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Yes, would definitely recommend the Doubletree Rome Monti we stayed in! Here was our review: Also, I didn't mention this in the review but it was less than a 10 minute walk to Rome Termini station as well if you wanted to use trains to get around. We didn't for a variety of reasons (my mom's issues with walking as well as a train strike the weekend we got on OY), but it is very well located for that if you want to! We did walk over there once for the Sephora when my mom realized something she forgot to pack. Let me know if you have any questions! - Ashley

Yesterday another med evacuation, this time from the peer. I hope it was the last time. Some good news , someone got a 32000 jackpot in the casino, the bad news , it's not me .

And amazing how all the chef's on all the ships think the same all the time ...

Hi All! Back on the morning of Day 11 (a sea day) to finally talk about Day 9: Santorini Day! Sorry for the delay, had 2 early mornings and long days in a row. On day 9, we had a tour meeting time of 7:25am in the theater so we each did what we needed for breakfast to be good for the day, I went to 270 and grabbed a bagel. And then it was off to the theater to wait for ships clearance. Once we got ships clearance, they started calling numbers for shore excursion only tenders to Athinios and we boarded I believe the second tender over to the shore excursion port: (Norwegian Epic that was not scheduled to be there as seen from our tender) (Marella Explorer, the former Celebrity Galaxy, as seen from our tender, we do have a story from her, our cabin got flooded! I guess that could be told another time haha) Once we made it to Athinios, we boarded our bus for our shore excursion, "Pyrgos Village with Mezes and Wine". Then we had the very interesting switchback roads up the island: (View from our bus ride) On the way to our first stop, we saw the first grape vines we would see on the island. It is very interesting how they grow them in Santorini since they grow them flat: Then we had a photo stop on the highest point of the island: Then we headed to Pyrgos village where we spent a little more than an hour. We had the option there to climb to the top to see the church with our guide or stay in the lower part of the town. We all opted to stay in the lower part, grab a coffee, and relax a bit. My mom could not have done the climb and when I saw the first part of the cobblestone stairs, I decided not to go since I knew what lied ahead for me the next day in Athens. Some photos I got there: (The church part of our group climbed up to) Then we headed off to the Venetsanos winery for our wine tasting and snacks. As we pulled in, we could see the Regent Ship, the Seven Seas Voyager, sailing in from the distance: We then had a short wait for another tour before we were seated for our wine tasting and snacks: (We tasted a dry white wine, a dry red wine, and a sweet dessert red wine) By the end of the tasting, the Regent ship had made it into position for tendering: A picture of us at the winery: Then we drove to Fira, our final stop on the tour! From there, our guide, he told us at the beginning to call him "F" (he said it would be easy to remember, think of the American curse word, ), he told us his actual Greek name but it was very difficult to pronounce, anyways, he led us from the bus stop uphill to the pedestrian zone in Fira. There really was nothing in this port that was flat, so it was a good thing we made sure my mom was well rested. (Oh yeah, we were number 12 for the 3rd time on this cruise ) Once in the pedestrian zone, he explained the cable car system, showed us where to get the cable cars and gave us our cable car vouchers. From there, the tour was effectively over and we were free to explore Fira on our own. It was shortly after noon at this point, we had about a 20 minute walk to the cable cars, and we heard the line for the cable cars would start to grow significantly at 1pm (especially given the additional ship in port, more reason to dislike the ugly NCL Epic ) so we opted to go straight there, albeit with a few quick stops inside various stores along the way. Sign with a map of the island at the cable car station: We waited in line about 30 minutes for the cable cars. Views from the cable cars once we finally got on them: (I ended up in a separate car from my parents so they snapped this picture) (The cable car station at the bottom in Skala, the old port) We made it back to the ship at about 1:30 so no surprise at this point, we headed to Coastal Kitchen for lunch: Then we once again had Siesta time before dinner in once again, Coastal Kitchen: (Same menu as night 1 and we all got the same appetizers and entrees so no need to post anything new there) (I did get a picture of the dessert menu this time, and we did get some different desserts) View of the sunset in Santorini from Coastal Kitchen with Fira all lit up: Overall, Santorini was beautiful. It is definitely not an island for someone will any mobility issues, there are steps everywhere to get on and off the cable car, in town, etc. My parents are both very glad they saw it when they did. We did hear from some people who chose to walk up that the stairs up are completely covered in Donkey poo making them even more slippery so just a heads up if you decide to make that climb. We also heard someone on the Epic fell on the steps and broke their ankle that day so also be aware. They were rushing down to meet their all aboard since theirs was earlier and a crew member we are friends with on here said they helped them call for help and they were likely not making their ship at that point. Anyways, my mom said she got her "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" moment but admitted that Mykonos was also just as beautiful and a little more accessible (still not devoid of stairs in the winding streets in town but didn't have the cliff aspect). She is very glad she made it as this was on her bucket list. The only regret is we didn't pick a tour that went to Oia to see the windmills but I heard it was very crowded there that day and Pyrgos was pretty quiet so that might have been a good thing. Also, just the logistics of a shore excursion in Santorini do make this port a lot easier as you get to take a bus ride up and you don't have to line up very early for tender tickets (although all the shore excursions met pretty early so it might be a wash there). I would probably recommend a shore excursion for anyone's first time in Santorini because of the logistics of everything. Anyways, there is (finally) my discussion on Santorini. The next day, yesterday now, was Day 10 and we were docked in Piraeus (Athens), Greece. My parents made the decision a couple days ago that they no longer wanted to do Athens, they needed a break from shore excursions. We were booked on a panoramic tour, "Ancient Athens, Plaka, and Shopping", and when we went to cancel them, the suite concierge talked me into changing my tour as well if I was going to go alone as I wouldn't get much out of the panoramic tour. This was the tour we changed a few weeks before the cruise after my mom's fall and we originally had "Acropolis, Plaka and Lunch at the Famous Bairaktaris Tavern" so I went to book that one again and found out it had significantly increased on price on board, it as now over $300 a person and we had it booked for well less than $200 a person so me being me (and being a bit cheap), I booked a similar tour that didn't have the sit down lunch and was much less money, it was also 2 hours longer as it included the museum for a total of 7 hours and 15 minutes scheduled. All that to say, I ended up on "Acropolis Sightseeing, New Acropolis Museum with Plaka Free Time" that had a meeting time yesterday of 7am, it was literally the earliest meeting time of all the tours in Athens . Anyways, that is why this got delayed. Hopefully I will get to posting about Athens later today since it is a see day. Now off to get ready for a relaxing sea day today! Thanks and TTYL! - Ashley

