Help - Need lots of advice for sailing transatlantic

[fuzzywuzzy]

Hello everyone: I haven't been on the board since our last cruise last year but here I am again as we are in the midst of booking the Eurodam transatlantic cruise next April which ends in Rome.

 

Has anyone taken this voyage before? My hubby and I are hoping to stay an extra couple of nights in Rome to see the sights. We have NEVER been to Europe so I have a lot of researching to do. I will get on the Ports of Call thread to find out more about what to do in Rome and where to stay. Has anyone stayed post cruise here?

 

I am working with a very nice man out of the HAL head office, my personal cruise consultant, and he is being very helpful and patient. We can't decide whether to drive from Ontario, Canada to Ft. Lauderdale or plan the round trip air out of Toronto to Ft. Lauderdale and then fly back from Rome direct to Toronto. There is somewhat of a savings by driving but then we have the long 2 1/2 day drive. I hope everyone is prepared for LOTS of my questions and help. This is very daunting when you have no idea what to do in Europe or where to stay and get the best bang for your buck. I believe one of the best things is to arrange your own hotel accommodations post cruise near Civitavecchia or closer to Rome rather than go through HAL?

[HokiePoq]

Sounds like a wonderful trip! I've done a couple of TAs but not on HAL yet. I prefer the spring as I think the weather prospects on the Atlantic are better then...just my opinion on that. One thing I can say is to research public transit in Italy. It is great for the most part. You can buy a daily ticket that will get you all over the place. You can also buy tickets to the Vatican Museum online ahead of time. I don't know about the Coliseum....we would not have had time to enter (a must in my opinion) had we not joined one of the English speaking tour groups that someone was selling on the spot. Lines were very long. Have fun planning!

[mountainmare]

We have done this trip and be prepared for alot of sea days in the beginning followed by a very port intensive end.

The best thing to do is to go out and get some guidebooks (I think Rick Steves now has one for Med cruising, he is very user friendly for Europe newbies)

Go to the ports boards here and become a regular on tripadvisor also. Become a fan of Google earth, you can walk around the cities and know what to expect.

If you have never been to Rome stay in Rome. If you want to save money pack very light and use public transportation, but be sure that everyone can easily handle all their own luggage.

The best thing is to take a good hard look at your own interests and travel style. We are interested in history and art and are very independant travelers, never taking a ship tour and rarely taking a private tour. We prefer DIY, and are most comforatable that way. You may have different interests and be a more conservative traveler, so what I tell you is great you would be unhappy with.

We are driving down to Fort Lauderdale from Pa, and taking our time. You may find that the parking fees will wipe out your savings. We found that HAL air gave us the best rate for the one way trip home (we used deviation to fly non-stop and stay a few days).

Again--do as much research as possible and have fun planning.

[Alphen]

Hello everyone: I haven't been on the board since our last cruise last year but here I am again as we are in the midst of booking the Eurodam transatlantic cruise next April which ends in Rome.

 

Has anyone taken this voyage before? My hubby and I are hoping to stay an extra couple of nights in Rome to see the sights. We have NEVER been to Europe so I have a lot of researching to do. I will get on the Ports of Call thread to find out more about what to do in Rome and where to stay. Has anyone stayed post cruise here?

 

I am working with a very nice man out of the HAL head office, my personal cruise consultant, and he is being very helpful and patient. We can't decide whether to drive from Ontario, Canada to Ft. Lauderdale or plan the round trip air out of Toronto to Ft. Lauderdale and then fly back from Rome direct to Toronto. There is somewhat of a savings by driving but then we have the long 2 1/2 day drive. I hope everyone is prepared for LOTS of my questions and help. This is very daunting when you have no idea what to do in Europe or where to stay and get the best bang for your buck. I believe one of the best things is to arrange your own hotel accommodations post cruise near Civitavecchia or closer to Rome rather than go through HAL?

 

We did the TA the other way round with Noordam in 2010 and started pre-cruise with a hotel in the centre of Rome, near the Trevi fountain. To get from there to Civitavecchia, we used a taxi to Roma Termini train station and took the train from there to Civitavecchia, which is a walkable distance to the cruise terminal. Train tickets were normally 11 Euro’s we got a deal for 6 Euro’s tickets first class through internet.

[fuzzywuzzy]

We have done this trip and be prepared for alot of sea days in the beginning followed by a very port intensive end.

The best thing to do is to go out and get some guidebooks (I think Rick Steves now has one for Med cruising, he is very user friendly for Europe newbies)

Go to the ports boards here and become a regular on tripadvisor also. Become a fan of Google earth, you can walk around the cities and know what to expect.

