Mocamps

Does anyone know what Royal Pacific is like? It seems to have an airport shuttle which might be useful.

Thank you.....very helpful

10 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

@Mocamps - for your 9Oct - 11Oct stay on the Kowloon side (if I am reading the cruise schedule correctly) - it looked like the Kowloon Hotel and Holiday Inn Golden Mile, both close/nearby - and are on the free shuttle bus route connected from the HK Airport Express' KL Station, quick & easy - free porter services/help for luggage - priced about the same.  Prices about the same for all 3, book a fully refundable rate now to lock in the savings with the recent/ongoing social unrest. 

 

Kowloon Hotel is about 1 block further up on Nathan Road - all of them an easy walk to the waterfront at TST, the promenade there is the best spot to watch the nightly 8 pm laser show ... be sure to download & use the free App, sync. to music for the short performance ... weather permitting, of course. 

 

Use CC's corporate sibling, TripAdvisor's online (or your own favorite UK) booking site to price out availability and options, specials & deals - for a simple overnight stay, clean & comfortable bedding, nice & hot shower and places nearby in easy walking distance for nice meals is really all you need - with the cruise terminal nearby. 

Thank you.........can you walk from these to the  Ocean cruise terminal? With bags?

32 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

If you can get a room there, that would seem to fit your requirements nicely. It's definitely walkable to Ocean Terminal. And when you arrive in Hong Kong, you should be able to use the Airport Express' shuttle bus from Kowloon station to get there (if you don't want to simply take a taxi from the airport).

 

Frankly, in your circumstances I doubt that I would stay at the airport in any event unless there were some compelling reasons to do so.

Thank you. That's the conclusion I came to.

Are there any reasonably priced alternatives to the Salisbury or do you think that's the best we can do in that area?

Sorry to hijack this thread but it seems to have lots of useful contributors with the knowledge I need!!.....

We're going on a Silversea cruise from HK in October. We have been to HK before and done a lot of the sites - though mainly from the HoHo bus so I didn't get a really good idea of where things are and can't remember anyway!!

So on this trip we''ll only be spending the night before the cruise in HK and would welcome some advice on where to stay. We will arrive late afternoon at the airport and will board the ship at around 12 the next day so we could either stay at an airport hotel or somewhere near the cruise terminal. The latter is my preferred option because I think Silversea use the Ocean terminal and I think that is in/near TST? And from there we could get a good view of the light show which we didn't really see last time.

Is all of that correct?

And, if so, do you have any recommendations?

We're not budgeting a huge amount for the hotel stop as it's only really a bed for the night but if there are any reasonably priced hotels that might fit the bill I'd love to hear about them.

In a really ideal world they would be well placed for airport transport and walkable to the cruise terminal? The Salisbury looks like it might be an option?

Really appreciate any advice

We did the Hop On Hop Off bus in Busan and it was easy! We got off at a couple of stops to do some coastal walking (as walking is our 'thing') and found it easy to get a bus back. We stopped at Keelung in Taiwan so can't comment on that except to say that we used a local bus in Keelung and people were VERY helpful at pointing us in the right direction when we were a bit uncertain.

We actually very rarely do ship tours as I much prefer a more local experience if it's possible

On the subject of formal clothing....we didn't take any!! We had 2 weeks in Chile and Argentina before the cruise so we had enough to think about with clothing for all temperatures. My husband did wear smart trousers rather than jeans to dinner though there were plenty of people in jeans. On the very slightly more formal nights (elegant casual or something?) there were a few people who dressed up more and I think we actually went to Hot Rocks on one or maybe both of those nights, but we'd have been OK with my husband in his trousers and shirt. I had a couple of dresses with me anyway as they were easy to pack and I used them on the other part of our holiday.

We found the laundry to be invaluable and used it right at the beginning for our underwear and t-shirts that we'd used on the first part of the holiday and then used again as layers on this part. We then used it halfway through this cruise to freshen up our warm layers. Excellent!

Maybe of interest?........I posted this after our Antarctic cruise. On the subject of walking poles, quite a few people responded to say that they would definitely take them. I think it may depend on how far into the season you are. When we went it was the first cruise of the season and the landing sites were pristine with some quite thick snow in places so poles just sank into them. I believe that later on they would be more well-trodden and then poles would be of more benefit.

If that's just for a 7 day cruise I don't think I'd do it. We've been in a Verandah suite on SG and we didn't actually spend much time in our suite. We were out and about for most of the time. And when we weren't out and about we were eating or drinking!! We used to have a pre-dinner drink on our balcony and that was about it!! We certainly didn't sit in the cabin.....all we did there was sleep!!

