joeholiday2

No 1 rule for Dalaman if you are doing a cruise only and not a cruise and stay.....

Don't buy a visa.

Go past the visa purchase desks and through the cruise passengers passport control area.

We were told on the plane by the stewardesses that EVERYONE had to buy a visa, we did so and found out later that cruise passengers don't need one.

We got the credit back on our onboard account, so it was fine in the end.

As Kruz says it's a very slick process, they are well used to doing it.

Just have you passport and debit card ready for when you arrive at Marmaris port. Debit card is better to use for your onboard account, they charge you 2.5% if you use a credit card.

Tell us about it!!!

We often get stung up here.

There was a long spell when they wanted around £3000 each for Dream over Christmas, it was £1000 each less from Gatwick.

Some of the flights from Scotland are expensive too.

Never had a problem with Ryanair, OK as long as you play by the rules...

More legroom than Jet2.

Notice this is from last may....

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http://www.tui-group.com/en/media/press_releases/archiv/2013/20130515_tuione

Correct Link

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Just found this pic of an inside plus.

Great reviews Lexie.

Another vote for Cosol and the Adriatic.

Piccies for you....

https://joeholiday2.shutterfly.com/pictures/1709

Best viewed as a slideshow....

OT again, but....

Next time you fire word up, have a look at the wingdings fonts;)

The keyboard settings are different in most countries, you do have to search for the symbols if using an internet cafe abroad. The @ is shifted 2 in many countries.

© Joe....

Jules, agree about the suleymani mosque, so much nicer than the blue mosque. Quieter too.

Hagia Sophia is worth queuing up for and worth the entrance fee.

As Kruzseeka says, getting the bus to Oia is the best thing to do in Santorini, go early, beat the tours.... it starts to get busy at midday.

You can get the tram into Athens if you don't mind a half hour walk to the station, cheapest way into the City. Just turn left out of the port and follow the coast road until you see the bridge over the road, the station is just over the bridge, don't forget to validate your ticket before you get on the tram.

Toulon: Lovely town, go to the tourist info office in the market square and they will sell you a combined bus and cable car ticket for cheaper than just doing the cable car on it's own. They will phone the cable car station up before selling you the ticket to check it's running. They are really friendly and helpful, and will give you good directions about where to pick the bus up and when to get off.

We might do the Cassis trip when next there in April as so many of you have recommended it.

€ on a standard 104 key keyboard is Alt Gr and 4 when using normal UK settings.

The Alt Gr key is the one just to the right of the space bar.

I tend to stick to the subjects i can have a reasonably accurate stab at

I know who to ask next time I am looking for a fridge ;)

Sorry for going OT, but avoid the cheapo ones from PC world/currys like emachines and advent. These are the ones I normally get asked to look at.

Go for a known named brand, and be careful with the power socket, that's always the weak spot on a laptop.

If you don't need the portability of a laptop then go for a proper base unit and monitor set up, they are always more reliable, and easy to upgrade.

JMHO

Joe.

As far as I know they are the same size.

We had an Inside plus last time and have gone for one this time.

Definitely worth going for the plus over the normal, it's worth the extra.

As has been said, it's a dark art.....

We have booked for the last 2 years running the first 2 weeks of July, once on Dream, then Majesty.

I found that the best time to book is around 4 to 5 weeks before departure, the price had dropped quite a bit by then, and then it started to rise. Things can vary though so don't take it that this will happen again this year....

We have always had the luxury of knowing that if the price went up we could just go a week later as we could easily change holidays at work. If you don't have that choice and have to stick to the weeks you have booked then it might be better to book earlier rather than later, you might miss out.

We only booked our next cruise early because of the AI offer and the dates we have to take are concrete.

As Kruseeka has said, take note of the seat/cabins left indicators. They are not BS just used to try and get you to book now. We once booked a Thomson holiday to the Dom Rep, it said online only one room left at this promotional price, I thought aww yeah they are trying it on. We booked over the phone with our TA and straight afterwards the price online went up.

Doing a cruise and stay also brings another variable with it. There is also the chance the hotel you want is full. 700 or so cabins on the Dream, your Hotel may only have 100 rooms?

StPiran.

I hope you don't think that you are being ignored if you don't get a reply.

I only reply if I have something useful to say, IE, I haven't said anything on the El Hierro thread because I know nothing about El Hierro. There are also times when I think that the question has been answered and I can add nothing to it, so I don't chip in.

Thanks for setting this off Geo, hopefully it will encourage some who normally would only read to be active and post reviews and opinions.

Thanks Jules.

I knew about both groups, and I am suprised how busy the closed one is.

