P&O Cruisers - What are things like where YOU are?

[zap99]

25 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

I completely agree with all you say. 

 

Shuttle buses were provided when we were in Lisbon twice last year.  With Lisbon especially, I always feel you have done a fair walk just to get out of the port!  I don't have great mobility (no aids though) so you do tend to notice these things.  We would take the shuttle in, have a walk around, coffee and cake and saunter back to the ship.  Happily there are plenty of seats on the way.

 

We will be there again in December on Ventura and this time I am taking a ship's tour and DH will meet up with me in Cascais, having taken a train there, which he always enjoys.

 

I do think it's poor that you are not given advance information by P&O (I should love to be told I am wrong) for which ports shuttles are provided.  I realise why of course, but as kalos points out, it is a benefit you are paying for.

We are doing a ships tour on Anthem to Cascais and Sintra. A bit of time in each for £19. Be rude not to. I wonder if the warrior bloke is still in Sintra.?

[mrsgoggins]

6 minutes ago, zap99 said:

We are doing a ships tour on Anthem to Cascais and Sintra. A bit of time in each for £19. Be rude not to. I wonder if the warrior bloke is still in Sintra.?

 

That is an amazing price for a ship's tour!  One of our most memorable cruises was on Anthem, the year cruising opened up again, with restrictions, after the pandemic, and what a bargain that was too.  We paid £2 short of £1300 for the two of us, in a mid ship balcony cabin with the ship only a third-full, and even good weather to boot.  And we got the free drinks courtesy of our Celebrity status match. Best cruising bargain we have ever had.  I hope you have a blast on her.

[grapau27]

36 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

I completely agree with all you say. 

 

Shuttle buses were provided when we were in Lisbon twice last year.  With Lisbon especially, I always feel you have done a fair walk just to get out of the port!  I don't have great mobility (no aids though) so you do tend to notice these things.  We would take the shuttle in, have a walk around, coffee and cake and saunter back to the ship.  Happily there are plenty of seats on the way.

 

We will be there again in December on Ventura and this time I am taking a ship's tour and DH will meet up with me in Cascais, having taken a train there, which he always enjoys.

 

I do think it's poor that you are not given advance information by P&O (I should love to be told I am wrong) for which ports shuttles are provided.  I realise why of course, but as kalos points out, it is a benefit you are paying for.

Reception told us because there was no shuttle mentioned in the Horizon paper we should have known there was no shuttle??

It was a 2 day/night stay.

Our last 10 visits to Lisbon there had been shuttles which have only taken 20-25 minutes to get to the drop off near Starbucks.

There was a taxi stand across the road from the usual drop off and a taxi back to the ship was €6.

[kalos]

6 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Reception told us because there was no shuttle mentioned in the Horizon paper we should have known there was no shuttle??

 

Oh it's all coming clear now ?  How stupid of us select fare folk who assume we get

a shuttle bus as that's what P&O state you get if some distance from ports to towns.

But as the reception folk say "if it aint in the Horizon mag then that's ok.🙄

We have had folk throwing apples out to sea from aft of ship also folk lighting up

fags on balconies,to be fair nowt in The Horizon mag ,so all's ok I guess.

Nothing in your mag about reception giving you a stupid response so ...I give up .😟

[Splice the mainbrace]

DW has been gathering things together for weeks for us to go away tomorrow for our month long cruise to USA Canada (and now France !) departing on Sunday. Today it is intense packing day for her, she doesn’t let me any where near it!, I will be keeping out of the way doing last minute garden tidying and lawn cutting, goodness knows what it will be like when we get back in nearly 5 weeks time. 🌾

 

Currently the outward Atlantic crossing is forecast to be relatively smooth but things can change 🤞

[Fionboard]

The main gate and pedestrian area in Lisbon is actually a shorter walk from the ship than from the shuttle drop off at the top of town. Flat 15 minutes walk along the waterfront with plenty of places to stop and rest. No need really for a shuttle. 

