Hotels on Italy Cruisetour

[suzyed]

Has anyone done a cruise tour that includes Venice, Florence and Rome who can tell us what hotels you stayed at?  Can you give us an idea of the quality of the hotel, locations and the meals that were included, please?
Thanks!

[riffatsea]

Hi. I am sorry that I cannot  discuss Princess hotels in Italy but I have been there5 times on land. There were so many lovely hotels and wonderful restaurants that I would not limit myself to those offered by Princess. The only meal I would include with a hotel res would be breakfast. I will be interested to hear about experiences of others who have used Princess hotels

[iancal]

Ditto.  Especially on the meals. 

 

Any time we have priced pre or post cruise hotels in Europe the cruise line price has been about double.   In one instance, Rome, not only was the price excessive but the location was poor. 

[suzyed]

13 minutes ago, iancal said:

Ditto.  Especially on the meals. 

 

Any time we have priced pre or post cruise hotels in Europe the cruise line price has been about double.   In one instance, Rome, not only was the price excessive but the location was poor. 

Thank you for your input...I agree there is lots to consider as far as hotels and restaurants.
The hotels I am asking about are part of a Princess CRUISETOUR, rather than simply a pre or post cruise hotel stay.  We have been to Italy several times as well and have chosen our own hotels.  
The hotels which include breakfast each day are part of the cruise tour.  After some half day tours we have time on our own for touring, lunch and dinner, so surely we will get to once again sample some of the wonderful restaurants in these marvelous cities!
I was trying to solicit info/opinions from those who have done the pre-arranged Princess Cruisetours "land" portions.

Edited September 18, 2020 by suzyed

[iancal]

We are heavy users of tripadvisor for accommodation reviews.  Not so much for dining.

 

You do have to be careful because there are sometimes suspicious reviews.  One can usually tell. Most often they are for smaller hotels, etc.

Edited September 18, 2020 by iancal

[d9704011]

2 minutes ago, iancal said:

We are heavy users of tripadvisor for accommodation reviews.  Not so much for dining.

 

You do have to be careful because there are sometimes suspicious reviews.  One can usually tell. Most often they are for smaller hotels, etc.

So are we.  I look at hotels that have lots of reviews and relatively recently at that.  For example, a hotel with 400 out of 450 4* or 5* reviews would likely (to me) be a better bet than one with 30 of 33 in the same range.  I know there’s nothing ‘scientific’ about it.

[iancal]

We travel internationally twice a year.  One type of hotel that we always try to avoid are those that cater to bus tours.  The few times that we have hit on one the service and the ambiance has not been the same.   There are some streets  Rome and Florence tourist areas where access by bus is either impossible or difficult hence they are not attractive to organized tours.  These are often primo tourist locations. 

 

  We typically stay at smaller family hotels, B&B's and on occasion religious institutions in Italy that offer tourist accommodation.  We avoid large NA  style hotels----had far too much of them in my business life.

Edited September 18, 2020 by iancal

[suzyed]

Ok, so again, I am looking for those with experience with Princess Cruisetour hotels.  
We are not picking our own hotels this time as we have done in the past.  I am just trying to get a little info on the hotels that Princess uses for the LAND portion of the CRUISETOURS!

Thanks to all who have responded so far.

[cherylandtk]

Suzy, no idea if they are using the same hotels as three years ago, but post #5 in this thread gives more info: https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2293257-princess-europe-cruisetours/?tab=comments#comment-49222371

[suzyed]

12 minutes ago, cherylandtk said:

Suzy, no idea if they are using the same hotels as three years ago, but post #5 in this thread gives more info: https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2293257-princess-europe-cruisetours/?tab=comments#comment-49222371

Thank you...that was helpful.  I was interested in getting information on the quality of the hotels.  (Don't want to be in some fleabag!  LOL)  I guess we will just have to wait until it actually happens (if it does) and maybe in the meantime someone who has done a Cruisetour more recently will be able to give me more insight!
😄

[caribill]

14 hours ago, suzyed said:

Ok, so again, I am looking for those with experience with Princess Cruisetour hotels.  
 

 

I have not been on an Italian cruisetour, but on the three Princess cruisetours we jave taken elsewhere, the hotel were always very good. No complaints from us.

[skynight]

Have you tried to contact Princess either directly or through your T.A.? I think they are the only ones at this time that may have information. It's possible they haven't settled on 2021 or 2022 contracts. My limited experience is that Princess selects higher end hotels. We stayed in very nice hotels on our Australia Princess cruisetour. 

