Milhouse

Small consideration but IIRC, you kind of gain an hour going from Athens to Rome and lose one the other direction. I say kind of because you're typically all messed up from jetlag anyways. 😄

We stayed at the NH Hotel in Ravenna for the night prior to our cruise in June 2023. While I wouldn't consider this an amazing hotel, it's a nice/solid European chain hotel that we'd definitely consider staying at again if cruising out of Ravenna. We pre-paid about $226CDN (plus city/hotel tax payable at the hotel) via AMEX travel (needed to use of a travel credit) for a standard room with one full bed on a non-refundable rate without breakfast. Check in at 3pm, check out at noon. Free wifi that had decent coverage and speed. Free bottles of water upon arrival. Location was very good/great. It's a short and easy to navigate two block walk from the train station. We wanted to be fairly close to the train station as (1) we were going spend a long time in transit travelling from home and (2) we wanted to scope of the train station the morning of departure to identify the vendor that offers the coach ride to the port. It's also a straight 5 minute walk to the main square, Fontanella Piazza del Popolo and about a 10-15 minute walk to the furthest of the mosaic sites. The neighbourhood felt very safe but it seemed like an overall very safe town. Front desk staff were friendly (as well as the housekeeping staff we ran into) and spoke english. We forgot to print our luggage tags prior to leaving home and they were happy to print them out for us (free of charge). Our room was fairly nice and modern but somewhat small and basic. It did have a mini-fridge though which which we find handy to keep water/drinks cold. I think the pictures on their website and tripadvisor are a fair representation. (No great dinner spot recommendation as we ended up just grabbing a couple of piadinerias which were only meh.)

Celebrity Cruises - Promotions on Website.xlsx

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Year Date Day (Time) Special Day Promotion Name Discount Ends Conditions 2024 Jan 1, 2024 Mon 3:00 pm PT New Year's Day Semi-Annual Sale Take 75% off 2nd Guest + Save Up to $200 8:59 pm PT Jan 1, 2024 Cruise must be booked Dec. 06, 2023 through Apr. 07, 2024 (the “Offer Period”) and applies to select sailings 3-nights and longer departing Dec. 06, 2023 – Apr. 30, 2026 (the “Offer Cruise”). Promo code not required. 2024 Jan 1, 2024 Mon 10:00 pm PT Semi-Annual Sale Take 75% off 2nd Guest 2024 Jan 3, 2024 Wed 8:05 pm PT 48 Hour FlashSale Take 75% off 2nd Guest and up to $200 OBC 8:59 pm PT Jan 4, 2024 Cruise must be booked Dec. 06, 2023 through Apr. 07, 2024 (the “Offer Period”) and applies to select sailings 3-nights and longer departing Dec. 06, 2023 – Apr. 30, 2026 (the “Offer Cruise”). Promo code not required.

