SWACK

We're full! Gonna bea busy cruise, see how they handle the crowds..

We're booked, 15th Carnival and 32nd overall.. 

Looking to book, seems like a small group here.. 

Keep in mind the regional trains are a LONG walk to from any incoming trains in Termini.. think of being at the beginning of a terminal and your train being at the end of another terminal- we just barley made our trina and we had 1/2 hour overlap..

This is the path you must walk

On 7/20/2022 at 10:50 AM, cruisemom42 said:

@yoolykeme  Not sure where you're getting your schedule from but it's best to go to the Trenitalia website. I put in tomorrow's date and got the following:

 

 

What's important to know is what euro cruiser was saying. Only the train marked as Frecciabianca is a train with ASSIGNED seats that departs from the regular tracks at the front of the station at Termini.  All of the later trains shown have the fancy "R" at the top left, indicating that they are "Regionale" trains. These trains do NOT have assigned seats and can get very crowded (standing room only) as the afternoon progresses and people are trying to get back to the ships at Civitavecchia.  

 

The other key point is that the Regionale trains do not leave from the front tracks/platforms. They depart from a set of auxiliary platforms at the rear of Termini station which is a GOOD walk of at least two city blocks from the front of the station.

 

I know they dont have 'formal' nights.. but how many dressup nights in a 11 day Med

cruise..

Is the La Bistro covered in the free at sea?? It is listed as ala carte, so not sure.. 

11 hours ago, -Lew- said:

 

I purchased our iPhones directly from Apple.  The phones I receive will be unlocked as were the last ones I purchased.

Gotcha- most don't do or know that.. 

6 hours ago, -Lew- said:

 

You're fortunate Verizon is available at the remote locations you frequent.  But to say Verizon is the best for everyone is pushing it a bit.

 

We're currently using the iPhone X...new iPhone 14 Pros are to be delivered next Friday.  I'm excited to try eSims for our upcoming trip to Europe later this month.  We're signed up for AT&T's International Day Pass which would cost upwards of $250-$300 for the two of us.  eSims for the entire 40-day trip will cost a maximum of ~$100 depending which ones we go with.

 

As for coverage in the US...  If I find locations I visit do not have good coverage with the new phone, I can purchase and install eSims that use Verizon's or T-Mobile's network and activate them when needed for just a few dollars per day.

You may have an issue using that esim for the new iPhones, Verizon and most services lock the device for the 1st 60 days...

no

On 4/22/2022 at 2:22 PM, Cruiser1862 said:

I am planning on going to Verizon next week since my husband needs a new phone. I will definitely come back and report what I find out

Don't do that if you're within  60 days of your trip- you will NOT be able to put an international sim in that for at least 60 days. 

Looking at this for next month, but concerned we may just be in the bus most of the time in Florence- anyone  do  this in the past?

On 8/11/2022 at 8:24 AM, CruiserF said:

We booked 3 tours with ItalyTours-EU on our Mediterranean cruise in June 2022.  All 3 tours were excellent, and I would definitely recommend this company.  See below for specifics on each tour.

The Best of the French Riviera with Italy Tours
We did a full-day tour with Italy Tours, "The Best of the French Riviera" on a recent Royal Caribbean Med Greek cruise. We opted for the semi-private tour with Italy Tours, which meant that our driver was also our guide. The driver did a great job showing us the sights of Cannes, Nice, Monaco and Monte Carlo. He did not, however, have as much background and information as an expert guide such as we saw on other tours.
The only complaint we had was that the vehicle was much too small for 8 full-size adults. Two people had to sit in a rather cramped space in front, and three people had to climb in and out of the way back. I would highly recommend this company, because of the professional support and assistance received from staff in booking the tour. I suggest that you consider the private tour option, however, if you are concerned about having a professional guide, and/or if you prefer more comfortable space in the vehicle.

The Best of Florence & Pisa with Italy Tours
We did a full-day tour with Italy Tours called "Best of Florence and Pisa" on a recent Royal Caribbean Med Greek cruise. We opted for the semi-private tour with Italy Tours, which included a very experienced driver all day long, and an expert professional guide in Florence.  Luca Misuri of Unlock Italy gave us a fascinating 2-hour tour of Florence.  He was both knowledgeable and entertaining, and he kept us engaged and interested the entire tour. Luca showed us all of the major sites in Florence as well as the tucked away places that you wouldn't notice if someone didn't tell you about them.  The driver did a great job of navigating the highways and the city streets, and he kept us safe and on time all day.  All in all, this was an excellent tour, thanks to Italy Tours and Luca our Florence guide.

