ollienbertsmum

I was sorry to miss this at home. Charles chose the day after I booked the cruise. I am also missing the first two Eurovision semi finals. I would have booked the week later had I known the way the dates worked out.

Finally on our way cruise bound. We will stay one night in Bologna, one night in Trieste and then board NCL Gem for five days on Croatian coast. First cruise since September 2019. Feels odd, like I am on a first ever cruise. 🥳🥳🥳🥳

I thought I was the only one to go from Barcelona multiple times. 🤣🤣 I love it, so easy to plan, and even if the ports are repetitive, most are ports that offer numerous different days out. Just setting off for a cruise from Trieste, I think it seems just as much a faff as Ravenna, I doubt I would do it again.

I can answer the Cannes part of this. In a previous post I wrote about going to Antibes which we eventually did by bus. Monaco is further down the line. In Cannes It is (according to Google maps) 17 mins walking between the tender drop off point and the train station. (It gives 12 minutes by car so it does not seem worth finding a taxi to take you to the train station). To find the drop off search for ‘embarcadere Ile Sainte Marguerite’. This is right in front of where you get off the tender. You wii have to try and secure an early tender ticket. Ask about it the day you board or look on the ‘entertainment’ section of the app. Even with an early tender ticket You may be pushing it to catch the 9 am train. it is not so difficult to buy train tickets. There are machines that I think will translate into English. In your position I would not reserve train tickets ahead of time. If you genuinely would prefer a ship tour, it would be wise to put your name down for a cancellation, they do sometimes appear last minute. I cant help you with Monte Carlo. It is on my bucket list.

I have just answered a post about this ‘help me decide on a tour from Cannes’ it might help you

It woud be interesting to know what the OP did in the end.

Edinburgher explained it well. Probably no different in Cannes than anywhere else. We have tendered in Cannes a few times. I have always wanted to go to Monaco but always found something else to do. I know that it would be better visited as a land tour and so postpone it. I actually like Cannes as a cruise stop. In the middle of August you can visit the old town, go shopping and go to the beach. Lots of posh cars to keep you entertained. There are hand prints outside the building where they hold the film festival. I Looked at my diary of the day we did Antibes and Cannes from NCL. Epic April 2016. On reading it I recall we had a lovely day, we just had not checked the transport timetables and so wasted time at the bus and train station. With four people I think it would have been worth doing at least one leg by taxi. The diary was not very well written, but kept to plan subsequent cruises. We had a 9.05 tender ticket. (On NCL Book as soon as you get on board, it is under entertainment I think). We went down ten minutes early as suggested but found that they had not called the 8:45 yet. It seemed a bit frantic but they maybe should not encourage people to be early. When we did have to leave no one actually checked the time but maybe they would. They said anyone without tickets would have to wait until 11 am. Anyway we were on the tender at about 9.20 but had to wait for some tours to board. Getting off in Cannes is easy.. We asked where the Nice bus (the 200) went, were misguided and then redirected to the train station. We had to watch a bus leave (about 10.10) because I could not reach my purse, the next one was ages coming and then the driver got off for a coffee. By the time he got back there were three 200s in a row waiting to leave. We were on our way by about 10.30. Were not sure where to get off and missed the town centre ending up at the train station. It was an easy walk into town and at least we did now know where transport left from. Antibes is lovely .We found the Provençal market. The fruit and veg looked very nice but it was really expensive. I did buy some bags of herbs and some lavender bags. . I had not expected such expensive boats at the marina though. We wandered around, saw the walls, the beach and the cathedral. We got back to the train station by about 1.15 pm and should have compared the time of the train to the bus times. The trains were not as regular as I had thought so we had to wait until two pm having watched two buses leave. A quick toilet stop and coffee and eventually the train arrived. It was busy but there were plenty of seats where we got on. Mid summer I am sure it is much more hectic. It would have been better to go there and back by bus, since the bus and train station are actually right next to each other there is some deciding. The train also went to Grasse and to Nice and Monte Carlo. Looking at the train times there would have been time for about four hours in Monte Carlo/Monaco if you use the train and leave on the earliest tender if like today the ship arrives at 8 am and leaves at 6pm ( putting the last tender at 5 pm) I suppose the question is how long does the ship tour stay in Monte Carlo. Nice is certainly doAble. I wonder what there is to see in Grasse. I think the train went to Eze too so consider that another time. We wandered along the shopping street and found something for the girls. Back along la croisette and past the building that hosts the Cannes film festival. I looked at the handprints made by the stars. Sylvester Stallone's hands are huge! I hope that helps.

We were stuck there in 2018 because storms cancelled our stop in Naples. We did not find anything exciting to do. If you are stopping in Civi and don’t want to go into Rome I would recommend Tarquinia as a nice low-key day out. Having looked online for places nearby and having seen lots of train passengers clearly on the way to the beach, you might find more of interest taking the short train ride to Santa Marinella. I wish that we had thought about there when the storms scuppered the Amalfi drive for us.

Oh Hank, such wise words. You probably know that I am a keen DiYer on my cruises, however I am also a keen overplanner to avoid all of those worst case scenarios. Despite this, in 17 years of cruising I have never had any worst case scenarios. Not even any pestilence. I did however avoid a measles epidemic in Cascais near Lisbon after seeing it on the news the day before. “What is the worst that can happen?” Is the best question to ask.

John Bull is on the money as usual. Good info about taxis. I think the taxi plus entry to nature reserve is around 35 pounds. The Tower of Homage is usually missed out from the tours. I think it is just too hard to park and then pick up customers. If you have plenty of time and don’t mind walking an extra 15 miinutes, it is worth asking your taxi driver to drop you off at the tower and to let you use the Upper Rock ticket to visit the Tower. You then go down through the oldest part of the old town on to Main Street. A flat walk back to the ship.

