Love2Travel

Joey, please update us.. Gail and Paul from New York Thanks Have a great Friday Everyone and weekend too! My best friend is coming for the weekend. looking forward to having a gap fest! :cheesy: Gail

Jackie, what forms are you referring to? are you referring to online check in? we have never done that before. does it save a great deal of time when you embark? Have not decided about the tux thing. i love the tux idea but we will see depending on space. Paul would be just as happy with his suit but there is just something about a tux... thanks for the info re formal nights.

Mary Ann good luck with the discount. I contacted our TA also. Hopeully, we will qualify. I have not heard of luggage with built in scale. great idea though. i have found a scale that weighs only 6oz has a hook to hang the luggage on. It will weigh up to 50#. I believe it is for sale at the Magellan's travel site for about $8-9. Gail

Tonia, this is just an opinion because this is our first time to the Med but since the time element is longer to get to and from St Paul de Vence (assuming you are taking public transportation), i would start out going there first. nice will be the hub. You need to take the 100 bus to nice and then transfer to another line for SPV (400). Return trip to Nice where you can take the 82 bus or 112 bus to Eze and then on to Monte Carlo. you can take the train back to VF for the fastest route back. i think I read that Oia is about a 20-30 minute bus ride from fira. i guess it is on a narrow road on edge of cliff. Should be beautiful and nail biting. we plan on takig the bus out to Oia. I think it only cost 1 euro. hope this helps. Congrats on getting close to the vacation hrs you need. We work on the accrued hour thing also- so many hours are accrued for so many hours you have worked. i like the method. Gail

Joey what is considered senior for the discount? anyone 55 and over? or is it 50 and over? thanks...Gail

very cool! we haven't been to alaska yet. it is definitely on our future trip list. look forward to seeing the wildlife. When we were in the Canadian Rockies, we walked on a glacier- amazing experience. thanks for sharing... gail

Hey, Jackie....Congrats to you and Tony. Nice way to start retirement for sure. Enjoy! Hope you get your balcony cabin. I will think good thoughts for you guys. Gail :cheesy:

Hi Guys... Just saw this posted on the other site by someone regarding water taxis at the venice port. Take a look at the link for current information. There has been a change effective 7/2006 regarding availability or should say lack of availability of water taxis to service the port area. Good FYI for all who are staying in Venice post cruise. http://www.veniceguideandboat.it/transferport.htm :sad:

Joey I know you feel strongly about not attending the cc party. As much as we would all LOVE for you guys to attend, I respect you and your decision. As I said, I am not always great with people pictures ,but with that said I am more than willing to give it shot. It may be hard to do a group pic at the restaurant (great time for candids though) but I will bring my camera for sure. Perhaps, we could do a nice group picture on board at a nice spot at another time other than the CC party.... what do you think??? MaryAnn Glad that you were able to order the book.... happy reading! gail

Joey, Interesting site you linked us to. Thanks. i will have to spend some time taking notes on both the olive oil and wine. Maryann, Did you have any luck purchasing the Ann Vipond's Med cruise book you were looking for? I also have the book and I purchased the book from Amazon. Well, Joey... I love photography but I am no professional especially when it comes to people pictures.... whats up? Just came back from a nice overnight with a friend. We went wine tasting at some of the Niagra wineries in Ontario and played a little golf. It is so nice to get away and catch up with an old friend. Life gets busy and it is so nice to slow down and be pampered. We stayed at this great B&B. Nice Hot tub to relax in. Now it is back to the real world. I am on Jury duty this coming week. wish they allowed labtops when you sit and wait... guess i will just bring a good book OR cruise stuff to read. ;-> Hope everyone had a good weekend... Gail

Joey I just emailed you. thanks

Kareen, FABULOUS!!!!!!! What els can be said. you did such a super job and I imagine it will be put to good use by all. Thank you so very much for all of your hard work researching and putting it together in such a user friendly format. Joey, as always you are amazing in how much you help out and are the real glue that keeps us together. Thanks for your work in making the cover page and crazie group page. We are one lucky roll call. You can activate my email also. Gail

