43 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Interesting idea, but not a big fan.  Why?  1.  It is expensive.  Consider that one is paying to be on that cruise for those days, and many of us take pretty expensive cruises.  and 2.  Ships do miss ports (it seems to be more common in the past few years) which can make one's life difficult, if that is the port where you planned to rejoin the vessel. 

 

Hank

100% agree with you on both these points, really. Thinking of my fellow sailors travelling to Xian, I thought the same, why pay for the full board accommodation and then pay further to leave that behind. My thoughts are that these voyages are once in a lifetime. It might be seeing the terracotta warriors was so culturally significant it was worth paying the extra amount to leave the cruise behind and tour the area while they are there. Since it was a cruise line excursion, they had a guarantee to join the ship. What I'm suggesting here, you would not have that guarantee.

I am really unsure of the data for port cancellations in Japan. Do you know if it is common for Yokohama and Osaka? Are they less likely to happen because these ports are in a sort of bay? 

I do feel comfortable saying that in Japan self-exploring is incredibly easy. The trains are beyond anything on this planet for reliability and pricing.(There's not much dynamic pricing as far as I can see, the same ticket tomorrow vs. a few weeks from now is the same.)  Taking a weekender—packing lightly, mid-cruise, could be worth it if you know what you want to see.

I would not miss Tokyo Disneyland and Sea as a significant theme parks and Disney fan so i would like to propose something crazy inspired by something I saw on a previous cruise.

The cruise line offered 5 night land tours during the cruise for the land locked attraction; Terracotta Army of Xian China as the cruise was STILL going people got off at one port (Shanghai) and the ship + the rest of their luggage.(presumably) visited 2 other ports and had a sea day without them.  Before they returned to the ship at Beijing.

You might think of doing the same on your own if it is within budget and the cruise line says it is OK. I would get off in Tokyo and go to the Uraysu resort to stay for 2 nights, then get a bullet train to rejoin the ship. 

This is great. We got caught in a local train strike that completely threw the end of a great trip. I was thinking we would be smart, meeting the fast train at Ferrara with Belogna being the bigger hub the only trains running from Ravenna went to Bologna

12 hours ago, TMaine said:

Is that app for booking private transfers to and from the port?

Yes but it’s offer pricing so you say what you want and they come back with bids. Just submitted Piazzale Roma to the port and have offer for £283.16  - 3 passengers + luggage you can scale to van to coach if party is larger.

We booked a transfer to the port with royal but lied about the flight arriving in the morning. I told the advisor I was doing this and they said they just need the information to put it in there booking form so found a flight that arrives on Sunday morning.

Want to get the train #Teamchoochoo back (it will be the local one Farrera.) so following this for your shuttle updates @LIttlebritain

Someone in our cruise call recommended an app -GetTransfer.com for the best price between Venice and the cruise port. This is the only app that I have found out of rome2rio/hoppa/Uber/anything else on google! that was able to quote me a price for cruise port to Ravenna fs I’ve done mock booking on this and they quoted £40~ Waiting until I can see what disembarkation process is looking like for cruises prior to ours and of course if the free shuttle is on would just get this.

6 minutes ago, swoopy2110 said:

 

 

I had to fight with them a bit to get the refreshment package added for me. Was constantly told that I could only have the deluxe package as well and that refreshment wasn't part of it. Had to constantly tell them that their own T&C said I could have refreshment as long as my partner buys deluxe as I don't drink alcohol. Had to get supervisor approval as an 'exception'.

 

Why do they make things so hard!

I feel like sometimes you get someone who has more authority than others. But was lucky this time! if im  speaking to someone who's not making sense ill say i have to go and call back next day.  🙃

Managed to get this added to May cruise with no fuss at all.

Just want to clarify to any concerned.

One of us doesn't drink alcohol and we already had refreshment at lowest rate i've seen so far. £12.92

T&Cs say you can buy deluxe for 1 but you need to buy Refreshment on Cruise planner for the other person in cabin at current rate at time of booking.

Because we already had it they refunded one from the cruise planner meaning we kept the great rate.

I would look at in google maps. Venice is only a small part of the massive Venetian lagoon and then all the way outside of that across land to the south is Ravenna it's definitely. Rail connection makes a ferry obsolete. But it is very far away.

I have looked into the Venice Marco Polo airport coach transfer from RCCL ours was £40pp we are not using them for flights, We are not even flying in on the day of the cruise we are using the hotels airport shuttle boat to go back to the airport on embarkation day.

Ravenna cruise port is not walking distance from the Train Station it is 20mins away in a car. looks like a taxi would be €25. I am hoping that there is a shuttle bus to the port but no one as been got back to me. I know there is bus that stops nearby(Porto Corsini) but don't fancy it with luggage.

We are using the train on the way back you should be aware that you would need to get a airport bus from Venice it does not have a direct train route.

I always see people saying they will plane into the nearest international Bologna. Travel time is is about 1hr 30mins by Taxi. Venice airport is 1hr more by google maps estimate on all other travel routes.

