travelbuds
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1 hour ago, TheOldBear said:
Norway is almost completely cashless. I've bought a small amount [50] euros for a few trips [stops in Belgium, France, Germany ] but did not spend any [cash ended up as tips on the westbound crossing, or donated to the Prince's Trust].
For the UK, I've used credit cards for Uber and the Southampton 'Radio Taxi', pub and shop purchases. I did use cash for museum admission - but they were setup for cards as well. I did need to switch my Uber app from Discover to Visa - Discover is not commonly accepted.
It is important to setup the times / places you will be using the card with your card issuer - you may not want it frozen after a suspicious purchase in a Tromso coffee shop.
Sounds like the only places where cash tips may be expected would be in London (hotel porter) and Southampton (hotel and cruise terminal porters). Will use credit card for train/coach/taxi and taxi tip. Did I miss anyone else? Contacting credit card issuer is on my to-do list. Thanks.
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My wife and I have never been to Europe. Can we do our cruise (Southampton, Bruges, Norway) using only our credit cards, or do we need to convert US dollars into pounds, euros and kroners before we leave home? Buses, trains, tipping for excursions, restaurants, porters, taxi? Thanks.
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My wife and I have never been to Europe. Can we do this cruise (Southampton, Bruges and Norway) using only our credit cards, or do we need to convert US dollars into pounds, euros and kroners before we leave home? Buses, trains, tipping for excursions, restaurants, porters, taxi? Thanks.
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3 hours ago, Rene46 said:
Hi travelbuds, we did our excursions in the ports, not with p & o,
Thank you for your comments. We usually make our non-ship excursion reservations with the locals before we leave home, especially for Alaska cruises as certain ones fill up fast. Have never been to Europe before. Looking forward to it.
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On 2/7/2024 at 7:18 AM, Rene46 said:
Norway is absolutely beautiful, done it 3 times now and always done it all ourselves.....
Curious if you made excursion reservations prior to leaving home or if you made them after arriving at the port.
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My wife and I have decided to go on the American Song from Clarkson to Portland and picked a port side cabin. Flying into Lewiston a day early to do the Hells Canyon package. It is a Lewis and Clark themed cruise. Looking forward to this as it will be our first river cruise of any kind.
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On 2/6/2024 at 8:02 PM, Dancing Shoes said:
We were there in June 2023. Great weather and plenty of water falling as posted in Geiranger and other stops.
This will be our first cruise to Norway. Wondering if there are vendors lined up at Norwegian ports like they are in Alaska such as in Juneau. We rarely did excursions sponsored through ship. We usually have made independent reservations before leaving home.
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On 11/20/2023 at 4:38 PM, ShawninFL said:
You're going to end up flying into Heathrow in London.......so we hired a private transfer from Heathrow to our hotel in Southampton. we stayed at the Holiday Inn right next to the port. Walked to checkin the next morning. Easy as can be.
Curious what private transfer service you used. Thank you.
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On 7/23/2023 at 2:13 PM, marieps said:
We just booked American Song westbound. Would love to hear more about your experience if you'd be kind enough to share.
My wife and just did the same-July '24.
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Nice review. Thank you. Wondering if passengers have time to do more than one excursion in a day when not cruising. The ACL website doesn't give times in port or times of excursions. Did passengers do independent, non-ship excursions? Thank you.
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7 hours ago, DaveinCharlotte said:
Hello fellow barefoot windjammer! We too were on the Fantome, the year before the disaster, though just to visit for a couple of hours (while Captain Matt had our ship, the Mandalay, tied up alongside). I still remember Captain Casey and the huge aquarium behind the bar! There was a great book written about the ship and the hurricane; maybe you're already read it.
I read the book, The Perfect Storm, by James Carrier. Captain Guyan was the captain of the Fantome at the time. He was the captain of our Yankee Clipper (Grenada) sail three years prior to the tragedy. We partied with the Mandalay when we tied up on Palm Island. Guyan's brother, Paul, was second mate on Fantome (Captain Pete) when we were on it in Mexico the year before disaster. We have a ship painting by Captain Max of the Polynesia on our first Windjammer. Other trip was on Flying Cloud with Captain Adrian in British Virgin Islands. Some of our best vacations! Too bad owner's kids couldn't keep business afloat. Now just to pick a boat for the Columbia!
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5 hours ago, DaveinCharlotte said:
One thing to consider is the layout of the cabins, vis-a-vis the location of the lounges, how close (or not close) you want to be to them, and the relative cost of the cabin.
We, for example, like to get a cabin handy to the lounges. On the paddlewheel class, the next-to-the bottom cabin category adjoins both the main lounge and a paddlewheel lounge. These cabins are relatively cheap.
On the riverboat class, the relatively cheap cabins aren't near anything, and the cabins that are are much more expensive.
The riverboat ships (most of them) are newer, have a nifty walking track around the entire topside, and a small outdoor cafe that we like very much.
The paddlewheelers are older, but have been refurbished and are in great shape. No outdoor cafe, but they make up for this by maintaining a buffet in the sky lounge, with great food options.
If cost didn't matter, I guess I'd slightly prefer the riverboats. But the paddlewheelers are the better deal, in my opinion.
