Carnival Venezia - May 29, 2023 Transatlantic

[Little Dog]

On 11/29/2022 at 9:26 PM, Froufie said:

Is this you Josette?  Please say yes! Also booked on this cruise!!!!

 

[LuvtoCruise50]

On 12/15/2022 at 10:14 AM, Jim02351 said:

We're getting off the MSC Poesia in Copenhagen and flying into Paris for a day or two then TGV to Barcelona for a couple of days. We were in Barcelona in October and stayed at the Hotel Jazz, a 5-minute walk to Las Ramblas. This time will stay closer to Sagrada Familia but haven't looked into hotels yet.

As far as getting to the port, take a taxi, reasonable priced.

  

Very nice! We are planning to take the train from Paris to Barcelona on the 27th. Maybe we’ll see you on the same train!

[MNM1011]

We just booked.  Can't wait to see the ship and to revisit Barcelona!

[Jim02351]

On 12/19/2022 at 10:14 PM, LuvtoCruise50 said:

Very nice! We are planning to take the train from Paris to Barcelona on the 27th. Maybe we’ll see you on the same train!

SATURDAY, 27 MAY 2023 09:38 PARIS GARE LYON 16:34 BARCELONA SANTS

[DKNYC]

Hi everyone,

I booked this Carnival Transatlantic a few weeks ago. I've done several TAs on several different cruise lines but this will be my first on Carnival. Have sailed out of Barcelona a few times as well. The main draw for me was that this unusual spring westbound ends in Manhattan which is where I live. Thirty minute cab ride home, maybe even less! 

Denise aka Denny

[Jim02351]

On 12/19/2022 at 10:14 PM, LuvtoCruise50 said:

Very nice! We are planning to take the train from Paris to Barcelona on the 27th. Maybe we’ll see you on the same train!

Where are you boarding?

[maryann2]

The steakhouse and other specialty restaurants are now opened for booking.

Have booked for the first night.

[Kmptamale72]

Hi everyone! This will my and my husband’s TA cruise. We are flying to London on the 24th and spending a couple of days before we head to Barcelona. I’m starting to look at excursions and was wondering what everyone is doing. We usually try to use local tour guides at each port. I would be interested in going in with some people for some tours.

[RoadTravelled]

3 hours ago, Kmptamale72 said:

Hi everyone! This will my and my husband’s TA cruise. We are flying to London on the 24th and spending a couple of days before we head to Barcelona. I’m starting to look at excursions and was wondering what everyone is doing. We usually try to use local tour guides at each port. I would be interested in going in with some people for some tours.

 

We've used on several occasions Spain Day Tours at various ports.  They are highly professional, communicate all aspects of the process in excellent fashion, have very knowledgeable tour guides, are very reasonable in cost, provide detailed instructions, and are small groups which allows much more flexibility and efficient use of your time.  It's a much better deal than taking ship excursions — highly recommend.   

[maryann2]

16 hours ago, RoadTravelled said:

 

We've used on several occasions Spain Day Tours at various ports.  They are highly professional, communicate all aspects of the process in excellent fashion, have very knowledgeable tour guides, are very reasonable in cost, provide detailed instructions, and are small groups which allows much more flexibility and efficient use of your time.  It's a much better deal than taking ship excursions — highly recommend.   

I agree with using Spain Day Tours. Excellent service.

What I really like about them is that when you book you pay them directly.  Instead of other private tours with one person trying to collect the money from no-shows.

[lettienets]

Booked in late Dec and finally got here to check in. Hi! Looking forward to my first cruise since the beginning of covid. 🙄

 

Hello to maryann2 Mary, Froufie Janet, nwcruiselover Nancy and repogirl49 Julie. Have to get used to our old names. It has been awhile!

And TravelerK Karen I think we have met before too. I would like to know about the 1898 Hotel. 

 

Seems like a very small roll call though I understand there are others talking on social media. Looking forward to this TA.

The ship looked beautiful on the Carnival zoom I watched with CEO Christine Duffy.  Lots of European flair. Gelato!

