SondraC

Hey Brianna! Wonderful review so far! It was great getting to meet you and your parents!! I loved chatting with your dad.

OK now ports, I have been to all ports before, HMC 4 times. Grand Turk, debarkation was a mess, waited for line to go away and took a long time. When I got to the gang plank it was single file and they had the photo peeps there taking pics. Carnival needs to stop this since the time at ports on this cruise is so short, many unhappy people. After finaly getting off walked the beach to Jacks Shack. Not impresed with a crappy drink but did have WIFI so checked email and such. Walked back to Margeritaville and took pics of pool and swam off shore, If you want to swim go father down due to big round rocks on the bottom. Better snorkling and conch shells are to the right of pier but wear water shoes.Not my favorite port so back to the ship. Next was HMC, been there 4 times before on Carnival and HAL and its great. No waves, waited till open tender and spent 3 plus there hours. Pulled a lounge chair under a tree just past cabana 13 ordered a bucket of beer, WARNING, they come as as six not four on HMC, just finished the last 2 at home today with a dozen blue crabs. food was good as always. Next was Freeport, I did the Nautical snorkle though Carnival and it was good, It started late because the Capt was in an accident and they needed to get a replacemant, Lots of fish and they kinda sailed back. We were late returning so the bus that was suppose to get us didnt so they called cabs to get us back. next up will be other things and dbark

We were in cabana 13!

tlw440,

 

Thank you.

 

I'd certainly like to.....:p

 

 

SondraC,

 

We're looking at doing a five day in October on Victory for our 25th Anniversary and there are three sailings that included HMC; getting a cabana is a priority. How'd you find out which sailings had cabanas available? I'm assuming you called and asked?

Paul, I went to the roll call for that particular sailing and asked the fine folks to check for me.

Entertaining read! Thanks for posting!

Since you are driving from the Pittsburgh area I would rule out the Hilton in White Marsh.

This will add about 30 minutes of extra drive time also you will drive past the cruise port as you will be driving away from it to get to hotel.

I would suggest the Best Western in Elkridge as it's closer to cruise port as it's just south of the cruise port .

Oh, thanks for that info! That makes a difference.

Thanks everyone! I appreciate all the input :-)

I'm stupidly excited right now.

 

Hubby and I have just booked a B2B2B on the Breeze. Granted, it's in 2016.... so I have some waiting to do!!!

 

I found that there are three itineraries that are different, one after the other-

 

All on the Breeze (A ship I've been wanting to try, never been on one that size before)

 

8 day Southern visiting Grand Turk, La Romana, Curaco and Aruba

6 day Western visiting Falmouth Jamiaca, Grand Cayman and Cozumel

8 day Eastern vising St Maarten, Antigua, St Thomas and Nassau.

 

And there's a nice mix of sea days too.

 

I feel like the luckiest girl in the world, I just wish time would hurry up a bit.

 

If anyone has any suggestions on activities/excursions or comments on the Breeze I'm all up for hearing it!!

Congrats!! That looks wonderful!!

The Hilton Garden Inn is much nicer, near a mall, and close to a Target and probably some grocery and liquor stores too...that's where I would stay.

Thanks for the input! I'm going to map them to see which makes sense for me.

We've stayed at the Best Western in Elkridge, twice and are staying again the end of August. We book through Trinity Reservations(.com) and it inlcudes up to 14 days parking, breaksfast (not super fancy, but will hold you over till you board), and shuttle to and from the port (airport shuttle also available for free if needed). The current price we are paying is $99 TOTAL and is good for up to 4 guest in a room.

 

There is not really anything to walk to in the area, but there is a restaurant/pub in the parking lot. The food is good, we've eaten their both times. Plus if you have your car, there is this HUGE mall complex about 10 minutes away, with many options. There is also a casino.

 

They also have an indoor, pool which we've never used, but it looked nice.

Thanks!! I appreciate the info. I think I'm going with that.

Hello! We are driving from Pittsburgh and want to stay at a hotel that offers Park n Cruise deals. I found 3 so far.

Hilton Garden Inn Baltimore/White Marsh

Best Western in Elkridge

La Quinta in Glen Burnie

Thoughts?

What a great review! We are debating about booking Pride for this July. I'm interested in the same itinerary that you did. We've never been to HMC and always wanted to see it.

There's a couple sailings that work in July, but if would also love to rent a cabana.

Do you know of any way to see if they are available for certain sailings? We could do either sailing in July, and if the cabanas are sold out for one but not the other, that would help with the decision.

I got my answer! Thanks again for posting a great review.

What a great review! We are debating about booking Pride for this July. I'm interested in the same itinerary that you did. We've never been to HMC and always wanted to see it.

There's a couple sailings that work in July, but if would also love to rent a cabana.

Do you know of any way to see if they are available for certain sailings? We could do either sailing in July, and if the cabanas are sold out for one but not the other, that would help with the decision.