Day 3: Roatan, Honduras (CONT.) OK, back for a bit before bedtime… Costa Maya was cancelled because the wind and waves were too strong to dock. This was one port we were looking forward to since we’ve never been and we had booked a tour with Native Choice to see the Chacchoben ruins and Bacalar Lagoon. It will have to wait until next time. Native Choice was prompt e-mailing us to confirm our refund is in process (less than 3 hours after the visit was cancelled)! Let’s continue with early AM Promenade pics… Deck 5… This station is the only table they set up to sell shirts, booze, etc… keeps the Promenade clear of clutter! Now on to Deck 6… Morning offerings at the Pearl Cafe… Yes, the Pearl Cafe, like Cafe Promenade on Wonder (and other ships) sells a limited Starbucks menu included in the drink packages and Royal coffee cards… That’s it for now! It’s past 1:00 AM ship time and I’m wiped out again! Have a good night!

Explorer of the Seas -Day 5 Corfu, GR Exp cruisecompass day5.pdf

Vancouverite here, if you have any specific questions let me know. But some general stuff to do (I posted this on another posters question) You can check out Capilano Suspension bridge if you want a day outside, art gallery is downtown if you are into that. If the weather is nice and you are staying near Stanley park you can walk or rent bikes and go around the sea wall. Canada's best aquarium is also in Stanley Park. You can take an Uber all around downtown. Taking the Seabus to North Vancouver Lonsday Quay is really nice, its a 15 minute ferry ride that will cost you a few bucks, and once across there is a market, and some really nice breweries and restaurants! If you want to shop you can go to Robson Street, Granville also has shopping. Gastown is really cool, it's old town with cobble streets and fun restaurants and bars and some tourist shops. If you prefer more bougie then Yaletown is the place to go. You can go down to English Bay which is at the end of downtown and check out the beach, and if you want to let your inclusivity shine then Davie St is for you. Oh and going into the North Shore up to Grouse Mountain and taking the tram up it, you will find restaurants on top of the mountain as well as some awesome views of all of Vancouver and beyond. You'll be able to see Mount Baker in the states! hope you enjoy your stay!

It seems that you are expecting OBC. Very few of my bookings have OBC given to me. The only ones that I expect OBC is ones I book while I am on a cruise and the Next Cruise program supplies the OBC.

I see you already decided. Just a FYI ... The balcony that looks over Central Park will be quiet except for the string quartet that plays in the evening. You can watch people and have a good view of a park. The Boardwalk balcony will be much louder and is good for people watching. If you are at the back of the ship you will have a view of the ocean and can watch the Aqua show from your balcony. The ocean view will give you a view of the ocean. When you pull into port it can be noisy in the early morning.

