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I guess it’s never too early to start the roll call! Can’t wait! This will be my first trip to Europe. My wife has been to the UK many times as a child (my MIL is British and has/had family in England & Scotland). She’s been to Paris once, but has not travelled to any of the other locations/countries we’ll be visiting so this should be an amazing trip! Traveling with two other couples (our family and friends from past sailings). The planning is ramping up! This will also be our first cruise as Diamond. We sailed Allure back in 2019… our first Oasis class experience which was absolutely amazing! Can’t wait to see what they do during her amplification!
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Does anyone who sailed Mediterranean have the order of the menus? I know they add Mediterranean and British menus and was wondering what the order is. (For reference I'm talking about the Barcelona sailing going to Mallorca, la spezia, Rome and Naples). Thank you! I have Carribean quite down packed but just wondering what they remove to add others and when. Thanks you!
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Headed out today on a 10 night Italy & Croatia Adventure! My husband and I are in our early 30s and love sailing RCCL but have recently come to love Celebrity Cruise line! We love the loyalty transfer perks too as we are Diamond + for RCCL and that transferred to Elite on Celebrity! Excited to share more of the perks throughout our trip. This will be our 5th sailing on Celebrity and one of the smaller ships we have sailed on. We originally booked an ocean view cabin because the price simply couldn’t be beat, it was a group price through our travel agent which included the always included package for wifi and drinks. To give you perspective our coach round trip flights cost more than this 10 night cruise for 2 adults! We normally prefer to sail in aqua or a suite but the price couldn’t be beat. A week ago i noticed i kept getting emails with a new deal on Celebrity Moveup and decided to put in a last minute bid for aqua class at the minimum and we got it! On this 10 night sailing we will be visiting RAVENNA, ITALY TRIESTE, ITALY DUBROVNIK, CROATIA (Overnight) SPLIT, CROATIA ZADAR, CROATIA KOTOR, MONTENEGRO AMALFI COAST (SALERNO),ITALY ROME (CIVITAVECCHIA), ITALY I selected this sailing because of the variety in ports of call and the overnight in Dubrovnik. We have never visited Croatia and i hear it is absolutely stunning. Excited to share this adventure with all of you! We head out tonight from Newark to Venice to spend 1 day there before embarking for the cruise! Ciao for now!
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Hi, all! Just back from a three-week long adventure---a two week Transatlantic (other cruise line), followed immediately with a week on Symphony. My dates were May 21-May 28. I met my son in Barcelona, we did a little sightseeing and spent the night there, and then boarded Symphony the next day. It was a fabulous cruise and I thought I'd share a few tips, insights, photos, for those going on this cruise in the future. Side note, on my Transatlantic, I picked up what I think was norovirus. YIKES. I was SO SICK. Good grief. Fortunately, I was on the mend when we reached Symphony, but I barely ate the first few days. So here we go on my recap:
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You ever wake up and have stuff on your mind you want to get accomplished for the day? You know, something like deciding whether or not to work on a live vacation blog. That's been me for a while, trying to make the decision on if I wanted to blog our upcoming trip or not. It's taken some time convince myself to start writing and I think I'll make the attempt to create some type of blog for our upcoming trip. Oh, yeah - we leave this Friday. #Late I know I'm a little late starting this and probably have a ton of writing that needs to be done, but we'll see if I can't get this thing started. I'm sure there are some new faces around here and some 'old' faces around here @CruisingKat(Kathy) @Lovetocruise2002 @WAAAYTOOO Our last cruise was in 2019 and we had one booked in 2020. I don't think the year 2020 happened, so we moved our cruise to 2021. That year didn't happen either, so we just got our cruise money back and waiting for 2022 to show up. Ya'll know what I'm talking about for 2020/2021 - those years didn't even seem to exists. Fast forward four years and here we are ... heading to Italy for two weeks. Oh, I didn't mention that part huh? Yeah, so we fly out Friday June 2nd heading to Venice, Italy, then to Rome and then the cruise for a week. Let's see if I can get ya'll caught up to speed. About five or six years ago (do I have to count 2020/2021?), the kids where in middle school. They seemed a little jealous of the 'parent' cruising and we felt bad about not taking them, so we took them on two star class (SC) cruises and spoiled them. Somewhere around here might be my old blogs about those. Anyway, at that point we started talking about taking them on a cruise for their high