Couldn't wait around for the upgrade fairy with these prices!

[CruisinManiac]

Great deal! I just wish DH could take off some time to take advantage of them.

 

Now, the other side of the coin...what about the flights to Venice??? The last time I checked, they were steep, not to mention the difficulty to get to Venice.

 

Congratulations, and enjoy that OS. The highest we have stayed in was a fabulous GS, so we probably would not have gone past that $999 mark to upgrade.

 

PS - Just took a look and am not seeing those prices you found. Also, although Venice would be great, and I have been to Dubrovnic (which I loved), what's with the other ports? What does Koper, Slovenia, Ravenna, Italy and Bari, Italy have to offer?

[NCMtnBoys]

Great deal! I just wish DH could take off some time to take advantage of them.

 

Now, the other side of the coin...what about the flights to Venice??? The last time I checked, they were steep, not to mention the difficulty to get to Venice.

 

Congratulations, and enjoy that OS. The highest we have stayed in was a fabulous GS, so we probably would not have gone past that $999 mark to upgrade.

 

PS - Just took a look and am not seeing those prices you found. Also, although Venice would be great, and I have been to Dubrovnic (which I loved), what's with the other ports? What does Koper, Slovenia, Ravenna, Italy and Bari, Italy have to offer?

 

We booked our flights quite awhile back and paid $860pp all taxes/fees for a multi-city round trip ticket (Charlotte-Rome, Venice-Charlotte). We are arriving Oct 2 in Rome and spending that week doing other things in Italy prior to taking the train to Venice on the 8th to board the ship. My brother lives near Lake Garda so we'll take the train from near his place on the 8th over to Venice (1.5 hours away). While I don't necessarily like our flights (LONG 7.5 hour layover in Toronto on the departure, and two changes of plane plus a 3.5 hour layover in Chicago on the return), I was willing to put up with it for the good price.

 

I hadn't heard of Koper before booking this itinerary. After some research, Slovenia looks like a beautiful country. Many people have talked about how beautiful Lake Bled is. We're going to spend a few hours in the capital, Ljubljana, and also in a coastal town called Piran which looks great in the pictures. They also have a couple of different cave attractions. Ravenna is world-renowned for their well-preserved mosaics. In fact, I think they have 7 Unesco World Heritage sites there. We'll just explore the town on our own, seeing the different mosaics and architecture. Bari is the one I can't get excited about, nothing really interesting there. Some of us from the roll call thread are going to take the train to a neighboring town called Polignano a Mare. Pics of that town look interesting. And I've always wanted to go to Dubrovnik, so Dubrovnik alone is what really sold me on the itinerary. Now I'm glad I chose this sailing since the prices have plummeted!

 

Someone else from our roll call said she didn't see the prices that low anymore, but I just checked and they're still the same on the RCCL website.

[Tina0922]

That sounds similar to what I did in June for my family. We originally book a E2 & JS and ended up with a GS and JS for the same price. The JS cabin dropped to cheaper than what my parents paid for their JS & sinceit was after final they upgraded us to JS. Few weeks later I again looked and the GS prices dropped to what we were paying for the JS. They only had a few GS open and what was open were not close enough for us to get 2 of them so my parents stayed in the JS (They usually stay in inside cabins so that was huge treat) and my brothers & I got GS for the same price.....One problem, I am now spoiled after spending 13 nights in a GS...... :):):)

 

 

Europe is hurting with everything going on over there. Prices drop since ships cant sell out! It is good for us.

 

Tina

[CruisinManiac]

NC Mtn Boys - Thank you for the reply. While your price for flight is good, it's still a little high for us since we only paid a little over $1000 to fly non-stop from CLT to Rome in May. We were hoping to find something in the $500 range to get back over to Rome...IF we were to go back so soon. ;)

 

Interesting facts on the other towns you visit. Polignano a Mare looks great! I Googled it. :D Reminds me of Malta. While on our cruise, two of our favorite day trips were to Orvieto and Montepulciano from Rome, and the towns of Postiano, Amalfi and Ravella from Naples.

