Royal Princess Cruise Ship Holy Land

[frcia]

Has anyone recently sailed this cruise from Rome to Athens ? If so I would love to read any reviews or comments.

We are sailing the 7/19 Voyage. Any recommendations for 5 night stay in Rome for a party of 4 prior to sailing?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Fred

SFLA

[katisdale]

We did the Athens to Venice Holy Land Cruise in 2007 and posted a review here on CC. I would recommend a private tour in both Israel and Egypt. We used the ships tour in Jerusalem and were disappointed although the next day's tour to Galilee (also a ship's tour) was fine. In Egypt we used Nile Blue Tours and they were excellent. Be sure to go to Ephesus when you are in Kusadesi. We really enjoyed this cruise and found the Royal to be an excellent ship.

[Pam in CA]

We were on the same cruise as Katisdale and were on a similar HAL cruise last October. It's a fascinating cruise with a lot to see and do. It can be exhausting but worth every minute.

 

As for a hotel in Rome, your best bet is to go to the Ports of Call boards and check there for advice.

[fernoppi]

Has anyone recently sailed this cruise from Rome to Athens ? If so I would love to read any reviews or comments.

We are sailing the 7/19 Voyage. Any recommendations for 5 night stay in Rome for a party of 4 prior to sailing?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Fred

SFLA

 

Hello! My husband and I just returned a few hours ago..I am still awake, but getting more tired. The sail dates were 5/8-5/20. I am hoping to post some reviews when I can. But may help if you have any specific questions?

 

Dont know about recommendations for a 5 night stay, but we stayed in a bed and breakfast that is within walking distance of the Termini. It was called Bed and Breakfast Giovy, but I think we actually stayed in the owner's mother's bed and breakfast. They're all kind of the same anyway. But we loved the convenience of the location. We took the Leonardo Express from FCO to Termini and so heading to the bed and breakfast was so simple - except we initially walked in the wrong direction! But then heading to the metro to the sites was simple as well. We also took the Trenitalia from Termini to Civitavecchia. Again, very easy and the location made it even easier!

[frcia]

Traveling with DW and my parents 79 and 78 any info on the ship and excursions would be helpful. Did you stay overnight in Egypt?

 

Fred

 

SFLA

[fernoppi]

Traveling with DW and my parents 79 and 78 any info on the ship and excursions would be helpful. Did you stay overnight in Egypt?

 

Fred

 

SFLA

 

Hello Fred - How are the physical conditions of your parents? Are they able to walk well and not tire too easily? I have to say that this trip was quite intense. My husband and I were one of the younger ones on the ship - 27, and 28. But my...some of those older folks has more energy than us...haha!

 

Anyway here is what we did for the itinerary. We tried to do as much as we could on our own or booked independent tours. We wanted to save money and the amounts charged by Princess were so high. I suppose there are some advantages of going with them but we were never really close to missing the ship or anything like that. The tour companies always allow for extra leeway time because if we miss the ship because of them, it would hurt their reputation.

 

- Rome - flew in the day before and stayed over night. Explored on our own. Easy to do, and we wanted to save money. Metro and trains are easy to use.

 

- Sorrento - after tendering, once the tour buses were full, Princess provided a bus up to the city center. It is possible to walk up, but we didnt want to use up our energy. =) They dropped us off and the walk to the Circumsuviana train stop was not too far. this train takes you to pompeii and naples. They actually drop you off at this jewelry store ors omething and the place will give you a map and answer any questions. i already forgot the price of the train ticket, but it is very cheap. take a look at the website - http://www.vesuviana.it/web/en If you're interested in visiting pompeii, youll want to get off at pompeii scavi. when you're on the train they announce the stops so you shouldnt miss it. and after getting off, the walk to the entrance is very minimal. entrance fee was about 11 euros a person. afterwards, we took the train back and roamed around Sorrento. Had pizza at Ristorante da Giginos and then gelato at Gelateria Davide. Both recommended by Rick Steves

 

- Egypt - Met two couples on the boards here and arranged independent overnight tour with Nile Blue. Had no issues with them and enjoyed their services. Stayed at Le Meridien hotel and for dinner had dinner nearby at a restaurant called fel fala. recommended by our tour guide. Food was pretty cheap for american standards. we went to the pyramids as soon we we got into giza. other friends went with decastro tours and they are probably good as well but they went to the pyramids the next day, first thing in the morning. there was fog/haze and so they werent able to see the pyramids clearly. camel ride was super fun!!! total we spent $303 a person. this included 2 lunches, a breakfast, hotel, entrance fees for the pyramids, kefren pyramid, sound adn light show, and a camel ride.