school graduation. Doesn't seem that bad, eh? Yeah - look where we are now. Our daughter just graduated from high school o_0 I blame those 'years-we-don't-talk-about' for time going by so fast. This trip has been in the planning and talking phases for the past 4-6 years. Oh, yeah - our son graduates in 2 years - so, we'll be doing this again. Funny to think that some of ya'll might be in the same boat - kids graduating high school and all. Ok, we can reminisce about that later - back to this trip. After some conversations within our little family group (my, wife, daughter, son) it was our daughters turn coming up to pick our what she wanted to do for her big high school graduation trip. She picked Italy. We wanted to make sure if we went on this trip, it would be worth it. Thus, we blocked out a two-week vacation. Part of that was traveling to different places followed by a week long cruise. Just to give anyone planning this type of trip - start working on it WAY in advance. It's a ton of planning and I credit my wife for doing the most of it. You'll have to bear with me as I try to get everyone up to speed on what it takes to plan a trip like this, so be prepared for multiple posts ... Yeah, I'm a little older now and a little slower - lol I crossed the 'big' hill a couple years ago during the 'years-we-don't-talk-about'. btw - let me just vent on that #GetOnSoapBox... that was going to the the kids 3rd SC cruise, my 50th and 10yr anniversary all on one cruise. That didn't happen. #GetOffSoapBox So the summary goes something like this: Fly to Venice (13hrs), take the train to Rome (4hrs) and then cruise the western Mediterranean (Rome, Naples, Barcelona, Palma, Marseille, La Spezia). A couple of quick notes while I'm thinking about it. If anyone has questions about some of these quick notes, I'll try to respond during this thread to give more information. 1) flights are stoopid expensive to get over there (about $8k for the 4 of us) 2) you have to take EUROs with you (figure about 15% to get this converted from your bank due to fees/exchange rate) It's better to pay in EUROs for things, rather than a credit card. It's a different way of thinking compared to how we do it here in the US. 3) prepay for whatever you can on your credit card (check with your card about foreign transaction fees - if you going over there, you'll have to grin-and-bear-it, unless your card doesn't charge for those) 4) find a good travel planning app (I don't want to push any specific one, but we found one we like that we are using - if you want to know, DM me) 5) be prepared to add the international plan to your phone (this was a little more unexpected - I figured $100 based on initial reading of our wireless carrier to have international during our trip. Yeah, that turned out to be $100 PER LINE ... it took me a bit to 'really' understand how they have it instead of just reading it at first. Oh well ... cheaper than just letting the kids run wild across the social platforms while in another country, eh?) 6) for those of you with those fruity phones, invest in the air tags (funny, in our house the girls have the iphones and the boys have the galaxys. The air tags will help you sorta keep track of your bags. Just 'hid' it somewhere in your luggage. No, don't mix it with your clothes but put it somewhere else. Maybe even tape it to the inside. Either way - worth the piece of mind) I think one of the most important things for a trip like this is the budget - at least for me. But, if you plan far enough in advance then things should be ok. Oh, make sure to budget casino money in there ... #Disclaimer: Only budget casino money on what you can afford to lose. Have to put that in here cause we all know how they work. Um, let's see - since it's been some time since I blogged, trying to remember how to do this - right now just seems like a brain dump as I think of stuff. The Cruise: No SC for us this round - blame the flight costs, so we have two large balconies. The girls and the boys. It's sobering to not have SC and realize all the 'extras' you have to remember to book/pay for, right @Lovetocruise2002? lol Everything from drink packages, to the internet, to restaurant reservation and show reservations ... Yeah, I'm spoiled with the SC. If you have never cruise using the SC (star class), you really need to try it once. Check out my SC Anthem 2019: Packing started a month or so ago. Well, not the 'actual' packing but getting the suitcases down and all the shopping for Italy clothes. Oh wait - that started after the first of the year. Once the 'reality' of the trip started to hit, the shopping started. Even us boys didn't realize we didn't have enough of the right kind of clothes to take on the trip. Yeah, so shorts, pants, nicer shirts (not t-shirts with a Venom logo), shoes without holes ... yeah and the counting if we had enough socks and underwear, which we didn't - so off to the store we went. The past couple of months seem to be a blur with a lot going on, primarily all the planning around the actual graduation for our daughter. Part of all this also included the whole - she's going to college in New York. That's a whole 'nuther 'trip' planning in itself that we have been juggling with this one. Sorry, back to this trip. Let's see. Overview, check. Itinerary, check. Rambling, check. Budget, yall-send-me-a-check (ha). Cruise, check. For those that were familiar with the Periscope app, sorry to have seen that close down back in 2021. I don't know if there will be anything posted here from a live streaming process, but will toss some pictures out here and try to stay on top of the daily blogging. Bear with me as I try to get back to remembering how to blog.
