goldie888

To get to the Marseille free shuttle bus, walking the line drawn in the photo, we walked off the Emerald Princess and went through the information booth. The attendant at the booth told us that a taxi to downtown Marseille was 28 Euros one way. She said it was too far to walk. She discouraged the use of the city bus because some downtown streets were closed for a walkathon. She did not mention anything about the free shuttle bus. We had heard rumors about the free shuttle to Marseille but Princess made no mention of it.

 

Along the route to the free shuttle bus, we saw this sign referring to the city bus, #35, which takes you to roughly the same place as the free shuttle. However, it seems the city bus is near the Port #4 outside gates which is an additional 20 minute walk and costs 1.30 Euros one way. The city bus is not the free shuttle bus.

 

A sign near the free shuttle bus stop states that the service runs Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Tuesdays only, 9am-5pm. The bus runs every 20 minutes. It warns about walking to the city.

 

The free shuttle stop was on the left side of the road when walking from the ship. The stop provides shade with a canopy. It was not crowded when we were there at 10:00 a.m. Maybe 15 people waiting.

 

The shuttle bus dropped us of at the bottom of the bottom of Boulevard des Dames. It was a 10 minute walk to the nearest Metro stop.

 

The lineup was short when we returned to the shuttle bus stop at 2 p.m. as seen in the photo but, I think we just missed the bus by 5 minutes. The lineup grew substantially while we waited the 15 minutes for the next shuttle bus and not quite everyone got onto the bus. A few people didn’t get on the bus and they had to wait 20 minutes for the next bus.

 

The road to the ship is pedestrian unfriendly for anyone daring enough to walk however it’s easy to follow. Simply stick to the road as it follows the shoreline. It’s a long 4-5 mile trek and the scenery is not pleasant. It looks somewhat dangerous due to traffic in some spots.

 

In terms of orientation, the Princess ships were docked at the Gate 4 docks. Ships are docked on both sides of the dock, a north side and a south side. The south side of the dock is named Post B and you can see the Caribbean Princess docked there in the last photo. Our ship, the Emerald Princess was docked on the opposite side, the north side of the dock, named Post D. The photos were taken from the north side, Post D, but it’s the same directions to get to the shuttle regardless of which side your ship is docked.

The attached pictures are great for reference! Thanks for sharing!

Hi all,

 

Thought I'd share my recent experience given I found this and other cc forums handy planning my trip.

 

Previous posts regarding instructions to find the stop are correct - follow green line leading to no. 35 bus stop will lead you to the free shuttle stop with white canopy on your left just after you reach a roundabout intersection. You will pass the Seaman's club on your left on the way. Approx 15 min walk from getting off the ship. We got there at 12pm, and there were a few people waiting but luckily the bus soon arrived after we got there. No timetables posted.

 

Drop off and pick up point is at Hangar J1 at bottom of blvd des dames. It is probably a good 20min walk to La Petit train departure point at Vieux Port passing some scenic and not so scenic parts along the port. NOTE we did have to wait approx 50min for a 10min ride back. We had obviously just missed a shuttle as there were only one other couple waiting. So if that happens to you, I'd suggest jumping into a taxi since they are obviously not half hourly (as we had thought)

 

Hope this helps

Great helps here for DIY tour in Marseille!

Great to see all these pictures you are sharing!

We are booked for April 2017, so following your posts!

It has just been opened today. New L9 will connect Barcelona Airport to Barcelona downtown in 30 minutes costing 4´5 euros. For connections to the port, change at the end of L9, to L3 until Drassenes. Additional bus to Moll Adosat where the huge ships berth.

Following this post! Thanks for sharing.

Just got off the Star TA cruise ten days ago. Went from an inside to a port hole to a balcony to a mini-suite, all after final payment, at not extra charge. What I found was prices change often, sometimes in the middle of the day and for short periods of time. Even if the service notifies you daily, you could miss a temporary drop. I know it is a hassle to keep doing mock bookings but I feel it is the only way to capture some of these drops.

