DarrenM Posted July 25, 2023 #51 Share Posted July 25, 2023 Oh and Bruges is well worth a visit in Belgium. One of the nicest places I have ever been to. Especially the square, made more famous by the Film In Bruge. Be careful of the local beer. lethal. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellen495 Posted July 25, 2023 Author #52 Share Posted July 25, 2023 3 hours ago, donaldsc said: Let me throw a question back to you and I am not being flippant. You live in Philadelphia. If you had 7 hours to "see" Philadelphia how much of Philadelphia would you see. Worse yet if you got on a bus that took you to Washington with a 2 1/2 hour bus trip each way and had to be back in Philadelphia by 6 PM how much of Washington would you see especially as you have to allow time for souvenir shopping, bathroom stops for 30 or 40 people and lunch at a touristy restaurant. Cruise ship stops are best for smaller towns with a small town center. Much less so for larger spread out cities. In a large city you need to pick pick out 1 or 2 places that are important for you (not the cruise company but you) to visit and forget the rest of the city. As an example of the "what is important to me" issue - I am not into art or visiting art museums so even if the most important site in a city might be an art museum I will skip it for something that I am interested in. The problem is that the cruise company tours usually will not do that. I would usually suggest that you do private tours because they are more efficient use of time and you see what you want to see but I would guess that as a 1st timer you would not be comfortable with that. Go onto the CC Roll Call for your cruise and see if you can find some private tours that others have set up that you can join. DON Very good point. Philadelphia in 7 hours - historic Philly, but not all of it. Washington would be awful with that bus ride - traffic is a nightmare. You need 3 days in either city to do it justice. But if the boat came up the Schuylkill River right up to city center, you'd see more. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ontheweb Posted July 25, 2023 #53 Share Posted July 25, 2023 20 minutes ago, DarrenM said: Oh and Bruges is well worth a visit in Belgium. One of the nicest places I have ever been to. Especially the square, made more famous by the Film In Bruge. Be careful of the local beer. lethal. Damn, we were really looking forward to Bruges, but our port stop in Zeebrugge has been cancelled due to according to NCL low tides. It was supposed to be on a Monday, so I googled museums to see which would be open on Mondays. Several art museums were, which had DW very happy until the cancellation. And there is a French Fries Musuem. That intrigued me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mom says Posted July 25, 2023 #54 Share Posted July 25, 2023 On 7/24/2023 at 8:51 AM, hallux said: And don't expect to go to Amsterdam, unless the recent announcement of the downtown terminal closing to cruise traffic is a temporary situation or a solution to port further away from downtown is figured out prior to your cruise. Ignore this. There is no date yet for the closure of the A'dam port and is unlikely before a new terminal can be built. Some ships are being shifted to Rotterdam for embarkation/disembarkation; but not for port stops. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ajnp Posted July 25, 2023 #55 Share Posted July 25, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, DarrenM said: You are coming to my part of the world. Newcastle Upon Tyne. Fabulous City The ship will dock at North Shields I would imagine. Its about a ten minute taxi ride to the city centre. Thats all. No doubt some excursions will take you to more far flung places, like Alnwick Castle (Ponounced Annick) home of the Harry potter Broom stick flying scenes, but I would try and go to Newcastle City Centre. Its a brilliant vibrant and bustling City. And the locals, Geordies, are renowned for being very very friendly. And of course they Have the river tyne... and its 5? bridges within yards of each other. Darren We are going to Newcastle for 2nights pre cruise, as my husband is a NEWCASTLE United die hard fan (not many of them in australia lol) can't wati to visit your city! Edited July 25, 2023 by Ajnp 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallux Posted July 25, 2023 #56 Share Posted July 25, 2023 1 hour ago, mom says said: Ignore this. There is no date yet for the closure of the A'dam port and is unlikely before a new terminal can be built. Some ships are being shifted to Rotterdam for embarkation/disembarkation; but not for port stops. Thanks. I was corrected yesterday, earlier in the thread, which you would have seen if you'd continued reading... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Turtles06 Posted July 26, 2023 #57 Share Posted July 26, 2023 9 hours ago, lorif said: Viking has the biggest advertising budget, but their payment policies are not as good as other lines from what I saw. “Not as good” is an understatement. With some exceptions, Viking River requires full payment for the cruise 22 months in advance, which is ridiculous. It’s a huge interest-free loan to Viking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPacificbound Posted July 26, 2023 #58 Share Posted July 26, 2023 On 7/24/2023 at 6:58 AM, Ellen495 said: Hi I'm new to cruising (did Alaska - other than that - always just go to countries) but my daughter is interested in a cruise so I'm open. I booked (fully refundable) this cruise and am curious as to your thoughts. Obviously I'm on a cruise board so most like cruises, but how much do you really see at each port? This is July 2024 Norwegian Dawn. We tend to choose a country and explore it, but it does sound exciting to see many - if you really see it. Thanks for any thoughts. Cheers, Ellen 11 PORTS OF CALL Copenhagen,Denmark Berlin (Warnemünde),Germany Gothenburg,Sweden Oslo,Norway Kristiansand,Norway Edinburgh (Newhaven),Scotland Newcastle (Tyne),England Amsterdam,Netherlands Brussels / Bruges (Zeebrugge),Belgium Paris (Le Havre),France London (Southampton),United Kingdom Looking at your itinerary, right away I am thinking if you have the time after the cruise, take the train from Southampton to London for a couple days, then take the train from London to Paris for a couple of days. This is a busy itinerary, and should give you enough of a look to know where you want to come back to. Edinburgh is one of my favorite cities in the world, and Bruges is beautiful. You are going to have a taste of quite a few cities that you and your daughter may very well want to come back to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Host Kat Posted July 26, 2023 #59 Share Posted July 26, 2023 Back on page 2 of this thread, OP posted their thanks to everyone and they were canceling the cruise. This thread is closed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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