KATSEKIS

Vacation!!! :D :D

 

Hi all

 

Tomorrow, very early in the morning I'll fly with my sister to Rome. There we will board the Jewel of the Seas.

It's her first cruise. I'm so curious how she will like it.

 

I will not write a lot here. But I'd like to share some pictures with you. And especially post them online so that our family and friends can follow our cruise.

Happy cruising :D

 

What time did you get off the ship when you returned back to Rome?

Just finished a 7 night Greek Isles cruise on Jewel 8/14/16. After months of planning and anticipation, was an amazing vacation.

Arrived in Rome the day before, staying at Hotel Alimandi Vaticano which was so conveniently located across the street from the Vatican which was perfect for our half day tour there. Hotel came with a beautiful breakfast. We did a 3 hour walking Vatican tour with our tour guide Massimo from Easitaly Tours, who was fantastic!!

We used Stefano Rome cabs for transfers from airport to hotel and hotel to port. The ride to the port only took 50 mins, we arrived at the port at 11:00 and were on the ship by 11:15. The process was so quick and easy.

The ship is beautiful and the staff was incredible. The diamond lounge concierge was so helpful although only has another week left before his 3 month vacation. As I get my pictures uploaded I will try and post the ports and detail the excursions we did, but feel free to ask any questions.

Was truly one of the best cruises we have ever done!! So sad to be home!!

What time did you get off the ship when you returned to Rome?

What time did you get off the ship when you returned back to Civitavecchia?

Has any one tried to win the Embassy Suites on priceline? We would like to stay there post cruise April 25.

I tried to get Embassy Suites today, but ended up with San Juan Water and Beach Club. I got it on Priceline with my first bid of $75 for April 25. We have an early flight on the 26th, so it will work out okay since it's very close to the airport. It has some great reviews and some not so good ones, but we will only be there to sleep for one night, so I'm sure it will be fine. And you can't beat the price!!

So Mrs. Katesakis, are you staying at the Intercontinental for April 16-18? That is when we will be staying there, so if you are, maybe we could arrange to meet there for a drink before the cruise starts (have no idea of our schedule really yet, but we're thinking of renting a car for Saturday).

We will be at the Intercontinental April 16 ~ 18. Our flight arrives at 10 pm on Friday night. We are thinking about going into town Sat. morning and taking the ferry over to do the tour at the Bacardi Rum factory. Then back into Old San Juan for some siteseeing. I'm sure we can arrange to meet sometime Sat. night or Sun. morning. Are you sailing on the Caribbean Princess?

Katsekis, are you Greek? Your name sounds it.

 

Thanks for the tips on bidding for the Intercontinental Hotel. Being that we got the Caribe Hilton for the 25th, I am thinking of maybe trying for the Intercontinental for that same weekend you got and just paying more than we likely would for the Caribe just to experience something different rather than check into the same hotel we were staying in just a week prior.

Hey Greek Gal, Yes, my husband is Greek!

I figured I would get the Caribe Hilton when I started bidding. It seemed like that was the resort that everybody was getting. I started bidding at $80 and did every combination I could for 2 days until I got to $111 and got the Intercontinental. I was really surprised, but happy. I still have to bid for April 25.

Resort

Intercontinental Isla Verda

April 16, 2010

2 nights

$111 per night

$34.42 taxes

$256.42 total

Not quite!

 

In order to NOT get a resort in another zone, you need to re-bid in a zone that DOES NOT HAVE RESORTS. This is called a free re-bid. So before you start bidding, select every zone individually. The ones that do not have resorts write the zones down so that if your first bid isn't accepted, you can add these zones as free rebids right away. Otherwise you'd need to wait 24 hours before bidding again. This also allows you to not overbid since you can start low and work your way up. Be sure to NOT change the star level. Keep it at RESORT just add the zones.

 

Here's a sample bidding strategy:

Select - San Juan - Resorts- bid xxx

add Cabo and rebid xxx

add Dorado and rebid xxx

add Maya and rebid xxx

add Ponce and rebid xxx

 

If you notice, each zone that I added has no resorts which ensures that the bidding goes back to my initial zone which is San Juan. I was able to snag the Intercontinental for $91 in January, so priceline is a good option if you know how to bid and want to save some money.

 

Hope this helps. I'm a priceline junkie!!!!:D I can bid and write up strategies in my sleep. There's even a way to squeeze more free rebids than the above strategy, but that's for the more experienced users. If you have more questions though, feel free to ask.

 

Happy Bidding! ;)

Hello lknight27,

Thanks for the bidding info for San Juan. Since you are a Priceline Junkie, I need some help. I just read a post from toonjie dated Jan. 23, 2010, she said that Betterbidding.com is listing the Hyatt in the Dorado area as a Resort. And Priceline is listing the Hilton in Ponce as a resort. Do you know if this is true?

I need a room in San Juan on April 16 for 2 nights and April 25 for 1 night. I'm scared to add Dorado and Ponce for a re-bid if they both have Resorts.

Thanks,

katsekis

I need April 15 for 3 nights and April 25 for 1 night. Anybody had any luck with these dates?