Happycrafter123

Thank you @sherrihall128 I will check out the welcome to time experience, my feet need it!!!

We started this morning with an early morning trip to the Vatican. I know a lot of folks are taking the two day deviation on air from NCL so if you are able to do this the day before the cruise I recommend it whole heartedly. We had booked Early Access Vatican Tour with Secret Room | Semi-Private Morning Experience With LivTours, which started at 7:30 AM to have early morning access before the crowds. It was supposed to be a group of no more than 6 but we were 7 adults and a baby, however the tour guide managed our group well. We had ear pieces to hear well throughout. Tour ended at about 11 so she allowed us lots of time to look at things and she really got to the heart of things, not just spewing facts. She also made sure we were given multiple opportunities to use the bathroom at various points and found us spots to sit from time to time. The real treat was exclusive access to a private room with amazing views and the best art. This was a quiet and peaceful tour, despite the long lines and crowds in rome right now, we enjoyed the calmness and relative solitude to appreciate the art. given how incredibly crowded the city is right now, and I shudder to think how crowded it will get through the summer, this is a great option for a pre or post cruise day, to enjoy so much with so much space.

We visited the coliseum (crowded, and a one and done for me), but the highlight was the food tour we did this evening. For those of you arriving the day before the cruise and looking for how to spend the evening before embarcation, I totally recommend this food tour! Food tour was with The Tour Guy, and was from 5:30-9:00. We met, stopped at a charcuterie to sample wine, cheese and meat, then did a walking tour, went to visit a church, had an amazing dinner, then went for gelato. Our guide was super knowledgeable tying in details on ancient history as well as pointing out items from the era of Mussolini. It was a group of about 12 people and we loved chatting with and getting to know the others and having dinner together. Food was great.

Ah, I had booked it quite a while back. the tour guide today mentioned this is the busiest it’s been going back to 2019, that this is the level of crowds they used to get during their peak of the summer—seems there is a lot of pent up demand and that is surely driving up prices for everything.

We arranged private car with bob’s limo, I find cabs can be a little unpredictable in terms of pricing and availability, and it doesn’t seem like Uber is as mainstream here as in Canada and the USA. It was $135 euro to prebook the car service.

What about you, @Skjhoward - have you been to Rome yet or planning to pass through on your next cruise? What has been or what do you think would be your top thing to see?

I will answer again at the end of the week! I’ve found that I am always surprised as what I like versus what I think I’ll like lol! for now I’m really looking forward to seeing the art and paintings especially at the Vatican and to see the catacombs as well/-underground tunnels from thousands of years ago seems pretty cool.

Day 1 - arrival Our flight landed on time and our diver from Bob’s limo was waiting for us. We got to our B&B around noon and manager was waiting for us with welcome. We are staying at Navonamyhome B&B and it is a great location and huge room with nice sitting area. we went on a walking tour with Rome Free Walking Tours, that I had prebooked, tour price is based on self assessed tipping. It was two hours and guide knowledgeable and I tipped $20 Euros. we ate pizza before and after and had gelato too. main observation so far— Rome is crowded, dirty, smelly, there are people smoking everywhere and the air quality is horrible. It hurts to breathe. There is garbage on the ground everywhere and it is kind of disgusting. I do appreciate the history and architecture but definitely compared to Scandinavia and Baltic cities we visited last year and back in 2019 this is quite markedly different in terms of the ability to walk through the city and enjoy it. The food here is better, though , I’ll give it that. We will see what the next 5 days hold.

Hi Allie! @Acordner that is great we will be on same cruise! Hopefully some others on the trip will chime in here. on our last cruise with NCL we did the thermal spa. I loved the warm pool and bubbling water and quiet spot, hubby found it boring. This time we got the vibe passes so we will see how that is. you can go to the excursion desk on the first day we board the ship and get your name on a waiting list for excursions as some people cancel. Apart from that, many people do not do ncl excursions, either booking through third parties or just getting off and hiring a cab or walking around. From what I saw on YouTube videos Santorini is definitely doable just on your own waking off the ship as is Cannes. A couple of the others the ports may be a bit out of town so you will at least need to take a train or cab or shuttle. Each port will be different—all new ports to me so hopefully others will chime in on options for you.

