tscoffey

The beaches are very rocky, unless you know someone in the military and can get onto one of the Key West Naval Air Station bases (our daughter was USAF). They have some nicer, sandy beaches. There are many, many B&B places with pools. We stayed at one called Azul Key West on Truman, for about $300 per night around Memorial Day.

Perhaps Lincoln Center is having issues supplying sufficient talent? On Westerdam last summer they had 4-5 string players, and a pianist. Maybe players of sufficient caliber aren't too interested in a cruise ship contract? (Might not be a good look on a resume if you plan to be a paid performer in a good symphony).

If I add in the ATH-ROM flight to a multi-city search, the price jumps from around $900 person to $1500. ($600 extra for what is maybe an $80-140 one-way flight) Not sure if I am adding the flight incorrectly, or if 3-flight multi-city itineraries just work that way. I searched using similar weekdays in February, 2024, , and flight intervals, since flights in early April, 2024 are not yet available.

Already grabbed 5 nights at the Hotel Lancelot. Walkable to most places east of the Tiber, as well as Termini for train trip to Naples/Pompeii.

Celebrity Infinity, medium sized ship 2100-2500 passengers. We will not be in a preferred class for disembarkation.

I had no idea whether or not my May 27th cruise would have been impacted eventually, so I just decided to switch away from Japan and over to Greece, and pay the $200 charge. Too much to worry about with this situation. Plus, the money we will save on airfare ($400-500 each), Tokyo hotels for 5 nights before/afterwards ($700-800), and very expensive shore excursions, allows us to have 3 extra days pre-cruise in Athens, plus 5 extra days post-cruise in Rome. And, the replacement Athens/Israel/Egypt/Turkey cruise is almost 2 months earlier (early April versus late May) than the Japan cruise was. There’s also the fact that my wife has been putting the bug in my ear that she wants to see visit Israel soon. I’m more than happy with this decision.

Divina

So I travel light. I cannot justify bringing a 64 oz water bottle with me. Who says the 64 oz bottle has to leave the ship with you? Just pitch it before you disembark.

I'll be purchasing flights fairly soon for our April, 2024 Athens cruise, and subsequent visit to Rome. I am hoping to get to Rome from Athens as early in the day as possible, but have no idea in how long the disembarkation process in Athens (customs, etc), transport to Athens airport, airport security, etc. Ship arrive in Athens at 6AM. We can be up and ready to go then, but I doubt anyone is leaving the ship before 7AM.

Thanks - Air Canada is almost 20% cheaper on similar days of the week in Jan/Feb 2024.

Thanks for the reference to the Hotel Lancelot. Looks wonderful. Just reserved a 6th floor terrace room for next April.

I did. It doesn't improve the costs on Travelocity. Still prices it like 2 one-way flights. Correction: I had been pricing a multi-city of Ohio-Athens, Athens-Rome, ROme-Ohio. That comes out to over $1400. If I price a multi-city of just Ohio-Athens and Rome-Ohio, without adding in the (very short and cheap) flight from Athens-Rome, it comes out like a roundtrip - around $750. (The one-way Athens-Rome is less than $60!) So the answer is to book the Ohio-Athens-Rome-Ohio separately, then book a one-way Athens-Rome. Thanks for the advice!

That makes Ohio to Rome and back a roundtrip. If I try to price out going to Athens first, then it is 2 one-way flights, and costs almost double.

Not sure what it is, but they'll tell you the policy in the following language order: English Spanish German Italian French

Is there any possibility of skipping that initial hop to Rome first, which I do so that Ohio<-->Rome is a roundtrip, and go straight to Athens, then return to Ohio from Rome? Whenever I price that as 2 one-way flights it is almost double. Can a TA get me a better deal on those 2 one-way trips?

We went late August to early September, 2022. Rained in port various amounts each day, but not much. Temps were mild. Light jacket was all we needed. Glacier day was in the 30s, but that is expected when you are parked next to billions of tons of ice. And we had a balcony, so it was simple to step inside on glacier day and put on extra things, or get a blanket.

