True Romance

Boarding the NCL Jade on 8/8/21 with a port day in Rhodes from 8-5pm. Planning on touring old town on are own. Would love to find a nice beach area for lunch and to enjoy some time in the water.  I know there is a beach super close to the port to walk to. Any other beach recommendations we can take a taxi to enjoy for a couple of hours?  Big plus if there are lounge chairs and umbrellas we can get access to.  

Any recommendations on companies that will do a private charter for around 5 hours or so for a party of 12 in Corfu? Nautilus is not available. Will be in port in Aug.  13 with the NCL Jade. 

Thanks. 

On 2/28/2020 at 1:17 PM, klfhngr said:

Mazatlan: I highly suggest Stone Island, we all loved it. We've been there on 4 or so cruises and have taken others there. They have all loved it. Hang out at Lety's (Victor's used to be the spot, but word is that he's no longer open, he comes and goes). At Stone, you can do a lot of water sports and ATV. ATV's here are cheap, and you can ride all over the beach! Waiters at Lety's can hook you up. You can also do a banana boat here, jet ski, parasail, etc.! Very active place and also a great place to chill. Food is the BOMB and cheap!!! Head back to the ship an hour or so early and hang out at the bars by the ship or shop!

Thanks klfhngr, we are excited to check out Stone Island for the first time in April.  Do you suggest we bring a bunch of smaller US bills or should we get Pesos to pay for the activities on Stone Island?

Any idea of an approximate per hour cash rate for a private taxi tour in Corfu? I am playing the port by ear, also not sure about weather as this will be on Nov. 5th. I want to see the island and go to Paleokastritsa but do not want to pre-commit to a tour time and pre-reserve a taxi.  We are there off season and only 2 ships in port that day so I am hoping to hire a taxi when we disembark. Any idea on what is the hourly going rate for a taxi hire? If I plan on 40Euro on hour does that sound about right?

TIA

20 hours ago, slidergirl said:

It indeed looks like some track maintenance work or some such thing,  I didn't look at Ostiense specifically, but I put in "tutti" (all stations) and all have the same diversion.

 

Sometimes we get hit with "gotcha" into our perfect plans - sorry this one is yours. 

Yeah, it is all part of traveling. I am just glad I figured it out ahead of time and did not get stuck with this knowledge the day of.

19 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

there's a 'chat' feature on the tren italia site, 9am -6pm.   

Might be worthwhile asking what the issue is, and if there's a chance the timing of the track mtx could change ?

You might get nowhere, but it doesnt hurt to try.    

Thank you, that was a good idea. I did do the chat and they had no idea what I was talking about. I could not send them a screen cap to explain and show them the discrepancy.  

1 hour ago, lisiamc said:

When I look at the timetables for 31st October, the disrupted service starts from about 10 am, and then continues that way on 1st and 2nd November.  By the morning of Sunday 3rd November, it’s back to normal.  It looks to me like engineering work on that line.  You might be best to book the cruise line transfer.

Crap, that is what I was afraid of. Thank you for confirming my suspicion. I do realize we are traveling in the off season. This is now throwing my entire plans out the window.

Any clue how flexible the Colosseum is with showing up an hour late for self guided general entrance ticket I pre-purchased? 

Can anyone think of what could be up with the Trenitalia site showing 2 change of trains for this Nov. 2nd? It is a Saturday and 3 ships are in port. Every day, other than Nov. 2nd, show the express schedule and trains from Civitavecchia to Ostiense with no changes.  This day shows a change to a bus from Ladispoli-Cerveteri to Maccarese-Fregene and then back on a train to Ostiense. I cannot figure out why. This doubles the time to get into Rome. I have looked all over the site and cannot find a mention of contraction or track work being done. 

TIA for any assistance. I am trying to figure out if I should just book the cruise line bus transfer to get us into the city for the day. I prefer the less expensive train option, but it it is going to take us over 2 hours to get there I might as well grab the bus. Ugh. 

