cruisemom42

I arranged a private tour with a local guide from Pula (through Get Your Guide) who was willing to come and pick me up from Rovinj. I'm not sure if he'd be willing to drive to Rijeka to pick you up; it looks about twice as far.

Glad to hear they've fixed it.

Rather than giving you a list of hotels (which you may have already looked at), I would agree with Gourmet Gal -- look at a site like Tripadvisor, select the filter that lets you just look at hotels in the historic center, plug in your dates, and then filter the list by overall rating. You should end up with a number of choices that you can research further by reading reviews or asking here whether anyone is familiar with the property. Edited to add: A word of warning. Always try to book directly through the hotel, once you've identified one. TripAdvisor will try to push you to a third-party booking site. Always check with the hotel first.

I read the description -- looks like a nice tour. Only odd thing is that they don't tell you which catacombs they're taking you to (there are many around Rome including 3 on the Appian Way...)

I do exactly the same, and I agree with your assessment.

I think we're too quick to push the panic button on the younger generation. I can remember when I got to that awkward age (some point in middle school) where I became painfully socially awkward. I could go for days, as you say, only talking to my small group of close friends. I was smart but I would never, ever, raise my hand to answer a question. It got a bit better in college and better still once I was in the working world. Where people would now say these kids are spending too much time in front of a blue screen, the adults back then just said we always had our noses stuck in a book. I saw my son go through much the same thing, and now he's a high functioning adult working in a top tier consulting group, so he has to be socially savvy. Yet for years he could barely even talk to his grandparents. .....People forget that adolescence isn't easy.

Thank you for that tidbit. I was already planning to attend the special exhibit at the British Museum ("Life in the Roman Army") for which this is being lent. I will certainly look for this!

....and I thought all this time that people were referring to that wonderful period in Roman history:

It's a good question. I'm sure flights from Mauritius are not as easy to schedule as from larger ports commonly used for embarkation and disembarkation... I looked on the NCL board and did not find the discussion there (first few pages). If @ontheweb saw something about it, perhaps could post a link here?

I'm questioning the OP's post -- Sun Princess just left Rome a few days ago on her inaugural cruise. She hasn't been anywhere near the Dominican Republic.

LOL

Well, as one example, I'll point to the 28-day Japan "cherry blossom" cruise I took last April on Holland America. Just for starters, you get 28 days circumnavigating all of the main islands of Japan for less than the price of the 16 day Regatta cruise mentioned by the OP. (HAL does offer a limited number of Japan cruises in the fall, but to me cherry blossom timing was a big driver, and while it's a bit of a crap shoot as to whether you'll hit "full bloom" or not, the HAL itinerary is designed to take you from the south to the north, so at some point along the way you're bound to hit the sweet spot.) The Oceania itinerary really doesn't even include that much of Japan, and does none of the very interesting and lesser known northern ports. (For example, I really liked Aomori and Hakodate). It does include stops in other places like Vietnam and Singapore, which is fine, but it's not Japan. The HAL cruise has the minimum number of extra-Japan stops (at least one foreign port per cruise, much like US regulations, and the 28-day cruise is really considered 2 14-day cruises...) The 2024 itinerary (now sold out) is shown below as it is fairly similar to the 2023 one I did, although it does include a few more intriguing-sounding ports on the western side. There are probably others as well. All I know is that when I was looking for 2023, O's itineraries were not even in my top 3 or 4. Oceania Regatta Itinerary: HAL Itinerary:

I'm a relative newbie to O but on two cruises (total of 34 days), I didn't experience any meal that was inedible, nor did any meals fail to materialize. Are you cruising to Japan for the itinerary or for the onboard dining? If the former, there are better itineraries out there than O offers, and Japan offers many opportunities to sample delicious food ashore.

Ostia is indeed a wonderful option from Rome. Easy to get to using public transport (metro and train). I just watched this great video that can provide a quick intro as to what you can see at Ostia. People like to compare Ostia to Pompeii, but there are a lot if differences. Pompeii was preserved at a specific moment in time. Ostia was Rome's port city that sort of died off over time as the port silted up and the river's path changed. So you'll see a lot of the city isn't as well preserved at Pompeii, although there are AMAZING survivals of mosaics in particular, and the concrete and brick building structures give you an idea of the height and "bulk" of the buildings. One welcome difference is that Ostia is never very crowded (again you'll see this in the video link).

