Cruisini

On 7/5/2022 at 7:19 AM, John Bull said:

There are tourist offices at the cruise terminal, and the main office in "The Piazza", behind City Hall which is halfway up Main Street.

Maps should be available at both.

 

Maps of Gibraltar can be misleading because of the steep sides of The Rock, roads which appear to be close together may have elevations which are hundreds of feet different.

But the town is very simple, and - importantly - on level ground.

Almost everything of interest in town in Gib. is on or just off Main Street.

 

Follow the herd from the cruise terminal to Casemates Square, a direct 15 - 20 minute walk.

It's a large open square enclosed by defensive walls & lined with bars, cafes & shops.

Casemates Square is at the bottom (northern) end of Main Street, which is part-pedestrianised and lined with shop, cafes & pubs.

 

Most of the shops sell duty-free goods, particularly electronics, alcohol & tobacco.

Prices are not regulated, and do vary so hunt for the best prices. They may be shown in pounds  or euros or both, and value may be different so go armed with current £ to € exchange rates. 

Both currencies are accepted everywhere, cards almost everywhere - if using a card check the POS machine to ensure that your card is charged in the currency that's advertised (and the best value if dual-priced) or which you've negotiated.

If using cash, avoid getting Gib pounds in your change. Altho a Gib pound is 1:1 with the British pound, and you can buy with British pounds, Gib pounds aren't accepted in the UK. 

Be very aware that for electronics, Gib. is a dumping-ground for last-year's models. If you're planning to buy go armed with model numbers and photos and current prices at home - there will be bargains & there will be rip-offs.

 

Minor Main Street sights include the Governor's Residence and at the far end of Main Street, on the left, outside the South Bastion gate the little Trafalgar Cemetery. This has the graves of sailors who died of their wounds in Nelson's victory at Cape Trafalgar (those who died in the battle were buried at sea).

Five minutes past the South Bastion, after the large carpark & cable-car base station, are Gibraltar's Botanical Gardens.

15 minutes beyond the Gardens (don't get lost) is the Victorian 100-ton gun at Napier of Magdala Battery, overlooking Rosia Bay harbour.

 

Everywhere I've mentioned is on level ground.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/4xmet7BwnXo7npyM6

 

JB 🙂

Thank you for all the great information! Do you have a favorite restaurant in town?  I bet you are a fish and chips connoisseur. Are there any places that you could recomend?

On 7/3/2022 at 6:00 PM, cath32 said:

We were there the end of May.  We walked to the base cable car station and took the cable car to the top.  Then we zigzagged across the rock taking in the sights and worked our way back down to the downtown area and then back to the port.

We are considering doing this as well. Would you mind telling me what all that you were able to see? I really don't care about seeing the Apes, but I want to see everything else. 🙂

Also, is there a great place to eat in town? Thank you!

On 2/22/2024 at 12:34 PM, twoeights said:

We are going on the TA from Barcelona on the Ascent in October this year.  We will arrive in Barcelona about 4 days prior- we have booked a few things prior including a day trip to Madrid.  Any other recommendations on tours to take while in Barcelona...we will be boarding on the 26th of October.  Our excursions while on the TA are all booked through celebrity (which we prefer while on the cruise to avoid any issues with getting back on time to the ship before departure.)  

Thanks in advance for any recommendations you can give...even restaurant recommendations in Barcelona. 

Come on over to the roll call! See you there 🙂

I always look at accuweather.com to find the predicted weather. You can look at daily, weekly or by the month for anywhere in the world.

My DH and I have rented a car a couple of times to drive around the island on our own. the eastern side of Cozumel is one of my favorite places. It is so beautiful and rugged with the waves splashing up on the rocks. blue_water is right, the Rasta Bar is a great place to stop. I believe that I would feel safe with a girlfriend, but it has been a few years since I have been there. You could probably hire a taxi driver for the day to take you around the island or you could try a party bus that makes all the stops on the other side of the island. We have done that before as well! Have fun and you won't be sorry that you make the trip to the other side!

Nachi Cocum has the best food ever and they serve large portions. If you go, try the garlic shrimp and quesadillas. The chips and salsa are amazing. The beach is beautiful. If you want a relaxing day Nachi is it 🙂

Can you take the water taxi to Pinel Island?

On 1/5/2023 at 10:34 AM, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

Whatever.  I can't get too fussed about the room service charge, since I rarely order it.  Tote bags?  I have tons of them.  Lobster?  No biggie, it's not cold-water lobster.  I just booked a tremendous bargain on a partial Panama Canal transit over Christmas 2024.  With a refundable deposit.  If things get as horrible as some of the doomsayers predict, I can always cancel.  I still love cruising and the four cruises I did on Summit last year were fantastic.

Why four cruises on Summit? Is it your favorite ship? If so, why? We have cruised many times mostly Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. Never on Summit.

I would like an answer to this as well.

We will be there in November and can't wait to go to our favorite Orient Beach! We used to love to eat at a little open air restaurant (shack) on the beach with the best pork ribs ever. I don't remember the name, but I'm sure it is gone. Hopefully, they will rebuild. Thank you for all the information. We will try to get there early and get chairs!

Here is a short review of our DIY morning/early aft at Magen’s Bay:

https://baskeytravels.com/st-thomas-usvi/

Thanks so much for your lovely review and video! I love Marc Antoine...much appreciated :)

We Love Rumbaba! We have sailed with them before and also have them booked for November. I sure you hope you find someone to join you. It is a spectacular day! Wishing you the best!

Check out Rumbabacharters.com We have sailed with them before and also have them booked in November. They are a sailboat that takes 6 people sailing and snorkeling. Great food, open bar for 6 hours. We had a blast with them!