Just my view....but I've never been in a Silver suite! Just can't think it would be so good that I'd want to spend a lot of time in it when I could be out and about.

We've just booked this cruise from Hong Kong to Sydney via the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. Is anyone else going?

I can't find a roll call for it but I know Silverseas customers don't seem to be big on roll calls!

This will be our 4th SS cruise but our first one on a non-expedition ship so I'm looking forward to seeing any differences. I have LOVED the expeditions but did miss having an after-dinner show. And my husband quite likes the occasional dabble in the casino. So I'm hoping this might tick a few boxes though I know we'll miss some aspects of the expeditions. Though the itinerary seems quite adventurous in itself!! This will also be the longest cruise we've ever done so we'll see how it goes.........any tips on the Muse will be gratefully received! We'll be in a standard Verandah cabin on the 5th deck,

We did the Antarctic in 2018 on the Silver Cloud and then the Arctic last year. On both cruises we had the basic Vista cabin and didn't feel we missed out at all .......though I did spend a lot of time in the Observation lounge. In fact I was chatting there to a guy who had one of the most expensive cabins on the ship (with wraparound balcony) and he said it had been a complete waste of money!! There were 3 of them in it and they hadn't been able to move during the day on the Drake as they were so sick! The location of that cabin on a higher deck and near the front made their seasickness much worse than ours on a low deck and midships. Also, there was a lot of snow on their balcony so they couldn't get out on it anyway!!

Might be worth consideration??

We're now looking at an Asian cruise on the Muse and pondering the expense of the balcony (an extra £2000!) but as it's a 'hot' cruise and quite a long one with several sea days  we're giving it serious consideration. I do like reading on a balcony! But not sure it's worth that much. How easy will it be to find a quiet corner on deck given that most people will have balconies?

On 1/9/2020 at 6:58 PM, Gnoelj said:

 

I am afraid the Butler is also one of the things that puts us off. We would rather pay NOT to have a butler than have one.

 

On one cruise in the past, we had a butler , we did not appreciate that at all. It felt a bit too pretentious.

We felt like that about a 'butler' and to be honest, we didn't really use ours for anything different to a standard cabin steward/ess. I don't really know what the difference is.....maybe ours had a really easy trip!!

We've only been on SS expedition cruises and I've loved them all! There haven't been any really formal nights on those but, if there were, I'd just go to Hot Rocks or La Terrazza. We've also been on Regent and think the two lines are very comparable and we don't dress up on those either. The food has been great on both.  I've got my eye on a Crystal expedition but the price is WAY higher than SS so I don't think it's going to happen.

Thanks everyone for the help. We are definitely giving it a go!!

Hi,

We will be doing a Norwegian Jewel cruise from Tahiti to Hawaii in April. On our disembarkation day we have a mid/late afternoon flight (need to be at the airport at around 2pm, possibly 2.30). The ship is due to dock at 6 am and we would really love to pay a short visit to Pearl Harbour, Do you think this is feasible? I've heard the museum is open quite early.

And, if it is feasible then which would be the best way to do it? I've heard that there is somewhere that we can leave luggage at the museum so could we get an Uber/taxi there, leave our luggage, see the monument, pick up our luggage and then get another taxi to the airport? OR sort out a tour where we can leave our luggage in the minibus or whatever we're touring in and then be dropped off at the airport? If the second option, can anyone recommend a tour company where this will work? I thought the cruise company might do something like that but they don't appear to. We don't usually use cruise ship excursions but might make an exception if this worked out to be the only way we could incorporate Pearl Harbour.

All advice much appreciated. This will be our first visit to Hawaii.

We did a HAL cruise in Australia and New Zealand a couple of years ago mainly because the Celebrity cruise we really wanted was fully sold. It was a good price and we had an aft balcony cabin for a very reasonable price. BUT it was VERY quiet and we felt like youngsters (we're both in our 60's!!). My husband reckoned half the passengers didn't make it to the the end of the 14 night cruise!!

We effectively had 4 sea days in a row (one in the Sounds and the other 3 going over to Australia) and we were ready to jump overboard by the end! So I wouldn't go on HAL again unless I was seriously behind with my reading!!

Thank you.......all very useful tips.

I've checked and I can't yet book restaurants online. Any ideas when this opens up?

And also, I'm intrigued about this bidding for upgrades thing that I read about as I've never heard about that before. I do really fancy an aft balcony so would love to be able to bid for one if that's available (I'm assuming that would be cheaper than just upgrading now which is quite expensive and my husband doesn't think it's worth it!) Do you have any more info on how this bidding thing works? And when?

Many thanks everyone! And keep the tips coming! I'm going to have a look at what restaurants are included in my package. We have the Free at Sea (which WASN'T free!) but am I right in thinking that not all restaurants are included in that?

