Private Shore Excursions

[kare8ear]

I need help clarifying what private shore excursions offer.

 

Most do not include a guided tour (because only certain people can be licensed to give tours).

 

Generally they just drive you around and provide some basic narration while driving.

 

If you would like more of a "guided tour" and someone to enter the sites with you (such as St. Peter's Basilica or the Acropolis), should you book an excursion with the cruise line?

 

When you book an excursion with the cruise line, does it include all your tickets (so that you do not have to stand in line buying tickets yourself)? What about with a private excursion (do you have to wait in line to buy the tickets yourself or can you arrange for them to be purchased in advance)?

 

THANKS in advance for your help!

[jody]

kare8ear,

While it is true that in many cities, only an official city guide can give you a guided tour of many sites (the Vatican), etc., the private guides I have used have been very knowledgable and are willing to provide a 'private guide' when needed. We did this with our day in Naples and the Amalfi coast. Our guide for the day gave us information and helped us customize our day. When we chose Pompeii as a stop, he recommended a private guide and called to have the private guide meet us there (for an additional cost). I still believe that we paid less and had a much better experience than the people on the official cruise excursion we ran into at our stops.

 

If you do a ship tour, it generally includes everything, but you do still wait in line while your guide goes and picks up the tickets. You also wait a lot as people wander off and you are always in a crowd of 30-60 people and may not hear the guide. In Kusadasi, Turkey, our guide was licensed and for $40 pp we had a driver and a licensed guide who could take us (a group of 10) into all the sites. We stayed one step ahead of the cruise tours and had some of the places to ourselves.

 

In my personal experience, private excursions win hands down (and this coming from someone who missed the ship on a private excursion). In Istanbul, we booked a cruise excursion and paid more and had half as fun as our friends who had a private guide for the two of them. In Euorpe, we saved money and had more quality experiences than the ship tours.

[Leejnd4]

Jody, just out of curiosity -- what did you do when you missed your ship? That's my biggest cruise nightmare!

 

LeeAnne

[jody]

LeeAnne,

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (missing the ship). Princess knew we were missing and had a port agent waiting for us. (We were stuck in a traffic jam outside of Naples. It took over 5 hours to drive 30 miles. The ship departed 2 hours late after waiting for all the Princess tours and it sailed 15 minutes before we arrived at the pier.) The port agent helped us report to the police (none of us had passports on us), find a hotel room for the night, and book us airline tickets the next day to fly from Rome to Athens to catch the ship. The owner of the private tour company did a good job of helping us out and he provided a driver from Naples to the Rome airport, and booked a driver for us in Athens to take us to our hotel and then to the ship the next day, all free of charge. It cost each of us about $500 for 2 night's hotel, same day air Rome to Athens (only $250 which was a good deal), and misc food. Luckily, I had travel insurance that covered all my expenses so I just missed a day at sea on the ship. It was stressful seeing the ship gone in Naples, but I was with a good group of people (6 of us) and I decided to just try to 'enjoy' the experience as best I could.

 

I did write up a 48 page review of my Med cruise (missing the ship and all), so all the details are there if you (or anyone wants to read it).

[Bruin Steve]

We decided on our most recent Europe cruise (Millennium to the Med in August 2003) to go exclusively with the Ship's Shore Excursions (after doing a mixture on our prior Europe Cruise--the Baltic--where we found some private tours we took (Copenhagen) excellent and some (Helsinki) disappointing...and found some places (Tallinn) worked just fine "on our own")...

 

But, after researching the alternatives in the Mediterranean, I was convinced the ship's tours made a lot of sense...

 

First, unlike the Baltic (where there were four of us), it was just my wife and I on the Millie...With two on a privat tour, it is CONSIDERABLY costlier...In general, to get the price down to competitive, it takes at least four, and, when all the added costs are considered, likely a van with six to get the cost of most tours slightly below the ship's excursions...

 

I had priced private guides in Athens...and determined it would have cost us nearly twice the price as the ship offered a FULL day tour including admissions charges and a complete lunch for a mere $99 per person...

 

The ship's full day excursions ALWAYS included lunch (pretty good in most places) and ALL admissions charges...plus the guides were always licensed guides who gave actual tours as part of the deal.

