FionaMG

Did auto correct get you on that last word...?

Did auto correct get you on that last word...?

Did auto correct get you on that last word...?

No that was deliberate.  🤪
That's the gin and tonic typing.......🤩

Did auto correct get you on that last word...?

I ended up getting it for $10.99 (pp/pd) with a one person, four device package. It didn't make any sense. There was nothing advertised at that price - it was a pure glitch. I think when I bought it, the advertised was $13.99 for first and $11.99 for the additional lines but when I paid the final price and then divided the nights and 4 lines, it came out to $10.99 per line per night. 
ETA: found my receipt, added pic (this was a 7 night cruise)

 

Same on my upcoming Symphony and Anthem cruises. It's just so they can generously offer a bigger discount during the BF sale. I'm still holding out in the probably vain hope of it dropping below $19.99. 😕

Same on my upcoming Symphony and Anthem cruises. It's just so they can generously offer a bigger discount during the BF sale. I'm still holding out in the probably vain hope of it dropping below $19.99. 😕

I got it for 11.99 but that was very early on in the sale just before the whole system crashed. When they finally got it up and running again, it had gone up to 13.99.
I have not seen it anywhere near that price since. Keeping my fingers crossed for the upcoming BF sale. However, I noticed they have increased the price of internet on my next couple of sailings, I imagine in order to offer a "sale" price that will be the same as they've been selling it at for months. 🥴

Last year for us and our two-cruises booked...Our Black Friday Sale on 21 Nov 22 showed..
1. Booze package went down from $79.99 to $74.99.
2. Internet went down from $21.99 to $13.99 (We bought for both cruises)
3. Unlimited dinning went down from $208.99 to $177.99
4. 3-night dinning stayed the same at $105.99
5 Chops single night stayed the same at $49.99.
We keep a spreadsheet and track Royal Fuzy Math

There are a few Alaska sailings online now for summer 2025. Although it's a bit early, this must be a test load ahead of the scheduled release at the end of the month. These are the ones I'm seeing at the moment.

There are "sales" every 2 to 3 weeks. Black Friday often offers some good deals on cruise planner items but not always and not always the best ones. It's very important that you check prices at least every couple of days so that you're aware of how much they're selling for in the run-up to the sale.
And when I say prices, I mean the bottom line, not however much % discount they're offering because they manipulate those figures so that most of the time you're not getting the deal you thought you were getting.

There are "sales" every 2 to 3 weeks. Black Friday often offers some good deals on cruise planner items but not always and not always the best ones. It's very important that you check prices at least every couple of days so that you're aware of how much they're selling for in the run-up to the sale.
And when I say prices, I mean the bottom line, not however much % discount they're offering because they manipulate those figures so that most of the time you're not getting the deal you thought you were getting.

My pleasure. Delighted to have been of assistance. 😊

@teddy take all the time you need. Doing a recap is supposed to be a pleasure not a chore. I've enjoyed what you've written so far. 😊