The Best of Rome & the Vatican with Italy Tours
We booked the semi-private full-day Best of Rome and the Vatican tour with Italy Tours and it was excellent.  Our driver/guide Valerio did a fantastic job of navigating the streets of Rome, and showed us all of the famous ancient landmarks, including Circo Massimo (Ben Hur movie was made there), Colisseum, Roman Forum, an ancient Roman House, Palassio Venezia (Musilini's house), the Wedding Cake building dedicated to a king and then later to dead soldiers, the Church of St. Ignatius (Jesuits), the Trevi Fountain (made famous by the old movie 3 Coins in a Fountain), and Vatican City.  Our private guide in Vatican City was Oresto, and he showed us the Vatican Museum, Sisteen Chapel, St. Peter's Church and St. Peter's Square.  He did a fantastic job of explaining everything to us.  Our only regret is that we spent too much time in the Museum, and then did not have enough time to thoroughly explore St. Peter's Church.

Did you have anytime  for your own in Florence, and were you just there for 2 hours?

Yea, theirs is 450 euros for 2.. I'm getting the same thing in Barcelona for 79 each..

We're flying into FCO and sailing out of Civitavecchia the next day, would like a tour that picks us and our luggage up, and drops us off at the port. Anyone  know of anything like this?

6  days in, we arrived in Hawaii. Because of the  delay, we arrived late into Oahu. Luckily we knew ahead of time, and I was able to log into the NPS page at exactly 3pm the day before and get new tickets for Pearl Harbor at the new time. There were tons of people in the wait-list line, and I hear later that many from the ship did not make it. I also was in contact with my Turo owner, and was able to adjust the car rental as well. I would have not been able to do either if I did not sign up for the internet package. 

The 5 sea days in transit were interesting. We were going in excess of 22 knots, and it was quite windy on deck, and overcast in the mid 50's, so we spent much time below deck. 

The ship was about 2/3rd's full, but still not too many lines. The demographics were interesting as well. I knew they tended towards the older crowd, but this ship, with 15 days in the middle of the year, had no children, and the average age had to be 70+ . As a 65 year old, I felt young in this group.

The entertainment  was geared older as well, and left me wishing for much more. There were 2 stage shows, 4 nights of comedy, and in the 15 days the rest of the big stage entertainment was instrumental soloists, or with the very good house band. In fact, the  vast majority of the entertainment was music-based. The small staff did a fantastic job of adapting games and show to the  crowds and covid restrictions, but they were stretched thin, and there were many times when there was nothing to do that did not involve listening to a musician or art auction-type revenue generators. 

We did participate in two of the smaller groups. My wife and I attended 6 different Ukulele lessons, where they provided the Ukes. And we also both made Leis, all for free after signing up on the 2nd day. 

I emailed, faxed and mailed.. got it in a few days

Overall, this maneuver took us a total of almost 18 hours to get back to the same position we were in and caused the captain to push the ship to the max to get into Honolulu on the proper day, 4 days later. 

After sailing under the Golden Gate, we were on our way, but over 18 hours later we were on our way back, to get closer for an emergency evac. Took us over 9 hours to get close enough for the helicopter, which had to refuel on the way there.

We left the port on time, about 5pm, and did a fabulous sail under the Golden Gate and into the Pacific. 

Arriving in port was simple, and the lines moved easily. We had done 'proctored' covid tests at the airport, which we had ordered and brought with us. We simply connected to a website, and they watched us take the test and verified our results 15 minutes later. Our car rental was through Turo,  and we arranged to leave the car at a lot across from the port. We were checked several times for ID and new covid requirements as we went thought he process, and also got another test administered to us. We then waited for 15 minutes in defined groups until we could get our magic wristband that would give us final entrance. In all, it was less than 90 minutes from arrival at port until our first drink. 

7 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

You have a nice camera eye. You might consider putting a (white) space between each photo posted.  Thanks for your review.

Thanks, will do that going foward.

Day 2 took us to Hyde Street Pier, Chinatown and a trip down the coast and dinner in Silicon Valley