sbflcruiser

While I have never gotten off in Venice, just boarded, as we stayed on the ship (B2B). I do have a few thoughts as we did travel into Venice that am with a lot of people getting off the ship. The people mover did not open until 8am and there was quite a line of people waiting to get on. You have to allow time to buy your tickets from the machine, which with everyone carrying luggage moving into and away from the machines was a little tricky. There can be a wait time if you do not make the first people mover. Once you do arrive at Piazza Roma you then must make it over the bridge. Like some have said there were a couple of ladies that thought there would be people to help with luggage over the bridge, but there was not. They really struggled as that bridge is long.

You will not be the only ones doing this, several other people will be attempting to make the same train. We have used the train stations quite a bit and they are fairly easy to use. It would be helpful if you pre-purchase your ticket.

I agree with possibly just taking a taxi to the Mestre station and boarding the train there. Almost every train that leaves S. Lucia stops in Mestre which is just across the water. It would be give you a few extra minutes and not have to worry about a lot things that can go wrong.

Hope you have a great cruise.

and again witnessed at least a dozen people fall on those stairs. We talked to a couple people about it but it appears months later nothing has been done.

Our experience was that the later in the day the more falls that were happening. As people use sun screen it seems to collect on the stairs and make them really slick as the day went on.

Seems like when they are changing the pool water they could put those tread grips across the stairs to help with them not being so slippery.

We are sailing again in April on her, so it will be interesting to see if anything is done by then.

Using these boards, toms port guides and trip advisor we have done a lot of port stops on our own.

The tips and tricks for navigating public transportation and getting advance tickets for certain attractions, allows to make the most of the time in port.

On of the most valuable points is to realize you can not see it all. Pick those that are the most important to you and see those first.

Sometimes we think while I am here I need to do as much as possible, and it becomes more about doing than actually experiencing the place and culture.

Was on the Caribbean last weekend for a short trip, we did not intend on leaving the ship for this trip, so I decided to try the all inclusive package.

I think it worked out very well for this short trip, the bottled water out by the pool during the day and to have in the cabin at night was a nice addition.

I would definitely get again in the future if the cruise was right.

Hope that helps.

It is called the Retreat Pool and was the deepest pool on the ship. While it has stairs, the depth is close to 6 feet at all levels, it does not have a graduated depth like the other ships where the pool is outside the spa.

Loved this pool, but it does not have any type of shallow end. The aft pool and the splash pool are both shallow but are not made for swimming, so if you are looking for an area to swim in a shallower depth, that will be tough.

We were just there in June. While we have traveled by train at many locations, on this day it was just a port stop. We took the train into Rome and you must go down a flight of stairs then back up in Civitavecchia. The trains as you are getting on while enroute not at an originating location can be very crowded. Many people were standing on the train for the entire trip, there were some with luggage that made the crowding even worse.

Everyone has things that appeal differently to them. We typically choose Princess first but Celebrity would fall directly 2nd. One the biggest pluses on Princess is the Laundry.. (whether you get it free with elite or use the laundry facilities) We have sent it out on Celebrity but were not happy with the cost nor the results. Love the rooms much better on Celebrity, the buffet food in my opinion is an tie, find breakfast much better on Princess, lunch and dinner better on Celebrity. Main dinning room slight edge to Celebrity. Pizza hands down princess. Grill hands down Princess. Also love the Pub lunch on sea days for Princess. Specialty dining goes to Celebrity. Pools outside venue, tie. The entertainment, other than main shows, hands down to Princess. Main shows only goes to Princess on the 2 new ships, Regal or Royal, otherwise goes to Celebrity. Service, friendliness of staff etc, hands down goes to Princess. The new enclave on the Royal/Regal also tilts the spa to Princess. Love that with the Celebrity soda package you can have cans of soda not just from the "gun".

Everyone places a different valve on these items, but for us Princess gets the edge above, but would not hesitate to book with Celebrity. What ever you choice enjoy your cruise.

We just visited for the first time in June 2014, we stayed for 4 days at the end of our cruise. We also stayed at the Hotel Barcelona based on recommendations we found here on this site. It was a great rate for the location, it is very pink inside, but the positives out weighed any negatives for us.

We traveled all over night and day and did not feel unsafe, we would disappoint any pickpockets, as they would never find anything on us. Carry a small sling pack, that depending on how carried, is under the arm for the opening, but does not have anything too exciting inside, usually just water, maps, a small notepad and pen. I have a very small coin type wallet that holds Euros when folded and pinned inside my bra.

