Quilting Queen

We only had a pick up in SF one time. We usually go there once a year on California Coastal cruise.

It would probably be best to call the cruise line to find out how early as I don't know if there check in is open that early.

Norine

A&Jfamily

We always drive to San Pedro so no experience with these things. We did use Avis Car rental, but they are in San Pedro, had to take taxi to the port. We also rented from Enterprise. They have a shuttle pickup spot at dock 93, the Princess dock, very convenient.

As for things to do once you have a rental car is go to Santa Monica, Redondo Beach or you can go to a museum in LA. Since you have children the Venice Beach might be more fun for them.

Or you can take the ship tour. Compare the cost of car rental and tours for the family.

Norine

We have stayed at both during the last 30 years of cruising. We prefer the Double Tree due to parking, all self park, it is included in your room. You can eat at the hotel restaurant or walk (2-3 blocks) to another restaurant. If you have a car you can drive to Jaffee for lots of restaurants and grocery locations. It is safe to walk in the are as not residential, right next to the yacht harbor for very pleasant walk if not raining.

We used to stay at Crown Plaza but since the water front has changed a lot in the last 30 years I don't consider it safe to walk.

Norine

We just returned from a World cruise on Pacific Princess. Wonderful cruise.

I highly recommend Rome in Limo. There were 6 in our group on April 9, 2018 and Franco was on time at the pier and our driver Franco was wonderful. It was pouring rain and he had umbrellas for each of us. The vehicle was very comfortable. He got us as close to each attraction as possible. He took us to a local restaurant operated by 2 brothers and we had a great family style lunch.

RIL advised us to get Vatican tickets which we did in advance by going direct to their web site. If you get tickets from another source you will have to stand in line to exchange the voucher. Since I use a small scooter we were able to go into the back way to use theramps and we were able to get into the Vatican really fast. Saw the museum and Cistine chapel. Picked up about 3:00 and went back to the dock in Civitavecchia. Very enjoyable day.

Norine

Don't you just hate it when you take the time to answer the OP's question and offer helpful information only to see a lack of response. A tiny ta would do nicely you'd think, especially from someone with over 10,000 posts on Cruise Critic.

Sorry I did not comment but I didn't see this post. My computer has a few glitches and I miss e-mail occasionally.

Your suggestions sound great. I have been trying to arrange the whale shark encounter but the company I contacted only offers it to cruise ships. Our ship does not have anything listed for Exmouth. We will probably just get off the ship and explore the town.

Norine

Thank you both for all the information. I know we will miss a lot by only being there for 4-6 hours but I will have a chance to see some of the old masters art.

Norine

Norine,

Easter Sunday will be April 1, 2018. Since it is the first Sunday of the month admission will be free; no tickets are sold for that day. If you do go, take the earliest train and get to the museum ASAP. You will have to stand in line to get in. Hopefully, it will be easier earlier rather than after lunch.

Good luck.

Thank you very much for the museum information.

If we take the 8:30 train we should arrive by 11:00 am. Is there a cafe inside the Effizi so we can get lunch there?

Norine

We visited Esperance on the Eden in April and just walked around exploring the town and really enjoyed it especially the museum which was like taking a trip back in time. There are local tours available and I would also consider what the ship has in the way of tours.

 

 

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Thank you for your post. We will just explore the town since our ship does not show any tours yet. We leave in January for 4 month aboard ship so trying to get tours lined up in advance.

Norine

There are all sorts of choices, depending on activity level, and $$.

 

http://www.visitningaloo.com.au/tours

 

 

Note, Coral Bay shown in some activities is a bit of a distance from Exmouth.

Thank you. I checked it out on Trip adviser. With our limited time in this tender port we will probably just go into the town and look around and have lunch. Snorkeling with the Whale Sharks is iffy and costly.

I did research on Esperance and found it looks like a quaint little town. We will probably just walk around their water front sculptures and visit the museum.

Thanks for you help.

Norine

Exmouth -- Ningaloo Reef

Is this snorkeling?

Do you know if there are any port tours there?

Thanks,

Norine

We will be on the Pacific Princess World Cruise. I am unable to find any tours on Princess or major search on internet. Does anyone in Australia know what is important to see in Esperance and Exmouth?

Thanks for any help.

Norine

We will be on the Pacific Princess World Cruise. I am unable to find any tours on Princess or major search on internet. Does anyone in Australia know what is important to see in Esperance and Exmouth?

Thanks for any help.

Norine

Buongiorno, Quilting,

 

Book the early train. Make sure you book your Uffizi tickets online:

https://www.uffizi.it/en/the-uffizi

 

The center of Florence is very compact. Take some time to look around.

 

Have a wonderful trip.

Thank you very much. This will help make up for the trip we had to cancel for October 2017 so we could take the world cruise.

Norine

Thank you cruisemom42 for the information. Basically the only place I want to visit in Florence is the Uffizi for all of the paintings and sculpture. I figure we can get lunch in Florence and see the museum. I figure we don't have anything like that here in Arizona and we don't plan to go back to Europe, not enough time in this lifetime.

