berkeleykel

I can’t believe it’s Day 3 already! Backing up to Day 1 which is already a blur): I was happy with the hotel. With the kitchenette we were able to pick up a few items from the huge market right across the street to make for breakfast in the room on Day 1, which made for an easier start to the day and allowed the husband and kids to sleep in a little extra. We had a 10:30 am boarding time. We ordered the transfer to arrive at the hotel at 10 am. The driver arrived a few mins early and was waiting in the lobby for us when we came down to check out. He had the car seat and booster seat as requested. The trip to the port was supposed to take 12-15 mins but ended up taking around 20 due to traffic near the port. We arrived at 10:25 am. After security and checking in, we were on the ship just before 11. One note on checking in - the woman who checked our documents insisted that our <2 year old needed to have taken a COVID test. Thankfully I was confident that he didn’t or else she might have sent me into a temporary panic. But instead we were firm and eventually she checked with a co-worker to confirm he in fact did not need to have taken a test. Once on board we grabbed a table at Cafe Promenade. It was nearly empty at the time and we settled in while I connected to our Voom plan (which was quick and simple), booked our show times, and put together a list of times we would want to book the nursery for in the evenings. Next we went to Adventure Ocean to check in and make the nursery reservations for the week. They had all of the times we wanted free and even had times open for Day 1 had we wanted. Since people had boarded at Rome this wasn’t a given even with our early boarding time. Note that on both the Barcelona and Rome embarkation days Adventure Ocean doesn’t open until 7 pm. Then it was to the Windjammer for lunch and to the rooms once they opened at 1 pm. We hung around for a while to try to catch our attendant to ask him to open the balconies between our rooms. We ended up calling housekeeping when we still hadn’t seen him by the time we were about to leave for dinner. In the interim my husband took my 6 year old down the Ultimate Abyss which he loved and insisted on going a second time. Due to my son’s age or size my husband had to go down with him, although in separate mats. I waited at Playmakers near the landing area with the little and ordered our first cocktails of the cruise. One thing about this area that I hadn’t known about beforehand is that there is a climbing structure near Playmakers/Johnny Rockets which is a good distraction for kids for awhile. I’d estimate the ideal ages for it are around 3-8. We had the 6pm seating in the MDR. We had confirmed earlier in the day that our family of 4 was sat at our own table. Looking around, most of the tables were smaller so I think most families we sat by themselves by default. The dining room was also half empty the whole time (we were on Deck 3). Food and service were good. After dinner we saw InTENse in the AquaTheater. We had reservations and arrived around 30 mins early which was not necessary as there were plenty of seats free. The kids and husband were captivated, although Monster fell asleep halfway through despite the noise. It was excellent and I highly recommend for families with kids. If you sit in the front two rows or dead center you will get wet! We realized after changing into PJs that we hadn’t sorted milk for Monster. Husband found some at Starbucks but we were informed we could order it from room service for free, although I’m not sure if they meant that the service charge would be waived. And that was the end of Day 1! Except not for me as I stayed up another 4 hours handing work (hence this post being delayed 2 days). It looks like I’ll have to put in several hours of work a day throughout because things are so busy and the team is leaner than usual at the moment.

We board in 9 hours!! Some quick notes from our last couple of days: - we tested Friday morning and had our negative results before we even walked all the way home. -we flew with Vueling for the first time. Their check-in lines were absurd, but probably to be expected for a bank holiday weekend (which I had completely forgotten about). We went into the premium line by mistake (only had priority not premium, so shouldn’t have qualified). But they let us go through anyway because otherwise we most definitely would have missed our flight out of Gatwick. The agent’s decision to show mercy was like a sliding doors moment on this trip being successful or not! -Our transfer was waiting for us at arrivals but without the car seat I had paid extra for (and one of the primary reasons I booked an expensive transfer in advance over grabbing a taxi). We’re using the same company to get to the port tomorrow so we’ll see if they improve, else I’ll probably cancel the return trip to the airport after the cruise. -I’ll review the hotel after check out tomorrow but so far it’s been a good choice. -Barcelona was HOT and muggy today. I greatly preferred visiting in spring. -Dinner was a complete miss. We love tapas and intended to go to Guell Tapas right at opening for dinner, but I had to work and by the time we got there the wait was too long. We ended up walking into El Drac de Saint Jordi in the Gothic Quarter. Serve yourself tapas with cava. Food was boring, cold, and small. On the plus side, Wonder won’t have to work too hard to impress us with its food at this point. We are looking forward to our Windjammer lunch!

