Roll Call Celebrity Millennium 10/29/2006

[JoeyandDavid]

but what ever you but buy the battery charger and at least on extra battery

[zebra]

Our Sony came with the battery charger, so we just plug it in when we get back to the cabin and it's "away we go" again the next day! Actually we can film for a few days before we need to put it on charge.

[JoeyandDavid]

I can go a few days also between charging Jackie..it's just I like to start each day with battery life

[zebra]

I've just received a reply from our hotel in Barcelona with regard to choices of restaurant to meet at:

Dear Mr. Albasini,

A good place near by the hotel is: Costa Gallega, Pºde Gracia,71 (tel. 93 215 31 41), just maybee it is a little expencive.

An inside tip could be: Restaurante La Rioja, Duran I Bas, 5 (tel. 93 301 22 98 / lariojabcn######

But this restaurant is a little more fare away from the hotel (10-15 minutes walking distance)

Your sincererly,

Roger

Well there it is! For what it's worth. What's everyone's thoughts on this?

[JoeyandDavid]

jackie ....honestly i am as lost as before.. so what ever you guys decide.. let me know :wink:

[Love2Travel]

I vote for LaVilla. The review that I read on the CC board was very good and it seemed that the owner bent over backwards to accomadate their group. we are pretty easy, we will meet where ever. thanks for all your work on finding a place for the group to meet.

[terumim]

add my vote for LA VILLA alos sounds great to me.....

thanks for the info regards to camcorder i am going to start looking

EVERYONE have a great 4th relax and enjoy and say a small prayer for all our service men and women for safety

tonia

[terumim]

this is a new review thought everyone would like to read great restaurant info

Before I begin this review, I feel obligated to state that it is very long, but I have tried to include the information I would have enjoyed reading about prior to our trip. If you are brave enough to continue…read on!

We are a couple in our late 50’s who sailed on the Millie from Venice to Barcelona 5/26-6/7. Yep, it’s taken me a while to write this review, but that just allows me to relive our trip of a lifetime many times over! Since dealing with unexpected problems on vacation isn’t one of my husband’s strong points, I probably over-planned this trip. But, I did this in self-defense and it worked out well; we only had one glitch with our driver in France (details on that later).

Our traveling companions were my sister and brother-in-law (BIL), and the four of us shared private drivers in every port except Dubrovnik. We have cruised a few times before, but had never been to Europe. I wouldn’t have had a clue about booking private drivers and researching hotels and restaurants on my own if I hadn’t had access to all the information on CC, so I will pass along a few observations and recommendations for first time cruisers in the Med.

Venice

Hotel & Transfers - We arrived in Venice 3 days prior to the cruise and my husband gave me quite a bit of flack about paying for a water taxi from the airport to our hotel, but in retrospect he said it was the only way to go. We stayed at the Foscari Palace, ideally located on the Grand Canal almost directly across from the Rialto market. It was expensive (260-280 euro per night), but well worth it and we especially enjoyed relaxing on the rooftop terrace overlooking the city. For us, it was perfectly located away from the crowds, but with easy access to the vaporetto, traghetto and the Rialto area. They provide a lovely breakfast and also served Bellinis and champagne in the lobby on Thursday night. Our water taxi driver, Luigi, of Venice Guide & Boat, dropped us off directly in the lobby (80 euro airport-hotel). We also booked Luigi for our transfer from the hotel to the ship (55 euro hotel-ship).

Sightseeing - We booked a four hour Murano-Burano Island tour with Luigi and enjoyed visiting glass factories that did not pressure us into buying. We had lunch at a small restaurant on Burano called Raspo de Ua (38 euro for pasta, rolls and drinks for 4). It would have been nice to spend more time on Burano, but we never made it back on the vaporetto

I made reservations in advance for the Doge’s Palace Secret Itinerary tour in English. Be sure to bring your reservation number and don’t stand in the regular line; just go up to the attendant at the door and let them know you have a reservation. Our guide was very good and had a sense of humor, which added to our enjoyment of this tour. After the Secret Itinerary Tour, we walked through the rest of the Doge’s Palace on our own. We had a quick panini in the café at the Doge’s Palace before heading to the Campanile for an amazing view of the city (and our ship in the distance).

The rest of our time in Venice was spent walking around all the districts and just enjoying the ambiance. We dodged a flying soccer ball in the square of a residential neighborhood, watched a wedding party as they emerged from a church and visited a flea market in Campo Santa Margherita. Ok, we did get a little lost once (but it turned out we were headed in the right direction). It helped that I’d learned a bit of Italian before our trip because I was able to ask a shopkeeper for directions and I actually understood her response. It’s good to keep in mind that a “street” in Venice can be very narrow (some are only about 4 feet wide and can look like a hallway between buildings). There are street names painted up high on the buildings, but some are faded or crumbling and hard to read. To maintain your bearings, look for the yellow and black signs pointing to one of the 3 main landmarks: San Marco, Accademia and Rialto; hopefully, you will find your destination if you can relate the direction to one of these well marked sites.

