Tina80

Hi all, My none year old and I are going to go on our first ever cruise this October, it will be Royal Caribbean 9 nights Greek cruise: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruises/itinerary/9-night-greek-isles-from-rome-civitavecchia-on-odyssey/OY09ROM-3670741210?sail-date=2024-10-01&currency=USD&country=USA&search=startDate:2024-10-01~2024-10-31#step=0 We will arrive at Santorini and I would like to tour the city with my kid, was looking at the tours offered by the cruise and wasn't sure if we should just purchase that or will have an option to visit the city on our own. Have been reading so many threads and posts to get myself familiar but was hoping if someone please reply to this thread and provide some recommendations. Thank you in advance

Thank you for sharing you plan, it certainly looks doable. I will have to do some reading to catch up 🙂

Thank you, very nice. I will look there

Thank you, is this from the terminal? I remember going to several cities by train while I was in Italy

Ephesus hot 🙂 That was sooo funny! Thank you for your help and tips. Ihope I can find private tours as theyall sell out quickly

Thank you so much for your helpful reply! Very informative. I went ahead and downloaded the app to see how it works. Loved the shy girl special too! And I can tell you are a very organized person with that envelop idea 🙂

Perfect, thank you so much for your great reply 🙂

Oh thank you, now I get how it works. I have AT&T and have international plan on my line but read so many horror stories of people getting over charged on top of that $10 a day. Europe SIM it is and I will purchase the WiFi plan. I appreciate your great reply

Hi all, This is our first cruise experience, we will be taking the Royal Caribbean 9 nights Greek Isles Cruise in October and will be tendered from 7 AM to 9 PM. I have my nine year old kid with me so was wondering if I should book one of the tours offered by the Royal Caribbean cruise (was looking at this one: Island of Santorini and Oia Village ($134.00 / per adult $79.00 / per child) - 5hr 30 min) or find something else? Was hoping I could get some recommendations please. This is our first trip there and I am hoping to make great memories with my kid. Thank you in advance

very helpful, thank you. I have not booked my plane tickets or hotel yet. Was hoping to arrive in Rome, stay there a couple of days and then take the bus from Rome terminal to the port. I have been in Rome before and used their trains to multiple cities, very efficient and inexpensive so I will have to look up to see what their Rome to port bus costs.

Thank you so much! You're right, one might get so excited that they forget to renew their passport. That was me back in March when I was planning my trip to Turkey!! Had to get them renewed them so thank God for people like you on this forum.

Yes, and visited Italy a couple years back among so many other countries. Had to get the passport renewed for my last trip so those are still valid 🙂 Do we need visa too? (US citizens)

Yes, why?

Thank you so much, I had no idea there is a section for these! Thank you!

Thank you so much for your reply. What is Air2sea plan fare? I have not purchased my plane tickets yet, for non-stop it costs around $1300. Also, sorry I didn't understand what you meant by TA from port Canavera 🙂 I am also planning to visit Rome so will be staying a couple of days there. Now if we are supposed to arrive a day or two early to Rome which means we have to book a hotel room, then if we plan to stay longer than means we have to book hotel rooms again, right? I guess it might make more sense to just arrive a couple of days earlier, book the hotel in Rome and tour the city, then get to the port and when the trip ends, go from the port to airport and fly back home. What do you think? I still have no clue how the logistic works for getting to port from Rome and port to the airport. Let alone the excursion... what if there is no excursion available for October? I am this close to panicking...:-( Edit - I googled the Air2Sea and now know what it is, it's more expensive than the flights I found on Expedia and looks like it doesn't let me pick days ahead of sailing as my departure date

Thank you very much, so helpful. I will certainly look into this

Thank you so much for your reply. On port days, if I have signed up for MDR at 6, what will happen if I am late?

