lexluthor

8 minutes ago, elaine5 said:

Yes. That assumes there’s no delay in departing as independent guests. But I think 8:30 is “safe.” You have to make sure to get early departure tags-8am ones. If they give you later ones than you requested, just go to guest services and swap them out. 

We've cruised a lot and have done self-disembark before.  Sounds like it would be fairly safe to give the shuttle an 8am pickup time.  We only have the one night in Venice so would like to have as much time there as possible.

10 hours ago, elaine5 said:

If you carry off your own luggage and do self-disembark, I'd say 7:30 to be safe. If you need to collect bags AFTER you disembark, then you have to wait until your group is called. Private transfers likely go after early ship transfers. So, I'd say 8:30. 

Here is last year's schedule for the transfers, which would give you an idea of when you can get off the ship.

 

This is helpful.  Are you saying if we walked off with our own luggage, we could do 7:30 and if we leave as "independent guest" with our luggage out the night before, then 8:30?

We are 8 adults on a Royal Caribbean cruise ending in Ravenna in May.  We've hired a private shuttle to take us to Venice.  What's the earliest time that I should tell them we could meet the shuttle off the ship?

2 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

It won't be a lot of work, it will just be more money. The hotels near San Marco will cost more than Piazzale Roma but some of the options will be considerably nicer. The added cost of a water taxi will be significant. But, for the one day you are in town, you will be front and center to all the things you would be walking over to go see. 

 

The next day there would be no need to return to Piazzale Roma for a car to the airport, you could depart with a water taxi directly to the airport which is a lot of fun and a great experience. Again-- will cost more. 

 

Venice is one of those cities in Europe where you do actually get what you pay for. 

Not a lot of work? So how do we get from Piazzale Rona to San Marcos easily with a lot of luggage?

This is good stuff.  Something like Hotel Olimpia or Hotel Moresco sounds perfect.  We'll be coming via private shuttle so driver could likely get us as close to the closest bridge we'd need to walk over.  2-4 minute walk to hotel, dump luggage, sightsee, back to hotel at night, up in the morning, walk 4 minutes, taxi to airport.  For 1 night, seems like it would be a lot of work to get to/from St. Marks with luggage.

5 minutes ago, mapleleaves said:

In a long thread about Ravenna-Venice transfers, Little Britain noted that she was using VQ Travels for her group .   TRANSFERS|VQTravels

Ok, I requested a quote from them.  Thanks!

3 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

You really would be reliant on a water taxi here. Sure you could take a vaporetto but with 8 people and bags it’ll be much easier to use water taxis. 
 

If you don’t stay in Piazzale Roma you’ll need to find a hotel that has their own private dock. Easy enough as there are many but they tend to be in well located areas and will be a premium cost wise compared to less expensive options not in the city core.
 

If I had only one day I would bite the bullet and just stay at a nice hotel near Piazza San Marco. You’ll pay through the nose but you’ll spent a lot less time schlepping and more time seeing the city.

That's helpful but I'm still confused a bit. If we stay near Piazza San Marco, how do we get from where we get dropped off at Piazzale Roma to there?  Like for example, I  happened to see Hotel Olimpia Venice.  Is that convenient for this?

We are 8 adults with 8 large bags returning from a Royal Caribbean cruise getting dropped off at Piazzale Roma staying 1 night in Venice before we fly home.  We'll arrive Venice around 11am and flight out the next day is around noon.

Where are we best staying? Seems like it'll be a lot easier to stay by Piazzale Roma. Is it going to be worth it for one night getting our bags in and out of Venice City center?  Are there hotels or services than can help get us to a hotel in city center?

What are our options?

We are 8 people coming off Royal Caribbean Voyager of the seas in Ravenna port.  Looking for reasonably priced, but easy (i.e. no train) transfer from Ravenna to Venice-Piazzale Roma.

So far, I have a van booked for 400 euro.  Is that a decent price for a 8 person van?

What are our other options?  Are there taxis or rideshares that hold 4 adults and 4 large suitcases or would we likely need 4 taxis/rideshares?  About how much would those options cost?  Would it be easy to get a taxi/rideshare coming off the ship with 3000 other people looking to do the same?

On 9/21/2022 at 5:23 PM, PORT ROYAL said:

 

 

If you have 4-5 people in your group I would not only consider a day room, I would do a day room same price altogether you get a nice room for the day to keep your stuff and go and get out of the sun for a few it's nice, only way to go 4 or more. 

Have fun!!

 

We are going to the Marriott with 6 next month and planning on doing day pass at $39*6=$234.  A room for that night for 4 people is over $400.  What's a day room?  How do you get that and how much is that?

