vacation fool

Does anyone know if there is a luggage limit for either the airport bus that you get on from the airport that goes to piazzale roma or the public water bus? I  tried the search tool and the website and cannot access the info.  Thanks.

What deck is the best to choose for a mini suite? For those of you who have cruised on the sister ships I would like to know your opinion. Would the life boats be visible from the
Emerald Deck? I notice on the deck plans for Caribe and Aloha the balconies are oddly shaped and do not go straight out as they do on the Emerald. Can anyone elaborate on that? Thanks so much

The Grand is going into drydock in March 2019 for 17 days. Do you think that Princess would do that extensive a drydock just to sell it shortly afterward?

Considering the Grand for March 30 ,2019 Curious as to what the dates are that she is to be in drydock?

Just wondering who you two have health insurance thru that you have worldwide coverage? Not Medicare and not Aetna. I dont know of many. Please do share. :cool:

I read this week that Ryan Air is making a bid to purchase Alitalia. I am flying on them Oct 17 and then again Oct 30 so am a bit concerned. I am ticketed thru Delta but it is Alitalia's flight and plane. Delta will not change my ticket to one of their flights without a change penalty for both tickets ($300) PLUS the extra $758 cost of what that ticket is now. They advised me there would be no change fees or penalties only if Delta was changing my tickets in the event Alitalia pulls the plug on our flights. Hoping for the best.

Along with a huge price drop on a sailing that I now am cancelling came the caveat that the deposit would become nonrefundable. I bear responsibility for that decision and whatever comes next. Just wondering if anyone else has ever been in this situation where the cruise line would be willing to transfer the deposit to a another sailing? Airlines do on their "nonrefundable" tickets so it was a thought. My travel agent says she is not having any luck getting someone who will work with her and is suggesting to me that I may have more power to deal with the cruise line even though i am booked with an agency. I have never heard such a thing and have always believed the opposite being true that the travel agent had more pull. All suggestions and experiences appreciated. Again-lesson learned and will never do another non refundable deposit. Thanks

I was googling "joinable day tours from rome" trying to get some ideas of where to go and not a specific title. That was my mistake. I did what u did and got several companies. Most were private tours but 2 turned out to be joinable. City Wonders and Enjoy Rome. Thanks. Have you ever taken the train to ostia antica? It looks like an easy one to do on your own. Always appreciate reading your suggestions :)

Have googled and contacted a few tour operators in Rome but none have joinable tours that go outside of Rome. The only one I can find is Viator. Has anyone used a joinable tour service or know of one? We will be staying at a hotel in central Rome. The joinable tours from Romeinlimo are from cruise ports only. Thanks for your suggestions. :)

wow, thanks to everyone. I went back to italiarail and it says "powered by trenitalia" which is very misleading. It turns out it is a third party seller who lists the exact same times as the trenitalia site. I am sure many get fooled by it as it is easier to navigate than trenitalia. Also, the tickets were not able to be purchased yet for my dates-they wont be released until end of june. So thankfully i avoided a mistake. I will use one of the sites cruiser mom suggested. You are all great. Many thanks :)

I have read all I can find on this subject. I have gone to the italiarail site which i think is trenitalia? I have printed a schedule for the dates i want to go and return. The rates for standard are $23 US and 1st class $41 Should I book now or do rates stay the same til a few months out?

Before I book want to make sure I am on correct website with fast train? It says it takes 2hrs 5 min. Also is standard ok? Don't know what 1st class difference would be. We will have basically a small roller bag each as we are leaving the bulk of our luggage in florence.

All information/suggestions appreciated before i pull the trigger. :) Thanks

Wondering if there are decks on the Westerdam that have chairs on the port/starboard sides of the ship where you can read and relax? Have been on a few ships that have that but some do not. We like the solitude that you can not get on the pool decks ;) Appreciate if any of you cruise veterans know. Thanks alot.

