08/08/07 Well, Olbia Monkey's Uncle! We're cruisin' on the 10nt Med Cruise!

[scrapycruiser]

Bruce and I are also fans of Rick Steves and have several of his books. My only complaint about Rick is that you can tell a man wrote the book 'cause there's not much in there about SHOPPING...

We're also thinking about Cinque Terre. We might ride the train there and take the boat back. Pretty sure we won't go to Florence. Our son was there last year and stayed 3 days. He said there was just too much to see in a day. Also I don't care for long bus tours. My son said San Gimignano is very medieval, pretty Tuscan countryside and good shopping.But it's as far as Florence.

We got our air tkts thru US Air. RT to Barcelona (nonstop) from Philadelphia (my Mom and sister live nearby). $920 since we booked 3 nts at the Hilton in Barcelona.

Jack will be happy to hear there's another boy on the ship. He's 10 but mature for his age.He likes baseball, playstation2, reading and is a picky eatter .At least he likes pizza. He's excited about seeing the colliseum in Rome and Pompeii.

 

[UMTerp]

Hi nordkin - Yes, we are flying out of Dulles. Leaving 8/6 returning 8/18. I checked a number of websites (flycheapabroad, orbitz, tripadvisor, AAA) and decided to go with British Airways with one stop. I was watching a US Airways flight out of Philly (direct) but the price really jumped in a last few weeks.

Hi scrapycruiser - my DS will get along great with yours! He likes baseball too!

I'm going to look into purchasing one or more of the Rick Steves books. Which ones do you recommend?

UMTerp

 

[scrapycruiser]

UMTerp....I have gotten alot of information from Rick Steves' ITALY book.I have his France book but haven't read much . I'm glad we have plenty of time to read and think about how we want to spend our time in these ports.Having never been to these places it's kinda overwhelming. We did hire Stefano w/ Romecabs for Rome. And also hired Tania w/ Provence tour for the Provence area. The rest I THINK we can do on our own...what does everybody else think ?

 

[jrabbit]

UMTerp - have you found a room for your family yet? If not, have you looked at Hispanos 7 Suiza. We considered it -- the http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...onth=07/2007&outDay=31&adults=4&hs=hac3:10023 seemed very positive. However we decided to stay closer to Las Rambles.

 

[UMTerp]

Hi jrabbit - Yes, I have looked at it and will probably make a reservation soon. I needed to get the airfare worked out first. I don't want to be too close to Las Rambles because of the petty crime. My worst fear is to be ripped off first day of vacation and have bad feelings/no camera/etc. for the rest of the trip!

UMTerp

 

[scrapycruiser]

We're staying at the Hilton.By booking with them we were able to get a decent US Air fare ( non stop out of Phil ). We didn't want to be on the Ramblas because of the crime but also the noise at night.

After touring around all day we like to come "home" to the Hilton. They also have a pool for Jack.

 

[UMTerp]

Good morning everyone! Hope you had a great Halloween!

I booked the Hispanos 7 Suiza for one night before our cruise. It's expensive but looks nice! Hopefully it will be a good place to start to recover from jet lag!

Now I just need to work on excursions!

UMTerp

 

[scrapycruiser]

In Palmermo, has anyone considered going to the catacombs ? Looks very interesting . So many places to see on this cruise ! And we still keep debating what to do from La Spezia. I hate to miss Florence, but it's so far, and such a short time once we get there !?? It's funny, I've thought so much about these ports that I keep forgetting about the ship !!!

What dining time does everyone have ? Also, what thoughts does everyone have about bus tours, private tours vs on-your-own ??

 

[UMTerp]

I haven't even done much research on the ports so I'm no help! I am debating taking DCL excursions vs. private. Many good recommendations on the cruise critic board about private tours. Not sure which way we will go.

We have early seating for dinner.

UMTerp

 

[bellelinus]

UMTerp, we will also be at Hispanos 7 Suiza before the cruise (two nights before, since we fly in early on August 6 after an overnight flight).

We will probably do excursions on our own, except perhaps with LaSpezia, since we want to do Florence and the transport might get tricky. Hopefuly DCL will do a "Florence on your own" or even "Florence/Pisa on your own" and just take us there.

