teddy

We sailed Anthem on 2/17/24 in a gty cabin.  We found out our cabin number about a week after we checked in (45 days prior to the cruise date). 

We have guaranteed cabins booked for Odyssey in Jan 2025 and Independence in Jan 2026.  I don’t expect to be assigned cabins until we check in. 

We decided the area we wanted to cruise to, then looked at ports in that area, then researched the cruise lines that went to those ports....then we looked for the best value for our needs.

Sometimes it's been Royal, sometimes it hasn't been Royal. 

Seems tight to me. 

We ended in Civitavecchia last October and even on a Sunday, it was a solid hour to get to the airport.

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.

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

Day Seven

Day Six

Day Five

Day Four

24 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I hope all is well with you! I will be thinking about you...

Thank you very much.   

My QOL should drastically improve...which will make time for more cruises.

Ok, I've been able to start up again.  I know it's way behind, but I hate leaving things undone.  I have surgery on 3/12, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish it before then, but I will complete the trip eventually.

Short cut to newest reply

Sorry I haven't finished this, or even been around to yell at for not finishing it.  Some personal things took precedence.  I will go ahead and add to it as I have time and energy.

Thanks!

We have three gty cabins booked.  First one sails Feb 17.   
 

We are not concerned in the least.  If we get within a week to ten days of sailing and have no assignment or muster station assigned, we will ask our travel agent to look into it. 

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.  

53 minutes ago, Cactus527 said:

75°? Our house stays at 81°with a/c all summer. I would freeze at 75°!

My wife and I are the polar opposite (see what I did there? )

In the winter, we have to be careful because the wood stove will drive us out. Many are the times we’ve opened a window to let some heat out. 

We were on Vision pre-pandemic and the cruise director did the Michael Jackson Thriller dance with a bunch of guests.  They practiced in the Centrum during the cruise, so it wasn't a surprise, but it was a lot of fun to watch....both the practices and the final show.

Seeing that guy (who looks to be part of that family) just holding his pfd is frustrating.  
 

Put the damn thing on idiot. 

1 hour ago, Mark_A said:

I leave my apple watch at home and wear a mechanical

My watch is analog and I keep it at ship’s time. My wife will occasionally argue with me about what time it actually is because her phone is set to adjust to the local time zone. 

7 hours ago, Cactus527 said:

If I was a cruise director, I'd give out actual prizes for winning things. 

Wait a minute….I like the chance to replace my old highlighters and keychains. 

That would be too close for my comfort level  

Everything hinges on the ship being cleared immediately and getting off by 7.  

Thanks for the recap of getting to Southampton.  We booked flights to Heathrow for 2024 and are planning on taking the bus to Southampton as well. 
 

We don’t have the time for more than two nights prior to our cruise so we’re going to head straight to Southampton from Heathrow.  We feel that one day in London wouldn’t be enough, and we hope to have more time for London when we go back in 2025. 

Too soon??

On 11/8/2023 at 9:47 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:

I would love to book one of the Euro cruises but the airfare has me scared.  I think we're just going to stick close to home for now.

My wife and I decided we'll eat the $100 pp change fees and cruise closer to home if airfare in 2025 is beyond our reach.  We were able to score one of those corner balconies on deck 7 with the larger balcony on Independence, and Spain is on the bucket list, so our fingers are crossed that we can swing it.

We just booked flights to Southampton yesterday for our cruise in October 2024....way more than we wanted to pay, but still within our total budget.  After flying home from Italy cramped in economy, with iffy connecting flights, we paid extra for premium economy and non-stop flights.  The jump to premium came just short of doubling the airfare.

Edit:  Actually booked flights to Heathrow for a cruise out of Southampton.

Nothing at CocoCay dropped for our February '24 cruise on Anthem, but I didn't expect anything to.  The week we are going is vacation week for many schools in the northeast.  While I personally don't like the prices, I understand why they are so high.

56 minutes ago, teddy said:

We just booked refundable flights.  It cost more, but there's a piece of mind attached to that extra cost. 

lmao

Thankfully we booked refundable/changeable because going back and forth deciding which day to fly out of Boston, I ended up entering the wrong day when I completed the booking.