Happycrafter123

My apologies if this is captured in the 69 pages of chatter history— is dining in the haven restaurant on a reservation basis or first come first serve? For recent full cruises how hard is it to get in/what are wait times like?

Good to prebook a hotel for the night before, you could maybe look up items on Expedia? I am staying at a cute B&B near Piazza Navona, and will give more details after I get there so I can give it the thumbs up or down. To get to airport you can take the train I believe, or arrange a private car service or take a cab. If you search the internet there are videos of how to take the train. when are you going, @closecruiser ?

5 more sleeps till departure! Got an email from Bobs limos saying they will imminently be charging my credit card for the airport pickup, so good news they haven’t forgotten me (did book this back in July as a crazy pre planner lol!).

On the matter of sandals have you tried Finn? They have some that are almost dressy (I recommend Adana line) that I have in three colours/-pearly white, black and gold, and take on all my travels. Great arch support and good grip. If something goes wrong with my running shoes they have enough support to wear all day (though not a good choice on hiking trails I discovered lol!) and are acceptable )to me) for dinner wear. Good to go to the pool or walk around the ship for drinks and lounging. Won’t slip on wet surfaces.

Looks like you decided in the bearing sea crab excursion for Ketchikan ! Is that the one with octopus? Curious as we debated that and selected the wilderness exploration and crab feast as it looked similar but with food, but we may be able to change it as we did debate. Have you done them both, thoughts in differences?

@gatorchinsky happy to post the menus and I think I’ll post the dailies too, let me know of anything else that comes to mind!

I love your schedule it is so visual!!! And the photos of Central Park are gorgeous. Good luck with the last week or so of planning, preparation and anticipation;-)

@smyemar I’ll be excited to share a bit about the pre-cruise days in Rome, we have some excursions booked with LivTours and The Tour Guy, and will be staying in a b&b near to where you have booked at Piazza Navona.

A week from today we will be on an airplane heading to Rome! Only seven more sleeps!

I do room service if it’s an early start—you fill in the card and leave on your door handle the night before and they deliver to your room in AM. I think charge is currently about $5

Thank you for sharing your adventures with us! The Bird is great with photography and fine details 😉. Look forward to your next trip!

That’s awesome @loubeeewe’ll be able to compare different experiences! how is your packing going? When do you head to Rome? We leave Saturday after next, just 13 more sleeps!

Thank you for the Starbucks menu and other menus!

Packing with carry on only is no fun! Will use one of those ziplock compression bags to see if I can make this work!

I’m trying to figure out if we are just walking off without checked bags if there is any advantage on debarkation

dug out my suitcase to start packing. My little kitty wants to come along! We are planning on travelling with carry on only. Had my carry on taken away from me on a recent trip due to size as they are very strict on sizing so got this smaller one—packing will be a challenge!

@amypintx July is not far away! Is it also your first Mediterranean cruise as it is for me?

@tsahall01 your friends are lucky you will be with them to navigate these places! Are you planning to go out on your own or take excursions, given you are familiar with the ports? Which is the port you are most excited to return to? Wishing for you and all of us that things go well on the Breakaway. We picked this option specifically rather than another option as we had really enjoyed our Baltic cruise on the Getaway in June 2022 - we liked the spa and all the restaurants and bars and the Waterfront. Fingers crossed for health and good maintenance!

Thank you @JennaMae! Were you carrying your own stuff/no bags to collect from them?

We are booked for Alaska out of Seattle in July (on the Sun) and will be interested to hear about your experiences. I’ll be curious to hear how it goes picking excursions on the fly and how availability is! Good luck with the packing and wishing you an awesome trip!

@gatorchinsky I’ll look forward to any questions you come up with! Do you have Mykonos on your itinerary or what is the main difference for yours? in terms of entertainment for now I can say that burn the floor and six are each on two nights only. Burn the floor is on day 2 and 4. And Six is on days 7 and 8.

Look forward to following! Let us know how you find the beds! Was looking at an itinerary for the epic but have held back solely due to the beds (hubby is 6’4”).

@smillerholmeslooks like we will be bookending this itinerary then with the beginning and end of season being covered! Have you started booking or planning excursions yet?

The train looks pretty straightforward however I’ve been watching the news about revolving strikes, and so happy I had set up a ride with a ride service. I’m always a bundle of nerves on transit days—am I the only one? On our last few disney trips I arranged rides in advance and it makes it so much less stressful, so did that again for this trip.

I'm curious about how things work with the special diets and coordinator-- last trip I just worked around things to the best as I could, but this time I had completed the online form for upcoming cruises for Celiac, and hubby is worried about the hassle factor/how much it will slow down service etc. dealing with them on my diet stuff versus just self selecting things...any feedback on your experiences.