Stelladoro

If you don't mind sharing a van, then book the Super Shuttle. Cost for two is approx. $34.00. We did this last month. Other than horrible traffic due to pouring rain, ride was fine and the Crowne Plaza was the second stop along the way.

We know cruise ships will accept US travellers cheques, but I would not attempt to use them on land.

I'm trying to book mulitycity flights for two with points (Toronto to LA in Dec, with a return from Rio in Jan/15, after the cruise).

Best price today is Air Canada to LA and COPA, from Rio, via Panama City.

Concern is layover of only 1 hour, 11 minutes. Is this sufficient time to change planes at this airport? We've never flown COPA. Any experience flying this airline?

We sailed the Baltic on the Emerald Princess and enjoyed it, except for the lumpy beds. So, if getting a good night sleep on a port intensive cruise is important to you, I would opt for the Celebrity Eclipse. So far, we've always enjoyed comfy beds on Celebrity sailings.

But at the same time, price is also a major consideration.

Thanks so much for the offer. I've just sent you an email, requesting a copy of your spreadsheet.

I'm originally from Europe, and enjoy returning every year or so, which includes visiting friends. While we were working, vacation time was usally limited to one or tow weeks. We used to do lots of land trips by car, in Canada and the USA. Our favourite drive was through the Rockies.

Since we retired, we discovered cruising, but still take land trips, and combine them with a cruise.

Eg. Spent 3 weeks travelling by train in Belgium, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and flew to Copenhagen to catch a Baltic cruise.

We also did a coach tour in New Zealand, Australia (on our own which involved 3 flights), and then sailed out of Sydney to Honolulu, where we stayed for a few days, before flying home.

Another trip involved a British Isles cruise, and a 3 week stay in England, incl. 1 week in a cottage in Cornwall. Loved Cornwall!

Our wish list still is to see some of South America, Asia (not sure yet, but probably by cruiseship), a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords, an Eastern Med. Cruise, which includes Istanbul, and a land tour of Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia (have relatives in Bosnia).

A few years ago, we wanted to do a cruise from Sydney, Australia, which also included stops in New Zealand. Since this was going to be definitely a trip of a lifetime, we decided to see as much of New Zealand as possible and a bit of Australia. So we changed our plans and did a 3 week coach tour in NZ (we were the only reps from North America and shared the bus with a bunch of funloving Aussies) and then spent 10 days on our own in Australia (Melbourne, Cairns, and Sydney). However, we did manage to sneak in a cruise, by timing the end of our land trips with a repo cruise from Sydney to Honolulu, via French Polynesia. So glad we made this decision! It was wonderful!

Four of us arrive in Barcelona on a 2pm flight, and our cruise leaves the next day. It's our first time there so we would like to do a little sightseeing in the time we have. We are staying at Hotel Regencia Colon so I think that is located well for Las Ramblas, Boqueria Market, Gothic Quarter and the Cathedral. My only must see (inside) is Sagrada Familia.

 

Factoring in possible delays arriving and checkout time for the hotel (noon) , the HOHO bus doesn't seem like it would work well for us. I am thinking about a private 4 hour tour that can pick us up at the airport, and drop off luggage at the hotel before we see the sights. Does that make the most sense?

 

If this does make the most sense, then I'm trying to figure out when to fit in Sagrada Familia....should I include it in the 4 hour tour, or perhaps take a taxi the next morning to see that specifically before we have to check out and head to the ship?

 

Thank you for your suggestions!

Well, jetlag will dictate how much sightseeing you will be able to do in the afternoon. You don't need a tour to see the Las Ramblas area and the Gothic Quarter - best seen by walking. Time permitting, I would take a taxi the next morning to the Segrada Familia (check opening times).

Enjoy Barcelona!

Hi, suggest you take the direct train from Nuremberg to Prague, which takes approx. 3.5 hours. Tickets can be booked on reiseauskunft.bahn.de, the German rail website. Click on top right hand corner for the English version.

Provided you don't have too much luggage, travelling by train in Europe is very easy to do. Depending when you travel, you may be able to book reduced fare tickets online. Also, based on our experience, I recommend paying the extra cost of reserving seats.

Enjoy your river cruise. We loved our stay in Prague!

Thanks for your positive review. So far, we've only sailed on two HAL ships, the Noordam and the Nieuw Amsterdam and enjoyed both ships.

Will definitely consider future cruises on these ships, if we like the itinerary.

While on a Collector cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam, I unfortunately overheard the following request at the Customer Service desk. A couple explained to the very patient customer service person that they washed all their clothes in the bathtub and didn't realize the ship did not have self laundry facilities, and therefore, could not dry their clothes. They wanted HAL to give them a break for their drying services. :eek:

Thought I'd heard just about everything, but this took the cake! Don't know how this was resolved, as I left once I picked up the rented DVD movie.

While we've booked hotels on Priceline in other cities, such as London, we've never had any luck using this website for booking hotels in Barcelona.

As others have commented, I do lots of research on Tripadvisor, ie. hotel location (usually look for a hotel near Plaza Catalunya), price and mostly positive reviews from other travellers. We like to book in our currency (CDN - no extra charges by bank), and usually book on expedia or hotels.ca.

I also like my soft sided Briggs & Riley luggage. It got a bit scuffed up, after 4 cruises and land trips, but otherwise, it's held up fine.

Nice to dream about it, but in reality, a world cruise is too long to be away from home. Our longest cruise so far was our October Collector cruise, 7 day W. Med., along with TA. DH found the sea days at the end of the cruise a bit too long.

