JerseyJaguar

In our case, we simply love to do what we want, when we want, with ourselves.

This is important to me too. For example, Naples-- Pompeii is the big thing for me there, but I might get tired of it after a while and want to go to Sorrento, or I might want to spend the whole day there, or just head back for some Naples walking around after. As long as I know when the trains are running and when the ship is leaving, I'm good.

[quote name='CGYCruisingFamily']True but they should be able to at least inform you of how many there will be during the cruise.[/quote]
Not sure how far ahead you need to know, I assumed from reading the board I'd have three and that was confirmed on my official documents once I'd checked in online (about a month ahead of time).

[quote name='POA1']Without seeing the whole itinerary, I'd guess that you are correct with your prediction.[/quote]
It will be interesting to see if I guessed right. Only two weeks till I find out.

I've been trying to figure this out for my 11 night Meditteranean cruise, our sea days are the 5th and 10th nights. Our shortest shore day is the 3rd night (4pm), would they have a formal night then and then have another two nights later?

I've been solo on HAL twice and both times had good tables in late seating. I think HAL does a good job of matching people up at tables. My second solo HAL cruise was the best table I've had on any cruise, we started out with 8, they moved us to a bigger table and added a couple of more people and we had a great time. In fact, I've gotten together with some of the people from that table over the years.

 

I have requested a large table for my upcoming cruise, and late seating. The only times I have had a problem with tablemates on HAL is when I've been seated with people during other times like a big tea in the MDR (one man wouldn't stop talking politics even though I refused to engage, it was very uncomfortable, he kept battering me with questions).

For your purposes, you could also look at taking the train from San Pietro station - much closer for the Vatican than Termini.

 

Even if I wanted to drag my suitcase and backpack to the Vatican, I don't think they let you in with big bags. It's easier to take the metro back to Termini, grab my bags from the hotel and head back for the train.

 

But thanks for the suggestion, if I was only doing Rome as a shore excursion that would work.

 

And Euro, I wasn't planning on buying a ticket ahead of time just for the reason you mentioned.

Thanks Euro, I do have the 12:42 down as my last possible train. I'd like the faster train but it's a Wednesday and I really want a chance to see at least part of Pope Francis' audience before I leave Rome. That's the main reason I picked a hotel near Termini so I can get back from the Vatican and grab my luggage and go.

We saw La Traviata in Venice at Musica A Palazzo. It's a very intimate setting in a palace along the Grand Canal. The audience of about 60 moves from room to room for the 3 acts of the opera. The singers were amazing and we absolutely loved it! http://www.musicapalazzo.com/program/

 

We did this in Venice also and really enjoyed it. At the time we were there there were no operas available in the traditional venues on the night we had free so this gave us the opera experience plus a new way of seeing it.

Euro, is that transfer of trains only from the airport? If I leave from Termini I don't have to transfer, do I? And I get a ticket to Civitavecchia not Civitavecchia Maritima, right?

 

I always get very nervous when I have a deadline to be somewhere (the ship departs at 4pm). What's the latest I can arrive at the Civitavecchia train station and still have time to get to the port (is a little after 2pm OK?).

 

Oh, and thanks ahead of time for always being so helpful. I've learned a lot from all your comments on these boards.

I toured on my own before taking a southbound cruise without renting a car.

 

I flew to Barrow for a night (really a 24 hour day) at the Artic ocean where I did a lot of bird watching and took a tour out to the very northern tip of the USA.

 

I flew from there to Fairbanks for a few nights, then took the train to Denali for a few nights at a lodge behind the Salmon Bake (which is across the street from the Princess lodges), they picked me up at the train and took me to Denali visitor center to catch the bus that takes you into park where I saw lots of wildlife. I was able to walk home from there where I came close to a moose.

 

I took the train from there to Anchorage where I spent a few days, taking the train for a day trip and then taking the train a day early to Seward to enjoy the sights there.

 

Setting all that up took some time, but it gave me the freedom to doing everything I wanted to.

 

When I got to Vancouver I also spent a night there before heading home. All together I was gone for three weeks and it was a wonderful trip.

My price dropped $400 pp once Explore4 ended so I called HAL and they gave me the price drop and cancelled the Explore4. I'm not a drinker so it made no sense to keep it. I didn't have to cancel and rebook.

Thank you for including the non-alcoholic drinks. I never think they might have them, so never bother to look, but some of them sound very yummy, a nice switch from soda or ice tea.

I had a balcony and had no problem with light, the curtains will shut it out if you want that, or you can enjoy the late days.

 

I wish someone had told me to buy all my gifts for folks in Russia, definitely the best prices for all sorts of stuff compared to Finland and Sweden especially.

 

If you buy internet minutes on the ship, the best time to use them is late at night or early in the morning, my connection wasn't slow at all at those times so I got more use out of my minutes, I still had minutes the last morning.

 

If you want to use a St. Petersburg tour company (as opposed to ship's tour), get info on all the companies people used here. Some require you to form your own groups, others put the groups together for you. It's really a matter of taste. I loved my guide and thought the whole two days covered all I could want them to. Plus I went to a modern ballet while there too. Don't be nervous about using any of the tour companies mentioned a lot here, they have reputations to live up to and they do.

