marazul

Lisbon airport has outgrown its facilities and they are building a new one. In the meantime, TAP has first claim to the gates, so don't be surprised if you are bused to your plane on the tarmac and have to go up the steps to board. And lug your carryon up the steps too. This is particularly true if you are flying to another European country first.

There is a lot to see in Aix. I think a first timer would do better with a guide. Castellet is a beautiful village and I think you would find that excursion to be very enjoyable.

For all who have questions about "skip the line" tickets here is the info printed on the admission ticket to the Vatican Museums: On the day of the tour, before entering the Vatican Museums (Viale Vaticano), present an identity document and voucher to the Customer Care Staff at the entrance. There is a line reserved for visitors with a booking. Visitors are asked to present themselves 15 minutes before the departure of the tour. After security clearance, climb the stairs on the far left of the entrance hall. The meeting point is located at the ‘Guided Tours’ desk. The applicant is asked to print off the voucher (it is also possible to show it on a smartphone or tablet) as to present it on the day of the tour.

I got the vouchers within minutes of payment.. Yes, check your spam folder. The email with the Q code vouchers comes from this address: biglietteria.musei@scv.va Also, I did write to them at one point with some questions and I got a prompt reply. The address was: tours.musei@scv.va

Take a tuk-tuk tour if you want to see Alfama and the oldest parts of Lisbon. The hoho buses don't fit in the narrow streets.

That is the train station (Termini) area. Whatever you have read in this thread still applies.

Check Aegean Air. You should be able to transfer miles to them.

Ship excursion lunches tend to take a couple of hours at some restaurant. Decide whether you want to do that or maybe take a different excursion where you can grab a quick meal and get on with your sightseeing.

1. Yes, all tours are timed entrance tickets. You first pick the time of the tour and then the time when you want to go in before the tour. Show up 15 minutes before that time. When you check the website you will see how this works out. Easy. https://sagradafamilia.org/en/tickets-individuals 2. All guides are trained and approved by the SF. 3. There is no benefit to this and they are more expensive. BTW - The phrase "skip the line tickets" is a marketing tool of many resellers and consolidators. You will not find this phrase in the venues' websites. What they mean by that is one of the timed entrances you can buy on your own. If you have a timed ticket, there will always be a short security line you cannot skip.

Space X reunion? 😁

In the past there have been full ship charters where the ship has "disappeared" from the schedule.

While I am 100% with cruisemom's idea of interesting piazzas, I think rrraydon is probably trying to decide between food tours around Campo dei Fiori and Piazza Navona (or maybe Piazza de Santa Maria). 🙂

OK. I thought you were buying them for when you re-entered the US. Yes, go to a pharmacy in Rome and get your test before the cruise. You can tell which pharmacies give them because they install a little tent on the sidewalk to administer the test. And your hotel knows the closest ones. That's what we did last month.

Tests are no longer required to re-enter the US. Don't buy the proctored zoom tests. You might want to bring a couple of the regular home tests for your own use in case you start developing suspicious symptoms.

Barcelona is at the same latitude as Rhode Island. The Med is NOT the Caribbean or the South Pacific. It is not the tropics. There are nice beaches, but there is no comparison. The water is always cooler and warmish only in July and August. (Still, pleasant when it is really hot out.) The sands are generally coarser or pebbles. You get "crystal clear" around some islands and coves, but nothing like the tropics. Go sightseeing.

We love Leros even if it is not an "iconic" Greek island. No picture perfect beaches. No ancient ruins. Just a small Templar castle and a few cute churches. And Mussolini era Italian buildings in Lakki. But it is the real Greece. Lovely people. Great tavernas on the beaches. Just nice and laid back. For first time travelers, I would really recommend islands that meet the iconic expectations, like Naxos, Milos, Zakinthos, etc.

Correction - Leros and Kalimnos are in the Dodecannese, between Kos and Patmos. From Leros you can take a short boat ride to Lipsi and its beautiful beaches.

They are in the same country. Actually, the short cut between the museum and the basilica is currently closed. You have a very long walk around the Vatican City walls between them. Take a taxi.

The Domus Aurea also requires tickets. It is fascinating and there is a really cool virtual reality tour as part of the visit.

We may be talking about two different things. I was referring to the long line at St Peter's basilica, not to the Vatican museum. As cruisemom and I said before, the line to enter the VM with a timed ticket moves right along. They say to arrive 15 minutes before your timed ticket and that works. There are no timed tickets or any kind of tickets to St Peter's. It is free admission but you have to stand in line for security. That was the line we decided to skip because of the heat. There were no lines for our early VM tour.

Good luck with the basilica. Last month we took a taxi to St Peter's after our early Vatican tour. We got there before 11. The line to get in went two-thirds around the square. We left. It was moving, but it was miserably hot. It would have been nice to visit again, but not in that heat. I still would advice you to try it. It might be better later in the day or on the day you visit. Have an alternate plan if the line seems to be too long and too slow. Maybe Trastevere or the Forum. Many options.

It should be less crowded in October. The "Breakfast at the museum" option starts a little later, but you still have a tour with lesser crowds. Consider the "Extra time" tours where you go to the chapel after it closes to other tours and then you have happy hour at the Vatican. Check to see if it is offered on the dates you are there.

A current broker's statement showing the shares. Blackout everything else, take a photo and email it to Seabourn.

You skip the line by purchasing your tickets ahead of time. There is a line to purchase tickets and a security line for people with tickets. The guards handle the people who have timed admissions. It doesn’t matter where you bought them. Don't confuse skip the line with early admission. Those are the tours I described in post #5 above. If you take one of the "prime experience" tours, there will be practically nobody waiting to get in when they open the doors at 7:30. We arrived at 7:10 and we were the first in line in one of the busiest weekends of the summer.

Also, don't forget that the first Sunday of the month is free admission to museums in Italy so no tickets are sold for that day and the lines are worse. So, plan ahead if you are going to be there on a first Sunday.