peachykiehn

@cruisemom42The hospital is on Viale del Policlinico. We decided to look outside the city is the area near Cornelia station a nice area? It seems to be away from tourists and nice to recuperate. 

A bit off topic of hotels but hoping @cruisemom42 might be willing to help me out. We need to be in Rome for a month with a family member needing medical treatment at the University hospital. Hoping you can recommend areas to look for an AirBnB or tell me areas to avoid. 

2 hours ago, Mary loves to travel said:

This thread has be SO VERY helpful in getting ready for our Jan Antarctica cruise (drive-by on Princess).    

 

Question:   what about eyewear?   Will normal sunglasses do it, or should we get snow goggles?

I know we'll want to be outside as much as possible, so we don't miss anything 🙂

 

Thanks,

Mary

We just got off an expedition cruise with actual landings via zodiacs and found regular sunglasses to be sufficient. 

I am so sorry to hear your frustration with the lack of landings. I think a lot of it has to do with the expedition team and ship captain. We have Luciano Bernacchi  as expedition leader. I don’t mean to make you feel worse but we are on the Pursuit and have had multiple zodiac cruises (opportunities to see icebergs and penguins up close) and 4 actual landings. Deception island was a beautiful stop with lots of penguins and seals hanging out a couple days ago. We didn’t even arrive until 5pm and last zodiac ashore went at 9pm. It was still wonderful. You will enjoy it. 

3 hours ago, markandjie said:

That was fun!

It definitely was a new experience to get that close to another ship!

1 hour ago, markandjie said:

Good morning from Neko Harbor! After leaving here we're supposed to meet up with the Pursuit for a little sister ship photo shoot.

 

 

We are on the Pursuit! See you in an hour

Yes, they were quite apologetic and I might say embarrassed. In fact with the issue on the pancakes he tasted them himself. Attributed it to many new staff in kitchen. 

Currently on the Pursuit heading to Antarctica. Ship is beautiful although some areas poorly designed probably due to limited space. Staff overall very friendly and accommodating. Discovery lounge for lectures impossible to see lower half of presentation unless seated in first couple rows due to spacing of rows. Handicap accessible suites (no tub 824& 825)have extremely small closet space and no dining table. But, very large showers and huge balcony which is a trade off.  
We have found the food to be “average” meaning many days menu items are not as described. Could be training new kitchen staff. Realize these are first world problems but didn’t expect issues like these on Seabourn. Jerk shrimp basically no seasoning just shrimp in cream sauce, arugula salad served with iceberg lettuce only. Told this was “Brazilian” arugula. Husbands same salad arrived made of spinach. When shown differences waiter just shrugged his shoulder. Pancakes next morning arrived sprinkled  (hopefully by accident) with baking soda not powdered sugar. 
Agree really need two doorstops to keep doors open. 
Overall would sail Pursuit again. 

2 hours ago, DC Traveler244 said:

We were in a penthouse on the Venture last  year. We definitely were aware when the zodiacs were being raised/lowered, but I don’t recall being bothered by this. 
 

 

DC Traveler244 Which of the penthouse suites were you in? We are in 825 which is the handicap with no bathtub. Curious about difference in this suite. Glad the noise from the zodiacs wasn’t too bad. 

@likeadisguise can you provide further details on where you obtained the information regarding visas for Brazil. 

Another option is to privately book the Tundra Wilderness Tour via the park vendor then call Princess and have them refund your tour with them. We did this last September as was told we could not switch to the longer tour with Princess because it was full. The bus stopped to pick us up at the Princess lodge and we were on the same bus as the Princess tour just for a lower cost. 

7 minutes ago, pris993 said:

Did you all stay well?  I ask because going on Royal in December with a 90 year old, he is not good about wearing masks, will try and he has to use elevators.

Yes, we did stay well but we were very careful about masking indoors. Also lots of hand washing/sanitizer and avoiding touching our faces. My mother-in-law hates masks also but after several people on our land tour tested positive she understood my request for her to follow mask guidelines. 

51 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

What did they say when you asked for a larger straw?

Told me that bar didn’t have the longer straws and to check at a different bar to see if they had some. 

