Seaview and Med questions

[aprilF]

I have several random questions that I'm hoping someone can help with.  Our sailing is May 20-27, from Civi on the Seaview.

 

Can I do 2 10 or 20 "packages" of laundry?  Now that they wont let us split a 40 piece package, I am wondering if they will let you do 2 packages at different points in the cruise or are you stuck only being able to get a multi piece package once?

 

Related, we werent given the laundry package option slips on our Caribbean cruise until the next to the last day,  do we just talk with our stewards if we want laundry done sooner or is it not possible until the end of the cruise now?

 

Does anyone know if the OBC you receive for booking a future cruise can be used towards gratuities?  Tying to decide what to prepay and what to leave for the OBC.

 

Related, does the OBC "belong" to the lead on the reservation or the cabin?  My husband is booked as the lead, do we need to make sure to charge as much as we can to his card?

 

Is gelato still free for Whirlpool Suites (Aurea class)?

 

Do the Whirlpool suites still get priority tender access?

 

Any entertainment on the Seaview that you consider a "dont miss"?  I expect we will be pretty tired some days and not get to every show, so what do we need to make sure we see?

 

Is there an Always Available menu on the SV in the Med for Aurea class passengers?  If so, what is on it?  There arent many non YC menus posted for SV and none that I could find for last year.  If I am missing a TR that contains these, please point me towards the TR.

 

I am taking a couple of medications (no controlled narcotics or anything that someone would use to get high).  Flight and cruise info always says to keep meds in the original containers.  This doesnt jibe with my minimalist packing.  I usually make up little vitamin/ pill bags and keep copies of my RX with me.  Ive never had a problem doing this but Ive never flown internationally.  Are my meds more likely to be scrutinized clearing customs from a flight?

 

These next questions are probably better suited to the Ports of Call boards or TA but I figured since I am already doing a hodge podge of questions I'd throw them out here to see if anyone had any insight.

 

I would like to do a lemon grove tour on the Amalfi coast.  This will be during the land portion of our trip so we will have a car.  Right now my current thinking is we will park in Sorrento for the day and bus around but we can be flexible with that plan if it helps.  Does anyone have a lemon grove tour they would recommend?  Or are they readily available without prebooking in any of the nearby towns?

 

We will need a place for lunch in between Pompeii and Herculaneum.  We will have a car.  Our preference would be a winery but we cant take a very long time for this meal, two hours max driving included.  Any recommendations?

 

Has anyone cruised to Cannes during the film festival as a port stop?  I think we want to try celeb spotting/ people watching, where best to do this?

 

Has anyone gone to Cinque Terres from Genoa on a port day, we would have 12 hours and are OK with this being a very long day.  I've had one person warn me off of this plan but I am still curious if anyone has tried it and just how it was.  We are also OK with only seeing one or two of the towns.

 

I'm assuming it is tough to get ice in Italy since it is in other parts of Europe.  I was thinking about purchasing a small cooler so that on our longer driving days we could carry some snacks with us and eat one meal on the road.  None of the hotels mention having an in room refrigerator.  Are there typically ice machines in hotels in Italy?

 

Thank you.

[aprilF]

If anyone has a guide (and way to contact) that they would recommend for Pompeii, I would appreciate it.  We dont need a guide as a part of a larger tour, just for Pompeii.  airbnb seems to get high marks for their guides but I think a personal recommendation is always nice too. 

[aprilF]

A bump for the weekend CC readers that might be able to help.

[aprilF]

I'm going to give our full itinerary so far in case anyone has suggestions for non port stuff too. *Times are given as arrivial and all aboard (half hour before posted leaving time).

Thursday-land in Rome, drive to Tossica/ Termo/ Pinella (any suggestions for these small towns?), hotel in Capistrello

Friday-drive to Sorrento, park for the day, hopefully find lemon grove to tour (suggestions?), bus to Amalfi coast, bus back, drive to Salerno for hotel

Saturday-drive to Pompeii, park at Camping Spartacus, tour Pompeii with AirBnB tour unless I get a suggestion for a different guide, hopefully lunch at a vineyard (suggestions?), drive to Herculaneum, park either on street (free) or underground, tour with no guide, drive to Alvito and have a dinner, continue on to hotel in Frosinone

Sunday-drive up to Persiceto (Bologna area), hopefully stopping in Tuscany for a couple of hours (suggestions?), laundry at hotel tonight so hope to be in a little earlier

Monday-drive to Lamborghini factory, tour at 9:30 (already have tickets), drive back to Rome and return car. Hotel Trevi Elite, maybe just walk around the immediate area that evening.

Tuesday-We plan to walk to the Zoo, the Capuchin Crypt, The Colosseum, The Pantheon and back to the hotel
 

Wednesday-We board the Seaview. We have priority boarding so will likely want to get on board as soon as we can. Our suite comes with two free massages that cant be booked in advance. Hoping the sooner we get on, the more likely I will get the days/ times I want.

Thursday-Cannes, France 8:30 a- 5:30 p, Walk around the festival area

Friday-Palma De Mallorca 1 p- 11 p, hoping to maybe go to a beach, need to research the specifics. Another possibility is the ebike through AirBnB. Any input?

Saturday- Barcelona- 7 a- 5:30 p, take 5 Euro pp shuttle to Mirador de Colom, walk to the Mercat de Boqueria, grab stuff for a picnic, walk past Casa Batllo on our way to Park Guell, walk around park, picnic there, walk back or maybe taxi to La Sagrada Familia (not going in), continue to Arc de Triomf to look around (zoo if time permits which I am doubting), continue on to Mirador de Colom, take shuttle back to ship. Ive heard the taxi force is decreased by about half on Saturdays, hoping that wont affect our ability to grab one if wanted.

