Robben Island Help

Old Mar 3rd, 2006, 09:35 PM
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Robben Island Help

I was wondering if anyone can help me out with a Robben Island question.

How far in advance do you have to reserve tickets for this tour? I'm having a difficult time booking through the official website (it's still a fax oriented process) and am wondering if I am better off waiting until I arrive in Cape Town in late March to book. Or would this be too late?

Thanks everyone for your help.
Tim
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Old Mar 3rd, 2006, 10:03 PM
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My daughter were there in Nov. 2004. We bought our tickets at the dock and got on the boat. The boats hold quite a few people and they leave on a pretty frequent basis. We took the first one of the day, I believe it was around 9:00. Maybe that is why we got on right away. It was definitely a powerful experience.
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Old Mar 4th, 2006, 01:14 AM
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Hello Tim,

If you don't mind running the risk of having to kill a little time at the V&A waterfront, you can book on the day you want to go. You may not get onto the next departure, but there will be an opening in the next couple of departures.

During the winter months, there is a 9am departure which is significantly less expensive than the other departures and thus is always fully booked. If you want to do this departure, I'd definitely reserve in advance -- if I hadn't done so, I would have been turned away. This shouldn't be an issue for you, and the 9am departure is often not fully booked at other times of year as Rodney notes.

Cheers,
Julian
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Old Mar 4th, 2006, 08:38 AM
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I have visited twice, and on both occastions I purchased my ticket a few minutes before departure. There are several crossings each day, and, unless its become much more popular (I visited last in 2003), you should be able to get the ticket same day.
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Old Mar 5th, 2006, 01:07 AM
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tjcorbett7,

You need not have to book very far in advance however I would NOT suggest that you leave things to the day of your journey because all that you need if for two schools to book the first two morning rides and then you will probably not be able to do the trip on the day due to heavy bookings for the balance of the day.

What I would suggest you do is on your day of arrival in either Cape Town or for that matter South Africa phone the booking office on 021 419 1300 and make a relevant booking as well as pay by credit card over the phone. In this way you can, via the phone, find out what trips are available and once you have made your booking you can pick your tickets up on the day at the Nelson Mandela Gateway 30 minutes before your ride. This should be quite easy to do and if your follow the above plan you will know exactly when you will be going to RI so as to plan your day further.

If I were you I would try and book the first morning ride as you will find that this trip does the least to disrupt the balance of your day. If you do anyone of the other rides (other than maybe the 10h00 ride)you will find that the RI journey is in the middle of your day and the disrupion will be such that there wont be too much else that you will be able to do on the day.

Hope this helps.

Very proudly part of the wonderful nation of South Africa


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Old Mar 5th, 2006, 01:13 AM
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Hi Selwyn,

How are things going in Cape Town with the power outages? I've noticed you've been MIA for a few days -- hope you haven't been too badly affected.

Cheers,
Julian
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Old Mar 6th, 2006, 04:14 PM
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Julian,

The power outages are over TEMPORARILY as Koeberg 1 is now running at 100% capacity once again. With that said the turbine cannot handle the total load that the city needs when there are special circumstances like today where the temperature soared to 40C. Thus there will be a power outage in parts of Cape Town tonight once again.

You are correct in my being MIA as I haved been heavily involved touring and right now I am on the Garden Roiute touring a wonderful English couple on a 12 day tour. With communications not always being easy from the Garden Route I have thus been MIA. As a matter of fact I am writing this mail from Knysna and missing the power outage in Cape Town tonight. All in all the power outages have been disastrous and life really has been difficult overall during this period.

Very proudly part of the wonderful nation of South Africa whether we have electricity or not.
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Old Mar 6th, 2006, 05:13 PM
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Hi Selwyn,

Hope you're enjoying the Garden Route. I'm glad to hear the Koeberg 1 is up and running again -- according to the people I've been communicating with in Cape Town on behalf of our clients, the past week was pretty bad because it wasn't.

Cheers,
Julian
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