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Just returned from a 7 night western Mediterranean Cruise with my family and, all in all, a great experience. The only major disappointment was the shore excursion "Pisa by Trolley." The RCL website described the excursion as follows: See Pisa's essential sights as you embark on a guided walking tour of the town's history with a narrated trolley train ride and a visit to the prominent square before setting out on your own. Learn about the historical edifices in the Field of Miracles, as your guide illustrates the Tuscan city's rich heritage. Behold the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa, a 12th-century bell tower known for its protruding tilt. Explore the area independently, where you can shop, visit the cathedral, or stroll beside the Arno River. Highlights: • Field of Miracles: Join a walking tour of Pisa's main square, admiring stunning Tuscan-Romanesque architecture and significant city landmarks. • Leaning Tower of Pisa: The 12th-century bell tower's tilt is caused by the inadequate foundation on which it stands. • Free Time: Wander at your own pace, shopping for souvenirs, visiting the cathedral, or walking along the Arno River. This was quite misleading. First of all, it is a 4 hour tour, but they do not mention that it takes 1hr+ each way by bus to get there, so already you are down to less than 2 hours (when I originally booked, it said it was 20-30 minutes, but I assume that was because they had simply used the description for the excursion from port of Livorno for the Port of La Spezia excursion as well, but of course I did not know that at the time). Once there we had to transfer to trolley, and then we spent about 30-45 minutes driving around the town of Pisa, which was actually quite pretty, and at the time I thought it was a great experience. But, let's face it, you go to Pisa to see the tower. Once the moment of truth arrived, we were dropped off a few minutes walk from the square- We were told where we could go to the bathroom, eat, and buy souvenirs (we had been on the go at this point for about 2.5hrs so most of the bus load of people lined up for the single toilet), and we were told to be back at that point in 40 minutes so that we did not miss the trolley to take us back to the bus, as it would not wait. No walking tour of Pisa's main square. So, waited 10 minutes for the toilet, then scooted over to get the obligatory holding up the Leaning Tower photo for each one of us. At this point, we started to have some panic set in as we were watching the clock and realized we had 10-15 minutes left before we had to climb back on the trolley. NO time to really explore the square. If you wanted to go inside anything, you needed tickets, and there was no time to stand in line to get a ticket. I had booked mine in advance with the illusion there would be some time to explore a bit (more than 100 Euros for 4 of us), but when I asked the guide as we boarded the bus back at the ship, he had laughed at me and said we literally had no chance of fitting that in. I did manage to get inside the cathedral (but not the Tower of Pisa) for less than 5 minutes, but literally ran to front, snapped some photos, and ran back out. I barely even remember being there. If anyone went to walk along the river, I am sure they had to find their own way back to the ship! The only people wandering at their own pace were those that could not wait to get back to the boat. So, in the end, we spent $64pp to get about 40 minutes at the outside of the Tower of Pisa and the area around, which had to include bathroom break and maybe time to buy a bottle of water (it was almost 90 degrees). I had also dropped about $125 on entrance to the Tower which did not even happen. I contacted guest services, and they gave me $32pp refund (The manager at Shore Excursions on ship said I was not the first person to complain about this particular excursion), but that only covered the entrance tickets I did not get to use. VERDICT: While you do not need a full day to see Pisa, if you really want some exploring time, this is not a good excursion. If you just want "The Photo" and get back to ship ASAP, this should work for you. To see this area, I would say you need a minimum of 90 minutes to explore, and the promised walking tour should be provided. RCL did try to apologize by giving us a 50% refund, but unfortunately for me, this really only covered the tickets I bought on my own which I did not get to use. This tour length should be 5-6 hours, and that would work well.