 

As to the size of the tour, our tours NEVER had the up to 60 people as intimated above by Jody...Even on tours where the buses were fairly full, that usually would mean about 30 to 40...But we found that to seldom be the case...Our Shore Excursion in Rome had ELEVEN passengers--and two tour guides...Our Tuscan Countryside Shore Excursion had a very managable 19...

 

Obviously, getting a tour with only 2-6 people would be preferable on all accounts...but, we are not really talking "apples and oranges" here...

 

In Italy, drivers are not allowed to give "tours"...They can give you a basic tour to various sites and cities as there's no enforcement of the licensing in open public space...But, for controlled areas--Pompei, the Vatican, museums, palaces, etc., all they can do is drive you there and drop you off...

 

Also, it is INCORRECT that the guides wait on line and you wait for them...The licensed guides have certain privileges at most sites (like the Vatican) including bypassing the regular lines.

 

And none that I have heard from include addmissions fees to such sites...or lunch...Generally you may find yourself buying not only your own lunch, but lunch for your driver as well...

 

The other benefits of the Ship's shore Excursions are :

1) The price is generally in US dollars so you have inflation protection against the rising Euro

2) You can cancel or change your reservation for full credit right up to the day before the tour

3) The cruise line has done considerable research into and pulls considerable weight with the local contractor who is actually providing the tour

4) In case of delay, the cruise line will usually hold off embarkation until the shore excursion has returned--if possible

5) You can make reservations right up to the time of the tour, if available

 

There are some benefits to a private guide:

1) You control the itinerary (This is outstanding where the ship's offerings don't include the specific sites you want to see)...and you can alter the time allotted at any stop

2) As discussed before, smaller group

3) You can generally fit in a busier schedule as you don't wait for others.

Note: It is also possible to find actual "guides" rather than drivers, but typically more difficult and far costlier.

 

In general, from my experience, don't expect to save money with a private guide...You get what you pay for...or, better yet, you pay for what you get...

The trade off in having to find "tour mates" to defray the cost of the private guides is that you may end up being totally incompatable...including in terms of what you wish to visit and how long you want to stay somewhere...which then defeats some of the advantages...

 

Also, note that while some private tours are fairly "private"...ie 2-6 people in a car or van, others are actually just similar to the ship's offerings...and you are in a bus with 30-40 people anyway...If that's the case, it's well worth spending a few $$ more and going with the ships' excursions for a variety of other reasons...

 

Good luck...

 

Oh, and BTW, to some folks, missing the ship, being stranded in some unintended port, incurring unexpected costs, not having my clothes and toiletries with me, not getting the onboard meals, entertainment and lodging, having to deal with all the logistics of catching up to the ship...and so on...may not be "so bad" to some folks...TO ME, THAT would be an absolute nightmare!!!

[Leejnd4]

Excellent food for thought, Steve. I'm right now deeply involved in figuring out what exactly we're going to do in each port for our May cruise (12 ports total!), so this is timely information for me.

 

We've booked two private tours, both in France -- Tania from Marseilles, and Michel of Revelation Tours from Monte Carlo. For both of these tours, we were lucky enough to meet other interested couples here in CC who will be sharing with us. But I'm not sure if we'll actually be saving any money doing it this way (unfortunately, right now I don't even know what the ship's tours cost, as they won't be releasing that information until March). The main reason I chose to do these private tours is because of the raves I've heard about both drivers, and the fact that we can design our own itinerary -- I didn't see any ship tours that included exactly what we wanted to see. Also, these are tours into the countryside that involve a lot of driving, and I figured we'd be much more comfortable in the small luxury vans that these drivers provide.

 

One word of caution about doing it this way, though -- I recently learned of someone who worked out an entire private tour plan involving three other couples she'd met in CC, but once on the cruise, one couple dropped out completey, and another only went on one of the four tours she'd planned. Since no money had been collected up front, the rest of them got stuck with the extra costs.

 

I've been doing massive amounts of research into the possibility of private tours at our other ports, but I'm getting close to deciding that we will use no other private tour guides, except for our embarkation port (since we'll be there a couple days early). Here's our rundown so far:

 

Funchal, Madeira -- local tour company for Island tour

Lanzarote, Canary Islands -- 4-hour ship's tour, as we're only on the island for 6 hours

Agadir -- ship's tour to Taroudant - no way would I try to do anything on my own in Northern Africa!

Casablanca -- ship's tour to Rabat - same concern

Malaga -- ship's tour to Alhambra - this is a looong way from the port, and the drive itself is not the "main event", so I'd rather be on the cruise line's bus. Plus, they provide the tickets and a special guide into the Alhambra itself.

