This was going to start at 150 days ... but time just started to get away from me... we are now somewhere around 108 days.... and preparation is starting to hot up...
Xmas came and went quickly and of course those Xmas sales took Cruise shopping to a whole new level.... not really but Garry did manage to add to the shirt collection... and with a planned road trip to Adelaide in January came the added expense of having to change our car... The mechanic told Garry that the most economical way to repair the Xtrail was to replace it.... which we did!So far we have manage to meet at least 14 other cruisers that will be leaving Sydney on the 25th May 2011, and some having met for the second and third time... Our sail away party is starting to look more like a reunion everyday..
The main focus lately has been the ports.... lots of research on cruise critic and reading lots of blogs has helped us in deciding on tours and tour companies that we will use.... out of those following I would like to thank Michelle ( Aworldcruise4me) and George and Dianne as I have gotten some great tips and recommendations from you guys...
At this stage we are only looking at around a half a dozen ports that we will be doing Princess Tours.... the break down is like this (but changes every day)
On Our Own
Darwin – Garry wants to swim with the Crocodiles
Singapore - Chinatown, Little India and shoe shopping
Mykonos - Discovery walking tour
Lisbon – Discovery walking tour
Dover - Leeds castle and villages
Amsterdam – walking and canal tour
Bergen – Floibanen and walk
Greenock – Edinburgh or a castle or countryside
Dublin – walking tour
Cobh - see what cobh will put on for us...
Auckland - meet friends
Princess Tour
Kuala Lumpur
Langkawi
Barcelona
Private Tours
Cochin – Cochin Magic
Mumbai – Mumbai Magic
Abu Dhabi & Dubai - Shehnaaz Mayet ( thanks Michelle ...... Shehnaaz has been great )
Muscat – Marks Tours
Petra – Douna Tours
Port Said – Ramses Tours ( if we make it due to the civil unrest)
Ashdod – Guided Tours Israel
Istanbul – Tour Guide in Turkey
Athens – Private Taxi tour with Jordan
Naples – All around Italy
Rome – All around Italy
Florence – All around Italy
Monte Carlo – French Rivera Guides
Cartagena – Lee Miles ( Mr Emerald )
Acapulco - Tour by Van ( Rudy)
Manzanillo – Manzanillo Adventures
Bora Bora – Patrick Tours
Undecided
Morocco – someone beat us to the recommended guide here LOL
Le Havre – Honleur and countryside maybe...
Bermuda– someone beat us to the recommended guide here LOL
Fort Lauderdale – airboats
Puntarenas – not sure yet... but will probably have something to do with zip lines for sky trains...
Los Angeles – possibly just a city highlights tour
Honolulu – not sure island circle and shopping...
Tahiti – might pick up a tour from the port
Apia - might pick up a tour from the port
Will be interesting to do a compare when we get back . Actually if anyone has any tips don't be shy.. let me know...
My two cents for Bermuda. Take the public bus from Hamilton to St George's and walk around town, visit the unfinished church, head on over to Tobacco Bay for a swim, continue on to Fort St Catherine ... all on your own, all easily done in a day, all easily walkable if my recollection is right. Have fun.
ReplyDeleteI know that is what we should do ... and may very well end up doing... but the more we have looked into private tours in each port we like the idea of being driven around and told what everything is .... LOL
ReplyDeleteThere's open-top bus rides in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Manama (Bahrain)... hopefully, I'll get some blog posts in about our visit there before you leave ... some video and a slide-show, too.
ReplyDeleteIf your plans for Jordan aren't set in concrete, I can recommend our friend Sami al Hasanat of JI Tours (www.jitours.com) ...