marazul

The only you hotels are too far for walking. I just looked and saw the Ocean Drive hotel by the opera. Also Hotel Opera. I haven't stayed there, but it looks good. I am not crazy about TA's reviews in general. The Europa looks ok. Also the Petit Palace. Don't forget, it is only one night.

Neither. You are only going to be there one night so you need to be within walking distance of the main things you can see in one day. You need to be in the area between Puerta del Sol and the Teatro Real (opera house). There are a number of good 3 or 4-star hotels in the area that would be fine for one night. Good Spanish chains are NH Hotels and Melia, but there are many international chains and independent hotels in the area. But don't stress about it. Pick one with decent reviews and you will be fine. This will allow you to walk to the Plaza Mayor and the Palace. There are a million good restaurants in the area. The best and fastest way to get to the area from the airport would be by taxi which could cost you around 60-70€. The cheap alternative would be subways with one or two changes carrying all you luggage. The taxi can get you to your hotel in 30-45 minutes. That means that you could possibly make the 9:45 tour. All hotels will keep your luggage at the desk. You can walk from Puerta del Sol square to the Palace in 15 minutes, less time if you are closer to the Opera. After the Palace, walk to the Plaza Mayor and after looking around, go down the Arco de Cuchilleros steps to see Casa Botín from the outside (oldest restaurant in the world, great roast pig, $$), and on to Mercado San Miguel for lunch. Here is the walking route. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Royal+Palace+of+Madrid,+C.+de+Bailén,+s%2Fn,+28071+Madrid,+Spain/Plaza+Mayor,+Madrid,+Spain/Casa+Botin,+Calle+de+Cuchilleros,+Madrid,+Spain/Mercado+San+Miguel,+Plaza+de+San+Miguel,+Madrid,+Spain/@40.41607,-3.7131795,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m26!4m25!1m5!1m1!1s0xd42287e7da4a9c1:0x2e7fec79d6ce4851!2m2!1d-3.714312!2d40.417955!1m5!1m1!1s0xd42287ed85fe0d9:0xd202c4f0d67625e8!2m2!1d-3.707023!2d40.4156181!1m5!1m1!1s0xd42292d0e183a03:0xfe6d0b31cf8abfe5!2m2!1d-3.7079547!2d40.4141769!1m5!1m1!1s0xd42287921196e2d:0x162fe6d34dd190e8!2m2!1d-3.7089697!2d40.4153794!3e2?hl=en&entry=ttu After that, check in to the hotel and maybe take the ho-ho bus to see the city (not my thing, but it would work for your time frame). Maybe get out at the Prado Museum and look around. The next morning take a taxi to the train station. PS - A shopping hint. When you are in the Plaza Mayor and right at the corner of the Arco de Cuchilleros, there is a store that sells abanicos (fans). Buy a couple and keep them in your purse. They will be life savers in the summer heat and so very Spanish!. I think the shop is Toledo Craft Studios.

What was the cutoff date for canceling the excursion? You could have held it until then while waiting for other options. You do have plenty of time. And yes, with 5 days in Rome a day trip to Florence could be a very good option.

That was quick! Happy to help.

Portofino is what they consider the "attraction" of a stop in Genoa. This is a common practice for cruise lines. For example, Livorno (Florence) or Messina (Taormina). Portofino is a tiny tender port away from Genoa. No way this could be an embarkation port.

Portofino or Portovenere?

Madrid is the logical option. It's a nonstop flight from Charlotte and you have the option of either flying to Barcelona the same day or taking the high speed train from Madrid. You can also take the train from the airport into Madrid. Madrid is a wonderful city. It would be a great opportunity to visit it. You get there on the 10th. It would be nice to have that day and a full day in Madrid before going to Barcelona the next day. I would still keep your original plan of two full days in Barcelona if you can. Here is the train website for RENFE (train company): https://www.renfe.com/es/en The stations for the airport into Madrid are: MADRID-AEROPUERTO T4 to MADRID PTA. ATOCHA-ALMUDENA The stations from Madrid to Barcelona: MADRID PTA. ATOCHA-ALMUDENA to BARCELONA-SANTS The Puerta de Atocha train station is located at the base of the Paseo del Prado in Madrid. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Madrid,+Spain/@40.4061236,-3.6854276,16z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0xd422997800a3c81:0xc436dec1618c2269!8m2!3d40.4167754!4d-3.7037902!16zL20vMDU2X3k?hl=en&entry=ttu It is a very convenient location near all the museums. There are many hotels nearby. Rather than staying right by the station, I would recommend picking a hotel on Paseo del Prado or near it so you can walk to a lot of places. There are many taxis available for the short ride. From there you can taxi to go visit the Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace, the Mercado de San Miguel (fabulous food court, much better than La Boquería in Barcelona). There are also ho-ho buses. And you will be near the station to take one of the frequent AVE trains to Barcelona. The ride is under 3 hours.

