mickeysgal

Currently considering giving up my 1A balcony...Aqua class is currently $100 pp higher. If it comes down a bit in price, I may consider switching. The heated loungers sound wonderful, but for those that had Aqua class...are the loungers readily available or are they always being used? Seems like from what I've seen, there aren't that many to go around.

Ugh! Search function down...can't find threads that address this question;

Price drop on lowest level Concierge- C3 - puts it $40 less pp than what we have reserved for our 1A on the hump (deeper balcony). Would you switch? Are the perks worth it?

Here is a video where they talk about the storage bins. We found ours at the Dollar store, wonderful.

Just watched the video...

12x12 - for the upper bins

7x7 - for the nightstands

To me the only drawback of the Alcove is that it doesn't face the ocean. I love having a balcony, but sitting in the cabin is too isolating for me. I cannot and will not sit in the sun for any length of time so this would be perfect for me. I can certainly see renting one for a day or so although I probably wouldn't rent one for an entire cruise. If someone wants to stare at me, then I guess I'll be stared at. And it's not showing off...good grief, it's just a choice that's no different than a cabin choice, specialty dinner choice, drinks choice, heck, even cruise line choice. ;)

Any opinions on Hotel Moresco? It gets high ratings on trip advisor but haven't seen it tossed around here much.

I'm not experiencing that. I use both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firebox - depending on circumstances. You can always call Celebrity and have them help you over the phone. In general though, I'm not very impressed with their website. It's functionality stinks.

I'm booked on a Celebrity ship; so it looks like we won't get the sail in/out. Disappointing because for whatever reason I thought the changes would come in 2015 hence why we booked this year. Well, the bright side is there is no longer a scramble to get a cabin on the "right" side for the sail out. Sigh.

If you want to know what ships are at port when you are ever at pretty much any port, use the below link, I put it in my cruise binder that I take with me so I know how many boats and people to expect.

 

http://ports.cruisett.com/

Thank you so very much! I remember seeing this last time we were planning a cruise but couldn't find the link.

Looks like it will be a crap shoot for all of us cruising in and out of Venice for 2014. Hopefully we will be on one of the ships that has the amazing sail in or sail out being we are round trip out of Venice. We have never been to Venice so hope we will be lucky :)

Hearing that these changes were possibly coming is what made us step up and plan this cruise this year instead of waiting any longer. I thought we were good to go and would definitely get to enjoy the sail in/out of Venice this year. :(

I guess you'll need to do both ;)

 

Why don't you fly into Florence 2 days early and relax there & get over your jet lag and then take the train to Venice for your cruise. Then you can enjoy a post-cruise stay in Venice.

Trying to do just that...although we both don't have a whole lot of vacation time to use. I very much wish we had more.

We used RomeinLimo for private tours we shared with another couple on our roll call for Rome, Florence, and Naples (Pompeii and Amalfi Coast).

Hands down, it was the smartest thing we did. We had no issues whatsoever with them - they were on time, polite, knowledgeable, caring, and made sure we made it back to the ship in plenty of time despite all of us dragging our feet leaving these wonderful ports. Going private instead of ship tours saved us time and money not to mention we saw a whole lot more and it was personalized service.

You can't go wrong with them. I wouldn't hesitate to go with them in the least. The boards are filled with positives from this company.

What have you found to work best? A Venice trip pre-cruise or post-cruise? Airfare would be about the same for us; so we're debating whether to cruise first or see Venice first.

Your pictures are absolutely stunning. You certainly have the eye for capturing the perfect shot. Was fun to sort of preview the ship and ports for my upcoming cruise.

I'm not precisely sure of the location of these hotels, but I can assure you that Venice is really small and it would be easy to get back and forth from anything that's in that general area. You can walk or take a vaporetto. We were staying near St. Mark's and had taken the vaporetto out to Murano; it was very slow motoring all the way around the island. I realized that we could just get off on the opposite side of the island on our way back and walk to our hotel in under ten minutes--that's how small it is.

This helps, thanks. After pouring over maps over and over, it just seems like it would take so much longer! Having never been there before, it's hard to get a good frame of reference.

Interested in this thread and the responses it will get.

Many recommend staying in the area you are looking at for sheer convenience of not having to move luggage on water taxis/streets/bridges.

We too are looking at Hotel Moresco- seems maybe a bit out of the way which is why we're hesitating on it. Many on this board seem to really like Olimpia. Hotel Canal Grand looks very interesting with good reviews.

Not sure how easy all these hotels are to get back to during the day - if for example, you wanted to take a break in the day, regroup, and go back out at night. Don't want to spend precious time traveling back and forth - would rather stay closer to where I most likely will be sightseeing - Rialto bridge/St.Marks/etc. I've looked at maps but can't quite judge the distance and time needed to go back/forth.

Good luck!

Thanks to you all. Just as I suspected it is hard to go wrong with either one. :)

Well, I'm sure I'm obsessing over hotels maybe a bit too much, but it is our first time to Venice - a life long dream - and our 30th anniversary. I hear that the charm of Venice is to get lost wandering about; well, I'm doing that already with trip advisor and reading these boards searching for that "perfect" Venice experience hotel without going totally broke. Of course I currently want a hotel on the Grand Canal but cost-wise may have to give that up. Another canal is fine as long as it gives me that postcard experience out my room's window and puts me in the middle of it all (where ever that is as I'm still pouring over maps). I want to sit on a terrace overlooking a canal with my coffee - hotel terrace is fine as I've come to realize that getting a room with a private terrace would require far more dollars than I have. We are in the ballpark of $350-400/night - late Aug - 3 nights prior to our cruise. Can you help steer me to that hotel that will give me that Venice postcard experience? As fun as it is researching, it's time to reach out for help from all of you. For example, is Hotel Canal Grand or Hotel Moresco in a good location? I'm trying to maximize our location for the little bit of time we're there. Help! Hotel or area suggestions are all appreciated. Thanks to you all.

