ALW2

I actually contacted RCCL and their response was ambiguous. I can’t imagine them having a hard time with a crafting needle but hearing that someone’s knitting needles were taken is also strange. How do you find out if their are crafting groups in the ship before it sails? 

Hi! I am planning to do punch needle embroidery while on my next cruise. Are embroidery and punch needles allowed on the ship? Has anyone had crafting or knitting needles confiscated in the past? Thanks!

We are looking for the Luau with the best entertainment, food and atmosphere in Maui or Kauai. Any suggestions?

Is this within walking distance of the pier?

In Maui you can pick up Hertz @ the Maui Beach Hotel just a quarter mile down from the pier.

 

No need to travel to the airport, no long lines and quick to get the car.

We like to rent a car but Im concerned about getting transportation off the ship to go to pick up the car. Have you had experience getting a rental car at any of these ports. We are just 4 people now, so wed fit in a regular car.

The best way to see Hawaii on a cruise is to do your research beforehand and rent a car or do an organized tour at each port. These are not ports where you can just catch a taxi or wing it when you get there. You should all discuss what you might like to see and do and then decide.

 

To get you started:

 

O’ahu: Pearl Harbor, National Museum of the Pacific/Punchbowl/Tantalus lookout, downtown Honolulu, Waikiki beach, Polynesian Cultural Center (full day), Diamond Head Monument requires a lot of walking/climbing to get to the top.

 

Maui: Road to Hana (look at Valley Isle for a tour—this a long day starting 8:00 to 5 or 6 but really a must see IMO), Haleakala/upcountry, great island for a snorkel tour, closer to port Iao Valley, Bishop Museum, Maui Tropical Plantation, Paia town for lunch/sightseeing, south Maui beaches are about a 30 minute drive from port. This is also the home of one of the best luaus in the state, Old Lahaina Luau.

 

Kauai: this is a great port for a helicopter tour, Waimea Canyon, north shore drive/highlights, east shore waterfalls, Fern Grotto, kayaking to Secret Falls, Poipu beach/south shore, there is also a Marriott close to port with a beach and restaurant.

 

Kona/Hilo: Mary Lou Big Island tours is a highly recommended vendor and all the places on their Hilo and Kona tours will hit the highlights. Kona will have great snorkeling. Not sure when your cruise is but Volcanoes National Park is currently closed. Kona coffee farm, Macadamia nut farm, botanical gardens in Hilo, Rainbow Falls and Akaka Falls in Hilo.

We are looking for a private tour for 6 people to go star gazing at Manua Kea. How long of a tour is this usually? Does it stop places on the way? We are looking for a tour that is no longer than 4-5 hours. Does anything like this exist?

Hi! I am looking for a private tour that goes to Haleakala Mountain but stops on the way to possibly go to a goat farm and rum distillery or other interesting sights along the way. The tour has to leave the port no earlier than 9:30am and be no longer than 5 hours long. Does anything like this exist? (PS: my in-laws don't want to rent a car and tour on our own)

Hi! We are planning our 7 night Hawaiian Cruise and trying to figure out our excursions. We visit Oahu, Maui, Hilo, Kona, and Kauai.

Are we are better off renting a car and driving to the sights on our own, getting a taxi or shuttle right off the ship to go to a location (if they are available, or booking a private tour with a company??? :confused: Which places are must sees?

We are a group of 6 people who do not like to start tours too early in the morning (after 9:30am would be preferred). One of the people touring with us can not climb or walk for very far distances but would stay on the ship or in the car if we wanted to do something they weren't able to do. Thanks!

Well the family really wants to go to Kiss the Blarney Stone so...that is what we will do! I see some of you recommended E Coach for a tour in Cork to Blarney. We usually like to take a private tour when traveling. Does anyone have any private tour companies they recommend? Is there any benefit traveling on a large bus with a group to the blarney stone? Thank you!

Thank you KerryinCork! Those are gorgeous pictures. Which spots where those taken in? We definitely like food and love to find quirky places off the beaten path to visit. Thank you for all of your help!