While we've been away on trips lasting up to 59 days, we like to mix it up, some cruise and some land time, all in one trip. It's easy to do when planning Europe as a destination.

Another consideration is the cost of out of country health and trip cancellation insurance. While we're lucky to have free out of country health coverage, the limit is 60 days.

We prefer a newer and larger ship, so our vote is for the Nieuw Amsterdam. Spent 24 days on the NW last October, incl. a TA. Found it easy to get around. Enjoy walking, so the Promenade deck is great. We had our first experience dining in the Tamarind restaurant and loved it!

Yes, the Lido can get crowded, especially for breakfast, but we always found a table.

We're considering an Eastern Med. cruise and wouldn't hesitate booking the NA again.

I knew I was allergic to Clinique products and after our October cruise, I've learned not to use Elemis products. I broke out in a very itchy rash on our HAL cruise. Definitely not fun! Although I immediately stopped using the ship's soap, the rash did not disappear until after approx. one week following the cruise. I always use my own shampoo, but from now on, I'll also bring my own soap.

We also check Air Transat flights and prices when flying to/from Europe. Last October, we flew direct (oneway) on AT from Toronto to Rome for $375 CDN PP, which incl. taxes and fees. We learned not to overpack, including the carry ons, as Air Transat weighs all your luggage.

Hi, I'm not Cruiserking, but thought I'd chime in. We did a similar tour with Evans Evans two years ago. We had time on our own in Canterbury, including lunch.

It's definitely a long day, but well worth it. We returned to London late afternoon and were stuck in rush hour traffic. As the traffic was literally gridlocked near the Tower of London, we asked the driver to let us off the bus. We took the London tube to get back to our hotel, which was probably a faster transportation option.

We used Top (Spain) Day Tours last month to Seville (from Cadiz). The tour itself was great, but we encountered a 40 minute delay leaving the port. Apparently, there was some miscommunication between their Head Office and the local guide. Based on other positive responses, I think this was an unfortunate glich, and not the norm.

As the driving time from Cadiz to Seville is approx. 1.5 hours, we had a very early bus boarding time, 7:15 to 7:30 AM.

Once we arrived in Seville, our group of approx. 28 was split into 3 groups, each with their own local guide, who was excellent. The Alcazar palace and the surrounding old town are beautiful to explore. We also had two hours for lunch and to explore the area on our own.

We did a private tour with Spain Day Tours to Seville last month. Cost is much less than the ship sponsored tours. Bus waited for us just outside the dock. There were approx. 20 of us and once we arrived in Seville, we were split into 3 groups, each with a guide, to tour the Alcazar Palace and area. Although it's a bit of a hike to get to Seville (approx. 1.5 hours driving), we had a great day.

You may want to check their website.

Because I'd heard the horror stories, we booked a 5:13 flight to Boston, did Luggage Direct, and "killed some time" doing the HAL Land and Sea Excursion which was lovely...and they delivered us to the airport. We were off the ship by 8 AM for that reason.

Hi Sheila, so great to meet you and your husband.

We chose the late disembarkation, 9:15 AM, since we booked a postcruise hotel. Due to the Customs delays in the Terminal, HAL let us stay on the ship. We headed to the pool area and waited for our colour announcement. So glad we didn't book a flight the same day - certainly less stressful. I think it was around 10:30 AM, when we disembarked. The Customs line was long but kept moving. The taxi line was also long (at least 5 ships in port, incl. the Allure), but finally, we were off to our hotel by the beach and arrived there around Noon.

Mary

We booked insides on our last three cruises and they were fine (one cruiseline offered an upsell to an unobstructed oceanview for only $100, so of course, we took it!). We don't spend much time in the cabin, especially on port intensive cruises.

We like to take longer vacations and need to stretch our $ to do this. Booking a less expensive cabin leaves extra money to book excursions, etc.

We are planning on taking a Northern Europe cruise next year and are trying to decide whether to go in May or August? Wanted to go in September but apparently there are no cruises there at that time of year. Thinking about either the Emerald or Royal Princess to Scandinavia/Russia. Weather isn't a big issue, don't mind cold but rain can be a bother. Would like to avoid tons of tourists, but still have attractions open. We went to Italy last year in November and found towns that were rather desolate, would like to avoid that. Kind of takes the fun out of it! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Carol

Our favourite time in Europe is in May. Two years ago, we did an 11 day Baltic cruise on the Emerald Princess in late May. We were lucky to enjoy mostly warm, sunny days - perfect for sightseeing. It rained a bit, but thankfully, not for long. Just have to be prepared.

It's impossible to avoid tons of tourists at some destinations - there were lots in Tallinn, at the Vassa Museum in Stockholm, and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

That sounds GREAT, except for the rain!! Did you make arrangements for the taxi before the cruise or just hire it at the pier?

Sue

Arrangements were made ahead of time by another cruising couple. Six of us joined them.

I was happy to see your post. What you did is exactly what we want to do. We will be arriving in Le Havre on Celebrity Infinity on June 4,2013. Did you request transportation only? What was the cost?

Sue

We arranged for transportation only. The communication with the driver was a bit strained, as we didn't speak French, but he spoke a bit of English. We got by.

We were dropped off and picked up at a designated spot in each town. The day we arrived in Deauville, there was a lovely market along the river and we enjoyed strolling through it.

Sorry, I didn't keep track of the cost, but it must have been reasonable.

We were there in early June/12. We had sunny, warm weather, until we returned to the ship - started pouring rain!