paulcop

The Facebook Group for this cruise currently totals 845 members and more are joining every day. This is reportedly a possible record group size for a single cruise--apparently, we are an extremely social group. Most of the recent questions posed here are answered extensively in the Facebook postings. Check it out for fuller answers to questions about covid tests, shore excursions, shipboard events, etc. Many knowledgeable veterans of prior TA's, Symphony cruises and even crewmembers are in this group.

More Flight, Hiro and Hairspray performances are now (Feb 4) scheduled so quick booking not so critical, but early booking will still afford best choices.

e Entertainment reservations are open! Only one performance of Flight. Two nights of Hiro. More of Hairspray, but book quickly on the RCL app or you'll be sorry.

Several recent disappointments with A2S. October return from Europe didn't offer me Turkish Air that had decisively best price and timing. My January A2S booking for a Barbados RT was without baggage allowance and no ability to advance book seat! A2S offered limited options for my upcoming March return from eastbound European TA. I've booked Royal Air Maroc which was cheaper and faster than A2S options. Seems A2S doesn't include all airlines. For transatlantic, I particularly like Turkish Air and Air Maroc because of spacious economy seating on their 767s and superior cabin service.

Even easier my last time (Oct IAD) as I didn't have to place my passport on a scanner as required earlier in 2022--just line my mug up in the image frame and go! It's so nice to breeze onto the "Crew Only and Global Passport" shortcut. Only thing better would be if my luggage had GP status!

SpeedNoodles has good advice above to search "Ravenna" for earlier posts on the Venice to Ravenna logistics. Did it twice this year--with Azamara and Celebrity. Assume your RCL experience will be just as tedious. You can't efficiently take a train from Venice to Ravenna--the schedule details will show you why. My latest (October) bus ride effectively wasted my whole day--queue in Venice for 11:00 bus at 10:30, arrive at pier-side 2:15, wait in bus for an hour (long bus queue ahead of you), 3:15 another line outside the bus (in the sunshine, but free water!) for 45 minutes, 4:00 proceed through screening (just 3 detectors for 2000+ passengers!), 4:30 arrive on board. Another detail not mentioned in the blogs is the Japanese-style "restroom" stop on the bus-ride--practice your squats ahead of time! and BYO paper! As delightful as Venice is, I will never do another Ravenna departure. Hint for return--get a RCL transfer for bus to Bologna train station. It was a quick (1hr+) ride, took a high-speed train to Milan arriving around noon. On my second trip I used one-stop flights US to Milan's close-in airport (Linate-LIN)--was cheaper than other Italy destinations, and it's a delightful non-huge airport. Milan's central railway station (less than 5 miles from LIN) is also just 2+ hours from Venice--but buy your tickets ahead of time or pay double. Italy is great--but figuring out the details takes some work.

Responding to GLTA's Q about theme&formal nite schedule, the Cruise Compass for Allure's (a sister Oasis ship) transatlantic March 1, 2020 cruise may give a good hint. RCL event schedules tend to be relatively cloned for identical cruises in a ship class. No other recent eastbound transatlantic Cruise Compasses for Oasis class ships are posted. I was checking it for probable weather. The Allure's temps were 70's for first six days out of Miami (high 77 on days 3&4). Winds steady out of the East 10-15K so that would mean a substantial relative wind on the open decks. Day 7 was a high of 66 and then gradually declining to 62 last few days. Winds shifted southerly 15K, then East again around Spain for last 3 days. We're cruising 8 days later than the Allure so maybe add 1 or 2 degrees for our likely temperatures. Even so, plan on bundling up for open decks in that 25-30Knot headwind! If your balcony, GLTA, is starboard side close behind one of the bump-out sections you should in the best possible location wind&sun-wise aside from the stern facing cabins.

Besides the pricing we've got really great scheduling! This transatlantic is a month ahead of the typical mid-April repositioning so we'll still escape some chilly US weather and get to Barcelona (or wherever you're headed) before the Spring tourist upsurge. Spent the last week of March 2022 in Barcelona awaiting an Azamara cruise--bargain hotels, modest tourist lines and great weather, but chilly after sunset. Highly recommend a post-cruise stay--Barcelona is great! Looking forward to upgraded internet via Starlink--will hopefully test it out in 2 weeks aboard Rhapsody. Notice Symphony is out of service for a month after our cruise--that means lots of crew will be finishing up contracts and/or moving to new RCL assignments. Don't know whether this is + or - for us as have never experienced before. Hope you all caught those great BlackFriday deals on beverages and internet. Looking forward to making new friends (hopefully neighbors from Maryland) and many sunny days viewing flying fish on our South Atlantic transit!