Terpnut

Every time we have cruised with RC and Celebrity for the last few years they have docked at 25. I have taken the liberty of looking at your posts and can see that you are on the Brilliance on 1 July. We are doing exactly that itinerary next week so I will come back onto this thread and confirm which berth we are at.

 

However, I would point out that we did the very same itinerary on Serenade in 2014 and were definitely at Pier 25 then.

Well if we are going strictly from personal experience, we were on X Reflection last summer and X Silhouette in 2013, and both times we docked at 12!

 

Anyhow, I noticed that Brilliance docked at 13a yesterday (I think you are currently on this sailing?) with X Equinox behind her at 13b. I think Epic was at 25 with a smaller ship at 12b. Based on this, the only discernible pattern I see is that the smaller the ship, the closer you dock to Forte Michelangelo. I will continue to follow this to see if this pattern holds. or if a ship's docking location is completely random. If I can't discern a pattern, unless someone knows someone who works for the port authority at Civitavecchia or has information on where each ship will dock in advance, it makes it impossible to plan ahead (i.e. shuttle, walk or private transfer).

Every time we have cruised with RC and Celebrity for the last few years they have docked at 25. I have taken the liberty of looking at your posts and can see that you are on the Brilliance on 1 July. We are doing exactly that itinerary next week so I will come back onto this thread and confirm which berth we are at.

 

However, I would point out that we did the very same itinerary on Serenade in 2014 and were definitely at Pier 25 then.

I guess our best hope for a more favorable docking position may be driven by how busy the port is on a given day. Perhaps if a ship begins/end its itinerary in Civitavechhia with several others, the odds of using 25 are greater? If either of us are lucky enough to be the only ship in Civitavecchia for a port day, would they use 12B? Or is 25 the new "default" docking position? FYI I will be tracking Brilliance OTS using Cruisemapper.com for its next two calls (the second is yours!) in Civitavecchia to see where it docks! :)

If you have lots of luggage, then I have a couple final thoughts or suggestions to add:

 

1. If you plan to take a water taxi or Alilaguna, be aware that there is a several hundred yard walk from the airport baggage claim area to the water transportation docks. So its NOT like you pop out of baggage claim, and voila, your water taxi is right there!

2. If you elect to use a water taxi to your Venice hotel, pick one that either has its own dock or is very close to one. Otherwise you may end up schleping luggage down narrow alleyways, and over one or more bridges! Even though our hotel was only 120 meters from a dock, we had to nevertheless traverse a couple narrow alleyways and over one pedestrian bridge. I was the only one in our party physically able to lift all our luggage over and down all those steps, and my back did not forgive me that evening!

 

To get the "lay of the land" I highly recommend you use Google Maps to understand, in advance, where the airport water docks are and where your hotel (and its closest dock) is. :)

Sorry, have searched on a map and don't know where Varco Fortezza is :confused: However I did not estimate the distance I used points on Googlemaps between the station and the main terminal building (which is actually more like a large tent). In fact the map will only let me measure from the end of the road which is around 100 yds from the terminal itself. According to the map it's around 3 km and around a 40 minute walk - and this walk is through car parks and around roundabouts which have no sidewalks. By all means walk it, if you think you'll save time but I can assure you - having sailed from and called in Civitavecchia at least twice a year since they moved the main terminal - it will take you more than 22-25 minutes. ;)

 

We've never waited longer than 10 minutes for a port bus and the ride takes around 5 minutes. We will catch shuttle to the station if one is about to leave, otherwise we do the 15-20 minute walk.

I believe Varco Fortezza is the official name of the port entrance at Forte Michelangelo. And as per the subsequent comments, yes, I had assumed our port terminal would be 12 A/B which explains the difference in walking distances/estimates.

 

Ah, hence the confusion. :) If you dock at 12B I can well see that it could be quicker to walk to the station, rather than wait for a shuttle. That's the location where all the ships used to dock a few years ago. However, with the increase in cruise ships to the port many of the bigger ships (RC and Celebrity for instance) now dock at 25 which is significantly further away.

