farmaceerep

Thank you for your responses. I will look at those C2 larger balconies as well as the 1A cabins.

I have been looking for info regarding the rooms on the Silhouette with no luck. We have "randomly" selected cabin 9265 due to the central location. However, I'm re-thinking this room and am looking for some feedback. I love spending time on the veranda. Is this a large veranda?

I love the aft rooms but my TA said it would be $1000 to move to those rooms. We are going on a Baltic cruise this summer. Thank you for any help you can provide.

Well, our time on the Quest is coming to an end. It's sad to think that tomorrow at this time we will be traveling home. It certainly has been a wonderful vacation. The ship, the crew, the Captain, the weather were perfect. For those of you with upcoming cruises on the Quest, Captain Jose will be the Master of this ship for a few more months. You will be in great hands. I have never seen a captain more than I have on this cruise. He is so friendly, informative and kept us very safe (I told you about our frightening storm the other night). Last night, we had our white night party. It was a lot of fun. Russ and the crew kept us dancing and having a good time.

Today, we toured Capri by the sea. So gorgeous! I can't post picture from this iPad but will do so when I get home. We took a lot of the ships excursions and they were first-rate. They use very knowledgable and personable guides so each trip was great. Normally, we do not like these kinds of group tours but the tours were included in our promotion rate.

We were able to get a last minute reservation for Prime (the specialty steak house). Wow! What a fabulous meal! For those of you skeptical about paying extra for this meal and service, I highly recommend it! Such a treat!

After 20 or more cruises, this has to be the top three! We enjoyed it immensely and would love to book another Azamara cruise in the near future.

Hi All,

We had a beautiful day today in Parga, Greece. I have to say the staff inboard is AMAZING. For example, right before sail away today, our cabin steward Caitano, knocked on our door and delivered a sampling of appetizers! We never ordered anything but they were delicious and very much appreciated. They really know how to pamper their guests. I am sitting by the mosaic cafe (again)and listening to Jamie, the art director, interact with the guests. Very upbeat personality!

Captain Jose is everywhere! He is truly a hands on master of this ship. He was at Ana Ruchners concert the other night greeting everyone as they arrived and at the show, Voices, last night. So very approachable. I will find out if he will be the captain in August.

Speaking of entertainment, the shows have been great! Right now, there is a great piano player in the bar closest to the casino. Very nice. As you can guess, we're having a great time!

We tried to get reservations the first day for the specialty restaurant but there were only 2 times available for the entire week. Very early or too late for us. Oh, well, next time we know to book our reservations early!

I will right again soon.

Linda

Hi All, we are currently on board the Quest and having a wonderful time! The ship is lovely and the staff lovelier. We were in Venice for 2 days prior to the start of the cruise. I love that city but we did have a wild experience with the vapperato (sp?) as we did not know we had to validate our tickets. My husband purchased 4 tickets for us and our friends. For those those who are not aware, the $9 Eu tickets will allow you to hop on and hop off all day. The problem is, they don't tell you to validate your tickets before you go aboard the vapperato. When the girl (similar to a railroad conductor) came around checking our tickets, she told us we did not validate and therefore we had to pay a fine.....$52.00 Eu pp!!! Whaaaaa?????? We had just gotten on and had not even hit the first stop. I informed her that we were unaware and would get off and validate. That was not good enough, she insisted we pay the fine and there was no way around it. BTW, they had already hit 4 other people with that fine who paid. I told her we refused to pay and would get off. They followed us off the vapperato and were calling the police. I called the Hilton where we were staying and where we purchased the tickets and after an hour on the phone and an hour of arguing, we got our tickets back and headed out to Murano. Moral of the story....it's the biggest scam going and we met many who paid this crazy fine but VALIDATE before boarding. Anyway, lovely, beautiful city. We even did a pub crawl on night to 3 different bars with appetizers and wine at each stop. Very fun!

Pew had a lightening storm the first night and missed Korcula. The lightening actually knocked the radar our on the ship so we headed right to the next port, Dobrovniak . I got a get picture of the lightening hitting the tower in San Marco square as we passed through. While we knew we were in a storm, the ship was smooth and no one knew there was a problem until the next morning when Captain Jose announced the change in plans. It was for the best of the passengers and ship and we were all happy with the decision.

Last night, we did the Azamazing evening in Kotor. What a fantastic evening! A beautiful, talented cellist, Ana Ruchner who performed in a beautiful setting. Wonderful!

Today we were in Montenegro and toured the country side.