Thank you for your patience.
I started a new position within my company (still a butcher, but now I’m in charge again)...the department I took over has a lot of......opportunities.   Unfortunately that means I work a lot for a few months.
Anyway, back to Italy.
Saturday October 21, 2023 - Venice to Ravenna
We checked out of our hotel sometime around 900.  It was a short 5-6 minute walk to the San Zaccaria vaporetto stop. We rode the 5.2 boat and paid 7.50 € each for tickets at the window.  I asked for two tickets in Italian and the woman at the counter talked back to me in English....it's a trend here in Venice.
After buying, you must validate your ticket.  It was quite simple since you had to validate them to get through the barrier to the loading dock.  The process is very easy and intuitive.
Vaporetto Route 5.2 runs in a clockwise direction around the main island (and stops at Lido).  According to the signs, we needed to take it six stops to get to the train station (Ferrovia stop - I believe it translates directly to "rail" or "railroad").  This stop is right in front of the Venezia Santa Lucia train station.   It was ended up being only four stops, which was stressful since it was difficult to look out the windows to see where we were.
The whole process seemed simple to us, and it was...except for the crowds.  The boat was crowded....think "I can't move" crowded.  I don't know what the capacity is of a vaporetto, but it must be "as many people as you can stuff in it".  All I could think of was the headline..."Venice vaporetto capsizes, no survivors".  I'm not sure how it could have been evacuated if it swamped. Yes, it was that full.  My wife was sitting and I was standing next to her, trying to keep an eye on our bags and pockets. 
It appeared that most, if not all of the other people were locals.  No one seemed upset with us having bags, but we definitely felt out of place.  At the second stop, a woman got on with a young boy, physically pushed and shoved her way to the back (where we were), and was screaming at everyone to get out of the way and give her son a seat.  It was uncomfortable.  I could understand the gist of what she was saying, but there were a lot of things that I assumed were obscenities.  She was very aggressive and I shrunk out of her was as much as I could.  Once she bullied someone out of their seat and her son sat down, she was all smiles.
Anyway, at the Piazzale Roma stop, most people got off.  The train station was the next stop.  The whole process from hotel to train station took about an hour.
We took no pictures of the whole vaporetto process.  It was kind of stressful and unfortunately, pictures were the last thing on our minds.
At the station, my wife used the bathroom and paid 1 € for the privilege.  Interestingly enough, our credit card considered it a travel related charge, so we earned extra points.  After my wife came back, I went in and bought our tickets to Ferrara (where we change for Ravenna).  I went up to the first ticket machine I came to and bought our tickets.  Turns out, the machine was for ItaloRail, not Trenitalia, so we paid a bit more for high speed train from Venice to Ferrara rather than the cheap regional train.  We had to wait two hours for the train, and while that sucked, having assigned seats (as opposed to first come, first served on a regional train) was great.  Since the tickets for the high speed train had assigned seats and a specific time attached to them, validating was not necessary.  I bought our tickets on the regional train from Ferrara to Ravenna through the Trenitalia App on my phone.  It was very easy, and doing so meant the tickets did not have to be validated at the station.  I simply clicked the "Check In" link on the app and that validated them.
The change in Ferrara is easy.  There are six tracks there (as opposed to 20+ in Venice).  There is an underground passage to access the track you need, and the displays are in both English and Italian.  We found our track with no problems and boarded easily.  I asked a woman a question in Italian, and she ended up telling us about the area while we waited.  She was happy to talk back to me in Italian, and explained things I didn't understand in English.  Finally!!!  Someone who appreciated my learning Italian. 😄
The train rides were great.  We really like seeing the countryside and non-tourist areas.  The scenery was awesome, although by this point we were both trying not to nod off.
Ravenna station is a small station as well, and it's the end of the line, so you don't have to worry about missing it.  Like Ferrara, you descend into an underground passage to go below the tracks, then go back up to get to the main lobby and exit to the street.  There are elevators for those with large luggage or mobility issues.
We walked 15 minutes to our B&B, the M Club Delux.  It was an easy walk, although we found out after that there was a city bus we could have taken for 2 € each.  We'll do that next time.
The B&B was absolutely amazing.  It's been in the owner's family for 200+ years and it's quite obvious he takes pride in not only his B&B, but also in the city of Ravenna, where he has spent his life.  I'm not sure how to put into words how incredible the place is.  The rooms are modern, immaculate, and have a private balcony overlooking a private courtyard.  I hope the pictures below convey some of how nice it is.  It's located in a small piazza right next to one of the old gates to the city center.
The owner checked us in, showed us around, showed us to our room, and gave us some advice on things to see and places to eat.  He gave us his cell phone number in case we ran into any problems in the city, and told us to call at any time.  We will go back and stay there again.
After changing, we went out to explore Ravenna.  We didn't have a ton of time, but we did manage to see the Basilica de San Vitale and the Mauseoleo di Galla Placida.  Both are a block or so from the B&B.  The owner had made us a list of important things to see in Ravenna, and these were numbers 1 and 2.  We also got some gelato and fries, and my wife bought some.....underwear 🤣 ( @SweetPea ) For dinner, we went to a restaurant on a side street called Babalus.  We didn't have a reservation but there was table available outside for us.  The waiter humored me and let me speak Italian, and we ended up with what we wanted, so that was good.  We ordered and split their "Third Foccacia which was burrata, proscuitto crudo, and extra virgin olive oil.  It was excellent and only cost 15 €.
From what we could tell, we were the only non-Italian speaking people there.  Again, we like being in non-tourist areas and seeing how regular people like us live their lives.  After some observation, we saw that people were taking their ticket and going inside to pay, so I did that.  A big, gruff guy came out from the kitchen and barked the total to me in rapid fire Italian.....I'm not sure which one of us was more shocked that I understood.  Anyway, we liked the restaurant and would eat here again.
From there, we slowly wandered back to the piazza, sat there a bit people watching, then around 2100 we went in to bed. It was a beautiful evening, and we were left wanting to come back to Ravenna and spend more time exploring.
Tomorrow:  To the ship!!!
 
 
 
 
 

There are "sales" every 2 to 3 weeks. Black Friday often offers some good deals on cruise planner items but not always and not always the best ones. It's very important that you check prices at least every couple of days so that you're aware of how much they're selling for in the run-up to the sale.
And when I say prices, I mean the bottom line, not however much % discount they're offering because they manipulate those figures so that most of the time you're not getting the deal you thought you were getting.

We crossed the triple digit mark. 
 
it’s the little things that amuse us I guess  

There are "sales" every 2 to 3 weeks. Black Friday often offers some good deals on cruise planner items but not always and not always the best ones. It's very important that you check prices at least every couple of days so that you're aware of how much they're selling for in the run-up to the sale.
And when I say prices, I mean the bottom line, not however much % discount they're offering because they manipulate those figures so that most of the time you're not getting the deal you thought you were getting.

There are "sales" every 2 to 3 weeks. Black Friday often offers some good deals on cruise planner items but not always and not always the best ones. It's very important that you check prices at least every couple of days so that you're aware of how much they're selling for in the run-up to the sale.
And when I say prices, I mean the bottom line, not however much % discount they're offering because they manipulate those figures so that most of the time you're not getting the deal you thought you were getting.

And as well as what @Rackham said, lots of people were charged more than once for the same purchase and it took them ages to refund the additional charges. It really was a huge mess.

There are "sales" every 2 to 3 weeks. Black Friday often offers some good deals on cruise planner items but not always and not always the best ones. It's very important that you check prices at least every couple of days so that you're aware of how much they're selling for in the run-up to the sale.
And when I say prices, I mean the bottom line, not however much % discount they're offering because they manipulate those figures so that most of the time you're not getting the deal you thought you were getting.

And as well as what @Rackham said, lots of people were charged more than once for the same purchase and it took them ages to refund the additional charges. It really was a huge mess.

There are "sales" every 2 to 3 weeks. Black Friday often offers some good deals on cruise planner items but not always and not always the best ones. It's very important that you check prices at least every couple of days so that you're aware of how much they're selling for in the run-up to the sale.
And when I say prices, I mean the bottom line, not however much % discount they're offering because they manipulate those figures so that most of the time you're not getting the deal you thought you were getting.

And as well as what @Rackham said, lots of people were charged more than once for the same purchase and it took them ages to refund the additional charges. It really was a huge mess.