FWIW, here's some of our (incomplete) food spend that I remembered to document during our June 2023 cruise out of Ravenna that went Greece and Turkey. YMMV of course! (And note that this is not necessarily a recommendation for the places we ate at, as it was a mixed bag with some great and a few meh/subpar.) Olympia (Katakolon) Water from various grocery stores: 0.70e and 0.50e each Water from duty free shop: 2e for a 6x1.5L pack A gyro pita (takeout) from a restaurant on the main drag (Pheidias Grill House): 7e Phyllo pies (takeout) from a bakery (Εργαστήρι Τυροπιτας Γιαννακόπουλος Παναγιώτης): 1.50e each Santorini Water from a grocery store in Oia: 0.40e each Sitdown lunch at Pitogyros Traditional Grill House in Oia: ~35e for 2 gyro pitas, a tomato salad, and 2 Mythos beers Counter service at Lucky's in Fira. 2 gyro pitas @ 4e each, 2 Mythos beers @ 4e each Kusadasi Water from a stand in Ephasus: 20TL Sitdown snack/light lunch at May Dönerium: 130TL for a chicken sandwich combo (fries & coke), 60TL for chicken sandwich only, 10TL for water Mykonos One large beer on a beachfront table at Ornos Beach at Porto Ornos Greek Cucine: 8e Counter service at Sakis in Mykonos town/Chora: One gyro pita @ 7e A couple of takeout bakery items at Gioras Wood Medieval Mykonian Bakery in Mykonos town/Chora: 5e Water from a grocery store: 0.50e Athens Honey brown sugar oat espresso (I forget what size but likely a venti) at Starbucks: 7.10e Bottle of water at Starbucks: 0.50e Sitdown light lunch at Atlantikos: Peppers, calamari, potatoes, greek salad(?), water, beer: 23e Takeaway gyro pita from Bairaktaris Central: 3.40e Crete/Chania/Souda Water from a grocery store: 0.50e Takeout from Oasis in Chania: 2 Gyro pitas @ 3e each. Sitdown at bougatsa Chania bakery in Chania: 1 bougatsa @ 3.50e Takeout from Delish Food Streat Story in Chania: 1 gyro pita @ 4e Zakynthos Sitdown snack/light lunch at Totis Burger in Laganas Beach: spanakopita pie(?), gyro pita, and a beer @ 13.50e Frozen yogurt at Chillbox in Laganas Beach: 2.85e Takeout from Pita Pita in Zakinthos: 1 gyro pita @ 3.30e Bologna Gelato at Gelato 49: Sorbet in a cone @ 3e Lunch counter service at De Gusto Coop in Mercato di Mezzo: One shared pasta @ 8.5e and a spritz @ 5e Sitdown dinner at Salumeria Simoni: Charcuterie Platter and two drinks @ 32.50e Water: 0.50e Espresso and a croissant @ 3.80e Snack counter service at Sfogliamo in Mercato delle Erbe: Small pasta sampler bowl @ 5e Florence Lunch counter service at Salumeria Verdi: Sandwich @ 5e and wine @ 2e Snack counter service at Pescheria Sugarello in Mercato Centrale: Mixed fried seafood box @ 11e Lunch counter service at Nerbone in Mercato Centrale: Pasta @ 6.50e and large water @ 3e Rome Lunch counter service at All'Antico Vinaio: Sandwich @ 8e.

FWIW, this is kind of dated but we did a land trip to Hanoi (and other parts of Vietnam) in Oct 2014. We spent four days in Hanoi of which three were pretty full days of sightseeing. So, I think an overnight stay would definitely have enough points of interest (landmarks, parks/lakes, markets, etc) to keep you engaged/entertained. So many fantastic places to eat too. However, it is a bustling, chaotic city so you kind of have to enjoy that type of vibe. We also did an overnight cruise (Emeraude cruises) in Halong Bay (with a coach transfer to/from Hanoi). It is kind of a bucket list activity with the beautiful scenery. Not sure if the cruiseline's day cruises have similar activities but to give you an idea of the possible experience: as part of our overnight cruise, we stopped at & walked through a cave, visited a pearl farm, and did a short hike around a small island. All kind of interesting but very touristy. There was also a chance to kayak a bit. The star is really the scenery though.

Last year (Nov2022), we had a 7:55pm flight home out of LAX after our cruise and the plan was to spend time in Santa Monica before heading to the airport. We've been to Santa Monica before so we are somewhat familiar with the area and felt we'd enjoy spending time there again. However, we also have lounge access so we wanted to get to LAX a bit earlier to check out a lounge. We took one of the last departure times to help kill some time but this was somewhat of a mistake as we had a bit of a wait getting a ride share being one of the last ones off. Our Uber to Santa Monica was about $55 at 9:30am on a Saturday morning. During one of the previous nights on the ship, we pre-booked luggage storage via an app called Bounce. They partner with various businesses that have space to store luggage. We ended up storing our two medium sized pieces of luggage in a locked designated luggage storage room at a Hostel International in Santa Monica for about $12. Our main activities were: the Santa Monica Pier, walking the beach path (there and back), lunch, and checking out the various shopping/retail around the neighbourhood. YMMV of course in terms of interests, time spent, walking, etc. Sunset while we were there in November was just before 5pm and it got kind of windy and chilly late in the evening so we kind of started wrapping things up and hopped in an Uber to LAX around 4:30pm for about $30. Our cruise also had a post cruise excursion/tour of LA on a coach bus that dropped you off at LAX at the end which we did consider. I forget where the tour went and the exact cost it but IIRC I think the price for one person was more than what we paid for our two Ubers and luggage storage. Pros and cons to a tour vs DIY tho of course. Also check out Lounge Buddy as another resource for lounge access info. A few other points to note are: (1) Not all lounges are created equal so check out reviews/research and (2) it can be a bit of an effort to go between certain terminals. Eg. We had to go between Terminal 2 to the International Terminal on airside and it was a bit of work because we had to jump on a free connector bus versus just being able to walk it.

