MelKaps

I’m curious to know which Italy excursions you went on and your experience with them. Thank you!

I am on this sailing and already started a roll call here:

I booked Cinque Terre: Sail the Italian Riviera. I haven’t read any reviews yet and I sail a week before you do. I found a video of the excursion on YouTube from pre-pandemic, but I assume a lot changed since then.

I am sailing on Harmony in a couple of weeks and I filled it out for each guest, but made sure to also list each of us as family members traveling together. However, I am confused since Italy wants you to list them as the final destination even though we disembark in Spain. It seems very confusing especially since we have three ports of call in Italy.

Can you provide some more details and logistics on the temperature checks? Do you have to wait around in your cabin to get checked? What if you have an early excursion? Our Rome excursion meets before 8am.

Which tours did you book in Italy? Can you provide brief reviews on them? Thanks so much for all of your input. I sail on October 10.

Hi Everyone, I was wondering if anyone else is sailing on Harmony of the Seas on October 10, 2021 out of Barcelona? This will be my honeymoon cruise and I am very excited to sail again! Our last cruise was in October 2019 on Harmony, so it is funny how we are returning to the same ship exactly two years later. I am curious to which shore excursions people are considering in all three countries. I spoke to a representative of Royal Caribbean's Private Journeys this morning and she informed me that Private Journeys may not be offered due to ever changing protocols in Europe. If they are offered, it will be an existing shore excursion but for your own traveling party. She also hinted that Italy may be changing their guidelines in the next few days and all guests (regardless of vaccination) will need to book a Royal Caribbean shore excursion to disembark. Some existing excursions may be removed from the offerings as well. I expect everything to constantly change in the next couple of months so we just need to be flexible. Excited to meet fellow guests on this sailing (even the ones embarking in Rome). ?

I was originally booked on Odyssey on October 10 this year, but with cancellations and the pandemic, I booked Harmony of the Seas out of Barcelona on October 10, 2021. Honeymoon here I come! ?

I hope this will carry over to the other ships sailing this summer. From someone who doesn't purchase the drink package, it would be nice to redeem a free drink earlier in the day instead of waiting until ~4:30pm.

I understand that the testing and quarantine requirements will better align with CDC's guidance for fully vaccinated people, but I am interested to see the mask mandates onboard. This week the CDC announced that fully vaccinated people do not have to wear a mask outdoors, unless in a large crowd. For instance, will the cruise lines allow people to sit by the pool without a mask on? Definitely a lot of things to figure out.

As of now, Adventure of the Seas sailings from Nassau go through mid-September and Vision through August. I think Royal is waiting to see when cruises will restart from US. If they do not restart until the earliest November (hopefully it is sooner!), I think they will extend Adventure and Vision through the fall even if it is hurricane season. This also depends on how successful these summer sailing are. I am not booking any cruises from the US this year until it is definite that they are restarting.

Lifted and Shifted my Odyssey of the Seas sailing to September 11, 2022. The original sailing was supposed to be our honeymoon, but now we will celebrate our honeymoon and one year anniversary at the same time. ?

Waiting for tenders to disembark the ship at a port. This was especially problematic at CocoCay before Perfect Day at CocoCay. I haven't been to a port with tenders in several years, but the waiting period was the worst. One time we just missed the cut off for the tender and we were told to start boarding the next one. They had us waiting 30 minutes before it was completely full to leave. Our other party made the previous tender and had to wait for us. A few years ago on Grandeur, the line for the tender went down the entire hallway on Deck 2 and wrapped around to the other side of the ship.

I moved my 9 night sailing in October to an 8 night sailing in September 2022. Very similar itinerary, but no overnight in Athens. However, the taxes are tripled in 2022. I was paying ~$60 pp and it jumped to ~$180+ pp.

I really enjoyed the Rhino Rider and Snorkeling Tour. It was such a fun excursion, and we were fortunate that there was only one other family with us. I vlogged part of the excursion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcMDyyrIYZY