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Symphony Of The Seas 14-21 April semi live blog


Traveler

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12 minutes ago, Traveler said:

Wow , you are going to enjoy it , there is something about this city which make it very special .

Do not miss the coffee and the Pizza . 

Yes, I have been there many times.  I love the Amalfi coast.  It is so incredibly beautiful.  Believe it or not, I actually do NOT like Italian pizza (they do not know what American pepperoni is....)...but I love the cappuccino.  I can't wait to get some local mozzarella de bufalo.  It is so salty and delicious.  YUMMMM !

This will likely be my last biz trip to Italy.  All of the sites that I go to will be completed after this.  Only Bahrain and Australia left.  

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8 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Yes, I have been there many times.  I love the Amalfi coast.  It is so incredibly beautiful.  Believe it or not, I actually do NOT like Italian pizza (they do not know what American pepperoni is....)...but I love the cappuccino.  I can't wait to get some local mozzarella de bufalo.  It is so salty and delicious.  YUMMMM !

This will likely be my last biz trip to Italy.  All of the sites that I go to will be completed after this.  Only Bahrain and Australia left.  

Yes , they only have the hot Salumi , well at least you will enjoy the cappuccino.

I am actually back tot he airport (20 hours after I came to do my laundry) going on a business trip to Lima,

Meanwhile trying to organize the CC pictures , found out I am missing first day. 

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Hey!  I have thoroughly enjoyed all of your pictures and insights.  We are going on the Symphony in July for our 10 year anniversary.  We have been on 4-5 Royal Caribbean cruises in the past, but all to the Caribbean.  I have never done this much research or blog reading before going on a cruise before and it has been great.  I have a few questions if you don't mind answering:
1.  What is BOGO?  Do you book it online before you get to the cruise or once you have boarded?  If you book it online before the cruise where do you find it...I have not seen it on the Cruise Planner (unless I missed it)

2.  What is CA?  You said you didn't get a CA letter in the room.

3.  Which internet package did you get?  We will be using it mostly for posting pictures and calling our daughter on Face Time while in WIFI since she will be back in the states.

4.  Naples...if you had to choose one of the following to see which would you choose?  For someone that has never been to Naples and most likely won't be back.

               *Amalfi Coast and Pompeii

               *Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii

               *Amalfi Coast, Postino, Sorrento, and Pompeii

               *Capri

               *Sorrento and Amalfi 

   5.  Marseilles (Provence), France...I'll be honest none of the excursions sound appealing to us (although we have never been).  Would you do it own your own?  Is there anything there that is a must see and don't want to miss?

I know that is a lot of questions...your post was awesome!!  Thanks for all your help!

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How in the world would you possibly be able to do an excursion of the Amalfi Coast AND Pompeii ??   Each of those is an entire day (at LEAST) on its own.  I guess an Amalfi Coast cruise might be possible but then how would you get back to land and get to Pompeii in order to have ANY time there ?  Wow.

I have never done a ship's excursion so I have no idea how long you have in port but based on how long I know that each of these places takes to see, I would recommend the last one...Sorrento and Amalfi.  I just cannot imagine combining Pompeii with anything unless they are just going to do a drive-by of Pompeii.

Personally, I think that Herculaneum (or Ercolano as the Italians call it) is a much better ruin site than Pompeii.  For one, Herculaneum is much smaller and easier to see in a compressed time frame.  Secondly, I think it is much better preserved than Pompeii.  Herculaneum was completely covered by pyroclastic flows almost instantaneously so the entire site was "sealed" for nearly 2000 years.  The walls, art, floors and artifacts are much more vivid and complete at Herculaneum.  Pompeii is very cool...no doubt.  But I always recommend that if you can only see 1 of the ruins, go to Herculaneum.  It doesn't look like Royal even offers a tour there, which is very unfortunate so you would have to go on your own and I don't know if I would recommend that.  I'm kind of a 'fraidy cat when it comes to going out on my own in foreign countries (from a cruise ship I mean).  If you ever go to visit though, don't miss Herculaneum.

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5 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

How in the world would you possibly be able to do an excursion of the Amalfi Coast AND Pompeii ??   Each of those is an entire day (at LEAST) on its own.  I guess an Amalfi Coast cruise might be possible but then how would you get back to land and get to Pompeii in order to have ANY time there ?  Wow.

