the mice

David, once again, thanks.     Would you like to plan the rest of my trip for me?   

34 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

We ended up going to the Australia Zoo which is a 1.25 hr ride from the ship by bus.  Here is the section of the cruise review that discusses it in more detail: link.  We ended up booking this excursion thru the ship.

 

Which Australia Zoo shore excursion to buy thru Celebrity?

Amazingly, there are about 4-5 different choices in the shore excursion book and a couple of them are real expensive.  Many read very similar to one another.  I ended up choosing one of the cheaper options--one that spent a couple of hours longer at the zoo than the cheapest option.

 

By the way, I agree with the retired couple that we had lunch with on board Solstice: the Australia Zoo is very well done.  I would go back again.    

David,

My DH asked only 1 thing when I said I wanted to go to Australia - can we go to the Irwin's zoo?   So, of course I was thrilled when I read your review.   And I booked the same excursion that you did.    He will be very happy.  

I hope I can trust you to be a little discreet.    It would be appreciated.      I manage to get myself in the soup often enough.….

Oh, in my enthusiasm I forgot to answer your question about my avatar and screen name.

Early on I gave my DH the affectionate nickname Mouse.   Because I am short, he started calling me Mouslet ('cause that how he spelled it - but he doesn't call me that anymore).   Eventually he decided that he was The Mouse for fun.   And then he started referring to us, in private only, as The Mice.   I thought it was funny.   And it became one of our email addresses.   When I started posting online, I found out how to add an avatar (don't remember how I did it) and I found this image of a mouse with a cell phone.   

And now that this is public knowledge, all I can say is it's a good thing my DH doesn't read CC!!!  

David,

You are AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!   (OK, I won't run the exclamation points across the entire screen  )

This is beyond helpful - but I knew you would be from all your previous posts.    I am about to chat with Skyrail again and see what they have to tell me.    

BTW, I was a librarian/researcher in my previous life, so no detail is too much detail as far as I am concerned.   

THANK YOU again, and all best wishes for good health and happy travels.   

Will let you know how we make out. 

   ALL the best,

     Marilyn

And there is no option to upgrade the train!   Not happy.   - M

Yikes, just looked at the ticket booking page, and the only train option is 2 pm!!    So only 2 hrs in Kuranda IF we make the 10:15 Skyrail.

Hi Susanne,

Thank you for replying.   I remember your posts about doing this as a Celebrity excursion because of 2 in your party using walking sticks.

The good news - we are Elite.   So hopefully that helps.   It looks like the first Skyrail tickets are 10:15.   The ship is scheduled to depart at 7 pm.    According to the Skyrail website, they say the Skyrail takes about 1.5 hours.   There are trains at 2 and 3:30pm, but I haven't gone through the booking process to see if 3:30 is available.   I had a long chat with Skyrail last night.   It's past midnight there now, so I sent off a message asking about tender delays and am awaiting their reply once they are back in the office.   10:15 Skyrail and 3:30 train would be ideal.

Hopefully we will have OK weather.   We are going in mid-October, which is their spring (like our April) so not really sure what to expect from the seas.   I booked this because it is about the only time that the GBR cruise links up with the NZ cruise, and cruising was about the only way I was going to convince my husband to go this far and this long.  We will be gone 5 weeks with time in Melbourne and Sydney pre-cruise.     I really wasn't focusing on the sea days and tendering when I booked.   And I had already locked in award business class ticket flights (no easy feat) by the time I figured this out.   Part of me wishes I had planned a land tour and then just did the NZ cruise, but too late for that now.   I just feel like we could have possibly seen more of Australia that way.   But I had to consider my husband's likes in planning this, even though it's my birthday trip.  Sea days will give him some downtime/personal time which should help him get past the 5 weeks away.   Hopefully I won't get totally frustrated by the tendering and sea days.    ( I seem to be saying "hopefully" a lot....)

Thank you and David both for all your very helpful information.   Very much appreciated.

   Marilyn

David, 

Wow, just wow!   I've been following your posts and get notified on updates.    

I am so happy that you are doing OK and hope that continues for a very long time for you.   Love the photo - a great sign!

You've provided so much useful information as I plan for our upcoming GBR cruise.  I mentioned to you earlier that we are doing the B2B with the NZ cruise.   I also confessed that I'm not much of a swimmer so plan to one day on a pontoon. We are currently booked for Celebrity's CN01 in Cairns but I emailed Reef Magic and they said they aren't booked for the Celebrity excursion (maybe the person answering didn't know?).   Might do another excursion in Port Douglas, but not sure yet.   Plan to fly over the reef either via helicopter or fixed wing when we are in Airlie Beach.