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Time arrived , another half YOLO cruise will start soon , YOLO since we booked it only at April. This is the 5th time we are doing the same cruise (Two times on Symphony, one time on Harmony and one time on Liberty) but there are always something new to do in each one of the Med ports Here is our plans : Day -1 – Barcelona/ Brussels - our flight is planned via brussels as it was the cheapest option , the only issue is that it comes with a very long stopover, the plan is to try and take an earlier fight from brussels , if not we will take the train to the city and eat fresh fries and maybe some famous Belgium chocolates. Day 1 – Barcelona. Day 2 – Palma de Mallorca, we have some excursion planned to the north part of the island. Day 3 - Marseilles , take the buss to the city and walkaround until I will need to catch a conference call , work related (the things I am doing to be able and cruise more). Day 4 - Florence/Pisa (La Spezia) – I might have something special for this port , a trip to Milan airport to retrieve what I left there yesterday , more about it later. Day 5 –Rome (Civitavecchia) – I booked a train trip to Rome , directly with the railway company , ¼ of the price the ship offers , to be on the safe side we are planning to catch the 4 PM train back which should bring us 3 hours before all aboard. Day 6- Naples (Capri) – No plans yet , we might take the bicycle tour if the weather will be nice or rent a car or just go off the ship and tour the city. Day 7 – be sad the cruise is over maybe overcome it with the Chef table. Day 8 – catch a 9:30 am flight back home (yes , we are walking over the edge this) time , still trying to see if I can find a direct flight in a decent price , if not it will be a very early day for us. As you can see we are traveling a day before the cruise and leaving on the same day coming back , I wanted to add at least one more day in Barcelona but I just could not make it happened, this time its really hard to navigate between work and vacation. So, why I consider to drive to Milan during the cruise ? , very simple , I was on a business trip few days ago, making sure I will be back on time for the cruise (meaning running away one day earlier than usual). I went to the airport , passed check in , security and border control enough time ahead to seat and relax in the airline lounge. I was drifted away working , trying to complete some tasks so I will have less things on my mind during the vacation when I heard the call for boarding. I packed very quickly, boarded the aircraft, went to my seat then reaching for my cellphone just to realize its gone, TA, TA , TA (dramatic music please) , my worst nightmare (naa , not really , my rea nightmare is to be late boarding RCL cruise ship ?). Quickly I went to the front of the aircraft (was not upgraded this time , poor me) to notify the flight attended about the crises , she escorted me back to the gate , passing some un happy security people , were one of the ground team went to try and find my cellphone in the lounge. After five minutes I asked if I can go by myself , apparently it was Ok , went to the lounge just to hear that they did found it , but they were supper efficient and sent it to the lost and found …. , yes this is the first time they were really efficient. Now I had two options, one go out and fetch the cellphone from the lost and found , but it means I will need to do security and boarder control again, in other words I will loose my flight, which can risk the cruise … I had chosen the other option , leave my communication center , my camera , my VPN authentication device , my two phone numbers (the local one and the roaming T Mobile which is very useful for cruises) , my restaurant guide , my taxi and many other things , amazing how much of our lives is relying on one device. I did run back to the aircraft as they were waiting just for me. So here I was seating at my chair doing plans how to recover from the situation in the day or two I still had before the cruise. We landed at early morning and after a short taxi ride I was back home , finding that beside the cellphone I left behind also my keys … ops, lucky for me I have spare keys, what a ride . To be continued , need to pack ? For now , here is some last minute Caprese salad I prepared today to get ready for the trip