Here i am again... part 2, Restaurants.... Jackie- paella and tapas suggestions just for you :-> As promised these are my suggestions, they are all around the port/plaça Catalunya to make it easy for TAPAS CERVESERIA CATALANA Valencia St/Rambla Catalunya near hotel Majestic and others aroun passeig de gràcia. EUSKAL ETXEA or TXACOLIN (same owner) Placeta de Montcada basq style tapas, you take what you like in the bar at the end you count how many tapas you had and pay for them. To drink ask for wine, txacolí (white basq wine), basq cydar or beer. PINOTXO and all the bars inside the Boqueria market for a tapas lunch or quick mail. Not comfortable but funny and good quality. QUIMET & QUIMET, Poeta Cabanyes 25 near paral.lel, this is a true must, you won't find any tourist over there. It's an old wine & spirits store where Quimets prepares his very personal and original tapas. CAL PEP plaça de les olles 8 (near Sta Maria del Mar) tel 933107961. Pep decides what you are going to have, let him do... Tapas and good fish. TRADITIONAL SPANISH AND CATALAN COOKING CASA LEOPOLDO, Sant Rafael St 24 tel 934413014 My father's favourite. Long story in town. really good. Please go and leave with a taxi if you look like touirits,it's always better to prevent. ESTEVET, Valldonzella 46 (near Ronda San Pedro) tel 933024186, curious place decorated with pictures of artists... nice simple familiar cooking. SENYOR PARELLADA, Argenteria 37 (Born quarter) 933105094 Heritates a long history family restaurant near Barcelona. 7 PORTES , Passeig Isabel II 14 TEL 933193032 very known and said to be the oldest in town. Good paellas. AGUT, Gignés 16 (near via Laietana) 933151709. 75 years in town. LA GARDUNYA just in the opposite main entrance of the Boqueria Market tel 933024323. More comfortable than bars inside the market. FISH AND PAELLA RESTAURANTS The first one is in the port and the rest at the Barceloneta, the old fishermen quarter of Barcelona. Try the rices, not only paella, black rice and lobster rice are tipically catalan. Parrillada is mixed grilled fish and zarzuela or suquet are sauced mixed fish, all delicious. Fresh Medditerranean fish is becoming luxurious and EXPENSIVE. REIAL CLUB MARITIM DE BARCELONA Moll d'Espanya (in front of Maremagnum) tel 932216256 try to have the tables near the windows. If you go by night you will see the Mallorca ferry leaving from port. CAN MAJÓ Almirall Aixada 23 tel 932215455. My father's favourite rice in town, paella, black rice or lobster rice. Take first a Pica-Pica, all kind of tapas-like in the middle of your table. Probably best deal than the others I suggest. EL MERENDERO DE LA MARI Plaça Pau Vila. Palau de Mar tel 932216233. Very known. Terrasse on the sportive port. SUQUET DE L'ALMIRALL Passeig Joan Borbó 65 tel 932216233 Also known. Thought these were a nice reference for all who have some time in Barcelona pre cruise.

Here is some info from the other board on wine shopping in Barcelona form a resident of Barcelona... WINE SHOPPING: CORTE iNGLES: you can try at the "club del gourmet" more exclusive or at the supermarket. opens from 10:00 to 22:00. You have three options: -Plaça Catalunya -Diagonal/Gran Via Carlos III (shopping bus line or Maria Cristina metro stop line 3 green) -Diagonal/plaça Francesc Macià(shopping bus line). LAVINIA: spectacular and modern wine store on the Diagonal 605, just betwen Corte Inglés Diagonal and "La Illa" a good shopping center. www.lavinia.es LAFUENTE/COLMADO QUILEZ Ferran, 20 the street from the Ramblas to the Town Hall square (Sant Jaume) Rambla Catalunya 63, you will enjoy this one, lots of history. 9 to 14h and 16:30 to 20:30 h. to follow, a list of restaurants the barcelona lady suggested.

hey Ryan... glad you made it over here. beleive it or not we all do have lives outsite this board;-> although we do admit that we are addicted. keep posting and you will surely feel welcomed and a part of our family. jackie, thanks for the well wishes and prayers. appreciate it. our doggie sandy freaks when she sees suitcases also. i always try to hide the fact that we are packing until the last minute. needless to say, she is not around when the suitcases come out. i'm not into the actual packing yet.... but just the gathering faze- but in my mind i am putting together clothes we need or will take. what can i say, i am crazy ;-> tonia, i see you posted a note to barcelona lady regarding restaurant suggestions. i copied some of her info to stash away as a reference. perhaps, i should copy and paste here for everyone. kareen, really looking forward to the phrase book. how do you plan to distribute the booklet? i know you were thinking of different options. hey, how is everyone else???? we haven't heard from some of the gang in some time. any news? gail

I am a nuclear medicine technologist and Paul is a soon to be retired stockbroker.

