wcook

I had Liberty 1700, and the OP is lying. Miserable cabin. Way to far to walk to. You can hear the rumble of the engines if you listen really closely. At least once (OK, twice) I heard a bit of noise from the Windjammer above. Uh, hmmm, the extra space encouraged over packing. The balcony kept me from reading by the pool and meeting new people. And a whole lot more terrible stuff too nasty to tell.

Do not book these cabins! Leave them open, and possibly some previous occupants will be able to rebook out of nostalgia.

I've also heard that they will take a credit card on the bus. So who is right? If they do not take "American" credit cards on the bus, what kind do they take? Is there a 'ticket booth' nearby? Can you use a credit card there? Or what about breaking a 50euro by buying something small? Is there a shop accessible in the airport for this?

All I can report is my experience...

At the airport, there was a stand selling tickets for cash, maximum returned change of 20 EUR. A few feet away is a ticket-selling-kiosk that requires a chip-and-pin credit card. There's a big restaurant/coffee shop in the exit hall that had no problem taking 50 EUR. Can't miss it.

Going back to the airport, you could pay the driver cash for a ticket (no signs about how much change they would give.) There were also ticket sellers at Plaza Catalunya selling tickets with portable credit-card machines. No idea of those machines needed a chip-and-pin card.

However, if the ATM's only give out 50's and the bus drivers only accept cash and no change back greater than 20 euros, how do you handle this?

I agree that the bus is very easy to find at the airport, and is a good way to travel so long as you are OK carring your luggage to your hotel.

To emphasize an earlier point, they will not give change greater than 20 EUR, and will not take American credit cards. I had a problem with them, as the ATM in the airport only gave me 50's.

You've got four very busy days ahead of you. I'd take it easy that first day. Keep in mind it's Sunday, and much will be closed no matter where you go.

I'd get off the ship. There will be a very helpful tourist office right at the dock with suggestions of local things to do. Walk into town if you are up for it. Maybe take the water-bus across the bay to Toulon proper. Walk around Toulon. Relax. Soak up the atmosphere. Then head back to the ship.

If you are anything like us, you will be going full days in all the other ports. You don't have to do anything special in Toulon.

People from Mexico get sick in the states because difference.

In the US, municipal tap water is adequately treated to kill/remove such pathogens. Sadly, this is not always the case in Mexico.

Nobody from Mexico should fear getting sick from drinking tap water in the US. Or Spain for that matter.

IFor me, it's simple. Why take the chance?

But you seem to be taking it to the next level and stating as fact that there are things in tap water in Spain that will make Americans sick. And stating as fact that Americans can avoid these things by drinking bottled water. I do not believe there is any science to back up those claims. Nor do I see logically how that can be true. If people really are getting sick from Spaish water because it is "different," why is bottled water better?

The issue is that because we are not used to the water in another country it is not necessarily safe to drink.

In many cases, bottled water is just muncipal water in a bottle. Is *that* safe to drink, or will it make us sick since we aren't used to it?

It other cases, bottled water comes from a spring and has minerals and other things we aren't used to than tap wter. Is *that* safe to drink?

Granted, there are many places in the world were we have good reason to believe the bottled water has fewer harmful microrganisms than tap water. But not in Spain.

In Spain, what is in the tap water that isn't in the bottled water that makes it unsafe? Or is there something about wrapping the water in plastic that makes it safer?

I think for drinking purposes, bottled water is inexpensive enough and should be drunk everywhere -- Los Angeles, New York, Madrid, Barcelona, and Zimbabwe.

Unless you have reason to believe that the bottled water is safer than tap water, you are throwing away money (however small) wasting resources and creating unnecessary plastic.

Given two choices - both equally safe and tasty - one of which is free... one of which costs money and puts stress on the environment... I'll take the free one.

Personally, a

Our bodies are not used to the microbes in the tap water.

What microbes in Western European or American tap water are you talking about? I'm not aware of any microbes that are commonly found in these country's water supply that would make people sick.

That's not what we've been told. In places like China (which we just visited), it's not about "unhealthy bacteria," it's about bacteria that are foreign to American stomachs.

If it really was about different bacteria rather than unhealthy bacteria, you'd see the same warnings for Chinese people coming to the US. But you don't.

We had a medical doctor on our ship a couple of years ago whose expertise is travel medicine. He advise all of us to not drink the local water. In many cases it's not because the water is bad but it's because we are not used to the bacteria that is in the water.

Weird. Everything I've ever read on travel medicine disagrees with this. People don't get sick because "they aren't used to the local bacteria." People get sick because sanitation standards in specific countries allow too much unhealthy bacteria into their water.

Americans risk getting sick drinking water in parts of Mexico. Mexicans don't risk getting sick drinking water in the US. Or Spain for that matter.

I took 1 flip flop for the entire cruise

Remember that you will clear US Customs in Canada before you get on the plane.

In Feb, they plan to release the schedule through September. November probably won't get released for a couple months after that.

On our 3-day, a handful of people had formal fancy pirate costumes. Maybe a quarter of families made some effort - a patch or bandanna. The rest did nothing special.