sussanahrose

Hi Janet,

Nice to read your review. Don't know if you're still reading comments on here but I'll go ahead and ask anyway ...

I came across your posts while reading a Petra topic and noticed you asked about the electric golf carts. I'm wondering if you did get to book/use them on your tour. We have been to Petra once before and it was so, so hot we were totally had it by the time we walked back up. I have also developed an ankle injury (Achilles tendon) and do suffer badly now when walking. We have a full day in Eilat the day before, we're also doing the ship tour to Masada & Dead Sea, so still not sure if we want to commit to Petra the next day if it is going to be too hard!

We will be taking our first Costa cruise on the Mediterranea from Mauritius to Venice in March this year, have done many other cruises so it will interesting to see how Costa compare for us. 

Well, hope you see this but if not I'll just keep searching ...

Thanks,

Sue.

Thanks for that information.

We're now thinking it's a bit too much trouble to do on our own and think we'll join a tour that a fellow roll call member has arranged, going to Dover and the castle etc. Not cheap but does take out the worry of getting back in time for the last Gravesend-Tilbury ferry (which is 7pm).

Thanks.

Also wondering what to do from Tilbury. Thinking of getting the ferry across to Gravesend and then train to Dover returning via Margate. We're in port 9am to 9pm. I checked some timetables and fares on National Rail and it would cost around 80 pounds each. Does this sound about right or is there an all day train ticket that would be more economical? Thanks for any information.

(Hope it's ok to jump in on this post, looking for more Tilbury info).

11 hours ago, MAVIP said:

Checked their conditions: they guarantee your place after booking. The bus leaves every 30 minutes. (When we used them a new bus took the place the moment the former one left the busstop). If the ship arrives later, they adapt their schedules. They guarantee that you will be back in time for the departure of the ship. They pay back if the ship has to cancel the visit of Zeebrugge and you can cancel yourself untill 48 hours before arrival of the ship. 

Just leave the ship at the time that suits you best (in the shuttle provided by the port authorities to the gate). Happy cruising!

All booked! Thanks again!

8 hours ago, MAVIP said:

On the website they mention that they accept cash. Conclusion: you can pay upon departure. Risk is that you have to wait for next bus.  Our bus was fully booked.  No great risk that your ship will not be able to dock in Zeebrugge. 

Thanks for the info.  So those who booked in advance were given priority? That would make it worthwhile booking ahead. Do you have to specify the time?

... Okay, had a better look at the website and found further information regarding how they have two queues, one for pre booked and one for sales on the day. Think we'll go ahead and book it our NCL "Bruges on your own" is AUD$113 pp and Cruise Express is AUD$32 pp, quite a difference!

Thanks again!

On 1/8/2020 at 4:02 PM, MAVIP said:

The shuttle service we (4 adults, 2 children) used Spring 2018: 

 

http://www.cruise-express.be Round-Trip Shuttle Service from Zeebrugge to Bruges.pdfUnavailable
info@cruise-express.be

Just a few minutes walk from the shuttle "ship to the gate of the dock" in Zeebrugge and (of course) a walk from the Parking outside the "walls"  to the city center.

Round-Trip Shuttle Service from Zeebrugge to Bruges.pdf 7.78 MB · 6 downloads

Wondering if it is necessary to book in advance for this shuttle or can you pay on the bus on the day?

Cheers

Sue and Peter

On 12/21/2019 at 4:51 AM, Sallyandtex said:

Thankyou for the great advice on this thread!

Exactly was my question, (unfortunately i posted similarly on Trip Advisor and got my head bitten off wanting exact dates and budget!)

Cruise critic people are awesome, thankyou!

Haha, I shake in my boots whenever I contemplate asking a question on Trip Advisor, always get some snarky replies that make you feel like an idiot! It can happen on here too but generally much friendlier and helpful I feel, even tho I believe they're owned by the same company. I've also found when I search on TA the information is years old despite changing the search preference to "date". I give up!

 Anyway, some great advise on this thread, our cruise ends in Amsterdam on 16th May 2020 and for us the hotel prices are way out of our budget in the downtown area so ended up booking on Priceline with their "Express Deal" in the airport area and got the Crowne Plaza, (Club Room) which was still AUD$230/night, (about double what we would pay in most cities of the world!). Planning to store our luggage at Central Station and sight-see for the day and head for the hotel later as checkin won't be until 3pm.  Staying two nights and hope to do a tour to Volendam/windmills on the second day.

