ckmommy72

HI all,

I've never booked air directly with a cruise line before, so i'm a bit a of a novice at this and trying to understand how it all works. 

We're booked on a mediterranean cruise next year.  Cruise sails from/back to Rome.  While there are many cities we won't get to see, one city we'd really like to not miss that the cruise does not sail to is Venice.  I know we can pay the deviation fee and fly out a couple days after debarkation, but does anyone know if it's possible to change the departure city?  Will they let us fly out of Venice instead of Rome?  Still looking at all possibilities but wondering if going direct from port to train, to Venice, and then flying home from there a couple days later is a possibility.

Air through the cruise is $399, which seems a really great price, otherwise we'd look at just booking our own air and staying several days either before/after or both.

TIA!

3 minutes ago, ducklite said:

 

Ah, I did misunderstand.  

 

In that case, take a look at Windstar--they often have specials that would keep the cruise fare right around $2K pp.  They aren't all inclusive but do include a lot that many other lines don't.  Their biggest advantage is that the ships are small--no waiting to get on and off--and they have the private yacht feel.  Their ships have just been or are on their way into extensive dry docks so they'll be gorgeous next year!

Thank you again - I will definitely look at Windstar.  MIL did a James Beard cruise with them around Spain and Portugal a couple years ago and raved about it. I'd completely forgotten about them until you mentioned it. 😊 

2 minutes ago, ducklite said:

You won't be able to see Barcelona, Greece, and Croatia in a week. Typically in a week you could go Barcelona to Lisbon, Barcelona to Rome, Rome to Venice including Croatia, Venice to Athens including Croatia.  

 

i think you're going to have a hard time finding a seven day cruise including shore excursions (even DIY--museums and such have entry fees), airfare, tips, travel insurance, cruise fare, and 5-7 nights of hotels and meals before the cruise for $4K for two people--particularly in a balcony!  Keep in mind that time is money when traveling, and taking a large ship--waiting in line constantly to get on and off while precious minutes in port are ticking by...  

 

Euro cruises are much different than Caribbean cruises.  They are port intensive, often having zero or one sea day on a seven day cruise.  The balcony won't be as important because you really won't have much time to use it.  We have always had large suites on Caribbean cruises, and our first European was a 14 day B2B in a 180 s/f porthole cabin.  We were quite concerned, but shouldn't have been. 

We were in the cabin to sleep and shower, and the majority of our awake time was spent on shore.  It was exhausting--we were up around 6:00 every morning and off the ship around 8:30 for the day.  We got back on in time to shower and changed for dinner.  We were typically asleep within 90 minutes or so after finishing our meal.  I tried to watch a DVD three nights in a row and never got past the opening credits before I was sleeping.  It might fit my budget, but I doubt I'll ever spend the money to upgrade to a larger or balcony cabin on a Euro cruise based on that experience.

 

Look at it this way:

 

Airfare r/t for two      $1000 minimum--I'd budget it closer to $1500

Surface transportation $50 estimate if you mostly walk

Hotel $700 (based on $100 per night which would be a modest hotel--think a Fairfield Inn)

Meals for days pre and post cruise minimum $350 ($50 a day--and that's eating a lot of pizza and such)

Travel Insurance $300

Base Tips on cruise $170

Tourism cost per day for entry to museums and sites $650 (this is based on $50 a day--some sites are free while others are quite spendy but worth the tariff)

 

I haven't even added in the cruise fare, and extras such as shore excursions, upgraded dining and alcohol and the budget has already hit $3220.  I think you need to either up the budget or perhaps just do a land based trip to Barcelona or wherever.  

 

 

Thank you for your response.  I know we won't be able to see both Spain and the ports east of Italy....just putting some cities we'd like to see out there as possibilities.

I'm thinking you might have misunderstood the figure I gave - I stated we'd like to keep the cruise only portion to around $2K each.  We know there is no way to do the whole trip for $4K.  Just getting started, the figure in our heads is more in the $7K-$10K range all in.