I've gotten that a lot especially this week. I have to play around with the order in which I add the filters and sometimes just clear all filters and try again a few times, but they usually show up eventually.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't that because I was waiting around 30 mins after confirming the room was there before calling (plus hold time) for exactly this reason. Yes I booked this through the UK site for a bit of savings, regretting that now. On the Royal Up point, I was surprised to see the cabins come up in the inventory because I assumed at this point everything would go into Royal Up, but I'd think if you could see them you could book them... This is a sailing in 3 days which I booked a month ago so connecting cabins weren't available. This is the first time I've seen them available. Using a TA is just not compatible with my personality type. Hence me willing to spend hours trying to get a specific room rather than letting it go...

First question: I keep seeing connecting balconies available for my sailing online but when I call they can't find them, the rooms as booked to the RC agents. Then the rooms disappear temporarily only to come back again once I've hung up. The agents insist they are actually booked, not like a temporary lock from someone viewing them online. However, if I were to try to book them as new bookings, I can select the precise rooms and get to the checkout screen. Is this type of IT glitch normal where the rooms really aren't available notwithstanding being able to select them online? Second question is, in the course of trying to see if the cabins were actually available, I was told it didn't matter because rooms changes are flatly barred within 3 days of sailing, doesn't matter if you are willing to pay more, lose promotions etc. Does this sound accurate?

Maybe just a temporary IT glitch? Seems to happen a lot.

Just to bump this up again, they are still offering the £40 promo (£275 for 7 night sailing). I had to call because the chat person said they only process over the phone. They refunded my previous booking and added the new one at the lower price. I could just about fall over at how good a deal this is.

Am I misremembering or didn't there used to be an option to filter by Kids Sail Free? It is confusing now to the uninitiated because if you click Book Now on the KSF banner you'd assume they were filtering the options but of course you don't realize until you're deep into the booking unless you're already familiar with RC to check for the exclusions fine print or look for the KSF promo coming up after selecting the date.

7 days to go! I finished up the last logistical items yesterday so now it is just mainly the mountain of packing left. This is the never-ending story -- for every one thing I cross off the packing list, I think of two more to add. One of the final things I did was book transfers from the airport to hotel, hotel to ship, and ship back to airport. I'm a huge lover of public transportation and would normally have taken the bus from the airport, but I think we'll have too much luggage to pull that off with 2 kids. So I've booked cars for all 3 legs. While Barcelona doesn't require car seats for intracity transfers, the ride is about 30 mins so we'd prefer to book a car that will reliably show up with a car seat. We booked with Sun Transfers which has pretty good reviews and a pretty seamless online booking process. They do meet at greats at the airport upon arrival. We were able to add infant and booster seats at the time of booking for EUR 7 each. We also booked with Sun Transfers for the shorter 15 minute transfer from the hotel to the cruise port. While we could probably hail a cab on the day and live without car seats, we were worried about timely finding one big enough for a family a 4 + lots of luggage. Booking ahead was an expensive option at around EUR 210 euros total for the 3 legs in a minivan, but worth it to us for the peace of mind. Some random things not yet covered: T and I will have the UBP. We may only break even most days but I like the mental relaxation of not paying per drink. M will deal with the free offerings mostly. We also have 4 device surf and stream, 1 each for T and M, 2 for me (work and personal phones + laptop). This was a high cost that I had underestimated, but I'll need to work occasionally and I can't stand playing hot potato of who gets kicked off. We have specialty dining booked for Mason Jar for dinner on Day 3 and 150 Central Park on Day 5. We'll probably do MDR the other nights We have the early sitting at 6 pm which is perfect for the kids. We're actually really looking forward to the Windjammer for most breakfasts and lunches. As Americans living in the UK we don't come across American-style buffets often so for us it is a real treat. I've pre-purchased $50 in arcade credits for each of me, T and M. We are suckers for arcades and buying ahead saves quite a bit. We'll probably go run through those credits by Day 2. Hopefully I won't hit any major snags between now and embarkation so I will report back then!