I checked and if the main page seemed to show a drop in a category, I then did a mock booking to verify. I then emailed my PCC and requested the upgrade. He was always great about doing upgrades...three between final payment and sailing. It is more work but I feel that it definitely paid off in our experience. Really enjoyed that mini-suite!

I just got off the same cruise as you on the NCL Star. Would you mind sending me the name of your PCC?

I use the app Cruise Puppy to track price change. Be sure to check off the box to get price change notice via email.

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Instead of using the shuttle buses, you can get a Victoria transit day pass for $5 CAD. I don't think the bus will accept US. No discount for seniors.

Since you are in port for a full day, it may be nice to walk to the Inner Harbour by turning left. Keep an eye out for Fishermans wharf with all the charming house boats, shops, Barb's fish and chip etc. If you are lucky, you may see Sammy the seal and friends.

In front of the Parliament (Belleville Street), Royal BC museum (Douglas Street) the #75 bus will take you to Butchart Gardens.

Tourist shops and pubs are on Government Street. If you keep going here, you will see Bastian Square (the historic Fort Victoria) and Chinatown (Fisgar Street). Another option is to go on Store Street along the waterfront.

#19, 30, 31 and 33 bus has stop (Dallas Road) in front of Ogden Point (Port Victoria) if mobility is limited. Ask the driver to let you off behind the Fairmont Empress Hotel.

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Best review I have read! Much appreciated!

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We are on your cruise! You shouldn't have much problems with crowds if you stay away from the Garden Buffet. How old are your children? My niece is 10.

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Setting sail to Alaska on NCL jewel in just 10 days!!! I'm very excited! Have not been on a cruise since 2008. My first question is, are the swimming pools heated? My kids are 9 and 4 both love to swim. Do people actually swim in the pools while cruising to Alaska? My second question concerns excursions. We are cruising to Juneau, Skagway, Keitchan, Victoria. These excursions are expensive for us as a family of 4. We're definitely interested in taking a train ride in Skagway & will most likely book through NCL but at the other ports will we be able to secure excursions with other local tour groups? Thank you for your response in advance.

I am from Victoria and will be on your sailing with my sister and niece from Toronto. My niece will likely meet your 9 year old in kids club. No need to do excursions in Victoria. Lots to do within 20 minutes walk.

To the left you will get to Fisherman's wharf where you can take harbour ferry to downtown (Inner Harbour). The annual Classic Boat Festival will be on starting the Friday August 29. The IMAX theater (6 stories high) along with the Vikings exhibit at the Royal B.C. museum are worth a visit.

To the right of Ogden Point (Port of Victoria) is the good diving area. A 10 to 15 minutes walk you will get to Mile Zero and Terry Fox statue. Anither 10 to 15 minutes you will be in Beacon Hill Park and the Petting Zoo. Get there by 4:30 pm to have a visit with all the animals. At 5:10 P.M. see the goat stamped. From there walk along Douglas Street and you will be at the back of Royal BC musem and Fairmont Empress hotel/Inner Harbour.

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It's gone 2am. Next time - the remainder of Day 1 including Shanghai food and hopefully the start of Day 2. The Spa Day Pass, around the ship on the only sea day, Blue Man Group and Le Bistro. Thanks to everyone following. Personal responses tomorrow.

 

megacruiser

Following! Looking forward to reading more of your review and seeing these great pictures!

I had intentions of posting a review after my last trip however got busy with life and forgot about Cruise Critic. Recently booked the Jade 14 night Mediterranean for 5/2/15 and I’m now back on Cruise Critic eagerly awaiting others’ trip reports. Thought I would post a review of our Alaska trip while I wait.

 

Husband and I sailed the Pearl in a two bedroom haven villa May 12, 2013. We had an excellent 5+ star vacation. My daughter was getting ready to leave for college and I wanted to do a mom/daughter trip prior to her leaving. We booked a guarantee inside cabin last min on the Pearl to Alaska Aug 18. I was very leery of the inside cabin and had concerns with claustrophobia but for the price I figured it was worth a try. For reference this was my 2nd sailing with NCL so I have no status to speak of. My daughter was happy to go on a cruise but not especially excited about Alaska. She was going along more for the cruise experience. She wanted to meet new people, dress up and participate in ship activities. I looked into another line… and was going to book HAL but as I debated on the purchase the HAL ship sold out and the only choice was sailing the Pearl. For me it would be the second time in one season on the same ship. I had not been on a cruise for several years prior to the May sailing my husband and I took. After two wonderful cruises on the Pearl I am leery of booking with another line so our next cruise in Europe will be on the Jade.

