luvtravel88

Thanks for posting this. I had previously bought tickets for Sagrada Familia for 3 PM and just added the Park tickets for noon. It sounds like we will have time to travel between easily :D

SF gets really busy. You may want to get the earliest possible entry. You could spend several hours there. Then make your way to Park Guell either by taxi or Metro. The T-10 ticket if very reasonable and can be used for everyone in your party.

There is a guided tour you can sign up for with Park Guell that is about 7 euros + entry fee. It lasts about an hour. Not sure of the times.

You could also find a tour using Tripadvisor or Viator that would guide you through both sites.

while researching, I saw the FC Barcelona has a home match the night we arrive in Barcelona. We are soccer fans and this would be a dream to be able to see them play at Camp Nou. Definitely something to check off a bucket list.

You may want to take a look at Tom's Port Guides. It's a wonderful resource!

http://www.tomsportguides.com/mediterranean-cruises.html

We are coming to Barcelona next month as well and book a private car with Suntransfers. They told us these private car services follow the taxi drivers, so if there's a taxi strike, they won't drive either.

So we have looked at some other options to get into the downtown area, just in case, but they're just not as easy. This information is from Rick Steves Barcelona Book

You can go by bus:

The Aerobus (#A1 and #A2, corresponding with Terminals 1 and 2) stops immediately outside the arrivals lobby of both terminals. It takes about 30 minutes and there are several stops in downtown, including Placa d'Espanya and Placa de Catalunya. It departs every 5 minutes from the airport from 6:00am - 1:00am. 5.90 euro one way or 10.20 euro roundtrip.

You can buy a ticket from a machine, the driver or on their website. www.aerobusbcn.com

You can go by train:

The RENFE train (on the "R2Sud" Rodalies line) leaves from Terminal 2 and involves more walking. Head down the long orange-roofed overpass between sections A and B to reach the station (2/hour at about :08 and :38 past the hour), 20 minutes to Sants station, 25 minutes to Passeig de Gracia station- near Placa de Catalunya, 30 minutes to Francia station. 4.10 euros or covered by the T-10 card. If you are arriving from Terminal 1, you will have to take the airport shuttle bus to connect with the train station.

You can go by Metro:

Take Metro's L9 Sud (orange) line from either Terminal 1 or 2, to Zona Universitaria, then transfer to the L3 (green) line and ride to a downtown stop (Passeig de Gracia, Placa de Catalunya or Liceu. 8/hour and takes 20-3- minutes. Runs from 5:00am until late. Use 4.50 euro Billet Aeroport or any Hola BCN travel card. the T-10 and single ride Metro tickets do not work for this ride.

How dressed up are people on the Evening Chic nights? We are also sailing in the Baltic.

You'll see people in everything. A small percentage in formal wear-tuxes and very dressy dresses, most men in a jacket and women in a cocktail dress, some men will be in collared button downs and dress pants and women in more casual dresses or nice pants outfits.

I like to dress up because I don't often have the opportunity anymore and hubby will go along with me and will wear a tux.

For our Mediterranean Cruise this fall, we have decided to dress a bit more casually and hubby is going to bring a jacket and a tie and I'm going to wear a cocktail dress.

Hi all,

Curious what thoughts people have on private tours that don't include tour guides (just drivers) Vs. tours with a tour guide to accompany you into the sites. Since it costs extra to add a tour guide, just wondering if it's worth the extra expense since it seems drivers are also full of knowledge and can talk about highlights on the way to your destination.

 

Has anyone had both experiences, in any port, where they've had a better experience either way?

 

Thanks,

Kimberly

We have taken tours both with a driver and guide and just the driver. In my opinion you get so much more out of the place you're visiting if I have a guide with you. They are able to point things out from moment to moment that you don't get on your own.

Our worst experience was visiting the forum in Rome without a guide. We had been given basic information on the way there, but once inside, we really didn't know what we were looking at. It was still very interesting and beautiful, but we would have gotten so much more out of it if we had a guide with us.

IMHO it's worth the extra money.

It’s free for all and just beware sites will be crowded esp with pickpockets.

 

 

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Thanks!

Seems that it was free to all in 2017 as it does not mention citizenship. It would make it difficult to manage if everyone entering had to produce passport/national identity card.

https://news.gtp.gr/2017/09/21/greece-european-heritage-days-free-admission-sites-museums/

Thank you! This is helpful!

I was planning to buy the Athens Multi Pass which is 30 euros and would take care of most of the entry fees for a tour that we're taking in Athens. I notice that the European Heritage Days weekend is the weekend we will be in Athens and entry fees are suspended that weekend. The sites we would have to pay entry for are: The Acropolis, Temple of Olympian Zeus, and the Ancient Agora.

