Miata-less Cruise Europe

April 2007

by Sal Leonardi

I am planning the next Miata-less cruise for us to enjoy and I would like some
feedback from everyone interested so I can gauge interest and get some
bargaining power with the travel agents.

I am looking at a sailing date of April 2007. That should leave plenty of time
for you to start collecting that spare change and saving up for this fun
experience.

Instead of a Caribbean cruise, I am working on a Mediterranean cruise. I know
many of us have been to the Caribbean, and while a splendid and wonderful
destination, not many of us have been to Europe.

This gives many a chance to experience the old world charm of Europe with the
best of traveling buddies while comforted in the safety and convenience of
having your own traveling hotel room (not to mention all the shipboard
activities: shows/dinners/pools/spas/etc).

I can not find any rates or itineraries for that far out in advance, but I did
get some info which will help you in making a decision. The following
information is based on April 2006 sail dates. Please keep that in mind. The
final numbers will undoubtedly change before our April 2007 sailing date.

This info is supplied by Carnival (the first cruise line to respond, I plan on
contacting other lines, also) and is based on a 12 night cruise, so plan ahead.

Cruise time frame: Sunday to Friday (12 nights)

Cruise Itinerary: Rome - Naples - Croatia - Venice - Messina - Cannes - Livorno
- 3 days at sea

Cruise Prices (excluding airfare, but including port charges and taxes, assuming
double occupancy):

Interior cabin: $1500/person
Ocean View cabin: $1600/person
Balcony cabin: $1900/person

Airfare (booked through Carnival) includes transportation to/from the Rome
airport to/from the ship: $1120/person

Cruise Ship: The Liberty. Brand new ship, designed exclusively for
Mediterranean travel. Her maiden cruise was July 17, 2005.

Carnival offers several discount categories and only one can be utilized:

1) Current or past military:
Interior: $1204
Ocean View: $1354
Balcony: $1570

2) Over 55: discounted rates not available at this time.

3) Current or retired travel industry or travel industry related (UPS, FedEx,
etc): Same as Military prices

4) Residential promo for Illinois: discounted rates not available at this time.

5) Past Guest of Carnival: discounted rates not available at this time.

Note: any qualifying discount covers both passengers in a cabin.

Please give this trip some thought. It is not cheap, but it is Europe and for
12 nights. The more people we get the more our discount will be.

Please let me know if you might be interested. There is no commitment at this
time, just a head count to help in my negations.

Ciao for now.

Sal
mrmiata@aol.com