 

My daughter and I had a fabulous vacation and loved almost every minute of it. I of course would rather have sailed in the Haven but I actually may have enjoyed this vacation more than the Haven trip with husband. The Haven entailed more pampering, better food, balcony, bathroom to die for, and a relaxing and very romantic vacation. The extra benefits of having a concierge and butler were also nice and the Haven area was also missed. The inside cabin and vacation experience was more about the ship, activities, being on the go, meeting new friends, and spending time with my daughter. We took advantage of what the ship had to offer vs. what the Haven had to offer. In all honesty I did not miss the experience as much as I thought I would and felt like we were still pampered and taken good care of with the inside, lowest priced cabin. I did however miss the balcony and sitting out there in my own private space watching the ocean and sea life. Cost wise though the inside guarantee cabin was so much less than the Haven so the savings made up for the loss of the Haven and a balcony.

 

I'm going to try to post several pictures with this review as well so bear with me in this process. I'll also review what we did in each port.

Thank you so much for your review on Haven vs inside on the NCL Pearl. Our next trip to Alaska in 2015 or 2016 will be on the Pearl and look forward to more pictures from you.

We have sailed on the Jade a few times, and the last B2B was just in January 2014. We had a window and a balcony, but not too much different for us. During the 28 days, we have only spent 10 on the balcony, but did like to look out the window when in ports. Some recent cruise review on the Jade was critical, but don't let that scare you. The Jade do have the South Pacific theme in many of its public area, so you can pretend you are in the Hawaii or the South Pacific.

We have sailed on my lines since 2001, and found NCL food quality satisfactory.

Each line offer something different, and even within the line, the ship's are little different too.

I actually love having lunch at the buffet almost daily. Look forward to a big salad, a few pieces of Indian Poppadom and Curry Beef. Breakfast usually at the buffet too. Dinner mostly at the MDR, sometimes to the speciality restaurants just for a change of pace.

I would stat the best food I had on a ship was on the NCL Norway. Missing are the melt in your mouth Croissants for breakfast and chocolate chip cookies at 2 P.M.

This thread is huge and hard to find what I'm looking for. I'm somewhat familiar with Waterfront Station. Which exit is easier to get to the ships? The one that goes to the Seabus or Expo line or the other one? Then which way do I go???

 

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I recently took the Canada line down to Waterfront station before heading to Science World/China Town to check out the Bolt Bus for Seattle.

There wss a sign clearly posted to direct you to Cruise ship terminal/Canada Place. You won't get lost.

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After reading many of the posts on Juneau we want to go to the Glacier and Falls but we cannot find a tour that will allow us enough time to hike to the falls. Most of the tours allow a tour through the city and then 45 minutes at the Glacier. I've tried to e-mail 2 of the tour operators to get more details but neither answered. I guess we could take the Blue Bus but not sure how that would work out. We wouldn't mind extra stops but diffently want to see the Falls. Anyone have any ideas?

J.

We will be there on August 26 from 7 AM to 1 PM. Due to the short time in port, I have contacted a taxi tour that would leave earlier than the Blue Bus (depart at 9 AM). I know there are other ships in port that day, if we are there on the same day, you can come with us. I want to hike to the Nugget Fall too.

That's good to know! I don't mind paying extra if it is good.

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Any lobsters? We will be on the August sailing, any lobsters at MDR or specialty restaurants?

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Starting from the cruise port:

 

Go to the Harpa. Directions: Turn right on the cruise dock and follow the walking path all the way into the center. Walk inside the building for a few minutes.

 

Go to the Old Harbor. Directions: From the Harpa continue following the sea. A lot of restaurants there and things to see. The Sægreifinn (Sea baron) has a great lobster soup. Walk beside the huge fishing trawlers in dry dock.

