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2 hours ago, Bjclarke said:

Thank you very much for that. I've been try to get my head around why there doesn't seem to be a board/forum for people to chat before embarking for a cruise they're taking. Rome and Pompeii are on our itinerary I would love to hear how you get on. So with the limo company do you get time to explore and get information about places you see on way through city? 

The full tour descriptions are on their website. You can browse through their options to see what suits you. Rome is about 1.5hrs away from the port and there's so much to see. The tour we'll be joining visits the Colosseum, Forum, Pantheon, Spanish Steps with a driver and a guided tour of the Vatican museums and St. Peter's Basilica. I'm not expecting any free time for exploring with a hectic day like that. 

Our tour to Pompeii leaves from the port of Solerno. We have 2.5hrs guided tour of Pompeii, a stop in Positano and then Amalfi. This will likely be another busy day. 

8 hours ago, Bjclarke said:

Sorry i know this is old post but i have not much for european advice. we are travelling in December but we do wish to visit Pompeii and Rome which are on our stops finding prices with RC expensive for excursions can you offer any advice 

We set sail in 2 weeks and I've spent months and months planning our tours. We booked with a company called Joe Banana Limo/Italy Tour Sharing for our tours of Rome and Pompeii/Amalfi. Visit their site and you can book a tour for as many people as you like. The per person rate goes down, the more people you book.

If you find your "Roll Call" on the Cruise Critic website, you can recruit people to join your tour. We found this much cheaper than the ship's excursions and there are only 8 people in our tour groups. Many people on our Roll Call booked tours this way. At one point there was a spreadsheet with all the tours listed and web links (someone was very organized)! Now I've made "friends" with several of my fellow cruisers and we have a number of meet and greets set up. 

I can certainly share our experiences when we return!

Nine of us including 5 kids walked with no issue from port to Junkaroo. It suited us fine for a few hour visit. The folks selling beer and rum punch can be negotiated with. I believe an umbrella and 2 loungers was $30 for the day (we probably could have paid less). I don't remember having anyone approach us trying to sell us anything. I've been hassles much more on public beaches elsewhere.

I think I may have found my own answer. Please confirm if this is correct...the drink pkg is per night, so as long as 4 nights remain, it will be available for onboard purchase?

It is my understanding that I can purchase a drink package onboard as long as there are 4 days left on our sailing. With this in mind, which day is considered day 4? is it disembarkation day?

Thanks Matt!

I was considering the 3 night dining package but read that a courtesy booking for night 1 would be made on our behalf. We didn't plan to visit a specialty restaurant on night 1. Does anyone know if we have to use one of our 3 nights the first night or can we cancel the booking and make our selections once on board? 

We always book MTD but on our upcoming Mediterranean cruise we only had the option of late seating (8:30). Since we'll often be in port until 7, we figure this will work out fine and for those days we're just not up to it, we'll hit the Windjammer. From everything I've read, Europeans usually partake in a "happy hour" of sorts from 6-8 and dinner is often not until 9 or 10. As a side note, my TA put in a request for a table for 2. This has never been something we've had to consider in the past but with traditional dining you may be sat with a group of strangers if you don't make the request.

In the notes for the BOGO dining pkg it states that the promo requires dining on nights 1 and 2. Has anyone been able to postpone their 2nd night to later in the cruise?

We are sailing on Vision in September for a 12nt Mediterranean. For those who have sailed an itinerary longer than a week, I'm wondering if the MDR menu will be repeated after the first 7 days? Also, we're thinking of trying the BOGO dining pkg. I know it states in the fine print that we must eat on nights 1 and 2 but has anyone been able to use their 2nd night later on in the cruise? 

On our recent Allure sailing we were disappointed to find that the custom omelette station at breakfast and custom pasta and stir-fry stations at dinner were missing from the Windjammer. We figured that this was because of the large size of the ship. Can anyone tell me if this is correct? We're sailing on Vision in September and Adventure next April and hope the smaller size of the ships mean we will find these custom stations.

Our group of 9 including 5 kids walked from the port to Junkaroo Beach at the end of April. Not the best beach we've seen but free, convenient and the kids were kept happy. An umbrella and 2 chairs was $30. We didn't find alcohol to be terribly expensive if you don't mind local beer. We didn't buy food but brought some muffins from the ship and headed back after about 3 hours.

10 hours ago, JLMoran said:

The main road out of the cruise port is still under major rebuilding efforts, and traffic is snarled less than half a mile from the port entrance for a really long distance. Was this way in April when @twangster and I were there, and based on more recent live blogs it’s not any better now.

We walked the road at the beginning of May on our way back to the ship. The path was blocked off from the road by a fence and we had no issue (including 3 children). I think improvements are being made constantly.

