baggal

Tripadvisor for 2010,

has today named Barcelona as the worst City in the world for pick pockets

You would think that the government would try to do something about the situation. There must be a reason why they don't.

it is about 3:40 ships time and people are starting to stream back to the ship.

 

 

this morning the captain told everyone going ashore to be sure to take their cameras so that if they were 10-15 minutes late getting back they could take a photo of the freedom sailing away without them. :eek:

lol!!!!!

Hi,

We just booked a Oct 6 Brilliance of the Seas cruise and have lots of questions which I'm sure have been answered before. We would like to book a Romeinlimo tour in Italy, our ports are Civitavecchia, Naples & Venice. We would appreciate knowing exactly which tours to book and any additional services (guide etc.) that we should include. We have never been to Europe before and don't want to miss the "must see sights". We have no problem with 9hr tours. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Romeinlimo will take care of everything for you. Ask Jany at RIL to book a guide for Pompeii (Naples) and the Vatican. Well worth it. You can also buy your tickets to the Vatican on line, which eliminates waiting in a potentially long line. Ask Jany for the time that your tour will begin since the tickets are for a specific time.

Our family of six toured with RIL in Naples, Rome and Livorno in mid- June. Tony was our driver on the Pompeii and Amalfi coast trip. We also hired a guide in Pompeii - great idea since I think we would have wasted a great deal of time deciding where to go and we had planned to only spend 2 hours there. Tony couldn't have been more attentive- bottles of cold water and snacks in the van, great restaurant in Sorrento , lots of stops for photos, extremely friendly and accommodating gentleman.

 

At Civitavecchia, Francesco whisked us to Rome, got our Coliseum tickets, and drove us to the usual venues. He was very knowledgeable and extremely efficient. After a lunch stop, he took us to the Vatican to meet our guide, Paula .Once again, it was money well-spent for the guide.

 

Sabrina met us in Livorno and we toured Pisa and saw the "other leaning tower" and some of the countryside before going to Florence. We stopped @ a beautiful Benedictine monastery just outside Florence then continued into the city. Sabrina was very personable and organized which allowed us to see as much as possible in a day. She reserved our Academia tickets so there was no wait. She took us to a little streetside

shop that had great take-out panninis and wine

 

All 3 drivers were scheduled to meet us @ 8am but they were waiting for us @ 7:40 when we disembarked at each port. We were back at the ship by 5:45 at the latest. RIL exceeded our expectations and I plan to use them again when back in those ports

We recently used RIL for 3 ports (Naples, Civitavecchia, Livorno). Had diffently drivers and guides than the poster had, but the result was the same. RIL far exceeded our expectations and would strongly recommend them!

for a conversion for a home baker? We usually don't measure eggs, oil and water in pounds.

As a baby boomer who remembers hiding under her desk at school during air raid "drills," I could not pass up an opportunity to visit Berlin - especially the former East Berlin, during our Baltics cruise last year.

I would say that both Berlin and St. Pete were the highlights of the entire cruise. Both were amazing. We did use SPB in Berlin - stopping at all the main sites and the Jewish ones as well. We were a group of 10 that found each other on the CC Roll Call. SPB sent a bus to Warnemunde to pick up our group and another larger group. Once in Berlin, we separated into our groups and then met back again at the end of the day. I wouldn't let a 3 hour bus ride stand in the way of an opportunity to visit Berlin.

We were in Kiel last summer. It was the last port, on the last day, of HAL's Gems of the Baltic on the Eurodam. We had a leisurely breakfast on board, wandered around the shopping streets for a while, and then sat in a lovely park directly across from Eurodam's berth. As it happened, it was July 1 (Canada Day?) and the Eurodam had a fabulous poolside barbeque for lunch. After lunch it was time to pack and prepare to disembark the next morning.

Kiel was the perfect end to a wonderful cruise. I would recommend it.

Although the food may not taste salty, its definitely well-seasoned. If the extra sodium is really a problem, I would arrange for salt-free meals, at least at dinner. Also, there are certain foods that work as a diruretic - asparagus is the number one. Stick to lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and stay away from most processed foods, salad dressings, soups, and believe it or not, some breakfast cereals have a huge amount of sodium.