Milhouse

9 hours ago, HelloFromIdaho said:

Thanks Milhouse. Did you make this train trip the day you embarked in Ravenna? 

No, we travelled up the day before on a Sunday and then boarded the ship on Monday midday.  It gave us a bit of time to check out the town and do the mosaics circuit.  There was also flooding in the Ravenna region during the weeks leading up to our cruise and we weren't sure how well the transportation/rail links were recovering so we wanted to get in a day before.  

Wanted to share a bit from our experiences during land trips to these destinations but keep in mind cruise logistics might be very different (eg where you may get access to a reputable ATM or forex exchange).  And your decision will depend on your preference for convenience versus getting the best rate/limiting fees.  

For Indonesia, we've only been to Bali.  We struggled to take cash out of multiple ATM's at different locations (at the airport and a few places in town) and using different bank cards (TD, CIBC, and a Vancity credit union).  Note we only notified our primary banks about our travels.  In the end, we just used a currency exchange place to swap some CAD we fortunately brought with us.  If you do use a currency exchange, use caution due to some of the scams that occur.  

For Vietnam, we've had mixed luck depending on the ATM.  If you look at the back of your bank card, it will likely show symbols of the interbank ATM networks that the card is a part of (eg. Plus, Cirrus, etc).  Then when you look at the ATM, it will likely show you similar symbols of what interbank ATM networks they are a part of.  Basically you need to ensure your bank card is on the same interbank network as the ATM which we didn't clue in on initially.  Also note that some ATM's charge a fee ($2-5CAD equivalent) on their end.  Have to look up which ones don't.

For Thailand, we usually use a major currency exchange like Supperrich.  We never had problems using ATM's in Thailand but pretty much all of them typically charge a fee of ~$5CAD equivalent on their end.  

In Singapore, we just used an ATM but also note that some also charge a fee on their end.  Have to look up which ones don't.

Also remember that most bank cards from the big 5 Canadian banks may/likely charge a $2-5 fee on their end for withdrawing cash outside of their own branch network and may charge a 2.5-3.5% fee on top of the interbank currency exchange rate (which is basically similar to the 2.5% forex fee on most Canadian credit cards).  The charges are typically buried in their fee schedule docs.  Some higher end accounts and non-big banks waive or reduce certain fees.  

For our cruise in 2023, we flew into Rome and then trained up to Ravenna.  Similar to what others have mentioned, I think the most straight forward train route would be a high speed option from Rome to Bologna and then the hourly commuter train from Bologna to Ravenna.  Our trip from FCO airport to Ravenna took just under 4.5hrs total with the Fiumicino to Bologna segment taking just over 3hrs, about a 15min connection, and about a 1hr ride onto Ravenna.  The connection in Bologna can be a bit overwhelming as it's a large station with the high speed trains in a different section the other trains.  

We've only driven in Tuscany for a different land trip.  Personally, I found driving outside the cities/towns pretty reasonable while driving in them somewhat chaotic.  Some of our best memories though were from that drive just being able to take our time and make random stops.

4 hours ago, TMLAalum said:

Hello Wendy and Jay!

I do remember you both and especially the tour to the Embera village via canoe.

Fred is leaning toward flying to Portland on a 1:30 flight so if we choose that option, we would have the morning to get together depending on your schedules. Is Wendy's email still *****_** at telus? I took a gamble to see if either of you were still showing up on my netscape email.

Will be in touch!

Barb

Sounds wonderful.

The email address looks right.  Will look for a message from you there.  

Hi Barb. Hope you remember us (Wendy&Jay) from the 2011 cruise.  I still have fond memories of the excursions you booked for the group!

If you decide to spend any time post cruise in town or take the later train, it would be my pleasure to give you two a ride or show you around town if you're looking to do some sightseeing.  We're only 20mins away from Canada Place and are regularly down there.  

The missus has a really old Pixel phone that doesn't fully support esims so she defaulted to getting a physical sim card versus an esim. 

Not sure if this was the best deal but she did a Portugal / Spain cruise (departing in Lisbon with an unexpected stop in Gibraltar) with the inlaws this past November and she got some kind of a ~20-30e Vodafone "total" package with something like 10gb of data (with EU and UK roaming) and some voice minutes for 30 days from a Vodafone store in Campo Pequeno mall near her hotel.  I originally told her to just pay the premium to get a sim card at a booth at LIS airport but she said the line was pretty long so she decided to find a store in town after checking in the hotel.  

I'm guessing she got some kind of limited time tourist sim package because the staff mentioned other packages required some kind of online registration which she didn't want and have to do in the end.  Staff were pretty helpful and set up the sim in her phone which was handy since she's a bit of a technophobe. 🙂

Alternatively, if your phone supports it, you can look into buying and downloading an esim onto your phone with appropriate EU/UK coverage from the websites of one of the vendors mentioned in this or other similar threads.  

8 hours ago, starvenger said:

The important thing to do with this method is ensure that the "Roam like home" feature has been disabled and that you are on the a la carte plan.

That's a great tip!

I have a Pixel 6 Pro currently running Android 14 (on a Telus plan) and installed an Ubigi esim for a European cruise last spring.  It's still loaded on my phone but flipped to inactive.  

When going into network settings and sim options, I can see both my Telus sim and Ubigi sim.  I have an option to toggle each sim on and off.  When in Europe, I just toggled my Telus sim off and the Ubigi sim on.  I suspect it would be similar if you are using an Android phone regardless that you are on Bell and buying an esim from a different provider but unsure if you are using an iPhone.

[And for some phones, you can get fancy by using two sims at once and assigning different functions to each sim (eg. one for data and one for voice calls & text messaging) but I don't think it's worth the complexity and risk of being charged for a day of roaming tho YMMV.]

Personally, it was handy for me to keep the Telus sim in the phone and just toggle it off because I had trouble with the Ubigi sim in one location (Zakynthos) so I just toggled on the Telus sim and paid the flipping $16 for a day of Easy Roam use.  And billing was accurate for me for the trip.  But yup, you can pull your Bell sim if you want to be extra safe.

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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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. 

5 hours ago, pugdad1 said:

Any help would be appreciated!

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.   

2 hours ago, maggiev said:

Has anyone else had luck with this site?

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.

11 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

@Milhouse  Thanks for providing the details. I'm leaving tonight for a week in Rome followed by a TA so am sort of writing in shorthand at this point while putting the last few things in my carry-on.

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.