KatPem

On 10/30/2023 at 8:34 PM, hetrickr said:

My wife and I are booked on 3 B2B's for a total of 33 days. This is the second of the 3 for the Venezia. Looking forward to meeting everyone and seeing this beautiful new ship.

We are doing a B2B and this is the first leg for us.  Our first B2B

14 hours ago, CarolRoy said:

Has anyone used the Carnival app?  I have used the app on RC and Celebrity. How easy is it to upload the app and use the app on Carnival.

We have used it with no issues. We downloaded the Carnival Hub before we left.  It was really handy to know what the menus were each night.  For $5 per person you can message eachother on the HUB and that is for the entire cruise, not per day.

Looking forward to this!  We are looking at Fricolandia ourselves in March, can't decide.  Worried about a long bus ride with no bathroom after having had 4 kids lol

You can check out my post on another thread.  We have done Spencer's 3 times and chose it because most of it is by speedboat rather than Cosol where half was by bus at the time (not sure if that has changed.)

On 1/23/2023 at 9:49 AM, djh said:

I’m curious,  how long it took you to get to Rome? We are looking at booking a 12:40 flight to the US the same day as we arrive in Civitavecchia. The ship arrives at 6 am and we have priority disembarkation. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

' We had priority debarkation and told them to meet us at 7:30am.  We self debarked and got off just at that time.  It was perfect, took less than an hour to get to FCO, we were there abotu 8:30 to check in for our flight.  Make sure you let them know which airline and watch signs for which terminal.  Ours dropped us ooff correctly, there were a ton in line.....workers came along to let everyone know what airlines that line was for, other airlines (Delta is who we had) were inside and not in the long line. We had plenty of time but wanted to be safe!  We had a 12:15pm flight.

On 1/20/2023 at 7:38 PM, phabric said:

How big are their cars/vans?

I believe they have all different sizes depending on your needs.

 

There are 5 adults, 10 checked luggage, 5 carry on, really don’t know if everyone will bring 2 checked yet.

 

Ship arrives in at 6am.  We are staying overnight at Hilton Rome Airport attached to the airport. 
 

Any idea what the last time they make you leave the ship? Is it 9 or 9:30?

 

What tip did people give? Or, in Italy they don’t tip?

We gave 5 or 10 euros, I can't remember.  

On 1/9/2023 at 12:39 PM, gatorchinsky said:

With how tipping is not a standard thing in Europe do you tip the driver? We normally would but weren’t sure when in Europe.

We gave the driver either 5 or 10 euros....i can't remember.

@RCCL Fan   We were last on St Lucia in March 2019 but between I think 2015 and 2019  we were there 4 times.  Our  first trip our kids wanted to zipline.  We had fun but our second trip was just my husband and I so we did all the things that WE wanted to do the first time.  After that trip, the kids heard about and saw the photos and chose teh exact same cruise and excursion.  Older son wasnt on that trip but the fourth one he was and chose the same itinerary and excursions.  

  Those three trips were amazing (the first was good too but we had no idea how much we were missing out on).  We did the Land, Sea and Beach Adventure with Spencer Ambroise.  He is a retired police officer and runs the tour company with many of his family members working for him.  Every time, we saw him and he was there overseeing things. He drove a boat (just happened to be ours every time) and his daughters helped.  I chose this cause you take a speedboat most of the way, eliminating a lost of lost time and I get car sick....didn't want to deal with a bunch of winding roads.  Anyway, you speed up the coast to Soufriere where you get out and onto a small bus/van.  The last time there was free wifi on it.  You take it about 20 minutes or so to the mud baths.  You get there before many of the other cruise excursions that go by road.  They will start coming as you are ready to leave.  Very cool experience and my kids all loved it....they were a little bit older....MS and HS age.  We then drove maybe 10 minutes to a gorgeous waterfall.  From there you go back to Soufriere and back on the boats where they take you to Jalousie Beach in between the two Pitons.  Part is a 5 star resort (beaches are public but you can't use their stuff) and the other is a smaller area with a few derelict cheap loungers. It is also a bit rocky.  We went onto the resort side to play and swim.  The rocky side is a marine preserve with AMAZING snorkeling!  It is like you are swimming in an aquarium!  You get about 1.5 hours there, they also feed you.  The first time we stopped at a restaurant after the water fall, the last two times, they set up at the beach (it was his wife and/or sister-in-law).  There are toliets you can use and a few locals sellnig fresh fruit and smoothies out of their canoe (The bananas are AMAZING!!!  My youngest begged for them every time $1-2 for a bunch of them.  Anyway, after that it is a leisurely boat ride up the coast.  You see Bat Cave, a place I can't remember but where Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed, and they take you to Marigot where they moor ships when a hurricane is coming.  There is a bathroom on the beach you can use but they can also stop in Marigot for a quick bathroom break.  You then get back to the ship with enough time to quickly check out a few stops.   We loved the entire day!  Highly recommended for any ages!!!   They started the day witha huge cooler full of drinks that are included.

