What we do before we travel on a cruise! Plan for the ports.

As you probably know, if you are reading this, I worked at the tour office on four ships, over a period of four years. I have been asked a lot of questions about how to do things independently.

This amazed me, as we were the tour desk, not tourist information. We were there to sell the ships tours. I agree that we had a lot of local knowledge too, but only really because we had to because of the number of people who had not even looked at their itinerary since the day they booked their holiday. Many cruisers book their holiday 2 or 3 years ahead. That would mean they would have around 730 evenings sat at home where it is available for them to check the top 10 things to do in each port. I do realise some people may not have fast internet. But it will be a lot quicker than the satellite internet on the ship. I also guess that some people will have busy lives and book last minute. So please don’t get upset by this article, as I am trying to be generous here, by sharing what to do before you travel.

Go to your search engine. I like Google but you can use any. Enter the top things to do in the port name you are visiting. Press enter and then spend a few hours taking a look at what you fancy doing in each port…

The other thing you could do is see what the ship is offering and then just copy it by using public transport and a guide book borrowed from your local library.

MSC Magnifica is visiting Le Havre, Zeebrugge, Amsterdam & Hamburg.

Google says 10 Best Things to Do in Le Havre (France):

Parc de Rouelles

St. Joseph’s Church:

Musée d’Art Moderne André Malraux:

Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville:

Maison de l’Armateur:

Appartement Témoin Perret: Le Havre

Le Havre Beach:

Les Jardins Suspendus:

Parc de Rouelles: Le Havre

Natural History Museum: cruise Europe

For Zeebrugge I really liked this site. We are going to take public transport to Bruges, but we also loved Ghent when we stayed there before and the area around Zeebrugge  had enough for a whole week https://www.triphobo.com/places/zeebrugge-flanders-belgium/things-to-do I am really looking forward to the beer, Belgian frites and mayo and of course the chocolate….

For Amsterdam I really enjoyed this site https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/see-and-do/things-to-do/top-20-things-to-do-in-amsterdam It had so much information of all the kind of things I like to see and although I am not really a city person, I love Amsterdam as it is really chilled out and laid back.

For Hamburg Lonely Planet had some tips for cheap or free things to fill your time. https://www.lonelyplanet.com/germany/hamburg/travel-tips-and-articles/top-10-free-things-to-do-in-hamburg/40625c8c-8a11-5710-a052-1479d2766af8

I have been on lots of tours from here and love the surrounding countryside as well as the Park in the city near to the Reeperbahn.

I do realise that not everyone has visited every port in the world. But having had to stand on stage in front of 500 -1000 people and talk about places like a local, when I was going there for the first time. This was tough and required a lot of research to be professional and knowledgeable.

If you have any questions about tours and your ports of call for your next cruise call me on 03333002480 Adrian. Although I am away now until 25^th April 2018 cruising!