 

- Israel - Israel was great, we had two separate tours and visited Jerusalem and Nazareth/Galilee. We joiend another couple who had already booked so i dont know too much about the companies. I thiunk Jerusalem was with Sa-Rel tours, not sure who Nazareth/Galilee was with. If possible, book an independent tour. Some friends who did the ship tour felt that everything was too rushed, however I kind of felt htat way with jerusalem too - there is just way too much to see!

 

- Ephesus - booked independent tour, see review here.http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=19641141#post19641141

 

- Patmos - visited monastery and cave of apocalypse. these are the two main attractions. joined another couple who rented a car. other friends took the bus or walked. those who walked said it was wonderful - peaceful with beautiful views. i recommend not taking a tour if yoru parents are ccapable of walking. not sure where the bus drops off, but there is some slight walk up to the monastery either way. but there is nto too much to see, so that si why i suggested not taking a tour. too expensive =)

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/greece/patmos-monastery-of-st-john.htm

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/greece/patmos-cave-of-apocalypse.htm

 

- Santorini - again, we did this on our own. we took the donkey up the hill - actually they were mules i think since htey were a lot bigger. a highlight of our santorini trip, but again, youll have to use your judgement about your parents. it was soooo fun but the mules can be unpredictable. i didnt feel unsafe like i would fall off because i made sure to hang on tight adn keep my feet on the foot holder thingie. Oia is a not miss especially for beautiful panoramic pictures. we took the bus, it was not too hard to find and a one trip was only 1,40 euros. we had no interest in shopping so after we took pictures, we got gyros - pretty reasonable price - 2,50 near the oia bus stop. and then headed back into Fira adn walked around a bit before taking the cable car back down. this was pretty fun, but if you're scared of heights, you may have an issue.

 

- Athens - we did self disembark and got off thes hip around 7:30. we arranged a transfer through our hotel witha nother couple since they were staying at the same place. After dropping off luggage we went to the Acropolis and it was so nice because there were no tours yet. there was a group of college students but otehr than that it was pretty free and open. but we stayed at the Amalia Hotel. just one block away from the express bus stop to the airport. this was 3,20 euros and was very easy.

 

hope this helps. =)

[hightownCO]

fernoppi, Princess has been giving someone in our group what I think is misinformation regarding Egypt, private tours and visa--saying they wouldn't get their visas thru Princess unless on a Princess tour and would have to do it on their own! Totally contrary to what I've read here folks who did private overnights. So to go to someone with real life, just returned experience like you is great. So questions:

 

Did you do anything in advance of your cruise to notifiy Princess that you would be getting off ship overnight and reboarding next day?

 

Did Princess take your passport and get it stamped with your Egyptian Visa? No special charges or anything like that?

 

Did you turn anything in on board regarding your off ship overnight to let them know?

[fernoppi]

fernoppi, Princess has been giving someone in our group what I think is misinformation regarding Egypt, private tours and visa--saying they wouldn't get their visas thru Princess unless on a Princess tour and would have to do it on their own! Totally contrary to what I've read here folks who did private overnights. So to go to someone with real life, just returned experience like you is great. So questions:

 

Did you do anything in advance of your cruise to notifiy Princess that you would be getting off ship overnight and reboarding next day?

 

Did Princess take your passport and get it stamped with your Egyptian Visa? No special charges or anything like that?

 

Did you turn anything in on board regarding your off ship overnight to let them know?

 

Gahhhh....the thing with Princess is, depending on who you talk to, you'll get a different response. This was my first time with Princess - well first cruise in general. I learned sooo much from the boards. Anyway we did not do anything special regarding visas. We turned in our passports, and they were stamped with an Alexandria stamp. There were no extra charges. Actually I take this back, I think it may depend on what country you are from. We are from the US and there was nothing special we had to do. I am not sure if there was something special our tour company did, but they did mention visas in the email....let me find it

 

===

The entry visa, the cruise ship will supply everyone with a quick stamp visa (actually its Egyptian officials on ship who do this). Cruise ship passengers in Egypt for less than 72 hours do not need a true visa if they are north& South American / Canadian/ European community / Australians.

