blakejared

They kept running out on the Statendam earlier this month, and they only had the sweetened version.

20 hours ago, oakridger said:

 

I find it so odd that HAL has instructed the waiters to take dessert orders at the beginning of the meal.  It's not standard restaurant protocol in any country I have ever been to!

I wonder if the waiters have more tables to oversee post-pandemic.  We were in Anytime dining, so often could not get our usual table (which was also strange, since we were sometimes told it was already booked by someone else, but no one sat there the whole meal), so we experienced several different waiting teams.  They were usually very busy and often did not have time to check/refill water except at the start of the meal.  Not having to come back to take dessert orders would likely have saved some time.

On 8/13/2023 at 1:13 PM, Zukini said:

As it turns out, the Rotterdam docked in Bergen on the day we were originally supposed to be there, so why we were denied that port is a mystery.  T

I did not know this.  At the Q&A period about the ports on the Sea Day, someone asked why Bergen was replaced with Gothenburg, and the cruise director said the reason was that Bergen, like many other ports, overbooked ships this summer, since this was the first full season of cruising post-pandemic.  I wonder what other ships were in Bergen on that day that took up all the dock spaces?

I was on the same sailing as you, plus the 7-day sailing the week after.  It was interesting to read your thoughts.  There were even more kids the second week and I observed several rounds of tag amidst the scenic cruising.

I mostly ate at the MDR in the evenings.  I too was surprised dessert was ordered right at the start, but they did wait for everyone to finish each course before bringing the next.  The Lido food didn't seem too appetizing in the evening.  I was a bit disappointed that in the second week, the MDR menu was almost identical to the first week, so it felt like deja vu.  Ditto for some of the shows.

I had been to Gothenburg before, so was disappointed we didn't get to go to Bergen, and then charging almost $20 for the shuttle bus.  I ended up using public transportation though it was confusing.  The second week, they had replaced Stavanger, so we got to visit Eidfjord again.  It was a nice place, but visiting a different place would have been preferable.

Overall, the weather was beautiful for most of the 2 weeks (except at the very end, for a rainy day in Flam), so I'm grateful.  

I was there 2 weeks ago and saw one of those red City Sightseeing buses that stopped at the Fjord Center which is across the street from the Hotel Union.  I think that bus also goes to one of the other viewpoints (Flydalsjuvet?).  

There are stairs that follow the Fossevandring waterfall.  The walk up didn't take that long.

We booked a bus tour that visited Mt. Dalsnibba and 2 other closer viewpoints - Eagle's Road and Flydalsjuvet (I wish we had more time at each stop!).  The roads were packed with cars (often cars would need to wait while a bus navigated the turns).  We saw some of those little electric cars amongst the congestion between the large vehicles.  They would be fun but not on a busy day.

14 hours ago, marianoam said:

I know that I should purchase my Flåm Railway tickets in advance cause they sell out quickly. Does the same apply to the bus to the Stegastein Viewpoint? My point is that if there is bad weather/fog, I don't think the Stegastein Viewpoint will be worth it and I would rather purchase those tickets the same day on site.

When I was there last week, there were 2 ships in port so it was extra busy. 

There were still spots for the buses to the Stegastein Viewpoint.  Not a huge number, but not Sold Out (the train journeys were sold out when I got to the ticket center at 11am). 

Though I spoke to someone on the ship who was able to get a train ticket that morning (they left the ship earlier than I did).  Apparently, there were still a few spots left that morning (even though online, the night before, it said the train journeys were all "sold out"). 

Another thing I realized is to keep checking the Norway Best website for tickets.  I had checked every day for a month before my plane trip, but a few days before the Flam stop, finally, some train seats opened up.  It was just a bit difficult to buy with spotty public wifi.

10 hours ago, KKB said:

May seem like a silly question; but a walking tour includes a guide, correct?

Yes, that's right.  

On 11/13/2018 at 6:01 PM, gma rae said:

We will be in Copenhagen on April 29, 2019 on Princess Regal. This is a Monday and after researching sites I would like to visit I see that most of them are closed. Sad, as we are only there for the day. However, we will do a city walk, Hey Captain boat tour and investigate places to eat. Not sure I am interested in Tivoli as I do not care for amusement parks.

