West Coast Gal

18 hours ago, euro cruiser said:

Just as an example, Alilauro runs ferries from Naples Beverello, which is adjacent to the cruise port, to Amalfi.  There is one that departs at 8:30 and arrives to Amalfi at 10:05.  The fare is 28 euro.

 

For comparison, if your ships arrives at 7 AM and you want to get going sooner, you could take the train from Naples to Salerno departing at 7:50 and arriving at 8:30.  If you run and are very luckly you might make the 8:40 ferry to Amalfi (arrives 9:15), but odds are you will have to wait for the next one, departing at 9:40 and arriving at 10:15.  This option is less expensive (1,40 euro metro to the Naples train station, 5,10 euro train fare, 10 euro ferry) but there are a lot of moving parts and considerably more stress.  After all that you'd arrive in Amalfi ten minutes after the direct ferry.

 

Alilauro:  Napoli > Amalfi - Amalfi > Napoli - alilauro

 

Travelmar Amalfi coast ferries:  Orari traghetti Travelmar - Traghetti veloci in Costiera Amalfitana

 

Trenitalia:  EN - Trenitalia

This is GREAT information, thank you so much for taking the time to share!

2 hours ago, euro cruiser said:

Are you comparing two ship excursions, or looking at something else?

 

There are lots of DIY options as well, including ferries directly from Naples to the Amalfi Coast, or to Sorrento.

Interesting, the above was a comparison of 2 ship excursions but you have made me want to do a little more research

Has anyone out there done both the Sorrento and driving Amalfi coast AND the Sorrento and cruising the Amalfi coast?  What are your thoughts on the two?

Oh my goodness, I can't believe this website . . . so the session kicked me out and so I logged back in and it just keeps saying the session has expired even though I am still logged in.

Does anyone know if there is a place I can report this nonsense to Princess?  Grin

It is working today . . . but right after I changed pages working on Shore excursion . . . all the sudden it ended my session.  They really need to fix this, it has to be simple.

none of it has worked for me

20 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I am nowhere near that patient!! 😄

I am with you!

I am going to try everything . . . I have 5 cruises with them that I have time to work on!

You know, their website has several issues that if they had a half way decent programmer the issues could be fixed!  The fact that you are in there working on a cruise flipping through shore excursions or such and all the sudden it says you are timed out from lack of use . . .  that makes me feel like they are rinky dink operations.

Does anyone know why I cannot get onto the Princess website today?  I have tried 2 separate browsers and it either tells me the my password and email do not match (which they do) and the other half time it goes through but it just has a spinning wheel with never getting onto the website

The area around the airport is fine during the day, but after dark not really wanting to be walking around . . . luckily it doesn't get dark until 9:30 this time of year.  There is a very nice restaurant in the area at Cedarbrook Lodge called the Copperleaf Restaurant and Bar . . . do make a reservation.  The food is great and they have a pool table in their bar.  It is a unique place, in a residential area less mile from the airport!

Hi, My DH and I enjoy Alaska so much we have booked another cruise to go there.  I am not seeing a roll call started for this trip!  Anyone else going?

2 hours ago, robotpony said:

If you're lucky they might still have some of the Holland America 150th gin still, which was an above average balanced gin (not far from Aviator or Hendricks). Most of the ships have Hendricks and Bombay Sapphire as well, and occasionally a few brands like Empress (when on the West coast of North America at least).

Thank you Bruce!

What brands of Gin does the Volendam stock?

Grandma's Chocolate Cake on the Island

On 5/17/2023 at 9:51 PM, snoozecrooze said:

She's got some new itineraries coming. Check this new press release just out: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/princess-cruises-debuts-first-ever-summer-colonial-heritage-voyages-featuring-yorktown-va-plus-new-departures-from-boston-as-part-of-expanded-2024-canada--new-england-season-301826935.html

 

 

Well there is the answer, 10-17-Day Cruises
NEW! Colonial Heritage – Island Princess – 10/11 days: Roundtrip from New York visiting Charleston, Boston, Halifax, Newport (on select cruises) and Yorktown. Cruises depart June 4; June 14; June 25, 2024.