I just realized I stopped in Argostoli as well so I edited my post above to add info on what we did there.

Thanks @FionaMG! That beach looks amazing. I have it down as our backup in case we have to cancel our Mallorca beach trip for bad weather etc. But I don't think I could get my husband to even step foot off the ship in La Spezia if he smelled the potential for us to end up at a beach for the second time. I might as well be luring him into a snake pit in his mind. Thanks for the tip on the hill in Riomaggiore. There was already a zero percent chance we'd make it through the day without ice cream so I'll be sure to save that for an inducement for the uphill trek. We'll bring the toddler carrier for Monster so I may need that ice cream to recover myself.

Where to begin with excursions? I want to do everything! But a few basic principles guided our decision-making: We want this trip to be as relaxing as we can manage. No 12 hour port days and falling into bed dead tired afterwards. We haven't been on an Oasis-class ship before so we want to reserve plenty of time for exploring the ship. With the kids, trains > buses > cars/taxis. We're very comfortable with train travel in Europe and it’s by far the easiest with kids. Buses are okay but the Monster tries to run wild. Cars are nightmares because Monster screams in confined spaces and my oldest gets car sick for long distances. Anything long distance is out. Group tours are tricky with a toddler who is unpredictable and a 6 year old who whines like a teenager when he gets bored. So we prefer to go it on our own as much as possible. With this in mind, we have sketched out the following itinerary: Day 2 - Palma de Mallorca We've booked a Royal excursion for this one – “Mallorca Beach Transfer.” This has us off the ship for only approximately 4 hours. We will be bused to Palma Nova beach (30 mins drive each way, hopefully a bit less) and left to fend for ourselves. We plan to rent loungers and there are a couple of restaurants and bars around for drinks and snacks. We haven't been to the beach at all this summer so it was a must-do for me to have a family beach day on this trip. I think the roughly 3 hours we'll have at the beach will be a perfect amount of time to get in our beach fix without killing my husband, who’s allergic to beaches. I booked the transfer with Royal for the convenience of not needing to deal with taxis, but it comes at a steep premium (GBP 120 for 2 adults 1 child)! I'm going to pretend I didn't see the price. We should be back on the ship in time for a late lunch. Day 3 - Marseille We are turning this into a sea day and staying on the ship. With only 1 sea day on a 7 night itinerary I felt like we would get exhausted without building in a second one. Marseille was an easy decision to axe between the choices because we've been to France a lot (though not to Marseille specifically) and it’s a pretty easy place for us to get to from London if we ever want to come for a long weekend. Instead, I have rented a Casita for ultimate relaxation (aka not having to worry about reserving lounge chairs)! This is probably a waste of money but I imagine we'll be coming and going throughout the day so it will be nice to have a set meeting place where we can leave some stuff, and it is supposed to come with a safe to leave our phones in while in the pool so we aren't constantly craning our necks to watch our stuff. Cost was GBP 96 (this was the port day price, it goes up on sea days although no sea day bookings were left by the time I booked). Day 4 - La Spezia I debated Cinque Terre vs Pisa, but what made my mind up was doing a Google street view walk around of Pisa. It gave off strong tourist trap vibes, and while Cinque Terre will probably be overrun with tourists as well, it at least comes with the benefit of lovely sea views. Our plan to is make a late morning start, departing the ship around 10, with the goal of being back on the ship within around 5 hours. But as the all aboard time isn’t until the evening we can play it by ear. I’m hoping to walk from the port to the train station (which I *think* will take about 20-30 mins), but that will depend on how well Monster cooperates. We may take a taxi if they are readily available. We plan to visit Riomaggiore and Manarola, two of the smallest of the five villages and the closest to the ship, given our limited time. I’ve picked out a few options for lunch depending where we end up at the time. The train timetable lists the train time from La Spezia to Riomaggiore at a brief 8 minutes and from Riomaggiore to Manarola at 6 mins, so we shouldn’t lose a lot of time to transit. Day 5 - Rome Rome will be our longest day off the ship at close to 9 hours. Aren’t doing an RC excursion in order to have the flexibility to deal with Monster as needed. Given the distance