ollienbertsmum

I agree that the Gaudi buildings are expensive, you have to be sure that you want to visit! You certainly do not need to see all of them, an outside view does work. Families with kids should make sure that an afternoon at the beach is included during the warmer months, this is a cheaper way of passing the time than traipsing around a city.

Thank you for the explanation. I really could not understand your apparent fussiness. My family are the opposite end of the size spectrum, the size of beds has never been a consideration for us. what you have booked does not seem too bad for Barcelona. If you have booked a cancellable rate it might be worth checking back occasionally to see if anything else turns up. Being really central is not essential in Barcelona, public transport is great.

I did a great wine tour with Guido Wine Tours. That would fit in with eurocruiser’s suggestion for day two. Cruised the Med since 2006 and finally got to Venice in 2019. I could not really understand why I had not made it earlier. We spent 2 nights pre and half a day post cruise. I would suggest you do try to include it. whether a train trip from Rome in one day would be too exhausting, I could not say. Others may have done it. I think I would try that way so that you don't spend too much time with your luggage. Also I would have thought you would get better choice of flights leaving from Rome. The great thing about Venice is that it is compact and lends itself to wandering around. Rick Steves has a great audio tour of the Grand canal and St Marks square. I would not visit the Doge’s Palace or the Accademia museum if going for a day trip https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/venice-itinerary

A week for each would be great but clearly not possible. In your position I would do 2 nights in Barcelona and three in Rome. Research what you want to see beforehand and you will cover a lot in both cities.

Right now it is quite mild in Southern Spain but you still need a warm jacket for the evening. Barcelona will be cooler, so take some layers. You could easily get rain.

You have plenty of time to do all that in a good day and a half. I always leave just one thing to do on cruise day itself so that we have fun but do not arrive at the port in a rush. I recall one of our cruises we visited Casa BAtllo prior to boarding. We arrived before opening time and loved it. I would like to warn you though that There were long queues as we left. I think inside of just the one house would suffice. I understand that these buildings are expensive to maintain, but they are expensive to visit. I have not used the cable car but on one of my first cruises I woke at dawn before the rest of my family and ‘went for a wander’. I walked up Montjuïc and was rewarded with a view of our ship in the port below. Possibly spoiled your surprise, but anyone looking at a map could potentially work it out. Sagrada Familia was a perfect length of time to visit in the morning. We were there first thing to beat long queues, we were able to walk back to our hotel prior to check out. We could just have easily have checked out earlier and left the bags with reception. l love Barcelona.

I just went on to a couple of booking sites and the hotels do look pricey in Barcelona. Big cities in general are really getting expensive. Best price for a family room was at the Holiday Inn Express which is a chain that suits me fine when touring (and the main priority is a clean and comfortable bed for the night). I am not quite sure what you want from your hotel. I am not sure how you define “reasonably nice”, your first choice is the W but I really don’t think it is a great pre cruise hotel. It is a bit of a trek from the main tourist sites, it is not near to the port unless you fly or swim. If you just want the beach for a couple of days it would be much cheaper to go to Sitges and maybe do one day into Barcelona in the train. My preference with young kids would be to get an airbnb. It is easier to supervise them. There were plenty for your dates between £250 to £300 per night. Choose something central and near to a metro stop.

I have stayed in Barcelona pre and post cruise multiple times. Accessibility to the port is hardly an issue with any of the central hotels. A taxi ride is about 15 to 20 minutes away. Lots of taxi ranks round the city. There is a shuttle bus that takes longer but would be cheaper. my hotel search strategy is to decide what i want to do in the morning pre boarding and look for a hotel nearby, searching on a hotel website. That gets best prices for the dates. We can check out of the hotel and get a taxi straight to the port. I look at reviews and then book. Once when the girls were with us, we went for a pool. Good decision as i got a really great bargain in what i think was calledd Fira Park. I think the name has changed. We wanted to visit casa batllo in the morning. We had an early breakfast, caught a nearby metro and were at the door before it opened. Other times i have stayed near the train station (we travel there by train), near la Sagrada familia, near to the cathedral , near toMontjuic and bear to Barceloneta. Getting breakfast in the hotel is not important, there are usually numerous coffee shops around that outprice a hotel. Pre cruise we are not interested in a big breakfast either. We know that lunch will make up for it. Barcelona is so easy to get around, anything central and near to a metro stop will seem perfect.

Another vote for a land tour if you want to visit a country. For us, a cruise is one sort of holiday and visiting a country is another which is done by train. A cruise is total relaxation, no need to make decisions about food and entertainment. Same bed every night. On the trip there are some nice days out When visiting, I am the family driver and i am notkeen on doing more than four hours at a time, so trains work better. Imagine the pleasure walking around places like Florence, Rome or Venice after supper and after the crowds have gone. You don’t risk missed ports (happened to us in Naples once). You see so much more over a few days.