[SarahHben]

13 hours ago, Grumpycruiser60plus said:

Thurs. Vienna. 

Good Evening all. We have had a very enjoyable day exploring more of Vienna (  central area today) we have found it so very easy to use the transport  system ie: utube, trams bus. We bought a 72hr pass, the system here is mainly used o  trust, you have ticket  then just get  / off not needing to show tickets,  it really is good way to get around. Also must mention everybody waits for the green signal to cross busy rds, And shock horror CYCLISTS actually o bey the crossing/ lights too.

 

So for our anniversary meal we managed to get a reservation al ittle family run traditional Austrian restaurant just a 2 min walk from hotel, a good job too, because ev ery table had a resvered card on table.

We decided on this trip we would where possible only order Austrian dishes and we have that very easy & most enjoyable.  So below are the food pictures @ if you read it the menu.  We shared the starter,  then mains are the pork dish, and for me wien er snitzle, followed by strawberries & ice cream,  and the pancakes. 

We have a half day tomorrow  before we fly back to hrw evening flt, 

I will post some longer thoughts on ce back home over on TripAdvisor,  should anyone be interested. 

 

PS, thanks to graham & others for your wedding anniversary  cheer s.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm glad you're having a good time in Vienna, food looks good!

We are going to Salzburg next May for a week and are considering doing a day trip to Vienna, 2 hrs each way on the train so it would be a long day. I know we wont be able to see loads in 10 hours or so but do you have any recommendations for any 'must sees'? 

 

Thanks

Sarah

[Gettingwarmer]

1 hour ago, Splice the mainbrace said:

Talking of shuttle buses. We normally pay the higher price so that we can choose our cabin, but when we have got a shuttle bus they don’t seem to charge anyone. I know it depends upon if it is a port of call provided shuttle or cruise line provided but I can’t remember the last time that I saw peoples cruise cards being scanned.

Our cards were scanned on our last two cruises this year to Spain etc and Norway. 

[Gettingwarmer]

26 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

The main gate and pedestrian area in Lisbon is actually a shorter walk from the ship than from the shuttle drop off at the top of town. Flat 15 minutes walk along the waterfront with plenty of places to stop and rest. No need really for a shuttle. 

It is still a long walk along to the square and back before you add on any extra exploring. Where the shuttle drops you off you can have a short walk around near the elevator etc and then return. 
If no longer any shuttle best to get the tram to Belem. 

 

 

[zap99]

1 hour ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

That is an amazing price for a ship's tour!  One of our most memorable cruises was on Anthem, the year cruising opened up again, with restrictions, after the pandemic, and what a bargain that was too.  We paid £2 short of £1300 for the two of us, in a mid ship balcony cabin with the ship only a third-full, and even good weather to boot.  And we got the free drinks courtesy of our Celebrity status match. Best cruising bargain we have ever had.  I hope you have a blast on her.

Thanks. Last time we were on Anthem we had the pleasure of bumping into Graham and Pauline. As they have only just got back from Ventura I doubt.......? Who knows. The other excursion is on Madeira.  Trip to a fishing village and then up to the lookout point. Half day for £26. When we get back we will be Diamond on RC and Elite on X. We only need 3 more nights on NCL to go up to a nice level. Hard work this Loyalty business.

[Grumpycruiser60plus]

Good afternoon, hello Sarah H. If you like museums etc, would suggest a walk around Karlplatz/ central area, it has a wide choice of restaurant/ cards etc, where all the famous "places" are, but please do some research as it gets busy, with walking groups off the riverboats. Maybe either walk or take a team up to the Danube like we did, you can get a day pass Ticket very excellent value. Also as a must enjoy the coffee & cake choices. We have been here since Tues & still not seen enough. As mentioned earlier the locals are friendly & helpful ,plus we have felt very comfortable here, ( unlike London has turned into now) but I mustn't elaborate on that here.😇 enjoy your visit to Austria next year.

