PurpleTraveller

Not all sailings are included in the sales. I have two cruises booked for June 2024 and one has nothing on sale beyond the normal 5 - 15% pre-cruise saving and the other has a few excursions at 45 or 50% off and the alcohol drink packages are 45% off.

The most important thing to do in Kotor is to be awake for the beautiful sail in. It is one of the best in the world. You will see the magnificent scenery on the way out but the morning light is very different to the afternoon light. You do not need to do a tour in Kotor as the beautiful old city is just across the road from the dock and has a pedestrian underpass so you don't even have to cross the road. The old city is small and has lots of lovely old buildings, churches, restaurants and shops. You can climb the old walls to the St John Fortress for amazing views of the city and bay, however it is a very steep climb and not for the faint hearted. You can get a boat tour or the local bus to Perast and visit Our Lady of the Rocks Church and island which you sail past on the way in to Kotor. There is also a Hop On Hop Off bus that goes along the coastline. https://hoponhopoff.me/en/ Visiting Budva is also a popular tour to do either through the ship or Viator.

I went in June 2019 and we had good weather, waterfalls were flowing, no crowds, very few children on board, very long days (midnight sun), pretty towns, magnificent scenery and all over a wonderful cruise. Mt Dalsnibba, Geiranger Brekkefossen Waterfall, Flam Alesund Bergen

Thank you for your recommendation. I looked at their website and their tours look excellent. I am booked on a cruise for September 2025 going to these three ports and will keep an eye out for when their tours open for booking. I have also saved the link. Thanks again.

On my September 2025 cruise the "Best of the Golden Circle" tour in Reykjavik was USD229.95 until this week it went up to USD244.95. It looks like your tour was listed at the incorrect price but I would still be unimpressed that they simply cancelled your reservation rather than sending you an email and explaining that it was an error.

When I asked on our Alaska cruise on Crown Princess in June I was told that they had run out of the blue bags and that they would not be getting any more.

I think the number of passengers can vary. In 2022 in Kotor, Montenegro our "Small Group Castelnuovo and Fort Mare Fortress" excursion had 29 passengers which is not what I would consider a small group. When in Messina Sicily two days later our standard "In the Godfather's Footsteps" excursion had 28 passengers.

It must depend on the cruise. Of my two cruises in June 2024 one doesn't have the excursions on sale other than the standard 5% to 15%. The other has 45% off. One has drink packages on 45% sale and the other has 20%.

I agree that the distance may be small for some and large for others. I am keeping a close eye on what is happening in the region as I have a two week land tour booked to Turkey for next June. I have two Celebrity cruises after the land trip but at the moment my flights to and from Australia are to Istanbul.

We always stay at Premier Inn West Quay when in Southampton. It is a no frills but clean, comfortable and reasonably priced hotel that is across the road from West Quay Shopping Centre where there are lots of shops and restaurants and a short taxi ride to the cruise terminals. It is also walking distance to the train station where there are direct trains to Winchester and Portsmouth which are both great day trips to do. We hired a car from Europcar, which is also walking distance from the hotel, to go on a day trip to the New Forest and Dorset Coast which was wonderful.

Excellent! I have had two trips to Portugal cancelled (2020 Covid and 2022 tour cancelled) but I'll get there one day. I hope you have a wonderful time. So sorry to hear about your personal life change and hope all goes well for you into the future. A trip to Portugal is something great to look forward to.

Getting the train from Termini in Rome to Civitavecchia is really easy and inexpensive. We usually get a train later in the morning so that it is not crowded. Cost in 2022 was €4.60 each. When arriving in Civitavecchia the shuttle to the ships are right outside the station and cost €6.00 each this year. If you are paying on the bus you pay in cash. There are different shuttles for the different ships so check the sign on the bus or ask the driver to make sure you are going to the correct ship. If your ship is docked close to the port entrance you could walk if you don't mind dealing with your luggage.

I haven't done a ship excursion in Santorini but on my two times there on Princess (in 2014 and 2016) there were seperate tenders operating for the ship excursions to Athinios and for independent travellers to the old port at the same time. It could be different now. Also on the only ship excursion at a tender port that I have done in Europe on Celebrity (2022 in Kotor) the excursion time was the time we left the ship. Of course both of these could be different for different cruise lines, ports and circumstances.

I couldn't agree more! For us as Australians crew appreciation is not included in the packages so putting those aside we had a bill of USD139 which converts to AUD217 for our 11 day Alaska cruise in June. This covered one day of internet and drinks for the entire cruise. The cost for the Plus package would have been AUD65 x 11 x 2 = AUD1430 which converts to USD915. Our saving was AUD1213 or USD776.

Yes that is correct. The ship excursions tender to Athinios port where there is road access for the buses. Everyone else gets tendered to the old port where there is no road access.

I have always had very comfortable mattresses on previous Princess cruises until my last cruise on Crown Princess. It was the most terrible lumpy, saggy and uncomfortable mattress I have ever had the misfortune to try and sleep on. When I complained about the state of the mattress I was told nothing could be done as it already had a mattress topper on it. It needed to have been replaced long ago. It seems that there are some not so good mattresses which is a real shame as no-one expects to pay to go on a cruise and get an uncomfortable bed.

