VacationLove15

7 hours ago, flahagan said:

Thanks for posting this.  We are doing the same cruise August 1 and I have a few questions.  In Malta, do you know why you docked at the Laboratory dock instead of the one for cruise ships?  The day we visit there will be 3 cruise ships in port - us, the HAL Koningsdam and the MSC Bellissima.  Also, In Mykonos, did you dock or did you tender?  I've read that NCL can do either.  The day we visit, it will be the Jade, Vision of the Seas and Wind Star in port.  Since we're doing both of these islands on our own, it would be helpful to know ahead of time where we will dock.

Thanks so much for your review.

Hi, they didn't say why we docked there. It seemed planned because it was in our daily guide. In Mykonos, we got to dock. We were 1 of 2 ships it looked like (I say this because I saw one floating out where we were floating the day before in Santorini). Not sure if you will get to dock if there are 3 ships, but it seemed there was room for more than one ship to dock. 

9 hours ago, bilgeboyPa said:

Thank you for the review. We are doing a family cruise in August on the same itinerary. Sounds like it will be a nice time. Can't wait. Any other tips?

Jeff

I recommend getting off the ship as early as you can and then getting back on 1-2 hrs before all aboard to avoid long lines in the heat. At Malta, we had to do a shuttle boat back to ship and lines were long. Santorini, same thing. There is a cable car that takes you down to the tender boats and it took us 45-50 min to get back to the ship. Then, once you’re back on the ship, the restaurants aren’t as crazy busy if you’re back an hour or two before everyone else 🙂 we had a party of 9

so it was better to get everywhere earlier.

7 hours ago, Dar & Bob said:

Thank you for your review.  We are doing this cruise in September, I hope it isn't quite that hot then.   Can you tell me how much you paid for the cab from the airport to the hotel, and the hotel to the port?  We are getting quotes that seem to be a bit high. 

 

Darla 

I should also add that we looked at Uber when we were at FCO just to see what the cost would be to get to our hotel, and it was $91!!!  Uber is not common here at all, but it was almost double what the cost of the cab was

2 hours ago, Dar & Bob said:

From what I have been seeing on the news/weather, Europe is experiencing unusually hot weather.  Hoping when we are there in September it is their normal temps.  

Yes; lots of our tour guides have said it’s more hot than usual, although always hot. Our guide in Pompei said October is when the cooler weather starts although you might get lucky in September! 

7 hours ago, Dar & Bob said:

Thank you for your review.  We are doing this cruise in September, I hope it isn't quite that hot then.   Can you tell me how much you paid for the cab from the airport to the hotel, and the hotel to the port?  We are getting quotes that seem to be a bit high. 

 

Darla 

Taxi seems to be quite expensive here in Italy although they are professional drivers with nice, air conditioned vehicles. We paid €55 FCO to hotel, and €150 to cruise port (it is a little over one hour) BUT we needed a van as we are a large party of 5 with 5+ suitcases. If you have less people than that, it would probably be less for a smaller vehicle. I prepaid everything via PayPal before we left. 

Hi all! Since CruiseCritic was so helpful to me in planning this trip, I wanted to share our experience as well for those planning. Day 1 and day 2 we were in Rome on our own and scheduled our own tours. I highly recommend this as it was so educational and efficient. We were harassed so badly at the Colosseum by tour and skip the line peddlers since we did NOT have a tour, that we left. The people were RELENTLESS. Even after saying no multiple times, they followed us around until my husband finally had to get loud with them to leave us alone. 

I had a lot of questions about spending money before we left so I wanted to share our spending. We barely spent anything on the ship except for laundry and Starbucks and in port usually spent €50-€150 per day EXCLUDING tours because I had already prepaid all of that. We have 4 people, 2 adults and 2 daughters, ages 11 and 13. We ate at sit-down restaurants so you could spend less if you wanted to eat differently. We spent about $2000 USD in 14 days (in Rome pre-cruise, on ship and in port, and last final day in Rome post-cruise. This includes what I withdrew in euros.

