tj_shopper

Thank you! We've never been to Alaska so I feel like any port would be great. I am sad that RC does not offer Glacier Bay, but I'm sure we'll just have as great of a time. I think I am definitely leaning towards the smaller ship - Brilliance or Radiance.

The train sounds great. Thank you! I will look for one way itineraries. We're actually doing the one way itinerary for Europe. We're boarding in Rome and getting off in Athens. Airfare was more expensive but we get to spend a couple of extra days at both ends.

I guess I'm okay missing Glacier Bay because I don't know anything about it. I haven't had the time to do a lot of research and just thought I'd ask for opinions. I'm pretty loyal to Royal and not sure I want to go on another cruise line. I know others will disagree with me, but that's just my preference. I would definitely consider the one way itineraries if it gives us more time to see things as we wouldn't need to go round trip back to original port. I never thought about the time spent at each port so I will definitely go back and see how long we are at each port. Thank you everyone for recommending that we do that.

We are planning an Alaskan cruise for May 2024. There are so many itineraries and so many options. We want to stick with Royal Caribbean and it's a bummer that it doesn't go to Glacier Bay, but I'm okay with that as this is our first Alaskan cruise. The few we are thinking about are: Ovation of the Seas - 8 days - larger ship - Vancouver, Sitka, Juneau, Skagway, Endicott Arm, Ketchikan, Seattle Radiance of the Seas - 7 days - smaller ship - Seward, Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait, Ketchikan, Vancouver Brillance of the Seas - 7 days - smaller ship - Vancouver, Inside Passage (AK), Sitka, Juneau, Haines, Tracy Arm (Twin Sawyer Glaciers, Inside Passage (AK), Vancouver Radiance of the Seas - 7 days - Anchorage (Seward), Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Skagway, Haines, Icy Strait Point, Ketchikan, Inside Passage, Vancouver We have never been to any of the places. Is it better to start at one port and return to same port or better from one to another? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hi there. We are also planning a cruise on Royal Caribbean for May 2024. There are so many itineraries and I am so confused. What ship are you going on? I'm thinking either Ovation or Radiance but can't decide.

About two weeks ago, I received a Royal Up email to bid on my cruise on Enchantment for May 15, 2023. My daughters are each in an inside cabin and the minimum to bid for a balcony was $260 per person minimum. I went ahead and placed a bid for each of them for a balcony. My husband and I have a balcony and the minimum bid for a Junior Suite was $210 per person. I went ahead and placed the minimum bid for my cabin. Fast forward to today and while checking the status of our bids, I noticed that the balcony bid for each of my daughters is now at a minimum of $85 per person. I did reduce my bids for their balcony to $150 per person. On the flip side, my sister who also has a balcony decided to bid for a Junior Suite. When she went into bid, the minimum for the Junior Suite is now at $385 per person versus the $210 per person minimum I had two weeks ago. Does anyone know why this occurred? I did take a look to see if our cruise is sold out and it is not. Currently, there are 102 unsold inside cabins, 62 unsold outside (windows) cabins, 0 baconies, 32 unsold Junior Suites, 2 Grand suites, 3 Owners Suite and 1 Royal Suite available. What do you think are the olds of us winning our bids?

@mkaalong - I reached out to the company (Best Turkey Tour) and they were very responsive. There are 30 of us and we will be taking this tour at $25 per person. They will craft the tour any way you like. I messaged them through Facebook and gave them my email address. They sent me all the information and I booked with them.

I found this four hour pizza and pasta cooking class and booked it. It had great reviews and am excited to do this. I will report back afterwards. https://www.getyourguide.com/rome-l33/rome-3-hour-combo-pizza-and-pasta-cooking-class-t73289/?partner=true&lang=en&date_from=2023-05-13&_pc=1,14

Thank you. We are at an Airbnb so we will have to call to make the reservations.

Another restaurant I will try to book for our trip in May. I went on the website but did not see a place to make reservations on line. Does anyone know if I can do that or do I need to call and make reservations?

Thank you so much for this thread. I found so many useful information, especially the restaurants. There are 32 of us (family and friends) on Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas starting off in Rome and ending in Athens this May 2023. We are going to spend 3 full days in Rome; well actually 2 and taking a day trip to Florence on the 3rd day before the cruise. Based on all the reviews and write up about Roscioli Salumeria Con Cucina, we've made lunch plans here for our first day in the wine cellar - I only made reservations for my immediate family - 14 of us! Now to wait until April to book dinner at Armando al Pantheon! They only allow booking month by month.