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C minus 1 day One day before we embark upon our second RC cruise on Independence of the Seas. Packing’s all done, documents are good to go, so I thought I’d kick off my first Live Blog with a bit of a pre-amble: Our History I’ll be sailing with my husband, we’re both in our 30s (just about for one of us!), from England and this will be our third cruise in total. My husband used to be in the Royal Navy and loves being at sea, but since leaving the Navy, had always fancied sailing in a bit more luxury than on a warship. My mum had always wanted to try a cruise so we booked a family one – me, husband, mum, step-dad – for her 60th in 2016 on Navigator of the Seas doing a 14 Night Western Med from Southampton. Long and short of it, we all loved it! Husband and I loved it so much we went on another family cruise in 2017, this time with my dad, his wife, my sister and my auntie. It was a 7 night Scandinavian itinerary on Crown Princess from Southampton. It too was a great cruise and whilst there were some things we felt were better on Princess (pool deck layout, rooms ready on arrival at 11am, more large lounges), overall, my husband and I preferred the experience on RC. We have this cruise booked on IoS and then we have another family cruise, this time with mother-in-law booked for next year on P&O’s Azura.
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I want to start my review by discussing purchasing airfare to Europe. We started monitoring prices several months in advance of the trip and found prices to fluctuate daily and finally settled on a decent price about 6 weeks before the cruise. We continued to monitor the prices after booking and luckily never saw a significant shift below the price we booked. The moral of the story was start tracking early and don’t be afraid to wait until it is within the two month window. We rented a TEP wireless hotspot (https://www.tepwireless.com) to use for international phone coverage and were pleasantly surprised to see how well it worked as soon as we left the airport in Barcelona. Our family of four (kids aged 9 and 11) was meeting up with another family of five (kids aged 8 and 12) and had rented an apartment near the gothic quarter. Our flight arrived at 9:00 and check in at the apartment was not until 3:00. To help us stay awake we took advantage of rental lockers near the apartment to stow the luggage and took a Devour Barcelona Tastes and Traditions food tour (https://devourbarcelonafoodtours.com/tours/tour/tastes-tapas-traditions-barcelona-food-tour/). We had an amazing tour guide named Paulina that took us through the Santa Caterina Market along with several other stops including an introduction to la hora de vermut (the hour of vermouth) and some delicious paella. This was enough to get us into the early afternoon and check into the apartment. We also had planned a walking tour of the gothic quarter (https://runnerbeantours.com/tours/free-tours-barcelona-gothic-quarter/) that was excellent and very informative. This was a great way to help us learn more about the city and make sure we stayed up to adjust to our new bedtime in Barcelona! On day two in Barcelona, we had arranged a tour of Montserrat through Castle experience (https://www.castlexperience.com/barcelona-wine-tours/montserrat-food-wine-tour/). Our tour guide Angus was the best and was very informative. She was amazing with the kids especially for the winery portion of the tour which included wine tasting (secretly grape juice for the kids). The winery itself (https://ollerdelmas.com/en/) was an amazing experience and we got to tour the vineyards, cellar and grounds concluding with the wine tasting and delicious tapas to go with it. We bought a couple bottles of wine from the vineyard along with their vermutand a couple of beers. We closed out the night with a dinner of pinchos. For our final full day in Barcelona, we went for a nice long walk up the hill to Park Guell (https://www.parkguell.cat/en/) followed by a walk to Sagrada Familia(http://www.sagradafamilia.org/en/). Travel to the port and embarkation couldn’t have been easier. We grabbed a taxi near the apartment and we were at the port in less than 20 minutes. It was a little confusing as there were two terminals feeding into Symphony and our taxi delivered us to one terminal and our friends to the other but we easily met inside on the gangway. We had a crown loft suite and the entire process from curb to stepping onto the ship could not have taken more than 20 minutes. Stepping onto the ship was as amazing as we expected and Symphony did not disappoint for the entire trip. We explored the ship and the kids changed into suits for the pool and flowrider. We got into our room not long after 1:00 and were very impressed by the space and views from our room. The