GCS2000

no insurance and the flights are with Delta. I can get e-credit of course and have looked into. Issue here is same class of service is about 3X more than what we already had price wise. If we drop down in service (fine) then we are left with a bunch of credit tied to my wife and daughter and have no other plans (and can't make any) for them to use it up before it expires (end of 2023 but is good on travel for 2024). With respect to our daughter its a position through school with her professor essentially its already lined up (funding was renewed already and good for several years) and the only thing pending the hiring is her graduating. She is tracking her professor down today to see if things can be pushed a week to the 9/6 sailing. Wife cannot do any other dates based on work (even the 6th is pushing it). We will figure it out I guess. Just a frustrating thing is all.

nope just replacement cruise dates is all and $100 OBC. Supposedly they will give the same rate as what we paid which was like $2800 for the 9 night cruise for 2 people. Problem is none of those dates work with their schedule.

Ahh nothing like getting the dreaded cancelled cruise email ya know. Odyssey cruise to Greece and Italy on 8/28 is cancelled. This is a serious problem for my wife and daughter as it was the time that she go before starting a new job after graduation. Everything was all booked and paid for already too including hotels, shuttles, excursions, flights (of course nonrefundable, yippee), and side trip before the cruise in Paris. And of course there isn't one single cruise on any line anywhere near what we had paid for this one thanks to all the massive price hikes. Thanks for putting us in a bind Royal!

No. My wife and daughter are on Odyssey next Aug and not one thing is on sale (nor has it been since the we booked the cruise 2 months ago). I have a feeling that things may stay this way on this cruise as its mostly sold out.

Wish I could get that lucky. Nothing for my cruise has been on sale at all.

Wish that was the case for me. All prices are still the same for my wife's greek cruise

Thank you for this info!

Site is definitely hit or miss. One minute our cruise is there and I can "plan" things the next minute its gone. The brief time I can look at things there are no sales for bevs, internet, or excursions yet. Hopefully things do go on sale but if not we have plenty of time since our cruise is not later next year. But as usual IT dept is lacking.

Thanks for this I didn't catch that wording. Seems like this one might work. The walking is no problem for either of them (we just walked over 57 miles on our AK cruise in Sept). I will talk it over with the wife and most likely book it. Appreciate the help everyone.

Yes I already got "no info" from RCCL when I called. All they did was basically read the online description to me. Downside of just booking and excursion is that if it doesn't get her back down w/o cable car we will be paying for an excursion that doesn't get used.

Same I think after the charge went "official" and not pending I had the points like 24 hours later. I already spent them on hotels before and after the cruise too.

