Silver Spirit LIS-Barbados-FLL 21 Oct

[dougburns]

The "Lovely Miss Lynn" and I are going and will do a 2 night pre-cruise at Lapa Palace in Lisbon. Emmy Webb from London is also going. Anyone else?

[Emtbsam]

We are holding reservations on the same itinerary but will most likely change them to the B2B FLL on the Spirit in early December. The flights are much easier, and the weather should be good for the whole trip. Any interest in changing your reservation?

[dougburns]

No interest in changing. We like the sea days on the TA crossing. The only reason we're continuing from Barbados-FLL is that we don't want to fly out of Barbados. Besides, we have a good friend from London traveling with us. SS air has been very accommodating in getting us to Lisbon with a PHX-LHR-LIS itinerary on BA. We had a wonderful time on the 2009 maiden TA.

[passportready]

Why is it you do not wish to fly out of Barbados? I have flown home from there one time a number of years ago--I dont remember any issues. did I miss something I should be aware of?

[dougburns]

There have been a lot of problems with baggage and transportation pier/airport and with hotel hospitality suites. Also, it's a real pain to get from Barbados-Phoenix; whereas we get a dierct flight from FLL.

[Herman The Cat]

The "Lovely Miss Lynn" and I are going and will do a 2 night pre-cruise at Lapa Palace in Lisbon. Emmy Webb from London is also going. Anyone else?

 

Doug, so glad to hear you will be making the trip. What can we say but we wish we were joining you and Lynn!

[bsrkent]

Hi Doug,

Barb & I look forward to meeting you & Miss Lynn on this one. We have enjoyed RSSC a number of times as well as the Silver Whisper.

I have lurked your (& Wes') comments for a while and agree with most of your thoughts on the evolution of both of these cruise lines.

All the best,

/Steve

[Herman The Cat]

The "Lovely Miss Lynn" and I are going and will do a 2 night pre-cruise at Lapa Palace in Lisbon. Emmy Webb from London is also going. Anyone else?

 

We just received the June issue of Travel & Leisure yesterday in the mail. The Lapa Palace was voted the #1 City Hotel in Europe. They featured a few stats: staffers 84; staff to guest ratio of 1:2; drivers on call for visits to hilltop town of Sintra = 30; types of pillows on offer for tired guests= 9. Looks and sounds lovely! :)

[dougburns]

Lapa Palace is a wonderful hotel. Why don't you and David join us there and for the cruise?

[Herman The Cat]

Lapa Palace is a wonderful hotel. Why don't you and David join us there and for the cruise?

 

We would love to and it is oh-so-tempting! But we are on the Spirit in late August/early September and I fear another vacation 6 weeks after the last might be too soon. Plus it is an extraordinarly busy time at work for me. Though, maybe we should consider flying over for a long weekend and join you and Lynne for a few days.... :rolleyes:

[palamoh]

We are doing Barbados / Phx on Dec 11th belive AA has a 10:20 AM departure to DFW connecting to PHX. At any rate can't go wrong w/an overnight in Barbados

[dougburns]

We'll arrive Lisbon on 19 Oct for 2 nights at Lapa Palace before boarding the ship. Would love to see you both. You can fly Newark-Lisbon direct on Continental. Flight arrives LIS @ 0800 in the morning.

[dougburns]

Just received via our TA the new e-mail Pre-cruise Documentation package from SS that used to come by snail mail. Seems like a good idea long overdue. I guess that from now on the only mailed documentation from SS will be the final cruise docs 21-30 days prior to the cruise. We already have our air schedule, which also came via e-mail.

[Herman The Cat]

We'll arrive Lisbon on 19 Oct for 2 nights at Lapa Palace before boarding the ship. Would love to see you both. You can fly Newark-Lisbon direct on Continental. Flight arrives LIS @ 0800 in the morning.

 

Doug, my Fall schedule is now really heating up. A weekend in Lisbon sound fabulous but I'm afraid I already have a few work commitments (:() that have already come up on those days. We will miss spending time with you and Lynne but will be with you in spirit! Hopefully our paths will cross again soon. (We are booked Dec. 11 from Barbados to FLL in case you want to do a repeat of last year! :rolleyes:). Best, Lisa & David.

