NCteacherlovescruising

I thought I had this all figured out, but now I'm wondering if I should do Rome after the second cruise instead of in-between. For those that are familiar with these places in Italy, which makes more sense? We will fly into Athens on July 1 so we can tour Athens for a couple days pre-cruise. After our NCL cruise from Athens to Venice July 3-12th (hoping to disembark in Venice on the 11th): Spend the 11th in Venice (day and night), then take the high speed train to Rome on the 12th and stay there until we board our second cruise in Naples on the 15th. After that cruise, go to the Amalfi Coast for 2-3 days and possibly back to Tuscany/Florence for a couple nights (This last part may very well get cut by dh as it involves staying more nights and a lot of backtracking). This is my current plan but dh was surprised when he overheard me tell our daughter I wanted to go to Florence after. One issue with this is I may not be able to get a Pantheon view at my chosen hotel since we would only be able to stay 3 nights, instead of the minimum of 4. The Junior Suite I currently have booked at Hotel Smeraldo looks nice and much larger, but no views. I think we would be happy with either, but dh really wants that Pantheon view. Second issue is I don't know if I would be able to convince dh to go back to Tuscany/Florence. OR Spend the 11th and maybe the 12th in Venice, then go to the Amalfi Coast (Or Sorrento) until our cruise on the 15th. If we stay two nights in Venice, I would get an early train to the Amalfi Coast. I see it's a little over 5 hours. Yikes! Maybe that would be better to do in the evening after we're tired from walking all day and then wake up refreshed on the 13th. I need to check the train schedule to see if they have any after dinner time. I think that would take us to Sorrento, not the actual Amalfi Coast, correct? Post cruise, stay at the Albergo del Senato in Rome (they have a 4 night minimum for a pantheon view) July 22-26, and do a day trip to Tuscany and/or Florence. Other important info: I want to visit Positano for sure. Not sure if we will stay there, stay in a nearby town, or Sorrento. We would also like to see Pompeii if we have time, but it's not my top priority. I do love seeing beautiful churches, beautiful architecture, and beautiful beaches and shorelines (Almafi coast). Rome is a top priority because there is so much to see and do there! Getting it all in would be perfect! I want to see Venice, Rome, Positano, and Florence and a beautiful vineyard in Tuscany. I may not be able to do it all... If something has to go it will be Tuscany/Florence. I got a response from my NCL PCC. His response was, "we cannot guarantee early disembarkation, but of course we will not trap you onboard." What does this mean? Do you go through immigration when you disembark there? I don't know legally what a big deal it would be if we just got all our stuff and didn't get back on. I'm sure it would be obvious lugging 4 bags with us. I need to plan out as much as I can this weekend, because Monday I need to start lesson planning for next school year. Fyi, in case you didn't notice my name, I'm a teacher. We are planners. That's what we do.

As long as we could get something that tastes like either pepperoni or sausage I would like it. I’m not a big fan of cheese or margarita pizza. However, it may taste much better in Rome!

That’s good. Is the Frecci train right there as well? Could we buy assigned seating when we arrive? I have no idea what time we’ll be able to disembark. I certainly wouldn’t want to stand for two hours when we plan to walk around Venice all day and night! Maybe the NCL transfer would be a better option. But then we would arrive one place and leave from another making our luggage a possible issue. So this would be a convenient location? I’m so excited! I’ve always wanted to see Italy!! I have no idea which place I will like best. I hope I’m not missing what could potentially be one of my favorite areas, by not including Florence/Tuscany. I always wanted to visit a beautiful vineyard there, but it doesn’t look like we will have time. Currently it looks like (not including port visits while cruising) we will spend: Venice - apx 24 hours Rome - 3 days Amalfi Coast - not sure yet, but probably a couple days, but I’d love to stay longer. Uncertain if we will do day trips from Sorrento or stay somewhere along the coast. Someone on here mentioned a nice little hotel in Praiano that looks great, but others have said it’s much cheaper to stay in Sorrento and do day trips. From what little research I’ve done, it looks beautiful there too. When things starts opening up for booking in a couple months, I will have a better idea. Who knows, maybe I will convince him to spend a night or two in Tuscany and/or Florence before we fly home. I might as well put it in my plan before presenting it to him. He may completely break my heart and tell me I’ve over some budget he hasn’t even set yet. I know it seems as if I’m planning this way too early, but my plan is this. I have a binder with tabs for everyplace we are going. The cover of the binder says it’s our 30th anniversary trip. ❤️ I’m typing up what I want to do and where to stay for each location, including port stops on the two cruises. I will give him a ballpark of known costs (hotels, trains, excursions, which some are already booked, sites, plane tickets, etc). From there he will either approve it (highly doubtful!) and I will start making reservations, or start eliminating what is either too expensive or lower priority.