 

Go to Vikin. Directions. Continue walking past the dry docks and to the Maritime Museum (go inside if the ship "Odin" is open for sighseeing). Behind the museum there is a very good geletaria called Valdis.

 

Walk through the old residential area back into the city center. Directions (you'll need a map now): From the Maritime Museum walk towards "Landakotchurch" which is on Tungata. Walk down Tungata and then turn left on Gardastræti and onto "Mjostræti". Walk through the small Grjotaþorp area which is the oldest neighborhood in Reykjavik.

 

"Skolavordustigur". Directions: Continue walking through the city center towards "Bankastræti". Then take a right and walk up the pleasant "Skolavordustigur" until you get to the towering Hallgrimskirkja. Enter the church and pay to go up to the tower for a 360 degree view over Reykjavik.

There are several very nice coffeehouses on this street including the oldest one called Mokka. Skolavordustigur is also the home of one the best soups in Iceland: Noodle Station (there is no menu, they only serve this soup with either chicken, beef or veg).

 

"Laugavegur". Directions: From Hallgrimskirkja walk down "Vitastigur" until you come to "Laugavegur". Walk down this street all the way downto "Bankastræti" and enjoy the sites. A lot of shops, restaurants, coffeehouses and interesting stuff. Stop at the tiny shop called "Visir" on Laugavegi 1 and buy some Icelandic sweets and drinks for tasting: "Liquorish rolls", "Eitt sett", "Hraun" and "Malt" or "Appelsin" to drink.

 

Back to the ship. Directions: Walk down "Ingolfsstræti" all the way down to walking path you took earlier and head towards the cruise dock again.

I will save this information for our upcoming cruise in September! How much money would I need to a day in port? Just for a meal and for the museum for two of us.

Here was our experience debarking the morning of Friday, May 23. We were on the Celebrity Infinity, and wanted to take public transportation to our post-cruise hotel (Bella Sky). Being experienced travellers, we had researched our options: bus #26 to Kongens Nytorv then metro, with a backup plan B to take a taxi to the Nordhavn train station if the bus was unavailable. We travel relatively lightly, and had one roller suitcase plus one rolling carry-on. (Total, not each. Yes ladies, you can do this too!)

 

We arrived in bright sunshine at C330 Terminal 3 sometime after 7am, with our debarkation at 8am-ish. Two other ships were already berthed, the Royal Princess and HAL Eurodam. From our balcony we could see heavy construction trucks working at an unfinished area far beyond C330. They looked to be bringing in fill for a new pier, not connected to C330. Little did we know that that was a foreboding omen.

 

Terminal 3 is the furthest out of the three cruise buildings, but walkable to the #26 bus stop. When we got to the stop, there were already about 30 people queuing, all with luggage of various sizes. One bus arrived after about a half-hour, and seemed to only take about 15 folks on board with all their luggage. Not great given this was the terminus for the (empty) bus.

 

OK onto plan B. Many taxis were coming into the area along the only port road, but none would stop for us. We walked back to Terminal 1, and saw the massive queue for taxis. This was even worse than the bus line, so we hauled ourselves back to the bus stop... where the line had grown to maybe 50 people. Although we weren't time constrained, we didn't want to spend our morning waiting for a bus either.

 

We decided to walk. There were sidewalks for almost all of the route, and occasionally we'd roll along the bike paths when that was easier. It is quite a journey on foot, maybe 30-45 minutes depending on your fitness level. We encountered incoming taxis and buses marked "Ikkerute" (out of service?). We passed some other cruisers who walked partway and needed a rest, plus beat all the traffic on the road out. Read that again: we walked past all the other traffic, taxis, HOHO buses, and the #26 bus. The problem was a huge traffic jam caused by the construction trucks coming off a side road which had right-of-way over the port road. This snarled all the outgoing port traffic for at least a kilometer. Nothing was moving outbound, except us (albeit slowly) and some locals on bicycles.

