Captain Canuck

great review...think you will love the Allure..lots of stuff on board...can see you doing the zip line and the rock climbing wall....I could barely take pictures my fear of heights is that bad.....Regal is sister ship of Royal so you should like it too..enjoy.  

5 hours ago, MikeyA53 said:

Jezz Louise Captain, I'm didn't realized you were that old, I guess they didn't have "gyms' in your youth.

1. yes I am that old

2.  if I feel like exercise I lie down til the feeling goes away

never did exercise..used to do sports until the warranty on my body ran out

as usual enjoying the review

I do not understand this "gym" thing you refer to

Mikey...glad to see you are back.  We did the Royal Princess from Quebec to Ft Lauderdale in the fall.  Had been on it once before. They decorated it with photos from a contest they ran prior to launch.  Winner got a free cruise.  Runner ups got to provide free photos for the ship..and like me would probably book a cruise to check out their prints.  My best friend on that ship was the girl at the ice cream booth by the pool.  

thanks for the quick answer

found an easier fix...logged in...located my activity page (much as suggested) then I simply saved this as my bookmark...now when I sign in to cruise critic it takes me there right after login completed.

used to open cc and my subscribed threads would show up..can now find them but it takes 3 or 4 steps..how can I set my followed threads as default page I open to

also..could not find a way to search questions list to see if this was asked before

to be fair..I am normally in bed by 9 so my definition of a party ship is likely skewed

have been on more princess than Carnival. like princess better. Carnival is more of a party ship and the crowds tend to be younger. that said it is hard to have a bad cruise. mostly commenting on desserts as I am diabetic. sugar free deserts tend to taste like cardboard. unless a very brittle diabetic I would suggest eating the real thing. we tend to walk a lot more on vacation than normal which helps keep blood sugar in check.

train back to port

just remember 1 tip by mention of track 25..when we took the train the track was on the far side of the terminal...to the right as you face the tracks from the main entrance....this track is set back from most of the others so you do not see people waiting until you walk that way and go around a corner

thanks for the Birg....its been 5 years since we did this..train station was just to the right of the port entrance..there was a free shuttle to the port gates by the Fort from the ship. was a short walk to the train station. google map it and it shows the area. we joined a ship there once too and we shared a cab from the train station to the ship

info at https://www.rometoolkit.com/airport/civitavechia.htm

have fun

train

if I remember correctly it takes about 45 minutes..there is a ticker (Berg?) that includes use of metro in Rome

remember to stamp your ticket on the platform beffore you board the train

do a search on Cruise critic as I have seen posts with instructions how to do this

we stayed in Santa Margherita pre cuise out of Genoa. Shopping town for the area. we walked to Portofino on a really nice pathway..was about 5 kilometers. took a bus back..so if you get bored with Portofino you could do the reverse trip by bus (or town may be full with your shipmates)...there is also a ferry service that I think runs ever hour in the summer.

we did the train to Florence and Pisa in that order from Livorno. took the train before the last one from Pisa back to Livorno to make the ship in time. just in case something went wrong. walk to the leaning tower was further than we thought and could not find a cab to get back to the train station so ended up running the last few hundred yards to make that train.

so I suggest you have a plan A then a plan B in case everything goes sideways.

when we did this we flew on points...non refundable...if we would have had to book a new one way ticket it was going to be over $2000...so although we booked a return flight the day we returned to Venice it was later in the day and we still white knuckled it...if you can go later

might be tight..not a lot of time if something goes wrong like a cab does not show or you hit traffic...any reason you do not want to spend one last night in Venice

pick pockets are everywhere...on the metro a guy tried the dropping keys at my feet trick and going for my wallet as he bent down to pick them up..wallet in my front pocket..local guy punched this guy in the back of the head to stop him..probably helped that I was wearing a Barcelona soccer shirt for the guy to help me out

Port is close to Las Ramblas...Columbus statue at the end of this street which just outside the port. cabs are pretty cheap. We stayed on Las Ramblas..think Oriente...important to get a hotel with soundproof windows as street is noisy. Las Ramblas shut off to traffic so could place to stay

wow...last time I shopped for binos they were really expensive...one of the reasons I suggested a camera...if you spend that kind of $ it makes sense to me to be able to capture image....looks like you can get decent binos now cheap

get a camera with a long zoom

I have a Sony with a 63 times optical zoom. you can zoom in on wildlife and get a picture....think these are around $300 us now.....suggest you get a monopod to support camera for zoom as hard to hold still..works better than a tripod for walking

you can use a credit card for almost anything..including cabs. need cash for only tips..and like previous poster says US $ readily taken. mastercard and visa most accepted.

on the other hand ..our money is so much prettier

enjoy vancouver

buy a cemetery plot..then ask her if she prefers that you use the property or go on a cruise

sorry but I do have a dark sense of humour

watch the difference between water taxi and water bus...taxi really expensive...if you stay by the train station there is a bus from the airport...you could then get a pass for the length of your visit in Venice for the water bus.....have to do the Grand Canal at least once

we stayed on the Lido..Hotel Belvedere.island across from Venice proper..there was a water bus (not taxi) stop close to the hotel...cobblestones but only about 100 feet to the hotel so roller bags were fine. our room faced the lagoon so every morning we had a view (at a distance) of Venice proper. got a 3 day water bus ticket and crossed over every day. about a 10 minute ride. trip to cruise was on the water bus. only hassle was getting our bags on the boat but that was because none of the passengers would get out of the way. finally had to just grab the bags and hope I did not kill anybody who stepping in front of me. if handling bags a concern likely better to stay near the train station. there is a bus from the airport to the square. people mover there too.

recommend the secret tour of the doges palace

pre book entertainment

they open up reserved seats upon no shows around 10 minutes pre show...but better to have a reservation to see the stuff you really want. since you are doing Europe your focus will be likely more on the ports than the ship but the ship is an attraction itself...have been on the sister ships and they are really well organized. but there are a lot of passengers so the earlier you book your shows likely the better.

good advice so far is to not and try to do to much...you have a high probability of becoming addicted to cruising so will get to try other stuff out later.

googled it

https://www.taxicab.com/services/

bluebird cabs says you can book up to 11 months in advance...you could book a minivan for both ends of the trip to the Gardens...

we used the shuttle bus from downtown victoria so cannot vouch for anything...gardens are great

people in Vancouver do not really count as Canadians...hope my family there is not reading this