Hi guys... i tried to post earlier but ig uess it went to cyper space ... anyhows, welcome back Joey. glad you had a good time.. anytime away is always therapeutic. Jackie, you beat me to it- yep another couple who is joining our group. boy they have a lot on their plate to marry and then leave the next day for a cruise. ... how exciting for them. hey, another thing for the CC to celebrate. Well, it is nice to be in DD. We are both excited and apprehensive since the first half of our vacation, the two prior to cruising was suppose to be a two week vsit to Israel. We are just waiting and seeing. We are just glad that all of our family is safe and the neices who leave up north have relocated to stay with my sister in law in Tel Aviv. We are so lucky to live in the US. soooo.... for the time being we have investigated other flight arrangements in case we postpone the Israel part of the trip. But on another note... i have been purchasing extra camera battery, media cards etc and have started making piles in our guest bedroom of items we will be bringng. That always makes me smile because when the piles start coming, it means we are going on a trip. Yipppeeeeeee.....

thanks for the tip. we did not know about this program. for a 12 night that is $200 in credit. that is a nice amount to work with. we will take advantage of that for sure. thanks also for the link to the info we will need to supply.

Diane, Thanks for posting the review. Wow, even contact inforamtion for the manager. Wouldn't it be nice if he was so hospitable to our group ;-> Perhaps, tonia will be able to contact him once she arrives in Barcelona. ok... I need help. how come when i click on the smiles, nothing happens. Just words. no smiley face. What am i doing wrong, anyone know? thanks.

Good Morning Everyone. Happy Saturday! I was just visiting the other site and found a thread that talked about a great website for travel. Check it out. The little bit that I looked at is pretty cool and informative. Hope you find it helpful. http://www.planetware.com

Absolutely the coolest! Joey, we LOVE,LOVE, LOVE the pins. They are phenomenal. It will be such a great memento of the trip...not only for the cruise but for the friends we have met on this board. THANK YOU so much!!!!! Diane, thanks for the info on the VAT and the explanation of how it works. I did not know anyhting about this in Europe. Kareen, thanks for doing the phrase book for the group. i am sure it will be very helpful and so nice to have it all in one"book". so much activty on the board.... hard to keep up. but the enthusiasm is so infectious. it is so exciting. i am into the packing mode- no not actually packing but thinking about how i will pack light. a very hard challenge for me.

Tonia To get to St Paul De Vence you will need to get the bus to Nice and then the #400 to SPV. It is an hour bus ride from nice and then when you get there, i think i remember reading you needed to take another bus to the village. I will have to sort thru my info and i can let you know. We decided to pass on SPV because of the time involved and the fact that the bus to SPV does not run as frequently . I think we figured we would have been traveling using public trnasit about 3-4 hrs ( roundtrip) So.... we decided to stay closer to VF and go to Nice, Eze and Monoco. But if you decided to go i have read and heard from many that it is very nice. i am not trying to discourage you , just wanted to offer some information. I am sure you will enjoy whatever you decide to do- afteralll.... we will be in the French Riviera .... whats not to like ;-) Joey, can't wait to check the mailbox today for our pins. i bet they are SPECTACULAR!!!!!!!!!! thanks again for all your work. Gail

I am definitely looking forward to Santarini- Maryann, your tour looks wonderful. I am sure you will have a great time. We are probably going to opt for the public bus. We will go to Oia for sure and would like to go to the Kamari Beach....opposite sides of the island I think. I can't remember off hand. I wonder if the water would still be warm for swimming? As far as the dinner, we are up for anything. small tables are fine. perhaps we would be better able to talk that way. whatever works out is fine with us. we just think it will be fun to get together. Thanks for all the work on this Tonia and everyone else for all of their input and translation efforts. ;-)

joey, looks like the menu is a list of all inclusive meal from appetizer, main course, dessert and beveages,including wine and coffee. perhaps the regular menu where you can order just main course or just appetizer would be cheaper. 27 Euros/person is expensive. I am sure we would be able to eat cheaper than that by ordering off their regular menu. gail

Tonia... well, I can't read spanish but know someone at work how could. I will show her the menu. I do see it includes WINE... that I could figure out. ;-) and it says thaey have paella- that will make Jackie happy ;-) Good job... Gail