Celebrity, Silhouette, November 1, 2014 - Transatlantic

[torjen]

Scott,

 

When we did our first tour through the Mediterranean our first stop was supposed to be Livorno but bad weather made then switch ports to La Spezzia.

The rain was horrific... ;-) we were drenched by the time we arrived at the train station. I can see though why you want to have a closer look at cinque terre. It looked amazing.

[torjen]

Didn't mean to hit send just now. But I am using a nice new app on my iPhone I apparently don't know THAT well yet.

Of course the celebrity tours are always the best in terms of will the ship still be there when we come back --- your ideas of the other ports sound very nice. Barcelona is a great city to walk through. They also have a great public transporation system to get you places.

I have never been on Tenerife - so that will be interesting --- maybe a nature 4x4 tour I believe they will have more tours available once we are closer to our sail date.

In the meantime I continue to enjoy my vacation in Portugal.

[Turtles06]

Thanks, Judith for the great advice.

 

I just signed up on the main board, as well, so hopefully we can work out some plans between that one and this one.

 

If anyone here might share some of our interests, please let me know. Would be quite happy to see us put together a couple of outings.

 

Just, fyi, everyone, Jan and I are both wine lovers. I have a pretty healthy collection and have been doing courses toward my sommelier certification, just for fun. It's a hobby of sorts. So we definitely want to squeeze in a wine visit or two.

 

Below, I will share some of my ideas for excursions. If anyone is interested and would like to bat around a few group activities, please let me know!

 

Cheers…and thanks again, Judith!

 

Best,

 

Scott

 

________________

 

What I posted on the main board:

 

Hi everyone!

 

We are two fun guys from Toronto (54 and 40) who are planning to be on this cruise.

 

Have done several Celebrity cruises before, but never a TA!

 

Very much looking forward to it.

 

Great to see such an active board already!

 

Nice pre-crossing itinerary on this one. We are going to spend a couple of days in Venice pre-cruise and then fly to Rome from there to meet the ship.

 

We've been to Rome, Florence and Tuscany before, as well as to the south of France, but not to any other stops on this itinerary. Happy to help with what little advice we can offer, if anyone has any questions.

 

Some thoughts on what we might like to do:

 

If anyone shares these interests or has any other suggestions, please let us know.

 

We are REALLY into wine, btw; I am a collector and I am doing my sommelier designation, just for fun

 

1. Livorno: Since we have already been to Florence (a wonderful place…be sure to see David at L'Academia and the Uffezi), we were thinking we might like to visit Cinque Terre. Not too worried about the weather, although I know it can be hit and miss. When we were in Tuscany in November, 2012, we had BEAUTIFUL weather….a bit cool, but highly pleasant. There was some flooding between Rome and Florence that was quite bad, but we were not impacted. We certainly don't mind a bit of rain, either. But let's keep our fingers crossed for sunshine! Another weatherproofoption would be a wine tour of Bolgheri and the Super Tuscans. Not really into Chianti all that much, honestly.

 

2. Provence: Wine tour with stop in Aix (where I have been) or Cassis (where we have not). Have contacted a company about seeing what I might be able to set up.

 

3. Barcelona: May just go into the city and poke around. Have never been, so a walking tour hitting the major sites, all the Gaudi, and some tapas would be ideal.

 

4. Palma: Considering an island tour of Mallorca with some wine tasting sprinkled in.

 

5. Tenerife: Not really sure what to do….possibly an island tour. Suggestions most welcome.

 

I noticed that Celebrity does not have much in terms of Shore Excursions yet on the website. Does anyone know if this is expected to rise as we get nearer to sail date or will this be it?

 

Anyway, we look forward to this cruise and to meeting new friends.

 

Scott (and Jan)

Toronto, Canada

 

Hi Scott,

 

Great that you posted over on the "main" Roll Call. Eileen and I have been to Barcelona, so if you have any questions, I might be able to help answer them. I found this web site to be very helpful when we were doing our planning:

 

http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/

 

Since you mentioned the Gaudi sites, when you are at La Sagrada Familia, I highly recommend going up into the towers of the Nativity façade ... And of course a visit to La Pedrera with its fantastical roof.