 

As I said, we loved Dubrovnik. I hope you are planning on walking the wall? So neat to walk around with the sea views on one side, and residents, businesses and restaurants on the other. Sort of like a stone looking Santorini. The residents are so friendly and accommodating to strangers peeking into their homes.:D

[NCMtnBoys]

NC Mtn Boys - Thank you for the reply. While your price for flight is good, it's still a little high for us since we only paid a little over $1000 to fly non-stop from CLT to Rome in May. We were hoping to find something in the $500 range to get back over to Rome...IF we were to go back so soon. ;)

 

Interesting facts on the other towns you visit. Polignano a Mare looks great! I Googled it. :D Reminds me of Malta. While on our cruise, two of our favorite day trips were to Orvieto and Montepulciano from Rome, and the towns of Postiano, Amalfi and Ravella from Naples.

 

As I said, we loved Dubrovnik. I hope you are planning on walking the wall? So neat to walk around with the sea views on one side, and residents, businesses and restaurants on the other. Sort of like a stone looking Santorini. The residents are so friendly and accommodating to strangers peeking into their homes.:D

 

Yes, we are planning on doing the wall and the cable car, at a minimum, in Dubrovnik. It's probably the place I'm most looking forward to. And I really want to go to Positano, too! Maybe another trip.

 

Where in TN are you? To have also flown from Charlotte you can't be far from us. We live near and work in Boone.

[lovevacadays]

Not surprising with the overcapacity in Europe. Prices for interior cabins on some sailings on Voyager this past June and July were only $400 per person! :eek: (I check prices on RCCL's website all the time.)

 

Wow, I'm really enjoying reading this thread. I haven't cruised RCCL for quite sometime. Not that I didn't love my experiences I just ended up booking many Princess cruises in a row and then started getting perks so it was hard to change. A friend and I have recently discussed a cruise to Europe but Princess prices are terrible. I'm thinking I will get on RCCL's website and start doing some shopping!

 

Congrats to the OP on such a great deal.

[CruisinManiac]

Yes, we are planning on doing the wall and the cable car, at a minimum, in Dubrovnik. It's probably the place I'm most looking forward to. And I really want to go to Positano, too! Maybe another trip.

 

Where in TN are you? To have also flown from Charlotte you can't be far from us. We live near and work in Boone.

 

Yes, we are near you in Johnson City. :)

 

Positano was nice, and the view from town to the sea beautiful, but we preferred Ravello over all three places on the Amalfi coast.

[NCMtnBoys]

Yes, we are near you in Johnson City. :)

 

I really like Johnson City. When I first moved here from CA in 2006, I lived in Piney Flats for a couple months, then Johnson City (Powder Branch Rd) til Oct 2007, then over here to Boone.

 

Happy Cruising!

[Lmack]

I know, it's crazy. And it isn't just our sailing, but the sailings immediately before and after ours have the same prices. Probably the ones leading up to ours too, although I didn't check them.

 

Hiya Suzy! Hope you enjoy your cruise, we went out of San Juan last October on Serenade, it was great!

 

On a side note, did you realize it was a year ago yesterday/today that we boarded our Baltic cruise? That was one of the most impressive trips I have ever taken, and I fully intend to do another, maybe even the same itinerary again, although I would like to see Gdansk, Brussels/Brugge, Amsterdam. But I just loved the itinerary we were on. Glad to see you're like me and already thinking ahead to 2013, lol. ;) Not sure what we're doing then, I thought about a land package to Prague, Budapest and Vienna. Sometimes you can get great deals. Hate not to do a cruise, though, that's why we coupled this cruise with a week pre-cruise in Italy (Rome, Florence, Verona, Pisa, Cinque Terre, Lake Garda). I just couldn't NOT do a cruise!

 

Best to James, you two have a great time!

 

Congratulations Guys! You should have stayed on the Vision last yr and done the 3 B2B's with us. We had a wonderful time. Enjoy your cruise.

[melbur]

Wow, I'm really enjoying reading this thread. I haven't cruised RCCL for quite sometime. Not that I didn't love my experiences I just ended up booking many Princess cruises in a row and then started getting perks so it was hard to change. A friend and I have recently discussed a cruise to Europe but Princess prices are terrible. (AGREE)I'm thinking I will get on RCCL's website and start doing some shopping!

 

Congrats to the OP on such a great deal.

 

NC Mtn Boy - I agree, right now they can't give away some Europe itineraries, we are on the Mariner Oct 3rd. We switched over after we had booked Princess mini suite for 2699$, switched in March to Mariner (after they dropped Egypt and put in Istanbul) for 1999 JS - price dropped to 1499. Got it. Then GS was selling for the same - got it!

