ldog

We are looking for an independent private guide in Cobh/Cork in April.  None of the tours that I see do exactly what we want.  Or could we just get a taxi at the port?  Is there a car rental close to the port?

Hi Kazu....Can you p lease add ldog  Oct 16 - Zaandam - FLL to Santiago, Chile

We've been to the Falklands twice. 

tendering was time consuming but the tours waited for passengers to get there.

Hello Crewbie

Would you share which independent tour operator you used or did you just pick up one at the port on arrival?

thanks

thank you

sapper wins for best post of the day!

We both received emails from Christine saying that our concerns - internet and fruit selection would be forwarded to the departments involved. The internet was down most days and I left with 40 minutes unused of my 100 purchased for a 21 day cruise. And why on earth can't they have berries when we are leaving from Florida?

I usually have a letter in the cabin when we arrive saying that they hope my cruise will be a good one and they have noted my concerns from other cruises.

I'm not generally a complainer so I don't know what that means.

I love team trivia and have met some good friends that way. However, I agree that three times a day (as on our recent Ryndam cruise) is a bit much. It is just a cheap way to entertain us. There was only one lecture.

It helps if your team is made up of a variety of nationalities.

Thank you for answering those questions for the rest of us.

I've organized quite a few M&G's as well. I used to send the form but the last few times I've phoned and it is so easy. I receive a confirmation email that same day.

I print out the confirmation and bring it with me. I usually check in with the event manager on the first day.

Our last cruise on the Ryndam was a BTB so we had two M&G's. I was fairly stressed before we left from all my volunteer gigs. I left all my printouts sitting on my desk by the printer.

On this cruise I received a letter in the cabin confirming the first M&G so I wasn't concerned and didn't meet with the event manager ahead of time. On the morning (2am) of the second M&G I realised that I didn't get a letter of confirmation. I went to Chirsty's office at 8 am. She had no record of it but called the beverage department and everything was set up for our 11 am party. I was pretty impressed.

I agree with all of the above comments about Woodwind.

We have snorkelled all over the world and the drift snorkel off Klein Bonaire was excellent.

The crew are great. Dee was very knowledgeable and informative. They split the group into three - experienced snorkellers, less-experienced and newbies.

The waters were clear, we saw turtles, eels, barracuda, numerous fish and lots of different coral.

I highly recommend this excursion.

We did the Trike tour last month. It was wonderful! There was no trouble taking a cab from the ship and they called a cab for us on return.

Not so good for Aruba Trikes -some rude-dumb-asses who booked the tour didn't show up and didn't call to cancel, :mad: so we were the only couple that day. It might have been fun to have more trikes so we could travel like a biker gang.:)

DH is a very experienced driver so it took no time for his training. We took off with Michelangelo as our guide and drove for almost 4 hours covering most of the island. We stopped lots of times for pictures and leg stretching.

I loved sitting on the raised back seat. Felt like 'Queen of the May'!

I agree with italian boater's recommendations of what to bring except that I would suggest a hat with a tie-on strap. If you have a warm sunny day like we did it can get pretty hot. I only had a ball cap and it would have blown off. I wish I'd known because I had my Tilley on board with me.

DH said it was one of the best excursions I've booked!

We were on the Ryndam for 21 days - Nov 17 to Dec 8. Our cabin was 645 just forward of the aft elevators.

The air conditioning worked but only a little. We had friends further aft that clocked 87F in their cabin. They called the front desk every day. They had a fan but as noted all that does is move hot air around. I'm not sure if they were offered any compensation.

It seems that all the cabins aft of the elevators had severe problems.

One officer told somebody it was because the Ryndam had just returned from Norway and wasn't used to the heat.:confused:

It was really hot and humid in Roatan and Guatamela - cruise log said it was 89.5F but with the humidity it was a good deal warmer.

The common areas of the ship were fine. I don't know what the front office staff can do when it's a full ship and something like this happens. It would be good if someone in authority stepped forward and acknowledged the problem. Avoidance only makes matters worse.

Thank you. We are going to have a wonderful time. I can't wait to be on a Dam ship again!

thank you for doing this.

It's not about saving money. Often it's about having wine that you enjoy. HAL's wine selection is pretty dismal.

I tried to book the Kuranda railway on my own but all the reserved seats were already sold. I presume, to the cruise line.

Jeffry's information is earlier on this thread but here it is again

Jeffry Buana email is mykomodo@yahoo.com

He also does tours in other parts of Indonesia I think.

Hi Jan,

Did you enjoy this Komodo tour? We are going in January 2013 on the Millennium and trying to arrange for a private tour.

Rosa

Now that we've been home for a week I'm trying to catch up with reviews.

YES! YES! YES!

Our tour with Jeffry was fabulous! So much better than the HAL excursion.

