mzk90

Thanks for sharing. So tired of protesters everywhere, including here in the U.S.

 

Makes me want to avoid Venice.

To be fair, there were 9 ships in port when we got here on Saturday & it was manic in town.

Clip of protest

Currently in Split on Vision OTS.

Interesting sailaway from Venice, big protest in the canal from locals wanting cutbacks on cruise ships. Lots of police in speedboats & jet skis trying to ward them off, but fireworks sent over the open pool deck & onto a balcony. No big deal in reality

Anyway, any questions now only a few days left, fire away.

Mark

This was my day there, hope you are as lucky with the weather as I was. All the best, Tony

 

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Tony,

Great video. Can I ask, how long did you spend in Capri from getting off/on ferry please?

Thanks

Mark

Don't understand your question. If you are docked in Salerno, you will walk to take the ferry to Capri and vice versa.

 

If you are docked in Naples, you also walk to take the ferry to Capri.

 

If you do Capri on your own, make sure you taxi to Ana Capri and take the gondola ride as you get a wonderful view of the Bay of Naples from high above.

The question is based around the timings; seems to be 90 minutes to get there but a 3 hour trip back, which seems odd no? I got the impression you said you had done this tour, from Salerno, so wondered what the timings were when you did it?

We did this tour from RCL last August when we sailed on the Brilliance. From Salerno to Capri is a long way as they use large ferries. We had been to Capri previously and decide to do the Island on our own. Unfortunately it was not a nice day. It basically rained the heck the entire day. It was monsoon with winds and later fog. There was not much to do especially fighting streets like rivers and umbrellas in narrow streets.

 

However, we enjoyed it and had a nice lunch, although at one point we thought the restaurant was going to be pushed over the edge of the mountain when a gust of wind suddenly sent flower pots flying and a leak developed thru the roof. But ce la vie--it had not rained in 8 months and it was just our luck.:D

 

By the way, it also rained in Rome while touring the Sistine Chapel and it had not rained there in some 7 months. :D A little uncomfortable with the windows closed and no air.

So was it a smaller boat on the way there, but then ferry and bus back to Salerno please?

We are going to be docking in Salerno on July 1st from 7 am to 7 pm. I've been researching taking the high speed ferry to Capri and back, and notice that it gets back into Salerno about 6:30 pm, leaving us only a 1/2 hour cushion to get back on the ship before it leaves port. Has anyone done this? Is the timing something we should be concerned about? I've also looked into tours to take us there, but one of the things we'd like to see is the Blue Grotto and most don't include that in the tour, so that's why I've been looking at doing this on our own. On one tour we only have 1-1 1/2 hours on our own and during the summer, I didn't think that would be long enough to do the Blue Grotto...? Maybe I'm wrong...?

 

Any help/suggestions would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Hi, just wondering what you did about getting to Capri from Salerno please?

Mark

Hi,

Wondering if anyone has ever done the above ship's tour when docking in Salerno.

Details from shorex brochure says:

"Discover the island of Capri also known as the “Island of Dreams.” Your scenic 90-minute cruise goes through Naples Bay and along the Amalfi and Sorrento Coast. You’ll see brightly-colored villas and the dramatic coastline from atop its impressive cliffs. Upon your Capri arrival, spend five hours exploring the town on your own."

Now, it's a 9.5 hour tour, so if it's 1.5 to get there and 5 hours on your own, why does it take 3 hours to get back to the ship?

'Euro Cruiser' very helpfully suggested to check on here if they ferry you back to Naples/Sorrento and then bus you back to Salerno.

Any help gratefully received and much appreciated.

Something about this didn't feel right when I first read it so I did a little digging around.

 

When you read the details of the shore excursion (I'm seriously putting off what I really should be doing this morning) it only specifies a boat trip in one direction.

 

Further, they use 1.5 hours with the cruise getting there, then 5 hours on the island, leaving thee hours for the return. Three? That doesn't add up, unless...

 

I suspect that you will be ferried back to Naples or Sorrento and put on a bus back to Salerno.

 

Have you tried posting on the RCL board to find someone who has already taken this excursion to get the details?

Hmm, excellent point. Will do as you suggest. Many thanks.

You'll have several choices for the trip over, the issue, as always, is the return.

 

Maybe I'm just getting cynical as I age but I can't help but think that the cruise lines set these departure times to make it difficult for passengers to do things on their own.

 

Earliest return ferry from Capri arrives to Molo Manfredi, where the cruise ship docks, at 18:25, much too late for an 18:30 departure.

