Roll Call--7/13/2008--Rome to Barcelona--Windsurf

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This will be our first cruise so we won't have anything to compare it to.

 

By the reaction of some of the posters on this forum it may be good that we have no other cruise experience.

 

Anyway, we are looking for suggestions on shore excursions during this trip. Something that's, "not so typical..."

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For those of you who have done this trip before...any suggestions on shore excursions?

[6rugrats]

You do not need to pay for the overpriced ship's excursions. I suggest you do some research on your own and decide what you would like to see. Go to the "ports of call" section on this webpage, and you will find many suggestions. Also, check out each city on tripadvisor.com. Lots of information there.

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I absolutely wasn't planning on using Windstar as a "middleman" for the activities...

 

I have visited Tripadvisor and received some decent advice on shore excursions...I have also read up on the cities that we will be visiting.

 

Like I said, this is our first cruise and we were just wondering if anybody could provide some helpful tips that are relevant to this itinerary that may not be on TA or in travel books.

 

From reading the posts on Cruise Critic it seems like a lot of you have sailed before with Windstar (and other vessels) and I thought I could get additional information from you all.

[laurelguy]

You will have a ball! Glad you're doing your first cruise on a small ship. Just did that exact itinerary in May. Rome to Barcelona. Less people then, so you may sail full. Either way, you'll love the Amalfi Coast and Spain. I've done Windsurf twice now and although there have been changes, it's still a great cruise. Not exqusite food but passable. The crew is extremely friendly. The bridge is open for visits and the Captain is a fun Brit. The entertainment aboard is just fair but who goes sailing for that.

 

Once you leave Rome, you're on the way to Amalfi and it's glorious. Do the excursions to Pompeii or Positano if you're inclined. I'm more one for ditching the bus trips. There's a cheap ferry to Positano from Amalfi. There are also cars to hire. Check tripadvisor. Just don't miss Positano. My tip: take the water taxi to Il San Pietro for lunch. One of the most fabulous hotels in the world. The ship will move to Sorrento in the afternoon. Capri is the next day and you HAVE to see the Blue Grotto. Again, there are boat trips from the Marina and you can go on your own. Great restaurants in Capri or take a harrowing bus ride to Anacapri and shop/eat there. Your next day is at sea. Lay in the sun. Have a drink. Chill out. The lunch buffet on the ship is better than the dinners in my book. The breakfast spread is good, too.

 

Then it's off to Minorca. And then Majorca. Both great islands and fun to explore. Either on the ship's excursions or on your own with a driver. (My choice)..Last day is Tarragona. When I was there in early May, a rainstorm and hurricane winds kept us from exploring. Hopefully you'll do better. Last stop: Barcelona. What a city!

 

Does any of this help?

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just what i've been looking for!

 

thanks for responding...it's like pulling teeth trying to get some information from this message board...

 

again, great info!

 

 

i was going to take the train from rome to the port...what do you think about that?

[schmidlapp]

just don't accept free coffee from strangers...... at the depot...

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..."No coffee from strangers..." I don't get it :confused:.

[schmidlapp]

check the news, google rome train station drugging, robbery and unfortuanely dead victim run over by train after stumbling on tracks....

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I've researched the cities that we'll be stopping in...

 

Is it pretty easy to quickly get off of the boat...find a bus, train, or taxi...and get on with some "shore excursions"?

 

Again, I don't plan on using the ships coordinated itinerary for the excursions...I'm just wondering if I can do everything "on the fly" (ad lib) or should I look into pre-arranging some activities with the locals (via the internet) I guess.

 

What do you think?

[laurelguy]

First up, I don't know about the train from Rome to the Port. I know people do it, though. Not sure if budget is an issue, but 2 ideas. You can get a taxi or car service and go WHEN YOU WANT. I've used DRIVERINROME and loved them. Look them up. The boat boards after 1pm. It'll cost you over 2 or 3 hundred dollars. The cruise line runs a bus from the PRE-CRUISE hotel and you can BUY a transfer. That's pretty cheap.

 

As far as adventures "on the fly"..be careful. In the summer those ports are a mob scene. Yers, you can get a taxi and zip around. Or rent a car (in advance)...again, if you like adventure, jump on the cheap ferry in Amalfi and go to Positano. The ferries run pretty regularly. And cheap. Their kiosk is on the dock.

 

Good luck and ciao!

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how do you figure out the "pre-cruise hotel"?

[laurelguy]

Call your TA or Windstar on this. There's a pre-cruise package you can buy that includes hotel and transfer to the port. Sometimes it makes sense to go that route. Good luck!

[lisabrackett]

Hi!

 

My husband and I are going to be taking a car from Rome to the port to catch the Windsurf July 13th departure. We we wondering if anyone would be interested in "splitting" a car? The fees seem much more reasonable when divided by 4.

 

Let me know if you are interested.

 

Thanks!

 

Lisa

[6rugrats]

how do you figure out the "pre-cruise hotel"?

 

You asked several questions. We have taken the train from the port into Rome. It's fairly easy, so I don't imagine taking the train from Rome to the port is any different. Just remember, you will have to handle your baggage yourself and the train can be fairly crowded, and there may be many stairs you have to climb at the train station. Also, if you need to use the restroom at the station, bring small coins (don't remember what it costs) because you will have to pay.

