fishiecrackers

I mean, the cat who was mayor is dead now, but Stubbs was great while he lasted.

Hi all! Hope this question is okay, even though it involves going the other direction. We are boarding our cruise in Civitavecchia on June 12. We will have been staying near the Trevi Fountain in Rome leading up to the cruise. I either want to take the Frecci train from Rome to Civitavecchia, or a private transfer. Can you correct me if I'm confused about any of this info? Option 1: Take a Frecci train (can have assigned seats) from Rome Termini to Civi. Would involve getting ourselves to Rome Termini with luggage, taking the train, then taking either a taxi to port (would this be doable for a family of 5 with luggage?), or taking a bus, then a shuttle or walking to our ship. Option 2: Take a private or shared transfer, leaning toward Rome in Limo or Civitavecchia Shuttle Express. I'm leaning toward just taking the shuttle so we don't have to deal with so many modes of transportation getting there, as I feel like my husband's anxiety would be absolutely through the roof to the point where it would not be pleasant. But open to people telling me that the train option would be easy and smooth with 5 people and luggage? Thanks for any input!

We recently had to travel to Canada in January, and needed lots of cold-weather gear for what we were doing. We purchased some suitcase-sized space bags for our jackets, fleece, etc., and it saved space really nicely. We got the kind that you just roll/lay on to get the air out, not using a vacuum attachment. As others have mentioned, down layers can get smushed down pretty small, esp with space bags, so that would be another idea if you're worried about space.

I'm visiting Santorini and Mykonos with my 3 teens this summer. In Santorini we're taking a ship excursion to get into Oia nice and early, and just explore, walk around, etc. Then probably take a bus back. Possibly walk some of the trail between Fira and Oia depending on temps, but guessing it'll be too hot and my family too grumpy. In Mykonos we are doing a beach day for some down time. If we weren't, we'd probably do a 4-wheeler or jeep tour of the island. We'll have done lots of ruins and museums in other cities, so we are not doing them on these two stops. I agree with using Google to search "__________ with teens" and reading people's blogs and board postings for ideas. I've also enjoyed looking at AirBnb Experiences to see what sorts of things are offered in each port.

Will do! You'll recognize me by my 3 tired teenagers!

Sounds like a plan!

Yikes! What happened? Help talk me into biting the bullet on paying for private transport!

It's dark enough in September, depending on how late you're up. We've seen them in Seward in late August, but I was with my sister and we had stayed up all night talking so it was basically the middle of the night. It's just random chance of whether the conditions will be right, so obviously the more days you're in Alaska, the better chance you have. We live in Anchorage and really only see them once or twice a year, but there is lots of light pollution here. If seeing them is super high on your bucket list, maybe take some extra days on one end of the cruise and fly up to Fairbanks while you are already in Alaska? That's the best place for viewing, and they have lots of tours, hotels that will call your room if they're out, etc. We're trying this next week with a friend who is here from California, but only going for one night, sooooo.... wish me luck on that, haha!

Thank you! Yes, I think if we aim for an afternoon embarkation time we will definitely do a reputable private transfer, and only deal with trains if we change plans and do the morning. It's quite a ways away, so definitely the potential for things to go wrong!

Thank you, I appreciate this! I was kind of debating train vs. private transfer, and I think you just tipped it for me. 🙂 Yes, since there's nothing for us to book on board for Enchantment, I don't think we'll rush that morning. I understand the appeal of getting on early and enjoying as much of Day 1 as possible under other circumstances, but for this trip I think we'll aim later. While I have paid for the day on the boat, I've also paid for my Rome AirBnb until 11, so either way I'm not taking advantage of something I paid for. And I agree with the poster who said they'd rather have Rome food than ship food, haha. So I think the plan will be to sleep in, take our time getting going that morning, go get either a big late breakfast or light, early lunch at 11am depending on what's around, then take a private transfer to the port, aim to check in around 2, then do a later lunch once on board if needed, maybe in the Solarium, which looks to be open until 5:30 that day. We have the later dining time for dinner anyway. Thank you so much for all the input and suggestions! I feel good about the day!

We are doing a Greek Isles cruise in June with our 3 teenagers, leaving from Civitavecchia. Prior to the cruise, we will be sightseeing in Venice, Florence, and Rome. We will have MANY days of waking up early during this part of the trip to try and get some sightseeing done before things get super hot and crowded. Our itinerary is also very port-heavy, with several places where we'll be trying to wake up early and get on our way for various reasons. On the day our cruise leaves, I am considering getting one of the later embarkation times, so that we can sleep in, stay in our AirBnb until 10 or 11, then make our way to the port, maybe grab a quick lunch before getting on the ship. Or eat lunch in Rome and then go to the port with a shuttle transfer to save time. We are sailing on Enchantment, so dining options are super limited, and I have one kiddo with some anxiety/sensory overload stuff that I worry might self-destruct immediately if I drag her to Windjammer with a couple thousand other people to eat. Can someone walk me through the disadvantages for this plan? Seems like most people want to be on board the ship as early as possible, so I'm wondering what the down side would be of being one of the later groups to board. We've never cruised before so pretend I know literally nothing. 😆 Ship is scheduled to depart at 5pm, but I know we need to be there well before that. What's the latest time you can sign up for? Thanks!