[Megabear2]

Cards scanned both ways for every shuttle bus we took on the Aurora 26 August Baltic cruise.  This was extremely port intensive with three overnights. I believe only Aarhus did not have a shuttle - we did not get off in Skagen as I was unwell but I'm sure I read of one.

 

[Ilovemygarden]

17 hours ago, Grumpycruiser60plus said:

Thurs. Vienna. 

Good Evening all. We have had a very enjoyable day exploring more of Vienna (  central area today) we have found it so very easy to use the transport  system ie: utube, trams bus. We bought a 72hr pass, the system here is mainly used o  trust, you have ticket  then just get  / off not needing to show tickets,  it really is good way to get around. Also must mention everybody waits for the green signal to cross busy rds, And shock horror CYCLISTS actually o bey the crossing/ lights too.

 

So for our anniversary meal we managed to get a reservation al ittle family run traditional Austrian restaurant just a 2 min walk from hotel, a good job too, because ev ery table had a resvered card on table.

We decided on this trip we would where possible only order Austrian dishes and we have that very easy & most enjoyable.  So below are the food pictures @ if you read it the menu.  We shared the starter,  then mains are the pork dish, and for me wien er snitzle, followed by strawberries & ice cream,  and the pancakes. 

We have a half day tomorrow  before we fly back to hrw evening flt, 

I will post some longer thoughts on ce back home over on TripAdvisor,  should anyone be interested. 

 

PS, thanks to graham & others for your wedding anniversary  cheer s.

  

Wiener schnitzel - one of my all time favourites.   Sad that it’s never seen here now.  

[Ardennais]

4 hours ago, Fionboard said:

The main gate and pedestrian area in Lisbon is actually a shorter walk from the ship than from the shuttle drop off at the top of town. Flat 15 minutes walk along the waterfront with plenty of places to stop and rest. No need really for a shuttle. 

We’ve been there several times and definitely needed a shuttle when cruising with elderly relatives. You might not need it, but we did. 

[Ardennais]

58 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Cards scanned both ways for every shuttle bus we took on the Aurora 26 August Baltic cruise.  This was extremely port intensive with three overnights. I believe only Aarhus did not have a shuttle - we did not get off in Skagen as I was unwell but I'm sure I read of one.

 

Shuttle in Skagen with Princess in June. 

[Eglesbrech]

4 hours ago, SarahHben said:

I'm glad you're having a good time in Vienna, food looks good!

We are going to Salzburg next May for a week and are considering doing a day trip to Vienna, 2 hrs each way on the train so it would be a long day. I know we wont be able to see loads in 10 hours or so but do you have any recommendations for any 'must sees'? 

 

Thanks

Sarah

Salzburg

 

All the places associated with the Sound of Music are worth a look (OH danced through the Mirabelle gardens, very embarrassing!). The grave yard where they hide from the *** in the film is right in the centre and it’s actually tiny, they must have used a long ankle lens to show them hiding behind the monument. Worth watching the film before you go.

 

In the Main Street they have strict rules about signage so look of for (really) gold MacDonalds sign. The good burgers of Salzburg boycotted it until they changed the unholy yellow Golden Arches to the same colour and brown frontage as all the others in the street.

 

coffee and cake, everywhere you look wonderful coffee and cake

 

Mozarts birthplace worth a look.
 

The Catherdral is nice to see but it also offers regular music events and the acoustics are great. 

 

There are lots of tours on offer from Salzburg, everything from horse and carriage through walking tours.

 

There are lots of really good beer kellers offering indoor or outdoor seating, great beer and decent hearty food. They are much better priced than some of the restaurants in the city centre (which can be expensive) and have a great atmosphere.
 

In Vienna

 

The Schönbrunn Palace is well worth seeing however it is slightly out of the city centre so requires public transport or the HOHO. The tickets are timed so you have to be there exactly for your slot. In the grounds of the palace the coffee shop does the best apple struddle (mit zana) I have ever tasted.

