Cooper30

13 hours ago, tvo7 said:

Unfortunately, I am not rich like everyone else on here and I am a tight budget.

Define rich please.   I'd like to know if I'm officially rich.

16 hours ago, Cruiser20242024 said:

How do you know what platform to go to for the change? Is it easy to work out?

Euro Cruiser beat me to it, but as they showed, the stations have excellent signage.  I was amazed to see English on all the signs.

Our journey from Venice to Ravenna last October pretty much mirrored yours.  It was very simple and a lot of fun.
 

We also stayed at the M Club and can’t wait to go back. Ravenna itself was amazing and we wished we had more time to explore. 

We are prebooked on National Express for our trip to Heathrow T5 after our cruise this coming October.  We paid the extra £4 to reserve seats as well as booking the Fully Flexible fare. 

The National Express website is easy to navigate and we immediately received our Etickets via email.  There were no problems using a credit card from the United States. 
 

Our flight out of Heathrow is at 515 pm (1715), so we decided on the 1145 coach in order to avoid rushing around after we disembark.  

My wife and I have been on 13 Royal cruises (she's actually been on 14) and one MSC cruise.  Thanks to the pandemic, we hit Diamond quicker than expected (I love it when people look down on us because we are pandemic Crown and Anchor babies 😄 )

With Royal, we've been on nine ships, everything from Vision to Oasis, with Freedom Class being our favorite (with Quantum Class a very close second).  We enjoy Royal Caribbean and have no plans to stop cruising with them. 

Other than one cruise in a JS during the restart on Adventure out of Nassau, most of our cruises have been in gty interiors and balconies.  We did fork over the money for an aft balcony on Explorer last fall when we cruised out of Italy.

Our one MSC cruise was a three night one on Divina from Miami to Nassau and Ocean Cay.  We have been on a three night on Freedom to Nassau and CocoCay, so we compared the two (although the Freedom cruise was b2b with a 4-night).  On both, we stayed in gty cabins (Bella on MSC).

We feel the two companies to be more similar than different.

Here are a handful of our opinions based on comparing our Divina and Freedom three night cruises.

We were status matched to Voyagers Club Gold level.

• Royal wins in entertainment, hands down.  It's not even close for us. Give us a live orchestra please.  I'll even take Cats again over the show we saw on Divina.
• Royal wins overall in crew interactions.  MSC crew weren't jerks, but Royal's crew is more personable
• MSC wins in the buffet. 
• Royal wins in the MDR
• MSC wins in the price comparison
• Ocean Cay is more our style than Coco Cay, but we still enjoy ourselves at Coco Cay.
• A three night cruise is a three night cruise regardless of which company you're on...lots of people taking a long weekend with the drink package.

Random observation upon boarding Divina....the walls are dark which makes the interior dark....but then there are mirrors EVERYWHERE....so many that we were laughing together at how many mirrors there are.

With all things equal, we will choose Royal.  The drink vouchers are hard to beat (and we don't even drink alcohol).  We know what to expect with Royal, and have not had a bad experience on any Royal ship.  We can see Diamond Plus on the horizon in a few years.

However, we have a 7-night northern Europe cruise booked with MSC this coming October on Preziosa where we got a legit "too good to be true" deal on YC, so we're excited about that.  We also have a 6-night Med cruise to Greece and Turkey booked on Divina in May 2025 in an interior.  It was another "omg look at how cheap this is" yolo booking.

Don't worry though, we have five cruises booked with Royal from Jan 2025 through Jan 2026, one of which is a 9-night out of Southampton where we splurged on another aft balcony.

I will elaborate on anything I posted here if anyone is curious or gets offended. 

We are in our mid-50s, work our butts off, and are spending our kids' inheritance. 🙂 

We were on Explorer last fall, Ravenna to Civitavecchia with a port every day. We splurged (for us) and booked an aft balcony cabin  Usually we sail in an Interior Guarantee. 
 

We enjoyed every port….Split, Zadar, Dubrovnik, Corfu, Messina, and Naples, but we were pleasantly surprised how much we enjoyed Croatia.   We will be going back there for an extended stay when we retire. 
 

We did not take any excursions, Royal Caribbean or otherwise.  We struck out on our own in each port and went away from the tourist areas as much as possible.  We met so many locals and had such a great time.   The internet makes things easy for researching diy port days. 
 

All this being said, a port every day was exhausting, and by Naples, we ended up getting in the hop on/hop off bus after 4 hours of exploring on our own. Side note….we already have a hotel booked in Naples for extra days there when we end a cruise we have booked in May 2025.  We saw so much while on the bus that we want to go back and investigate. 

 

Anyway, enjoy your cruise.  I suspect you’ll have a great time no matter which itinerary you sail.   Odyssey has more things onboard than Voyager (we’ve not been on Odyssey yet but have been on Anthem a few times…we’re on Odyssey next January), but if the ports matter to you, pick the ship that goes where you want to go.   

