love2cruisegal

Norris,

I have just been sitting back and so enjoying your review and beautiful pictures and just have to respond! We will be on a Med cruise next May with 10 days before in Venice, Florence and Rome. In Florence we plan to take a day tour to the Cinque Terre and just love your pictures from there. Keep them coming so I can enjoy and dream of our trip next year. Also staying in Barcelona 2 nights after the cruise. Can't wait for your pictures of Barcelona.

Also enjoyed your review and pictures when you were on the Ocean Princess.

Can't wait for more! Thanks so much.

Ruth

Thanks so much buck1949! We will sign up on our roll call. So looking forward to the Amalfi coast and also our Med cruise.

Thanks all of you for the great reviews. We will be cruising the Med next May and someone on our roll call is setting up an excursion in Naples to the Amalfi coast with this company. Do you pay when the tour is over just like most of the other tour companies? Thanks.

Thanks CruiserBruce! The person who recommended them is going to book a tour for 8 of us. Looks like we will be using them next May. Any question can always be answered here on cc!!

We will be on a Med cruise next May and this tour company was recommended on our roll call. Has anyone used this tour company for the Amalfi coast or anywhere in Italy? Seems to have good reviews on Trip Advisor.

Thanks.

We will also be finishing our cruise in Venice in May, my wife is downloading Rick's audio tours as I type (Rome, Florence, Venice, Ephesus....) ...thanks for the tip.

Harry

We have already downloaded Rick' s audio tours for our trip next May for Venice, Florence and Rome. Also Athens when we dock there on our Med cruise after boarding in Rome port of Chivitavechia. I also printed off the maps that go along with the tours. We are excited for this trip.

We did both on a taxi ride from Messina to Taormina in 2012 and had a nice visit at both places. We hired the taxi at the port.

We will be in the Med in May and stop in Messina. We thought about a ship tour to Taormina as it seems quite a distance. Will be in port from noon till 8pm, may be better to stick with ship tour?

Thanks.

Thanks everyone for your replies. We are confident now that our passports should be good.

We will be on a Med cruise in May of 2016. Our passports expire Jan 2017. We will be disembarking in Barcelona on May 28, but will stay 2 extra days in Barcelona and return to US on May 30. Our passports should be good or should we play it safe and renew them?

Thanks to any of you who have had this experience.

The only difference is that some passengers prefer to spread out the cost of their cruise by prepaying for the UBD.

 

That's not our situation & having no advantage for selecting a time we book it on the ship to pay for it at the end of the cruise or to use complimentary OBC to "pay" for it.

Thanks much. We will wait then, will have OBC to use for it. Really looking forward to this cruise and the UBD!!

When I booked and paid for the UBD before a cruise, we still had to wait to get to the ship to arrange the date and time and menu.

So it sounds like it doesn't really matter if you book ahead of time or when you get on board? So we can wait till next May to book.

Call room service because they do the UBD.

Thanks so much; will make a note of it. So looking forward to UBD in the Med next May. Just need to decide when and where to have it....at sea or in port possibly during a later sail away.

We have used booking sites in the past but not in a long time. We do use booking.com to find hotels and pricing, but book directly with hotel. Have checked pricing on booking.com after making reservations directly and all our hotels in Europe booked for next year are more expensive on booking.com. If the price goes down, the hotel will reduce the rate if you ask; already happened at our Barcelona hotel.

Will stick with direct booking unless using hotel websites as Hilton, Holiday Inn, etc.

That would be excellent. Make sure you book it asap after boarding.

Where do you book the UBD? Call dine line or in person? We want to do it on our Med cruise next year. Will be our first. Thanks so much.

I got a bb unobstructed view balcony today. Might they still call me to up sell me to a mini suite ?

Yes, nice assignment! On our Dec.2013 Royal cruise we booked a GTY as you did. About a month or so before the cruise we were upgraded to obstructed deluxe balcony on Emerald. It was middle of a life raft mid forward and we really liked it as we could see right over raft straight out while sitting.

We also sailed the Royal Princess in an obstructed balcony cabin. We were in E409 which was an extended balcony. The only obstruction was that we could not see forward or aft because of the lifeboats. I think it was the best balcony on the ship because it was probably 2 to 3 times deeper than a standard balcony on the Regal or Royal.

We sailed in an obstructed deluxe balcony, upgraded from an obstructed balcony, on our Dec. 2013 cruise on the Royal. We were in E319 and were located in the middle of a life raft. You could see straight out with no obstruction while sitting, but no view left or right or straight down. Didn't bother us. However you need to make sure you are in middle of lifeboat rather than the tender boats which are much larger and probably much more obstructed. We are on the Royal again next May in the Med, and have an obstructed balcony mid ship but it overlooks the promenade deck below. We should be happy with that (E411).

