AntjeG

On 4/7/2024 at 10:18 AM, rakkor said:

Just adding the email address and  in case people do require it

 

If you have any questions about the Stockperks app, please contact carnivalcorp@stockperks.com.

 

 

 

No - that´s the email adress that gives you an automated "email not valid" back. You can contact Stockperks at hello@stockperks.com

1 hour ago, Bell Boy said:

If you click on 'Carnival'  and scroll down it should bring up Cunard, P&O, Seabourn etc.

I and many others appear to have had no problem finding Cunard . 

Unfortunatley, no. I contacted Stockperks and they admitted that their app doesn´t work on every phone. Mine is one of those it doesn´t work on. They plan to provide a web browser based tool to access the benefits. Until then, if it doesn´t work on your phone, you need to contact them (email), tell them which phone you use and then send your proof of ownership via email. That´s how I finally got my benefit.

Side note:

Cunard provides a wrong email adress of stockperks. If you tell them and ask for the correct email, you get another automated response telling you to download the stockperks app and if you have questions to contact stockperks (at the wrong email adress). I only found out here how to contact stockperks. Thanks cruise critic.

Thanks.

I didn´t find info on the Cunard website, maybe anyone here knows:

If I have OBC will Cunard take the OBC for the service charge (or a part of it if the OBC is not enough)?

I hope Cunard can clarify this. The email adress of stockperks which was given to me in the original automatic message is "not valid" so I have no chance to reach out to stockperks directly.

I did, without success. No answer from Cunard yet.

There is a new procedure to get the shareholder benefit (and I haven´t managed to get mine so far). 

I sent them the email as described in the posts before, and got this response (quote):

Thank you for contacting Carnival UK, Shareholder Benefits inbox.
If your email relates to a request for your shareholder onboard credit benefit for your upcoming sailing, please visit Shareholder Benefit | Carnival Corporation & plc for information regarding a change in process.

Carnival Corporation has engaged Stockperks to implement a more automated and streamlined process for the processing of shareholder benefits. All information can be found on the link above or by visiting our brand website on the link below.

P&O Cruises- Shareholder Benefits | P&O Cruises (pocruises.com)

Cunard- https://www.cunard.com/en-gb/advice-and-policies/shareholder-information

The Stockperks service is governed by Stockperks’ Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and may be subject to other Stockperks policies and terms.  For information regarding Stockperks’ use and processing of your information, technical support, account setup, and all other questions regarding the use of Stockperks, please contact Stockperks at carnivalcorp@stockperks.com.

Should you have any issues with this process and need to contact us, you can do so by reaching us on the email addresses below (however please note shareholder benefit requests cannot be processed through this channel)

• P&O Cruises: po.guestservices@carnivalukgroup.com
• Cunard: customerservices@cunard.co.uk

I downloaded the app, created a profile and found out that they only give you the choice between AIDA cruise lines and Carnival cruise lines. I can´t access any of the other lines, including Cunard. Sent email for help to the Cunard customerservice and hope to get answer from them soon.

Anyway, the app requests to give access to your broker which I will deny. It´s none of Carnival Corp. business which assets I have.

 

Another idea for your 3/4 day trip: Schwerin!

Trains run frequently and the journey takes between 55 minutes and 1:28 hrs (depending if you take a fast train or a regional train).

Schwerin is the capital of the province of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Until 1918 a Duke reigned in the castle. Today the castle hosts the provincial parliament but part of it is a museum. There is a lot of great architecture to be seen. The downtown are is quite small and easy to walk. Boat tours on the lakes which suround the city are offered. The Galerie Alter und neuer Meister (opposite the castle) is a great museum with art from the 17th century to contemporary art. I really love Schwerin.

Here is their English tourist website: http://www.schwerin.com/en/

By the way, in my opinion you have a full day for that trip (or Lüneburg). The sun goes down at a quarter to 10 PM in June so your night photos of Hamburg can´t be taken at 5 PM!

Lüneburg is a very good idea! Here is their tourist information website in English: http://www.lueneburg.info/en/english-homepage/

It is a charming town to just walk around and take in the scenery. Train ride takes less than one hour from Hamburg and trains run frequently.

For taking photos of Hamburg may I suggest you go the Elbphilharmonie (the new concert hall in the harbour). They have a viewing platform called Elbphilharmonie Plaza which you can enter without a concert ticket. Great views from there.

I would choose the Osnabrück connection.

reasons:

Hannover Hbf (main station) is much bigger than Osnabrück. In your first post you said you are not familiar with public transport. Maybe it is more difficult to find your way at Hannover than at Osnabrück.

But the main reason is the construction work at the railway network. The train via Hannover comes from Bavaria where there is construction near Würzburg going on. Delays may occur on some days.

You are welcome. I had to buy train tickets for myself so it was no big extra to switch the machine to English and see what it offers to our English speaking guests.