Approximate numbers (I only looked at one ship per class but numbers shouldn't differ significantly within class.) Celebrity S class: ~10% inside (2800 pax) Celebrity M class: 17.5% (2200 pax) Princess Royal class: ~19% inside (3560 pax) Princess Grand class: 28% inside (3000 pax) HAL Pinnacle class: ~20% inside (2650 pax) HAL Vista class: 16.4% inside (2360 pax) With the exception of the low number of insides on Celebrity S class and the high number on Princess' Grand class, the numbers don't seem significantly different... I think it's more likely that as ships have gotten larger and larger, lines are adding a significantly higher number of cabins per ship without proportionally increasing the public spaces. I do think @Hlitner has something of a point. HAL passengers seem to have a tendency to park themselves in one location for the day (a sea day), and not really move around the ship as there is little programming to entice them.

Luckily that is not so much of a problem on HAL. So many of their shows are repeats that people are not exactly clamoring to get into the theater.

Yes, that's correct. The first thing to do, then, is to get sorted how and when you will see the Colosseum and the Vatican/Sistine chapel. Each requires some pre-planning and reservations. For the Colosseum: you're staying nearby, so getting there is no problem. You really need to review the many different kinds of tours that are available -- both through the official channels or via a separately-operated tour group. Some of these tour groups are not super expensive and it can help avoid the hassle of trying to get the correct tickets through official outlets. The current system is ridiculous. Tickets are released in batches starting precisely a certain number of days in advance. In order to have even a chance of getting the tickets you want, you'll need to be prepared to call or be ready to pounce online at the moment tickets are released. There are tours that offer just a basic overview of the main level and maybe one or two upper levels. There are tours that add the underground area. There are tours that add the top level of the structure, which is great for panoramic views. There are "night" tours. There are tours that include the gladiator tunnel and entrance. So really, the sky is the limit. It's good to start educating yourself now, so you know exactly what to purchase when the time comes. For private tours, it's probably not too early to start looking at options either.... For the Vatican: Yes, tickets through the official Vatican channel only go on sale a month prior to your desired date. Again, there are a number of options, both through this official channel or via private guides. You can choose just an overview of the Vatican Museums + Sistine Chapel. You can extend this with a tour of St. Peter's (I would probably advise this one as the best overview). Sometimes there is the option to do an early opening to avoid crowds. And for a separate fee you might also think about whether you want to go up to the top of St. Peter's (lift + stairs) while you're there. Once you get these two things set, you can work out various other things to "fit in" between these two. (If possible I'd try to avoid doing both of the above on the same day.) Some other things that you can see/walk to on your own include the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, Campo dei Fiori -- all of these can be covered in a single DIY walk across this stretch of the historic center. Rick Steves' Rome guide, which I highly recommend for first-time Rome DIY'ers, has an excellent self-guided tour with directions and just enough history to be interesting. It's a good walk to do in the late afternoon or early evening. Afterwards there are many decent restaurants in the area to stop at for a nice dinner. Hopefully that helps to get you started. Feel free to ask more questions as your planning progresses.

Probably so. But the changed itineraries I'm seeing so far do include ports of call in Africa. It would be a pretty long transit for passengers if they eliminated all ports in Africa. I suppose they could always take a decision to sail the ship around Africa with no passengers, but I would bet dollars to doughnuts that cruise lines are highly reluctant to do that due to the loss of revenue. Unfortunately, I have come to look at these decisions with a jaundiced eye, given recent situations with some cruise lines.

I just read this story about the NCL Dawn not being allowed to port in Mauritius due to suspected cholera aboard ship. It turns out there was no cholera (after passengers were tested), but disembarkation was delayed for two days while testing was carried out and many people missed their flights home. The reason cholera was suspected was that the ship originated in South Africa, where there have been recent cholera outbreaks. With more ships offering Africa itineraries -- especially those looking to sail around Africa rather than through the troubled Red Sea/Suez Canal area -- this is somewhat concerning. Both the prospect of an ACTUAL cholera outbreak (cholera is nothing to mess around with), and the potential for ports to not allow or delay ships from entering are factors that could cause a lot of disruption for cruise ships and passengers. Anyone else considering either a world cruise or a cruise in this neck of the woods concerned about this?

The good news is that you'll be in Rome midweek, so everything should be open. Before I start making suggestions, is seeing the Vatican important to you? -- keeping in mind that in order to see the Sistine Chapel you have to go through the Vatican museums.

I like it cool, in fact I love it cool. But the temp in that area on Nieuw Statendam was like being in a freezer and I'm not exaggerating. Way, way, below anyone's comfort zone.

That's just what I was thinking as I read through the first part of your post. 😡 Well...bless his heart. As we say say in the South.

Curious, if you haven't cruised in 10 years, what keeps you coming back to Cruise Critic? (Honest question, not trying to be snarky.)

Private car transfers cost from 140-170 euros for a couple. Several agencies are regularly recommended here. I haven't used any so I won't recommend. If the shuttle drops you off at Termini station, it's also easy to get a taxi from there to your hotel, no need to use the bus or subway.

At 56, on HAL, you WOULD be younger. 😄