One night when we were about to leave our hotel and walk to our restaurant, there was a thunderstorm accompanied by a torrential downpour. The front desk clerk suggested we take the vaporetto to avoid getting completely soaked. We walked around the corner to the tobacco shop, where the clerk didn’t speak English. I was able to tell him what we wanted and he said there were two options for vaporetto tickets – a one way (good for one hour) ticket for 5 euro/pp or a 24 hour ticket for 12 euro/pp. We opted for the 12 euro ticket so that we could at least get round-trip transportation that evening. There is a little box at the vaporetto stop where you must validate your ticket before boarding. Nobody ever asked to see our ticket, but they do check occasionally, so don’t get caught without one. We also used the ticket the following day and it was quite crowded at times. My husband asked me what “permisso” meant, because he heard it quite often on the vaporetto and I explained that people were asking us to move aside so they could get through.

Restaurants – We were surprised and pleased to find out that there is no smoking allowed in any restaurant in Italy. We are all non-smokers, so this was welcome news for us.

For lunch, we generally grabbed something at one the small informal cafes around town that sell panini and pizza. Our first day, I was pretty intimidated because the place I wandered into was bustling with people speaking Italian. So, I did the easiest thing and ordered pizza and a Fanta. Thanks to CC, I knew we would pay extra to sit down, so we stood at the counter with everyone else. As the days went by, we got braver and ordered panini and chichetti (the Venetian equivalent of tapas).

We had three dinners in Venice; on the first night we were tired so we just wanted something quick and easy, so we went to Da Sandro in the San Polo district. There are picnic tables and benches outside the pizzeria and the trattoria and bar are on the other side of the street. We ordered four salads (mix your own vinegar/oil dressing at the table) and a Pizza alla Diavola, a thin crusted pizza with spicy salami. The price including drinks was 38 euro plus tip. The staff spoke enough English to get by. Directions: Cross the Rialto into San Polo, turn left down Vecchia S. Viovanni. Keep going (enjoy the scenery) until you reach Campiello dei Meloni. You will emerge on the left of a small square; just cross the square and continue on the street in the middle of the opposite side of the square; you will see Da Sandro pizzeria on the right side.

The next day, we had dinner at Taverna San Trovaso (Dorsoduro, near Accademia) 041-520-3703 (closed Monday). This is a popular trattoria and reservations are a must; the place was packed shortly after we arrived at 7pm. This is a very friendly, casual and reasonably priced restaurant which we thoroughly enjoyed. We ordered from the tourist menu (18 euro for primi, secondi and dessert). This was enough food to last us for days! For primi, we had lasagna, pasta with meat sauce and gnocci and our secondi choices were chicken breast in mushroom sauce, bistecca (steak) and veal cutlets (with really good french fries). For dessert, we tried Nona’s torta, tiramisu and profiteroles. They were all excellent, but the tiramisu was the best I’ve ever had. After we paid our bill (95 euro), the owner treated us to 2 grapa for the men and 2 limoncello for the ladies. Directions: From the Accademia Bridge or vaporetto stop, go right and take the first street on the right called Corfu (next to an art-café). Walk to the canal (Rio di San Trovaso) and turn left onto Fondamenta Priuli…Taverna San Trovaso will be a very short distance on your left.

Our final night in Venice, we ate at a tiny restaurant in San Polo called La Zucca. Since the place is so small, I’d phoned for reservations from home about a week in advance. We were seated next to an open window overlooking a small canal, but if you want to sit outside, you must request that when you make your reservation. The menu is in Italian, but the server helped us out by explaining what the dishes were (in general, not in detail). We aren’t big on seafood dishes, so I’d searched for a great restaurant that specialized in meat and vegetable dishes and we were not disappointed! This meal was a highlight of our stay in Venice and I got lots of kudos from my traveling companions for finding it. For primi we ordered putanesca, zucchini soup, an avocado dish and asparagus flan (which my sister raved about). Our secondi were bistecca, rabbit, lamb chops and a beef couscous dish. Our bill was 102 euro + 10 euro tip. Directions: From the San Stae vaporetto stop, walk straight ahead on the Salizzada S. Stae. Turn right on Calle de Tintor (we missed it and had to go back, but it is marked). Near the restaurant, this street jogs slightly left, then right…then you will see the restaurant on your left just before the Ponte d Megio bridge.

Dubrovnik

We were on the first tender and arrived in Old Town Dubrovnik at 10 am. We walked directly into the city and down the Placa to the Pile entrance to the fortified wall. The cost is 50 Kuna per person (around $10) and they only accept Kunas. We found a nearby ATM, withdrew about 300 Kunas and proceeded up the wall. Headsets are available in several languages if you would like a narrated tour; we rented one but I personally didn’t find it very interesting. They were accepting Kuna, Euros or dollars for the audio guide, but no large bills.

We walked around the wall to the pier area and really enjoyed the beautiful scenery. There are very few old tile roofs intact in old town because of the Serb attack in 1991…there are also places where you can see still holes in buildings and the street from the shelling. There are many steps up to the wall and it was hot up there and there was no cooling ocean breeze. The narrowest areas of the wall are only about 3’ wide, which I imagine can get quite congested in the busy summer months. We came across a woman selling cold drinks and another area with a snack bar and clean restrooms.

