B2B, Mosaic Tour in Ravenna on Changeover Day?

[LindaD22]

We’re doing our first B2B in May with the changeover in Ravenna, arriving at 6:00 am. I’m interested in booking a guided tour of Ravenna’s mosaics that would begin at 10:00 am. But, I have no experience with how this works, as far as continuing the cruise and leaving/returning to the ship on this day. Any advice & helpful tips would be appreciated!

[MeHeartCruising]

Different cruise lines and even some ships on the same cruise line can do B2B processes slightly different.  But they are generally pretty similar.  

 

You will likely get your ship pass card for the second cruise delivered to your cabin a day or two before turnaround day.  That usually will have a letter with instructions on what to do on turnaround day.  Some times, the ship pass cards are not distributed until the morning of the turnaround.  In most cases, I think they ask all B2B passengers to gather at one location on the ship at a specific time.  It seems it's usually 8:30 or 9:00 am or so.  They then process you "off" the first cruise.  When I did this in Rome, they took us to the gangway and used the same computer to process us off as was being used by the other disembarking passengers.  But they did us all as a group.  However, we had to wait until ALL the other disembarking passengers were off the ship.  They wanted to zero out the count of passengers ON the ship.  This took us until after 10 am in my case due to some stragglers on the ship.

 

Once everyone else was off the ship, we were taken to the gangway and we used our old cards to get "off" the ship.  Then if we wished to return to the ship for the second cruise, we used our new cards to get "on" the ship again.  If we wished to go ashore, we were free to do that.  They processed us "off" the first cruise and also gave us an "Thru Passenger" pass.  This pass could be shown to shore personnel upon return to the ship so that we could bypass the check-in process and proceed directly to boarding the ship.

 

Unfortunately for you, I think the timing and any delays is one thing that will vary from ship to ship and cruise to cruise.  

 

I'm hoping to do the same thing you are wanting to do in May on my own B2B.  Except I don't plan on using any sort of guided tour.  I haven't fully vetted out my plans, but I believe Royal Caribbean might offer a post-cruise shuttle to the Ravenna train station (perhaps for a fee) -- designed for disembarking passengers.  I may look into taking that, if I can, because the mosaic walking tours that I've seen seem to be in that same area.  I also may just get off the ship and take a taxi into mosaic area.  I most likely will use a taxi to get back to the ship later in the day.  I'll start formulating a better plan here in the coming weeks.

Edited January 4, 2023 by MeHeartCruising

[cruisemom42]

I think you are on RC.  I just did a turnaround day in Ravenna on their sister brand, Celebrity. Of course, RC may handle it differently, but here's how it worked for me.

 

We got an invitation to a meeting the day before arrival in Ravenna, where details were provided.

 

The BTB passengers who were not booked on a tour on disembarkation day were requested to present themselves at one of the lounges by around 8:00 - 8:30 am. Celebrity had a very clever system set up where they had someone with one of the card-readers at the door of the lounge. You handed them your card and they pinged it, just as if you were leaving the ship. Then you waited around in the lounge for a bit (coffee and muffins provided) until they began bringing around our new cards. Shortly after that, we were free to leave the lounge and were able to do whatever we wanted.

 

(The only bit of confusion is that there was no clear announcement about when we could go. A few tried to leave the moment they got their cards but were told to wait a few more minutes. After about 15 minutes went by, someone asked when we could go and they told us we had the "all clear".)

 

For those wanting to go into Ravenna on their own, Celebrity had a shuttle going back and forth to town at regular intervals. It seems to me you could've easily made a tour starting at 10:00 am.  But then our ship was much smaller than most RCCL ships at around 2200 passengers....

 

As per the other poster, we also got a pass that enabled us to return to the ship without having to go through the embarkation line with the new arrivals. Speaking of which, if you also are boarding at Ravenna, bring your patience as the set-up of the facilities there is not optimal for processing a large crowd.

 

 

 

 

 

[LindaD22]

So very helpful! Thank you so much for the detailed information. We are, indeed, on Royal Caribbean. Our first cruise departs from Rome, then turnaround day in Ravenna, and second cruise ending in Ravenna (we then will spend a few days in Venice, booking a private transfer). Hmmm, I may just plan to do the Rick Steves walking tour of the mosaics rather than committing to a tour that must begin at a specific time. I really appreciate your expertise!

[cruisemom42]

12 minutes ago, LindaD22 said:

So very helpful! Thank you so much for the detailed information. We are, indeed, on Royal Caribbean. Our first cruise departs from Rome, then turnaround day in Ravenna, and second cruise ending in Ravenna (we then will spend a few days in Venice, booking a private transfer). Hmmm, I may just plan to do the Rick Steves walking tour of the mosaics rather than committing to a tour that must begin at a specific time. I really appreciate your expertise!

 

For what it's worth, I saw the mosaics on my own with a guidebook (on an earlier trip) and it was easy and very enjoyable. Once you reach central Ravenna most of the sites are close together. There are a couple of outliers, but if you see the Churches and Baptisteries in the center, you're seeing the best of the mosaics.

[LindaD22]

14 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

For what it's worth, I saw the mosaics on my own with a guidebook (on an earlier trip) and it was easy and very enjoyable. Once you reach central Ravenna most of the sites are close together. There are a couple of outliers, but if you see the Churches and Baptisteries in the center, you're seeing the best of the mosaics.

I wasn’t sure about that, so it helps to know the sites are near each other. I think that’s what we’ll do. It seems a lot less stressful than worrying about how the morning is going to go. Thank you!

[MeHeartCruising]

Thanks @cruisemom42, this is helpful to me too.  I’m looking forward to seeing them.  Did you take the Celebrity shuttle into the city center?  If so, did you have to buy it as a post-cruise excursion?  Or just go to guest services and pay for it?

[cruisemom42]

5 hours ago, MeHeartCruising said:

Thanks @cruisemom42, this is helpful to me too.  I’m looking forward to seeing them.  Did you take the Celebrity shuttle into the city center?  If so, did you have to buy it as a post-cruise excursion?  Or just go to guest services and pay for it?

 

Yes, I did take the shuttle. I'm struggling to remember for sure, but I think it was free and it was running on a regular schedule all through the day. (I assume it was also picking up passengers arriving at Ravenna and taking them back to the ship to embark.)

 

If it wasn't free, it was a very nominal fee. 

 

[lynncarol]

In September of 2021, my husband and I spent 2 weeks in Italy allotting two nights in Ravenna just to see the mosaics.  Our hotel was near the train station and it was an easy walk to visit the 5 different sites with mosaics.  I had considered a walking tour, but learned that you just walked by the buildings but no entrances occurred. So, online I got admission tickets and we did it all on our own. Well worth the time and effort: the mosaics are incredible and supposedly 95% original.