I enjoyed my visit to your unique country 2 yrs ago very much and I met many helpful and friendly people. Time to give something back!

Btw, many people here speak at least a little bit of English as we do have many tourists from all over the world (mainly the Scandinavian countries) here. If you need information or so just ask somebody on the street. You may find that fewer elderly people speak English but most who are younger than 60 learned English at school.

additional info about ticket vendor machine:

I just checked the one at Lübeck main station. The Kleingruppenkarte is quite hidden (perhaps because it is a good price and they only want you to find the more expensive tickets). This is how you do it:

1. Press button with British flag on it (at the bottom of the screen) - languages switches to English.

2. press button "transport association" (at the right lower corner of screen)

3. enter destination (there should be a list at the left side of the screen which also offers Lübeck Hbf. If not, type Lübeck)

4. press day ticket

5. select "small group day ticket"

6. select "pay"

For the single tickets from Kiel to Preetz go back to the main menu, select Preetz as your destination, single fare. There should be a button which allows you to select how many tickets you need. If you don´t find that just by the tickets one by one.

Here is a thread with some more info on Lübeck on your own:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2464864

As your port time seems to be limited may I suggest you go to Lübeck by train. After exit the train station you cross the street. There is a tunnel with a sign "ZOB" on it (ZOB is the main bus station). Walk to ZOB and take any bus which stops at "Fegefeuer". It is a 10 minutes ride instead of 25 minutes walk. Fegefeuer is next to the cathedral. You can then do your sight seeing downtown and end your walk at the medieval city gate "Holstentor". This has a bus stop near by which gets you back to ZOB in 2 minutes (or you walk 5 minutes to the train station from there).

The 8:44 train leaves Preetz exactly at 9 AM so the Kleingruppenkarte will be valid from there.A single ticket from Kiel to Preetz is 4,75 €. Train tickets do not have to be validated (except day tickets by signing your names).

The ticket vendor machines at the train station "speak" English. There should be a button with the British flag on. If you press that the machines switch to English. Credit cards are accepted.

Btw, Kleingruppenkarte is valid for the city busses in Lübeck also. So if you walk downtown and are tired and want to take the bus back to the train station just enter a bus and show your Kleingruppenkarte to the driver. All busses which run downtown stop at "ZOB/Hauptbahnhof" which is across the street from the train station. You should ask the driver if the bus is in that direction or opposite. The German word for train station is "Bahnhof". There are also signs at the bus stops which tell you the next stations. If you don´t find "ZOB/Hauptbahnhof" just cross the street and take the bus from that side.

For WWII:

Lübeck was bombed 75 yrs ago by the Brits (in return for Germany bombing Coventry). As you walk downtown you will find medival houses and modern (sometimes ugly) replacements for the houses which burned down.

If he is really interested in that history you should visit both Marienkirche (St. Mary´s church) and the cathedral. Both were heavily hit and reconstruction of all 7 church towers downtown was not finished until the 1980s. There is an exhibition at Marienkirche right now with large photos of the city after the bombing and you can still see the bell which fell down and was broken. The church is now a member of the Nail Cross association. This is a very interesting part of history post-war. Thankfully, Coventry cathedral (which was burned by German bombs) shared this cross made of medieval nails with churches bombed in the war all over Europe. Marienkirche is one of them, along with one in Berlin and others. A history of reconsiliation.

Then there is St. Petri (St. Peter´s church). Also destroyed and the last to be re-opened. The community of that church had been absorbed by the other downtown churches by then. So that church today is a church without a community. You can find exhibitions and concerts and politics talks there and the tower has a great viewing platform from where you have a great view all over the city.

Another interesting part of WWII history is connected with the Jewish bank manager Eric Warburg from Hamburg. During the war he was a soldier with the US Army. He asked his cousin Carl Jacob Burkhardt (who was a manager with the Red Cross) to use Lübeck as a storage for Red Cross supplies, and so he did. This is why Lübeck was not bombed again (the plan was to fully destroy it). To honor both men, a school was named after Carl Jacob Burckhardt and a bridge was named after Eric Warburg.

Btw, Marienkirche charges 2 € per adult if you want to visit for sight seeing. They don´t charge if you come to pray or attend a service. The 2 € go into their maintenance fund. Marienkirche is the biggest medieval church in northern Germany and maintenance is expensive.

I found other churches in other countries charging even more for tourist visits so I think 2 € is an OK mandatory donation for that purpose. All the other churches in Lübeck are free (donations welcome but not mandatory).

I would not go to Berlin from Hamburg. Trains are on schedule often, but not always. There is some construction going on on our railway network right now and I am not sure if you would be affected.

Plus, Hamburg and Lübeck are great places you would miss out by sitting in the train.

For Lübeck I would (as others have said) recommend you do it on your own. Here is some information on Lübeck on your own:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2464864

As your port time is long enough there will be enough time to do Lübeck and the Miniatur Wonderland in Hamburg.