We are just off Anthem. We had 10 am trolley tour tickets and made tour. Some others did not get off in time but called the company and we waited for them. A tip is to tell the crew member in the area where you are waiting that you have a private tour and need to get off. She let us go without waiting for our tender ticket number to be called.She asked to see proof of the tour which we did have. (the confirmation) Also as we got off no crew member ever even asked to see anyones tender ticket. You will most likely be fine. The waters were rough that day so the tenders were slow. Had we waited for our number to be called we might not have made it. Hope this helps.

Enjoy your cruise! I did the August 25 sailing to these ports. We loved Anthem, the ports of call and eating lobster every day :)

We are going in a few weeks. Can u tell me where u ate lobster in Boston and if Royal had a shuttle from Black Falcon Pier to take you to downtown?

Thanks

Purchased great deal on Groupon. Trolley plus free harbor cruise from Long Wharf for 2 for $35. Not bad.

We are doing the same as you. I was wondering how to get to the state street ticket office where you have to present your groupon as it is 2 miles from the cruise terminal. Have u looked into presenting your groupon at the south street station and getting on there?

Very interested to know. Thanks alot

I am looking for recommendations for companies that provide a private or shared car service from Florence to Civitavecchia. Has anyone used any of the following companies and can provide advice:

PRIVATE TOUR IN ITALY

TUSCAN SUNSHINE TOURS

AIRPORT TAXI TRANSFERS

ROME/AIRPORTS CRUISE PORT TRANSFER

I know that we have less expensive options such as taking the train or renting a car to drive ourselves, but we are seniors who would have problems handling the luggage and the stairs that are part of most European train stations, and we would find it stressful to drive ourselves.

I know that RomeinLimo is highly recommended but their quoted price is VERY high.

I would appreciate any input/advice/suggestions that all you seasoned travellers might be able to provide.

Thanks

Tuscan Sunshine Tours are wonderful to deal with. Prompt responses and great suggestions. I have done a lot of research on this as we are doing a precruise in florence next year and need transport to civitavecchia as well. I have several companies who quoted me rates starting at 400 euro. We are going to have too much luggage, weak backs, and not good at driving in unknown places so car rental and train are out for us as well. If you want to email me I will share my research with you aaa miss at aol dot com

I followed your other thread and made some notes. I find trying to plan for Santorini more difficult than any other port I have ever been to. The whole thing with losing time with tenders, boats and buses filling up makes it sound like the amazing race! After what you have experienced are you able to give a clear cut opinion as to what you believe the most expedient option is? I am not even talking cost here because for us it will most likely be the only time we will be there. I have read about the speedboats, taking taxi's etc. At the end of the day i have a bunch of notes with no clear cut plan :rolleyes:

Thanks to my tireless TA, I finally have permission to disembark the Koningsdam one day early in Livorno on 2 Oct 2017. So I will hire a limo and race to Civitavecchia to board the Westerdam the same afternoon, staying with her all the way to Ft. Lauderdale on 8 Nov. Whew!!

Glad it all worked out for you :) See you over on the Westy roll call then!

So far I have heard from a service recommended on Viator, livornotoflorence.com. I will be leaving the Koningsdam and picking up the Westerdam. It is pricy, I would have liked to share!

Thanks, yes I emailed them and they responded promptly. agreed it is pricey:rolleyes:

Did you get approval to jump ship?

I have contacted a car service in Livorno which will get me to Civitavecchia on 2 October 2017 to pick up the Westy for Eastern Med and Transatlantic. Waiting to hear from my TA if HAL will allow me to jump ship.

Hi-can you share name and info of car service as i will be needing one as well after our precruise in florence to get to civi. too bad dates are not the same or we could have shared transport. looks like i will need it the morning of the oct 16 for the first leg of our trip on the Jewel.

