Never Been To Europe Need Help!!!!!!

[IRISH LADY]

Going On A Cruise On The Royal Princess. The Ports Are Falmouth, Cork, Dublin, Endinburgh, Hamburgh, Netherland, Belgium And Lahavre, France
The Ships Tour Are So Expensive Are There Any Tips From Cruisers On Going On Our Own? Any Information About Trains,buses In These Countries We Can Use. Also Would Appreciate Any Feedback On The Ship In Regard To Their Rooms With Balconyand There Food.

We Are Also Thinking About Staying In London After Our Cruise Has Anyone Information On Staying In Kensington And About The Thistle Kensington Park Hotel? All You Cruise Travelers Please Help. Irish Lady:) :) :)

[wwinfl91]

I haven't been on a similar cruise but check out the following site for information on some of the countries and cities you will be visiting. The site has lots of good information on European ports.

[url]http://europeforvisitors.com/index.html[/url]

Have a great next cruise.

[slgjhg]

Hi Irish Lady,

We will be on the Royal later in the fall. Check out the Roll Call Boards. There may well be one going for your sailing. Other ships as well are stoping at many of those ports. The Royal sailing from London to Rome has info on LaHavre and hotels in London. Just snoop around. You'll find lots of help.

Some of the Baltic Itineraries may also stop at some of your ports.

Enjoy,

Shannon

[captbill]

[quote name='slgjhg'] Check out the Roll Call Boards. There may well be one going for your sailing. [/QUOTE]

I believe that may be [i]our[/i] Roll Call, which can be viewed at: [url]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=26727[/url]

By all means, stop by and say "hi"! We don't have very many posters for this cruise, but at least a couple have been to some of these ports before and have some good suggestions.[img]http://users.pandora.be/eforum/emoticons4u/fingers/fing34.gif[/img]

[jhannah]

You might want to purchase Rick Steves' Europe or Great Britain 2004 book. (Any major bookstore will have it or can get it.) Great information about seeing cities on your own.

[aqua]

We just returned from the Constellation Baltic itinerary and went to London 2 days early. We stayed at the Holiday Inn London-Bloomsbury. We were very pleased with it. Our experience with European hotels is that they tend to be smaller and more expensive than similar US hotels. This Holiday Inn was very nice in comparison to others that we have stayed at in Europe. It also has a good location- it a short walk from the Russell Square tube station, near the British Museum. You can take a photo tour of the hotel on Holiday Inn's website if you are interested.

The only port that I have been to on your trip is Le Havre. What are you planning to do there? Are you interested in Paris, Normandy, another city, or local sites? I agree that the shore excursions are very expensive, and Le Havre is especially so. We usually tour on our own, but we were in France on a Sunday near the D-Day anniversary. We took the ship's Beaches of Normandy tour because all of the private guides were booked and there were no rental cars on Sunday. My daughter went on the ship's Taste of Paris tour. I imagine that you can find a private guide to take you where you want to go. You might post a question on this board for recommendations. I met one couple who took a train on their own, and I think they went to Paris. But they were from Europe and therefore braver than I would have been! Whatever you decide to do, I hope you have a great trip.

[bec2629]

Will I need an electrical converter in a London hotel? Specifically for a curling iron.

Thanks

[lisiamc]

bec2629,

Yes, you will need a plug adapter and transformer/converter for your curling iron. Some travel models have a voltage switch, which saves on having to take a transformer with you - then all you will need is an adapter for the plug. Brookstone sells a very compact transformer and set of plug adapters, but it's quite expensive, as I recall.

[bec2629]

[quote name='lisiamc']bec2629,

Yes, you will need a plug adapter and transformer/converter for your curling iron. Some travel models have a voltage switch, which saves on having to take a transformer with you - then all you will need is an adapter for the plug. Brookstone sells a very compact transformer and set of plug adapters, but it's quite expensive, as I recall.[/QUOTE]
Another item to add to the list .:(

Thanks for the info.
Becky

[Tatka]

I don't have any idea about Princess tours but in Belgium I think you'll be able to visit Brugge (or Zeebrugge) . This is a must!

