Car-Stan

Gardyloo,

This is very specific and helpful

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply!

Car-Stan:)

Hi,

We go from Philly to Madrid to Lyon, with about 1 hour 40 minutes in Madrid. Our docs say we arrive in Madrid in Terminal 4S and must go to Terminal 4 for our flight to Lyon.

Anyone have specific guidance on best way to do this? I found something on-line about dong the reverse!

Also, what lines do we need to go through, and where?

Thanks for any help!

Car-Stan

Car-Stan

 

We have been on six GCCL river trips including Rhine-Mosel and Great Rivers.We have been on three Vantage river trips including Burgundy in 2015. I will not repeat comments alresdy made by ghstudio. The overall experience was similar, but the Vantage River Discovery II was built in 2012 and has moveable twin beds which can be pushed together to make a double. Vantage includes wine only with dinner. Most docks were within walking distance of the towns, but there were several hour long bus rides to vineyards.

Thom

TravelerThom,

You mentioned several long bus rides to vineyards...were these vineyards worth the time you spent on the bus, or would you rather have done something else during that time? Were there other options - e.g., just wandering around a town?

Do you remember which bus rides/vineyards you wish you had not taken or visited?

Stan

 

We're really looking forward to this trip. We've wanted to see Pont du Gard and this is our chance! We've actually driven around Provence in the past, including Avignon but love river cruising.

 

Car-Stan - hopefully I'll be able to post some kind of a review quickly once we get home.

Zogrand,

We went on a bus to Pont du Gard from Avignon a few years ago. Very beautiful, majestic and cool site. You will enjoy it!

Car-Stan

Thanks to all of you for your good wishes re the weather. Right now, it looks like we will be pretty much ok, as we are about 30 miles west of Raleigh, and about 2.5 - 3 hours from the ocean.

Thanks also for the info.

Zogrand, I hope you are able to get out before anything hits...even more, I hope it is way out to sea before it even gets up north. We will look for your review, and hope you have a fantastic trip!

SHARON - I hope you will be safe at the beach. I have been trying to reach friends in New Bern to see if they have any plans if they are told to evacuate.

Car-Stan

We go from Philly to Madrid to Lyon, with about 1 hour 40 minutes in Madrid. Our docs say we arrive in Madrid in Terminal 4S and must got to Terminal 4 for our flight to Lyon.

Anyone have specific guidance on best way to do this? I found something on-line about dong the reverse!

Also, what lines do we need to go through, and where?

Thanks for any help!

Car-Stan

Not pleased with our flights at all. Did you get yours through Vantage?

Our agent there assured me 55 minutes would be enough time to switch planes in Amsterdam. I just called Delta....and they said NO, unless you are extremely lucky.

 

I wonder if they will charge me (and how much) to switch flights.

Hi,

I did get our flights thru Vantage. Right after I booked the cruise, I called the airline group and told them I needed at least 2 hours between flights. I ended up with 1 hour 40 minutes in Madrid going, and 5+ hours in Heathrow on the return. I am not regretting the long time in Heathrow, as it can take at least 2 - 3 hours to make the connection.

I began to ask for so much time a few years ago, when we were returning from Germany. Had 2 different security screenings in Frankfurt and spent almost 2 hours in lines in Dulles, barely making our flight to Philly. I am not the most patient person, but would rather be antsy AT the gate than worried about making it TO the gate on time.

The advice about having some info before you call them is good. Since you have only a few weeks before you fly, your options fpr negotiating with Vantage may be limited. I wish you good luck. Please let us know how you do, as others may (will) be in the same position at some future time.

Stan

Anyone going on this trip? We just signed up 2 weeks ago.....deal too good to pass up.

We are on the October 30 trip.

Car-Stan

How did you get seats on all the legs? We only have seats on the PHL-MAD leg. On the web site, BA wants to charge for seats on LHR-PHL . . . And I have not been able to choose seats on the other legs. At least one of those other two flights are 2-2 seating, so no worries about middle seat. I think the BA equipment is 3-3-3, so a middle seat is pretty much a given.

 

We will probably just wait in the gate area, they have reasonable room and are not uncomfortable. We should be fairly easy to spot. A short white woman with glasses and longer brown hair worn in a twist, a 6'1" heavy white guy with a fraying beard and brown hair, and a black guy with no hair about my height. We will probably have GCT and CIE travel swag.

