Tina80 Posted July 22 #1 Share Posted July 22 Hi all, I am new to this forum and posted this in another thread and everyone advised me to post in this section to get more help. Here is the cruise that my 9 year old and I decided to book: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruises/itinerary/9-night-greek-isles-from-rome-civitavecchia-on-odyssey/OY09ROM-3670741210?sail-date=2024-10-01¤cy=USD&country=USA&search=startDate:2024-10-01~2024-10-31#step=0 I just clicked the button and purchased our first cruise! My nine year old is beyond excited. Now I have to buy the plane tickets and book the tours. We opted for 6 PM traditional dinner. Had some question please: 1. Do we have to tip for each time we eat at the main dining area? Since we paid the tip ahead of time when booking, is it awkward if we do not tip? I saw reviews that suggest we order everything we like and try different meals at each time. Is that common? Will they give us the look if we do? 🙂 2. We picked the 6 PM dinner time, what time can we go eat breakfast and lunch at that main dining room? 3. If we do not buy the internet package, how do we use the internet? Do we buy per member or one for the whole family? 4. I like soda and my daughter likes chocolate milk and juice, is it worth purchasing the drink package? 5. Can the bed in the room be separated into two twins? 6. Could you please recommend some tours for each port? There are so many options and it'svery overwhelming, I have been lurking on this forum and other travel forums taking as much note as possible. Thank you sooooo much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villageidit Posted July 22 #2 Share Posted July 22 Congrats, I really enjoyed my cruise on Odyssey. You do not have to tip each at the main dining room (MDR). Did you sign up for shared dining? We enjoy meeting new people and that's a great way. The app and the daily itinerary will have times for breakfast and lunch. MDR only serves lunch on sea days. If you don't buy the internet package there is no economical way to get service on board. Cellular at sea is very expensive and you should place your phone in airplane mode once you board. Are you spending additional time in Europe? A European sim card would be useful then. You can buy a one person/one device package and share the login. Only one device can be logged on at a time. You can also buy a one person/two device plan that is more economical than two individual plans. If you don't plan to drink a lot of alcohol I would stick with the soda or refreshment drink package. Yes you can request two twin beds configuration. Have a great cruise 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted July 22 #3 Share Posted July 22 You're not obligated to tip anything additional in the main dining room since it's already included in the gratuities. If you want to tip more you certainly may. Those that do tend to tip on the last night, though some also tip nightly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly333 Posted July 22 #4 Share Posted July 22 Milk is free, white or chocolate but juice is only free at breakfast. If she likes apple or orange juice grab a extra cup or two during breakfast and put them in the refrigerator in your cabin. Lemonade is almost always offered in the buffet for free during lunch and dinner and some kind of flavored water like guava or strawberry. I can make do with whatever is free. I'm doing the TA from port Canaveral and the leg after and it ends in rome or civitavecchia. So I've been researching too. Are you buying air2sea planefare and transfers or booking on your own. For the day I wanted to come home it was starting prices of $1510 so I'm booking airfare on my own. I've also got marked a couple of shuttles from the port to my hotel. I'm going to stay in rome a few extra days to see rome. I get 2 days of wifi (as a D+ perk) and will make due with them. Otherwise I wouldn't have wifi on the ship. Sometimes i might buy a extra 24 hours of wifi but not for the entire cruise. I do without wifi. When you board be sure you connect to the ships wifi and put your phone in airplane mode or it will try and roam and you might wind up with a huge bill. All the ships activities will be on the app, you dont need wifi to use the app. You can spend a lot on extras or very little, it's up to you. I havent booked excursions yet myself. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted July 22 #5 Share Posted July 22 5 hours ago, Tina80 said: 6. Could you please recommend some tours for each port? Welcome to CC. Search for your Roll Call thread or the ports of call section for excursion ideas. Other social media sites may also have ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly333 Posted July 22 #6 Share Posted July 22 2 hours ago, Biker19 said: Welcome to CC. Search for your Roll Call thread or the ports of call section for excursion ideas. Other social media sites may also have ideas. Im doing a similar cruise and my roll call seems silent on excursions. One said about getting up a group to go up a mountain or something hard to walk up never heard further and silence elsewhere. OPs cruise is this year. Mine isnt until next may. I checked a few days ago and half the excursions were already completely sold out. I was hoping for a smaller one in athens. Only saw one for 7 hours. Too long for me. I'm sure hoping more excursions added. And boy are they expensive. Much more $$$ than caribbean excursions. Or even to Panama. More comparable to alaska. Viator is mentioned for port excursions. Idk. Royal so far is pretty lame in this dept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine3601 Posted July 22 #7 Share Posted July 22 Yes, bed can be converted to 2 twins. Ask your room steward once you board. Depending on how much you drink per day you may want to buy the soda only pkg. Or you can bring a 12 pk of your own on boarding day. Coffee, tea (hot or iced), juices and milks are all included in your cruise fare. Plus as firefly said the buffet area called Windjammer, solarium bistro, parks cafe in the promenade always has flavored waters and lemonade. 