We ended up with 30 people from our roll call partaking. I spent some time on the days before we arrived with the front office, cruise director and shore excursion manager setting up our tender time. They were extremely helpful and gracious. I had to provide the cabin numbers of everyone involved.

On the day, as soon as we were all assembled in the Ocean Bar (everyone was early!) we were taken to the tender. Jeffry met us at the pier and introduced himself and his helpers as well as the National Park ranger and local village man who accompanied us. We divided into two groups - I had the brilliant idea to split into faster and slower walkers - and took off. The guides and rangers were full of information about the trees and other fauna.

We walked for about 10 minutes and came to a water hole where there were 3 dragons and funnily enough about 6 deer not far away. We had ample time to take pictures and just view these incredible lizards. They have a weird way of looking at you that is eerie.

We then walked the circle route looking at more trees, smaller lizards and birds. The faster group walked further and saw more dragons under some buildings near the market. Jeffry and his guides supplemented the information that the park ranger supplied.

After that we were ferried out to two boats that took us to the pink sand beach. We had an Indonesian lunch on the way. It was about a half an hour ride. We snorkelled and swam at the beach for about another hour and then returned to the pier. There was time for a little shopping at the market and then we tendered back to the Volendam.

It was one of the best days ever! I highly recommend it. The only caveat is that it's a little difficult climbing in and out of the boats so not recommended for people with mobility issues.

We used Javaindah-tours last month as well. I can highly recommend them. A number of people on our roll call used them also. We had a convoy of vans and a police escort to get through the traffic. (You have to see it to believe it.) It was a wild ride.

We were able to leave at the same time as the HAL buses but got to Borobodur well ahead of them because we didn't stop for the interminable rest stops with long bathroom lines.

We had a lovely lunch and made it back to the ship well before the HAL buses.

I am arranging an independent tour for our HAL Volendam cruise in Nov/Dec. I'm doing it for a number of reasons...a) a smaller group, b) we get to do more than take a walk with a gazillion other passengers and c) snorkelling. The price is only a bit less than the $120. that HAL is charging.

We have to have all the names, nationalities and passport numbers on an official looking letter signed by the guide.

Here is the info I have from the guide.

1. Itinerary :

" Morning pick up from the Komodo jetty and will make a registration in Komodo national Park front office, then 2 or 4 km trekking in Komodo Island for searching Wild Komodo Dragons and other wild animals and spectacular Panorama from Sulfurea Hill as a best view point. Afterward, you will going to do a snorkeling and relaxing in pink beach. Lunch will be serve in our local boat. After enjoy it here, back in to Komodo jetty for your time to go back to your cruise ship.

2. Price Per Person :

• 4 Person : US$ 95.00
  
• 5-9 Person : US$ 85.00
  
• 10 - 15 Person : US$ 73.00
  
• 16 - Up : US$ 59.00
  
• For Kids Below 10 years old : US$ 30.00
  
• If more than 20 person, one free.
   
  

3. Price Include :

• Komodo National Park entrance Fee
  
• Long or short trekking in Komodo Island
  
• English speaking guide
  
• Lunch in Pink Beach
  
• Snorkeling boat to Pink Beach
  
• Snorkeling guide
  

4. Price Exclude :

• Komodo National Park Camera Fee ( US$10.00 per camera) & Handy cam (US$18.00 per handy cam )
  
• Snorkeling gears
  
• Snorkeling Fee US$10.00 per person
  
• towels
  
• Personal expenditures
  
• Tipping
  

5. The payment can be settled upon arrive in Komodo Island.

I am looking forward to hear from you,asap.

Best Regards,

Jeffry Buana

mykomodo at yahoo.com

Maybe I'm cynical but why should HAL bother with trivia when it doesn't generate any cash for them? Maybe if they charged us $5 each per day they could justify spending some effort on making it better.

It's entirely at the whim of the entertainment staff how much effort goes into planning for trivia. And who 'gets stuck' doing it. If any one member cares we get good questions and have some fun with it. If they don't care it's a waste of time.

I thoroughly enjoy the good trivia ships. We have fun and get to know some new people.

Thanks for that Ruth.

We are there on a Wednesday and Thursday - October 21 & 22 so everything should be open for us. It would have been fun to see the succahs though.

Thanks Ruth

We were going to rent a car in Haifa and return it to Ashdod the next day. That makes it harder to use a smaller agency. We want to stay overnight in Jerusalem.

I was trying to fit the most into the two days. I guess I could look into a driver for the day to take us from Jerusalem to Masada and then Ashdod.

I have until October to figure this out.

The car rental idea isn't working. We have to have the car to Ashdod by 4 pm as that's when the rental office closes. Our ship doesn't depart until 8 pm.

Is there enough time to fit in both Masada and the Dead Sea and then drive to Ashdod by 4pm?

Are there any car rental companies that are open late? I've tried Eldan, Avis and Budget.