After descending the wall, we browsed the shops and purchased some silver filigree jewelry for gifts. All of the merchants we encountered spoke English and bargaining did not seem to be the custom here. Many of the merchants were accepting Kuna, Euros or dollars, but that was an individual thing. We wandered up one narrow street off the Placa called Najeskoviceva, turned right on Prije and found a delightful restaurant called Moby Dick that had outdoor tables under an awning. The owner greeted us and invited us to try his restaurant…if we didn’t like it, we would not pay. It was still a bit early, so we said we’d come back later and we continued to shop. During the next hour, we asked two locals about Moby Dick and they both said it was excellent, so we decided to return for lunch. We were all treated to a Croatian aperitif before the meal and it was quite tasty. The ladies had chicken and lamb skewers with some type of spinach or chard mixed with potatoes and another side dish of a tasty red/orange bell pepper mixture. The guys had Italian salads; a great lunch for four at a cost of 42 euros.

We walked outside the walls of old town for a little while, and then returned to the walled city. My sister and I bought some linens from a woman at a table near the tender pier (50 euro for a white cotton tablecloth and 12 napkins with cutwork and white embroidery; 15 euro for a cream card table sized cloth with satin leaf appliqué). We bargained on these purchases and our offers were readily accepted. We then went back to the Placa to spend our remaining Kunas on some chocolate at a candy shop.

Santorini

We were originally scheduled to visit Athens first, but the order of the two ports was switched about a month before our cruise. I only found out about this from a posting on our CC roll call; we were never notified by our TA or Celebrity. Fortunately, I was able to make the change with our private drivers, but I would suggest checking the Celebrity website frequently just to be sure the itinerary hasn’t been changed.

We tendered in without a problem and boarded the funicular, which cost 3.50 euro/pp each way (same as the donkey ride). Our guide, Nikos had an assistant meet us at the top and take us to his van. We drove out to Oia and walked along the paths overlooking the beautiful shoreline. We enjoyed his story about how he ran away as a boy (on the ferry), but when he got off at the first stop, he discovered he was still on Santorini and had a very long walk home!

Nikos took us up to the top of the island’s only mountain for a panoramic view of the entire island and then we visited the black sand beach, where we waded in the water. We were unable to visit Akrotori because it was still closed; Nikos said it probably wouldn’t open again until the summer of 2007. We wanted a quick lunch, so we stopped at a snack bar on the white sand beach. We had feta cheese pies and fresh fruit salad (and I mean fresh, since they cut up the fruit when we ordered). We also stopped at Santos winery for the most amazing view of the coastline and our ship from their patio. This winery offers a wine and snack plate that looked really good if you’re in the mood for a light lunch.

After a very pleasant day of driving around the island, Nikos stopped by his office to cut a CD for each couple with photos he had taken throughout the tour. He is a professional photographer and the CD is part of his tour package. Before we were dropped off in Fira, we asked for a restaurant recommendation; we were looking for a good local place, nothing tourist oriented. He recommended Nicolas and told us to just ask any shopkeeper in town how to find it.

We asked at the first shop we went into and they directed us to the restaurant, but it opened at 6:00 pm so we walked around (hot and tired by now) and debated whether or not to just head back to the ship since they were having a Greek buffet on the pool deck. We decided to wait for the restaurant to open and walked around a bit more. My sister and I spotted some olive oil soap at one of the shops that would make great little gifts to take back home to our friends. The bars were wrapped in pretty paper with ribbon and a medallion and were inexpensive at less than 2 euros each.

We went back to the restaurant at 6; we were the first patrons of the evening and were greeted by a man who we later found out was the co-owner with his brother. He showed us to a table and asked what we wanted. I looked up at the menu on the blackboard and replied “I don’t know; it’s in Greek”. He answered (without any hint of humor at all) “What do you expect – you’re in Greece!” and walked away. Ok, this was going well! Fortunately, he returned in a few seconds and explained the menu to us…we ordered Greek salads to share (fabulous!) and ordered souvlaki (which came with rice and green beans in tomato sauce and really good french fries) and lamb kabobs. By the time we got our food, the place was packed and the two brothers, although very busy, had become much more animated and friendly. As we paid the bill, we were joking with them about the Greek custom of breaking the dishes at the end of the meal. The bill was 45 euro for 2 greek salads, 4 entrees, a bottle of water and a beer.

We headed for the tender and returned to the ship. Onboard the tender, a couple told us about how they arrived in Venice 3 days prior to the cruise and had just received their luggage that day. That meant their luggage had taken 6 days to catch up with them, so I vowed to take seriously the recommendation to pack an extra outfit, underwear and toiletries in my carry-on from now on.

