sherrihall128

We spent 2 days in Rome post-cruise last fall. I'd recommend the Colosseum and the Forum, or the Vatican Museum with St. Peter's Basilica. They're on opposite ends of Rome. If you're looking for a modern interpretation of ancient Rome, the Victor Emmanuel II National Monument is pretty spectacular. There was also this cool 1-hour video experience called the Welcome to Rome Experience. It was a great way to rest our feet, learn Rome's history, and see 3D models of all the places we were seeing and what they looked like in their prime. https://welcometo-rome.it/welcome-to-rome-experience/ Hope this helps!

Haha! I guess it's all north to us. Good to know. I've only been to Vancouver once, and I've never been to Victoria (even though I'm only an hour away from the ferry as well). Vancouver was so pretty--I'd love to go again one day.

I live in the general Seattle area (about one hour from the port), but I cannot convince my husband to take an Alaskan cruise. We live right by the water, and we regularly see wildlife, water, and mountains on a daily basis. Since you also live in the PNW (Vancouver, right?), do you feel like it's different enough to make it worth it?

Have you read "The Great Alone" by Kristin Hannah? It's set in Alaska. Also, since you're also from the PNW, have you read "Snow Falling on Cedars" by David Guterson? I remember I read it on a UK cruise many years ago, and it transported me to the San Juan Islands. I would literally forget where I was when I was reading it. I have read it since, and it did the same. His writing, although a bit long-winded, was magical to me.

We were there around 945 am, and we were on the ship by 1130 am. I don't have much experience to compare it to, but it seemed a little chaotic.

We did a Mediterranean cruise in November last year. We lucked out with the weather, as it was in the 60-70s everywhere we went and mostly sunny. I'd choose a Mediterranean cruise in October or November any time. I can't comment on the Epic, but I'd be willing to give her a try depending on the itinerary. The deals are pretty good considering the number of days and ports!

If they're running a promotion for on-board credit, or if you're particular about your cabin, maybe book earlier. However, we all know the prices change daily and that they decrease significantly after 3 months to the cruise. EPIC is a large ship, and I feel like the Mediterranean during the off months has the best prices and lower capacity sailings. I feel like there will be a lot of empty rooms for those reasons.

It usually took them 2-3 days to send me the billing info and link. Not judging, because I'm an anxious person as well, but you might be stressing a lot. Send them a follow-up email if you don't hear anything after 2-3 days.

We must've been on the same cruise. The weather was perfect. In the future ,I'll have to look into doing an upgrade vs a bid.

Seriously? How did you do this? Did you just call NCL customer service (or the TA who booked you)? Were you on the 11/6/22 sailing?

We bid and won $125 (minimum was $120) for an inside to balcony upgrade. This was on the Gem for a Mediterranean cruise in 11/22.

We were on this itinerary too. We had a great time! I look forward to your review.

Yes, we booked 3 different tours with them.

It depends on the tour. On the tour to Mt Etna and Taormina, there wasn't a lot of talking. But on the tours to Pompeii/Amalfi Coast and to Florence, we had actual guides that were more interactive and really interesting.

I'm expecting a full house with a lot of kids! It's our spring break, and it looks like from my other cruise social media page that it's other people's spring break as well.

I guess it might depend on the season that you're flying to Europe. We flew in the shoulder season, in November 2022. I heard horror stories about connections through Toronto during summer 2022, so I was absolutely delighted with our flight arrangements.

We will be on the Breakaway out of NOLA. We live near Seattle, so we are very excited for warmer weather and the sun!

I love your attitude about cruising with kids. I'm taking a cruise with my kids for the first time next week. They are relatively well-behaved, but they are also high-energy. It makes me anxious thinking about how they'll act on the ship, but let's hope there are other forgiving people out there.

If you're flying out of SFO, you probably will have better flights than smaller airports. We flew overnight from Seattle to Paris, then Paris to Venice. Flying home from Rome, we left early morning from Rome to Boston, then Boston to Seattle. The flights were decent, and they definitely saved us a lot of money. Our layover in Paris was only 75-90 minutes, but our layover in Boston was 4 hours. We definitely needed a longer layover in Boston, because it took over an hour just to get through customs. If you have enough time to apply, I'd recommend Global Entry. I will definitely get that prior to our next international trip to speed along the US entry process.

We had like 10-12 people on our Amalfi Coast tour. Every row was split with 2 seats on each side, so we definitely had a good view.

We can be watching nut allergens together on the ship! My 12 year old son can be a bit oblivious, so we'll have to be careful with him.

Most of us last took tours with ItalyTours in the fall at the end of tourist season. I think their tours were great in November 2022, and I'd highly recommend using them!

Thank you!

I totally agree. My husband was just being grumpy because he was asked about his allergies 2-3 times every visit to the dining room. The wait staff told us that had to be very careful or they could lose their jobs. They are right to be careful!

I've been following along, and you've made me want to book a girls-only cruise with my daughter. This looks so fun!