I love Belgium Brussells (also a must but you'll probably will be too far to visit it) , Antwerpen, Ghent etc...but Brugge impressed me the most.

Check our pictures: [url="http://community.webshots.com/album/102705751lNJssz/0"]http://community.webshots.com/album/102705751lNJssz/0[/url]

[Artemis]

We just completed a 12-night Mediterranean cruise. It was very port intensive, with only 2 At Sea days. We had traveled in Europe several times before, independently, so felt confident about doing the Med cruise port touring on our own. And all in all, doing our own thing was very successful and--because we were a family of 4--definitely the more economical approach.

However, if I had to do it all over again, I would have booked a ship's excursion or private driver/guide for one or two locations, carefully sprinkled into the itinerary at key time slots, simply for the physical/mental/emotional relief that comes with putting yourselves in someone's hands. As the other posters have indicated, the key to making each day a success is a tremendous amount of advance research and planning pertinent to every single port, including but not limited to the following: what that destination has to offer, narrowing down the choices to a priority list of "must sees/dos" for your travel party, then researching the logistics of how to get from port to Points A-B-C-et al. and back to port again, then plugging attraction opening times, admission fees, guiding options, food & shopping stops, etc. into the equation, determining whether advance reservations for museums and the like are available and can save you time, and on and on. Even for an experienced independent traveler, the pre-trip work is time-intensive and can be somewhat stressful as you juggle all of the pieces of the puzzle to produce a Port Touring Program for each day that will satisfy everyone's interests and needs within the time allotted and make your trip worthwhile.

And then, once you are there, you have to remain flexible and knowledgeable enough about Plan B options to go with the flow--because, as we all know, travel rarely goes 100% according to the best laid plans! So, as the trip unfolds, there is a certain degree of attention to and tweaking of arrangements that must occur. And then, of course, when you are right there in the middle of doing it--in an unfamiliar city, not to mention country--there will be instances when you think you had it all figured out, and boy, you don't have a clue??!

I don't mean to scare you off by any means. Independent travel is a heck of a lot of fun and can be tremendously rewarding. Some of the obvious upsides are being able to see what you want to see on your own terms and time schedule & having the freedom to partake of spontaneous adventures. However, even for those of us who consider ourselves "good" at it, being responsible for each day of this wonderful journey you've booked can be overwhelming at times. And these port-intensive cruises that are heavy on touring and sightseeing are tiring even for folks who go with the cruise line's excursions every day. You get up and off the ship early and don't return til evening. And then you do it again the next day, often in a new country with a different language (you'll do fine, English speakers are everywhere, but the signage and customs will vary) and, sometimes, a different currency. And so on....

This is all my opinion only. YMMV But I do think everybody's travel personalities and "common sense" vary, and each of us has to be realistic about what we can & cannot achieve on our own without going nuts or, worse, doing an injustice to the incredible opportunity presented by a trip in which we've already invested so much time and money.

As a practical matter, on your itinerary, I will speak to the places I've been (by land): Cork & Dublin--you can plan very nice self-touring days in both, and English will be used in all signage, museum exhibits, public transport schedules, menus, etc., which will make independent touring easier; Amsterdam--you can self-tour here with ease, the port is so conveniently located in relation to the city center, the public transportation system makes it easy to get around, and the Dutch are friendly and speak/publish a lot of English; and LeHavre--this is a place where I'd strongly recommend a tour depending on where you choose to spend your day, there are so many wonderful options. I have not been to Edinburgh, Hamburg or Zeebruge.... Of course, when self-touring, it is smart to check out a "hop on, hop off" tourist bus option to see if it meets your needs--I know there is one in Dublin, and in Amsterdam, there are hop on/off canal tours that get you to the popular tourist sites, e.g., Anne Frank's house, the Rijksmuseum, etc. When you do very large cities, like London, a half-day bus tour that does little more than drive you by key sites is sometimes a good option for getting a feel for things (and, of course, there is nothing like the walking tours in London by [url]http://www.walks.com[/url]).