We're well aware this won't be like Regent or Silverseas but we love the idea of being more casual and relaxed and we booked this cruise primarily for the itinerary. The Haven and Penthouse look amazing but are a significant hike in price so not sure we'll think they're worth the extra. But I read somewhere about bidding for upgrades. What's that all about?

Yes, it IS the Jewel!

Hi everyone,

We've just booked our first cruise on Norwegian (Tahiti and Hawaii) though we have cruised with lots of other companies - Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Windstar, Silversea and Regent. Basically I mainly book cruises based on the itinerary and getting a good deal.

As a first timer on Norwegian, I'm looking for tips that will relate more specifically to cruising with Norwegian....... and particularly cabin tips (we're booked into a mini-suite but there are lots still available so I can easily swap if anyone can tell me if some have bigger balconies (we love sitting on the balcony!!) or if certain locations are better than others.

But any tips would be appreciated. We've found that all cruise lines have their own foibles and it's useful to know what to look out for in advance. Do we need to book speciality restaurants (and if so, when?), are there any little nooks and crannies that are underused?, etc. etc.

Many thanks for any help you can offer.

Morag

We sailed on Royal Clipper about 5 years ago and absolutely loved it! Based on that we booked Windstar (one of their 'sailing' ships) a few months ago and were disappointed. There was no proper sailing whatsoever and they only opened up the watersports platform once. On Royal Clipper, even if they couldn't open up the platform they took all the water 'toys' onto the beach so we could make use of them there. I don't know if we were just lucky with Royal Clipper (Caribbean trip) and unlucky with Windstar (Costa Rica) but this would deter us from booking Windstar again.

We also found that Windstar had much more of a cruise ship feel rather than an expedition but it didn't have the facilities of a larger cruise ship - no balconies, poor quality entertainment, plunge pool rather than swimming pool, etc. The clientele were older with not such a wide age range (we're in our 60's and we felt relatively young!!). We had an OK time, the staff were lovely, food was top notch and the cabin was probably nicer but it lacked the spirit of adventure we found on Royal Clipper. Everyone seemed to think we were super-adventurous because we did our own thing in ports rather than going on the VERY pricey ship's excursions. On Royal Clipper we didn't really need excursions because we were happy just hanging out on the beach, snorkelling, walking etc.

All in all I guess it's horses for courses.

We are going on the June 18th Reykjavik to Tromso cruise on Silver Cloud.

We're booking our own flights to Reykjavik and from Tromso but I'm not sure what to do about transfers.

We went on an Antarctic cruise on the Cloud last year and transfers were provided but I could see that on the booking. Does anyone have any experience of this? Do Silversea usually provide transfers? Or should I book my own? It will be annoying to book my own and then find out that Silversea have their own provision!

43 minutes ago, msears101 said:

MOcamps ... Do not worry about windstar documentation, bag tags, etc.  It is easy and breezy on windstar.   I have done 6 windstar cruises, they are nothing like the big ship.   As long as you are wear clothes and have a passport you will get on the boat.  This is a very relaxed, personal experience.  The big ships are a city.  Windstar is a small village in Yorkshire.  The crew will know you by face and name within a day.  You will know half half guests without even trying.

 

If everyone on the ship showed up at the same time, everyone would be on the boat and a drink in hand in 20 mins.  It is not everyone's cup a tea, but if you like personalized service you will be right at home.

 

Enjoy!

Thank you. We're really looking forward to it.....we've been on expedition boats and on Star Clippers so we know this is the size we like. Just pleased that we have at least SOME relevant paperwork!!

OK - so we leave home in a couple of days and STILL no documentation from Windstar. Though thanks to Zanzibar I did at least know where to go and when so I haven't been panicking!!  But I phoned my TA yet again and she phoned Windstar yet again and finally I  have the required e-tickets with all the info on them!! In fact I now have FOUR copies of the same document - 2 from Windstar and 2 from the TA!! But better too many than too few.

Now to pack!!...........

2 hours ago, Cometman said:

Go to the Windstar website.

Click on My Windstar

Enter your confirmation number and your last name

All of your cruise information is available there.

 

I have never booked a Windstar cruise through a travel agent, always directly with Windstar. I have never in 12 cruises had any issues.

I'm afraid not!! I've filled in all my passenger information but it's still not there!!.....just the same outline itinerary that I already have.

Hi Zanzibar,

Thank you for all that info - way more than we've had from Windstar!!  We've only had the initial confirmation and the notification of the changed itinerary.

At least we now know where to go and at what time! Hopefully the rest will be fairly straightforward!!

See you onboard. We're in 136.

Morag