I didn’t think pickpocketing was nearly as much of an issue as you read online, or finding bathrooms (except in Greece, the metro had no readily available bathrooms which I found surprising). I didn’t have to pay for any restrooms except in Naples and Florence area. It was €.50-€1 to use the restrooms (Pompei and Leaning Tower of Pisa area both charged so you will need cash for this).

Also, most DID expect tips in Greece. Santorini #1 industry is tourism and I have no problem tipping. I ended up tipping 10% at most restaurants and tours in Greece. In Rome at restaurants, we just rounded up. 

Restaurants asked me if I wanted to add tip to my credit card charge as there is no line for it be added after transaction is complete. In Italy, tipping was less expected, except in Florence. Florence restaurant had line for tip and gelato stands as well had tip jars. As I state below, Florence city center seems like a tourist trap and I did not feel this way in other areas we visited.

I find it interesting that people see tipping as unnecessary in Italy due to people being paid living wages, yet our guides told us people in this region make on average €17,000 per year and tourism is a lot of these places #1-#2 industry. Maybe someone on these boards from Italy knows why? I’m genuinely just curious. 

Rome cabs took us to hotel from airport (we tipped €5 due to baggage handling) and we tipped our Rome cabs drivers hotel to cruise port €10. It is a personal preference of course, just wanted to share my personal experience. 

The language barrier was not an issue in most places we visited, probably because we were on tours. Most people we interacted with at tours and our pasta making class told us they liked doing things in English so their English gets stronger. We learned a few key phrases to be respectful although it was not necessary, most immediately started speaking to us in English. Most people we have interacted with have been so wonderful and friendly! Naples and Florence I would say less people spoke English than the Greek islands, Malta, Rome and Sicily. 

I am so glad we did a cruise to see this beautiful region because the minimal use of air conditioning in Europe with 90-97 degree days was rough for us used to daily AC use in the summer :)

The Norwegian Jade was a great ship with the exception of limited activities. I felt there was much more to do on our Disney cruises. The actual ship, service and food was great. My family are all great cooks (not me; but the others I was traveling with) and they had NO complaints which is extremely rare. The service in main dining rooms (Alizar, Grand Pacific and O’Sheehan’s pub) was pretty slow so we only ate at Alizar twice and O’Sheehan’s twice. Garden cafe buffet was great and always had high quality food. The coffee isn’t great so if you’re used to strong coffee, you may have to frequent starbucks! Java Cafe brews Starbucks so I frequented there (extra charge plus gratuity. Prices were completely fair and same as Starbucks at home. 

Mandara Spa facilities were mediocre (massage room had fluorescent lighting on the whole massage and a hand towel to cover where your face goes which was pretty rough in texture). The massage itself was great though. 

The kids clubs aren’t great and my kids didn’t really want to go. This is a port intensive cruise so it wasn’t a big deal, but if you had a lot of sea days it would be tough. On the days we were back on the ship early (2p-8p) there was not much to do activity-wise. 

Laundry days were days 4 and 8 on the ship and back by the next day or the day after (one of my loads came back next day and one came back 2 days later) and it was $19.95 for an entire bag. The bags are paper so they rip easily. Also, I would not put any delicates in even with a mesh laundry bag (I did the mesh bag I brought from home and my stuff came back fuzzy). 

Day 1-Rome

-checked into The K Boutique hotel. AC did not work in our room at all for our 2 night stay. 

-Went to colosseum (not inside, skip the line tickets too expensive and too hot)

-Dinner in Rome

Day 2-Rome

-City Wonders Extended Vatican tour with Bramante Staircase

-Pasta making class with Walks of Italy (our chefs were Luca and Francesco) where we made homemade ravioli and fettuccini with two different sauces, and homemade gelato was made by them while we ate the delicious food they taught us to make. HIGHLY recommend! They taught us a lot about Italian food and authentic vs American version 

Day 3-Took Rome cabs to Civitavecchia and boarded Norwegian Jade

Day 4-Sea day

Day 5-Santorini, Greece-NCL excursion to Perivolos Beach. Black lava rock “sand”. I would definitely recommend water shoes to wear at this beach as the sand is very hot. Mera Beach bar serves food and drinks 