I have never done a ship's excursion so I have no idea how long you have in port but based on how long I know that each of these places takes to see, I would recommend the last one...Sorrento and Amalfi.  I just cannot imagine combining Pompeii with anything unless they are just going to do a drive-by of Pompeii.

Personally, I think that Herculaneum (or Ercolano as the Italians call it) is a much better ruin site than Pompeii.  For one, Herculaneum is much smaller and easier to see in a compressed time frame.  Secondly, I think it is much better preserved than Pompeii.  Herculaneum was completely covered by pyroclastic flows almost instantaneously so the entire site was "sealed" for nearly 2000 years.  The walls, art, floors and artifacts are much more vivid and complete at Herculaneum.  Pompeii is very cool...no doubt.  But I always recommend that if you can only see 1 of the ruins, go to Herculaneum.  It doesn't look like Royal even offers a tour there, which is very unfortunate so you would have to go on your own and I don't know if I would recommend that.  I'm kind of a 'fraidy cat when it comes to going out on my own in foreign countries (from a cruise ship I mean).  If you ever go to visit though, don't miss Herculaneum.

Those were the ones offered by RC. They had them grouped together. Is it pretty easy to take public transportation to Amalfi, etc?  We have never been. Looking on a map they look some ways away from the Cruise dock. 

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19 minutes ago, adb0617 said:

Those were the ones offered by RC. They had them grouped together. Is it pretty easy to take public transportation to Amalfi, etc?  We have never been. Looking on a map they look some ways away from the Cruise dock. 

I've toured the Amalfi coast. It's not a bus ride for the faint of heart! Absolutely beautiful but VERY narrow road where only one car can make it around the sharp bends. Don't sit next to the window either, you'll be looking straight down a cliff for the most part and there are no guard rails.:27_sunglasses: 

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46 minutes ago, adb0617 said:

Hey!  I have thoroughly enjoyed all of your pictures and insights.  We are going on the Symphony in July for our 10 year anniversary.  We have been on 4-5 Royal Caribbean cruises in the past, but all to the Caribbean.  I have never done this much research or blog reading before going on a cruise before and it has been great.  I have a few questions if you don't mind answering:
1.  What is BOGO?  Do you book it online before you get to the cruise or once you have boarded?  If you book it online before the cruise where do you find it...I have not seen it on the Cruise Planner (unless I missed it)

2.  What is CA?  You said you didn't get a CA letter in the room.

3.  Which internet package did you get?  We will be using it mostly for posting pictures and calling our daughter on Face Time while in WIFI since she will be back in the states.

4.  Naples...if you had to choose one of the following to see which would you choose?  For someone that has never been to Naples and most likely won't be back.

               *Amalfi Coast and Pompeii

               *Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii

               *Amalfi Coast, Postino, Sorrento, and Pompeii

               *Capri

               *Sorrento and Amalfi 

   5.  Marseilles (Provence), France...I'll be honest none of the excursions sound appealing to us (although we have never been).  Would you do it own your own?  Is there anything there that is a must see and don't want to miss?

I know that is a lot of questions...your post was awesome!!  Thanks for all your help!

I was in your same shoes in 2016 when Harmony first come out.

BOGO is in the dinning package area, it is Buy One Get One (Half off), so it is a discounted dinning package in the specialty dinning restaurants (Chops), whn you but it you pick either the first or second night to start and then the cruise line picks the restaurant, no fear, when you get on the ship go to a specialty restaurant and they can switch it around to fit your schedule and the exact restaurant you want.

CA is Crown and Anchor, Royals loyalty program, you should get a letter in your room as to discounts for your level, if you have never signed up Royal will back stop all of your other cruises, you just have to ask, and depending on time frames prove that you took the cruise.

Voom and stream is the best.

My wife and I took a private tour (Not through the Ship) (Rome private excursions), and we went to Positano (Included the most amazing lunch) and then back to Pompeii, like @WAAAYTOOO it was a long hard day, my wife couldn't take the heat and the twisty road coming back and sat out the Pompeii tour, but I went, it really is amazing.

Marseilles, we did a self guided walking tour kind of like @Traveler did, had lunch and then went back to the ship, it is a very beautiful city, especially when you research the history, I believe at one time one of the largest cities in France? But to be fair to Marseilles, the day we were there they were having labor strike marches so kind of put a damper on the whole experience, some people went to Cassis and Aix-en-Provence and said both of them were great.