19 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

It's fortunate Spirit doesn't have flights open yet. Definitely not an airline I would fly. And do yourself a favor and come in at least 2 days before if possible in January.  These days many flights are 100% full and if canceled it can take time to get on another.  Truthfully from Chicago in the winter we fly in 3 days before to be safe. I know not everyone has that luxury but I recommend it if you can.

Agreed. 
 

We’re cheap….err….thrifty but one round trip on Spirit (BOS-FLL) was more than enough. 

In other news, people spend their money differently. 
 

I find it comical that people who never book anything but a balcony think we’re crazy for usually cruising in interiors….and the people that only book suites think balcony people are crazy. 
 

Then there are the people who think my wife and I are stupid for spending our money cruising 3-5 times a year. 
 

Oh…our first Yacht Club cruise is coming up this fall.  We are going to Northern Europe and decided to treat ourselves….and it was cheaper than the plain balcony we treated ourselves to on another line when we cruised out of Italy last fall. .
 

soon to be >>>>YACHT CLUB CRUISER!!!!!<<<<<

🤣🤣

While my wife and I prefer Freedom (and Voyager) Class over Oasis Class, we are in the minority among the cruising couples we know. 

It’s really an apples to oranges comparison, and I believe someone who really enjoys all that the Oasis Class has to offer will generally be disappointed on a smaller class of ship. 

59 minutes ago, phred119s said:

Often have heard how nice it must be to be rich. Nah, I made different life choices. 

 

Say it louder for those in the back. 

Meh 

Don’t tell me how to spend my money and I won’t tell you how to spend yours. 

Enjoy your cruise!!

We're about as blue collar/budget conscious as you can get.....We've spent decades "living like no one else so we can live like no one else", and we are extremely frugal.  Cruising is our escape from real life, and we count pennies to be able to do it.

We discovered cruising in 2019 when our youngest moved out.  Most of our bookings have been of the "let the cruise line pick your room" type.  9 out of 10 times, we're staying in an inside cabin.

We took our first MSC cruise back in January (on Divina) and were in a gen pop balcony (thanks to a successful upgrade bid).  We had a wonderful time and felt the experience was no better or worse than our usual experience on the other mass market cruise line we've always been on.  Price was definitely the driving factor for our trying MSC.

We are always looking at cruise line websites for hot deals, but we've found booking as soon as itineraries are released to be the cheapest way to go.

We have a 7-night northern Europe cruise on Preziosa in Yacht Club this October.  We booked in November, 2022.  It's a smoking deal....and I mean unbelievable..$2.2k total.  We originally booked a YC Interior on Euribia (before she launched) based on the itinerary and when the ship was changed, we were put in a balcony since Preziosa has no YC Interiors.  If we had booked a Bella Interior, we would have been paying less than $600 total, but we decided we had enough time to earn the $$ to splurge a bit.

We are aware that this YC cruise on Preziosa will be a one-off for us.  As a matter of fact, we have another MSC cruise booked for May 2025.  It's a plain old interior on Divina going to Greece and Turkey from Italy.

We are newbie travelers in our mid-50s and our first visit to Europe was last October on Explorer.  We went from Ravenna to Civitavecchia via Croatia and Greece, as well as a couple stops in Italy.

Definitely arrive at least a few days early and definitely get good travel insurance. 

Our flight from the US connected in Lisbon and the connecting flight was canceled. We ended up with a night in Lisbon courtesy of the airline.  Knowing we had travel insurance coverage for the missed night in Venice allowed us to not stress and enjoy Lisbon.  Flying in 4 days early meant we were not the least bit worried about missing the ship due to a canceled flight.

Another tip: Pace yourselves and be realistic in your expectations (as far as what you do in the ports).  We were on a 7-night cruise with a port every single day.  By the last port (Naples), we were exhausted and decided to find a hop on/hop off bus rather than drag ourselves to Herculaneum.  It turned out to be a good decision, and we already have another trip planned to go back to Naples so we can go to Herculaneum (and Pompeii). 

Bottom line is there is just too much to see and do in one day at any port, so don't even try....just go back and visit again 🙂 

We did not use any ship excursions.  Since we are both healthy and can walk, we did a ton of pre-cruise research (You Tube is a great resource) and explored all of the ports on our own.  We have no regrets about going out on our own, and we are doing the same thing on our cruise to northern Europe this coming October.

1 hour ago, cruizingOmi said:

If you rent a car opt for the NAVI (GPS) option. German Autobahn can be crazy especially on a Sunday, lots of daytrippers. One accident and the 1,5 hr drive can turn into 3-4 hrs.

Another option is to look into taking a train to Kiel. www.bahn.de, choose your language.

Thank you for the advice.  Much appreciated!!

