Crusing from Venice to Rome Oct 25- Nov 1. We have never been on a cruise before so any and all advice and tips are appreciated. Only have one day at sea and lots to do and see at ports during during the day, we have already booked the excursions we want to do. From my limited research we will likely be the youngest couple on the boat, sounds like it'll be mostly geezers, not going there to party anyways.
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Don't be hesitant to ask for seconds, thirds, fourths and fifths of the foods if it's included. Eat 5 lobster tails and steaks if you damn well feel like it. Just don't waste it. Make a round before grabbing food. Don't eat filler, just the best in the place.
Geezers like having young'uns around. You might be able to leverage that to your advantage if you have time to waste.
Off the ship, protect your belongings such as ID and cruise card etc like your life depended on it. Losing that is not an issue you want to deal with.
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Don't be hesitant to ask for seconds, thirds, fourths and fifths of the foods if it's included. Eat 5 lobster tails and steaks if you damn well feel like it. Just don't waste it. Make a round before grabbing food. Don't eat filler, just the best in the place.
I will second this. During dinner, do not be ashamed to order two or three appetizers and entrees. Make sure you tip your waiter well.
Kinda sounds like you have all your bases covered.
The only thing I might add is to be sure that you have your ship name and where it's docked memorized every time you stop, in case you need to get a local taxi back to it.
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I just came back from theft central (Rome) and Venice.
- Take an unlocked phone and get a TIM sim card for 20 or 30 euros. Use it to check on restaurants with trip advisor before walking in.
- Cab drivers in Rome will try to rip you off. Insist they turn on the meter, one tried to charge us $60 CDN for a 5 min drive. Avoid them at all costs to be honest, the subway is really good and efficient, just watch for pick pockets.
- Research the areas you are staying and restaurants in advance.
- Buy monument and tickets to places like the Vatican online in advance. The line up for the ticket office at the Vatican was 4 hours when we breezed up and walked right in.
- Read up on scams and wallet/valuable advice in advance. I saw two kids steal from a guy in the Rome Termini station 15 mins after we arrived. We never got anything stolen or attempts, just be vigilant about your stuff.
- Venice is a tourist trap, the water bus is kind of expensive but the best way to get around.
- Avoid just wandering off the street into Venice restaurants, use trip advisor to avoid getting hosed by crap.
I have only cruised once. My family did a 10 day out of Amsterdam. We didn't book any of the land tours with the cruiseline. We researched and booked all our tours online. When we compared notes at dinner with other guests it was clear that we had accomplished more and had had an all around better experience for less money. No cattle call on the buses and the long waits for the last tourist to make their way back. The only negative was when we had to tender ashore we were the last to leave.
Too many great destinations to do this probably on that itenerary, but if you have a certain port that you have nothing planned at, and don't really care if you see, consider using that day to hang on the ship. It can be nice to use the pool for instance when the place is deserted. Also add's to the "Vacation feel" to not be go-go-go the whole time.
My wife and I did a 10 or 12 day (can't recall exact) around the Mediterranean three years ago (including stops in Rome and Venice) and it was a fantastic trip. I disagree with the notion that it is boring for younger people- even days at sea, which we had two. We were in our late 20s and met plenty of other people. Even developed a close friendship with a couple from Australia that we still keep in contact with- and are hopefully going to visit very soon.
Mind me asking what cruise line you are going with? Either way, you are picking a good time to go as there will undoubtedly be much fewer kids at that time of the year (if that is indeed a desired thing for you).
A couple quick suggestions- try and get into the eat when you want group and not have a set dinner time. Or at the very least, get in the later dinner. 6pm is way too early to get back to the ship and get ready. Want the option of eating at 8pm or so European style.
Also, try not to fit in too much in your port of calls. Most of them (rome in particular) are a good hour away from the port, and takes up a good chunk or your day. Imo, paid excursions are not necessary and overpriced. Figuring things out for yourself is half the fun. As far as Rome, go straight to the train station when you arrive in the AM. The line can be long if it is a large cruise ship. This may be the one thing you pay the cruise line for (just to get to and from Rome tough). The port into Venice is walkable- about 20 minutes or so anyway.
