sysy007

Finally I go my money back thru credit card dispute. 

2 hours ago, Moose12345 said:

I Was just looking at a site to book a private transfer with a company. When I got to the payment part, it wouldn't let me make the payment with my CC. I tried twice. Then my phone rang and it was my CC company asking if I was trying to buy something in Japan. Turns out that this (I think) is the same company. When I googled Veltra.com it said that it used to be City Discovery and Veltra took it over. They are from Japan. I did not go ahead with my purchase. The lady from the CC company said she could not see any connection to the company I was trying to book with. It was called TouristActive.

Glad you did not get scammed. They emailed  me a few times afterwards asking for my Paypal account and bank account for direct deposit. I give them nothing. My credit card bank is handling this dispute now.

Correction - The car rental company in Lazarote dock Tourist Information center is CABRERA MEDINA. I booked from their internet site. Agent at rental counter did not ask for my driver licence or passport. They have my driver licence information during online booking.  I am surprised that agent did not check my ID etc.    I suppose the island is so small that I can't hide.

Lanzarote - The cicar car rental is inside Tourist information center. You work out of dock area. Following CITY CENTER sign. Walk 5 minutes, you will see Tourist Information center on your right hand side. Big building you can't miss it. There is no shuttle bus  and taxi driver would not take you to Tourist info center because it is a very short walk. 

Funchal :

our Spirit docked right next to "Funchal cruise terminal" .  Search "funchal cruise terminal" on google map.

Inside funchal cruise terminal building, there is a cafe on 2nd floor.  They let you use their wifi if you buy something. 

If you are a  European football fan. There is a CR7 hotel and CR7 Museum about 5 minute talk from dock.  

I find Nuns Valley very impressive. Nuns Valley is like Grand Canyon you have to be there to experience it. I highly recommend nuns valley. 

For Malaga port, there is shuttle bus to take you from ship to dock entrance for about 2 Euro each way.  We chose to walk, there are shops and restaurants along the way, it is a short walk. 

We took a van taxi from Malaga dock to Gibalfaro castle for 20 Euro shared by 8 people .  From Gibalfaro castle we walked to Alcazaba.  It is a down hill walk.   If you go to Alcazaba first, then it would be a step up hill walk to Gibalfaro.  Bettter let taxi climb the hill to Gibalfaro. 

For Arrecife  Lanzarote.  Spirit docked at red circle.  Blue circle is Tourist info center, inside there is Cicar car rental counter. 

I filed a dispute with my credit card company.  I have all the email so support my dispute. 

No way I give them my bank account.  

I made a payment for 2 people for 24-01-2019 8AM pick up at cruise port using my Mastercard. 5 hours later my card was compromised. "Deccameron all inclusiv Barcelona" billed me $1246 USD thru a telephone transaction.  I got instant notification for any transaction bill to my card.

Days later, world.airport.transfer email me that driver can only pick me up at 7AM instead of 8AM, signed by

Xyron, Travel Consultant, City Discovery - VELTRA Customer Service`

So I requested my booking to be cancelled and refund my money.

World.airport.transfer send me the following email. Seems they want to scam more fund out of me.

Since then I have file dispute with my creditcard bank.

Regretfully, your reservation under SRxxxx is cancelled and we tried to refund the amount but we encountered an error because we changed our payment gateway.

IN this case, we need the following details in order to refund via bank transfer:

"■BENE.'S NAME 

■ADDRESS  

■Telephone number 

■A/C NO 

■Bank Name .  

■Bank SWIFT   

■Bank ADDRESS 

■Bank Currency 

We were on Spirit Jan 11-24. 

For Arrecife, Lanzarote, we rental a car for 50 Euro including tax and insurnace . Walk out of dock area, follow City Centre sign, walk for about 5 minutes. You will  see Tourist Information Centre. Car rental is in Tourist info centre.

We visited  Mirador del Rio,  Jameos del Agua under ground lake, cave,  Cueva de los Verdes (skip this, waste of time) ,  Timanfaya National Park  all in one day.

For Las Palmas Grand Canaria, we hired a taxi. You need to barin with drivers.

For Tenerife, I booked  with Nacho (taxi) nachosvipservice@icloud.com   He is very knowledge and straight forward guy. No tricks/games with tourists. 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=53352486#post53352486

see message 47

You should finish seeing castle by 1PM, you can spend rest of the afternoon visiting Rostock.

Do you have experience that tour guide always tell you about their personal life ? They have a 92 year old mom to support. They work 2 jobs to make ends meet, attend evening school. Life is a struggle for him, something like that.

Hope you will tip generously.

It is just common sense that tour guide and driver eat for free, at least a free basic meal. Why not, they bring in rich foreign customers daily. Specially American they are good tippers, they tip where tipping is not required.

May be McDonald and Starbucks would not let guide and driver eat for free.

A private tour is more expensive and riskier of a 'no show' than a group tour. We are booked on a group tour for next week and have not been asked for a deposit.

I think 20% deposit is a new SPB policy. May be a few selfish 'no-show' ruins everyone.

I never heard of SPB requires a deposit. They must have changed their policy, ALLA does not require deposit.

