pfopma

23 hours ago, KellyCz said:

Departing for Alaska on the Solstice in two weeks, and I was excited to get what I thought was a move-up offer email. Instead, it's the opposite.

 

We're writing to let you know that, due to a rare inventory error, your scheduled sailing is currently oversold in certain stateroom categories.
If you would be willing to volunteer to move to a different stateroom type, you may be able to take advantage of a special resolution offer. 

 

The offer is a move from Veranda stateroom to Veranda stateroom with obstructed view for a $500 refund. Since this is our first trip to Alaska, we've decided to keep our original stateroom.

 

What would you do? 

I've done an Alaska cruise in a balcony and an Inside cabin. I preferred the Inside Cabin. We hardly used the balcony. Even in August it was too chilly. There are plenty of places on ships like whatever nightclub/lounge is near the top of the ship. it's a quiet and a perfect place to take in the scenery and stay warm.

I wanted to book Rome Cabs but they are sold out for my date in October from Civitavecchia to Rome. We still have a few months so is it possible the date could open up? Can anyone recommend another company? We would also be booking a transfer from our Rome hotel to FCO a few days later.

If you can get the whole family together you can watch some videos on all the ports. Rick Steves has 1/2 hour programs on all these places. They are available on YouTube. Malta is a personal favorite and a visit to M'dina is not to be missed. If they are Jurassic World movies fans they will reconcile some of the places on Malta.

Rick Steves has a 30 minute show on Provence that you can find on YouTube .Watch that for starters and see if anything interests you. It's a beautiful area.

It sounds like you have everything booked but honestly I would lump all your days at one end - probably the start and do your itinerary based on that. If you only have one night on each that means 4 travel days to and from ports/airports and checking in and out of hotels, packing and unpacking - yuk!

Since you are arriving n Rome on Sat definitely take advantage of the Sat late opening of the Vatican Museums. We did this on our arrival in Rome on a Friday and it gave time to do other things we wanted to do. You don't need a tour but can purchase tickets through the official Vatican website:

https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en.html

Love this show - I enjoyed the Venice episode as well as Finland and believe it or not - Utah. He does go to a lot of diverse places but there is an underlying theme much like Tucci, Rick Steves, and others. That is get out and talk to the people who live in the place you are visiting. That seems to be what makes places memorable.

I used this company for a Pompeii, Amalfi Coast, Sorrento tour. I was concerned that we would be tight because we had to be back on the ship in Naples by 5 pm. We were able to do an Amalfi Coast drive to Positano but just stopped at an overlook for photos of Positano. The drive along the coast is really gorgeous and my nephew who road in the front of the minivan with the drive got a thrill. We had enough time in Sorrento for lunch and a brief stroll on our own. And we were met by a Pompeii Tour Guide and had about 2 hours there. It was a pleasant day and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Would I have like more time in all the paces we visited - of course but for a first visit and a taste it was fantastic.

Love Vernaza too. Manarola would be 2nd.

We did something similar 4 years ago. Stayed at the Terrace Pantheon Relais so near your hotel. I was 66 at the time and with my 22 year old nephew. We arrive mid morning in Rome and after walking to Campo deFiori and lunch went back to the hotel and unpacked. We were lucky as it was a Friday so we were able to go to the late opening of the Vatican Museum. We headed to the Vatican around 4. We had planned to walk but took a taxi as it was raining. There is a taxi stand conveniently at Largo Argentina. We saw St Peter's Basilica first and then walked around the wall to the museum entrance. We took a taxi back to the Pantheon area around 8:30 pm and had dinner with a view of the Pantheon. The next day we had an early morning Colosseum Underground tour. We had purchased tickets ahead of time and we were able to just head in when it was time. I think we were at the Colosseum around 2 hours. We walked back to the hotel picking up some food on the way and having an al fresco lunch on the hotel terrace. We took a nap and then headed out around 4 again and walked up Via del Corso and over to the Spanish Steps. We stopped a few places for a rest and a glass of wine. We then headed back toward the hotel passing the Trevi Fountain. We had a late dinner at a restaurant near Pizza Navona. The next morning we took a taxi to Termini for our train to Civitavecchia. We were there in April and it was warm but not like July. Plan your walking for early morning and evening and you should be OK. And take a taxi if you need to.

Where does it say the ship docks on the itinerary?

On 3/3/2023 at 6:06 PM, shirazcruiser said:

We've been to Cinque Terre several times, but it was a long time ago.  The 2 Celebrity ship tours we're considering for our Livorno port include Portovenere boating to Monterosso and the other a train/bus to Monterosso, Manarola and Rio Maggiore.  We love Monterosso, but would appreciate view points on Potovenere vs Manarola & Rio Maggiore.  Please, no suggestions on touring independently or with private companies as we're only considering these 2 ship tours.  Thanks for any information.  

I would also go with the Monterosso, Manarola, Riomaggiore tour.