Hello All,

This is such a great idea to take magnetic hooks along. We also find that an over the door shoe holder works great for holding all those odd and ends like sunglasses, sunscreen, flip flops, key cards, gum, etc.. you can also put your daily cruise newsletter in them.

I'm starting to pay attention to what Concierge and Elite receive since we've never been on Celebrity (Elite only because we're Diamond on Royal Caribbean).

 

Curious as to what you said: The room is very clean though no welcome bottle of “champagne” in this concierge room

 

From what I can tell, all Concierge class rooms receive this? Not that we care, either, as we always do the drink package, but, just trying to understand why not. I didn't see any difference in benefits between C1, C2 or C3 (other than room location) in any of the info available re CC.

Hi Amy, I bet Paul and Edward received their "champagne" at some point. Since it says it will be delivered at your convenience by your cabin steward. I'm thinking that we have always found it waiting on us to arrive, but I can see that they might wait since they serve it chilled.

Looking forward to meeting you in less than 2 months! :D:D

Edward, thanks again for a great blog! You're a joy!

Our local liquor store posted this today and I thought ... Paul would like this! Try it tomorrow morning perhaps ...

 

 

 

How to make a French Sunrise!

1.5 oz Grey Goose vodka

1 oz St-Germain Liqueur

1 oz fresh grapefruit juice

2 oz Martini Prosecco DOC

Grapefruit wedges

Fill wine glass w/ ice. Add vodka & liqueur. Add grapefruit juice. Top w/ Prosecco. Stir, garnish w/ wedges & stir stick.

 

 

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I can't wait to try this. Thanks Josie2!

We're on the same cruise and my DH is hard to drag onto the dance floor so I'll be up to dancing with you! LOL

Oh My Goodness! We are going to have so much fun!! :D I'll meet you on the dance floor!

So, like I said yesterday was a lazy day. We started the day at the sunset bar per the usual. I had three vodka grapefruit juice, Edward had a couple and a Bloody Mary. Both Taz and Rodolfo at the martini bar are making very good bloody Mary’s. I think they possibly got a new mix additive to make them spicy. I know they had their regular spice but this bottle looks a bit different. They’ve also been putting the bloodys into a shaker and shaking them so the spice evenly balanced out. And they’re also taking the time to load up the Bloody Mary with all the trimmings. Edward has a photo that I’ll post for you all.

Hi ChicagoPaul! You guys are living the life right now, thanks for inviting us along :) We are on Equinox in November for our first time... I can't hardly wait! Just curious, have you tried the Silent Disco? That will be new for us. Sounds fun to me, just hoping my dh will get out there with me! One other thing, I Love Bloody Mary's, are you still planning to post Edward's photo? Enjoy every moment! Hugs!

Yes, this is the news release that started this thread. On another thread there is a news release refuting this. Hopefully those on the April 30th cruise will figure out where reality is. Or if not that one, I will be on the Anthem May 5th and will know what is happening then. Not the future, though!

 

Reminds me of that old saying "doesn't matter what you call me, just don't call me late for dinner" Now it's "Don't care what you call it, just let me eat dinner" However, I might have gone with MTD if there wasn't going to be DD Classic.

MommaBear55, I'll see you on the 5/5! Hopefully with DD! If not, then I know it will all work out just fine. Who knows, maybe if the change is made and there is no DD, they will throw in a free specialty restaurant or try to make up for it another way if people are upset.

This may sound strange, but the experience on board is what keeps us coming back. If the on board experience was the WCCF that the shoreside folks keep having, we would have stopped cruising with them long ago.

We love RCCL and know there has to be a good explanation if they are making changes. We are on the 5/5 cruise and can't wait no matter what!!

If they do eliminate DD (which I cannot keep track of), I agree that there is more to the story than complaining.

Agreed!

Thanks so much for the outstanding review! Your effort and details are much appreciated. We're on Anthem in just a couple of weeks, and I can't wait! I just wanted to encourage you to give cruising on Celebrity a try. I think you two would just love it! :)

Granted, we went with a local guide (Victor Bodden tours) but he arranged for us to use a beach chair & facilities at Paradise for $2 per person and we had to buy some food there. It is about a 2 min walk to the great snorkeling area and Paradise was very nice. They do not have a pool, but we spent our time in the ocean.

Thanks Amy! We will definitely check out Paradise. Did they have lockers? Although, like mitsugirly said, you can replace towels and shoes. We will have everything else in the water with us!

I understand... Ya might wait til you arrive, there are plenty of places along the beach and some so not advertise.

 

You are correct, Tabyana and Infinity are the closest to the walk in reef snorkeling. Hmm unless Grand Roatan is offering chairs the next closest would be Paradise Beach Club then Bananarama.

 

I have never heard a consistent price from Infinity, I was always under the impression it was more expensive than most of the places in the beach.

 

Have a delightful time. Clear skies and waters to to you!

I heard back from Infinity today...$25 pp for beach/pool, showers, restrooms and $25 pp transportation if you want them to arrange it. I think I'm going to take your advice and just wait until we arrive and then find something.

Thank you so much!! And..to you as well!:)

Most wonderful!!

 

Be aware, Infinity is a first come first served kinda place, though I have heard one can email a week in advance, I am not sure they will confirm a spot for you, if they do, take a copy of the email mail with you.

 

Have a grand time!

Oh thanks Guest 2000! I emailed them last night, so I am waiting for their reply. If it falls through, then maybe we'll get a chair at Bananarama. Even thought about the Tabyana Beach break through the ship, but that would be like $120 for two. Hoping to spend less than that!:)