[adstz]

We have not been to Italy but have done 3 Princess cruise tours in Alaska and Ireland. Alaska is different as they own their own hotels there. They are all very nice with decent restaurants. The hotels in Ireland were all very nice too. Mostly what I would consider 4 star with good restaurants too.

Once you book your cruise tour, go to your booking and look at the itinerary. I remember that the hotels were listed in the detailed itinerary maybe 6 months before you leave. My understanding is that when you book you are given a standard room automatically. Contact Princess (or your TA) to purchase an upgrade to your room.

We have never been disappointed by the hotel or its location.

[trvlwrld]

We have done 7 cruise tours with Princess...all of them had exceptional hotels...asia, australia, south america, egypt, israel, europe, africa...be sure to take a carry-on to use as your suitcase on the cruise tour section as they will store your big bags until you get on the ship ( no big bags allowed on the land portion).  They do a great job with food and hotels while on land!

[Tucker in Texas]

When we did our Australian cruise we considered doing it as a cruise tour.  Then we checked with Kensington Tours who custom did the same  things for us offered on the cruise tour and was cheaper.  It was, also, longer which covered the same things but was not as an intensive itinerary giving us more "rest time."  The tour company took care of everythng from our front  door to the ship for the cruise..  They made several changes for us and smiled while they did it.  We stayed in great hotels (Four Seasons in Sydney as an example), the guides were great, and, best of all, we weren't with bus loads of people.  You might want to check into them.

[azbirdmom]

Princess shows these hotels for their pre / post cruise stays in Venice and I would imagine that they would use the same for their cruise tours.

 

[suzyed]

17 hours ago, skynight said:

Have you tried to contact Princess either directly or through your T.A.? I think they are the only ones at this time that may have information. It's possible they haven't settled on 2021 or 2022 contracts. My limited experience is that Princess selects higher end hotels. We stayed in very nice hotels on our Australia Princess cruisetour. 

Good to hear!  I wasn't looking specifically for the names just the quality of the hotels.
Thanks!

[suzyed]

1 hour ago, azbirdmom said:

Princess shows these hotels for their pre / post cruise stays in Venice and I would imagine that they would use the same for their cruise tours.

 

Thank you!

 

[suzyed]

8 hours ago, trvlwrld said:

We have done 7 cruise tours with Princess...all of them had exceptional hotels...asia, australia, south america, egypt, israel, europe, africa...be sure to take a carry-on to use as your suitcase on the cruise tour section as they will store your big bags until you get on the ship ( no big bags allowed on the land portion).  They do a great job with food and hotels while on land!

Thank you!  Great to hear this....just what I was looking for!!

[suzyed]

13 hours ago, adstz said:

We have not been to Italy but have done 3 Princess cruise tours in Alaska and Ireland. Alaska is different as they own their own hotels there. They are all very nice with decent restaurants. The hotels in Ireland were all very nice too. Mostly what I would consider 4 star with good restaurants too.

Once you book your cruise tour, go to your booking and look at the itinerary. I remember that the hotels were listed in the detailed itinerary maybe 6 months before you leave. My understanding is that when you book you are given a standard room automatically. Contact Princess (or your TA) to purchase an upgrade to your room.

We have never been disappointed by the hotel or its location.

Thank you...good advice!!  

[adstz]

18 hours ago, trvlwrld said:

We have done 7 cruise tours with Princess...all of them had exceptional hotels...asia, australia, south america, egypt, israel, europe, africa...be sure to take a carry-on to use as your suitcase on the cruise tour section as they will store your big bags until you get on the ship ( no big bags allowed on the land portion).  They do a great job with food and hotels while on land!

 

That is not necessarily true. On all 3 of the cruise tours we have taken with Princess we have kept our regular suitcases with us. My husband and I each have a 30" wheeled suitcase. They are pretty big. We had no problems taking them with us. On the first tour we took I did pack our formal night clothes into a hanging suitcase and handed that over at the beginning. It was in our cabin when we got on the ship a week later.

 

[skynight]

19 hours ago, adstz said:

 

That is not necessarily true. On all 3 of the cruise tours we have taken with Princess we have kept our regular suitcases with us. My husband and I each have a 30" wheeled suitcase. They are pretty big. We had no problems taking them with us. On the first tour we took I did pack our formal night clothes into a hanging suitcase and handed that over at the beginning. It was in our cabin when we got on the ship a week later.

 

I think it depends. In Italy where travel will by land, probably different guidelines & choices than what we experienced in Australia where travel was mostly by air. We were restricted to a standard carry on and a small bag. We found our large bag in our cabin on boarding.