TheNit

We are arriving by air in Venice the day before our cruise departs from the San Basilio Cruise Terminal in Venice. Seeing that the flight doesn't arrive untl 2 pm, sunset at 6 pm, and the ship stays in Venice the first night, we really don't need to book a hotel near the terminal, dealing with luggage, because we will likely just eat, sleep and go to the ship in the morning. Has anyone just stayed on the mainland and gone to San Basilio the next day? Where would you stay and how would you get to San Basilio? Most posts in this forum are about cruises that leave from the pier for large ships. Also, hotels are a lot more expensive by the pier for basically a good night's sleep.

I guess that I should have answered my own question after going on the cruise. The Pacific Princess does have deck chairs on Deck 5 outside (promenade deck). They are even teak "steamer" loungers in pretty good shape. The teak one's on Oceania are either in poor shape or have been replaced by plastic loungers. Best place to be if you prefer shade, quiet and the sound of the ocean on sea days.

We haven't been on Princess for about 15 years. Lately we've been sailing Oceania and Azamara (small ships) and have thought about going on the Pacific Princess but they were always in the South Pacific. We've decided to try the Pacific Princess this winter. The question I have is "Does the promenade deck on the Pacific Princess have deck chairs/loungers?". This is one of the main reasons we sail on this ship (former Renaissance) because we enjoy sitting on the promenade deck. Both Azamara and Oceania have deck chairs (teak loungers are gradually disappearing) on their promenade decks.

We are cruising out of Barcelona next week. We fly out of Toronto. We got our air schedule from Oceania and it called for us to fly from Toronto to JFK, then a 5 hour layover and then on to Barcelona. The 5 hour layover and the thought of going through US customs needlessly didn't really appeal to us.

I called Oceania Air and asked about an Air Canada direct flight from Toronto to Barcelona. We were told it would cost an extra $375 (USD) per person. I am assuming that it was the $175 deviation plus a flight cost difference of $200. We checked the flight using Expedia and it would cost $750 (Cdn, about $570 USD) pp for the direct flight. Our TA called and we got a credit of $900 (USD) pp for not using their air. So instead of paying $1275 (USD) pp to get the direct flight we booked on our own and paid about $570 (USD) pp. We used the extra money to go a couple of days early to Barcelona on a direct flight and have the hotel paid for.

We just booked a Uniworld river cruise (Amsterdam to Vienna) in July, 2014. Has anybody had any experience with Uniworld's air pricing versus ................. (or similar)? We are travelling from Toronto if that makes a difference. I know that they currently have a promotion for air but that wouldn't be applicable to this cruise.