I was very intrigued and ready to book with them, but then I asked "what happens in the unlikely event the ship doesn't/can't stop in St. Thomas?". They replied I would still be charged, and that was how all the charters do it.

I only did 1 other day sail...in 2006 with Captain Pat on Ike Witt. So maybe things have changed? I am now trying to find another option for our May 20 stop in St Thomas.

On our last cruise we had some wine removed from our checked luggage. When I went to claim it on debarkation morning, I saw fans that had been removed from checked luggage along with irons, blow dryers and LOTS of liquor.

Blow dryers?!? Hell to the no! I NEED my blow dyer!

Two other very large ships in town on your date, total cruisers will be 7,899. All three ships arriving between 7am - 8am. The other two are departing at 1300, which means the old town will not be as busy during the afternoon.

We are not famous for our beaches, but the water is cold, clear and clean. We have one small beach close to the old town, it is called Banje. Be prepared, there is no sand, it is small pebbles.

You may want to spend time visiting some of our cultural and historical sites. Dubrovnik itself is a work of art.

Thanks for taking the time to look that up and also for the info. People that I have talk to all say Dubrovnik is the most gorgeous place they have ever been.

Interesting what you say about California. I have never been, but my husband used to live there for years (L.A.) and hated it.

Hello.

I'm working my way through this thread trying to figure out where to spend our day We are sailing on Carnival Breeze arriving July 15, 2012 a Sunday.

Does anyone recommend a beach, or mostly the town & sightseeing?

I've been trying to figure out the link to see how many ships are in port that day, but I keep getting an error message.

Thanks!

Thanks for all the additional information that everyone has provided! We are very comfortable doing things on our own, no elderly or little ones. We will probably do a mix, some ports on our own and some hiring a car & driver.

Hi SondraC:

I have used RIL for several (many) years and they have always done an A++ job. I totally agree with the some of the other posts in regards to Livorno. We had a wonderful time and saw much more than I thought possible, but never felt rushed. There is always a personal touch to thier service. Seeing "David" was a highlight as was seeing Pisa, both the town and the tower.

 

I have used RIL in both Rome, Florence and Pompeii and three different trips, and found that this was the most time saving way to tour both areas. The private guides that RIL can arrange for you are surperb in both the Vatican and in Pompeii, the fee is well worth more than is charged. We were given a wealth of information and were able to see much more than if we were doing this on our own. The professional drivers are from the areas that you are touring with them, and they know the traffic, short cuts and alternate routes to get you to your desination quickly and safely. There is no guess work.

 

If you contact Jany at info@romeinlimo dot com she can help you plan a tour day with what you want or do not want. They will customize a tour for you.

 

We just returned from our trip in mid December and we had 40 persons from Cruise Critic that toured Rome, Pompeii and surrounding areas, and it was a great time. It was great to meet everyone that we had been posting with during the planning of the cruise on our thread on the sail date.

 

I highly recommend RIL and I am sure you will be more than pleased with thier service.

Have a great trip. I hope this was helpful.

Thanks so much for taking the time to post this! We are not new to cruising, but are new to the Mediterranean area. It always seems so overwhelming when I first start to plan a trip, but in the end it does all come together.

What is the website for this tour company? I am having the hardest time finding it, I just get redirected to another page.

Thanks! For the additional info!

If you are comfortable using local transit and want to see Pompeii, that is easy to do on your own in Naples. It's about a half hour on the train; there are a lot of posts on this forum that give detailed directions.

 

I also find Rome very easy to do on your own. The train station is walkable from the port entrance (about 5 blocks) and you can purchase a BIRG ticket for 9 euro per person that not only covers your round trip train fare but also all public transportation (buses, metro) in Rome itself. You can make a reservation for the Vatican Museum (only way to access the Sistine Chapel) online through the official Holy See website -- you pick a time and then you do not have to waste time waiting in line.

 

So having said that, I'd say you can do Naples (Pompeii) and Rome on your own, at a minimum. As to the other ports I can't answer as you haven't said what you want to do. In Livorno, if your aim is mainly to see Florence, again you can DIY using the train. The central part of Florence is pedestrian only, so having a driver doesn't make a lot of sense. However, if you want to see something of Tuscany, then you might consider a tour.

Thanks for the info!!

Again, Rome in Limo covers all those ports with very good quality service. You can see many comments about their operations if you look back on this thread.

If you don't have an answer then why reply? I have been going over the MANY pages of this thread, but silly me thought people could ask questions.

First-timer in Italy... going in July 2012. Our stops will be Livorno, Civitavecchia, Naples, Messina. Which would be the best port(s) to use RomeInLimo?

We want to visit the Sistine Chapel in Rome and Pompeii in Naples but we haven't decided what to do from Livorno or Messina.

We are not going to use the cruise excursions - we are very comfortable arranging our our excursions and/or using local transit (taxi, train, etc.)

Sondra