jean87510

I was just in Rome a couple of weeks ago for a few days and spoke to several waiters and tour guides in Italian (which I am fluent in) about tipping. Every single person said that they regard the American way of tipping a way of thanking them for good service and that is why they go beyond in service for an American. This isn't one person. This was at least 10 different people including taxi cab drivers. I find it insulting some of the comments on this thread about Americans and tipping. Also, I noticed a lot more visitors in Rome from other countries, not just Americans that have more offensive habits than tipping such as chain smoking everywhere. My feeling is leave a tip if you like the service and if they don't want it, they can leave it for the next customer or throw it in the trash. Every person I tipped, thanked me and was very happy. Some of the waiters said that they had read that you shouldn't tip in Rome and they were surprised at that rumor. If you are from a culture that doesn't tip, then don't.

we just did this after our transatlantic to Civitavecchia. We each had one rolling suitcase and our backpacks. We took shuttle to bus station. Then another shuttle bus to train station. Then train to Rome. It was pretty easy to figure out. On both shuttles, there was plenty of storage. Even if you take a cab, you still have to carry luggage up steps for the train.

Taxi tour la palma will take you to observatory

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cicar did have automatic drive. They were all rented though. Just make sure to check if renting beforehand to check the correct box.

I went through air bnb and randomly picked a highly rated place near a metro and bus station. Alessandro seina is the host. Was on via marandola 9c. Nice area but not in the center of town.

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We just did night tour of colosseum and i highly recommend it. Tour was at 840pm. Group of about 20 people. Given headphones to hear guide. Not crowded at all. Nice and cool. Prepurchase online. And yes, you do have to have tickets for everyone. We saw 2 families very upset because they didn't do this.

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Finally back home and thought I would quickly finish this. Getting off ship in Civitavecchia was very quick and easy as we do self assist. I asked guest services the night before as we had an oceanview on 3 if we could just walk off and he said yes, as soon as they cleared. We took a shuttle to bus station then another bus to train station in Civitavecchia. We used the train to get to Rome which was really easy to figure out. Spent 2 days in Rome and enjoyed it. We bought Roma passes and took the buses all over the city and when we couldn't get a bus, we grabbed a cab. I had planned my 2 days in Rome and knew exactly what I wanted to do so the rest was easy.

I loved the barrista at the caffe lattitudes. Very nice and sweet girl. Coffee was pretty good here. Highly recommend coffee card for long cruises

Booked another cruise online while on ship using my internet to go into RCCL website. Then I went to next cruises 20 minutes later and they had the same cruise for 650 more. I really don't know why people just don't research this before making the commitment. If you are doing it because you want a certain room, I don't know if it is worth it. This is the 3rd time I had this issue with next cruises and I actually think it is funny when they give me this ridiculous price.

Cruise director was cruisin susan. She seemed ok but cruise directors are not a deal breaker to me.

Captain was Captain Luz. I seem to get female captains on my cruises. I was surprised there were more than Captain Kate on Celebrity. The way everyone acts on the boards, you would think she is the only captain but I suppose she is the only female American captain. Still odd, the hero worship.

I highly recommend the Jewel. Very nice ship

Weather was fine. A little chilly the closer we got to the canaries. We are in alicante today and my husband and i were on the beach in bathing suits. Water was 70s and was too cold for me. We rented bikes from blue bike rentals via bim bim bikes and rode to playa san juan.

I still am very impressed with ship staff in all areas. The head of windjammer noticed i was having difficulty in using my soda cup and got me a new one and filled it for me. Just really nice. Regarding soda package - i only saw one set of the machines in windjammer; however, any of the bars will fill your bottle or give you a glass.

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This is my first time on jewel and 1st time on a t.a. I booked an oceanview last year when there was a fantastic sale and I love it. This is a 13 day cruise and currently it is day 11. I will start at the beginning. Arrived from Philadelphia to san Juan the morning of the 23rd. Yes, this is really not the wisest decision but with frequent fliers, it is what American airlines gave us. We arrived in san juan at 1245, taxi to ship, and were on by 145pm. My husband and I are gold members that turned platinum on this trip so i have no clue on what the diamond and above lounges are like nor do i know any of the concierges. Or what they do. I guess one day i will but not this trip.

We made it to windjammer and ate. No pictures of food in this review. Then went to explore. We are active 50 plus and the sports court and gym interests us. Also a tip. If you like internet, prebuy package when it is on sale. I got 2 devices for 21.99. Worth it to stay in touch. Also prebought soda package on sale and the coffee card.