Anyway, if you have any questions, please write back and I'll try to answer. If I have one complaint, it's the connectivity to the internet. Very sporadic. But, the good thing is I just found great connections where I am currently sitting....the bad thing is it's right near the Mosaic Cafe! That means a cappuccino and small pastry as I write to you. UGH! :)

Thank you for the replies. I will look into Ostia. I would hate to just head to the airport without seeing some sights.

Hello, we will arrive back to Rome after a 8 night cruise (I would think the ship arrives in port fairly early in the morning). My flight back to the US from FCO departs at 2:45 PM. Instead of heading right to the airport, I was thinking of hiring a car service and going on a short tour of places around Rome. We can probably be off the ship at 8am. We have been to Rome before so I would not want to see the highlights but some beautiful place on the outskirts of the city before going to the airport.

3 questions:

Do you think this is doable?

Any suggested places to see?

Should I hire a taxi beforehand or wait until we arrive in port?

As always, thank you for your help.

Linda

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I think I have talked my husband into the half tour and visit to Taormina. I love the honey tasting idea! Would be nice to find a little place where you could have a glass of wine, some honey with crackers and people watch. That sounds delightful to me!

If you are going from "Venice to Rome" you are not going to be anywhere near Mt. Etna since that is located well south of Rome (about 500 miles) on the island of Sicily. You would need to revise your itinerary and perhaps spend a couple of days in Taormina...which is a good base to explore Mt. Etna.

 

Hank

My apologies...we are on a cruise and the port in question is Taormina. This is where the Mt Etna dispute comes into play. Unfortunately, hubby likes to stick together during all the trip excursions (except during the shopping part) so going our own ways at this port will not work. Thanks so much.

My husband and I (and another couple, all in our early 60's) are going from Venice to Rome in July. My husband wants to do the whole Mt Etna experience (bus ride, cable car, 4x4). Mind you, we are mobile but not athletic. We are not dare devils. The idea of taking hours to see ash and perhaps some floating lava sounds dangerous and boring. I fall easily (Grand Canyon, Parthenon, you name a place, I fall). Anyway, I turn to you, my CC family and ask for some help here. Do you think the trip to Mt Etna (this full trip) is worth the day? Or can you please make a recommendation for something wonderful to do at this port? I have seen some posts regarding half way up to Mt Etna and then the rest of the day in Taormina. I presented this to my husband and he pouted (in that adorable way he has.....). I look forward to hearing back from you so that I can finalize my plans for this port. Thanks so much! Linda

We are not light packers. Therefore lugging our luggage over the beautiful bridges of Venice does not sound enticing. We (I) would not be a happy camper especially in July. Our hotel (Hilton Molino Stucky) has water taxi access (maybe private taxi). Now that I have your suggestions, we will take the water taxi from the airport (hopefully, there will be porters available at the airport to help us transport our luggage to the dock at Venice airport) and sail to our hotel. Thanks everyone.

Thank you for your help. This is new information for me. I had thought we would use our cell phones which have international calling. However, this sounds like we would save money by purchasing the SIM card.

Thank you for all of this great information. We will arrive into Venice. Our hotel is the Hilton Molino Stucky. Does anyone know of a TIM store near this area or in the vicinity of the airport? Thanks again.

Wow! How very knowledgeable and kind to share your expertise. We have reservations at the Hilton Molino Stucky, which is not exactly in Venice but a separate island (I think I have a lot more research to do). Now that I understand more about getting to Venice (thank you!), I think the water taxi is the best option for us. Since we are a party of 4, we will share the expense and arrive in style. The only negative is navigating to the pier from the airport with the luggage. We are agile but I am so very clumsy. I took a good tumble walking around the Acropolis! Oh, everyone had a good laugh at my expense. You say it's only a few hundred yards walk and I can get a luggage trolley so it might not be too bad. Thank you again for this wonderful information. I forget why I love these boards. You meet some great people.

Hank, thank you for this informative info. After a long flight, the last thing four 60 year olds want to do is hike all over with their luggage. Where do you pick up the land taxis or transportation? Any idea of the cost? How long is the ride? Once we get to San Marco Sq, we still have to take the water taxi to out hotel. Thanks again.

What is this diet? I have never heard of it but would be interested in losing weight slow and steady. Of course, we all want the "magic pill" and lose all the weight we want as quickly as we can, but that doesn't really work or last. I have been on WW since 9/2006 and lost 58 lbs. I can see the weight slowly returning. I need all the help I can get!! Thanks