Day 6-Athens, Greece-We had a tour planned with Athens Walks for 9a-11a of the Acropolis. We had planned to take metro to the meeting point of “Acropolis metro station”. Unfortunately; unbeknownst to us, the metro was a good 20 min walk from where Norwegian Jade docked and I had originally read on someone else’s review that metro was “right near metro and just a few steps away” from port. Well, it was not in our situation so we ended up missing the tour. The metro required getting off one line and onto another and took us one hour to get from where we docked, to the Acropolis metro station. Our tour had left by that point although a man from Athens Walks stayed behind to sell us our “skip the line” entrance tickets to Acropolis for €20. We hiked up the top on our own and never did catch up with our tour which was fine because it was incredibly hot and crowded. I would recommend doing a skip the line Acropolis and then not doing a formal tour. It’s easy enough to do on your own. Then, we walked around to a place to eat, walked to Temple of Zeus and town of Plaka; we took a cab back to the port around 1:30p due to extreme heat, we were all tired. 

Day 7-Mykonos, Greece-Kalaftis Beach transfer (NCL excursion 9a-12:30p)-€20 euros for one umbrella near back of beach (our umbrella had 3 chairs under it and the girl told us it would only be €20 even though bus who drove us here said it would be €30 for 2 chairs so always ask the actual people working the beach), and €50 euros for 2 chairs near water in front of restaurant/bar (quite expensive since Santorini chairs and umbrellas were free with purchases of drinks and food from Mera Beach bar). You are able to use Aphrodite Hotel bathroom which is directly behind beach, across the street. The area closer to the restaurant has showers, changing rooms and bathrooms. The sand here is much more forgiving. It’s still more pebbly than sandy, but less rough than Santorini. The water here is absolutely beautiful and clear. Mykonos was more developed than Santorini and very beautiful. 

Since we were on an NCL excursion, the bus gave us option to be dropped off in town and then take NCL shuttle back to ship.

Day 8-Chania (Crete), Greece-this was an extremely short port day (7a-12p) and we didn’t feel like getting up early so I stayed on ship. My husband and family got off and it looks like a really beautiful area. 

Day 9-Valletta, Malta-We did the hop on hop off Malta bus NCL excursion just so we could get around easily and see what we wanted. We docked at Laboratory Wharf Berth and boat shuttle was offered to cross over to Valletta cruise port although since we had our excursion we didn’t need to do that until the way back since the Hop On Hop off ends in Valletta. We got off the bus at San Anton Gardens and got back on until the stop for Mosta. The Mosta costs 2 euros to enter. (we skipped a couple stops that weren’t interesting to us). Next, we went to Mdina. We took a horse drawn tour for 35 euros and it was well worth it. The driver gave us the history and it was a nice breezy ride. Then, back on the bus to Valletta and back to the ship via water shuttle! Make sure to get off at bus stop for “port” instead of city center (our driver told us to get off at city center, and yes you can walk to the Port of Valletta but it is about 15-20 minutes and my grandmother has mobility issues which made it a challenge)

Day 10-Messina, Sicily-We did an NCL excursion “Italy Taormina & Sicilian Vineyard” which took us to the town of Taormina first to walk around and see the sights with our tour guide, Renata. It included the Greek theater and entrance fees were included in tour price. We then had one hour to walk around on our own until meeting back at the bus at 11:50am. Then, off to the Sicilian vineyard (Gambino vineyard) for lunch and wine tasting. The educational part was about 30 min with tour of wine cellar. Then, onto food! The appetizer was a plate of different cheeses, a few olives, 3 red peppers and a portobello mushroom. They also had hard boiled eggs and bread on the table. The second course was cured meats. Luckily, we ate some Sicilian pizza in Taormina!! I don’t drink, so luckily one of my family members took my samples that were given :) There were 4 different types of wine and the family says they were very good. It is an hour 20 minute ride back to the port from the vineyard. This excursion is well worth it IMO.

