Jewel of the Seas Brit Isles/Norwgn Fjords cruise

[anchors]

I will be boarding RCI's Jewel of the Seas on June 16, 2008 for their 11 day British Isles/Norwegian Fjords cruise. I read lots of info on the ports of call and picked up great pointers, but I still have lots of questions. Our original plan was to spend 2 nights in London, so we booked air to Heathrow. Instead, we decided to take the Eurostar from London to Paris and spend 2 nights in Paris.
Question: We want to store our luggage (5 people) at St. Pancras station. Any idea on cost to store luggage? Is it safe to leave at station?
We will pick up luggage upon our return and take metro or bus to Liverpool Street station to board "the cruise train" to Harwich P. Quay.
Question: metro or bus? St. Pancras to Liverpool St. Will we have problems transporting all our luggage and a wheelchair?

If you cruised this itinerary, I'd love to here what you did at each port of call.
1st port:LeHavre - plan on bkg RCI's The Beaches of Normandy
2nd port:Falmouth - Read post on site and plan to tour on our own. will check out Pendennis Castle
Question: Did anyone go to Glendurgan Garden (Maze) or Trebah Garden?
After reading Hank's post, we plan on tendering back by 2:00.
3rd port:Cork - Plan on bkg RCI's The Best of Ireland. My son (17y) wants to kiss the Blarney stone.
4th portublin - Question:How far is the cruise dock from Dublin? Can we take a taxi to town? I like the hop-on-hop-off bus and tour on our own idea. Ship leaves at 2:00, will we be able to tour on own and get back to ship on time?
5th port:Greenock - Is there anything to do in Greenock, on our own? We'd like to avoid taking an excursion.
6th port:Flam - plan on bkg RCI's Overlands to Voss, Tvinde & Stalheim
7th port:Alesund - plan on bkg RCI's Geiranger/Hellesylt Full Day w/ Lunch excursion
8th port:Bergen - no plans, yet. Any suggestions?
I value everyones opinion and would love more tips and advice.

[LisaP]

Hi Janet, and welcome to cruise-chat.

We took a Norwegian Fjords cruise several months ago, and went to two of the ports you'll be visiting, Alesund and Bergen.

Your shore excursion choice in Alesund is an excellent one. We did not do it for several reasons, yet spoke with many pax who did. We also saw the video highlights all week on our TV (it was our first port of call). If you get the opportunity, Alesund itself is worth a nice stroll. The architecture is beautiful.

We toured Bergen on our own. I had ordered a map from http://www.visitnorway.com/, and we built our own walking tour. We started with a trip up to Mount Floyen, where we enjoyed a marvelous panoramic view of Bergen and the surrounding area. We spent a good two hours up here. We went back and forth by funicular, yet you can also hike it if you wish. After gettting back into town, we walked along the harbor, visiting the fish market and the Bryggen area (where we once again admired the architecture and the natural beauty of the area. We did a lot of walking within the city, so if you do this, wear comfortable shoes. There's also an hour-long sightseeing "trolley" tour that takes you to some of the major points of interest in the city. We didn't take it, but saw the vehicles going by every so often.

So, that's a start. I know others will come along with advice/experiences on your other ports, and on train travel.

[LHT28]

Originally posted by anchors:

2nd port:Falmouth - Read post on site and plan to tour on our own. will check out Pendennis Castle

4th portublin - Question:How far is the cruise dock from Dublin? Can we take a taxi to town? I like the hop-on-hop-off bus and tour on our own idea. Ship leaves at 2:00, will we be able to tour on own and get back to ship on time?
6th port:Flam - plan on bkg RCI's Overlands to Voss, Tvinde & Stalheim
7th port:Alesund - plan on bkg RCI's Geiranger/Hellesylt Full Day w/ Lunch excursion
8th port:Bergen - no plans, yet. Any suggestions?
I value everyones opinion and would love more tips and advice.

We did a cruise in 2003 just a few nores on what to do
Falmouth- they had a cute bus take you from the port into town ...easy walking town at the time they had a little tourist train to take you up to the castle

Dublin-it is about 5 minutes into town just grab a cab at the dock then you can do the HOHO bus
I think the route is about 1 hr if you just stay on but you should have time to get off in a few places.

Bergen-easy to do your own thing ..you need local currency for the funicular which is worth the ride to the top.
Enjoy the trip

[anchors]

Thank You!
Lisa and Lyn,
Thanks for your replies. We will take your advice and tour Bergen and Dublin on our own. I'll order a map for Bergen and build a walking tour. Thanks for that tip, Lisa. We will take the funicular as you both suggested.
Lyn, thanks for the info on Dublin. I feel comfortable about doing our own tour, now.

[cruisegirl68]

Hi Janet: Thanks for directing me to your posting in the Europe section. Lots of good info. We are concerned re bad weather on cruise route in June - have read temps in 40s w/lots of rain. Can anyone confirm? Does not sound like the greatest to do the shore excursions in. Have you booked your shore excursions yet? Yes, we have booked the cruise. Scheduled to leave Harwich 6/16
Cruisegirl68

[anchors]

Hi Cruisegirl68,
I did not book any excursions, yet. Just looking into what we would like to do.
Last summer 2007 temps(f)were:
London - 72º-53º
Harwich - 64º-55º
Paris - 86º-53º
Cornwall - 64º-53º
Cork - 62º-48º
Dublin - 64º-48º
Glascow - 66º-44º
Flam - 53º-42º
Alesund - 71º-48º
Bergen - 64º-55º
I did my homework. I wanted to know what kind of clothes we will be packing.
It never rains on vacations! We're safe, but I'll pack a raincoat, anyway.

[cruisegirl68]

Hi Janet:
Thanks for posting temps - GREAT help! You are the optimist. I'll try to remember that it NEVER rains on vacations!
Shirley

[kimpatrick]

Hi, my husband and I are also booked on this cruise. We have done several RCC cruises, but never one in Europe. I am just wondering why I can't find any other ship that has done this exact itinerary. Is it a trial thing? I really can't find much on this exact cruise at all. Any thoughts? It sounds like great ports...but so do so many others! Has anyone actual spoken with someone who has cruised this one before?

Thank,
Kim

[lesliet]

Hi Janet,
We will be on the NCL Jade in July for the British Isles cruise and will be going to several of your ports. Some ideas for you - in Falmouth we have booked a 4-5 hr. tour,taking the ferry to St. Mawes,stopping several times on the return trip by road. Tours are custom planned on what you want to see. My contact said Pendennis is approx. 5 GBP for entrance and is a 10-15 min. walk from town. Entr. for St. Mawes castle is 4GBP. email salots@hotmail.com
Dublin-10 min. ride to town,45 min. walk, taxi is 10-15 euros, or take bus53 or 53a betw. port and city centre. Go on line for HOHO, tells where it stops,buy ticket at city centre. Loop takes 1 1/2 hr. if you don't get off. Cost is $23.40 USD.Also at city centre you can get bus 42 to
to Malahide Castle. Get details of castle on line. Greenock-we have another private tour(6 hr) of Clyde Coast and Glasgow(email craig-charltonlimo@TheBookingRoom.com). He also will custom plan tours.Also found info for Greenock at http://www.rpasmith.co.uk/greenock.htm
Out of 10 ports, we have 7 with private tours. All the taxi companies have been great to work with and they are charging much less than the ship tours.Also, we will be seeing more in less time.Hope some of this helps. Leslie