Valencia -- we're thinking we're just going to explore this city on our own, no guides at all.

Barcelona -- again, we'll do this on our own, using the hop-on/hop-off tourist bus. (Steve, you've been an enormous help with our Barcelona plans!)

Marsailles & Monte Carlo -- private tours

Portofino -- CAN'T DECIDE what to do here!!! Any ideas?? ;)

Livorno -- having been all over Tuscany EXCEPT to Lucca, I'm just going to take the train to Lucca and explore on our own

Civitavecchia -- we're disembarking and going to stay in a castle for 3 days post-cruise. (No visit to Rome -- been there a lot.)

 

I hope this is a good plan...I'll let you know when we get back in mid-May! :)

 

LeeAnne

[kare8ear]

Thanks everyone for your input!

 

jody: Can you please post the private companies that you used? Also in Naples, did the driver pick you up at the boat or did you have to arrange some kind of transfer?

 

Bruin Steve: I agree with you on all of your points. The cruise ship's packages are all inclusive whereas with the private companies it seems that there are still a lot of costs that you have to pay out of pocket during your tour.

 

I am still trying to figure out the financials of all of this.

[clofty]

Dear Jody,

 

I am joining a private tour from Naples to Amalfi coast and Pompeii in June 2005, sailing on RCCL Brilliance. I was thinking of leaving my two younger kids on the ship as the day would be very long for them and they are only 7 and 10. I am nervous about our return time, 6.00pm with ship sailing at 7pm. (Latest ship excursion is due back 5.30pm). Now I am thinking of booking a ship excursion so I won't 'miss the boat'.

 

Would you please let me know where to read your report (I tried to look at all your posts but could not locate it easily) and also email me at clofthouse@hotmail.com as I would like specific details of your itinerary and tour driver etc as it's inappropriate to post the tour company as it was unavoidable for them. Thanks for your help and all your information.

LeeAnne,

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (missing the ship). Princess knew we were missing and had a port agent waiting for us. (We were stuck in a traffic jam outside of Naples. It took over 5 hours to drive 30 miles. The ship departed 2 hours late after waiting for all the Princess tours and it sailed 15 minutes before we arrived at the pier.) The port agent helped us report to the police (none of us had passports on us), find a hotel room for the night, and book us airline tickets the next day to fly from Rome to Athens to catch the ship. The owner of the private tour company did a good job of helping us out and he provided a driver from Naples to the Rome airport, and booked a driver for us in Athens to take us to our hotel and then to the ship the next day, all free of charge. It cost each of us about $500 for 2 night's hotel, same day air Rome to Athens (only $250 which was a good deal), and misc food. Luckily, I had travel insurance that covered all my expenses so I just missed a day at sea on the ship. It was stressful seeing the ship gone in Naples, but I was with a good group of people (6 of us) and I decided to just try to 'enjoy' the experience as best I could.

 

I did write up a 48 page review of my Med cruise (missing the ship and all), so all the details are there if you (or anyone wants to read it).

[jody]

clofty, I have emailed my review to you. It's long but has a lot of details.

 

kare8ear, For Florence and Naples - we used Driver In Rome (Daniele)

For Kusadasi - we used Sezgin Demirci from Sardunya Travel

If you did an internet search, you could find both of them. I know Daniele will work to get you tickets to things such as David (Accademia Museum) or the Vatican in advance if you request it. His father Remo has met personally with the Pope (photo on their website). When we missed the ship (due to a fluke), Daniele went out of his way to help us get back on track with a lot of expense out of his own pocket.

 

BruinSteve, I'm not telling anyone what to do, I just tried to relay my experience to help others make the right decision for themselves. You are correct, it is not cost effective to book private tours on your own. We were lucky enough to meet 2 fabulous couples through Cruise Critic who committed to our Florence and Naples tours and the 6 of us had a family of 4 join us for our Kusadasi tour. Obviously, you have to 'meet' people through the internet and decide if they were trustworthy and go from there. We coordinated deposits so that people were committed and it all worked out well for us (and it was easy too). In every case (with 6 of us), we got a much better experience and paid a lot less than the cruise tours available on our sailing. In Istanbul, I paid $67 + tip for the Princess tour (a full tour bus full of people) versus another couple from our group of 6 who paid $55 (which INCLUDED the tip) for a private guide for the 2 of them who was a licensed guide. They learned more and got to see more and paid less than we did. A tour of a port is a tour of a port. The only apples to oranges for me is that I paid more for a lesser experience using the cruise tour in Istanbul and I learned I won't do that again in that port.

