sleepingcat

it sounds way too risky to me. cross channel ferries UK to and from France in January can easily be delayed or cancelled altogether because of sea conditions in the Channel. The last time we took a ferry in January from Portsmouth, it left 8 hours after the scheduled time. Flights less risky but still some risk.

Hi Ukulele girl, yes, we did exactly what you are proposing, back in 2014. One of the nicest parts of the trip was finding the case with all our posh cruise clothes, plus nice new not travel worn stuff waiting in our cabin when we boarded in Auckland. the case was picked up from our house by a courier and we saw it again 2 months later on Arcadia in Auckland. I booked the flight and cruise as a package through a certain well known East Midlands cruise specialist. I dont know what the flight cost as they just gave me an all in price. there was no problem about the flight being 4 weeks before we boarded the ship. and we flew emirates out of Birmingham and stopped off in Bangkok for a night. the routing to Christchurch meant we had to change planes in Sydney, which made the travel rather long.I got flight times which were exactly what we wanted, we left the UK on 20th January and boarded Arcadia on something like 22 February. I suspect it might be cheaper to fly into Auckland, but we wanted to spend most of our 4 weeks in the South Island, so opted for Christchurch where we picked up a motorhome. As you know NZ already I wont go on at length about how we organised our trip. but if you search on the 'Australia and NZ ports' board you will find several postings from CC members who have done just what you are planning and including some lengthy replies from me. It was a truly memorable trip from start to finish . we still to hope to do the other half of a worldie some time in the future.

imho Lanzarote is the least interesting of the Canary Islands (I know I ll get shot down for saying that!) the only thing worth doing is the visit to the volcanic park, which is spectacular as the volcanic action is live, and they do stuff like cooking steaks over the steam vents, we did that excursion years ago on a land holiday, but it looks to be still the same. We were also there last year on a ship and an excursion was included in the cruise price, so we went by coach to a beach in the north called Playa de Famara which has a bit of a surfing/ hippy vibe, but its a long way in the coach and there is really not much there as far as I could see in a short visit. Jimmy is right that the beach you mention is a long way. its near one of the main resorts, that s where we stayed on our land holiday, pleasant enough place for a winter sun escape from the UK but nothing special.

Its less than a mile on foot and with the Lisbon traffic you might not gain much. we have walked there. There are taxis waiting as soon as you exit the cruise terminal. have never used one though. oh, I just found this link... https://lisbonlisboaportugal.com/lisbon-transport/lisbon-taxi-guide.html a word of caution is to check what is and is not open on a Sunday. Portugal tends to have a more traditional Sunday than we do for example in the UK. I would only add, if you havent seen Lisbon, then its a pity to go to Sintra. Lisbon is one of my favourite cities in the world, there is so much to do and see and lovely food and drink.

we often go to spain and Portugal in the winter. Malaga Cadiz and Gibraltar will feel really warm like UK in summer (unless its raining). Lisbon is sheltered and south facing so if the sun is out it will be warm. ( we ve eaten outside in Lisbon in January). the Bay of biscay and La Corunna will be conditions known in our family as 'Cornwall at easter', ie have a jumper or jacket to take on and off as necessary and be ready for random rain showers. Take a woolly hat if you want to walk on deck in the Bay, its always windy. I would just take loads of different clothes, one of the joys of cruising for us is being able to take lots of stuff and have someone else load it onto the ship. If you fall in love with cruising (as we did ) you ll have good ideas for your next one. enjoy.

Useful if you ve not come across this issue. Article in the Mirror: https://www.mirror.co.uk/travel/cruises/experts-issue-warning-cruise-passengers-30865659 I think the problem may be more an issue on US based cruise lines as I think Ive noticed posting about it from US cruisers. In Europe roaming charges are more transparent (but I m ready to be corrected on this!).

downtown Auckland is very walkable. We stayed pre cruise and post land tour, so I chose a serviced apartment with a washing machine , and I quite like making my own breakfast. I think it was on Albert street, we could see the sky tower from the balcony. and it was walking distance from the cruise ship terminal. you mentioned the ferries, yes absolutely you want to get out on the water in Auckland harbour, its one of the best in the world. We were lucky enough to be taken sailing by friends who live there, was one of the high points of a trip with many.