Darn she really is in such sad shape and needs her face lift before 2024

So the Island Princess has no cruises or charters scheduled for June of 2024.  Speculation could be a refurb or a sale of the Island.  Does anyone have any good intel?

37 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Here's a thought.  Everyone should cancel their medallion order and ask for pick up at the port.  Considering this only impacts those in the United States...It will only put a small dent in their system.

 

BUT...From my understanding, it is the ship that is cranking them out for day of Embarkation.  Maybe Princess will have a small revelation that their charging for shipment (and maybe reimbursement from Customer Service onboard), they will rethink this AWFUL decision to charge for shipping.  

 

GO FOR IT!

I hate to say it, but I don't think that Corporate will get it!  After 111 days of hearing of the dealings with them, if they don't do something quickly to shore up Corporate policies and become customer focused again they will lose their loyal base.

On 5/16/2023 at 3:00 PM, nini said:

We sail on the Sky in a few weeks and DH ordered our Medallions. We booked with the Plus package in July of 2021. So, Princess has had our money/ deposit for nearly two years. DH said they were charging him $10.00 in shipping and I said that should not be. I checked in with our Roll Call and members said that had similar issues and that they called their TA and/or Princess and they would be reimbursed.

 

FYI- it is on a Princess website that you will NOT be charged for the Medallion shipping IF you have purchased the Plus or Premium package. It is #39.

https://www.princess.com/cruise-deals-promotions/plus-premier-cruise-packages/

 

I also know via the posts by our own @JimmyVWine that when onboard, the "old Plus" is honored the same way as the "New Plus".  The dealings with Princess were as follows:

 

In addressing the $10.00 charge for mailing the medallions to us, I called our TA. You will LOVE the response(s). The first response that they will give the fee back when on the ship. I asked how. So, his new response (Mario) is:

The second response is ............ wait for it...................... wait for it.....................

"You have the "Old Princess Plus" and therefore do not qualify to have the medallions mailed to you free of charge."

 

I told our TA that our "Old" Princess Plus is being treated just like the new one when onboard and I know that for a fact. Our TA told him this. His response was that, NO! We will have the limits of the "Old" one when onboard.

 

Thank you all for "listening".

 

 

It isn't your TA, it is Corporate Princess . . . just got back from the 2023 World Cruise, staff on board was fabulous, but it seemed all decisions coming from Corporate were unorganized and like everyone was new!   Corporate has to get their act together, you ask the same question of 5 different people and you get 5 different answers.

We just got new phones, and already have done everything on our old phones to check in for our upcoming cruise.  Are we going to lose everything with our new phones, it is the same phone number?

We are in our 60's and have been on 5 cruises this year -  Carnival, Princess and Holland, which are all owned by Carnival now.  Here is just my opinion.

Longer cruises always have less children and young adults because of who can afford the cruise.  And all 3 of them are great, it just depends on You and your wants.

Carnival has better desserts, come on chocolate lava cake every night, Yes!  Grin  Comedy Club is a big plus.  We don't hang at the pool usually because it can get rowdy but find other places to sit and enjoy the ocean.  Furnishings are a little less grand than Princess or Holland.

Princess, I like because they do have so many activities to choose from, music venues, games etc, even if you don't participate, watching is fun also.  They seem to use all their venues well.  I have notice that since Carnival bought them that the food quality and service are not as exceptional as it used to be but is still good.

Holland, rolls up the sidewalks at 9 pm, or so it seems, but they have the best, I mean the best service of all three.  And if you like classical music, their Lincoln Center is unique to just that line.

Great reading, thank you for sharing . . . . So we will be in a mini suite, which has 2 TVs and they are on a diagonal instead of flush mounted to the wall,

Can you hook your computer up to the TVs on the Island Princess with a HDMI cable?

Does anyone know how to use the coffeemaker in the Neptune suite.  Is it expresso only?

We were in a Neptune Suite on the Noordam and it had Club Orange dining but breakfast was still in the Pinnacle Grill.  We are about to go on the Neiw Amsterdam, is it PG or Club Orange for breakfast?

I do hope the Pinnacle Grill it was just as described above.

Special request by the grandkids to have a pool with a slide.  Does anyone know if there are any near the airport.  They are getting in sort of late from a flight from West Coast so don't want to travel too far to the hotel