Mind me asking what other stops you are making. Will think of more tips and post later, as I'm sure there will be many similarities with your cruise and ours.
edit: Oh, possibly the most important thing- unless you want to eat with strangers, get assigned a private table for dinners. Even if you are assigned a shared table at the beginning, the maitre d will almost always accommodate your request for a private table. And I think all "eat when you want" placements are private tables.
Last edited by Flabbibulin; 09-29-2014 at 04:00 PM.
Yeah, my wife and I didn't schedule any excursions for our first stop of our cruise, and spent the day just laying around on the beach. Much more relaxing than trying to go everywhere and see all the things.
We've done a couple Euro cruises. Biggest tip is to check out cruisecritic.com. It's the calgarypuck of cruising. Get detailed advice on all the ports of call, etc. I would second not booking excursions through the ship, but rather either go on your own or book a private tour. Either way you'll save $$ and see more (either by yourself or in a smaller group is way faster, no 1/2 hour bathroom breaks).
Also, if you're doing Pisa/Florence, so to Pisa first so you can go up to the top of the leaning tower, as the tickets sell out. Get a ticket to go up as soon as you arrive, tour the church, then go up. Then catch the train to Florence.
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Crusing from Venice to Rome Oct 25- Nov 1. We have never been on a cruise before so any and all advice and tips are appreciated. Only have one day at sea and lots to do and see at ports during during the day, we have already booked the excursions we want to do. From my limited research we will likely be the youngest couple on the boat, sounds like it'll be mostly geezers, not going there to party anyways.
Don't play cards with the old geezers. They may look weak and senile, but they will crush you.
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Don't use the internet on the ships. It's super expensive. You will be able to find Internet cafés that charge a couple euro at most.
I didn't know this on my first cruise, but pack some nicer clothes for the restaurants. You need to be dressed up to eat in the 5 star establishments.
Days at sea are great! Do what you want:
Read
Drink
Go to the pool
Play bingo with the oldies
Drink
Watch a movie
Play scrabble
Drink
Walk the deck
Have a nap
Drink
Eat
Drink
And drink
Don't use the internet on the ships. It's super expensive. You will be able to find Internet cafés that charge a couple euro at most.
I didn't know this on my first cruise, but pack some nicer clothes for the restaurants. You need to be dressed up to eat in the 5 star establishments.
I don't know about the European cruises, but our cruise in the Caribbean confiscated all the alcohol we purchased on land and locked it up to return to us when we finished the cruise. Grabbing a bottle on land for a few Euro to enjoy on the cruise might not work.
I think they were charging something like $5 for 15 minutes on the cruise for internet. Biggest issue is that it's about dial up speeds, so you take like 5 minutes to get to gmail in the first place let alone review anything.
My wife and I did a 10 or 12 day (can't recall exact) around the Mediterranean three years ago (including stops in Rome and Venice) and it was a fantastic trip. I disagree with the notion that it is boring for younger people- even days at sea, which we had two. We were in our late 20s and met plenty of other people. Even developed a close friendship with a couple from Australia that we still keep in contact with- and are hopefully going to visit very soon.
Mind me asking what cruise line you are going with? Either way, you are picking a good time to go as there will undoubtedly be much fewer kids at that time of the year (if that is indeed a desired thing for you).
A couple quick suggestions- try and get into the eat when you want group and not have a set dinner time. Or at the very least, get in the later dinner. 6pm is way too early to get back to the ship and get ready. Want the option of eating at 8pm or so European style.
Also, try not to fit in too much in your port of calls. Most of them (rome in particular) are a good hour away from the port, and takes up a good chunk or your day. Imo, paid excursions are not necessary and overpriced. Figuring things out for yourself is half the fun. As far as Rome, go straight to the train station when you arrive in the AM. The line can be long if it is a large cruise ship. This may be the one thing you pay the cruise line for (just to get to and from Rome tough). The port into Venice is walkable- about 20 minutes or so anyway.
