Jim S

Hey Jim
Thanks -  hope you had a good one - guessing another bank holiday today for you?!
My agent hasn't got anywhere with RCI yet but I am on Grandeur this Sunday for 2 weeks so will chat to the staff and see if they can find anything out for me and will let you know.
Regards

Hi Bazza. Yes, we are on the 2:00pm BA0539 flight from Bologna (BLQ) to London Heathrow then travelling on to Glasgow on a connecting flight. On the way to the cruise we plan to take a taxi or Uber from our Hotel in Bologna to the ship. Similarly, on the way back on 1st October we are looking to do the same. If RCI are running a bus we would use that as a better alternative to a taxi. Please let me know if you find out that RCI are running this bus.
Happy New Year to you and your family when it comes.

Hey @Jim S . I am on the same cruise and just sorting my flights with cruise.co.uk as the package we have is 2 nights in Venice prior to the cruise with transfers to and from Venice airport. 
I have said I want to fly into Venice but out of Bologna (Heathrow with BA for both instead of Gatwick with Easyjet) and hopefully today will be booking the 2pm return flight - are you on that one? 
I am waiting for the TA to find out if RCI have any transfers to Bologna that morning - but wondered what you were doing on 1st October to get back to Bologna?
Happy Hogmany!  

My wife and I are on that cruise as well, and B2B with the previous cruise on 17th September. We have just booked flights to Bologna the day before our first cruise and are staying overnight at a hotel in Bologna. We will get a taxi or Uber to the ship on the morning of the cruise. We found this option to be better than going through Venice.
Enjoy your cruise. All of the ports of call are fabulous.

We have just booked our flights from UK to Bologna the day before the cruise. British Airways prices were very reasonable. We have also booked to stay at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Bologna overnight and will travel to Ravenna Cruise Port by taxi or Uber on the morning of our cruise.

We’re going on Explorer in October 2023.  7-nights, Ravenna to Rome. 
 
I’ve been watching prices for flights from Boston, Massachusetts to both Venice and Bologna over the past six months.  Venice seems to run cheaper, but as you said, it’s further from Venice to Ravenna than from Bologna.
As of right now, we are leaning toward taking a train to Ravenna regardless of which city we fly into and staying there the night before we embark.  There appears to be no direct train from Venice, while there is a direct one from Bologna, so that’s making us favor Bologna. 
 
Once flights become available to book, we’re going to have to make a decision.   We’d like to book early in case prices skyrocket as 2023 rolls along. 
 
 

We cruise on Explorer in September 2023, two 7 night B2B cruises. Flying from the UK, we are thinking about going to Bologna and staying overnight in a hotel before our cruise. The distance to Ravenna port from Bologna is about half the distance from Venice to the port and hopefully there would be a taxi available to take us to and from Bologna to Ravenna. A little too early to check this out at the moment but will start investigating next month. Will feed back to the forum if this option works for us.

Would like an update as we are doing exactly the same B2B in Oct also flying from UK. We were thinking of flying into Bologna on sail date and flying back from Venice a couple of days after arrival of the 2nd week. Would be grateful for your flight plans when you manage to book please? 

🤣🤣🤣 The North Sea on a good day

Saw a Norwegian Cruise Line Ship docked in Leith when I was in Edinburgh.  Looked like passengers were tendered in. 

Oh I am very sorry to hear that. Maybe by next year the terminal will be ready for passengers. We are hoping that RCCL will allow passengers to embark/disembark at this new terminal to save us the 500 miles trip to Southampton each time we cruise from the UK.

I understand that the new terminal is due for completion this July so there is a very good chance that Jewel will dock there. The old Ocean Terminal is right next to the new terminal. 😁👍

I am booked on a Jewel cruise 19 August that visits Greenock but perhaps that is scheduled to an old terminal ?  Wish I was confident that I will be on that cruise but I am fairly certain I won't be.
😑

Photo of the new Cruise Terminal Building under construction at Greenock, Scotland.
I wonder if RCCL and Celebrity are considering adding this as a main port for embarking and disembarking. Currently, Scottish cruisers have to travel about 500 or more miles, depending on where you live, to join the cruises at Southampton.
If this was added as a Main Port it would be wonderful for Scottish (and Northern Ireland) cruisers.
Here’s hoping 😁👍

Photo of the new Cruise Terminal Building under construction at Greenock, Scotland.
I wonder if RCCL and Celebrity are considering adding this as a main port for embarking and disembarking. Currently, Scottish cruisers have to travel about 500 or more miles, depending on where you live, to join the cruises at Southampton.
If this was added as a Main Port it would be wonderful for Scottish (and Northern Ireland) cruisers.
Here’s hoping 😁👍

Thanks for the information twangster.
Greenock is the port for Glasgow. It is Only 17 miles from Glasgow International Airport, about 25 minutes drive and has rail and bus links.