 

In Barcelona: I am organizing a private tour to Montserrat (total time with travel about 5 hours) to be followed on the return to Barcelona by an inside visit to La Sagrada Familia and Park Guell. (If anyone is interested, please let me know; this is with the well-regarded Barcelona Day Tours.)

 

I was actually in Tenerife decades ago and don't recall much, except that a main "attraction" is the cable car ride to the top of the Pico de Teide... I suspect we will do a Celebrity tour in Tenerife, as it's not exactly the port where you can chance missing the ship! :)

 

Speaking of wine . . . We are very much into champagne but, alas, that's a different part of France! (We have been there, though; totally loved going into the ancient chalk cellars!)

 

Judith

[TorontoSailor]

Torsten, that ran sounds DAUNTING. Making me rethink Cinque Terre seriously, especially if we have a soggy time in Venice :) That sounds like something best endured from the dry comfort of a minivan. Hmmm. I saw also that the TA this year was also unable to dock at Livorno because of weather. Perhaps this is a common occurrence. One of the advantages of booking through Celebrity, of course, is that if the ship does not dock you are not out of pocket on any tours. And, of course, making the ship is a good idea, too. So big buffer is a good idea.

 

Judith, we LOVE Champagne, too! I think there may be a couple of toasts in our future :) (I'm a real Blanc de Blancs fan.)

 

Meantime, thought I would toss this out there to our little group and see if anyone is interested before I take it over to the "main" board.

 

I have been in touch with Gaetan Thurot of Provence Wine Tours for our stop in Toulon/Provence.

 

In case you don't know of them, they are very highly regarded on TripAdvisor:

 

http://www.provencewinetours.com

 

http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Attraction_Review-g187253-d1566101-Reviews-Provence_Wine_Tours-Marseille_Bouches_du_Rhone_Provence.html

 

Geatane has recommended the following program from Toulon, which sounds GREAT, for 95 euros pp.

 

So far, just me and Jan, but I have told him that we would try to find others.

 

If anyone is interested, please let me know directly….and I can email Gaetane and add you to the reservation.

 

I have never been to Cassis, so I think that is a bonus.

 

If no one is interested, no worries; sure we'll find some others on the main board. Just wanted to put this out here first, as I've asked Gaetane to go ahead and make the booking. (He will add people himself if he gets any requests.)

 

Best regards,

 

Scott

 

Below, the details:

 

_______________________________

 

 

Thank you for your email. We will be pleased to take you on a wine tour on Nov 3rd from Toulon.

 

Please find hereafter the program I propose:

 

Wine Tour around Bandol & Cassis - Full-day

 

- Departure/ return: 9.00am - 4.30pm at the latest

- Pick up/ drop off from the pier - Look for someone holding a "Provence Wine Tour' sign

- Visit and tastings to 2 wineries

- 2H free time to visit and lunch in the charming little port of Cassis - on your own

- Stop on top of Cap Canaille to enjoy a beautiful view over the Mediterranean sea

- Price: 95€/person- payment in cash on departure day

 

However, from Toulon, we require a minimum of 6-8 people to guarantee the departure. In the group, we can be up to 8 people maximum.

 

Please let me know how many people you are in total and if you have any chance to find others.

 

I can also create a group myself depending on the different booking request I will receive and keep you posted about it. But for this, I need to know how many you are anyway.

 

Do not hesitate to ask should you have any question,

Thank you,

With kind regards,

Gaëtane

--

Gaëtane Thurot

Manager - Provence Wine Tours

http://www.provencewinetours.com

Email: gthurot@provencewinetours.com

Tel: +33 (0)6 29 21 91 17

Wine Tours in Provence- Private & group tours

Transfer from/to Hotel - Airport- Train station

[stjohn1]

At this time in our lives, all we want to do is get on the ship and chill :)

 

That said, Barcelona is the number one destination. We're thinking about the hop-on/hop-off bus which will allow us to see the city and spend as much time as we want at Sagrada Familia. Has anybody used this before?

 

For the rest of the ports we're seriously considering just walking around and finding a nice place for lunch. Scott, we'll let you advise us on the local wines :)

 

John

[Turtles06]

 

That said, Barcelona is the number one destination. We're thinking about the hop-on/hop-off bus which will allow us to see the city and spend as much time as we want at Sagrada Familia. Has anybody used this before?

