A Voyage for the Ages – VY 7/8/2024 – 7/15/2024

[Lovetocruise2002]

A Voyage for the Ages – VY 7/8/2024 – 7/15/2024

This is the start of our “small ship summer”! Headed off soon on what might be the grandest adventure yet for our family of four. We booked this sailing as soon as it was released (November 2022). Full disclaimer/defense/whatever you want to call it. I am starting this blog just over two weeks early because the next two weeks will be a bit crazy here at home. We are right about to enter Graduation festivities, there's extended family coming from Vancouver, and somewhere in this, we still have to wrap up last minute plans for this trip and the next trip, and pack.

My oldest has always wanted to visit Italy and we always knew that we would not take them until they were old enough to truly remember and appreciate it all. That time is now. We have a whole lot to celebrate with this sailing. It’s in part our graduation present to D18 (almost), and we are also celebrating their milestone (16th & 18th) birthdays in August.

Hubby and I have not been back to the Med since 2005. I still remember that year I told Hubby we would have to make it a good vacation before we had kids, and here we are, headed back again 19 years later with what might be our last “big” family vacation until I am not sure when. It’s bittersweet for sure.

If you haven’t guessed it yet from the tone of this, between everything that we have gone through as family over the last half a year or so, we are determined to YOLO and cherish every moment of this. And knowing that we might not be back to Europe for a very long time, or perhaps not at all with the kids, we really went all out for this one. There was no holding back. So here goes….

[Lovetocruise2002]

Who’s Going?

Me, Hubby, D18 (almost), D16 (almost) (aka, the freeloaders)

Flight

Delta from DTW-JFK-BCN; booked direct through Delta this time.

To say that flight pricing has been awful is a total understatement! I am not sure if it’s because of the Olympics in Paris (we’re not even flying anywhere near France), or just still experiencing pandemic revenge travel, but prices for flights were very high from the very start.

At 11 months out, I looked at my options. You all know that we prefer to fly out of DTW, but DTW had no direct flights to BCN. However, YYZ (Pearson in Toronto) did. I was truly conflicted. Had no clue what to do. Pricing was bad for both airports, and I really did not want to make a connection or drive 4 hours to Toronto. I called Air2Sea and their pricing for economy was very similar to the airlines, but pricing for Premium Economy and Business class was ridiculously higher than the airlines, and the airlines were already nuts! So, at 11 months out, I cringed as I made the call, but we booked with Air2Sea a non-stop from YYZ-BCN.

Fast forward a few months and the more I thought about it, the more I hated the idea of going anywhere near YYZ. That airport is a disaster! Hubby and I had a pro/con discussion and we decided to make the switch to fly out of DTW and just make the connection somewhere. Our options were to connect through JFK, ATL, CDG, or AMS. If you all remember what happened to us last summer, ATL was out right away! I did not really want to make the connection in Europe. So that left connecting at JFK. Hopefully, this does not all come back to bite me.

This whole time (even while booked with Air Canada) I had been monitoring Delta pricing. It was awful. The lowest price for Main Cabin tickets were in the range of $1850pp, times 4, the tickets were more than the cost of our cruise (more on that later)! So, we settled on DTW-JFK-BCN and the return a non-stop from FCO-DTW in Main Cabin.

About 6 months ago, PE pricing dropped to a range that was doable for us, so I upgraded us. Then, close to final payment, I noticed that D1 pricing was fluctuating like crazy. I told Hubby in the spirit of YOLO we really should go for it. We ended up getting a pretty decent price for D1, but I had to pull the Air2Sea reservation and book with Delta direct because Air2Sea pricing for business class remained very high. This is an example for those who use Air2Sea to always compare.  Air2Sea is generally about the same or cheaper, but not in this case.

[Lovetocruise2002]

Pre-Cruise Stay

H10 Metropolitan in Barcelona.

I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about Barcelona. That last time we sailed the Med in 2005, it was only cruise #4 and we were still young and not the brightest, and flew in the day of the cruise. From doing research, I knew I wanted to stay near Las Ramblas or the Gothic Quarter. From there, I discovered a chain of hotels called H10 and they have awesome TripAdvisor reviews. We settled on H10 Metropolitan, and they provide daily breakfast and complimentary Cava upon arrival so what more could we need? lol

[Lovetocruise2002]

Itinerary

July 4th – Leave for Barcelona; DTW-JFK-BCN

July 8th – Cruise Day!

