elaine5

Thanks. Good to know.

Mid-March wasn’t too bad: 2 days each way-2 mild rocking, 1 smooth as glass, 1 quite rocky, but nothing falling of the shelves. Overall, much better than expected.

No experience for Taste Tour, but we did “Fullers vineyard tour” last week. Easy and fun with Vouchers for 3 good wineries. You can hop on/off as much as you want. Ferry pick up right by cruise port. Hop on bus is outside of ferry exit. Waiheke is a lovely island. Ferry ride is beautiful.

I think 8am is the departure time and were told to depart the ship 15 minutes in advance. Once off the ship, we got our luggage, gave to bus to store, boarded, and left fairly shortly after that. They were selling shuttle tickets in the middle room by elevators on 6/7/8(?) a few days before the cruise ended. I bought in person, as I wanted to ask those same questions. Check in the navigator day 4+ of the cruise for details.

Here is a schedule from spring 2023. We were on Explorer in Sept. and it was similar. Shuttles were on time--they are not on demand. We took a shuttle to Ravenna and then traveled to Bologna on a VERY crowded standing room only train. I'd go to Bologna via shuttle next time. If you took the 8am shuttle, I'd say 10am Bologna train is good, 10:30 would give you flex in case of any delay. The station is very nice with a lovely large quick service coffee/cafe where you can sit and wait for trains. We were also headed to Florence.

This is the pedestrian bridge just past Santa Lucia train station. You have to be able to carry your own luggage and there are a lot of steps--but they also have porters (for a fee) to carry it up. After that, cross the street to get to People Mover (tall white/glass bldg far right corner). You purchase a ticket inside the People Mover bldg from the machine. I believe it's the last stop, not the middle one.

There are post about Venice shuttles on Italy forum and also on royal carib forum. Information should be similar for Celebrity, which is owned by RCI. We took the shuttle from Tronchetto in August. Shuttle is for cruise guests. You book via travel agent or cruise line. Agents will have a list with your name to check in. FYI-no bathroom on 2 hr ride, but stop for bathroom midway. Have euro change.

Wondering how strict Princess has been on post-Covid sailing for wine brough onboard at ports? As AU/NZ has lots of wineries, we'd like to bring wine onboard from some of our port stops. Whether we could drink onboard vs. only retrieving at the end of the sailing would impact how many bottles we purchase. And, does it matter if the wine was purchased on a Princess winery excursion? Thanks, Elaine

I use this when picking OB OV. Views vary greatly--assume you'll not get one of the good ones. But, for $20PP, I'd certainly go for that and bid over--maybe $32-$52 range. For July 2025, OB OV is $100PP over Inside regular pricing. https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/ships/ov.php?ship=Sapphire-Princess&cabins=C106-C109

Info from September—We took shuttle to Ravenna and then took train to bologna and then onto Florence, but could’ve continued to Rome. We booked our Ravenna-Florence train tickets in advance. Booked shuttle to Ravenna onboard.

Our Air2Sea on RCI got changed to 11:05am. Sat in July-tons of ships in port...we'll do self-assist debark at 7 (or whenever we can) and get a taxi. No other option without big increase in fare.

We also walked the Paseo A Maritime. Lovely, safe walk.

If it's you're only option (including any future possible trips) to see Florence, I would go. It's much smaller than Rome and beautiful. [When DD17 wanted to see Paris--it was 3 hours on tour bus each way. We had only a whirlwind 4 hours to (literally) run around Paris, but she loved it.] Florence can be a very enjoyable walk-about with out even having any museums, etc. reserved for 4-6 hours. Viewing the outside of the Duomo (esp the bronze door scenes), walking by the "fake" David in the square, walking over the bridge, stopping at a cafe for a snack/drink, and meandering down the little side streets doing some leather shopping is a wonderful day. With that said, Cinque Terre is one of the most beautiful areas in the world-small cliffside villages in an incredible setting. It's very close to La Spezia.

Also, you can prebook tickets for Basilica and Doges Palace. Doges advance ticket is likely not needed for May. Basilica is free for most parts, but we still did prebooked just to make sure we got in without a wait--but that was August.

Yes. That assumes there’s no delay in departing as independent guests. But I think 8:30 is “safe.” You have to make sure to get early departure tags-8am ones. If they give you later ones than you requested, just go to guest services and swap them out.