Longwood50

I see several services that offer shuttles to the Rome.  I have a flight but only to Spain. I understand Rome airport can be busy particularly through security.  How far in advance of a flight should I reasonably have to be? 

16 hours ago, euro cruiser said:

The Colosseum takes a minimum of an hour.

 

Vatican museums tickets direct from the source: http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/visita-i-musei/scegli-la-visita.html

 

Colosseum tickets direct from the source:  https://www.coopculture.it/en/colosseo-e-shop.cfm

Euro Cruiser

Thank You, 

I found the skip the line ticket at the Vatican but at the coopculture site I see tickets but no mention of a specific time or skip the line.  Is it that you just don't have to wait in line to purchase a ticket? 

We are going to be on a cruise in May and have a port stop in Civataveccia.  We would like to see the Vatican and the Colosseum.  We understand unless you have skip the line tickets you wait for hours.  Is that true and where can the tickets be purchased?  For those of you who have been inside the attractions what is a reasonable amount of time to allocate to see them? 

We will be cruising on the Celebrity Infinity and have a stop in Genoa for the day.   We are thinking of doing the on and off bus in Genoa and perhaps a trip to Portofino.  
It looks like there are two ways of getting to Portofino one being water taxi and the other by train.  The bus is also available but way to many transfers.  For those who have been to Genoa what would you suggest?  Is it worth it trying to see both Genoa and Portofino in the same day?   It appears that the water taxi's stop also at San Fruttuoso.   However it does not appear that they stop there for very long.  Any suggestions of how to go and what to do would be appreciated. 

I have sailed on Costa once in the Caribbean and it was just fine.  I have heard that as a US person I might not like Costa when sailing in the Mediterranean.  Any thoughts from those who have sailed with Costa there in terms of service, food, and language?  

32 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

Do yourself a favor, and put these kinds of marketing headlines on the back burner. Because no line is giving you anything for free because they think it is a nice thing to do

Joebucks,

No I am aware of that, however in the past I have found that the "perks" if I purchased the ones I wanted separately added up to more money than their promotions.   Just recently I have seen fewer and fewer of the drink package and gratuity packages compared to a few years ago. 

55 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Most of those free drink packages and free gratuities are anything but free. 

RocketMan275  you are exactly correct.  

If you book a stateroom it typically will have multiple prices depending on if you are getting the "free" perks.  So you get the same stateroom but at a higher price.  The worst cruise line for gimmicks is NCL.  They say their drink package is worth $100 per day and if it is "free" you get nicked for $20 per person per day for the gratuities.  Heck you have to drink 4 drinks per day just to cover the cost of the gratuities.  They are also infamous for jacking up their port charges.  I just priced an itinerary on NCL and almost the same one on RCCL.  NCL said the port charges were $800 and RCCL was about $250 for the same length cruise and almost the identical ports.  The only "good deals" I have found recently have been on Celebrity where you get a ship credit, free internet, prepaid gratuities and drink package.  Even then, you have to figure the two people will drink about 6 drinks between them per day to break even.  

I use to see a number of cruise lines Royal Caribbean, Princess, Holland America and Celebrity that offered routinely their drink packages and often gratuities as perks.  Does anyone know if any of the lines other than Celebrity are offering them?  I know NCL always advertises its "Free At Sea"  However, NCL is the "downgrade" of the cruise lines in terms of dining and its Free at Sea is anything but Free.  They charge about $20 per person per day for their drink package and their "port and taxes" are at least double to triple the other lines. 

1 hour ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

For example, if a service employee's share of a benefit cost (e.g., medical, retirement et al.) goes up when the total premium for that benefit increases, his/her employer may add a service surcharge to a customer's bill to pay that difference.