Sunrise in Civitavecchia

I'm on that Celebrity Cruise and it sucks because our focus was on the Cinque Terre. Now looking at Excursions that will take us there but it's a 1.5 to 2 hr one way trip from Livorno to CT. Genoa will be a little close but not a lot of non-ship options that I can find. Celebrity hasn't put up their Genoa shore excursions yet. 

On 4/2/2019 at 5:47 PM, _Mr.G_ said:

 

I'm on the same cruise 🙂   My bid was accepted 40 days prior to cruising: 75 USD pP from Inside to Ocean View 😁

Have you joined the Roll Call  for this sailing? 

2 hours ago, _Mr.G_ said:

 

I'm on the same cruise 🙂   My bid was accepted 40 days prior to cruising: 75 USD pP from Inside to Ocean View 😁

Wow, great price! We're paying $200 pp to upgrade from Inside to mid ship balcony. I originally  put in a bid of $100 each but then we decided to increase it because we really wanted the balcony. We felt we got a great deal because that category cabin was $900 pp more than what we paid for the upgrade. All Balcony cabins are now sold out.

28 minutes ago, cartman3132 said:

Which cruise was it?

10 day Greece/Italy on Spirit. 

If you have shore excursion credits call to book and you won't be charged up front. It will go on your cabin account and the excursion credit will be deducted then.

I bid $200 (fair) for an upgrade from inside to balcony. It was accepted 4 weeks before the cruise and we got midship balcony on deck 9 of the Spirit.

We used London Walks. We love that company. For the Hampton Court Palace tour we meet our guide at the Waterloo train station. We added to our Oyster card to cover the cost of the train. We took the train to Richmond and did a brief walking tour there. Then had some free time before taking a boat up the Thames to Hampton Court Palace.  They suggested a sandwich shop in Richmond to buy food and even arranged to have the food delivered to the boat. We were the only group using the boat and ate our lunch while we travelled on the river. We used the dock at the palace and then the guide purchased our tickets and did the tour of the palace. The tour ended at the palace. You can stay as long as you want afterward and then make the short walk to train station for the trip back to London. 

Are you on a cruise and will only be in London for a day or are you sending some time in the city post- or pre-cruise?

I would highly suggest London Walks great escapes then. If you enjoy walking then these tours are perfect. We did the Cotswolds tour and also the Hampton Court Palace Tour where you take a boat part way on the Thames going through the locks on the river. 

If you want to do a day trip to Windsor that is very easily done on your own by taking the train to Windsor from Paddington with one easy change and then walking around town and visiting the castle on your own. We also did a day trip to Liverpool on our own. Took a 7:30 am train to Liverpool and took a taxi to The Beatles Museum at Albert Dock. Booked a 3 hour tour with Fab Four Taxi Tours that picked us up at the museum at noon. They dropped us off at Mathew Street and we went to the Cavern Club and had dinner at the Hard Days Night Hotel before heading back to London on the train. Got back to London around 10 pm. 

We also did a bus tour with Premium Tours to Stratford-On-Avon, Bath and Stonehenge and another tour to Canterbury, And other to Oxford, Bampton, and Highclere Castle. 

What is your style of travel - do you like a small group or do you prefer a large group? What do you want to see outside of London? I have used these two companies:

https://www.premiumtours.co.uk Large group tours using bus transportation with tours in London as well as day trips outside of the city.

http://www.walks.com/other-tours/day-trips-from-london/ - A variety  of 2 hour walking tours in London but they also have day trips they call Great Escapes. A full day using trains and boats to arrive at destination for day trips.

We had problems getting an afternoon flight that was non-stop from FCO to EWR. All non-stop flights were in the morning. We choose a flight with a stop over in Canada that leaves at 1:30 pm. I was told to leave a minimum of 5 hours from disembarkation time to the flight time. 

We had an Aft balcony that was very large on POA on deck 7 - it was right above the promenade deck but it still felt private.

On 10/21/2018 at 3:59 PM, disneykins said:

Thanks for the responses from recent visitors. We are there in April 2019, only ship in port but don't arrive until noon and leave at 10pm. We're thinking of waiting until we get off the tender and deciding---if there's a long line for the cable car, we'll take the boat to the port below Oia and then take the bus up.  Then city bus to Fira and cable car down. I wonder how late the busses and cable car run? I'm sure the cable car would keep running into the evening if there are still ships there, but who knows for sure? Can we just book the boat to Oia when we arrive or does it need to be pre-booked?
Thanks

Tony

I was on the Jade from Noon to 10 pm a few years ago and we had no problem getting the cable car after sunset. I heard that as long as there are cruise ships in the caldera the cable car will run.

On 2/22/2019 at 8:33 AM, TGraUk said:

pfopma thanks for recommendations! We tried moussaka in Greek restaurants in UK, believe the one in Classico would be much better

Do you have any favorite places for coffee stop near port?

Didn't have Greek coffee the last trip. We arrived at noon and left at 10 pm.I will have to try on my next trip.