INSIGNIA:3/15/05 Barbados/Barcelona & 4/1/05 Barcelona/Istanbul

[ClaudiaF]

Anthony-

We were researching shore excursions , and, we heard very good things about Alain at Dream Tours (for our day in Monico).

They use a Mercedes air conditioned mini van, and, it holds up to eight passengers.

They would pick us up at the ship, bring us to St. Paul de Venice, the Promenade Anglais and the Flower Market in Nice, and then back to Monaco for the Princes Palace, the Cathedral, the Golden Square, and then the Casino.

If we would like, we could tour a perfume factory and/or the beach

The price is 130 Euros per person for two, 120 if we have 4 people, 110 if we get 6 people, 100 if we get 8 people.

We weren't so concerned about saving money, as we are about knowing others on the tour. A friendly face is a good thing!

If you and the wife think you might be interested, I can send you more details.

You can reach us at fixeruppers@MSN.com ,or, through these boards.

 

Jim & Stan

 

Stan and Jim,

We used Alains company ( Dream tours) and HIGHLY recommend them. We had Jean Marc as our driver ,he's a doll. Spoke perfect English and the tour was amazing. Would suggest that you max out your group at 6 people. They use beautiful new Mercedes vans , 6 is comfy- 8 would be crowded.

Claudia

[StanandJim]

Claudia-

Thanks for confirming that Dream Tours is a good outfit! One other concern.....we don't need Visa's to use non-Oceania tours, do we?

On our trip, we're visiting Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Greece and Turkey.

I cannot, for the life of me, find this type of Visa information anyplace on the net.

Thanks again for your help-

Jim

 

P.S. WELCOME BACK Anthony! We thought that you had defected from our cruise! We cruised Princess to Alaska in 2003 and loved it! I'm guessing that you were doing something from Alaska to the Caribbean via the Canal(with three back to backs). You are a lucky dog, my friend!

 

P.S.S. Have you registered with Oceania.com yet?

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OceanaCruiser/

if we get twenty passengers from our cruise to sign up, we get a cocktail party on the cruise line! I've already volunteered to pass out the name tags!

 

Great to see you back, buddy!

 

Jim

[aaannnthony]

Okay Jim, just signed up for the parties on both cruises. How do you know how many or what's going on?

 

Our Princess trip was an 11 day cruisetour in Alaska on the SUN, ending in Vancouver where we switched to the DIAMOND for a 5 day coastal to L.A., followed by a 7 day Mex. Riv., also on the DIAMOND.

[aaannnthony]

Jim, Stan, et.al......keep posting to this thread, I'm hoping to find some pax doing the 3/15 T/A.

 

Just to let you know, we're away for a quicky 8 day re-positioing on the Voyager of the Seas, from very, very close Bayonne, NJ, a/k/a Cape Liberty, to Miami, with 5 of the 7 days at sea.....love them sea days!!

[aaannnthony]

We're back!.....looks like a very small CC group!

[HowardB]

Hello all -

 

I am booked on the March 15, Barbados to Barcelona sailing, first cruise on Oceania and second cruise overall. In cabin 3027. I have signed up for the party at the Yahoo sight. Feel free to say hello on-board.

 

By the way, I am originally from New Jersey as well - Union, which is right next door to Elizabeth.

 

Howard

[aaannnthony]

Howard, glad to see you and yours are aboard the 3/15.

 

I've had a b-2-b, 3/15 and 4/1, combo thread, with no 3/15's! See the thread well below....give it a post, we'll be away for a few weeks on the Radisson Voyager......thanks!!

[aaannnthony]

Howard, sorry for my "goof".....I thought I was posting to the 3/15 Insignia thread you started a few days ago!

[StanandJim]

Aaanthony-

Welcome home again (you lucky dog!). Which Princess ship did you do the 3 back to backs on?

Regarding "our" cruise, We're still at the "finding reputable guides" stage.

If anybody out there has a suggestion for a good guide in Rome &/or Naples, please let us know.

