MeHeartCruising

I would also suggest taking the train from Rotterdam to Paris.  You will then be in the city center of Paris to get to a hotel and then sightsee all day/night.  Then the next day go to the airport for your flight home.

I see hourly trains (with no change of trains) from Rotterdam Central Station to Paris Gare du Nord that takes just over 2.5 hours.  Much less hassle than dealing with 2 airports.

Since I posted above, and after I viewed the entire video, I now recall that the path back down at the end of the tour is a series of many steps downward (as shown at the end of the video) and not an asphalt path.  Also, I seem to recall that our Ephesus tour guide actually turned our group over to a different guide who was already inside the Terrace Houses for that portion of the tour.  Then we rejoined our regular guide at the bottom of the hill after viewing the houses.  I could be wrong on that.  But I'm pretty sure we weren't just turned loose inside.  Someone what explaining things to us some.

When I went, I was with a guide who walked thru the Terrace House with us.  There was no dropping off.  I do not know what you have arranged with your guide.

We entered the houses at the lowest level (ground level for the rest of Ephesus) and as you explore the houses, you gradually climb up sets of steps.  The steps are generally 5-10 steps or so at a time.  Then a viewing area.  A walkway.  Then more steps.  At the top of the terrace, we exited the building and walked back downhill on an asphalt pathway to a location at "ground level", not far from where we entered the building to begin the tour.

You can view videos on YouTube of what the experience is like.  You can see the steps in the videos.  This one shows good examples of the steps and walks.  There are plenty of places to linger and rest up for the next set of steps, if needed and if there isn't someone forcing you into some continued movement.

NOTE:  This post may be moved by the moderators to the Other Mediterranean Ports forum.  Ephesus is in Turkey, not Greece.  

For port of call visits, it will never be 2 hours prior.  There is a VERY old phrase posted on NCL's website that indicates you need to be on board 2 hours prior.  But that is a badly worded paragraph that refers to when you need to arrive for checkin at the embarkation port -- at least 2 hours prior to departure.  But for normal port visits it is usually 30 minutes before disembarking.  But as stated above, be certain to check with your daily newsletter for exact times.  There will also be a sign at the gangway as you're leaving (and people you can ask to confirm).  I always allow at least one hour.

I would not do this either.  Your bag will be tossed sideways on to a cart with 30 other suitcases on top of it so they can be put on to the ship.  Any suitcase with its handle extended would be just asking to be broken.  And your second bag would not necessarily be kept with the first bag.   I doubt the porter that you hand your luggage off to would even accept if from you with the handle up and a second bag stacked on the handle.  You need 2 luggage tags.  Or carry on the smaller bag.

Just now, LDL1220 said:

I am going to arrange a transfer via RomeCabs. What is the latest I can comfortably arrive at the port? 

 

Your input is greatly appreciated

appreciated? 

Your cruise line needs to be the one to tell you what time you comfortably need to be at the port.  It varies from sailing to sailing.  What is the departure time shown in your cruise paperwork?  The cruise line probably also has a guideline for how many hours prior to sailing that you need to check in.  Get those numbers and give them to RomeCabs and they can tell you when they need to leave Rome to get you there in time.

5 minutes ago, LDL1220 said:

Is it reasonable to visit the Vatican on an embarkation day? We will be staying at Hotel Smeraldo. How do we go about getting tickets and what is the earliest time to enter? 

What is your definition of "visit the Vatican"?  You can enter St. Peter's Cathedral without a ticket.  Entry is free.  However, you need to wait in line to pass thru security.

If you are wanting to visit the Vatican Museums, this is the official site.  You can purchase timed entry tickets on the site.

https://m.museivaticani.va/

You would have time to visit the Vatican in the morning prior to heading to Civitavecchia to catch your ship.  But you will need to have a plan for getting to the port that allows for the visit.  It will also depend on what time your cruise line has told you that you need to be checked in by.

Did you really see any overall price difference on that promo?  Usually, if the promo reduces the price of the second passenger, they simply raise the price an equal amount for the first person or for the cruise as a whole.  It seems they used to have promos that went back and forth that way.  But the bottom $ was always pretty much exactly the same.

I generally find the best price point for flights to Europe at about the 9-months out point.  But you truly never know for sure.

I also think you misread the reaction.  IF I tip extra, I usually go with $20 total.  You did not undertip.  He was probably confused as to what that much money was for.