Strikes are announced ahead of time. There is a website that gives this information. Someone might be able to direct you to it. I have always gone by train and had no problems apart from playing sardines on one of our trips. The most crowded times are in the middle of summer - and when lots of ships are in port. If you are going by train at peak times i would recommend boarding the train at Termini rather than one of the subsequent stops. We have usually got off at St Peters because the journey from there to Termini is a little tedious, we then do what we had planned for the day (so much to choose from) and then get on at Termini to try and get our seat.

We have been to Palma numerous times with NCL. There is a shuttle for a fee. Maybe it was about $5 in 2018. Could have been more for a return. We like walking so have usually walked into town. When we went in July it was very hot. April and November have been more pleasant strolls. There is a public bus right outside the port, i think that if you don’t time it right there are queues. Palma is lovely, we like that you can go to the beach on the way back to the ship.

You have to understand the stubbornness of not wanting to do something that hurts. Then as you walk less it hurts more. My father reluctantly bought a rollator which has made walking easier. The seat is helpful when you need a rest. I think these lightweight ones look so trendy. I promise my kids i will use one when walking gets hard. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lightweight-Rollator-Adjustable-Transportation-Mobility/dp/B008CFML16/ref=sr_1_15_sspa?keywords=Rollator+Walker&qid=1682323241&sr=8-15-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&psc=1

Aah, so it would have to be the first Schengen port, not them coming from a cruise that has been non-Schengen. I find it so confusing even though I cross into and out of a Schengen area multiple times a year.

it is about where the ship has been. So if it has stayed in the Schengen area then you should be ok (but I am willing to accept someone who has more current info due to Brexit as you are flying to Uk) . However, you are only going to Gatwick. You are not rushing for a transatlantic flight. Back to my question - what is the worst that can happen? Have you enough on your credit card to cover a short flight if your insurance will not cover ????

I really do get the dilemma. If you get off as soon as you can, you are 95% certain to catch the flight - if you are cruising from Schengen area. I just think you need to think through the “what is the worst that could happen?” question. Can you go via Madrid??

I have been on multiple cruises from BCN. All have arrived earlier than advertised, we have never been delayed at customs. All our cruises have been within the Schengen area so that is probably a factor. We were once delayed because the ship stopped to pick up some people from a dinghy, crossing from Africa to Europe. Fortunately we were leaving on a pm train. Whilst you probably do have plenty of time to get to the airport on time - on most days, there are always going to be days when arrival is late or the taxi line is long. Certainly the taxi line builds up through the morning I think. We are always away by 7.30 am so it is hard for me to be sure. Personally I would get a later flight. I had the same dilemma leaving from Venice airport in a month’s time. I have taken the later flight. I know that I could easily have gone for the earlier one but I cannot bear spending a whole cruise wondering if we will miss the flight. So my question is - if you miss the flight what is the worst that will happen? - If the answer is just that you catch the next flight anyway, then it is a no brainer. If you would be seriously troubled by having to buy new tickets and perhaps looking for an overnight hotel, then you might consider taking a later flight.

On several of our cruises (NCL Epic) we have had to leave early. To achieve this we have been up at 6 am, skipped breakfast and had snacks in our room. At 6.30 the lifts were empty and we walked off with our luggage. We were one of the first off and taxis were plentiful. TBH I cannot recall if the ship docked at 5 or 6 am. Still I am sure that disembarking before 7 am would get you a taxi without the need to book. Self disembark is important in this plan. This will get you to the airport early. The thing is that if you leave it too much later then things get a bit more crowded and you get queues for lifts and taxis.

I am gutted for you. The loss of precious data hurts. I would however be cross with David for not telling you to backup before major changes were made. That is in the 101 of technology.

Well thanks for that. I will have a look into it. Our first cruise in a few years is already booked though ad DH really wants to do a few more land trips. Now I am retired I have the time. Rachel

It is interesting to know that you have used Us and Canadian TAs . We still would not get around the address system I dont think. I think it is the consumer protection, in a way it is not a bad thing! I hope your poor hubby is feeling better - and the cause of his painful back is identified. Rachel

I have tried booking with a US TA I liked the prices being offered and (at the time that price drops were honored). To get price drops meant you could book when you like and just keep an eye on the booking. Anyway it didn’t work. Using a VPN might get you in contact with a TA but once they knew where we live we could not proceed with the booking. I wondered if it would actually be fraud to make a booking this way. There are different advantages for UK (which includes us) travellers. I don’t think there is an advantage booking in Spain either.

Ohhhh the Moody Blues …. Back to my uni days. Lucky you.

I used to sort of regret not keeping my old record collection that started with a 45 of Little Jimmy Osmond singing ‘Long haired lover from Liverpool’ !!! Not sure what happened to them all, but I did not end up moving them with me when I moved to Gibraltar in 1982. Now I have Spotify so problem solved. I an Blue tooth to the car sound system. Yesterday I was able to listen to Great Expectations while driving home alone in the dark. Kept me really alert for 2 hours. It is just the right level of interesting but not too complex for me when I am driving.

A frustration of completing my studies is that I no longer have access to the university library, so I could not find an actual paper based on the PhD you refer to. I can see that Ben-Itzhak went on to have a long career working with deaf children (Principal of Micha Early InterventionProgram for the Deaf in Tel Aviv). She clearly was interested in her topic. I did not know that video recording was such a recent research tool. It is what I used. I videotaped therapy sessions of 15 children I was working with and analysed them. Watching myself was quite strange at first. I had to buy lots of outfits because I could not bear watching myself wearing the same clothes. I got used to it.