Day 10-Naples, Italy-Pompeii Excavations NCL excursion. It’s about a 48 minute ride from cruise port to Pompeii and it’s a 4 1/2 hour excursion including travel time. It includes a guided tour of the excavations. Our guide was Marcello and he was great (degree in archaeology). We stopped at a cameo factory on the way to Pompeii because apparently it is a requirement for certain tours (some said it’s required by government?). We were able to use the restrooms though so that was nice. There are also restrooms outside the entrance and inside the entrance (outside cost €.50-this was first time I had to pay for restroom entire trip). It was an absolutely amazing sight to see and well worth having a tour guide to know what everything is. It was brutally hot the day we went (98 Fahrenheit), but overall worth it to see this historical archaeological site.

Day 11-Livorno, Italy-Florence and Pisa-We did a private van tour for 8 hrs to take us to Leaning Tower of Pisa, Michelangelo Square in Florence as well as going to see Accademia Gallery to see statue of David. We went to Florence city center. Florence city center was a tourist trap IMO. There were no posted prices for gelato and we paid €18 for 2 gelato!!! This is the only place we’ve experienced some “tourist pricing”. We have bought gelato almost every day and it is €2-3. Lots of high end shops here such as Gucci, Prada, etc., as well as many people selling souvenir and leather goods. 

We used “Nicola Scovenna Travel Experiences to Italy” (Diego and Maria were our guides). Highly recommend!

Day 12-tomorrow we disembark-Rome Cabs back to Rome for the day and fly home the next day, day 13 from FCO

4 hours ago, ms sjsky said:

 

We always bring a couple extra plastic trash bags (13 gallon size for kitchen garbage).  We used that inside the paper bag to send out our laundry.  Was able to fit quite a bit.

 

Good idea! I'll do that. I go right back to work when we return and definitely don't want laundry to do 😝

2 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

another laundry question.  If you put a few items in a mesh bag to keep them separate from the rest of the laundry, will they leave those things in the bag ?

 

 

I am wondering this too. Swimsuits and undergarments especially

11 hours ago, TPgal said:

On our recent 11-day panama cruise the laundry promo was offered on day 4.   I used my very best Marie Kondo folding techniques to get as much in that bag as I could, but I didn’t do anything really bulky - mostly shirts, underwear and pjs.   No pants or jean shorts.  It was all back the next evening.  

 

I’ve heard of folks reinforcing the paper bag with tape, but our bag was a pretty nice plastic that held quite a bit. That may have been a perk of the suite. 

 

 

Thanks for response! Did they offer it again on day 9 or 10 as well?

Hi all, we are leaving next week on the Norwegian Jade for a 10-night Greek Isles and Italy cruise. I have never been on a vacation where I couldn't do laundry! I know others have posted that they offer a "fill your bag up" for $20 to be washed and dried at some point on the cruise. Does anyone know exactly when they do this? Trying to pack for my kids and don't know how many outfits they will truly need if laundry can be done halfway through. 

12 hours ago, Kate P.C said:

10EUR per person per day should be fine, as long as you had a full breakfast on the ship 🙂 If all your excursions are paid, some include snacks and drinks even lunch. I would mostly worry about water and food while I am out on a tour. With kids some treats would be nice too. So, if you want to stop somewhere for coffee and ice-cream, or croissants, 10EUR pp should be fine.

If you want to buy souvenirs, tip, and additional expenses not covered by the excursion, then I suggest adding another 10EUR per day in total. Good luck and have fun!

Great info! Thank you

12 hours ago, spookyfudge said:

We took 1000 Euro's for a 28 day cruise. What we had left over just paid down my cruise bill with it.

Oh wow, you spent that little in 28 days! That's a relief. I keep thinking I am going to have vastly underestimated spending but you all are making me feel better about that. If it's 10 euros per person per day, on all the days I don't have full excursions, I'll only need about $500-600 euros max (plus I can use my card, not included in that budget).