Flying into Venice with lufthansa staying a few nights returning to Venice airport on day of departure have added on Transfer from VCE to cruise fare (I just called up it's not available on the planner (they where more than happy to do this(its £44 one way or £87 return per person))) on the return we have very late flight so going to enjoy ravenna before heading back to venice on the train. 

 probably best just to call RCCL or travel agent. see what your options are.

Hello

RCCL will have a shared coach Transfer on the day of from Venice Marco Polo (VCO) Starting 08:30 up until 14:30. Journey time 2hr 15 mins

£44 Per person per direction

and £87 for return. 

if you have Purchase air to sea it's included.

no word on RCCL private transfer by aloschi bros prices or what the price would be in other countries. i asked them to add on the transfer to our booking over phone. if you find out let me know.

If you instead take a train from Venice S.Lucia (getting to station from airport is about €8) to Ravenna a regional train (about 2.5 hours) could cost as little as €15 per passenger.  This will required a switch in the middle as there is nothing direct, the problem with this option is the last mile to the port (Porto Corsini) is 13KM away. It looks like this would be Taxi €25, Public bus €4, or the cruise port website advise they run a free shuttle I have sent an email asking if this is true for RCCL homeport days but yet to hear back.

On 7/18/2021 at 4:40 PM, ECCruise said:

offer a free shuttle from Marco Polo to the pier. 

Just found out that the shuttle is not something they are doing anymore.

RCCL “we wont be offering complimentary transfers for your sailing departing from Ravenna in 2022, since this has been the port for a long time now.”

I’m not sure that any shuttle made the journey travelled due to cancellations during pandemic.

Anyway researching what others are doing on here. Think we might do train & taxi.

FROM: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-56486784

Torbay 'ghost ships could be pop-up hotels'

2 hours ago, NancyIL said:

You can't combine the 125% credit for Cruise Planner items if you Lift & Shift. Refund only for CP..

Drat really?

I can't find anything about that. Can you post source closest thing I can find is this: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/gbr/en/faq/questions/do-i-get-to-keep-my-onboard-credit-if-i-choose-the-refund-at-a-later-date

Not eligible for L&S at the moment are you saying for those canceled as of 09/02 that you can only have CPP 125% as OBC if you take 125% FCC?

TYVM 😁

On 2/14/2021 at 11:29 AM, Billy Baltic said:

I probably going to get shot down in flames for this but ....

Prices for 2021 are a lot cheaper than 2022 for the cruises we’re interested in. L&S is gone, except where RC cancel the cruise. So anyone booking for this year, with the aim of it being cancelled and moving to 2022?

I’ll put on my Teflon suit now 

Sort of doing this as did book last year with intention of going, But the ship doing the route next year just seems better to me. Prices are higher across the board next year so waiting for lift and shift. cruise planner credit now being offered at 125% credit if RCCL cancel. I just hope planner prices don't jump! 😁

9 minutes ago, Firepath said:

I wouldn’t’ cruise unless it’s required and I would get it even if I didn’t want to cruise.

Same

(with the exception of the cruise I already paid for. All my moral objections go out the port hole when my deposits at risk.)

😅

21 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Virtually all of them say that 

New to forum, Mainly digest youtube and blog posts I understand why it feels like they are a little behind on definatives. I think that they want to avoid upsetting press offices of the cruise companies or maybe they are playing it safe?

love a bargain, did you keep your perks, what's included?

Hello this thread is going along way to calming my mind because it's the only source i have confirming that cruises are likely to be bumped.

When I called customer services before last week they said i wasn't eligible for lift and shift i did not ask why at that point as i was trying to get more information about what options where or would be. 

They did say I would be eligible for lift and shift if RCCL where the ones to cancel the cruise (dep 29/05)

when I realised sunday night the option would sunset for lift and shift I filled in the form online and it did confirm I was not eligible as there was no equivalent cruise next year.

see the thing is... there is it's just on a different ship. it was too late at night to get through to UK Customer services but if you offered me both ships I would choose the one next year based on amenities alone.

I'd rather have the option of shifting now rather than later it doesn't look like there's many good rooms in my category I don't want 100% FCC as I got a good deal on this one that is not likely to be matched. 

I definitely won't be travelling on this cruise Easyjet have cancelled all flights from my local airport & I likely won't be fully vaccinated until mid december. so it's just a complete waiting game.

Should I wait even after final payment date in the hopes that RCCL will cancel?

The screens are sometimes limiting, its a combination of what you will find on the website for your cruise with more information pulled from their partners at https://www.afar.com/ for some reason this website is giving me 404 errors.

The most useful thing about these tables is that there should be a destination specialist who will hold court over one of the screens and answer your port questions at set times throughout the day usually after the port guide talk in the main theatre. I found them to be a massive wealth of impartial information not just a gateway to selling an excursion.

if you are looking for a similar experience but on your phone get maps.me, this was recommended by the Holland America guide onboard in 2019 recently i've seen some bloatware on the app but nothing to be concerned about, use it with in combination with the downloadable maps function on google maps.

if your cruise is in europe i'm enjoying the content from Rick Steves https://www.ricksteves.com/