We are also doing a Mediterranean cruise with our kids (teens) this summer, and we chose later because I don't want to rush back from the ports. Many nights we are in port until 8pm so I feel like we're just going to be absolutely eating our way through Europe and it'll take a bit to actually be hungry for dinner - haha.

We are cruising on Enchantment this summer and my oldest teen daughter is easily overwhelmed by crowds and noise with her anxiety, so I'll definitely be following along with your trip report! Maybe I will get her some of those Loops.

One huge issue I'm having with this day is the timing in our schedule. We will have done a few days in Venice, a few in Florence, a few in Rome, then embarkation day, then a big Pompeii/Amalfi coast day. I feel like at this point in the trip we will just want a chill day, not one with a lot of traveling. And I don't want to book anything super expensive in case we are just toast and want to stay on/close to the ship. Because Siracusa is so far away (and there are 5 of us), anything private is super pricey, and I don't want to pay a ton to drag 3 tired and cranky teenagers around, haha. So I've pretty much made my peace with skipping Taormina, and just sleeping in and then going and walking around Ortigia for a few hours and getting the food similar to what we would've gotten in Taormina, but my husband is being very sad about it. At this point our decision is to keep the ship excursion booked bc it's only $50/pp, and just see how we feel at that point in our trip. If we have to cancel or lose the money, it's not a ton, but if we're still feeling up to it, we'll do it. Anyway, not to hijack your thread, but thank you for the port reports!

Thanks for the info! Sounds like such a great day. Would you be willing to share the spots you chose? Would love a starting off point for my planning of that Oia day!

There are also just regular evening admission on Friday and Saturday nights after late April. Tickets are not available yet. They don't clear everyone out before starting evening admission like they used to, but should still be a little less crowded than the middle of the day.

That sounds so perfect. Our cruise was changed from Messina to Siracusa, making it much more time-consuming to visit Taormina. I really wanted to do basically exactly what you guys did! Food and Villa Communale! Now we have to choose whether to do a shore excursion of 5.5 hours (2.5-3 of which will probably be driving), do it on our own (logistically very tricky), take a private transfer back from the shore excursion so we can stay longer ($$$), or just stay and explore Siracusa/Ortigia. Which is the most logical choice, but hard to let go of my Taormina dreams. 😞

Love the idea of using Welcome Pickups to pick up from Ammoudi Bay! But a little stressed at choosing a transport time without ever having been there. How many hours did you stay in Oia? We are in port from 7am-8pm and using the "On Your Own" ship excursion to get us to Oia as well.

That includes driving time, so I think you end up with about 2 hours in Taormina.

Thank you both for your input. While it will be a bummer to be so close to Taormina and skip it, I think we're leaning that way. We'll have our 3 teenagers with us and I think we'll be ready for a day to sleep in and do things on our own timeline. We weren't going to do the Greek Theater, but just enjoy the town, the pastries & granita, and a beautiful coastline, maybe kayak or sail to some sea caves. I think we can get all/most of that in Ortigia, so it seems a waste to spend 3-4 hours of our day in a bus doing an excursion.

Hello! Our cruise has switched from a port day in Messina to now docking in Siracusa. Our previous plan was to go to Taormina and I would still like to do that if logistics work out. Royal Caribbean has an Explore Taormina excursion that is 5.5 hours, which takes you to Taormina and then you explore on your own (Google Maps shows about a 1.5 hour drive each way but idk how accurate that is). This will be our second port day after a verrrrrrrrry busy week in Italy before the cruise begins, so I'm tempted to just book that and let RC deal with the logistics and we can relax. But is that long enough for Taormina? I don't want to shortchange ourselves. It would also be nice to be able to sleep in and just leave when we want to instead of being locked into the ship excursion. We could do the bus or train but it seems logistically a lot more difficult than our other ports because it's so far away. We could also forget about Taormina and just walk around Siricusa and Ortigia. Thoughts from anyone familiar with this particular cruise experience? We are in port on a Wednesday in June, from 8am-6pm. Thanks!

Did you feel you were rushed by doing both Positano and Sorrento? What were your favorite things within those two stops/cities? We have the same tour booked for June!

Thanks for the feedback!

Love this idea! Thanks! The excursion options keep adding up.... 🤣

Our time in port is listed from 7am-6pm and we're coming from the port of Salerno.