<p>Thanks for all of the great hints. I wanted to post more info on “open jaw” (multi-city flights) / frequent flier miles since that hint helped us so much. </p>
<p>On the United website, we could only check for Round Trip quotes when redeeming frequent flier miles. But over the phone other options are available. The operator Said that if cities in same zone (like both Europe), then United just charges the higher of the two. </p>
<p>Example - We fly into Barcelona, out of Madrid. Those cities are each 60K miles round trip per person… so easy… 60Kper person. Paris is 110K miles round trip. So if we had opted to go into Paris and out of Madrid, we would have needed 110K miles each. The miles would vary by cities and dates, but concept the same.</p>
<p>That’s interesting that the web only allows you to select round trip. I always fly delta, and they let you choose one way and multi-leg trips too. 60K is really cheap for a Europe round trip, what a great deal. I can’t wait to hear how your trip went. I may seem overly interested, but it is because I have looked at and hope to eventually book this exact same itinerary for my family. It’s probably the only way I’m enticing my kids (young adults) to Europe. That sounds like a great plan to maybe save money on port trips for the stops through France, because the ports are all quite nice and interesting on their own, and to spend the money on the trips through Italy, because those are some trip of a lifetime destinations (if that is what you were saying in your posts).</p>
<p>Busdriver - I’ll add a summary after we get back in May. You can PM me if you ever have questions. Yes, our plan is to do shore excursion in Naples (just booked the “Pompeii and Taste of Sorrento” tour tonight), Rome, and Florence. Then no official tours in Cannes (which was Nice til a change they made a port itinerary change a few days ago) or Marsailles - or perhaps one short one. </p>
<p>I’ve joined cruisecritics (which may become my new “cc” web addiction). It’s an excellent resource, especially after you have some ideas of places and/or ship. I’ve started to follow a “roll call” thread for our exact cruise. We will stick with the official Norwegian shore excursions, but especially with 4 people you could save money making private arrangements with others ahead of time. Careful planning is needed though, to ensure you are back to the ship before it leaves.</p>
<p>Here is a new twist, at least for me. (Sorry if this was mentioned somewhere earlier in the thread). When shopping for airfare, of course I am very price sensitive.</p>
<p>Just bought a roundtrip ticket JFK-Rome on British Airways. I went to their website and paid with my credit card; the fare listed was $978, and when I got to the end that was the amount they charged, $978. Their receipt included a very detailed list of all the taxes and fees: pretty incredible, the “fare” was $383 plus a fuel surcharge of $476, then an itemized list of a whole bunch of little taxes and fees. But that isn’t the point.</p>
<p>When I reviewed my credit card bill I found my credit card company had charged me $29.34 for a foreign (exchange) transaction, which I guess is 3%. That was very annoying and unexpected, but of course the credit card company had a note explaining that these fees can occur even when you buy something online from the U.S. and the transaction is quoted in dollars.</p>
<p>Eeek, NJRes. Sounds annoying! Which credit card?
I was about to book British Air to England so called American Express. They said (on the phone) that IF the merchant bills not in $$ there is the exchange fee. If I wander into the UK version of British Air, I would probably be subject to it, but it looks like the US version should NOT.
How crazy is that?</p>
<p>A Mediterranean cruise isn’t complete without stop in in Croatia.</p>
<p>Especially Split,Dubrovnik,Zadar,Opatija…</p>
<p>And of course the more than 1000 islands in the adriatic sea.
