17th October 2009 Barcelona - Ft Lauderdale HAL Oosterdam

[edu-sense]

Any one going or thinking of going on this, we just booked, great itinaririririry <--- could not spell it. Ship is docking in Italy this April for a major overhaul to bring it up to Vistaclass standard.:o Would be great to get a few FOD meetings again, the Eurodam this year was brilliant and the cruise director sorted a few different things out.

 

TTFN (might see you onboard)

[edu-sense]

we know there are 6 of us on this cruise so far and as we board in barcelona a day before we depart we are looking at sorting out a evening in sidges, the gay capital of spain, so anyone interested let me know, and if anyone has any thoughts as to what we might do all suggestions are welcome.

[winemama]

count in my partner karen and i..we love traveling with family.....

[edu-sense]

Marylandbob + 1

Edusense = Karl

Maidstone cruiser = Andy

Jason + Steve

Winemama + Karen

 

Anyone else who wants to go on the FOD roll call just post, I will keep you up to date of any FOD activities as well as an excursion to Sidges I will try and sort out, it will only cost for the transport and will be on the 17th of October leaving ship early evening.

 

Anyone who has been to Sidges before, your suggestions are welcome.

 

Thanks,

 

Karl:D

[edu-sense]

Please put your 2 cents in !!

 

 

Looking at the guide to Sitges, it is possible to do a bit of a bar crawl catering for both males and females avoiding the sex and sleaze, but if people want that they can always head off on their own. There are 2 bars that get great reviews, Marypili seems like a great place to finish up, it is advertised as a bar for women but is noted as being very mixed, it serves excellent mohito's and is open untill late 3am, there is also la locacola which is a mixed gay bar with a french feel, it serves great wine by all accounts.

I was wondering what times we should look at, it seems that the bars do not get busy untill 10pm and finish about 3am, public transport is running back into barcelona untill 4am so we would not be forced into using a taxi or minibus unless the numbers are over 8-10, then it would probably pay to book transport through a cab office or minibus service.

The other thing to consider is if people want to eat out and shop, the shops shut at 8pm and restraunts are busiest from about 9pm.

Let me know your thoughts, I will also post this to the main roll call to get other peoples opinions and hopefully when we know what everyone wants we can accomodate as many as possible.

[MarylandBob]

Hello Everybody!

 

Sorry I have not posted here yet. I do have a few blogs on the main thread.

 

Glad to see more folks joining the group. Andy and Karl, I hope you are well and enjoyed a good holiday. Winemamma and Karen, nice to meet you, at last digitally:) Hope you can save us from ourselves, the last time we were in Barcelona, we got crocked drinking cheap SanGria!

 

We'll probably join you guys for the Sitges expedition although at our advancing ages we find it hard to stay up anymore past 9. Since its vacation, I'm sure we'll muster the energy:p

 

Jerry and I are getting ready to go on a 10-day Caribbean cruise next month. Jerry's son and daughter in law will be joining us. They were married last June and this is their delayed honeymoon. Yes, they invited us to go along--don't ask:confused: I guess we should feel honored??? I was best man and that did make me feel good that his son asked me to do the honors. Planning the bachelor party was such fun!

 

Take care all, talk soon...

Cheers

Robert and Jerry

[edu-sense]

we have this cruise, another theis year for fun on andy's birthday royal caribbean and we are booking Silverseas whisper 14 october 2010 new york to barbados, is there a cure!!!

[edu-sense]

It does not have to be a late one, just wanna see what everyone wants to do, I dont mind going earlier and returning earlier, have not been to a club in years so dont mind just hitting the bars, nice to hear from you marylandbob

[MarylandBob]

Hey everybody,

 

Jerry and I just returned from our Caribbean cruise on the Noordam. Nice to get away from winter for a while although snow is in the forecast for tomorrow.

 

Andy and Karl, we're up for the outing in Sitges, don't know much about the place but it looks like fun. I think I can keep Grandpa up past 9!

 

Hope things are going well for you. Talk soon.

 

Robert and Jerry

[MarylandBob]

Summer's over and this cruise is only a few weeks away. Hope everyone had fun in the sun. Now it's time to get serious about this vacation. Anyone made tour plans yet? Sitges still a go? Let us hear from you soon.

 

Regards,

Robert and Jerry

[RTF]

Rick and Ralph here, looking forward to meeting everyone, we are crossing the Alantic on the QM2 and will be flying from Southhampton to Barcelona a few days before the cruise---would love to join everyone that night, but we have friends from Tarragona---which is just a few miles south of Sitges, coming to meet us for dinner in Barcelona that night---but looking forward to meeting everyone during the cruise!

[edu-sense]

Tried to post a few days ago but had trouble and wouldnt take, just to say going to contact HAL a week before we go to see if they have any fod's that have the night off that want to join us, the bars previously mentioned seem ok to me unless anyone objects, sorry been of here for a while, had a few little boat trips, but cant wait for this one to arrive.

[MarylandBob]

Welcome Rick and Ralph, Hello Karl,

 

Rick and Ralph, where are you guys from? Glad to see that you'll be joining us on the cruise back to U.S. I believe there will be at least 10 or so "family" that we know of on this voyage.

 

Karl, I got your email response. Sorry to hear of your TA issues but hopefully this cruise will make up for all of the problems. Sitges sounds like fun although I hope we can keep up with you younger guys:o

 

Jerry sent you a message relating to tours at some of the ports. We are just beginning to get serious about trip plans now that we're a month out. It would be great if you join us for some excursions, Rick and Ralph too.

 

Jerry wants to see Alhambra and Generalife from the Malaga stop. He also wants to visit Rabat when we dock in Casablanca. We're just trying to see what private tours are available since you can always see more of what you want for less money than when booking ship's tours.

 

Let's stay in touch.

 

Robert and Jerry

[RTF]

Rick and Ralph are from East Tennessee---we looking forward to meeting everyone---glad we won't be traveling back across the ocean alone!

[edu-sense]

Quote:

Originally Posted by edu-sense

I am trying to find out the numbers for this trip and get departure/return times, I will try and sort out transport options, please email me @ k.j.gannon@btinternet.com I will stick to these bars as the reviews have been great, they are not to clubby and meens we can hold a conversation as well as a nice glass of wine.

 

Looking forward to this, will be great to go out in Barcelona/sitges on the first night and not have to worry about missing the boat, lol.

 

:D

 

 

Please take a look at both the bars, If anyone is not happy with them then I need to start research now to have them changed, both seem like good places, safe and sociable and very mixed with indoor and outdoor seating and good drinks (wine cocktails and no pumping music)

 

The taxi price from the cruise terminal each way is showing at about 50 Euro's total, this is for a standard cab, so we can add about 20% for a minibus, so we should expect to put in about 10 Euro's per person each way.

 

Public transport was tricky with a couple of changes, so decided that taxi's would be better.

 

Those wanting a taxi from the airport should expect to pay 25 - 30 Euro's to the cruise terminal.

 

Any questions regarding transportation or changing the 2 bars I have researched, please dont hesitate to email me, I was thinking a departure about 8.30pm and returning about 1.00 am, with a 30 minute taxi drive this should give us 2 hours in each bar to soak up the local culture (and a little alcahol)

 

So far I believe we have 8 on this trip, If any more wish to join, could you confirm this by Thusday at the latest so I can make any arrangements.

 

So far

 

Marylandbob + 1

Winemama +1

Ralph +1

Edusense +1

 

8 in total

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