Athens

Athens is the only port where private drivers cannot meet passengers on the dock; just walk through the terminal building and look for the driver out front. Paul was waiting for us with his Mercedes car; we decided against booking a van in order to save some money. This worked out fine for us; however, some people might find three in the back seat of a car to be uncomfortable. We headed to the Acropolis and arrived about 9:30 am before the busses descended. It was quite warm and it was only late May, so be prepared if you’re visiting during the summer. There is a restroom at the site and Paul mentioned that there is an elevator for disabled individuals. If he knows in advance that a passenger has a disability, he can get permission to drive closer to the site instead of the usual passenger drop-off across the street.

We visited the Temple of Zeus and the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We’d brought walkie-talkies along and had given one to Paul when he dropped us off. They came in really handy when he called us to tell us there was a demonstration in the area, the street had been blocked off and he needed to change our meeting place. We stayed on the walkie-talkies as he guided us to his new location. At that point, we decided to leave Athens and drive to Cape Sounion to see the Temple of Poseidon.

It was great to get out of the city and drive along the coast. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant in Paleafokea…it was built only a few feet from the ocean (which Paul said was illegal, but then laws are just suggestions in Greece!). We were the only patrons because we were eating on “American time” and it was still too early for the lunch crowd. The waiters didn’t speak English, so Paul joined us and helped us order. My sister and BIL shared a fabulous Greek salad (they don’t use lettuce in their Greek salad like we do at home) and chicken souvlaki. I was wishing we’d thought to share our entrée when I saw the big portions of moussaka placed before my hubby and me. Once I tasted it, though, there was no doubt I would finish all of it – it was the best! Oh, and I should mention that the kitchen and restrooms were across the street…it was fun to see our waiter carrying our tray of food across the busy two lane road! This place also gets our award for the cleanest, most modern restrooms of the entire trip…motion activated lighting and water faucets, granite countertops, and absolutely sparkling clean. The bill for 5 people (2 greek salads, 2 moussaka, 1 souvlaki, a side of fried zucchini, a side of french fries, water, a beer and a Sprite) was 53 euro + 7 euro tip. The name of the restaurant was AKPOΓIAΛI. I should add that we felt the drive out to Cape Sounion was very nice and we thoroughly enjoyed the restaurant, so we were very glad we made the trip, but we all agreed that the Acropolis, Temple of Zeus and the Agoura sites in Athens definitely would have been enough to meet our “minimum daily requirement” of ancient ruins.

We returned to Athens and Paul stopped at “the best bakery in Athens” to buy us a box of baklava and other Greek goodies to take back to the ship. I love bakeries and this one was spectacular…I even took photos of their display cases! We then went on to the Agoura, which we enjoyed, but we were losing steam by then. When we radioed Paul that we were on our way back to the car, a shopkeeper he was chatting with became intrigued by the walkie-talkies. When we walked up to Paul, he told us the man wanted to know what the range was and how much they cost in the US. When I told him, Paul said the man wanted to buy them from us for twice what we paid. We found this quite amusing, but we politely declined; we still had a lot of cruising days left and they were very useful on the ship!

We said we were ready to go back to the ship and Paul asked if we wanted to take a short cut. We were game, but were surprised when Paul drove his Mercedes up the curb and onto a wide pedestrian walkway…quite amusing, and no harm done since the pedestrian traffic was light and nobody even gave us a second look. Now I must add that Paul is an excellent driver and we were always very comfortable with him in the midst of the chaotic Athens traffic.

Naples

Nello met us in his van and drove the short distance to Pompei where he had reserved a private guide for 2 hours. Antonio led us through a portion of this fascinating place and explained the significance of everything we saw and related it to the politics, economics and social order of the city. This was one of the highlights of our trip for me, since I had been fascinated with Pompei ever since our daughter studied it in middle school.

After our tour of Pompei, we headed out to the Amalfi Coast. There was good news and bad news for us, according to Nello. The good news was that the weather was the best they’d had all week and the bad news was it was Independence Day weekend in Italy so the holiday meant crowds everywhere. So, we were stuck in traffic in a place so beautiful that it really didn’t matter! However, it took us so long to reach the tiny towns that we had only about 30 minutes each to spend shopping and exploring in Positano, Amalfi and Ravello. We had a leisurely lunch at a restaurant in Ravello called Salvatore that had an exquisite view of the terraced hillsides and coastline below. The food was excellent as well – cold vegetable soup appetizer, excellent bread and antipasti (dried sausage, proscuitto, salami, green olives and sundried tomatoes). We would have been satisfied to stop there, but also managed to finish our homemade pasta with local tomatoes and melted mozzarella. The check was 88 euro, which was more than we planned for lunch, but the experience and the view made it totally worth it.

In Ravello, my sister and I had to do some “power shopping” to quickly purchase a few pottery items and some locally made pasta before we ran back to the van as it started to rain. The downpour continued as we drove back to the ship with plenty of time to spare. When we were stuck in traffic earlier, we’d joked with Nello that if we missed the ship, he’d have to drive us to Rome. He said “no problem”; if we missed the ship, he’d call his mother in Sorrento and she’d cook us a pasta dinner and we could head out to Rome in the morning. After hearing that, we responded that we wouldn’t mind missing the ship at all!