That’s just a suggestion,and it’s much cheaper there than in France & Italy but the quality is the same.Croatia is even better since it’s a smaller and more private intimate country.</p>
<p>we love frommers guide books also online- they have never steered us wrong from the romantic to the off the beaten path ideas. we have traveled alot and interestingly we never spoken the language other than english. one exception- H spoke spanish in italy in the countryside and they understood him! even in finland where alot of people did not speak english we got around fine although the street signs all looked alike. people were nice and we smiled and nodded alot. we found that staying 3 days at one hotel/cottage works out well so your time is not waisted moving in and out.</p>
<p>Boxer–THAT’S an area I’d love to visit, Croatia & all the islands. When I was looking across the sea from our hotel in Taormina, Sicily, I imagined Croatia being on the other side. Also, on R&R from the war (Air Force) in 1944, my dad lost his HS class ring in the water off one of those islands. Wouldn’t mind trying to find it! I’ve also heard that Slovenia, just north of Croatia, is tremendous with Lake Bled being a highlight.</p>
<p>“A Mediterranean cruise isn’t complete without stop in in Croatia.” - Good hint. At least one of the Western Med cruises we looked at did have the Split option. It was actually the first time I had heard of that port. </p>
<p>jnm - great story about the lost ring…go for it!</p>
<p>Didn’t really know much about Rick Steves until I read this board but I have totally jumped on the bandwagon!! We went to the L.A. Times travel show today and had the opportunity to attend a session by Rick Steves…O.M.G. I am so in love with his whole travel philosophy and it does pretty much mirror H & my own. Though we prefer independent travel would jump at a chance to on a tour led by him (he says he does occasionally do this incognito of course)! His son also has started setting up weekend tours for college students in Europe that I would encourage my kids to do if they were in Europe for study abroad. I’ve downloaded some of his podcasts/videos from iTunes too. Looking forward to planning our London/Paris trip this Christmas break!</p>
<p>Yeah, colorado_mom, would love to try Croatia on a trip sometime in the future. Next one (our 2nd, hopefully Spring '13 providing the financial ship stays on course), will be back to Italy. Again, I probably will only get a total of 9 days, not nearly enough to visit really more than 2-3 destinations.</p>
<p>What I think we’re going to do, is use a round trip flight direct Chicago/Rome as the bookends again, then utilize Trenitalia more. This is because Italian airports, Rome Fiumicino in particular, are clusters of which I have not seen the likes of, and if one is Italian-speaking-challenged, it’s even worse. But I suspect it will be the cheapest direct round trip, so I will be a captive audience & will have to endure. </p>
<p>Using Florence and then Positano on the Amalfi Coast as bases, we plan to take day trips to Siena (maybe Pisa), then Pompeii and some of the hilltowns. Also have distant relatives in Salerno, would be nice to meet them. In Florence we’ll stay within walking distance to the Santa Maria Novella station. From Salerno we’ll take a ferry to Positano.</p>
<p>As I’ve said upthread, the planning & only spending money in my own mind is half the fun! :)</p>
<p>jnm - Yes, it’s great to dream. That’s nice that you could get a direct flight from Chicagp. Our frequent flier flight from Denver to Madrid requires a Dulles layover. And then another short hop to Barcelona on the way out. We fly home from Madrid - DH has successfully used that airport on business trips, and I must admit that it helps my comfort level.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the help. I hope others have been inspired to dream too. Planning for this April vacation timeslot would have been easier if we had done more than just vague
“Europe someday” discussions. </p>
<p>We still need to pick a hotel for our last 2 nights, in Madrid. Any suggestions from the helpful CC travel advisors?</p>
<p>Hi colorado_mom, we stayed at the Hilton Madrid Airport. My DH is a HHonors member & it was good for logistics: it was close to the rental car return, we had a 7am departure, & the hotel offers a complementary shuttle to the terminals. It was also within walking distance of the Metro (~1/2 mile to end of the line) so we could spend the day before departure exploring Madrid. Plus it had a cool modern decor that wowwed my boys. Right now that Hilton is offering a sale.</p>
<p>The disadvantage is that it is 'way out in the leafy suburbs. Others may have better suggestions if you prefer to stay closer inside the city.</p>
<p>Thanks for the hint, 12rmh18. If we had an early flight, I think we’d also pick your Hilton Madrid Airport choice. Our is 11am, so we were aiming for a city choice.</p>
<p>Our trip is mostly cruise, plus Barcelona and Madrid nights. But a rental car email made me curious about rental car costs in Europe. (My first check was $2000 for the trip… but that must have been an error. Another check was only a few hundred). If you have hints, you should post them here for other families.</p>
<p>colorado_mom, several years ago we stayed at the hotel Europa and loved it. Rather quaint and the rooms weren’t large but clean and very well located. They had a great restaurant downstairs and the staff was wonderful.</p>
I’ve also heard that Slovenia, just north of Croatia, is tremendous with Lake Bled being a highlight.</p>