1 hour ago, bbnmom said:

So what I am saying is I have always been able to see what staterooms were available when selecting anything not sail away.  This time I wanted a club balcony but not sail away but it automatically came up as guaranteed and I see no way to bypass that in order to see what decks and staterooms are available.

While it doesn't always happen, NCL has always had this situation for some cruises.  People get used to thinking the Sail Away rate is the definition of a guarantee cabin.  And that all other rates permit cabin selection by the buyer.  That is not the case.  Sail Away rates means they do not include the Free At See perks AND they do not permit cabin selection -- they are a guarantee category.  
 

However, Guarantee categories still exist in other cases.  Such as you are seeing.  You can indeed SOMETIMES buy a Guarantee category with the Free At See perks.  They are not always available.

While probably feasible to do the Venice timing, I would much prefer to add the extra day and enjoy some time in Bologna.  It would be a much more pleasant way to wind down a vacation than stressing about making it to Venice in time.  And Venice Airport can be a stressful airport to deal with.

1 hour ago, fletch5727 said:

Thank you!  This is exactly what I was hoping for.

 

You're welcome.  I will add, that I suggest you visit the customer service desk during your first cruise (first few days), and make sure they have you on their list as a B2B passenger.  They probably do.  But it never hurts to make sure.  This is how they know to deliver the instruction letter to you a couple days before turnaround day.  Enjoy your cruises!  It's a great area to explore. 

For my May sailing, Royal Caribbean was selling transfers from Ravenna to Venice Marco Polo airport for flights as early as 10:50am.  Those transfers left the ship at 6:30 and required you to carry off your own luggage (I think).

What transportation were you planning to use to get to Venice from Ravenna?  If you plan on using Royal's transfer service, you can call them and they will tell you acceptable times.  You can purchase the transfer in advance or on the ship.  I would purchase in advance, if I were you.

In this thread, I posted a picture of my Royal Caribbean app showing details about purchasing the transfer while on the ship.

Your excursion will most certainly start at some time in the fairly early morning and be finished 6 hours later.  You will likely be dropped off in Fira at the end of the excursion with a ticket to the cable car to ride back down to the tender boats at your leisure.  You can stay up in Fira as long as you desire.  So, you should be able to see the sunset from your desired location in Fira.  

Generally, when I add an NCL excursion to my shopping cart on their website, selection of the start time for the excursion is included in that process.   Do you not see that on the excursion page (on the right side of the screen).

59 minutes ago, judydan said:

has anyone done this tour with Norwegian cruise line, it states 6hrs we were wondering what time of day it gets over, do you see the sunset?

 

Since scheduled arrival times in Santorini vary with different ships, I think the timing will be based upon your particular arrival time.  Excursions would normally start shortly after your scheduled arrival time.  What time does YOUR ship arrive in Santorini?

Will it work?  Probably.  I think the cups are just all set up to work for 2 weeks after whatever activation takes place.

Will you be caught or called out for it?  I don't see that happening.

Is it allowed? There is nothing to stop you.

Is it Royal Caribbean's intent to have you do this?  No.

Is it wrong?  I'm not going to take the time to look for rules that permit it or not.  You can do that or decide on your own.  My guess is that Royal Caribbean either has wording in some terms and conditions that say "for the current cruise" or they didn't think to include that because they thought it was unnecessary.

I did this in May on the Explorer at Ravenna.  There were probably more than 100 people doing the B2B.  They left an instruction letter in the cabin a day or 2 prior.  We were processed in one of the lounges on the turnaround morning.  At that time, they had a security computer that processed us off the ship.  We were then given our new key card.  If we had plans to leave the ship, they had “in transit” passes to give us to let us bypass the normal boarding process.  If you didn’t have plans to leave the ship, you just went about your day.  It was pouring rain, so I just stayed on board.  It was a very easy process, but I did have to wait in line for about 20 minutes to get thru this process.  

22 hours ago, Stonymtncruiser said:

We were there in Nov 2022. Off the ship early and took a cab to the train station then on to the train to Florence. Cab was inexpensive split between 2 couples. We were able to extend our stay in Florence by doing this ourselves rather than using the ship. 

