nyny

I agree. The subway is very easy and straightforward. There are only two lines, so the maps are really clear. And it's inexpensive and quick.

My pleasure. What tour are you doing? The Uffizi? The Academia?

Hi - I just got home from Rome yesterday - my sister and I spent a few days there post cruise. Everything you want to do is totally doable. The Vatican is, of course, incredible. Two days might be a lot if you bring kids both days. There are a ton of people and its a lot of history and walking and a lot to take in. Please consider booking a tour - without one, the wait to get in will be at least 3 hours. We used City Wonders and it was fantastic. Two other things that might be of interest, since I read your mother is fairly religious - at the souvenir shop in St. Peters you can buy rosary beads blessed by the Pope. Just ask the nuns behind the counter. I bought them for my mother in law for about 8 euros and then sprinkled Holy Water on them from inside St. Peters (I'm Jewish so I was using the belt and suspenders approach- :)). Also - one of my friends went to a Papal audience last Fall. She said she stood near someone holding a baby. The Pope apparently walks over to babies, so if you stand near one, you may be able to snap a close-up picture of the Pope. My friend actually got a selfie with Him.

One change you might want to consider in terms of your itinerary is to change visiting the Coliseum to a night tour. I used City Wonders for that too and it was unbelievable. The Coliseum is one of the most visited places in the world and during the day, the number of people there is crazy. The night time tour has very few people, the weather is much cooler and you see the underground area and stand on the arena stage. You also get a tour of the Roman Forum and other sites in the area as well. Kids will love it too.

I got back from Rome yesterday (we stayed a couple of days post-cruise) and agree with everything said above. Definitely book tickets to the Coliseum in advance. Otherwise you will spend all day waiting in line. You might also think about booking a Colisuem/Forum tour. We used City Wonders.

The Pantheon is free - or to be fair - has an optional admission, should you choose to pay. Our hotel was near the Trevi Fountain and I can tell you that it is always very crowded - so be prepared for that.

Hi - my sister and I were on the Royal last week. I'm not sure what tour you are doing. We just took the ship's bus to Florence for the day with no formal Princess tour (I studied in Florence in college, so I know the City well). The bus dropped us off and picked us up at the same spot - near Santa Croce along the Arno. Most of the buses from all of the ships use that as a drop off/pick up point. Its about a 5-10 minute walk from Piazza Santa Croce to the bus.

That said, there should be no problem during your 3 hour free time window to walk from Santa Croce back to the Duomo. Florence is a relatively small city and it's not too far from one place to another.

My sister and I were on Royal Princess last week and at the last minute decided to take the ships shuttle to Vieux Port. Maybe other ships have different drop offs, but it was in a weird place. That said, we took a photo of the Museum nearby so we had a place of reference.

From there we took a cab for 7 euros to the Marseille Saint-Charles bus station. For 10 euros round trip, we took bus 50 (an express bus) to Aix en Provence. The bus runs every 5 minutes or so and you are there in 30 minutes. Easy walk to Cours Mirabeau. Also, the bus has free, fast wifi.

Spent a few hours in Aix, got back to Marseille and wandered around until we met the shuttle back to the ship.

I agree with the bus recommendation. My sister and I were on Royal Princess last week and at the last minute decided to take the ships shuttle to Vieux Port. Maybe other ships have different drop offs, but it was in a weird place. That said, we took a photo of the Museum nearby so we had a place of reference.

From there we took a cab for 7 euros to the Marseille Saint-Charles bus station. For 10 euros round trip, we took bus 50 (an express bus) to Aix en Provence. The bus runs every 5 minutes or so and you are there in 30 minutes. Easy walk to Cours Mirabeau. Also, the bus has free, fast wifi.

Spent a few hours in Aix, got back to Marseille and wandered around until we met the shuttle back to the ship.

Just back from a Barcelona to Rome cruise on Royal Princess. No wifi in the rooms. You will need to step out of your room to connect.

Departure was very smooth. I we were off before 9am. My flight was at 2, so it didn't matter. I believe in one of the drop downs on the Carnival site, you can let them know you need to catch an early flight so you are in the first group of people off the ship.

Here is a link to my review of the cruise and what we did:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2251029

I was on the Carnival Legend on the August 11 sailing from Seattle with my sister, my 21 year old daughter and my 16 year old niece. This was certainly a once in a lifetime trip for all of us.

