egw1
Second Mate
Kerrville, Texas
Joined 07/2017
10
Cruises3
Reviews141
Helpful VotesAs we approach our retirement, we are just starting to take cruises. We did a short trip to Mexico on Carnival and will be taking two more cruises 2019. The first is a Windstar cruise and the second is an Avalon River Cruise through Eastern Europe (postponed from last year). We have booked another trip to the Baltics for the summer of 2020, which was cancelled. We are going to try again in June 2022.
Upcoming cruises
Past cruises
March 2024 - 7 Night Essence Of Burgundy & Provence (Dijon To Arles) Cruise on AmaCello
June 2022 - 15 Night Magnificent Rivers Of Europe (Budapest To Amsterdam) Cruise on Avalon Artistry II
October 2019 - 13 Night The Danube From The Black Sea To Budapest With Transylvania (Bucharest To Budapest) Cruise on Avalon Passion
August 2019 - 8 Night Gaelic Explorers (Edinburgh To Dublin) Cruise on Star Breeze
Small ship cruising through Scotland and Ireland
We loved our trip with Windstar Cruises but realize these are not for everyone. If we had it to do again, we would do less of the ship sponsored excursions. The most enjoyable ports were those where we weren't being shuffled around with a tour group. I expect the excursions we were on were better than you might find on the larger ships (most had about 20-25 people) but you still have to move when you are told to move and you aren't free to do what interests you. I will definitely consider hiring a taxi again - I assumed this is very expensive but when you compare the cost to what it would cost to book two excursions, it is pretty cost-effective.
Would we cruise with Windstar again - I think so but I haven't found the right trip to take yet. Although we haven't done many cruises, we've been traveling all over the world for many years and just now starting to appreciate the convenience of having our hotel room travel with us. We have done one party cruise, one river cruise, this small ship ocean cruise and have two more booked in the next year.
January 2018 - 3 Night Baja Mexico (Los Angeles Roundtrip) Cruise on Carnival Inspiration
Quick Getaway
I have never taken an ocean cruise before so I tried this one because it seemed like an easy trip for someone who lives in Southern California. This is a fun short weekend getaway to Mexico for those of us that live close to Los Angeles. I enjoyed the trip but probably won't do it again. It does, however, encourage me to try longer trips to more exotic places.
October 2017 - 7 Night Holland & Belgium With Tulips Southbound (Amsterdam To Brussels) Cruise on Avalon Impression
Great First River Cruise
The cruise gave you an excellent understanding of the history and culture of the Netherlands and Belgium. We are an active couple that enjoys walking and exploring on our own. This gives us comfort, the optional tours, and plenty of freedom to explore on our own at the same time.
Star Breeze
Sail date: August 30, 2019
Small ship cruising through Scotland and Ireland
We loved our trip with Windstar Cruises but realize these are not for everyone. If we had it to do again, we would do less of the ship sponsored excursions. The most enjoyable ports were those where we weren't being shuffled around with a tour group. I expect the excursions we were on were better than you might find on the larger ships (most had about 20-25 people) but you still have to move when you are told to move and you aren't free to do what interests you. I will definitely consider hiring a taxi again - I assumed this is very expensive but when you compare the cost to what it would cost to book two excursions, it is pretty cost-effective.
Would we cruise with Windstar again - I think so but I haven't found the right trip to take yet. Although we haven't done many cruises, we've been traveling all over the world for many years and just now starting to appreciate the convenience of having our hotel room travel with us. We have done one party cruise, one river cruise, this small ship ocean cruise and have two more booked in the next year.
Avalon Impression
Sail date: October 13, 2017
The cruise gave you an excellent understanding of the history and culture of the Netherlands and Belgium. We are an active couple that enjoys walking and exploring on our own. This gives us comfort, the optional tours, and plenty of freedom to explore on our own at the same time.
Carnival Inspiration
Sail date: January 19, 2018
I have never taken an ocean cruise before so I tried this one because it seemed like an easy trip for someone who lives in Southern California. This is a fun short weekend getaway to Mexico for those of us that live close to Los Angeles. I enjoyed the trip but probably won't do it again. It does, however, encourage me to try longer trips to more exotic places.
