sunandsnow

Traveling to the med in 3 weeks. We were on a med cruise in Jan. 2013 and I froze. Temps were in the 50's but I'm not used to the humidity so it was cold (50's in Utah means spring for us).This time I'm planning better (I hope). Gloves, hat, long underwear, a packable down coat and some sweaters. A month later for you should be warmer but I would plan on some layering. It can be chilly walking around all day especially if the wind is blowing.

I'm watching the weather forecast up to the time we sail hoping to get a better idea of what to pack.

Have fun on your trip.

We are sailing on the Jade next month in the Med. I just found out something interesting on our roll call regarding airport transfer from the Rome airport to the port of Civitavecchia.

We were quoted $75 per person from the NCL rep for our transfer thru NCL to the port. Another person on our roll call who is from the UK was quoted 17 pounds (approx. $26) each for the same transfer service from the airport (FCO) to the port. About a 3 times higher rate if you are American. Doesn't quite seem fair. I'm guessing we would most likely be on the same transport to the port.

We contacted NCL by phone (including 2 supervisors) and received various responses - none of which made sense. Always thought ship transfers were extremely high but didn't realize that there was such a disparity regarding what nationality you happen to be.

Look at ncl dot co dot uk backslash already-booked backslash flights backslash transfers backslash for the ship transfer rates for UK passengers at various ports. Quite interesting.

We wanted to e-mail NCL but can't seem to find an e-mail. Any suggestions?

Cruisemom42 - thank you for your quick response. I think we will stand in line (hopefully a short one).

Always enjoy reading your posts. Thanks for all the informative replies. It makes planning a lot easier for DIY like us.

Thanks for posting the informative videos. We will be in Instabul the first week of March on a Mon. and Tues. Is it necessary to pre-book Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace or the Basilica Cisterna?

Thank you so much Euro Cruiser. In my planning, I thought I read that the ferries from Naples to Sorrento begin in April. That will make things so much easier. If we can't find a shared excursion we will now plan on going to Sorrento by ferry then to Herculaneum or Capri.

Sorrento/Herculaneum or Capri? What would be your preference in early March?

THANK YOU!

Thank you for the quick response. The ferries from Sorrento are not running so the only public transport is the train/bus and very expensive private transfers.

For Capri not that concerned with shopping. Probably more worried about there only be one doable ferry back to Naples and the weather in early March. I read on a post that the water can be very choppy during that time of year.

What are your thoughts about taking train to/from Sorrento and Herculeum? Would that be doable in a port day?

We will be in Naples the first week of March. We have been to Pompeii and along the Amalfi coast on a ship tour. Wondering if anyone has been to Sorrento on the train and then to Postiano by bus? Looking at train/bus schedules and it looks like we would only have about 1 hour in each town. Would that be enough? Also will there be very many shops open?

There are not any shared tour excursions listed on our roll call. Considered renting a car. Have rented a car in Italy before. Costs (car rental, gas, parking, tolls, IDL, etc) seem to be similar to a shared excursion (if we can find one).

Also considered going to Capri (weather dependent). Also because of the lack of ferries in the winter is the shortened time on Capri worth it especially since there won't be very many shops open?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

We are traveling in Feb. Several on our roll call have booked with them and not received a response. They sent an e-mail to one of our roll call members saying they were not sending responses until Jan. 6. Apparently they are backlogged and are now just starting to send e-mails. Yesterday another roll call member received a response from them. Hoping our confirmation comes this week.

Thank you for taking the time to post reviews. I have enjoyed all of them. We are traveling on the Jade in 2 months.

Thanks for the detailed review. We will be traveling on the Jade to Olympia in Feb. Your review is very helpful in our planning.

Traveling to Athens in Feb. I looked at the website oasa.gr for bus schedule and it said service is suspended. Anyone know if this is correct or another website available for current timetable? Thank you!

We are traveling on the Jade in Feb. I am reading conflicting views about needing a Visa for Turkey. Our on line TA says we need one but what I have read online says that we don't. Our cruise is staying overnight but we start in Rome and end in Rome.

Did you need to purchase a Visa for Turkey?

We were there in Jan. You can get the shuttle within the port gates. Go to the very end of the port area. Before leaving the area, the shuttles are on the right hand side (also taxis). It is $20 per person round trip. The shuttle drops you off at the entrance to Dr. Cave's beach. The admission is $6 per person. Chairs are lounges. I believe $5 each. Also can rent umbrellas but there are also trees on the beach which will provide shade. We did not eat at the beach. The beach was nice. We had our own snorkeling gear (you can rent). The snorkeling was not very good. There was also a water trampoline. The bathrooms were clean. We paid the shuttle driver the full price when we were dropped off. We were given a time to meet back at the van. We were taken back to the port and had another hour to visit the shops in port. The drive was nice to Mo Bay and took about 30 min. We enjoyed our day at the beach.