By the way, Banks Mansion looks great but at AUD$954/2 nights - whoa!!

Cheers!

Sue and Peter

On 6/15/2019 at 6:12 AM, Houndfish said:

I have not done this yet but will in early 2020. International flights come in to terminal 3 which has cadecas on both floors. I am planning to do 2 days in Havana and 2 days in Guanabo. Villa Cloty in Guanabo and unsure on Havana yet but there are lots of choices. Will leave from fll on southwest and return the same. Liberal baggage and cancellation policies. Found many casa particulars at or under 50 cuc. Many look nice below that but location to havana vieja is a considerstiom

Came across this in my research into the money changers, (don't know how up to date this is tho) apparently Southwest do fly into Terminal 2:

"The cadeca in terminal #2 is in departures, not arrivals. After clearing customs, upon exiting the building at the arrival section, go right about 75 meters still under the canopy to the entrance to departures. Enter departures and you see the check in counters right in front of you. Instead, take an immediate right down the hallway. The cadeca is about 30 meters down that hallway on the right hand side. At least it was that way when I last came through terminal #2 about a year and a half ago.

Note: upon exiting arrivals with CUC in hand, there is an open air beer stand immediately to the right. No better place to spend your first CUC in Cuba than on a cold Cristal or Bucanero."  ... (I like this tip!!)

Booked flights directly with SW, they state health insurance is included in the fare, however, we have our own travel insurance also that covers our entire trip including USA and Cuba.

Booked our accommodation on airbnb, choose a place with excellent reviews and a fair price (60 CUC/night 2 bedroom) right on El Malecon, Vedado with beautiful views of the ocean and sunsets. No pool, (not particularly interested in that) but it has a balcony and air-con which was a must! 

Hope I remember to write up about it when we're finished!

Cheers!

Flights and accommodation all booked for September.

Flying with Southwest and found a place on Airbnb which sounds fabulous! 

Thanks Houndfish! That is pretty much exactly what we have in mind. 

Have you done this yourself?  I read somewhere that Southwest arrives at terminal 2 in Havana and there is no currency exchange facilities there,  do you know if this is true? 

Thanks for the replies!  

No! We are not American citizen's, we are Aussies!! Guess I should have stated the obvious but thought the little flag and the "Western Australia" address were give aways! (but should never assume etc etc). 😉 

Anyway,  I will keep investigating ideas of somewhere to stay and maybe doing a package with a tour company of accommodation and a trip to Vinales.

And yes,  have already checked all requirements etc and if the flights are also banned will have to move on to Plan C, 5 more days in Miami! 

With our cruise to Cuba in September this year now cancelled by NCL, and our flights and accommodation already booked to/from/in Miami we have 5 days free and we are wondering if it is a good option to fly to Havana instead.

We'd appreciate any thoughts on the likelihood of flights being cancelled and also recommendations for accommodation, have been looking at a few hotels that didn't seem too bad but then the reviews were horrendous!! And all this "politically correctness"  (??) of whether we should stay in a hotel or casa particular is also a bit daunting and leaves us wondering if it's all worth it!

And would you include travel to other towns or parts of Cuba or just Havana? (The cruise was just Havana).

Any info appreciated. Thanks!

Well I guess we won't have to worry about this now! 😥

19 hours ago, live.love.cruise said:

When we exited the terminal there were several pink cars and maybe one horse drawn carriage soliciting us to take their tour. Since we just wanted to tour the old and new without any specific places in mind we picked the closest car. The quoted price was $50 for the four of us and it lasted about three hours including the lunch stop. We had the option to go wherever we wanted , stop for pics or just go with their normal tour. We went with their normal tour. I was in the process of selling my house/moving so didn’t have much time to research before the trip. We were satisfied with the tour and the driver/guide. 

 

We had a difficult time deciding on a tour/car in advance so I decided we would just try our luck @ terminal and see what happens. I don’t regret that decision ...

 

 

Thank you so much for all the info! We still have a bit of time until our cruise so I'll keep studying the form and make a decision.

Cheers!

