Roll Call - GCT Burgundy & Provence, 11/6/06

[lddam]

Any one else out there taking this trip on the Chardonnay? This will be our second GCT experience and are anxiously looking forward to sampling some good French food, and even more so, some good French wine.

 

Also, if anyone has taken this trip in the past, my wife, Marcia, and I would appreciate any suggestions and/or pointers.

 

Thanks,

Dave of ...

[jdrblue]

We did this trip in September of '05. It was a great trip. We did the pre-trip in Nice. If you do a trip extension in Nice don't miss St. Paul de Vence. We did not do the post trip to Normandy. GCT canceled Normandy because there weren't enough signed up. I wish we would have had at least one more day in Paris. We didn't do any of the GCT extra tours in Paris. We got around fine on the Metro. We enjoyed the M/S Chardonnay. The food was good and the staff did a great job.

[edeco]

Hello,

We did the GCT Burgandy & Provence in May. We were on the sister ship MS Provence. The food and wine were wonderful, one of the best parts of the trip. We started in Paris and went South. I would guess Nov. would be cool, and it is very windy on deck. Bring some warm clothes and you should be fine. There is a very nice sun room that is in doors where you can see the scenery and stay warm.

 

The service and crew were top notch, they couldn't do enough for you. Our cabin on the lower level was more than adequate and the bathroom/shower was large for a ship.

 

All of the ports were interesting, we just saw as much as we could in the time we had.

 

Feel free to let me know if you have questions and enjoy your trip!

 

Deena

[lddam]

jdrblue and Edeco (Deena),

 

Thanks for the reply. We have chosen to take the post cruise extension in Nice and will make it a point to visit St. Paul de Vence. Thanks for the "heads up." I read about the winds coming off the mountains and expect the weather to be on the cool side during the month of November. That being said, I'm assuming that the temperatures will moderate the further south we travel. Am I correct in this assumption, or am I being a cockeyed optimist?

 

Again, thanks for your prompt responses.

 

Dave of ...

[lobsterlover]

Hi jdrblue and edeco,

 

This trip looks very interesting for our 2007 trip. Would you please let me know the room numbers you had on the ship and if they were quiet. Did either of you write a review?.....would like to read it. This year we are doing GCT Budapest to the Black Sea in Oct. and I've received so much useful info on these boards from reviews.

 

L.L.

[jdrblue]

L. L. We were in room 10 (I think). Maybe room 12. We made our reservation well in advance and the main deck cabins were already sold out. Our room was very quite. We had two portholes. The portholes gave an interesting perspective. I don't think they were more than about two feet above the water so you kind of had a swan's eye view. The deck plan on GCT's web site isn't exactly right. On the lower deck the forward six rooms are only accessible via the forward stairs. The middle six rooms are only accessible through the mid staircase. Rooms 1, 2 & 3's only access is via a stairway in the dining room lounge area. I wouldn't have liked that. We heard complaints from people in 1, 2, & 3 that they heard noise from the ship's engines and people above.

 

I haven't written a review but would be glad to answer questions. I see on the GCT website they have changed Paris hotels. We were disappointed in ours. The rooms were hot and the service pretty spotty. The Meridian was just down the street. It is much more upscale and very near a main metro station. Our Nice hotel was the Grand Hotel Aston and it was just fine. It is well located near the bus station and the old nice district is just a block across the street. While in Nice we did Monaco on our own. It is a short bus ride. Our program director was very helpful with bus information. We also took the bus to Saint-Jean Cap Ferrat to see the Rothschild villa (http://www.villa-kerylos.com/www.culturespaces.com/ephrussi/index.htm). We took the GCT tour to St. Paul de Vence. We didn't do any of the GCT tours in Paris. We had been to Versailles and there is plenty to see in Paris.

[dwz]

jdrblue:

 

We are staying in cabin #2 on the Chardonnay, which you pointed out had access only by a stairway from the dining areas. It looks to be a smaller room, too. We figure whatever it is should be OK, but if I had my first choice I would have chosen another cabin.

 

Can you email me off the board at dwzemens AT comcast.net?

 

Thanks.

[joek]

dwz

 

Give GCT a call. We called and were able to get the cabin we wanted for our 9/6 Russian Waterways.

[gone2c]

JDRBLUE:

 

How much time do you need to visit the Rothschild villa. We will be in Nice early October and it sounds like a great side trip if we could do it in a morning or afternoon. What bus did you catch.

[jdrblue]

The Rothschild Estate wouldn't take more than a half day from Nice. We went in the morning and had lunch there. We returned to Nice in the afternoon and had time to visit both the Chagall Museum and Matisse Museum. I don't know the bus we took. Our Program Director went with us even though this was not a GCT tour. She saw that we got off in the right place and then went on. We made our way back on our own. I think a bus comes by the estate every 20 or 30 minutes.

 

The museums were a little disappointing to me. The Chagall Museum has a much better art collection. The Matisse Museum is in an old chateau in a pretty setting near some Roman ruins. I thought the art collection was a little sparse.

[travelnnana]

We did this in 2004 - on a larger ship - it was a great cruise - I would like to do it agin on the 50 pass ship - my album is on

http://elizabeth-lewis.magix.net/

Have a great time- but know that you might get the mistral - heavy winds in the fall - check out my album and you can see what it can be like