hopebh

We go to Europe several times a year and the only time language is ever really an issue is in Paris. Even then it’s more about customs than the language. Barcelona reminds me of Miami when it comes to language. Most of the people in the touristy areas know English and even if one person doesn’t know it then someone on staff will. The only place in Europe that we used dollars was in Russia. We either pay a little more and get euros from our bank before we go or get them out of the atms once we are there.

I actually like it since it shows our account balance, allows us to communicate with each other and reminds us of dinner reservations. That is all we really need it for.

My son was on that early train but had to wait about an hour to get the shuttle. He wasn’t amused. The train into Bologna was a commuter train without assigned seats and was not a pleasant experience for us. But after hearing that you had to wait 2 hours, our experience wasn’t that bad. Our train from Bologna to Naples arrived an hour late and we couldn’t understand\catch the reason. Maybe it had something to do with the strike. 🤔 I will probably cruise from Ravenna again because I really liked the Croatia and the only cruises that go there are out of that port. I will re-evaluate how we get/to from the port. Mad dashes are a young person’s game and not something I’m willing to do a second time. A private transfer would have been about $200, or $50 a piece since there was 4 of us. Or even less if my son would traveled with us. It would have totally been worth it for us.

If we ever do a cruise out a Ravenna again we would go the private car route. The 11 am train to Ravenna was crowded but the train from the port at the end of the cruise was a lot worst. It felt like we had to make a mad dash which is not all that easy with suitcases. The transfer to/from the train was painless. We walked out of the train station and I think there was a line or sign directing us to the left. I just remember that it was very obvious. There were 2 buses and a lady with a clip board where we wrote our name and room number. We then put our luggage on the bus and off we went. BTW - we were told that it was $10 per person but the charge ever posted to any of our accounts. We received a card in our card telling us that we needed to reserve our space on day 5(I think). I used the QR code and reserved spots. Those charges did post. On the last night we received green tags and instructions that told us to go to the theater to wait. When we got there we were directed to get our luggage and go outside. Outside there was a line that we waited in for about 20 minutes. We then got on the bus and was dropped off at the train station.

We flew into Bologna and took the train into Ravenna and then the Royal transfer from the train station. The train from/to Bologna was crowded and generally unpleasant and I doubt I’d go that route in the future. My son arrived on the train around 11 and ended up waiting at the station for an hour for the buses. We arrived around noon and there were plenty of busses and we had no wait. We were on the May 29th Brilliance. OP, thanks for starting this thread. We are looking at cruises for next spring and although we want to try the O class ships, we are wary about doing so in Europe.