 

That said, the cruise line excursions will return on that same ferry, so if you pay for the expensive excursion that's the boat you'll be on. I have yet to hear anyone report back that a cruise excursion used a private boat, they use public conveyance to get to Capri.

 

So if you're willing to take the risk you could go on your own and return on this ferry alongside fellow passengers who paid for a cruise line excursion.

 

Your only other option would be to take a mid-afternoon (15:10 on Lucibello) ferry from Capri to Amalfi, followed 15 minutes later by a ferry from Amalfi to Salerno. This plan works and allows you about five hours on Capri.

 

It comes down to your personal comfort with risk, which would be impacted by what the next day's port of call will be. If you're heading up to Civitavecchia or Livorno after Salerno it's relatively easy and inexpensive to get yourself to the next stop if you miss the ship. If, on the other hand, your next stop is on Sicily or Malta it's less easy to catch up. Do-able, just more expensive.

Thanks for the reply.

Funny enough, the ship's "Capri on your Own" tour is from 07:15-16:45, so they must be using a different ferry to get back to the port from Capri.

Next day is at sea, day after that is Venice.

Sounds like the ship's tour may be the best option (Grrr, annoys me when that happens!)

Presuming the deposit was paid by credit card, the cruise line already has his card details and might well simply charge his card with the balance - no fresh sight of the card or card-holder's permission needed.

That would turn the whole thing round - they would have the money and he would have to chase them, or more likely his card issuer, to try to get it back.

 

We were recently in that situation, altho right was on our side...........

For a road trip in the US in May we booked flights+car with BA because it was better value than booking separately. BA's car rental voucher included all mandatory fees (airport tax, sales tax, state tax, energy recovery fee, vehicle recovery coup, transportation fee, etc etc etc ad infinitum). When we collected the car we declined all the myriad upgrades and optional extras that Avis :mad: tried to sell us, but they wanted to debit another £130+, which they said was "the difference between the value of the BA voucher and their total fees" No other explanation, and the additional amount didn't tally with any of the fees. Despite our protestations the money was taken from our card without our permission.

When we got home we disputed that extra cost with our credit card issuer (they froze the payment pending investigation) and with BA.

Eventually BA got Avis :mad: to admit it was a "rates error" and we were refunded this week.

A whole lot of effort and grief - never again will we book a car as part of a package, and never again will we rent from Avis :mad: (a glance thro Avis :mad: reviews showed that this is all-too-common with them).

 

If your friend's contract with the cruise line commits him to cough-up the deposit balance then should the cruise line simply do the same as Avis :mad: he's onto a loser.

 

JB :)

Thanks for the reply.

I'd be a bit doubtful if in these days of PCI compliance etc, that companies still stored CC details and could apply a charge, even if morally they should, the legal stance may be a bit cloudier.

Mark

Salerno depends on your docking time, it's not as easy because it's a long ferry ride, two hours each way, and there are only a couple of crossings each day.

 

If you'll share your port times we can help you figure it out.

Hi,

It's a Thursday, 0700-1830

Thanks for helping

My friend has booked a cruise with one of the popular online travel agencies. They were running an offer where you paid a reduced deposit, with the remainder of the full cruise line deposit amount due within 8 weeks of him making the booking.

5 weeks in and due to a family wedding being announced out of the blue (Shotgun lol) he now has to cancel. He assumes that the agency will tell him that he needs to pay the full deposit amount in order to cancel (an additional £298) but he thinks that if he refuses, they won't be able to chase him for the money and won't pursue the matter legally, due to that costing more than the lost additional deposit. His documents mention that he needed to pay the additional deposit within the 8 weeks, but doesn't go in to any details on the repercussions of not paying it.

Now, putting the moral question to one side please and focusing on just the financial/legal aspect of this situation, what do you guys and gals out there in CC Land think will happen to my mate if he refuses to pay the additional deposit amount. Will they huff & puff? Will they send letters threatening legal action or refer to debt collection company? Will they just write it off?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Mark

Would you guys suggest it's possible to do something similar with a ship docking in Salerno please? Help much appreciated.

Just to clarify... it isn't "completely" illegal on land. I can legally allow my underage kids to drink on my own property, and I do. My kids (17 and 20) will have an occasional beer or other cocktail with us, whether it be on a hot summer afternoon on our deck with our neighbors (one of which is a city police officer who confirmed a few years ago it was legal for me to allow my kids to drink on my property) or at a family dinner or one of any other occasions where I deem it to be appropriate. I was raised this way, and I feel modeling and allowing responsible drinking in moderation (in my own home where it's LEGAL or on the ship (international waters) where it's LEGAL or in another country where it's LEGAL is a completely appropriate idea. I personally feel like there is more of a risk for binge drinking or over-indulging if it's seen as a taboo. Having said that, I do not allow them to drink to the point of intoxication, at least not when I'm around. I don't have control over what they do when I'm not around of course, and I'm well aware of that. But I do know when I was growing up, being allowed to drink responsibly at home hugely affected my alcohol consumption when I was hanging out with my friends, compared to those friends that were never allowed to drink at home.

