suntan

All great information here. I will be sailing on the Breakaway in August out of the Manhattan Cruise Terminal -first time sailing out of this terminal. My question about the taxis - do they enter the port area or do you they drop you outside the port and you have to walk in? When I sailed out of Civitavecchia, only taxis that had permits could enter the port area so I'm wondering if this is the same for the Manhattan cruise terminal. Thanks.

No matter which airport you choose, come in 1 day early if possible. To much of a hassle to do it same day. What if plane arrives late. What if traffic is nasty.

 

NCL does offer transfers if you book flights and/or hotels through them. We've done that.

 

Thanks Barb for your post. I'm going to firm up my plans this week for a cruise in August. I've heard from co-workers that LGA is a mess because of the construction. JFK it is then.

 

Thank you to everyone who posted a response to my question.

Thank you for all your recommendations. Decisions, decisions, decisions. I'll be flying from Toronto. Does NCL not offer a transfer from either LGA or JFK?

I'm considering a 7-day cruise to Bermuda sailing out of New York. Please advise which airport should I arrive at - La Guardia or JFK? Thank you.

A heads up on the Green Grotto Caves. We were thinking of going there on our cruise in April 2016. I got onto the caves' official website and they do not allow you to take pictures in the caves. I'm posting this information so that you are fully informed before booking this tour.

We went to Royal Palms it was really nice.

 

Please advise how you booked your day pass at Royal Palms. We're on a Caribbean cruise in April and I cannot get access to the hotel's website. Thanks.

Thank you for your posts of your impressions of NA. We have never sailed with HA before and I have found a cruise on NA in 2017 that we are interested in.

I took this picture this morning from the Nassau webcam of the Constellation arriving in the rain. I hope the weather improved for its passengers.

I am bringing this to the front of the thread again because we were considering doing Tivoli on our own but as the OP stated, doing it via train requires precise timing in order to get back to the ship on time.

 

Thanks to euro cruiser for this in depth assessment of Tivoli DIY.

 

It can be done by train but there's only one route/timing that will work, so if you miss the train in the morning you'll be out of luck.

 

You didn't say what your port time is so even this one possibility may not work, but here it is.

 

There is an IC train from Civitavecchia at 7:50 AM, arriving at Termini at 8:45, followed by a regional train to Tivoli departing at 8:57. There's almost no room for error in this connection, and if you miss it the next train to Tivoli isn't until 10:33 and it leaves from Tiburtina, so you'd need to take either a local train or the metro from Termini to Tiburtina to catch it.

 

If you make both trains you'll be at Tivoli at 10 AM. The train station is three-quarters of a mile from the entrance of Villa d'Este.

 

Returns by train are even more difficult as ALL require three trains, Tivoli to Tiburtina, Tiburtina to Termini, and Termini to Civitavecchia.

 

Without knowing what your on-board time is, I'll take a stab and assume you need to be back on board by 6:30 PM. The train routing from Tivoli that would get you there means leaving Tivoli 3:09 PM, arriving Tiburtina at 4 PM, running downstairs to grab the metro to Termini in order to get the 4:12 train to Civitavecchia, arriving at 5:17 PM. There is a backup if you don't make the tight connection at Termini, the 4:42 arrives at 6:04 PM, still enough time to get back to your ship by 6:30.

 

Now that I've laid it all out you can see that there is a lot of room for error and very little in the way of fall back options. Assuming 30 minutes of walking to and from the station in Tivoli and you'd be going through all of this for a four hour visit to the gardens.

 

If you decide to go for it and you don't make the connection in Rome in the morning, the best fall back plan is to simply stay in Rome for the day and forget trying to get to Tivoli.

 

Even better would be to rent a car and drive yourself, or to pay for a car service.

Next September we'll be stopping in Venice from 7am to 5pm. Has anyone done a wine tour in Venice and if so please advise which tour operator did you use? Thanks,

Thank you for your suggestions. I will take a look at all the information you have provided. Have a great day and if your getting hit by the remnants of Hurricane Patricia, try and stay dry.:D

We are not sailing until September 2016 on the Brilliance but we're starting to look into flights to/from Barcelona. I see that RCCL has 2 flight programs - Choice Air and Air2Sea. Am I correct in thinking that Choice Air is only for flights and doesn't provide transportation from the airport to the port and visa versa?

Also, I heard that booking through RCCL we will not be able to choose the flight we want - we would only be able to pick the airline and the port of call and then closer to the departure date would we find out what our flight arrangements are and the price could be higher than if we went ahead and booked the flight ourselves months earlier. Is this correct?

Any information you can provide on this will be greatly appreciated. This is our first time on RCCL (but not first time cruisers).