Lastly, on costs, when comparing a ship's tour to the total costs of self-touring or the cost of a private tour, carefully make the currency conversion so you are comparing apples to apples. You can get lulled into thinking a quote of 100 is a deal, but remember: 100E or 100GBP is *not* the same as 100USD! If you are going this summer, note that the cruise lines negotiated their excursion prices a long time ago--since then, the dollar has further weakened against the local currency in most Euro destinations. What that means, is, paying local prices in their currency now might add up to the same amount or even more than the price Princess is charging.

Have a wonderful trip. I'm part Irish, too, and visiting Ireland was a special treat for me--you'll love it! And like the others said, go over to the Ports of Call>Europe section for port-specific info and check out your Roll Call to see if anyone is looking for fellow cruisers to share private tours.

[Tatka]

We paid fairly high prices for private tours(6 people) 9 hours in Rome($95pp) and Florence/Pisa($115) but it was much cheaper than Cruise tours and we didn't have to wait for 25+ people to leave the bus every time.

Also I respect senior people (and hopefully will live long life to become one) but the don't allways read instruction. For example in Monaco/Monte Carlo on our ship tour we had several 75 - 80 years old and one of them was with a walker.

Our tour guide honestly didn't know what to do! She even asked us if our brochure had info about this tour.:cool:

[katisdale]

We were on the May 7 Royal sailing. I posted earlier about the ship and our ports (the only ones we had in common were LeHavre and London). One thing I have not posted on was the food which was wonderful. We especially enjoyed the soups, desserts and always available cesar salad. Our waiters were excellent. The ship now has a section of the buffet set aside each evening as a "Sterling Steakhouse" and the filet mignon we had there was also excellent. We had an obstructed view cabin and I did not see into a balcony cabin so I cannot comment on that. Have a great time.
Also, our favorite hotel in London is the Thistle Tower. The Thistle chain is a business type hotel. The rooms are somewhat small by American standards but well equipped with irons, tea/coffee facilities, and heated towel racks. They have non-smoking rooms. The view of the Thames and the Tower bridge was well worth staying in this hotel. It is also right next to the Tower of London if you are interested in that site and the Ceremony of the Keys which has to be reserved in advance.

[pvmkmyer]

I just got back from London a week ago. Kensington is a bit out of the way if you are interested in maximizing your time. Keep in mind, however, that my wife can't do many stairs so we weren't able to wisk around on the tube so we relied on taxis. I'd try and stay closer to the West End if I were you, in the area of Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly. It's more central and closer to the "royal London" sights like Buckingham palace, Westminster Abbey and Parliament, but also much closer to Covent Garden, the Tower and St. Pauls.

Keep in mind that London is VERY expensive. The conversion rate is about $1.85 to the pound so the dollar go quickly. A reasonably priced restaurant will cost you $40-50 per person for dinner. For lunch, go to Pret a Manger, along with the rest of London, to grab a really good fresh sandwich or salad. They are all over town.

I also recommend any of the assembly line sushi places. There are several all over town and they are a lot of fun. You sit at your table and the food passes by on a conveyor belt and you take them off the belt as they go by. The plates are color-coded, so a red plate may be 1.75 pounds, a blue, 2.00, etc. At some of the places you can also order hot dishes which will be delivered to your table. It's lots of fun, but watch the number of plates you grab off the belt; it can mount up quickly!

If you like the theatre London is unbeatable and this is the one thing that is still reasonably priced. If you like musicals do not miss "Anything Goes" at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. It's easy to get tickets because it's been playing over a year. The production is fantastic!