HappyAmma

I talked to NCL about leaving our April Transatlantic Cruise in Livorno,  the night before the expected departure in Rome/Civitavecchia.    It involved difficulty renting a car in in Civitavecchia on a  Sunday,  plus Livorno is closer to where our family lives, the main reason for our cruise.  But the rep pointed out that is is possible that the ship may skip a port,  for many reasons. 

Last year in Kotor with NCL , someone jumped off the ship, (long story,.....) also Celebrity this Fall in Canada due to weather,  and we skipped ports.  Most likely this won't happen, but given the stress involved, we decided to continue to Civitavecchia and deal with the inconvenience.  Our cruise plan involves many moving parts, so we try to eliminate the unknowns as much as possible.  Not to mention Corona Virus !!!! 

We used the $20 per bag option (on our 22 day Zaandam cruise through South America) . You can stuff a lot in there! We did one set of laundry in the self service machines, $3.00 for the washer, $1.50 for the dryer but since there was always at least one machine out of order, and the washers took 30 minutes and the dryers were 45 minutes, there was a always a laundromat backup. $20 was well worth it!

You can request the laundry be folded or hung on hangers. We requested folded but it came back on hangers. Never mind, no complaints, we got everything back within 24 hours.

We were also in that mess waiting to leave the cruiseport in Buenos Aires after the Zaandam. I fault HAL for not having ground people there to assist, if only to reassure. We had purchased the Waterways EXC airport transfer and stood waiting for the HAL bus for almost 2 hours outside without knowing what was going on. Finally someone told us it was the traffic backup. (We had a similar mob scene last year in the Civitavecchia port where HAL just dumped us to fight for shuttle-buses, after assuring passengers there would be wheelchairs and help for those who needed it.)

That being said, we really enjoyed the Waterways tour, to see a different side of BA. Well worth the money we thought for an airport transfer and chew up some time. And yes we had had the same problems with not being able to check in at EZE airport until 3 hours before our late-night flight. It was a l-o-n-g day.

We were on Zaandam in March and definitely no BB King's BB. Having sailed a few months before on Eurodam and seen a BBK band, boy, did we miss them! It's difficult to see where they could be accommodated on much smaller Zaandam so they probably won't be a feature next year either. Too bad - they're fantastic and certainly blow away any complaints that "HAL ships are dead after 10pm".

ONO! :(We will miss them on our upcoming December Zandaam cruise. Even though the BBK Band could only play "corporate-approved music", each time we saw them on HAL it was our go-to night-time entertainment. Except for the time the Harry James Orchestra was on-board!

Thanks so much for your reply Bruce. We still haven't decided on this cruise, but the price is going up for remaining balconies so we have to decide soon. The cruise is in October and involves a lot of sea days, so hmmmm....:confused: Lots to think about....

Hello, thinking of booking the lanai room on a 25 day cruise but reading the reviews it seems like too many negatives for us, basically the privacy issue. The last Cruise Critic review was 2010. Now it's 2017, so has anything improved? The Verandah rooms cost a lot more and I would love to hear from some recent lanai Veendam cruisers. :)

In October we took a wonderful shore excursion with Lisa Ringelberg of Green Vision Tours. I don't recall the price but it was extremely reasonable and included a delicious lunch in a private farmhouse. We all had a great tour. Contact her at ring7lisa@hotmail.com--you can google her name.

Thanks Paul!

I know the FCC, Mlitary,and Shareholders Credits...but what is the loyalty credit?:confused:

After having the coffee on Princess, Royal,HAL, NCL, Celebrity, Carnival cruisesl we switched to English Breakfast Tea ( each pot with 2 tea bags) in the mornings and coffee card for Princess around Noon or so on Sea Days. When in port, we look for a local coffee bar which may incidentally have free wifi.

AS the other posters said it may be the water, maybe the milk, I don,t use sugar. We,re booked on the Regal in October so thanks for the heads up on that!

You can get limited continental breakfast( muffins, danish, fruit, etc..) room service from 6:00 or 6:30 AM up to 10:00 A:M or 10:30 AM for free. All other orders or times the charge applies.

To clarify, all room service except continental breakfast incurs the $7.95 fee?:confused:

We also enjoyed Harrison caves, glad we gave up the beach for that tour.

