gdlamberth

5 hours ago, 2552phxcrzr said:

Cooktown, which was to have been after Cairns has been canceled and replaced with a day at sea.

I gather then that you docked in Cairns?   How damaged was the town and it's environs?  Tours/Excursions go off as scheduled? or which were cancelled?

Thanks for interrupting your vacation to report in!

Greg

1 hour ago, Campbell soup said:

I am trying to find a Tour by Locals in Burnie on March 3, 2024 but Burnie doesn't show up. Am I doing something wrong?

I think you're correct,  I misspoke.  We booked our tours in Burnie through:

Coastline Tours | Experience North West Tasmania | Day Tours

I don't see any TBLs out of Burnie.  You might also try Launceston at

Launceston-Australia - Find an Authentic Private Tour - (toursbylocals.com)

It's about an hour and a half from Burnie and one of the guides there might be able to help.

Sorry for misleading you.

Greg

I know this has been asked before but I couldn't find concrete answer.  Since the dock is in industrial area with no services and about 3.5km from town, do cruise lines -or- the town -or- someone else run a shuttle service into town and back? Free? Cost? It appears if there is some sort of transport into town, one can walk to the Cathedral and Alta Museum.  

Thanks,

Greg

Any experience with Alta, Norway?  Dock is in industrial area with no services and about 3.5km from town.

thanks,

Greg

Is there a place to store luggage at the the train station? We dock at 8:00 a.m. our plane is about 4:00 p.m. if we could store luggage at the train station and walk around town a bit that would be nice.

Thanks,

Greg

My wife frequently wears "dressy sandals" to MDR and both of us sometimes wear sandals to Terrace Cafe for dinner. I think (IMHO) Oceania is trying to avoid shower shoe/flip flops in dining venues.  

18 minutes ago, sddsddean said:

Probably best site is https://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/planjourney/search

You can use others, but £9.50 is cheap anyway, so probably not worth the bother.

 

When I go to this site (using a November 16 date) the ticket prices range from 9.50 to 22.50 GBP for advance tickets.  While it may not be important, I'm curious why such a large variance (I don't think the higher price were 1st Class)?  Also, since the tickets are labeled "valid for this service only" I assume I should purchase a ticket late enough (say 1130) to ensure I won't miss my train -OR- simply buy an "anytime" ticket for a higher price (much higher)...do I have that right?

Thank you so much,

Greg

First, please my woeful ignorance of the British Rail Ticketing system.  

Our situation is that we'd like to take a train from Southampton Central to LGW  (we're staying at the Hilton near Gatwick train station) after disembarking a cruise on Wednesday 28 Aug 2024.  We'd also like to take the train into London after dropping our luggage at the hotel to spend the afternoon and evening in London and return to hotel that evening.  We will have luggage going to LGW so would prefer a direct train to LGW; but, don't need to be in First Class.  Also, we'd like to head to LGW as early as possible, but can't guarantee what time we can  be at Southampton Central.

What way would you recommend we purchase the tickets (there also seems to be a wide variety of ticket types with an equally wide variety of pricing)? 

Thanks for your patience and assistance,

Greg

Any thoughts about Hilton at South Terminal?  Our plane departs from the South Terminal and the Hilton appears to be very near the train station also.  We'll be coming up by train from SOU.  Our thought was we'd drop our bags at our hotel at Gatwick then take the train into London for the afternoon/evening, come back to hotel get some sleep and catch our 1300 flight the next day.

Greg

OCAPP?

1 hour ago, SophieM said:

If this cruise is August ‘24, we’ll see you on board! Are you going directly to Heathrow?

Yes that's our cruise sailing on August 10th disembarking August 28th . There's a roll call for this Cruise also if you're interested . Actually trying to see if we can make a flight out of Gatwick at 12:50. If that turns out to be too risky then we will be going direct to get to Heathrow from Southampton Cruise terminal terminal

Our cruise is from Oslo to Southampton. The last stop immediately before Southampton is Bruges though prior to that we will have stopped in Edinburgh, Scotland.

We are scheduled to disembark Oceania's Sirena in Southampton at 0800 on a Wednesday.  What experiences have folks had when disembarking carrying their luggage themselves?  In Papeete once we were allowed to disembark a bit after 0700 (carrying our own luggage) other times I've seen very close adherence to group disembarking times.  What been your experience in Southampton? Trying to schedule a car service as early as possible.

Thanks,

Greg

We are scheduled to disembark Sirena in Southampton at 0800 on a Wednesday.  What experiences have folks had when disembarking carrying their luggage themselves?  In Papeete once we were allowed to disembark a bit after 0700 (carrying our own luggage) other times I've seen very close adherence to group disembarking times.  What been your experience in Southampton? Trying to schedule a car service as early as possible.