Thank you.:)

Last year we toured the Amalfi, Ravello and Positano with Limo Service Naples. Excellent service from the moment I emailed them about their tours -Alex is great, he responds immediately to your inquiries - the tour itself was fantastic with our driver Mario, and we had a fabulous lunch at a local trattoria. Highly recommend them.

Thank you for posting your recommendations - I will add those recommendations to my research list.

Next year we're going back to the Med and Venice is a port of call - 7am to 5pm. This is our 3rd time in Venice so we've done most if not all of the sights (Basilica and Doge's Palace, gondola ride, walked the back streets from Piazzale Roma to San Marco Square, visited Burano and Murano, Rialto Bridge). Are there other sites in Venice that we could visit during this 9 hour stay?

Can anyone make a suggestion as to a hotel for several nights precruise in Rome for three adults. Need more than a double bed and a sofa bed....ideally three beds

Would like to be in walking distance for most sights if possible

Not worried about price

 

Last September pre-cruise we stayed at Hotel Navona - there were 3 adults and we got a room that had 3 single beds in it. We didn't find it cramped at all even with 3 large suitcases and carry-ons. The hotel is very close to Piazza Navona. It's not, however, within walking distance to the sights though so it may not be what you are looking for but check it out.

Any Rome hotel recommendations? I'm looking through this whole section (Italy Ports) and not finding much.

 

Glad to help. We stayed at Hotel Navona which was a hop skip and a jump from Piazza Navona. Lovely old building. This means no elevator but their staff will help you bring your luggage up and down the stairs. Breakfast is not included (10Euros) but from time to time they have special rates which include breakfast. Staff were very friendly and were very helpful with directions.

Depending on the traffic, probably a 10-15 minute taxi ride. I think it was about 25 Euros.

 

Thanks Clarea for the info. I will tuck this info away in my folder.

I'll offer a second thumbs up to Hotel Jazz. Nice smaller hotel one block from Plaza Catalunya. Great rooms and rates when we stayed there. And easy taxi ride to/from the port.

 

OntheBeach: How far is Hotel Jazz from the port? What was the cost? Thanks.

We are on the same cruise also. Join the Roll Call. Only George C and I so far.

 

I hadn't looked if a roll call had been set up. I will join now.:D

We stayed at Hotel Pulitzer last year in Barcelona...just a l/2 block from

Plaza Catalunya, about a block from Ramblas and close to the market, too,

which is off the Ramblas...you must visit the Market..just amazing. We had

both breakfast and lunch there. Pulitzer has modern rooms and baths, there

is a large lounge off lobby and a wine bar, where you can get reasonable

drink or glass of wine and a couple appetizers. It's very attractive and very

convenient. Can't wait to go back

 

SRQSally - Thank you for posting your recommendation of Hotel Pulitzer. We have looked at Hotel Jazz and have that as a possibility but we will look at the Pulitzer and compare.

HUGE CONGRATS!! You'll have an awesome cruise :D:D:D

 

Shameless plug... I posted a huge photo review with a ton of tips/hints of all the ports you mentioned above last Sept... I hope you can get some good info here with your research, and the Brilliance which you are on is equal (for the most part) to the Serenade in this review as well:

Kotor: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=44377600&highlight=kotor#post44377600

Dubrovnik: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=44452500&highlight=dubrovnik#post44452500

 

Hoopster95 - thank you for the links. This long weekend I've been reading up on Montserrat as we will be spending at least 2 days pre-cruise in Barcelona. The research and video watching has begun!

My aunt and I just booked a Med cruise for September 2016 - 16 months away!!:D:D This will be our first time on RCCL but not our first time cruising - we usually sail on Princess or Celebrity. However, we couldn't pass up the promotion of 50% off the 2nd guest. Before booking we did search for similar cruises on the other 2 lines however neither came close to what we ultimately paid. The highlights of this cruise are Kotor, Montenegro and Dubrovnik, Croatia. We now have 16 months to research those ports we have not visited before. Any suggestions for places to stay in Barcelona and what to do there will be greatly appreciated; plus I will be checking all the boards for info and tips.

Thank for your posts. We are elite with Celebrity so we'll contact Crown & Anchor to get the reciprocal recognition.

 

Happy sailing!

I would also read some of the reviews here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/royal-caribbean/brilliance

 

There are a few people who have recently been on the ship and a few have posted pictures and reviews. I think there are some good overviews.

 

Brilliance is a great ship. I sailed on her 4 weeks ago. Embarkation is really easy. There is a cool aerial show in the Centrum around 5 on the first day--try to stand on a lower deck to make the most of it. (It's also during the time you're sailing away, so that's kind of a bummer, but it's a pretty cool 6 minute show).

 

There are a bunch of fun bars, and there is plenty to do on sea days and at night. I think you'll really enjoy it!

 

Thanks for posting the link. We're about to book a cruise on the Brilliance and this information is spot on.