Then the bummer - after final payment it was offered on the C&A Tues sale - OS for 1799. and COULDN't get it. (at that time only 1 OS was booked and ALL the rest were available!) And this for an 11 DAY cruise.

TA said anything in eastern med this year was scaring people off. Our itinerary includes Athens.

[CruisinManiac]

I really like Johnson City. When I first moved here from CA in 2006, I lived in Piney Flats for a couple months, then Johnson City (Powder Branch Rd) til Oct 2007, then over here to Boone.

 

Happy Cruising!

 

It really is a small world when you meet someone that has lived in Piney Flats. lol I have lived in JC since 93', and Kingsport since 83' and still don't know where Powder Branch Road is. Hear of it all the time, but have never driven on it. BTW - We moved to a golfing community just a couple miles up from Jonesborough in 2007. Our address is really JB.

 

DH and I discussed your trip last night and this morning. As much as we would like to take advantage of the great pricing, we don't feel like it can be done in a week because of air/train and the difficulty getting to Venice. DH only has a week of vacation left. We are desperate to get away, but if we are to do anything before the end of the year, we will have to choose something in the Caribbean.

[NCMtnBoys]

Congratulations Guys! You should have stayed on the Vision last yr and done the 3 B2B's with us. We had a wonderful time. Enjoy your cruise.

 

Thanks, Lynn! I wish we could have. The combination of itineraries was awesome, I'll bet you had a fantastic time! I see you're about to leave also...enjoy yourselves! Enchantment is a nice little ship!

[NCMtnBoys]

NC Mtn Boy - I agree, right now they can't give away some Europe itineraries, we are on the Mariner Oct 3rd. We switched over after we had booked Princess mini suite for 2699$, switched in March to Mariner (after they dropped Egypt and put in Istanbul) for 1999 JS - price dropped to 1499. Got it. Then GS was selling for the same - got it!

Then the bummer - after final payment it was offered on the C&A Tues sale - OS for 1799. and COULDN't get it. (at that time only 1 OS was booked and ALL the rest were available!) And this for an 11 DAY cruise.

TA said anything in eastern med this year was scaring people off. Our itinerary includes Athens.

 

Congrats on your upward movement too! I would suspect the prices may come down a bit more on our sailing as well, but we'll be locked into our current price, which I am NOT complaining about. It doesn't look like hardly any cabins have been reserved since Friday, even at these rates.

[NCMtnBoys]

It really is a small world when you meet someone that has lived in Piney Flats. lol I have lived in JC since 93', and Kingsport since 83' and still don't know where Powder Branch Road is. Hear of it all the time, but have never driven on it. BTW - We moved to a golfing community just a couple miles up from Jonesborough in 2007. Our address is really JB.

 

DH and I discussed your trip last night and this morning. As much as we would like to take advantage of the great pricing, we don't feel like it can be done in a week because of air/train and the difficulty getting to Venice. DH only has a week of vacation left. We are desperate to get away, but if we are to do anything before the end of the year, we will have to choose something in the Caribbean.

 

I hope you are able to find something that would work for your guys' schedule. If I wasn't already booked on this itinerary, I would die of anxiety wishing I was able to take advantage of these prices, knowing that airfare at this late date would be killer.

 

If we weren't already going to be in Italy the week before, we probably would have flown directly to Venice and just done r/t air travel that way. Definitely not as many options to/from Venice but when I was searching, pricing didn't seem to be much different.

 

Love Jonesborough, btw!

[Lmack]

Thanks, Lynn! I wish we could have. The combination of itineraries was awesome, I'll bet you had a fantastic time! I see you're about to leave also...enjoy yourselves! Enchantment is a nice little ship!

 

Thanks! We're really looking forward to this cruise. We've sailed on the Enchantment several times. We love and prefer the smaller ships. Hopefully we'll be able to cruise again with you guys. We have several other cruises booked for this yr and next yr. In Oct 2012 we're doing a B2B on the Navigator starting in Rome and ending in New Orleans! Of course with the rest of the gang!

 

Stay in touch!

Lynn

[cruisinfanatic]

It makes me wonder why RCI pulled most of its ships from the Caribbean in prime spring/summertime/fall and sent them to Europe when they have to offer such unprecedented deep discounts on European cruises.

Exactly. They have to give away the cabins to get cruisers in them. That's why RCL isn't in LA anymore

[mamacat3]

Congrats!!!!!!!!:D Happy sailing!!