What else would you recommend we see? We are interested in history, local points of interest, enjoying the flavor of the area, landscape and views.

Thank you.

That's unfortunate so many places are closed on a Monday.  I was there for a day last August, and I did the Rick Steves walking tour, which actually took awhile.  I went up the tower of City Hall to see the view.  Those two things took up 2/3 of the day, so I think you might be fine if you are also doing a boat tour and looking for places to eat (which I didn't).  The other thing I did (at 3pm) was the Christiansborg Palace stateroom tour, but unfortunately, that is closed on Mondays in April.   We had to be back to the ship by 5pm anyway, and the walk back took some time.  

I went last summer, and at every major site, the lines for the regular public (tourists not with a tour company) were extremely long.  

The ship also said anyone not with a ship tour or a tour company would disembark last.  

We spoke to ship employees who went independently to explore, and travel from the port to the city was apparently not very convenient.  

So those factors could cut into exploration time.

Having said that, I went on a tour, and part of it was taking a Metro ride, and the subway system looked very easy to navigate.  Maybe because it was the World Cup, there were quite a few independent travellers around.

When I was in London, I did a day-trip to Canterbury and it took a whole day.  I visited the cathedral and went on a guided walking tour ("Canterbury Guided Tour").  It was fun and educational.

3 hours ago, Cruisen Elf said:

When you mentioned that you bought the walking tour ticket at the museum, did you mean the Heritage Center,  the Titanic Experience Museum, or the Cobh Museum?  I see several museums in Cobh and wanted to clarify where to get the ticket for the town history tour that ends at the cathedral.  Do you remember the cost for the walking tour?  Thanks in advance for any specifics you can recall!

I bought the walking tour ticket in the Cobh Heritage Centre (at the entry to "The Queenstown Story").  I had to ask about it, though.  I had read about a walking tour but I didn't know where to get a ticket.  I even walked into town for awhile before going back into the Heritage Centre.

If I remember correctly, the walking tour was called "Titanic Walking Trail".  

I paid for a combination ticket with the walking tour + entry to "The Queenstown Story" exhibit, which was 17.50 euros in total.  I don't know what the walking tour would cost by itself.

We went this month and had a similar experience with Cunard. The ship programme said ship tours would go first and there would be an announcement for everyone else. It was 8am and there wasn't an announcement yet, so we went to the gangway and the ship employee looked at our tickets and let us go. The people in front of us were with a local tour company as well and we were all directed to one of the lines. The custom officer processed it without asking any questions. There were only 3 people in front of us in that line, so we were done by 8:15am. Half of the people on our tour were already there before us. An Alla representative was waiting.

The guide and the bus arrived later, at 8:40am. They said the bus was charged based on how long they spend in the parking lot, so that's why the bus doesn't get there too early. We boarded at 8:45am and waited for 2 people and left promptly at 9:00am since everyone was there.

I appreciate the information about the train. Did you have a schedule for the return trip, or did you just go to the train station and wait for the next train. We are leaning towards taking the train, as the website for the new HOHO shuttle says its about a 45 minute trip to the city. In August, during the Tattoo and the Fringe I am thinking there will be even more traffic. So train may be quicker. Did you have any issues with the steps? We are late 60's, early 70's but have no problem with walking. Unless it's raining!! That could be a game changer. Were there a lot of people waiting for the trains, both going and coming back? Any chance of it being full and having to wait for the next train?

Looking at a photo of the steps might help you to gauge whether you can walk up. In a different, older thread, tartanexile81 posted some photos of the stairs (I actually used that thread to research how to get to the train station last year... thanks tartanexile81!):

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2031574

The trains weren't that full, either in the morning or in the afternoon. Our rookie mistake was not getting a schedule for the return train trip. We should have found out the times before we left the station in Edinburgh, but we were in a hurry to get to the Castle in case the lines were long!

Tartanexile81 raises a good point about the time. It does take 15 minutes to walk from the docks to the train station through a forested trail. We did wait for the train for about 10 minutes. And the train station up to the castle itself was another 15 minutes uphill. It might be worth it to consider conserving energy for walking around Edinburgh itself.

I am always cautious about trying to do too much in a day, but McCombs just may be a good option because I really hate to give up any of the three activities-titanic, scenic drive, brief city tour. Maybe hlperez or anyone else who has done the "do it all" tour could check in post trip and let us know how it was?

