AlFrank

1 hour ago, cruisemom42 said:

It’s about a mile and a quarter from the port to the main train station (La Spezia Centrale). You must take a port shuttle from your ship to the terminal. After that you have the option of walking, a taxi or a local bus. If you’re light packers, I have read the walk is relatively pleasant. Taxis may be reluctant to take a short fare to the station, but you may be able to negotiate a fare.

 

Thank you for this information it’s exactly the information I needed to make our plans, very appreciated 

4 hours ago, edinburgher said:

 

Thinking that you got misleading replies because,

1) you added you question to a thread about a day tour from LS to Florence without saying you were not looking for either a day trip or a tour,

and,

2) You didn't say you were actually disembarking, presumably with luggage.

 

Without the information for either #1 or #2 options, I think we all thought you were looking to get to Florence and back in a day with sightsdeeing in Florence in addition,  and as it isn't ideal, members were quite thoughtfully advising you of tha.

 

As it would be quite unusual to be ending an itinerary in L.S. ,Is this a private arrangement between you and the cruiseline or will everyone be leaving the ship there? I am thinking it must be a private arrangement due to the need to use the port shuttle bus between terminal and ship for all passengers and their luggage, and that would not be at all practical if it were a turnaround port rather than a port of call. I think that was '#3 reason for not thinking you were actually leaving the ship.

 

Regardless of the distance from the terminal building to the train station, if you are disembarking with luggage you will surely be looking for a taxi to take you to the train station?  Or perhaps a public bus? If you won't have any luggage you could presumably simply walk?

 

 

Thank you for all your corrections on my questions

On 1/10/2024 at 10:40 AM, edinburgher said:

.Referring you to the post above as LS is actually a good base for several scenic sightseeing options, just not ideal for Florence unless you are overnighting..  If you are determined to go to Florence, bear in mind that at least half (or even slightly more of a typical 8 hour day depending on train timings ) will be spent in transit and you would need to pre-book entry to some of the major sights in Florence which could be tricky to correctly time once you arrive in Florence.  Whilst there are some direct trains, others require a change in Pisa which could add to the travel time.

We are disembarking in La Spezia and planning on going on to Florence where we are spending 3 days, have hotel reservations already.  Just was inquiring about the location of the Centrale train station from the cruise port.  Walking distance or a taxi?

Getting off the ship in LS, is the train station near the port to get to Florence?

Call the cruise line excursion department.  I called HAL's and they said if you were vaccinated and boosted you could do independent tours

On 4/6/2022 at 1:15 PM, monsterbari said:

Cruising RCL to Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, Crete and Ephesus (9/11/22) and several of the excursions I would have taken are sold out. I am looking into booking excursions from local sources as I have done in the past in Italy. 

How do you know if your cruise/ship is only allowing cruiseline excursions? I see no alerts on the RCL website, nor is there covid testing info for ports, etc. 

Can anyone provide some insight? 

Renee Walsh

We stayed in the Signature suite on the Koningsdam.   Lots of room, had a murphy bed they would set up at night and put back in the wall the next morning.

On 6/8/2020 at 10:31 AM, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

If we stay in the same hotel maybe we could rent a van ???

Or where is Holland America using as a hotel , and do a hotel to  ship transfer  I do that in Amsterdam and it cost about $35 PP

From what I have read in various posts, staying at a ship recommended hotel is much more expensive. 

I believe Gamla Stan to the ship is walkable but having suitcases would be a pain on the coblestones.  I walked it when I was on a previous cruise but wasn't wheeling suitcases

On 6/8/2020 at 10:26 AM, Desdichado62 said:

Taxi from/to Arlanda/City is about 50-60 USD.

Thanks that good to know, split with 4 people that's not too bad

19 hours ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

I am planning on using points from Chase ,so I will have to wait till August to book.

Have you done any work on transfers?

No, but there are 4 of us so we were thinking of just splitting a taxi, uber  or car for hire.   It's so far out will start to look into various options as time gets closer.

5 minutes ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

Thanks I have never did a inbarcation out of that Port been there many times.

Marty

martygottlieb13@gmail.com

Hi Marty

So far I have come up with a few hotels that are a possability.  There is a Sheritan in Gamla Stan but now I guess they are Marriott Bonvoy now.   Hotel Kung Carl, Hotel Reisen and Elite Hotel.   I was not able to get prices as dates available only go up to June, 2021.

On 4/19/2020 at 3:47 PM, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

I am flying in August 4th 2021 boarding a Holland America cruise  the next day at Frihamnen  cruise terminal. With a lot of luggage. I have been to Stockholm several times by cruise ship. So I need a recomdation for a hotel for 1 night something like a Marriott   it would be nice if they had a shuttle service airport to hotel or hotel to cruise terminal. 🙄lots of luggage taxi might be a pain. 

Thanks 

Marty 

Hi, we are on the same cruise and flying in 2 days early so have been doing some checking on hotels also.  The best areas to stay in are listed as Gamla Stan, Sodermalm and Noormerm (? sp).  If I narrow it down I will pass on the info.

Let's not forget their talent for cheating time and again!!

Not sure what your team is but get on yourteamcheats.com and check out all the teams. The Pats are no where near some of the other teams.