Wonder if you can ask for this promotion if you already have the sip and sail? :) What does the fine print say?

Yes, we had the sip and sail, but we lost our OBC which we received instead of getting the free drink package. However, the upgraded cabin and reduced fare, free gratuities and free specialty dining made up for it on this new 3 for free promotion. We now have an angled deluxe balcony mid ship from a forward balcony. We changed just today.

Just noticed online that our fare was reduced for a balcony so checked into it with our Princess cruise consultant today. We are booked for med cruise in May 2016.

Is there something going on in Barcelona May 2-4 that has hotels near Las Ramblas all booked during those dates?

Or do they all just not book this far out?

 

I have tried Hotel Royal, Rivoli, Le Meridian, and another hotel, Ramblas?, and all say unavailable during those dates.

 

I had the same result with Hotel Jazz.

Glad to hear you found a hotel, sounds great. I found the same unavailability when trying to check dates for late May 2016 post cruise at Hotel Jazz. I emailed them and they had rooms available, so we booked. We found the same situation in Italy pre cruise earlier in May.

Enjoy your stay in Barcelona. We are really looking forward to it.

I just went to their website, and it looks like they are not accepting reservation s after April 30, 2016 yet. Everything after that date, through October is greyed out.

(I am looking for last week in October, 2016, taking the Norwegian Jade Trans Atlantic! :) )

I went on Hotel Jazz website yesterday to check rates for the end of May 2016 post cruise and found May and beyond unavailable too. However a couple weeks ago I found the same thing on hotel in Rome for pre cruise. So I emailed them and they were booked for our dates, had to find another. So when I couldn't make reservations yesterday for Hotel Jazz I emailed them and received a quick reply. They had available rooms so I emailed them back with credit card to hold reservation.

So try to email hotel and they will let you know. I did that in Florence too.

Have a good day and cruise.

I found Hotel Smeraldo has available rooms for my dates and have read recommendations on cruise critic plus it's also recommended by Rick Steves. We may just go ahead and reserve a room at Hotel Smeraldo...it looks very nice and has good reviews. Also has a roof top terrace!

Thanks euro cruiser!

We are doing a 14 night Med cruise in May of 2016 (5/14) and were planning to stay at the Albergo Cesari for 4 nights before the cruise. Have had our hearts set on this hotel with all the good reviews and it has a very nice roof top terrace. I checked their website and it doesn't say they are full, but the online booking systems I checked say there are no rooms available. So yesterday I decided to send an email to them and had a reply this a.m. stating they are sorry but they are full. I was so surprised and disappointed. Could there be a large group staying there? Last year they had rooms available a year in advance when I was first checking for Rome hotels.

I'm coming to all you experienced Med cruisers and pre/post hotel stays to find a good hotel similar to the Albergo Cesari and still close to all the sites as that hotel, but not too expensive. Any recommendation would be wonderful. I will also be searching.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

We are booked on a Princess cruise for May 2016, 14 days, Rome to Barcelona. Since the cruise doesn't stop in Livorno (Florence) or Venice, we are doing a land tour pre cruise and flying to Venice for 2 days, train to Florence for 4 days and then Rome for 4 days. Then board the ship in Rome.

So why don't you just fly to Venice and then train to Rome before boarding cruise. Then you won't have any reason to worry.

We wish Princess would NOT allow those with Traditional Dining to have dinner in Anytime Dining. :mad:

 

LuLu

Totally agree!!!

Also make the 14 day Caribbean itineraries true 14 days and not have to go back to Ft. Lauderdale in the middle. If I wanted to visit Ft. Lauderdale I would stay after the cruise. Seems like a waste of a cruise day when you could be visiting another port.

The more information I'm getting, the more I feel like I may not even leave the ship.

I do not want to be in a car for hours and hours and it doesnt appear to be anything nearby. Any recommendations?

I am travelling with my father and his wife who are in their 80's and i just wanted to book a tour that would provide us with a overview of the area with hopes of one day returning.

As others have said, do not stay on the ship especially if you haven't been to the area. Do some research as recommended and check your itinerary. If you think Florence is too far and too much walking for your parents then check another shore excursion as recommended such as Pisa and Lucca. Since you are leaving soon I would recommend reviewing the excursions on RCI website for your cruise and decide and reserve online soon as some may be full by now. Do not wait till on ship as your selection may be nil.

We are booked on a Med cruise for May 2016 and already reviewing what types of excursions are available.

Enjoy your cruise.

On our Dec. 2013 cruise on Royal we booked the lowest obstructed balcony category guarantee and about a month before cruise, we were upgraded to an obstructed delux balcony #319. We were located in the middle of the second forward lifeboat. We could look out at the sea while sitting on the balcony, no obstruction except looking down, lifeboat came to bottom of balcony rail. We enjoyed it and used it quite often.

Enjoy you cruise!