fishiecrackers

We got our Guest Ticket Booklet from RC today, and we have one stop in Kusadasi, Turkey. In the section on visas, it says: Citizens from many countries, including the United States and Canada are required to secure an e-visa before leaving home unless otherwise noted. You can request and pay for your e-Visa through a brief three-step online process, using this link www.evisa.gov.tr/en/ . After printing your e-visa, place it inside your passport. So I go to that website, and in the FAQ section in regards to whether one is needed for cruisers, it says: According to the Law on Foreigners and International Protection which entered into force on 11th April 2014, those foreigners who arrive at sea ports and intend to visit the seaport city or nearby provinces for touristic purpose are exempt from visa provided that their stay does not exceed seventy two (72) hours. However, if you arrive in/depart from our country by air for your cruise tour, you must obtain a visa. The website for the US Embassy also says we do not need one. I had thought we didn't need one unless we were going far from Kusadasi, so I'm confused about why Royal put that in there, which makes it sound sound like we DO need one. Anyone have experience with this, or should I call RC and see what they say? I was going to just do it to be on the safe side, but then I found out it's $50, and we have 5 in our family, so I don't want to do it if not needed.

@DandDM so since everyone has to get tickets online, this huge line was for people who had tickets and were waiting to get in? How would you ever time that correctly for your time window?!

Ah, bummer, we have different ports. We are leaving from Rome, but have several days there prior to boarding.

Yikes. That makes me nervous - we are doing the same tour. We are doing a private tour, so I was going to just request to skip Sorrento and go to Positano instead, but in reality I don't really know/care which Amalfi Coast city we go to, I just want to see some of those stereotypical Amalfi Coast views.

Was this just the Amalfi Coast tour, or did it include Pompeii? That's not what my confirmation email says at all. Wonder if they've changed it.

All we'll have are phones, Apple Watches, Kindles, etc. Just electronics, no hair dryers or curling irons.

I think we’ll need something that charges multiple devices since we are traveling with so many thing that need charging, and since we’ll already have the EU ones due to spending time in Italy pre-cruise, I don’t want to ALSO bring our regular US ones.

Hello! We will be on a Mediterranean cruise with Royal Caribbean, but spending about a week in Italy beforehand. So we need to get chargers with an EU adapter, but I want to make sure that anything I bring with me on the ship is allowable. Do I just need to make sure it doesn't have an extension cord? Would something like this work?

Definitely not worth an all-day visit. If you haven't done this yet, I would suggest watching a walk-through video on YouTube. I agree that it's very education-based rather than entertainment-based. To be honest I find it very boring, but I do support their mission and the work they are doing! It's just not a personal must-see for me when we have guests in town. Also seconding the suggestion to walk along the waterfront from the Sea Life Center - you will almost definitely see some otters or something swimming around in the bay, and it's a really pretty walk. Adding onto the ice cream recommendation.... there's a couple who runs a sweets shop (Sweet Darlings) and they make all their gelato in-house - we really prefer it as opposed to the Creamery in the more central downtown, which often has a line out the door.

We are doing a mix of ship excursions, private tours, and walking around on our own for our Mediterranean ports. I am also traveling with my teenagers, so after asking them if there were any "must see" things for them in the cities we were going to, I started my research by Googling "things to do in XXXcity with teens," and looking at the ship excursions to see what was popular in each area. I would also look on YouTube and watch videos by searching like "One day in XXXcity." Once we decided what we wanted to do, we did a ship excursion if the convenience made it worth the price, and otherwise we did private tours. We built in a few days with no tours because I know my kids personally are not going to want to do a tour every single day (nor does my budget), and made sure to have a good mix of churches/ruins/museums and things that are NOT churches/ruins/museums. We probably don't have the same ports because we're leaving out of Rome, but I'm happy to share what we decided on if we are going to any of the same places!