13 hours ago, Hampton99 said:

Not all of them will but if they do pick euro, if they don’t ask we have found it is exchanged in euro.  Also in restaurants in Europe when you pay with a credit card they will bring the machine to the table and we have found more and more machines will ask if you want it billed in euro or US dollar.  We always chose euro because we have found our bank usually has the best exchange rate.  This is all relatively new so not all machines do it.  I think it is a way for the restaurants and banks to make money on the exchange.  

Okay, got it! Thanks for the tip. 

1 hour ago, Hampton99 said:

Another thing to keep in mind when using a bank atm often it will ask if you want the exchange done in US dollar or euro.  If your card does not have a foreign transaction fee chose the exchange in euro.  I have found my bank offers a better exchange rate than the European bank atm I am using. I completely agree it is best to use atms in bank lobbies.  Also if your bank has a chip card I would make sure to use that.   We use capital one for a credit card and td bank for atm.  Both have no foreign transaction fees and have good exchange rates.  

Will the ATM machine ask me if I want to exchange in US dollar or euro?

Thanks everyone! This is all very helpful

Thanks everyone! Any actual experience you're willing to share of what you ended up spending? Like 30 euros for lunch, 10 for coffee, couldn't use CC for less than certain amounts? 

I did do the envelope trick for the money I know I need euros for (exchanged enough for 700 total euros pre-trip). I am a little nervous using my ATM card over there as my friend had identity theft when she went on her Med Cruise 2 years ago!

Hi all! We are leaving in 2 weeks for our 10 night Norwegian Jade Greek Isles & Italy cruise and we did get euros for a few things we know we have to pay in cash (tips, entrance to Acropolis, a private van tour, and about 190 additional euros for random purchases that we can't use CC for. I'm interested in people's experiences of how much they actually spent? I have 2 adults and 2 children (ages 13 and 10). I would like to use my credit card for most things, but I do realize some places may only accept cash. We have prepaid all of our excursions so this is just regular pocket money. We also have 3 nights in Rome pre/post cruise. Any insight is appreciated! Thanks

VacationLove15...

We did exactly what you're planning. Just got back last month. Caught the redeye and spent 3 days in Rome prior to an Eastern Mediterranean cruise.

 

I agree with flying in early. We came in 3 days early. I would even try 4 or 5 days if I had it to do over again. There is a ton to do in Rome and The Vatican. Great city.

I agree with Harrijc --- and recommend staying in the city center. I would disagree with a stay near the airport, unless like The Wood Duck, it's short after-cruise stay. My suggestion is to stay within a couple of blocks of the Pantheon where you can easily walk to most of the sites. If you do stay near the airport it gives you a perfect opportunity to explore Ostia Antica (5-10 minutes away).

 

I disagree with taking a nap unless nightlife is what you're in to in which case a nap makes sense. Personally, we find the best way to get on local time is to stay up and don't nap. We can't keep our eyes open past 8:30 pm, sleep really well, and wake up around 5:30 - 6:00 am. Sun is already up, but hardly any people yet. It's a great time to explore several popular outdoor sites on your own and then enjoy breakfast.

 

Here's my entire very detailed review of our pre-cruise preparations, and our ports, including our stay in Rome: http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/eastern-mediterranean.html

Regardless whatever you decide about any of the above, you should still have a good time. Enjoy your cruise.

Thank you for your detailed review on your site! I just booked everything. We decided to fly in on June 17, arriving technically June 18th due to overnight flight, stay 2 nights at the K Boutique Hotel in Rome to do the Vatican tour you recommended on morning of June 19, and the Colosseum either before the cruise or same day as Vatican later in the afternoon. This way we can see the major things before the cruise, be to the cruise port by 2p June 20th, and then stay one additional night post-cruise (flying home July 1, 2019) to see a few other things that don't require tours.

Anything to see near FCO? I was thinking of booking a hotel post-cruise near the airport so we don't have to rush to get there when we depart July 1 (cruise arrives back to Civitavecchia June 30, 2019 at 6am), but don't want to be bored that far removed from the city center.

If you stay at the Airport Hilton they have "Complimentary shuttle bus to downtown Rome 8 times a day". We are staying post cruise one night. The ship departs in the early morning which get you to the hotel around 10 am. They will store your bags if your room is not ready.