July 9th – Valencia, Spain

July 10th – Sea Day

July 11th – Villefranche, France

July 12 – Ajaccio, Corsica, France

July 13th – Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy

July 14th – Portofino, Italy

July 15th – Civitavecchia (Rome)

July 18th – Fly home; FCO-DTW direct with Delta

Cabin

Two Bedroom Grand Suite

Royal Up

Royal Up offer came in 4/25 for a 7/8 sail date. Quite early. Needless to say, I did not bid this time. I want the two bathrooms and both the OS, and RS do not have that. Easy pass.

Pre-Cruise thoughts

-        I have so many pre-cruise thoughts, I don’t think I can fit them all here. I’ll post them as I think of them.

-        This is our first time sailing VY even though she is an older ship.

-        Once again, in the spirit of a live blog, please do not hesitate to ask any questions.  I will do my best to find out whatever I can for you.

-        When responding to a post with a series of pictures, please do not include the pictures in your reply.  It just makes for easier scrolling.

-        Lastly, I will try to post videos and stories on Instagram.  You can follow me @lovetocruise2002

[Ampurp85]

Voyager is the last one I need for the Voyager class bingo card, so I am excited for this.

I am also excited for these type of possibly last big family vacations. 

Isn't both Liberty and Voyager the only ships without Freestyle machines? I think luck enough with all the ports you might be able to avoid the WJ and eat great food everywhere else.

[WAAAYTOOO]

Interesting that we have also never sailed on Voyager !  It just keeps evading me.

[Sweety]

I will be following. Still need to plan my retirement cruise.

[Lovetocruise2002]

8 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

Voyager is the last one I need for the Voyager class bingo card, so I am excited for this.

I am also excited for these type of possibly last big family vacations. 

Isn't both Liberty and Voyager the only ships without Freestyle machines? I think luck enough with all the ports you might be able to avoid the WJ and eat great food everywhere else.

I have no idea if VY has freestyle or not. I forgot to mention that we have no drink package, no dining package for this sailing. Just WJ, MDR, all the way...yikes! But yes, we plan to eat a lot off the ship too. We are basically treating the ship like our hotel for this one.

Initially, we had the option of VY or OA. Both ships offered very similar itineraries. But in the end, VY won out because of price and because for such a port intensive sailing, it could be Enchantment for all I care.

6 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Interesting that we have also never sailed on Voyager !  It just keeps evading me.

We have not done Explorer or Navigator. But like I was saying in @Neesa's blog, after the summer, I might be done with small ships for quite some time. Just not worth it to us.

1 minute ago, Sweety said:

Still need to plan my retirement cruise.

Me too! But sadly, I still have a few more years before I can do that.

[OCSC Mike]

1. Voyager was my honeymoon/first ship.

2. My blog title was better.

That's all I got for now.

[Ampurp85]

I stopped getting any sort of drinking package once I made D. And I only tend to get the UDP on Quantum or Oasis class. So I think you should be okay. .......you can avoid the WJ and I feel like the MDR will be much better because it is a European cruise. 

[ScottD]

This is an amazing trip...definitely looking forward to it ..not as much as you are,but I'm not going to Europe anytime soon,so you're the best I got right now

[JohnK6404]

So exciting!!! We'll be following as always, but especially since our first Western Med cruise is next year (Barcelona too)! I'll have to take notes! LOL! 

Working on airfare now and looking at Air2Sea too... thank you for all of your Air2Sea feedback on other posts! 

Still narrowing down hotels... I see there are a number of H10 locations and we too want to be relatively close to Las Ramblas. Made a short list from the recommendations provided here from so many folks on our blog. Also, waiting on feedback from the other two couples we're traveling with next year (same gang as past cruises). All of them (separately) stayed in Barcelona just last year so we want to coordinate with them if possible and see if they have any recommendations.

[JohnK6404]

47 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

I stopped getting any sort of drinking package once I made D. And I only tend to get the UDP on Quantum or Oasis class. So I think you should be okay. .......you can avoid the WJ and I feel like the MDR will be much better because it is a European cruise. 

