ROLL CALL - Opera 2nd April

Making an early start here - but would be great to have our group geared up to go come 2nd April.

So far there are Marge and Ernie, Vic and Carol, hopefully Cod and hubby can be persuaded to stay with us, and then Webdesigner and Mike Witte are sailing too plus us and our 2 friends from Portland. Apologies if I missed anyone else.

There is the suggestion of a Pre sail party on evening Friday 1st April and then a get together on Opera at Il Patio on Ponte Tosca.

Input please.

Obviously the "get together" on Opera will be Saturday 2nd at a time to be decided!!

Nocaper - what about joining us? Bring Dad too - the more the merrier!

Marge - started the thread as you suggested but looks like we are going to have a whole lot of empty space!!

All those staff just to please our little group!

Maybe the others are just not as excited as us!!

Can hardly wait to be back with brilliant MSC and this time on what - the pictures show - is a very beautiful Opera.

My husband and I will be on board the Opera for the transatlantic crossing and are eagerly looking forward to the trip. There have been some very interesting and informative postings regarding MSC and specifically the Opera. Needless to say some of the more negative ones made me a little nervous,however,I believe there is always good to be found in everything,sometimes you just have to search a little harder. Positive attitde equals positive outcome(most of the time). Look forward to seeing you all on board.:)

Mary - welcome.

As you say a positive outlook can work wonders - and our little group are going to have the cruise of a lifetime!

Hello everyone - greetings from Australia!

I'll be sailing the transatlantic with you all - and I'll pre-warn you, I am definitely an MSC fan :D Have sailed with them before in the Med and looking forward to the new Opera!

I was booked on P&O's Aurora for the Sydney to Southampton sector, but as you all know now that was cancelled and I have spent some time looking for an alternative. Think I got the absolute last balcony cabin - I believe the ship is booked out for our crossing.

Looking forward to meeting you all either at a pre-sail on April 1 and/or onboard on April 2, particularly as I'll be sailing solo.

Robynp - Good to have another FAN aboard with us.

Look forward to meeting you at both parties!!

Thanks czechmate!

Still organising my flights - had to change from a one-way UK to Oz, to a Round the World fare, and some sectors are proving difficult - but I WILL be there!

Is anyone staying onboard for the next cruise around to Venice?

Sounds like a small but select ;) group of CC's will be onboard. Looking forward to meeting everyone....and the voyage of course :D

Best Wishes from the Land of Oz :)

Thanks Robynp. Greetings to you and Sydney.

Hope that your complicated travel plans all work out.

By time we realised that next cruise was just round to Venice we had already booked our air tickets from Genoa - and cannot change.

Pity we would have loved those extra few days!

Counting down now!

Hi everybody,

Glad to hear were not gonna be alone. Were a young couple (29 - 35) from Belgium and we booked today for the april 2 transatlantic. We're gonne be in Florida from Wednesday March 30 for some extra time of. We can use some input from florida residents for visists we definitly have to make. :D

We're afraid we're gonne be the youngest on the ship? Is it? We would like to join the get together on April 1 because we're in the neighbourhood. We'll follow this thread closely.

Welcome. Great to have you with us.

You will not be the youngest - promise!

Looks like we are building up to an international group as well.:D

Not to worry varadero, I don't qualify in your age bracket - but I am very young at heart! ;)

czechmate - does that make the numbers around 14????

Robynp - I think we are around 13/14 at the moment.

The way I look at it - you are as young/old as your heart tells you!

Dear people,

my wife Marian and I just asked our travel-agency to check if there is still place on the Opera for 02 april 2005 !!

So,... within a few days -we hope:)- we know if we will be your accompanists / travellers.

Henri.

We're glad to hear the responses and we're really looking forward in meeting you guys. Do anybody know when and where yet? We're gonna rent a car in florida for the time when we're there, so we eventually pick up some people.

Some good advice. I you need cheap flights back to the US...

First book a ryanair flight (www.ryanair.com) from genua to London (if you book now : 15 euro / 20 dollar) and then just check out for a cheap flight on www.google.co.uk you should fly back for about 350 dollar.

Is there anybody who could give us advice how we would get a cheap flight TO the us on march 28? We found a flight FROM Miami to London for about 123 dollar (www.condor.de) - but not the other way round.

We keep you posted and read the comments daily.

We'll bring some Belgian chocolates to the get-together... The're the worlds finest. Really they are !!!