 

For precruise hotels, unless you don't feel confident enough to make reservations yourself, or you just like to throw away money, IMO, don't use Wind Star. You will pay a fortune for something you can easily do yourself. We always stay at Anne's Place, a B&B outside of Rome. She can pick you up at the airport and then take you to the ship. Check out her ratings on tripadvisor.com. You can use tripadvisor or venere.com to find accomdations in Rome. Read people's reviews carefully.

 

You will have absolutely no problem doing these cities on your own. Even in the middle of summer, we found plenty of taxis, if that is what you want. Lots of english speaking cab drivers who will offer to take you on tours. If you want to do this, it's good to have a general idea of where you want to go. Settle on a price with them; it should be far less then what the ship would charge you for a similar excursion. Get to Capri as early as you can, as that place is a zoo in summer. Do the tram up the mountain first and then do the Blue Grotto, if you want to see it; we didn't care.

 

Even though the ship will have (at least they did when we were aboard) information on getting to Pompeii on your own, you will not have enough time, due to the train schedule. If you want to go there, you will have to book this excursion through the ship, if it's offered.

 

In Amalfi just take the earliest ferry to Postiano as it is a charming town. Keep track of the time, as you won't have much to spend here. You will enjoy just walking around and maybe having a cup of coffee.

 

Mahon, we just went ashore and walked around. Barcelona is a fabulous city and I hope you are not leaving immediately, as it's one of my favorites on your intinerary.

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starting to get some really good info from this message board...i like that!

 

i think we're leaning toward just taking the train from rome to the port. It should be pretty simple, besides my girlfriend has never been on a european train so it'll be a chance for her to see how most of the europeans get around.

 

back to one of my original questions... how do you "frequent cruisers" go about planning your shore excursions. I came home today and my girlfriend tells me that perhaps we should just use windstars' organized tours (she was on the computer "for four hours" researching tripadvisor and windstars site).

 

She says that yea we'd save some money but is it really worth "the hassle" finding our own way around? ...we usually travel around the world and pretty much just "wing it" but we usually aren't on time constraints (like we will be on this cruise).

 

Does anyone have specific names of companies (from some of these port cities) that I can have to research their itineraries and prices?

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where is everyone from?

 

us: we live in nashville, tn currently.

[nuvola9]

.....looking forward to going on Windsurf again on this rome - barcelona itinerary, except it should be a bit cooler in Oct; let me know if any others here are going on the 10/5/08

 

anyway, our last trip Barbados (southbound) in January was just great !

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I'm following "6 rugrats" advice and I just booked the Pompeii excursion through Windstar.

 

The rest of the ports we are gonna "wing-it" (unless there's some strong objections from you guys).

 

On trip advisor they said you can get from Trastevere (Roma, IT) to the port on the train for 4,10 Euro per person. The trip takes 1 hour 3 minutes. 10:54-11:57

 

http://www.trenitalia.it Click "English" in the top right corner

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do most people take shore excursions at every port?

 

do some people stay on the boat and chill while at port?

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Does anyone know how good the internet signal will be while cruising?

 

I'm considering bringing a laptop but don't want to if the signal is crappy...

[schmidlapp]

S L O W,

Its actually ok for e-mail but don't plan on sending or recieving large files...

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It was "o.k."

 

The good:

1. 300 people...I saw the great big boats that hold thousands and I would hate to be on one of those...

2. Breakfast and lunch buffets were pretty good. The continental b/f in a different area of the boat was where we usually went though. I must say that I didn't get on this boat for fancy food (which I hear is one of the trademarks of the Windstar vessels)...but I must say that the food was "good" nothing extravagant...it was "o.k."

3. Room was fine (1st deck)...the cabin dude "Rusi" was great and very personable.

4. Smiling faces everywhere from the underpaid boat workers.

5. Pretty decent fitness room (weights, rowing machine, several treadmill bikes, several eliptical bikes).

6. I liked the enormous collection of DVD's that you could take to your room and watch. It helped pass the day on that "day at sea" toward the beginning of the trip.

 

The bad:

1. No dinner buffet. For a boat that advertises itself as "low-key & laid back" I was hoping that I could just grab a quick salad or something and not have to "dress-up" for dinner (which inevitably will take 60+ minutes) at any of there restaurants. I didn't have anything else to do...I just was hoping to get done with dinner easier. Also it would be nice to have later dinner hours (they stop at 9:30pm).

2. Children. There were probably 10-15 teenagers on the boat with there parents. Tolerable, but unexpected.

3. It would have been nice to have water available around the boat for free...maybe those giant upsidedown jugs that dispurse water...I got tired of asking the bartenders to fill up our water jug. A 1 litre bottled water cost 7.19 USD on the boat.

4. Longer time at some of the ports...it seemed like we were always looking at our watch to see when we had to get back on the boat (especially in sorrento, capri). Terragona was pretty useless.

5. The entertainment (singers) were BAD! At the casino (which was o.k.) you can't help but to overhear this noise. Now I know what Simon Cowell means when he says, "you sound like a cruise ship singer".

 

Thats all for now...just some things on my mind...this isn't an all inclusive list...just a quick brain storming note.