270 cafe is also a great place for lunch or breakfast sandwiches. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine3601 Posted July 22 #8 Share Posted July 22 A cruise is a great place to try different foods at any of the venues. You can order multiple appetizers, entrees, deserts just note it can take a little longer as they usually bring one person at a time in the MDR. We love the omelet station in the buffet for breakfast. Dining times for breakfast will vary based on port arrival times and sea days. Buffet usually opens at 7 am and dining at 8 am for breakfast on sea days. The App will tell you the times. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NateUpNorth Posted July 22 #9 Share Posted July 22 (edited) 9 hours ago, villageidit said: If you don't buy the internet package there is no economical way to get service on board. Cellular at sea is very expensive and you should place your phone in airplane mode once you board. Are you spending additional time in Europe? A European sim card would be useful then. You can buy a one person/one device package and share the login. Only one device can be logged on at a time. You can also buy a one person/two device plan that is more economical than two individual plans. If you decide to look into this suggestion, there is EXTENSIVE discussion about SIM providers over in the "Canadian Cruisers" thread. Filtering through the posts that talk about how bad CAD cell plans are you'll find many descriptions and recommendations on Europe SIM cards that are available from online providers, so they will apply regardless of your home country. Edited July 22 by NateUpNorth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina80 Posted July 22 Author #10 Share Posted July 22 9 hours ago, villageidit said: Congrats, I really enjoyed my cruise on Odyssey. You do not have to tip each at the main dining room (MDR). Did you sign up for shared dining? We enjoy meeting new people and that's a great way. The app and the daily itinerary will have times for breakfast and lunch. MDR only serves lunch on sea days. If you don't buy the internet package there is no economical way to get service on board. Cellular at sea is very expensive and you should place your phone in airplane mode once you board. Are you spending additional time in Europe? A European sim card would be useful then. You can buy a one person/one device package and share the login. Only one device can be logged on at a time. You can also buy a one person/two device plan that is more economical than two individual plans. If you don't plan to drink a lot of alcohol I would stick with the soda or refreshment drink package. Yes you can request two twin beds configuration. Have a great cruise Thank you all for your very good tips and suggestions. I certainly learned a lot so far! - Where do I get the app that has daily itinerary from? Do they send an email ahead of time? - If I get the Europe SIM, will it also work on the ship? - What is a roll call? I am new to this whole thing 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina80 Posted July 22 Author #11 Share Posted July 22 2 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said: A cruise is a great place to try different foods at any of the venues. You can order multiple appetizers, entrees, deserts just note it can take a little longer as they usually bring one person at a time in the MDR. We love the omelet station in the buffet for breakfast. Dining times for breakfast will vary based on port arrival times and sea days. Buffet usually opens at 7 am and dining at 8 am for breakfast on sea days. The App will tell you the times. Thank you so much for your reply. On port days, if I have signed up for MDR at 6, what will happen if I am late? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina80 Posted July 22 Author #12 Share Posted July 22 32 minutes ago, NateUpNorth said: If you decide to look into this suggestion, there is EXTENSIVE discussion about SIM providers over in the "Canadian Cruisers" thread. Filtering through the posts that talk about how bad CAD cell plans are you'll find many descriptions and recommendations on Europe SIM cards that are available from online providers, so they will apply regardless of your home country. Thank you very much, so helpful. I will certainly look into this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina80 Posted July 22 Author #13 Share Posted July 22 (edited) 9 hours ago, firefly333 said: Milk is free, white or chocolate but juice is only free at breakfast. If she likes apple or orange juice grab a extra cup or two during breakfast and put them in the refrigerator in your cabin. Lemonade is almost always offered in the buffet for free during lunch and dinner and some kind of flavored water like guava or strawberry. I can make do with whatever is free. I'm doing the TA from port Canaveral and the leg after and it ends in rome or civitavecchia. So I've been researching too. Are you buying air2sea planefare