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stargazer666

By stargazer666,
in Island Cruises

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stargazer666

stargazer666

Posted
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Hi all we are new to cruising , going on 21 April on med crusie on island escape "venetian adventure", so would like to know .......

 

Anyone been on this cruise, what to see what to avoid !!

 

Does ship have anywhere we can have photos put on cd ?

 

is it best to book trips now or when we are on board ? can you recommend any of these trips ?

 

 

cheers:)

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Cymro1953

Cymro1953

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Hi all we are new to cruising , going on 21 April on med crusie on island escape "venetian adventure", so would like to know .......

 

Anyone been on this cruise, what to see what to avoid !!

 

Does ship have anywhere we can have photos put on cd ?

 

is it best to book trips now or when we are on board ? can you recommend any of these trips ?

 

 

cheers:)

 

Hi

I can answer some of them for you but not all as we did a different cruise on the IE last year.

You can get your pics put on CD in the photshop on board. Deck 10.

I don't know what it costs but you will probably be better off buying an extra card for your camera.

 

Last year when the IE was still part of Island Cruises we were able to book excursions online before boarding. But now she's part of the Thomson fleet I don't think you can anymore. You will have to book on board I think.

You can see alist of most of the excursions for your ports here

 

http://www.thomsonbeach.co.uk/th/cruise/viewPorts.do

 

We did some of the ports you will be visiting last year.

Messina Sicily, Don't stay in town, do an excursion. We did Taormina and Mount etna. It was great but the weather was bad. You don't go to the very top craters on Etna but you go as far as the coaches can go to the craters just below the summit. Taormina is a lovely place even in the rain.

Naples, where do you start? You've got Pompeii, Hericulanum, Vesuvius (but you need a clear day), Sorrento is lovely with lots of small streets with shops and of course the Amalfi Drive. We went tp Pompeii, we'd done it before but it was so big you can't see it all in one trip.

 

If you go to Naples be careful and don't wear any flashy watches or jewellery or keep your bags/ wallets in outside pockets.

 

We really enjoyed the ship, she's an old converted vehicle transporter, but the atmosphere was relaxed and informal, no dressing up unless you want to. Not like these other cruise ships with their formal nights.

We enjoyed her so much we're going back in December with our sons on the Canary Islands cruise.

Actually I'm looking forward more to that one than the one in June with Royal caribbean.

 

Berwyn

 

if you need any more you can contact me

berwynthomas@aol.com

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Cymro1953

Cymro1953

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PS VENICE

We've been to Venice too, but we went there from Lake Garda.

And we did an excursion that was similar to the Gondolas and ST. Marks one.

So we finally got to go on a gondola ride. When we'd been there years ago we'd have had to book one on our own and it was too expensive. But doing it this way it was affordable.

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Cymro1953

Cymro1953

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Thanks Berwyn, does the ship go to dock or do we have to get a tender ?? can you get to these places under your own steam ? as we like to do our own thing mostly

 

Cheers:)

 

From Experience and what I've seen on the posts her you should be able to dock in most ports. It's the Adriatic ones that I'm not sure about.

A lot of hese experienced cruisers ( like the Yanks) seem to organise own excursions with local tour companies. But you need about 6 to 8 people to make it cost effective.

A lot of the ship's excursions do a cheap one where they'll take you there and let you potter about on your own.

The only thing about doing a ship's excursion is that if it runs late the ship will wait for you. But if you go on your own and are not back they'll sail without you.

 

Berwyn

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Cymro1953

Cymro1953

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Thanks Berwyn, does the ship go to dock or do we have to get a tender ?? can you get to these places under your own steam ? as we like to do our own thing mostly

 

Cheers:)

 

Have you looked here?

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=234

 

It's the ports of call posts for Western Europe and med.

In Sicily I know Taormina is awkward to get to and from by public transport in the time.

Naples, you could get a taxi from the harbour to city centre. The museum has all the real exhibits from Pompeii and Hericulanum but it's closed on a Tuesday.

Rome is an hour and a half on a good day from the port

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Cymro1953

Cymro1953

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Cheers, will check it out , just hope the weather will be ok !! lol

 

I hope you get better weather than we had.

We did the Med Spirit cruise this time last year 15th April. They've changed some of the ports for this year.

 

The weather was cold, we had heavy rain in Sicily ( the locals said it should have been the start of the summer there) luckily after coming down off Etna.