As with Midwest_Traveler, I too have never docked anywhere but at 12B (even as recently as what, three summers ago)?. So I guess the question is: how does one know where our ship will dock since it doesn't appear that the Civitavecchia port authority publishes this info? I didn't even know there was a Terminal 25 or been out there, but is this where all, or just most, of the ships dock now? Looks like Midwest_Traveler might get lucky since Epic does seem to still use 12B. But I may be SOL with Brilliance OTS the next day because you are saying RC is now using 25!? :confused:

Good point as we have never even noticed the rear exit/entrance (and we have been in that terminal at least 20 times). The main entrance (the front) is the side that faces the city. All the more reason to ask the tour company for their exact meeting spot.

 

Hank

We learned this the hard way when I had organized multiple tour vans with RomeinLimo, and I couldn't find some of our group. And the reason was because half the people went out the front and half went out the back! :)

In Naples they will pick you up. I am not sure of the exact pick-up spot, but it it will likely be right out in front of the main cruise ship terminal building (if they do not make the place clear...ask for clarification). In Naples, everything is done outside the main terminal entrance...so you must walk from your ship through the long terminal building, down the steps, and out the door. ...

 

It all sounds good . I have already pre-payed Naples (great deal) and all sounds good .

 

Just a point of clarification on Napoli's cruise terminal. There are actually two entrances-one at the front and one at the back. While I assume the main entrance is the one that faces the city, the back entrance/parking lot (facing the bay) is nearly as big. We have gone out the front side and learned that our RomeinLimo tour or pickup was on the other. In any case, most cruise passengers don't automatically know which side is the front and which is the rear. I assume the exit arrows and most passenger flows heading to the front entrance/exit. So I just suggest you know WHICH entrance your pickup will be waiting. :)

Does RCCL provide a direct water shuttle from Brillance OS to St Marks Square? If so do you know the cost?

Thanks!

Regardless of whether or not this is offered, the only certainty is that the cost will too much so you will be much better off taking the Alilaguna or simply walking. Or if you have a party of 4 or 5 or more (or coordinate one via your roll call), even taking your own water taxi may make more sense! :)

All the cruises we have taken in the last few years from Civitavecchia have been berthed at the far port which is about 3 km from the train station, along roads which are not really aimed at pedestrians (i.e. limited footpaths). The walk is so long that I couldn't imagine not taking the port bus. I can't say whether people have been stopped from walking out (as in Livorno) just not sure why people would want to, as the port buses run so regularly.

 

If you are lucky enough to be docked just down from the old port (which is where we used to dock in the past) that's a much shorter walk.

 

I will be calling in Civitavecchia in a couple of weeks and will take a look to see if people are walking out of the port

From even the furthest cruise terminal, I estimate the walk to the train station at under 2.5 km. The walk or drive from Largo della Pace (where the shuttle take you) is almost 1.5 km. It should take from 10-25 minutes to wait for and then ride the free port shuttle to Largo della Pace. Then you wait for and ride the 2 Euro shuttle to the station (another 10-20 minutes). So why not just do the 22-25 min walk down the pier, through Varco Fortezza and to the station (if allowed)? Setting aside weather and cost considerations, you should beat the shuttles 9 times out of 10 by simply walking.

1. The free port shuttle longer stops at Varco Fortezza/Forte Michelangelo, right?

2. Is the the pedestrian entrance at Varco Fortezza/Forte Michelangelo still open? And if so, can one simply walk from the ship, exit at Forte Michelangelo, and continue to the train station?

 

IOW, have they made it so that nobody can walk to the train station anymore?

Just so I am clear: the free port shuttle no longer stops at Forte Michelangelo and only goes to Via Turco 3, right? If however you don't take the port shuttle and walk the pier, can pedestrians still exit toward the train station at Forte Michelangelo? Thanks in advance!

