mocrimlaw

For the Celebrity Solstice in November, which side of the ship would be best, or would aft be best, for Auckland to Sydney itinerary? Thanks!

Wondering what you think about a Sky Suite versus Celebrity Suite? Sky is 300 sq ft and Celebrity is 394 sq ft, but the cost difference is significant. This is for a New Zealand cruise which is port intensive, so we won't be spending a lot of time in the cabin. I think I am talking myself into the cheaper one! Am I forgetting something important about the difference?

For those who have cruised New Zealand itinerary before....

These two excursions both sound very interesting, but BOTH are very expensive (somewhere around $1200 for two for Queenstown--- Dunedin to Milford Sound overnight trip with stop in Queenstown overnight---and around $700 for two for daytime train trip in Akaroa)

If you could only do ONE of these excursions, which one would it be? Which one gives you the best view of inland South Island and which gives you the most variety and quality of stops along the way?

Would you recommend somehow "hocking the farm" to do BOTH tours???

Liz

Liz - you should search for the thread by Terry in Ohio on his cruise to Australia & New Zealand. I have found this by googling either Terry in Ohio Solstice Australia or TLC in Ohio Solstice Australia. He writes fabulously and has lots of pictures and is always willing to answer questions ( I have even called him on the phone with questions). He did both of these excursions and should really be able to help you.

Our cruise ends in Copenhagen, and we fly out the next morning. I am looking for a private car ride to our hotel in Nyhavn, but not finding anything online. Alternatively, how long does it take to get a taxi there when the cruise ends there and everyone gets off? I hate to waste a lot of time waiting for a taxi. Thanks!

Thanks Terry - look forward to hearing from you by email or phone! Your next trips sound great. I think I am trailing around the world behind you as Spain & Portugal are coming up on my list after Australia/NZ & South Africa. Maybe one of these days we will be on the same cruise!

I have booked with Anastasia Tours for a 3 day tour including the middle day in Moscow. Katherine has been incredibly responsive - even on weekends sometimes - and a pleasure to work with. We don't go until August so I can't say how it will be, but another Cruisecritic person used them and was quite pleased.

Thanks as usual Terry for a wonderful and thorough journey through Australia & New Zealand. I have completed my planning for our Scandinavian/Norwegian fjords back to back cruises in August and decided to look ahead to the next trip to plan. So Australia/New Zealand has been on the top of my list for a long time, but my partner Fred LOVES to ski every weekend (we live in Colorado) so he refuses to leave here from December through April. I know that's the best time to go there, but I have decided I want to go regardless of the "best time" so now I am thinking October of 2018. I love cruises but am hesitant about the 2 day Tasman Sea rough seas, plus the loss of 2 sightseeing days there, so we may just go by land and air the whole trip. Next I am going to read about your African journey - my eyes can't see any more tonight ! - because that is probably the next trip I will plan. I am curious about your occupation - I am sure you figured our that I am an attorney with my username - but you see to talk about law occasionally as well as TV, plus you host people from other countries that seem to be here in official capacities, so I was wondering what it is that you do if you care to say. My email is crimlaw@ecentral.com if you prefer to reply to that.

Which is the correct side of the ship in St Petersburg to see Kronstadt?

Here are two time-lapse videos I did, one for Stockholm, one for St. Petersburg.

 

Stockholm was a bit of a miserable day. Lots of gulls followed us out as the usual idiots threw bread at them. Opposing traffic @ 2:54

 

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St. Petersburg was dreadfully boring until 3:54 when you pass a barracks/fort for Kronshtadt, followed quickly @ 4:05 by the flood control gates. Unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the ship on the sail out to get the good views of Kronshtadt.

 

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I haven't gone yet, but we are booked in August for a private 2 person tour with Anastasia Tours. Katherine has been delightful work with via email. We are doing a 3 day tour with the middle day in Moscow by high speed train. I did pay up front because there was a 40% discount if I paid by November 30th, which significantly reduced the fee. It seemed pretty reasonable for a private tour to me. I found them based on a CruiseCritic review.