entire staff of the suite lounge went above and beyond for all aspects of our stay. After the muster drill in the aqua theater we started to settle into our routine on the cruise. The number of port days had made the drink package seem like a bad idea until a sale had popped up not long before the cruise. We had concerns that we would not take full advantage of the drink package due to the number of port days (this ended up being a nonissue). We saw the aquatheater show on the first night. The performers were very good but it was less clear what the story was actually about. We managed to stay up until midnight to see the balloon drop party on the promenade led by the cruise director Miguel. Day two started with an early morning approach to Palma de Maorca and we awoke to an amazing view of the cathedral in the city. We had hoped to be able to walk to the cathedral but the walk was going to be over three miles so we opted for the RC shuttle instead. After exploring the cathedral and the area immediately around it we took the shuttle back to the ship to enjoy some time on the ship. After falling in love with gintonicsin Barcelona, we were enjoying them on the ship and asked the suite lounge bartender Johanna to make us a new gin drink. She informed us of a drink called an elderphire! This became a favorite drink for the rest of the trip. It’s no longer on the menus in the RC bars but experienced bartenders will know how to make it. We went to the 4:30 early show of Hairspray and were blown away but how good the performance was. This night was also the first of our meals at the coastal kitchen. The filet was very good and we knew we would try to arrange dinners for the 9 of us here for the rest of the nights that we had not already booked precruise. Day three was a stop in France at the port of Marseille. We made an important stop at a grocery for comte potato chips! Again, we planned a shorter time ashore to enjoy the ship with very busy port days planned in Italy for the following three days. The ice skating show that night was a lot like the aqua theater show. Clearly all the performers were amazing at what they do but the story was not very clear. There was a sailawayparty on the helipad with several members of crew present that was a great experience for the suite guests. For all three of the Italy ports of call we had arranged a driver from Rome Private Excursions (www.romeprivateexcursions.com). After a quick breakfast at the Windjammer we left the ship at the port of La Spezia. Since there were 9 of use, two cars picked us up at the port and our drivers David and David took us for a quick stop at Pisa. My wife and I had been there over 10 years ago and knew that it was not a sight to miss but was not worth more than short visit. We then headed to Florence to see the Duomo, Ponte Vechio and see David. We had specifically requested lunch at I Fratallini (http://www.iduefratellini.it/) which is an amazing hole in the wall place to get a sandwich and glass of Brunello. My wife and I had grabbed lunch here on an earlier trip and knew the simplicity of great cured meats on delicious bread with a glass of Brunello while sitting on the curb was an experience we wanted to share with our kids and friends. Day five was a stop in Rome which is not close to the port of Civitavecchia where we docked. After almost two hours our drivers Luca and Maximo had us to Rome for a quick walk around the Coliseum. This was another example of how we could craft our schedule with our drivers. We could have taken the time to go inside the coliseum but we chose to spend more time later in the day at the Vatican. We grabbed an amazing lunch near a market of paninis and beer (some of us got pizza that was sold by the pound). This market was right by the Parthenon which was not crowded that day so we were able to spend time inside this amazing building. We then headed to the Vatican and met our tour guide. Having a guide was a great way to focus the time we were there and maximize a short amount of time. Day six was Naples and we woke up to start the day. My wife noticed that the floor was wet on the second floor by the desk. Water had leaked from above and had gotten into the drawers and left a significant amount of clothing inside wet. We informed Jesus our steward and the concierge and immediately things went into motion to correct the situation. They took all the wet clothes for laundering and maintenance was in the room as we left to fix the problem. We left the ship to meet our drivers Aldo and Salvatore to take us on our tour. The port parking lot was a nightmare