Thanks again!

Thank you everyone for all your input.  As a couple of you stated, for us this is most definitely more about the ports than the ship, so we're open to almost any line...even Carnival though we didn't love our trip a few years ago on the Summit.😊

Off to research some more.

Hi all,

Hubby and I are looking to celebrate our 20th anniversary next October in Italy.  Originally, we thought we'd do a traditional land vacation, but thought a cruise might be a better option.  We've sailed only twice before, both times from the Northeastern US to the Caribbean, once on Carnival with the kids and an adults only (for us) trip on Celebrity.

We're looking for suggestions, if anyone recommends an amazing cruise they've loved.  We would like to do mostly Italian ports, but it's always been my dream to go to Barcelona, and would love to visit Croatia or Greece as well.  We'd like to stick close to 7 nights, and do a couple/few days before and after, for a total trip of about 2 weeks.  As much as we'd love the luxury lines, we need to keep the cruise only price in the $2K/person range all in (or less ) in a balcony or above.   Is that reasonable?

Any suggestions you can offer would be great!

Just now, catl331 said:

I think N.A. has switched to the new 3-tier unlimited-time plans rather than the block minutes. If so, she would need either the Surf plan at approximately $25/day or the premium for about $30/day. She can buy for individual days at sea or the entire cruise.

Thank you, Carol...I saw another thread that mentioned the pay by the day plans...and wondered if that was how things were on her ship now.  I will tell her to look in to it.  Thanks! 

Hi all - I have a girlfriend who is sailing on the Nieuw Amsterdam next month.  She hasn't cruised much and has a couple questions regarding internet.  She owns a pretty successful Etsy store and needs to be able to access her Etsy store daily. She has customers asking questions, artwork that needs to be uploaded or emailed, etc.

She saw that she can buy a block of internet minutes, but she's wondering how that works as it relates to uploading or emailing artwork.  Do the number of minutes it takes to upload a file simply come off the block of minutes she's purchased?  What if she uploads multiple files at the same time?

I was thinking that her best option might be to simply get an international plan with her cell provider and use that to access her store.  There are only 2 sea days in their itinerary.

Just looking for some more detailed info on how the internet plans work and any suggestions everyone might have for her.

TIA!! 🙂

We were in San Juan yesterday. We disembarked from the Carnival Fascination at 8:30 am and walked out of the terminal with our luggage. We were greeted by a friendly local in a bright blue shirt. "SJ Happy Tours" - there were several tour guides from this company hanging around offering tours. Our guide piled our luggage in the back, and took us on a tour of San Juan, which included a stop at Condado Beach for photos. He dropped us off in Old San Juan, where we had about 3 hours to explore on our own and have lunch. The cost was $30 each. We had a wonderful lunch (Mofongo and Pina Coladas) at Barachina's and walked around old town getting photos. Our driver had folks that needed to be at the airport at different times, and he accommodated everyone. Our flight was at 4:30 and he dropped us off at the airport at 2:30. When we got there, we realized that we had left our camera bag at a Starbuck's! Our driver actually drove back downtown, retrieved our camera bag, and brought it back to us at the airport! We waited by the door for him to return. We checked into security about 3:35 and had plenty of time to make our 4:30 flight!

 

I cannot say enough good things about this company - San Juan Happy Tours!

I do not know how many there are out there but other than Ellis, i used Island Marketing and did exactly what your looking for....

Thanks everyone...appreciate the feedback.

pdc2013, I was actually just looking at the "Beach Break" excursion from Island Marketing, and it seems like a pretty good deal, with lunch and drinks included, and a place to shower and change before heading to the airport. Thinking we'll probably book that.

whengingersnaps - going to check our San Juan Happy Tours before we book to see what they have to offer.