Mind me asking what other stops you are making. Will think of more tips and post later, as I'm sure there will be many similarities with your cruise and ours.
edit: Oh, possibly the most important thing- unless you want to eat with strangers, get assigned a private table for dinners. Even if you are assigned a shared table at the beginning, the maitre d will almost always accommodate your request for a private table. And I think all "eat when you want" placements are private tables.
It is with Norweigian, on the Jade ship. The ports are Kopper, Slovenia where we have booked a tour of the Postonja caves, Split and Dubrovnik in Croatia, Sicily and Napels where we booked Pompei and Amlfi coast excursion. We have the week prior to see Rome (3 days), Florence (2days) and Venice (two days). All transportation has been booked by train. Hotels booked and Restruants mostly selected. City attractions/ tours paid/ booked.
At each port we plan to check out as much as possible. We decided that we are not travelling that far to lounge about the ship, too much to see and do.
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The only thing better then a glass of beer is tea with Ms McGill
I did a Mediterranean cruise a few years back and it was awesome. Full of people 70+, but... Still awesome. On our boat there was an option to pay for an area on a VIP sun deck. We had an inside cabin but it didn't even matter because we paid for this sun deck thing (like $250 USD for the 10 days I think?) and it was way better than having a porthole cabin for $1000 each. We got chocolate covered strawberries and champagne everyday, fresh fruit platter, deck chairs, they set up a playpen for my daughter who was 9 months old at the time... It was the best part of the boat I think.
Anyways, I found out about that little deal from cruisecritic website so I second doing some research there and seeing what you can find. We were on Holland America.
We were also able to bring on all the wine and beer we wanted at each port. I think they only had rules around hard liquor. Worth double checking the rules though.
EDIT: we also didn't do many excursions through the ship. They are overpriced and short on the actual experience. The best days we had by far we're exploring the destinations by ourselves. Things got a little sketchy in Turkey for us, but most of the other stops were stress free. In most ports we just walked off the ship and figured things out from there.
It is with Norweigian, on the Jade ship. The ports are Kopper, Slovenia where we have booked a tour of the Postonja caves, Split and Dubrovnik in Croatia, Sicily and Napels where we booked Pompei and Amlfi coast excursion. We have the week prior to see Rome (3 days), Florence (2days) and Venice (two days). All transportation has been booked by train. Hotels booked and Restruants mostly selected. City attractions/ tours paid/ booked.
At each port we plan to check out as much as possible. We decided that we are not travelling that far to lounge about the ship, too much to see and do.
What is the port in Sicily? If it is Messina, then I strongly recommend you take a train for the day to Taormina, which was one of the highlights of our cruise. Not much to see in Messina I don't believe. Pizza and Cannoli's in Sicily are a must either way.
The Naples stop is a tough one as there are so many options- Capri, Sorrento, Amalfi, Pompei, and Herculaneum. We ended up choosing Sorrento and a coastal tour, and don't necessarily regret it, but missing out on Pompei and Herculaneum may have been a mistake. I have also heard that Herculaneum may be a better option than Pompei, but that is only what I heard.
Dubrovnik, as many people will point out, is amazing. We went with a combination of just walking through the town and doing a kayak trip. Awesome day.
Our stops were Barcelona, Monaco, Porto Fino, Rome, Messina/taormina, Venice, Dubrovnik. Venice was a full two days though.
Last edited by Flabbibulin; 09-29-2014 at 11:34 PM.
Don't go on cruises where you're interested in seeing the cities. There's no point, you get barely enough time in each port to find out that the city is really cool, and then you're back on the boat.
The only reason to go on a cruise is if you're about to have a nervous breakdown and you need a week where the most difficult decision you can face is whether you want to drink by the pool, in the bar, or on the beach.
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