NZ has such a lot of lovely places that is impossible to see it all. we had a whole month of land tour and still missed lots. so adding some days before/after cruise would certainly help. Unless you want to visit Sydney there is no benefit in starting the cruise there, as you ll just get sea days crossing to NZ and back. Good advice from Sinbad, much more local than me, above. Picton is the departure port for ferries between the South Island and north. its a pretty place in a nice setting. but on a ship you ll probably want to do a wine tour as its near the most famous NZ wine producers. the South Island for us is all about the scenery, nature and the wildlife so if that s your interest then favour the South Island. Its also wonderfully quiet, though maybe will not seem that way on the day a cruise ship calls somewhere.

long time since we were in Soller, but I dont think the train and tram will have changed as they are both historic preserved features. and from your post I m not sure if you trip includes both or one of them. In either case the carriages/cars are historic and require climbing up steps to get in to. there may be some adaptations on the platforms for the train. for the tram probably not. the town of Soller is delightful with narrow rough cobbled streets and squares. Puerto Soller where the tram goes to is a pretty seaside harbour which is flat around the harbour where the tram comes in. If you track down the relevant episode of Michael Portillo's 'great continental railway journeys' (BBC I Player) you can see both the train and tram and where they go as he travelled the whole thing from Las Palmas to Puerto Soller. I guess maybe some clips on YouTube also as the train is much loved by historic rail enthusiasts. I hope it works out for you as the whole area is very scenic.

You dont say if you ve been to Europe before or not, but in case not, I suggest that for all the places you list , imho the best way to visit most of them would be by walking around and/or using local transport, including the ho/ho buses. there are lots of historic buildings , parks and museums easily accessible. Probably better accessible with a tour would be for example the Giants Causeway (Belfast), or Loch Ness (Inverness). a lot depends on your interests. Also be aware in your planning that the places where ships actually dock are not always the place listed. For example, Edinburgh info above; Dublin, its Dun Laoghaire (I can never spell it), for Bruges its Zeebrugge. Whereas for some others eg Liverpool, you can walk off the ship and start exploring. So really to answer your question, you ll first need to look at where you actually dock at each port call, as advised by Edinburgher. And its also the case there is lots of info for each port in posts left by previous visitors. Have fun doing the research, I m sure you will... and a final note, depending how well you know the British Isles, May is not really the summer yet, the weather will be changeable and probably not that warm. think jackets and layers....

no quibbles with your plan or the comments above. the only thing to maybe think about is that the other lovely attraction of Southampton is the closeness of the New Forest (national park, nature reserve, no other habitat like it anywhere I the UK). easily accessible also by bus and train. instead of doing two cathedral cities, you might substitute New forest on day 3. Get off train in Brockenhurst and just wander out, avoiding the free ranging ponies and other animals which are peacefully grazing everywhere including in the middle of the village. nice places to eat as well and lots of history. Have a lovely visit whatever you do.

and by the way, depending how adventurous you are you could make up your own itinerary as all the Canary Islands are connected with each other by frequent ferries.

British cruise companies do this : they fly passengers from the UK down to Tenerife and then do a cruise of the islands. check out Marella/Tui, P and O may have this as well. All the British companies do cruises to the Canaries out of Southampton and some other ports, especially in winter. on a two week cruise you ll get a week in the Canaries with calls at several islands. We ve done this I think 3 times, its the easiest way to get a bit of sun during the British winter. The German cruise lines also have departures in the Canaries in winter, based out of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Ive also seen itineraries departing from the UK which do the Canaries and go on to the Azores, try Fred Olsen and Saga.

how about no driving at all? Lisbon is par excellence the city to just wander off the ship and start walking, then take a tram or a cab or a local train. we ve been there a few times because departing from the UK Lisbon is often a port stop, and its one of my favourites, I will never be bored in Lisbon. I had my 70th birthday there, we went to the modern art museum then ate lunch on a restaurant terrace , outdoors in the sun (it was January) . make sure you taste some port (well, unless you have Porto as a port call also), and buy some of those unusual decorated Portuguese sardine tins as souvenirs. also note that the only time we did a ships tour, we spent most of the time in the bus stuck in traffic, Lisbon is busy and the Portuguese driving style takes a little getting used to (I m being tactful).

portland is the harbour for the seaside town of Weymouth, which is on the main UK rail network. In the event something does go horribly wrong for you, head to London Waterloo from which trains depart hourly direct to Weymouth rail station. From there a short taxi ride will get you to Portland.

Your other option, not for this time but for the future is to book with a cruise line which offers a door to door pickup as part of their price. We have travelled with Saga which offers this, and it is a great feeling to know once you are in the taxi that someone else is taking care of everything. Depending where you live you could also look at the coach companies which offer a service from mostly the midlands to your cruise terminal. they pick up from motorway services at strategic points. we havent used this but some former neighbours found it ideal for them.

Oh! I m just catching up here. So Saga not using Southampton at all any more? That is a pity as its a half hour longer journey for us, and as pointed out above, embarkation and leaving the ship and the port are very smooth there. Like FannyLiz above we know that stretch of tarmac in Portsmouth very well from numerous times in queues and sleeping there before embarking a ferry in our motorhome. Not a particularly nice place to spend time or negotiate on foot, I had no idea that cruise departures were from the same place.