Do you know how much a bus or taxi is to the caves? How far a ride is it? Can we book at the port or do we have to book ahead of time? It will probably be crowded on a port day!

You can get limited continental breakfast( muffins, danish, fruit, etc..) room service from 6:00 or 6:30 AM up to 10:00 A:M or 10:30 AM for free. All other orders or times the charge applies.

Thank you for the prompt reply!

Also new to Breakaway. Is there a charge for Room Service if I order breakfast in my room, i.e. before an excursion? I am not booked in the Haven and am unclear if the $7.95 charge applies to all room service orders.

:cool:

Well, they do use very hot water... I think it depends how important the items are to you. If you can do without washing them, I'd leave it for home. Perhaps bring things that can withstand the hot water... or :o take your chances.

 

I've only had 1 item shrink and it wasn't too bad.

Thanks all-ready. We are trying to figure out how to pack for 2 weeks in the Caribbean without doing laundry. Don't mind some shrinkage but I don't want to buy new clothes on the cruise.

Should I expect cotton clothes to shrink in the Breakaway laundry? I usually wash mine in cold water. This is our first time on NCL.

It's at the airport, you will hit customs. Just have your paperwork ready. :cool:

Yes, we departed Venice cruiseport easily, no inspection, customs, passport stamps, etc. However when we left Italy via air 6 weeks later, we had all kinds of questions at immigration about when we entered. Also we drove to Croatia and had more than the usual hard time crossing the borders (Croatia & Slovenia) because we had no stamps showing when we entered Europe. So I would suggest getting your passport stamped at some port along the way to show when you entered Europe.

Our Princess ship offers Cinque Terre excursions both from our port stops of Livorno and from Genoa. Both seem to involve a 2 hour bus ride. In this case since we have some OBC to use and want to see the CT, we will probably do a ship tour. Any opinions on whether it is better to go from Genoa or Livorno?

Hello winos,

 

I received this interesting article and thought I'd share. Will look for some in Funchal.;)

 

http://www.eater.com/drinks/2015/2/18/8056147/madeira-a-powerful-and-timeless-grape-you-must-try

OOPS this should go in the "Other Europe Ports" thread, not Italy.

Hello winos,

I received this interesting article and thought I'd share. Will look for some in Funchal.;)

http://www.eater.com/drinks/2015/2/18/8056147/madeira-a-powerful-and-timeless-grape-you-must-try

I've been checking out the options and it seems that renting from P.Roma instead of Mestre is considerably less expensive thru Kemwal. Just wondered if you folks have done the transfer lately, that is, car rental pickup at P.Roma instead of Mestre. Our most likely option is for husband (he's just had a hip replacement!) to stay with luggage at the port, while I find my way to the car rental.

But is there an out-of-the-way place for him to wait with luggage while I get the car and pick him up? How long do you think it would take? :confused:

Thanks so much for your input. I remember returning a car to P. Roma about 10 years ago and it was crazy--pedestrian barricades, traffic, rental agency parking fees, etc-- so I kind of eliminated that option. But I will call Auto Europe (Hertz) to check again. We will have the car for over 3 weeks and they add airport rental fees. But of course you don't really know the full charge until it's all done!

We want to rent a car in Venice after our Princess cruise in April, 2015, and wonder if anyone has done this lately. Are there porters available to help with the bags in port? Taxis? I've already reserved the rental car from Mestre, I thought it would be cheaper (no airport fee), closer, and less busy, but am wondering if I should just go to the airport. We will have a good amount of luggage

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

No it's HAL. I spoke to several different HAL agents, (plus the Travel Agency company I usually book with), and called again this morning as instructed. I finally got a supervisor who agreed to call me back Monday, instead of me calling and starting all over with a new person, although my account seems to be notated. An agent had put the "deal" on hold for me, and I got confirmation emails, then later another 6 confirmation emails with a more expensive price for the cabin. None of which included Airfare.

Has anyone else received this Free Airfare email offer? And tried to follow up on it? :confused:

Well the previous post was sent before editing, as the lovely HAL gal came back on the line. And basically said that the email I got was bogus, bait & switch, etc. The free airfare is not in effect and neither is the reduced balcony, albeit g:mad:uarantee, fare.

Anyone else get this email and try to buy the fare? Seems like I've spent hours on the phone.