roblc1

If you don't mind walking into the heart of Venice, I strongly suggest staying by the Piazzale Roma. Easy airport bus and walking distance to the People Mover to board the ship. We loved it being a little quieter and less crowded. Stayed at a very reasonable little hotel on one of the side streets. It was great!

We are on the June 3 cruise as well. We are flying in and out of Copenhagen and staying there a few days. We are using TJ Tours for St Petersburg and Berlin and doing everything else on our own. We don't mind a lot of walking to see the sites. We may do a HOHO if we feel we need and I think we will take the train on our own to Lubeck from Kiel and not go to Hamburg. Haven't fully decided that. Does anyone have any thoughts of good options for that port?

We will be arriving in Kiel this summer and are looking to do the train ourselves to Lubeck. Is anyone able to confirm the current train schedule or that the information in this thread is still accurate with the exception of pricing? Based on the info, are there no trains before 9:00am? Has anyone walked to the train station in Kiel and back to the ship? Y ideas on approximate distance? Same for Lubeck to the old town area. Thanks for any updates.

We are recently back from Venice and used the People Mover several times including getting our luggage to the ship. There were never any lines, just sometimes a few confused people on how to use the machine. It is very easy and drops you at the Piazzelle Roma which is the outskirts of the Venice Canal area. There is the vaparetto stop for the Grand Canal, which you can take to San Marco or you can walk there, which we did several times. If you are not on an all aboard deadline, it can be a lot of fun to wander through the quieter canals and neighborhoods. We booked a hotel near the Piazzelle Roma and took the express bus from the airport for six euros and then took the People Mover to the ship two days later. Loved Venice and loved being able to get around it so easily.

We were in Santorini on July 12th. They had the boat ride running, which we actually didn't see as we were focused on taking the tram and getting to the bus station ASAP. We did that, walked to the bus station, waited 20 minutes as we had just missed a bus. The bus was easy, cost 1-60 euro each and took about 20-30 minutes to get to Oia. We beat many of the crowds to Oia, had a wonderful time taking pictures, having lunch, shopping and then caught the bus back to Fira about 3ish. Walked around there for a little while and then walked down the donkey path to the ship. In my mind, there would be no reason to take a ship excursion if you wanted to go to Oia.

I am sorry that I haven't checked in. Other people have answered, but yes I will confirm that we tendered in Mykonos and walked into the center of town. It was very easy. And I will not be of help in Livorno, as I took the ship's transportation into Florence. It was 5 euros round trip though. (the shuttle to Livorno, not the ship's transportation to Florence ;) )

I did use public transportation easily in Athens, and rented a car in Le Seyne sur Mer. :)

I am also just off the July 9th cruise and posted a review. Not sure when it will be up. I am happy to try to answer any questions.

It never seemed busy. We did not use it but walked by often as we had been moved into one of the new cabins next door. I was fit to be tied when Princess did that and complained big time to my TA and Princess directly, but it actually turned out fine and no smoke or noise in the stateroom. Casino seemed very bland, white walls, well lit, not noisy like other casinos.