How refreshing to see such a common sense approach to young adults being allowed to consume alcohol under certain circumstances.

I'm guessing that getting from Salerno to Sorrento on an 0700-1830 stop is going to be a mission independently? Seems to be long journey on bus and by sea.

Any thoughts please?

M

Ok, am hanging my ole head in shame :eek: That being said, pity the poor infrequent cruiser/traveler who reads this thread and tries to understand how they should get from ship to train station.

 

Hank

I for one am confused as **** over how to get from station to our cruise next Friday! :confused::confused::confused:

Just my opinion, but if Azamara is going to stop at the same Caribbean ports that the major cruise lines are visiting and is hoping to attract new cruisers then the cost is going to have to be drastically reduced. For us, we think Azamara's price puts it in a different category. For the extra cost, we want itineraries that include new ports, ports less visited by the main stream cruise lines and certainly not Royal Caribbean's private islands.

When looking for a replacement for our January 2017 Summit cruise that appears to have been chartered, we looked at Azamara but cannot justify spending twice the amount for two less days and going to exactly the same ports that we visited on our last Azamara cruise.

We always look at Azamara first when starting our cruise search and just booked a Mediterranean cruise for October 2017 but disappointed in their Caribbean cruises.

2 very good posts, thank you.

I appreciate this is slightly off subject, however it is relevant to the RCCL group terms and conditions.

I have always paid final payment for a Celebrity or Azamara between 10 and 12 weeks before departure.

However, we depart in less than two weeks on Celebrity Eclipse and we booked with the German online TA that always shows all the available staterooms. (its the TA that lots of posters are always asking the name of).

Final payment was exactly four week before departure, and the credit card that I used won't need payed until three days before we arrive home.

Maybe some agencies pay on statement terms, so only pay full amounts at a different stage to anyone who has to pay at final balance due date. Or maybe they just have different terms set in Germany. Who knows.

I know you are trying to be amusing Mkz90, but my "Hi Everyone" has been the way I've posted for over 20 years. In this case, the "Everyone" does not mean the promo applies to everyone - it's only a greeting.

 

My apologies to our members who took the "Everyone" literally :)

Well, it seems my innocuous remark, meant in humour and with no intention to offend, has caused a small kerfuffle.

Maybe it was lost in translation. #BigSmileyFaceToImplyNoIntentionToOffend

Hi Everyone,

 

Azamara has released their November 2015 Promo, Choose Your Own Offer - for select 2016 sailings. Book By 12/31/15. Details on the Azamara website : https://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/luxury-cruise-deals/choices

 

Hope this is helpful !

Of course Andy, when you say 'Everyone', what you actually mean is 'Everyone in North America'! :D

Hardly hijacking the thread, I was agreeing with the OP that there was a problem emailing Azamara.

 

Thank you for informing me that phoning is the standard procedure - as it's my first booking I didn't know that - I'd rather assumed that Azamara would be able to deal with emails. However, now I know better.

Out of interest, was this the email address you were using as I assume you are based in Australia?

cruiseadmin.au@rcclapac.com

"... we will be sending an email with a high-level preview to LCV members on 10/27. These voyages will be bookable on 11/2."

Where did you get 2nd November from please, as the TW article seems to indicate mid November for going on sale?

You can take bottles on board so long as you drink it in your stateroom. You can always call at the bar on the way to your stateroom and take a drink there yourself. I presume you can buy a bottle on board, but have never asked!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

TBH I'm not sure I've ever seen them selling alcohol in the shop on board, but maybe I've just never looked for it!

Oh my Goodness - this is going to be disastrous and we've just paid the balance of the cruise. (lol) I have better wear some sort of sign saying "do not give this person any more than 2 glasses of wine"

I have had a problem, I lost an afternoon thanks to the attentitiveness of a sommelier and my inability to count :)

Hahaha, both of these made me laugh! :)

If you only order drinks listed as those listed as included, is there any limit as to how many drinks consumed through the course of the day, and can you have several glasses of wine with lunch or dinner?

There is no limit, only obviously through adherence to their conduct policy! :eek:

At lunch and dinner the Waiters and Sommeliers are very generous with the inclusive wine; I've certainly never had a problem.