irvington

I thought I saw in a YouTube video that there was DIY laundry - did I get that wrong, or is that only some ships? If I can do some laundry on a transpacific cruise, it would really help me to pack lighter.

We stayed in the Volcano Hotel in Vik. It was fairly plain but perfectly nice. The best part was that we booked a tour for the 4 of us in a 4 wheel drive vehicle that took us sightseeing places we could normally never drive to. This was through the hotel though their website has changed a lot since we visited in 2019. We also stayed at the Milk Factory Hotel in Hofn. Amazing scenery along the way. Another pretty modern and plain hotel, but cool.

This is so helpful, I'm thinking of doing a solo trip later this year and it sounds like I will have fun.

For Belfast I might recommend the black cab tour of the murals. I did it as a part of a land based trip with "kids" in their early 20s, but I know they would have been interested as younger ones too.

Just thought I'd pick up on this rather than starting a duplicative thread. I will be there this summer with my sons who are in their 20s. We like art, history, walking around. We will definitely plan on a canal trip weather permitting. Sounds like we need to buy Anne Frank house tickets in advance. We plan to go to the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum. I noted the day trips by train mentioned above. One of my kids would prefer not to have advance structure, but it always seems to work well if I have a list of possible to dos, and then we play it by ear. Some more obscure requests: - one is interested in fashion, the other likes clothes resale shops. Neither has a ton of money to spend. Ideas? - both of them like more contemporary art - both enjoy going to parts of town that are a bit more geared to people their age in terms of bars and shops. We already have our hotel but places we should wander? - We all enjoy unusual food / bars / different cultures - we all like live music of almost any type. Thoughts welcome. Thanks in advance.

Good to hear about the internet!

I'm curious about this too.

This is really helpful, I've been wondering if I could do work email and so on from the ship.

thanks, this was a really helpful thread for deciding if I want to travel solo.

Alone in St. Mark's Basilica Tour – After Closing! | Walks of Italy I did this several years ago and it was spectacular.

Yes, I used that group in Olympia. We weren't on a private tour, but it was a nice independent excursion and I'd recommend it. I was with 2 teenagers and we all liked it.

I'm probably looking for a unicorn, but if anyone can help me find one, much appreciated! I'd like to find a cruise for 2024 or 2025 (or heck, following years if we have a crystal ball) that goes to some combination of Orkney, Shetland, the Faroe Islands, and could also take in other islands in Iceland or Scotland/Ireland etc. I don't want a cruise that stops much at places on the mainland of those countries. We love driving and train vacations too and prefer to see th ose places that way. But we never seem to get to some of the islands on the land-based vacations because it would add a number of days, complicated with rental cars, etc. The reason this starts to be a unicorn is that our interest is really in history and culture. Some of the ones I have seen have speakers and excursions more based on bird life (Noble Caledonia). We're interested in wildlife, but living in the Western US, we are more interested in culture and history of any sort (Neolithic to present). We're very happy to do sightseeing and hikes on our own, but the places you might stop if the focus is ancient and medieval history are different than if you are wildlife viewing. @Fletcher pointed me to V332 12-DAY LANDS OF THE CELTS (seabourn.com) which looked perfect but I guess is now cancelled, and also doesn't seem on their docket for 2024 and following. This one seems to be a possibility: Cruise Shetland, Faroe, Iceland: wild islands & lands of legends from Bergen to Reykjavík - August 2024 | Ponant any other advice appreciated!

I'd really like to see Orkney, Shetland, Faroe Islands, something like St. Kilda's would be a plus. If we are seeing places on the mainland of Britain and Ireland we are more interested in a train or driving vacation, but we tend to skip islands on those trips since the logistics to get out and back really eat up a lot of time. Same with our land trips in Iceland; didn't get to the islands. What's given me cold feet about the Noble Caledonia cruises, is that the focus on the trips (at least in the time frame I'm looking) seems to be bird life and some wildlife. Nothing against that, but my focus in leaving the Pacific NW is more to connect with history and culture, and honestly even though my family all loves wildlife (and we've taken hikes to see puffins in Iceland and night critters in Costa Rica), I think they'd shoot me if I signed us up for a birding-focused trip and we didn't see the Neolithic sites in the area. Maybe I should post on the region forum.

thanks, I was wondering this too!

We stayed at the Athens Gate and had several good days of walking to various sites and visiting the Acropolis Museum which is amazing.

you certainly can directly with the airline, since I'm still fussing at a family member to renew his! 🤯

This looks PERFECT. I wish they had it in 2024. Can't go this year and the British Isles itinerary they have for 2024 is a bit more focused on places we've gone, not ones we want to visit. Hopefully they do something similar in 2024 and following.

Resurrecting this rather than starting a new topic. I will be in Vienna for longer, though part of that is at a conference. Any advice on whether the train or boat is a more interesting option to go to Bratislava? Sound like it might be a place I can just go for the afternoon and evening? Are there must dos or it is just walk around and get a feel for the place?

I don't think I can swing it right now in terms of vacation time or $$, and sounds like it is a one time thing - but that Napoleon cruise sounds really cool.

This is what my husband does. He's a big merino fan and says it also doesn't need to be washed as often as other clothes as well. That may sound gross, but he's very persnickety (and doesn't smell) so I think he's correct.

There's a thread over in that forum too.

I'm interested in this. The train looks easy but I'm curious about other options.

I'm interested in this too. We have a hotel in Amsterdam but assuming we may just take a train the day of embarkation.

This is so incredibly helpful. Thanks! I'm going to download the PDFs as suggested and then come back with more questions. 🙂

I traveled a lot in this area, decades ago when there were fewer English speakers there, and it was very easy to get between Osaka and Kyoto, lots of trains and very safe and clean.