DCThunder

Since I usually take the train to/from the airport and to Civitavecchia, I tend to stay over in the Termini district. There is a wide selection of 2 and 3 star hotels over there, (and a couple of 4 stars, I believe). It might not be the most fashionable part of the city, but I think it's less "touristy" and much more "Roman".

I always stop by a bar at night heading to my cabin and have never had an issue asking a bartender for a glass of ice water to take to my cabin for the night. Ice tea and ice water is usually available at lunch and dinner in the buffet and I think I've seen lemonade too. I always bring my own tea bags to make my own iced tea with the hot water and ice that's always available. You can fill up water bottles at self-serve water stations as well. I'm not a soda or coffee drinker, so I can't help much there.

I've booked onto their tours in Messina (Mt. Etna and Taormina) and Salerno (Pompeii, Sorrento & Amalfi Coast) in early December on Island.

Hallmark Channel announces Christmas Movie themed cruise on NCL ship. Hallmark Channel announces Christmas cruise (msn.com) I'm not sure how the marketing geniuses in Santa Clarita missed the opportunity for a cross-over Love Boat/Hallmark Christmas movie mash-up. It would have been AWESOME, babeeee!

I saw this article today about how packed most European "hot-spots" are this summer. If you've been on a European cruise, are you seeing this level of crowding on shore excursions. As least on a cruise, you have a place to go back to at the end of the day and aren't sclepping around a suitcase. Tourists are packing European hotspots, boosted by Americans (msn.com)

I'd tend to agree. Booking your first solo cruise is sort of scary so I'd guess these sorts of tips help alleviate anxiety. However, I'm not sure the one on avoiding single supplements by cruising from different ports is really all that true.

Kind of Meh tips, IMHO.

I ordered these two years ago and they work great for the Medallion as well as AirTags. Amazon.com: EverAct Clip Holder Compatible with Fitbit Zip (Set of 4) : Electronics

Silicon FitBit holders work well and are inexpensive at Amazon, even if Prime Day has passed.

I've done the National Express and it was fine. Go on line to their website and take a look and if interested, you can buy the ticket on-line. The hardest part was finding the pick-up point as it was up a level or two from where I expected it to be and the other end of Heathrow from where I came out from Customs and Immigration. I have them booked again on the 25th as a matter of fact. I've also stayed at the Moxy. As Ombud says, it's a "modern" hotel in that it doesn't have carpet on the floor or a closet. For a night, it's very good and right across the road from the Carnival UK HQ. Its about two blocks from the NE drop off point. It's affiliated with Marriott so you get Bonvoy points, unless you book through a 3rd party site. I've got a reservation there on the 25th before my Norway cruise on Island.

I have personally seen Ombud out and about in Southampton. It was a sight to behold! 😁🍻🍻😁

I'm not trying to carry water for Princess, but don't you think they were giving passengers the best information they had at the time they provided those initial estimates. I doubt there is a crystal ball up in Guest Services to allow them to predict the exact moment when passengers could disembark. Would you have preferred they provide no information until they were sure it was correct? Somehow I seriously doubt that. It sounds to me like some unrealistic expectations for information in a very fluid situation. 🌊 This is not to say that I probably would also have unrealistic expectations. It's easy to be sanguine about something like this from 2500 miles away and four days after the fact.

After breaking my ankle on the first day of a 31 day cruise, I wore an orthopedic boot on my right foot and an LL Bean "wicked good" hard soled fleece slipper on my left for everything except going ashore. Then I wore the ortho boot and a hiking boot. No one gave two figs, and this was on HAL, not Princess.

Because I wasn't familiar with the term "allision" as used by NavArch64, I did a little Google-fu to see what it meant. I could figure the basic meaning out but wanted to learn more. I came across the following from the law offices of what appears to be a personal injury firm that specialized in maritime injuries. It had an interesting discussion of collisions and allisions at sea and the liability that arises from them. Our maritime experts might quibble with what's up on this law firm's site, but I thought it interesting. Allision (Not Collision) Nautical Term Definition | Naylor Law

Did you have that cheese with a Wisconsin Old Fashioned, and a few brats?

That's also why the airlines developed code sharing and the various airline alliances (OneWorld, Sky Team, Star Alliance) were created. I can fly United to Munich from the US, but if I want to fly Munich to Rome, I need to be on a Lufthansa flight, even if I bought my ticket from United as a New York to Rome flight.

So the maritime industry takes a different approach than the Navy does, if I understand you correctly.

No, Rudy was off-sides.

The TL;DR version would be: This incident is costing Princess/Carnival several boatloads of money. Maybe they can just take Ruby over to Mare Island Shipyard and fix her up. Oh, wait, Mare Island Shipyard doesn't exist anymore.

Thank you. This is very helpful. Based on your response in my other thread, I might just do Sydney, fly to Melbourne, and then on to Singapore and not worry about trying to see Perth.

Thanks for this guide. I haven't read it in detail yet, but how many days would you estimate it would take to see the highlights of Melbourne? I'm considering spending in southern Australia between cruises and would like to know how much time to "budget" for Melbourne.

I am giving serious consideration to booking a 21-day cruise-tour of Australia and New Zealand from Sydney in December 2024. The land portion would do the usual spots in the Outback (Ayres Rock, Darwin, Cairns) before returning to Sydney for the cruise portion to various ports in New Zealand. I also have a 28-day cruise out of Singapore that goes to the islands and countries north of Australia and ideally would like to get the most bang for my long flight to Down Under, so amy considering seeing as much of Oz as I could. If I book the cruise/tour, I'd have two weeks over Christmas 2024 to spend in Australia before going to Singapore and departing in early January 2025. I was thinking of spending a few days post cruise in Sydney, then flying to Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth before heading to Singapore. Is this too ambitious an itinerary to consider? If it is, which of those cities would you skip? Should I consider just sticking to visiting cities like Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane and not heading to Western Australia? Finally, I see that there's a train (Indian Pacific) that goes Sydney to Perth over four days. I know this is a cruise site, but any experience on this train? I'd be 73 1/2 by the time of this trip and I'd expect it to be my one and only trip to the Antipodes. I live on the East Coast of the USA. Thanks in advance for any advice.

As the great Carl Spackler once said:

lil sweet

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