We walked it after our cruise in January. It is a rough walk especially with suitcases. We did not think it would be that bad but there are some sidewalks and some without. The part without sidewalks, we walked on the road with our luggage - not very safe. I would not do it again. I wished I would have asked this question before we did it. I googled mapped it and it was less than a mile so thought it was okay. If you don't have luggage, then it's a piece of cake but with luggage - ugh!

Has anyone taken a pasta cooking class in or around Rome? We will be in Rome for 3 days prior to a cruise. I thought this would be a great way to spend part of a day. We were recently in Lisbon, Portugal and took a class on making their famous egg tarts. It was so much fun and will be remembered for a long time to come. I did check Trip Advisor but wanted to know if anyone has done a specific one and if you would recommend it. Thanks in advance.

We are a group of 32 people going on a cruise. Everyone except 15 of us got seat assignments. While watching daily for the last four months, I was able to get an additional 8 people free seat assignments as they freed up. I don't know how those seats freed up but as I watched, I was able to put 8 additional people in free seats. I put the younger kids with less income in those free seats. The 7 people (which includes my husband and me) still do not have seat assignments. Guess what? The seats today went back down. I purchased them this morning. I will need to let the other 5 people know that if they want to purchase or take their chances to do that today as the seat prices went back down. I got lucky. The price went up for one day/two days and back down today.

Good advice. I should have purchased awhile ago but thought I had plenty of time. Didn't realize the price on the seats would go up. Lesson learned. Thanks.

I probably will. The prices for the seats have gone up. What's the chance of it going back down? Probably not lol.

I purchased air through Royal Caribbean's Air2Sea program for our cruise in May 2023. Our tickets were ticketed in December and I have been able to try to assign seats for my husband and me. However, there are no free seats left. I can try to upgrade and pay for seats, but am waiting to see if any free seats open up. Or take a chance and have the airline assign the seats for me - hoping that I get to sit next to my hubby or if I don't sit next to hubby, hoping it's not a middle seat.

We purchased air through Royal Caribbean's Air2Sea program. We currently have unassigned seats and the only ones left are the ones where you have to purchase or wait to check in and they assign the seats for us. I've been watching almost daily to see if any free seats open up as people upgrade or maybe for some reason, free seats open up. After watching for about 4 months now, today, the seat prices went up by $50 per seat per category. So, what was $95 per seat is now like $142 per seat. Makes me wished I would have purchased earlier. Anyway, I'm going to continue to watch. Our flight is in mid-May. I might just take a chance and have them assign my seat. If I don't sit next to my husband, oh well. I know I don't want to sit in a middle seat. If I get assigned a middle seat at this point, I will upgrade then, if there is something available. Just a chance I will have to take. If anyone has any suggestions or thoughts, please let me know. Thanks.

We will also be going to Ephesus in May. Someone on one of my Facebook groups recommended this tour company https://www.bestturkeytour.com/travel-packages/best-of-ephesus-tour/. I'm still in the planning stages, so I will be checking out this place and https://www.curiotravel.com/. If anyone has done a tour with bestturkeytour, please give us your reviews. Thank you!

Thank you!!

Quite late in thanking you! Thanks and we are excited for this trip.

Thanks Tbird58. Based on your suggestion, I contacted Sicily Taxi Service. Do you recall when the driver dropped you off at Taormina, if it was a long walk to the town or did he drop you right in town? I'm hearing about where buses drop off and stuff and just want to know what to expect. Thank you!

We did this in 2019 but docked in Naples. We went with Ciro la Motta, the taxi driver. Ciro was our driver, who sings Elvis songs lol while driving. He arranged a tour guide for us at Pompeii - very informative. Suggest a tour guide in Pompeii for sure as there is so much to see and having someone take you around and explain the different buildings and structures was so worth it. Ciro also drove us to Sorrento and recommended a fantastic place for lunch - let us walk around and explored on our own in Sorrento. We also went to Positano and explored on our own. Let me know if you have any questions.

Yes, thank you very much for all the helpful information. Sounds like we're on the same cruise. We leave on May 15, 2023. I am currently in my planning stages also. Only tour we've booked so far is the stop at Salerno (Amalfi Coast). We were there in 2019 and toured with Ciro, taxi driver - very great reviews. On that cruise, our stop was at Naples. We went to Sorrento, Amalfi and Pompeii on that trip and it was one of the best tours I've ever done. We booked with him again but not going to Pompeii this time. We will be headed to Vietri sul Mare, Ravello and Tramonti with many stops in between for pizza, coffee/pastries and pastas. Funny thing when I saw your location - my BFF lives in Woodbury, MN! Also have a colleague that lived there but moved to Florida during COVID. Small world.

I know. We are all so excited to eat, eat, eat!!! My BFF loves pizza so we're going to have as much pizza and pasta as we can. My hubby loves pasta lol. Trying to satisfy the whole group!