barrydoll

Hi Snoopy

I'll be on this cruise too. Booked it yesterday when friends I met on a previous cruise said that they'd just booked it. I convinced a girlfriend to join me in about 5 minutes flat. It'll be her first cruise and my 11th. Poor hubby's got a new job and doesn't have enough leave.

I'll go looking for a roll-call and will start one if I can't find one.

Cheers

Cassandra

Thanks Buckeye for the excellent info. You said there were 10 of you in the minibus, was it a 10-seater or were there spare seats? Just wondering if potentially it could have been, say, 20 people - which of course makes it less appealing than a 10 person group.

I wasn't planning on jumping ship! I just didn't know if it was possible to arrange this after you've booked the cruise, which we have. So, thanks for your responses, it's great to know it can be organised. I'll certainly contact NCL. DaisyDuke, yes they may well have this cruise, but I didn't see it.

Thanks for your responses, I'll contact NCL today.

Cheers :)

Have you thought of taking a train from Barcelona to Malaga after the cruise? It would be a great opportunity to see the Spanish countryside! Spain is such a beautiful place, and why pay for the extra nights on the cruise, and not have fun on the cruise?

Yes we had thought of that, but we'd only miss one sea day on ship, and the train takes around 6.5 hours not to mention we may have to wait hours after disembarkation before we could catch the train. We will have already stayed in Barcelona before the cruise, so further exploration of that city especially with our luggage doesn't interest us.

Whilst this seems like a dumb thing to do, logistically it would make a heap of sense for me to leave a cruise on its third last day when it's in port in Malaga, rather than when it returns to the port of embarkation Barcelona, simply because I want to stay in Malaga after the cruise.

Has anyone done this before? If so, was it organised once on the ship, or before cruising?

This particular cruise is on Norwegian Spirit 6th December for 10 days Barcelona to Barcelona, however I notice it's being sold elsewhere as 4th December for 10 days Malaga to Malaga, so it looks like Malaga is a good port for disembarking anyhow.

I know that's an unusual question, but you guys are the experts!

Cheers,

Cassandra

We contacted Rudy at Tour by Van 7 weeks before our one-day cruise stop in Acapulco.

Within 24 hours we had received a reply email from Rudy promising us a private, comprehensive, personalised and professional tour and boy did he deliver!

We chose to visit most of the "usual" touristy spots including the Cliff Divers, the Chapel of Peace, Fort of San Diego and more.

Rudy was waiting for us on the pier when we arrived and he ushered us to his spacious, clean, comfortable and air-conditioned van.

Jose was our driver for the day and we were also fortunate to have Rudy himself in our van, sharing his passion for his city with us. These guys were FANTASTIC.

They were both so knowledgeable, friendly and passionate about what they do, and both spoke good English.

The tour was much better than I could have imagined. We got to see all the attractions that we had specified, and we had lunch break at a great restaurant that Rudy had suggested - the lunch was at our own expense - otherwise everything including attraction entrance fees was included in the tour cost of a mere $45 each!.

The van was stocked with plenty of iced water and towelettes for the 7 of us.

There had been some recent negative media about Acapulco but not once did we feel unsafe. Quite the contrary. This is a beautiful city to be explored and there's no safer way than to explore it with experienced locals.

We give Rudy and the other guides 10 out of 10. We would strongly recommend Tour By Van to anyone.