Culturally you could visit Cork City Gaol. Get a history about Cork. Then visit the English market, an undercover market opened at least 6 days a week in Cork city, if you are foody, they have lots of cheeses, bread, chocolates, coffee etc there.

 

If you want a more out door experience I would recommend west Cork. Gougan Barra, followed by Glengariff.

 

Both places have excellent cafes, gift shops, walks and stunning views.

 

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

We would be doing a private tour only for our family. But, I am assuming the line for the Blarney Stone will be just as long!

We stood in line 20 minutes at Blarney Castle and moved maybe 10 feet. We got out of line and walked around. Fun to watch the people kissing the Blarney Stone, but the stop was long but unless you ran from the bus the wait in line for the stone would take up all your time. A private tour would give you lots of flexibility.

We are undecided about doing to Blarney castle. I am assuming it will take up the whole day and leave us very little time to see the rest of Cork. We aren't really beach people, what are the other must see sights in Cork? Anything music or movie sight related? Thank you!

There are some really lovely places to visit in Cork other than Blarney. If you are doing a private tour you can ask to visit these instead. Probably a lot less crowded too.

 

Sent from my SM-N910F using Forums mobile app

Thank you for the help. Did you feel like you could have done Cork on your own or was the tour necessary? Am I understanding this correctly, Did you use both About Cork and Belfast city tours in Dublin? We are looking for a tour 6 hours or less.

I just got back from this cruise. We used About Cork Tours (Janice is booking manager) in both Cork and Dublin and they were excellent. We had a private tour for 7 hours in Cork for 330 Euro and 6 hours in Dublin for 280 Euro. You can tailor the day as you like and it was such a great experience. In Cork we went out to West Cork and saw scenery and small towns. In Dublin we went out to Wicklow and saw the main sites of Dublin.

 

In Dublin, we used Belfast City Tours and had Michael Doyle who was also excellent. it was 120 pounds for a half day tour up the coast in a London black cab. Again another excellent tour. Alot of people go to Giant's Causeway. Titanic Belfast is also a nice attraction but you can just take a taxi from the pier to see that.

Thank you for the information. How long was the game of thrones tour and did you feel that if someone hadn't seen the he show, they would Ike it too?

We did Princess's British Isles cruise in August 2015. Here are my recommendations.

 

We did this Game of Thrones tour out of Belfast: http://www.gameofthronestours.tv/ guide was wonderful, wish I could remember his name. Due to traffic we missed seeing the walls in the city of Belfast. Excellent tour. Only 6 of us.

 

Our Inverness tour was with Dave Fyfe, Inverness Tours. Also excellent, knowledgeable guide. Covered lots of territory in our 8 or so hours with him. www.invernesstours.com

 

Worse tour was with Rabbies Tours in Edinburg. The guide was not really a guide, we just drove around and around and around. While a group of us were at Edinburgh Castle he drove the remainder just around and around. After picking us up, we drove to a little seaside village and said he needed to take his break. Now--why didn't he do that when we were in Edinburgh? He could have dropped off the others at the bottom of the Royal Mile, pointed out things to see and taken his break then. Also, we stood out in cold, blowing rain, waiting for the guide. He was holding a sign, wrong name, a couple of us talked to him, no not his group, the person who arranged the tour finally called the company, who called him.

 

If you are looking for a transfer back to London with sightseeing on the way, we did the transfer with International Tours, included Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Salisbury. Drop off in front of our hotel. As we were the last to be dropped off, we had a nice tour of London too!

Hi there! Does anyone know which nights (1st, 2nd, etc...) on the 12 night British Isles Cruise are Evening Chic nights?

Thank you for the suggestions!

Dublin, the HoHo Bus is great, it takes you to all the key places. Catch it near Trinity College.

 

Belfast, Odyssey Tours was great. We did the Giant's Causeway, Rope Bridge and tour of city.

 

Cork, we found an inexpensive private tour on line, saved over the ship.

 

Bruges, we did the ship's tour that include Ghent as well.

Thank you for your recommendations mmendations! Where did you buy advanced tickets for the Kilmainham Gaol, online?