Norine

We decided to do the World Cruise in 2018 mainly due to itinerary and our age and health conditions. Since we don't plan to fly anymore this is the best way to get to that part of the Med. We have overnight in Venice so can see the things we are interested in on Monday. I figured the museums would be closed on Monday. We want to see Florence because we won't get back to that part of the world in our lifetime. We will be doing a ship tour of Venice on Monday. Morning trains leave Venice at 8:30 and 10:30. Since it is a 2 hour ride I figure we will have at least 4-6 hours in Florence.

I want to see all of the masters art work in Florence. I think that is reason enough to visit Florence.

Norine

We will be in Venice port for 2 days, April 1 & 2, 2018, Easter Sunday overnight in Venice until Monday. We have never been to Venice. We dock at 7:00 am on Sunday and depart at 6:00 pm Monday. I know we will need to allow at least 1/2 hour to exit the ship.

We want to visit Florence. There is a high speed train taking 2 hours each way. I already have the train schedule. We would be able to spend the day in Florence.

What would be the best way to get to the train station? Water taxi or street taxi? Which train station would be best?

How long will it take to go thru customs in Venice from the ship?

Thanks for any help.

Norine

Since we are now just going to drive to the LA ports for cruises we will have a car. Our next cruise we will be renting a car and staying at Double Tree (we have stayed there many times) since it is a long cruise. Normally we drive our vehicle and park it at Double Tree and take their shuttle to the port a few miles away. The better hotels in San Pedro and Long beach have a shuttle to take you to the port. Since there is not much to do in San Pedro that is walkable (it is all up hill from the port hotels) It would be better to stay in Long Beach. Price line is a good choice for a decent hotel because you can see on a map where they are located. Try to pick a a hotel with a free shuttle to the port.

I grew up in that area in the 50's and it has really changed from a Navy town to sleepy little town.

Norine

Cheryl thanks for posting the pictures. Too bad you couldn't get pictures of some of the other cabins for those of us that can't afford on of the OS for the world cruise. We didn't win the lottery.

We will enjoy the ship as we were on the R4 and Tahitian.

Norine

Norine -

 

Our daughter and hubby also live in Litchfield Park...we could come visit them and then hide out in your luggage when you board for your world cruise! [emoji6]

We don't live in the actual Litchfield Park. That is just our mailing address. We are about 9 miles west, just north of Buckeye city limits, north of Verrado.

I think the cruise is fully booked unless there are some inside cabins left.

Norine

Bob thanks for the Flickr pictures. I wonder how much will change during the retro fit. We will be boarding her on January 22, 2018 for the world cruise.

Norine

We sailed on the Royal Princess in 2000 from Manaus to Puerto Rico. Loved that cruise and the ship. So many memories of her. We probably won't sail on the new Royal as I think that name should be reserved for the original that was christened by Diana.

Norine

I have enjoyed reading about your cruise on the Pacific Princess. I got so excited about the ship that we booked the World cruise for January 2018. We love that size ship.

I hope your last day is a great one.

Norine

Woobstr112G, Bob, I am following along and finally looked looked at your flikr pictures. I love you dog Misha as she has aged. I noticed you have a dog beg/pillow with dog fabric. Several years ago I made several dog beds with this same dog print fleece fabric for our dogs.

Norine

Bob it is nice to read your thread about PA. I am looking at the Princess book and can't find some things on the ship layout. Where is the Atrium and Platinum/Elite lounge?

We were on the R-4 in 2001 for 10 day Tahiti & islands cruise and then again when it was the Tahitian Princess 14 days Tahiti to Hawaii. That ship has been sent to Europe and is probably a P&O ship. For a while it was named Ocean Princess. (We were on the old Ocean Princess in 2002 for Panama Canal cruise FLL to SF.)

We plan to book the World Cruise for 2019 but will only be in a Balcony cabin, preferably deck 7 mid ship. We will check when we do the Emerald Princess next year 28 day South Pacific R/T LA.

RCL has trees and a gardener on the Oasis class ships because the trees and plants on her are all alive.

Norine

Hi Coy,

 

Just checking to see if there are any updates to this list.

 

I'll be in Kona on POA on May 10th and trying to figure out what to do there. In Hilo I'm doing MARYLOU'S BIG ISLAND GUIDED TOURS so I’ll get to VNP on that tour.

 

In Kona I’m thinking of either the Hop-on-hop off bus or renting a car.

 

If I rent a car which way should I go north or south? I’d like to stop a some beaches and do some snorkeling (the person I’m with does not snorkel so snorkeling boat tours for us :() and I’ve read about A Place of Refuge should I head towards that way?

 

When we were in Kona a few years ago we took a tour. We went to a coffee plantation, the old church d the place of refuge. There was a little bay be the refuge with turtles and people were snorking there.

 

 

 

Norine