FionaMG

Divide it into individual portions and freeze them. Then you can enjoy it later.

Thanks very much for your kind words

MSC Preziosa* - 4th of July 2025 to Scotland and Iceland. *Ok, I know that's the competition but Royal have abandoned that route! And Celebrity want $$$$$. @Lovetocruise2002, don't worry, I'm not expecting this to go in the monthly list, but I'm very excited for it and couldn't resist posting.

My pleasure. I'm always delighted to help whenever I can.

Aw shucks. Thank you very much for the compliment.

Honestly, a tour with Royal would be a huge waste of money in Lisbon. It's such an easy port to do on your own. The ship parks pretty much in the centre of town so it's easy to get around. If you google "what to do in Lisbon with kids" you will find several great websites that will help you plan. However, my personal suggestion would be the Oceanarium (Lisbon Aquarium). This is a great family-friendly option suitable for all ages and you won't have to worry about the weather. Here is the link to their website: https://oceanario.pt/en/ You can get there using public transport but it's a little bit of a faff with a little one in a buggy so it will probably be easier for you just to get a taxi or an uber from the port. Uber works very well here in Portugal. The Oceanarium is located in an area called "Parque das Nações", which means Park of Nations, and this is an attraction in itself, especially if the weather is good. Here is the link to the Lisbon Tourist Board's page about it: https://www.lisbonportugaltourism.com/guide/parque-das-nacoes.html Your arrival might be too early in the morning for you to catch the sail-in but do try your very best to be up on deck for sailaway at the end of the day. It's simply spectacular when the ship sails under the 25th of April Bridge on her way out to the ocean. I hope this helps and you have an amazing day in Lisbon.

Aw, it's disembarkation day. Safe travels home.

And infinitely better than the MSC app which only lets you see the menus for the speciality restaurants. I have an MSC cruise coming up in July and it's soooo frustrating not to be able to see any of the MDR menus ahead of time.

Although, thinking about it, I believe someone mentioned that Allure never had the dungeon location? So maybe a downgrade on Allure specifically? This was my first sailing on Allure so I only have the dungeon on Harmony and Symphony to compare with.

@JohnK6404,I'm glad you had a better day in Palma than we did That photo you posted of the taxis... that is precisely where we were waiting for a taxi with about 30 people ahead of us and not a taxi in sight!

It doesn't have views other than through the door/windows at the entrance which look out onto the area by the mini-golf and you can't really call that a "view". But it does feel brighter and airier than the dungeon on deck 4 because of that bit of natural light, so definitely an upgrade in that respect.

Giovanni's Table is by far my favourite out of the three Italian restaurants on Royal's ships.

Woohoo!!! I was not able to get it to work when we were onboard either. We had a card in our room but it kept telling me I needed to be connected to the ship's WiFi for it to work, even though I already was. I didn’t bother asking anyone on board about it so I don't know if it's an Allure issue or if there's a solution.

There is some seating inside the terminal where they do check-in. I think I remember seeing a small cafe there too. There is also the duty free shop to browse in. The question is whether that part of the terminal will be open as early as that, since they will still be disembarking the previous cruise. Worst case scenario, you may be able to get into the baggage claim area as someone is coming out (I don't know if the doors open from the outside or only from the inside) and wait there. I seem to remember seeing a few seats there.

Haha, abbreviations causing confusion . DH is indeed Darling/Dear Husband and is very commonly used on the boards, along with DW (wife), DS (son/sister), DD (daughter) and so on. SEG was a new one on me, although coincidentally I did see it used just yesterday on another board where the poster wrote it out in full and I thought, "Ah, so that's what it is!"

Hope it clears up for you but I'm sure you'll have a great time even if it doesn't. Barcelona is such an amazing city.

Hi @Cruisindad and welcome to the boards, to Royal and to Europe! What date are you booked for? I've booked DH and myself for the 27th of September (he has no idea either ). In Marseille, assuming you've booked the little train through Royal at a cost of $54pp (or more if they didn't have a sale on), you'll want to cancel that and get your money back. This is something you can and absolutely should do on your own, which will not only save you money but also give you greater flexibility. Royal will have shuttles from the port into the city centre at about €20pp. Each of the two routes on the little train costs €10pp (I don't know if Royal's excursion ticket gets you both routes or just one). So if you do both routes, plus the cost of the shuttle ticket, that's €40pp, which at today's exchange rate is $45. You get the picture... For even more flexibility, you can get a taxi instead of using the shuttle bus. This will cost about €25 per cab each way. Plenty of taxis at the port and plenty more lined up in the town centre at the Vieux Port, which is where the little train starts and finishes each circuit. The ticket booth for the train is right there. Here is the link to their website: https://www.petit-train-marseille.com/en/ DIY-ing it means you are in charge of your time and can even decide not to go at all if the weather decides to act up. The sides of the trains are open to the elements so if you are unlucky enough to get a rainy day it won't be the best experience and Royal will run the tour anyway so you won't get your money back. You can read about this DIY experience in my recent Allure blog here, which also has information about Barcelona for your pre-cruise stay and a bit about Palma too: For the stop in Naples: Pompeii - however you choose to do it - is a NOT-TO-BE-MISSED experience. I don't see how you could do that with a segway tour (assuming that's what you mean by SEG?). The surfaces are far too uneven for that to be an option, in my opinion. The small group tour you mentioned looks like a good choice to me, even though it's a bit pricey. It might be worth checking out the recommendation @Lovetocruise2002 gave you to see if they can offer something similar at a better price. For Rome, for peace of mind, I would always prefer a ship-sponsored tour due to the distance involved; it's a 60-80 minute drive from Civitavecchia port into Rome. The important thing to bear in mind here is that you WILL NOT BE ABLE to do it all. The saying goes that Rome wasn't built in a day and you surely can't see everything it has to offer in a day either. Pick one or two things that particularly catch your attention and interest, find an excursion that offers it/them and do not allow yourself to have any regrets about the things you didn't see. I currently only see a handful of tours to Rome on the cruise planner for my sailing but I can assure you that if this is the case with yours too they WILL load more, so don't feel you have to commit to anything just yet. Hold on to the Catacombs tour for now, if you're happy with the price, but keep checking back. At some point you will see tours that include places like the Vatican, the Colosseum and other sites populating in the planner, at which time you can cancel the Catacombs if you see something else you prefer. Whatever you do, avoid tours with the word "panoramic" or "scenic" in the title as these almost always involve looking longingly at amazing sites through the window of a bus as you drive by without stopping! Sorry for the length of the post which I hope will be helpful. Feel free to come back and ask as many more questions as you want. There's always someone who'll be happy to help.

It's nearly cruise day! Safe travels everyone!

Safe travels over to this side of the pond.

I recently stayed at the Catalonia Eixample 1864 and would definitely recommend it. You can read my review of it in my blog here:

Thanks for sharing.

You could take a look at Flixbus. They have a non-stop bus service from Venice to Ravenna but not every day of the week, so you'd need to plug your date in to see if it's operating that day. There is a departure from Tronchetto (people mover) and a departure from Mestre train station. I don't know which would be easier for you, coming from the airport. The vehicles are comfortable, modern touring coaches. Flixbus operate a dynamic pricing system so the earlier you book the cheaper the price. https://www.flixbus.com/

What makes Fiji special? (I'm in the very early stages of getting my ducks in a row for my retirement trip in 2027/28).

Love, love, love Cinque Terre. Such a special place.

Those crepes look delicious. Yum!