Not sure when you are going, but it was very warm most of the time. Greatly enjoyed and we want to visit again.

We embarked in May on Princess, the process was very smooth and easy, we arrived around 11:30am, and they began boarding around noon, we were onboard and dropped our stuff in our room by 12:15.

During this cruise, we also came back to Venice but were doing a B2B2B, so it only took us about 20 minutes to get back onboard in the middle of the boarding frenzy, they did not have a separate line for those in transit.

We were there last month and shorts were not a problem, as long as they were not short, but covered shoulders were required. My husband wore his zippered long pants and took them off as soon as he found out he could wear shorts.

It was very hot already in June, we had 9am tickets and just standing outside to get in you were really sweating.

They were strict about bags if you are going up in the towers, you had to put even small ones in lockers.

We found this church to have much more relaxed rules than some of the others. The Barcelona Cathedral very particular about the length of the shorts a lot of people turned away.

Have a great visit, we spent about 1/2 day there, with the museum and other things to see while there.

We were in Rome in November 2011 and had a pre-purchased the tour, but it was closed underground due to the floods that occurred. We still had the guide and did the upper level. We were just back in Rome on 6/6/14, and I again booked the tour. We were able to due both the underground and upper level.

I thought the guide we had in 2011 was a much better guide with a lot more information, but she was also an archeological major in school.

This year I had to call to book, I never got the email confirmation but did not have any problems with them looking it up when we arrived. There was quite a line waiting for tickets (we did the 1:20pm tour, and it was fairly hot that day). This was the only time that worked for our schedule, as we were in Rome for just the day.

When you leave the Hotel if you turn left it is maybe 2-3 blocks down on the opposite side of the street, before you reach the market. Sorry I do not remember the name, we were there 3 weeks ago and went into that church.

But if you want really special the Barcelona Cathedral is only about a 15 minute walk too.

We were in Barcelona earlier in June and took the trip to Montserrat. I will say we took the metro to the train station and caught the train, just be careful both the R5 & R6 go the same point then split, so if you need to change trains double check. We purchased the combo train and cable car ticket, taking the cable car up was interesting and way up there. I agree be there to hear the choir.

We really enjoyed our visit and would recommend if you can visit.

We just visited, and I agree if you are going to visit pre-purchasing tickets is a must. We also did the Nativity tower, which as stated you must walk down. It was already hot when we were there in June, so if you are planning on a July afternoon, just consider how warm it will be climbing down all those stairs 400+). Not sure what all your trip entails, due to limited viewing from the top, I personally thought going to the roof of the Barcelona Cathedral was better viewing and photo ops.

There was a separate line inside the church for the towers, so by the time you waited for the elevator (which only holds 6 people at a time) then the actual walk down, it does take some time. You can also only go as fast as those in front of you. I think it took around 1.5 hours for our time just for the tower.

We enjoyed Barcelona, it is now in our top 5 favorite places..

No issues with bags just going into the church. However, if you were going up to the tower, they were making you put bags in a locker. The lockers were adjacent to the tower elevator, 1 different sizes small ones were .20Euro, the larger lockers were 1Euro each. We had a fairly small camera bag we had to put in the locker, we took the cameras up with us.

I think this is do to the tight spaces coming down the stairways. It was very crowded, as the summer season appeared to have started.

We enjoyed our visit.

There were 4 other cruise ships in port that day and it was very crowded. On Saturday our ship did not get into port until 9am, so that put us with crowds already at most places. On Saturday we did all of the items but Spice Market and Topkapi Palace with Harem, which we did on Sunday as they were open on Sunday.

While we attempted to pre-purchase tickets, the website said it was under renovation and would not let us pre-purchase. The lines to get into the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia as well as the Cistern were all very long. It was also very warm already, so just some items to consider.

We found the tram very easy to use, and according to others on our ship using other methods of transportation was very slow and backed up.

The were lines to get into every area of Topkapi Palace, the line for the treasury was over an hour long..... just for the one area. So not sure if that is typical or not or if was just an unusual busy day.

The crowds definitely affected our ability to follow our pre-planned schedule. We enjoyed our time there and hope you get to fit everything in.