 

...

John

 

We used the metro to get around Barcelona when we were there; very easy to use. But certainly others use HOHO. The only "bad" thing I've read about it is that it can be very crowded and you might not be able to get on a bus, but I suspect that will not be the case when we are there, which won't exactly be high season. The other issue is how long you have to wait for the next bus.

 

The Port of Call/Spain board is very good for researching something like this, if you haven't looked there already.

 

If you do have sufficient time at La Sagrada Familia, you can go up into the towers. I highly recommend the Nativity Façade tower, which puts you up close and personal with the façade on which Gaudi worked personally. (But you do have to walk down from that tower, which can be a problem for some folks.) Great view of the city, as well.

 

 

(photo by turtles06)

[TorontoSailor]

Judith, that pic is beautiful. Makes me really excited to be to a city I have never been before!

 

John, you will have plenty of great local wines to choose from. Spanish wine is one of the best values in the market today: they "pre-age" it for us, so you are getting wines that are 9 or 10 years old already for far less than the price of French new releases.

 

Spanish wine is an absolute fave of mine and the ones from Priorat DOQ, southwest of Catalonia and relatively close to Barcelona, are among the VERY BEST anywhere. YUM!!!!! Now, if only we could get some home on this trip!

 

Scott

[Turtles06]

John, you will have plenty of great local wines to choose from. Spanish wine is one of the best values in the market today: they "pre-age" it for us, so you are getting wines that are 9 or 10 years old already for far less than the price of French new releases.

 

Spanish wine is an absolute fave of mine and the ones from Priorat DOQ, southwest of Catalonia and relatively close to Barcelona, are among the VERY BEST anywhere. YUM!!!!! Now, if only we could get some home on this trip!

 

Scott

 

The Infinity cruise that preceded our TA last fall was one of Celebrity's "wine immersion" cruises, with key ports in France. A number of folks did the TA as a back to back, and told us that Celebrity allowed them to bring wine aboard at the various ports AND keep it in their cabins for drinking on board. (The folks right below us on the TA invited us to a little party one afternoon and they had quite the collection of wine from the prior cruise! I'm sure you would have loved it.)

 

Celebrity's rule is that this isn't allowed, but exceptions seem to be made depending on the ship and the itinerary. Worst case is that if you bring wine aboard from a port, they will take it and give it back to you at the end of the cruise. (Of course, you still have to get it home to Canada...)

 

There is a "young" Spanish wine that we enjoy a great deal --- albariño. (And definitely a great value price-wise.)

 

Thanks for the kind words on the photo.

 

BTW, we've never been to Provence. We are thinking of taking the ship's tour from Toulon to Aix, as that seems a good place for first-timers. Any thoughts?

 

Thanks,

Judith

[TorontoSailor]

The Infinity cruise that preceded our TA last fall was one of Celebrity's "wine immersion" cruises, with key ports in France. A number of folks did the TA as a back to back, and told us that Celebrity allowed them to bring wine aboard at the various ports AND keep it in their cabins for drinking on board. (The folks right below us on the TA invited us to a little party one afternoon and they had quite the collection of wine from the prior cruise! I'm sure you would have loved it.)

 

Celebrity's rule is that this isn't allowed, but exceptions seem to be made depending on the ship and the itinerary. Worst case is that if you bring wine aboard from a port, they will take it and give it back to you at the end of the cruise. (Of course, you still have to get it home to Canada...)

 

There is a "young" Spanish wine that we enjoy a great deal --- albariño. (And definitely a great value price-wise.)

 

Thanks for the kind words on the photo.

 

BTW, we've never been to Provence. We are thinking of taking the ship's tour from Toulon to Aix, as that seems a good place for first-timers. Any thoughts?

 

Thanks,

Judith

 

Judith:

 

Aix is a very pleasant place. Have been there a couple of times--and if I hadn't I would certainly go again.

 

They have a very nice market on some days, with both local produce and other good souvenirs. (You would have to check on date.) Some great shops for browsing in, though, and lovely just to stroll around. Very relaxed.