We're with you (at least for our next sailing). We just hit Diamond and our next sailing will be 5 ports and only 1 sea day (Med, so no Labadee/Coco Cay to use that DBP). I can't see us benefiting from a DBP or UDP for our itinerary now that we have those vouchers every day. We'll be off the ship more than on so I think we'll be good. 

[JohnK6404]

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

... I forgot to mention that we have no drink package, no dining package for this sailing. Just WJ, MDR, all the way...yikes! But yes, we plan to eat a lot off the ship too. We are basically treating the ship like our hotel for this one.

Our plan as well... we may get the 3 night dining package or a la carte a restaurant, but no DBP or UDP for sure!

[Lovetocruise2002]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

1. Voyager was my honeymoon/first ship.

2. My blog title was better.

That's all I got for now.

1. Adventure was our honeymoon/first ship. 2. Isn't that subjective? lol

1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said:

I stopped getting any sort of drinking package once I made D. And I only tend to get the UDP on Quantum or Oasis class. So I think you should be okay. .......you can avoid the WJ and I feel like the MDR will be much better because it is a European cruise. 

Same. No drink package for us as soon as we hit D. And I laughed pretty hard at you MDR much better in Europe comment. I have a feeling it will still be the same. We will see.

1 hour ago, ScottD said:

This is an amazing trip...definitely looking forward to it ..not as much as you are,but I'm not going to Europe anytime soon,so you're the best I got right now

Happy to blog and be the entertainment! lol

45 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

Working on airfare now and looking at Air2Sea too... thank you for all of your Air2Sea feedback on other posts! 

You're welcome. Like I said, I love/hate Air2Sea, but for this Europe sailing, it did not work out to stay with them. I do however, have a lot more to say on how Air2Sea affected my reservation, more on that later. This is what I mean by I have a lot of pre-cruise thoughts for this sailing.

46 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

I see there are a number of H10 locations and we too want to be relatively close to Las Ramblas

Yes! There are. We had narrowed it down to H10 Metropolitan and H10 Madison. Both located right in the heart of Las Ramblas. In the end we picked the Metropolitan, only because it was at one end of Las Ramblas and because D17 and I always have this thing about walking efficiently and not doubling back, the Metropolitan made better sense to us over the Madison.

31 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

we may get the 3 night dining package

I considered this but seeing that some of our excursions run late (almost to ship departure time), I don't even know if we will have the energy to get ready for dinner after a port day. We might just head to the WJ or call Room Service and call it a day.

 

[Lovetocruise2002]

So, about booking this sailing...

We got a fantastic rate on our 2BD GS. The night Europe 2024 itineraries were released, I couldn't believe the pricing I saw for this room. Now, this is all relative, but compared to the pricing of some of the other ships, I thought just a little over $1700pp (quad occ) for this room category was a great deal! I mean you can't even get a solo inside GTY on IC group cruise for that rate! 

About two weeks after we booked this, suite pricing started rising drastically for this sailing. I could not figure out why. It went so high at one point that it was $4700pp (quad occ) for a JS! Then suites just vanished completely.

In the fall of 2023, over dinner one night, Hubby and I had conversation that went something like this:

Hubby: There is a CE (that means continuing education course) on a cruise that goes to Europe. Want to go?

Me: Umm...you realize that we are already booked to go to Europe with the kids that summer right?

Hubby: It's too bad we cannot substitute that one for this one.

Me: No way. First of all, is your CE cruise even on Royal. Second, I would have to pay a change fee. Third, we got an awesome rate and it has just gone nuts after so unless we can book something similar, forget it.

Hubby: Too bad. A lot of docs are going. It would be fun to go.

Me: (A little annoyed) What ship and cruise line is this CE thing on anyway? And when is it?

Hubby: I don't know (classic). 

Me: Well did you get an email or something?

Hubby: Yes, let me pull up the email.....Oh, it's on Royal Caribbean!

Me: Really? What ship?

Hubby: Umm...it says Voyager of the Seas sailing July 8th, 2024.

Me + kids: Umm...hello?! You know (well actually you truly probably don't know lmao) that we are already booked on that sailing right?

Hubby: What really?! So that means I can go to the CE?