The cruise I'm going on in August docks at 6am in Vancouver and my flight isn't until 11pm at night. My wife and I are going to have our luggage, anyone know of a place to store it for the day so we don't have to drag it around with us? Also, what are a few must-see/do things we should explore? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

A couple days ago I saved $300 on one of my cruises based on the California resident rate.

We've requested a specific room in the notes section and that has worked. But...our most recent interaction with the website left us waiting several days with no response. We ended up calling and booking to make sure we got the room we wanted. We now call and don't waste our time with redeeming online.

Both times we were at Terminal 5 in April, there were no gates when leaving at the end of the cruise. Unlike Terminal 1 where you may have to scan your receipt on leaving before the gate will open.

Just got off Symphony with a 10, 13, and 15yr old. They all had a blast and had plenty to do The 15yr old was off in the teen club with many others the entire trip. We basically only saw him on port days The 13 yr old was in teen club or the pool and she spent probably 50% of her time with us the other half with ppl she met in the club My 10yr old was with us about 80-90% of the time. Mostly in pools, hot tubs, hanging out on the board walk etc. She went to adventure ocean several times and enjoyed it every time. My wife thought she wouldn't have fun in adventure ocean, but she really did. It made her feel independent being with other kids and away from Mom and dad Advice, get internet package to txt with your kids. Don't try to plan too much, just go with the flow, they will find what they like. Don't poop in the pools... Apparently it's a thing on Icon, let's not make it a thing on Utopia.

We were just there at the end of April. We did an excursion through the cruise line, but there were tours available upon leaving the ship if you want to be more casual. It was a pretty easy port to get around in and tourists are welcomed. Enjoy!

No idea about number of passengers but when I was checking out prices yesterday doesn’t look like there are a heck of a lot of rooms available!

Looking for information re excursions on Ponta Delgado, Azores. Should we take one of RC excursions & if so, which one or will there be will there be public or private transportation on the island available at the port.

When they instituted MAW on Harmony last month, the wife was onboard and helped the CD with his "auctioneer" skills. She had been looking for a while for a new MAW T-Shirt for a friend and was happy to finally be able to get one. We also contributed to the cause through the purchase of a Harmony OTS model signed by her original Captain who happen to be filling in as temporary that week. We have have friends who's family has directly benefited from MAW and it is one of our favorites.

So development. ..... The room my brother and mother were in, is apparently uninhabitable. So they were moved to a promenade interior on deck 8. So I am now in the catty corner bowels by myself . I got my first towel animal. I also got the consecutive cruisers letter. There will be a lunch. I am currently sitting in the WJ listening to a tiny human screaming, while my brother eats his pre dinner.

Knowing my luck, Wonder's ELF won't have it in 19 days.

They were very high quality photos... but don't show me the sandwich counter... show me the sandwich (or crepe or pita or mac)!

Anyone know yet if this is a full cruise? Officially on vacation we took tomorrow off. An hour drive Thursday and heading straight to use my drink package!

Oh, good; because these cupboards are bare of food pics for @OCSC Mike.

PDCC was a fun mess, the seagulls are back being trifling. Stealing tiny humans food and fighting. It's so entertaining. So since indy was also there I got us a table in the shade at chill grill. My brother and mother went to snack shack. She was supposed to bring me a shack chicken, minus mayo only, and mozzarella sticks. She comes back with just a plain piece of chicken.........no bun, lettuce, pickle.....etc. She order and said "plain just the chicken." My brother said she ordered so confidently, he didn't say anything. Thankfully the chill grill had all the accessories I needed. The worst part is she opened hers and said " I thought they came on a bun?" Then she just started eating the chicken. A bonus was the steak is back for ELF and PDCC when it comes to tacos. Funnel cake was good but the softserve was sour, like it had curdled. It was a good thing I only put a little on my funnel cake. We ate and walked the island for a little then got back on the ship. So far no casino shenanigans. However they tried me. If you want to use the D+ internet and prime discounts, you will need to buy it separately. I was using the discount for the whole thing and then getting the 2 days discounted. But they won't do that. Anyhow. I went to the Crown Lounge. My mother came up to the deck attached to it, it's no longer blocked off. Instead you just use your card to access the lounge. So my grandmother is the queen of fringe. She said she would fringe some leggings for my casino outfit. She is convinced they provide better comfort because the shingles make a breeze. So here's a picture of them and my Croc sandals.

I have an account over there and entered my data, but my prices haven't updated since the first week in April (and they've definitely changed a few times). Anyone having issues?