MeHeartCruising

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).

Or you could be like the over-prepared me!  I was staying the night before at a Waterloo area hotel, so I went into the station the night before to check it all out in advance.  I watched things for about 15-20 minutes to see where things were and how the big travel board updated, etc.  The next morning, I still got there about 45 minutes early, just in case.  😀

Seriously, I would try to get in front of the travel board at least 20 minutes prior to your departure so you can find your train listing and then monitor the screen until it tells you which track to head to.  

17 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

Re donkey poo, were you able to keep your footwear free of donkey poo?  Thanks!

No worries.  Donkey poo can be washed off easily in the ship's swimming pool!

4 minutes ago, JeanKC said:

Thank you - It was compulsory to have travel insurance on our last cruise (different cruise line) earlier this year and they asked for proof of insurance. Doesn't have to be cruise specific, just a standard policy that covers medical, repatriation, etc. Same policy still in place so I'm happy that it covers what I need it to cover but I'm just surprised that we did not have to have it. 

You are smart.  I'm a believer in having travel insurance for the medical issues.  I purchase an annual plan from an insurance carrier to cover this.  It doesn't cover things like trip cancellation, lost luggage, delayed flights, etc.  I can deal with money loss from those things.  But if you have a medical issue on another continent and need to be evacuated back home.... that's where I want to be insured.  Since I take multiple international trips per year, I just buy an annual plan instead of one for every trip I take.   Speaking of...it's time to renew mine before I jet off to Switzerland in September!  Safe travels.

10 minutes ago, JeanKC said:

Hi

Can anyone tell me if getting travel insurance is mandatory or just recommended? I thought it was mandatory and we do have it as we have annual multi-trip policies, but I was expecting to be asked to upload proof of insurance as part of our on-line check-in, but wasn't. So, now I'm wondering if I need to worry about bringing proof of insurance with us at all? 

 

Thanks

 

 

In the United States, travel insurance of any kind, is purely optional for customers to purchase.  In fact, I'd be willing to bet that the majority of Americans do not purchase travel insurance for most of their travel.

Since you live in Ireland, the rules may differ.  Hopefully those who reply to this question will know what they are talking about for Ireland.

16 hours ago, LisaDee said:

My friend and I each have nontransferrable vouchers from a late price drop.  They are expiring soon.  My friend isn’t able to sail before the expiration date.  My question is, if I book a cruise for the two of us sharing a cabin with the 2 vouchers and she doesn’t show up, will there be any financial impact to me?  In other words, am I able to get around the nontransferrable aspect of the voucher this way?  I’m looking for solo rates but haven’t found any good ones other than guarantee Oceanview cabins which I don’t want.  Will the cabin still be charged the free at sea gratuities and port charges for the 2nd guest if she doesn’t show up?

 

Thanks!

I doubt this has happened often enough for anyone to comment for certain.  My GUESS is that you would slip thru the system and get away with it by doing this.  I doubt NCL has a process in place to prevent it.  But that is just a guess.  Good luck.  I hope it works for you if you try it!

You would definitely have time.  The cathedral and Titanic Experience are just a 5 minute walk or so from each other and from the ship.  This is a very small town.  The Titanic Experience is a nice experience (for lack of a better word).  Be sure to book your tickets in advance.  You will also have time to pop into some of the shops/bars/restaurants, if you want.  And to walk along the waterfront.  It is a nice day.  It was a rainy day when I was there and I still enjoyed it.

I'd suggest you walk up the hill on West View Street to West View Park for some great pictures of the row of houses with the cathedral behind.  Then from the top of that hill walk over and back down to the Cathedral.  

I think I would do the December cruise.  Weather differences between the 2 are going to be minimal.  The first cruise is over the US Thanksgiving Holiday and that could mean more children on board.  Mazatlan is a decent port, but nothing special. 

1 hour ago, Harters said:

Just out of interest, where would you suggest I exchange surplus dollars, after a holiday in the States? Other than exchange places at airports, we've never found another solution. American banks never seem to be able to do it.  So, we've always kept the American currency in case of a future visit, or a visit to the States by family or friends - but it's not ideal. 

Exchange booths at airports are probably your only option.  Most US banks won't have international currency to do exchanges.  We  generally have to order it in advance here and it takes a few days to get it delivered to our local bank for pickup.  There may be a few banks in the largest cities that MIGHT have some currency exchange capabilities, but you'd waste time trying to find them.  It's just not a commonly used service here, so banks don't offer it.  I have seen a handful of currency exchange "stores" in a few larger cities, but not a lot.

11 hours ago, Girr said:

I was on the Epic earlier this month and asked the concierge about the shuttle to the train station, and it wasn't offered.  What was offered was a shuttle service to Piazza del Municipio which is a little over 1.5 miles from the central train station.  If I remember correctly the cost was around 7 euro per person.  At the piazza it was a zoo - lots of ships in port that day.  I did notice a lot of buses picking up people to transport them on to Pisa, Florence, Lucca, etc. from the piazza.  (One bus had a sign on it with the name tuscanybus.com).  There were plenty of taxis at the port so if you can find a taxi to take you directly to the train station it would probably be a better option.

With the above info ^^^, you could take a city bus from Piazza del Municipio to the train station.   We did this in reverse on our visit (years ago).  It was not a long ride at all.

There were many, many taxis waiting at our dock in Athen when I disembarked in May.  

Not all of them may be happy to only take a fare into Athens.  I got in the first cab in line as instructed by a traffic officer.  After about a mile of the driver trying to convince me to take a longer ride, he told me that he was going to drop me off at another taxi stand so I could take another taxi.  I resisted, but he persisted.  After a bit of a shouting match, I agreed to be let out so that could just get away from him.  He did not charge me anything for the short ride.  From what I hear, this is an unusual occurrence, however.  I suggest you do the taxi, but make sure the driver is happily taking you.  If not, move to the next taxi.

Your 150 minutes of WiFi will work on the ship until your 150 minutes run out.  Then it won't.

I don't think an international Verizon phone plan will help you out while on the ship at sea.  Cellular service on ships is expensive and usually not included in these type of plans.  The Verizon plan would help you with phone and wifi coverage while on shore in port countries. It would also work while docked at the port with you sitting on the ship.

I would not buy a Verizon plan just for wifi coverage on a ship.  It doesn't help.

I’d also recommend you just DIY.  Research where to get to the TV sites you wish to see inside the walled city. All very walkable.  You just need a city bus or ship shuttle bus (if available) to get to the walled portion of the city.  Very easy to do.  Definitely walk the walls if you’re up for it. 

Larger international airports (like Barcelona) will have currency exchange booths for you to convert Euros to Dollars.  Expect a bad exchange rate.  They usually won’t accept coins unless it helps round out the transaction to make it easier for them.  
 

I also would recommend that you only bring a minimal amount with you (or none) and just get a small amount from ATMs as needed.  Then I just try to spend it down to as close to zero as I can before I leave Europe.  Use credit cards whenever you can.  I also just keep the leftover Euros for a future trip.  But, if you don’t think you will go again, convert the rest even though the exchange rate sucks.