Of course, then there are the high-tech solutions to the problem: http://bluesmart.com/?gclid=CjwKEAjwlq24BRDMjdK7g8mD6BASJABBl8n3xAVMsL_DT17GMIyqb5QkpyEZ-RMGwtq34nHGEWejahoCCsrw_wcB. :D

That's great! Never thought of that. Thanks. Leaving next week for an eleven day Hawaiian cruise.

Just remember that the cruise line will ask you for your flight information to "reverse engineer" an estimated disembarkation time. Their calculations are usually timed to get your bags off within the time range that you will disembark to catch your flight. For example, if your flight is 2 pm and it takes 20 minutes to get to the airport, they will generally assume you want to disembark the ship around or before 10 am. But that forces you off the ship with the same color and at the same time as everyone else scheduled to disembarking at say, 9:30am-10 am.

 

So if you want your bags out at a specific (earlier) time and you know your planned disembarkation time, then the best thing to do is to NOT give them your flight information. Instead, mark the "independent traveler" or similar option, specify the early disembarkation time (remember, this is the earlier time for your luggage--not you!).

 

Looked at a different way, my strategy requires that you disembark at least an hour or more AFTER your color and number (or section) are already called. This allows all the others to claim their bags and vacate that color area! Good luck!

One way to completely eliminate your problem is to specify a time 1 or 2 hours earlier than your planned disembarkation time on your disembarkation form. From my experience, because most everyone else will have picked up their luggage and left before you, your luggage will be amongst just a handful of other luggage in your color section. So it'll be super easy to find your stuff. Another bonus is that, while everyone else is in one section climbing over bags, searching for their luggage, and then having to negotiate the crowd out, your section will be completely empty and you just wheel your bags straight out to Customs! Works every time for me! :)

Just off Regal last week and we greatly enjoyed the ship.

 

The food quality in the MDR was good and on par with our recent X, HAL and RCI experiences. We never tried any of the specialty dining options or Alfredo's. I agree that the International Cafe was excellent for off-hour food options but the espressos and service there were inferior to Cafe il Bacio on X.

 

I also noticed that some of the public spaces, including Horizon, public restrooms and all areas around stairs and elevators, were unusually tight for a ship that large. Except for the open areas around the Piazza, the lack of a midship stairwell was a poor design decision. We also felt that the service was a bit spotty--overall good to excellent, but just occasionally poor. Most importantly, our MDR wait staff and cabin stewards were excellent!

 

Ship definitely is in the process of replacing its towels as most of the towels were rough, yet occasionally we'd be spoiled with a new one! C'mon Princess, just replace all of them!

 

Overall, we had very little to complain about because it was the cheapest cruise vacation we've ever booked and thus the value was excellent! My personal rule of thumb is: if you can pay less $100/day per person inclusive of gratuities, taxes and fees, even an "average" cruise is still a great vacation! As I've suggested in previous posts, we will never book before final payment or more than 3-6 weeks out again!

Just off Regal and 75% of the towels we received are rough (but not quite sandpaper like most of the towels from our local gym) and 25% of them are new and soft. So obviously they have some legacy towels that are in the process of being replaced! :)

And all of the above is also true with Royal Caribbean's C&A program. :)

Port officials steered us to one exit last month while other officials steered the RIL driver to another. If RIL is not there at your appointed time look at the other exit. (This will make more sense when you are there.). You can count on RIL to meet you as scheduled, but you can't predict conflicting directions from port staff:rolleyes:

 

Which port? The only one I can think of that could have this problem is Napoli where the terminal building has multiple exits.

Anyone ever have trouble finding them when getting off the ship? Our stops are Cittavechia, La Spezia, and Naples. It sounds like maybe one of these I need to take a tram to the front entrance before meeting them? Or are they all right by the ship?

 

I am putting all my trust into the Cruise Critic family. I booked all 3 excursions in Italy through RIL. CC has never steered me wrong. So I'm hoping all goes well. I just paid it off today and that bill wasn't pretty. So I'm trusting it will go well. Thanks for the help, CC!

 

They will meet you right as you get off the ship in each port so there is NO way to miss them. :-) Have a great time!

