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teddy

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Posts posted by teddy

  1. GTY is a Guaranteed Cabin.  It’s an option when booking to let Royal Caribbean chose your cabin.   You can chose the basic category….interior, ocean view, balcony, suite, but they place you in a cabin. 
     

    It’s typically cheaper (but not 100% of the time), however one must be satisfied with having a cabin anywhere on the ship.  No takesies backsies.   Occasionally there will be an internet post from someone who booked a guaranteed cabin and was dissatisfied with the cabin they got. 
     

    There are instances when people who were assigned their cabin and were able to call and get a different location, but the replacement cabin must be in the exact same category as the one assigned.  

  2. I dragged my wife up for a Battle of the Sexes in the Star Lounge on Voyager a couple years ago.  She was mortified at first, but then we both had a ball.  We participate in a lot more things ever since then. 
     

    I can’t get her to audition for Love and Marriage though….although she agrees we’d do pretty well.  I always take note of what she’s wearing just in case she ever changes her mind. 🙂
     

    We’re at 25 years married, but it’s the second go around for both of us…so technically we’ve each been married longer…😁

  3. We disembarked the day you embarked.

    Our cruise was chock full of extended families (ours included), and we felt like it was one of the best cruises we've been on in terms of how guests treated each other.  Everyone was incredibly friendly, waited for elevators to empty, and even waited for their turn at the Windjammer.  It was nice but kind of weird.

    Tons of kids though.  If you don't like kids on your cruise, don't cruise from Cape Liberty during one the school vacation weeks in the northeast.

    On a side note, we felt the MDR food was better than it's been over the past year.

  4. Disembarkation Day:

    We arrived in Civitavecchia early and were out of our cabin at 730.  We paid $72 each for the Royal Caribbean shuttle to the airport (FCO - Rome Fiumicino Airport).  While pricey, it was worth it to us for the simplicity of it all.  We walked out of the terminal and were immediately directed to the correct bus.  The bus ride was just under an hour.  The only thing for others to be aware of is the drop off was only at Terminal 2 and our flight left from Terminal 3.  We had to lug our bags down to Terminal 3.  While not a big deal for us, if you have a lot of luggage or a hard time walking, things could be difficult. 

    We paid for Fast Track at the airport (14 € total) and breezed through security.  Our flight home was Rome --> Munich, Germany --> Boston.  We left Rome a bit late, but the aircrew told us we would get to Munich in time to go through the Schengen exit procedure and make our flight....and we did. The checkpoint was a breeze.

    It was funny...when we boarded the plane in Munich, the flight attendants thought my wife was German and started chatting with her.....just like people in Italy assumed she was Italian and started talking to her.

    We arrived in Boston on time and used the Mobile Passport Control lane.  While we moved much faster than the regular lanes, Global Entry had priority over us, so we had to wait for all the people with GE to be processed.  We will be getting GE before we go to Europe again this fall.

     

    Final thoughts:

    We absolutely enjoyed our first trip to Europe.  The internet makes things so easy to research so use it.  YouTube was a wonderful resource for us.

    For cell service/internet, we chose to not purchase a Voom plan.  Our cell carrier is ATT and we used their International Day Pass.  It was $10 per day for the first phone and an additional $5 for the second with a max 10 days worth of charges (no more charges in the billing cycle after that).  The International Day Pass allowed us to use our unlimited data/cell plan in every port. Having unlimited access to the internet was perfect for using things like Google Maps as well as getting an Uber in Lisbon.   Since we had a port every day, there was minimal time we did not have internet access. 

    We never felt unsafe anywhere, nor did we have issues with pickpockets.  We acted just like we would in any major US city.  I always practice situational awareness and strive to make myself look like the risk is not worth the reward.  It's a mindset that anyone can have, so don't let fear keep you from seeing the world. 

    An important lesson we (ie my wife 😄 ) learned was it's worth the extra money for better airplane seats, especially if you're flying economy.  We flew TAP Air over and paid $50 each (on each flight) for better seats.  She was "okay" with the extra when I bought them.  The flights home were on Lufthansa, and better seats were $150 each (on each flight).  I played the long game and agreed when she said she thought it was too much.  Now I'm 6'4" and she's 5'2"....when we got off the plane in Boston, she asked me how the hell I managed to make it seven hours in that !$#%^& seat cause she was miserable. My gamble paid off, and we are now flying BA Premium Economy on our flights to/from London this fall.....and yes, I was absolutely and utterly MISERABLE on the flight from Munich to Boston, but sometimes ya gotta do things to get what you want. 😇

    English was pretty much universal everywhere we went, but other than Venice, people in Italy seemed to appreciate my limited Italian.  Even in Croatia and Greece, Italian was common (although English was fine).  I would recommend learning at least the very basics of the language spoken at your destination.

    I'm not trying to start any debates with this, but our next trips to Europe are unfortunately not with Royal Caribbean.  We found a smoking deal on a 7-night MSC northern Europe cruise in October of this year....$2200 for a Yacht Club balcony suite (Preziosa).  We also have another MSC cruise in May 2025..6-nights from Civitavecchia to Naples via Greece and Turkey...$1100 for an obstructed balcony (Divina).  We took a short 4-night cruise on Divina back in January due to having expiring flight credits as well as a hotel room on points, so we're comfortable going on MSC.  Feel free to ask any questions via private message since this is not really the place to discuss another cruise line.

    We're not totally traitors though...in Jan 2024 we are going on an 11-night southern Caribbean cruise on Odyssey, and in Sept 2025 we are doing a 9-night Spain cruise on Independence. 🙂

     

    Thank you all for your patience with me as I took entirely too much time to finish this post. 

    I'm certainly not looking for any sympathy, but if you're interested in what the health issue is that I mentioned, I'm having the procedure that is US insurance billing code 44140 done in less than a week.  It's a good thing and will take care of a couple uncomfortable issues I've been dealing with.

     

    Fair winds and following seas to all

  5. We stayed in Ravenna itself rather than in Porto Corsini.   
     

    We highly recommend the M Cub Delux B&B.  It’s a 15 minute walk from the train station, although there is a bus that could be taken.

    We had a room with a private bath and small balcony overlooking a courtyard.  It’s close to the old part of Ravenna with lots of choices for food and sightseeing.  
     

    The owner arranged for a private car to the port for us.  It was 40 €.  This is more than the Royal Caribbean bus from the train station, but we appreciated how simple it was and would pay for the private ride again. 
     

    We have decided that we want to go back to Ravenna and stay at the M Club again.  

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