Thunderstorms in Naples. The best day was Pisa hot and sunny. And even Barcelona it was a lovely sunny day but if you got the wind off the med it cut through you like a knife.

 

You can't get any worse than that :eek::D

 

Berwyn

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Cymro1953

Cymro1953

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Well we have never done a cruise before, so does it get rough at sea ?? do we neeed seasick stuff !!:confused: were not certain what clothes to take either lol :rolleyes:

 

Last year was my wife's 1st cruise and I hadn't done one since a teenager (so nearly 40 years :eek:)

My wife's the worst for being sick and sh'd just recovered from an inner ear infection so we were worried about her with the motion of the boat.

 

We took seasick medicine with us but never used it.

It was a bit rough crossing over from Italy to France one night but it didn't bother anyone.

Not like the Irish Sea ferries with everyone throwing up and glasses flying everywhere.

Check the weather forecast on BBC interactive a day before you go it'll give you an idea of the temperatures.

We were Ok with our summer jackets with cardigan/jumper under if really cold. We packed for both cool and warm weather.

We also took thin showerproof jackets too that roll up into a small space

Also don't forget while at sea if the ship is travelling at say 20MPH you'll get a breeze of that speed. ( I just looked in brochure, she only does 18 flat out)

If you look down the threads on here you will see links to some of the pics of our cruise I posted. I tried to post more but the uploader was so slow

 

Berwyn

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Cymro1953

Cymro1953

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nice pics :) we are both very keen photographers , thats why we wanted to know about having cd's made on the ship

 

not long now :):)

 

No, you'll be all packed any day now.

Wifes started getting panicky as she's realised there's only just over a month to go to ours:eek:.

She was fine after last year's being informal till she heard about the formal nights on the RCCL ships.

 

I'm waiting for a new camera to arrive from QVC, to see if it's OK to use.

At least with them I can send it back if I don't like it

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Cymro1953

Cymro1953

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nice pics :) we are both very keen photographers , thats why we wanted to know about having cd's made on the ship

 

not long now :):)

 

I was just thinking, even if you had enough storage for all your pics on your camera's cards it might not be a bad idea to have them backed up on to the CD's anyway. Just in case.

 

Are you packing yet :D?

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stargazer666

stargazer666

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Yes we are starting to get things ready !!, just trying to decide which trips to take , lol lol

 

We are on an all inclusive, so have paid for drinks before hand, we are not big drinkers but as we are on holiday like a few at night, can we drink any drink? our only certain ones ??

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Cymro1953

Cymro1953

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Yes we are starting to get things ready !!, just trying to decide which trips to take , lol lol

 

We are on an all inclusive, so have paid for drinks before hand, we are not big drinkers but as we are on holiday like a few at night, can we drink any drink? our only certain ones ??

 

There's a good selection of beer, wine and spirtits.

They all seemed to be branded stuff, not cheap stuff you'd never heard of.

The lager was Stella, the house wines were nice, both red and white.

You can drink any non-alchoholic cocktails (some of those were nice and refreshing)

I'm not sure about spirits as we don't drink those. And of course soft fizzy drinks.

 

Berwyn

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Cymro1953

Cymro1953

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Yes we are starting to get things ready !!, just trying to decide which trips to take , lol lol

 

We are on an all inclusive, so have paid for drinks before hand, we are not big drinkers but as we are on holiday like a few at night, can we drink any drink? our only certain ones ??

 

 

A.I drinks list

 

I've just posted the full AI list from last April in a separate thread on here in case you miss it

 

Berwyn

 

NOt long to go for you now.

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shirl51

shirl51

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We will be on the same cruise with you. Went on same cruise on the Island Star a couple of years ago and had a fantastic time so decided to do it again.

 

We did our own thing in the ports of call and did not bother with the trips which are quite expensive. Only place we did not visit was Villefranche. With some ships they say it is a tender port but not mentioned on our itinerary. All the rest the ship is docked.

 

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

 

Looking forward to Tuesday:D

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Cymro1953

Cymro1953

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Just packed our stuff !!:) have u got a link to your drinks list Berwyn ?

 

 

shirl51 where did u get to see last time u went ?? what do u recommend ??

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=969624

 

There it is, it is about 2 posts below this if you lose it. :D

When are you off to the airport? We have to go the day before and stay overnight in June.

 

Someone here said your clothes won't be any more creased if you pack 2 days early or a few hours early.

 

Have a great time

 

Berwyn

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