Mediteranean cruise
 

We are taking a Med Cruise this November and looking for any suggestions for a hotel stay in Barcelonea on cruise departure and Venice on cruise arrival. Other ports of call will be Nice France, Florence/Pisa Italy, Rome, Naples/Capri, Greek Isles (Mykonos (SP), Athens, Istanbul , and Split Croatia...all suggestions on what to see and do are welcomed?? WE have been to Rome, Naples, and Athens before (10 years ago plus) so they are covered and most likely will get a tour guide for Istanbul.

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

Caroline, in Barcelona, one of the best hotels to stay in is the Hotel Colon. It is across from a beautiful cathedral and easy walking in any direction. Not far from Las Rambles. http://www.hotelcolon.es/eng/hotel/index.asp This link will explain more. Cut and paste it into your address. Las Rambles wakes up around 10pm. Everything is later in Spain. It's where all the shops and cafes are. We took a similar cruise to the one you're taking and we went a two days early so we could really enjoy Barcelona. It soon became of of my favorite places.

In Capri, don't miss The Blue Grotto, as I mentioned in another post. We were in Venice for 2 days but stayed on the ship. The cruise we took ended up back in Barcelona. Are you going to Monte Carlo too? Let me know if you are. I don't see that you have it listed. Oh, you will love pulling into Venice. It's beyond romantic. Be aware that everything is so much more expensive than it was 10 years ago. We had been to a few of these countries before, but this last year, we were really surprised at the prices!

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

If you want to see David in Florence, buy tickets a few months in advance from the Florence tourist office. The Doumo cathedral is about 4 blocks towards the river from David's (the Academia) and Ponte Veccio is about 6 blocks toward the river from Doumo so all three can be walked to and covered in about 4 hours.

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

For Barcelona we want to find a place near Las Ramblus but you are correct...the prices are out of sight not only for Barcelona but all of europe. When we dock in Naples we plan to go to Capri..we have been there before and it is beautiful. While on our last trip we actually swan into the Blue Lagoon (this was after hours) and you are correct its a sight not to miss. WE will be on the Celebrity Summit and it will not be stopping in Monte Carlo.

As far as FLorence is concerned, we have not decided what to do while in Liverno...go to FLorence and sightsee in Pisa and the local area....but appreciate for the suggestion about "David".

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

Caroline, the Hotel Colon is near Las Ramblas. It's only about a 7 minute walk. Really gives you the feeling of Spain and excellent service. Just a thought.

Florence is my favorite place to shop for leather and jewelry. SteveZ about the Ponte Veccio. Another great love of my is visiting lots of beautiful cathedrals.

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

HI,

We stayed at Locanda Orseolo in Venice. The location was excellent, only a few blocks from St. Marks Square, right on the canal and with a special entrance from the canal to the hotel. Staff were excellent, friendly and extremely helpful. Breakfast was great.
Email to: info@locandaorseolo.com - Web: http://www.locandaorseolo.com

Since the hotel was right off the Square we never got lost as there were many signs pointing to the square.

We were in Venice for three days and just wandered the city and all the squares and back alleys. Took the ferry to Morano and found exquisite items I would have liked to have bought - money was the problem.

It was fascinating going into the old churches. They had oils on the walls by the great masters, without the guards.

I was sorry I did not buy a hand made mask. Could not decide which one I liked the best, went to shops where the masks were hand made.

If you need more info please let me know.

Florence, I wish we had more time to spend there. We were in Florence off season and had no problems getting into the museums.

Have a wonderful time.

Hyacinth Bucket

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

Hi HB! Welcome Back! Where are you??? Now here's a real Travel expert! xxxooo, chels

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

HB must have used my (Sidney Lanier's) window instead of her own. Actually we're still in France in a hotel close by to Charles De Gaulle Airport; we leave for NY tomorrow afternoon (Wed.) and will be back tomorrow night. She'll be in touch. It's been a great trip!!! How are you and Vetman? Please tell him we asked for him. See you in June when we get back to TV!

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

I absolutely fell in love with Venice. You will enjoy it so much.

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

Ditto on Venice, which has to be one of the most unique and unusual places we've ever visited! They do have a problem there with what they call 'acqua alta,' meaning 'high water,' periodically, but they seem to be learning to cope with it. Might be worth bringing some extra clothing/footwear if you're going at a time when it might occur. Enjoy, enjoy!