 

Tour guides do have to go to pick up tickets for each tour (during your tour) and they do wait in line (usually) to do so. The tour guide line is probably a lot shorter than general admission, but as I stated, there is waiting around for a guide whether you do a private or cruise ship excursion because the guides all go to the tour guide window to pick up tickets once you arrive at the site. (I never said they wait in the regular line like a normal tourist, I just said they have to get in line to pick up tickets too.)

 

Steve, I did copy and keep your 2003 Med review (I find value in all reviews people are kind enough to do- thanks!) and I see you took the Millie while I was on the Golden Princess. Maybe your tours were smaller, but every single cruise tour I have taken (on Princess or Carnival) has entailed a completely full tour bus (45+ people) and were not the best experiences waiting for people returning late to the bus, trying to hear the guide over people who were talking, etc. My private tours have all been fantastic and worth every penny. There is of course, the risk of missing the ship, but that is a very rare occurrence. Before it happened to me, I had never met ANYONE who missed the ship.

 

Like I said, I experienced everyone's worst nightmare (missing the ship) and it was not so bad and made for an unplanned and interesting experience. Make lemonade from lemons, I guess. I don't recommend missing the ship, but if you do through some fluke, it won't be the end of the world. It's been a great story and a good memory for us.

 

I suggest people do the research, see what others' experiences have been and make the decision that fits your situation best. We did do 2 ship excursions and 3 private and found the private ones superior in our case in the Med.

[kare8ear]

clofty: Can you please post you hired for your private excursion in Naples/Amalfi Coast/Pompeii?

 

Thanks!

[Alan2504]

In your earlier post you said that you were on the Millennium and used the ships excursions.

We are on the Millennium this July and wonder if you could help with this question.

 

Could you tell me at approx what time did you arrive and leave from Rome when using the organised excursions?

 

We are planning to meet a relative for lunch in Rome and want to "comfortably" max our time in Rome. We were considering using the train however we would probably not want to cut our timings to fine, so we were thinking that the ships excursion might actually give us more time in Rome, and no worries about "missing the boat" :D :D

 

Thanks

 

Alan

[FLJudi]

Most ship's tours I have taken usually stop at some shopping spot (whatever the local tourist item is - ceramic, glass, rugs, etc.) and I'm not a shopper and resent the waste of time. I also do not like the stops at touristy large restaurants for lunch and usually with a limited choice of menu. I'm happier at a small local cafe that doesn't take an hour to serve the large group of people.

 

Just my peeves. No flames please.

 

FLJudi

[clofty]

I am joining a tour organised by another party who are using an associate of Marcellos. Marcello was already booked by a party from Brilliance (sailing 06/05/05)way back in April! We will be following Marcellos itinerary.

 

clofty: Can you please post you hired for your private excursion in Naples/Amalfi Coast/Pompeii?

 

Thanks!

[Bruin Steve]

Alan, the excursion we took, "A Walk in Renaissance Rome" is an 9.5 hour excursion (I just checked the Celebrity website and, curiously enough, they've knocked it down from the $118 we paid to $92 but changed the included lunch to "lunch on your own") so it left fairly early in the morning (like 8:00 am if I remember correctly), returning to the ship around 5:30 pm...Of course, since we had only 11 on our tour, they used a minibus and were able to take a shorter quicker route into the city (one the big buses are restricted from taking), So our trip in and back was shorter...

 

The "Rome on Your Own" excursion is also 9.5 hours, so I would expect the same timing...Of course, all it is is a bus ride to and from for $65 a person and you may be able to do much better than this on public transportation...If you leave yourself an hour and a half to navigate your way each way (our trip only took a little under an hour each way), you should be safe...Just be wary of the public transportation schedules and leave yourself plenty of time...

 

Of course, if your relative is ONLY meeting you for a quick lunch, you may want to take that "Walk" tour and arrange for him/her to meet you on your "lunch on your own" break....That might maximize your time...

 

Judi, I actually agree with you completely on this point...

