Back from the Granada tour. Dinner in Latitudes and some dancing in the Horizon Lounge. Will probably hit the sack early after two days of 9 hour tours. The Granada tour did not come close to the Seville tour. The Alhambra was nice, but no where near as interesting and varied as Seville. Had a great meal at the Alhambra Palace Hotel though. Because it was Sunday all of the shops in Malaga and Granada were closed. The Alhambra was packed! Lots of walking and repetition. Ride up and back was scenic. Price for the Seville tour was $194/per and Granada was $166. With the meals both were reasonable. The meals alone would cost $50/per both places. At sea tomorrow and a chance to rest up. Barcelona on Tues and we're not doing a tour. Will do the hilltop villages and Grimaud in St. Tropez. Weather today was great, but clouded up this afternoon late; seas are calm.

Doug:

Love your reports!

Any word on a drydock in Voyager's future?

Can you ask the Cruise Consultant if they know the reason that the fall 2005 Mariner Asia voyage is still not open for booking?

Good question, Marc!

Lazy day at sea between Malaga and Barcelona yesterday. Sunny and calm seas with temps @ 77. Got cloudy in the afternoon. Rain today in Barcelona. Lynn and I walked up Las Ramblas to the Placa de Catalunya department store and did some shopping; then back to the ship for lunch. Alas, luggage tags will be delivered tonight. We started packing stuff today, since it was rainy. Asked Nancea about Mariner fall 2005 and she doesn't know, but suspects they're just finalizing things; sounds like a great itinerary.

Wed. St. Tropez. High winds and choppy seas all the way from Barcelona. Cloudy today with showers forecast. Don't know if they'll be able to operate the tenders this morning, but we'll soon see. We're just off the coast as I write and the winds are blowing out of the east at @ 25-30 knots.

Was about to head off on tour and the Capt. changed his mind because of forecast high winds(force 7) this afternoon and the possibility of not being able to get folks back aboard. As a result, we are on our way back to the west(into the rain) to a cove called Sunary Sur Mer(Var, France) for the afternoon. Thought he'd just head for Monaco, but I guess there was no room at the inn. They are planning to take folks ashore.

As it turns out, Sunary Sur Mer is a very nice Riviera town, but it's very quiet at this time of year. We were really impressed at how quickly Capt. Knut was able to change things. The day here has been calm and pleasant with very light occasional showers. They even got new tours arranged in the three hours it took us to get here. Some folks went to Marsailles. This place is close to Toulon and between Toulon and Marsailles. We'll leave for Monaco at 2000 and will probably have a pretty rough ride once we get back out of this protected bay. The long trek home starts in the morning, so this will probably be my last post from the ship. Hope some of the info has been of use.

Doug:

Thanks for all of your posts. We really enjoyed hearing from you!

Wishing a safe journey home to you and Lynn.

Thanks for the posts, Doug ... have a safe trip home!

Masaki

We're back! The offloading and transfer to the airport Monaco-Nice was very well handled. Typical RSSC quality. The trip home was a bit trying(20 hours plus) with wait times and flights. Check-in at Nice with BA is not very well handled, but the counter agents are very courteous. No problems with security or baggage the entire trip. We were on BA from Nice-London-LAX and then SkyWest to PHX. The new thing that I liked at LAX is that you can recheck your bags after going thru customs right at the Bradley terminal and there's no big security hassle. It was very expensive in London( $8 for a 10 pack of cigarettes and a pack of gum ). Food was also very expensive. Europe is definitely not the place to buy anything other than a souvenier at this time. Had a great cruise and met a lot of new folks, as well as many old friends. Counting the days till Oct on the Diamond already.

Doug:

Welcome home. Thanks for all of the info regarding the transatlantic and Spain as we are headed for the return trip in the fall.

thanks,

Welcome home! Whew - 20 hours + is a loooong time to get there. We're looking forward to VJ7 in just a few short weeks. Cheers, Anne

Welcome home Doug! Sure enjoyed your posts along the way. I imagine you're bushed from such a long journey home!
Are you and Lynn considering any of the '05 World Cruise segments?

Doug and Lynn, welcome home! For your debarkation in Monte Carlo, were you tendered or docked? Leaving from there on June 7 and docs say either anchored or tender. I thought the new port there had more room for ships, but last time I was there we tendered. That's a real hassle for the ship when there are so many people getting off.

We all enjoyed hearing how you danced across the pond!

Thoroughly enjoyed all your reports; welcome home!!

Doug and Lynn - WELCOME HOME! So glad you're back, but will certainly miss your "sea mail".

I am interested in the docking or tendering situation in Monte Carlo as well. We will be boarding there in Nov. and I never though of the possibility of tendering.

Hope you're getting your land legs back again.

Welcome back, Doug!!

Masaki

We docked in Monaco and I didn't see any ships anchored. Looked to me as if the pier could handle about 3 ships. When RSSC has a major onload or offload there, as they did on our cruise, I believe they try to schedule so they'll be able to dock. We're doing Singapore-Rome on the world cruise Marcie, but we're trying to get on in Bangkok. Haven't heard back about that yet. Marc; don't miss Seville; it's better than Granada. Granada and the Alhambra was nice, but it's crowded and not nearly as interesting as the Real Alcazares and the cathedral in Seville. The tours to both are expensive, but worth it.

Doug, I'm so happy to hear that you and Lynn will be on at least 2 of the WC segments (trying for 2 1/2). I'm elated that there will be lots of us along the way!

Welcome back Doug & Lynn! Glad to hear you had a great time (and enjoyed your posts from on board). I'm also happy to hear that you're definitely booked on the 2 world cruise segments. It'll be great!

Just uploaded 25 pics from the cruise to the ofoto website.

Doug...the photos were great! Looks like you had sunny skies until Barcelona. (And Perry hasn't gained any weight either.)

Thanks for sharing. It must have been a wonderful voyage.