On this day there was a regional train leaving Termini at 16:42 (4:42pm) it was beyond packed and several people could not even get on the train it was soo packed. That was before a lot of the other stops for the Regional. We pre-booked the 16:57 (4:57pm) fast train online early for 8E pp for 1st class, it was cheaper than the 2nd class tickets on the day I booked. This train arrived back at the port at 15:39 (5:39pm) It is about a 1 mile walk from the train station to the shuttle buses, on our day the last shuttle bus back to the ship was suppose to be at 6:00pm for an all board call for 6:30pm. On our day in port they were not allowing any walking in the port area due to construction activities.

Turns out there was a terrible multi-car accident on the roadway and several of the ship's tour buses had to use alternative routes to make it back to the port, so the ship was over an hour late leaving the port waiting for those to get back, it was a couple of hundred people.

Just want to make you aware of the times of the shuttle and distance from the train back to the shuttle buses to allow for proper timing.

We were just in Venice in May/June 2014. In May we did a day trip from Venice to Milan on the train, it was very easy as we did not have any luggage with us, booked online, the trains are great to travel with.

Just be aware that often they do not show up on the board for your platform until about 15-20 minutes before the train leaves the platform.

We were back in Venice in June and most of the ship was disembarking and other embarking(we were on a b2b2b), many people believed that there was some type of ramp along the bridge between the people mover and the train station, there was NOT. We saw these same people really struggling with their luggage over the bridge. Venice was fairly crowded and people are not always kind. Most people think of those struggling with luggage as in their way and cut them off, etc.

You were NOT allowed to walk, as the port is currently under construction. It was stated that this was due to the construction activities at this time for the restrictions, and they provided shuttle buses that went to a different drop off spot than previously used. This temporary drop off location is further from the train station. Walking at a fast pace it takes about 18 minutes to reach the train station.

Our ship docked at 7AM, we were off the ship by 7:10AM and we caught the first shuttle bus and booked it to the train station got our BIRG tickets and were just able to catch the 7:44am train with about 5 minutes to spare. There are quite a few trains if you do not catch the first one. The trains are extremely crowded at this time of the year. Depending on the number of ships combined with the local passengers.

We just returned home from 3 weeks aboard the Regal. The first week of the cruise they did not have the "lounge" open, it opened on 5/26/14 in Athens, it was held in Club 6. You could order any of the drinks for the week on any of the nights for the $5.00 price. Most nights the "lounge" was open officially from 5:30pm - 7:30pm, however, it was always set up by 5:00pm and allowed passengers to order drinks and food available from then. Can not speak to if the time ran over, as we were not in the lounge during the ending portion of the time.

Most nights it appeared to be barely used, the most people we ever saw in a single night was 30 total. Although the number of elite/platinum passengers was very low over the 3 weeks compared to most cruises.

by the St Marks area of the Grand Canal, coming in Tuesday morning in Venice, the ship is suppose to dock at 6am. We have been in Venice for a few days getting ready, so I would love to take pictures of her sailing in.

Would it be safe to assume (hate that word) if I was there by 4:30am I could see her sail in? I would not think it would be earlier, but what do I know.

Thanks,

Susan

I did try to do a goggle search but turned up nothing from the hearing that was supposed to happen on 5/6, any ideas?

We leave in just a week for Italy, for a little precruise fun. I really am wishing the last week away.

Very exciting now that we are quickly approaching close to the 30 day out mark. Still seems like there is a lot to do in that time frame. Still no word on the Godmother, etc, seems like something would be getting out there.

Not that I am excited or anything..

We did the tour about 2 years ago, I kept my camera with me but did follow the rules and did not take any photos. There was another gentleman who kept sneaking photos, the guide was aware and told him to stop several times, finally told him if he took another photo he would be removed from the tour. We exited by the crypt area and took the trip to the top of the dome before we entered St Peters, as again we did not have to re-enter the security line by following this sequencing.

We are returning to Europe in 6 weeks and plan on the same route. We did the first tour in the morning, it was interesting as there was a strike that day and transportation was challenging, but with a little extra planning and a plan B, it al work out.

We truly enjoyed this tour.

In that we are on the same sailing and would love to see/witness the ceremony.

Currently the port has the Regal coming in at 6am on the 20th and nothing for her in port the day before, of course that could change.

That we are almost at the 6 week out point, I was hoping we would have more information about these details. Waiting but I do not really have the virtue of patience