nini

This is a great thread, as well as encouraging. Due to some genetic issues, I eat a WFPB Vegan diet which is really limiting. I am happy to see the improvements on the ship which really helps. As many of you may know, the "WFBP" means no oil, no sugar, refined flour (white), so it is really challenging. At least I know I can have oatmeal and fruit at breakfast and then lots of salads. We will be on the Sky in June.

Thanks! We have been on all of those except the Caribbean. We love the Grand and Crown, but we were not crazy about the Coral.

Most cruise lines do not provide that type of transfer, especially when you arrive a few days before boarding the ship. You have received many pointers to which I concur. Do not stay at the port, book a hotel more in central Rome (we stayed close to Camp dei Fiori and loved the location) and book your tours ahead of time. I think we used Romecabs for our transfers from airport to hotel, from hotel to port, and from port to airport.

I am sure that we used City Wonders in Rome at least a couple of times. We were very pleased... a Vatican tour and a Colosseum tour.

CC does not permit us to contact each other through this website.

There is probably no balcony access when the sofa bed is open. You will have obstructed view and a small balcony.

To the OP- You are still doing the Inside Passage and cruising on the East side of Vancouver Island. it will just be later in the day. We cruised on the Grand last September and due to propulsion issues, we finally left the Vancouver port about 10:00 pm which was about 6 hours late. We had to miss a port and the Captain was very sweet and have all of the passengers $150.00 OBC to spend.

Absolutely! We stayed at Hotel Damoso which was a very central location. And I kid you not, they had the very best coffee (regular and decaf) and hot cocoa ANYWHERE on this planet!!! And... we are connoisseurs. They have a lovely breakfast and we walked everywhere (except to the Vatican in early am). Our Aunt was with us and we booked a room that would sleep 3. Her bed was in a bit of a separated area and we had a lovely balcony. The have an elevator and a lovely rooftop area where you can order drinks. Our Aunt and I did not suffer much from jet lag so we enjoyed the rooftop with adult beverages and enjoyed a fabulous thunder and lightening storm, while hubby slept.

That is what I was going to say! As @FlyerTalker has stated, this is a dynamic ever changing moving target with daily changes (if not more) for air fare and ever changing rates and sales in the cruise industry.

It looks like you are flying in from Florida, so jet lag may not be too bad. My hubby was nearly useless the first day, except he was able to walk around a bit that night and eat a bit of dinner. If I were you, if you can fly in 3 days ahead then I would do that. We flew in 3 days ahead and were able to do a Colosseum tour, Vatican tour, saw the Trevi Fountain and Pantheon. Late one day, we did a "Trastevere Twilight Food Tour" which was fabulous! We walked to all of our destinations, except took a cab to get to the Vatican early one morning (it was dark), because we booked an early entrance tour. We walked back to or hotel. We were there in October (2018) and the weather was very pleasant. We are from the northwest and I am afraid that June would be too warm for us. You would probably be fine since you are from Florida. We were in our late 60's when we did this cruise.

What are your favorite Princess ships?

I am with @Wishing on a star ; We have witnessed fellow cruisers having their booked your cancelled with only one day notice and they booked through a third part which was Viator.

Yes. nmilliman at hotmail dot com

You can go on their travel website and do the search yourself.

Yes, it works very well. I get frustrated looking at availability on the Princess website, so I just go to my Big Box TA, who I book with anyway.

The agents do not do any leg work. All I have to do is sign in on my account and I can see all available cabins. OTOH, the Princess website often just offers a guaranteed cabin of the type and area of the ship.

I love pitch dark too... the ones that really bother me are the windows/ drapes in hotels.

So strange... The drapes work very well.

I STATED that this was 2018!!! Which was very pre-covid!

What is a Q1 2024? I have discovered that if I book with my big box travel agency, then I can choose my cabin, even though on the Princess website or is only a "Guaranteed". We do not book guaranteed as we know exactly what we want.

Thank you for sharing your journey! We will be on the Sky in June for a much cooler cruise. We live in the Northwest and I understand what you are saying about the heat... And this is Winter! Yikes! We were in Fort Lauderdale in January 2018 and we were very hot and the locals are cold.

@dandonna. To each his own. Pre- Covid, we did a 2018 cruise on the Celebrity Refelction. The best part was our cabin steward and the itinerary. We did not enjoy 3 hours for a meal in the dining room, flies all over the buffet (everyday), the extreme snootiness of staff, and lack of service in the buffet. Good luck flagging down a server for a drink or to clear your plate. This has never happened on Princess.

Excellent question!!!

Are you ticketed? Call Princess.

Rome is not close to the port. We flew in and booked a transfer to our hotel and stayed 3 nights before getting on a transfer from our hotel to the port. Have you been to Rome? We loved it so much that we are returning next year to do a land tour in Italy before getting on our ship for a Trans Atlantic home.