As I posted before need to find an excursion for the wife and daughter that does NOT involve the cable car (nor will they take the donkeys). Reading these 2 on RC's portal I am wondering if one of these might work. It seems clear that there will not be an issue to start the excursion i.e. tender to dock and get on a bus/van etc then tour around as it states but then once its time to go back she is concerned she will have to take the cable car back down (some googling has led us to believe this may be the case). We are hoping someone can chime in about these particular excursions and confirm whether or not that is the case. I am open to a private tour not through Royal as well if anyone has a suggestion there that does not involve the cable car at all. Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide. Best of Santorini Overview Transfer from ship to shore via tender and board your motorcoach to begin your comprehensive tour of beautiful Santorini. Your first stop will be the ancient site of Akrotiri. Unearthed in 1967 after being shrouded for over 3,000 years, Akrotiri is remarkably preserved and offers great insight into the island's ancient history. Continue on to a traditional winery on the island for an opportunity to sample the fruit of the local vine.Your next stop will be the picturesque village of Oia. Perched high atop the cliffs of Santorini's northern terminus and known for its quiet beauty and spectacular sunsets, this spot boasts breathtaking views of neighboring volcanoes. Stroll through the narrow, cobblestone lanes, view the brilliantly whitewashed buildings, shops, sun-bathed cafés and blue-domed churches. Enjoy a lively Greek celebration with the food, wine and dances of Greece in one of Santorini's renowned Greek restaurants, together with great views of this scenic island. Join in the lively celebration, dancing to ‘Zorba the Greek' and breaking plates while the bouzouki plays its solo.You'll then continue to Fira town, the lovely capital of the island built on the rim of the caldera wall, before returning to your ship. Highlights Visit a local winery and sample three different types of wine, including the famous Vinsanto, Lunch with Greek Folkloric show. Explore the cobblestoned streets of Oia and enjoy a Greek style fiesta lunch accompanied by folkloric show presentation. Discover the fascinating well-preserved Bronze Age town of Akrotiri, buried under the pumice of a volcanic eruption in 1450 B.C. Important details and advisements Guests in wheelchairs and others with limited mobility should not select this tour. Tour order may vary but all mentioned sites are covered. This tour cannot accommodate children under the age of 6 years. Headsets, bottled water, maps, and wet naps included in this tour. Guests must be able to walk approximately 1.8 miles over various surfaces. Light snacks or refreshment will be served on this excursion. Most tour departures complement the ship's meal service hours. A meal will be served during this excursion. Alcohol may be available, please drink responsibly. Island of Santorini and Oia Villiage Overview Embrace the glorious island charms of Santorini on an adventure that brings you from the idyllic village of Oia to a local winery for tastings, plus time to explore Fira’s hilltop cityscape with your guide. Admire breathtaking views of the ancient volcanic caldera while driving around postcard-perfect Santorini Bay to the quaint hamlet of Oia. Perched high above the sea, this white-washed Cyclades enclave is full of narrow pathways that wind around a maze of art galleries, cafes, and artisan shops. Next, you’ll travel to a local bodega where Santorini wine is aged, learning about how the island’s climate and volcanic soil contribute to its fine varietals. Wine has been produced here since the ancient times, and it became world-renowned during the Middle Ages. You’ll taste the pure essence of Greek wine with a selection of three unique wines paired with locally produced cheese, olives, and tomatoes. Your final stop in the bustling capital city of Fira lets you snap some memorable photos before the journey back to Athinios port. Highlights Oia: Meander along winding cobblestone paths perched high above the volcanic caldera, peeking in art galleries and artisan shops. Santorini: Drink in the island's world-famous wines with a tasting of three varietals accompanied by locally produced cheese, olives and tomatoes. Fira: Enjoy free time to explore this buzzing cityscape, shop, dine on Greek cuisine, or snap selfies with the caldera. Important details and advisements Guests must be able to walk approximately 1.5 miles over cobblestone surfaces, with inclines and about 20 steps and extended periods of standing. Guests in wheelchairs and others with limited mobility should not select this tour. Pregnant women and guests with back/neck problems should not select this tour. Alcohol may be available. Please drink responsibly. Foreign currencies not accepted in many venues. Guests are not permitted to visit winery production facilities during harvest season. Guests who miss the return transportation will be responsible for getting back to the ship. The drive from port to Oia is approximately 45 minutes. Tour sequence may vary. During peak season, roads and walkways may have high levels of congestion and guests should be aware that this is beyond the tour operator’s control. Light snacks or refreshment will be served on this excursion.

Wife is afraid of heights and even slightly claustrophobic. There is no way she can do the car.

