If you sail from Barcelona, get to the cruise terminal early. If I recall correctly we were told we

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We are relatively new to cruising and have only ever cruised once and that was with Thomson. We are due to cruise with Thompson again this september on their new ship the Dream but its has had terrible hotels sydney australia reviews. Our cruise balance is due in the next week and I'm looking at alternatives. We can get a Voyager of the Seas cruise hotels sydney australia for the same prce as our balance.
Also, we are looking to do the flights/transfers ourselves (Barcelona) as it looks to be much cheaper hotels sydney australia and fairly straight forward with a taxi from the airport to the port for about �30. Any advice on this also??
First rule of thumb for anyone booking idependent flights is to book and go out at least one day early. Especially when going with 'cheapylines'. This has paid off twice for us with delayed flights and rerouting on both Ryan Air and EasyJet. Always have a back up plan and know alternatives.
You will also find that as most cruises depart at the weekend when flights are inevitably dearer that it pays to take a Thurs or Fri Flight and what you save on the air fare pays for your one night stay over in a B B or hotel. You will get a taxi transfer from Airport to Town for around 30 Euros.
Thomson hotels sydney australia is one of the few lines I have not travelled on so its a bit hard for me to compare but I think the main difference you will find is in the passenger mix. Expect hotels sydney australia a lot of Americans, Spaniards Italians on board with a sprinkling of Brits.
Drinks: a G T $6.50 plus 15% Grats. Beers around $5 plus 15% grats. Cocktail of the day is $5. Bottles of wine - anything from $26 upwards, probably find average price $33-$36. Are you calling at any port outside of the EU? If not then just check out these strange Tax Rules as you may find an extra % added on for Spanish Tax. There are a couple of threads floating around the forum with more detailed advice on this one.
Have never been on Thomson but have been on Royal Caribbean. We were docked next to the Dream in Barcelona a few weeks ago and Adventure of the Seas (sister ship to Voyager) seemed very large in comparison.
I have been on Voyager hotels sydney australia and really enjoyed it. It's a large ship and has a real wow factor. Food is pretty good - they have main dining room plus a number of more casual hotels sydney australia options. Entertainment and onboard facilities are really hotels sydney australia good (ice-skating, mini golf, rock climbing etc). Adventure of the Seas is sailing from Malaga and doing a similar itinerary hotels sydney australia so may be worth checking prices on that too.
A few things to note though, i) sailing from Spain it will be a mix of nationalities and lots of Spanish which is probably quite different to Thomson - but that was a bonus for us, ii) drinks prices are in $ and it is more expensive now because of the exchange rate - they also have to add on 7% Spanish tax and they add on 15% service charges, BUT they do tend to be more generous measures of alcohol, hotels sydney australia iii) the 'service charge' or tips come to about �6 per day each. Some people pay them others don't, but you have to pay these in advance if you want my time dining. We auto pay them and just accept them as part of the cruise price.
If making your own travel arrangements it is worth going the night before. We got a room at an Ibis not far from the port for about 40 Euro for the night. Taxis to and from the airport and port are easy to do. Barcelona is a very easy DIY port because flights are cheap and transfers easy.
You will find a few threads on here with examples of drinks prices and someone has posted copies of menus. If you go for it knowing that prices are dearer and the extras you are going to pay there are no surprises. For soft drinks you can buy a soda package at $6 per day (coke, sprite + diet varieties, hotels sydney australia ginger ale and tonic water).
hotels sydney australia If you sail from Barcelona, get to the cruise terminal early. If I recall correctly we were told we could board from 2pm onwards. We actually arrived from airport at about 12.30 and there was a huge queue already and boarding underway. I believe boarding actually starts at 11am - if you get there at this time I believe you can more or less get straight onto the ship as you will beat all the flights flying people in on the day.
Thanks everyone for replying. Very helpful comments. I think you've helped us to decide. So long as we can cancel with Thomson we're gonna go for it. Definitely gonna go the night before too! Thanks so much for your help
Thanks everyone for replying. Very helpful comments. I think you've helped us to decide. So long as we can cancel hotels sydney australia with Thomson we're gonna go for it. Definitely gonna go the night before too! Thanks so much for your help
Hope you get it sorted - you'll have a great time. As someone said you can get onboard from around 11am at Barcelona. Also just to say second sitting is usually 9.30pm on Spanish sailings at that time of year. We did my time dining, as 6.30 too early and the 9.30 was too late for us with the kids.
Thanks everyone for replying. Very helpful comments. I think you've helped us to decide. So long as we can cancel with Thomson we're gonna go for it. Definitely gonna go the night before too! Thanks so much for your help
Sounds like we had a more positive cruise the week before yours. One thing I would say is that overall I suspect the cruises that are a full week are probably better than the 4-5 nighters. Agree on drink prices though but we went prepared so weren't hotels sydney australia surprised.
Sounds like we had a more positive cruise the week before yours. One thing I would say is that overall I suspect the cruises that are a full week are probably better than the 4-5 nighters. Agree on drink prices though but we went prepared so weren't surprised.
The staff on Thomsons far better than RCI,but there may be a reason for that as staff where telling me the morale was rock bottom as RCI keep moving them from one ship to another,which hotels sydney australia ever ship has the greatest demand.