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

Regarding hotel in Barcelona, we've stayed at the Regencia Colon hotel which is next door, across the street, from the Hotel Colon. The Regencia Colon is a bit less expensive than the Hotel Colon. As noted earlier, it is a short walk to La Rambla and both hotels are maybe 4-5 blocks from Plaza Catalunya which is the major transportation hub for Barcelona. For example, there is an airport shuttle bus that drops off in Plaza Catalunya and the double decker tour buses use the Plaza as a starting point for a number of their tours. We used Bus Turistic, the Northern Route (Red Line), to visit a number of the Gaudi building.

Since I don't like the interference of street noise in European city center hotels, I always pack a pair of soft foam ear plugs to use when needed. Barcelona seems noisier to me perhaps because night life kicks off so late in the evening.

There is a fun restaurant a short walk from the hotels mentioned. It is called the 4 Cats (Els Quatre Gats). Here is the website for the restaurant (http://www.grupferre.com/)

When we stopped off in Istanbul, we used the ship's shore excursion tour which was about 6 hours and really enjoyed the tour and the tour guide. The tour was spread over 2 days and cost was in the $125/person range.

Hope you enjoy your trip!
Dean

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

Deano
I defintely noticed the price difference between the two "Colon" hotels. Are they in fact differnet hotels . Curious as to how did you get from the Barcelonna airport to your Hotel..taxi or do airport shuttles drop you off at city hotels?

Venice -- HIgh water
 

Do you know when high water occurs in Vencie (or how you cn find out when it occurs --- full moon?) Did they install flodd gates to prevent this occurrence or at least minimize the floods in St Marks Square??

Also regarding Venice when you get off the ship, how did you manage to get yourself and moerso the luggage to your hotel or airport...I understand water taxi are slow and expensive as is the airport water shuttle.

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

They are two different hotels, though I believe they have same corporate ownership. A small street separates them and the Hotel Colon has more rooms that face the cathedral square so that may contribute to the pricing. I use "tripadvisor.com" to check out hotels and the Regencia Colon rates a little bit better than the Hotel Colon--both are ranked 42 and 44 in terms of popularity which puts them in the top 10% of the Barcelona hotels on tripadvisor.

We used a taxi from the airport to the Regencia. In Barcelona, the taxis use metered rates so how much you pay depends on the "route" the driver takes and he/she may pad the distance/time that way -- but according to the published rates, you can expect to pay around 23-25E for the 1-way trip. With Barcelona traffic, even the most direct route can have extra time to it on the meter to negotiate the traffic jams. I recall that we paid about 30E for the trip to the hotel.

If you don't mind schlepping your luggage the 4-5 blocks from the bus stop on the Plaza, the rate from the airport is in the range of 3-4E/person. (The most recent fare I saw on the web was 3.90E.) You can learn more about this option if you'll google "barcelona aerobus". I appears the aerobus makes 4 stops after leaving the airport and before arriving Plaza Catalunya.) The "aerobus" is the only shuttle I'm aware of and it does not make hotel stops.

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

Deano just tried to book 4 rooms at the Regencia Colon and they would only accept 3 and this is for Mid November...so I will have to work on that. Sounds like a taxi is the way to go from the airport..for the 8 of us, hopefully we can get 2 cabs for 4 people each with luggage.


Also thanks for the resturant recommendation.

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

You are very welcome. FYI, there is another hotel, I've not stayed at this one, but it is getting decent reviews on tripadvisor. Called "AC Diplomatic". It is located in the opposite direction from Plaza Catalunya about the same distance as the Regencia Colon. My son and daughter-in-law have just booked a room there for a post-cruise stay for a couple of days. It is about 30E more expensive, but you might give it a try if needed.

They booked there because they couldn't arrange a room at the Regencia (they waited until the last minute.)

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

No, they have not yet built flood gates or figured out a solution. And if I recall correctly, St. Mark's Square is one of the lower points. When we first walked through the Square, we saw what appeared to be long, low tables stacked up on one side, and our first thought was 'flea market.' Silly thought! Those are the platforms that are set up for people to walk on at times of acqua alta. Frankly I'm not sure how predictable it is; it could well be exacerbated by the full moon and consequent higher tides. Maybe do a Google search for more info on this issue. And have a great trip!!!