I did the McCombs tour last year that did the City Tour and Titanic museum in the morning, then Giant's Causeway in the afternoon. You only see the rope bridge from a distance.

I would have liked to spend longer in the countryside and to be able to walk around the city more, but as a first visit to Belfast, it was also nice to be able to see all the "highlights". I'm glad I left the city to see the Giant's Causeway. I did like the Titanic museum too, but people in my party were split on whether it could have been skipped or not. Personally, I would probably have opted to make several more stops in the city itself and also the countryside, to walk around. But if I had done that, I would have wondered what the museum was like!

Regardless, the tour guide was awesome and his commentary was very insightful and I do feel like we maximized our time.

There is a small HOHO bus if you want to visit some of the further-off sites in the surrounding countryside.

There's also that road train (linked above) but it's mainly for people who find it difficult to walk up stairs or steep slopes... it only stops at a few places in town.

I personally just walked around Cobh on foot. I went to the museum and bought a walking tour ticket there. The walking tour covered the interesting history of the town and ended at the cathedral at the top of the hill. I found enough to fill my day and didn't go to Cork. I accidentally left my wallet on the ship, but since the town is so small, I was able to go back to get it and ate a quick lunch before going back into town again.

I was there last July with a Princess ship. Some people in our party got the tender ticket at 7:55am. They took the train at around 9:30am. There was still a line but it wasn't too bad. They got into the castle at around 10:30am.

Other people in our party left the cruise later (around 9), and took the shuttle bus. They got into the castle in the usual line (they didn't pre-purchase tickets). They still had plenty of time to walk around inside. They didn't have as much time to see the rest of the town, but they were more leisurely in the castle.

If I were to go again, I would not have cut it so close catching the train back to the ship in the late afternoon. We got mixed up with the platforms and didn't realize we would need to add-fare to our tickets (since off-peak morning fare round-trip tickets were less expensive, and we were returning during rush hour - you need to talk to one of the roving ticketing agents). We ended up on a later train back than expected, so it was more stressful. We still had time to spare, but I usually like to leave lots of time. That's great there's a new, more convenient shuttle this year.

To other people considering the train, I should point out that the £4.60 tickets referred to are off-peak so may not suit everybody. A full price day return is £8.60 and the shortest train journey is 19 minutes and the longest 26 minutes. However you do avoid any traffic problems.

That's a really good tip. We took the train and was surprised the price was only 4.60 since our research suggested higher. When we were trying to get back in late afternoon, we were running for the train and our tickets didn't let us get through the turnstiles.

This was because they were off-peak tickets, so we had to ask an inspector to Add Fare, so had to take the next train.

The walk to the train station does take 10 minutes even after the stairs, and the signage to the station needs to be improved... one sign was ripped off. Our grandparents took the shuttle bus for 2 pounds more than us, and it was much more convenient for them.

I'm not discouraging anyone from taking the train, though. It's easy to do for younger or more fit folk. The family in line in front of me didn't have to pay for their two kids since they were under 16, so that saved them money. Be sure to find out returning train times and name of the train (the final destination) before leaving the train station in Edinburgh, so you can plan ahead for when to get back to the station to find the right platform.

Most excursions booked from the ship are very over-priced, compared to most private tour options. Doing it on your own is probably least expensive, but it might not be possible to enter both the Coliseum or the Vatican (might have to choose one), unless you really rush around (harder with a small child) and luck out with the lines. On your own, you might need to choose one area of Rome and really explore/enjoy that area... maybe visit the Coliseum, then take transportation to the Trevi Fountain area (lots to see walking around). That's probably enough to fill a limited day. I only just took my first cruise and I found the time restraints just meant I had to reduce how much I expected to visit in one day.

We took the public bus from Inverness back to Invergordon and it was fine. There was a bit of a lineup at the Inverness bus station but the bus company added some express buses, since most people waiting were clearly returning to the cruise terminal at Invergordon.

Do leave a bit of time if you take the bus, but lots of people are on the same boat (literally) so we weren't worried.

We actually found public transit in Inverness to be very easy. We took the bus to the Culloden Moors and then walked around Inverness for an hour and a half and it was enough.