For example, our Naples excursion "Capri, Sorrento and Pompei" was absolutely wonderful, managing to take in all three places with reasonably sufficient time (considering it's a one-day port stop) and with a great guide...BUT, the one section of completely wasted time which could have been put to far better use with, say, an additional hour in Pompei, was a torturous visit to a "Cameo Factory", the main point of which seemed to be to sell merchandise...

 

I suppose there are some folks who enjoy the shopping opportunity...I don't...That is generally my complaint about all such tours...Luckily, they all don't have those kind of stops...

[Alan2504]

I was looking at the "Rome on your own" tour specifically as I'm fairly familiar with Rome itself and wondered about the timings.

I presume the drop off and pick up point will be somewhere like St. Peters? ...so that'll give us some time to re-visit a few spots, have lunch and head back for the the bus.... as you say be wary of relying on public transport! ...couldn't agree more....I like to relax when I'm on holiday :)

 

Thanks again for the information

 

Alan

[jodiscruz]

When you missed the ship, how did you get to the next port. Did your insurance cover this?

[Andym]

AVILA,

 

Please stop posting on here as if you have been with these people.

It has become obvious that you ARE romeinlimo.

[bob278]

Steve,

 

I've seen refernces to help you provided on tours and would like to ask if you could make any recommendations for how to best use our time in Barcelona in May. We will be arriving on a Thursday morning and will have the rest of that day and all day Friday for touring.

 

I plan to use the hop on-hop off bus on thursday to get an overview and simple tour of the city, but I have no idea how to find a good tour for Friday. Any suggestions?

 

I'll glady take advice from anyone, but I'm addressing Steve because I''ve seen clues that he may have the info I am looking for.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Bruin Steve]

Hi, Bob, no problem...

I love Barcelona...The Millie cruise/post-cruise was my third visit...

We had an overnight at the end of our cruise and then booked two nights in Barcelona post-cruise...We've never used the hop-on-off bus, but this last time, we did take the ship's excursion city tour during the day in port...

 

With two days and the "bus" ticket one of those, here's what I'd do:

(First, note that I don't know where the hop-on/off bus stops, but I'll assume it stops in all the typical tourist places)...

I would use that first day to visit Montjuic (and the Olympic facilities), the Sagrada Familia and Park Guell...

Montjuic does not thrill me all that much, but it is usually included in most tours and has good city views...and hard to get to without transportation.

The Sagrada Familia is the absolute #1 "must-see" of Barcelona and is worth spending a bit of time wandering around and going inside if you have the opportunity.

Park Guell is a bit of a bus ride to the North (if you don't have the hop-on thing, the #21 -I think it was- bus goes there from the Placa Catalunya for a lot less money...but it is far off enough you'll need some sort of transportation). It is maybe #2 on my list of what not to miss in Barcelona...

 

The next day, I would concentrate on the area surrounding the Placa Catalunya...I don't think a private tour is needed, just a good guide book (I wholeheartedly recommend AAA Spiral Guide- Barcelona...you can get it at Amazon.com for $11.53...The book is easy to use and contains great maps and recommended walking tours)...

 

North of the Placa on Passieg de Gracia, walking distance are the Block of Discord with Gaudi's Casa Batllo (on the left as you walk north)...You can, for a few Euros, buy an entry ticket which comes with a walkman-type tour module

Another block or so up, on the other side of the street is the Casa Mila--again admission is just a few Euros...There is a Gaudi Museum on the top floor and don't miss venturing out onto the incredible roof...

Then, back to the Placa, and...

Stroll South along Las Ramblas, Barcelona's famous walking/shopping promenade...then head East into the Gothic Quarter (Barri Gotic) and visit the old Cathedral, the museum, the Palau de Musica, etc.

Head back to Las Ramblas and the Placa to find a nice dinner spot...and hang oput at the Placa at night for the nightlife...

 

Hint: For snacks, drinks and bottled water, venture into the El Corte Ingles Department Store on the Eastern side of the Placa and go to the supermarket in the Basement...Bottled water, for example, costs about an eighth of the price of any touristy looking store along the streets...

 

Have fun...

[bob278]

Steve,

 

Thank you so much. You make it sound very exciting. Does a lack of being able to speak Spanish (no experience with it since high school more years ago than I like to admit) create much of a problem with your suggestions?

 

We were able to get around a little in Paris on our own and I speak even less French than Spanish, so I'm hopeful.