I do have a question that maybe you can help me with.   I'm sure I read it somewhere in your review, but maybe you remember.    Is the tendering in Yorkey's Knob (Cairns) on Day 2 an issue?    Reason I ask is that we want to do the Kuranda Skyrail & Train on our own (way cheaper than Celebrity) and they will do a pickup from the boat club where the tender docks, but we need to indicate a time when we book.   If you can give me some sense of how the tendering works and how long it takes to get in to shore.   

They told me the Skyrail transfers start at 8:45 to meet the 9:15 Skyrail, but looking online, I see the first tickets available on the Skyrail are 10:15.    So I need to understand the timing in order to book our tickets.

TIA and best wishes,

Marilyn 

We stayed in the Radisson across from Tivoli, but ours was a stay on points and we were there for 3 nights pre-cruise.  It was right across from Tivoli, the TI was on the corner,  and the train station was 1 block away.  We took the train in from the airport and it was an easy walk to the hotel since we were traveling with only carry on bags.    Great A/C and it was extremely hot when we were there - high 90's Fahrenheit.

Can also recommend RomeCabs.   Have used them on 2 trips and they are wonderful.   On our most recent trip they picked us up at the airport and brought us to our hotel, and then 5 days later picked us up after dinner and brought us to our airport hotel because we had an early flight out the next morning.   Courteous, careful drivers, prompt, reliable - I can't say enough.

This was our B3 - 7008 -which we did not get to use on our 2 sea days last November, unfortunately, as we had rough and cold weather on those 2 days (sailing to and from the Canaries).  But I did sit out there late one afternoon.  I'm sure it would be wonderful in warmer weather.   This cabin is the last one, so it has the railing on 2 sides - front and one side so you can look down the side of the ship.

Thanks for the info.   I had seen Sailmore's post.  I have some reservations about the timing.  But I'll go back and re-read the description.   I need to read more on Derry before I decide what to do.   

Appreciate the info.  Thanks again.

40 minutes ago, rialannah said:

 

We are on the cruise following yours - departing Dublin on 27 June.  We have arranged a private excursion to the Giants Causeway and surrounding area, preferring to do it from Londonderry so that we can have the time in Belfast to explore that more interesting city.

There is a ferry that links Greencastle with the Antrim Coast Road at Magilligan Point (across Lough Foyle).  The ferry which operates a continuous shuttle service takes about 20 minutes and avoids travelling around through Londonderry itself.

We also hope for good weather.

I've seen the ferry info - the ship's excursion to Giant's Causeway mentions crossing on the ferry.

Can you provide any info on the private excursion you have arranged on your cruise.   I'd like to look into it as an option.  

Are you in port earlier than 11am?  We're scheduled to be in port 11 am - 11 pm.   Of course, weather could affect tendering conditions.

Thanks.

3 hours ago, sammiedawg said:

We did quite a bit of research on this port but our Nautica stop here was canceled due to a medical emergency.   The terminology and naming conventions were quite confusing.  Two political factions in NI each have their own names for everything.  Some call it Derry, some call it Londonderry.  The political history of NI is most fascinating and I really hope you visit Belfast.  

We had planned to ride the shuttle into Derry and do a walking tour with a famous guide named Martin McCrossan.  While we were planning, he tragically died unexpectedly and family members were taking over his business.  I just checked and derrycitytours.com is running his tours.  Check it out.  

Other passengers were planning private tours to the Giants Causeway and other famous  spots. We had previously toured this area a couple other times so we were  looking forward to Derry.  

Love, love this area.  

Thanks very much for this information.    Hopefully, we will have good weather and no issues preventing us from visiting.   While our roll call is somewhat active, more interest is in other ports.   A few people are going to do the ship's tour to Giants Causeway.

While I would like to see it, I don't want to sacrifice any time in Belfast, and I think Derry itself sounds very interesting.  Thanks  for the reference to derrycitytours.com .

@Noxequifans Yes, I know it is a tender port and located approx 20 mi from Derry city centre.   I stated that in my first post, but thanks for replying.

@Janet - thank you very much for your information.   It is very helpful.    We are scheduled to arrive earlier (11 am), but maybe our shuttle will run as late.  We don't expect to stay out that late, but, depending on the weather, may stay in Derry until 6 or so.

