emeraldcity

So very fun! Thanks for sharing

I booked this one back in 2017 on the advice of a friend and he was spot on. He called it the best excursion he had ever taken on any cruise. Two years later, I recommended it to my daughter and she said it was fantastic as well. The funny thing was, all three of us had a slightly different experience. Mine was a follows: We travelled by bus from Naples to the Amalfi coast where we boarded a double decker excursion boat that took us along the incredibly picturesque coast of Amalfi. It was picture-postcard perfect. We docked in Amalfi and our tour guide gave us a brief walking tour, then cut us loose to explore on our own. We were to meet up back at the boat in an hour for the return by boat to where our bus had dropped us off. (More on that later*) Once we were back on the bus, we went to Pompeii, where we were first given a wonderful sit-down dinner and then taken on a tour of Pompeii. The tour guide cut us loose unexpectedly deep in the ruins and we found ourselves a bit confused about how to get back to the front of the site. It all looks the same after a while. But we figured it out soon enough to reboard the bus for the return to Naples. It was a long day, intellectually stimulating and physically challenging in spots. Exhausting for sure, but absolutely worth it. We were ready to see the ship and relax ... but no. It was not to be. The tour guide was determined we needed to stop at a factory that made cameos. He talked it up all day. I don't think an hour went by without him mentioning it, along with an insistence that we wait till we got to Pompeii to buy limoncello, because it was a superior product if purchased in the store at Pompeii. The reality is that the limoncello was in the same bottles there as it was at the shops in Amalfi. And the cameo factory was really just a store with incredibly pricey treasures that had absolutely no vehicles in the parking lot except our bus. I wonder what his cut was. My daughter got the same experience but only a one-way boat ride. They bussed them all the way to Pompeii and then they did a boat ride back to where the bus picked them up. And my friend Dean did Pompeii first then a boat ride to Amalfi and a bus ride back. *Not everyone has the courtesy to adhere to assigned schedules. And apparently an hour in Amalfi was insufficient. We returned to the boat with 15 minutes to spare and boarded with most of the passengers. The boat sailed on schedule and then the dock radioed them to return. Yep! There were the laggards who apparently didn't have a watch. So we were definitely behind schedule as we left the dock again and headed out ... only to be recalled back to Amalfi for another group of people for whom rules don't apply. The tour guide didn't shorten the tour in Pompeii fortunately. I was concerned about that. So I figured he would skip the cameo factory that he kept saying we'd do if we had time. Nope! He delivered us to the cameo factory and didn't cut that stop short either. Consequently, we were the last bus back to the ship. We got off the bus 10 minutes before the scheduled sailing time and still had to wind our way back through the shopping gauntlet in the port.

So now that it's determined where the current passengers will disembark, how does the cruise line deal with the obvious PVSA violation. Do they file for an exemption?

On the 23-day Explorer TP (2018) a survey was left in cabins one week into the cruise to take the temperature of the population and solicit feedback. One suggestion I submitted at that time was implemented within days. Have they done anything of that sort of this cruise?

Actually, I had reached the point where I wasn't thrilled when I returned to my cabin to find a towel animal. But I believe the steward makes them to do something a little special for the passengers in their assigned rooms, and I didn't have the heart to say "don't bother". So I hit upon the idea of returning the gesture and enhancing them to give the attendant a little surprise in return. Our attendant on the Vision told us it made her so happy. And the latest batch on the Explorer were so fun, that our attendant had to call her supervisor to the room to share them. He told me he'd taken pictures of all of them. I asked at our dinner table how many towel animals everyone got. The answers varied between 2 and 4 for the 13-days cruise. We got 6 ... one every other day. I suspect Lilian was looking forward to what we'd make of them.

Yes it does. My pillow is wonderfully fluffy and I'm adept at squishing it into my suitcase. It recently went with me to Rome and then on the Explorer TA to Miami.

Me too!

Here’s a couple from our latest cruise.