In Greece, we may just relaxe (the beaches are so beautiful).

We'll probably use the ships tour in Malta (it's so small).

Let us know what you think-

 

Jim & Stan

[HowardB]

Stan and Jim - I would think you would get along fine without using any tour in Malta. Depending on the number of hours in port this is what I would do: If time is limited - say up to 5: Walk around the capital Valletta. The ship docks nearby, the city is laid out on a grid - a good deal to see in a small area.

 

If time is greater - say 7 or 8 hours - you could combine Valletta with perhaps 2 or 3 hours in Mdina - a 20 minute cab ride away.

 

I understand from previous post of yours that you are going with parents. If mobility is a problem with you, you MAY want to go with tour, but if tour includes Mdina and/or Valletta there would be some walking anyway. To me, much of the fun is poking around nooks and crannies, which you can't do on a tour. Not to mention big $$$$$$ savings.

 

Personally, there are hardly any places I would choose to take a tour, or a personal driver, or taxi tour, etc. That might not be for everyone...but if there is one place that you don't need a tour on your triup, it is Malta. A suggestion - With the savings, you could buy a beautiful piece of Malta glass.

[StanandJim]

Howard-

 

Thanks for your input, I think that we will "poke around" in Malta. Traveling with our "senior kids" as I call them makes any kind of "unplanned activity" difficult, but, I think that they'll be sufficiently pooped from Naples so that they'll want to take it very easy in Malta.

Malta glass sounds very interesting.........

Best-

 

Jim & Stan

[john2003]

We have a booking on both the Manaus-Barbados (March 1) and Barbados-Barcelona (transatlantic March 15) segments.

 

Was not too impressed with Oceania at the end of the week as having agonized for a week as to whether we would add the transatlantic, the price on the website was no longer available. This was Friday and it is still showing the lower price today (Monday).

 

I will be writing to them as I don't find this an acceptable business practice. I can maybe accept them withdrawing a price during a business day but they should change the advertised price that night.

 

On the positive side, it shows that they are doing well in attracting bookings.

[HowardB]

John - I'm glad to see another person signed up for the transatlantic. I guess you are going despite the price increase (???). By the way, the price on the Oceania website as of today is still the same as it has been for a while. I have been checking because I was hoping the price would DROP in the near future, before final payment is due.

 

 

Howard

[john2003]

Well, our saga continues. First to correct the info in my last post. The 2 for 1 pricing and free air shown on their website for the transatlantic that I was told had been withdrawn, has not been.

 

I have put the mess in the hands of my TA so will wait for the next set of info.

[aaannnthony]

Hello fellow cruisers, we're back from a 15 day combo, 7 day Med. & 8 day transatlantic, on the Radisson Voyager.....very good trip.

 

Looking forward to this b-2-b on Insignia! Keep posting.

 

Jim, I reported on our Princess b-3-b in September in post #28.

[john2003]

With a little help from above, the pricing problem has been resolved so we made our final payment today on the Manaus/Barbados segment and have our deposit down on Barbados/Barcelona.
Now if only the Canadian $ would stabilize!

[HowardB]

Does anyone know how full Oceania ships have been on previous transatlantic crossings? I know that what has occurred in the past is no guarantee of what will occur in the future, but I am hoping that the 3/15 transatlantic will not be full, and this "historic" knowledge might give an indication.

Although many would characterize the Oceania ships as (in this day and age of mega-ships) as fairly small or certainly moderate in size, to me they are big. I have been on only one cruise before - a transatlantic trip on the Wind Spirit of the Windstar line - and there were 83 passengers aboard the 148 capacity ship.

It was a 14 day non-stop journey and there was a lot of good interaction among the passengers. I am most looking forward to the sea days on the 3/15 Insignia trip. However, the mix of sea days with ports of call on Insignia, along with somewhat more activities on board are causing me to forgo the greater intimacy of Windstar. If there were say 300 - 400 passengers on board Insignia, it would be moving more towards the intimacy of Wind Star - hence my original question above.

