so we finally booked our trip!

bellebride116 · April 2011

For those of you who remember... we were going on a cruise this summer until all the insanity happened in Egypt and we cancelled since we could no longer go there. We kept toying with so many different places but ultimately couldn't decide! So.... we decided to pick out of a hat and book LOL. So this weekend we booked a different cruise... this one leaves out of Barcelona and goes to Monte Carlo, the Italian Rivera, Rome, Sicily, and Tunisia. Then we're going to spend a couple of nights in Barcelona and Madrid and then head home! Anyone ever been to any of these places????

eskamo · April 2011

That sounds amazing!! I am no help 'cause I've never been to those places but y'all will have so so much fun!

pandasquishy · April 2011

Never been to any of those places, but that sounds like a lovely alternative to your original plan!

musgral8 · April 2011

Girl, I want your vacation time! I'm so jealous because H only gets 1 week a year. A week. Ugh.

We spent half a week in Rome in January and it was amazing! I had the best lasagna of my life and have been trying to recreate it ever since How long do you have there? Are you more interested in tourist highlights or stuff off of the beaten path, because we did the touristy thing. We want to go back to Italy and spend a month or so later on just touring and assimilating, but there wasn't time for that this past trip.

Whippet8 · April 2011

that is my dream cruise!

what cruise line?

bellebride116 · April 2011

musgral8:
Girl, I want your vacation time! I'm so jealous because H only gets 1 week a year. A week. Ugh.
We spent half a week in Rome in January and it was amazing! I had the best lasagna of my life and have been trying to recreate it ever since How long do you have there? Are you more interested in tourist highlights or stuff off of the beaten path, because we did the touristy thing. We want to go back to Italy and spend a month or so later on just touring and assimilating, but there wasn't time for that this past trip.

We only have like 12 hours there. For our original trip we were spending a few days in Rome, but now it's just a cruise stop... we figured out of all the places we're going to, Rome is the place we will go back to. We'll probably do the typical touristy stuff .

bellebride116 · April 2011

melko4886:
that is my dream cruise!
what cruise line?

Holland America. So far the only negative I read is that there's a lot of old people on it. We kind of like that and don't care if it's an older crowd LOL. I guess we shall see!

pandasquishy · April 2011

bellebride116:
melko4886:
that is my dream cruise!
what cruise line?
Holland America. So far the only negative I read is that there's a lot of old people on it. We kind of like that and don't care if it's an older crowd LOL. I guess we shall see!

Why are people so opposed to cruising with the elderly? The only negative about that that I can think of is if you get stuck behind a pack of them in the hallway, but what's the rush anyway when you're on a cruise?

bellebride116 · April 2011

pandasquishy:
bellebride116:
melko4886:
that is my dream cruise!
what cruise line?
Holland America. So far the only negative I read is that there's a lot of old people on it. We kind of like that and don't care if it's an older crowd LOL. I guess we shall see!
Why are people so opposed to cruising with the elderly? The only negative about that that I can think of is if you get stuck behind a pack of them in the hallway, but what's the rush anyway when you're on a cruise?

LMAO!!! Seriously, one of the bad reviews I read said something along the lines of, "I didn't know walkers came in so many different types and styles".... it made me laugh. I usually take reviews with a grain of salt because everyone is so different. So far, I have to say, Holland America's customer service has been amazing! And I've called them like a million times, so there's no reason for them to be amazing with me any more and not annoyed lol.

musgral8 · April 2011

pandasquishy:
bellebride116:
melko4886:
that is my dream cruise!
what cruise line?
Holland America. So far the only negative I read is that there's a lot of old people on it. We kind of like that and don't care if it's an older crowd LOL. I guess we shall see!
Why are people so opposed to cruising with the elderly? The only negative about that that I can think of is if you get stuck behind a pack of them in the hallway, but what's the rush anyway when you're on a cruise?

