll have to decide if you want to do this and the Flam or just the Flam and have a look around Kristiansand itself.

Hi fvandewouver.

The train ride is very scenic. I don't know how it compares to Flam as I haven't done that but most of the rail line goes alongside a river so it's very nice scenery.

Depending on your length of time in port you will have time to explore Kristiansand after the train ride (our stop was 9:00 - 17:00). It's quite easy to do yourself by taking local bus line 30 from the city to the Grovane stop. The train station is across the road. You can buy tickets inside the station in Grovane (140 kronor = 15 euro). It is best going both ways. Just make sure the train is running on that day (usually on Wednesday and the weekend).

If you are there on Sunday take the 11am train. Turnaround at Royknes is 30 minutes, that's all the time you need, there is not much there, maybe a food stall. If you sit on the train on the right side going forward is the best view (although the first 5 mins it's better on the left).

The cruise shore excursion (Princess) only went one way and a bus picked up the passengers at Royknes.

You can take the same bus 30 back to Kristiansand.

I'll try to upload some photos if you're interested.

I did this cruise last year - it happens at Boston. The immigration officials get on once the ship is docked and there will be two lines - US passport holders and non-US passport holders, there will always be people in the wrong line or trying to queue jump. The US line goes much faster as it's a sighting of the passport only. If you have a non-US passport you have questions to answer and get your passport stamped so it takes longer. Expect 30-60 mins in the queue.

The good news for us was that we arrived three hours earlier than planned so an expected 8am arrival was changed to 5am, however we did leave Cobh 3 hours earlier to compensate.

There is customs check when you arrive in New York, this happens on port with all your bags on disembarkation day.

Unless there is a full scale cold war situation I doubt anything would change. The cruise lines make way too much money from St. Petersburg to cancel it on a whim. If it was cancelled then alternate ports could include Riga and Klaipeda, but I doubt anything would happen in the next few months. Most cruise line ships aren't registered in the US anyway so there would be no problem if Russia suddenly has restrictions against the US.

Probably not worth it for one day, but would be of more value for 3-5 days. Depends on what you want to see. Tivoli is open after hours (after 6pm) so is the Tycho Brahe Planetarium which are both on the Copenhagen Card so you could do a quick visit after everything else is shut.