[Ainhoa]

I am doing this trip on the Cloud and I have just been trying to book hotels in Lisbon prior to the cruise. To my amazement, many of them are full for the four days beforehand and the reason for this, as one kind hotel explained to me, it that these are "congress" dates. That is, there are lots of conferences going on in Lisbon from 19/20 to the 24th. If you are wanting a hotel prior to this cruise, you need to book now if you haven't already done so.

[gnld]

Why is it you do not wish to fly out of Barbados? I have flown home from there one time a number of years ago--I don't remember any issues. did I miss something I should be aware of?

 

Hi, Doug -- I see you & Miss Lynn will be back on the Spirit again. Carol will be having foot surgery later this summer, so will be down for a few months.

 

We did a r/t Barbados in January on the Wind Surf. Didn't realize how far south Barbados was from the US! AA flies it non-stop from Dallas now -- it's 6 hours going there and 6.5 hours coming back. And for us, add 3 hours more to get to DFW from San Diego. The morning prior to the cruise, we were talking to a couple from London while lazing on the beach; they had a non-stop from London -- 8.5 hours. Our flights from CA were longer!

 

Gary

[dusababy]

We did a r/t Barbados in January on the Wind Surf. Didn't realize how far south Barbados was from the US! AA flies it non-stop from Dallas now -- it's 6 hours going there and 6.5 hours coming back. And for us, add 3 hours more to get to DFW from San Diego. The morning prior to the cruise, we were talking to a couple from London while lazing on the beach; they had a non-stop from London -- 8.5 hours. Our flights from CA were longer!

 

Gary

 

 

Gary --

That's the thing our friends on the East Coast keep forgetting....it takes us a long time to even get to the starting gate with them!

I'm breaking up a departure from Southampton with an overnight on Long Island with a travel pal who lives there. We'll continue together - JFK/LHR -

easier for me to hit the deck running...;)

[gnld]

We did a r/t Barbados in January on the Wind Surf. Didn't realize how far south Barbados was from the US! AA flies it non-stop from Dallas now -- it's 6 hours going there and 6.5 hours coming back. And for us, add 3 hours more to get to DFW from San Diego. The morning prior to the cruise, we were talking to a couple from London while lazing on the beach; they had a non-stop from London -- 8.5 hours. Our flights from CA were longer!

 

Gary

 

 

Gary --

That's the thing our friends on the East Coast keep forgetting....it takes us a long time to even get to the starting gate with them!

I'm breaking up a departure from Southampton with an overnight on Long Island with a travel pal who lives there. We'll continue together - JFK/LHR -

easier for me to hit the deck running...;)

 

We did that last time coming back from Barcelona. Flew Aer Lingus to Boston, via Dublin, and spend the night there -- just missed seeing a Red Sox game! Had a tour of Fenway Park the next morning, then Jet Blue non-stop to San Diego in the afternoon. Jet Blue flight was only 1 hour less than the DUB-BOS flight!

[aruba jack]

We land at Lisbon airport around 5:30 PM a day prior to cruise departure. We need to take a taxi to the Tiara Park hotel. Do the taxis take credit cards or do we need Euros-if so is there a place at the airport for this. Any information would be helpful. Thanks.

[dougburns]

You will need cash for the taxi. You can use U.S. dollars. Hotels, restaurants, etc. all take credit cards, or you can get euros at the hotel. Tiara Park is right next to the Ritz Four Seasons. It's @ a 25 minute ride from the airport.

[aruba jack]

Doug, Thanks so much for the info. We intend to use our credit offering no foreign transaction fees for most of the trip. Knowing we can use US dollars for the taxi ride is good news and one less complication.

[dougburns]

Final payment yesterday! Boy, am I ready!

[Herman The Cat]

Final payment yesterday! Boy, am I ready!

 

Congrats! It will be here before you know it!:)

[dougburns]

Lisa; When is your Med cruise aboard Spirit? I was thinking it was in Aug. We'll be thinking of you.

[Herman The Cat]

Lisa; When is your Med cruise aboard Spirit? I was thinking it was in Aug. We'll be thinking of you.

 

Doug, we are on the Spirit departing 8/27 from Venice to Athens. I also booked the Spirit for Dec. 11 from Barbados to FLL. I couldn't resist--so I made the executive decision. David thinks it is probably a little too soon for another cruise, but like Lynn he will be very happy once he is there. I am so glad to hear you will be cruising in October.

 

I do hope to post a few times from the Spirit to let everyone know how it is, should the internet and time allow.

 

Best to you both--we will miss you on the Spirit in December!

Lisa

xo