Me: SMH...Well whether you go to this CE or not, we will be on that cruise, but are you going to have to ditch your family to explore European ports on our own?

Hubby: No, it looks like this CE is only during the sea days.

Me: There is only one sea day on this sailing. So you'll be giving up FlowRiding then?

Hubby: (Sad face)...I guess...

Me: Ok then, I guess you can sign up for it as long as it doesn't affect our original reservation and cabin price.

...And so that is how this sailing became a lot more busy because not only is it port heavy, but now apparently a lot docs that Hubby works with will be on this sailing as well, and Hubby has lost his wave time for this cruise. That also might explain why the pricing for this sailing went so nuts because there will be an event run by the Academy of Ophthalmic Education. Fun times....

[Lovetocruise2002]

Here is the RU offers even though I did not bid. 
 

[WAAAYTOOO]

Wow, pretty good RU prices….but I totally get why you didn’t bid.

[Lovetocruise2002]

What have we been up in our dry dock period from mid-March until now?

When I left on the last blog, I said it was "Tis the season for Prom & Grad festivities". April/May sort of flew by. My Dad is doing well and stable. Thank you to those who have reached out to ask. He and my Mom are headed off to a cruise next weekend. That alone brings me so much joy.

Watching your first born approach her high school graduation is not for the faint of heart. I don't think I was truly prepared for the emotions that I have been wrestling with over the last few months. We've spent almost two decades trying to raise and protect her, and now we are supposed to learn to let go? Is there a blog or an instruction manual for that?

Thankfully, she has decided that she is not leaving us totally just yet. She's going to do her undergrad studies close to home and continue to live at home for the time being. Gives her a bit longer to figure out what she really wants. The President's Entrance Scholarship she was offered doesn't hurt either. Nevertheless, it will be a period of adjustment for all of us. 

Graduation is next week for my baby who is not a baby any longer. But for the time being, I did promise @Sweety in the last blog that I would provide some Prom photos. Also, no one told me that these things are like weddings now! Another parenting thing I was not prepared for lol

[Lovetocruise2002]

4 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Wow, pretty good RU prices….but I totally get why you didn’t bid.

Yeah, no way am I giving up the 2 bathrooms, especially when some excursions start at 7:30am! I wouldn't even take those Royal Ups if they were free this time.

[Shari]

Enjoy your cruise, I am looking forward to your blog.  Voyager was our first Royal cruise back in 2012 and we will finally be on her again in September in Jr Suites with a B2B Rome to Athens to Ravenna.  We booked the first day it was open in 2022 so got great prices of about 3000 for each leg. It is now double that for a balcony on a single leg.  I understand about flight prices we ended up booking 2 airlines and spending the night to get cheaper Business Class. We fly DAL to LGA, Uber to JFK and fly JFK through Heathrow to FCO; then Venice to Heathrow to JFK, spend night and fly LGA to DAL all for about (including hotel) 3000 each.  Our friends booked with a stop SAN in Canada for Economy Plus for the same price we got. 

[Neesa]

Yay, I've been anxiously waiting for this one. D almost 18 is stunning in that dress! What a beautiful photo of the 3 of you. 

[Rags1]

Happy to hear that your father is better and cruising!  And your daughter is just stunning!  
I’m always amazed when you get such great pricing by booking so far in advance.  I have difficulty planning for Friday!  We did just book a somewhat short notice trip out of South Hampton on Anthem to Spain and France. Will be first time to Europe for the wife and daughter. And it was cheaper than sailing from Florida.  
im looking forward to following along again as your family makes such precious memories!

[Lovetocruise2002]

13 minutes ago, Shari said:

I understand about flight prices we ended up booking 2 airlines and spending the night to get cheaper Business Class. We fly DAL to LGA, Uber to JFK and fly JFK through Heathrow to FCO; then Venice to Heathrow to JFK, spend night and fly LGA to DAL all for about (including hotel) 3000 each.  Our friends booked with a stop SAN in Canada for Economy Plus for the same price we got. 

Actually, I thought about this scenario. We thought perhaps we could spend the night at JFK, however when I when to price out just a direct flight from JFK-BCN, it was only about $100 less than DTW-JFK-BCN so that did not make it worth it.