How much should a tax to the Marriott cost as well?

Does this mean that cruises may stop at Grand Cayman starting 10/14/21?

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=6435&et_cid=3462703&et_rid=17108970

Is there a surcharge for converting OBC to casino promotional chips?  How do the promotional chips work?  Can I sit down at a blackjack table and play only promotional chips?  If I lose, they take that chip and I put down my next promotional chip?  If I win, they give me a real chip back, plus I keep my promotional chip and can play the promotional chip again on the next hand?  Or do I have to bet an equal amount promotional chips and real chips or something different like that?

Very nice. Looking forward to trying Celebrity. Been on many other cruises before, but just not Celebrity.

If we receive the Classic Beverage package as a perk are the gratuities already paid for or do we still pay 18% for each that drink we get? On our last cruise with Norwegian, they charged us around $100pp up front to for tips for the "free" drink package.

We are interested in going here and wondered if you could tell us how it worked out? I have emailed but they just said to go a kiosk inside the port area for a taxi and I don't feel too comfortable with that because it seemed too vague. We really want our transportation pre-arranged.

Good question. Infinity is a beautiful place! Both pool and beach are nice. Facilities are great and the food was good.

As far as the transportation, it was a disaster. We had pre-arranged travel for 12 people through them. We found the driver at the port and were taken to the van. The van was blocked in by another car. Finally the car left, but we couldn't find the driver. We must have sat there for 1-1.5 hours in and around the hot van. Then when we finally got moving, the van probably didn't go over 30 miles per hour and could barely get up the hills. It took us twice as long to get there as it should have.

We wound up with only about 2 hours there. Considering how much we loved the place, it was even more disappointing that it more or less ruined our day.

I think they maybe took $5 or $10pp off, which I recall thinking was low. Stuff happens, but I thought they could have shown a bit more consideration.

I'm pretty adventurous with our excursions and almost all the time we've wound up having a better experience than if we booked through the cruise line, but this one really failed us.

I should also note that, the year prior, we had done the same trip, but to Bananarama and had no issues with the transportation. Infinity is definitely nicer though (esp if you value the pool too).

There are lots of taxis when you do get out, but I've heard stories about them being unregulated there, so I really wanted to avoid taxis.

I will report back. I will try every beer and bar as part of my scientific research.

 

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Hope you had a great trip. Interested in hearing the results of your research.

We are sailing Sunday!

Little surprised about all of these recs. You want a nice, inexpensive beach day in Roatan, you go to West Bay Beach. Last time we went to Bananarama and had a great time, this time we are going to Infinity Bay. Both have a package where they pick you up and drop you back off. Taxis are not regulated in Roatan and it sounds like it's very easy to get ripped off or get in a dispute if you go at it alone.

Here's the Bananarama package. Infinity is similar.

http://bananarama.com/activities/cruiseship-packages/

Of course I was excited for the Getaway but knowing there is at least 2 good beer make me a touch more excited. #9days

 

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Would be great if you could report back what you found and where you found it. We are sailing on the Getaway on 2/18. I'd be happy with Goose Island or Lagunitas.

Do they have any good "craft beer" on the Getaway? If so, where's the best place to find that?

Make sure you can access your rez in ncl website. Otherwise they can't contact you. I got an email and bid on the website.

 

I also had inside cabin. I could bid on two levels up only. Oceanside and balcony. Only a room upgrade. No extra perks. And you likely won't hear back for a while. I heard today for Jan 23.

Yes, my reservation is available on NCL. No emails from them though. Thanks for answering the other questions.

Sorry, huge thread and I have a couple of questions.

Do I just have to hope for an invitation to bid? How does that invite come? Do people who book through TAs get invites to bid? Does someone who is booked in an inside with just 1 freebie and then upgrades through this bid system then get the additional freebies that the higher class cabin would normally get or is this strictly a room upgrade?

Somewhere in this forum there is the entire package of Freestyle Dailies from the Nov 20 sailing.

It shows the following, your mileage may vary.

 

Day 1, 830 to 1230

Day 4, 830 to 1230

Day 5, 1030 to 2AM

Day 7, 900 to 1 AM

Does anyone know if this is the current schedule for Howl at the Moon on the Getaway? Hoping to keep those nights open and not book a show during Howl at the Moon.

Please post your opinion on Infinity. TIA!

Sure, but we don't go until mid-feb.

First time there we are used to mr Sanchez in Cozumel I thought it would have been like that

We go to Paradise Beach in Cozumel. I don't think anywhere in Costa Maya is as nice as the places in Cozumel.

That does sound great - How did you get in contact with them to reserve spots?

They seem to be pretty responsive to activities@infinitybay.com