We ended up booking a driver to take us around, and many of them are flexible with times and duration. I can't specifically recommend anyone because we haven't gone yet, but some that I had on my list that had excellent reviews on Google and Tripadvisor were: Top Santorini Tour, Santorini Travel, Santorini Experts, Santorini Best Tours, and Santorini Pickups. Many have options for either an itinerary they recommend, or being able to customize it for where you want to go. Have fun!

CoopCulture is the correct site - don't use any others unless you want to risk a third-party booking. The easiest tickets to get are the regular tickets which do not include the Arena or Underground - sometimes easier to find them with the Audioguide rather than just the regular tickets. I've been checking for several weeks on and off and have yet to be able to hypothetically snag morning tickets - just like 5:30pm and blazing hot afternoon ones.

That's almost our exact plan (except no winery with my kids, haha) - I'll let you know how it goes when we return in June!

We are June 12! And I hope you enjoyed your time living in Alaska! We are on Year 13! 🙂

That's so disappointing. I'm sorry this has happened this way. I would be really upset as well, especially considering the circumstances.

We are doing one in June that leaves from Rome and arrives in Athens - both easy cities for transport. We chose this itinerary because we felt for both Rome and Athens, we would want more than just one port day, and it would be easy for flights in and out.

This is a trip that is going to have SO MANY early mornings, this is one of the only ones we can sleep in (in theory) - definitely going to take advantage and stay until the rental kicks us out!

We are doing exactly both of those things (staying in Venice pre-cruise and bypassing Sorrento after Pompeii to go somewhere else on the Amalfi Coast), so I’m super curious as well!

I haven't been yet, but I believe this info is correct: Tour operators have to get on and buy them in real time just like normal people. This is why the people on TripAdvisor often advise against getting private tours, because private companies are selling tickets they *assume* they will get, but your tour can be cancelled if they don't get the tickets. I don't know of a good short tour, but my understanding is the signage of the Colosseum is sufficient for explaining what you are seeing, and an audioguide can help, and there is no need for a tour. For the Forum, your best bet is probably doing a private tour so they can customize it to your time preferences. The earlier, the better for beating crowds and heat if you are going in the summer. There are also evening tickets (as late as 5:30pm), and that's probably second best.

I think you do need a timed reservation at the Pantheon on weekends, but since OP is going on a Thursday, it doesn't matter for them specifically, but if anyone is reading this thinking about a weekend, I believe you do need to reserve now for Saturdays and Sundays.

Tickets to the Colosseum are timed, and very difficult to get, so make sure you know the timing of when they go on sale. There's a brand new post pinned at the top of the Rome forum on TripAdvisor that explains everything really well. If they include access to the Forum, that is not timed. OP, you can get tickets that include an audioguide at the Colosseum, or and Audiovideo guide. Not sure about the Forum for an official audioguide, but Rick Steves has one.

I just checked in for my cruise out of Civitavecchia and the earliest time was 10:30. There may have been earlier ones that filled up before I hopped on, but that's the earliest I saw. We're staying in Rome until our 11am checkout time and then heading to port.

Very similar experience here - I had two computers going, refreshing again and again, with constant error messages. One of them never did get through. Since we are a family of 5, I decided just to aim for the latest time slot possible (evening on a Friday), since I felt like first thing in the morning would be basically impossible. Now a few more days to go until dealing with an even worse situation for Colosseum tickets! Not a good time to be in the Alaska time zone... 😂

Hello! We are sailing on Enchantment of the Seas with Royal Caribbean, trying to figure out a beach day plan for Mykonos. I keep reading that most ships dock at the New Port, but our itinerary says that Mykonos is a tender port. Does that mean that we will end up at the Old Port? TIA!

I was watching a video on YouTube about the bus system in Santorini (the creator is Greece Explained and he has lots of good stuff) and it seems like it would be pretty easy to take the bus? I think I've axed that from my list of possibilities bc for us the next day is Mykonos and I think we'll do a beach day then. Have a great time with whatever you decide!