No my discount was far more than $100. It was 40% off the whole amount, so saved me well over $1000. I would worry more about being stuck on the ship with no visa though, than I would about losing the money. I had never thought about that, so now I will just have to wait and hope it's ok. But Terry used them in 2008 I think, so that seems like along track record to me.

Oh I thought you meant the cruise line Oceania!

Oh well, we are pretty easygoing. If we can't get into a show, we'll just go to the casino! We are going for the ports, not the shows - those are just an extra bonus!

Why outside of Oceania? Has there been a problem with them in taking food off the ship?

Thank you so much for the clarification! One less thing to have to do ahead of time!

One thing I considered after agonizing over whether to take the overland tour is that the weather may be significantly different on the sail-in than sail-out. No way to know ahead of time of course. But I really want those photos so decided to stay on the ship for both ways and have hired a guide to take us to all the viewpoints in Geiranger, which hopefully will provide at least some of the overland experience! There is also a bus tour that goes to the viewpoints from NorwayExcursions.com which looked fine. I got cold feet on the bus when reading about people being made to hurry up at the top viewpoint so I went with a car.

Pwizzy - That is the reason I booked the Oceania cruise because I don't think you ca get there on Wednesday after docking at 7am. At least you can't take the train because it leaves before you can get to it. Possibly you can find a company that can take you on a flight to Moscow? And maybe return by train? The advantage of the train is it gets you right into the city. I think Terry flew when he went if I remember right. I have booked with the same company he used and we are on the train, but maybe a flight is a possibility. It is Anastasia tours, and Katherine there has been lovely to work with via email.

I booked with Anastasia for next August and I did pay up front, but I did that because it was a huge discount if I paid by 11/30.

We are in a suite on the Jade - first time on NCL. I read that there is some kind of perk about the shows. Does this mean I don't have to reserve the shows ahead of time or as soon as we get onboard, as I have read? We are not getting on until close to embarkation because we are sightseeing that day first. Thanks!

Never too much information from you Terry - I could look at your pictures and commentary over and over again!

Just a note - you said your trip was on a weekend, but for others considering this note that many cruises that are in St Petersburg for 3 days (which allows you to go to Moscow on the middle day) have the middle day on Thursday and the Kremlin is closed on Thursdays. It's one of the main attractions so good to know.

Terry - I thought of you and your beautiful pictures when I read that one of the places was the Lofoten Island!

I haven't been yet, but I can tell you that I chose our August cruise specifically because it allows us to do a day in Moscow. I have always wanted to see Red Square & St Basil's Cathedral. My law partner has been, and he said it was just a WOW moment - like it really is the amazing to look at. I say, if you will never get back, it's worth it!

we will be in Stavanger from only 8-2. My notes say the shops mainly open around 10:00. If we take the private boat to Pulpit Rock (Rodne tours), the earliest boat is at 10:00 and it's a 3 hour tour, leaving no time to browse the shops after the boat as we would have to be onboard at 1:30. But I wondered if the ships open earlier when a ship is there? Our alternative is the ship excursion at 8:30, also 3 hours but more than twice as expensive. Thanks!

Just wanted to say thanks to your husband for his service, and happy birthday to you! I hope you have a wonderful - new and improved version - cruise. We are booked on NCL for the first time in August to the Norwegian fjords, and even thought I did a TON of research before booking, I still wonder how it will compare to other cruises we have enjoyed on Celebrity and Oceania. But we are happy people and always have a good time despite finding that here are always things that go awry on vacations. Well, actually the only thing we did NOT enjoy was driving in Italy (which some people have told me they loved), which we found infinitely more stressful than Ireland and Scotland even though we were on the same side of the road as home when in Italy. But everything else, even though I plan like crazy, we roll with the punches and enjoy ourselves. On our Oceania cruise, after months of research and booking a private guide for 4 days in Istanbul where our cruise was to end, they cancelled Istanbul and substituted Athens. I felt terrible for the guide to lose 4 days of pay, and still feel bad that we did not get to see Istanbul, and even worse that the airline change cost me $3000, but we till had an awesome trip, and you will too!!

Thanks for the great Moscow pictures and as always interesting commentary, Terry! You are so good with those facts about every place - you should write guide books!