and we did not get anywhere fast for almost 60 minutes! This was one of the great advantages of using Rome Private Excursions. We changed our plans as we drove and decided to not go all the way to Sorrento and instead enjoyed some limonchello at a distillery and then went to the coastal town of Positano. We walked the streets of this beautiful town for 60 minutes before meeting up with our drivers again to take us to a new lunch destination that was different from our original plans. They suggested a lunch and wine tasting that sounded too good to pass up. We approached Mount Vesuvius and stopped at a vineyard that was literally the last stop on the road headed up to the volcano. Cantina Del Vesuvio(www.cantinadelvesuvio.it) gave us a quick tour of the vineyards and then we had a multi course meal with wine tastings to match each one. The pasta course was what I dream about from previous trips to Italy, simple, perfectly cooked pasta with a perfectly cooked tomato sauce. Before we left we bought two bottles of wine and a bottle of their olive oil. We then went to meet our tour guide at Pompeii. Our time was limited and that was the great benefit of having a guide. 90 minutes is probably not enough time to spend at Pompeii but he kept us focused and was extremely knowledgeable so our time was just enough to immerse us and leave us wishing we could stay. A quick trip back to port and we were back on the ship. All the wet clothes from earlier in the day were freshly cleaned and returned to our room. Finally, a sea day! We started the morning with room service which was delivered on time and was rather tasty. I made a quick trip to get a bloody Mary (another great use of the drink package early in the day!). All the kids wanted to skate so we got down to the rink early to sign up for the first slot of the day. Drinks, swimming and lounging by the pool were status quo for the rest of the day. The solarium bar had been partially blocked off by scaffolding that was being used to fix the sculpture above the bar that was finally removed on this day. We wanted to bar but it was very rowdy back there (and we are not a shy group) and order a gin and tonic that had become a standard of the trip was very disappointing at the solarium bar. It tasted sour and off compared to what we had had at other bars on the ship. Disembarkation was every bit as smooth as embarkation. We ate at coastal kitchen for breakfast for the first time of the trip. Mostly the early mornings had kept us from doing this but we regretted that we had not been here before for breakfast! A taxi to the airport and we were on our way. Unfortunately, we ran into trouble in Newark on the way back that made for a very long day but we were all very flexible and found ourselves home much sooner than we would have liked. Some overall impressions of the ship and sailing, the suite and everyone in the lounge were out of this world and constantly working to make sure our trip was everything it could be. Especially Raj and Rahul the concierges helped arrange a bridge tour. Johanna always made sure we never had an empty glass and she introduced us to the elderphire! Amalia was our server almost every meal and was amazing. Shetty in coastal kitchen not only got us lasagna from the main dining room the night it was on the menu but the next night brought us even better lasagna (I assume from Jamie’s) without us even asking, it was incredible!! We realized we should have also asked for them to bring us curry as that is one of our favorites. Even though drinks were included in the lounge, we got a great deal on the drink package and made great use of it! It was easy to have two glasses of wine with dinner and have a coffee with Baileys and already be close to breaking even! The suite deck was also a great perk that I wish we had another day to take advantage of that space.
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I am going on the 12 night Mediterranean cruise in May and I noticed that many of the ports are not in the destination city (including Rome, Athens, and Ephesus for example). The Royal Caribbean website only says there is a nominal fee charged for a courtesy shuttle to and from the port and destination city, but I cannot find an example of the cost anywhere? Has anyone done the Mediterrean cruise? Do you remember about how much it cost for the shuttle? I know it will probably vary from port to port, but I don't know whether I am looking at like $10 or like $50 per person and I am trying to narrow it down somewhat. Thanks in advance!! :D
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