Yes, if we opt to store our luggage, we will take the train from Trieste to get there and again when we leave to go to Rome. This option is probably best because we could spend as much time as we’d like day 2 since luggage would not be a concern. What benefit would taking the shuttle provide? Is it free? I imagine it would be quite packed with the cruise ship passengers and not sure they could/would accommodate our luggage with most passengers just doing Venice for the day and then heading back to the ship. I haven’t even priced the train yet, just something I planned on, regardless is cost. Yes, I’m aware. That’s why we intend to get a hotel instead of going back to the ship. I would walk if the wait for a taxi was longer, but is it a straight, safe walk? (Safe as in sidewalks, out of the path of cars. If we take the shuttle, does that eliminate this? It seems like the train sounds the easiest. It’s actually starting to sound easiest to store our luggage. Thanks for the links. I don’t see either of the hotels I’m looking at on either list. I found another hotel that looks good on Trip Advisor, Canal Grande, but it looks like it may be much harder to find that the Rialto. I want one that looks like I’m in Venice!

Some recommend storing our luggage, others staying near the train station since we will come and go by train. I know another option is taking it on the vaporetto. One of the hotels I like, Rialto, is right by one of their stops. They have also been very responsive to my emails, so they have scored major points already! Dh just wants to do what’s easiest so IMO that would either be to store luggage or get a room near the train station. It looks like storing luggage would only cost about 20 euros, unless I looked at the wrong location. I googled luggage storage near the train station and several popped up. Which one is right by the train station and do we need to reserve ahead of time or can we just show up and get one? I feel better knowing our luggage would be in lockers and it’s insured, although not for near enough to cover the contents. I pictured a big mess of luggage like you see in airports and cruise terminals, only with employee only access. If we decide to stay near the train station, which hotels would you recommend and why? Any suggestions, other than Rialto, if we opt to store our luggage? Are the checkin/checkout times appropriately the same as in the states?

With only 24 hours or so in Venice, I really don’t like the idea of hunting down a specific place to eat. However, I do love a good glass of wine! Now this we will look for if we stay in that area!! I’m putting that decision on dh because he will be the one that has to deal with our heaviest piece of luggage.

Thanks! Perhaps dh is right and instead of three wheeled pieces of luggage, we should each bring one wheeled and one backpack. I’ll just buy a new one, because our backpacks are really big (they have optional wheels!). I’ve seen several “packing for Europe” videos with smaller backpacks that fit much better over the handle of the wheeled suitcase.