Dublin: Did the HOHO bus. Bought timed entry tickets beforehand for the Kilmainham Gaol which has limited entrance so is not offered to larger tours. Very interesting as it was central to the late 1800/1900s political history of Ireland

Cork: ECoach/Butler tours. Blarney Castle (very crowded but the grounds are beautiful even if you decide not to climb the stairs to kiss the Blarney Stone), lovely Kinsale village for lunch. Short stop at Charlesfort. Very reasonable price.

Belfast: City and Causeway Tours with Alistar. If Alistar isn't available, ask for David who was beyond wonderful. REALLY impressed with this company. Alistar called me from Ireland to personally explain his tour offerings! David was our driver and guide and took us to out of the way places we never would have seen otherwise. If you are a Game of Thrones watcher, he knows all the filming spots. He even took us to the Peace Wall in Belfast and let us sign it. Amazing day.

cityandcausewaytours@gmail.com

Wow. How beautiful! Thank you!

Gougan Barra, in West Cork. There's a lovely pub and cafe a short walk from here plush a gift shop. Very close to Glenn Gariff & Bantry too. Depending how long you have in port you could go to Garnish Island too (a botanical garden ).

 

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

Hi! We are looking for first hand recommendations for the best private tour companies in Dublin, Cork , Belfast and Bruges. Also looking for must see/ favorite stops in all of these places. Thank you!

Why does Diamond plus status in RCCL only transfer to Elite status on Celebrity, not Elite plus? Does Elite status allow you access to a lounge where drinks and coffee (more importantly for us) are included?

We have thought that on previous "port intensive" cruises but they end up bored if they are unable to find something to do and people to socialize with when we feel they should be exhausted from a long day off the ship. As far as Gen NXT programs.....we were on a Celebrity cruise with them last summer and there was very little planned for them if anything at all. They did tell us at the time that they were looking into developing programs for that age group.

We are thinking of sailing on this cruise this summer. Do you recall seeing many young adults on the cruise? Ages 16-21? Do you happen to have a daily program you could post a picture of to see if they offer programing for 18-21 year olds? Thank you so much!

We are interested in booking the 12 night British isles cruise on the Silhouette but would like to know if there are typically people our age (mid 40's) with older teenagers/young adults that sail this itinerary. Our children are 17 and 19. :confused:

By the way.... we ended up saving hundreds of dollars booking directly through TJ Tours rather than the American tour company (which uses TJ Tours) that my travel agent was recommending. Because our kids are students and we mentioned CC we received a significant discount. Our private tour for just our family for 2 days is less than the ships tours (and not much more than a larger group tour) and we are doing much more. TJ Tours has been wonderful to work with. I can't wait to see St. Petersburg! PS: Our tour included the AMBER room.

Thank you everyone for all of the advice and tour information. We have traveled extensively with our kids overseas and have taken many, many cruises but haven't had to deal with getting visas before. We usually just do our own research and explore on our own. I think we have got it all figured out now. We used a travel agent to book our cruise and he recommended a company called ShoreTrips to book a 2 day tour of St. Petersburg. It turns out the company they use in St. Petersburg is TJ Tours! I am waiting to compare pricing of the tours if I go directly through TJ Tours or the other company. If they are the same, I will use the company as they offer a few more assurances and payment options since they are based in America. They are going to customize a private tour for our family of 4 so we can adjust our plans on the fly if we spend less or more time at some of the locations. We are also able to combine a few tour ideas into one this way. So happy that we will be able to do a private tour instead. The pricing isn't that much more than with a group - it seems once you get past the 3 person mark the price goes down. I love the idea of going to a grocery store and some more local places to get more of a "taste" of less touristy St. Petersburg. Now on the figure out if we want tours in any other cities on our cruise!

Did you pre-purchase an Internet package? Online before the cruise, they only sell full cruise Internet packages. Do they only have packages once on the ship or can you use the Internet per hour or day as well? If so, do you remember the pricing? Also wondering if you buy with stream capabilities if the connection is better.