I contacted our tour guide in Athens to find out if there are exclusions and is since I live in the US and am not in an EU country, if the entry fees would be waived for us as well. I didn't get a definitive answer from him.

Would anyone know if everyone's entry fees would be waived that weekend or should I go ahead and purchase a Multi Pass?

Thanks!

Our family of 4 will be on the Epic next summer out of Barcelona with several other families. We will definitely be in Barcelona for a few days pre-cruise but will also likely hit another city or two on the way.

 

I have looked at all the hotel suggestions, apartment hotels, vrbo and airbnb I see that some are already sold out! Some hotels don't even have the dates available yet.

 

My questions is, how far in advance do I need to reserve?

The accommodations are probably not sold out. If your trip is more than a year away, many don't post their rooms or rates that far out. If you look again about 10-11 months out, you should find those same places have rooms. If you book that far out, you should be able to get what you want. I booked our hotel in Barcelona for this September, last October.

If you don't want to wait, you might try calling the place you want to see if they'll book you over the phone. Some may be willing to do that a year out.

The ship does not necessarily have the currency for the ports it visits. I know they did not carry any rubles because we asked. We also needed several different currencies for the Baltic cruise we took last year. You can pay for many things with a credit card, but the tours we took wanted cash on the day. Most of the tours in the Baltic will accept euros but we wanted to pay for and tip in their local currency.

We ordered all of our money from our bank a few weeks before our trip. It was good that we did as we could not find anywhere that we could get rubles. Not at Ohare or at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. The only problem in getting rubles at the bank is that you can't choose your denominations and they send what they have. We ended up with large denominations which we want to break into smaller bills but weren't able to do that until we got to Russia.

Also, worry wart that I am, I didn't want to use an ATM machine in Russia.

We love the Summit. It's not as large as some other ships in the fleet but you never feel crowded. There are lots of places to get away from the crowds.

We were there last year on the Celebrity Silhouette.

We got in line at 6:30am and there were already about a dozen people in line. The line quickly grew after us. Our ship docked at 7:00 but it took a while to clear. They started allowing us off the ship about 7:30. When you leave the ship, you are sent into a building with several custom windows. It was absolutely packed with people. We were very lucky and were directed up a flight of stairs where there were another row of custom windows. It still took us about an hour to get through. The first day you get off the ship, the officers really look at your documents. We figured they spent about 2 minutes per person.

If you are taking a private tour with others on the ship, be sure you are all together as you get into the lines or you'll be waiting on stragglers.

The people on the ship's tours do get to get off the ship first.

We talked to friends that got in line around 7:30 and they told us that the customs windows got so backed up that they quit allowing people to leave the ship for about 45 minutes to allow the crowd to die down. They had 8:30 meet up times for their tour and didn't get off the ship until after 10:00!!

Our meet up time was also 8:30 and we were only about 15 minutes late. The nice thing about your tour group all gathering together on the ship is that your tour isn't going to leave without you and since you're all together, you get on the bus and are ready to go.

On day 2, is took only a few minutes to get through and on day 3, it was precursory. If I remember correctly, on days 2 and 3, groups left at different times, so not everyone was trying to get off the ship all at once.

Is this tour available from Warnemunde? We've booked our tour with Best Guides and they provide transportation to Berlin and back.

The tour is available for Warnemunde. We did a tour with Jeremy last year and it was fantastic!! He has a driver pick you up at the port and then joins you when you reach Berlin. The driver drives you around Berlin during the tour and then takes you back to the ship.

It took him about 2 1/2 hours from the ship into Berlin and that included a short bathroom stop. It took almost 4 hours to get back as there was a bad traffic accident and traffic was stopped. We still arrived before all aboard but were quite worried. As it turned out, the ship left almost an hour late because over 1000 people were behind the same accident and got back late.

We did a Baltic cruise this time last year on the Celebrity Silhouette. In Oslo, we booked a 4 hour tour with SPB tours that included the Viking Museum and Vigeland Park. You could get around on your own, but it would take some doing as these places are not close together. Vigeland Park is not to be missed IMHO and the Viking Museum is a part of a museum complex where you could spend a lot of time. This tour included the use of a sound system with earbuds, so you didn't feel like you had to be right up next to the guide to be able to hear the commentary.

The ship docks near the center of town so when the tour was over, we walked back into the town square. We found a restaurant across from City Hall and for the price of a couple of drinks, we sat and used the free wifi.

We spent 2 days in Copenhagen so did 2 different tours. The first day, we took a ship tour:eek: called Castles of North Zealand. I couldn't find a private tour that was similar and it was a pretty good tour, there were just too many people.