Thank you all for your very good tips and suggestions. I certainly learned a lot so far! - Where do I get the app that has daily itinerary from? Do they send an email ahead of time? - If I get the Europe SIM, will it also work on the ship? - What is a roll call? I am new to this whole thing 🙂

Hi all, I am new to this forum and posted this in another thread and everyone advised me to post in this section to get more help. Here is the cruise that my 9 year old and I decided to book: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruises/itinerary/9-night-greek-isles-from-rome-civitavecchia-on-odyssey/OY09ROM-3670741210?sail-date=2024-10-01&currency=USD&country=USA&search=startDate:2024-10-01~2024-10-31#step=0 I just clicked the button and purchased our first cruise! My nine year old is beyond excited. Now I have to buy the plane tickets and book the tours. We opted for 6 PM traditional dinner. Had some question please: 1. Do we have to tip for each time we eat at the main dining area? Since we paid the tip ahead of time when booking, is it awkward if we do not tip? I saw reviews that suggest we order everything we like and try different meals at each time. Is that common? Will they give us the look if we do? 🙂 2. We picked the 6 PM dinner time, what time can we go eat breakfast and lunch at that main dining room? 3. If we do not buy the internet package, how do we use the internet? Do we buy per member or one for the whole family? 4. I like soda and my daughter likes chocolate milk and juice, is it worth purchasing the drink package? 5. Can the bed in the room be separated into two twins? 6. Could you please recommend some tours for each port? There are so many options and it'svery overwhelming, I have been lurking on this forum and other travel forums taking as much note as possible. Thank you sooooo much

Kerry's girl and KitKat, Thank you so much for your great replies. I just clicked the button and purchasedmy first cruise! My nine year old is beyond excited. Now I have to buy the plane tickets and book the tours. We opted for 6 PM traditional dinner. Had some question please: 1. Do we have to tip for each time we eat at the main dining area? Since we paid the tip ahead of time when booking, is it awkward if we do not tip? I saw reviews that suggest we order everything we like and try different meals at each time. Is that common? Will they give us the look if we do? 🙂 2. We picked the 6 PM dinner time, what time can we go eat breakfast and lunch at that main dining room? 3. If we do not buy the internet package, how do we use the internet? Do we buy per member or one for the whole family? 4. I like soda and my daughter likes chocolate milk and juice, is it worth purchasing the drink package? 5. Can the bed in the room be separated into two twins? Thank you

Thank you so much for your great reply. I was able to find one scheduled in October, was looking at this itinerary today: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruises?country=USA&search=departurePort:ROM|destination:EUROP|ship:EX,OY|startDate:2024-10-01~2024-10-31 With only two days on the sea, will we be able to take advantage of the activities (mostly fun activities for a none year old) on those sea days? During the port days, do people usually go sightseeing then come back to the ship and do some activities? I also was wondering since the cruise starts from Civitavecchia and come back to Civitavecchia, do we take the Rome tour before the departure or after? Thanks again

Thank you for your reply, very helpful. I love to visit those ports (Rome, Greece, Turkey), so let me ask you this, did your girls get tired while touring the city? What were your port days like? Would you visit the city then come back on the ship and do kids activities? Weren't you guys tired? I am so excited to go on my first cruise :)

Thanks much, I told my daughter and she was like nope, my teacher has told us about Santorini and Rome so I would like to visit those cities, now I am hoping she will be ok walking around on the port days!

Thank you, I didn't even know about this cruise line so had totally skipped that. Will have to check it out

Thank you all for your great replies. My kid was so excited to see that some of these ships (Royal Odyssey for example) has these many fun activities going on for kids. Since we have never been on a cruise, I was telling my kid that we have maybe 1-2 sea days so she won't be able to just do kids stuff all day for 9 days and when we get to the ports, we have to do sightseeing, are you sure you won't get bored. She said she would like to do this but knowing she is still 9, would you say we will have enough time to do those kids activity on the sea days (on a 9 day trip to Rome, Turkey, Greece)? Thank you