Making More Progress On Next Cruise Planning
April 20, 2008
As we have mentioned before, we have booked our next Cruise, a Transatlantic from Barcelona, Spain to San Juan, Puerto Rico. We continue to make more progress on the planning for this cruise vacation.
Being that the cruise departs and returns to ports that are a long ways from our home, we have to add in some air fare to the trip. Also, since we have never visited Barcelona or San Juan before, we need to decide how much time to spend in those cities before and after the cruise which requires additional accommodations. This is a painstaking process that requires quite a bit of time to get it done right. Luckily, Suzanne really enjoys this kind of stuff and does most of the research.
Obviously, the cruise is booked. We now also have our airfare lined up. That was a challenge given different departure and arrival cities. Its not cheap either. Its really a shame when airfare to get to your cruise costs almost as much as the cruise itself. Definitely not worth the price, but no choice either. We have also booked our accommodations in San Juan. We will only be staying one extra day. We found a strange opportunity with one of the hotel vendors I deal with when I travel on business. They were running a promotion where you could put up frequent stay points and $60 for a room. The best rate on the room we could get straight up through the frequent stay program was around $400. I didn’t have enough points for the program so they allowed me to buy additional points. The additional points cost me $122, so it was an easy decision. Strange thing was that if I had 0 points and wanted to purchase enough to qualify for the promotion, it would have only been about $160. You don’t usually run into a situation like that.
Today, we spent a fair amount of time trying to decide where to stay in Barcelona. We have decided to arrive three days before the cruise departs to ensure time to enjoy the city. We looked at a lot of hotels and a bunch of apartments for rent in the city. The hotels tend to be double occupancy (ie need two rooms) only and very expensive. The apartments tend to be much cheaper and more in the heart of the city. We have decided to get an apartment and have narrowed it down to a couple two or three choices. We should make a final decision by mid next week.
That will only leave excursions on the cruise and our transfers to/from the hotels, airports and cruise ships. This travel planning sure is a lot of work.
Next Cruise Booked
March 15, 2008
Well, on Friday we put our names down on the Celebrity cruise on the Summit from Barcelona to San Juan. The 14 day cruise includes stops in the Canary Islands, Maderia and St.Maartaan. It should be a fantastic cruise. I have heard wonderful things about the seasoned cruisers that choose the transatlantic cruises, so I am very much looking forward to meeting people on the cruise.
We have requested the Family Veranda cabin on the Summit, but right now it is only available as a guarantee. That means that we could be “upgraded” to a Sky Suite, Celebrity Suite or Penthouse suite, but those classes of suite either don’t hold 4 people or are most likely sold out. We are hoping that our travel agent can get us locked into a room now since we are 4 passengers. We are pretty much guaranteed a family veranda with a large aft balcony, sliding divider door, and 271 sq ft room and 224 sq ft balcony. However, the idea of not being locked into a particular room makes us a bit apprehensive. We really hoping that our Travel Agent will be able to work some magic and get us an assigned room.
Now, our next thing to do is figure out when to fly into Barcelona and where to stay. Hotels in Barcelona are extremely expensive and most of them do not have quadruple rooms (sleep four). That means that we will be paying about triple what we would pay for a comparable room in the USA. For example, I can get a room for 4 in Anaheim for the dance competition at the Motel 6 for under $70 a night. A comparable room in Barcelona would have to be two connecting rooms for around $210 a night. Consequently, I have been searching alternative accommodations. I went to vrbo.com, where they have apartments for rent. Some of these rentals are a bit off the beaten path, but still near attractions. They run about $160 a night for four, but include a full kitchen and a bit more privacy than a hotel. The only drawback is that some require a three night stay.
We also have to book our flights. If we use Cruise Air through the cruise line, the cost is around $1100 from Tucson. If we book independently, we are looking at prices closer to $750. We will probably go that way since we not only have control of which flights we take, but also the day we travel.
That brings us to our last dilemma, when to fly into Barcelona. The cruise leave on November 29th, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. That means that we can fly in any time during the previous week without increasing the amount of school the kids miss. I am leaning towards flying in on Tuesday, arriving Wednesday and spending three days in Barcelona in a “Flat”. Steve is not sure he wants to take the extra day of vacation since he usually takes 3 weeks of vacation around Christmas. That would mean flying on Thanksgiving (Thursday) and would only mean one day in Barcelona. After purchasing a great guide book on Barcelona, I am leaning towards the longer stay, as I truly believe that Barcelona is one of the great cities of the world and worth a three day stay.
More as the trip plans develop…
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