Don't miss out in Monte Carlo

It’s been awhile since I've written any city guides for you to plan out your shore excursions with so to kick it off again I’ll be writing about Monte Carlo, playground of the rich, the famous and James Bond.
As always with these guides if anyone has any better ideas or opinions about Monte Carlo, feel free to add your comments below. The more information we get, the easier it is for people to plan their cruise excursions.

Monte Carlos's a small city so it’s quite easy to take in in one day. However if you’re a disabled or older customer it’s worth noting a lot of the city is quite steep so you may want to make use of the local taxis, buses, trains etc.
The centre of Monte Carlo is always a good place to start your excursion as it’s packed with shops restaurants and bars and it’s actually sloped quite gently down to the port. So it’s quite easy to reach.

Holidaying in Havana

It’s been awhile since I've written any city guides for my blog so it’s appropriate that to kick it back of I cover Havana, which saw its first British cruise ship this month. Let’s hope it’s the first of many as this is a fantastic city to visit.
As always with these guides if anyone has any better ideas or opinions about Havana, feel free to add your comments below. The more information we get, the easier it is for people to plan their cruise excursions.

Lost in Le Havre?

Something that confuses a lot of people about cruising is destinations/ports of call. You think you’re booking a cruise to Rome and actually end up somewhere called Civitavecchia. You think you’re off to Amsterdam and end up in Ijmuiden. You think you’re going to Paris and end up in Le Havre.
So what’s going on? Are the cruise lines lying to you about your destinations?
Has the cruise had to swap destinations a the last minute?
Nope, none of the above.

Southampton an A-Z Guide

I’ve done a lot of blogs over the last few months about all the different destinations we here at cruise.co.uk send you all today, butt it occurred to me yesterday that there was a gaping hole in the different guides I had written. I’d never covered Southampton.

Not exactly the most exotic of destinations I’ll admit but as most of the cruises I book start and finish there it seemed appropriate that it got covered, especially when you consider that a lot of people, worried about missing their ship arrive the day before. So then what needs covering? The three big issues it seemed to me were carparking, hotels and entertainment, which I will be covering here. If anyone else has any other items that they’d like to know about Southampton then add them here and I’ll cover them for you.

Sailing To Stavanger?

O.K., so here’s another update on my series of blogs about un-missable tourist destinations on the different ports of call we at cruise.co.uk send you all too. Again, bear in mind this is aimed at people who have never visited these ports before and it’s all based on my personal opinions and my favourite sites anyway. If you feel I’ve missed something important out or disagree with a point I've made please make a comment below to help other cruisers make up their minds. It’s ben pointed out to me that a lot of these guides have been for the Med so for a change were heading north to……..

Vacationing in Valencia

O.K., so here’s another update on my series of blogs about un-missable tourist destinations on the different ports of call we at cruise.co.uk send you all too. Again, bear in mind this is aimed at people who have never visited these ports before and it’s all based on my personal opinions and my favourite sites anyway. If you feel I’ve missed something important out or disagree with a point I've made please make a comment below to help other cruisers make up their minds.

Cruising to Cagliari?

O.K., so here’s another update on my series of blogs about un-missable tourist destinations on the different ports of call we at cruise.co.uk send you all too. Again, bear in mind this is aimed at people who have never visited these ports before and it’s all based on my personal opinions and my favourite sites anyway. If you feel I’ve missed something important out or disagree with a point I've made please make a comment below to help other cruisers make up their minds.

Fun in Florence

O.K., so here’s another update on my series of blogs about un-missable tourist destinations on the different ports of call we at cruise.co.uk send you all too. Again, bear in mind this is aimed at people who have never visited these ports before and it’s all based on my personal opinions and my favourite sites anyway. If you feel I’ve missed something important out or disagree with a point I've made please make a comment below to help other cruisers make up their minds.

Florence is one of the most popular cities in Italy and most Med cruise will pull in here. Florence, a Renaissance city in the heart of Tuscany, has some of Italy's best museums, beautiful cathedrals and churches, and interesting streets and squares with elegant buildings and shops.

Amazed in Amsterdam

O.K., so here’s another update on my series of blogs about un-missable tourist destinations on the different ports of call we at cruise.co.uk send you all too. Again, bear in mind this is aimed at people who have never visited these ports before and it’s all based on my personal opinions and my favourite sites anyway. If you feel I’ve missed something important out or disagree with a point I've made please make a comment below to help other cruisers make up their minds.

