margord

Please tell me about the glass factory in Murano. Do you need tickets to go inside? Can you buy pieces of glass fromt he factory. Also, on Burano, is there a specific place to see the lace bieng made or just a lot of small shops? I appreciate any information on these two islands.

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CruzerTwo aka CruzerToo

Cruzer Two and Too,

Hope you are still around because I wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed your videos. They were fabulous.

Marilee

Didn't go to Cannes because it was during the film festival. Driver said we'd be stuck in traffic for hours and that is NOT how we wanted to spend our day.

 

I'd suggest you get your tickets to the Vatican as soon as they are available since tours will sell out during busy times. I don't remember what their time window is but you can test by trying to order tickets and see if those dates are currently available.

Thanks

I wouldn't say Eze is nicer, just different.

Eze is very scenic (incredible views) and has a lot of small shops and a couple of rather pricey restaurants.

 

St. Paul seemed larger (although not quite as scenic) with more smaller places to eat and even little walkaway food carts. St. Paul had more shops and a lot of art galleries and shops that sold artsy items.

 

If you can only pick one and you're into art, I'd say go to St. Paul. Even though I love Eze I also think I could easily spend more time wandering around St. Paul than I could Eze.

How about Cannes? Any cute little shops there?

Also, how far in advance do I need to get tickets for the Vatican?

Thanks in advance.

Marilee

As a follow up to my messages above, I wanted to share the outcome of our trip to the "Stone Castle". During our visit we agreed to purchase one of Franco's very unique artistic pieces which was unset at the time. To make a very long story short, after many phone calls and discussions, the cameo made a trip to NYC, where it was finished and returned to Roatan, then eventually to us. So, if I did the upload properly, here it is !

Wow, that is a beautiful piece.

I think taking the ferry over is one of the best ways to do Bacardi- it is fast, easy, cheap and no worries about drinking and driving. I don't know if going via a tour is "worth" it (they charge like $35-$40 a head) but for like the $10 it will take all to go via ferry, it is good.

The Catano ferry is at Pier 2.

 

I did a review of my tour there, so you get an idea of what it is:

http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/2007/02/14/bacardi-rum-factory-a-tour-free-drinks/

I totally agree and I'm not real good on going out on my own. But this was really easy.

Marilee

Do you need reservations to do the tour, or do you just show up?

You just show up and the tour is free.

Margord, how long did this take in total? Do the ferries run very often. We will be docking in San Juan early AM on Saturday, March 29th and our flight out is 6:00 p.m. so we were thinking of doing this. Just want to make sure we have enough time. Any help would be ppreciated!:)

Shouldn't be a problem. The ferries ran often. Maybe every 1/2 hour. Can't remember for sure but do remember not waiting very long. We enjoyed the tour at Barcardi and the free drinks were nice too. Nice gift shop; got DH a nice Barcardi golf shirt and some shot glasses.

Marilee

Thanks for your help! I think that is just what we will do. Do you know whick pier the Explorer docks at?

Sorry, can't remember the pier number but if you are in town looking at the dock the ferry was to the right.

Marilee

Hi, Can anyone tell me how to get to the Bacardi Factory from the Cruise pier. I recall someone writing about a ferry. Also is going without a tour recommended? Any help would be appreciated.

We did it and it was really easy. Just get off your ship in downtown San Juan and ask where the ferry is. It is located right next to the cruise ships. Take the ferry across the bay (cost is around $1). Once you get across the bay there are plenty of taxi's. Just ask themt ot ak you to Bacardi. (cost is around $3-4 per person). Once at Barcardi they will put you in on a tour which includes 1-2 free drinks. When done get the taxi back and then the ferry. My husband and I did this entire tour for less then $15. It was a great tour.

I forgot about the manifest. At the end of the cruise you got a copy of the manifest with names and home towns of all the passengers. I am sure that is not a security issues--smile.

We thought this ship was the biggest and most elegant ship we had ever seen. I am so glad it is still in service and not a bunch of scrap.

Seems like this ship brings back memories for a lot of people. As small as it was it sure hooked many of us on cruising.

AWe sailed her in 1991. Our first cruise. What a small cabin and the best was also small and agains the wall.

Here's a couple from the Song of Norway

 

1. Inside cabin - We had FOUR in this cabin. Doesn't look like we had enough room to even turn around much less all 4 of us getting dressed for formal night.

 

2. The deck below the pool had port holes that looked into the pool. That's my son in the pool (he's 32 now) - my husband went below and snapped his picture

Wow, I remember that porthole that looked into the pool.

Well, we are back and I wanted to share this with everyone since you were so helpful to me. We went to the cameo shop as part of the ship's tour. If you are interested, do it on your own as we only had 1/2 hour and it was too short. You can watch them work and it is really cool to see. We did get into the back room. I wanted a small cameo and got one from the "master cameo maker." It is about the size of a nickel and it cost $100. I could have paid less for one that one of his apprentice's did, but I thought his sork was much better. I also took advice from this board and asked him to sign it. He signed it on the back. I would have like to have gotten it set while I was there but just not enough time so I bought it and brought it home and hope to have it set here by one of our jewelry stores.

Thanks for all the helpful information.

We were there in Feb. I was not surprised by the prices of the cameos,

it is a piece of art, people pay far more for a picture to hang on their wall.

I found it fascinating to watch the young men actually carving while you hover over them. Fabulous work and well worth the money. Not a large shop as others have said and not a long walk but if you are into any type of arts it is a stop that would be extremely interesting.

What were the average prices?

Wow, I am looking forward to this.

If you see an un-set cameo will they set it for you while you wait?

Thank you so much for the great info. I can't wait to see it. Any idea how much a small cameo would be? Maybe I could break the cost to DH ahead of time.

Marilee

We walked to the Cameo factory from the Grand in early December, enjoying the children and their families along the way. Once there we did look through the inventory and watched several apprentices hard at work creating on-of-a kind cameo pieces. I don't know what people expect for prices, but a genuine cameo carved from shell is a painstaking work of art - unlike the plastic imitations that you can find in a lot of costume jewelry. We though many of the items in the store were fairly priced; the staff was also willing to negotiate.

 

After looking through the cases in the front of the store we met the owner, Franco, who is 4th generation and the only Cameo artist this side of Italy. He invited us back to his studio where we saw his amazing collection - some of which are priceless and not for sale. Yes, we did purchase one nice piece and are looking forward to getting it once the setting has been completed.

 

The Cameo Castle is neither a souvenir shop nor a "Diamonds International" of cameos, but is an artist's studio where you can select unique pieces in much the same manner as you would fine art that you hang on the wall. If you go with that expectation, you will not be disappointed.

Thank you so much. I am looking forward to touring the factory. Is it really walkable. About how far from the where the Grand docks?

Marilee

Thanks so much for the information.

Marilee

Has anyone ever been to the Cameo Factory? What was it like? What are the prices like?

Marilee

Thanks for the info on RCCL.

What is the E-mail and person's name that you use for RCCL?