Could not work out where to type so my answer is in two parts. i did a trial journey from a hotel i have used in the old town. Very happy with location, would book hotel again because when i am travelling I don't go for all the whistles and bells. I put berth A in as the destination as this is the berth NCL have always used. Without a suitcase the walking distance would not have fazed us, With a suitcase even in the spring or autumn it is no way to start a vacation.

As Hank said, to do a trip just to Avignon is easy by train. To include anything else would be a car or an organised trip. Might be a good idea to set something up and promote it on your roll call. A group trip is often good value when you divide the costs per person,

Good Morning. I hope that you are keeping warm. So worrying to hear about the very cold weather and all the concerns about fuel bills. I hope that all goes well tomorrow, especially that there are no cancellations.

What a beautiful cat. We have a bog standard tabby that we got from a shelter. I said when we were getting her that ‘looks don’t matter’. We got her at the start of the pandemic when visiting shelters was out of the question so we kind of just got what we were given. Don’t tell my Princess Ninkasi but when I see other more upmarket cats I sort of wish we had been more selective.

I did my first degree in Newcastle upon Tyne, this meant a 2nd year in a house in the West End of Newcastle. I still recall how cold it was and how I had 6 quilts on my bed. We had snow until the end of term in March. It has been raining hard here so we need to wear coats. Blowing a few degrees of warmth your way though.

I usually keep a cup of milk or creamer in the fridge. I get it myself as often as I need it. I am always a bit concerned about walking around the ship with a hot drink. I take my own sealed mug. OK so I have to keep it rinsed out in the bathroom, but at least I won’t scald someone if the ship is rocking.

Hi Mapleleaves. I am confused about you saying that the “walk up fare” was more expensive. I am cruising from Trieste in May. We are flying in to Bologna because that is the best direct flight we can get AND I have always wanted to see Bologna. So we will get to Trieste by train on the day of the cruise. I will book these tickets ahead of time. However finding a good flight back from any of the Venice airports was not easy. I found one at 7 pm so this gives us a few hours, after storing our bags, to wander through beautiful Venice. So my confusion ….. I had thought that the trains from Trieste to Venice were regionale and so the price would be the same whenever you buy it. I am not sure how the timings from Trieste port to the train station work, so I don’t really want to have to book ahead. I don’t want to pay an excessive amount though. Has anyone got any thoughts or guidance?

I am sorry but I am so risk-averse. On 99% of cruises you will have no problem. A medical emergency or an engine problem might mean your ship gets in late. As long as you have adequate insurance and a plan B, get off the ship early (we have been off at 6.30 by skipping the breakfast buffet) you are unlikely to have problems.

i was determined to find out where we were the quest prompted me to get out the old hard drive. It was all on a 2006 video. The camera quality meant that you cannot see. Next time i go to Barcelona i will work it out. i had the pleasure of experiencing the time when i thought towel animals warranted photos. I named our steward and waiter, i saw DH in a suit and recalled that youngest got a Balenciaga dress for the cruise. It was perfect for a teenager and thankfully on mega sale, i think we still have it. it was nice to have an excuse to watch it. 😘😘😘 .

don’t want to leave the impression that the whole of the Ramblas is necessarily noisy. It was just at this point. I have tried to work out where we stayed. I am not convinced but Placa Teatre looks, from Google maps, like it might be there. It was the statue that was the meeting place. The bulding does not seem to be a hotel any more. The young people, who will now be in their late thirties may well have another place to hang out at 4 am on a Sunday morning.

It is great that you came back to give feedback. This is really helpful for other cruisers who are making plans for their own trip. As an English person I always am amazed that the cruise lines market Southampton as a port for London trips. Portsmouth seems like a more reasonable option.

I was curious so looked up Amsterdam hotels at the end of August. It does look busy. Maybe you would be better staying outside of Amsterdam to get the hotel service you require. The Karel V in Utrecht came up with good prices on a booking website. The cost of taxi from Schipol and to the port might not be such an obstacle. Just thinking.

HBE4, I would like to offer my sincere condolences. It sounds as if you gave your wife the best care available - and more. You sound close to your daughter, hugs to both of you at this sad time.

So Kevin Martinez would probably be able to give your travel agent some good information. Use the mhbland email.

I live in Gibraltar. I don’t know anyone in the Port Authority, but it sounds a bit dodgy to me. I have heard of no new legislation being passed. We usually have social media comments on anything and everything. I think that this is something NCL based, There may well be new forms to fill in post-Brexit. There are also taxes that would affect Gibraltar and the rest of Europe differently. If I was a passenger I would be expecting a proportion of the package to be reimbursed. We know that the Casino will be out of action. Happened for us when we had an unplanned stopover in Civitavecchia, we were not surprised, but could still drown our sorrows in the bar. What you pay for the package in UK does not affect how you are taxed when. consuming alcohol in other countries, but if you have paid for the package then i would not have thought you need to pay any extra tax. That should have been priced in the package. Do you want me to make contact with the Port Authority to try to establish the facts??