from the port to Rome, I definitely wanted to take a train rather than a bus or car. I booked the fast (48 min) train round trip and was able to book four table seats in the 1st class carriage for us, for a grand total of EUR 25! I booked the tickets directly with the train line (IT - Trenitalia) about 3 weeks in advance. Children were free with paying adults. We don’t want to be rushed in an attempt to get a glimpse of everything, so we are going to stick to the Colosseum and Roman Forum area only. The train will take us to Roma Termini, at which point we will switch to the metro for a few stops to the Colosseum. If we didn’t have young kids we would have walked that distance to take in the atmosphere on the way – it is only about a 25 minute walk. I booked the Colosseum/Forum tickets direct (CoopCulture | CoopCulture). You definitely want to book several weeks out because some ticket types and times were already sold out when we booked about 3 weeks in advance. There are several ticket options to choose from with various combinations of experiences and prices. We chose the “English Didactic Visit for Individuals and Full Experience Ticket.” For EUR 34 per adult and EUR 12 per child (we were able to book a free ticket for the Monster, I believe the age cut off is under 5s), we will have access to the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill as well as a guided tour of the Colosseum (arena and underground). Although I am hesitant of doing guided tours with the kids, this one is only 75 mins and I think it will be helpful in getting the most out of the experience. I’ll probably hang out with Monster toward the back of the group and step out if he acts up. The tickets are timed entry for the Colosseum tour but any time entry for the Roman Forum. We’ll start off exploring the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill with whatever time we have (around 2.5 hours) before the Colosseum tour starts at 1:15 pm (there were a few times to choose from but I think the others were already sold out). After the tour we’ll have a bit more free time to walk around the Colosseum ourselves, then we’ll take the metro back to Roma Termini for the train back to Civitavecchia. We should get back to the ship with just over 2 hours to spare in case of issues with the trains. There isn’t much time for lunch built into the day so I’m hoping to grab some items from the food bar adjacent to the Civitavecchia station to have a small picnic at the Roman Forum and then we’ll try to grab something quick as we are passing through Roma Termini. Unfortunately enjoying a nice leisurely Italian meal is one of the casualties of limited time and trying to make sure the time we do have in Rome isn’t too rushed or stressful. Day 6 - Naples This is our final port before our sea day on Day 7. Of all of the trade-offs we made in crafting our excursions, this one hurt the most. I am DESPERATE to see the Amalfi coast, but the travel time from Naples by bus or ferry, while very reasonable for adults, was just too long with the kids. Instead, we’re going to keep it short and simple with an RC excursion – “Pompeii On Your On Transfer”. The total excursion time is 3.5 hours. We’ll be bused to Pompeii and back (around 30 mins each way) and then left to see the ruins on our own. Husband really wants to see Pompeii so I told him he needs to study up and serve as our tour guide. We will try to pick up audio guides as well. The excursion was GBP 24 per person for adults and child, little Monsters free. There were multiple times to choose from for the excursion. It doesn’t include admission to the Pompeii sites so we booked those directly (Pompeii Tickets - TicketOne ) (although the site is a bit sketchy, it seems to be the legitimate official source). The tickets were EUR 16 per adult (including a small fee for advance online purchase), kids both free. The tickets are dated but untimed. I’m hoping buying in advance will save us some time upon entry because our total touring time will only be about 2 hours. Then it’s back to the ship where I’m sure the end of vacation dread will start settling in.

Revising this topic, I'm planning to take a train from La Spezia Centrale, but seeing conflicting info about how long the walk will be from the boat to the train station. This link (https://adventourbegins.com/port-of-la-spezia-guide/) suggests that a shuttle bus would take us to the container terminal, which is the opposite direction from the train station. But I don't see any mention of a shuttle bus in the cruise planner. So, will there be a shuttle bus, and does it go to the container terminal or somewhere closer to the station? Are there plentiful taxis if we want to avoid the walk? I'll have my <2 year old with me and we're going to try this one without a stroller. We'll be on Wonder.