Don't focus on Colon. Focus on Panama City. We flew into Panama City and had a very enjoyable stay in a boutique hotel. The morning of departure, we booked a private transfer to the port that included a stop at the Visitor Center at the Miraflores Locks. Frankly, it's a shame that cruises that go through the Panama Canal don't factor an overnight in Panama City into the itinerary. Those who have been there might recognize the condo building in my avatar. 🙂

September on the Harmony, the winning team for each trivia game got ONE highlighter. The staff member was annoyed they were expected to be so stingy.

This is a page from the operating manual of the Grandeur 2012 when she sailed out of Colon on 7-day sailings. We were on one of those sailings (called "Spanish immersion cruise"). There were very few Americans on board (think 25-30). All the announcements were in Spanish first and then English. We have such great memories of the people we met on board ... even though we spoke no Spanish (beyond "No espanol"). I hope they continue those sailings. I'd love to do it again. They had trouble filling up the ship, which is why they discontinued those sailings, but we scored a great deal on a Grand Suite due to the price drops to fill them. Special note for those doing shared table dining: Be sure to contact dining reservations prior to the cruise to request a table with English-speaking guests.

Thank you for your responses. I was hesitant to post anything about it because I was sure I'd be told to "get over it" and be advised I needed to be more sensitive to the needs of the young family trying to work with a cramped cabin. If I run into the situation again, I will call guest services. I just kept trying to picture whether or not a scooter or wheelchair could get by that thing and I thought someone would say something if it was a problem. But I suppose I was that someone who should have said something.

I really do try to avoid posting anything negative, but why was it permitted for the occupants of a nearby cabin to keep their child's stroller in the hallway? I know the cabins are cramped, but this was a balcony cabin and they could have folded the thing up and stuck it out there when not in use. Their cabin was one of the first ones off the elevator lobby, so everyone in that hallway had to negotiate around it for the entire sailing. I hope nobody farther down was in a wheelchair or a scooter. I was under the impression that due to a possible emergency, all items of a personal nature needed to be stored in your cabin.

I often have people ask me what was my favorite cruise, and I can't give them an answer. How do you compare Alaska to The Baltic or New England to the Panama Canal? But then someone asked me "If there was only one cruise that you could ever repeat, which one would it be?" And I shot back "Greek Isles!" I didn't even have to think about it. I had done that cruise on the Radiance in 2017 and it exceeded my expectations. And then my daughter called saying her hubbie didn't want to go on her Odyssey cruise to the Greek Isles and did I want to take his place. I leaped at it. We went last October and I treasure the memories of that cruise. Rome is one of the best places to book a BNB instead of a hotel. Look for something near the Campo di Fiori, as it is very centrally located. We walked everywhere. I'm headed back to Rome shortly and I've scored another great BNB cheaper than the hotels. Many of your BNB hosts will arrange transportation from the airport to the apartment. And I've done a shared van to the port once, but I used the train last time. Very easy and a much nicer experience. As for the ports, we did Athens (once in their lifetime everyone should have the experience of standing on the Acropolis and marveling at the Parthenon), Santorini (it is every bit as beautiful as the pictures), Mykonos (so incredibly charming, you would swear Disney manufactured it to match some movie), Ephesus (do the tour that included the terrace houses ... you won't regret it). I loved the Odyssey. A bit bigger version of the Quantum class. The 270 lounge is really unique. I enjoyed the shows there. And it was --hands down-- the best place for breakfast. The 270 cafe was never crowded. You collected your food, then went to the lounge to find a nice table with that incredible aft view. Enjoying breakfast while sailing into the caldera as we made our way to our Santorini anchorage was an incredibly picturesque way to start that day. The only negative experience was the trip home. Virtually everyone I interacted with at the Rome airport made it clear that I was just a package that needed to be processed and that processing would take place when they were damn good and ready.

Two weeks ago I booked on board about 3:00 in the afternoon of boarding day. I wouldn't recommend waiting much past that as it does fill up.