Sorry a bit offtopic but: Haven't used Grab in Vietnam but in Thailand. Found it a bit hit or miss as we got "professional" drivers that were basically taxi drivers finding fares via the app and occasionally some "amateur" drivers that were somewhat clueless getting to the destination even with navigation. Found taxis very inexpensive in Saigon/HCMC but had to use honest companies like Mai Linh and Vinasun (watch out for similar fakes).

Detoured into Canada Place during my walk today and went down to the Cruise Level (CS) via the parkade elevators. Here's a picture from just outside the elevator area into the parkade towards the cruise terminal area (though I'm used to dropping off people on levels further down??). I'm assuming the numbers marked on the pillars are the bus bays with 11 being closest in my picture. Defer to @nw gardener to confirm.

Any guidance in terms of price range and modes of transportation you prefer taking? What type of night life are you looking for: Night markets, bars, shopping/restaurants?? Generally speaking, the Tsim Sha Tsui neighbourhood where the Peninsula is located on the Kowloon mainland side and the Central neighbourhood on the Hong Kong island itself are probably the most central in terms of some/many of the tourist attractions but they are some of the most expensive areas to stay. The MTR/metro and buses can be fairly convenient to get to get around but it can feel like a bit of a trek if you are between MTR stations. You can also fill in the gaps with a taxi or Uber. This can open up other neighbourhoods if you are ok commuting a bit and how adventurous you are.

I've occasionally checked for deals but haven't booked using the site. It is legit though as the deals are occasionally referenced on the RedFlagDeals deals website. As the subsequent post on the linked thread mentions though, sometimes there are requirements for some of the bonuses like a minimum 2 night stay and/or limitations like 48 hour cancellation policy. I find a lot of Vancouver hotel promos end by May when cruise season gets into full swing and even then it's somewhat difficult to find a deal during shoulder season or when there are various events happening which isn't a surprise.

FWIW, for general reference, there's a reputable currency exchange with some of the better rates in town, down the block from the Days Inn on Pender but across the street: Vancouver Bullion and Currency Exchange. No hidden fees, straight exchange. We use them regularly.

Yup, just thought I'd top up a bit. I always appreciate your informative and detailed posts. Have a great trip!

For the post-cruise leg from ship to Rome: You'll need to transfer from the ship to a train station like Ravenna's or Bologna Centrale. The ship will likely have coach transfers to Ravenna's train station for about $15 per person or Bologna Centrale for about $35 pp. Taxis are an option but very limited. There is a public bus stop nearby but I don't think it's a reasonable option with luggage. At the Ravenna train station, as cruisemom42 indicates, there is a local commuter train that runs hourly to Bologna (the TTPER trains on the list) and costs about 8E pp. When we were planning our June 2023 cruise, for some reason (??) we had trouble seeing all the scheduled TTPER trains on the Trenitalia website but they were running. We just booked this segment (between Bologna and Ravenna both directions) while we were in Italy. The railcars had two levels and seemed to have a lot of seating so it shouldn't be an issue getting on and finding a seat (no assigned seating) If you take the coach transfer to Bologna Centrale, it saves you the Ravenna to Bologna connection. As cruisemom42 states, the Trenitalia high speed trains are the Frecce trains and the Frecciarossa (per the list above) is the specific version that serves Bologna to Rome. I also think you should book this high speed train leg in advance as again as mentioned, it is cheaper the further you book in advance. And the high speed trains are assigned seating and popular segments can get also become full such that you may need to book on a later train. Note there is also another high speed train company called Italo that is an option for the Boglona to Rome leg. Note on the above list for Ravenna to Rome, there are some options with multiple train changes (cambio). IMO, to keep things simple, as with cruisemom42 I would focus on the 1 change options with the local commuter train from Ravenna to Bologna and high speed train from Bologna to Rome vs the 2+ change options that will generally take much longer. You also see some Intercity trains but they are (obviously) slower than the high speed Frecce trains.