General:

We booked cabin 6260, a Vista Suite on the Empress Deck. We chose that because it was at the back of the ship with an extended balcony. I posted photos in the Carnival board with photos. Here is the link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2250284

The kids were originally booked into an inside cabin across the hall, but the week before the trip, Carnival called me and offered an extended balcony for $137 (total) so I bought it.

One thought: Bring an extension cord! There was only 1 outlet in both the suite and in the non-suite balcony cabin, so if you need to charge more than one thing at a time or use a blow dryer or whatever, you’re stuck without one.

The Legend itself is an older ship. It doesn’t have the Guy Fieri burgers, Blue Iguana Cantina, Italian restaurant or JiJis. Just the Lido deck, the main dining room (called Truffles), the Steak House and Bonsai Sushi. The décor was a bit strange – sort of an Asian lacquered black with gold accents in the main areas with Italian Renaissance wallpaper throughout the ship and the carpeting didn’t go with either theme. There is a covered pool and hot tub as well as an outdoor pool and hot tub. The over 21 Serenity Deck is really large with its own pool and hot tub as well. There is also the usual sports deck with mini golf, basketball and the water slide.

Because this ship goes through Alaska, there is a naturalist on board who gave several talks. Her name was Michelle and she was very informative, albeit, not a very dynamic speaker. She was sort of dry, but she grew on me. It was actually funny, because she was being herself- a scientist – the exact opposite of the usual pumped up cruise staff.

There were a few shows – a 70s music revival, a British Invasion thing and an over the top Epic Rock performance.

We ate in the Steak House the first night and the second to last night. FYI: The first and second nights, the Steak House gives complimentary bottles of wine. The Steak House costs $35 pp. We did the Chef’s Table the evening of the Juneau stop. We booked the first night at the Steakhouse and the Chef’s Table online a few months before the cruise. The Chef’s Table tends to sell out. The Chef’s Table is $75 pp. On this cruise, due to demand, there were 2 Chef’s Table evenings. The dinner was held in Medusa’s Lair – the ship’s disco. While the décor was a bit crazy, it was delicious and the people in our sitting were a lot of fun!!! I will post the menu at the bottom of this review.

Finally – the weather. I don’t know if we were just lucky, but it was gorgeous throughout the trip. Ketchikan was cloudy, but there was no rain at all and the temperatures ranged from the 60s to the 80s. We wore layers and as the day heated up, we just took off out jackets/fleeces. We brought super light and thin down jackets and they were perfect.

Sunrise was around 5:30 and Sunset was after 9:30.

Tracy Arm Fjord:

En route to the Tracy Arm Fjord, we were greeted by humpback whales surfacing and going under. It was spectacular. The Tracy Arm Fjord itself is much calmer. There is an excursion where you can board a smaller boat and go closer to the mountains and glaciers. The cost was $189 pp and we did not do this and are glad we didn’t. There was no need. To say that the scenery is breathtaking is an understatement. We cruised all day through the fjord to the South Sawyer Glacier. Everywhere you looked, no matter where on the ship you were, was magnificent. There were icebergs floating by and seals popping up – just amazing.

Skagway:

Skagway was our longest port day - 7 am to 9 pm. We don’t like doing ship excursions – we find it’s better, less expensive and more fun to book things privately. In Skagway, we reserved and rented a car from AVIS for $145 and drove up to the Yukon Territory. It's a less expensive way to experience the unbelievable beauty of this area on your own time schedule. Before we got on the cruise we bought "Murray's Guide" online for $5, downloaded it and printed a paper copy. The Guide gives mile by mile information as to what you’re seeing, where to pull off, etc. It was well worth the price. The link is www dot murraysguide dot com. Or just google it.

We picked up the car around 8:30 am and got back around 3pm. We stopped a lot along the way to take photos and then had lunch in Carcross (aka Caribou Crossing), drove to Emerald Lake and then turned around. En route, we stopped at the Yukon Suspension Bridge; where with Murrays Guide we got a 50% discount on admission (it was $9 pp instead of $18). The link is www dot yukonsuspensionbridge dot com. In Carcross we ate at The Bistro where they have bison burgers, beef hamburgers, salmon burgers and other fare. The food was good, it wasn’t busy when we were there, and we had a nice relaxing lunch. On our way to Emerald Lake we also stopped at the Carcross Desert, which is said to be the world’s smallest desert. In reality, it isn’t a desert, but the sand remains of an ancient glacial lake, and is considered a geological wonder. It was really something to see, in the middle of the mountains, glaciers and rivers of Alaska to have this expanse of sand and dunes.

