Millie cruise

[doublefault]

Returned from the Barcelona to Venice cruise aboard the Millie Sept. 11-23. We booked our own tours and stayed 2 nights before and after the cruise. I will try to answer any questions anyone may have.

[cozzello]

I hope that you had a wonderful cruise. Which was your favorite port? Favorite tour? Did you buy the cruiseline airfare or did you book your own? What cabin did you stay in? Did you have the new bedding? We are taking this cruise in June 2007. I have so many questions...

Thanks.

Cheryl

[cruisingmimi]

Cheryl, what date are you going in June 2007?

 

Doublefault, I wondered if you could give a brief overview of the different ports and what you did or wished you did. I am interested in Athens particularly. My friend is taking her family of 14 so I am helping her plan an itinerary. They will be flying in the day of the cruise so also wondered the easiest way to get to the port from the airport. Right now, they have air booked through the cruiseline but I think she will try and book her own if it is cheaper where they will have 14 members flying. If she books her own, then she would be looking for some type of transportation to the port. I know she can still get transfers through the ship but it is so much cheaper booking a private transfer.

 

Whatever advice you can give would be appreciated. If you booked any private tours, then who did you use?

 

Thanks again.

 

Mary

[cozzello]

We are on the June 18th sailing from Venice to Barcelona. It sounds as though your friend is bringing her own party on board, what fun.

 

Cheryl

[doublefault]

We were a party of 15 couples. I booked private tours in Villefranche, Livorno, Rome, Naples, and Athens. We did Santorini, Dubrovnik, and Venice on our own. We stayed 2 nights in Barcelona before the cruise and 2 nights in Venice after the cruise. We had been to both Barcelona and Venice before so did not want to take a tour. My wife's favorite port was Satorini and mine was Dubrovnik. I used limoinrome for the Italy tours and Spiros for Athens. We were in sky suite 6146

[doublefault]

On the tours, the only problem we found was Rome. Although we had been there for a week before, the couples who were there for the first time found it hard to see everything in one day, especially the Vatican. Several went back after the cruise to Rome to see more. The tours we had were very good and about 1/2 the price of the Celebrity tours. We had bus driver and quide for all. (Except Florence, used vans because of small streets.

[doublefault]

Airport transportation. I booked a private driver from Barcelona airport to hotel, but taxis are plentiful. Paid 40 E. for driver, others paid 30E for taxi to same hotel. In Venice used water taxi from hotel to airport. Paid 90 E.

[doublefault]

We used Sylvie in Villefranche.

[doublefault]

Couple of things to be aware of on trip to Barcelona. Three of the couples who went through Heathrow did not get their luggage on their flight. Two couples found their luggage at Barcelona airport sitting in reclaimed luggeage area 2 days after they arrived. The other couple did not get their luggage until Naples. They told me they probably would not have gotten their luggage at all except for the Travel Guard insurance people.

The other item to be aware of is there is a different weight requirement on internal European flights than international flights. One couple paid $400 for overweight for their flight from inside Europe to Barcelona

[Love 2 Travel]

Do you know what airlines they flew where your friends had overwieght luggage. I am finding that our flight between Israel and Barcelona and Venice to Dublin the limit is 1 bag 44 lbs- if over will have to pay extra per kg....but do not know how much per kg. Can't seem to find that info out. How much overweight were they where they were charged $400? ouch!

 

Thanks.

 

We are on the millie barcelona to venice oct 29,2006. getting close now and getting very excited.

 

Gail

[doublefault]

dont know what airlines it was. We were on Iberia from Frankfurt and they said we were overweight too, but they did not charge us. My guess is they were either on Iberia or Air France since they came in from Nice.

[snow4sandtoo]

Reading with great interest your postings on your cruise. We are doing the same one next year with a group of group of friends. I have gained so much information from CC but still have so much to learn. Like you we are planning to do a few ports on our own and then have tours privately bookedfor the others. I see the potential problem with Rome being the travel time from the port to the City. Just a couple of questions. If you arrange a private driver to pick you up at the port about how long does it take to get into the City??? What sites did you find the best to see ? How long is the tour inside the Vatican? Any more info on other ports would be helpful as well. Thanks. Liz

[jordie]

If you were in Venice two days pre-cruise and have never been there before, what would you do? What would you see in rome in one day and not feel so crazy to do it all (having never been there before)? How much did you pack?? thanks!!