Entertainment- shows are not good. Only show i liked was the juggler. I really wish rccl would cater to my generation with these shows. I'd rather have comedians and novelty acts than the singers. Or rock cover bands. Movies were ok but unfortunately i had seen all of them. Nice movie theater on 6th with $2 popcorn.

Spa/gym - had no interest in seaweed algae wraps and detoxification so i didn't go to spa. At gym 2x/day and loved equipment. Didn't do classes. Sports court was nice. Still haven't seen rock wall open.

Specialty restaurant- did all 3. Giovanni hands down was the best. All were great though.

Laundry - had to pay for it 34.50 for 1 bag. Worth it though.

All staff - 11 days and have to say best staff around. Love talking to them about where they are from. So nice. Only rude ones were at spa. Gave me a hard time when i wanted to use shower after gym. I had to give them my card. Only did that 1x.

Excursions- i usually research for months. No ship excursions. Arranged a taxi to take my husband and i to a starting point in la palma then hiked for about 4 hours, were picked up then brought back to port. In Tenerife, after our 2 guides backed out the week before and our rental car was a manual which my husband can't drive,we paid taxi driver at port 130 euros for 6 hours driving us to mt teide and had a wonderful day. We took a prearranged roll call tour in gran canaria that was nice but not something i would do again since i hate long bus trips where i can't see anything. In Gibraltar we went to rock on our own. Prepurchased cable car tickets and nature reserve tickets which was clutch. There is no need for a tour here unless you physically can't walk. It's easy to find everything. So far that has been our best day next to tenerife.

Pool/solarium - no chair hogs noted. Easy to find chairs. Fyi - wifi doesn't work in solarium.

More to come with pictures and final thoughts.

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Great response. Exercise, eating healthy, can do wonders. No need for nonsense. I lost 58 lbs in 1 year by gradually increasing walking to running, religiously following myfitnesspal app and my fitbit, and watching calories. No pills. No algae.

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I should add maspalomas dunes are in gran canaria.

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Dont do it. I am out 140 euros from 2 separate companies in gran canaria and la palma. Only use ones that you can pay end of tour. You will not be reimbursed if something happens. I had 2 tours cancelled by guide and still not reimbursed. Never had this happen, only in canaries.

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To anyone who is going to Tenerife to see volcan teide or to the maspalomas dunes, rent a car. Very easy to get to. Make sure you can drive stick or prebook automatic. Do NOT prepurchase cable car tickets. If it is closed, you will not get reimbursed. Beautiful areas and make your way there.

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I should add i am onboard jewel now. The salesperson said that they could give me 50 onboard credit to make up for the $700 difference

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I disagree with booking onboard. Just tried jewel of the seas 12 day out of rome. 1048 for husband and i in a mock booking online. 1735 for same type of cabin on same cruise 20 minutes later. Same thing happened to me last October. That's why i have internet to check prices.

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Is paying to have your beads blessed by the Pope any difference from indulgences. If you do not know what this implies, look it up in Wikipedia.

 

DON

I think not because you are buying the rosary beads that happen to be blessed by the pope. Btw, I have been following this thread and i think that if someone wants to buy rosary beads or any other religious symbol and would like advice on how to do so, just give the advice and forget your feelings or opinions about it.

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Thanks Jean - so no hesitation on booking Carnival? I am not much of a partier - I just want good ports and clean room with a comfy bed. :)

I liked Carnival/ My husband and I are not picky and as long as the price is right and the bed is comfortable, we are happy. I would rather go on Celebrity Summit which doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles and do 5-6 ports than the

Oasis or Allure. I don't care about Central Park or bumper cars. I'd rather climb up a volcano or snorkel with turtles in st John. My favorite ships are any that leave out of Puerto Rico because 1. it is port intensive and 2. Culebra island before/after cruise.

jean - you have a good attitude! I will be 52 at the time of the climb.....so it is a good goal!

I see you have been on a lot of different cruise lines.....would love to get your opinion of Celebrity vs. Carnival vs. RCCL. We'd like to do a cruise that includes Turks and Caicos in the future.... have been loyal to Celebrity but we may need to branch out...... can I hijack my own thread to get your opinions? :)

Absolutely! I love all 3 lines for different reasons but my priority is price and ports. I love leaving out of San Juan and doing the southern islands which is why I like the Summit. And I just love St. Kitts. So much to do here. Been here 4 times and still haven't done everything on my bucket list for st. kitts.