Hi everyone - we are on the Celebrity Summit repo coming into San Juan on the 27th. We currently have a Celebrity excursion booked that takes us on a tour and then drops us at the airport. I've read a few reviews recently that seemed to indicate that our luggage would not come on the vehicle with us, but be loaded in a separate vehicle for us to collect when we arrive at the airport. From what I've read, there have been issues actually locating the luggage when you arrive at the airport, causing major headaches....not really what we want to deal with.

If we cancel the excursion with Celebrity, are there local tour people at the port when we disembark that will take us and our luggage on a tour and then drop us at the airport? Or any recommendations of something we can book ahead? We arrive in San Juan at 6:00am. We'd love a rainforest tour, but a tour around the city would be great as well.

Our flight is at 4:35, so I assume we should be at the airport by 2:00. I've heard of long security lines.

TIA!!

We just returned from a seven day cruise to Bermuda aboard the Celebrity Summit.

We were in Aqua class on deck nine. Our Steward was Antonio/Anthony, depending on his name tag or how he would sign a note left that day...

Do you mind if I ask what cabin you were in? We're sailing on the Summit repo on 10/21, in AQ on deck 9...of course your post has me concerned. The condition of that bathroom is unacceptable!

Our last (and only) cruise was a spring break cruise with Carnival out of Baltimore. While the cruise was mostly fine, with lots of things for our kids to do (which was important to us), we were not thrilled. Long lines at the buffet, inconsistent service in the MDR, but the thing that bothered us the most was that in the MDR, if you wanted to order a drink, you gave the wait staff your card, and waited while a member of the bar wait staff got your drink. It was nothing for it to take well into appetizers (or longer) for us to get a glass of wine, and having a second - forget about it. The MDR wait staff never asked if you'd like another, you had to ask for it, and it was the same process with the separate waiter/waitress from the bar...the meal likely being over before you could get a second drink. We had the drinks package, and couldn't help but feel that perhaps this was a way to keep their costs down. We had anytime dining, so it may have been different if we'd had an assigned wait staff, but I don't know.

Cari we are on the Oct 7 sailing, yesterday downloaded the e-doc inside this docs is a coupon up to $500 OBC if you book a cruise onboard.

Thank you, Lupita or Gerardo...I will DL that and bring with us for sure!! :)

So, I've read some recent threads regarding booking a future cruise while on board, and I have some questions as to how exactly it works...

1. Deposit - does the deposit vary depending on the cruise you book? Is it reduced when booking online?
   
2. Cancellation - is the cancellation policy the same as if we'd booked from home? We may/may not take our kids on the cruise we'd book onboard, so what if we book for all of us and then decide we want to go just the 2 of us? What if we decide we need to cancel the whole thing (for a non-insurance covered reason, like work conflict, etc)?
   
3. Travel agent - we booked this cruise with an agent. I think I read that if we book a future cruise onboard, it will automatically be assigned to that same agent. Is this the case? If so, how does this usually affect any perks the agent might offer. Should we keep it with Celebrity and transfer it to the agent upon returning home depending on perks?
   
4. OBC - If we book a future cruise, will we get an OBC for the cruise we're currently on?
   
5. What other, if any "perks" are generally offered for booking onboard?
   

In case any of the following matters - we are on the 10/21/18 Summit repo from Bayonne to San Juan and are considering a Bayonne to Bermuda cruise for 2019, which we may book onboard if it seems like a better deal.

Thanks in advance everyone!

Cari

They don't have a luggage valet, but they do have two excursion that take you to old San Juan, allows you to walk around (one is on your own, the other is guided tour), holds your luggage and later takes you to the airport later. We have booked the San Juan on your own with airport drop off. We had a lot of OBC and this imo put some of it to good use :)

 

The Own Your Own is 29.00, the City Tour is 44.00. Our flight is not until 6:00, so we opted for the old San Juan on your own "Excursion".

 

There is also a restaurant that will store your luggage if you wish in OSJ, Barrachina.