Rome

I’d requested Remo or Daniele as our driver, and was told that they could not guarantee a particular driver but would try to accommodate our request. We were happy to find Remo waiting to whisk us off to Rome. Remo is a very lively man and quite a character. He kept us entertained and there was never a dull moment when he was around.

First, we headed for the Vatican, since it was only open half a day on Saturday. They had secured a private guide for us and she kept us moving so that we could get to St. Peter’s Basilica before it closed for the day. Two hours is really a bare minimum for the Vatican, but we were happy to have gotten in at all. It turned out that there was a young people’s gathering in St. Peter’s Square and the pope was going to make an appearance. Along with that crowd and associated chaos, Tony Blair was visiting as well.

For lunch Remo drove us to a restaurant called La Perla, where he said he’d had his first job as a dishwasher. It was early, so the place wasn’t busy and Remo invited us into the kitchen where we took a photo of him washing dishes. The owner came out and sat with us for a few minutes and we had some fantastic antipasti and spaghetti.

We went to the Pantheon, Trevi fountain and then drove to the coliseum, but didn’t take the tour. We wanted to visit the Christian Catacombs outside the city walls; this was a unique experience, but probably not good for anyone who has anxiety about enclosed spaces. As we walked back to the parking lot, we had a special surprise from Remo. I won’t elaborate just in case someone has the good fortune to book Remo for their tour!

Florence

Our driver, Guido, was recommended by a CC friend who spent the day with him last fall. Guido made reservations for us to see David and we were able to enter the museum immediately. We spent only about 30 minutes there; we were very conscious of our time in Florence because we wanted to spend the afternoon in the Chianti region. We stopped at the Duomo and then walked down the street to an open air market. There was quite an assortment of leather goods, however, we purchased some Italian silk ties (6 euro each) and some stationery and jumped back in the van for a ride to an overlook were we could see the entire city. Guido is passionate about Florence and he told us all about the area, pointing out landmarks and telling us stories. We were eager to see the countryside, so our visit to Florence was all too brief. As we drove out of town, Guido pointed out the American cemetery and told us that the citizens of Florence were very appreciative of the sacrifices made to save their city during WWII.

Guido stopped in a tiny town called Greve, where we had lunch at a small restaurant in an idyllic setting. We sat across the small road from the restaurant under an umbrella overlooking vineyards. Guido explained to the server (who spoke very minimal English) that we only wanted antipasti (meats, cheeses and bread) for lunch. We had three plates; one with an assortment of salami, sausage and proscuitto, another with bruchetta with various toppings, and cheeses...oh, yes and some chianti of course! A perfect amount of food in an idyllic setting.

We spent the rest of the day in the Chianti region and enjoyed stopping and browsing around several other small towns before heading back to the ship.

Villafranche

Ok, here’s where my meticulous trip planning unraveled… It all began last fall when my husband and I were booked on a Princess Med cruise with a similar itinerary to this one. Unfortunately, we had to cancel 3 days prior to departure due to a death in the family. We rescheduled this spring on the Millie because most of the ports were the same. So, I very efficiently reserved the driver in France that we had booked for last year’s cruise for this cruise as well. Unfortunately, this cruise docked in Villafranche and the cruise we’d cancelled last fall docked in Marseilles..oops!

Unaware of my error, we were happily on our way to shore on the tender when I asked my BIL if he’d turned on his cell phone. He hadn’t, but immediately after he turned it on, it rang. It was our driver, Olivier, who was quite distressed…he’d been trying to reach us for quite some time and had left us a voicemail. He explained that he’d discovered the mix-up in the ports and that he was hours away in Marseilles. Of course, I was very disappointed (things had been going so well!) and wondered what we could do to salvage our day in Villafranche.

Olivier insisted that we should not take a taxi tour because they charge too much and don’t speak English well. Instead, he advised me to go into the terminal building and find the telephone on the wall to call for a driver. I wasn’t sure exactly what he was talking about, but when we arrived in the terminal, there was a very nice woman at the information booth who spoke English. She pointed out the black phone on the wall, which was a direct line to a co-op of drivers. I picked up the phone and the man said he’d send a driver to pick us up within 30 minutes. The others in my group wondered if we should just take the train into Monte Carlo and explore on our own, but I felt we’d miss out on a lot. Basically I was worried because none of us spoke any French and we didn’t even have a guide book. We finally compromised and agreed to a half day tour with the option of extending to a full day. The cost for the full day was 490 euro, which was a bit more than Olivier charged, but that was fine with us…we weren’t in a position to be picky at that point. We waited outside and Catherine arrived within 15 minutes in her VW van.

Within the first 5 minutes, we knew we wanted to spend the entire day with Catherine. She was charming and spoke excellent English (with a French/Australian accent!). We went to Monte Carlo (where we learned the difference between Monte Carlo and Monaco) and saw the palace. We browsed around the streets a bit, and then Catherine offered to drive one lap of the Grand Prix, which had just been run the week before. The grandstands and the pit area were still up and the guys really enjoyed that little adventure. Unfortunately, as we neared the casino, the clutch suddenly went out on the van and we slowed to a stop…where was the pit crew when we needed them?

