SSAA33

Great question. I need one for next year.....

Can anyone suggest a reasonably priced hotel in Barcelona, prior and after the cruise? We will be cruising on the Liberty of the Seas in September.

The Banys Orientals in Barcelona is a nice boutique hotel with really good prices.

Ticktoneer:

Great review! Very helpful as we are planning our first TA on IOS this November.

Did they ever sort out the hot water problem for you?

Also, the movies that you listed in your sea day activities - were they shown on the stateroom TV's as well? Pay-per-view or free?

Thanks!!

Thank you, Terry!

Glad I don't have to worry about the deck being too crowded. Since this will be my first cruise, I just don't know what to expect :confused:

Your focus on taking pictures truly shows in the wonderful images you've captured! If we come across that shop (or a similar one) it will be interesting to see but I don't plan on buying a high-quality expensive mask either. Some of the cheaper ones might make good souvenirs if we find them at a good price.

Every cruise ship we have cruised (more then 65) have more then enough deck space to accomodate anyone who wants to take pictures. Many cruisers are pretty lazy so we find that the upper decks are usually far from full. As to Venetian Masks, this is a difficult question since many of the tourist-quality masks are not even made in Italy (they come from Eastern Europe or Asia). Depeding on the size and quality you can get one of those phony tourist masks for as little as 20 Euros (maybe cheaper). On the other hand, you can also buy some amazing high quality Venetian Masks made by well-known local artists. These can be very expensive depending on the artist and your negotiation skills. We own one mask we bought about 25 years ago that cost us about $200. Our mask is actually made of paper mache with many coats of laquor and is framed by antique fabric. We were recently in Venice (2 months ago) and saw some masks that cost thousands of dollars.

 

If you want to get the cheap tourist quality mask you can probably find them elsewhere in Italy (or Europe) for less money then they cost in Venice. Of course you could simply buy them online from US sites such as http://www.venetianmasksociety.com/ where you will probably get them for lower price then in Italy. The combination of VAT taxes and high mark-ups in Venice make it hard to get a very good deal in Venice.

 

Hank

 

Hank

Thank you Hank! Glad I don't have to worry about the deck being too full :)

Thanks for clarifying about the range of masks available. I don't see myself spending a couple of hundred on one (too many other things I'd rather spend the $ on). I really just wanted to pick up a couple as souvenirs for younger siblings - I will keep an eye out for them in the other Italian cities we visit before Venice.

Great pictures!

Does it ever get too crowded on the deck to make it hard to get a good viewing spot?

What was the price range at the mask shop? How much are the masks around Venice that are intended as souvenirs for tourists?

Do you specifically want to go to Salerno? Because you can take the SITA bus from Amalfi (or Positano) to Sorrento and then a train (Circumvesuviana) from Sorrento to Naples. It seems like the Sorrento-Naples trains runs pretty frequently.

We will be there in September and our plan is: Hydrofoil from Naples to Capril; hydrofoil from Capri to Positano; SITA bus from Positano to Sorrento; Circumvesuviana train from Sorrento to Naples.

If you read the quote you included in your post, you'll see that it takes about an hour. If you need to confirm this you can see the SITA bus schedule here: http://www.sitasudtrasporti.it/public/tpl/campania/5070.pdf

Thanks. That is th schedule we're using for our planning but was just wondering if anyone has experiences with the bus taking longer/shorter than noted - or going off schedule at all.

I just took a quick look through the list of companies on the Naples Port Authority web site (here: http://www.porto.napoli.it/it/settori/passeggeri.php), and none of them are showing a direct trip from Naples Beverello to Positano. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but if it does they're managing to keep it really quiet.

Thanks! Beside the one post alluding to it, we couldn't find any other concrete evidence of this route. It may have been the company that is no longer in business that ran from Naples to positano..?

We decided to go straight to Capri from Naples in the mornings. Spend a few hours there and then take the 12pm hydrofoil to positano

Hello,

 

We are trying to do a similar journey on September 7th. We'd like to leave the cruise port as early as possible (ship gets there at 7:00) to get to positano, see Sorrento on the way back and have some time left for Naples (namely pizza!).

 

We are not able to find any schedules for ferries from naples to Sorrento that are before 9am.. We are hoping to catch one 7:30 - 8ish. Does anyone know where we can find a schedule for this? Or what companies operate ealier?

 

Also, trying to email metrodelmare for more information, we received an automated response saying:

 

"We inform you that metro del mare service ends on 04 settembre 2011."

 

Has this company gone out of business? We found a recent posting on cruisecritic (June 2012) mentioning a ferry from Naples straight to positano? Does this exist? Or do we need to connect through Sorrento?

 

Thank you!

To answer my own question, we have confirmed that metro del mare did in fact go out of business.

It is 12 extremely winding miles of road and cliffs and takes about an hour to get to Sorrento from Positano. You have beautiful scenery along the way though. We have done it several times on the SITA bus.:)

Approximately how long does Positano to Sorrento take on the SITA bus?

Hello,

We are trying to do a similar journey on September 7th. We'd like to leave the cruise port as early as possible (ship gets there at 7:00) to get to positano, see Sorrento on the way back and have some time left for Naples (namely pizza!).

We are not able to find any schedules for ferries from naples to Sorrento that are before 9am.. We are hoping to catch one 7:30 - 8ish. Does anyone know where we can find a schedule for this? Or what companies operate ealier?

Also, trying to email metrodelmare for more information, we received an automated response saying:

"We inform you that metro del mare service ends on 04 settembre 2011."

Has this company gone out of business? We found a recent posting on cruisecritic (June 2012) mentioning a ferry from Naples straight to positano? Does this exist? Or do we need to connect through Sorrento?

Thank you!