Flatbush Flyer,

Sounds like for all intents all gratuities now go into a pool and cover the "costs" wages, benefits, travel etc of the staff.  If that is the case then really the gratuities are no different than the cruise fare. It goes into one big pot and whatever is left over after all expenses are paid goes to the cruise line.  I can tell you I have certainly noticed a decrease in attentiveness in the past decade as ship's personnel no longer receive their tips in cash but rather get them doled back from the cruise line.  This is particularly true in the dining room where you have no assigned table and waiter.  Why give "special" service when you will receive no more in terms of compensation than the worst server.  I certainly understand that the cruise lines need to cover the costs of their staff.  However if this "sharing" is true, what the cruise line is really doing is charging each passenger a per drink and per diem that really is compensation to the cruise line that they use to offset their staff costs.   Its like the U.S. government calling your social security taxes "contributions"  The gratuities are really not dedicated to compensate employees for their specific service to you.  Certainly if all cabin stewards and wait staff receive the same calling them "gratuities" is wordsmithing. 

2 hours ago, Shmoo here said:

As far as I know, gratuities (and HSC) are distributed as noted on the cruise lines that I've been on.  The company doesn't take a cut.

Shmoo, 

No offense but I was hoping that someone would "definitively" say that the staff on the ship either does or does not receive 100% of the "tips" whether that is for beverages or daily housekeeping etc.  With drinks now in the $10 to $20 per drink range, I find it difficult to believe that the wait staff get the full 20%.  That would mean they would get between $2 and $4 for each drink served.  At that rate, I would work on a cruise ship.  They serve hundreds of drinks each hour. Lets face it, the cruise line has to "pay" the crew so they either have to collect "tips" and "daily gratuities" to do so or increase the price of the cruise.  I would just not like it that they are representing it as a fee for services rendered and then a portion of it going to the cruise line.  If it is a fee for housekeeping staff and beverage staff than 100% of it should go to them. 

I saw today that both Carnival and Celebrity were raising their gratuities in 2020.  Celebrity will now have a 20% gratuity which when they raise the prices of their drinks will hit you twice.  That means a $15 drink will nick you $3.00 extra.  I find it difficult to believe with all the drinks a bartender serves that the cruise line passes on the full 20%.  Does anyone know if the cruise lines do indeed pass along 100% of the "gratuities" they collect or do they skim the pot?

1 hour ago, Floridiana said:

So, according to your smell test, what is NCL's rationale for canceling the port?  Was it just to tick you off, or was there another, more nefarious reason?

Certainly the captain has the right to skip the port.  However, the excuse he gave just does not make any sense.  Fujairah  is listed on numerous posts as trying to encourage itself as a cruise port. To do that and then institute a practice that according to the captain's message would require an entire day for all passengers to go through the scan and be done in the hot sun is difficult to believe.  Add that to the fact that the port was cancelled two days before we were scheduled to arrive.  Again difficult to believe that NCL would not know Fujairah  had such a policy and not selected Fujairah  as a port to begin with. 

So far though there is a lot of conjecture, not a single person has said that they ported in Fujairah  and been subject to an eye scan.  I can attest to the fact that when we landed in Dubai and when we ported in Abu Dhabi also part of the UAE that there were no eye scans and in Abu Dhabi ships passengers did not even have to go through any sort of immigration check.  So the UAE has different rules for different ports?  Hard to believe.   I did hear directly from one passenger who was from Vietnam and on a single entry visa and it was him who volunteered that NCL had cancelled the port because he was one of many with single entry visa's 

14 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

That would depend on the nationality make up of the cruise ship passengers. To be honest that theory sounds more unlikely since statistically the nationalities that cruise the most are those who qualify for the UAE 30 or 90 day multiple entry visas on arrival

Ilikeanswers the makeup of the passengers was from all over the world.  Irrespective a 14 day and 30 day visa can be issued as a single entry. (see attached)  The multi entry visas are more expensive.  I can easily see where a passenger could think that their visa was for 14 days covering the time in the UAE and never consider that when the ship left the UAE for Oman that the visa would not allow them to return to Fujairah.   Now if the ship kept its itinerary those passengers with a single entry would have had only two choices.  One to travel by land to Fujairah  and stay overnight and catch the ship there, or Two to fly from Oman to India which was going to be the next port after Fujairah  three days later.  None of those options would seem to be good and I can easily see that NCL might alter its itinerary if enough passengers were in that situation.  However, if that was the case, making up the eye scan as an excuse is not acceptable.  Just admit the situation and say the captain has made a decision for the good of the passengers. I find the visa scenario far more plausible than the eye scan excuse. 