Catherine was very apologetic; the van was fairly new, so this was just really bad luck. She called for another vehicle and then directed us to a nearby café for lunch. When we came out, she was waiting for us in another van (American made this time!)…and no time was lost from our tour. We went to Eze and then St. Paul de Vence where we watched men playing petanque in the town square (a bocci-type game, but Catherine warned us NOT to call it bocci!). The shopping was especially fun and the guys didn’t even mind because it was such a gorgeous place. Every merchant we encountered spoke English, so our lack of language skills wasn’t a problem.

We skipped the perfume factory tour because my BIL has a sensitivity to fragrances, but we heard from fellow passengers that it was very interesting and well worth the time to take the tour.

We were fortunate to have such a wonderful “replacement” driver and were very grateful to Catherine for saving our day (and also to Olivier for being so diligent in trying to reach us and for telling us how to make other arrangements).

Barcelona

In Barcelona, we booked our only Celebrity shore excursion of the entire cruise – a bus trip to Montserrat. The bus was very modern and comfortable, but the air conditioning wasn’t really keeping up. Our guide pointed out landmarks as we drove through Barcelona and out into the countryside. The road to the monastery is quite winding and steep, but we were very grateful we were on the road instead of riding the funicular. I’m not particularly afraid of heights, but I don’t think I would have gotten on that cable car willingly!

We were glad we took this tour, since the scenery, the church and black Madonna were beautiful. My husband also had a chance to light a candle for his parents after we exited the church. There is a large gift shop on the grounds where my sister bought a bar of Montserrat dark chocolate and shared a piece with me. One taste of that and I had to go back and purchase a few more bars to take home – I have to hand it to them; those monks know good dark chocolate!

Although the tour was scheduled to start at 2:30pm and last for 3 hours, we didn’t get back to the ship until 8pm. We missed dinner and had to make do with the buffet, which is another subject entirely. While the lunch buffet on the Millie is stocked with a variety of meats, veggies and desserts, the dinner offering is very skimpy - sushi, pizza, a pasta station, soup, salad, cookies and ice cream. I’m not sure why they do this, but it was definitely a negative for us when we returned to the ship too late for our early seating dinner. My sister checked with the dining room staff and was told that they would accommodate us at the late sitting. However, we decided we didn’t have time to go to the dining room since we still had to pack and place our suitcases out in the hall for disembarkation.

The next day the disembarkation went very smoothly. The Barcelona terminal has luggage carousels marked with the color corresponding to the color on the luggage tags. It was a snap to find our bags and, when we left the building, Angie’s husband (from Angie’s Taxi) was waiting for us for our transfer to our hotel (45 euro/6 pax). He called for our driver and we were soon on our way through the streets of Barcelona. Our driver was an interesting character; he told us he spoke 11 languages and had been in the Turkish Secret Service, trained as an interrogator. He said he’d extricated himself from the SS after refusing to torture women and children and had spent time in Turkish prison. We felt like we were in a James Bond movie and wondered how much of what he told us was true, but after returning home I Googled him and sure enough, found a few hits related to a book and documentary about his life.

We arrived at our B&B called “The 5 Rooms”, and rang the buzzer downstairs. This was in a residential building within walking distance of the top of Las Ramblas. We were buzzed in and we had to go to the 2nd floor (3rd in the US), so I pushed the button for the old fashioned cage-type elevator. Hmm, the elevator didn’t budge…tried again with the same result. So, we dragged our lighter bags upstairs and the proprietor, Yessica, sent someone down to take care of the rest. We’d gotten a recommendation for The 5 Rooms from a CC friend; it has…you guessed it…five rooms and a small breakfast room. It is very modern and stylish and has been featured in several European magazines. One important detail about this place was that the floor-to-ceiling windows opening to the small balcony facing the street could be left open during the day but when they were closed at night, they were absolutely sound-proof. We considered it a bargain at 120 euro/night.

We strolled the length of Las Ramblas, visited La Boqueria and had dinner. As we walked back, we encountered a demonstration ½ block away from The 5 Rooms. There were police cars there, and the crowd seemed very peaceful, so we just walked right through with no problem. Unfortunately, we couldn’t read the signs they were holding, so we never found out what the demonstration was about. I do know a little Spanish, but in Barcelona the official language is Catalan. The good news is that most everyone also speaks Spanish and in the tourist areas lots of people speak English.

The next day we hopped on the Bus Turistica and visited La Sagrada Familia. Although we knew it wasn’t finished, we were surprised that the structure isn’t even totally enclosed yet. My husband and BIL were wearing shorts and I was concerned they wouldn’t be allowed in, but that was not a problem…there were lots of people in shorts and tank tops at this church.

We got back on the bus and went to Parc Guell where we had lunch at the café on the grounds. After riding the bus back to Las Ramblas, we decided we would return to The 5 Rooms to relax. We were pretty tired and considered going to Les Quince Nits on Placa Reial for dinner, since it had been recommended as very good and reasonably priced Catalan cuisine. But, they didn’t open until 8pm and we didn’t feel like waiting until then so we agreed that we would dispense with being adventurous and head for The Hard Rock Café.