and transfers or booking on your own. For the day I wanted to come home it was starting prices of $1510 so I'm booking airfare on my own. I've also got marked a couple of shuttles from the port to my hotel. I'm going to stay in rome a few extra days to see rome. I get 2 days of wifi (as a D+ perk) and will make due with them. Otherwise I wouldn't have wifi on the ship. Sometimes i might buy a extra 24 hours of wifi but not for the entire cruise. I do without wifi. When you board be sure you connect to the ships wifi and put your phone in airplane mode or it will try and roam and you might wind up with a huge bill. All the ships activities will be on the app, you dont need wifi to use the app. You can spend a lot on extras or very little, it's up to you. I havent booked excursions yet myself. Thank you so much for your reply. What is Air2sea plan fare? I have not purchased my plane tickets yet, for non-stop it costs around $1300. Also, sorry I didn't understand what you meant by TA from port Canavera 🙂 I am also planning to visit Rome so will be staying a couple of days there. Now if we are supposed to arrive a day or two early to Rome which means we have to book a hotel room, then if we plan to stay longer than means we have to book hotel rooms again, right? I guess it might make more sense to just arrive a couple of days earlier, book the hotel in Rome and tour the city, then get to the port and when the trip ends, go from the port to airport and fly back home. What do you think? I still have no clue how the logistic works for getting to port from Rome and port to the airport. Let alone the excursion... what if there is no excursion available for October? I am this close to panicking...:-( Edit - I googled the Air2Sea and now know what it is, it's more expensive than the flights I found on Expedia and looks like it doesn't let me pick days ahead of sailing as my departure date Edited July 22 by Tina80 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina80 Posted July 22 Author #14 Share Posted July 22 4 hours ago, Biker19 said: Welcome to CC. Search for your Roll Call thread or the ports of call section for excursion ideas. Other social media sites may also have ideas. Thank you so much, I had no idea there is a section for these! Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Kellie in Texas Posted July 22 #15 Share Posted July 22 You both have passports, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare 1025cruise Posted July 22 #16 Share Posted July 22 34 minutes ago, Tina80 said: Thank you so much for your reply. On port days, if I have signed up for MDR at 6, what will happen if I am late? You enjoy dinner at the buffet or a specialty restaurant if you can get in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiki and The Noush Posted July 22 #17 Share Posted July 22 I hope you have a wonderful first cruise! Not sure if you've traveled by other methods or not, just want to check and make sure you have passports. I hope you roll your eyes at me! Again, I hope you have a fantastic trip! We're doing the Med next year. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina80 Posted July 22 Author #18 Share Posted July 22 22 minutes ago, Kellie in Texas said: You both have passports, right? Yes, why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina80 Posted July 22 Author #19 Share Posted July 22 1 minute ago, Kiki and The Noush said: I hope you have a wonderful first cruise! Not sure if you've traveled by other methods or not, just want to check and make sure you have passports. I hope you roll your eyes at me! Again, I hope you have a fantastic trip! We're doing the Med next year. Yes, and visited Italy a couple years back among so many other countries. Had to get the passport renewed for my last trip so those are still valid 🙂 Do we need visa too? (US citizens) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiki and The Noush Posted July 22 #20 Share Posted July 22 1 minute ago, Tina80 said: Yes, and visited Italy a couple years back among so many other countries. Had to get the passport renewed for my last trip so those are still valid 🙂 Do we need visa too? (US citizens) Good to hear on the passports! I can't tell you how many times I've read on a board that someone is planning a trip and did not realize they need a passport. No Visa required as Italy is part of the Schengen Area. Enjoy your planning! That's half the fun for me 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly333 Posted July 22 #21 Share Posted July 22 30 minutes ago, Tina80 said: Thank you so much for your reply. What is Air2sea plan fare? I have not purchased my plane tickets yet, for non-stop it costs around $1300. Also, sorry I didn't understand what you meant by TA from port Canavera 🙂 I am also planning to visit Rome so will be staying a couple of days there. Now if we are supposed to arrive a day or two early to Rome which means we have to book a hotel room, then if we plan to stay longer than means we have to book hotel rooms again, right? I guess it might make more sense to just arrive a couple of days earlier, book the hotel in Rome and tour the city, then get to the port and when the trip ends, go from the port to airport and fly back home. What do you think? I still have no clue how the logistic works for getting to port from Rome and port to the airport. Let alone the excursion... what if there is no excursion available for October? I am this close to panicking...:-( Edit - I googled the Air2Sea and now know what it is, it's more expensive than the flights I