Not a direct answer for you but I am Australian and when cruising elsewhere in the world other than Australia and NZ when I compare the cost of prepaying gratuities it is often (but not always) at a better exchange rate than the current exchange rate. Do your sums to see if it is better to prepay or wait until you are on board. Also if you have OBC the gratuities can be paid or partially paid using your OBC if you wait until on board. Have a great cruise!

Sorry, I should have said arrival times, rather than boarding times but I was too late to edit my post.

After also experiencing embarking in Vancouver in June (and I agree, never again) you will be pleased that Civitavecchia is nothing like Vancouver. Last year I arrived at the terminal, my luggage was taken immediately, I walked up to a representative who had to check my documents and I was on the ship in five minutes.

I embarked at Vancouver in June and arrived at 10.15am as my boarding time was 10.30am. The terminal was very crowded with many passengers coming early despite their boarding times. Now that there are no boarding times I would expect that to be the same. It took almost two hours to get through the lines to drop luggage, collect medallions, security and US immigration. I heard that people who arrived later had an easier time without the crowds and boarded a lot quicker.

I have only been to Malta on a land tour and travelled everywhere by local bus so can not answer your questions about taxi tours or shore excursions but I might be able to help with what is worth seeing. We really enjoyed the Blue Grotto and Marsaxlokk and they are in the southern area of the island so you may be able to take a taxi tour to these together. At the Blue Grotto the view from above is lovely but also definitely do the boat tour where you enter the caves. We were there on a really hot day and the boat cruise was a wonderful relief from the heat. Marsaxlokk is cute to walk around looking at the boats but we only spend about an hour there. Mdina is lovely but is in a different direction to the Blue Grotto and Marsaxlokk from Valletta. You could do all three with a taxi tour but you could be a bit rushed particularly with the time spent if you do the boat cruise of the Blue Grotto and also want to have some time to see the old city of Valetta. We enjoyed walking around Mdina and spent about an hour there. It is very easy to get a ferry from Valletta across the harbour to Vittoriosa which is easy to walk around and enjoy the narrow streets and views across the harbour. Valletta is also lovely to walk around. The St John's Co-cathedral is magnificent and it is great to walk through the streets and enjoy the views of the harbour. If you have never been to Malta before I would consider the shore excursion or a taxi tour to the Blue Grotto and Marsaxlokk and then spend the rest of the day exploring Valletta. Or if you want to DIY you could get a taxi or bus to Mdina and then on your return to Valletta get a ferry to Vittoriosa and explore then return to Valetta to explore. Hope this helps a little and have a great cruise. 🛳️

A couple of suggestions that might be of interest for you 1) Get the Centrale Funicular from Augusteo which is a short walk from the dock, and then when up the top a walk to Castel Sant'Elmo for great views and a castle to explore. Your son would possibly enjoy going on the funicular even if you don't visit the castle and the funicular is very inexpensive. https://naplespompeii.com/castelsantelmo.html https://www.napolike.com/trasporti-pubblici-a-napoli/funicolari-di-napoli 2) He may also like to walk along and look at the Nativity scenes on Via San Gregorio Armeno. https://www.italia.it/en/campania/things-to-do/nativity-sets-in-naples-and-campania#:~:text=San Gregorio Armeno%2C the street of nativity scenes in Naples,-In the heart The walk along the seafront when you turn left after leaving the dock is lovely and Castel dell'Ovo which you walk past on the way to Mappatella Beach may have reopened by the time you are there. And lastly having pizza for lunch in Naples is always good. Hope you have a wonderful cruise!🛳️

On my Alaska cruise in June internet cost USD20 a day (24 hours) if buying one day at a time. With my 50% discount it cost USD10. I don't know how much it costs if you buy for the entire cruise when on board. I can get my 50% discount when purchasing internet before the cruise when using the app.

Really hope that you don't get one of the bad mattresses. All the bad mattresses (and Princess would know where they are) need to be replaced immediately. There really is no excuse for leaving such terrible mattresses in use. Good luck and hope you have a great cruise!

In regard to 1) I was unfortunate to have one of the terrible saggy mattresses in E631 on Crown in June. When we spoke to our steward about how terribly uncomfortable the mattress was he told us that as there was already a mattress topper on it there was nothing else that could be done. I hope your mattress is better than ours, which was the most uncomfortable mattress we have ever had the misfortune to try to sleep on. Re 6) Afternoon Tea was held on each Sea Day in the Da Vinci Dining Room at 3.00pm. We lined up at about 2.45pm and we were about 30th in the line. A long line formed behind us and when we left there was still a long line of people waiting to get in. We found that Crown was in good condition. We had excellent service everywhere and particularly in the Michelangelo Dining Room. The food was good in the MDR at dinner and in the buffet for breakfast. We had a wonderful cruise. Hope you have a wonderful cruise! 🛳️