If you are on discovery right now you are about to get the treat of a lifetime as the ship crosses the path of the Tall ships flotilla leaving Falmouth for A Coruna! Tall ships departure was delayed from yesterday by the stormy weather they have just set out now. Watch out and please take photos or video. We were in Falmouth on thursday but couldn't stay for the sail away.

We had a good experience when misfortune struck but it was several years ago now (2014). MY OH had to undergo an emergency operation which was performed at a hospital in Singapore. It was unusual because instead of being repatriated after the operation, we flew to catch the ship up and reboarded to complete our cruise back to the UK. This was down to the ship's medical team being willing to accept my husband back on board - in fact not just willing, the doctor on board suggested it would be better than flying home. Between our insurer and P and O everything was arranged as well as one might hope. Not to say that I didn't find it pretty stressful though. The ship's doctor advised with the port agent which hospital. A hotel was booked for me. We were in Singapore for 3 or 4 days. Every day someone from P and O support phoned me to find out if I was okay and processes were happening. She was in direct contact with our insurer. When my husband left the hospital they took the £100 excess off my card and the rest of the bill went direct to our insurer (phew). With appropriate medical approval, we flew on to Colombo, staying in a hotel booked and paid for by our insurer. We then reboarded Arcadia when she arrived. And someone from the Ship's reception team phoned me several times to find out how we were and give instructions for meeting up with the port agent. The port agent in Colombo was amazing, as the bureaucratic procedure for reboarding was complex. When we got back on board there were flowers in the cabin for us. and ongoing care from the ship's medical team for my husband.

Not really, I just buy what they have in my local pharmacy. I m just looking at the packaging of the last ones I bought over the counter. They are Stugeron 15. they make you drowsy, but I think that is true for all of them.

The kinds of local small businesses that sell for example the best ever crab sandwich, fish and chips, pick your own strawberries, street markets, roadside vendors, may well want, or at least prefer, cash. So here in coastal south Devon I always have a bit of cash with me so that I can support these people and take advantage of something unexpected that I come across. Some places you still need coins for parking, though the machines increasingly take credit card payments, but I wonder about overseas credit cards (??), so if you are hiring a car you might want pounds or euros. We ve also had a few bad experiences in France where some machines do not like our British credit and debit cards. And I agree about tipping. last week a group of us went by coach to the lost gardens of Heligan in Cornwall and someone passed a hat round to collect pound coins for a tip for our driver (if you ve seen the roads in Cornwall you will know that it was well deserved, they are mainly fit for a horse and cart. Ireland is similar).

On our first cruise, Christmas in the Caribbean in 2012, not just some passengers but also members of the team were on board because they knew the CD and wanted to be there. the craft lady said to me ' when I knew it was Anthony, I said I would do this cruise'. Anthony was really good at his job, well willing to muck in with the team, always there for a chat, and hardly ever tried to be funny. Except when he appeared brilliantly as the pantomime dame in the crew pantomime. On our second cruise, RWC on Arcadia, several passengers were on board because of the CD, and some of his family were on as passengers. I am sorry I cannot remember his name because he was also great. Since then... well, no one really memorable, and too much of people who are not funny putting on events which I m not attracted to. so yes, a good cruise director makes a huge difference, especially on a longer cruise.

I m ready to be corrected on this, but I think that on Fred its for a passenger or passengers to request with the cruise director team and set up a specific meet up which then gets advertised in the daily news. our first time on Fred, my oh who is a Rotarian, attended a meet of Rotarians which had been organised by a fellow Rotarian passenger. And if you've taken part in the roll call for your cruise you can also organise a meet up that way. some people did that last year when we were on Saga S of A.

Hi Sarah again, one of the pleasures of European cruising is that the cruise dock in so many ports is right by the city, for example Vigo, La Corunna, Lisbon, Cadiz, Malaga, Malta. you just step off the ship and wander. Also to know that because in Spanish towns and cities most people live in apartments there is generous provision of kids playgrounds often in a green tree shaded park, and these are well used by locals. A lovely time in a Spanish town is early evening when multigenerational families will be out walking, in cafes, and at the playground.

Me again. La Palma is the least developed of the Canary Islands. The absolutely best thing to do there is to go up the National Park , its absolutely beautiful. And probably the quietest place I ve ever been to on earth. You are on the edge of Europe, nothing between you and the Americas, no cars, no motorways, no planes overhead. We did it with a ships tour, but a private taxi will allow you to spend as much time as you want. Our group was all saying to the guide that we wanted to stay longer than the ship's tour allowed.