LOL! I overheard a cruise director at one point complaining that the only people that go on cruises are (and I quote) "newly weds, over-feds, and nearly-deads" lol. This was years ago but I still laugh when I think of it.

musgral8 · April 2011

bellebride116:
musgral8:
Girl, I want your vacation time! I'm so jealous because H only gets 1 week a year. A week. Ugh.
We spent half a week in Rome in January and it was amazing! I had the best lasagna of my life and have been trying to recreate it ever since How long do you have there? Are you more interested in tourist highlights or stuff off of the beaten path, because we did the touristy thing. We want to go back to Italy and spend a month or so later on just touring and assimilating, but there wasn't time for that this past trip.
We only have like 12 hours there. For our original trip we were spending a few days in Rome, but now it's just a cruise stop... we figured out of all the places we're going to, Rome is the place we will go back to. We'll probably do the typical touristy stuff .

The way we tackled the touristy stuff was to split it into three days. One day we did "new Rome" (the north part of the city) and saw all of the fountains and some of the Piazas that I was dying to see (big architecture dork here) and on day 2 we made our way to Vatican City and spent the whole day there. The other day we did ancient Rome and went to the Colosseum, the forums, and everything in that part of the city. The good news is that Rome has a great metro and it's easy to get around, but there's really no way to cover the entire city in 12 hours unless you do one of those bus tours, and then you can't really get off and walk around the sites.

If you want to go to the colosseum, pre-order your tickets. We stood in line for 1.5 hours. The ticket into the colosseum also gets you into the forums, but unless you have time to read all of the signs and spend some serious time there, it all looks the same and you don't really get it. We have hundreds of pictures of "stuff falling down" as my mom put it.

I would say definitely try to see the Trevi fountain, and from there it's a pretty easy walk to the Pantheon. The Spanish Steps are also really close to the Trevi Fountain, and if you walk directly down the steps there is the most prominent street in Rome for shopping (I'm talking Gucci, Fendi, etc.) Rome's streets are a little windy and some look like back alleys, but trust the maps and you'll get there.

Also, the Italians readily speak English. If you approach them trying to speak Italian sometimes they won't switch over to English, or they'll say "no" they don't speak English, but if you walk up to them and ask them something in English, about 98% respond. I'd learn the key phrases though just for greetings and some menu ordering because for us it was mostly the waitstaff that didn't speak English lol.

bellebride116 · April 2011

musgral8:
pandasquishy:
bellebride116:
melko4886:
that is my dream cruise!
what cruise line?
Holland America. So far the only negative I read is that there's a lot of old people on it. We kind of like that and don't care if it's an older crowd LOL. I guess we shall see!
Why are people so opposed to cruising with the elderly? The only negative about that that I can think of is if you get stuck behind a pack of them in the hallway, but what's the rush anyway when you're on a cruise?
LOL! I overheard a cruise director at one point complaining that the only people that go on cruises are (and I quote) "newly weds, over-feds, and nearly-deads" lol. This was years ago but I still laugh when I think of it.

HAHAHAHAHA... you know what tho... most of the time if you look at the crowd it's sort of true... lol