Yup unfortunately, Vancouver hotel prices (particularly downtown) are generally pretty expensive due to a lack of supply keeping up with demand (on top of the local housing shortage). I'm not sure if there's really a best area to stay in as there are pockets and corridors of interesting areas throughout the downtown core. Plus, if you are mobile, most of the downtown core and vicinity are very walkable IMO though there are some areas that are a bit sketchy. Staying by the Westin Bayshore is reasonable IMO as it provides easy and quick access to Stanley Park, the Coal Harbour waterfront/seawall, and Robson Street & Denman Street which are pedestrian lively with shops and restaurants. I'll defer to others for alternative hotel suggestions but might be able to add colour about the neighbourhoods. Personally, I think some of the best parts of Vancouver are along the water: Walking along various parts of the seawall, Granville Island, Friday night Shipyards Night Market, etc. I think with 2.5 days, you should be able to fill it with most of the big sights around the downtown core and just beyond particularly if you are also going to spend time at any of the paid attractions. (The missus and I visited a number of the attractions around town as part of an industry event this spring and found many of them very interesting though YMMV as many of them revolved around local history.) On top of the usual tourist sights, Vancouver typically has a rotating list of annual festivals and events nearly every weekend during the summer. Note that the first Monday in August is a long weekend and more busy than normal.

Weather is still generally good in mid-September with the last of the summer festivals and events happening. But it's kind of variable in that consistently good weather can last into October or it can start getting showery around mid-September. We've also had a lot of forest fires the last few years and it can get somewhat smokey/hazy around Vancouver and Whister (and other parts) depending on fire conditions. Somewhat random though. If you come earlier in September, note that we have a statutory/bank holiday the first Monday in September (Labour Day) so that can be a very busy travel long weekend (eg Ferries). But also a few of events happening in and around Vancouver. There's a bike race from Vancouver to Whistler on Sat Sept 7 (Gran Fondo) that will congest the sea to sky highway to Squamish/Gondola/Whistler northbound.

Just past Boxing Day, there is also Wave Season that runs from Jan to Mar. Personally, I think the deals are generally the best during this time frame whereas other sales throughout the year are somewhat variations of the same thing. But obviously, there are always lots of variables at play. eg In this particular instance, it's cutting it close with a late March departure. And you also never know what kind of pricing plays out within final payment. Etc, etc.

Here are some thoughts but please don't consider them definitive since my experiences are slightly different. Hopefully others will chime in or you can find additional information such as some of the historical threads on this topic. We also cruised on Celebrity but based on other threads, it seems other lines are somewhat similar. We took Celebrity's last disembarkation coach bus transfer to Ravenna train station at 9:30am. There were maybe five or so slots early than ours. They also charged $15 per person. IIRC, on a previous thread, someone mentioned Celebrity offered a free shuttle into town when Ravenna was a port of call versus point of embarkation/disembarkation. Since you are doing a b2b, maybe you can try to source that? Not sure when the last coach bus shuttle back to the ship is. But I don't think it would be hard to grab a taxi as a backup option if you get stuck. If you were referring to the public bus, the bus stop appeared to be about a simple 10min walk from the ship/terminal, across a parking lot. I think you'd be looking at bus #90. We superficially looked into taking the public bus to/from Ravenna and the port but decided it wasn't worth it for us, particularly with luggage so can't add more info. Plus Italian transportation is notorious for not being on time. For diembarkation, Celebrity wanted $35 per person for a coach bus transfer to Bologna Centrale train station. Comparatively, it's like $15 per person to Ravenna's train station and about 8E for a train ticket from Ravenna to Bologna which runs hourly. It's a personal choice whether it's worth it to save $10-12 per person that would require another transfer and potential wait at Ravenna station. We high speed trained it from Bologna to Florence to visit for a day and then high speed trained it down to Rome before flying home. The high speed trains are pretty convenient IMO. Note that there are two high speed train operators: TrenItalia and Italo. We took both and found their experience pretty equivalent. I wouldn't necessarily wait until the day of the buy the high speed train tickets as prices go up and train schedule selection becomes more limited.

