I am posting for the first time.Iwas allocated June Louis cruise 2005 This i was informed was fully booked.Vouchers were then sent which i returned with a letter explaining i wanted a cruise not vouchers for use with rise travel that was in January i have not heard anything since

Annj,

Here`s a link that will answer you question:

http://www.baa.com/main/airports/heathrow/flight_information/flight_arrivals_frame.html

Then click the "destinations" tab.

The answer is Terminal 1, BA to Malpensa or Linate, so you can`t go wrong!

Tony

I've often wondered if foreign places are safe for a lone female. You can't always rely on guide books, they're written by people who can only judge by their own experiences and maybe a little research, which aren't always 100% indicative of the realities on the ground. And cruise ship info on ports can't always be 100% either, largely for the same reason - although they usually have plenty of experience of the ports they visit regularly. In Alexandria, for example, I took the ship's transfer to and from town. Once I began to explore the town I felt uneasy, although I'd never been given any reason to. It was a huge relief to see a group from my ship, and even more so that they allowed me to tag along with them.

I've found that trousers with plenty of secure pockets are ideal for ports you've never been to before - and other excursions, too, for that matter. If you've got your money, passport (or a photocopy of the relevant page) and embarkation card in zipped or velcroed pockets you can be reasonably sure nobody is going to try to help themselves to your goodies. Money (preferably in small amounts, i.e. only what you plan to spend ashore) is safe there too, though I wrap it up tightly in a plastic bag so it doesn't jangle for any would-be thief to hear. I've got into the habit of looking out for heavily-reduced trousers with lots of secure pockets, in sales or in Primark, and keep them for cruises. You might want to take a bag of some sort as a decoy, with nothing of value in it, just in case anybody feels like helping themselves to your belongings. Anyhow, you'll probably need it to keep bottled water or a snack, you can find yourself off the beaten track where you'll need to fill up.

Fay

val s - Louis hasn't been available to Rise for many months, many of us were booked on Louis cruises and are now rebooked on other lines.

If you don't hear from Rise soon, try contacting the Daily Express. If they're not helpful, Watchdog (BBC1, back on air in September 2005) will be interested - they've featured the Daily Express offer twice to date. Try e-mailing them now, and again before they're back on air in September.

Fay

Hi Meh

I'm flying to Milan (Linartes) with BA in September - originally this was from Gatwick to Genoa but RISE changed it to Heathrow to Milan. I believe the luggage allowancs is 13kg for handluggage and 23kg for hold luggage.

Elaine

Hi - just wondering if Mee (Julie) is still around - I've emailed her but no response. Hope you are ok and everything is still ok for th 10th September.

Elaine

Hi Elaine853!

Yes I'm still around. Apologies for not responding to your email, I still have it in my inbox waiting for a reply. I don't know where time is going at the moment, I seem so busy!!

I will go to your email right now and reply!!

Best wishes and looking forward to 10th September!!

Julie (mee)

Good Evening and Welcome aboard the Balcony Cruise
Val s

Just in case your at a loss, we at the balcony Cruise are the longest standing (well sometimes I manage too) cruise on this thread. whats your gripe, just join in and the wackier the better
how are you at line dancing

On a serious note, yoooooou will get noticed by R*** (don't mention anything to do with bread making or taking the R*** out of anyone, you could get us closed down) and the D/E by just posting as they both read the site to keep tabs on us

Bye for now time for a few ding dongs

The coven have left me alone for the last 2 days, had time to do my housework why do hoovers fill up so quickly

Phil morris

Good Evneing Each of you merry cruisers.
Just a quick note I have finally managed, with a great deal of help from Luci to upload 10 photos of Sri Lanka they are the tame ones, for the XXXXX rated ones, showing up UNICF and the rest of the 'Good Time' people you'll have to send me an email

Beddddy byee time

where did I hid that bottle, the door went I thought one of the coven was calling, it was my neighbour returning some tin foil poor sod did not know why he got such a volly of abuse, must apologise tomorrow

p.m.

Hui
just uploaded some photos of Sri Lanka i did not date them as each photo is individually dated.