Hi,

We decided to reserve the BA seats now so we get an aisle seat for the Heathrow to Philly leg so we are not stuck with real losers, and then decided to get them all. I am a AA gold, so Imay have gotten a few $$ off, but we still paid about $125 for all seat assignments for us both. I also called Iberia Air and got the seat assignment there for the Madrid-Lyon leg. Don't like spending the $$, but decided to get it out of the way.

We will look forward to meeting you all. I am about 5'10" with brown/graying hair. My wife is 5'1" with short white hair. Not sure what we will be carrying yet, but I think we should meet up without too much trouble.

Stan

Car-Stan

 

It's a short layover in Madrid. You guys speak enough Spanish to help us find the right gate to Lyon? :p

CPT Trips,

I am sorry you have been jerked around by the people you spoke with at Vantage. So far, we have been very satisfied with the support we have gotten - but we have not run into any issues as you have.

Re. transferring in Madrid, the flight info I received says we arrive in Madrid in Terminal 4S and must got to Terminal 4 for our flight to Lyon. We have (theoretically) 1 hour and 40 minutes for this.

Unfortunately, the info I found on some web site only describes (very roughly) how to go from T4 to T4S - not how we must go.

Anyone have any guidance on this?

If we are on the same flight, we should plan to meet before we board in Philly. Any ideas on where/when we might do that? We are not very familiar with this airport.

We already have reserved our sets for each leg to and from Europe. Have you?

I will look into the book you suggested!

Stan

Hi, Sharon!

It is such a great surprise to hear from you!! Looking at your lists of completed trips and those coming up, I am assuming you have been well and very much enjoying life!

I can't recall if we last connected before our GCT trip to Russia or the one from Paris to Normandy. Since those we have done a few Caribbean cruises and a fantastic land tour to China, which we did April of 2015.

Things are sort of the same with us...our grandkids are getting older (one already a high school sophomore and the youngest recently turned 10). My almost full-time retirement got de-railed by a really challenging consulting project. And we are just beginning to think about how to celebrate our 50th next year.

Let me know how you are doing. Thanks for writing!

Stan

No, but I am sure we can do it together. I got some info on Madrid airport - directions or something. Need to find them.

Car-Stan

Thanks, Hydrokitty! It is nice to get a positive recommendation from someone who has used them as much as you have.

Can you think of anything we need to be alert for?

Car-Stan

We may be cruising with you. We leave the States 10/30, board the ship 10/31 and return 11/10. It will be our first Vantage River cruise after four River and one small ship with GCT, so I can't answer any of your questions.

How long ago did you book? We booked over a year ago, back when it was supposed to be a special culinary cruise. Unfortunately, they notified us several months ago that all the special activities were dropped.

Hi, CPT Trips!

Yes, we are sailing with you! In fact, we may also be flying with you, as we will be visiting with our daughter in Delaware and flying from and back to Philly.

We booked just a week or so ago. We had been looking for something for next spring. We were considering the GCT cruise south from Paris and I recalled seeing something in a Vantage catalog. Couldn't find any 2017 dates, so I called and they said this cruise was not going in 2017, they had a great deal on with free air, so we grabbed it.

By the way, we are flying to Lyon via Madrid, and home from Marseille via London Heathrow. How about you?

I had noticed in their 2016 catalog that this was scheduled as a special culinary cruise, and was going to ask what special things would be included. I guess you told me the answer to that one.

Yesterday was the first time I have been on this thread, and I read back about 6 or 7 pages, but other than that and the stuff Vantage sends out, I have little info about them. Anything you can add would be great for us.

We used to live in NJ - near Summit and just of I-78, about 15 miles from beautiful Newark Airport, before coming down to NC.

Car-Stan

Ghstudio and TravelerThom,

Thanks so much for your comments. We appreciate your taking the time to respond!

Car-Stan

Hi,

My wife and I have signed up for the Best of Burgundy, Beaujolais & Provence river cruise at the end of October. This is ourfirst Vantage cruise, after having taken several river cruises with Grand Circle (Rhine and Moselle, Great Rivers, Paris to Normandy and Russia).