Cruise tips
Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland
Another great port. We took one of the ship's excursions that took us all over the island to see many of the sights. The convenience of having the ship handle it all in our limited time made this worth the price. The highlight of this tour was going to see Scara Brae - a prehistoric village that has been uncovered and partially restored.
Tobermory, Isle Of Mull, Scotland
We booked an excursion to see a weaving farm in the southern part of the island and were very excited, since we both work with fabrics quite a bit. Sadly, this was a disappointment. The bus ride was very long and mostly boring. We were under the impression that we would be able to see much of the farm and it's workings. We got ushered into a room where they talked about the large weaving machines for a few minutes, gave us some tea, and sent us to the gift shop. Than it was back on the bus for the very long bus ride back to the ship. We did have a few minutes to walk around before we left. Add to that the problems we had with getting back onboard the ship from the tender (see my comments under Service and Staff) and the awful weather, it wasn't our best day.
The weather was anticipated to be quite windy on the day we were to go to Portrush (where we were again supposed to anchor and take a tender to shore) so Windstar decided to dock at Belfast instead. This was a good option since we were still close enough to still take all the excursions that were booked. My husband again did a strenuous excursion to the Giant's Causeway and enjoyed it, although it was a much longer bus ride from Belfast than it would have been from Portrush. I spent my time walking around Belfast, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Invergordon (Inverness & Loch Ness), Scotland
We booked a private taxi (Scotland Taxi Tours) to pick us up in Invergordon at the port and drive us to all the sites. This was such an easy way to see things and was cheaper than if we had booked two excursions with the ship. We did a scenic drive to Inverness, saw the sights at Loch Ness, and missed the crowds. This is the first time we have hired our own driver but we will definitely do this again. Once our driver knew what types of things we were interested in seeing, he offered suggestions. This gave us a wonderfully customized trip that was well worth what we paid.
Portree, Isle Of Skye, Scotland
Another wonderful port - we had time to walk around Portree, a small cute little coastal town. My husband did one of the more strenuous excursions in the afternoon, where they hiked to see the Old Man of Storr. He came back exhausted but happy. This was a tender port - our first experience with using Windstar's tender boats.
The Isle of Man is a really nice place to visit. We took an excursion on a steam engine train to see Castle Rushen. This is a vintage train and it was fun seeing it. The Castle is right in town and fun to explore but we got there so late that we had to rush to finish. If I had it to do again, I would have skipped the excursion and just gone down there on our own.
We stayed in Dublin for two nights in the Conrad Dublin Hotel before heading home. We again purchased tickets on the Hop On Hop Off bus so we could get a real feel for the area before we started to walk around. We spent our first day doing serious sightseeing and went to the Greyhound Races in the evening (we have two greyhounds ourselves). The second day, we decided to do something a little different and spent much of the day at the Dublin Zoo and walking around the park it is in the middle of. We could have spent a week there easily seeing all the sights but this was a great first trip.
This was our favorite port. We arrived early and had two days to sightsee and loved our time. We stayed at the Principal George Street Hotel and loved it. It is so close to everything that we walked to most of the sights. Our only issue with the hotel is that our one dinner there was okay but not worth repeating. We got Hop On Hop Off tickets and checked out the entire city through the three different routes - great for getting oriented. Things we did in more depth was Edinbough Castle and the Royal Mile - spent hours walking through that area.
Star Breeze
We found that most people on board were well traveled and were more interested in the destinations and less interested in the activities on board. That was exactly what we were looking for. Make sure you consider this before selecting to take any small ship cruise.
Long Beach (Los Angeles), California
We live here so didn't go sightseeing on our trip.
We skipped the excursion options and just went out on our own. We took the local bus to the center of town. Even though they tried hard to sell us on a tour, we said no. When we asked how to walk to town, we were told it wasn't much of an area to walk. We got off anyway and found a fun main street to walk on with lots of local sellers. We got off the ship at 9:30, spent a couple of hours walking and shopping until we hit the end of the drag and stopped at Papas and Beer for Guacamole and Chips made at our table by a local, and washed it all down with some beer. By the time we were ready to head back to the ship, the place filled up with folks from the ship finishing their excursions and it got full fast. We could easily have walked back to the ship but opted to take a taxi.