Lovely surprise at Toronto airport. We had a 3 hr layover and headed over to the maple leaf lounge to kill time and the lady said we had an invitation to the maple signature lounge. Wow is all I can say! They offered us the choice of a lounge area or a 3 meal service, and it was such a treat. So unexpected and such a great experience. The three hours flew by. What a great way to start this journey!

Thank you so much @YVRteacher you will be heading off on your adventures Monday and I’m really excited to hear about those too! Enjoy the last couple days of prep and anticipation.

Gorgeous day leaving YVR

@redmomof4 I know it is wonderful to have all the times listed like that! it is available only after your online check in at the 21 day mark, as a page of the edocs. I took a screen shot of that page on my phone Edocs are available on the app in the section called guests. .

Thank you @laudergayle hoping my toes don’t get too dirty with all that historical dust lol! I’ve packed and repacked. Still no bid upgrade. We fly out in the morning. Online check in is done. Last minute housecleaning for petsitter is done. Now just to try to get a good nights sleep before the long journey begins. we live far from the airport, and on the west coast of canada, so we will leave home at 5:45 AM our time tomorrow for a morning flight to the East coast, and then leave there in the evening for an overnight flight to Rome, arriving there the next day at noon. Deducting the time change that will be about 21 hours in transit.

On my last cruise with NCL we enjoyed excellent bottles of wine at dinner, a nice glass of veuve here and there, and ice wine for desert. When I debated switching to a Disney cruise this summer part of the decision to continue with NCL was the great beverages and Plus package. I have two more cruises I’m committed to with NCL, and interested to see how they go, but between the mayhem of website risks like we saw recently, and downgrades of service and drinks, it is highly likely Disney or another line will get our next cruise dollars. A glass of champagne is a small thing but ultimately part of the decision tree and relevant.

I’m glad to hear you felt safe and gelato sounds like an excellent plan! Any of our readers here planning to travel solo curious about this type of stuff too? as for pre-cruise plans, we have a lot! It is after all 6 days. I need to do up a nice schedule (hubby says it is too confusing and too busy) however for now here is the list! - Saturday flying - Sunday flying still (our journey is far) arriving Rome middday. Afternoon walking tour plus maybe evening Opera - Monday - colosseum and then walking food tour - Tuesday- early morning Vatican then evening walking food tour (different company than Monday) - Wednesday- day trip to Tuscany - Thursday- day trip to tivoli and maybe evening opera - Friday morning catacombs visit then evening golf cart tour with apperitifs - Saturday- CRUISE!!!!!

That sounds great, and a good solution.

Re: ditching hubby, which is what I do at home with Opera lol! But curious, Did you feel safe walking alone in Rome at night? re: outfit - red scarf and little black icebreaker skirt will dress up black outfit! Good thinking and portentously needed for warmth layering too.

This is a good tip I hadn’t twigged to the 14 day rule. I’d been watching ours and it did drop about $100 each CAD but I didn’t want to risk messing anything up with all the stuff booked especially prepaid gratuities at old rate etc, so left it. For $2k I would have followed up so thank you for heads up! At least you have the one. Are you already planning what you will book with it?

@YVRteacheri was inspired by your discussion on opera and looked up options for Rome while we are there—-they have lots of different types of performances daily! Hubby is not keen and now determining if we can fit some dressier clothes in the carry on. May be a no-go. Curious to hear from anyone reading this who has gone to an opera in rome the day before the cruise or day after??

I’m very excited about it! They only let me book one but I recall on your recent cruise live update you suggested just showing up and asking for standby?

We have low bids on Haven so unlikely to get any, but hope springs eternal so we check our NCL app about 20x per day to see if room # has changed — any of you do this? Currently we have dinning package and vibe which we will cancel if we get the bid, to offset cost. Current plans, assuming no winning bid:

Interesting I’m hoping one of the others following this post have ideas? I haven’t used NCL air or transfers. we are flying in several days early and staying in the tourist area, and booked a private car service to get to airport with bobs limo. It was 135 euros for the transport and expected to be an hour travel time.

Ah, forgot about the food thing. I’ll be really interested to hear about this excursion and how you find it!

For the NCL wifi are you on the regular or the streaming/upgraded option?