After 2½ weeks of traveling we were pretty tired and welcomed the comfortably familiar environment of The Hard Rock Café. We enjoyed our wonderful salads and shared a giant hot fudge sundae to celebrate the end of our trip.

The next morning, my sister and BIL had to leave for the airport at 4:45 am, while we had a more civilized check-out of 8am. Angie arranged for the transfers (40 euro for each trip) and both of our drivers were ready and waiting for us downstairs before the scheduled time. Off we went for a long and uneventful flight back to reality.

Other Stuff

Luggage – Since the international weight limit is 50 pounds, we had to be very careful with our large suitcases. I packed most of the heavier items in one of our smaller bags and brought along an empty medium sized duffle which we used as a carry-on on the way home for items we’d purchased on the trip. Although they weighed the suitcases in San Francisco, they didn’t weigh them when we checked in at the Barcelona airport (I could have bought tons more stuff!). Last year, I purchased luggage straps that are customized with our last name woven into them after seeing them recommended on a CC posting. These are really useful in identifying bags; we can immediately tell which black suitcase is ours when it comes off the luggage carousel and there is no chance someone else will take ours by mistake. You can order them online at www (dot) the (dash) strap (dot) com. Just substitute the appropriate punctuation and eliminate the parenthesis and spaces when you type in the address.

Jet Lag – We traveled from California to Venice, so that is a 9 hour time difference. I don’t generally sleep on airplanes so I just decided I would relax as much as possible and rest even if I couldn’t sleep. As it turned out, I slept for about 30 minutes just before dawn. I had purchased some homeopathic tablets called “No Jet Lag” and asked my doctor and pharmacist if they were ok to take. They examined the ingredients and said they didn’t see any harm in it, but couldn’t see how they would help either. With that in mind, I figured I had nothing to lose and took them as directed on the flight to Venice. When we arrived at our hotel we dropped our luggage off and then set out walking towards the Rialto Bridge. I was so excited to actually be there that I felt energized, especially after I had something to eat. Later that afternoon, we took a short nap, about 30 minutes, and went to bed pretty early that night. All in all, I did pretty well…there were two nights when I woke up at 3 am and didn’t go back to sleep, but I didn’t let it bother me. After all, I was in Venice, Italy and I wasn’t going to miss a thing. Both my husband and I took longer to adjust to the time change after we got home. It took us about a week to get our full energy back. Anyone traveling from the East Coast would really have an advantage as far as the time change adjustment is concerned!

Money – I somehow forgot to mention to my sister that a 4 digit PIN is required in order to use the Bancomats (ATMs) in Europe. Because of this, they were unable to withdraw any money while we were in Venice (they also had not thought to have their bank increase their daily withdrawal limit). Once we were on the ship, they were able to change their PIN using the ATM onboard. You can get dollars at the ATM onboard the Millie (assuming it isn’t down, which happens now and then), and you will then need to exchange your dollars for Euros at the ship’s bank. We used Bancomats almost daily to withdraw funds to pay our private drivers. In Naples and Florence, the machines we used would not allow us to withdraw more than 250 euros, so we had to do two transactions (and pay two fees) in order to get enough money to pay our driver. At all other ports we were able to withdraw as much as we needed. In Dubrovnik, many of the shops accepted the local currency (Kuna), Euros or dollars. Try not to withdraw more Kuna than you will need for the day from an ATM because you will pretty much need to spend it all before you leave. The exchange rate when we were there ranged from 5 to 6 Kuna to a dollar.

Water – It took us a while to sort out the bottled water situation but with some assistance from our hotel staff in Venice, we finally figured out that we needed to order “acqua naturale”, “acqua minerale” or “still” if we wanted plain bottled water. Carbonated water is “fizzante” or “with gas”. We bought a case from the Billa grocery store near our Venice hotel and brought the bottles onto the ship in a duffel bag. We took these ashore at the ports and when that supply was gone, we just refilled two empty bottles using the water our room steward put in our carafe every day.

Restrooms – Now that we’ve covered water, I suppose restrooms are the next logical subject. I’d heard that there were “Turkish toilets” (otherwise known as squat toilets) in Europe, so I was a little concerned about that. I’m happy to report that we never encountered one, although our driver in France mentioned that they still exist. In Venice, there are public “WCs” and there are signs around the city with arrows pointing you in the right direction. You will need a 1 euro coin to enter, and I understand they are well stocked and clean. In other places (like in the Doge’s Palace) you might be expected to give the attendant a coin or two and in Monte Carlo we purchased TP when we entered (whatever amount you wish – I think we dropped 20 cents in the plate). In general, we found that in Greece and Italy it was perfectly acceptable to use the restroom in a restaurant that you were not patronizing (we or our driver usually asked first). However, in France you will be expected to purchase something if you wish to use the restroom.

