MeHeartCruising

The Miami/Fort Lauderdale side-by-side (with some distance) set of cruises is pretty common and easily done. Go for it.

I would think the introduction of bidding for an upgrade might mean they would keep these in case they can sell them via the upgrade process.

If you are donation-minded, you may find a couple bins that collect your spare/excess currency in the Heathrow waiting area when you are flying back home. I forget who they benefit, but it was some needy organization. I had a few old bills that I could not convince any of the places I purchased from to take. I dropped my excess bills in that donation bin. I figured the organization would have a way to get new money from them.

https://www.celebritycruises.com/content/dam/celebrity/pdf/updated-captains-club-brochure-v6.pdf

Except anyone was free to leave the ship permanently upon arrival if they wanted to. Does it really matter when people chose to leave the ship? I left the ship on the day of arrival, shortly after docking, and didn't have to show a passport. Later in the day, I returned to the ship. The next morning, I left the ship for good and never had to show a passport. My point was that when you leave the ship (whenever that may be), you likely won't be slowed down by a line at the passport check. This is relevant to the OPs situation since they are asking about the time necessary to disembark.

I could be wrong, but I don't recall my passport being inspected at all in Amsterdam (where we overnighted before disembarking). Our previous port of call was in Scotland. Our ship embarked from Southampton. I think it was all done electronically. I may have just forgotten about it being done. This was in September of last year, so well after BREXIT.

Are you really flying a direct flight from the US into Venice? If not, passport control may be happening in your connection city and not Venice. Customs is usually as simple as walking thru a door if you have nothing to declare.

I did not take the excursion. But upon reading the description on the NCL site, I have to ask, do you really need instructions and equipment on how to best take a selfie? I would see this as unnecessary stuff added to a short excursion that will take away from valuable sight-seeing time. I would look for an excursion that visits places you want to see and experience. And then take your own pictures using your own existing selfie skills. That's just my opinion. I'm not even certain what "the Aroma Avlis" is. As near as I can tell from Google search it is a winery/restaurant. And it doesn't appear to really have all that great of a view. The stops in Oia and Fira would be nice locations, however. But I think other excursions would give you more time there. From NCL's site: Capture the moment by taking the perfect selfie photo in Santorini! Instantly share your experience with family & friends on your favorite social media site as many of the stops will include wi-fi in real time. Professional photographers & selfie experts will teach you how to take the best selfie photo including composition, posing, lighting etc. Capture the spirit of this incredible destination. Your tour will start with a scenic drive from the ship to the Aroma Avlis. Your walking tour will have designated selfie stops at: • Aroma Avlis • The Blue Domes Churches of Oia • Church Bells in Fira To make this experience even more fun, you will be provided with a selfie stick and utilize our Selfie Station in order to help catch the perfect picture. While at Aroma Avlis, you will enjoy a wine tasting and explore one of the most famous wineries on the island.

I would do this booking without any guilt whatsoever.

Some ships will have an ATM on board where you can withdraw money from your own bank account, but it doesn't convert existing cash you have. Sometimes the ATM will distribute the currency in USD or Euros. Either way, there is a very high service charge added. Best to use a land-based ATM to get Euros as needed. Purchase a SMALL amount from your own bank (for a fee) before leaving if you are uncomfortable landing with no cash to spend. Then visit the ATM to get more when you land.

Keep in mind, cruise line personal cruise consultants are, like everywhere else, just employees who come and go. They get better paying jobs, they retire, they get fired, etc. They are corporate employees. They don’t own their own travel agency. Just because you never hear from them again, doesn’t always mean they just got their commission and moved on to another customer. They may no longer be employed by the corporation.

The French Open is held at Roland-Garros. Here is a link to their tour website page. I'm not sure if they would be giving tours during the French Open tournament, however. Maybe. https://www.rolandgarros.com/en-us/page/stadium-tour-roland-garros-philippe-chatrier-court-infos-tickets-prices Edited to Add: Ooops. I just re-read that you are asking about the Italian Open site. The above is for Paris.

NCL will book you on the cheapest flights that they can find that meet the criteria of the terms of the promotion. No one will really know what that is until they book them. The fact that you are coming from Charlotte probably works in your favor since American Airlines uses that as a major hub for Trans-Atlantic flights. I would probably expect a flight on American to some gateway city in Western Europe and then a change of planes to get you to Rome. Perhaps there is even a Charlotte to Rome direct flight. I doubt they would route you from Charlotte to Newark or Atlanta or Detroit, for example, before flying over the ocean, but it's possible. You will get Economy seats, which you can then contact the airline to use points or pay for seat changes, if that airline permits it. You don't always have full control to do what you really want. It's a bit of a roll of the dice. To remove the uncertainty, you can, of course book your own flights and cancel out of the BOGO offer.