If you're up to it, one option is to DIY but with a couple of connections and a little bit of walking. Others can likely provide more detail around the specifics from Bologna airport (eg Marconi Express into town??). However, if you can make it to a train station/Bologna Centrale, the ride itself to Ravenna's train station is pretty straight forward on a frequent commuter train that's reasonably comfortable but makes short stops at small towns along the way. Bologna Centrale station is somewhat large so you'll need to comfortable navigating to the right platform. At Ravenna train station, the cruise ships seem to have a (not well advertised) contractor hired to transport cruisers to the ship on a coach bus (and in the reverse for crew into town). The contractor has a person loitering in front of the main entrance to the train station starting later in the morning and directs cruisers to the back exit of the station to walk a block to the parking lot where more staff and the coach bus is waiting. IIRC, this transfer is about $10US pp and takes about 15mins excluding waiting for the bus to fill up a bit. You can also take a taxi or public bus to the ship from Ravenna station with varying degrees of cost and convenience of course. We trained into Ravenna (from Rome) a day early to check out the town and its mosaics which we're happy we did. And then did the coach transfer to the ship the next morning. In the reverse, we did the coach transfer from the ship to Ravenna's train station and then hopped on a train to Bologna to explore for the day which we were also happy that we visited.

They also aren't above fibbing either. Had one tell us while walking by them that the metro wasn't operating because it was on strike but of course it was running when we got there. 🙄

Agree with the comments that one can't accurately predict the weather very far in advance but you are kind of playing the odds. Anyways the missus and her parents are just getting off Infinity in Barcelona today after departing from Lisbon on October 30. They didn't have the greatest weather for the first part of the cruise due to a fairly large storm/weather pattern. Bands of pretty wet, windy, and somewhat rough seas including a few days pre-cruise in Portugal mixed with some clear breaks. So much so, they had to drop a port of call and also swap Gibraltar in for one early in the cruise IIRC.

I think you're referring to Ascent which is kind of on your right before the escalators up to the front desk at the Pan Pacific.

We cruised on Connie in June and would cruise on her again if the itinerary hit right notes. We had previously restarted cruising on Solstice last November so that's kind of my baseline I'm using for comparison. Just from a configuration perspective, we like Solstice class better but it's not a deal breaker. Eg. More open foyer areas between decks 3-5 on Solstice, the shopping corridor on Connie gets kind of congested, Tuscan Grill is kind of in an awkward space on Connie, I like the buffet islands on Solstice... stuff like that. We thought a few areas (mainly in our cabin) could have done with a bit more proactive maintenance but again it wasn't something that really tilted the cruise experience for us. Personally, I enjoyed the main production shows while the missus felt they were pretty typical/meh. (Conversely, I'm generally not a big fan of the feature/guest entertainers.) However, we thought the activities around the ship were only ok. Found dinner a bit inconsistent in the MDR but overall ok. eg. Some of the dishes early in the cruise were somewhat overly salty but they seemed to adjust along the way. Food overall was only fine (vs being a strong point) but I'd likely chalk that up to the issues around X's food quality that everyone is chatting about nowadays. Found the staff we regularly interacted with great/friendly as expected which is table stakes for us. As an aside, the missus is currently on Infinity, taking her folks on their first X cruise (they normally sail HAL). During our calls, she has describe various issues from food to unprofessional staff that sailing on Infinity is pretty much off our list.

Maybe plan to be flexible if the weather doesn't work out. Can still be pretty raining late April. Eg. The Sea to Sky Gondola is a nice thing to do if the weather is nice but it is kind of pricey. The wife and I did it for the first time this spring and enjoyed it but we also got to ride it for free for an industry event. Lots of trails to explore up top but likely not very fun in the rain. If you do end up going to Whistler, the Whistler Tourism site occasionally has last minute deals (ie day before/of) for accommodations. A friend and I booked a last minute room during the fall two years ago and got a nice room, a 10 minute walk from the village for about $100. YMMV of course.