Phil Morris

I'm off on the Opera on 21st May and I'm hoping this might help me find others DEers! :-)

http://www.eshirt.it/carrello/gt_make.php?id_prj=05050483F678

I know there is an HT t-shirt design around but I don't want to upset the captain!

It's great to hear the stories of the successful returnees! I am getting quite excited. Does anyone know when I can expect tickets to arrive?

Hilary

Hi AbroadScots,
regarding your tickets, our group set of on the 9th may (monday) and we still havent got our tickets !!!!! have been told thet they will be here tomorrow thursday.....wouldnt mind but l leave on friday for London.. cant help but think the ticket lark is nearly the final straw... so quite when you will get yours is anybodys guess!!!!!
cheers
Myles

Yippee

My cruise tickets arrived today

Looks like I may finally be sailing in 4 days time

Just have to tell the world as I am sooooooo excited! Really hoping that the other 7 on our cruise get theirs today too!

Scarlet.

Great news Scarlet, both you and roundabout have received them from MSC today. Only 5 more sleeps (if you can) before you go, yeehhhhhhhh.

hi hilary,
i am off on opera on sat.i got my tickets about last wed.i was beginning to panis and rung r.... but they arrived safely
there appearss no logic as it seems the crowd going on melody on 9th are still waiting for info.
tone has come back from opera and said it wasvery good
will let you know when i am back cheers carol .

Just a note that there's no need to print maps of your ports of call, as they're given to you on the ship, either in an info pack that's put in your cabin before you arrive - or with Cruise News that's put under your cabin door each evening (which lists the next day's on-board activities, excursions and where and when to meet to be led to your coach, etc etc). There's also info on the port town (assuming there is one!), and generally everything you'll need to know to enjoy your time ashore.

In case you get lost easily (like me!!!!) everybody gets a small fold-up map of the ship's layout, which I keep with me all through the cruise because I'll forget some location sooner or later even though I've known it almost from the start.

Any other niggling doubts and queries will all be addressed in the info you get either before you leave home or on board (or at the embarkation terminal, if there is one), as millions of passengers have cruised before us and the crew are used to handling all our questions - 99.9% of which are answered in the info we're given to read. It's always best to spend the time reading it all, rather than putting it off till tomorrow - the sooner you know all the stuff listed, the more you'll get out of your cruise.

Carol - have a WONDERFUL time

Fay

Wow - I got home on Monday from 2 weeks in Tunisia and have only just caught up on this thread. It is good to know that things are really moving now and more people are actually getting cruises, though why tickets are taking so long to arrive is a mystery. If it were not for all the previous problems perhaps we wouldn't be so worried, but past experience has not exactly set our minds at rest.

It is good to read reports from cruisers who have now returned and I am looking forward to hearing from the first Melodians. At least some of us Independence Day ones will have met up before we set sail.

Regarding luggage, my daughter-in-law lent me a nylon holdall which weighed next to nothing as I only had 15 kg allowance plus 5 kg for hand luggage this time to Tunisia. I was a bit paranoid but, much to my surprise, my main case only weighed 12.5 kg. and I still didn't wear some of the things I took with me. I dispensed with my nice trolley case which even when empty is fairly heavy and used a smaller case on wheels which was a bit of a nuisance but did the job.

A local shop has some really pretty reversible dresses which I'm going to have a look at for formal nights and I will certainly make a trip to Primark to see what they have to offer.

Nice to have you back Phil. I will have a look at your photos later, but it has taken me so long to catch up on everything that I really must get on with other things.

hi there i am flying into milanlinate airport and staying over night in a hotel nearby then in the morning have to make my way to malpensa airport to meet up with everyone else flying in on the day of departure. have just been looking at information on milan and it says malpensa is about 45 mins away and will cost approx 75 euro's......should i be paying this or r... ?

any helpfull information gratefully recieved

regards bren

Just been reading about MSC's future plans. It seems they are expanding very rapidly. From no cruise ships a couple of years they now have 7, with 2 more 90,000 tonners on the way. It seems as if even they are not big enough though. Click on this link for more. http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=1280
It looks as if there'll be no lack of capacity for those still waiting for their cruise allocation.