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

So, according to your smell test, what is NCL's rationale for canceling the port?  Was it just to tick you off, or was there another, more nefarious reason

The rumor on the ship was that there were a significant contingent of passengers who had purchased a single entry visa into the UAE.  They were fine so long as the ship stayed in the UAE but the third port was Oman and then returned to Fujairah which would have required another visa and the UAE does not allow you to even stay on board if you don't have a visa.  I have no idea if it is true but again, if other cruisers have been to Fujairah and can attest to either being given an eye scan or not, it will end all of the conjecture. 

4 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

The eye scan requirement may have just been instituted.  Or the eye scan equipment in Fujairah may be less effective, taking longer to process.  You never know, unless, of course, you were actually in the port and could see it for yourself.

If you read my initial post, it asked IF ANYONE HAD BEEN TO THE PORT AND WAS THIS TRUE. 

The articles on eye scans in the UAE go back as far as 2005.  So whatever plans the UAE has for eye scanning are not a new idea.  The captain was the one who said the procedure would take all day and be completed in the hot sun.  Sounds bogus.  To repeat, if any passenger from any plane or ship wanted to get to Fujairah without an eye scan they could go to Dubai or Abu Dhabi.  In the Dubai airport NO EYE SCAN.  In Abu Dhabi the cruise passengers did not even have to go through any screen with immigration at all.  It sounds spurious that two days before a stop that suddenly this mysterious requirement is discovered.  Again to beat a dead horse, no port is going to encourage cruise passengers to visit it, then implement a procedure that is going to effectively preclude them from disembarking.  NOT COMMON SENSE. 
 

If there is a passenger on cruise critic who has been to Fujairah on a cruise ship and had to go through eye screening that will stop the conjecturing however, the very premise that Fujairah would implement something that would take all day just does not pass the smell test. 

32 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

What proof do you have that it was a false pretense?  

Common sense.

1.   If the passengers were able to enter Dubai airport with no eye screen they could easily travel by car to Fujairah and avoid any eye scan.

2. If eye scanning was required and as the captain stated would take all day, the cruise line would have known the requirement before selecting it as a port months before not 2 days before the ship was scheduled to arrive there

3. The assertion that the screening would take place outside in the hot sun is equally not plausible.  Even the UAE would not be setting up security equipment on the pier in the hot sun.  Certainly any port including Fujairah is not going to implement a practice to first encourage cruise ships to visit and then have a practice that effectively precludes the passengers from entering. 

DOES NOT PASS THE SMELL TEST. 

 

4 hours ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

How else will they build the data base if they don't collect the data😂

There are 7.7 billion people in the world but you assert that Fujairah alone is going to build a data base of eye scans?  Ludicrous.  Again the ships passengers were already in Dubai, and Abu Dhabi.  Assuming one came by plane not ship there were no eye scans at either city  and you could have driven to Fujairah and avoided any eye scan assuming that they really required one which I believe was a false pretense to cancel the port. 

I recently completed an NCL trip that included three ports in the UAE.  Dubai, Aubu Dhabi and Furairah  At the last moment they cancelled Furairah and stayed an extra night in Abu Dhabi.  The excuse they gave was that Furairah was not requiring each passenger to go through immigration and complete an eye scan which would take all day and it would be outside in the hot sun.  Has anyone been to Furairah recently and had to undergo an eye scan to enter.  I find the excuse hard to swallow since the eye scan was not required in Dubai or Abu Dhabi.  Additionally what would they be scanning the eyes against?  I have never had an eye scan at any airport so I can't believe their is much if any of a data base out there to scan against.  Further, certainly NCL being to the port before would or should have been aware of any undue requirements and never put the port on the itinerary if it was not practicable. 

NeilonBoard 

The information that I got from NCL was that it was slated to be in the deep water port.  Where did you obtain that information so that I can check as the date gets closer.  I understand the cruise lines often change their stated mooring locations.