Discount is a lot less now compare to May and early June. May be this is high season, they can't afford 'no -show'.

Did you pay by credit card ? May be your credit card company adds extra 2.5% transaction fee.

This is a print out of ticket.

Depart from Warnmunde on June 5, 8:33AM on track 3

Arrive Rostock on June 5, 8:54AM on track 1.

Depart Rostock 9:07AM on track 7

Gleis means track

Our cruise arrives in Warnenmunde on a Sunday. We also would like to go to Schwerin Castle. As I see it, since this is the weekend, we can use the Lander ticket both ways, and that we have to change trains in Rostock. Further, we would need to get two tickets to city center in Rostock to get back and forth from the train station. Is this correct? And exactly which stops would we need to go to in Rostock and Schwerin? Also, will the shops be open on Sunday in Rostock, I know your earlier posts said they would be closed, but that was an old post. Thanks for any help.

You take a train from Warnmunde to Rostock Hbf (I suppose it means central station). From Rostock Hbf, you and a different train to Schwerin Hbf or Schwerin Mitte. It is the same Rostock station when your arrive from Warnemunde and depart to Schwerin.

Another request in reference to my earlier post. Are the tickets for the train time specific, or can they be used for anytime of the day. In other words, do we have to select our return time when we buy the first ticket? Thanks

See message #45. When I bought my ticket online, I had to pick a departure and return time. 27 Euro for 2 people return from Warnemunde to Schwerin Mitte.

Wow - you are a wealth of info. Thank you, I was trying to not worry about the changes and figured that I'd just be having to find someone at the dock that day to explain all the new changes (that would have just been in place for 3 days). I'm guessing that the Tram 9 building you marked in your photo will be closed and we'll just have to find where Tram 7 is?

What do you do when you were in Helsinki? We haven't totally committed to anything yet.

The dock area also servers ferry from Stockholm and other neighboring places. Ferry in this photo with letter "E" comes in quite frequent. The tram servers ferry passengers.

The brown building on far left yellow circle is ferry building. Tram stop is front of that building, ticket machine is outside the building. I don't believe they will close the building and move the track around. Remember this a tram, not a bus. Moving track is not an easy task.

I think only the routing in down town will be revised. My assumption is that you will board the tram #7 at same station.

Tram ticketing system is honour system, so I have a ticket you can board from rear.

Tram 7 should terminate where tram 9 does now so that should be easy to find at the port end.

 

Hopefully, there will be an updated tram route maps out before you get there.

 

In May, there was a shuttle bus which ran from the ship into town for 10 euros return. That saves the walk around the wharf and leaves the legs for more walking around town.

 

Whatever you do, keep clear of Stockman's department store - your wallet will suffer if you go in. I have to admit it's the nicest big store we have been in - and the Boss makes sure we go into lots of stores!

Wait till you go Stockholm NK department store.

They do have some nice European designer stuff like Flippa K and J. Lindeberg which is hard to find in N. America. If you like crystal, check NK department store lower level.

Tram 7 should terminate where tram 9 does now so that should be easy to find at the port end.

 

Hopefully, there will be an updated tram route maps out before you get there.

 

In May, there was a shuttle bus which ran from the ship into town for 10 euros return. That saves the walk around the wharf and leaves the legs for more walking around town.

 

Whatever you do, keep clear of Stockman's department store - your wallet will suffer if you go in. I have to admit it's the nicest big store we have been in - and the Boss makes sure we go into lots of stores!

I remember there was a hop on hop off bus and bus take you to town for 10 Euro return.

We were fortunate that Regal Princess docked near Old Town in Stockholm. Other cruise ship such as RCCL does not dock at in Stockholm miss the follow.

When Regal Princess sails into Stockholm it goes thru Stockholm archipelago around 5:30AM, we had very heavy fog on an early June morning, I could not see any land or water. By 6AM sun shined thru the cloud, lighted up the islands and water with fog floating above. It was so beautiful.

I have been to Helsinki 10 years ago, so this time I only visited Senate Square, Helsinki Cathedral, Uspenski Cathedral (Orthodoxchurch), Market Square and shopping. Helsinki shopping is the cheapest of all the ports Regal visits.

If you have not been to Rock Church, you should go.

http://www.visithelsinki.fi/en/whats-on/sightseeing-trips-and-guidances/travel-around-the-city-by-tram

Our June 2, 2017 Regal Princess sailing docked at West Harbour, LMA, Helsinki. If Tram 7 goes to Senate Square that's even better. Senate Sq is where Cathedral is. Orthodox Church is a few blocks from Senate Sq. Market Square is 1 block from Senate Sq.

I download a local map into my Google Map app. I marked all the places I want to visit. Once I get to the port, I use Google map for direction. Ask locals for directions if needed, everyone speaks English in all ports.

I DIY for all ports except St. Petersbug (with Alla Grand Tour).

For Oslo , we walked to City hall, royal palace, opera house, fortress. All within walking distance.

For Tallini, 10 minutes walk to old town.

Stockholm is a long walk, a lot people from ship walked with us.