We have our flights now, too, so I guess we are really going! We got a great price on JFK-BCN, BCN-Paris (Orly) and then Paris - JFK. We're doing 10 days in France after the cruise . . .

We have late seating since I don't want to feel the need to rush back to the ship after a busy day.

 

[jrabbit]

... Hopefuly DCL will do a "Florence on your own" or even "Florence/Pisa on your own" and just take us there.

There's no money in it for DCL offering THAT!! But you know they will have a tour that will let you spend 15 minutes in the Acadamia and another 15 minutes at the Duomo and Baptistry, and then will drop you off out in some shopping area for about 4 hours!

What we're doing for excursions (at least this is the plan for now)
Palermo - don't know yet
Napels - Train to Pompeii and then on to Mt. Vesuvius (or however it's spelled )
Olbia - Hopefully there will be a DCL snorkeling excursion offered - we're on an island - right?? Just like in the Caribbean - snorkeling trip.
Rome - everything that we don't see in our short time there before the cruise But most likely that will be the Vatican / St. Peters / Sistine Chappel
La Spezia - think we will take the train to Pisa. Depending upon how long that takes we might then go to Sienna or another small Tuscany town before heading back to the ship. But then again, we might go to Cinque Terre for a hike and some beach time
Marseilles - don't have a clue yet - need to get Rick Steves France book
Villefranche - see Marseilles above

Barcelona - we're planning on getting a ticket for the Tourist Bus. It takes you to "all of the sites" and you can get off at whatever attraction you want, look around, catch a next bus and continue on. There's also the Barcelona Card that you can buy for however many days you want and will give you unlimited transportation on the buses and metro in Barcelona and also gives you a % off admission to several attractions (some may be free) and I think that some restaurants will also give you a % off. There are also walking tours available. See the Tourist Information Office at Placa de Catalunya.

 

[bellelinus]

If you look at every other cruise line that does Med cruises, they all offer some kind of transportation-only excursion when the port is some distance from the major sights . . . I will be surprised if they don't do this with La Spezia. However, I will figure out how to do it on my own if all they offer is a group tour.

 

[scrapycruiser]

It's fun reading what everyone is doing ! Has anyone heard of
www.rome-elevator.it ? It's like a motion simulator ride that tells the history of Rome. I looked up the web site and you can see a preview. They even mention WDW ! DH and I think we'll take Jack to see it. It's just 2 blocks from Piazza Venezia and Trevi Fountain.I know it's very touristy, but thought it would be a fun way for Jack to learn some history.

I, also, would love to snorkle in Olbia. Let me know if you hear of a good beach.

Naples ( Pompeii & Amalfi Coast ), Rome , and Marseille we've hired private drivers from the recommendations of the board.

Palermo-want to see the catacombs; Olbia- hope to snorkle; La Spezia- Pisa and some of Cinque Terre; Villefrance ( rent a car and try to find Johnny Depps house....... just kiddin' Probably co to Monaco / ??

 

[arica480]

Hi Everyone-

It's been awhile since I have been on here. How is everyone?

Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday is only 18 days away! YAY!

I hope everything is going well for everyone!

 

[jrabbit]

Being on the third page just will not do!!!

Back on top for a minute or two (or the next 8 days until another post comes along )

 

[jrabbit]

Another week and no ones home!!

Hey, but at least we're back up to page one!!

 

[bellelinus]

I thought we were going to change the name of this thread to "Olbia a monkey's uncle" -- maybe with a sillier name we will get more posts!

 

[giggles_32181]

Disney sent us something in the mail stating that they were going to be posting excursions in December. We are waiting until then to decide if we are going to do excursions through disney or on our own. I too think that the excursions are going to be expensive. Hey but you only live once right 256 days until we leave for the meditteranian

 

[jrabbit]

10 days later another post inkbounc
December 1 - and folks are waiting for the excursions to be anounced. Activity will pick up in the next couple of week I think.

 

[UMTerp]

Hello everyone!

I think you are correct, jrabbit! I'm looking at the info at the DCL site now. It looks like there will be lots of decisions to make!

UMTerp