As I posted before need to find an excursion for the wife and daughter that does NOT involve the cable car (nor will they take the donkeys). Reading these 2 on RC's portal I am wondering if one of these might work. It seems clear that there will not be an issue to start the excursion i.e. tender to dock and get on a bus/van etc then tour around as it states but then once its time to go back she is concerned she will have to take the cable car back down (some googling has led us to believe this may be the case). We are hoping someone can chime in about these particular excursions and confirm whether or not that is the case. Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide. Best of Santorini Overview Transfer from ship to shore via tender and board your motorcoach to begin your comprehensive tour of beautiful Santorini. Your first stop will be the ancient site of Akrotiri. Unearthed in 1967 after being shrouded for over 3,000 years, Akrotiri is remarkably preserved and offers great insight into the island's ancient history. Continue on to a traditional winery on the island for an opportunity to sample the fruit of the local vine.Your next stop will be the picturesque village of Oia. Perched high atop the cliffs of Santorini's northern terminus and known for its quiet beauty and spectacular sunsets, this spot boasts breathtaking views of neighboring volcanoes. Stroll through the narrow, cobblestone lanes, view the brilliantly whitewashed buildings, shops, sun-bathed cafés and blue-domed churches. Enjoy a lively Greek celebration with the food, wine and dances of Greece in one of Santorini's renowned Greek restaurants, together with great views of this scenic island. Join in the lively celebration, dancing to ‘Zorba the Greek' and breaking plates while the bouzouki plays its solo.You'll then continue to Fira town, the lovely capital of the island built on the rim of the caldera wall, before returning to your ship. Highlights Visit a local winery and sample three different types of wine, including the famous Vinsanto, Lunch with Greek Folkloric show. Explore the cobblestoned streets of Oia and enjoy a Greek style fiesta lunch accompanied by folkloric show presentation. Discover the fascinating well-preserved Bronze Age town of Akrotiri, buried under the pumice of a volcanic eruption in 1450 B.C. Important details and advisements Guests in wheelchairs and others with limited mobility should not select this tour. Tour order may vary but all mentioned sites are covered. This tour cannot accommodate children under the age of 6 years. Headsets, bottled water, maps, and wet naps included in this tour. Guests must be able to walk approximately 1.8 miles over various surfaces. Light snacks or refreshment will be served on this excursion. Most tour departures complement the ship's meal service hours. A meal will be served during this excursion. Alcohol may be available, please drink responsibly. Island of Santorini and Oia Villiage Overview Embrace the glorious island charms of Santorini on an adventure that brings you from the idyllic village of Oia to a local winery for tastings, plus time to explore Fira’s hilltop cityscape with your guide. Admire breathtaking views of the ancient volcanic caldera while driving around postcard-perfect Santorini Bay to the quaint hamlet of Oia. Perched high above the sea, this white-washed Cyclades enclave is full of narrow pathways that wind around a maze of art galleries, cafes, and artisan shops. Next, you’ll travel to a local bodega where Santorini wine is aged, learning about how the island’s climate and volcanic soil contribute to its fine varietals. Wine has been produced here since the ancient times, and it became world-renowned during the Middle Ages. You’ll taste the pure essence of Greek wine with a selection of three unique wines paired with locally produced cheese, olives, and tomatoes. Your final stop in the bustling capital city of Fira lets you snap some memorable photos before the journey back to Athinios port. Highlights Oia: Meander along winding cobblestone paths perched high above the volcanic caldera, peeking in art galleries and artisan shops. Santorini: Drink in the island's world-famous wines with a tasting of three varietals accompanied by locally produced cheese, olives and tomatoes. Fira: Enjoy free time to explore this buzzing cityscape, shop, dine on Greek cuisine, or snap selfies with the caldera. Important details and advisements Guests must be able to walk approximately 1.5 miles over cobblestone surfaces, with inclines and about 20 steps and extended periods of standing. Guests in wheelchairs and others with limited mobility should not select this tour. Pregnant women and guests with back/neck problems should not select this tour. Alcohol may be available. Please drink responsibly. Foreign currencies not accepted in many venues. Guests are not permitted to visit winery production facilities during harvest season. Guests who miss the return transportation will be responsible for getting back to the ship. The drive from port to Oia is approximately 45 minutes. Tour sequence may vary. During peak season, roads and walkways may have high levels of congestion and guests should be aware that this is beyond the tour operator’s control. Light snacks or refreshment will be served on this excursion.

My wife and daughter are heading to Italy and Greece next year on Odyssey. They are looking at excursions and running into a slight issue with regards to Santorini. Can anyone who knows or has done a Royal excursion for Santorini give us some info please? The issue is that my wife cannot do heights so any excursion that will require her to do the cable car is out of the question. They will not be doing the donkeys either (personal choice). My understanding is the certain excursions booked via the cruise line will take you to the ferry port and then travel via bus and thus avoid the cable car (up and back of course). The problem is I cannot seem to figure out which ones are that way. Are there any excursions that might work for them? I contacted Royal and all they do is read me the description of the excursion (same as on the site) so they are not any help unfortunately.

I was happy to see this sale. Actually saved me $600 on our Iceland cruise in 2024 and $800 on our Hawaii cruise in 2025. Unfortunately it didn't help my sister for her cruise next month though.

Thanks for this answer as I am looking at this same package for the same Iceland cruise but in 2024. Its a hefty amount but I have a feeling we are going to go with it. Does NCL ever have sales like RCI on things like this and shore excursions (guessing no) if so maybe waiting for a black friday deal or something would be wise. This our first on NCL so we have no idea how they do their packages and prices - seem pretty steep so far.