Correct.  This is no doubt the best way for DIY'ers to go from the port to the train station.  Unfortunately, it is not always easy to accomplish.  Not all taxi drivers will take this fare.  You won't know until you get there if it will work or not.  In my case, we did find a taxi to take us to the station like this poster.  However, we had 4 or 5 drivers who told us they would not take us before we finally found one to do it.  We also teamed up with another small group to fill the cab and reduce the per-person price.

Also, when we arrived back to the Livorno train station after the day in Florence there were zero taxis waiting at the station to take us anywhere.  We waited for several minutes and none showed.  We asked a worker inside the station if he could call them and he shrugged his shoulders and did nothing.  We finally ended up getting on a city bus and riding it to the main square in town where we caught the ship shuttle bus back to the port.  

Moral of my story... have a plan.  Have a backup plan.  Know your options so you can make decisions as needed.  Have fun.

I'm pretty certain they will have specific times assigned for you to disembark based upon the flight departure times you give them.   They don't run a continuous shuttle service thru the day to accommodate people leaving the ship anytime they want.  So if you tell them your flights leave Rome at 2:45pm, they will assign you a group number (say 23, corresponding to the bus leaving at 8:30am (I just picked a random time I made up)).  If you tell them your flight is at 1:00pm, they will assign you a group number (say 14, corresponding to the bus leaving at 8:00am (again, a random time I made up)).

The morning of departure, they will call numbers as the buses arrive and get read AND your luggage has been assembled for pickup in the luggage hall.  So group number 14 may not be called around 7:30am or 7:45am or even some other time depending on how the morning challenges arise.  So it is an inexact science.

However, once they call your group number, you leave the ship...get your luggage... pass thru any passport control (if there is any) and then head to your bus.  Once that bus is full, it will depart for the airport.

If you are using a ship shuttle to the airport, they don't make you carry off your own luggage.  But you can if you wish.

When you book the transfer, they will ask you for your specific airline name, flight # and departure times.  That is what they use to assign your disembarkation time (and therefore your bus).  If you want to get to the airport a little earlier... you can fib and use some other set of flight details that you researched on the internet and give them that info.  They don't actually call the airlines to verify you are on particular flights (unless you purchased them thru the cruise line, of course).

9 hours ago, Bloodgem said:

In the UK we can buy different flavors of alcoholic cider like Pear, Raspberry, Toffee Apple, Blood Orange, Dark Fruits etc. Can you buy different flavours in the US or Canada?

I've seen some flavors in some areas of the US.  I have a favorite Farm Market in Winchester, Virginia that sells a handful of flavors -- cherry, raspberry, etc.  But, it is non-alcoholic cider.  I've never bought any of them.  But I tasted there free samples!  I'm not a real fan of cider, but it was decent tasting.

53 minutes ago, vacationut said:

I was browsing some cruises in January and no longer see booking the 2-for-1 airfare as an option. Thinking maybe it's too close of a date so I looked at some in August 2024 and they don't have it either. Seems strange since they still have it on their banner. Did they discontinue this offering and I missed it? 

The promo terms found here...

https://www.ncl.com/about/terms-and-conditions/promotions

...indicate it is an available feature of SELECT 7+ night cruises.  It also indicates it's only available for cruises more than 110 days out, so definitely not for short-term cruises.

I did a quick look at a July 2024 cruise in Northern Europe (July 14 on Prima) and it indeed offers the airfare promotion.   

Why not call Celebrity to make sure it's accurate and current information.  

Living in Pennsylvania, in the USA, I've been to multiple cider presses in local, rural areas.  I can assure you that, at least here, the apples being made into cider were used skin and all. Apples were poured into the vat unwashed, unchecked for worms, bugs, etc. and then squished by a wooden cider press.  The liquid then drained out of the bottom of the press and through a sieve (but not a filter) to trap large pieces of anything.  And then put in a jar. 

At least that's how I've seen it done.  Seeing the condition of the apples going into the press somewhat made me no longer have the desire to drink cider.

It is a rather clumsy port that has been thrown together for cruise ship use.  I don't know the answer for certain.  But if you use Google Maps Streetview, you can see a small gravel/grass parking lot with a blue "P" sign in it that appears to be a parking lot.  The image is dated September 2022, so relatively recent.  There is a much bigger open lot on the satellite view, but it doesn't appear to be a parking lot.  But perhaps they have converted it.  I do know that there are no parking garages at the pier (I was there in May).