We are wondering what to expect on a Vantage cruise that is different from what we experienced on Grand Circle, and are hoping that some of you who have taken voyages on each can share some differences. These might have to do with the ship itself, food, activities on board, service on board, amenities on board, entertainment on board, walking and other included tours, etc. Anything to help us set our expectations.

Some specific questions we have include:

Do we have a dedicated small group Program Manager for the entire trip as GCT does for groups of about 35 - 40?

Does the Program Manager go out of his/her way to be helpful as we experienced on GCT?

Are the tours and guides as knowledgeable, friendly and helpful as on GCT?

How do the tour and headsets used compare?

Does Vantage provide maps of all the towns/cities we visit?

Are the “informational” sessions about each port useful, or are they simply commercials for shopping, as is the case on ocean liners?

We may have more questions, but these suffice for now. Thanks in advance for any responses.

Car-Stan

PS: If you are on this cruise, we would love to hear from you!

I remember reading one or more other threads on the Mardi Gras under the category of "What ever happened to..." These may still be available there.

Many of these were great comments and personal stories....

Our second cruise (after our June, 1975 Mardi Gras cruise to Nassau, San Juan and St. Thomas - where I, like someone who posted here some time ago, also bought a Seiko self-wind, which I had for almost 20 years before a dip in the pool ended its life pre-maturely) was on Royal Caribbean's Nordic Prince from New York to Bermuda. I know of only a few people from CC who have been on both of these long-ago ships!

Stan

In June, 1975, my wife and I, and two other (then) young couples got sitters for our kids, and flew to Miami from NJ for a 7-day cruise on the Mardi Gras to Nassau, San Juan and St. Thomas. It was the first cruise for each of us, and we had a great time.

Some of the things I most clearly remember -

Playing hide and seek in some restricted areas of the ship

Wearing polyester "leisure suits" to formal night dinners

Drink-of-the-day was $1.00, and pina coladas were our favorites

I won a costume contest - I made some get-up with ship-supplied stuff that I called "King of the Sea"

Spending most of an afternoon at the Don Q rum factory drinking and watching a video, while our friends sweated it out going up to the fort in Old San Juan

Watching a movie on-board

Singing waiters serving all us guys double entrees almost every night

My wife and I have been on several other cruises in the past several years, and, even though the Mardi Gras was primitive compared to today's ships, I have great and very positive memories of our first cruise.

Car-Stan

royalcruz and elmoe663,

Thanks so much! you guys are amazing!

Stan

Get a cab to the south port entrance at 17th St. There is a Walgreens there, and the water taxi is 2 blocks away at the Hilton Marina.

Thanks!

On the return, will we have to take a cab again??

Stan

I have read through much of this thread, and have not seen my question, so here goes…

We are doing a b2b on the Noordam in November. I believe we will have to leave the ship while it is docked (a Saturday), so are looking for things to do in/around Ft Lauderdale for a few hours. We do not want to take one of the ship’s excursions. We would be interested in any ideas people have, including shopping, sight-seeing, going to places to replace snacks, wine, etc. I saw mention of the water taxi, and would like more info on that – where it goes, where to get it from the ship, etc.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Stan (Car-Stan)

Very cool that this old boat stays alive in so many people's fond memories over the years! Thanks for sharing those additional stories - two people with a long gap between their last cruise and next one!

Zackiedawg,

We, along with you, may be among the very few who sailed both the Mardi Gras and the Nordic Prince. And we loved both!

We sailed the Mardi Gras with two other couples in the summer of either 1976 or 1977, when it went to Nassau, San Juan and St. Thomas. Memories include the waiters in their costumes, skeet shooting (0 for all), playing "hide & seek" in crews quarters, and spending the afternoon drinking pina coladas in the Don Q rum offices in Puerto Rico because it was too hot to climb to the fort. Also remember seeing every show, movie and stupid game, as well as making sure we made every midnight buffet, no matter how stuffed we already were! Not to mention some guy who we never saw outside of the casno!

When we went on the Nordic Prince about 8 years later with our two kids, we got upgraded so they got their own cabin and enjoyed the hell out of ordering breakfast in bed every day and getting dimes for the slots (they were about 8 and 4).

Went many years until our next cruise, and have done several since, but these posts have helped refresh lots of fun memories.

Thanks to all.

Car-Stan (Stan)