When we got back to Skagway we wandered around town and then got back on board.

Juneau:

In Juneau the kids did the ship’s Dog Sledding Mendenhall Glacier via Helicopter excursion and had an amazing time. They were off the ship at 7:45am and transported with the group to board the helicopter. I believe there were two or three helicopters for this excursion, with 6 people on each (including the pilot). They flew over the Mendenhall Glacier and landed on the Juneau ice field. The pilot discussed everything they were seeing from the air along the way. Once they landed on the ice field, the walked to the dog sledding facility where they were put on the sleds in groups of 4 with a driver and ran them around the field. After they were through dog sledding, they went to the puppy area, where they played with the baby huskies. They had an amazing time. Both of them raved about this and wished the excursion was longer (it was about 2 hours).

While they were on their excursion, we privately booked Glacier Sea Kayaking from Best of Alaska. It was $95 pp with round trip transfers to their facility, gear, snack etc. Basically, you are kayaking, with a guide, in the waters around Mendenhall Glacier. The day was sunny and warm. Our guide Karl, was terrific. He explained the history of the area and led us around to wonderful viewing areas. We saw dolphins, harbor seals, bald eagles and blue herons. The mountains, glaciers and coves were just spectacular. One problem however – when we booked this we were not told that the ship also uses this company for their excursion. Private bookings usually mean private – that is - it’s you and maybe a few other like-minded people on the tour. Imagine our surprise when we got on the bus with 30 people who booked through Carnival. When we called the company on the spot, their response was not acceptable – “we never said we weren’t contracted with the ship.” Not cool. So – while our day was great – I would not recommend this company for that reason and find another company that does this tour.

After we got back to Juneau, we met up with the kids and had a crab lunch at Tracy’s King Crab Shack by the pier. OMG – the freshest most amazing crabs – we ordered crab bisque and a bucket with King, Snow and Dungeness crabs. Wow.

The ship left port at 3 pm and that night was the Chef’s Table dinner. Menu is below.

Ketchikan:

This was our shortest port day 7 am – 1 pm. We hired Ketchikan Taxi Company to show us around for a few hours at $74 per hour. The Company is owned by Dave Freeman. We were met by his niece Serena at the pier at 7 am. She’s a lovely student from Seattle who has summered in Ketchikan her whole life. We went to see the salmon returning to spawn, looked for bears (no luck), hiked a bit through Ward Cove in Tongess National Forest and then went to Potlatch Totem Park, a free, fully recreated Native Alaskan Village. It was very interesting and Serena was great at explaining the history of the area and how to “read” the totem poles and the stories they tell. We got back to town around 10 and wandered on Creek Street, which used to be the heart of the red light district and is now a street with shops. My daughter took a quick tour of Dolly’s House which was a brothel through the 1950s. Per Dolly’s will, everything was left as it was when she operated the brothel. Its cost $10 and my daughter got a kick out of it.

For lunch we went to a restaurant recommended by Serena – Crab Cracker Seafood Bar – near the pier, where we had the best sockeye salmon we have ever eaten.

Victoria BC:

We didn’t really give too much thought to Victoria beforehand. We arrived at 7:30pm and left at 11:59 pm. When we got off the ship we walked to the downtown area. There is a marked path and it took about 20 minutes. It was gorgeous - a beautiful marina and a lovely town. Apparently a lot of people from Seattle go here for long weekends. We wandered around downtown and had dinner at The Docks Seafood and Oyster Bar where we had $1 oysters. YUM. The sun set around 9:30 and we took in the view of the beautifully lit up City Hall, hopped in a taxi and went back to the ship.

Chef’s Table Menu:

In the Kitchen area - small appetizers:

Mango Sphere, Rosemary Biscuit

Salmon Tartar Cornets, Sesame Seeds (looks like a seeded ice cream cone)

Beef Carpaccio on Air Pillow, Chocolate Bacon, Apple Ribbons

Double Cooked Lamb, Tapioca

Dinner Menu:

Beet Blanket, Spiced Grape Tea with Asparagus, Cauliflower, Honey Carrot Tian, Mache, Lemon Streusel

Crab Stack with Corn Custard, Polenta Cracker, Tangerine, Passion Caviar

Duck with Creamy Quinoa, Parmesan Churros, Olive Snow, Port Wine Jus

Bisque with 2 Tomatoes, Basil, Crisp Brioche and Garlic Chip

Sea Bass with Chorizo Crust, Fried Pop-Corn Pudding, Lemon Macaroon, Lobster Foam

Wagyu Beef with Bone Marrow Souffle, Scallion & Garlic Panisse and Gremolata Crisp

Pastry:

Sea Salt Praline Chocolate, Raspberry Mojito, Key Lime Cake, Apricot Vanilla Gel and Citrus Cream

The hangers are sort of weird though - they are all attached at the top. If you don't mind the extra weight in your bags, bring some.