I have used Romeinlimo on three different visits to Italy and have had personal experience with 9 different drivers and multiple guides for either tours or transfers. I just had Mike (again) for a transfer to Civitavecchia just last week! All I can say is that every driver has been punctual, attentive, interesting and reliable. And through it all, Jany has been there to answer questions and take care of any and all customer service matters - fast with responses and always following through. While comments or reviews must all be taken together to form one's opinion of a company or service, my own broad range of good personal experiences has shown this company to offer consistently great service at a good value.

[quote name='villauk']Which is why it's more amazing that they continue to deploy most of their ships (except a couple in Alaska) in that area during the summer months?[/QUOTE]The problem is that there is no where better to put them. There is simply too much inventory for too little demand around the world!

[quote name='Wiltonian']And what is very interesting is that Celebrity have not posted any equivalent 7-day Med itineraries for 2016; only the 10/11 day cruises at the moment.

On the Equinox last October, they were promoting the alternating 7 day cruises from Venice, suggesting that retireds might do B2B and be joined by families with vacation limits for one of those weeks. Looks as if the 7/14 day cruises are less popular than they'd hoped - hence the late reductions, which have been up for several weeks now.

Stuart[/QUOTE]This would be the third consecutive summer that X has had to resort to major price drops to clear inventory for most of their 10-14 day, peak-season Europe cruises! So none of this is new news!

[quote name='MisterBill99']The examples given here are not 10-30 days out, they're a couple of months. They're certainly not "last minute".[/QUOTE]For purposes of this thread, I believe "last minute" means anything after final payment or any time up to 70 days prior to sailing. Fain may have specifically mentioned up to 30 days only, but I understood the intention as any time after final payment so I personally still consider a price drop 6-8 weeks out as last-minute.

If in fact, Fain's new policy literally refers to 10-30 days out, then I don't see what this policy accomplishes. X simply deep-discounts and gives away the best staterooms 30-70 days out, rather than wait until 1-30 days out. The result is the same: early bookers pay exorbitant high fares and are stuck because they made full payment at final payment, and "last-minute" bookers--whether 1-30 days or 30-70 days out--get the best staterooms at the low bargain fares.

[quote name='jerbeth']Please don't flame me for posting this. It is a quote from the link posted by the OP.

"As a result in March we adopted a new policy that we would not do any last minute discounts on bookings in North America. Depending on the type of cruise, that last minute may be 10, 20 or 30 days out, but from that point on we will hold our price at the prior level."

If one reads this it may explain why there are still last minute drops in price in the Europen market......[/QUOTE]

I read that as X won't do last minute price drops for customers in North America and not that X won't do last minute price drops for North American sailings. They wouldn't use the term "North America" to describe itineraries, but would for their largest and most important customer base.

As a follow-up for this thread, there have been massive price drops for many July Europe sailings. Even factoring in the value of the 123Go promos, people who booked prior to final payment paid hundreds of dollars per person more. So it doesn't look like anything has changed--still best to wait until 6-8 weeks prior to book your peak season cruises! X continues to punish folks who book early. :rolleyes:

The occupancy numbers across all of the RCL lines was 105% last quarter (occupancy is # passengers/Lower berth capacity (2 passengers per cabin)). If they dropped occupancy by just 1 percent, without a corresponding increase in per day per passenger revenue it would have cost them 17 million dollars most of which would drop to impact net income and drop it from 45 million to around 28 million for the quarter. So any decrease in occupancy must be offset by increased per passenger revenue.

This makes sense if you look at things purely from a financial perspective, but there are other intangibles in play such as customer good will. I think what Fain is saying is that the current model of generating incremental additional passenger revenue using heavily-discounted stateroom bargains for last-minute bookers (like me) may not be worth the negative feelings to loyal, early-booking customers. The implication is that either loyal early bookers might no longer patronize your line (or at least as much) or that early bookers will stop booking early and wait for discounts before booking -- thereby perpetuating the current problem. IOW, chasing maximum occupancy may not be optimal to the bottom line. Only time will tell...