NCteacherlovescruising

Does that mean they don’t take care of our luggage on this mess? And is that connection at LHR long enough?

I had no idea. What if you choose the option that is all through JFK. Would we still have to deal with our luggage? It has a LONG layover. And I was mistaken. I forgot, although I got global entry months ago, my husband also applied back in August and has never heard from them. If we take one of the flight that first go to EWR or LGA, which is easier to get to JFK from?

Sorry, yes it’s EWR. We have Global Entry, which includes pre-check. I assumed since it was connecting flights they would transport our luggage. When they did have tickets options, months ago when we first started looking, everyone said they didn’t leave enough time to make our connecting flights so we didn’t buy them. We could buy nonstop tickets but would have to fly economy. My husband is a big guy and he doesn’t want to do that. He’s not huge, but big enough that he wants the extra space. They do have a Clt-JFK, JFK-FCO. It has a 12.5 H layover and I think it’s about 15-20,000 more points, which we have. You think it’s worth it? That’s a really long time to be stuck at an airport!

After reading your concerns about our current plans to fly Clt to Munich and then buying separate tickets to Rome, we are using miles for tickets from CLT to Rome. We only have enough (we want Premium Economy for the extra room) miles for connecting flights from LaGuardia and then JFK to Rome. We have options of 6 H, 7.5 H or 13 H. Is 6 hours plenty of time? I see travel time by taxi is approximately 90 minutes. I assume the airlines take care of transporting our luggage, correct? Or do we have to retrieve it and check them in at JFK?

I’ve taken everything you all said into consideration, slept on it, and discussed with my husband. We are going to stick with our current plan of staying in Rome 5 nights and doing a day trip to Tuscany. We will skip Florence this time. There are many areas of Italy left for us to see and we hope to return. @cruisemom42 While we take many vacations around the states where we stay somewhere for an extended period of time, when we travel outside the states it’s typically on a cruise where we get a snapshot of several places. For instance, over Easter we’ve rented a home in the mountains for a week. I greatly appreciate all the help everyone here has provided!

Perhaps we would be better off canceling that flight and booking Charlotte to Rome. I see a flight we have enough miles for Premium Economy that is CLT-EWR, with a 13h 29m layover, JFK-Rome. Is there anything close enough to the airports we could do without spending a whole day just hanging out at the airport? DH isn't interested in that. lol There's another option with a 6+ hr layover.

I guess we might as well not try to get to Florence this trip. We are cruising from Athens to Venice.

Thanks! We are frequent flyers. I get this. We got a much better deal on premium economy with our miles flying to Munich, rather than direct to Rome. What would you consider more generous? Global Entry only helps us in the US, right? No, were flying to Munich on AA.

Thanks! We will definitely have checked luggage.

We booked a direct flight from Charlotte to Munich with miles. We need to book a connecting flight (is that the proper term?) to either Florence or Rome. How much time should we allow between flights?

Thanks! I will check it out. Another option is to fly into Florence first and hit Tuscany on the way back to Rome, canceling the first night in Rome. Would this give us adequate time to see the main attractions in Rome? Our direct flight from Charlotte is to Munich and we haven’t booked the flight from Munich to Rome yet. The main things I want to see are booked with our tour guide, although this would cause us to need to change our dates with her, and then the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps.

Our tours are booked with Marissa at Rome with Marissa.com. We wouldn’t be going to Florence just for leather goods, just something I wanted to do while we were there. I’ve always wanted to visit a beautiful winery in Tuscany so we’re just debating on a private or group tour to do so and if we should spend our last day in Rome or Florence. We would lose our Pantheon view room in Rome if we split the week and did an overnight trip to Florence. We can skip Florence if it would be too much traveling.

Ok, will set a reminder now!

How far in advance can you make reservations? We will be there in June. Nevermind, looks like it’s 30 days so way too early.

I planned out most of our vacation last summer, made several changes along the way, then I went back to work and have been crazy busy and just left the final plans hanging. Now that we’re trying to get all the details sorted out, one thing I’m having trouble deciding on is our 5 nights in Rome. Too much to do and not enough days! Day 1 - We’re staying at Albergo del Senato so thought we’d visit the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, walk around whatever is near our hotel and go out for a nice dinner. Day 2 - We have a private tour of the Colosseum, forum and Palatine Hill Day 3 - Private tour of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel Day 4 - Thinking about doing a wine tour to Tuscany. Sounds nice to have a relaxing day after 2 days doing a lot of walking. Day 5 - day trip to Florence or stay in Rome? I’d love to visit Florence but are there any must sees in Rome we would have to miss to do this? Also, isn’t Florence where they make the nice, leather bags? I’d like to purchase a purse, belt, and perhaps gloves while we’re there. The tours days 2 and 3 are in the morning. What would be a good to do in the evenings? When should we fit in the Trevi Fountain? Super early before our tours on day 2 or 3, or one evening? Day 6 - Joe Bananas is picking us up at our hotel early to take us to Pompeii for a 2 hour guided tour, then off to our hotel in Amalfi.

Thanks so much! I found what I was looking for and booked our transfers with Joe Banana from Rome to Amalfi with a private tour of Pompeii, then Amalfi to Naples.

Our NCL app has opened up tours for Ravena and they have a few for Venice. How far apart are they? We have two days in Venice post cruise. Is that enough or should we consider booking one of these? Also possibly interested in just staying in Ravena, the Murano Glass and Burano Lace tour, World Heritage Site Town of Ferrara, Bologna, and there are a couple wine tasting tours we might enjoy since we are wine lovers. Anything you would recommend or mark off?

This may seem like a silly question, but I'm trying to locate my own questions, from months ago, in here. I thought there was a way to search for my own threads but I can't seem to figure it out. Now that our vacation is getting closer, I think it's time to start back booking some stuff and I don't want to ask the same questions I've already asked. I received an email from our tour guide asking me to fill out a confirmation form, so that prompted this search.

We’re booked with Seascape VIP Travel. They have several options.

We haven’t went yet but we have a private boat tour booked.

Someone from our “other” group has hired a private car to pick them up at the port and take them to the water taxi. They are looking for a couple to split the cost. If they don’t increase the price much to accommodate the 4 of us it will be well worth it to not have to fight with our luggage. This!! Another couple has already booked a private car and a water taxi. We don’t know them but are thinking about joining them. However, the friends we’re traveling with are packing lighter and plan to take the train and vaporetto. My husband and I don’t want to hassle with that.

When are you going? We’re booked for July.

I just tried it but it didn’t give a price. Nevermind, working now. 70 euro doesn’t sound bad at all. Much better than fighting luggage there. Any suggestion for a private transfer from Trieste?

How did you get there?

We have reservations at the Hotel Rialto. I understand there is a dock near the hotel. How much would a water taxi for 5 adults cost? Would we book in advance or would they just be near the train station? How much more would it be to get a private transfer (for 5) from Trieste?