Sorry for the annoyance. It’s incredible the way RC’s reps and IT manage to muck things up sometimes. Clearly this was an error on their end because how else would they explain the extra charge on the account? It’s not like they have to rely solely on your word about you being promised something. But I’ve learned with Royal you kind of have to shrug these things off as long as you get some sort of reasonable comp like the OBC. It’s just the nature of the beast. If there were another company with the same product that didn’t have these issues then maybe they couldn’t get away with things like this because people would jump ship. But I’m not sure there really is, at least at a similar price point.

Haha I have the exact opposite problem, doesn't work with Chrome so I have to use Edge.

Yes, the OP’s point was RC requires testing within 2 days still whereas the blog post says 3 days. It is interesting to keep the requirement given it’s not required in Spain or most (? All?) of the ports of call if vaccinated.

I agree I’d tip euros by default but since I’m sure they get USD regularly they are probably used to it.

to be clear, tipping isn’t so standard there as in the US so I don’t think you should stress over this at all if picking up some euros is difficult. But I think they’d be more offended that you’d think they wanted your dollars than if you didn’t tip at all.

I disagree strongly, I think the only people who should be tipped with USD are crew members. I wouldn’t tip at all rather than tip in anything other than Euros.

Pre-departure plans - the boring stuff COVID Testing: For departures out of Barcelona, the current requirements are for an antigen or PCR test up to 2 days prior to sailing, including for kids age 2 or over who are fully vaccinated. Since our cruise departs on a Sunday and my 6 year old is fully vaccinated, I've booked tests for me, T and M for Friday morning 2 days before embarkation. We live walking distance to a DocTap testing location and have used them around a dozen times with good experiences, so we are sticking with what we know. Tests were GBP 29 each for lateral flow/rapid antigen. Under 2s are exempt from testing so the Monster gets off easy this time. He will be sitting back laughing as his older brother, who is the worst COVID testing subject ever, will literally have to be held down by two people to have the stick stuck up his nose. The day when he doesn't have to test any more will be most welcome to us. Flight to Barcelona: This is the most annoying aspect of the trip and the part that came closest to husband vetoing the trip entirely. Monster is DREADFUL on flights and we have PTSD from our last vacation on the 4 hour flights to/from Tenerife. Plus airports in London (as I'm sure is true in many other places) have been struggling with staff shortages and high passenger volumes, resulting in delays, cancellations and general chaos. But like a mother conveniently forgetting the pains of childbirth to have another child, I'm ready to embrace all the stress to get on a big boat with lounge chairs and unlimited cocktails. We are flying to Barcelona one day before the cruise. I don't have any extra vacation days to tack on more time and we spent several days in Barcelona in 2019, so we don't plan to do any sightseeing this time around. To make life a little easier we are flying out of London Gatwick, which is quick and easy for us to get to by train. This prevents the headache of needing to sort out a car service to the airport that would provide car seats, and the anxiety lest the car show up without the right type of seat. Also have I mentioned Monster is also DREADFUL in car seats? Living in central London we don't have a car and he's only been in them a few times, and he will shriek his little head off nonstop for hours until he passes out from the stress and audaciousness of being strapped to a seat. Gatwick also has a separate family line for security that makes the process a bit smoother with all the toddler junk we have to bring. From Gatwick to Barcelona we have the option of two budget carriers, EasyJet or Vueling. We've traveled with EasyJet many times and it's always been okay. This time, booking only 4 weeks out, EasyJet didn't have good availability so we are trying Vueling for the first time. We paid extra for front row seats for the extra leg room for Monster to squirm in (and a lack of seats in front of him to kick non stop), and for carry on and checked luggage and a priority check in desk. All in, the return flights were an eye watering EUR 1700 round trip for 3 seats (Monster in lap as he is under 2, the better for our ears to be as close as physically possible to his screaming lungs). This is about triple what we paid when we went to Barcelona back in 2019 (on Easyjet with similar seats/bags), which I imagine is a combination of booking late, summer high season, and post-COVID pent up demand. The flights are just over 2 hours each way. Hotel in Barcelona: As noted above we're only staying one night in Barcelona before the cruise (and flying back same day after disembarking). Hotels prices were crazy ridiculous compared to our last trip here. We're booked at the Citadines Ramblas in a one bedroom apartment, costing EUR 350 with a non-refundable rate. The Citadines is a mid-range aparthotel chain with locations mainly in Europe and Asia that we've stayed with a few times (although not this particular location). We'll have a kitchenette which will be helpful for the fact that Monster still demands a night time bottle of milk. Method of transport to/from the airport to the hotel and cruise terminal is still TBD. Next up: excursion plans.