@Jax and I spoke so many times about this crazy Europe flight pricing. If we did not already promise this trip to D17, I almost wanted to back out after flight prices got released. This is another reason why we are going to most out of this trip, because I don't know if I want to go back Europe if this crazy flight pricing doesn't calm down.

[Lovetocruise2002]

15 minutes ago, Neesa said:

D almost 18 is stunning in that dress! What a beautiful photo of the 3 of you. 

 

9 minutes ago, Rags1 said:

And your daughter is just stunning!  

Thank you! I will let her know. The freeloader owes us big time too for that event. Between the dress, hair, makeup, party bus, flowers, it was seriously like a wedding.

19 minutes ago, Rags1 said:

South Hampton on Anthem to Spain and France.

Is that the 12 or 14 night beaches sailing? If so, that sounds like an amazing time! We really enjoyed sailing out of Southampton two years ago. Stayed a few days in London ahead of time, it was great! I hope you are blogging it!

[LandstromCruise]

2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

We might just head to the WJ

Are you feeling ok

[LandstromCruise]

17 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

The freeloader owes us big time too for that event. Between the dress, hair, makeup, party bus, flowers, it was seriously like a wedding.

You know you didn’t HAVE to do a party bus, right?  

[Rags1]

13 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

 

Thank you! I will let her know. The freeloader owes us big time too for that event. Between the dress, hair, makeup, party bus, flowers, it was seriously like a wedding.

Is that the 12 or 14 night beaches sailing? If so, that sounds like an amazing time! We really enjoyed sailing out of Southampton two years ago. Stayed a few days in London ahead of time, it was great! I hope you are blogging it!

It’s actually just the 7 nighter. Daughter is turning 25 and has always wanted to see Paris. We’ll fly into Paris for a couple of days before the cruise and then take the train to South Hampton. I made that decision when I found out seeing Paris from the “Paris” port stop involved a six hour round trip bus ride!

It’s a big step for us as we have not yet left the restaurant with others since we opened. Today marks my 190th consecutive day of opening and closing so I’m ready for a break. After thinking about it I booked a quick 3 night Navigator next Friday to test out the “Restaurant will be fine” theory!  
 

I also agree with you on the cost of flights. When I was on the phone with Delta and heard the price I felt the need to make clear I wasn’t wanting to charter the plane but just needed 3 seats$$$$

[Sweety]

Your daughter looks like a princess. After seeing so many stripper dresses, it's nice to see pure innocent. Thank you for letting me see what a young lady looks like.

[Lovetocruise2002]

3 minutes ago, Rags1 said:

I made that decision when I found out seeing Paris from the “Paris” port stop involved a six hour round trip bus ride!

Yeah, it’s not close at all! When we did Paris, we did it as a land vacation. That was also before was had kids. 

14 minutes ago, LandstromCruise said:

Are you feeling ok

Yes lol. I am going with the mentality that it is just a floating hotel. I will put away the suite snob until next cruise

7 minutes ago, LandstromCruise said:

You know you didn’t HAVE to do a party bus, right?  

We didn’t, but I wanted to. D17 and her group of friends have been inseparable since Grade 1! That is truly unusual and special. With graduation upon them, they finally have to go their separate ways. It’s emotional. I wanted to do this for them because they are a special group of girls, sort of one last hurrah before they adult it. 
 

8 minutes ago, Rags1 said:

It’s a big step for us as we have not yet left the restaurant with others since we opened.

I am so glad you are finally able to take a break. I am sure it is much needed. It’s also important too. I remember there was a time when Hubby had his own private practice and that was an incredible strain and also took up all his spare time. A getaway is always necessary. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

3 minutes ago, Sweety said:

Your daughter looks like a princess.

Haha! That is the look she was going for. Even all these years later, she has always been a sucker for all things “Princess” like.

We were trying to re-create this moment

[JohnK6404]

2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Yes! There are. We had narrowed it down to H10 Metropolitan and H10 Madison. Both located right in the heart of Las Ramblas. In the end we picked the Metropolitan, only because it was at one end of Las Ramblas and because D17 and I always have this thing about walking efficiently and not doubling back, the Metropolitan made better sense to us over the Madison.

We'll have to take a look! Thanks for the insight!

