We paid for our cruise and our shore excursions in advance of the cruise. Once we were on board we started charging things like our daily bottle of wine with dinner, and occasional glass of wine at a nighttime show, the cover charge for the specialty Italian restaurant (once) and Johnny Rockets (Five times). We charged our internet time at the whopping rate of 55 cents per minute and our gratuities which came to over $200. While we were busy charging Royal Caribbean was busy giving us money back. We got our shore excursions money returned for the ports we missed, plus $100 consolation for each port to use for wine money to drown our sorrows or keep us from getting antsy. They returned $70 each for an oil surcharge that was returned. Apparently the cost of the cruise included port charges which were returned because we missed so many ports. All totaled, we walked off the ship with a charge of $216 against our credit card. It is like winning the at the slot machine.
We arrived into Barcelona last night at about 10:00 PM and they had arranged free shuttles to operate all night to take us into downtown. Mike and I had not been sleeping well so we passed on the entertainment (why start partying now off the boat after two weeks of lock down?) and went to bed early (no sleep for me AGAIN). Getting off the ship in Barcelona was the most efficient ever. The bags were orderly and organized and everything was very efficient. We were at the airport by 9:00 AM for our 2:00PM flight to Rome.
After sitting around the airport waiting for flights then finally flying to Rome we caught a train to Florence and met Caitie at our hotel at 8:00 PM for dinner at a neighborhood outdoor cafe. After a couple of Greek salads and a pizza we were still talking like crazy to catch up. We have four days to catch up and we don't want to miss any of it.
Tomorrow we are going Tuscany site seeing together for the day, then back to Florence for dinner with one of Caitie's roommates. Mike and I are having fun.
Free internet again.... life is good.
I will check in again tomorrow.
Deanne
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2 comments:
Hi Dee,
Finally, you made it to Caitie! She must be so excited to see you guys. Pls give her a big hug from the 3 of us.
I think going on that cruise would have really stresed me out and ticked me off if I had saved up my 2 week vacation and had my heart on seeing all those ports....or perhaps all that wine would have mellowed me out in the end ;-)
Glad that you saved some $ and at least added to your list of wines tried.
All is well here in B'ham. The sun managed to come out in all its glory and Rowan had a blast chasing the little bugs around the deck. No word on Matt or Jonny - which means all is OK.
~Dana
thanks for the update, Dana. Yeah, the working people were the ones we felt sorry for, too. After all, lounging around on a ship for two weeks can get boring for people that want to do some sightseeing.
Caitie is in great shape. She has moved into our hotel with us for a few days, and she is working on a term paper side by side as we surf the internet for updates on ploitics (dad) and update the blog photos (me). We are all enjoying the free internet.
Great to hear all is well. Give our love to Mikicito and Rowan.
Dee
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