I will give the Contiki office I booked throgh a call about Moulin Rouge and see what they say. Or if they can't give me much information I will ask for the Contiki basement phone number in London. My only concern about waiting until we get there is that (if I counted my days right) we will be in Paris Friday July 17 and from what I have read the show sells out often. I am thinking on a Friday night it may sell out.

I am not exactly sure why it is not included on our tour but is part of some superior tours. It may be because it is a budget tour and they assume we want to save money.

As far as booking group tickets (if we have to book it ourselves and not through Contiki) I am not sure if they will let us reserve for a group with only three of us. We could each book our own tickets for the same show but we might not be able to sit right next to each other. Looked at a few sights and tickets all run for about 100 euros with no dinner and 150 euros with dinner. there is a 9:00 and a 11:00 show. Let me know your thoughts and I will let you know what I hear back from Contiki.

hey guys, just reading some posts on the forum it looks like people have had some luck making a reservation through moulin rouge direct, apparently if you email them the details they reserve your tickets and you can pay when you arrive. dont know if this is still the case but it may be worth a try if we have not luck going through contiki. i think you can just book and pay for tickets on line as well, if its just the three of us that are interested i dont mind booking the tickets on my credit card. it will just be a matter of deciding what time we want to go. i think your right about the booking early part too, would hate to miss out if we waited. anyway we shall see how you get on with contiki and go from there.

Hello,
I just figured out how to use this thing. haha. I cant wait. not long to go now. my mates im goin with have already put a post on this forum. anyway feel free to email me be good to get to know some people on the tour. hoppy85@optusnet.com.au

Hello,

I e-mailed the contiki basement in London to get the scoop on Moulin Rouge. Below is the e-mail string. Looks like we would need to book it oursleves. We would also be responsible for ensuring we have transportation to and from. According to the link below our options to get to/from Paris are by public bus then train, taxi, or Contiki bus. I am not sure what the schedules are for any of these but I am sure we would be able to find transportation into the city. Please take a look and let me know what you guys are thinking as far as booking goes.

http://contiki.com/contikipedi...concept-budget-tours

Hi Heather,
Your accommodation in Paris will all be the same for everyone on your tour. You are scheduelled to stay at the Du Tremblay Hotel Champigny Sur Marne. Telephone number: +33 (0)1 42833778. You will be there from the afternoon of July 16th until the morning of July 18th. Attached is a copy of your itinery for the entirity of the tour.
Please do not hesitate to ask if you have any further questions.

Kind Regards,
Katie

-----Original Message-----
From: Perreault, Heather D [mailto:Heather.Perreault@xcelenergy.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 1:50 PM
To: Basement rep1
Subject: RE: Moulin Rouge Question

Thanks Haydn. We have not recieved our Contiki documents yet. My booking reference number is A024094. Can you let me know the address of the Paris location we will be staying at? Also, does everyone at the tour stay at the same location or would they also need to send you their reference number because they maybe staying at a different location in Paris?

Thanks for your help.
________________________________
From: Basement rep1 [Basement.rep1@contiki.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 3:10 AM
To: Perreault, Heather D
Subject: re: Moulin Rouge Question

Dear Heather,

Many thanks for your enquiry. With regard to the show you would need to book this yourselves directly. With regard to transportation, again this is something you would need to organise. The address for your accommodation in Paris should be in your Contiki documents, however if you do not have this please send me your booking reference number and I can look this up for you and confirm it.

The time of the optional Cabaret is only confirmed on the day so if you do book the Moulin Rouge I would simply book which ever time you think you would prefer to see.

I hope this is of use,

Kind Regards,

Haydn



________________________________
From: Perreault, Heather D [mailto:Heather.Perreault@xcelenergy.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 11:15 PM
To: Basement rep1
Subject: Moulin Rouge Question

Hello,

I am on the European Contrasts tour that departs London the morning of July 16th and we have a full day in France on Friday July 17th. A few friends and I are interested in seeing Moulin Rouge instead of the Cabaret option offered on our tour.