Every time I see things about pier runners, I’m reminded of the time we watched a dozen or so people straggling back late to the ship in Falmouth, Jamaica.   Seemed like the whole ship was yelling crap at them. 
 

Turns out it was a Royal Caribbean excursion…..and there was a deadly accident right in front of the bus carrying the people back to the ship that closed the whole road, causing the bus to be late getting back to the port. One of the woman on the excursion had become friendly with my wife earlier in the cruise.  She was an RN who had to help at the scene and was clearly traumatized. 
 

Some of the things being yelled from balconies and the pool deck were horrible.   

Only the person booking a guaranteed cabin can say whether it’s a good idea to them or not. 
 

Guarantees are a good idea for us because we book them when we absolutely do not care where our cabin is located. 
 

Excellent information. Thank you for sharing. 
 

15 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

As a couple, I'm looking forward to our 2 additional free drinks per day, 2 BOGO specialty meals, and 2 more days of internet.

 

D+ is in sight for us even though we’re “cheating” on Royal a bit.  😁

We’re looking forward to the same things. 

7 hours ago, edinburgher said:

Should the car rental option not be taken for any reason,, and you are still keen to visit inside a U-Boat, just mentioning that there is also a U-Boat Museum in Hamburg itself. Not a German U-boat  though, it is a Russian one.  Docked in front of the Fishmarket on the waterfront in Hamburg.

 

Should you be docked at the ALTONA cruise terminal, it would be super easy to reach it by ferry.  as these leave from next to the Altona cruise terminal and the U-Boat museum is only a short distance from there, i cannot remember exactly but possibly only one or two ferry stops from Altona to Fishmarket.  You could check that online.

Thank you. 
 

This looks like a cheaper way to go. 

6 hours ago, SUgwoz said:

I find that to be a common theme in reviews for MSC, along with mentioning that the few times they leave the YC area for other parts of the ship they have an escort.  Makes it sound like the ship outside of YC is not appealing and more chaotic.

We dipped our toes in MSC on Divina out of Miami back in January….Fantastica “experience”.  Some things were better than RC, but some weren’t. We had a good time and would do it all over again. 
 

All things being equal (including price), we would go with Royal.  We are Inside Guarantee people most of the time, so our budget is on the low end, and even down there, MSC’s Fantastica experience beats Royals GTY most of the time. 
 

We have five cruises booked through January 2026….three with Royal and two with MSC.  

34 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Have driven numerous times in Germany. Similar to driving in France...lots of universal signs. Probably the only word you need is "ausfahrt", the German word for "exit".

Yea, I guess the driving part isn't really that big of a deal other than normal paying attention to local laws.

Thank you

This may be unrealistic, but I'm curious of people's opinions, positive or negative.

This coming October, my wife and I are on a 7-night MSC Preziosa cruise out of Southampton that stops in Hamburg.  Has anyone traveled from Hamburg to Kiel, more specifically the Laboe Naval Memorial/U-995 Museum?  I am kicking around the idea of renting a car for the day like we are in Le Havre (in order to travel to Omaha Beach on our own).

Our time in Hamburg is 0700-2100 on a Sunday, and a quick look at Google Maps puts the travel time as 1 hour 30 minutes each way. 

Additionally, any thoughts on an American driving in Germany?  I'm not concerned about France as I can limp along in French well enough, but I am not familiar with the German language whatsoever.  I'm sure I can learn the very basics, but I will never feel as comfortable as I do with French (and Italian).

Thank you for your time.

You gotta pick your cruise dates carefully if you don't want to be inundated with kids on a family cruise line. 

We were on Anthem 2/17-2/25.  It was pretty much all extended families, ours included. 

As mentioned a few times, it was school vacation week in quite a lot of the northeast.  Since our daughter in law is a school teacher, it was the only week we could realistically take them this winter.  We even paid more for the "privilege" of cruising during this week, and we'd do it all over again.  We knew going in that this was a cruise for our son, dil, and granddaughters, not us.

People were pleasant, and we had a great week.

My small sampling of booking GTY cabins leads me to believe it’s not an issue. 
 

Three out of our five upcoming cruises booked with RC are GTYs. We only choose when it’s on a bucket list itinerary, and at that point we’re willing to spend a bit more to get an aft cabin. 

On 1/31/2024 at 8:05 AM, Cooper30 said:

I’m at work now and my break is almost over, but somewhere in the past month I posted how my wife and I went from Venice to Ravenna last October. 
 

I'm not sure if it’s on this board or the Italy one. 
 

when I get home from work and can get on my desktop (rather than phone), I’ll look for it and post a link if you can’t find it. 

sorry for the delay.  I got busy and forgot. 
 

here’s the post I made 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2985244-can-anyone-help-with-advice-for-travelling-venice-to-ravenna-via-train/?do=findComment&comment=66759026