I would like to do a short tour of Bay of Kotor that visits the Blue Cave. Can I find a tour after we get off the ship? We will be the only ship in port on November 6th. Port times are 7am to 3:30pm. 

1 hour ago, euro cruiser said:

It really doesn't make sense to go to Termini if you're headed to the Colosseum, you'll waste time with the last five minutes or so of the train ride into the station (they inch along getting into the station because of the traffic).  Get off at Ostiense and get the metro from there, you'll likely be at the Colosseum around the same time the train finally pulls into Termini.

Perfect, thank you.  Every minute is going to count in my DIY Rome in a Day plan 

11 hours ago, euro cruiser said:

The problem is that you are looking at regional trains too far in advance.  For whatever reason the Trenitalia system doesn't fully load the regionals into the system more than a couple of weeks in advance.  If you look at the schedule for the upcoming Saturday you'll see what will be available when you're there.

Thank you, I was hoping 3 weeks out the schedule would be accurate but I guess not. I was having some panic that maybe construction or something else might be delaying the trains and changing the route.  I do see on Friday 10/31 & Monday 11/3 the trains have the accurate no change of trains schedule. Crossing my fingers there is no unforeseen obstacle that weekend.

I am good going either to Ostiense or Termini. Going to either hop on a metro or walk to the Colosseum from there.  

Are the weekend trains different?  In port on Saturday Nov. 2nd. from 7am to 7pm. Three ships in port that day. My plan was to get off immediately when allowed and walk to the train station and grab a regional train to Roma Termini. Looking on the Trenitalia site today it is telling me the trip will take 2 hour and 18 minutes with 2 changes??? I don't understand,  the weekday schedules have an 1 hour travel time with no change of trains. I am trying to avoid taking the express so I can leave earlier. 

Google Maps is giving me the correct train info to get to Roma Ostiense (no change of trains??)

2 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I think it has less to do with experience and more to do with desire, comfort level and touring style. 

 

My sister and BIL visited Rome on their own via train from Civi on their first visit and did just fine following the advice here and in books like Rick Steves' guides. (They did all of their other ports on their own as well...)  Conversely, there are many who proudly state that it is their third or fourth visit and they are still using the same guided tour service. 

 

The OP seems inclined to DIY, so why not leave it at that?

 

Thank you everyone for all of your insight and suggestions.  

Cruisemom, I agree with you. Comfort level and touring style plays a huge role in how one experiences destinations. I am quick, agile and love walking and  taking public transit around and seeing as much as I can in the time allowed.  I work in the travel industry, travel often and am comfortable in foreign counties. Besides, I need to walk off all the cruise food in ports :)

The travel style of DIY and cram in as much as possible is not for everyone. I wholeheartedly agree if this is someones first time in a city and they are not comfortable on their own, a guided tour is the way to go. 

9 hours ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

We did both in a day in Rome, but we had pre-purchased our Vatican Museum tickets beforehand. So glad we did as the queue was about half a mile long. For the Colisseum we hadn’t pre-purchased but bought a tour from a tout outside which worked wonderfully well, but I’d recommend buying tickets ahead.

 Good to hear. I was going to pre-purchase tickets.  Were you able to visit other sites and have time to eat lunch too? Luckily we are there in November. 

Thank you Euro and Wheezedr, both with great info and insight. I probably should not kill myself trying to do both and soak in a little more of one place or the other. I know I will be back, so no worry there. I probably will stick to ancient Rome and the Colosseum and leave the Vatican for my next visit.   I also do not want to stress myself out with returning to the ship and give myself plenty of time in case of hiccups.

Thanks again. I really should not try to conquer all of Rome in a day 

Celebrity Constellation is in port on Saturday Nov. 2 from 7am to 7pm.  Do you think it is possible to do both the Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel first thing and then head over to do a Colosseum tour and what else we can fit in before returning via train back to the ship?  2 friends in good shape with no mobility issues and we are good with public transit. 

Is this possible?