 

What sailing are you on? We sail November 10 2018. This will be our third time on the Summit, both prior to her receiving the last refit/dry dock that incorporated the outdoor TV lounge.

This!

We are on the Oct 21 repo from Bayonne to San Juan. We booked the city tour with airport transfer. Wendy is correct on the price. Looking forward to seeing Old San Juan! :)

Not on a cruise, but MIL was touring Italy several years ago, and realized that 2 of her tour-mates were distant cousins from Australia (she's from Detroit).

Hubby and I were waiting to board a plane a few years ago for an adults only trip the Disney Food and Wine Festival, and who walks up but my daughter's basketball coach and his family. Met up with them later in Epcot to enjoy some snacks and the fireworks show.

Glad to "hear" everyone's responses...thank you all. :)

I'm a bit nervous about starting a thread on what I know can be a hot button topic...but here goes.

So, this October, hubby and I will take our first Celebrity cruise (our 2nd cruise ever - first was on Carnival with the kids) on the Summit repo to San Juan.

A few things I have read here on CC (specifically the MSC/Celebrity comparison thread from the past week) have lead me to believe it is expected to tip in addition to the daily gratuity and/or we may be "hounded" for tips.

One of the things that made cruising attractive to us was what we thought was the basically "all inclusive" aspect of it...pay your tips and drinks up front and don't worry about having cash to tip and making sure you are always sure to thank every crew member with whom you have contact with a little green.

I know the standard answer is...only tip if you feel the service deserves it/has gone above and beyond, and we certainly will, but i'm just really wondering if we are going to be made to feel as though we are "stiffing" the crew if we don't carry cash and dole it out liberally.

Thanks and thank you in advance for keeping it civil. :);p

:)

Following your review, we are in the Oct 7 sailing to New England and Canada.

 

 

Bon Voyage

Following as well...we are on the repo cruise right after you! :)

Thank you so much, Heather and Wine-O...your information was exactly what I was looking for!! :)

Hi everyone, we are currently booked in a Concierge class cabin on deck 8. We really like what we see as far as menus for Blu, and are looking at switching to Aqua class. Especially as the TA just told me there is no cost to upgrade.

The cabins she's offering me are all on deck 9...which, of course has me worried about noise. I sleep like the dead but don't want my hubby to be woken up all night by noise. Any experience? There are a couple cabins that are under the Solarium. Would this be a quieter location?

Thanks in advance for any help!

If you want to eat dinner in the MDR, coordinate that request with the Blu MaitreD. It’s best not to just show up at the MDR without making arrangements first. The Blu staff can find out what dining times might be available.

Thanks for this info. We will be sure to do so.

Yes, you can. Just check with the Matre'd and they will find you a table. When we were in Blu and saw something on the MDR that we liked, they would get it for us. It's a little more difficult on the S-Class ships since the dining rooms are not connected, but they can do it. A lot easier on the M-Class ships since the kitchens are close together.

 

I would go for Blu and upgrade. It's a nice, quite dining experience compared to the MDR.

Thanks very much for your response. We are on the Summit, which is M-Class I believe...is that correct? Sorry, we're new to cruising and this is our first Celebrity cruise. ;p

I think we'll go ahead and do it. It's only $50 to upgrade, so not much of an investment.

Thanks again!

I apologize if this is a really silly question, but if you book Aqua class, can you eat in the MDR in addition to eating in Blu (not in the same night)? We currently have a Concierge class cabin booked and are considering upgrading to Aqua class, mostly because we have looked at some menus for Blu and we really like what we see and think we'd enjoy eating there.

I'm just wondering if we are allowed to eat in the MDR should we decide something on the menu looks really good that night, or decide that we'd like a change of scenery. Not sure it would even come up but just want to be aware of what our options are.

Thanks!

Any idea if we can use these if we used a TA to book?

We're booked on the Summit Repo cruise the end of October. This is our first time on X, and we're looking forward to trying Qsine. I hope it's still available!!