We used the Freenow app to book taxis when we needed one.  We had our destination in the app so no issues with language.  Many spoke very little English that we encountered but we didn't have any issues.

We booked the Colosseum Tour with Underground, Arena & Gladiator Gate with Roman Forum   with LivTours last month.  The time was changed from 1pm to 2pm but that wasn't an issue for us.   The have a max of 6 people on your tour.  We had looked to book the official one but it was sold out when I checked and since this was the one tour we both REALLY wanted to do, we booked with LivTours.  We talked to a few others that had booked with other tour guides (sorry, i dont know which) that had their tours cancelled.  We spent an hour or so in the Roman Forum, then went straight to Underground (make sure the names on your tickets match exactly the name on your photo ID.  One of the people in our group almost had an issue with security as she had put a nickname.  We ended the tour in the Colosseum on the 2nd floor and could stay until we wanted to leave.  Our guide was amazing, his English was superb as was his knowledge. 

On 10/6/2022 at 7:20 AM, RHudson1825 said:

Used Stefano's Rome Cabs from Civetechia to Rome, then Rome to the airport. Nice, big, clean cars with peofessional drivers who were 10 minutes early each time. They spoke clear English and we're very kind. Highly recommend. Getting off the cruise to a driver with a board with my name on it was such a relief and much nicer than a crowded bus. 

We had a similar experience earlier this month.  We had a 12:15 flight out so we booked a private driver with them so we could carry our luggage off and meet them at 7:30.  (Carnival Pride) They met you just outside the doors and escorted you to their car that was right there in the parking lot.  Simple and Easy. If I were not flying out, I would probably just take the train or a cab to save money.

Rome is amazing.  We had 3.5 days there before we cruised and didn't have enough time.  If you don't get there til like 4pm or later, I would go to the port and stay, before that and I would stay in Rome....there is a lot you can do and see and then know what you want to spend more time doing after the cruise when you may be more tired.

11 hours ago, Rysyonok said:

 

How was that experience, if I may ask? Crowded, noisy, or pleasant and on-time?

We took the train from Termini to Civitavecchia Oct 1.  We had booked first class to have more luggage space but any larger than a carry-on would not fit in the first car as there weren't any luggage racks in that car despite being 1st class.  We heard there was some in the second car but we just placed our luggage in empty seats (We had seat reservations).  This was an issue for a lot of people in our car.  Train ride was fine though!  We opted to walk to port as it was a beautiful day (Instead of taking the shuttle)  BIG mistake!  We were at the furthest dock and it ended up being 3.5 km instead of the 1.5 to the port google listed. 

On 6/23/2022 at 10:30 AM, trotzoll said:

I haven't used them, but I highly recommend, Shared Shuttle.

 

We just got back from our cruise last week and due to a missed connection, we had to book them at the last minute. They were reliable and very reasonably priced, and worth the door to door service they provided.

You can find them here: https://sharedshuttle.it/

Thank you for the suggestion!  I will definately look into them for our cruise in October!

We used Royal a couple of years ago.  They met us at the cruise pier.  

Thank you!