That sounds great. I'm trying to figure out if I want to do Rome before the cruise or after. The day we arrive back to Civitavecchia is a Sunday and a lot to see in Vatican City will be closed. Sounds like it might be better to do Rome pre-cruise, Tues, Wed, then part of day Thursday and leave on cruise Thursday. I don't think we have to be on the ship until around 3 pm. Anyone done it that way?

Great advice all, I'm making a list!

Thanks everyone! :cool:

Thank you! Yes it sounds like post cruise would be best if I actually want to enjoy it due to the jet lag. If you fly in one day early (flights from JFK to Rome nonstop arrive typically in Rome around 7:15am), would you just stay near the port in Civitavecchia or head to Rome?

Also, I should add that in addition to the adults in our party, we are traveling with our two daughters, ages 13 and 11. I'm guessing sleep will be a priority when we arrive since it would be around midnight-1am our time.

Just reiterating the suggestion to fly in 1 day early. This is an excellent safeguard and what we've now implemented in all of our cruise travels. We chanced it out of Rome once -- and my poor father didn't have any luggage for the first few days of our cruise! There were problems out of JFK and while he managed to make the flight, his luggage did not!

 

On this particular cruise, my DH and I stayed after the trip in Rome 1 night, but getting 2 days of travel out of it (as we flew back to London, where we live, so we could take an evening flight).

 

I think 2 days is excellent (and post-cruise touring is better for jetlag if you're travelling across multiple timezones). We devoted one day to the Vatican / Sistine Chapel and the other to seeing all of the different sites. The Colosseum was the only one which took up a lot of time - we made the error of not booking in advance and got stuck in massive queues. Be sure to make advanced reservations with time tickets! (Ditto for the Vatican -- that is 100% essential or else you'll find yourself waiting forever to get inside!)

 

In the city centre, it's very easy to walk to see some of the highlights - the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, various Piazzas, the Spanish Steps, etc. They are all just a few blocks from one another so you can just nip around to all of them.

 

We found the Vatican / Sistine Chapel to be absolutely overwhelming. The halls are jam packed, there's no where to sit, we were on a guided tour and the walk through the Museum to get to the Sistine Chapel was endless and dizzying. We were meant to go in to St Peter's Basilica straight afterwards but I was not feeling well at all and skipped it (having been one time before). Just keep that in mind -- it's an exhausting trip, you cover a LOT of ground, and it's best enjoyed with a guide of some sort (whether an official Vatican guide or from another company).

 

Overall 100% enjoyment we absolutely loved all our time in Rome. Hope you have a great time!

Thank you! Yes it sounds like post cruise would be best if I actually want to enjoy it due to the jet lag. If you fly in one day early (flights from JFK to Rome nonstop arrive typically in Rome around 7:15am), would you just stay near the port in Civitavecchia or head to Rome?

We arrived in Rome 4 night before of our cruise, visited Rome with Tour and was very fantastic, I used romeairportshuttlelimoservice.com for Rome tour and each transfer from Rome airport to Hotel and from Hotel to the cruise port, very good company.

I will be in Rome for my next cruise !!! Enjoy your time in Rome

Good info, thanks!

Thanks! I'm now starting to think I should do it post-cruise because i'll be adjusted by then, and the cruise arrives back to Civitavecchia at 6am. This would allow a full day, plus one more full day, fly back home on the 3rd day? I just really cannot take off more than 2 weeks from work so that's my struggle :(:loudcry::(

Hi all, we are booked on the Norwegian Jade 10 night Italy and Greece cruise for next summer. Our departure/arrival port is Civitavecchia and that doesn't really allow for any time to see Rome on the cruise I don't think. I was thinking of flying in 1-2 days before cruise leaves to see the main sights in Rome i.e. Vatican City, and The Colosseum (those are the top priorities). Does anyone have experience with this? I realize the day we arrive we will be exhausted from basically losing a day in travel coming from the US. Let me know how you did it! Thanks