For obvious reasons, Amsterdam is always going to be a bit more adult orientated than other destinations, and a lot of the adult content is hard to miss, it’s not like you can stick to certain areas and avoid it. For this reason you should think long and hard before disembarking with a child. It is suprising how much there is to do that doesn't involve smoking or visiting the red light district but I have tried to be as honest as I can here, with family and adult attractions covered, but if your going to be easily offended please don’t click the read more button below.

Mad on Manaus

If you’re anything like me then you’ve probably never heard off Manaus, although my constant readers should now have a good idea about the city after my recent Fred Olsen blog about the Amazon tour they do there. Click here to read the original blog.

I actually booked someone on Friday, for this particular cruise and noticed that he gets to spend three days in Manaus, so with him and all you other cruisers lucky enough to get to visit one of the strangest cities on the planet, in mind, I’ve put together this little guide. It’s sourced from different sites and reviews on the web and includes some of the more interesting places to visit whilst your there.

Rocking it up in Gibraltar

O.K., so here’s another update on my series of blogs about un-missable tourist destinations on the different ports of call we at cruise.co.uk send you all too. Again, bear in mind this is aimed at people who have never visited these ports before and it’s all based on my personal opinions and my favourite sites anyway. If you feel I’ve missed something important out or disagree with a point I've made please make a comment below to help other cruisers make up their minds.

Venice in a day......

O.K., so I’m continuing my series of blogs about un-missable tourist destinations on the different ports of call we at cruise.co.uk send you all too. Again, bear in mind this is aimed at people who have never visited these ports before and it’s all based on my personal opinions and my favourite sites anyway. If you feel I’ve missed something important out or disagree with a point I've made please make a comment below to help other cruisers make up their minds.

So on to business, today I'll be looking at the historic city of Venice.

How to swear in a different language ……..

Having a bad experience with a tour guide?

Just had your pocket picked?
Need to relieve your frustration but just can’t find the right words?
Well here's a handy guide for you all when in port.
Obviously for age appropriate reasons I can only include some of the milder words, but I’m sure if you say them in the right tone your intended target will get the right idea. By the way, I’ve checked these out on a couple of websites and they seem correct but I can’t guarantee you’re not actually telling someone that your great grandmother was a moose. If anyone knows any more, funny insults please add them below.
Keep it clean please folks.

Dubrovnik in a day..................

O.K., so I’m continuing my series of blogs about un-missable tourist destinations on the different ports of call we at cruise.co.uk send you all too. Again, bear in mind this is aimed at people who have never visited these ports before and it’s all based on my personal opinions and my favourite sites anyway. If you feel I’ve missed something important out or disagree please make a comment below to help other cruisers make up their minds.

What to do in St. Petersburg

As promised I’m continuing my series of blogs about un-missable tourist destinations on the different ports of call we send you all too. Bear in mind this is aimed at people who have never visited these ports before and it’s all based on my personal opinions and my favourite sites. If you feel I’ve missed something important out or disagree please make a comment below to help other cruisers make up their minds.
So on to business, today I'll be looking at St. Petersburg.

When in Rome............

It's difficult, the first time you reach a foreign port to now exactly what you should visit. On most cruises you will only get a day in the city, nowhere near enough time to see everything.

So what to do first?
What are the most important sites to see?
What can I afford to miss first time around?
Before setting out on a cruise vacation I would always recommend you do some research on the cities you plan to visit and make a list of the attractions/destinations that appeal to you most. With this in mind I have decided to do a series of blogs about different destinations that me and my colleagues at Cruise.co.uk regularly send people to on our most popular cruises.
You should bear in mind that I am only listing my personal favourites but I would love for people to add to this so others can use them as a starting reference guide to planning their perfect cruise.
I have decided the first city I will include is Rome:

Tour Guide in My Pocket

For a lot of people the excursions are the most exciting part of any cruise but a lot of people don’t like having to pay the cruise lines tour guide prices, or, for the more experienced cruisers, having to trail around the same old tourist destinations.

Well now you don’t have to.

How many of you have ever cruised to Bangkok?

Wrong, sorry.

The answer is no one, strange as it sounds there’s no such place and hasn’t been for centuries.