Doughty3

If you're on Oceana, like us last month, you fly Bournemouth/Genoa on a Jet2 P&O Charter flight...in other words everyone on the flight will be on your cruise and after checking in your hold bags at Bournemouth you next see them outside your cabin.

Last Monday there were 8 cruise ships in port and nearly 19000 passengers!

Maybe that affected the shuttle bus service.

As we had recently visited Rome we avoided the crowds by taking the train to nearby Santa Marinella and had a lovely day on the beach.

Last Monday there was only one shuttle bus stop in Civitavecchia.

The shuttle bus from the quay is free for everyone, but the point at which it drops you in Civitavecchia is now further away from the station.

You can catch a public bus from the shuttle bus drop off area to the station but we walked, taking a good 15 minutes.

Just back from 2 weeks on Oceana. Allocated Freedom dining worked very well for us on our first ever cruise.

We shared large tables on formal nights which made it all seem a bit more special and met new people. One of these evenings seemed rather rushed with the servers bringing courses too quickly.

Some nights we asked for a table for 2 and were given a pager and a warning that we could wait up to an hour. We found we didn't have to wait more than 15 minutes, 5 minutes being the quickest.

We loved the flexibility and even managed a quick meal for 2 at 6pm before going out to a concert in Venice.

Next year it is then Dubrovniktravelady!

After looking forward to our Dubrovnik visit last week, Oceana was defeated by Force 8 winds & couldn't dock....so disappointed!

Thank you for all the helpful replies.

Love that jacket bee-ess!

A photo of the shop that sells tickets for the bus to Tarquinia would be so helpful.

Maybe no one had time to stop to take a photo in the mad rush to find the shop and get to the bus stop in time!

How do people manage packing for a 2 week Med cruise with a hold luggage limit of 20kg and a minuscule cabin bag limit of 5 kg??

That's our allowance according to P&O on Jet2 flying from Bournemouth.

Are cabin bags weighed?

Any suggestions ASAP please as we're flying next Wednesday.

Thank you for finding that info...even if it's not the answer I wanted to hear!

Why do you think that David?

Our Med fly cruise flight home leaves Genoa for Bournemouth in the afternoon.

Is there anywhere we can leave our cabin bags on board Oceana while we have a quick look at Genoa for a couple of hours?

Or will we be bussed to the airport early to wait for our flight for several hours?

So does that happen on Med fly cruises as well ?

I've booked specialist restaurants on Oceana for several port nights thinking that formal nights would be on sea days.

I wouldn't want to miss a formal night so I'll want to cancel those bookings if they clash. Hope the restaurant charges will be refunded!

Confused first time cruiser.

Unfortunately our flight doesn't leave Bournemouth for Genoa until 10:20, so when do you think we'll be on board Oceana?

We were hoping to have time to find a shop for some bits and pieces, and have a quick look at Genoa.

Will this be possible? It's our first cruise so any advice welcome.

Thank you for your helpful replies...especially roaming_kiwi58 who is travelling and still took time to give advice.

You've all given me the confidence to find that starting point. Now all I've got to do is find the energy for the climb!

We're in our late sixties and mid seventies but we hike often in hilly areas, so with the help of my hiking pole and a lot of water we hope to make it.

Or along these lines perhaps I could find a luminous wine glass!

Look, kind people, I am 2 weeks away from my first ever cruise and I think mild panic is setting in.

Thank you...some things for us to consider.

If we get a public bus from the port to Pile and plan to walk the walls, would it be better to avoid the queues by walking along Stradum to the Ploce wall entrance and starting our walk?

We then thought we could exit at Ploce at the end of our circuit and wander back to Pile via the market and lunch before getting the bus back to the port.

We had originally planned to go to Cavtat, which I remember from 50 years ago as a pretty place, after walking the walls but have decided that it might be too rushed to be enjoyable. Maybe next time.

Thank you, the english lady.

Is it easy to find the start of the steps to the old fort in Kotor old town?

We want to start the climb as early as we can and don't want to waste too much time searching. We can only find very vague town maps.

Do the cabin balconys on Oceana have lights? If not, do cruisers take a small light of some sort for the table? The end of September in the Med will have dark evenings I imagine....how will I see my pre dinner drink??

We're in port on a Monday and don't plan to go to Rome as we've visited recently & also it looks as if there are 6 or 7 other cruise ships in port that day!

We plan a stroll around and lunch. Will there be a good choice of places to eat on a Monday?

We're going on our first cruise, a Med flycruise on Oceana, in a couple of weeks and intend to take copies of our passports as advised on here.

Are there any ports where we have to take the original ashore with us or is a matter of personal choice?

What do experienced cruisers do?