found on Expedia and looks like it doesn't let me pick days ahead of sailing as my departure date That's why I booked direct. Air2sea wanted starting $1510 rome to orlando. I have a TA who can see fares other than the day I get off in rome. If I flew right back I could have for about $1000 one way. I'm doing a TA over so just need one way eventually to orlando. I downloaded viator app who has excursions. I booked one thru trip advisor but it also says viator so they must be the same company. If you just want transportation from the airport to the port and not round trip and not stay in rome royal will also have this sold separate. Sounds like you booked direct but call royal and they can tell you how much it costs for a shuttle. Prepare it's not that close. I have links to shared shuttles from the port. One is $75 pp the other is last minute, I dont think it says. I've been on the italy ports forum a lot. That's where I got my hotel. And even my hotel which lists it has a airport shuttle as a amenity, it's not free! In the states if a hotel says it has a airport shuttle I'm used to it being included. They want $86 per person. My cheap TA is now up to $5k and I have group rates and solo discount etc. Plus 4 nights in rome, plus excursions, plus shuttles. .. and I havent even booked excursions yet for my 23 days onboard. Here are the italy ports boards. .. there are similar for Mediterranean etc. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/464-italy-ports/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina80 Posted July 22 Author #22 Share Posted July 22 1 minute ago, Kiki and The Noush said: Good to hear on the passports! I can't tell you how many times I've read on a board that someone is planning a trip and did not realize they need a passport. No Visa required as Italy is part of the Schengen Area. Enjoy your planning! That's half the fun for me 🙂 Thank you so much! You're right, one might get so excited that they forget to renew their passport. That was me back in March when I was planning my trip to Turkey!! Had to get them renewed them so thank God for people like you on this forum. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina80 Posted July 22 Author #23 Share Posted July 22 5 minutes ago, firefly333 said: That's why I booked direct. Air2sea wanted starting $1510 rome to orlando. I have a TA who can see fares other than the day I get off in rome. If I flew right back I could have for about $1000 one way. I'm doing a TA over so just need one way eventually to orlando. I downloaded viator app who has excursions. I booked one thru trip advisor but it also says viator so they must be the same company. If you just want transportation from the airport to the port and not round trip and not stay in rome royal will also have this sold separate. Sounds like you booked direct but call royal and they can tell you how much it costs for a shuttle. Prepare it's not that close. I have links to shared shuttles from the port. One is $75 pp the other is last minute, I dont think it says. I've been on the italy ports forum a lot. That's where I got my hotel. And even my hotel which lists it has a airport shuttle as a amenity, it's not free! In the states if a hotel says it has a airport shuttle I'm used to it being included. They want $86 per person. My cheap TA is now up to $5k and I have group rates and solo discount etc. Plus 4 nights in rome, plus excursions, plus shuttles. .. and I havent even booked excursions yet for my 23 days onboard. Here are the italy ports boards. .. there are similar for Mediterranean etc. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/464-italy-ports/ very helpful, thank you. I have not booked my plane tickets or hotel yet. Was hoping to arrive in Rome, stay there a couple of days and then take the bus from Rome terminal to the port. I have been in Rome before and used their trains to multiple cities, very efficient and inexpensive so I will have to look up to see what their Rome to port bus costs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhillyFan33579 Posted July 22 #24 Share Posted July 22 4 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said: Yes, bed can be converted to 2 twins. Ask your room steward once you board. It’s much easier to call RCI before the cruise and let them know how you want the bed configured. They ask you how you want your bed configured if you book the cruise with RCI over the phone (I assume the same would be true if you used a TA, but I have never used one). On Celebrity you can change/update how you want the bed configured on their website. It would be nice if RCI added that feature to their website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dramamommao Posted July 22 #25 Share Posted July 22 2 hours ago, Tina80 said: If I get the Europe SIM, will it also work on the ship? Everyone seems to have helped with most of your questions...as far as cell use in Europe I suggest you check with your current providers potential coverage. It appears you are in Virginia so the SIM card thing may be unnecessary. I have Verizon for my cell and they offer a flat rate of $10 per 24 hrs while in most of Europe. This is only when you are on land or in port- not at sea. While on the ship you will need to purchase Wifi from RCI to use your phone in airplane mode when at sea (having a different SIM card will not bypass this). If you connect to the Cell-at-Sea service you will be paying a crazy amount! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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