2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I considered this but seeing that some of our excursions run late (almost to ship departure time), I don't even know if we will have the energy to get ready for dinner after a port day. We might just head to the WJ or call Room Service and call it a day.

I know, all of the ports in Italy (3 days in a row!) will be exhausting for us! It looks like many of the excursions run 9-10+ hours!  

Time to start walking to the Rocky theme to get ready for the trip! 

Most importantly, so happy to hear your Dad is doing well and getting back to cruising! ...and congrats on your daughter's graduation!

Wow! You and your husband have not changed in your beautiful photos!

[Lovetocruise2002]

7 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

Wow! You and your husband have not changed in your beautiful photos!

A few more wrinkles and inches in the waistline lol

[WAAAYTOOO]

4 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

inches in the waistline lol

Uh...excuse me.....but you're wearing the same dress !  I don't think there are ANY more inches there !  I also don't see any wrinkles in EITHER picture.

Beautiful pictures...and so very sweet.

[Ampurp85]

@WAAAYTOOO I was thinking the same, @Lovetocruise2002 still looks the same. Those are some good genes 

I was going to ask about your dad and I am glad both of your parents are doing well. Also, I love your daughters dress, the first thing I though was she looks elegant. @Sweety was right the prom attire I have been seeing has been a little unsettling to say the least. My goddaughter went to eight grade "prom", and I was so upset that her mom let her wear the dress she did. 

[asquared17]

i am so glad to hear about your dad

[Jax]

2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Between the dress, hair, makeup, party bus, flowers, it was seriously like a wedding.

I can relate! Sadly boys don’t seem to be any cheaper.  Lol 

3 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

"Tis the season for Prom & Grad festivities".

Omg I laughed out loud at this! I had no idea grad was not just a weekend thing. Grad started with a May long weekend camp out with friends, followed by the actual grad the next weekend it’s commencement, banquet and a private party we hosted, followed by another grad celebration 2 weekends ago, followed by grad camp out this weekend.  I am so done with grad! Lol 

3 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Is there a blog or an instruction manual for that?

I’m embarrassed to say I recently started to follow an instagram account on life after kids.  When it hits my feed I will share it with you.  

3 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Thankfully, she has decided that she is not leaving us totally just yet.

Thankfully we are in the same boat too! Reyd will continue his heavy diesel tech apprenticeship at a local business in our town and commute to Calgary Trade school for his 8 week periods. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

3 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Uh...excuse me.....but you're wearing the same dress ! 

It's a stretchy dress lol

2 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

My goddaughter went to eight grade "prom",

It's actually quite scary what some kids (young kids too, not just teenagers) show up to school in these days.

2 hours ago, Jax said:

Omg I laughed out loud at this! I had no idea grad was not just a weekend thing. Grad started with a May long weekend camp out with friends, followed by the actual grad the next weekend it’s commencement, banquet and a private party we hosted, followed by another grad celebration 2 weekends ago, followed by grad camp out this weekend.  I am so done with grad! Lol 

That sounds about right. First there was prom, then parties to follow, then senior skip day (was that even a thing when we were in school?) and beach parties. Now there's grad and grad parties. I might have to wait until July 1st before we are out of grad things.

[SynEpona]

I'm newish here, been reading way longer than posting, and your live blogs have been incredibly helpful as I've figured out our family's first cruise that was rather impulsively  booked 17 months ago for this summer - from Civitavecchia on Oasis. Looking forward to following along on your European adventures while I finialize plans for ours. We are fortunate to be near Calgary and have direct flights to Rome on WestJet, as we also try to avoid connecting in YYZ or even arriving there when visiting Ontario family.

[Lovetocruise2002]

20 minutes ago, SynEpona said:

I'm newish here, been reading way longer than posting, and your live blogs have been incredibly helpful as I've figured out our family's first cruise that was rather impulsively  booked 17 months ago for this summer - from Civitavecchia on Oasis. Looking forward to following along on your European adventures while I finialize plans for ours. We are fortunate to be near Calgary and have direct flights to Rome on WestJet, as we also try to avoid connecting in YYZ or even arriving there when visiting Ontario family.

Welcome to the message boards! @Jax will be happy to have company from Calgary here! When do you sail Oasis? I seriously thought hard about booking that one but could not justify the pricing difference for a port heavy European sailing.