-Lew-

It's not really something to be concerned about. Your tour provider will know where to meet the ship. We have booked many private tours in the Med and around Europe and have never needed to coordinate port schedules.

If you have a newer cell phone, I'd recommend going with an eSIM. Check this eSIM Database. It's the most convenient way to go.

The providers you've used in the past for transfers from FCO to your Rome hotel and Rome to Civitavecchia will work for FCO to Civitavecchia. A search of this forum will return a wealth of good suggestions.

We've enjoyed lunch at La Cisterna del Moro twice in Taormina and will again this fall. Excellent dishes and a beautiful view make it our go to place for lunch.

As luck would have it, each of the bus routes recommended by Google Maps require a total of 20+ minutes of combined walking on each end of the bus ride.

We've used public transportation in Rome with the aid of Google Maps. If you post the name of your hotel or apartment, someone will be happy to assist with the best option to get to the Vatican.

Welcome to Cruise Critic @sofa.king... Your arrival in Rome is later than most, so it doesn't give you much time to do a lot after transfer to your hotel and checkin. Personally, not knowing how you will feel after your flight, I'd go with your suggestion to visit the Pantheon and Trevi. You can also check out Piazza Navona, Campo de' Fiori, and perhaps the Spanish Steps. You don't mention your hotel's name, but walking from the Pantheon to the Vatican takes about 30 minutes. You might want to consider leaving your luggage at your hotel rather than dead heading over to Termini just to drop it off.

When we were on Splendor in January and February Prime 7 opened at 6:30...

Below are two screenshots I took prior to getting off the ship in Ponta Delgada. I know we experienced good service with Vodafone in other ports. I tried to manually connect to MEO and NOS without success. The checkmark next to Vodafone P led me to believe I was connected: however, I was not.

The easiest method is to limit photo syncing to Wi-Fi. Go to Settings → Photos → Cellular Data → Turn off cellular data to limit photo syncing to Wi-Fi.

For anyone considering the purchase of an Airalo eSIM, you might want to take note of the email response below I received regarding the issue I experienced in Gibraltar and Ponta Delgada. The troubleshooting instructions may come in handy if you should experience the same. Hi Lew, Thanks for getting back to us. We apologize for the delayed response due to a high number of requests. You can contact us via online chat, our response might be faster. We do have some basic troubleshooting steps as below. For local networks, it's different in every country so please check on our site. Please do the following: - Disable your mainline, WiFi, and VPN (if you are using one) for the time being. Just let the eSIM be enabled for mobile data. - go to Settings>>Cellular>>Network Selection. Disable "Automatic" and manually connect (_please check for local network on our site___) to in the network selection. This helps to stay with the network. - kindly set the speed to 3G only *(or 4G/LTE ONLY). We are checking if the area has a 3G connection more stable than the LTE one. (You can set this back once the connection is stable) Please ensure that you toggle Airplane mode on for 1-3 minutes before toggling back off, or restart the device with the same waiting time, whenever there are new changes. This will help jumpstart the connection with the new settings. We value your business and want you to have the best experience possible. We have added $5.00 in Airmoney credit, so you can use it toward the purchase of a new eSIM or a top-up. Airmoney doesn't expire and this will allow you the chance to use our service again in the future. We would love the opportunity to turn this experience around for you. Please let us know if have any questions or require further assistance. We are here for you! Warm regards, Airalo Support airalo.com support@airalo.com

When comparing cost I should have indicated T-Mobile's Magenta MAX 55+ plan for one line is $65.00 per month including tax. We used tethering in the Caribbean at no additional cost. T-Mobile doesn't say anything about international tethering on its website...at least I couldn't find it. I Tweeted T-Mobile for clarification and their response was that it is in fact included. We don't bring our laptops, but we do have our iPhones and iPads with us and, like you, prefer a larger screen to work with.

I found Airalo easy to use last fall in Europe; however, there were connection difficulties I was not able to rectify. I posted the following paragraph earlier in this thread: I purchased Airalo eSIMs for each of our iPhone 14 Pros for use in the Med last fall. In 40+ days they worked well everywhere except Gibraltar and Ponta Delgada. I was off the ship in urban areas seeing multiple cell networks available with strong signals, but unable to connect.

Check out the eSIM database here. Installation and activation is quite easy.

I would think they would prepare it for you if you requested it in advance. I was told they would make cacio e pepe for me in February, but it was late in our cruise and we didn't return. It's on my bucket list for next January.

Thank you for relating your experience with Google Fi. I had heard of Fi, but was unaware of how it works. Google Fi uses T-Mobile's network in the US and likely Deutsche Telekom's collection of providers internationally. So the performance you enjoy should be the same as mine on T-Mobile's Magenta MAX 55+ plan. I've been with T-Mobile only since last December, so my international experience is limited to only 32 days in the Caribbean where we were delighted and very happy to have switched from AT&T. Google Fi's Unlimited Plus monthly cost of ~$71.50 ($65 plus tax of ~$6.50 here in Vermont) does not compare favorably to T-Mobile's cost of $45.00 per month tax included. T-Mobile also offers a number of cost-saving benefits such as free Netflix, Paramount+, AAA membership, Apple TV+, and dining rebates which may or may not be of value. It appears Google Fi offers more high-speed data than T-Mobile internationally. I never approached T-Mobile's 5GB monthly limit while we were in the Caribbean and don't see that as an issue while traveling in Europe. Being able to receive 2FA codes via text is one of the most important benefits of using your USA cell number while traveling abroad. Both Google Fi and T-Mobile allow with...SIMs and eSIMs do not! T-Mobile is still the right choice for us, but it appears your need for larger amounts of high-speed international data makes Google Fi the right choice for you.

It's our responsibility to get our laundry to our cabin steward before 9:00am if we want same day service. We always hand our laundry bag to our steward before 9:00am if need it back that day. I don't believe anyone has a right to expect same day service if they are not proactive.

In 32 days on the Splendor in January and February, whenever we gave our laundry to our steward by 9:00am it was returned the same day.

Pacific Rim was a special treat and we dined there three times during our 32 days in the Caribbean in January and February. Dining al fresco on the aft deck of Sette Mari was very enjoyable. Of all the restaurants, we dined at Compass Rose most often. The food and service were excellent and the menu is the largest we have come across at sea. See below...

Click here for an explanation of the two spellings. Also, can't let an opportunity to misuse an apostrophe pass on CC. I'm aware it was copied and pasted and not to be attributed to @Davidjm2389.

Thank you for setting me straight on this...

Because a cash advance is not a purchase. If the cruiseline is honest and describes the cash advance accurately to the credit card issuer, interest on the advance should start accruing immediately when posted to the card.

I believe you'll find that VAT and duty are two different things. We were on the Celebrity Edge last fall for three segments...we had to pay VAT in the onboard shops for only the second segment which, we were told, was triggered by one of the countries we stopped at during that segment. No VAT was charged for the first and third segments. Before we arrived at our final EU port, Ponta Delgada, Celebrity provided us with the completed document with copies on the receipts attached. They also arranged to bring government officials onboard to process the forms. Couldn't have been easier. It took about four weeks until our refunds were EFTed to our checking account.

You need to process your VAT claim at the final EU port of call of your cruise in the case of a TA or the airport you're flying out of the EU. In either case you need to complete a document and present that along with receipts and the retail goods to government officials. If all is in order, they will stamp the document and you will mail it in the envelope provided for reimbursement. Download the Global Blue smartphone app for more information.

Romecabs is excellent! Click here for more reviews.