TravelNet.ie
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Travel Net
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About Travelnet.ie
www.travelnet.ie is the website of J. Barter Travel Group, one of the longest established and well respected Travel Agencies in Ireland with Agencies in Cork, Douglas, Bandon and Waterford.
You can now research your holiday, check prices on a huge range of accommodations, car hire and insurance, all on the one easy to navigate website. A new addition to Travelnet mark II, is our Dynamic Packaging facility, which lets you piece together your ideal holiday, and save money by doing so! You choose what’s relevant to you – book your flights, accommodation, transfers, car hire and activities from the one site, based on your preferences and budget.
www.travelnet.ie is truly your all in one Travel Website!
About J. Barter Travel Group
J. Barter Travel Group was established in Cork nearly 150 years ago, and today the company is as vibrant and visionary, and passionate about travel, as it was on day one!
The home of the company is in the heart of Cork City on Patrick Street, and the company branches are located in the Douglas Village Shopping Centre, Bandon in West Cork, and in the sunny south east in Waterford City.
Community Reviews
I flew with Ryanair from Shannon on Friday morning. I spent the day in Venice which is ideal really for people to spend the night there and the ship sails at 5pm the following day so plenty of time to see this amazing city. It is also great for people to spend a long weekend there as they fly every Friday morning and late flight Monday so you have four full days in this beautiful city. The transfer was 6 euro one way or 10 euro return which is valid for 1 week. It stops at the train station and the bus station, which is the one you need to get off on. From the bus station I got a water bus across to on of the railway stations and was only a few minutes walk from my hotel. Very easy to do and locate. I was on my own and found it very easy to make my way around with the water buses/taxis. They cost 14 euro for 12 hours and you can buy an open hop on hop off ticket for the amount of time you are spending in the city. It stops at all the major attractions, St Marks square, Rialto Bridge etc.
I stayed at the 4* Amadeus Hotel which is very near the port. It was clean, Old Italian style and I would have no problem recommending it. I was situated at the back and heard nothing, but there were a few staying there and found it noisy at the front. So I would request a room at the back of the building. So to get to the port you go across to the bus station, walk or warterbus and a taxi (car!) to the port which should cost approx 10-12 euro. On the way back they charged 20! He was a hackney, not a taxi. There was a courtesy bus but we couldn’t find it. On the way back, there was a stop for the bus, which is supposed to arrive every 15 mins, we were there around half an hour and no sign.
The ship itself is beautiful and has 11 decks It is smaller than most of the fleet, not have some of the features which may appeal to families such as the H2O zone water park, the ice rink, flow rider large 42nd street where they have street carnivals etc like freedom class ships. I stayed in large inside state room on deck 6 which was perfect. I didn’t feel claustrophobic, the stateroom attendant was fantastic. Every time you leave, she would tidy your room, fantastic service. You also receive a daily planer on your pillow every night to let you know what’s going on for the next day.
Food wise there was the Windjammer café which is the buffet style restaurant which we ate our breakfast and lunch in. Food was fantastic. So much variety and the choices are different every day. We ate our dinner in the King and I main dining room every evening on the 8.30 sitting. We had a head waiter, waiter and assistant waiter, the same every evening. They only have two tables to look after so service was impeccable. The food was amazing, and again a different menu every night. Also, there is 24 hour room service which is free! On other classes/ships you would have speciality dining options for a little extra cost such as Chops Grill, Italian food at the Portofino, Johnny Rockets and Jade for Asian style cuisine.
On board you have great entertainment and a few bars to choose from. You have The Viking Lounge which was the nightclub that has 360 degree panoramic views, Schooner bar which hosted quiz nights and felt like an English style pub. Opposite the reception you had the Champagne bar which was very popular. We had two formal nights and everyone had complimentary champagne. The Casino Royale was very big and popular in the evenings. The kids are always entertained with the kiddies club Adventure Ocean with different age groups. There is an option for them to be there until 1am! Also babysitting is available for $8 an hour.