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31 minutes ago, adb0617 said:

Those were the ones offered by RC. They had them grouped together. Is it pretty easy to take public transportation to Amalfi, etc?  We have never been. Looking on a map they look some ways away from the Cruise dock. 

You cannot take public transportation (I guess you could, but it is a long trip) hire a private driver or take an excursion. This is a picture of Positano, look for the gray strips of pavement, like @rjac says, the roads are not for the faint of heart.

In my above post, I mentioned Rome private excursions, we used them in Pisa, Rome and Naples (Amalfi), we liked the Rome driver so well that we asked if he could do Naples and he said yes and drove down during the night and meet the ship.

What we did was hook up with people on Cruise Critic Roll Call that were going on the same cruise and asked if anyone had room in their tours, so there was a total of eight of us in a van and it worked out perfectly and kept the cost way more affordable than what Royal wanted. If people are doing this on your Roll Call you will see them posting asking for people to join.

DSC01934.JPG

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21 hours ago, adb0617 said:

Hey!  I have thoroughly enjoyed all of your pictures and insights.  We are going on the Symphony in July for our 10 year anniversary.  We have been on 4-5 Royal Caribbean cruises in the past, but all to the Caribbean.  I have never done this much research or blog reading before going on a cruise before and it has been great.  I have a few questions if you don't mind answering:
1.  What is BOGO?  Do you book it online before you get to the cruise or once you have boarded?  If you book it online before the cruise where do you find it...I have not seen it on the Cruise Planner (unless I missed it)

2.  What is CA?  You said you didn't get a CA letter in the room.

3.  Which internet package did you get?  We will be using it mostly for posting pictures and calling our daughter on Face Time while in WIFI since she will be back in the states.

4.  Naples...if you had to choose one of the following to see which would you choose?  For someone that has never been to Naples and most likely won't be back.

               *Amalfi Coast and Pompeii

               *Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii

               *Amalfi Coast, Postino, Sorrento, and Pompeii

               *Capri

               *Sorrento and Amalfi 

   5.  Marseilles (Provence), France...I'll be honest none of the excursions sound appealing to us (although we have never been).  Would you do it own your own?  Is there anything there that is a must see and don't want to miss?

I know that is a lot of questions...your post was awesome!!  Thanks for all your help!

First of all congratulations for the anniversary.

I see that most of your questions already been answered ,  

The BOGO package was very successful for us as we booked exactly the restaurants we wanted (Wonderland and Hooked) so we paid 40 $ each which otherwise would cost us almost 96 $  each. (Wonderland 53.90 and Hooked 42.90) so it can be a big saving , the only issue is that you need to use the restaurants in the first two nights but its good.

If you booked it , once you board the ship go to one of the special restaurants (the best will be to go to central park on floor 8 which has many of the special restaurants) and ask them to book you the one you wants.

For the  Napoli shore excursions , I tend to agree with other people comments , its going to be very hard to do it and July its going to be very  hot and humid in Napoli , The Ruins of Herculaneum can be a good option as it quite short and will leave you time to do other things (The ship is there between 8 am to 7:30 PM so you gave almost 12 hours) .

Another option if you really want to see Pompii is maybe Taste of Sorento and Pompii is the one for you.

Please note , most of the archaeological items that was found in Pompii is actually presented in a Nappoli  Museum  .

Another option for Pompii will be to take go first thing on the morning  to Pompii  before it will become too hot  (with a private tour or ship transfer 31 $)  and add to it later something else. I would not take  a tour from the ship just for Pompii as they will waste your time on some ceramic factory near the Pompii gates.

Capri , Sotento and Pompii is a crazy route which I would avoid , its good just to say I have been to this places as you will not have much time to enjoy them ...

 

Regarding Marseille  , you have an option to take a bus from the port to the old port were you can spend easily few hours , the bus cost is 18 $ both way  (you can pay at the ship)  another option is to go to Casis with very nice view in the way.

 

By the way this week you have 15- 25% dicsount on most of the excursions in the cruise planner . 

For the internet package, I took the faster one but it depends what you want to do , if it is just emails and whats up + surfing the internet the lower package will do , if you want to watch YouTube and Netflix you need the stream one.

Enjoy your cruise   

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3 hours ago, adb0617 said:

Ok....I looked for the BOGO in the Dinner section and couldn’t find it. I see all the individual restaurants but not BOGO. Can someone direct me to where it is. I really appreciate it!!

Ussaly it will appear later 

Around 2 to 1 month before the cruise , just keep checking from time to time.

 

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