alabama ghost

Last year we sailed from Montreal and up farther north starting September 30. The weather was great, and we seldom needed anything more than a light jacket. October is probably even a little better because more leaves are likely to be changing then - and I don't think it's cold then.

We had snow in mid October in Quebec!

We live in Montgomery Alabama. Everyone I've read said we needed kunas for the walls and public transportation. We'll plan on using credit cards as much as possible.

Hi Soccer Mom!

We're on the same cruise and have been watching the events in Greece closely. Although ATM withdrawal limits don't apply to foreign banks (like mine in the US), we'll probably take more euros than we had previously planned, just in case things change. I just hope we don't have to take drachmas!

From what I'm reading, using of credit cards has not been a problem.

We'll also get kunas pre-cruise, since we'll need those in both stops in Croatia. They don't take euros there.

It's getting close!

Pam:cool:

We loved the miniature railroad! Really impressive and huge with both day and night shows, airports, Florida, Paris, the Swiss Alps. Great way to spend some time and see something different!

Different white and reds every day. If there's some left from a previous white or red, you can also have that at no extra charge.

Also, we paid for the drinks package on a 8 day Rhine cruise, which was very reasonable (maybe $20 per day) and had whatever we wanted, whenever.

We'll be on the Quest on May 7, too. Can't wait, leaving soon so we'll have a few days in Rome ahead of time. As long as it doesn't rain all the time, I'm happy, can always put on a sweater or light jacket. Very interested in hearing weather report. Also, hope our tour in Bastia wasn't cancelled.

Keep up the good work, I'm bringing my own laptop so I'll be able to compose off line, what I always do when emailing from a ship.

Looking forward to hearing more!

Pam

:DThanks for all your help. Keep it coming! We were there about 5 years ago and a group of 12 of us just went out, found a place where we could all sit down. We ordered various types of tapas, passed them around, pitchers of sangria, had a great time! Had no idea this was against the tapas tradition, just had a great time! Some of our group have difficulty waking long distances which is why we wanted somewhere we could just send by cab if necessary. We'll be on the Azamara Quest and most likely will have a shuttle to the foot of Las Ramblas, so any recommendations close to there or where some can go by cab? We don't necessarily need to pre-book a table, just wanted to go somewhere it was possible to sit down.

Thanks so much!:cool:

Hi!

We'll be in Barcelona on May 14 and are looking for a good place for our group of 16 to go for tapas. So many of the places seem to be a stand up bar kind of place but we'd like one where we could all sit together and order. It would be great if we could find a place that would take reservations, too.

Anyone with a recommendation?

Thanks,

Pam

On our Viking cruise in August I met a couple from the UK who had to pay full price. They said the 2 for 1 wasn't available for them. I don't know if the pricing structure they got was different or they did actually pay the original price, just surprised by their comment.

We did this trip in August, so no Christmas markets, but it was great. We stayed at the Hotel Gotthard, which I think is next door to the Euler, across from the main train station.

I never saw them check tickets on the tram, great way to get around. We got a large taxi from the Basel airport since there were 6 of us and lots of luggage, but still easy. Where are the Christmas markets held in Basel?

Have a great trip! Looking forward to reading all about it.

Pam

I have a question for you about Jim Archer. We have him booked for our visit to Auckland. How did you find his service?

We had heard about Jim on cruise critic and emailed him about a tour in Rotarua, but he was booked for the day we were to be there. He offered the Auckland tour with pickup at the ship and transfer to the airport which worked great for us. We had a group of 8 and he took us all around Auckland with stops for coffee and lunch. We had a great time with him.

Our cruise ended in Auckland. We spent the day touring there, Jim Archer picked us up at the ship. After our tour of Auckland he took us to the airport for (most of us) a flight to Sydney.

We spent the night close to the airport in Sydney and had a morning flight out to LAX where we had a couple of hour layover before a flight to Atlanta. We got to Atlanta about 3:50pm. It was a long, tiring flight, but I would do it again over stopping overnight in LA.

My husband and mother both have trouble with stairs and we just try to get to the location of the muster drill well before the time so they won't have to climb the stairs. It's never been a problem with us. Of course, we always have to wait around a while after, too, before we try to get an elevator because of the crowd.

Our group had a total of 4 tours with RIL, 2 in Rome and 2 in Florence, tours of 8 persons each.

We all paid for the tours individually, in Euros, collected by the one who made the arrangements with Jany. I got some cash before we left home and some more in Rome at an ATM. Some members of our group got Euros in Florence or Livorno at ATMs. Others got Euros on board the ship.

We were on the Crystal Symphony and at each port they had someone from a local bank who came in and changed $ for us.

While we were in Rome we kept our money in a safe at our hotel; when we left the hotel we had a transfer to Civitaveccia (personal, not cruise line), and when we got to the ship we kept the majority of our Euros in the safe in our stateroom.

I had qualms about carrying so much cash but it really wasn't a problem.

Enjoy your trip! RIL were great!

Pam