 

To all others, hello! Looking forward to meeting you.

lettienets Lettie or Loretta

[nwcruiselover]

8 minutes ago, lettienets said:

Booked in late Dec and finally got here to check in. Hi! Looking forward to my first cruise since the beginning of covid. 🙄

 

Hello to maryann2 Mary, Froufie Janet, nwcruiselover Nancy and repogirl49 Julie. Have to get used to our old names. It has been awhile!

And TravelerK Karen I think we have met before too. I would like to know about the 1898 Hotel. 

 

Seems like a very small roll call though I understand there are others talking on social media. Looking forward to this TA.

The ship looked beautiful on the Carnival zoom I watched with CEO Christine Duffy.  Lots of European flair. Gelato!

 

To all others, hello! Looking forward to meeting you.

lettienets Lettie or Loretta

I’m glad you’re going to be on the cruise, Lettie.  Lots of changes since the restart.  For one thing, roll calls aren’t as active as you noticed.  Looking forward to seeing you in May!  Nancy

[Froufie]

Hi Loretta!!!!  Sorry you missed the Celebration TA but thrilled you will be sailing on the Venezia with the 'rest' of us - so looking forward to seeing you again and catching up!  😍

[maryann2]

Welcome Loretta.

Looking forward to seeing you on board.

I am staying at the Best Western Airport hotel this time. Just one night. Have been to Barcelona many times and no longer need to see the sights.

Hotels are very expensive now.

My favourite hotel is 4 Points Sheraton ,away from the hustle and bustle. 

Mary

[LuvtoCruise50]

Any hotel suggestions for Paris?

Edited January 4, 2023 by LuvtoCruise50

[LuvtoCruise50]

On 12/21/2022 at 7:26 PM, Jim02351 said:

SATURDAY, 27 MAY 2023 09:38 PARIS GARE LYON 16:34 BARCELONA SANTS

Yes….the same!

[belkin]

Hi everybody, I have been busy working on getting all of our excursions booked this week because we have a busy spring coming up and I don't want to scramble around at the last minute.

We were on the Carnival Celebration TA and used Spain Day Tours for some of our ports.  They did a great job, so we are looking at booking them again for Malaga and Lisbon. 

 

For Malaga we are going to do the full day tour to Alhambra and Granada.  The price is 79 euros per person.  They require a minimum of 14 people (max 18) so I am hoping that we get enough people.  We are a group of 4 so we only need 10 more.

 

In Lisbon we signed up for the half day tour to Fatima for 65 euros.  Here is part of the description. 

Join the thousands of pilgrims that visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima, see the castle and wall of Obidos, and discover one of the most popular seaside resorts in the Silver Coast (Costa da Prata).  Join us for the half day excursion to Fatima only (6 hours), or the full day shore excursion to Fatima, Obidos, and Nazare (8-9 hours).  Again, there needs to be 14 participants for the trip to be a go. Min is 14 and max is 18.

 

They get 5 stars on Trip Advisor with 927 reviews.

 

You can check them out at www.spaindaytours.com

Edited January 6, 2023 by belkin

[RoadTravelled]

40 minutes ago, belkin said:

Hi everybody, I have been busy working on getting all of our excursions booked this week because we have a busy spring coming up and I don't want to scramble around at the last minute.

We were on the Carnival Celebration TA and used Spain Day Tours for some of our ports.  They did a great job, so we are looking at booking them again for Malaga and Lisbon. 

 

For Malaga we are going to do the full day tour to Alhambra and Granada.  The price is 79 euros per person.  They require a minimum of 14 people (max 18) so I am hoping that we get enough people.  We are a group of 4 so we only need 10 more.

 

In Lisbon we signed up for the half day tour to Fatima for 65 euros.  Here is part of the description. 

Join the thousands of pilgrims that visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima, see the castle and wall of Obidos, and discover one of the most popular seaside resorts in the Silver Coast (Costa da Prata).  Join us for the half day excursion to Fatima only (6 hours), or the full day shore excursion to Fatima, Obidos, and Nazare (8-9 hours).  Again, there needs to be 14 participants for the trip to be a go. Min is 14 and max is 18.