I brought some TP with me in a small zip-lock baggie, along with some antibacterial wipes and antibacterial hand gel. In the entire 18 days we were gone, we never encountered a restroom that didn’t have TP and there were only one or two that didn’t have soap. So, I’d recommend bringing a little TP just in case and a supply of antibacterial hand gel. Ladies, trust me, it is a good rule to never leave a restaurant, café or tourist site without using their restroom because you never know what lies ahead!

Security – We never experienced any problems with pickpockets, nor did we hear of any fellow passengers who did. Initially I got a lot of flack from my husband about him wearing a money belt. He said he would carry his wallet in his front pants pocket and that would be fine. I explained that if he wanted to do that, he should carry just a small amount of cash, and I would put the rest of the money and credit cards in my money belt, since I didn’t want to have our vacation ruined if our cash/credit cards were stolen. I also purchased a fanny pack for him that had steel cable through the waist band and zippers that were secured with a tiny padlock. He found this more comfortable on our tours and it worked out well for him. When my sister and BIL arrived in Venice, they too wanted to carry their cash/credit cards in their pockets. I’m sure I came off as a total worrywart when I insisted that they would be just the type of victim a pickpocket would look for and they eventually relented. When you experience the close contact and jostling around in the crowded tourist sites, it’s easy to see how a pickpocket could have a very profitable day.

We made color copies of our passports to carry with us ashore (reduced in size on our home printer) and also brought a list (written in code in case it got lost) of our credit card numbers and their international phone contact numbers. Fortunately, we never had the occasion to need either of these documents.

Staying Connected – We brought walkie-talkies and used them on the ship to find each other. I would recommend switching the channel from the default channel 1, since we got a lot of interference from other passengers on that channel. They are also useful in port to leave one with your driver in case your signals get crossed on the meeting place or time.

Especially in the small villages, there are many winding paths and it is easy to go around a corner and disappear from view of the rest of your group. It might be wise to designate an easy to find meeting spot in advance if you get separated. Our rule is that if anyone is lost, everyone goes back to the last place that we were all together and wait there. I talked to one woman on the ship who’d gotten separated from her husband in France and spent 2 hours trying to find him…fortunately she was carrying enough money to take a taxi back to the ship, but that experience pretty much ruined the day for them.

Drivers – We agreed that we would rate all of our drivers a 10 on a scale of 1-10. I got recommendations from the CC boards and contacted them about 6 months in advance. They were all waiting for us when we disembarked and they were all extremely personable, courteous and safe drivers. Some spoke better English than others (having lived in the US, Canada or Australia), but all were easy to understand, had upbeat personalities and had excellent knowledge of their cities. We really appreciated the flexibility we had in seeing exactly what we wanted to see and hearing about the history, the local lifestyle and our driver’s families. Having a private driver really makes a tour seem more like an outing with a friend than a business arrangement (until it was time to pay, that is!). Here is a list of our drivers and their contact information…just substitute the appropriate punctuation in their website and email address:

Venice – Venice Guide & Boat – Luigi – website: www (dot) veniceguideandboat (dot) it

Santorini – Santorini Day Tours – Nikos - website: www (dot) pixel (dash) tours (dot) com

Athens – Greek Taxi – Paul Kalomiris – email: admin (at) greektaxi (dot) gr website: www (dot) greektaxi (dot) gr

Naples – Drive Sorrento - Nello Russo – email: info (at) drivesorrento (dot) com – website: www (dot) drivesorrento (dot) com

Rome – Driver in Rome – Remo – email: info (at) driverinrome (dot) com – website: www (dot) driverinrome (dot) com

Florence – Guido Sarzani – email: pierguido (dot) sarzani (at) email (dot) it – website: www (dot) tuscanyinmypocket (dot) com

Villefranche – Travel Tour Prestige – Catherine Coppex – email: traveltourprestige (at) yahoo (dot) fr - website: www (dot) traveltourprestige (dot) com

I didn’t intend to be so long-winded when I started this review, but I hope some of this information is helpful. If you’re booked on this cruise, you’ll have an experience of a lifetime…smooth sailing to all!

cola

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[terumim]

As many of you know, Celebrity is now charging for a shuttle service for transportation from the ship to the port city. You can order the tickets from the shore excursion desk or from your stateroom TV. If you have booked a shore excursion or private driver you will not need a shuttle. Here were the ports and shuttle costs:

1. Venice: $8 pp per day. This will get you in to town and back to the ship one time only. It is not unlimited trips back and forth as it was in the past. You purchase your ticket at the shuttle station.

2. Dubrovnik: $8 pp round trip. If you want to go from the ship to the city multiple times, you will have to pay the $8 for each trip.

3. Naples: $5 pp round trip. They drop you off in the downtown area.

4. Civitavecchia: $8 pp round trip. They drop you off in downtown Civitavecchia (about 20 minutes from the ship).

5. Livorno: $8 pp round trip. They also drop you in downtown Livorno (about 20 minutes from the ship).

6. Barcelona: $5 pp round trip. They drop you near Las Ramblas

[JoeyandDavid]

wow Tonia you have been a busy bee.... :grin:

I wonder if the will pick us up! LOL... i mean we are in las Ramblas anyway :grin: