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Super easy to take the train from Venice to Ravenna. I think we spent about $15 (last summer). We stayed overnight in Ravenna and took the city tourism agency's shuttle to the ship- they picked us up at the hotel and drove us straight to the port.

We cruised on Explorer this summer and it was one of our best cruises ever! I would happily book another trip. And we were happy with the MDR food and portions. We did Jewel the summer before and were bored- Explorer was big enough for better entertainment but not too big to visit good ports.

What are your plans after disembarkation? We took the shuttle to the Ravenna train station, $10. We took a train to Bologna around 9:30 AM. I prepaid by calling C&A but once onboard they will remind you constantly that you need to make departure plans, so you can also book onboard. Personally I wouldn't pay for the bus to Venice unless you're going straight to the airport. If you're staying in Venice take the train.

Yes stops in multiple places. You will see designated bus stops but also you can flag it down if you're in an area the bus can stop safely. You need cash (Euros) for the fare. In Fira or Oia you pay as you board, otherwise just get on and a fare collector will find you on board and ask your destination. To get off before the final destination you need to yell out for the driver to stop, otherwise he will keep going.

Food on Explorer in July was very good, an improvement over our cruise on Jewel last year. And the portions were huge. I did have salmon and tilapia a lot (I only eat fish and vegetables) since they got rid of lobster night and I guess some other fish options.

I gave my 11 year old permission to sign herself in and out of Adventure Ocean for the first time last month. She is an experienced cruiser. She was really excited about it and did a great job meeting me at the time and place we agreed on.

We just got off the Explorer. I actually really liked the once a day cleaning. We had 1 adult and 1 teen in a balcony room. We are pretty tidy in general so he really just changed the towels and emptied trash. I liked the once daily because with twice a day I always felt like I had to be out of the room to stay out of the steward's way, or we would try to go back to the room and find them in there. So this time we spent more time reading on the balcony or napping on sea days which was nice.

I would book the flight from NY to Florida for the day before the cruise- lots of flight delays on the East Coast, and that's also hurricane season.

Hi I know this isn't exactly what you asked, but they definitely have a shuttle to the Ravenna train station, I think it was $10. And then there's a regional train to Bologna every hour for €8.

I just booked train tickets for a Venice to Ravenna transfer today, about 16 Euro with reserved seats. We're spening 3 nights in Venice before going to Ravenna the day before a cruise.There's one train change with only a 10 minute layover- I'm already planning on missing that connection. But worst case scenario we wait an hour and catch the next regional train.

If your kids are little go with Alaska. We've done both (AK when my kid was 5, Norway she was 10). The wildlife and activities like dogsledding and the lumberjack show in Alaska were great for a little kid. Norway we did more hiking and science museums and she was old enough for the RIB boats, plus the ship skewed a lot older and quieter.

Just book directly on the Playa Mia website and take a cab.

You're not the only ones. When mine was little (first cruise at 3) I brought sticker books and craft kits. Now she's 11 so we just talk or play word games if dinner is taking a while to arrive! She doesn't have a phone at home either.

Me too! Royal IT strikes again 🙂 Unfortunately my next cruise is 6 months from now.

Sint Maarten has a lot of shallower dives (40-60ish). It's been a while but when I lived in SXM I dove with Pelican, I think they're now called Dive Adventures.

So this might be a dumb question, but since they moved our departure to 7 pm what happens to early seating dinner the first night? I'm guessing it's still a thing since we have to be on board by 6?

They dropped Mykonos and added Athens for Explorer on July 16, 2023 as well. I think it's a win!

I went to school in Sint Maarten. You probably don't need cash unless maybe for the bus? But if you do need cash Dutch side ATMs will have the option of multiple currencies, French side might get just Euros. The dollar is generally accepted on either side. There are plenty of ATMs in Philipsburg, try Cannegieter Street.

We just did 12 nights on Jewel. The headliner shows were great. The production shows were awful. We definitely had a lot more "down time" to fill than usual since the entertainment schedule was timed to traditional dining and included a lot of trivia and alcohol related events, neither of which really interested us. But they had a fun escape room type event one day and some other one-off events that were ok. Probably wouldn't do Jewel again (and we have enjoyed other Radiance class trips), but for us the trip was about the itinerary more than the ship- so I would make your choice based on that.

Emed uses UTC time. And yes did mine at 1 AM, connected right away!

We had a great experience with Emed. We did have to order their test kits, but insurance paid for half. We did the tests from a hotel in Amsterdam over hotel wifi and had no wait time for testing and a good connection both times. Email and app results arrived immediately.

Well for us it's not 6 months, it's 3 weeks. Partly just curious and getting excited about our trip, but also trying to plan what nights we might decide to stay later in port or do a specialty restaurant and skip the main dining.

I know Royal Caribbean's IT department is less than stellar so this is probably another glitch, but just curious! A while back I looked at the menus for our upcoming cruise in the app and I could see them just fine. But now all I can see for menus is the kid's menu and the vegan menu for the main dining room. Is this some funny glitch or did I somehow get labeled as a vegan in our registration somewhere? Kudos to those of you that follow a vegan diet, but "tahini banana softserve" does not sound particularly appetizing as the only dessert option! Obviously I can ask for a regular menu when we get there, I just thought this was funny! Our cruise is 3 weeks from now so they should have the menu set.

Not sure what your personal style is, but I lived in casual dresses and leggings. Weather on our cruise went from 45 and pouring rain to upper 70s. So short sleeve dress + leggings + hoodie/cardigan and a raincoat covers all situations!