t60

Thanx

Sandy in Spain

Does anyone know if this is up and running again? It was closed when we were there previously because of an accident

Sandy in Spain

Sorry, this is a bit long bit it´s info I´ve collected from various sites over a period of time. I bought our flight tickets for Rio this Wednesday for next March.

Fly on: Tuesday

Wednesday

or Saturday

Buy on: Tuesdays

& Wednesdays

If you start researching when to buy flight tickets, you will find out that many people will tell you to buy your tickets on Tuesday at 3 p.m. personally, I am not sure that 3 p.m. is the cheapest time of the day to buy your ticket, but definitely Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the cheapest days . A good piece of advice I can give is to check websites which have discounts at night like this French website, govoyage.com.

Don't over check the same website

When you check the same flight over and over, websites can track you and predict that the demand is going to increase, and as a result, prices can rise . esp with economy airlines

To avoid this effect, use websites like Kayak.com where you can set alerts so it emails you when prices are going up or down. Or use a private window for browsing

Shopping too early = expensive flight tickets

Shopping too late = expensive flight tickets

When to Buy ? possibly

5-3 months for an international flight

7 weeks for a domestic flight

This is not an exact science and you can find good deals anytime if you know where to look but this time frame is a good start to at least get an idea of the price you'll have to pay.

Remember there are exceptions.

Regarding domestic flights and according to his research, the japanese economist Makoto Watanabe predicts that 8 weeks out is the best time to buy a flight ticket, while airlines advise 6 weeks out

Sandy in Spain

In March 2012 We used More Tour Agencia de Viajes y Turismo, La Serena - Chile [mailto:moretour@gmail.com]

We enjoyed this tour and had lunch in an experimental cafe which used solar ovens to cook the food, HTH

Private Tour Traditional Tours Programs

cruise

-ELQUI VALLEY

“Getting to know the magic-mystic Valley of Chilean Pisco (Grape liquor), and the Birthplace of the poet Gabriela Mistral, where the sun shines over 300 days a year and clean air comes down from the Andes, making this beautiful valley a popular attraction for its climate and clear skies”.

Leaving from La Serena we will go into the Elqui Valley through the international route of Gabriela Mistral, seeing different landscapes, villages and crops. Soon will appear the first papayas, custard apples and citrus from the Elquina semiarid basin and irrigation canals since Inca times, using the waters of the river. We will know the Cochinilla Cultivation in front of the village El Molle, and then we will get to the Puclaro dam, where we visit an Aeolian harp, its market of local handcrafts and walk in its curtain where we will appreciate a beautiful panoramic view of the Elqui Valley. We also visit “Olivier”, a shop where there are products for sale derived from papaya fruit. Continuing along the path into the valley, we will visit a “PISCO” Winery where we can see the elaboration process of this traditional and praised product of the Elqui Valley. We will walk around the center of Vicuña, capital of the Elqui Valley and birthplace of the Nobel Prize winner, Gabriela Mistral. Finally, we will go to the main inland towns of the Valley, like Paihuano, Monte Grande and Pisco Elqui.

Duration : 7 hr

Departure : 9:00 price per person: U$ 50 minimum 6 pax

Includes : Regular Tour, Bilingual Tour Guide, 2011 model van.

Does Not include : Lunch, Admissions (museums, etc.)

Recommendation : Sun Block, water, sun glasses, sun hut.

Pick up at Cruise Terminal by 9:00am

Elqui Valley HD tour

Drop off at Cruise Terminal

Duration: 7 hrs

Sandy in Spain

How do you manage your medication when tou travel to a different time zone, not just an hour forward or back, but say 5hrs or more?

Sandy in Spain

Check out Gallerias Pacifico if you wnt some up market shopping

Sandy in Spain

Hi. All the repos are called "grand voyages" but not all the repos are available to view online at all territories.

 

I could never see Rio-Miami on the UK site but if I phoned the UK office I could book it.

 

Be sure to check USA, Australia and Europe sites to see what's available and for the full range.

I didn´t know they did different repositioning cruises. We´ve booked repo trans atlantic Rio to Genoa in Marh/April 2015

Sandy in Spain

I don´t know how long you are in the port or what times, but I would think if the ship is running a tour it would be do-able.