If you have never been to Rome stay in Rome. If you want to save money pack very light and use public transportation, but be sure that everyone can easily handle all their own luggage.

The best thing is to take a good hard look at your own interests and travel style. We are interested in history and art and are very independant travelers, never taking a ship tour and rarely taking a private tour. We prefer DIY, and are most comforatable that way. You may have different interests and be a more conservative traveler, so what I tell you is great you would be unhappy with.

We are driving down to Fort Lauderdale from Pa, and taking our time. You may find that the parking fees will wipe out your savings. We found that HAL air gave us the best rate for the one way trip home (we used deviation to fly non-stop and stay a few days).

Again--do as much research as possible and have fun planning.

 

 

Yes, I love researching although I don't get anything else done! lol. We too like to do our own thing - we are interested in the history and the antiquities so are thinking for sure of the Colloseum, Sistine Chapel, maybe the museums if we have enough time.

We found a hotel in Ft. Lauderdale one time that gave us reasonable parking so we are hoping to do the same if that is our decision to drive.

 

What about hotels near Rome?

[fuzzywuzzy]

Sounds like a wonderful trip! I've done a couple of TAs but not on HAL yet. I prefer the spring as I think the weather prospects on the Atlantic are better then...just my opinion on that. One thing I can say is to research public transit in Italy. It is great for the most part. You can buy a daily ticket that will get you all over the place. You can also buy tickets to the Vatican Museum online ahead of time. I don't know about the Coliseum....we would not have had time to enter (a must in my opinion) had we not joined one of the English speaking tour groups that someone was selling on the spot. Lines were very long. Have fun planning!

 

This might be a silly question to those seasoned European travellers, but when is high season in Italy and low season? What will the end of April be? We arrive in Civi...April 27th. Rainy season? I still have to research this part of things. I only started yesterday.

[English_in_Spain]

Hello everyone: I haven't been on the board since our last cruise last year but here I am again as we are in the midst of booking the Eurodam transatlantic cruise next April which ends in Rome.

 

Has anyone taken this voyage before? My hubby and I are hoping to stay an extra couple of nights in Rome to see the sights. We have NEVER been to Europe so I have a lot of researching to do. I will get on the Ports of Call thread to find out more about what to do in Rome and where to stay. Has anyone stayed post cruise here?

 

I am working with a very nice man out of the HAL head office, my personal cruise consultant, and he is being very helpful and patient. We can't decide whether to drive from Ontario, Canada to Ft. Lauderdale or plan the round trip air out of Toronto to Ft. Lauderdale and then fly back from Rome direct to Toronto. There is somewhat of a savings by driving but then we have the long 2 1/2 day drive. I hope everyone is prepared for LOTS of my questions and help. This is very daunting when you have no idea what to do in Europe or where to stay and get the best bang for your buck. I believe one of the best things is to arrange your own hotel accommodations post cruise near Civitavecchia or closer to Rome rather than go through HAL?

 

If you decide to take this cruise, please join us on our, still quite small, roll call

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1519985

 

[KirkNC]

This might be a silly question to those seasoned European travellers, but when is high season in Italy and low season? What will the end of April be? We arrive in Civi...April 27th. Rainy season? I still have to research this part of things. I only started yesterday.

 

The peak season in Europe is the summer with August topping the list. April actually shold be pretty good, cooler and less crowded.

[cartervan]

We did a Transatlantic on the Noordam in April a couple of years ago. Wonderful trip! We loved the relaxing sea days for the first week, but then, as someone said, it got pretty hectic with new ports every day. I can't help but wonder if it makes more sense to do a Transatlantic at the end of the cruise--so you can rest up.

 

We also stayed over in Rome for three days. We shared a taxi from Civitavecchea into Rome with two other couples from our Roll Call. We booked a hotel with the help of our TA who found us a wonderful location right around the corner from the Forum. We walked (and walked and walked) everywhere, and occasionally took a taxi to get around.

 

Another tip I picked up from the Port section of Cruise Critic--plan your visit to the Vatican Museums for a Wednesday morning if you can. Much less crowded!

 

Have a great trip.

