The cruise and air are now booked, but we didn’t have a clue where to stay in either Venice or Barcelona. So this is where both
AND
REALLY came in handy. We did extensive searches on both sites seeking out reviews on various properties, and after much ‘hair pulling’ finally made our decisions.
Venice was the most difficult as we had expectations, and didn't want to 'settle' just out of budget considerations. The choices ranged from highly recommended bed and breakfast places (off the ‘mainstream’…pun intended) to stately old (almost impersonal) hotels with panoramic canal views.
Venice was the most difficult as we had expectations, and didn't want to 'settle' just out of budget considerations. The choices ranged from highly recommended bed and breakfast places (off the ‘mainstream’…pun intended) to stately old (almost impersonal) hotels with panoramic canal views.
We had some email dialogue with several properties, and after seeing our budget increase dramatically each time we discussed the options we decided that what we really wanted was a room right on the Grand Canal, and we were NOT going to let the price of the room sway us from that goal.
Below are a couple of picture from the balcony of 'our' mini-suite that I ‘borrowed’ from a former guest of the hotel we selected as posted on TripAdvisor (I’ll tell you what Hotel it is when we get there) .
The panoramic Grand Canal at night and the Gondola Station below in the morning:
No, we are not very excited!!! LOL...however, we will have to work at least another year before retiring just to pay for those three nights!!!In Barcelona we didn’t have many pre-established opinions as we knew nothing about it. But based on trip reports in Cruise Critic we quickly came to realize that being in the vicinity of (the always ‘happening’) Las Ramblas would put us right in the heart of 24 hour-a-day activity (which sounded like a good thing!).
After spending what we are in Venice we reigned in the budget a bit, and found a ‘nice’ place right on Las Ramblas. The intriguing thing about this hotel (name to come later) is the that we will have a balcony on which we can sit and watch Barcelona ‘party on’. (Of course one complaint of this location we have ‘heard’ is the noise from the partying in the street. So I guess we have two choices…party with them or…ear plugs!) They also have a 24 hour 'Continental' buffet (just what we will need after getting off a cruise!)
OK, the before and after hotels were now set. Next comes planning the tours in each port.
We were able to research information about different cruise lines, different ships, and various itineraries and ports before finally picking the best one for us and booking it.