Thank you for your comments. Regarding cabin location for this river trip, do you know if the scenery is nicer on the south side or north side of the river? I see that you have been on WBC cruises in the past. We enjoyed the 5 that we were on. We were on the Fantome two times, the last time the year before she went down.
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5 hours ago, DaveinCharlotte said:
True! I do think it's more likely to have trouble on a SFO-Spokane booking than on a Portland/SFO booking. But for this very reason I would want the harder part to be at the end of the cruise.Why? Having flight delays/cancellations at the START of the cruise can wreak havoc with the whole trip, if you miss the ship. Having these problems at the END of the cruise doesn't bother me so much -- the trip is over, so what if I'm late getting back home.
Have been considering Lewiston airport rather than Spokane-----2-3 miles vs 2 hours drive-----if I could get good times.
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Thank you all for your comments. We have never been on a river trip before. Deciding between paddlewheeler and riverboat that ACL offers. Any words of wisdom one way or the other? Thanks.
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My wife and I are interested in a Columbia/Snake river trip. Looking for pros and cons cruising eastbound vs westbound. Flying in from Phoenix. Thank you.
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We paid $299pp for the Hubbard boat tour this summer on Sapphire Princess. Signed up for next summer on Celebrity Summit for $276pp (Celebrity had a Labor Day sale).
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3 hours ago, ladyj1138 said:
We are seeking a tour of Bears and Raptors that will allow our service dog. I already booked and had to cancel one tour that refused to allow our service dog.
how do you know how many ships will be in port?
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On 3/12/2023 at 11:06 AM, WaggesAZ said:
For us, that is exactly what we are anticipating the We have booked a ride to Mendenhall with DLUX RIDES, their website is their name and add dot com. Here is the initial response to my request for information that I received from Shane:
We have used them the past 2 summers. Promptly picked us up.
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On 7/6/2023 at 12:30 PM, CLM0928 said:
Looking for reviews and how far in advance you booked your car. We were just cancelled by Glacier Blue Bus as they can not get any more permits. I do not want to take city bus due to the extra walking distance and Dlx Rides can get us into the visitors center. We will be there 8/14 and worried they will book up too. I did try calling but they do not have a voicemail available and no one answers.
Try the website. We did this the past two summers. Quick response for us. Also picked us up on time.
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19 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:
In Ketchikan check Annabelle's. Dungy is offered as a special so it may not be on their menu posted on their website. There will be a sign in the window if they offer it as a special.
We enjoyed the chowder there.
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Depending on how much time you have, you can do both, whales and Mendenhall. The past two summers we had to be onboard by 3:30pm for a 4pm departure. We did whale watching with Harv and Marv and got back to Auke Bay by 11:45am. We had made arrangements with Evergreen Taxi to pick us up at noon at the Auke Bay harbor (Statter Harbor) for the 10 minute drive over to Mendenhall. The other 4 on the boat were taken back to the ship. That saved us 40-50 minutes by not going back to the ship. We had time to go to Photo Point and hike to Nugget Falls. Didn't go inside visitor center as we had done that on other trips. Got the Blue Bus to go back to the ship. Blue Bus tickets from VC had to be purchased (half price of RT fare) directly from company (Tammy) via phone. Not sure how that schedule works now because of permit shortage. Could also make arrangement with taxi. Left the VC at 2pm and still had time to shop for fudge near dock. Guess it just depends on what you feel comfortable with.
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13 hours ago, packedandready said:
We have a whale watching tour booked through an independent company. Should be back by 1pm and ship leaves at 5. So guessing will need to be back onboard by 4:30. Is that enough time to see Mendenhall Glacier on our own? I'm thinking not, but checking anyway.
The past two summers we had to be onboard by 3:30pm for a 4pm departure. We did whale watching with Harv and Marv and got back to Auke Bay by 11:45am. We had made arrangements with Evergreen Taxi to pick us up at noon at the Auke Bay harbor (Statter Harbor) for the 10 minute drive over to Mendenhall. The other 4 on the boat were taken back to the ship. That saved us 40-50 minutes by not going back to the ship. We had time to go to Photo Point and hike to Nugget Falls. Didn't go inside visitor center as we had done that on other trips. Got the Blue Bus to go back to the ship. Blue Bus tickets from VC had to be purchased (half price of RT fare) directly from company (Tammy) via phone. Not sure how that schedule works now because of permit shortage. Could also make arrangement with taxi. Left the VC at 2pm and still had time to shop for fudge near dock. Guess it just depends on what you feel comfortable with.
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On 7/7/2023 at 3:33 AM, CLM0928 said:
......We are now looking into Evergreen/DLX Rides since they can drop off at the Visitor Center.
We have used this company twice in the past (once last month) for transportation from Auke Bay to Mendenhall. Shane picked us up right on time. No permit restriction then. Not sure how it works now with limited or no permits.
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1 hour ago, smarterman64 said:
the shuttle makes a continuous loop from harrigan hall on the hour in a school bus shuttle.
......It doesn't go to the national park, but it is a short walk from raptor center. it's downhill from raptor center, across the highway and into the national park.......
Company is sitka tours shuttle and i caught them on the uphill ramp up to where the shuttle is at the port.
Thank you for your comments. Will google Sitka Tours.
Bergen, Norway
in Northern Europe & Baltic Sea
Posted
Were you able to pay with credit card or did you have to use local currency? Thanks.