[lizziebargain]

We were on the Eurodam in May 2011 and in Rome for a ship tour on May 8-there were long lines at the Vatican, crowds at Trevi fountain etc and it was surprisingly hot outside waiting in the lineups which moved fairly quickly. Perhaps it is usually cooler and rainier at that time of year but you can google average temps there and be prepared for cool or warm. We did not stay there so cannot advise you on hotels but you can also google Lonely Planet travel series and read online about the sights-granted this series is geared more to the younger/independent traveller but you may find something of interest-there was a tip about buying your colloseum tour tickets nearby rather than lining up if I recall. Depending on how long you may wish to stay in Rome you could consider a home exchange site? The captain and crew did say that this April's TA crossing on the Eurodam was rather rough so hopefully you will have better luck next year-but be prepared with seasick remedies just in case!! Also we were warned to beware of pickpockets and people dressed up as gladiators at some of the sights wanting to pose for pics with you for 5 euros.

 

 

 

This might be a silly question to those seasoned European travellers, but when is high season in Italy and low season? What will the end of April be? We arrive in Civi...April 27th. Rainy season? I still have to research this part of things. I only started yesterday.

[susaner1]

We did this trip in April 2010 on the Eurodam. We flew direct to Fort Lauderdale from Ottawa and then back through Toronto. It was our first cruise and we loved it. The sea days were great and the port-a-day in the Mediterranean gave us a sampler for Portugal and Spain. We stayed for a couple of days in Rome near the Pantheon and were very glad that we paid a little bit more to stay in the center of the city. We walked basically everywhere. We booked tours of the Vatican/Sistine Chapel and the Colosseum. It allowed us to bypass the lines and to really understand what we were seeing. As well, we booked a car and driver to meet us at the port and drop us at our hotel. I did this because my husband has Parkinson's and we had a certain amount of luggage. It ended up being not hugely expensive and you will arrive at your hotel without getting lost especially as thisis your first trip to Europe. To sum up, we loved our vacation - we had been to Europe before but arriving with no jet lag was a treat!

 

Have a wonderful holiday !

[Taxguy77]

Go directly to Rome when you leave the ship. There is more to see than you will be able to, and your next visit to Italy you may have more time to see other places.

Your hotel in Rome should have tickets to some places, and maybe a small tourist agency.

Enjoy your cruise and visit.

[SwissMyst]

This might be a silly question to those seasoned European travellers, but when is high season in Italy and low season? What will the end of April be? We arrive in Civi...April 27th. Rainy season? I still have to research this part of things. I only started yesterday.

 

High season is usually during the summer months when people have vacations and children are out of schools, but they also have low seasons and mid-seasons so you have to check each establishment to see what prices are prevailing at that time. April will most likely be either low or mid season. Unless it is Easter Week when it is very much "high season" and very crowded.

 

There is not much in Civitavecchia and it is a long train trip to get into Rome proper so I would recommend not getting a hotel there and going directly into Rome itself.

 

Rome is also vast and overwhelming on a first visit so I would recommend confining yourself to some sort over-all survey tours before tackling it on your own and definitely staying in the heart of Rome, where there will be interesting walks to do on your own - Spanish Steps area is good, but the more economical choices will be near the train station (Stazione Termine).

 

Public transportation is good so getting some of the day passes will be helpful once you have seen all the main highlights. I use "venere.com" when booking European hotels on my own, and scouring the net and travelforums like TripAdvisor or Travelzine to get some of the best feedback. I use Chowhound when looking for restaurant recommendations. http://www.venere.com/italy/rome/

 

The best part of your trip is you will not be fighting jet lag when you arrive after your slow, gradual one hour every day or so acclimation to the major time change between Rome and Canada so you can hit the ground running when you finally arrive in Rome. Agree, the time is now to start your research and Rick Steve's books give a lot of practical on the ground advice, yet even his advice for Rome will dazzle your sensibilities because there is so much to see.

 

You almost have to decide which part of Rome interests you most before you tackle it in a few days: Ancient Rome, Renaissance Rome, Vatican Rome, La Dolce Vita Rome, Rome Rome for the locals, and even Mussolini's Rome. There are many good travel books and for a first trip we find those Top 10 Sights to See in Rome type books with good maps a good place to start sorting a lot of this out.

[Sanlin]

If you decide to drive down to Ft. Lauderdale, there are hotels that will let you leave your car for free for up to 30 days - depends on hotel. Stay123.com is a good site to find the hotels. We are using Marriot points to stay for free and leave the car for the week for our Westerdam cruise.

[QueenGlassHalfFull]

When we were in Rome two years ago (after a HAL Med cruise), we arranged for a private car to drive us from the port to our hotel in Rome. While public transportation is much cheaper, it can be very difficult to find your hotel in Rome once you get off the train. Many of the hotels are on side streets and are virtually invisible if you don't know what to look for. After you book a hotel in Rome, check with the concierge or hotel manager about getting a private car from the ship to the hotel. It cost us about $100 but was well worth it. Also, while in Rome, we did several tours with Presto Tours. Their web-site is at www dot prestotours dot com. Presto Tours offers private or very small group (there were only 5 of us on the tours that we did) tours with English speaking guides. Our guide had a Masters in Art History and was exceptional during our tour of the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel.

