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Just for the record, demineralized water (Acqua Demineralizzata), and comes in 5 litre bottles, very inexpensively priced. (They also sell special scented ironing water, but you won't enjoy that water is not necessary distilled. It will work, however, work fine (and safely) in your CPAP.

I mention only because if you ask for distilled water at the pharmacy, you are likely to pay much more than if you purchased Acqua Demineralizzata at a supermarket. There is a supermarket (Coop) at Piazzale Roma which is between the train station and the cruise port. The coop has a pharmacy, also, by the way.

MANY bars and restaurants in the El Born area in all price ranges.

It always makes sense to go to Florence.

The normal way to go is via rail connecting at Rome Termini (the main station in Rome). Alternatively, you can connect in Pisa. This is slower, slightly cheaper, and most connections via Pisa are Regional trains so no seat reservations required or even possible.

Great Pensione. You should enjoy your stay there.

Tip: just across the bridge to the south is Taverna San Trovaso. Ignore the pizza and go for the traditional Venetian offerings.

Methinks Celebrity is overreacting. I have no idea what's on the tour, of course but I seriously doubt they are going to take random passengers on a rough hike. lovely place.

Great tips form you all. We are looking at options now... yes, I have found ore flights later in the day so might shoot for a ship tour/transfer package for flights after 3pm. There's a BA flight out at about 5.30pm and we'd stay in London near the airport that first night, just to collapse on arrival. Will look at business class prices too but that's not usually our style.

 

Our other option is to cruise a different itinerary Venice to Venice and deal with Venice/Marco Polo airport instead. :) A lot to consider.

 

Thank you all for your insights. CCers are the best! The boards seem to have a lot of negative comments about taxis in Istanbul..... I think I may call HAL and see if I can learn more about possible options of airport transfers. m--

Istanbul taxis are exciting <grin>. Also, every taxi driver has an uncle who (amazingly enough) runs the best rug store in town. That said, I've been to Istanbul quite a few times and have never had a serious problem with a taxi driver.

If you are worried about the trip to the airport (and you DO want IST not SAW), a good solution is to spend the night. The one AT the airport is TAV Airport Hotel. It is a nice and usually reasonably priced hotel... well, reasonably priced for an on-site airport hotel. If you go this route, make sure you book land-side (before you go through airport security) as they have rooms both air and land-side.

Hotel Accademia is nice. I prefer smaller hotels but that is personal preference rather than a comment on the Accademia.

Verona is not a city for which a guide is needed. It is a compact town and easily walkable. Also, the local bus service will get you where you want to go easily enough. Also, if you like to pedal, it is GREAT for biking -- and the Accademia loans bikes to to guests.

Once again I am in the process of planning a trip and I need input from you experts. I will be flying from Tampa to Singapore and have seen some good Business Class rates using United and Korean Air or United and All Nippon. Since I am unfamiliar with these carriers (Korean Air & All Nippon) what is your opinion regarding service and reliability. Is it worth saving $1000+ dollars or am I better off with American or Delta?

I'm guessing that you mean Asiana, rather than Korean. Asiana (which is a Korean company) is an excellent airline. The only negative is that quite a few of their long-haul planes still have angled (rather than fully flat) seats in business. If your flights are on planes equipped with the newer seats that go fully flat, I'd take them over ANA any day.

N.B. My information on Asiana could well be out of date. I urge you to check this out.

What hotel is it?

Is the hotel inside the boundary of Hotwire's mapped area of Passeig de Gracia and Casa Batll?

If the answer to the second question is no, I think you have right for a refund.

I'm a fan of Turkish Airlines. The planes are a bit old, but service is excellent. Some of the planes have modified business class for fully flat-bed seats.

Are you people that are advising against the 75 minute in MUC doing so with actual practical experience of MUC, or just generic advise about Europe connections in general? I can't believe it's based on actual misconnections at MUC with 75 minutes. That just does not happen there.

 

I can't speak for "you people." This people, though, has made many connections at MUC. In fact, it is my favorite European airport for making connections. The issue is not making a 75 minute connection. The issue is the plane arriving late, deplaning late, or something unusual happening in passport control (security alert or a horde of non-Schengen zone passengers deplaning just before you).