Hmm, maybe I will create an alias after all....:rolleyes:

As you say the Thomson run one is just an advert for them, I have looked in from time to time.

All the main Fred board contributors are probably on the world cruise.

It isn't that easy to post pics on here, and that's probably one of the reasons that FB is more popular.

Linda, I hope those who post on "the dark side" have a tin hat ready;)

Even if I do pop up on FB, I would not desert here.

I peeked.....

I'm with you Geo, well said.

Facebook is taking over social media.

People look at you as if there is something wrong with you when you tell them you don't do it.

I find it very intrusive and would only join using an alias to access groups I am interested in. I don't want contacting by old schoolmates who I haven't seen in 40 years, I have moved on.

It does have it's uses but on balance I think the privacy concerns outweigh that, for instance, someone at work once phoned in sick, they then posted on facebook about how ill they were. As the phone geo-located the poster it was plain to see that they were on the other side of the Country, not tucked up in bed!!

I don't see many links to other forums on here other than to the facebook groups, I think the mods block them to the main other one available.

I do occasionally look at the other one I mentioned, but am not a member as I didn't want to get dragged into all the nastiness that has happened on there.

What I like about this forum is, it's generally very friendly, I have had a lot of help from here and post to give some back. That's how it should be.

Considering this is the time of year people are looking to book cruises it's very quiet on here, hopefully it will pick up in spring.

Maybe someone who is on facebook could tell us how busy the closed group is? Do people ever get pointed to here from there? ( you beat me to it Nell, been ages writing this in-between other jobs)

I see the Thomson staff that are supposed to keep an eye on this board have not deigned us with a response to the Thomson staff please read thread, yet they have responded on facebook, what does that say??

We may be fighting a losing battle, a la myspace....

Have you noticed that there are share to, facebook, digg, delicious, etc links on this forum, the owners are encouraging use of other social media. I am not saying that is wrong, it's just an observation....

I know we are talking about people moving away from this board, but when you look at this, P&O, and Freds boards and consider the ages that normally cruise on them it's not surprising that they are not "too busy to follow" like some lines boards are. Many people I meet on cruises have never heard of cruise critic... "Don't use that interweb thingy"

I am guilty of not being here all the time, sometimes other things in life are more important, and on occasions it has been many months between my posts on here. I would not like to lose this excellent resource however to facebook and agree we should be keeping it alive.

We did our own, but we don't mind walking miles and miles in a day....

Have a look at tomsportguides, his Venice guide is good.

We walked to the people mover, it took around 15 mins to walk there, and then into the main parts of Venice. the yellow signs you see on walls help a lot.

There are loads of good websites out there including frommers which is one of my favourites for walking tours and maps.

Ah, I forgot about the land train in Alesund, it's a great view from up there.

We walked it through the park and up the steps, not for the feint hearted....

Not done Flam yet, must make sure it's on the itinerary when we do another Fjord cruise, heard so many good things about it.

Nell.

Cruiseclues is doing a trawl to put links on their website ;)

It's quite a good site actually, a bit loud on the eyes but some good links on there. Keep up the good work cruiseclues.

Do your own.

Some searching on here and the ports forum will save you loads of money and you will have a better time mixing with the locals.

The local buses are usually great fun. Just make sure you give yourself enough time to get back to the ship.

On St Lucia I can recommend cosol's trip, well worth the money as it's not an easy island to do on your own. There's not a lot in Castries anyway.

To be honest most of the beauty of the Fjords is best appreciated from the top deck of the ship as you sail in and out of port.

Stavanger, Bergen, and Alesund are flat around the main parts of town. Geiranger has a small steep bit from where the tenders dock to the main road.

Why not have a look at google earth to get an idea of how the mountains rise just outside the main parts of towns, it does a pretty good job of the elevation levels of the Fjords.

The towns can be a distance from the ports though, some lines will run a shuttle if it's a long way. Stavanger docks in the town but it's still a ten minute walk (normal pace) to the main square.

Taxi's here would cost a fortune.

You might be best booking on a ships excursion if you both want to get out and about.

You also have to think about any tender ports, it might be difficult for your Mum to get on and off the tenders, although the crew are great if you have difficulties.

Have a great time Gill.

Look forward to hearing about it when you get back.

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Kruzseeka you seem a bit down:(, and we can't have that. May I suggest an avatar;):cool: they're totally free, and you can't say that much about anything these days.Especially on this forum:rolleyes:.

Kruzseeka, you can have one of the ducks if it would cheer you up.....

Seriously, I know what you mean about defecting.

I can do Ventura on a nice itinerary not unlike the majesty one for £500 each less.

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