We took that Stagecoach public bus in July, and there were long lines for tickets, and some people in line were out of luck (they only ran 3-4 buses and some weren't open-top). In our case, we could only take the morning bus (only at 10am) - the afternoon bus would have returned too late.

I would recommend getting off the ship earlier and start lining up before the ticket window opens at 9am.

It makes 2 stops. A longer stop at Skara Brae and a short stop at the Ring. You get off and get back on the same bus, so you can't stay longer. The bus had no commentary.

The cost was 10 pounds per person, but you will need to purchase admission at Skara Brae.

Of course a private tour would be better (though much more expensive) since you could spend more time at each location, and a private tour would also make stops at the other worthwhile sites on the island.

However, we found enough to see in Kirkwall for the remainder of the day. Plus all the major tour companies were sold out anyway by the time I booked the cruise and we also didn't like the restrictive/non-existent return policies.

I would spend the second half of the day in Cobh. We actually spent the entire day walking around the town, did the Titanic Trail walking tour and went to the museums, and really appreciated the history of the town.

I think the excuse for our cruise (not officially, just overheard in line when someone asked a staff member) was that one of the tender boats weren't working.

There was a Canard ship at port as well, and they had no line, though I think they were leaving the port later so they didn't have the volume of people all at once (I started waiting about 1 hour before the "last tender" time). I must say it was rather humorous to see their people waiting on chairs being handed lemon and orange flavored water in these clear cups as we stood in line. We got water too but it was more basic.

Interesting that the St Peter Port tender problem recurred. I did wonder to what extent they learned from their experiences (or not).

I haven't been on many cruises, but it did feel like we were often lining up for stuff. Getting off the ship at Cobh was a long line-up since they didn't realize everyone was lining up at one gangway (where the ship cruise excursion people were getting off) while the other one wasn't as busy. They sent us to the other gangway but there was a lot of confusion.

The safety/life jacket demo was poorly orchestrated. They crowded us into the stuffy hallway outside Explorers Lounge since there wasn't enough seating, and they formed multiple lines against the wall, and there was an extremely long wait without any indication what was going to happen.

Greenoch had a long line-up getting back onto the ship... in that case, the line was slowed down by the security check (looked like local officials).

They did offer free shuttle service at a few ports, which was nice... Dublin and Belfast were free. I didn't know if that was to make up for the tender problems at St. Peter Port or if it was standard. So was Kirkwall but I think that one was provided by Orkney Island, not by Princess.

I couldn't tell if the egg was powdered or not. Maybe it was just really watery. The true powdered egg is the low-cost breakfast they serve at Ikea... yuck. What made the ship's scrambled egg worse was the lukewarm temperature. Even the batch they just brought out from the kitchen wasn't hot.

In addition to the omelette (which I was a little disappointed by... but I couldn't pinpoint why), there was also the standard over-and-easy fried egg. That egg was real for sure.

I just came back from the British Isles cruise on this ship, and overall, I liked the ship. I concur with a lot of the review.

For us as well, there were long waits for Anytime Dining. The food was fine, though some of the fish dishes weren't that good. I agree the lunch and dinner buffets were better than the breakfast one, which was surprising. The scrambled eggs and sausages were not good, and the selection was always exactly the same in the morning. The staff was very attentive and quick. I'm glad it wasn't just me who didn't like the soft serve ice cream.

The only kerfuffle for our cruise was the slow tendering returning to the ship at St. Peter Port. The wait was 1.5-2 hours in the hot sun. This resulted in several hours' delayed departure from the port, and a delayed arrival the next morning at Cobh. However, they extended the port time at Cobh for an extra hour, so it ended up fine.

The tendering at Edinburgh was handled much better. The wait in the morning was about half an hour and the only wait coming back was due to making sure a tender was full before it left, and they could load the next one (they decided not to load them simultaneously).

I just finished my first summer cruise and there were a lot of kids. Many of them were unaccompanied by the pool, though they were reasonably well behaved, just a bit goofy. I was more disappointed with a crowd of teenagers who were making fun of people passing by.

We were in Le Havre on a Sunday. The plan was to go to Honfleur but we were advised there were few public buses and it would be risky if there wasn't room on the bus back. We ended up spending a leisurely day in Le Havre and it was fine.

At the cruise terminal, I did see a taxi company advertising 3-hour tours to Honfleur.