Photo of the new Cruise Terminal Building under construction at Greenock, Scotland.
I wonder if RCCL and Celebrity are considering adding this as a main port for embarking and disembarking. Currently, Scottish cruisers have to travel about 500 or more miles, depending on where you live, to join the cruises at Southampton.
If this was added as a Main Port it would be wonderful for Scottish (and Northern Ireland) cruisers.
Here’s hoping 😁👍

Ah.  I've only visited Scotland by air using Glasgow as my airport in and out.  
Beautiful area.  I look forward to returning one day, perhaps on a cruise.

Got it. Hopefully your email will get it sorted out.

Well, we have received a big blow regarding our Wonder of the Seas booking for May 15th out of Barcelona. I had a look at our Cruise Planner and to my surprise discovered that our Crown Loft Suite (CLS) cabin on deck 18 has been removed and replaced with a balcony cabin on deck 10. We have received absolutely no communication from Royal Caribbean (RC) or any explanation of why this has happened. Our CLS cabin had been confirmed six weeks ago and a revised invoice issued by RC, so this came as a complete surprise to us.
I immediately called my TA who also knew nothing about this and are currently trying to sort the matter out and obtain an explanation from RC, but this happened about 10 days ago and we are still no further forward in receiving any explanation or what our options are going forward.
My wife and I are extremely disappointed and upset about this as we were really looking forward to this cruise and were delighted to have been allocated the CLS cabin on Wonder in line with our original booking on Harmony, which was lifted and shifted to Allure and then finally transferred over to Wonder.
Message to Royal Caribbean; this kind of action and customer service is absolutely DISGRACEFUL and needs to be called out. We have been nothing but loyal to you over several years, having spent a considerable amount of our hard earned money on cruises with you now and feel absolutely let down and betrayed by your recent actions.
Very poor show Royal Caribbean 😡😡😡
 

Well, we have received a big blow regarding our Wonder of the Seas booking for May 15th out of Barcelona. I had a look at our Cruise Planner and to my surprise discovered that our Crown Loft Suite (CLS) cabin on deck 18 has been removed and replaced with a balcony cabin on deck 10. We have received absolutely no communication from Royal Caribbean (RC) or any explanation of why this has happened. Our CLS cabin had been confirmed six weeks ago and a revised invoice issued by RC, so this came as a complete surprise to us.
I immediately called my TA who also knew nothing about this and are currently trying to sort the matter out and obtain an explanation from RC, but this happened about 10 days ago and we are still no further forward in receiving any explanation or what our options are going forward.
My wife and I are extremely disappointed and upset about this as we were really looking forward to this cruise and were delighted to have been allocated the CLS cabin on Wonder in line with our original booking on Harmony, which was lifted and shifted to Allure and then finally transferred over to Wonder.
Message to Royal Caribbean; this kind of action and customer service is absolutely DISGRACEFUL and needs to be called out. We have been nothing but loyal to you over several years, having spent a considerable amount of our hard earned money on cruises with you now and feel absolutely let down and betrayed by your recent actions.
Very poor show Royal Caribbean 😡😡😡
 

I don't blame them.  That is completely unacceptable.

If you have both Suite Lounge and Diamond or above vouchers, plan your voucher usage for the rest of the day.
And don't forget to get bottles of water from the Suite Lounge, even if you're not otherwise particularly interested in the happy hour.

Glad to hear that you got to keep your A1 two bedroom for this cruise.

I booked the day itinerary was released 12-5-2020. Price was incredibly low for an A1. Now that the ship is Wonder the price is unbelievable. 
I think I will hold the record for cheapest Wonder A1 for several years.
The price for an A1 was triple for the Wonder March and April Caribbean sailings.