 

Aside from St. Petersburg, a lot of the Baltic trip can be do it yourself if you do the research ahead of time.

 

Also, many people go to Berlin which is a long RT from the ship. I chose to spend a day there before the cruise (stayed in Copenhagen for a few days and flew in and out of Berlin for a day). That gave me the opportunity to explore the part of Germany near the ship, so I'd recommend doing some research to decide what you want to do in Germany beforehand.

 

I loved the Baltic cruise, I loved the long days and the places and all the people I met. And I loved St. Petersburg so much I want to go back and do a river cruise.

 

You'll have a great time!

Hi Sinnppu, I wanted to thank you for your transit advice. I bought an all day ticket and got to all the sites I wanted to see. I did get a little lost but the Finnish people were very helpful, one woman saw me looking at my map and street signs and set me in the right direction right away. Another woman pointed out that I missed my tram stop and the tram driver overheard me ask her where we were and didn't leave till I knew I had to get off.

 

The bonus of doing it on my own was that no one was at the Sibelius monument when I was there, so I got wonderful pictures (two bus loads from my ship pulled up as I was leaving).

 

I thought Helsinki was wonderful, if a bit on the expensive side.

Thank you for all the information Sinppu. I'm doing a trip to Porvoo first but your info is very handy for what to do with the couple of hours I'll have left in Helsinki afterwards. Knowing what trams to take and where to get them makes planning much easier.

Thanks Anni. That info really helps with my planning.

 

I'm really starting to get excited, I'll be there in six weeks!

Anni,

 

Thank you for your website with all it's links.

 

I decided to fly in and out of Berlin from Copenhagen for a day so I won't be wondering should I or shouldn't I from the cruise, I already will have.

 

I noticed that there is a lighthouse in Warnemude, is this a good place to visit to take pictures from?

 

I'm thinking of going to Schwerin because that castle looks like something I have to see in person. Is 3 hours enough time to see the castle and gardens, and cathedral? If longer is needed, how late are things open in Rostock? Which is the better place to eat a meal?

 

Thanks for all your help.

Thank you for the detailed walking tour, Lair Bear.

 

Exactly four months from today I'll be there. Yeah!!

Barrow, reading your review of Alla makes me very excited! I'm travelling by myself and cringed at the thought of having to form my own group so I had narrowed it down to Alla or Denrus (companies that just let me sign up at a set price), but then I read that Alla maxes out at 16 (DenRus at 30) and that sold me. After I went to the website and sent the PM I didn't expect to hear back for a few days because it was the weekend but Alla contacted me within hours with a two day itinerary all set.

 

It sounds like a very busy two days, too bad there isn't a sea day to sleep before our next port.

Thank you for posting all these pics. I'll be on her next May for a Baltic's cruise and can't wait.

 

Looking forward to the port pics.

Wow, you have become a posting genius in the course of this review.

 

Thanks again, you've been great!!

I'm thinking that it wasn't offered. As noted (or maybe it was in my review thread, too), the terminal is VERY small and access is difficult.

That's why I thought it would be offered, much easier to offload all those suitcases straight to a truck than to lay them all out for people to pickup.

 

Oh, well, I'll just ask the hotel I stay in beforehand if I can store my luggage there for a couple of hours since I don't want to go straight to the airport.

For anyone who's actually flown into Charleston to sail on the Fantasy (since this wouldn't be offered to people who drove), do they offer Luggage Express?

 

And if they do, do you know anyone who did it from Charleston and if it all went smoothly?

 

Thanks in advance. I have 3 months till my trip. Can't wait.

Thanks for continuing to add to this thread. Love your lists. I make lists constantly, I already have made a list and edited for packing. And I don't leave for 3 months.

 

I know you said that you missed a few meals in the MDR, but I was wondering what night was the second elegant night. I'll be on the same 6 day cruise so I assume the dress up nights are the same.

 

Thanks again.

Thanks for your great review and all the wonderful pictures. I'm going to be on the Fantasy in October, I've sailed her once before out of NOLA and was happy it was her sailing out of Charleston.

 

I might have missed it but did you mention what cabin you were in? I have a porthole cabin and am getting very excited about it. I can't believe we get outside light for the price of an inside cabin.

Sorry, this is not a workable plan. Unless they change the tram hours, it doesn't start running winter or summer until about 10:00AM. As someone else posted, the tram operates in conjunction with the restaurants in the summer. And Glacier Express doesn't open until 10:30AM.

I wrote to the Aleyska Resort to ask them about the difference in the times that were up for summer last year and the winter times and received this reply:

 

The tram will be operating from 9:30am – 9:30pm in June. We are currently changing our website, so the new info should be there fairly soon. In the winter tram operations don’t start until 10:30am. If you have more questions, please call the ticket office or email me.

Thank you very much. I hope you’ll enjoy your Alaska vacation!

So I should be fine. Thanks for your concern though.