Mailing things home to yourself from the ship? (books from Europe to the U.S.)

[mikeerdas]

At the end of my Rome-to-Rome cruise, I'll have a bunch of books that I'd rather mail home (however long it takes--not an issue) than lug around with me during my 5 night post-cruise adventure in France.

 

Does the ship have a "post office" I can use? Any ideas of what it might cost to send books home from the ship docked to Rome to the east coast of the U.S.? Within the U.S., there is a "book rate" for printed materials that is very cheap. And there seem to be plenty of vendors, particularly from the UK, selling used books on Amazon.com and Half.com, willing to send to the U.S.

 

What is the going rate per pound for something like books? Although it could cost more, I'd rather send things with the help of ship staff than try to go to a post office in Rome to do the same--I don't speak Italian and don't want to presume anyone in a Roman post office speaks english--although they very well may.

 

Seems you can purchase any number of items on-board (I'll be on the Navigator) and have them sent home, so will they allow me to do the same with my own stuff (for a price of course).

 

Thanks very much.

[boulders]

There is no post office on the ship. They don't even sell stamps.

[Bobal]

Assuming you're sailing into Civitavecchia, why not take a padded bag big enough to take all your books and then post them from the post office in Civitavecchia, which is close to the port entrance. It's a town which is well used to English being spoken and I'm sure you won't have any problem. Alternatively you could do the same from your first stop in France. If your parcel is packed and labelled it should be pretty obvious what you want and language shouldn't be a problem.

 

To get an idea of cost it may be worth asking your question on the Civitavecchia forum on Trip Advisor.

[Happy ks]

You may find it's less costly to just re-purchase the books when you get back home.

 

We never take any reading material that we don't mind leaving behind.

 

Another thought would be, why not purchase a Kindle and have all your books in one tiny little format that weighs far less than books?

[kyriecat]

You may find it's less costly to just re-purchase the books when you get back home.

 

We never take any reading material that we don't mind leaving behind.

 

Another thought would be, why not purchase a Kindle and have all your books in one tiny little format that weighs far less than books?

The OP might be planning to buy souvenier/picture books. I know I do. I brought home 8 books from my Med cruise with pictures of Rome, Venice, Florence, etc. I didn't think to mail them home and brought an extra suitcase. I haven't spent much time looking, but I haven't seen the books that I bought available in the bookstores. Maybe if I searched online I could find them. I sometimes look through them and remember the wonderful things that we saw on our cruise and make a list of things that I want to see next time we're in the Med.

[HorrorFan]

I used to order a lot of books and many came from the UK. I know it is fairly expensive to mail them from there. $10 - $14 isn't uncommon. Thats for a single hardcover book, airmail. I was ALWAYS advised to go airmail, otherwise it could take weeks, if they arrive at all. Seems aimail is much safer, but is will cost.

[mikeerdas]

The OP might be planning to buy souvenier/picture books. I know I do. I brought home 8 books from my Med cruise with pictures of Rome, Venice, Florence, etc. I didn't think to mail them home and brought an extra suitcase. I haven't spent much time looking, but I haven't seen the books that I bought available in the bookstores.

 

Hi Dee. That's exactly it. I'm bringing archaeological site books (Knossos, Acropolis, Ephesus, Rome, etc) with me that I purchased used via Amazon.com and Half.com. Will not need them at the end of my cruise, and I have read it's not unwise to mail stuff back to yourself at the end of one leg of a trip and the beginning of another. I'm positive I'm not the only one to have done so.

 

I did order a book once from Half.com, not realizing the vendor was from the UK (figured shipping would be prohibitive), and it cost no more than domestic shipping (e.g. USD $3.99). I actually moved much of the non-furniture contents of my apartment once when moving from the North to the South. Turns out it was ridiculously cheap to ship quite heavy things by parcel post, e.g. boxes of books, etc.

 

Will look into the post office at the port in Rome that someone suggested--thank you for that. The mass market guidebooks I'll have with me will already be out of date, so those I suppose I could donate to the ship's library. Those are more easily replaceable. Thinking of cutting out only the portions of those guidebooks I'll need before I leave, e.g. I only need the Athens and Crete portions of an entire guidebook on Greece.

[kyriecat]

The mass market guidebooks I'll have with me will already be out of date, so those I suppose I could donate to the ship's library. Those are more easily replaceable. Thinking of cutting out only the portions of those guidebooks I'll need before I leave, e.g. I only need the Athens and Crete portions of an entire guidebook on Greece.

If you don't want to cut up your guide books, you can copy the pages that you need. I buy guidebooks and scan the pages that I plan to use. I'll print copies of those pages then leave the book at home. If you don't have a scanner, there are places (libraries, Kinko's, etc.) where you can make copies for a few cents per page.

 

When we finish with a port, I'll make my own notes on the pages of things we did, ate, or saw to record later in a scrap book. Each night I'll put the next day's port pages in my backpack so I have them ready.

 

If I know I won't use a guide book again, I'll cut pictures and text out of it to put in a scrapbook, along with my own commentary and photos.

[Happy ks]

I priced it from the other way around, mailing something from here to Italy, in a container large enough for several books. Depending on how you want it mailed, priority (41.95 up to 20 lbs.) or express ($143.00 up to 10 lbs.).

 

so I suppose it's up to you if you want to pay that much for your books.

[mikeerdas]

Wonder if there are more options than Priority or Express. Honestly, I don't care if it takes months for the books to return.

 

Within the U.S., there is something called "book rate" which is 4th Class. Don't know what options there are from Italy to the U.S. Does anyone know?

[reallyitsmema]

I know nothing about this topic but I did do a quick google and found this.

 

http://rome.angloinfo.com/countries/italy/postcodes.asp

 

If you click on the link for information in english it brings you to this site that has information about m-bags and talks about shipping books.

 

http://www.poste.it/en/postali/mbagseconomy/a_index.shtml

 

I haven't read any more of it but figured I would post the links for you to read and maybe you can find some info that might help. Good luck.:)

[SingingPixie]

I don't know specifics, but I do know that you can ship by sea fairly cheaply- my boss's little sister was studying abroad in Italy, and shipped her books back before flying home with her personal items. The downside is that you have no idea when they will arrive- could be weeks or even months, they just take them when they have room on a ship. For something you don't need right away though, it can be a good option.

[Happy ks]

Not bad, converting the rate (it depends on the current conversion) the cost would be $13.57 for up to 11 lbs., another $3.31 for each additional 2 lbs.

 

I had forgotten about special book shipping rates, I know we have this in the US as well :o.

 

We had a couple packages shipped home from Italy last year, it was around $80 with packaging and insurance added for each package.