That’s a given! Lol However, we will be there in July. It’s going to be extremely hot so our clothes will most likely get sweaty while walking around in the heat all day. I couldn’t understand why people were saying it’s hard to cross the bridges with suitcases until I saw the pictures and they are steps. I pictured a smooth surface. I asked dh and some of our suitcases have 2 wheels and some are 4. I’m trying to envision why 4 wheels would be harder than 2. Maybe dh’s idea of a wheeled suitcase and a backpack would work better here than two wheeled suitcases. We did self assist getting off our cruise last week and I had no issue wheeling one suitcase. However my backpack was way too heavy so I placed it over the handle of my suitcase (it had all our shoes and our dirty clothes). That made it harder to steer but I wasn’t navigating steps so it was no issue. I could always buy a smaller backpack. By the way, I realize I will not be able to take 7 pair of shoes on this trip! The hotel we’re looking at is in front of a stop too. I’ve read conflicting information on whether or not we can bring on luggage with us on the vaporetto. We plan to buy a 24 hour pass. I have no idea what time we will get there but I doubt it’s early. Our ship docks in Trieste at 6:30. I have no idea what NCL’s policy is for early disembarkation, or if they will allow it but I’ve read where others have. Fingers crossed it’s no issue! I’m so sorry you missed it! Oh my! We’re there plenty of stores around where you could buy a new pair of shoes? I typically wear Birkenstocks, Chacos, or Danskos when I know I will be doing a lot of walking. That’s what I wear to work all the time since I spend so much time on my feet. Comfort is number one! Thw further away you got from St. Marks the more expensive the food was? I would have thought it would be the opposite. We will most likely just find something that looks good when we get hungry, but we will only have about 24 hours there. Good to know the second morning we would have time to do something without the crowds, before catching our train to Rome. Had you dh been to Venice before? I just went to the App Store to download this. It appears to be free. Is it? I plan on seeing both. I was also planning on a guided tour. Do you think you would have enjoyed it more had you done so? If you had it to do over again, would you have stored your bags or taken them with you? So many of you are saying after getting there they didn’t have any desire to ride a gondola. I still have a romantic vision of dh and I riding one with a bottle of wine. Maybe it would be better at night after all the day trippers are gone. Of course, that is still dependent of NCL allowing us to disembark early. It sounds like you enjoyed just wondering around town more than seeing the tourist sites. I wish we could have more time there, but to do that I’d have to cut Rome short and there’s so much I want to see and do there! Thanks so much for sharing your experience!

So it is possible to take a large suitcase on the vaporetto? I’d like to stay at the Rialto as well. We will most likely have one large suitcase, one carry on, and a garment bag all on wheels, plus a backpack, so 4 pieces total.

I heard they were quite expensive. I think we’re either going to stay near the train station or store our luggage there.

Thanks! I will look for that brand. Yeah, I didn’t think it would be a good idea. We’ll probably go straight to the ship after we leave Rome anyway. I will look while we’re in Rome. Where is the best area to shop for nice souvenirs, like leather goods? Shouldn’t be hard to find then. I wonder if they would have them duty free on the ship. Congratulations on your retirement! We still have at least 6 years to go. Are you purchasing a home there? I bet your Italian is pretty good by now! I don’t know if I’d care for pizza that’s wet in the middle, but I’d love to try it. We like thin and crispy, fire oven pizza. Maybe we should play it safe and order bottled water. I recall when I was young, just the ice in my soda in Mexico made me so ill my parents had to take me to the emergency room.

This is quite helpful. Thank you!

Sounds like they would be very high quality, but super expensive. Do you have a general price range? I’m always losing my gloves! Where would be the best place to buy a good quality leather purse? Not designer. Rome, Venice, Amalfi Coast? Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we will have time for Florence. 😔 I love a good meat lovers or pepperoni and sausage pizza. What should I order there? How often do you get to Italy? Is your career related to archaeology or just a major hobby? So you think Naples has the best pizza? We won’t be staying in Naples, but our cruise is round trip from there. We would have all our luggage with us. Would it be possible to eat pizza with all our luggage? I was planning on eating dinner on the ship, but if it’s a must then… We tend to like thin crust, wood fired pizza. Maybe we would prefer the pizza in Rome. Is their tap water safe? If so, why do the locals order bottled water? Will they bring me ice water upon request? I know they aren’t big on ice there.

I’ve been using Duolingo for a couple of weeks. I have a year to learn some basics. I just got Busuu too. Thanks! Hopefully I’ll retain a little between now and next summer.

