From cruise advice for singletons to duty-free rules in Northern Cyprus, the holiday guru gives tips
Cruise advice for singletons, train travel from London to Switzerland and duty-free rules in Northern Cyprus: The holiday guru offers top tips to travellers
- Iglu Cruise has a ‘no single supplement’ box you can tick when looking for deals
- Catch the Eurostar to Paris and then further trains to Gruyeres – it’s an adventure
- A small amount of duty-free for personal use into Northern Cyprus is acceptable
Q. I am a recently single traveller and I love going on cruises. But single occupancy supplements are often high. I have noticed a cruise that says a second person can go free. Could I book this and go alone, telling them the ‘second person’ couldn’t come at the last minute. I know this is naughty.
Gillian Saunders, via email
A. Probably not a good idea, as tempting as it may be. Why not simply ask upfront? One way to check for better-value cruises is to tick the ‘no single supplement’ box on the search page of the website of Iglu Cruise (iglucruise.com), a cruise-specialist travel agent.
Norwegian wood: The streets of Bryggen in Bergen are a popular haunt
An 11-night cruise along the coast of Norway from Bergen to Hammerfest and back is from £1,669pp full-board including flights and transfers on Hurtigruten cruise line. Also try rolcruise.co.uk; cruise1st.co.uk; travel.saga.co.uk and ncl.com.
Q. Can you tell me the easiest way to get from London to Gruyeres in Switzerland by train, please?
Lorna Fowkes, via email
A. Swiss Tourism, the tourist board, recommends travelling to Paris by Eurostar and onwards to Lausanne, where you would catch further trains to Gruyeres — famous, of course, for its cheese. The first journey costs from £44 and takes 2h 15m (euro-star.com).
Adventure: Gruyeres in Switzerland, above, is famous for its cheese
You can buy a Paris-Gruyeres ticket from Swiss Federal Railways from £110 (sbb.ch). This takes five hours and includes a change at Lausanne and two small connections near Lake Geneva. You would also need an hour to get from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon in Paris. So the total trip would be about 8h 30m.
But it’s an adventure, especially in Switzerland as you pass mountains and vineyards and catch sight of Lake Geneva.
Q. What are the duty-free rules when you are travelling from Cyprus into Northern Cyprus?
Jo, via email
A Northern Cyprus is a de facto state that is only recognised by Turkey, and it is difficult to establish its border rules.
Insiders say that taking a reasonable amount of duty-free for personal use —say a bottle of spirits, a bottle of wine and a carton of cigarettes — is quite acceptable.
If you need advice, the Holiday Guru is here to answer your questions and provide tips on how to make the most of your precious time off. Please send questions to holidayplanner@dailymail.co.uk or write to Daily Mail Travel, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT — and include your contact details. We will do our best to answer your queries but we can’t reply to every enquiry. Please do not send in any original documents. We look forward to hearing from you.
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