We just got off the Royal on the 17th. Even with announcements by the captain, signs and letters in the room many still not wearing masks. Ironically it seemed to us that those who were coughing and sneezing were the ones not wearing masks. After several trips in crowded elevators with individuals not wearing masks coughing and sneezing we avoided elevators when possible. (We had an 83 yr old with us so not always possible)

I thought maybe this topic was about the issue that some Princess bars carry short straws for smaller glasses. I have ended up with one of the smaller straws in a tall glass. Totally useless! I do bring my own straws now along with a cleaning brush as they do collect “gunk” after a day of use. 

Try Turo. We found one available in September. 

Not all drinks are available for delivery via the medallion app. We have not seen the speciality drinks from Good Spirits offered via the app. I am addicted to several of their drinks and wish they were available. 

Although others have had issues with the medallion app we have enjoyed using it over 4 cruises since the restart. On Princess “most” items delivered via room service are free including your drinks if on a drink package. My daughter and husband especially enjoyed having a snack delivered poolside or in a bar when they were craving chips and salsa or French fries. That said on seadays with lots of people ordering especially on the pool deck service was slow. We found it helpful in crowded areas for delivery to use the icon on the phone that helped the wait personnel find you.  Once when service was slow we changed location to our room and the drinks still found us. Does have its issues but overall we found it helpful. 

On 7/28/2022 at 12:42 PM, WESTEAST said:

Another Vatican tour for consideration is one that we found particularly interesting, the Scavi Tour. We purchased tickets directly via: http://www.scavi.va/content/scavi/en/ufficio-scavi.html.  It was approx. 90 min tour to the lowest levels (excavation site) of St. Peter's Basilica.  It is the site of an ancient pagan and Christian cemetery and burial ground from the 1st century, this is the presumed location of Saint Peter’s burial tomb. 

WESTEAST thanks for the info on the Scavi tour. Was able to book this tour for our November visit to Rome.  Did you book the Basilica tour also?  Thinking of touring the dome after the Scavi tour. 

3 hours ago, Yehootu said:

Our favorite room is the last side facing rooms on the Caribe deck. Love those mini's

Yehootu, glad you enjoyed this cabin. We are booked in C731 and have been rethinking our decision as so many folks have complained about the vibration. We have stayed in an aft-facing room before and think these side facing should have similar vibrations. Interested in your opinions regarding vibrations. 

The land portion is absolutely worth it! We thought the Denali Princess lodge was quite nice and exactly as we expected in Alaska. We have traveled extensively during Covid and found pretty much all hotels no longer provided daily housekeeping due to staffing. Keep in mind this is an extremely “rural” area and you will not have amenities of a large city. The need for AC in Alaska varies greatly as it usually cools off at night. The hotel is several stories high. You could request a room on an upper floor.
 

We enjoyed the train ride it is long but if you enjoy scenery and wildlife you should find it interesting. 

We will be in Rome in November and have some reward points we would like to use. We understand a chain hotel probably won’t give us the full Rome experience but would like to save a little cash. Does anyone have any experience with the Doubletree Hilton Rome Monti? Any input on location etc is greatly appreciated. 

12 hours ago, Tedferg said:

Did a couple of test bookings and noticed that Princess include Military Benefits for DW as well, only I qualify for these benefits.

Did your wife register as a first responder/healthcare worker during the Princess promotion last year? That could be the reason you are seeing the additional OBC. They didn’t create a special category for those benefits they show under military and mine have been showing on all booked cruises. 

Have used Uber/Lyft multiple times much quicker and cheaper but you need to be able to take your own luggage to the pickup area. 

8 hours ago, jvaka said:

We were on Cruisetour in early June. My estimate is 10% of the people wore masks on the flights we took to Fairbanks. My wife and I were usually the only ones who wore masks on the bus rides from one city to the next and also on the train from Talkeetna to Whittier. We were required to wear masks while inside the ship. Many times I saw 6-7 people cram into an elevator we half not wearing masks. The COVID shot is an immunization not a vaccine. 

Just to clarify so people aren’t confused by your comments. The Covid shot is a vaccine. Immunization is the process by which a vaccine works within the body to make you immune or have resistance  to a disease.