The Spa, Ship Shape, did some great deals while the ship was docked, often getting two for one offers or discounted services. The Theatre had something on every night, such as songs from all the old movies, all cabaret style. There was a magician one night! They are constantly activities going on during the day and night for everyone. You have the rock climbing wall and mini golf outside where the outdoor pool and indoor pool (Solarium) were located also. The Solarium has a retractable roof but was closed the whole time we were there. It is nice and cool in there, they also have food such as pizza, burgers, sandwiches etc on offer when the Windjammer is closed. They also have ice sculpture demonstrations by the pool bar and dancing under the stars one of the evenings with a BBQ style buffet and canopies. Canopies are handed out during shows in the theatre also. So food 24 hour a day!
I only did one excursion into Athens for $56 which to be honest, could have done it for a lot less. We got the bus from the ship to the Olympic Stadium, the Acropolis, and then onto Palak, the main shopping district of Athens for an hour and a half. From the port there are taxis which will bring you to Athens for approx 10-12 Euro, best to get dropped at the Palak area where there is a tourist train/tram, similar to those you see in a zoo! It only costs 6 euro per person and brings you to all the main sights. So if there were 4 of you, you could do it for less than a tenner! There was no need to do an excursion in Mykonos, we did get the transfer for $8 into the town which is very handy. It was beautiful with little cobbled streets and little restaurants dotted everywhere. Quite expensive though. A lot of galleries and boutiques. Glancing at the menus, they were expensive also. Split is a lovely too, old buildings and great shopping, market place and little boutiques everywhere. Some shops take Euro and you get your change in Euro also, some will accept but only give Koruna in change. So really, out of this Itinerary you really don’t need to do any excursions. The ship is docked for the day so you can go back on deck to the pool if you have all your sight seeing done. You also go through Venice on the ship which was fantastic. I loved this itinerary for that reason, so it is very relaxing and a great way to see the world.
Everything is in dollars so at the moment is fantastic value. There is an ATM on board but is supposed to be very expensive to use. I converted Dollars in Venice to put on my sea pass card, which is what you use throughout the cruiser. Even if you go over what you originally put in, you can pay the balance at the end. You had to leave your bag out the night before, the latest midnight and your tag is colour coded and called over the intercom in the morning. Very efficient.
This cruise and ship has something for everyone. The age group on board was very mixed, from groups of friends in their 20’s, families, singles, and couples of all ages. A great mix. I did hear from one of the staff that they couldn’t believe how young the age group was, and that normally on the Splendour is older. So hopefully everyone will enjoy their experience no matter what age you are. I think this ship being smaller it is more intimate. It was fully booked so we couldn’t see any cabins, so there were approximately 1,900 on board. So you see the same faces every day, as opposed to one of the bigger vessels. One thing was the pool was very small, so kids were constantly jumping in and running around the pool, so the H2O Zone would be fantastic for kids. All in all I couldn’t really fault the Royal Caribbean, fantastic service and staff, great itinerary and excellent food.
Just back from Canada booked with Barter Travel. in Cork, I booked it last October and it cost less than 740.00 per person for 07 nights.
We arrived in Hamilton airport on the Friday at 4pm, a Rep was waiting at the airport and he showed us the way to the Transfer Bus, on arrival the rep will also tell you the times of pickup for the transfer from Niagara Falls to Toronto and the times for Toronto back to the airport. The driver was very helpful, he gave us a quick talk about Niagara and Toronto before we departed and also talked about all the sites as we passed through them, the journey took about an hour.
I stayed in the Crown Plaza in Niagara; nice four star hotel with a Falls view directly opposite the border for the USA, the hotel has direct access to a water park and Casino.
The breakfast room has a falls view and they do a buffet breakfast for around 16.00 euros, eat all you want, they also have set breakfasts, bit pricey but not bad for a four star hotel.
The Falls are quite stunning but two days is more than enough to spend here, they have a strip that looks like Las Vegas, all fast food restaurants but surprisingly loads of things for kids to do.
Thursday night we were all shattered after traveling plus it was raining, not a good sign so we just nipped into The Hardrock café for a bite to eat, this is right next to the hotel.
