Back from Millenium, 6-02-04

[cruisintwinsmom]

Sorry for the dalay--not at home and had to snag a laptop from DH.

I'll try to answer some of the questions, if I miss anything just reask.

Formal nights:
Livorno and the two sea nights.

Claudia took us to pasta and pizza type resturants. The one in Florence was great, it had "Nuti" in the name.

We didn't need a transformer or adapter in the cabin. We did bring and extension cord; there is an outlet by the desk which had 2 or 4 plugs. The outlet in the bathroom is only for shavers.

I don't know about booking any tours with the ship as we either had private guides or did it on our own.

In Villefranche: We tendered in a little later than most, although we still had to get a number. Walked up the hill, caught the #100 bus to Nice, transferred at the bus depot to St. Paul de Vence. (an information desk inside can help with times, which bay to catch it, and costs; if you have any other questions for Nice, ask the information person at that time, when we returned she was gone and no one else in the depot spoke English.) The people in France were not the most helpful, eventhough we tried to be nice. I'll try to have more information for you when I get home as my bus schedules are there.

Have to give back the laptop--will catch you all later.

[jglass]

cruisintwinsmom, can you tellme what the transfer from the plane to the dock in Barcelona was like and when you could board the ship? Also, you said you walked around Las Ramblas, When and how did you do this? I'll be on the Millie in 7 days, and arriving in Barcelona around the same time in the AM. Wondering about logistics, and would like to see some of Barcelona. Thanks for all your help.

jglass

[cruisintwinsmom]

jglass,
We had 2 night precruise hotel stay in Barcelona. Sorry I left that out. We had transfers with the cruiseship since we set everything up with them. Celebrity had two people at the airport to meet us and they called for the vans (there were about 8 of us at the airport). They took us straight to the hotel. On departure day, we had to be in the lobby by 10:30am. We were on the ship by 11:30. The rooms weren't ready, so we left out carryons in the room and roamed around the ship until the buffet was ready at noon.

I'm not sure if you can get off the ship once on or not. You can call Celebrity and ask them what the possiblities are. We did see people walking with all their luggage to the ship. I think they may have taken a bus that let them off at the top of a bridge-it looked like a fairly long walk.

[Margarita Jane]

Cruisintwinsmom -

You wrote that you have bus schedules for Villefranche to Nice to St. Paul de Vence and return trip? We are on 10/24 Millenium tenders from Villefranche, and would like to use bus or train to see St. Paul and Nice, but wondering how much time to allow for St. Paul de Vence. Would appreciate any help!

Jane

[Texed]

The dinners on Millennium were as follows:
Barcelona: Casual
Villefrance: Casual
Livorno: Formal
Civitavecchia: Informal
Naples: Casual
At Sea: Formal
Mykonos: Casual
Santorini: Casual
Piraeus: Informal
At Sea: Formal
Dubrovnik: Informal
Venice: Casual

Did that help? Millennium was a great ship. We are booked on Galaxy to Europe next year. It is one of our favorite cruise destinations.

[cruisintwinsmom]

The 100 bus leaves Villefranche every 15 minutes. I don't have a time schedule for it. It takes about 15 minutes to get to the bus depot in Nice. From there the 400 goes to St. Paul de Vence. The time schedule varies due to the day of the week. We were there on Thursday and the bus left the depot at 8:45am, 10:00am, 11:00am, 11:45am, 12:45, 13:30, 14:30, 15:45, 16:15, 17:15, 18:15, 19:30 and 20:15. From St. Paul de Vence the buses left at 10:35, 11:20, 12:05, 12:50, 13:50, 14:35, 15:05, 15:35, 16:10, 16:40, 17:20, 17:50, 18:35, 19:20. There are some that leave earlier than I posted, but don't think you could get there that early. Also note the time the last bus leaves. The times I posted are for weekdays, I think. Sat. and Sun. have different times. It takes about an hour to get there and an hour to return. We did St. Paul de Vence first so we could work our way back in to the ship. We did a leisurely pace and you could probably fit more into the day than we did. I would think 2 hours would be enough in St. Paul, unless you like to go into all the little shops. I believe others took the train and then caught the bus to St. Paul, but we felt more comfortable sticking with the bus. The buses were not well A/C, but read that the trains are. I can't remember what I said in my original post, but I did ask a taxi in St. Paul for a cost to Nice; he said, 50-55E depending on traffic.

An information desk is available where the tender drops you off in Villefrache and there is also one at the bus depot in Nice, but it closes in the afternoon, so get all you questions answered when you first get there. No one else in the depot could speak English (or at least admit to it).

Hope this helps.

Sorry if I missed any questions, with this new board it is difficult to read the questions and post an answer. Sure miss the old popup reply that was on the old board. If anyone needs to, please repost your question.

Happy Sailing!

[Margarita Jane]

I really appreciate the info on the buses, and on the time spent in St. Paul de Vence.

We have been to Villefranche before, but it was during a transportation strike! No buses and no trains! We took a taxi to Monte Carlo and spent most of the day.