I remember seeing Backgammon, checkers, chess, dominoes, decks of playing cards, Scrabble, Mad Gab and another strategic game that I can't remember the name of. I'm sure you could take a game out of the room and then return it later.

We stayed at the Marriott Renaissance Jan. 2013 before our cruise. It is a great hotel. It was very clean and quiet. We used points and were upgraded. It is a short walk to the metro. Would recommend.

You can easily walk to Eden Rock and snorkel there. It is a 5 minute walk from the tenders. It is not a beach area. They do rent snorkeling equipment and the snorkeling is very good. They have lockers and bathrooms. There are only picnic tables - no chairs or loungers. Sunset House is a little further and is recommended too but we have not snorkeled there.

When we were in Grand Cayman two weeks ago we rode the city bus for $2.50 each (one way) to Cemetery Beach on 7 mile beach. It is a beautiful beach and the snorkeling was good. You do need your own equipment and there are no facilities.

Recently sailed on the Serenade out of New Orleans and they were taking them away from passengers then. I saw them for pick up at the table after the cruise.

On our recent sailing on 1/18 there was a country western night and a 50's/60's party. Not sure how to find out beforehand what will happen on your sailing.

We went to Mo Bay - Dr. Cave's beach two weeks ago. You can get transport inside the gated port area in a van for $20 per person round trip without pre-booking. We enjoyed our day there. Nice beach and facilities. Snorkeling not great. We stayed at the beach for a few hours and then walked along the Hip Strip. We ate a yummy jerk chicken lunch at Don Way for $8.

We were in Falmouth two weeks ago. We also went to Mo Bay - Dr. Cave's Beach. We were glad we did. We took a van taxi $20 per person round trip. We got the taxi inside the gated port area. The driver dropped us off at the entrance to Dr. Cave and picked us up at 3:00. We stayed on the beach for a couple of hours and then walked along the Hip Strip. We had yummy jerk chicken at Don Way for $8. The plate was very large which we were able to share.

Just returned from our cruise. I took 4 swimsuits. 3 one piece and 1 tankini. I prefer the one piece suits but the tankini is much easier for bathroom breaks so I like to wear it when I'm going to the beach in ports and do not know what the bathroom situation will be like. I always take 1 swimsuit that is older that I wear in the hot tubs (never know the ratio of chemicals - they can be harsh on swimsuits). I also like to take 2 sarongs (one long, one short) and 2 sundresses to throw over my swimsuits. Makes it easier to go to grab snacks/lunch when near the pool.

We were on the 1/18 sailing. They had a good band in the Centrum upon boarding from New Orleans. They were fun to listen to We liked the band D'Version. They played classic rock - some Beatles, Eagles, Credence and a variety of other songs. We also liked to listen to Clark Sullivan who played country songs. There was also a band called Just Us. They also were good. Latin music with a group called Azucar. Piano with Simon John (and guitar melodies with Eugene Apa (he also played a couple of evenings in the main dining room) and we liked him.

We missed having a good band on the pool deck. We have always enjoyed listening to some good Caribbean music when sailing to the Caribbean. Just Us played a couple of times at the pool but not very much music on the pool deck.

We never went to the Casino but overheard a passenger say he won $1700 for the week in the Casino. Not sure what he was playing.

I understand that this can happen anywhere. Just posted to inform others who might want to use cash only. I'm not going to name places we charged because I do not know where the card was compromised. We did not use our card at Target. We did charge our hotel, two restaurants, two gas stations, a clothing store and two grocery stores.

I am glad we had informed our credit card companies that we would be traveling and they were great on informing us when they noticed "strange" charges.

You can walk all the way around the ship on Deck 5. You will have a few stairs going towards the heli pad. This is where I usually walked when it wasn't too windy. Very quiet. I believe you walk 3 (?) times around the track for a mile on the upper pool deck.

We also were on the 1/18 sailing with Lacruiser. We thought embarkation and debarkation was very efficient. We got to the terminal at around 10:30 and waited about 1 hour to board (which was expected). We needed to return our rental car by 9:30 am. Rooms were available by 1:00. We disembarked later at around 9:00 am and walked right off the ship.

We also sailed on the Serenade Jan 2013 in the Med. We thought the food was better on this sailing (temps were better - some of our food was lukewarm in the MDR and WJ in the Med.) Staff was good and we enjoyed the entertainment. The CD was okay but not our favorite but everyone has different opinions. Guest services was okay. We liked not having to check out towels. Ship was clean. We are in our early 50's and most of the cruisers were our age or older.

We like this size of ship but after being on larger ships with our older children they would be bored on this size of ship.