 

The  opera House is worth a look, particularly if you watch the new year concerts

 

The  Sacher Hotel of course for sachertorte and hot chocolate.  Even if you don’t have time to wait in the queue to go in they have a sales area on the pavement so you can buy take away cake and tins of the chocolate for home. If you do get in visit the ladies toilets, very “historical”.

 

Right  in the middle of the city are the bronze statues of the Jews being made to clean the pavements on their knees. First time a statue has ever made me cry.

 

The whole city centre is worth just walking around, lots of pretty building, many museums wtc. Lots to do in 10 hours.

[Grumpycruiser60plus]

Fri Vienna. 

Just a last post whilst waiting for the  car to take us  back to airport. We had a last lunch at another trad restaurant a short walk, mainly because it's raining all day here & a bit nippy..menu   & our choices in picture 📸, 

 

And as a final treat ( as its the 13th) a rare 📸  of me on the tram yesterday as they ha ve seats for grumpy old people..

[brian1]

2 hours ago, Ilovemygarden said:

Wiener schnitzel - one of my all time favourites.   Sad that it’s never seen here now.  

They nicked it from the Italians,Vittello alla Milanese,loads of that here,lol.

[Ilovemygarden]

I’m impressed with Nationwide Insurance - posted the documents re my claim for a cancelled cruise last Thursday, got confirmation of receipt (and a note to say they might take 21 days to process it) on Friday and today received a text message to say the money is winging its way to my bank account.   No complaints there then - its a pity  I couldn’t get that type of speedy response for results of NHS tests!   

[Eddie99]

[grapau27]

7 hours ago, Splice the mainbrace said:

DW has been gathering things together for weeks for us to go away tomorrow for our month long cruise to USA Canada (and now France !) departing on Sunday. Today it is intense packing day for her, she doesn’t let me any where near it!, I will be keeping out of the way doing last minute garden tidying and lawn cutting, goodness knows what it will be like when we get back in nearly 5 weeks time. 🌾

 

Currently the outward Atlantic crossing is forecast to be relatively smooth but things can change 🤞

Sounds fantastic.

Best wishes for an absolutely fabulous cruise.

[grapau27]

Good afternoon from the beach.

We ordered a new Full Hybrid Automatic car today and part exchanged our 6 speed manual car.

We expect to pick it up next week.

Edited Friday at 04:02 PM by grapau27

[yorkshirephil]

6 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

 

We ordered a new Full Hybrid Automatic car today and part exchanged our 6 speed manual car.

 

 

I picked my new automatic up this morning, after much deliberation I decided to stick with a petrol this time, and expect to go electric for my next car when the choices are better and prices more reasonable. After using my MiL auto for a few months it was clear an auto was the way to go for us.

We had a drive to J32 for coffee and cake so Mrs YP could have a drive in the new motor, it was lovely sitting out in the nice warm sun.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend and all those cruising including us have a great cruise.

[Fionboard]

3 hours ago, Ardennais said:

We’ve been there several times and definitely needed a shuttle when cruising with elderly relatives. You might not need it, but we did. 

Used shuttle once in over 20 visits. Found walk down to centre much harder than along the sea front. Depends which part you want to visit, I suppose. 

[Purdey16]

7 hours ago, Splice the mainbrace said:

DW has been gathering things together for weeks for us to go away tomorrow for our month long cruise to USA Canada (and now France !) departing on Sunday. Today it is intense packing day for her, she doesn’t let me any where near it!, I will be keeping out of the way doing last minute garden tidying and lawn cutting, goodness knows what it will be like when we get back in nearly 5 weeks time. 🌾

 

Currently the outward Atlantic crossing is forecast to be relatively smooth but things can change 🤞

Hope you have a fantastic cruise and a good boarding day on Sunday, I’m the Same as your wife I don’t let my other half anywhere near the packing, I know exactly where everything goes and fits into little spaces and specific things to take like the kitchen sink 😂