Thanks,

Greg

I'm sorry but I'm having trouble sorting thru the volumes on this thread. 

Can someone recommend a car/bus etc. service that will allow us to make a 1245 flight to US out of LGW  on disembark day?  Appreciate any help,

Greg

I'd also recommend looking for a Non-Stop on Qantas.

Try this:

How to Visit the Blue Mountains By Train: 2 Easy Itineraries | Sydney Expert

Next summer sailing from Olso on Oceania's Regatta.  I've searched this forum and didn't see anything about recommended/suggested Hotels.  Current plan is to fly into Olso on a Thursday afternoon and the ship sails Saturday afternoon.  So, thinking two nights lodging, two dinners and a full day of sightseeing.  Any recommendations/suggestions/advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your assistance,

Greg

While I don't proclaim to be an expert, here's some things we've enjoyed in the past:

1. Free Guided Walking Tours:  Both Sydney and Auckland have Free Guided Walking Tours.  Sydney has two a City Sights and "The Rocks,"  Auckland's meets near the Cruise Terminal  see: Sydney Free Walking Tours | I'm Free Tours Sydney (imfree.tours) 
2. Try to catch a show (not a tour) at the Sydney Opera House.  We're seeing "Opera's Greatest Arias" in February 2024
3. Sydney Bridge Climb or at least the Pylon Overlook/Museum 
4. Dinner and a pint (or two) at one of the old pubs in The Rocks (Sydney)
5. Sydney has two HOHO Bus routes that are very good at a "one over the world" view of Sydney
6. ferry over to Manly Beach for a laid back kind of day (Sydney)
7. A day trip (either by tour or a DIY) to the Blue Mountains (Sydney)
8. A stroll through the botanical gardens (Sydney)
9. Walk or Bus up to The Domain in Auckland.  Great Museum and a very nice park.
10. Find a tour of Auckland that gets you out to the major sights One Tree Hill and such
11. Both places (Auckland especially) see what Tours by Locals has available  Auckland-New-Zealand - Find an Authentic Private Tour - (toursbylocals.com)

Have Fun,

Greg

6 hours ago, ToxM said:

There’s also usually a couple of the GDR options in the Terrace as well. We usually end up there unless there is something especially tempting on the GDR. 

 

It’s the Queen of Buffets at sea. 

Additionally, if you are Gluten Free (or any other Free, I think) your pre-selected items from the MDR can be brought up to you at the Terrace.  Frequently, DW (who is Gluten Intolerant and has pre-selected dinner items from the MDR menu) and I would dine at the Terrace and her MDR items would be brought up course by course and she could supplement her GF selections with clearly GF items from the Terrace.  In the FWIW category, she was also able to get GF selections for lunch brought up to The Waves at lunchtime.

Greg

We tend to use The Terrace for dinner about half the time when on board. Much faster than MDR, nice shorts and runners acceptable dress, usually some sushi and something off the grill or maybe a special stir fry works well for us. 

All this said my BIL is with a group of 4 playing golf all over Scotland and have ben site seeing in Inverness, at Culloden, Edinburgh (attended the Tattoo) and just emailed this PM saying that they've had great weather everywhere so far.  Granted they have been on land; but, if they had had naxty winds messing with their golf fame they would have said something.

Just a data point

5 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Typically Wellington shuttles (for all cruise lines) stop near the iSite information centre in Wakefield St, which is a short walk to the Te Papa museum. They often have another stop i  the city which has varied a bit over the year - apparently last year they were stopping in Brandon St, near the corner of Lambton Quay, which is a short walk to the cable car.

 

I suggest meeting at the iSite.

10 minutes ago, Kiwi_cruiser said:

 

 gdlamberth Does Oceania say where in Wellington, these stop are?

 

As it could be "Museum of New Zealand Te Papa" or the "Wellington i site Visitor Information Centre" or somewhere else!

 

If you don't get any more information from any one else, I will try and get in touch with the Visitor Information Centre and see if I can get some more info for you :).

 

If worse comes to it, you could say to your friends that you could meet them at "Museum of New Zealand Te Papa"

Thank you both!  The iSite is a great suggestion since it's close to the Te Papa Museum.

Greg

Oceania's Free Shuttle List says several places in city center....can anyone tell me more specifically "Where in the City Center?"  Trying to set up a meet with friends.

Thanks,

Greg

Oceania's Free Shuttle List says several places in city center....can anyone tell me more specifically "Where in the City Center?"  Trying to set up a meet with friends.

Thanks,

Greg