Is it possible to book Moulin Rouge through Contiki and get transportation into the city at the same time others are going to the optional cabaret? What time is the optional cabaret at?

If we can not book Moulin Rouge through Contiki are we able to go if we book it on our own? How far is the Contiki housing from the Moulin Rouge theatre in Paris and would we be able to transport ourselves there if Contiki is not able to provide transportation? If we can go, do you think we are better off booking the 9:00p.m. or 11:00p.m. show?

Thank you for your help and input.

Regards,
Heather Perreault

hi heather,

looks like booking through moulin rouge is our only option. so if it suits everyone i think we should book sooner rather than later and hope we dont miss out on tickets even this far away. as for transport i guess that depends on what show we can get tickets for. from what i have read the moulin rouge and the option are in the same area so we may be able to get the bus with the rest of the group there and public transport of some kind back to the hotel. or just cross that bridge when we come to it. let me know what you think we should do.

I think we should book. Last time I checked there was tickets for the 9 and the 11 show. I am thinking we should do the 9. If we go to the 9 show and the cabaret optional ends up being at 11 it should be easy to take public transport into the city. Then we could hang out in the city until we can catch a ride back with the cabaret optional Contiki bus. Just a thought - if we end up wanting to do the 11 show I am ok with that. I am sure we will be able to figure out transport.

As far as booking do you know if they still have the deal where you can reserve the tickets and pay when you get there? I could not find where this was mentioned on the forum.

hey,

i just emailed the moulin rouge direct to check availability for the 9pm and 11pm shows only on the 17th for the three of us, and to find out our options regarding reservations and paymet.

i'll let you know what they say if i get a reply.

Hey,

Heather you're a gem! Thanks for finding out all this info for us :-)

I think we should definitely book as well - don't want to miss out. I am sure we will be able to find transport back to our hotel!

I have my brother in law travelling with me who would also rather see Moulin Rouge. Can we get a ticket for him as well?

Another option - just checked out the flight centre website (Aus) and you can book tickets for the show with champagne for $161 AUD. Perhaps we could also look at booking it through a travel agent if the Moulin Rouge direct are no help.

hehehe me again,

just checked out the official site:
http://www.moulinrouge.fr/home-flash-gb.html

You can also book online and looks like there is availability for that date (17th July)
Tickets to the 9pm sow are 102 Euros (half bottle champagne included), or 92 Euro for the 11pm show.

On a different note, do either of you use Facebook so we could add eachother? :-)

hi girls,

just received an email back from the moulin rouge, we have a reservation for the show only on the 17th at 9pm. by the looks of it we can pay on the night as they have not asked for credid card details.

erin i shall email them back too see if i can make the reservation for 4 so your brother in law can come as well. if i have any worries i'll let you know.

i also have facebook ahillard@bigpond.net.au if you want to add me.

i'm getting so excited, i fly out in a month today. can't wait to meet you all.

Hey Sara,

Thanks!!! That's awesome!! I so can't wait now!!!
It'll be a fun night out for us, doing our own thing :-)

Can't believe it's almost here - we fly to London on 13th July, so staying at the Royal National 2 nights before tour. Are you staying there as well?
It'll be good to finally meet everyone :-)

Sweet!!! I can't wait to go. Thank you for coordinating that Sara.

I have facebook you can find me at hperreault00@yahoo.com.

Can't wait to meet you soon...H

hey girls,

not a prob at all. it gives me something to do while i'm at work lol. was just starting to stress that we may have left it too late to book and we would miss out. but no worries with the extra booking, we have a reservation for the four of us on the 17th at 9pm. how exciting!

i fly into london on the 15th and will be staying the royal national, however i think i'll be out for most of the night.

haha well you gotta do something at work so it might as well be that!

how exciting - thanks for getting the extra booking.

We can all catch up at the pre-departure meeting and have a drink or something :-)