[doublefault]

Rome. We were picked up by the bus at 8:00am, the ship is docked so there is no problem with being late by tendering. It took about an hour to go to the Collisium. If the lines are not long go inside. We then went to the Forum, Trevi Fountain, and Spainish steps. Had lunch and then went to the Vatican. Make sure you have a guide so you can avoid the lines into St. Peters. and dont let her spend too much time on the picture outside of the Sistine Chapel. Do your reading on the ceiling before hand and spend the time looking at the ceiling. It is a small place and only a vew seats to sit down in. We were dropped back off at the boat at 5:30pm. The ship was docked from 7am-7pm. You can spend days at the Vatican looking at the Museums.

 

When you first get to Venice take the no. 1 water bus down the grand canal so you can get an overview of the city. Get a seat up front on the water bus so you can have a good view, even if you have to wait for the next one. Depending upon where your hotel is, you should plan your visit to view the sites either early or late before the cruise boats unload and after the other tourist have left.

 

In Venice I would recommend seeing the Doges. It takes about 3 hours to go through it, but well worth it. Bypass the outer islands unless you have never seen glass making. We spent 1 day at Doges and then shopping and then 1 day looking at the tower and basilica along with having lunch on the square. I dont think you need an escorted tour of Venice, but look up the walking tours. The girls really enjoyed all of the little shops. There are tons of them, expecially next to the Rialto bridge.

 

One night have drinks on the square so you can see it lit up with the musicians and then have dinner away from the square where it is more reasonably priced.

[cruisingmimi]

Hi Doublefault,

 

Thank you so much for your wonderful reports! I will add them to my Word doc to give to my friend.

 

We were just in Rome this past October. We spent a day pre-cruise and the day we returned from our cruise to sightsee. We booked a tour of the Vatican through Angel Tours for our post-cruise. There were 16 of us from the ship that booked this tour. I organized it and made the arrangements w/ Angel Tours. We met in St. Peter's Sq. at noontime and our tour lasted a good 3-4 hours. St. Peter's Basilica is absolutely incredible. I could have spent more time there. Could have skipped some parts of the Vatican Museums and more in Sistine Chapel.

 

We did the Coloseum on the morning of our departure to the port for the start of our cruise. We arrived at the entrance at 8:45 am and were the first ones there! Went right in. You can self-tour or take a guided tour. It takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. to see everything. We just took the tour w/ the Colosseum staff and booked it at the same time we purchased our tickets.

[titicaa8396]

Hi Doublefault,

 

Thank you for the great info from your trip. Can you tell me what hotels you stayed @ while in Barcelona and Venice?

 

It will be our first time in Europe and we'll be doing the Millie from Barcelona to Venice and I want to do @ least 1 day Pre-cruise and 1 day post-cruise,but the price of the hotels depends on an extra day here or there.

 

Also, did you do any of the ships tours? It will be myself and DH. so I don't think private tours are an option being that were on a budget and they are not cheap. Any info you can give will be a great help.

 

Thanks,

Liz

[dileep]

We were a party of 15 couples. I booked private tours in Villefranche, Livorno, Rome, Naples, and Athens. We did Santorini, Dubrovnik, and Venice on our own. We stayed 2 nights in Barcelona before the cruise and 2 nights in Venice after the cruise. We had been to both Barcelona and Venice before so did not want to take a tour. My wife's favorite port was Satorini and mine was Dubrovnik. I used limoinrome for the Italy tours and Spiros for Athens. We were in sky suite 6146

 

Can you post the email addresses for the tour operators that you used?

What did you see in these ports?

 

We will be on this cruise on 10 Sept 2007 in Cabin 6144.

[doublefault]

We stayed 2 night in Barcelona at the Royal Hotel and 2 nights in Venice at the Foscari Palace. We were happy with both places. The Royal with a Ramblas view is right at the beginning of Las Ramblas with all its action (windows are double paned to shut out sound) and the Foscari with a deluxe double overlooking the grand canal had a perfect view.

 

The did not use any Celebrity tours. We used private tours and were happy with all of them.

Sylvie Di Cristo

E-mail Address(es):

sylvie.di.cristo@wanadoo.fr

in Villefranche to see Cannes, Nice, Eze, and Monaco

 

Tiscali

E-mail Address(es):

caponera.claudio@tiscali.it

limoinrome.com

in Livorno, Rome, and Naples

 

Spiros Taxi Service

E-mail Address(es):

***********@yahoo.com

in Athens

[titicaa8396]

Thanks doublefault.......

 

I'll be looking into these hotels.

 

Liz