We are going in June, and last year's June cruise had good weather, but who knows what we will encounter.   We've been in Scotland in late June and had 3 seasons of weather - luckily (or maybe not so) that wasn't all in the same day.

We are on the Oceania Nautica tendering in Greencastle for Londonderry on June 24, scheduled to arrive at 11am.  The port website lists this as being 20 miles from the city centre.

I have posted this question on the Oceania shuttles forum, but I think this may only have been a port of call for Oceania once or twice before so I thought I'd ask here on the main board - maybe someone who did this cruise last year might know.  I also posted this in the British Isles port forum.    And I wrote to the port.   

Does anyone know anything about this tender port and if there is a shuttle into Derry?    Other transportation options?

Thanks.

We are on the Oceania Nautica tendering in Greencastle for Londonderry on June 24, scheduled to arrive at 11am.  The port website lists this as being 20 miles from the city centre.

I have posted this question on the Oceania shuttles forum, but I think this may only have been a port of call for Oceania once or twice before so I thought I'd ask here. 

Does anyone know anything about this tender port and if there is a shuttle into Derry?    Other transportation options?

Thanks.

We are scheduled to dock in Greencastle for Londonderry (Ireland).

There was a post on this forum from a couple of years ago, but it isn't in the compiled list,  that there was a shuttle.

On the port website, Greencastle is listed as a tender port 20 miles from the city center.

Realize there are few port calls here, but does anyone who might have done the circumnavigation of Ireland last year have any info? 

Thanks.

I do plan to do that but this at least gives me some idea of what might be possible.   Thanks again.

Thanks!  I figured one of you O "veterans" would know.   This helps.   

We are on an extended journey and our turnaround day for the 2nd cruise portion is in Dublin on a Wednesday.   On our cruise calendar the time in port is listed as 5 AM - 9 PM.

Since we have a late departure, will muster drill still be held at 5-5:30?   I assume that even though we are booked as one cruise, rather than a B2B, we still have to do muster drill for part 2.  Is there any "make up" if we miss it?   

I'm asking because we plan to do an extensive walk in the city, and would mostly likely return past 5 PM unless we must be back on board for muster.  (The Dublin port lists us arriving at 3:30 AM, so maybe the ship will be cleared by 5 AM, but we don't plan on getting off before 8-8:30 and 3 cups of coffee!).

Realize we will find all this out once we are onboard, but any insight greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

7 hours ago, jo-b said:

Have you asked Paddywagon, or one of the others, whether they could provide a taxi for your group at an extra cost to and from the tour from Cobh?

Yes, contacts have been made with all the vendors any of us could find.  It basically comes down to a few factors - willingness to do something from Ringaskiddy, availability, price (and some pretty steep prepayment and cancellation penalties that are off-putting to a lot of people).   Currently a work in progress - a lot of work, with limited progress

Have heard that number of taxis may be limited - this is not the main port and BOTS (2500 pax) is in Cobh.

So, yes, there is transportation, but since we have NO knowledge of whether or not a shuttle will be provided, a lot of what we have gathered in terms of information is that options are somewhat convoluted, take a long time with multiple transfers or are very expensive (taxi, assuming getting one isn't an issue).

So far we are coming up a little short on Irish luck!

Maybe I need to clarify a bit of our current situation.  

We have been told by Oceania via multiple TAs that we are docking in Ringaskiddy, not Cobh, which is not close to Ringaskiddy.   There is no direct access between the 2.  (see comment below answering LHT28).

As of now, we have a private excursion booked, but despite multiple postings on our roll call, the organizer cannot get others to join so the price is quite high per person, and they are considering cancelling it.

Other providers (Butlers, Paddywagon, etc.)  have been contacted and they are either booked up or unwilling to do a private tour from Ringaskiddy.

Paddywagon has options, but they require getting to Cork (not Cobh), so that is why I'm asking about the shuttle, as Oceania has only told us any shuttle will be listed in Currents for the port - which does not allow for advance planning.

So, it seems we need to get to Cork somehow, and a shuttle would be the ideal option.

LHT28 - according to both the TripAdvisor Destination Expert for Cork, and the directions on Port of Cork's website, there is no direct ferry from Ringaskiddy to Cobh.   It's a bit of a loop, and probably takes well over an hour with several connections.

Roothy123 - yes, yours was the post I found.   Also saw a followup post from another saying a cruise 2 months after yours had a shuttle.  But all that information was from 2013, so more than 5 years ago.

Thanks, all.