 

One of my fondest memories of Aix is sitting on the patio of a bistro on the main restaurant strip (forget its name, but will find it for you), sipping a glass of outstanding local rose (and I am not a rose fan at all), enjoying a delicious leisurely lunch of Provencal cuisine, and watching the beautiful people stroll by.

 

Aix is quite chic as the south of France goes. I think you would enjoy it. It is less about great things to see and do, and more about the overall experience, if that makes sense. Lovely spot.

 

Can't attest to how a group bus tour would be (I typically am not a fan) but I suspect you would see some rather nice scenery en route, too, and then would be free to explore on your own. Great place for just strolling about. Civilized.

 

Scott

[Turtles06]

Scott, thanks very much for the advice on Aix. It sounds like just what we should do that day.

[SHill64]

Shaun (Shill64) on the Roll Call is hosting a dedicated web site for our TA (link to home page below) on which, among other things, he has posted info for folks who are organizing private shore excursions, so interested people can contact them.

 

http://silhouette4us.webs.com/

 

I hope this is of some help.

 

Judith

 

Speak of that Lil' Devil! :D Is this where all the fun people are hanging out!! :p Just coming over to say hello to all my peeps!

 

SDT

[Turtles06]

Speak of that Lil' Devil! :D Is this where all the fun people are hanging out!! :p Just coming over to say hello to all my peeps!

 

SDT

 

Hi Shaun, you found us, this is where it's happening! :):):)

[torjen]

I guess I didn't mean to steel anyone from your group Shaun... :) but maybe the

G&L theme is sometimes too much for the other cruisers...

The two previous TAs have shown that a G&L roll call is an awesome place to meet everyone before the cruise.

And we can just help eachother - I am amazed as to how many posts we already have in our little group - I mean the cruise is only in November...

It will be an awesome tour ! ! !

 

When I am back in Berlin I will try to add a few idea of my own - I know I will get a private tour in Toulon from a friend that lives down the coast in La Ciotat I will ask him about great places to visit - his sister own a fine restaurant so I am sure I will be able to get some wine treasure infos from them.

:)

 

Take care y'all...

 

Torsten

 

Hi Shaun, you found us, this is where it's happening! :):):)

[stjohn1]

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely check out the metro.

 

What a fabulous pic. I used to be into climbing towers - St. Paul's, St. Peter's, Chartes, etc., but climbing stairs (either up or down) is not as much fun as it used to be :)

 

We used the metro to get around Barcelona when we were there; very easy to use. But certainly others use HOHO. The only "bad" thing I've read about it is that it can be very crowded and you might not be able to get on a bus, but I suspect that will not be the case when we are there, which won't exactly be high season. The other issue is how long you have to wait for the next bus.

 

The Port of Call/Spain board is very good for researching something like this, if you haven't looked there already.

 

If you do have sufficient time at La Sagrada Familia, you can go up into the towers. I highly recommend the Nativity Façade tower, which puts you up close and personal with the façade on which Gaudi worked personally. (But you do have to walk down from that tower, which can be a problem for some folks.) Great view of the city, as well.

 

 

(photo by turtles06)

[TorontoSailor]

Hi all:

 

Happy to report that the Provence Wine Tour that I arranged is now full! Wow! That did not take long at all.

 

We have eight people and are a full group.

 

Cheers,

 

Scott

[TorontoSailor]

Speak of that Lil' Devil! :D Is this where all the fun people are hanging out!! :p Just coming over to say hello to all my peeps!

 

SDT

 

Hi Shaun:

 

I will definitely join your FB group.

 

Haven't yet because this trip is a 40th birthday gift for Jan. But once the cat is out of the bag (may be sooner rather than later!), I will DEFINITELY join.

 

I think this is going to be a great cruise with some GREAT PEOPLE. Been really impressed with the warm little communities we are building on both boards.

 

Look forward to being active on both!

 

Cheers,

 

Scott

[TorontoSailor]

I guess I didn't mean to steel anyone from your group Shaun... :) but maybe the

G&L theme is sometimes too much for the other cruisers...

The two previous TAs have shown that a G&L roll call is an awesome place to meet everyone before the cruise.