Thanks.

Can anyone comment on how much time I should allow for our flight home when the cruise is over? Royal says ship to dock at 6am at Ravenna. I assume earliest disembarkation with the Key would be 7am perhaps 8am - is that about right? Need 3-4 hours then to get to Venice or Bologna airport and of course need to be at airport 2-3 hours before flight. Guessing earliest flight home possible would be 2-3pm. If disembarkation was available right at 6am then a flight as early as 12 or 1pm may be possible assuming shuttle leaves at 6:30 or 7.

Thanks for all the details. We just booked an Iceland cruise on this ship for 2024. Lots to do and research between now and then so I am sure I will be revisiting this thread.

We are in a Club Balcony Suite - category MB as the wife has to have a tub which just means more money for me to spend lol.

Yes this cruise is port intensive as well we will basically only be on the boat at night to sleep or relax and eat breakfast and dinner. Air concerns - it is a pretty big savings tbh (at least $1500+). We would like to get the air info so we can see if the airline would let us upgrade to better seating since I know we will be in the cheapest worst seats but as I understand it that is hit or miss depending on airline and we won't know that info until 75 days from cruising date and it will be too late. Drinks - yeah cancelling may make since just really surprised at how high the gratuities were especially on a "free" item. On our last cruise I drank water and soda nothing else (mainly water) wife had mocktails, water, soda and that was all. I guess its either eat the $400 gratuities and keep the package or pony up for the other beverage packages and their gratuities which my guess will be more than this. Excursions - this is odd for sure. They have 20 listed all but 3 are for the same port/day the 29th, the other 3 are all for the 25th. There are none for any of the other port days. This was never an issue on our RCCL cruise. Granted I know we can book on our own outside of NCL as well but that $50 credit becomes pointless of course and we have to be sure that whatever tours we book will fit with our port timeframe. Just surprised by this

Booked the 10 day Ireland tour out of Southampton for May 2023. I got sucked in by the itinerary, drink package, wifi and the BOGO air etc. After spending the last 2 days reading, researching etc I am having second thoughts. Lots of bad reviews about the ship, the service, the food and more. And of course the BOGO air seems to be a nightmare. The cruise came to $6900 for everything (no excursions of course). We are not really drinkers (very rare) and the gratuities we are hit with for the bev package are high at $400 (218 x2) - highly unlikely we would get full advantage of this unfortunately. Wifi is limited to 150 mins as well (which was misleading but no surprise there). Excursion choices are VERY LIMITED which sucks since part of the deal was $50 off excursions each day. I do have 3 of the AMEX NCL offers (maybe a 4th if I check with my brother-in-law so I save at least another $1050 netting out to $5850). Not cheap of course. With all the negativity I am reading I am actually very much considering cancelling. FYI we are new to cruising only done 1 - RC to Alaska which was amazing in every way. We have nothing substantial to complain about RCCL (bathroom sucked but that's about it) Any comments you guys care to share are welcome. Thanks.

How does one book/schedule for these shuttles. We just booked a Greece cruise that runs out of Ravenna as well.

Wife has the patch, we have dramamine as back up, and few other things just in case. Most likely she will be fine once on the boat tbh. Its the plane flights and the "anxiety" of thinking about it all that tends to compound things. Long car rides are an issue as well and she can never read things in the car other than say a quick check of her phone or directions or something. Anything longer and she has to roll down the window and stick her head out like our dog to settle things down. She has flown 6 times total in 30 years all with me. 2 flights for honeymoon down and back to Orlando 27 years ago and 4 flights out and back to Vegas about 15 years ago. Otherwise its a heck no on airplanes for her. Oddly enough we are taking a total of 5 flights for this journey but she knew she wanted to go and will gut it out. We will get her some adult beverages before hopping on the flights and get her relaxed. On the longer flights once she is asleep it will be no problem. And yeah on disembarkation we plan to get some food and just take all the time we need getting off the boat. Definitely no rush. Flights kind of forced it this way which is fine. It was either fly out at 9am very tough to make), 1:30, 4:30, or 8:30 so was a bit of no brainer for us.