===

 

The only thing we did do was to request for a deviation of itinerary. This lets the ship know that they should not expect you back on the ship and that you will meet them at the next port. Some people will tell you it is not permissible. Our TA at first said that is the information she got from Princess. I dont think our TA was that knowledgable. But youll have to fax in your request or have your TA do it. If you do it yourself I think there is a phone number listed on the May 20th roll call. My TA sent me a doc that Princess faxed her approving the deviation. Then on the day of boarding, I went to the reception desk and they photocopied it and we were good to go.

 

Let me knwo if you have more questions =) i feel like I am giving back to the CC community =)

[hightownCO]

Thanks so much! I'll post this over on our roll call.

 

What a cruise for a first timer! Glad you enjoyed it. I'm really excited about our first Med cruise in November.

[fernoppi]

Thanks so much! I'll post this over on our roll call.

 

What a cruise for a first timer! Glad you enjoyed it. I'm really excited about our first Med cruise in November.

 

Yes it was an awesome cruise! We had a great time!

 

Also, one thing I'd like to note to everyone, you may be interested in getting some Casino Credits. I read about it on the boards, I was reluctant at first because I wasn't sure how it worked. But on smaller ships like Royal Princess there is no ATM machine! It sounds so ridiculous. But I ordered the Casino Credits ahead of time and used the money for the excursions since they took USD.

http://www.princess.com/learn/onboard/services/gifts/casino/index.jsp

 

Some people have Princess Cards and I guess it gives them double points, but I just have a cash back card so that was kind of nice to get some money back. My TA said it is to be used only for the casino - information she got from Princess. But everyone said that you cash it out. So I ordered $1300 and in my stateroom I had vouchers which I took to the casino cashier and she gave me cash. It was a nice way to not have to worry about how to pay for the tours such as bringing loads of cash with you, etc.

[frcia]

Thanks for all the info. Hope to see a review from a recent cc.

 

Fred

[crazyacc]

The ship is in Port Said for 8 hours, however I don't see any excursions on

the Princess site. Any ideas?

[Born_2_Cruise]

My wife and I are also on the 7/19 sailing. We are planning the overnight trip in Egypt and 2 one day trips in Israel. I was wondering if anyone did an overnight trip in Israel and if this would make things less rushed and more relaxed. Right now we are thinking it is not worth the additional money for the hotel.

[frcia]

Anyone booking the egypt tours through the ship or using Nile Blue or DeCastro independent tours?

 

Learning toward Nile Blue for the overnight.

 

FC

[Pam in CA]

My wife and I are also on the 7/19 sailing. We are planning the overnight trip in Egypt and 2 one day trips in Israel. I was wondering if anyone did an overnight trip in Israel and if this would make things less rushed and more relaxed. Right now we are thinking it is not worth the additional money for the hotel.

We did the overnight in Jerusalem in November 2007 and in retrospect, it wasn't worth it to me but it all depends on what's important to you. The things we did that we wouldn't have with two 1-day tours were: the Dead Sea Scrolls and drive along (just yards away) from the Jordan border. The Dead Sea Scrolls were probably worth it but the overnight itself (the hotel Princess used was dreadful) wasn't. Unlike Egypt where there's a 3 - 4 hour drive from the port to Cairo, it's only about an hour (or less) from the port to Jerusalem and again to Galilee the next day.

[Born_2_Cruise]

Thanks Pam - that is what we thought was the case.

[fernoppi]

The ship is in Port Said for 8 hours, however I don't see any excursions on

the Princess site. Any ideas?

 

If possible, I would recommend an overnight for Egypt. Port Said to Cairo is 2.5 hours one way. So there really is not much time to do anything. And then from Alexandria to Cairo, it's about 3 hour drive one way. I think Princess may not have excursions for Port Said because there is no time. We stayed overnight but if I remember correctly, the time at Port Said is from 12-8pm.

 

Anyone booking the egypt tours through the ship or using Nile Blue or DeCastro independent tours?

 

Learning toward Nile Blue for the overnight.

 

FC

 

Don't book the ship tour. I am not speaking from experience or did not hear any stories, but the price is just ridiculous at $799 a person!!!! We had 6 people for our trip to Egypt, booked with Nile Blue, and it came to $303 a person. This included entrance fees, entrance to one of the pyramids, camel ride, and sound and light show. Also 2 lunches, a breakfast at hotel, hotel stay at Le Meridien --- very nice place -- and also bottled water.