Friday we decided to take in a tour because we were short on time and it was a roasting hot day, we booked the Tour on www.travelnet.ie that takes in The Maid of the mist, which was absolutely brilliant, You also go under ground in the tunnels and get quite close to the Falls, the tour also included The Floral Clock, The Botanical Gardens and The Spanish Aero Car Observation area. The cost of the Tour was around 60.00 euros and took about three and half hours, you can also add on lunch and see Niagara on the Lake for an extra 30.00 odd euros but its quite time consuming when you only have one full day there.
That afternoon we went over Rainbow Bridge to the American Falls, it cost 6 dollars for the visa and well worth the trip, not much in the Town itself, but the Falls part of it is really stunning, you get really close to the rapids and there is a beautiful park all around. Your passport is stamped with Buffalo but Buffalo is around 20 miles away.
That night we saw a firework display over the Falls, they do this every weekend.
The driver came for us at 9.30am on Saturday morning to take us to Toronto, so one full day is all you really get in the Falls, again it was raining when we drove to Toronto and didn’t stop all day, the journey took about an hour and forty minutes.
The courtyard by Marriott is in a really good location and the staff are brilliant, nothing too much trouble, it is located right bang in the middle of Toronto, shops are on your doorstep and the Marina is about a fifteen minute walk away. We went for a stroll on our first day just to get a feel for the place but the rain wasn’t making it easy, we stopped in the Irish Embassy, a pub with really great food. That night we went to Little Italy and had a lovely meal there, it was Pride week in Toronto plus all different festivals were on so the place was buzzing, lots of different bands playing in the streets, loads of really nice restaurants. Eating out is very reasonable and the Canadian wine is absolutely lovely. Apart from the CN Tower, there aren’t really any landmarks in Toronto. It cost 18 Dollars to get into the Tower; this allowed you up to the viewing area with the glass bottom floor, which was really freaky. It cost more to get to the revolving restaurant which you didn’t really need to do because there was a restaurant on the floor we where on where you can stop for a drink and take in the views. The next four days were absolutely roasting hot, we had to pay to get into the Radisson hotel to use the outdoor swimming pool twice, this cost 25.00 dollars a day so it wasn’t cheap. There is a lido over on the Islands but there were so many people on strike the week we were there, nothing was open on it. It’s amazing that there is so much water around you with Lake Ontario but nowhere to swim in it. There is an area called Beeches which is really nice, lots of nice restaurants and also a Beech there, the water looks fairly polluted though and its not the easiest of places to get to without a car, we had to take a taxi. St Jacobs is meant to be one of the nicest places to visit in Toronto, Mennonites (similar to the Amish) live there, we tried to find a tour but the tours only go on a Sunday and Thursday, you can go by yourself but its very hard to get to, you have to get a train to Kitchener and then a taxi to St Jacobs, the tour costs around 120.00 dollars and lasts for about 8 hours. The Harbour area of Toronto is really nice, you can get a water taxi from here to the Islands or do a few cruises around the Islands, there is also a small airport there, I only found out when I got back that one of the places you could fly to was Montreal. It takes five hours on a train. Greek town is another great place to go, our review book mentioned a restaurant called Kalyvia and it was really nice, they really made a fuss of us, gave us free shots as well. Food was out of this world and of course the Lovely Canadian wine, perfect night. The bars in this area were open until 2am and for a Monday night it was pretty busy. Because it was pride week we ventured into the gay village which happened to be the next street up from our hotel, we found a pub called hair of the dog which had a lovely outdoor restaurant, didn’t realize that Toronto had such a big gay population, someone told us it was because Toronto was one of the first cities to allow gay marriages, the parade is meant to be one of the biggest in the world apparently people come from all over to it The weather in Toronto in the winter is very harsh so they literally have another city underground; you can walk from one end of Toronto to the other, underground, lots of shops and eating places. Most of the shops above ground have basements. We opted for the cheap breakfasts here; there is a chain of shops called Timmy Hortons where you can get a filled roll, doughnut and coffee for five dollars.
Canada is similar to America in a lot of ways, but the Canadians are more laid back, not as chatty as Americans but the one big bonus is that they are not into the tips lark like America, you only leave a tip here if the service has been really good. You wouldn’t really go there for the shopping either unless you were looking for sports gear. In all the guide books, they harp on about Toronto being a smoke free city, its true you can’t smoke in any of the hotels but it seems like the whole of Toronto smokes.