I would email Reids and check the time of high tea and times for reservations, explaining you are from the cruise ship. I know when we went I asked to look round the gardens and they made special arrngements for that, I don´t think they like non hotel guests just wandering around or using the pools etc. When we went we also dressed appropriately if you get my drift. We had a lovely time and they even gave us a surprise wedding anniversary cake..problem was we stuffed ourselves with the other bits and pieces and they wouldn´t let us take it back to the ship, so we shared with everyone

Sandy in Spain

Thanks Campolady

Sandy in Spain

If you are thinking or Reids for High Tea, you can book it yourself and take a taxi each way. We loved it there and the gardens

Sandy in Spain

Hi Campolady. We are disembarking at Malaga and need to get the bus/coach back to Almeria. Are there taxi´s inside the Port? 2yr ago when Malaga was one of our port stops I remember buses but not taxis. Also if you know where is the bus station or would it be better to get a taxi to the airport as I understand there´s a bus there? We will have 2 suitcases and 2 bits of handluggage. Thanx

Sandy in Spain

I´m sure you´ll find someone to dance with if you are a good ¨leader¨. Even if you have to start with just a basic social foxtrot ie walk, walk, side close. My OH was not a dancer to start with, but our dance teacher always manages to get him in the right place when learning something new.

Some ships (thinking Princess, P&O) have pretty basic dance classes and there are always spare women who need a partner

Sandy in Spain

We´ve done quite aa few TAs East to est and west to east, mainly on Princess oe P&O. Next March we are doing another, this time with MSC (first time with them) from Rio de Janeiro to Malaga where we´re getting off before the cruise finishes (cruise goes on for about 2 or 3 more days to Genoa)

Like the TAs for the cruise days and the chance to actually use what the ship and entertainment has to offer)

Sandy in Spain

what a bargain!!! well done withthe alterations

Sandy in Spain

No one mentioned using the hair dryer to speed drying, esp if you´re dealing with spot type washing

Sandy in Spain

snip..

Salvador--Pelourinho, Bomfim, islands, beaches, food, music/capoeira

(see: www.salvadorcentral.com)

Brilliant link. Thank you

If you have any info on the following ports that would be great, we are cruising part of the Brasilian coast March 2015.

Santos, Buzios, Maceio, Fortaleza, also anything a bit different for Rio. We have been lucky enough to have visited there twice before so have done the usual touristy stuff

Thanx

Sandy in Spain

We´ve done the round the horn Itinerary twice, Valparaiso to BA and Rio to San Francisco (although some people got off in Valparaiso) nd con thoroughly recommend them. One was with Princess aand the other with HAL on the Zandaam. As far as I recall everything was in English. Next year we are doing a T/A strting in Rio and going up the coast of Brazil before setting out across the Atlantic to Tererife, Lanzarote, Malaga and Genoa with MSC. We expect this cruise not to have many English speakers

Sandy in Spain

We were due to go with Patrick a couple of years ago, but after reading several reports on the trip and the rough terrain we cancelled as OH has a back problem which can flare up on a whim. We didn´t want the rest of our holiday spoiled. We tookl the tender over and just at the jetty there is a tourist office where there are excursions to see the smaller penguins using tarmac roads. We spent the morning doing that and then the afternoon walking round the town in all we had an enjoyablel day

Sandy in Spain

She did well, but then quite often she buys clothes way too big for her, which give scope for alterations. Us bigger girls don´t always have that advantage.

There is a programme on UK television channel 4 called This Old Thing here is a link, some of you may know how to watch UK programmes thro´the internet

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/this-old-thing-the-vintage-clothes-show/videos/all/s1-ep1-this-old-thing

Dawn also has her own Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/thisoldthingTV

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At the airport, you´ll find lots of people having their luggage wrapped in plastic, I think it was 10$ a case...apparently it´s recommended for departures from here. We flew out from B in April 2014 took about 45 mins to get to the airport, traffic in BA is horrendous and there are major ongoing roadworks in the city

Sandy in Spain

Sadly there is lack of recent information on Lirica, we are sailing TA next year on her

Sandy in Spain

He's the guide I'm currently struggling to converse with.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Oh dear...another thing to blame on the world cup....hope you manage to get hold of him and he´s not been involved in anything untoward

Have you tried private messaging him through Facebook or leaving a omment on his page?

Sandy in Spain

We´re using Rafa email here, Rafael Torres Lopes <donrafainrio@globo.com>; he´s haad some brilliant reviews

Sandy in Spain

I use one of the pieses of hand luggage as my pre cruise storage point

Sandy in Spain

That is a great idea. Love to see a picture of them when you are done.

The light coloured cube and folders are home mede, the black cube is a bought one

Home made cube adapted from blanket storage box

Packing folder with flaps, too big to show opened out. flaps D&C fold over the pile of clothes first, then A&B to make the parcel.

Folded folder it now has a plastic window for holding list of clothes

Plastic pockets ready to be sewn on

shop packing cube with new pocket

packing folder with new label

Sandy in Spain