G & C

A last question... we have a catogory 9 cabin... does anybody know if it's possible to upgrade to a balcony room... maybe through MSC directly... but they said it was full.

First we booked our cruise through www.skyauctions.com but we read so many complaints about it, in the end we didn't trust it, so we booked it through a belgian travel agency and there was no problem, we got a cat9 cabin (external with window, good sight) for a fair price of 1.199 euro. All taxes paid, including all the insurances and 'annulatieverzekering'.

We think it was a good deal, especially for a transatlantic cruise.

Henri We REALLY hope that you and your wife can make it. It will be great to have you with us. Lets hope that you will be the bearer of Good News.

Varadero - You are SO RIGHT about those Belgian Chocolates! Unbeatable!

I have heard that all the balcony cabins are booked so you may be unlucky with an upgrade. (We booked for Opera as soon as we got back from Lirica in April, 2004. Eager beavers!) Can only suggest that you try to telephone direct to the USA office of MSC and ask them the chances of the upgrade - that may be the best chance.

For the air fair. Try to check through the various posts that Dopwndie made. From memory I recall he was suggesting a very good and reasonable air line - but right now I am not sure on the Miami/Fort Lauderdale angle, Will see if I can trace anything for you.

We become more international by the day which is I think Great. Our own little United Nations!

Originally Marge suggested that the pre sail party on the evening of 1st April at Fort Lauderdale Marina Marriott - they have a great location. That is where we are staying but have no problems if anyone wishes to suggest an alternative. You can see the hotel and the bar area overlooking the marina if you go to the hotels website. Hotel also has a great pool if people cannot wait to hit the water!

On the 2nd April around 16.30 or 17.00 could be good. On the thread which Cod started originally for 2nd April it was sort of agreed that Il Patio on Ponte Tosca would be best. That is the open air restaurant on Deck 11.

Would be good position for the sail away especially port side.

PLEASE though anyone should feel free to make suggestions about other times or locations. I am not the organiser in chief for this - just trying to get the whole thing going for the benefit of ALL.

Ola Robyn Found you, can't hide from me. Glad you found a cruise that will fit your schedule. Your birthday partner.

Ola sle! Yes indeed - you've found me again :D Thrilled with finding this cruise and sounds like a lovely group of fellow cruisers too!

Private message winging it's way to you!

The meeting area "suggested" was

Goosbys Poolside Bar and Grill at the Fort Lauderdale Marina Marriott.

Apologies to Downdie for the "typo" error above!

Meeting spot sounds find to me - now all I have to do is -

1. get a room at the hotel or somewhere close to it...and

2. get a flight from LAX that won't get me into Ft Lauderdale too late to meet you all!

There is of course always the second get-together onboard, but I just HATE to miss out on anything ;)

Robynp - lets hope those 2 little details can be worked out quickly. Will be great to have your company.

If you cannot get in at this hotel (would be a surprise) then there are quite a few alternatives nearby. We like this one has good position with great view of the port and we are there in just a few minutes with the complimentary mini bus service.

ONLY 8 WEEKS TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If anyone would like to make e-mail contact then please write

danbarry2@hotmail.com.

Barry

We are also sailing on April 2. We would love to meet some people for a cruise party.

Also was wondering if anyone has any ideas for lodging in the genoa region.

Thanks

Art and Jennifer

Art and Jennifer. Pleased you are joining us - the more the merrier!!

Genoa - for one night we are staying at the Ramada hotel that bdintertech suggested in "Cods" 2nd April thread. Downdie also suggested a very satisfactory hotel in the Genoa area. You may like to check out the profiles of these two great members (bdintertech and Downdie) and read through the threads they posted. Lots of very useful information to be had

Art & Jennifer - Welcome! Great to have some more CC'ers sailing with us.

henri - do hope we can also welcome you and your wife to our international group! Have you been able to book yet?

czechmate - flight sorted from LAX to Ft L - very early flight :eek: but direct. Hotel also sorted - Best Western Marina Inn & Yacht Harbour. Not sure how close that will be to the Ft L Marina Marriot? This hotel would not have been my first choice, but has complimentary shuttle from airport to hotel/hotel to cruiseport.

Mind you, I should be economizing, as the transatlantic is part of a 3 month trip as my 'retirement' ;) reward. To console myself, I'm having a 'splurge' for a few nights in Bangkok on the return journey to Australia at the Peninsula Hotel :p

http://www.peninsula.com Click on 'Bangkok'....gorgeous hotel and probably a fitting end to the whole trip :)