chachabell

I voted "No", because I think 6 pm is too early, although I am in favor of a meet and greet.

Catching up on postings now that we are back home from our camping trip. We are still interested in participating in the dinner. 8 pm is fine with us (but we are arriving sooner than everyone else. Seems that since there will be a large group of us that it would be better to show up at La Villa at the very beginning of the "dinner hour". But we can go with the flow and whatever everyone agrees on.

We should be able to get tickets in another week or so. Just too early to get them online.

Yea. Things are pretty quiet on these boards. We are going to PA camping (tent) with Lou's family this weekend, then my sister and husband will be visiting for a week from Atlanta for my mother's 91st birthday. So I've been preoccupied. But just about ready for this trip. Tried to get tickets for Doges Secret Itinerary tour and was told they are only available through the end of Oct.

Thanks Maryann - That is a good list. Has a couple of things I hadn't thought about like turning off water to washer. I guess same principle applies to ice maker, but that is hard to reach. One other thing - notify credit card companies that you plan to use their cards out of country. Otherwise they may notice unusual activity and block your card.

For those staying at the Continental Palacete check out this website with pictures: http://www.kenandpene.com/The%20Hotel%20Co...ntal%20Palacete

Paula -- tickets for David will be purchased ahead of time and we have a private guide booked for the Vatican.

We also have completed our online check in. Gail, I am glad to hear that you booked your Secret Itinerary tour. Thought it was to soon to get tickets and had been told you couldn't do that until 60 days before. Tomorrow I will try to book ours. What day are you going? And, what site did you use? I am definitely going to get tickets ahead of time for St. Mark's, so I don't have to waste time in line. Time is too precious for our time in Venice. Diane

Good Morning! It is finally clearing up here (MD). We had 4-1/2" of rain and lots of wind. Lots of leaves and small branches in the yard to clean up. The rain was good because we were so dry. Hardly any in Aug. Looks good for our church picnic tomorrow. I've started laying out stuff in our spare bedroom to take on our trip. Everyone have a good weekend!

We are winging Villefranche. But our plan is to take the bus to Eze, work our way back to Nice and then whatever time and/or energy is left spend in Villefranche.

The Millennium, Summit (your PC cruise), Constellation and Infinity are sister ships and are essentially the same (except decor). The Infinity is the only one we haven't been on.

We are on the Infinity. Maryland just passed early voting earlier this year but the dates weren't soon enough to help us since we leave town on 10/25. But the courts just struck the law down as unconstitutional so no one will have it now.

Jackie -- I'd also be interested in hearing about your PC cruise. We have booked a full transit FLL to LA in April 08. We are requesting absentee ballots once we have our primary which is 9/12.

Margaret -- Re our Pompeii/Amalfi Coast tour -- Payment for our driver/guide can be made by cash or travellers checks at the end of service. Our private guide for Pompeii would be paid again at the time of service. Concerning luggage -- check with your air carrier. We are travelling with Delta and they allow two pieces per person of checked luggage weighing 50 lbs ea for free.

As I've mentioned before, Lou is a real "teckie". He has started doing his cruise research and has found Google Earth to be very interesting. He found our hotel and La Ramblas just for starters. Anyone so inclined I highly recommend giving it a try.

I'm here! Just been really busy catchng up since our return from Colorado. Missed the picnic last night because of a political forum I attended. I love to plan our trips and feel that is the best way to get the most out of the ports. Lou just loves to tag along and we don't talk the specific details of what I've planned until much closer to the trip. That doesn't mean that I don't periodically throw out ideas of things I know he might like to do but that I can't or won't do such as climb the Tower of Pisa.

I have a really good idea how exhausting this trip will be. I expect that adrenaline will keep us going. When we did the Baltics a year ago, most of the cities/towns were walkable on your own with lots of cobblestone streets. We tried to see and do as much as possible every day. We are not early risers at home so this trip will definitely tax our stamina.

Both are on our list of things to do in Barcelona!

Thanks for the welcome back. I was lurking but did not take time to post. There are several websites where you can make reservations for the Doge tour. I only tried one (that's when I found out it was too early for reservations). I will check out some of the others which have lower service charges closer to the 2 mo mark. Personally, I prefer to make my own reservations for the Doge tour and St. Marks so that I can be sure it fits into our planned schedule for Venice touring. Our reservation for "David" is being handled as part of our private Florence tour.

Back from Colorado -- Wonderful trip, relaxing and NO humidity. We are planning on doing the Doges Secret Itinerary Tour. But they don't take reservations until 2 mos before tour. So have to wait awhile. Will also get tickets for St. Mark's.

We fly BWI (Baltimore) to JFK and then direct flight to Barcelona on Delta.

We got our ship excursion booklet on Tuesday. Flipped through it quickly nothing that interesting to me but I'm completely booked privately or on our own anyway. My final payment isn't due until the 20th.

Hi Jackie.....You by far have more expierence than we do ...wow interesting.. we always took informal to mean tie and causal no tie.. Lou never wears a tie on informal night. Just a jacket. I've noticed for women there is a real blur between informal and casual -- leaning towards a dress or nice pants suit for both. Probably in an effort to cut down on the number of clothes we need to take.

Late seating -- we need a nap before dinner!

Tonia -- You can tell Becki that once we get back we will try to connect with her. Sept is going to be busy for us.