And we can just help eachother - I am amazed as to how many posts we already have in our little group - I mean the cruise is only in November...

It will be an awesome tour ! ! !

 

When I am back in Berlin I will try to add a few idea of my own - I know I will get a private tour in Toulon from a friend that lives down the coast in La Ciotat I will ask him about great places to visit - his sister own a fine restaurant so I am sure I will be able to get some wine treasure infos from them.

:)

 

Take care y'all...

 

Torsten

 

I think it is GREAT that there are two groups. Plan to keep active on both :)

 

Getting a REALLY good vibe about the fun and interesting people who will be joining us on this sailing. Think it is going to be a good one!

 

Scott

[TorontoSailor]

Scott, thanks very much for the advice on Aix. It sounds like just what we should do that day.

 

My pleasure. I think you will really enjoy it there. Lovely city. Very classic Provence.

 

Scott

[Turtles06]

Hi everyone,

 

I've posted this on the "main" Roll Call but also wanted to flag it here...

 

I am organizing a private tour from Barcelona to Montserrat that will also include inside visits to La Sagrada Familia and Park Guell in Barcelona (two of the Gaudi "biggies"). The excursion is with Barcelona Day Tours, which gets excellent reviews here on Cruise Critic, and will run from approximately 9am-5pm. Here's their web site:

 

http://www.barcelonadaytours.com/

 

Specifically, we’d be picked up at the ship at 9am, have 2-3 hours in Montserrat, and then spend the remaining time back in Barcelona visiting La Sagrada Familia and Park Guell. The cost is 99 Euros per person (not including the admission charges to La Sagrada Familia or Park Guell, or lunch).

 

If you are interested or have questions, please email me here:

 

guntergirl2008ATmsn.DOTcom (of course, replace the AT with @ and the DOT with a period)

 

Thanks, and I hope you can join us!

 

Judith

[SHill64]

Hello All!

 

Here's the tours that have seats available on my website:

 

Ilana (IBM) Palma highlights tour - 12 seats available

Judith (Turtles06) Barcelona/Montserrat tour - ? seat available

Fran (Sabu24) Rome city tour/Oct. 31 - 3 seats available

Fran (Sabu24) Barcelona/Montserrat tour - 1 seat available

Ellen (sailnjmom) Tuscany wine tasting tour - 4 seats available

Ben (Elliotbay) Tenerife tour - ? seats available

 

If you haven't been to my site for this cruise, the link is in my signature at the bottom of all my posts. http://silhouette4us.webs.com/

 

Shaun

[Turtles06]

We got too quiet here -- we dropped off the first screen!

 

Only 9 months to sailaway, but who's counting! :)

 

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

 

Judith

[torjen]

I WAS THINKING THE SAME THING!

oops - no shouting...

 

I just logged into Celebrity to see about the drinks packages... and OH BOY have the raised their prices...

 

I wonder if there will ever be a special...

 

Sunny greetings from Berlin

 

T

 

 

We got too quiet here -- we dropped off the first screen!

 

Only 9 months to sailaway, but who's counting! :)

 

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

 

Judith

[Turtles06]

I just logged into Celebrity to see about the drinks packages... and OH BOY have the raised their prices...

 

I wonder if there will ever be a special...

 

Sunny greetings from Berlin

 

T

 

You scared me -- I thought the beverage packages had gone up. I just checked the web site. Those are the prices that have been in effect for some time; the packages are expensive, but I don't believe those are new prices.

 

I think Celebrity has pretty much given up offering a promo on beverage packages for the TAs, but we can always hope! :)

[torjen]

sorry about scaring you - they show the prices in € if you look at them from over here!

I guess the exchange rate they are charing isn't the best - hence the rather expensive prices...

 

have a good weekend !!!

 

Torsten

[stjohn1]

Our friends and neighbors, John and Ed, have booked this cruise. I've given them the link for this board, but they're busy having fun in Mexico. Tough life.

 

In any event, we're late dining (early dining cuts into the cocktail hour and we certainly can't have that) and are going to link our table reservations for the MDR.

 

If any of you late diners would like to join us, please email me. As the Flintstones' song says "we'll have a gay old time" :)

 

 

John

 

Email is johncaster at dc dot rr dot com