 

Once out of the port area, there was good signage to the Nordhavn train station, through an underpass and maybe another 200m south following the elevated train tracks. At the station we could purchase tickets via an automated machine, which strangely did not require a PIN. I had planned to buy the 72-hr passes, but they didn't seem to available, so got 2-zone klippekorts instead. (These worked out well for the rest of our 3 days in Copenhagen.) A 10-minute ride to Norreport and a 10-minute metro ride got us to our hotel at around 9:30am.

 

Takeaways from all this?

(1) Until the port authorities fix this problem, do not plan a time-constrained transfer. Since all traffic must proceed along the one port road, nothing gets out if it's clogged--not taxis, not buses, not shuttles. Then the only options are walking, and maybe biking.

(2) Try to do the transfer when the road isn't slammed. We talked with a couple from the Eurodam, and they said the previous day there was no serious delay getting around on the #26 bus. So the problem seems to vary with time of day, and likely the number of ships in port.

(3) Copenhagen's public transport system is great, even with their limited metro lines. We didn't have any difficulties using the buses, metro, or s-tog trains, other than this sobering initial ordeal. Note that there is construction going on all through downtown Copenhagen due to the new metro stations; Kongens Nytorv is definately not a photo opportunity.

(4) Pack light. Have a plan C.

This will be helpful for our late September cruise out of C330! I will be making note on my tablet!

If there are only two of you on the trip, use hotels from HOTELS TONIGHT. It is an android application for last minute booking. Book on the day you check in, and can be booked for more than 1 night. The Warwick hotel in Seattle is normally $300 in the summer, can be booked for $99 to $110 per night.

Download the Hotel tonight app and see for yourself.

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A quick run through for the 16 June

 

Suites gone

very few minis

enough balconies to consider monitoring closely

OV monitor

loads of insides so chance of a bargain if thinking of booking.

 

I Would expect the OV and balcony to fluctuate as people upgrade, there is also the B2B factor if the prices drop people might add a cruise.

 

The price drop monitoring site shows there have been 5 drops this month on balcony GTY already so watch every day(more than once) to see if there are any more.

 

Looking at the previous date(2June) the BX price dropped to $649 OX $449 so those are the targets for this one.

 

Now the cabin availability

Insides,

 

I1 15+

IA 15+

IB 4

IC 5

ID 15+

IE 4

IF 3

 

Ocean view

 

OD GTY

OE GTY

OF 15+

OG 15+

OK 8

 

Balcony

 

BD GTY

BC GTY

BB 15+

BA 15+

B3 5

B2 14

 

mIni

 

MB 6

 

suite

 

NONE

We are in Canada and are unable to check on NCL web site re availability. Would you mind checking for NCL Star September 22 sailing out of Copenhagen? I would like to know how many cabins still available for each type. Thanks!

I am monitoring 3 cruises, booked 2 and needing to book one. Would you mind sending me info as to how you get this search tool! My email is genit at shaw dot ca.

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I remembered we had a rough sea on my first cruise aboard the SS Veracruz. The crews were so kind to me by making sure I was not too seasick. Great memory of the 14 days cruise that started in Barbados!

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We are leaning towards a Haven suite on NCL because it's about the same price of a balcony on a Disney Alaskan cruise lol

If I could afford the Haven suite, that will be my #1 choice. The NCL jewel has the Nickelodeon feature, and your parents may like the Freestyle dining and the extra eating venues. We are booked on the August 23rd sailing.

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Hi Goldie888,

Sorry to hear about your visa experience. Please try this site. http://www.guide-petersburg.com/design/

We have used this guide on our land visits and I believe he does cruise ships also. He is very knowledgeable - esp. art. If you have any problems , please e-mail me. scubacruiserx2@gmail.com

Good luck.

We already booked with this web site for our Hermitage Museum, and when I let them know about having no visa to visit, they informed me about having a blanket Visa now for cruisers. I am so happy with these people. Here is the link.

http://www.sputnik8.com/en/st-petersburg/category/history%20and%20literature

So now we will keep adding things we like to do for the two days. Our second cruise will be with SPB Tour at a reasonable price.

I know of the guide you refer here, but just two of us will be really expensive. I will email you soon.