I'm excited to be heading off to Barcelona with 2 kids and a mildy grumpy husband in 2 weeks to set sail on the Wonder! I've decided to live blog because (1) I'm neurotic and (2) I didn't find many detailed blogs or reviews from people who have done a similar itinerary with small kids. I will surely forget all of the details that I've spent hours pouring over within a few weeks of my trip, so want to lay it all out in real time for posterity. My husband (T) and I are Americans living in London, and we are bringing our 2 sons: M (age 6) and A (age nearly 2, aka "The Monster"). M, T and I have been on one Royal cruise, a Greek isles itinerary out of Venice in 2019 on Rhapsody. Before that M and I had been on a couple of non-Royal boats similar to Rhapsody. So we aren't first timers but Wonder will by far and away be a new experience for us. As a bit of backstory, we were originally booked on this itinerary on Allure in Oct 2020. I actually found out I was pregnant with A only a couple of months after booking the cruise (himself born Oct 2020, so clearly that cruise was never going to happen for us, for multiple reasons). I told myself after A was born that we wouldn't cruise again until he was 3+ and potty trained, and we originally had a different, and much more boring, summer land vacation planned this year. But I couldn't help checking out cruises now and then, and originally got my husband on board by pitching a sailing on Anthem out of Southampton (only an hour away from us by train). But since it was last minute the only connecting rooms left were interiors, and the more we thought about it the more we decided being stuck in an interior room all of the time with a sleeping toddler would be frustrating. So I gradually socialized the idea of flying to Barcelona and stressed how amazing Wonder would be for the kids, and eventually got my way. We had been booked in a 2 bedroom GS for Allure which I was really looking forward two given how well it works for families with young kids, but given this cruise was only booked about 4 weeks in advance the best we could find on Wonder was 2 adjacent ocean view balconies (well, the Ultimate Family Suite was still available for $30K but we gave that a miss). Despite the amazing itinerary, we picked this sailing mainly for the ship and proximity to London. Our goal above all else is for this to be as relaxing as possible, which is a tall ask with a Monster and my FOMO combined with a huge ship and an all-star itinerary. I'm going to try to balance seeing a few highlights on the port days with sleeping in some days and having enough time to fully enjoy the ship. Itinerary: Day 1 - Depart Barcelona Day 2 - Palma de Mallorca Day 3 - Marseille Day 4 - La Spezia Day 5 - Rome Day 6 - Naples Day 7 - Sea Day Day 8 - Kicked off the boat whimpering in Barcelona Between the kids and some unavoidable work intrusions, I'll have limited time to post while on the ship, so I plan to front load as much as possible in the next two weeks to describe our pre-cruise plans and plans for the port days. Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions as I go along!

Given so many people are eating the same food, if you two were the only ones who got sick, and in light of the fact that it happened so early on in the cruise, I’m not sure how you could be so certain it was the food that made you sick. What food in particular do you think it was?

I responded on this in the other thread but for additional clarity, if you read the FAQs on Boots’s website it is clear the lateral flow test is an antigen test. I don’t know why Boots has a separate booking for rapid antigen and lateral flow tests. Maybe the tests they use are slightly different for each, but regardless each is an antigen test so signing up for either would work as long as it is supervised.

Yes the lateral flow is an antigen test. Just has to be supervised and it’s fine.