TeDaKi

I'm really liking your review.

Just one thing - Cork and Dublin are both in Ireland, not England. We are a completely different country!!

Thanks for the replies - I'll wait to book until I'm on board (y)

I have a quick question regarding the FCD / booking onboard / double OBC.

I already have a FCD and I'm interested in using it for a particular cruise in 2019.

If I wanted to, I could book that cruise now. But I'm wondering if I wait until I'm on my next HAL cruise in September 2018 and use my FCD to book that particular 2019 cruise when I'm onboard, will I get the double OBC?

Basically, when you're onboard, can you book a particular cruise with a FCD that you already have on file and still get double OBC?

I hope this makes sense! Thanks! :)

I think this is a really good itinerary ... some great ports there. We've done 3 cruises to Norway and would love to return again - it is one of my favourite countries and I'm sure you would love it too!

On our Canada/New England cruise next October, we're getting a Princess transfer from Newark Airport to the Brooklyn cruise port and it is costing us US$29pp each way.

Question for those who have disembarked in Amsterdam. What time should I reasonably expect to get off the Koningsdam? I'm working on flights as mine have just had a major change.

If you need to get off early, you could use the early disembarkation and would be off the ship not too long after the scheduled arrival time.

Just be aware that there is the possibility of delays for ships arriving to Amsterdam due to the canal locks. On our Koningsdam cruise in July 2017, we had a delay arriving back to Amsterdam. The scheduled arrival time was 7.00AM, however, because of a delay with the locks, we didn't dock until around 8:00AM. I think the first people started disembarking by 8:30AM. Some people missed flights, but we were lucky as our flight home wasn't until afternoon.

Next September before our cruise, we're gonna rent a car with Budget at Sea/Tac Airport for 2 days and drop it off at a downtown location, opposite the Space Needle.

Not sure if they have a shuttle to drop us to Pier 91, but it's a very short distance.

Good to hear you had positive experiences. We are also renting from Enterprise in Monterey on an upcoming cruise and are glad to hear everything worked out well.

On our Koningsdam cruise this past July, we had a delay arriving back to Amsterdam. The scheduled arrival time was 07.00am, however, because of a delay with the locks, we didn't dock until around 08:00am. I think the first people started disembarking by 08:30am. Some people missed flights, but we were lucky as our flight home wasn't until later in the day.

No, we just went down right when they started tending, around 9am I think, and we were able to get tickets straight away. When we got down to the tenders, I heard ships staff on a radio saying 'Do not send any more guests down at the moment' so I think we just sneaked in ahead of the rush!

There wasn't any option to collect tickets in advance, you just had to go to the Queens Lounge when all of your party were ready to go ashore.

Sounds pretty straight forward - thanks for answering my question! :)

We needed to be off in Geiranger fairly early for an independent excursion. Ship excursions get priority on the tenders and when they are ready to go, they will hold other passengers and get them on. We ran into the cruise director the night before and she advised us to come to the Queen's Lounge for tender tickets about 8:45 am to beat the rush. We had no problem following her advice.

We are in a similar situation, with an independent excursion booked. So I was a little apprehensive about getting off "early". Thanks for your advice!

Also a quick question - for the tendering process, did you have to collect tender tickets in advance? I've read about bad experiences with getting ashore, particularly in Geiranger. Just wondering what your experience was? Thanks!

Thank you for posting the daily programmes and those pictures look lovely too. So excited to be sailing on Koningsdam next month.

Thank you for sharing your review of the ship and ports. I'm sailing on Koningsdam on this exact same itinerary on 9th July..can't wait!

Really enjoying your review and great photos too - looking forward to more! :)

Yes! We have booked Europcar, as they have an office at the dock....Anyone have a better idea, as we can still cancel if they are still having problems? Maybe it was just a bad day...

When we booked our car with Europcar, I was also under the impression that they had an office at the dock. However, when we got to Reykjavik, there was nobody from Europcar there. There wasn't any Europcar office there. We had to call them and they sent a shuttle bus to bring us to their office a few kilometres away where we picked up the car. It really wasted a lot of time because they were also late arriving with the shuttle. However, they allowed us to return the car to the port.

How about heading into the centre of Reykjavik and visiting some sites there? It's a compact town and very easy to walk around.

Thanks for your review! :) We're sailing on the Koningsdam this coming July to Norway too, so I'm glad to hear you had a good time!

It is very quick and easy to drive in and out of the port at Reykjavik. We also rented with Europcar and did the Golden Circle when our ship docked in Reykjavik in Sept 2015. However, the car was not at the cruise port. Instead, a shuttle bus collected us and brought us to a Europcar office nearby, even though our booking stated the car would be at the port - just be aware of this! Driving was very easy and not a problem with little traffic.

You could also try Eidfjord Utleige AS. They are located at the YX Petrol station in the middle of Eidfjord.

We had a car booked with them for our visit to Eidfjord this coming July, but then we discovered Gomore.com and found they were much cheaper so we booked a car with Gomore instead!

We did the Viking Passage on Eurodam in September 2015 and it was one of our favourite cruises. Greenland and especially the Prince Christian Sound were spectacular. I wrote a photo review which is available here :

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2265322

Might give some idea on what there is to see.

What a fabulous, detailed review, thank you so much. We're also Irish and are doing this cruise on Fantasia in March and will be there for St Patrick's day which is also my husband's 60th birthday. I loved your detail regarding HOHO, taxis and shuttles, all very helpful as we haven't cruised in this area before. We too prefer Celebrity and have cruised many, many times with them and, like you, have only chosen MSC because of pricing and the fly-cruise option. Thanks again for taking the time (and the photographs!)

You are welcome! I hope you have a nice time there and enjoy some of the nice weather too :)

Brilliant review with fantastic photos - thank you so much for sharing!

This is brilliant news - I'm really looking forward to seeing what the itineraries are. Imagine, being able to embark on a X cruise only two hours drive from my home ... sweet! :cool:

Hi TeDaKi. Your trip report is great. I have it permanently open on my browser for research. Can I ask one question? - Does the casino stay open in Dubai while docked overnight? Thanks, Ken.

Hi Ken! I'm not really sure if the casino stays open (can't remember) however I do remember that the onboard shops were open so I suppose the casino might be open as well.