What cruise do u want to jump ship from? We did it from a ship in Le Havre France to continue onto to Paris. Many on that cruise did the same. Make sure you get it in writing or that your TA does.:)

thanks

There is a left luggage office at the port: http://www.cilpcv.it/bagagli.php

 

However, I'd check to see if you can simply transfer your things from one ship to the other. If you are among the last off your first ship you might be late enough that the second ship has started accepting luggage, even though it's too early to check in or board.

thankyou. how does one "transfer luggage from one ship to the other?" can a porter leave one berth to take us to another? at this point have no idea if ships will even be docked near one another. one is royal caribbean and one is holland america. i tried looking at port schedule but cannot get the info. may be too soon as it is not until october 2017. thanks again for your suggestions.

Will be doing a b2b but on 2 different cruise lines, neither ship having self serve laundry on board. Wondering if anyone recently has used a self serve laundromat near the port? I did a search and see that someone used one in 2012 but not sure it is still there.

The other question I have for anyone that has disembarked one ship and cruise line and then re embarked on another ship/cruise line same day in civitavecchia-what do we do with the rest of our luggage for the few hours while we do our laundry in town? The logistics of then getting all the luggage to the second ship is something I need help with! I have thought of hiring a taxi to take us and all of our luggage to a laundromat and then come back to pick us up and take us to port to board second leg, but if we want to walk around after having done laundry and have lunch the amount of luggage would be too cumbersome to drag along. Thanks :)

Guess you didn't see a recent story about a carrier (can't remember which one) that only had a couple of people booked...that plane flew regardless ;)

 

BTW: Even though you have nothing to worry about especially this far in advance....I see nothing wrong with your general question...as many have probably wondered this too.

You will be fine there was a story on the news a while back, were I remember it only being two people plus 3 flight attendants . Probably would be a fun flight

 

Update

 

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/13/travel/man-alone-delta-flight-feat/

Thanks to all of you that answered my question graciously without being condescending:) I only noticed the seating chart because I got an itinerary change notification from Delta and logged on to see what it was. Other wise I would not have been on the website counting seats. :rolleyes:

To you others- who feel they need to belittle posters-you are the reason why people discuss on other threads their fear to post here and hesitate to post on this forum. You know nothing about me-my educational level, accomplishments, capabilities, disposition or if I am a worrier or not. No one should have to feel afraid to ask a question on a forum that is geared toward gaining information. Perhaps if peoples questions bother you so much you should just take the high road and not respond at all. And since the answer is most probably not helpful anyway it is a win-win!

Happy to know how much each plane costs. And how great it would be if it did not fill up!

This is the question I posed to Delta. I am booked with frequent flyer miles on a partner airline-Alitalia on 10/22/15 from MIA-FLR The first leg which ends in Rome only has about 32 seats booked on it. The rep at Delta told me they never cancel flights because the plane still has to get to its destination-meaning Rome. Do you believe this information as being accurate? Has anyone else had this happen to them? I looked at all the other flights for that day and most are half filled or more. If I change my ticket at this point, it is a $150 change fee to each ticket :eek: Thanks for any comments/shared experiences. :)

We did this as well in Oct 2013 while on the Carnival Legend. Keep your letter of approval from the cruise line just in case to show to guest relations once on board. We had to give them our passports the day before for immigration to clear us. They were returned later in the day. They give you a receipt showing they took them from you which you had to present in order to get your passport back. That morning we had personnel help us down with our luggage and waited with everyone else who was either leaving the ship for good or going out on tours for the day. We then met up with our private transport and the other 6 who were sharing the ride with us. We chose to do this instead of the train. It worked out very well. Enjoy your trip :)

We had the same experience with Southwest. They will not let anyone check in early or check bags early. We sat in the airport with luggage for quite a long time.

 

Barrahcina's has good food too. It will be my first stop when I get off the ship in two weeks cause I can leave my luggage there and explore old town while waiting to check in to my hotel in condo beach later on that day.

What and where is Barrachinas? Thanks