2 hours ago, JohnUK said:

Hi Elaine,

We returned from Vision last week and we had a great time. The ship is looking in need of some external cosmetic treatment, particularly at the water line, but it is in very good shape internally. More importantly, it felt to us that it is a really happy ship. All of the staff we met were great, which meant the atmosphere on board was very positive. The entertainment on board varied between excellent and ordinary, but everybody's taste is different in this regard. Food was very good overall. The menus seem a little more limited than they used to be but the choice is still sufficient. Dining room staff were brilliant. Giovanni's and Izumi were excellent in my view (we didn't use Chop's Grill). Windjammer is rather small so it can get a little crowded and the range of offerings is not as wide as it is on the larger ships. But we had no complaints.

We think that Barcelona is a very easy embarkation and disembarkation port. It is reasonably close to the airport and a pleasant place to stay either before or after the cruise. It is also nice to have fixed taxi tariffs that apply from the cruise terminal to the airport. Embarkation was brilliant - we arrived at the cruise port just before 11:00a.m. and we boarded within 15 minutes! Disembarkation was similarly speedy and, although there was what appeared to be an extensive queue for taxis, it was extremely well managed and moved amazingly quickly.

I know your itinerary is different to ours, but ours was excellent. Livorno is a good base from which to explore Pisa and Florence. These places are busy but well worth a visit, particularly if you haven't been there before. Similarly, Civitaveccia (for Rome) is a good opportunity to see the sights of that city. It can take an hour and a half, though, to get to Rome and sometimes longer to return. I would recommend using a Royal Caribbean excursion to see Rome as traffic can be bad and it would be easy to be late in returning to the ship. (This happened to me on a previous cruise - we were 3 hours late getting back and, if we had not been on an "official" excursion, the ship would have been long gone by the time we reached the cruise terminal.)

As an aside, I think the excursions are a bit expensive, but that is also in part due to the weakness of sterling at the moment.

Although we did not visit Athens and Santorini on this cruise, we have been to those places previously. In the case of Athens, it was worth visiting but a little disappointing. Piraeus is not the nicest location and there was conservation work taking place at the Parthenon. Inevitable, but it spoiled the experience to some extent. We love Santorini. It is beautiful and charming. The town at the top of the cliff is picturesque despite being thronged with shops and bars etc. The only thing to be aware of is that the cable car, particularly when returning to the ship, can be very busy with long queues forming. You can walk up or down the cliff path but you need to be fairly fit, not mind encountering (so many) donkeys, and be careful where you put your feet (donkey excrement etc.). We have seen people walking in flip flops here - not a good idea!

I hope this is of some assistance to you. Please let me know if there are any particular questions you would like me to address. I hope your cruise is just as enjoyable as ours was and I would love to hear your experiences when you return.

John.

 

1 believe my Sept. itinerary is the same as yours with an overnight in Venice. I'd love to hear what excursions you booked for visiting Rome and Florence as well as any other tips you have for touring the other ports.

We stayed at the Best Western Plus in Newark January 1017. We drove, and were able to park our car during our 12 night cruise. There was also a shuttle to thecruise port.

We're sailing our of Fort Lauderdale

I've read that we need to be at port 2 hours before our scheduled boarding time of 11. I realize that we can actually board anytime but should we be there for 9 if we plan to board at 11? This seems really early.

I recently asked about these Boardwalk balcony perks for our upcoming sailing. Two guests get the free soda package and 4 get lunch at Johnny Rockets:)

So am I understanding this right? There are no WOW bands on Allure? From what I remember on Anthem, we used them to unlock our stateroom. This was handy for the kids. So this means they'll have to carry a card key?

Can I pre-purchase the bands to have them in our stateroom when we arrive?

Thanks!

Thinking waaaay back to when we booked our sailing on Allure, I believe we received a non-alcoholic drink package as a perk with our Boardwalk balcony stateroom. I think there was a lunch at Johnny Rockets and a family session of rock climbing. Does this sound familiar to anyone? If so, can anyone tell me if it`s the soda package or the refreshment package?

On our last sailing on Anthem we were in a Jr suite and all guests were given a free WOW band. On our upcoming sailing we are in a Boardwalk balcony. Were the WOW bands a suite perk? Can we purchase WOW bands? I found them very convenient for onboard purchasing!

Thanks for the replies so far! To add to the discussion, we're sailing on Vision of the Seas in the Mediterranean. Right now we're assigned deck 2 midship. I'm just concerned we'll feel very far away from fresh air. Having been on 4000+ passenger ships, I know it can take some time getting from point A to point B but with a smaller ship like Vision maybe this isn't the case? Being deck 2, will we appreciate being closer to the exits for disembarkment in ports? I'm assuming it can be very busy with everyone trying to start their tours. or will we be thankful we can reach the outdoors more quickly if we switch to deck 7 or 8?

Can anyone share some pros/cons between these two inside stateroom locations aside from the motion one would feel?...

upper deck forward/aft vs lower deck mid ship.