That is such a shame. Please post your review to Trip Advisor. I understand you may be hesitant as you would be affecting someone's livelihood but imagine if someone else unbeknownst took his tour and actually missed the ship!! I had to post a 1 star review on TripAdv for a company who would not reimburse my deposit for an excursion when we had to cancel because our cruise was canceled. 5 months out and this operator would not reimburse me nor would PayPal. I explained the whole scenario in detail and 4 months later, am STILL getting thumbs up, emails...etc... from others thanking me and people stating "yes the same thing happened to us and we lost our deposit also". Of course the proprietor wasn't happy and posted his response but the word was out. I don't like being treated poorly by businesses that I am paying for and I am sure you feel the same way.

I sometimes have problems with paypal when I use google chrome or my phone. What I do is open paypal in Explorer or simply reboot my computer.

that is awful. I do have some questions though. When you arranged for a private tour, and another couple joined you, why didn't you ask him then and get your money back? You could have had a cab driver at the port probably take the two of you to various places nearer to Castries. You went all the way to Souferie but you didn't want to do the volcano or the baths. Other than the Pitons, I don't believe there are many other attractions. There are a number of tour boat operators that have a marvelous tour by boat up and back or land/sea tours. These really are not what I would call crowded. Maybe 10-12 tops? I have been on at least 3 different ones and will be doing Spencer next year climbing the Piton. I do appreciate you sharing what happened with James though. Have you contacted him to be reimbursed for any of your day or simply to share your concerns? I understand the advantage of it just being the 2 of you which is why we rent cars occasionally at islands and do our own thing. Are you able to do this comfortably? Hopefully the rest of your trip was successful

my husband and I are doing this next year with poinciana tours and the day before we are climbing the Piton in St. Lucia. Just to say we did it:cool: at the young age of 53. I think of it this way. If I don't do it, I will be sorry and always wish I had.

How do you know she didn't get the "United" treatment afterward?

Lol 😎

We were at Maho 2x and it is about 15 minute walk and 2 minute car ride from cinnamon. They just don't want to go there. We were able to get back both times via taxi. We started walking back and a taxi picked us up. Like I said, they only want to take the cruise ship people to trunk bay and cinnamon beaches which are nice but we had read about the snorkeling at Maho and wanted to go there. We made arrangements for next year for a private taxi to go to a different part of the island because I am tired of the cab drivers not wanting to go 1.1 kilometer out of their way. I like to explore islands safely and the only way I can do this in St John from a cruise ship is to arrange a private taxi to go where I want to go since no one will do a one day car rental there. Maho Bay has such fantastic snorkeling, we went back because we loved it so much. If you look on google maps you can see how close it is to Cinnamon Bay. We packed protein bars and had our water bottles with us so we were fine.

don't think so. What dock does the ship arrive at? here's a map of the port.

http://www.civitavecchiaport.org/civitavecchia-port-map/

If the boat docks at 11, 12, or 13 , you could have up to a .98 mile WALK to the fort and then another .45 mile WALK from the fort to the train station. So a 1 1/2 mile walk would take you about 30-45 minutes assuming you don't get lost. No local taxi is going to take you from the ship to the train station. also, depending on the sunrise, you may be walking in the dark on an ugly road. While the walk is flat and paved, There is a seawall on the oceanside blocking your view and the roadway in the center with a narrow area to walk along the shipside. I don't think it's that safe in the dark.

(If the attachment works, I've included a picture from the ship at dock 10 looking towards dock 11. the picture was taken at 7:47am in October, 2016. it was darker than the picture appears.)

 

also, the free shuttle that takes you from boat to the Largo della pace starts around 7:00 am, so if you get off the ship at 6:00 am, you will be walking.

 

Your best bet, assuming you can get off the ship at 6:00am, is to hire in advance, a car service to meet you at the ship and take you to Rome Termini. That will cost around 100 Euro for a private hire. don't take a cheaper shared shuttle, (around 69 euro for two) because they will wait to pick up passengers at other ships and take them to the airport first before they go into Rome.

 

IMHO, 6 minutes to rush from train to train would cause me a lot of stress. and if you don't know where you have to sprint too, 6 minutes is pushing it. what if the train is late?

also if the train goes from Salerno to Naples, you will have to switch to the Circumvesisiva (sic), the local train that goes to Pompeii.

 

I hope you seriously rethink this one.

As i said before, if we miss the train, we get on another. It's a vacation. When i come back, i will post about how it all transpires. No need to seriously rethink anything.