Starrynight0154

Personally I like Marcella Royal Hotel. It’s below Villa Borghese garden in a quiet area. Has a rooftop breakfast overlooking the city, which turns into a piano bar at night. Most people don’t book it because it’s an extra 15 minute walk to the city center.

We enjoyed Hideaway Beach. I believe there’s bathrooms on each end and one in the middle, so very accessible. The heated pool is massive. I don’t think pictures represent how large it is until you see it in person. I was able to swim, get drinks, play with the beach ball that was getting hit around in the pool. Hideaway gets busy but the far end away from the DJ has open chairs on the beach. No roving wait staff the day I was there. The music quickly dies out and you can barely hear it on the end of the beach by the hammocks. The food was okay but we prefer the buffet on Coco Cay. The pizza was Sorrento’s with different toppings, sandwiches, various appetizers. We’re vegetarian so take that opinion with a grain of salt. I didn’t try everything they had to offer at Hideaway.

I think they’re testing out higher prices for various things to see if it affects demand IMO. It’s $39.99 on my upcoming Odyssey cruise. Hideaway Beach is fluctuating too.

I’m doing the “Island of Santorini and Oia Village” excursion through RC. Doesn’t give a detailed description how they return to the ship at the end. It says there’s a journey back to Athinio’s port. Not sure if it’s a bus back or cable car before tendering.

This will be my first European cruise, just curious how often do they give bathroom breaks on these excursions?

Were seats available in the solarium on the sea day?

Interested in your Chania post tomorrow. I’m on Odyssey in September and didn’t book anything for Crete.

Really looking forward to this live blog. My wife and I will be on Odyssey in a junior suite for a 9 night Greek Isles cruise in September. This is a bucket list trip for us and we’re seeing the main sights at each port. It’s all planned but maybe you can provide clarity on one thing. I’m confused where the bus pickup location is in Civitavecchia to take passengers to the cruise terminal. It’s either Largo Della Pace or by Fort Michelangelo?

The “Island of Santorini and Village of Oia” RC excursion stops at Santos Winery. Beautiful view there but not a place where they produce wine, it’s a tasting.

I feel like that applies to almost anything read online. People focus on the negatives(food, or travel in general). Once you try it out yourself it’s actually a positive experience.

Will be on Odyssey for our 9 night bucket list trip(Greek Isles, Italy, Turkey) first day of fall this year. Booked a junior suite almost 1.5 years ago. Spending 5 nights in Rome before, and 7 nights in Florence after. Odyssey looks like a great ship, and I’m getting more excited everyday to try it out.

Website won’t allow me to cancel a massage, app has the same error message. There is definitely more glitches last few days.

Try the peanut butter tropic at Schooner Bar. I don’t know if it’s just me, but that is drink is sooo good.

Royal Caribbean rarely goes to Grand Turk it seems like.

On the cruise planner there’s an option for room decorations for birthdays. They typically have it decorated on day 1.

I’d feel safer in Labadee than any hospital, school, mall, festival in the U.S.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/royal-caribbean-cruise-ship-worker-allegedly-admits-filming-young-passengers-even-hiding-under-beds/ar-BB1jms8K

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside Disney resort before our cruise recently. Beautiful landscaping and you get to take the boat to Disney Springs.

Living most of my life in Michigan I get that feeling of wanting to escape. Winter is so long, overcast, and cold!

Long Island kicked my ass on Wonder last week. First one I’ve had in years, afterwards I was sitting at Sorrento’s eating pizza and watching the 80’s party. Everything started spinning

I prefer rock cover bands. None were on Wonder recently. They did have a Whitney Houston tribute singer that was a major hit with the audience. People were waving their flashlights in the air on their phones, and singing along.

Black Friday sales are a hot mess. Takes forever to charge credit cards, and sometimes months to get refunds in my experience.

Some of the most popular drinks ordered are off the menu. Classics like the lava flow, mudslide, chocolate martini, mimosa, bloody mary, baileys banana colada.

Wise words, best to never cancel cruise planner purchases and rebook at lower prices just to save money, especially if cruise is paid in full. It can take 2-3 months for refunds, and risk cruise cancellation due to their IT system glitch. Not worth it. We like the soda package, and $8.99 is a decent price. On Wonder I was disappointed that ginger ale wasn’t available, in fact 1/4 of the flavors were unavailable in most freestyle machines. There’s always the option for canned soda at least.