 

Rome is a magnificent city. You can't go wrong no matter what you do.

[scdreamer]

If you've never been to Europe, you are in for a treat. Be aware that it can be overwhelming, though, so pace yourselves accordingly.

 

If you are thinking of a little extra time in Rome, you would be wise to look into renting an apartment. There are many sites online that are trustworthy - we have used VRBO and Homeaway many times, in Rome and in many other European cities. The cost of an apartment may be less than that of a hotel in the same area, and you could extend your stay for four or five days instead of just a couple, at the same price. Two days in Rome is really not enough, in my opinion.

 

The main advantage to having an apartment is that you will have a kitchen. Eating out in Rome is expensive. Regardless of the current value of the Euro, you may be shocked to discover that a couple cups of coffee can easily run the equivalent of $15 or so. A simple lunch of pasta and salad with a couple glasses of wine - easily $100. Unless you buy your food from the deli-style shops, eating out in Rome is crazy. Once you are off the cruise ship, you will have to figure out your meals.

 

With a kitchen, you can have a couple meals at "home" and enjoy your lunch or dinner out.

[fuzzywuzzy]

Hello: Does anyone know anything about the Roman Terrace B&B? Thinking about reserving there.

[fuzzywuzzy]

If you've never been to Europe, you are in for a treat. Be aware that it can be overwhelming, though, so pace yourselves accordingly.

 

If you are thinking of a little extra time in Rome, you would be wise to look into renting an apartment. There are many sites online that are trustworthy - we have used VRBO and Homeaway many times, in Rome and in many other European cities. The cost of an apartment may be less than that of a hotel in the same area, and you could extend your stay for four or five days instead of just a couple, at the same price. Two days in Rome is really not enough, in my opinion.

 

The main advantage to having an apartment is that you will have a kitchen. Eating out in Rome is expensive. Regardless of the current value of the Euro, you may be shocked to discover that a couple cups of coffee can easily run the equivalent of $15 or so. A simple lunch of pasta and salad with a couple glasses of wine - easily $100. Unless you buy your food from the deli-style shops, eating out in Rome is crazy. Once you are off the cruise ship, you will have to figure out your meals.

 

With a kitchen, you can have a couple meals at "home" and enjoy your lunch or dinner out.

 

Yikes, I'm overwhelmed now. I don't think I will attempt renting. I need to get to know the lay of the land first. I've been looking at the Roman Terrace B&B online. Seems like reasonable rates and nice looking - good reviews and near some of the sights. Heard of it? After coming off a cruise, we might be in need of a diet anyway. lol. But hopefully the locals can direct us to good places to eat without it requiring huge amounts of money.

[fuzzywuzzy]

If you decide to drive down to Ft. Lauderdale, there are hotels that will let you leave your car for free for up to 30 days - depends on hotel. Stay123.com is a good site to find the hotels. We are using Marriot points to stay for free and leave the car for the week for our Westerdam cruise.

 

Thank you. Yes, I am going to try and find a hotel in Ft. Lauderdale that will allow us to park for free. I'm sure we did that before and found an incredible deal through Priceline.com.

[mountainmare]

Warning!!!!

If you are planning on booking a hotel you must book through one of the park sleep fly websites. If you book through priceline, hotwire, LMT etc you will charged per day. I was going to book Cambria for our cruise usung AmEx points. Fortunately I called in advance to ask about parking and was told that if I did not book through one of the parking websites they would charge me per day. Go to the Florida departures board for more info and first hand experiences for where to get a stay and park hotel.

Again, if you are a Europe newbie get the Rick Steves books, tons of user friendly advice. I am not always a RS fan but think he writes the best beginners books.

[SwissMyst]

Hello: Does anyone know anything about the Roman Terrace B&B? Thinking about reserving there.

 

Mixed reviews mainly for the possible noise and interior disturbances, but it has a lot going for it also for price and location. I'd keep looking:

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187791-d1993060-Reviews-Roman_Terrace-Rome_Lazio.html

[Spinner2]

I would second the advice to get Rick Steves new Mediterranean cruising book but remember that while he's a seasoned guide, leader, and knowledgeable writer about the areas he covers, he's new to day trips for cruisers. At least he seems new; his information about several points of information about ship life are just plain wrong. Don't use him for that; use his suggestions for how to use your days in port. That's his expertise. The Mediterranean book for cruisers is his first in that series so keep that in mind; if the information conflicts with other guidebooks I think I'd investigate further. I know though, even in areas abroad where we've just used his regular guide books we've come up with many good ideas and deals we wouldn't have found otherwise. I really like his walking maps.

