mary_228

Looking for a recommendation for a tour company to provide a day trip into the mountains. Would love to hike a bit or horseback ride. There are three ski resorts near Santiago but I am unable to determine if they are open with any activities during the summer months.

I took the Infinity ship tour in 2002 and it was a heck of a lot of fun. About an hour drive outside BA. The food was excellent, the gauchos simply fantastic, you had your choice of a horse drawn wagon ride or horseback riding and they had a tango show right after a really, really good dinner.

Has anyone taken this tour? At $99 pp it would be hard to do on our own any cheaper.

sortijas (ring-race) and the carrera cuadrera (horse races), two typical entertainment where gauchos show off their horsemanship.

Most independent tours I am considering quote prices in USD, and expect payment in cash at the time of the tour. In lieu of carrying thousands of dollars into Chile with us, I hope to obtain cash onboard. I have a few questions:

1) Do the ATMs onboard offer different currencies?

2) I will need $500-700 per excursion so I am worried about limits of withdrawals. Does anyone recall if this is a problem? The ATMs on our last sailing ran out of USD for several days.

3) Many posts here reference a need for "crisp new bills" which can hardly be assured coming out of the ATM. Is this really necessary?

Can you get to the beaches by walking from the train stop at Taormina/Giardini? I am thinking of taking the kids for a beach break then taking the cable car up to the town for sightseeing.

This is a great perk. I received this combo once before and was very skeptical, but it all worked fine. I didn't even need to print it out. I made my reservation once onboard and mentioned the voucher and they were able to look it up and everything was fine. (Printing it out was a LOT of ink).

We've been on many Princess cruises and really prefer Anytime Dining to traditional. One thing you might consider is that when your children do not eat with you, you are free to be seated at larger tables with other adults. In the traditional setting, you would be dining at a partially empty table. I enjoy the opportunity to make a variety of acquaintances onboard which is harder to do when you dine with your children each night.

We did the Jewels of Dominica ($45pp) which included Titou Gorge, Trafalgar Falls and snorkeling at the Champagne Reef. Unfortunately for us, the water was too choppy and noone on the tour went in the water. I wish Donaldson had called ahead to find out the conditions and substitute something else or cut the price. However, it was a gorgeous day and Donaldson was an excellent guide.

I'd like to recommend a stop at the Town Hall. We were in Liverpool on a weekend and this building was empty, save for a few tourists and the security guard. We felt like we were in a palace. So beautiful and decorated with very large portraits of royalty, etc. There is a Remembrance Room on a lower level with a fine exhibition of photos from the blitz, where you can see the destruction of this fine city. We wandered into the city council chambers, which reminded us of the old state capitol building in Illinois. The microphones at each seat were still one and my son had a bit of fun with that. I understand that this is the home of the mayor of Liverpool, but she chooses not to live here. Lovely that it is open to the public with no charge.

I think the lack of Princess tours to Wales and the Lake District of England for our cruise is due to our port time of 11:00-9:00. The July 17 British Isles cruise is in Liverpool from 7 a.m.-7 p.m., and has more day time for the longer tours.

Many of the longer and more interesting Princess tours are not offered on the date of our port stop in Liverpool and I can't help but think that it might be due to the Triathalon. This makes me worry that it would be risky to schedule them on our own. For example, I really want to see Conwy Castle and the Busy Bus tour that is on the calendar for that day, (we'll be in port 11am-9pm) is over 8 hours long. The similar ship tour is not offered. Any thoughts?

HELLO GIRLS!!

SUESEAQ. YOU HAVE TO FIND A WAY TO GET ON THAT OCTOBER 2010 CRUISE!! I KNOW IT'S EASIER SAID THAN DONE:confused: ALTHOUGH, I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME ON YOUR UPCOMING CRUISE, I HOPE IT'S LIKE THE HOME LINES DAYS FOR YOU:D I GUESS ALL OF US FORMER HOME LINES LADIES SURVIVED BAD RELATIONSHIPS, BUT, THANK GOD WE SURVIVED (THAT'S THE KEY WORD):) I THINK SOME OF MY HOME LINES CRUISE GIRLS ARE INTERESTED IN THAT UPCOMING OCTOBER CRUISE:)

 

WELCOME MARY 228, HAVE YOU EVER CRUISED ON HOME LINES?;)

 

TAKE CARE LADIES

NONNIE58

Yes, I sailied on the Atlantic in Feb of 1987. This info is listed in my signature information, so I didn't mention it in the body of my post. I guess you have opted not to have that stuff show when you are perusing the site. It got us hooked on cruising, even if I have to lose ten pounds before every sailing ;) !

Welcome aboard Mary_228, You need not be embarrased! We always ordered like that, and I wasn't pregnant...LOL. Anyway, the waiters on that ship just loved to feed you! I'm sure the fact that you were pregnant would have given them all the more reason to make sure you ate enough for two (or maybe even three or four)!!! Many times on a Home Lines cruise the waiters would tell you not to order anything and they would proceed to bring out every thing on the menu. So, you see what you did was nothing out of the ordinary for them....and watching the Baked Alaska processsion always was fun, especially if you knew the waiters and they would make some funny remark as they came by the table!!

Thanks for the comment. I feel better now, although I did gain 40 pounds on that pregnancy!

We had an inside cabin with beds at right angles to each other. On one night, the sea was rough and I felt like I was going to roll right out of the bed (being so big and round). Fortunately, I could switch beds with DH and just roll head to toe!

Back in 1987, I was six months pregnant and was convinced we'd never have another nice vacation once our baby was born, so we took a cruise. I love looking at those photos of me big as a whale and my husband dressed up for Italian night wearing the clothes the ship loaned us. He looked just like a waiter. (Of course, when he wore a tux onboard more recent cruises, it had the same effect!)

The most embarrassing memory I have, and hopefully funny to you folks, is that I thought we were supposed to order from each section of the menu, which meant an appetizzer, a soup, a fish course, a meat course, a pasta course, etc. Our tablemates must have been groaning as the meal probably stretched on forever! They were very polite, however, and probably attributed my immense "hunger" to the pregnancy! I still remember the baked Alaska procession (I think it was that cruise!).