We are going to be on the Norwegian Jade December 11, and December 12 in Phuket.  The cruise line only offers 4 very lousy tours.  We would like to take a taxi to other areas in Phuket.  For someone who is familiar with the Cruise Port, are there Taxi's readily available?  One person indicated that they were not allowed into the port area and difficult to find. 

18 hours ago, John Bull said:

Just to clarify, when I indicated that Vietnamese immigration officials were on the gangway, you presented your passport along with a receipt from the ship that the visa had been paid for.  They stamped the passports and then returned them. 

 

 

Thanks for clearing up the confusion.  

 

Now you can relax. 

This thread, and your concerns, are all down to an inaccurate - or simply badly phrased - Princess notice in that video link. 

 

So passports are held by the ship, not by immigration.

As per my earlier post this is quite common, it means that immigration can peruse all and any passports at their leisure.

But at Guest Relations you can request the return of your passport if needed, for anything from an excursion to another country to a car rental agency's requirements.

 

No worries.

Enjoy Thailand and Siem Reap 

 

JB 

 

 

I am taking the Norwegian Jade and they are docking at the Deep Water port in Phuket from December 11 to December 12.  The ship is only offering a handful of shore excursions and as you might imagine they are excessively priced.  I have checked Trip Advisor, Viator, Get my guide etc for shore excursions.  It appears that the majority of tours only are offered with pickup/drop off a considerable distance from the Deep Water port.  

Has anyone docked in Phuket and is the Deep Water port a tender or is there a gangway.  Also if you have any suggestions on where to find shore excursions.  We would like to do either Phi Phi or James Bond island but it appears as though the departure for those is a considerable distance from the port.  I have to believe that there are tour operators that do service the port but they are not the larger ones that advertise via Viator or Trip Advisor. 

 Many countries get an automatic Visa on Arrival in Thailand.  I took the Celebrity Millennium a couple of years ago.  As I recall they took the passports and only gave them back in Vietnam which required a Visa and there were Vietnamese immigration officials who you presented your passport to as you exited the ship.  If you are going to be traveling in Thailand, you should have your passport.  If you are using the 30 day Visa on Arrival even that has to be stamped in your passport.  I am a U.S. citizen and have visited Thailand numerous times.   

1 hour ago, 4774Papa said:

Totally agree with your comments on the promos.   Sailaway options never seem to be available.  We prefer NO promos.   Especially the beverage package with the outrageous value of $99 per person per day.   When forced to go with promos, we usually pick the specialty dining, even though we are Platinum and have two free specialty dinners.  NCL's specialty restaurants are good, we especially like Le Bistro.

Instead of picking the beverage package, we usually do the internet and bring our own wine, pay the corkage fees of $15 per bottle or buy a viva vino package.

4774Papa

I understand that cruise lines need to make money either through the cruise fare or add ons.  In the case of the "free as sea" beverage promotion, they are charging a 20% gratuity based on a totally inflated price of $99 a day.  The gratuities for meals are only 18% and at $99 per day you would need to consume at least 7 alcoholic drinks per day to break even.  Not likely.  They are calling it a "gratuity" I would be willing to wager a whole lot of money that the entire $20 per day never makes it to the beverage staff.  I suspect the same is true of the $15 p.p. daily and 18% dining "gratuities"  I guess they think that cruise passengers will only look at the cruise fare and not figure out they are being nicked someplace else.  Certainly the $20 pp for drinks is a good price.  However, I have often found that the Celebrity cruises which include their beverage package and gratuities are a lower total price than NCL and Celebrities $59 PP beverage package includes fresh squeezed juice, bottled soft drinks and bottled water.  

I am taking a cruise on the Norwegian Jade and in Phuket on December 11 and December 12.  I see there are three ports in Phuket.  Apparently a deep water port used in the rainy season May - October, then Pataong Bay during the peak season November - April.  There is also a Phuket Port some miles outside of Phuket.  Has anyone taken the Norwegian Jade and knows where it ports in Phuket and what shore excursions they would recommend?  There are only about 4 offered through NCL and as you can imagine they are much more expensive.