Hi, I had seen some information about kayaking at North creek.  Is anyone aware of a company that offers this?  My brother-in-law is with us and he and my 18 year old son really enjoy kayaking so I thought this might be a fun thing to do for a little bit while docked there in March.  Thanks in advance,

ended up taking 2 hours 15 minutes from hold to completion.  FYI in case anyone is in the same situation.  We originally had a more expensive cruise booked.  Rebooked at cheaper rate (one less person) and were given OBC for the difference when we transferred it. I didn't know if we would be able to use that for part of the additional cost of an extra person but we were not.  No big deal, just thought I would share in case any one is wondering about doing a similar thing.  There were open cabnis available so we were able to switch cabins and add a fourth person.  She saw a different final price than I did but once she completed it, it was the same price I had seen doing a mock booking.  She had to talk to someone to get our OBC correct as for some reason it took it off but since the same casino offer is available now, she had no problems.  

on hold now....68 minutes and counting.....need to add another person to our cabin for our cruise in March.

On 10/13/2021 at 9:04 AM, bstel said:

 

 

8.  Sports bar.  This has to be the biggest waste of space on the ship with such a poorly executed concept.  Both times i have sailed on Carnival the space was practically empty because they don't carry whatever sports are going on in the US at the time.  This cruise they did a great job with NFL football and the place was busy for Sunday and Monday night football.  But they comes Saturday for college football and basically nothing is on.  So Carnival carries ESPN but they have Caribbean/International coverage.  So why would a ship that sails out of the US and normally caterers to an American market be playing Futbol on Saturday instead of Football?  just crazy.  The only college football coverage was ESPN SEC network which had on some crap game with North Texas, when you had games like Iowa/Penn State, Texas/Oklahoma, Alabama/Texas A&M that day.

 

Thank goodness my husband doesn't know about cruisecritic lol He can find out on the ship about no college football to speak of lol

Thanks to both of you!  

Hi, this is a new port to us. I was wondering if anyone has been here since cruising resumed and can offer their advice on a excursion.  We will be on the Carnival Pride. I have noticed a lot of tours require more physically than I am able to do.  I dont' do well with stairs or climbing.  A coupleo f things stuck out to me is Ocean World or the Lifestyle VIP Resort Getaway.  This will be our first stop so we really would like to venture out of the port area.  A beach would be great, which is why I looked at the resport getaway.  The only reviews I can find that are current are from people that stayed there on a land vacation.  We also considered the Dune Buggy and Beach Experience.  Normally we book our own things to do but we decided to probably just do a Carnival excursion here after reading reports of pressured sales and it not being the safest area in the Caribbean. Any help you can give would be great!!  We may just stay at the port area but since it is the first real vacation in a while, I would hate to not doing anything besides that.  Thanks in advance!

We really enjoy Coki Beach on St Thomas.  Sugar Beach on St Lucia has some of the best snorkeling we have seen.  We have done the Land Sea and Beach tour through SPencer Ambrose three times there (kids saw pictures and wanted to go, then went again with 4th kid that had missed both the first two times).  It was amazing.  The beach is rocky on the side you  snorkel (it is a marine preserve) but once you get out there.....wow!  On Barbados, we have done the catamaran tour with both Silver Moon and Calabaza and both were great and well worth the money (limited people....12 when we went) You get to swim with the sea turtles.  The boat yard is a cheaper alternative.  They have a snorkel trip included in the entry fee but sign up right when you get there.  You snorkel over a ship wreck, crystal clear water!  

St Kitts and St Martin we have snorkeled in but choose to do other things there now that we experienced it and it wasn't great.  

You will love it, those islands are our favorite itinerary!

On 9/1/2021 at 2:45 PM, PORT ROYAL said:

St Thomas take an offshore trip.

Carambola?  No Way!  St.Kitts is known for it’s lack of interesting snorkelling, save your money for another island.

I would agree with St Kitts not being great for snorkeling.  I mean, at Carambola, it is OK if you have not been other places (snorkel left parallel to the beach).   We saw several different kinds of fish and thought it was decent but that was before we went to places like St Lucia, St Thomas and Curacao.  St Kitts is a place I would do something else. We really enjoyed a tour with Javin with My Island Tours there.  

OP-We liked Coki beach on St Thomas, Calabaza's Catamaran Tour on Barbados is one of our favorite tours with the Boat Yard a good option that is less expensive (the other is worth every penny though).  Boatyard has a snorkeling trip you can sign up for included in teh entry fee.  Sign up when you first get there, they fill early!  We enjoyed renting a car on Curacao and just exploring a few areas snorkelin from shore.  

If I were to get another one I would get an olympus Tough Camera.  I think the newest is the 5 or 6.  Gets excellent reviews and pic examples i have seen underwater looked pretty good!