 

They get 5 stars on Trip Advisor with 927 reviews.

 

You can check them out at www.spaindaytours.com

 

We used Spain Day Tours on the Celebration TA as well and also highly recommend them (see post above).  We might have been on one of the same tours!

[belkin]

15 minutes ago, RoadTravelled said:

 

We used Spain Day Tours on the Celebration TA as well and also highly recommend them (see post above).  We might have been on one of the same tours!

We probably were.  We used them in Vigo, Tenerife and La Coruna.  Had a great time.

[TravelerK]

On 1/2/2023 at 5:25 PM, lettienets said:

Booked in late Dec and finally got here to check in. Hi! Looking forward to my first cruise since the beginning of covid. 🙄

 

Hello to maryann2 Mary, Froufie Janet, nwcruiselover Nancy and repogirl49 Julie. Have to get used to our old names. It has been awhile!

And TravelerK Karen I think we have met before too. I would like to know about the 1898 Hotel. 

 

Seems like a very small roll call though I understand there are others talking on social media. Looking forward to this TA.

The ship looked beautiful on the Carnival zoom I watched with CEO Christine Duffy.  Lots of European flair. Gelato!

 

To all others, hello! Looking forward to meeting you.

lettienets Lettie or Loretta

 

Hi Loretta,

 

Yes, I think we met on another cruise, pre-Covid.

 

Regarding Hotel 1898:  It's a great location on Las Ramblas.  And if you need an early meal at dinnertime, the rooftop bar is open.  When I stayed here before, I was traveling with a friend.  We got a "privilege" room, which had a terrace and was quite nice.  This time I'm traveling solo and only staying 2 nites, so I just booked a superior room.  The hotel is not cheap, but I think it's worth it.  For the dates I'm staying, they required payment in advance (nonrefundable).  I don't like doing that, in case there's a last minute problem requiring cancellation; but I have to admit it's nice to have the hotel and airfare already paid for.

 

Looking forward to seeing you again.

 

Karen

[RoadTravelled]

22 hours ago, belkin said:

We probably were.  We used them in Vigo, Tenerife and La Coruna.  Had a great time.

 

That was exactly the tours we used.  We were definitely on the same bus then!  What a small world indeed.  We really enjoyed all of these tour guides and the places we saw.

[belkin]

Just wanted to share a tour I found and booked for Halifax.  We booked with Halifax Titanic Historical Tours.   The Halifax Titanic Historical Tour is a 6-hour tour of historic Halifax, Dartmouth and Fishman's Cove in the Eastern Passage. Fisherman's Cove is a 200-year-old quaint authentic fishing village.  They only take 10 people which is nice and we have already met the minimum number of people for the group.   Mary

[RoadTravelled]

2 hours ago, belkin said:

Just wanted to share a tour I found and booked for Halifax.  We booked with Halifax Titanic Historical Tours.   The Halifax Titanic Historical Tour is a 6-hour tour of historic Halifax, Dartmouth and Fishman's Cove in the Eastern Passage. Fisherman's Cove is a 200-year-old quaint authentic fishing village.  They only take 10 people which is nice and we have already met the minimum number of people for the group.   Mary

 

Mary, this looks like a great small-group tour at a reasonable price.  Do keep us abreast of your experience.  We are actually on this ship on the Sep. 16th sailing that stops here as well.  Thanks for your feedback!

[belkin]

43 minutes ago, RoadTravelled said:

 

Mary, this looks like a great small-group tour at a reasonable price.  Do keep us abreast of your experience.  We are actually on this ship on the Sep. 16th sailing that stops here as well.  Thanks for your feedback!

I will try and remember to come back and post about the experience. 

[TravelerK]

On 12/20/2022 at 1:35 PM, MNM1011 said:

We just booked.  Can't wait to see the ship and to revisit Barcelona!

 

By any chance were you recently in Alexandria, Virginia?