Btw, how old is your son? Lübeck has a great museum on theatre puppets he might enjoy. And Hansemuseum has all the information in English and a special tour for kids (in English).

I wear jeans all the time except for theatre/concerts and upscale restaurants.

I wouldn´t recommend shorts in churches.

Here is local information.

Schleswig-Holstein has a new price system for public transport. The Länderticket may not be the best option for you.

First, the schedule:

Kiel Hbf (main station - near cruise terminal) to Lübeck Hbf (main station) departs 8:04, 8:44, 9:04, 9:44 and so on Monday to Friday. The 8:04, 9:04 and so on is a slow train which takes 1:28 hrs, the 8:44, 9:44 and so on is a faster train but still classified as a regional train (important for your ticket) and gets to Lübeck within 1:08 hrs

Back to Kiel from Lübeck Hbf 14:06, 15:06 and so on (faster train) and 14:28, 15:28 and so on (slower train)

Second, the price:

one way is 18,50 € but a day ticket is 30,90 € and gets you to Lübeck and back all day as often as you want. The ticket includes Lübeck city busses for the day. If you are 2 up to 5 persons I´d suggest you buy a Kleingruppenkarte. This is a group day ticket for up to 5 persons valid from 9 AM all day and the price is 36,10 € for the ticket (not per person - it is the price of the ticket). Please note that this is only valid from 9 AM so you can´t take trains before 9 AM. And you must validate the ticket by signing the names of the travellers on the ticket.

The price is the same which you would get directly at Deutsche Bahn http://www.bahn.de so I think you can trust them.

The special price tickets are linked to the train and only a limited number is sold. That´s correct. If you miss your connection and it is your fault you would have to buy an expensive new ticket for the rest of your trip. But if you miss your connection because the first train was late then the original ticket gets you into the next available train without extra costs. Still not pleasant because you loose your seat reservation and will be late at your destination. But with 17 minutes to change in Osnabrück you should be OK, I think. I just checked the construction announcements online and there is nothing scheduled so far on that trip.

I think I would take the train with the special price ticket but invest a few extra €€ for seat reservations.

17 minutes should be OK to switch.

Luggage storage is a problem in our trains. On weekends you could experience crowds, and it is also the main travel time here as kids are on summer break from school. I would prefer first class and reserve seats on the trains.

If you need to catch a ship in Hamburg please go a day earlier and stay in a Hamburg hotel. There is lots of construction going on in the German railway system this year and your train might have some delays because of that.

You could also catch a direct KLM flight from Amsterdam to Hamburg several times per day which gets you to Hamburg in about one hour and is not much more expensive than the train.

May I suggest you go to Lübeck by train? The train station is near the cruise port in Kiel and the train ride is short. Here is some info on Lübeck: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2464864&highlight=Travemunde

From Kiel, a boat tour on Kieler Förde or a visit to the rural museum Molfsee is interesting. Or take a rental car and go to Laboe to visit the marine memorial site.

My port stop there will be next year so I have no experience at this port. But I found a nice tour which might be good: https://www.fjordenligne.com/new-page/english/saguenay-guided-tours/

And there is also a HoHo Bus: http://tourisme.saguenay.ca/en/circuits-and-guided-tours/tourist-bus

I can´t really recommend as my port stop there will be next year but I found this company http://www.mccarthysparty.com/daytours.php?p=daytours and I think they offer interesting tours. Maybe this helps.

You can walk - there is a pedestrian tunnel from Hafenhaus (the terminal building) to the bus station and from there you take the bus. Or you take the bus. Busses No. 30, 31 and 40 go from the terminal directly downtown.

If you want to take the train to go to Lübeck city center may I suggest you just take the bus and stay on the bus. All 3 lines stop at the terminal and downtown. You can get off the bus at "Gustav Radbruch Platz" (about 30 minutes bus ride). You can see the medieval city gate from there. Just walk through and you are in the middle of everything. There is a city map at the bus stop. Or you stay on the bus until "Holstentorplatz". From there you see the other medieval city gate. The tourist information (called Welcome Center) is on the other side of the street.

Bus tickets from Skandinavienkai are 3,20 € per person per direction. If you want to change to the train you don´t have to buy a new ticket to go to Lübeck central station. The bus tickets are valid in the regional trains.

If you are more than 2 adults a "Kleingruppenkarte" may be worth to consider. This is a group ticket for up to 5 persons and is valid on the bus and regional train for as many rides as you like in both directions from 9 AM until late at night. The price is 17,50 € per ticket (not per person).

Bus and train timetable is here: www.nah.sh

You can buy bus tickets from the driver. Be sure to have cash as the busses are not equipped for credit card payment. And the drivers don´t change bills 50 € and over. You need 20 € or less in bills (or coins, of course).