Yup. BofA charges $2.50 plus foreign fees.

That depends on the type of account you have, currently the bank is restructuring and they allow 1 foreign transaction (not at one of their ATMs) a month. We just used the ATM on the Dawn and the bank reimbursed all fees.

I know smoking is allowed on one side of the ship in certain areas but does anyone know the exact locations of the smoking areas?

Just off the Dawn, most smokers were port side deck 7, the casino, even if they weren't playing but the most we saw were in the cigar room, cigars & cigarettes

Are there any places in Bermuda to get free WIFI?

As one poster suggested, try Frog and Onion. Other than that the options are buying a card or signing on and they charge 4.99 for 30 minutes

We just got off the Dawn on 7/17, having sailed this ship twice before. We were a little disappointed. The food at the buffet was just 2 steps up from McD's. We ate all our dinners at Cagneys, Le bistro, La Cucina and Moderno. We could not eat the meat at Moderno, it was extremely salty. We enjoyed La Cucina and Cagneys but we went to Le Bistro 3 times. The food was excellent and service the best. Our meal one night at Cagney's was ruined by a group of screaming children. The parents sat at one table and their children at another. Twice we saw one of the kids trip a waiter, we could barely carry on a conversation because the kids were so loud you had to yell be be heard and we were several tables away. On leaving and walking by the table we noticed that the kids had been given crayons and paper to keep them busy but they seemed to think it would be better to write on the tablecloth. From that night til the end of the cruise if we saw a group of kids we went the other way. I know it was a vacation for everyone but sad to let things get so out of control it affected the complete restaurant. Many people got up and left before they were done. We left as soon as we finished our entree. So what is better substandard food or unpleasant atmosphere.

here is link the list of hotels that do shuttles from airport and to port.

http://www.sunny.org/cruise-and-play/hotels-with-shuttles/

 

Thanks again

Great list, will make looking for a hotel much easier

I have the Fitbit One, wore it all the time on an RCL cruise for 8 days and also while in Europe for almost 3 weeks, also on this trip we were on a Danube cruise. Had no problem. The charge lasted the whole trip (I didn't use the sleep band on the Europe trip). It only went dead on the last day and that was the flight home so it didn't matter. It always updated my dashboard and I could check when we had free wi-fi ( on the Danube cruise and all the hotels) to see how I was doing. Not sure which type you have but as someone mentioned, just click the butter and you can see steps, stairs, miles, etc. with the One. If you have the wrist band as some of my friends have (and used on the Europe trip) they just got the signal they had done the 10,000 steps. Hope this helps.

In the past, the first 2 nites seem to be the loosest. After that they tighten up. People that I have talked with that win big usually are betting big (not my cup of tea). I guess your best bet if you want a chance on winning, is to stick to card games.

I really would like an answer to this question, if at all possible.

 

I tried to determine this when I was aboard the Noordam and ended up being, in my opinion, insulted by the Assistant Bar Manager because I asked the question.

 

Before I contact Mr. Ashford and the Mariner Society Director, I would like to have my facts straight.

It's usually posted somewhere on the daily activity sheet you get the night before in your cabin. Check that

Has anyone had a credit card fraud alert while you were cruising?

 

I checked my email while in Grand Turk and had two emails from Am Ex, telling me they had rejected two attempts to use my card to make a $700 purchase.

When I got to San Juan I called Am Ex and had them cancel the card.

 

I then went to the front desk on the ship, because that was the card I used for my account. I had to switch to another card, and they had to get approval for that for the $60/day hold (or whatever it is).

We had that happen last year. Citibank called our home but of course we were away. When we tried to use it, it was denied. Called when we returned to the hotel. After speaking with an agent at the bank we were able to trace it. The name on the false charges was my husband. Usually we use my card but this time for some reason we used his. So we knew without a doubt that the card number was stolen at the Dollar Car Rental.

Hello, I will be sailing for the first time with RCI next month & have just been advised that my Set Sail Passes are ready for printing. I note at the bottom of them there appears to be a very small photo of a luggage label. Can some one please advise if this is what I am supposed to use for my luggage or if I am supposed to print them off from somewhere else? Many thanks.

No it isn't. There is another item you can check that says 'print luggage tags' The one on you set sail pass is just in case you don't have your luggage tags attached to your suitcase. You will see it is sectioned in 4 parts, the part with the 'D' tells the longshore men which door on which part of the ship to load your suitcase so it will be closed to where your cabin is.

We did that on our last cruise. We got off and walked around the port for a little while but headed back to the ship after a few hours. Everything, except shops and casino, was open and we just enjoyed the ship, plenty of lounges and room at the pool. They had activities planned for people that stayed on board and there were quite a few of us. It was nice to just enjoy the ship and not run around.

We're booked on Navigator next week and we're currently assigned to traditional early dining. If we decide after we board the ship that we would prefer MTD, how do they handle gratuities? I know if we had MTD before boarding that tips would be charged to our credit card in advance...but what happens if you change during the cruise? How do you tip your original DR waiter for the first day or two, before you switched?

MTD they usually require you to prepay your tips. I like this, done and over with. Also, on VOS, we never made a reservation, and only had a 5 minute wait once. On BOS, we made a reservation the first nite but never again. We were seated immediately.