[Rickey 88]

Dear Howard,

As of this week, the Barbados to Barcelona cruise on the Insignia was over 50% booked. All the Owners were gone and all the "B" cabins were also taken. However, some people will wait until later to book - and so this figures are not indicitive of much.

We find that the days at sea on these crossings are very relaxing and so if the ship is not full, there will be even more opportunity for prime seatings at dinner, and perhaps extra reservations at Toxcana and Polo.

We look forward to meeting you on board....

Dick

[meow!]

If intimacy and fewer passengers are the main concerns, you can also consider Seabourn (200 passengers) and Silversea (300-400 passengers). They have large cabins (and balconies on Silversea), and free seating dinners (just like Oceania). However, they have formal nights, which some people prefer not to have to bring extra clothing.

[HowardB]

Dick - Thanks for the information. I look forward to meeting you as well.

By any chance, do you like to play board games. I had a lot of fun on my previous cruise playing Scrabble, Mille Borne (sp), and one other game I can't remember the name of. (same question for any other cruise mates on 3/15). Last time we brought the 3 games, not knowing if Windstar stocked any games. Does anyone know if Oceania has games on-board?

Meow - Thanks for the suggestions. We did check out all other lines that we found with transatlantic sailings. Siversea is too expensive for us. Seabourn has at least one trip with a good fare, but you hit the nail on the head with the "dress up" thought. Thought it would not absolutely rule out something a line where there were semi-formal/formal nights, we much prefer to not get dressed up on a vacation, so we are much more inclined to go on Windstar or Oceania or Star Clipper, where business casual is fine.

[john2003]

I think both F and G were full on the transatlantic as I was just offered a guarantee in these categories. Hope this helps.

[Rickey 88]

[quote name='HowardB']Dick - Thanks for the information. I look forward to meeting you as well.

By any chance, do you like to play board games. I had a lot of fun on my previous cruise playing Scrabble, Mille Borne (sp), and one other game I can't remember the name of. (same question for any other cruise mates on 3/15). Last time we brought the 3 games, not knowing if Windstar stocked any games. Does anyone know if Oceania has games on-board?

Sorry, Howard, but board games are not our thing - however, I did notice on the Insignia, people playing in both the library and out on deck. Not sure, however, where they got the games from......

[jimgib]

Hi everyone, we are just about to book this cruise, we are a little wary of oceania, but will happilly give it a go. We love silversea and like P&O not so impressed with cunard.
On this sailing I have been trying for an owners or a vist suite but they are all taken so best offered is a penthouse suite. One thing that has amazed me is the massive price variation my phone just keeps ringing with people offering it cheaper and cheaper, quotes both from U K and U S.
Would love to meet up with you all for drinks,and will attempt to join the yahoo group.
We live in Gibraltar so would be happy to offer ideas or advice on the Gib stop. We will be flying to New orleans around feb 18th and take a missisippi river cruise then take a drive to Miami followed by a flight to Bridgetown where we will stay for a few days. So any advice on our new orleans miami drive or places to stay would be appreciated.
When we get to Gib I can drop off my luggage take a day in the office then back on the ship, and fly back from Barcelona.

Hope to meet lots of you.
regards Jim.

[aaannnthony]

Stan & Jim....saw your post on the Fun, Fun thread. If you're booking guides that can accomodate more than your group of five, we'd be interested in joining you. We did a group of 10 with Red October last year and it worked out well in cost per person.

We were in Italy in 1975, and, did Pompeii, Amalfi, and Capri's Blue Grotto, which was fun. We were lucky that the waters were pretty calm the afternoon our tour was scheduled; that morning all the rides were cancelled because of the sea conditions.

This offer also applies to anyone else organizing a group.

Thanks!

[aaannnthony]

Just a 6 day later update on this thread....we're really looking forward to these b-2-b's. Happy holidays to all!!