I need to keep this info! Do all the good restaurants require reservations? I keep seeing Osteria da Francesco recommended on TicTok. There’s another they highly recommend there is in Trastevere, Tonnarello. Have you been there? I was planning on trying it.

I’m sure we will, but may need it again. If not, we can always wait until we’re on the second cruise.

I plan to! That’s a good idea! Thanks!

We will. I have given my dh all the info I’ve learned and will let him make the decision. I know he wants what’s easiest with the luggage. I don’t know what he thinks that will be, but it will boil down to convenience. From what I’ve read on here, it doesn’t sound like we would be able to bring all our luggage on a vaporetto. We will be in Europe for 3-4 weeks. We will have quite a bit of luggage, even with the plan to repeat outfits. Speaking of which, do you know if the two hotels were looking at in Rome offer laundry service? (Hotel Smeraldo and Albergo del Senato) When it comes down to it, I doubt he will pick the option of taking a water taxi since it’s only for one night. It would be different if we were staying several. I assume he will either get a room near the train station or store our luggage there and get a room in the area we want to tour.

I didn’t find that info on there. I just saw a bunch of adds for excursions and a 48 hour itinerary. Perhaps it would look different if I weren’t on my phone. Thanks so much! I just talked to dh and told him some of the suggestions y’all have made. He said he just wants to do what’s easiest with the luggage. That could be any number of things…a hotel near the train station, storing our luggage, or getting a water taxi. 🤷‍♀️ My next question is this. Our ship arrives at 6:30 AM. I have no idea when they will let us off, if they will even allow us to disembark early, which I don’t have a clear answer to yet. If we opt to get a room near the train station or get a water taxi, will the hotel store our luggage somewhere secure until our room is ready? I’m still not sold on the idea of getting a room near the train station. I’d love to be in the heart of it all, so we could walk around Venice at night for cocktails or pastries or whatever we’re in the mood for. I hear it’s beautiful at night, once the day trippers are gone, and I would love to experience it. Someone mentioned the Rialto Hotel and that a water taxi would take us right to it. It doesn’t get much more convenient than that! I see it’s right by the bridge, which is cool, so I assume there are plenty of things we could do after dark in that area as well.

That’s cheaper than our NCL beach transfer. Are water taxis readily available to get us back to the ship?

What a shame! Which beaches would you recommend to avoid this? I know you are a DIY type. With this being our first time would you recommend the ship beach excursion for ease or is the bus system easy and reliable enough to do on our own? The NCL excursion doesn’t say where we are going. This is the only description provided so who know where they would take us.

Looks like we’re all set for these Greece ports. We’re doing ship excursions for Santorini and Corfu, a private excursion in Zakynthos and the beach in Mykonos.

My friends are good with doing a private boat tour in Zakynthos so we will be doing a beach day in Mykonos. Problem solved.

Good news! Thanks for sharing!

I believe that’s the place for the busses, but I could be wrong. I am considering the same idea by the train station since that’s how we will get there and to Rome. A canal view would be nice but honestly with one night I doubt we’ll do much more than sleep after an exhausting day of trying to cram it all in! That’s good to know! I still may do both! We don’t think anything about the crazy restaurant prices for a bottle of wine here when we go out for a nice dinner so why should we get upset over being overcharged for a cup of coffee. I makes sense the way you explained it. Is their tap water unsafe? I drink ice water all day. I even keep my yeti filled up with ice water by my bed at night. Sounds like we a going to have to store it or get a room by the train station. It’s all good. I wasn’t planning to. We will do Venice on our own. Hopefully we have time to do some wondering either after we hit all the hotspots on my list or the next morning before boarding the train to Rome. It’s finally sunk in. Thanks! Who knows, maybe once we’re there I won’t find them appealing either. I’m my moms it seems very romantic. Noted, thank you! I am well prepared for the prices. Dh may not be, but I am.