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

We've been to Barcelona a few times and have stayed at both the Regency Colon (2 yrs ago) and last year at the Arch Las Rambles right on Las Rambles. We love Barcelona and stayed 3 nights each time in connection with a cruise. At the Arch Las Rambles we asked for a room in the back away from the noise since it's located right on Las Rambles. We found being on Las Rambles had some advantages for us since we were right on one of the most interesting streets in the world. The hotel itself was good, Breakfast was good, rates were reasonable, Staff was nice and helpful, room was very small (actually small takes on a whole new meaning) but it wasn't noisy and it was clean. This hotel couldn't be much closer to the ship yard so that was very nice for us. Our friends stayed at the Colon and we stayed at the Regency Colon on a previous visit. These hotels are a little farther from Las Rambles but you do get to see a bit of local streets on a easy walk there. The room if I remember were also small but larger then Arc Las Rambles. We do a lot of site seeing and walking and found each hotel served our needs well. BTW we didn't find the Colon Hotels wasn't any quieter then Arch Las Ramblus hotel.


A few tips in Barcelona:

1.Ask the price of the Sangria before buying it at the cafes right on Las Rambles. In general they don't show you the price outside on the menu but believe me you will pay an arm and leg for one. We had a lot of fun at the smallest bar in the world right outside the Arch Las Rambles hotel. The owner bar keep was very friendly and we had several good conversation with him. Its located on the first corner outside the hotel going away from the ocean. Its outside and there is only standing room or 2 or 3 people. Beer and wine was cheap and he even gave us free wine the our beer.

2. We found a great place for Pinchers - which are small little snacks you pick up with a tooth pick and save the picks on your plate to later pay by the tooth pick. I can't remember the name of it now right now - it was off one of the side streets between both hotels. Ask for a place that serves Pincher's. You have to stand, there are no seats and they pass the plates around with the pinchers so you can see what they look like before you try them. They are great! Its a fun and one of the more reasonable places to eat (You'll find local food expensive and you better like sea food with all the parts - we didn't)

3.Use the Double Decker bus to see the sites. You can get a all day or several day pass and they run frequent. You just hope on and off when you want. There are about 3 different routes to take and the pass lets you get on and off each bus.

4.Theres an opera right on Las Rambles that we enjoyed one night. I think we waited till after a certain time the day before the Opera and got discounted seats. I think they said after 4 they discount them and we showed up at 3:30 to ask if they were going to have any discounted seats and they gave them to us right away.

5. The Ship/Sea Muse mun at the end of Las Rambles is a lot more interesting then I thought it would be . Its worth a visit. A walk down to the pier is also interesting if you have the time.

6. Architecture in Barcelona is the most interesting in the world - you see it all from the Tour buses and then can get off and visit them on the stops.

7. One of the more reasonable meals we had was outside at the end of Las Rambles at a Hollywood Cafe. Believe it or not it was out first visit to one ever and in Barcelona the food was good and reasonable also.


Thats it > Tired of typing and have to start planning our cruise to Scandinavia and Russia from Harwich May 23 with RCL (anyone going on this cruise - We would love to hear from you ?).

If I get a chance later I'll comment on our recent Venice and Antarctica visits.

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

Great practical tips for Barcelona....thanks!

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

Hi are you planning on taking any tours at the various ports you are stopping in?

HB

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

WE lived in Europe for 4 years and visited most of the ports/cities that we are going to be visitng (although a number of years have passed) with the exception of Istanbul, Split Croatia and Myknosos. WE are planning a private tour of Istanbul to include the highlights (Palaces, markets etc) as well as Istanbul in the evening. The rest of the places we feel fairly comfortable with taking a train into Rome, subway into athens and the hydrofioil to Capri from naples and use other means of local transportation to get around. Cruise Critic is a big help for learning what to do at Port Cities and how to get around. We have already been to Pompei and that was definitely worth a visit. A big issue in booking tours especially from the ship are they are VERY VERY expensive now with the bad euro/dollar rate.

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

Hi, I agree with you on the cost of booking tours through the cruise line. I use Port Promotions and Shore Trips. They have both been extremely reliable companies. What I am wondering is that for eight people it may be less expensive to use one of these companies to get around in Europe.

Have fun.

HB

Re: Mediteranean cruise
 

Interesting comments vis-a-vis the two shore excursion companies. I'd not heard of them before. Learning more each day!

Thanks for the tips.

Dean