 

I'd also recommend looking up each of the ports in the Cruise Critic ports section of this website; we always get a lot of good information there.

 

Look for videos that show the ports where you're going; you can learn a lot that way. Rick Steves has them, other guide services do too and you may be able to borrow them at your local library; I know we can here.

 

We always make a Google map of our cruises and then link information from each port there so we have all of that information in one place. As local conditions change those websites will update themselves so you don't have to.

 

Planning ahead, booking anything you know you'll want tickets for (and often they are cheaper online), and generally getting familiar with the public transpotation makes the time until your cruise go faster and you'll learn so much!

[scdreamer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fuzzywuzzy

Hello: Does anyone know anything about the Roman Terrace B&B? Thinking about reserving there.

 

It's near the Termini - not the greatest neighborhood after dark.

[fuzzywuzzy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fuzzywuzzy

Hello: Does anyone know anything about the Roman Terrace B&B? Thinking about reserving there.

 

It's near the Termini - not the greatest neighborhood after dark.

 

 

Thanks. Good to know. Maybe I'll let this one go. Any other suggestions? Someone recommended the Hotel Golden but it seems it is all booked for the time I need. We would like to get something with a shuttle to and from airport as HAL will be transferring us there.

[RMLincoln]

If you want to see the Sistine Chapel get your reservations on line before you go, weeks before you go. It was very easy and ever so worth the small booking fee; reservations, IMO, are essential. There was a 4 hr line when we were there in October but with our reservation we were able to show our print-out at the head of the line and we walked right in. You will learn through your research that to see the Chapel you must walk through the majority of the museum and it will take at least 30 minutes to get to the Chapel even if you don't stop to look at anything, and if you are interested in the exhibits allow plenty more time.

 

We did not stay in Rome as we were on port call (we stayed in Tuscany and Florence prior to cruising westbound). We walked in Rome so have good shoes. We downloaded Rick Steves free audio tours onto MP3 players and listened to them while we toured certain sites - see the Rick Steves website. They helped a lot as we didn't have private tours, we were on our own there.

 

One strategy is to take a tzxi from your hotel to the sites of the day and walk your way back to the hotel. You can find a taxi back to your hotel if you are tired but they are only available at taxi stands so you will need a good map. The rail system is not designed for tourist sites but for commuters; the busses can be very slow, walking can be faster, same for the hop on hop off bus where all you see may be the bus itself. OK that's an exaggeration.....I move on.

 

Do whatever you have to do within your comfort level to protect your valuables from pickpockets - we wore under-garment type security "pockets" and bought pants from REI with security pockets.

 

Do pack as light as you can. You may need to haul your own luggage up and down stairs. We had never packed so light in our lives and di just fine (did some laundry on board plus washed out a few articles as needed in Italy). Each of us had 1 roller carry on bag max size, 20"? with expandable zipper that we could squish down if needed, plus a shoulder tote each which fit on the roler bag for easier movement. We were gone 30 days. DH wore his suit coat on the plane and whenever in transit; I used slinky slacks and a few lacy tops for formals on the cruise. 1 pair good walking shoes that could be worn to MDR on casual nights, and1 pair dress shoes for formal nights, plus flipflops for the hot tubs (I think I squeezed in a pair of sneakers for a change in case I had an issue with the walking shoes, but it soulds like you won't be touring more than 2-4 days so may not need even that). We were not there to make a fashion statement and I'm ever so glad we packed light and smart for this particular trip.

 

Expect rain, so we had light rain jackets and umbrellas and used them a lot.

 

Have a cell phone that will work in Europe.

 

Get your Euros in Europe at regular bank ATMs - easy and best rates.

 

Learn a bit of Italian if you can. I bought an inexpensive audio CD called Rush Hour Italian and could at least understand how to ask about trains and catch on to the numbers - time, room numbers, train platform numbers, prices, etc.

 

Enjoy the pizza, gelato and the wine. We would stop in small grocery stores for food for a sack / picnic lunch ( I brought a couple of plastic spoons and a plastic knife for cutting cheese which is wonderful there, and a corkscrew). Smile as often as you can and you'll make friends. Have a fabulous trip. Ciao bella! m--