I just found this: https://www.charlottemagazine.com/girls-getaway-destination-for-charlotteans-madrid/

I am surprised the CLT-BCN flight has been discontinued. However, there is a new direct flight to Madrid. I would take that one, spend a day there and then take the high speed AVE train to Barcelona.

Don't shortchange Barcelona. Save London for a Northern Europe trip. Eventually you will go there. And Heathrow is a nightmare on a good day.

You can always use euros in the Caribbean. Freely accepted in French and Dutch islands. And all other islands as well. Plenty of European tourists there.

Bon voyage, Hank. Which cruise are you going on?

Last time we were in Lisbon our hotel called us a tuk-tuk for a tour and charged it to the room. We asked them after breakfast and the tuk-tuk was there an hour later. We could also have walked out the door and got on one two blocks away, but this was more convenient. Same price.

Last I heard, Uber only gets you a taxi in Greece. Just use a regular taxi and agree on the destination and price before you get in. MeHeartCruising had a bad experience, but we have used taxis in Athens many times without problems.

You can be sure that any tourist office website is meant to be shared.

Try posting this on a new thread rather than on this Athens thread.

edinburgher - you keep looking for more so here it is: https://www.rovinj-tourism.com/ But it all comes down to a beautiful little town in a lovely setting.

There are fres in many places. Here is an article from today's newspaper. https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1216186/wildfires-continue-to-rage-across-greece/

Years ago we did a 5-day tour of the Peloponnesus with George in his yellow taxi. It was a great experience. He arranged for nice hotels and inns. We toured Mycenae, Nafplio, Sparta, Mystras, Gythio, the Mani peninsula, Kalamata, Olympia and the drive along the Loussios river gorge. At the end he dropped us off at the ship for our cruise. The extended tour his company is doing now is very much along those lines and, of course, they now have vehicles of all sizes to accommodate your party. Another time we did a 3-day tour to Delphi and Meteora with George. Now we use them for transfers whenever we go to Greece. And once, when we were staying at the Sofitel by the airport because of a very early morning flight, we had them pick us up and drive us to Sounion and then go for dinner at a taverna on the beach. You can do as little as a day tour to some of the places in the corner near Athens like Corinth, Mycenae, Epidaurus and/or Nafplio, or an extended tour like ours. You will be taken good care of.

The Piazza Navona is a 5 minute walk from the hotel.

One to two hours. The car will be waiting for you next to the ship when you disembark and drive you straight to the hotel. No waiting for buses and trains. No hassle dealing with luggage and buying tickets. The hotel will keep your luggage at the front desk until your room is ready. That leaves you free to start sightseeing right away. In your case, you can simply go to the Pantheon right in front to the hotel and then to Piazza Navona. Think about it.

Your hotel is on Plaza Catalunya, a short walk back to Passeig de Gracia. Get tickets to visit Casa Batllo, one of Gaudis masterpieces. You would have seen it from the outside on your tour. Also, three blocks up is La Pedrera, another Gaudi master work. It has the "Star Wars storm trooper" chimneys on the rooftop. You can get tickets beforehand or just stand in line to buy them there. There are really high end shops on the Passeig, like Loewe which has outstanding leather goods. https://www.casabatllo.es/en/ https://www.lapedrera.com/en You could also book a transfer from ship to hotel with https://www.romecabs.com/transferservice/civitavecchia/ It will save you a lot of time. Make sure you pre-book a tour directly with the Vatican Museums. Otherwise the line to get them at the door is horrendous. https://tickets.museivaticani.va/home Enjoy!

That doesn't make any sense. You might want to have a transfer company pick you up at the airport and give you a tour on the way t the port. For example: https://www.romecabs.com/pre-cruise-tours-civitavecchia/ This company will start the tours from either Rome or the airport. Just ask them for a quote.

You will not end up with tickets for the wrong time. This only has to do with the times that are displayed when you do your search. If you do not enter a time it defaults to the current time there. (That time just happens to be your time in Charlotte plus 6 hours.) Then it displays the schedule for the remainder of the day starting at that default time. If you enter a time, it displays the schedule for all trains after the time you enter. Say you enter 9:00 am, it shows the schedule from that time in their local time. All the times you see on the website are the local times there. The confusion is because, the websites do not look to find out where you are and adjust the time. The website uses the local time there at whatever time you are doing the search here unless you enter a specific time. So don't stress about it. The time on the website for the ticket is the time there. You DO NOT have to make any adjustments for your local time.

BTW - it seems the "problem" also exists in France (sncf.fr). If you do not specify a time, it defaults to your local time adjusted by the time difference (e.g., 10:00 US ET =16:00 French time). As in Italy, if you do specify a time it takes it to be French local time.