mimicsr

We are arriving in San Pedro from a 15-night Panama Canal cruise Monday, 5/6/13 and are being picked up by B-I-L coming from San Diego. We are looking for a restaurant where we can walk with smallish luggage from the cruise port to wait for BIL where it won't be crazy with cruisers arriving & departing. It needs to be open 9 or 10 a.m. on a Monday. Any suggestions?

Thanks for this thread. We are hosting a line dance cruise on the Carnival Dream Dec 1-8, and then going on NCL Sun in late April for Panama Canal. It's our first Canal cruise and we haven't been on NCL for about 8 years, so it should be an interesting comparison. I will defo post a review and list the likes/dislikes of both.

I have a group of 26 riding a bus back home from Port Canavaral and would like an average time for disembarkation. I realize it's subjective, but usually the cruises we've been on, the ship arrives around 5 or 6 and disembarkation doesn't begin until 7:30 or so. Since the scheduled arrival time for the Dream is listed as 8 a.m., wouldn't a 9 a.m. pickup for the bus be too early? I'm thinking more like 10 a.m. What has been the norm on the last few cruises? We are going Dec 1-8.

I still am confused about location of old market. The Google map of Funchal has Mercado las Lavradores way up (about 1/2 mile) on Rua Bingadiero Oudinot. Then another map I looked at located it at junction of Rua Hospital Velho and Rua Do Visconde Andia. Which is it, or are there two of them?? Thanks again.

Mimi

We will be taking the ship shuttle to the cable car area of Funchal. Is the "old market" the same as the Mercado dos Lavradores? I see the location of the MDL on the Google map, but I am wondering if this is the same as the "old market" with the shopping center across the way. If they are different, what is the difference, and how do we find the old market?

Thank you so much, Biaria. That gives me some idea of how much to pay. Ideally, we would like to get the shuttle into town and see the market and walk around for a while, showing our companions your beautiful city. We don't want to duplicate the cable car and toboggan, as DH and I have already done it. We could then find a taxi and negotiate with the driver for a 3 hour tour of the east side of the island, taking us back to the pier at the end. Since from the pier it would be 100-125 euro, how much do you figure it would be from the city, keeping in mind this is for four persons?

Biaria: We only have a small group of 4 persons. Is it possible to arrange for a taxi tour directly from the pier? And what would be a fair price for a half-day tour covering part of the island? We did the cable car to Monte and the toboggan ride down the last time we were in Funchal, so we would like to venture out a little more this time. Should we just keep asking the taxis in line until we find a driver who speaks fairly good English and then negotiate with him? Our cruise is not until November, but I wanted to have a couple of options. Thanks for any advice you can give.

I would like more info on how to contact Gus for a tour of Livingston that includes a boat ride on the Rio Dulce, plus lunch, and how much it would cost per person for 2, 4, 6,or 8. Anyone who has done this, please respond with more details. We are on the Veendam 11/25 sailing. Thanks so much

Jeff: Thank you for that clarification. Can you shed a little light on exactly where in the upper village is the stop for Bus 100? And does it go to Eze village and not just the lower corniche by the coast? This would be a welcome option to the train. Thanks so much. Maybe the people at the tourist info center at the dock would be able to point us in the right direction for the upper bus stop, you think??

Mimi

Jennytsk: Where was the bus station or bus stop once you got to Nice, was it near the train station? How long did it take from Nice to Eze and how much? This definitely sounds doable. Then going back to ship, did you take the bus back to Nice and then on to ship, or to Monoco and then the train??

I'm just trying to nail down the logistics of all this.

Thanks, Mimi

TravelCouple: Were you there on the Splendour last week? If so, I guess this bus would also run on the day we will be there, which is Monday, 10/24. You sure can't beat the price!! Much better than $25.00 taxi, plus we will be there all day, so plenty of time. How long did you have to wait for the bus, and around what time did you catch the train from V.F. We took the train back in '03, but took it all the way to Monaco; however, I did note that Eze Sur Med was VERY close to V.F. Thanks for any info.

Mimi R.

For those of you returning from Villefranche who went to Eze: We are very interested in taking the bus instead of train to avoid 25.00 taxi fare to top of town, and I've read that it is Bus 100. My question is this: Can you catch the bus direct to Eze from VF, or must you go backwards to Nice and then catch the bus to Eze from there?? We were on Splendour in 9/03 but we took the train to Monoco and back to VF without stopping in Eze because it was pouring down rain. This time we want to skip Monoco and just go to Eze, then wander around VF later in afternoon/evening, maybe walking to Villa Euphresi. Any suggestions??