We have booked a 10-day cruise out of Athens, starting April 5th, 2024. We really want to take the opportunity to visit Rome as well (and what better time to do so - it's only a few hours away by plane!). Here is the plan I have currently swirling around my head (and on my Travelocity search page): April 1 (Monday): Fly from home (Ohio) to Rome April 2: Morning - Arrive in Rome. Afternoon - Take 2-hour flight to Athens Afternoon/Evening - Arrive in Athens, go to hotel. April 3,4: Sights in Athens April 5 (Friday): Morning - Shuttle/train/winged-horse to Piraeus cruise port Afternoon - Board cruise ship April 6-14: Cruise April 15 (Monday): Early morning - Disembark in Piraeus Mid/late morning to early afternoon - shuttle from Piraeus to Athens airport Afternoon - Flight back to Rome Late afternoon/early afternoon - Arrive in Rome, go to hotel April 16,17,18,19 - Sights in Rome April 20 (Saturday) - Flight back to Ohio. This gives us 2 full days to see Athens, and 4 full days to see Rome (plus Pompeii or Florence). This would involve roundtrip flights both from Ohio to Rome, and from Rome to Athens. Is this doable? What problems might I have? The only problem I see is missing a flight between Rome and Athens. But there are many of those per day, so we could catch a subsequent one. And, I have buffer days before both the cruise embarkation, and return back to Ohio.

An advantage to switching from Japan to a cruise out of Athens is that we can add on a 4-day post cruise trip to Rome, then back to Athens. The total airfare for home<->Athens, with Athens<-> Rome also, is less than the airfare would have been for home<->Tokyo. Also factor in that hotels in Rome in April are far cheaper than hotels in Tokyo (3-4 nights), and this is turning out to be a big cost saver - and to cities that are quite amazing to visit too!

Well, no. That would be 3 of the 10 days, and the stops my wife really wants to do. But we have a future land tour of Israel in the early planning stages (5-7 days), so we would get there eventually.

We transferred from Japan to Greece for next year. Too much worrying over possible lost airfare, etc. Japan in 2026? Maybe.

Switched my booking to a 10-day Greece/Israel/Egypt sailing on April 5th. Cost me $200 to do it. Only took 90 minutes on the phone with Expedia, as they kept dropping my calls. I think we'll like the excursions in Israel and Egypt a lot better too.

That is something I am not knowledgeable of - that I can move my deposit to another Celebrity booking without loss (except for the $100 charge). Good to know, thanks. Makes this decision almost a no-brainer now.

Getting nervous reading the various threads about Japan 2024 cruise passengers on Millennium being cancelled. If the reasoning is correct, and it seems quite likely to be, the cancellations are the result of Japan requiring each cruise to have a minimum number of cabins set aside for Covid isolation purposes. Further, the cabins being cancelled seem to be in the lower decks, nearer to medical. My cruise is in late May, and I have an inside cabin on deck 3. A prime candidate for being cancelled if the above scenario is correct. If I keep this cruise, I will soon need to start booking some very expensive roundtrip flights to Tokyo. Plus, 3-4 hotel nights there (as well as post-cruise sightseeing expenses in Tokyo). These expenses would likely exceed $3500, minimum, in addition to the cruise charges. I originally paid my cruise deposit in mid-December, 2022. I don’t have trip insurance yet, so I assume I can’t insure any future flights or hotels associated with this cruise that are purchased in the future, correct? So - lose $900 now, guaranteed, and avoid any chance of losing a future $3500? (We are new cruise travelers, so these kinds of situation, risks are all new to us).

If the “block of cabins” for possible quarantine contingencies is correct, and sounds like the best explanation so far, then I would expect the same cancellations to hit in later April, May, June,etc., sailings. (It also explains why similar cancellations are missing in winter - Millennium won’t be in Japan then) I have one in May - inside cabin, deck 3, which sounds like a perfect place to quarantine an infected passenger (near the ship medical, away from the other decks, etc), unfortunately.

I haven’t checked their sailings, but are there even any in Japan in winter?