3 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

I hesitate to give much advice because Nov 1, 2019 is "All Saints Day" which is a National Holiday throughout France.  And to make matters worse, Nov 1 happens to fall on a Friday which means you are dealing with a 3 day holiday weekend (the French do love their holidays and they seem to have many).  This will mean that public transit (buses and trains) will run on a holiday/Sunday schedule which will impact frequency.  So you will want to do some pre-cruise research to find out if holiday closures will impact your personal plans.

 

Normally we would suggest getting ashore relatively early (remember that this is a tender port) and heading to Nice via the public bus (we normally use the #100 bus).  In the morning we always like to walk over to the Flower Market which is located on sea side of Nice's old town in the Cours Selaya.  But I have no clue as to whether this market will function on Nov 1.  It is an outdoor market that is fun to browse (you learn a lot about the regional culture from these outdoor markets) and perhaps grab something to eat.  We also love to visit St Paul de Vence, but this involves a pretty long bus ride (the #400 bus) if using public transit.  Again, I do not know the impact the holiday will have on St Paul de Vence but suspect that this popular tourist town (even with the French) might be quite busy that day.  It normally is a place to go on Sundays but I have no first hand experience on holidays.  There are also some excellent museums in Nice and of course there is the pretty famous walkway called the Promanade des Anglais.

 

In your situation I might actually try to contact the Nice Tourist Office (via phone or e-mail) and inquire what is open and happening on All Saints Day.  I would expect that many stores/shops will be closed and restaurants (for lunch) will be hit/miss.

 

Hank

Ahhh,  very informative, thank you Hank. It did not even dawn on me that Nov. 1st would be a holiday in France. I know we are going to be in Monte Carlo for Halloween night, so I was poking around to see if anything special was going on for the 31st.   

Great idea about contacting the Nice Tourist Office, I will work on that right now.  Appreciate your insight and alerting me to the holiday. 

Kristi 

On 8/15/2019 at 9:27 PM, Hlitner said:

 On the other hand, if you are planning to go off on your own (our norm) then you can make your decision on the spot.  If the HoHo doesn't come along you could simply take the regular bus into Nice :).  Personally we would not use that HoHo bus because we love to walk in Nice and never spend an entire port day in Nice (we have other places we enjoy in the region).   But for those who want to spend their entire day in Nice and limit their walking it seems like a terrific option.

 

Hank

Hank,  I would love to hear your suggestions of places you enjoy in the region. We will be in port on Nov. 1st from 7am to 5pm, I know not too much time. Planning on doing our own walking tour of Villefranche and taking the city bus into Nice to explore and walk around.    

We visit Monte Carlo the day before, so we will hit up Monaco and Eze on that port day. 

Crisis adverted. Edgewater Hotel. $5 per bag, per day held at bell services.

Good info to know: Southwest will not take bags from Port Valet for passengers departing past 4pm. That info is nowhere to be found on the Port Valet site or flyer.

I have clients on the Bliss right now. They are flying out the day of disembarkation at 8:30pm on Southwest. They were planning on using Port Valet to transfer the luggage to the airport so they can sight-see for the day. The ship is now telling them that SW will not take luggage past a 4pm departure. This is all news to us.

Any ideas of where else they can try to store their luggage? We were told they cannot store the luggage at Pier 66 because the port closes around 5pm or so.

I am about to start calling hotels in the area, but thought I would check here first for some quick answers.

TIA

Disembarking on a Sunday from Carnival and flight home is not until 5:30pm from LAX. Any ideas on where to store luggage and how to kill a few hours between the port and airport?

I posted a message on the Port of Seattle's facebook page, they said the Bliss IS participating in this program this year.

Thoughts on the Sheraton Brooklyn? Any hotels provide shuttle transportation to the port?

I am bumping up this thread. What is everyone's thoughts on the Sheraton Brooklyn? Looking for just a one night pre-cruise hotel sailing out of Brooklyn.

Never mind, I found the answer to my question. Thanks.

Hi,

I am booking guarantee concierge class on the Infinity. Are there any obstructed view cabins I should be worried about possibly getting?