On 6/2/2019 at 6:19 AM, live.love.cruise said:

Thanks for the replies. We returned yesterday and had a wonderful cruise and time in Cuba. There were plenty of tour options available once we exited the terminal. We did a 3 hour car tour with a lunch stop for $50/4 people. Looking forward to visiting again soon. 

I'm interested to know how you decided which car/tour to go with at the terminal, did you choose a car you liked or the just best deal you negotiated? I don't mind paying the asking price of the online tours but finding it hard to choose, thought it might be just as easy to pick when we get there! 

Our cruise is on NCL Sky in September.  Did you arrange your visa with NCL? Any other info you think might be helpful?

Thanks!

Good to get this info, thank you!

I have also been wondering which show is better, so thanks Annmarz for posting this question!

I was also wondering if it is necessary to book ahead or can you easily get tickets at either venue on the night?

Thanks!

8 hours ago, Kiwi_cruiser said:

 

We did a 4 hr Cuba Classic Car tour with Belver Havana Cuba Classic Cars: http://havanacubaclassiccars.com/

 

 

Thanks once again Kiwi_cruiser, I will check this one out too. I must say again, pretty much everyone seems happy with their Classic Car tours (one person not happy their driver didn't speak English, not this company tho). 

Cheers!

Sue

11 hours ago, volvof11 said:

.....The people were nice and we would definitely go back.

We felt safe all the time

Hope this helps 

Pauline

Hi there Pauline!

Thanks for the info, good to know that it all went smoothly for you too. I am yet to read of any real disaster trips, so hopefully it will be smooth sailing for us too.

Thanks again,

See you over on our Costa Roll Call! 

Sue

G'day Tanya and Kevin!

Great to hear from you, thanks! Yes, I do have your email (Optus) so will send you a note, would love to get your well experienced travel tips on Cuba!

Sue

Oh yes, have checked out all those boards but just started here first as the other boards are predominantly Americans!

Great to hear about the rum and cigars! Thanks.

12 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

A friend has also just done the same last year, the cruise line (Carnival) organised it for them.

Thanks MicCanberra! I think (hope!) this is probably the norm for all.

Thanks Kiwi_Cruiser for the reply and info!

Yes, NCL have been doing these short Cuban cruises for quite a while now with the Sun and Sky. They leave from either Miami or Port Canaveral. We would prefer something a little longer but this will be fine for a taster.

Yeah, have been reading all the stories about them possibly being cancelled, ours is in Sept this year so hopefully it will still go ahead. 

I'll ring NCL again tomorrow, when I rang before I think it may have been outside Eastern States office hours and was re directed to an offshore call centre (Hong Kong or somewhere similar? ...) and perhaps they will be able to clarify the visa situation for us.

Did you bring back any Rum or cigars? Not really worried about the cigars but Peter likes to "collect" Rum from all over the world so he's hoping he can add to his collection here too!

Look forward to hearing about your Classic Car tour, what type of car, where did you go, how long and how much?!!

Thanks!

Sue and Peter

Are there any Aussies out there  that have done a cruise to Cuba (particularly on Norwegian, leaving and returning to Florida, USA)?

We're wondering about visas and if they were organised by the ship. Smarttraveller is pretty useless when it comes to getting accurate information when cruising and we're getting the run around between the travel agent and NCL both telling us to contact the other etc etc!

Appreciate any help and also any recommendations for tours in Classic Cars in Havana. Have checked out a few but it's hard to choose one over another.

Thanks!

Hi Evon,

Nice to read your review!

Unfortunately, my bed was a long way short of divine and I would go so far as to say it was the worst bed I've had on any cruise!

After discussing with the cabin steward, he advised there was nothing they could do for me - it was definitely one of the new mattresses and as the ship was fully booked there were no spares to swap it over. It had a very deep dip in the middle and I decided to flip/turn it (which I have done on other cruises with success). However, these new beds are "single side" mattresses, meaning they are not designed to be flipped over. I settled for turning it around which helped a little, along with a few towels to pack up the hollow. At times I felt the bed was swallowing me up! I found the pillows a bit too big and soft too but thankfully I was able to get a smaller, firmer pillow.

My husband Peter's half was fine (and he did offer to swap, but I didn't want two of us not sleeping!!).

All I can say is, if I had purchased this mattress new I would be demanding my money back!! I admit I am a bit of a "Princess and the Pea" when it comes to beds tho ;) :rolleyes:

The rest of the cruise was wonderful!