Apparently the link didn't come through. It's www dot murraysguide dot com.

In Skagway, we reserved and rented a car from AVIS for $145 and drove up to the Yukon Territory (there were 4 of us, but you may be able to rent a minivan or something larger). Before we got on the cruise we bought "Murray's Guide" for $5, downloaded it and printed a paper copy. Here is the link: http://*****************/

We were in port from 7 am to 9 pm, which is the longest port day. We picked up the car around 8:30 am and got back around 3pm. We stopped a lot for photos and then for lunch in Carcross, drove to Emerald Lake and then turned around.

It's a less expensive way to experience the unbelievable beauty of this area. It would be a shame to just stay in port here. Please consider this option.

On our Alaskan cruise last week, they did the Chef's Table on 2 nights due to demand. I went the night we were in Juneau (the ship departed Juneau at 3). For anyone interested, here is the menu:

In the Kitchen area - small appetizers:

Mango Sphere, Rosemary Biscuit

Salmon Tartar Cornets, Sesame Seeds (looks like a seeded ice cream cone)

Beef Carpaccio on Air Pillow, Chocolate Bacon, Apple Ribbons

Double Cooked Lamb, Tapioca

Dinner Menu:

Beet Blanket, Spiced Grape Tea with Asparagus, Cauliflower, Honey Carrot Tian, Mache, Lemon Streusel

Crab Stack with Corn Custard, Polenta Cracker, Tangerine, Passion Caviar

Duck with Creamy Quinoa, Parmesan Churros, Olive Snow, Port Wine Jus

Bisque with 2 Tomatoes, Basil, Crisp Brioche and Garlic Chip

Sea Bass with Chorizo Crust, Fried Pop-Corn Pudding, Lemon Macaroon, Lobster Foam

Wagyu Beef with Bone Marrow Souffle, Scallion & Garlic Panisse and Gremolata Crisp

Pastry:

Sea Salt Praline Chocolate, Raspberry Mojito, Key Lime Cake, Apricot Vanilla Gel and Citrus Cream

It's a great cabin. Be sure to bring an extension cord since there is only one outlet in the entire cabin.

Sorry - first photo is sideways and I can't seem to rotate it.

Just got back from an Alaska Cruise and stayed in this cabin. It has a beautiful, large wrap balcony in aft of ship. Gorgeous views and no wind when sailing. Lots of storage space and huge bathroom with tub.

Bring an extension cord. There is only one outlet, even in suites.

Thank you!!

I will be on the Carnival Legend on the August 11, 2015 cruise. Our stop in Victoria is from 7:30 pm to 11:59 pm. What is there to do in the evening? I will be with my daughter (21), my sister and my niece (15). Thanks.

I was on the Carnival Breeze last week and got home yesterday. I will post a comprehensive review sometime this week, but thought I would answer your question. I went on the cruise with my sister and since there were no interesting options for La Romana, we decided on Dreams, which turned out to be a lovely way to spend the day. As everyone has said, it was $60pp, all inclusive - food, alcohol, soda, etc. They also give you a large beach towel.

The email address we used was : info.drelr@dreamsresorts.com. Louise Coley, the concierge, got back to us and confirmed the reservation via email. We paid once we got there, not in advance.

The logistics: When we got off the ship, we followed people thru the parking lot to the gate to get a cab. Many people were going to Dreams so we asked if we could share a van - no problem. It was $15 pp and there were 10 of us in the van. When we got to the resort, we told the driver to pick us up at 3, and he did. We paid AFTER we got back to port at the end of the day.

The Resort: Dreams itself is an enormous place. There were 2 huge pools, a large buffet restaurant, a beachside bar and restaurant and a beautiful beach. The food was good, the drinks were great and the day was sunny and a lot of fun.

The Port: As for La Romana, the port itself is a total dud - it looks like it is still in its early stages - none of the usual shops - just a large building with some liquor, cigars and miscellaneous items. from what I heard when I got back to the ship, the passengers who did the ship's La Romana city tour were really disappointed. There is nothing there yet.

Hope this helps.