bellebride116 · April 2011

musgral8:
bellebride116:
musgral8:
Girl, I want your vacation time! I'm so jealous because H only gets 1 week a year. A week. Ugh.
We spent half a week in Rome in January and it was amazing! I had the best lasagna of my life and have been trying to recreate it ever since How long do you have there? Are you more interested in tourist highlights or stuff off of the beaten path, because we did the touristy thing. We want to go back to Italy and spend a month or so later on just touring and assimilating, but there wasn't time for that this past trip.
We only have like 12 hours there. For our original trip we were spending a few days in Rome, but now it's just a cruise stop... we figured out of all the places we're going to, Rome is the place we will go back to. We'll probably do the typical touristy stuff .
The way we tackled the touristy stuff was to split it into three days. One day we did "new Rome" (the north part of the city) and saw all of the fountains and some of the Piazas that I was dying to see (big architecture dork here) and on day 2 we made our way to Vatican City and spent the whole day there. The other day we did ancient Rome and went to the Colosseum, the forums, and everything in that part of the city. The good news is that Rome has a great metro and it's easy to get around, but there's really no way to cover the entire city in 12 hours unless you do one of those bus tours, and then you can't really get off and walk around the sites.
If you want to go to the colosseum, pre-order your tickets. We stood in line for 1.5 hours. The ticket into the colosseum also gets you into the forums, but unless you have time to read all of the signs and spend some serious time there, it all looks the same and you don't really get it. We have hundreds of pictures of "stuff falling down" as my mom put it.
I would say definitely try to see the Trevi fountain, and from there it's a pretty easy walk to the Pantheon. The Spanish Steps are also really close to the Trevi Fountain, and if you walk directly down the steps there is the most prominent street in Rome for shopping (I'm talking Gucci, Fendi, etc.) Rome's streets are a little windy and some look like back alleys, but trust the maps and you'll get there.
Also, the Italians readily speak English. If you approach them trying to speak Italian sometimes they won't switch over to English, or they'll say "no" they don't speak English, but if you walk up to them and ask them something in English, about 98% respond. I'd learn the key phrases though just for greetings and some menu ordering because for us it was mostly the waitstaff that didn't speak English lol.

That's such a good way to split it. I think we are going to take the train from the port into Termini and then go from there lol. I feel like if we are used to the subway in NYC we can handle the metro in Rome. Mind you, we speak zero Italian, but it's a pretty touristy place so I'm sure a lot of people speak English... should be interesting.

musgral8 · April 2011

bellebride116:
musgral8:
bellebride116:
musgral8:
Girl, I want your vacation time! I'm so jealous because H only gets 1 week a year. A week. Ugh.
We spent half a week in Rome in January and it was amazing! I had the best lasagna of my life and have been trying to recreate it ever since How long do you have there? Are you more interested in tourist highlights or stuff off of the beaten path, because we did the touristy thing. We want to go back to Italy and spend a month or so later on just touring and assimilating, but there wasn't time for that this past trip.
We only have like 12 hours there. For our original trip we were spending a few days in Rome, but now it's just a cruise stop... we figured out of all the places we're going to, Rome is the place we will go back to. We'll probably do the typical touristy stuff .
The way we tackled the touristy stuff was to split it into three days. One day we did "new Rome" (the north part of the city) and saw all of the fountains and some of the Piazas that I was dying to see (big architecture dork here) and on day 2 we made our way to Vatican City and spent the whole day there. The other day we did ancient Rome and went to the Colosseum, the forums, and everything in that part of the city. The good news is that Rome has a great metro and it's easy to get around, but there's really no way to cover the entire city in 12 hours unless you do one of those bus tours, and then you can't really get off and walk around the sites.
If you want to go to the colosseum, pre-order your tickets. We stood in line for 1.5 hours. The ticket into the colosseum also gets you into the forums, but unless you have time to read all of the signs and spend some serious time there, it all looks the same and you don't really get it. We have hundreds of pictures of "stuff falling down" as my mom put it.
I would say definitely try to see the Trevi fountain, and from there it's a pretty easy walk to the Pantheon. The Spanish Steps are also really close to the Trevi Fountain, and if you walk directly down the steps there is the most prominent street in Rome for shopping (I'm talking Gucci, Fendi, etc.) Rome's streets are a little windy and some look like back alleys, but trust the maps and you'll get there.
Also, the Italians readily speak English. If you approach them trying to speak Italian sometimes they won't switch over to English, or they'll say "no" they don't speak English, but if you walk up to them and ask them something in English, about 98% respond. I'd learn the key phrases though just for greetings and some menu ordering because for us it was mostly the waitstaff that didn't speak English lol.

That's such a good way to split it. I think we are going to take the train from the port into Termini and then go from there lol. I feel like if we are used to the subway in NYC we can handle the metro in Rome. Mind you, we speak zero Italian, but it's a pretty touristy place so I'm sure a lot of people speak English... should be interesting.

Termini is definitely the way to go. You can get anywhere from there! I warn you though, Italian men are all hands. I can't tell you how many @ss grabs I got on the Italian metro.