@Nataly1982 You should post details of how/where you booked your cruise. Since your post refers to euros, I assume you booked via a European office or travel agent. The rules for European bookings are quite different from those in the North America. This is especially true regarding refunds and price drops. If you post more info on how you posted, someone from Europe can more likely help you with how it works. You really can't use advice on how it works in North America, no matter how many people offer that advice.

I would happily do this itinerary. Go for it!

Interesting. I’m doing a B2B turnaround day in Ravenna and am looking into my options to get into Ravenna to see the mosaics that day. I found the bus company timetable and routes website here. You can see it in English by clicking on the Italian flag in the upper right and change that to the UK flag. https://www.startromagna.it/en/timetable-and-services/timetables-and-routes/ I searched for route 90 and downloaded the Ravenna schedule PDF. https://www.startromagna.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/start_libretto-ravenna_estivo-2022.pdf On page 85/86, you see the stops for route 90. The stop in Porto Corsini is named Porto Corsini Traghetto. Using Google maps, I was able to find that bus stop on Via Molo S. Filippo. what I don’t know is where the ship docks. Do you know where that specifically is in the port? Edited to add: Based on https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/ravenna-port-261 it looks like the cruise ships dock fairly close to that bus stop. Maybe a couple ship lengths away. I don’t see any obvious security fences or obstacles preventing a walk from ship to bus station, but that could have changed.

Yes. Double Latitudes points.

A couple weeks ago, even with our ship docked at 92/93 beside the primary terminal building, there was a line of people outside that was about 1/4 mile long waiting to get into the terminal building. We were among the first on board around 11:45 and watched the line grow until about 2:30 or so before it shortened back up. NCL should drop LA until the city upgrades the port facilities.

Same on the Joy a couple weeks ago. And it wasn't all that clear there were coupons on the paper. You had to really read the text to know that. I assumed they were doing it all via the computer/account/keycard and didn't bother taking the coupon to the restaurant. I had to go back to the cabin and get that. There wasn't even a perforation to tear off the coupon. You had to bend it and do the best you could to tear it straight.

While the majority of countries in Europe use the Euro, not all of them do (i.e. UK, Norway, Sweden, etc.). The ones that don't will be best served by using their local currency. Be sure you check your itinerary and note what currency each country uses. For countries that use euros, then yes, you should plan on using euros if using cash. You can get this cash from any ATM. You can also use credit cards for most purchases. I would use the credit card first and use cash for snacks, small entry fees, etc.

This is a great point, cruisemom42. I hadn't remembered that option. Other than the logistics of getting TO the Civitavecchia train station, I agree that this is a simpler option and probably worth the money if the OP decides to go via train. I will confess that I shamelessly booked the Frecciabianca train from Rome TO Civitavecchia for my May cruise and I actually purchased 2 side-by-side seats in 1st Class just so I could have my luggage right beside me without needing to potentially bother another passenger. For 22 euros total, this was money well spent. The YouTube videos I reviewed didn't show a lot of baggage storage areas on the train and I wasn't sure if my bag would be small enough to fit in the overhead rack either. Sometimes convenience and peace of mind is worth a few dollars. Especially on a trip that costs thousands of $ overall.

You can give them either euros or dollars. I generally give them whatever I have more of. Or if I have enough, I ask them which they prefer. They have ways to use whatever you give them.

^^^^ This. The OP is trying to coordinate 8 people getting to the airport. If the train is to be used, the OP should be prepared for needing to be separated on the train and having each person or small group understand what they must do to get on the train. I don't know that all 8 would necessarily be able to get on the same car on the train. You just won't know until it happens. My 75 year old father and I had to stand in the aisle for 1/2 of the way into Rome because there were not seats available. We were on a stop on our cruise, so we had no luggage. I can't imagine how it would have worked out with luggage. OP, I would suggest you look into private transfer services. But you will pay a price for that convenience and ease of travel.

Right. If I add up the points shown for my cruises in the list of past cruises, they total only 45 points. However, my C&A account actually has 58 points in it according to the header at the top. One of my oldest cruises shows as only 2 points in the list, but it actually adds 15 points to my total (it was a long cruise).

I'm sure the safe deposit boxes available through guest services is a carryover from the glory days when passengers wore their fine jewelry to dinner each night. And rarely used today with the digital safes in each cabin. However, they might still actually have them. I'm also very sure that you WOULD have to wait in line at guest services each time you wanted to access your box. There have been no public area safe deposit boxes on any ship that I have seen. I would imagine they take you to a room behind the desk somewhere with the boxes, if they still offer them.