You will go through passport control and security. While I would never book this tight a connection, there is actually a very good chance that you will make the connection. Trans-Atlantic flights can easily arrive 90 minutes early (or 8 hours late). If it arrives on time and you manage to get off fairly quickly, you should make the connection barring unfortunate circumstances (like landing just after a jumbo jet from Moscow or some such).

Hi - Can you tell me what private guide you used?

Sorry, I can't help. We asked the hotel concierge to arrange the guide for us. Even if I remembered his name, I wouldn't recommend him as his English was "thin" at best. The commentary ended up being mostly in Spanish with a little German thrown in. (I referred it as the Hapsburg version ).

If you read the fine print, you will see that the ship can skip ports, change ports, shorten the cruise, whatever at will. No reason needed. I am not saying there was or was not good reasons in your examples, just that you have no redress.

The official English language home page: http://www.aerobusbcn.com/index.php/en.html subpages show schedule, fares, etc.

It is is very easy to find. It's a good way to gt to your hotel if your hotel is near one of its stops. How close is close enough depends on mobility, desire to schlep luggage and how mush you have to schlep.

Washington Irving was a much better writer than historian. It's a good read, just don't believe much of it is fact. FWIW, his books on Columbus and George Washington contain ever more myths and fewer actual facts.

Heading for the Nasrid Palaces is an excellent suggestion.

Several years ago I was there with a friend who has Parkinson's. He had trouble walking and climbing stairs (he does the latter backwards which is always exciting). I was recovering from an operation and was using a cane and brace. We both enjoyed it, but we took our time -- we hired a private guide so that we could go at our own pace helped by his spouse who led the way shouting things like "bring out your dead" and "inválido" (she insisted on using the singular since her husband wasn't a cripple; he just walked funny) and other helpful phrases.

The Alhambra represents the flowering of one of the three great flowering at civilization in the Mediterranean (if one defines civilization as industry, arts and science rather the proficiency at killing people). While the Alcazar is wonderful it is nowhere near in the same league, imho. I urge you to see it.

It really won't make any difference if the bus leaves at 3 or 4 a.m. as the counters at the airport won't be open.

Bari Centrale is very close (4 blocks maybe) from the ferry port. I have no idea where cruise ships tie up; might or might not be the same place.

Polignano a Mare's train station is something like 1/4 to 1/2 mile from the waterfront.

It's a short train ride (something like 20 minutes). Frequent trains during rush hours, less frequently at odd times.

I agree with the previous poster.

Taxi drivers in Lisboa are not particularly dishonest. While you can always run into problems, you chances of this happening in Lisboa are less than most tourist cities.

Now if you want to increase you chances of a taxi rip-off in europe, go to Praha or Athens. :)

I think you want an exrs radio. You can google that term to find who sells them and who makes them.

Be advised that these are not designed for use on-board a ship. They are low power (1 watt) and being digital the received signal is either perfect or non-extant. They work in the 900 MHz band (spread spectrum which is kinda neato). The higher the frequency, the less penetrating power .. all the metal on a cruise ship means LOTS to penetrate .. and 900 MHz is a considerably higher frequency than the analog low power two-way radios in common use.

Towel animals... what towel animals? In twelve cruises (not all on HAL) I've never had a towel animal! Where's my towel animal? I want a towel animal! ;)

Not to worry, I've amended my will to leave you all my rights past, present and future to any and all "towel animals' inclusive but not limited to terrestrial, extraterrestrial, mythological, and hallucinogenic.

Is this true that these lines are unprofitable? So, they are all privately owned?

Crystal is owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha which I think is owned by Mitsubishi. At any rate, it is something like the 10th largest shipping company. Crystal certainly doesn't make money for them.

The Guggenhiem is well worth seeing -- both for its collection and the building itself.

If I had only a day there and was not sure that I'd be back, I'd go to Gernika (Guernica). But then, many of the parents' friends fought and some died in the Spanish Civil War, so the town has special meaning for me.