The second day we did a 3 hour walking tour with Fairy Tale Tours. There were only 6 of us on this tour and we were shown a lot!

Both of these tours were really good and I would recommend either of them.

The ship docks along a long pier and our ship of course docked at the far end. It is about a 1/2 mile walk to the bus stop, but once on the bus you could into the center of town and it's pretty compact. We went to Tivoli Gardens by bus and it stopped right across the street. Taxi's are plentiful and since we left Tivoli after dark( the lights on the sides of the buildings and rides are beautiful!) we took a taxi back to the ship.

If you're interested in seeing the Little Mermaid it's about a 15 minute walk from the ship.

We are doing a T/A out of Barcelona in Nov. 2019.

We are coming 5 days early to see as many sites around Barcelona as possible.. What areas should stay in and which areas should we avoid. We are going to rent a apartment for our stay.

Thanks

Go to the Barcelona Day Tours website and click on their Where to Stay Link. If you toggle down, there is another link that will allow you to put the name of the hotel or apartment you're interested in and a map will show you if the area that the hotel or apartment is in, is OK.

We always book something after noon so we're not stressed out, but you can carry your luggage off the ship soon after the ship is cleared, so you could conceivably get an earlier flight. If you choose to carry off your luggage, you have to be able to do it on your own and if you have to help your mother, that could be a problem.

Hope you find a company to help you!! It's just really late.

We have never gotten better than 20% off when we've asked for a discount. We book ahead for a better deal.

Kim

Here's the website for the ferry + tours to Delos from Mykonos: https://www.delostours.gr/en/

 

You'll see they offer half-day tours, including the ferry to and from Mykonos for 50 euro. This is offered daily from May through October -- the 10:00 time should work for you. (Fair warning, if you are going during peak summer months it will be very hot on Delos with not much shade.)

 

Also, I highly recommend purchasing the Blue Guide chapter on Mykonos and Delos by McGilchrist -- you can purchase on Amazon for Kindle or as a small paperback guide. Very handy to provide more information in case you have additional time to wander on your own. There is MUCH to see on Delos if you are interested in Greek, Hellenistic or Roman ruins.

I will be in Mykonos in September and am interested in going to Delos as well. I went to the Delos tours website to get info on purchasing tickets online to avoid having to wait in line and purchase tickets at the port. I found in the terms and conditions section that the tickets are virtually non refundable. You can get a refund if you need to cancel at least 7 days before your tour, but you can not do it online and you have to take the tickets somewhere. Also, they will not refund if your cruise ship is unable to stop there due to weather or sea conditions.

Although I wouldn't intend to cancel, things happen and because they have such stringent rules on cancelling, and I don't want to take the chance on losing 100 euros, I think we'll bite the bullet and wait in line to get tickets when we arrive in port. If they're sold out, so be it.

just type in port of ______ cruise ship schedules in your search engine. ( I use Google) and you will see a link for the 2018 port schedules toward the top of the page.

Hello Cruisers,

I have a boat lined up for 4 hours on May 12 from 2-6pm. Its 40” and we are a party of 5. Looking for another 5 people to share the cost with. It’s total is 600euro for a half day. Very inexpensive when split 10 ways! Captain seems very accommodating. Pier is a short walk to where the ship ports. Any interest let me know.

Thanks,

Robbin

Hi Robbin,

You may have more interest if you post this on your ship's Roll Call, then it will be seen only by others that will be on your ship.

For hand made espadrilles, try La Manual Alpargatera. Go before 1:30pm or after 4:30pm. They are open until 8:00pm every night. I have not yet been there but have heard about them from other people and they are mentioned in Rick Steves Barcelona book. I'll be going there this fall. Check out their website. I believe they're in/near Barrio Gotic.

We have booked with https://www.shuttledirect.com/en/ for our upcoming cruise in May

They seem to have a few options

 

 

 

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Thanks!

I’ve booked my mini van with these

https://gettransfer.com

 

Once you put your requirements you will receive offers via email from different vehicles with different prices.

I’ve paid €39 for a minivan that can carry 8 pax & cases but there are only 4 of us, if that made a difference in the offer price.

 

 

 

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Thanks for the info!

... which you never mentioned anyway. If you had been more precise I might have been able to help you with a more concrete response.

 

Btw this is called sarcasm, and I see you don't have much of that either :)

You know Enric, I can banter back and forth with you as much as you'd like, but I believe CC is meant to be used for people that are looking for information and to expand their knowledge.No place for sarcasm. As you can see from my heading, I have been a CC user for a long time with many posts.

The date I'm arriving is not pertinent. I just wanted to know if it would be easier to hire a private ride into town rather than taking a chance on a problem at the airport.

I'll look for my help elsewhere.