Carnival Inspiration
The two hot tubs at the back of the ship are usually pretty quiet, compared to the two on the Lido. On our trip, they weren't hot but on a warmer cruise time, this probably doesn't matter. Because this is an Adults Only area, it stays pretty quiet. The way to get there is by going through the doors of the Paris Lounge.
A very interesting town that was easy to get around in - walking tours were offered. It is larger than the two previous towns and a real view of current day life in the Netherlands.
It was a nice area to walk around in and very interesting to see how the windmills work. Not as interesting as I expected but a fun morning. There were walking tours offered that were pretty easy to do.
There is an extra tour (additional cost) to Bruges that includes a tour of Ghent. My husband did this tour and enjoyed it but it is a full day's outing. Bruges is extremely historic but pretty touristy. Ghent is more typical. The dock was disappointing. Each previous dock was right in the middle of town, while the dock on this day was in an industrial area and took quite a walk to get to the interesting center of town (not the fault of Avalon, since this is where the dock was located in this town).
Rotterdam was completely bombed during the war so much of the history has been lost but the city is extremely modern and the architecture is fascinating. I enjoyed the city but I think you go to Europe to see the history. We did not go on the tour to Delft and again, if you have never been, that is a must-see tour.
This is a fun, small village that was a little touristy. Easy to walk around and enjoy but not as authentic as Veere was. This was such a convenient stop that no walking tour was offered. It is very easy to walk around the town and see the bunkers left over from World War II.
We had two days pre-trip and two days in port. There is no end to the things you can do in Amsterdam and getting around is extremely easy. You can do the offered excursions or just get out and walk. The Central Station is a couple of blocks from where we were docked and you can get anywhere in the Netherlands from that station. Also, most locals speak perfect English. Amsterdam didn't have a lot of damage during the war so the history is everywhere. Add world-class museums and you can't go wrong. As for excursions, my husband did the tour to the reconstructed village and thought it was very touristy but might have been interesting for anyone who knew nothing about the Netherlands and wanted an overview. We both went to the Muiderslot Castle and loved that tour. It is a really historic, traditional castle that really gave you an idea how people lived before the comforts of modern time conveniences. Anyone who has never been to Amsterdam before has to take the Canal Boat tour - it is touristy but the only way to really see all that Amsterdam has to offer.
Most people went on the excursion to Kinderdijk (that explores the technological capability the Netherlands uses to recapture the land from the ocean) and those that went to this excursion found it very interesting. We didn't go to that; instead, we did our own exploration of Veere. It is a beautiful, non-touristy village that shows you how these little villages really look like. I think this village was a highlight of our trip. By the way, there wasn't time on this stop to do both.
I personally loved Antwerp. It is a vibrant city with a very interesting and historic center of town. We enjoyed the walking tour immensely. We were there all day since many of the passengers went on an afternoon excursion to Brussels. Since we didn't go on that tour, we did our own additional walk through Antwerp and spent all afternoon touring around. Really enjoyed the extra time there. In particular, we went back to the Cathedral (seen on the walking tour) and paid admission to take the included tour and see some of the most amazing artwork on display. We didn't take the Brussels excursion since we spent two post-days there. To be honest, Brussels was our least favorite stop of the entire trip. We thought it was busy, not a very well maintained city and once you've seen the Grand Place, the rest is pretty routine (just our opinion). Also, expect nice meals to be ridiculously priced and not very good. We got on the train on one of the two days and went to Namur for the day. This was another highlight of our trip - a beautiful town that was interesting, non-touristy, and easily walked.
Avalon Impression
Stay organized or the room will quickly become cluttered. We used packing cubes for our clothes and that helped us unpack quickly (put the cubes on the shelves and outer wear hanging in the closet). The quicker you get the suitcases empty and under the bed, the better. Also, don't stress too much about dressing for dinner - hubby put nice sweaters on and I would change shoes and or use a nice shawl or scarf. Some people changed before dinner nightly but we just dressed up on the night before the last - celebratory dinner. Otherwise, you bring way too many clothes.