 

It looks like we may have lucked out with our hotel if I am translating your suggestions and their web map. We will be spending two nights at the Hotel Continental at 138 ramblas. It appears to be only a block away from the "Plaza Catalunya". Is that the same as "Placa Catalunya"?

 

Thanks again for the quick response and exciting suggestions.

 

Bob

[Bruin Steve]

First, YES...You are at a good location...

The Placa Catalunya (Catalan, not Spanish - "plaza") is at the northern terminus of Las Ramblas and is pretty much the hub of everything in Barcelona...You are in a convenient location for restaurants, shopping, nightlife and tourist sites...

 

As to not speaking much Spanish, it should not be a major problem...

First, most Barcelonans will tell you that Spanish, though spoken, is NOT the prefered language in Barcelona...they speak Catalan...which, as you will note in differences in spelling and in vocabulary (ie. Placa rather than plaza) is a different language (okay, it's related)...

 

Still, Barcelona, being a very cosmopolitan city with a large tourist industry, has many people who speak English--especially those in the tourism industry...You should have no problem...

[Leejnd4]

Steve, I just gotta tell you, I've been saving and printing out all that you have written about Barcelona in the last couple of months, and it has provided the most comprehensive guide to that city I've seen anywhere. None of the websites, guidebooks or other sources have given me the in-depth experienced knowledge of this city, and how best to enjoy it. Because of this, and due in large part to your obvious enthusiasm for this city, I am looking forward to Barcelona the most out of all twelve of our ports!

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge with us...I just thought you might like to know that it is VERY much appreciated out here. :)

 

LeeAnne

[Bruin Steve]

Thank you for the undeserved praise, LeeAnne...

The guidebooks actually do know a lot more than me...

 

I do love this city, though...

 

Before I ever visited myself, I saw the 1975 Antonioni movie "The Passenger" with Jack Nicholson and Maria Schneider:

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073580/

 

There are scenes in Barcelona including Nicholson "flying" over Barcelona harbor in the TELEFèRIC...

 

http://www.tmb.net/en_US/turistes/busturistic/teleferic.jsp

 

I saw that and said "I've got to go"...

 

By the way, there's another thing to do in Barcelona if you have the time...ride that cable car sky ride...

 

Yes, there's lots more to see and do in Barcelona than I've even put into my short posts...

 

Have fun...

 

By the way, I was watching the Travel Channel the other night and they had the "2005 Best Beaches" show,,,and Barcelona's beach made the top 3...

[jody]

Bob,

I also stayed at the Hotel Continental in Barcelona. We took the bus from the airport. Here are some details from my review that may help you find it:

 

At Placa Catalunya (when we got off the bus) it was not evident where we should go to find La Rambla. Someone else had mentioned it was between the Burger King and the McDonalds, but these two restaurants were almost next to each with no street between other so that didn’t work. I asked a young lady for directions to ‘La Rambla’ in English and she was able to point the way. Head to the Hard Rock Café and walk past it (it will be on your left) and turn left a few steps away at the end of the block and you will be on La Rambla. The Hotel Continental was a very short ½ blocks down on the left. There is a small sign if you are looking for it and if you look up, you can see their balconies with blue signs hanging from them.

The hotel is not overly obvious because the lobby is on the second floor (but it will be the 'first' floor in Europe because they start with 0). Be aware that the elevator there is tiny. If you don't have luggage, the stairs aren't too bad. The hotel is in a great location and I thought it was very affordable. Have a great trip!

 

I also used the Bus Turista. The Red line takes you to La Sagrada Familia and then to Park Guell and returns to Placa Catalunya after some other stops. You can jump on and jump off during the day for the one price. Sometimes there were long lines at the stops. The guide provided narration along the way (which wasn't always understandable). The Blue line takes you towards the pier area and a few other stops I can't recall.

[bob278]

Thank you, Jody.

 

Between you and Steve we will get along fine.

 

We are really looking forward to our day and a half in Barcelona. The good news from our perspective is that we've had the privelege of spending a little time in a lot of great places. The bad news is that we have almost never had the chance to visit any of them in depth.

 

The closest we've come to that is London. We were there once for 4 days and twice for a day and a half.

 

But we have no complaints. We never imagined that we would do as much as we have, so we're grateful.

 

We love this board as it has helped us tremendously since we discovered it nearly 2 years ago. It's people like you and Steve who are so willing to share information that help those of us who want to be more independent or just want to know how to do something.

 

Thanks to both of you.

 

Bob