I could have written this post myself. I went on an NCL Pearl Alaska cruise a couple of years back with my DH. I now want to take my mother who is mid 70's and still mobile. Looking to do this on the cheap since I will have to carry the cost for both of us. Look at AARP rates, past loyalty rates, hot deals, possibly book now but watch for rate drops in categories where you can possibly snag a lower fare. You can roll the dice and look to book after final payment to see what cruise lines let the bottom drop out of their prices, but you then can't be picky about the ship, type of cabin or it's location on the ship. You'll have to balance this against air fare. Air fare rates may drive you to make a decision on the time to travel. In other words, watch both air fare and cruise rates to find the overall cheapest combination. To make it easier on mom and me..I'm looking at RT out of Seattle. I'm flying from another part of the country and she wouldn't handle a connection very well (to BC) nor can she handle lengthy flights. To avoid stress of what to wear, I'm chosing NCL so that she doesn't have to worry about formal wear. Anything to make it easier on all of us. If we have to do an inside, so be it; gets us up and out of the cabin. Watch for January's wave season deals. You can always book a deal now and transfer the booking to an outside TA if you see a sweet deal with bonuses (OBC, specialty dining, etc). Finally, travel insurance - insure the heck out of it so that you can cancel for any reason. Good luck!

Hi - we are looking at a Celebrity cruise in/out of Venice with port stops of

Venice

Kotor, Montenegro

Santorini, Greece

Athens, Greece

Katakolon, Greece

Venice

I know for the sail out of Venice, I should be either on top deck for full viewing or a port side balcony if I wanted to be in the room.

What about the other ports? Does anyone know which side of the ship has the best port viewing for this itinerary?

Thanks!

Tempted to push for an aft cabin for the sail in/out of Venice and Kotor. But in the event those prices don't get more reasonable, what side of ship would be best cabin-wise?

CathyCruises or anyone else that have booked a 1B or regular sized balcony...how comfortable is a regular sized balcony? Is it perfectly fine? We're looking at a Venice/Med cruise with a port packed itinerary so I'm starting to wonder if I'd really need the deep balcony and the price that goes with it. My first criteria is to have a covered balcony as I don't like sitting for long periods of time in the direct sun plus in the event of rain, I can still use it. Is it overkill to need a deeper balcony for a port intensive cruise? I was looking at the deck 12 (covered) CC aft balcony, but the price is a bit steep at the moment for us.

I know that the angled hump 1A balconies are very coveted on the S class. However, do they make the room dark and gloomy, sort of dim, tunnel-like,etc? I love a lot of light in the room and I'm the kind that doesn't even like the curtains drawn at night...love the moonlight, and looking out at the water. How dark are the rooms with these deep balconies?

Captive audience and therefore captive prices. Like airport pricing or Disney pricing. That roll of Tums or a bottle of water is overpriced - why? Because they can. Only you can decide whether it's worth buying or not.

I will certainly start looking at connecting through other cities...JFK, AMS, etc

But isn't this what the search engines already do? Wouldn't I already have seen a better priced flight if for example, connecting through DFW had the lower fare?

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To put your mind at ease...there is no "cheaper fare time frame". What there is is pure supply and demand, combined with yield management algorithms. Especially into a city such as VCE, "cruise day" puts tremendous demand onto the system. So searching for alternative dates and cities makes a lot of sense. It can often be better to spend more time in VCE, even with the high hotel rates. Or taking the train in/out of VCE and utilizing another European air gateway. Or doing your search from ATL, CLT, or other cities. Plus, the DL non-stops to VCE often get a price premium for the convenience. Know what you value having several connections is. Would you pay $150 less and have one more connection?? Best tool for research IMO is ITA Software.

 

You may want to read a subsequent post regarding using Kayak for air searches.

Airline pricing does NOT correspond directly to distance, or even the flights involved.

 

From CHA, there are various options to Europe, all involving some connection in the USA before going across the pond. Greater competition. OTOH, at ATL, DL is the big dog and gets to exert fortress hub pricing. In general, prices are higher from hubs than non-hubs - both because of the fortress nature and the attractiveness of non-stops. So, it makes perfect "airline sense" to price CHA-ATL-XYZ cheaper than ATL-XYZ. If you try to think in an linear fashion, it will just leave you confused.

 

Ditto with flights going "the wrong way". In airline terms, it may very well make sense to price flights cheaper even though the trip flies more miles. Don't try to outthink the airline yield management systems...it's a fools errand.

 

So, now that you can go cheaper from CHA, is that changing your calculus?

Thank you for explaining. We are trying to flex the arrival/departure date a bit into VCE - working with what limited vacation time we do have. Looking for the best combination that will give us time in Venice either pre or post cruise.

Looks like it may be Chattannooga for the win. Certainly not the worst thing in the world by any means.

Thank you to all for suggesting the ITA software.

Question - I know I can't do this on the flight out, but on the way back, can we get off in Atlanta and not take that last leg? Easier for family to pick us up from there to be honest. What about our luggage - can we ask that it not be checked through to CHA?