Sunday-Ajaccio noon- 6:30 p, walk to Trottel Beach, walk back

Monday-Genoa 7 a- 5:30 p Do the HOHO...does anyone know if you need to walk to the ticket office to get on or can you get tickets at the port stop and get on there? Do the HOHO for one "loop". Ive designed a walking food tour that is between stops 1 & 2 so do that, then potentially hop back on bus to see more or head back to port

 

Tuesday-La Spezia 7 a- 6:30 p, Train to Vernazza, train to Manarola, walk to Riomaggiore through mosiac tunnel, train back to port. May bus to Corniglia between Ver. and Man.. Ive written down a few suggestions for snacking but am welcome to other suggestions.

Wed-Rome, we debark this day. Thinking of doing a Rome in Limo tour from port to other sites in Rome, ending at about 3 pm for our hotel check in to Trevi Elite. Then one last night in Rome

Thursday-Flight out of FCO at 10:45 am-suggestions on timing and how to get to the airport are welcome.

The reasons for going to Alvito, Pianella, Teramo and Tossica is that is where our families are from so we thought it would be nice to see those towns. All are very small and I dont expect anyone here to have suggestions for those towns but if there are suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Ive really struggled and not found anything really to do on that first day in any of those places so we may just be taking a couple of pictures with "Bienviendos a..." signs and walking around grocery stores to get a feel for the places. LOL But visiting these places important to our heritage is a big part of why we are doing this trip so as much as part of me is saying to just skip and have an extra day in Amalfi or Rome, I just cant bring myself to do it.

[MANDMTRAVEL]

Thanks, looking forward to other travelers inputs.

[aprilF]

On 2/10/2020 at 9:57 AM, MANDMTRAVEL said:

Thanks, looking forward to other travelers inputs.

Me too!

 

[perakcruiser]

On 1/28/2020 at 8:20 AM, aprilF said:

We will need a place for lunch in between Pompeii and Herculaneum.  We will have a car.  Our preference would be a winery but we cant take a very long time for this meal, two hours max driving included.  Any recommendations?

If you have a car and love pasta, you should really consider to visit Gragnano. Also on the Amalfi coast consider the hike „Sentiero Degli Dei“, so amazing.

 

Cannes, nothing special to do, but a nice city walk. Palma, there is a quite nice shopping mall very close to the port. Otherwise Palma is a classical stay on board stop if you don't want to do any of the excursions.

[Liviucostin]

I went on this cruise on Seaview last year so if you have any questions.. About the tender: you have priority if you are a Gold member and above. You should know that for some reason on more than one occasion they switched Ajaccio with Toulon. That happened with me unfortunately so I didn't get the chance to see Corsica. Also, if you want to go to Cinque Terre I recommend the MSC excursion to not have to worry about getting back on time. 

[perakcruiser]

21 hours ago, Liviucostin said:

You should know that for some reason on more than one occasion they switched Ajaccio with Toulon. That happened with me unfortunately so I didn't get the chance to see Corsica.

So sad, Corsica is really a great highlight and a "special" thing.

 

21 hours ago, Liviucostin said:

Also, if you want to go to Cinque Terre I recommend the MSC excursion to not have to worry about getting back on time. 

As is Cinque Terre of cause. If you want to do the real hiking between the villages you have to go by yourself. Head to the railway station as early as possible, bring enough water. Very challenging, but so much joy to do. If you are not that fit, then better stick with the excursions.

[aprilF]

On 2/13/2020 at 12:15 PM, perakcruiser said:

If you have a car and love pasta, you should really consider to visit Gragnano. Also on the Amalfi coast consider the hike „Sentiero Degli Dei“, so amazing.

Thanks.  It seems like the Amalfi area is better to do by public transport so we plan on just parking the car for the day.  What was so special about the pasta in Gragnano?  I will go quite a bit out of my way for special food but this is a day without much time.  Id like to know why I am sacrificing something else if I choose to go here.

 

On 2/13/2020 at 1:32 PM, Liviucostin said:

I went on this cruise on Seaview last year so if you have any questions.. About the tender: you have priority if you are a Gold member and above. You should know that for some reason on more than one occasion they switched Ajaccio with Toulon. That happened with me unfortunately so I didn't get the chance to see Corsica. Also, if you want to go to Cinque Terre I recommend the MSC excursion to not have to worry about getting back on time. 

My questions about the Seaview:

Can I do 2 10 or 20 "packages" of laundry?  Now that they wont let us split a 40 piece package, I am wondering if they will let you do 2 packages at different points in the cruise or are you stuck only being able to get a multi piece package once?

 

Related, we werent given the laundry package option slips on our Caribbean cruise until the next to the last day,  do we just talk with our stewards if we want laundry done sooner or is it not possible until the end of the cruise now?

 

Any entertainment on the Seaview that you consider a "dont miss"?  I expect we will be pretty tired some days and not get to every show, so what do we need to make sure we see?

 

Is there an Always Available menu on the SV in the Med for Aurea class passengers?  If so, what is on it?  There arent many non YC menus posted for SV and none that I could find for last year.  If I am missing a TR that contains these, please point me towards the TR.

 

I think I have most of the cruise port stops sorted out although I am still looking for recommendations for debarkation day (Civiti).  Private tour via RomeInLimo seems to be an OK choice but we are open to suggestions.

 

On 2/14/2020 at 11:19 AM, perakcruiser said:

As is Cinque Terre of cause. If you want to do the real hiking between the villages you have to go by yourself. Head to the railway station as early as possible, bring enough water. Very challenging, but so much joy to do. If you are not that fit, then better stick with the excursions.

I expect we will try to get off asap this day.  I am always paranoid about having water so we will have that for certain.  We'd likely do it on our own with a combo of hiking and trains.