Eastern Med First Timer Qs

[suuluu]

Hi All

 

We are on Fantasia October 5. I have learnt much from these forums but could I get help with a few things:

1. We are planning to hire a car in Corfu and Katakolon. The scheduled times for arrival are 12.30pm and 1pm respectively. What time should I book the cars? (Also Katakolon has docked/tender listed - does that mean it could be either and they decide when they get there? I assume tender takes longer)

2. And in reverse what time before scheduled departure should I list to return the car? 1 hour before the set times of 6.30pm and 7pm respectively? What is the usual time to reboard?

3. Just realised as typing this I have requested early dinner seating - we have kids. What time is this early dinner likely to be and what time do we have to get there?

4. I have paid for the drinks package in advance but have a couple of tours in my shopping cart. Will I be booked onto these and be able to check this when we board?

5. I'm collecting any recent info about people's experiences disembarking at Venice and when me might be likely to get off - scheduled to arrive 8am. We may take our own luggage off I think...

 

Thanks so much in advance.

Edited August 29, 2014 by suuluu

[AmoMondo]

I'll answer the ones that I can.

1. Never booked a car but I'm sure they are used to people coming off cruise ships, especially in Katakalon, so I'd be inclined to just tell them docking time. You should be off within first 30 minutes, unless it is a tender. Dock/tender means it is not yet confirmed which it will be. It depends on the number of ships scheduled in port that day. I've been 3 times and we've always docked. They will know in advance if they are tendering, they won't be deciding on the day. The daily programme the night before will indicate if it is a tender and where and when tender tickets will be available. If it is a tender get to the ticket collection point early as those on first boats get ashore not much longer than when docked, others can wait 90 minutes to 2 hours.

2. Last all aboard time is 30 minutes before sailing, so you'd be better to tell them an hour before to give yourselves time to walk back to the ship.

3. Early diviner will likely be 6.15 or 6.30. May be as late as 6.45. You have to be there for that time really. Think they allow around 15 minutes before they close the dining room. If you are sharing a large table, you really should be on time.

4. Make sure you have actually checked out your cRt and have an email confirmation. Take this with you onboard and check with the tour office that they have a record of it when you board. Please note that there is a risk that these tours may be cancelled at short notice if not enough people have booked to reach the minimum number. Sometimes they combine the tour with another language if the guide is multi lingual. Most passengers on MSC Med cruises are not English speakers or at least not as a first language. The more English tours on offer, the smaller the ship the greater the risk that not all tours will go ahead.

5. Lost count of the number of times I've disembarked at Venice. It is chaotic. Lots of ships, lots of passengers, Italian organisation (or lack thereof)....... Then you can get delays from fog or protestors. I never carry my own luggage off. I book flights after 13.30 so take my time getting off. Think the earliest I could have been off would have been around 9.10. Again it depends on what you're plans are for getting out of the port. Are you hoping to use the people mover (could be queues) and then on to airport bus or train station? Water taxis are. Ery, very expensive unless there is a big group. Land taxis are quick and not too expensive for getting to Marco Polo (my preferred route) but they don't have ranks where you queue up and get your turn, it is often a complete free for all! Water buses will be busy but are cheap and take a long time.

[Skier52]

Hi All

 

We are on Fantasia October 5. I have learnt much from these forums but could I get help with a few things:

1. We are planning to hire a car in Corfu and Katakolon. The scheduled times for arrival are 12.30pm and 1pm respectively. What time should I book the cars? (Also Katakolon has docked/tender listed - does that mean it could be either and they decide when they get there? I assume tender takes longer)

if there are other ships in dock on the same day and they arrive first they will get the berth (s), I'm not sure how many berths there are, and Fantasia will have to tender. I've just checked on this site:-

 

http://ships.cruisett.com/schedule/MSC_Cruises/MSC_Fantasia/October_2014/

 

in katacolon Costa Magica is scheduled in at the same time. of you have to tender then MSC takes thise people on MSC excursions off first so ther could be a significant wait..

In Corfu Thomson Majesty is there at the same time

2. And in reverse what time before scheduled departure should I list to return the car? 1 hour before the set times of 6.30pm and 7pm respectively? What is the usual time to reboard?

Usually all aboard time is 30 minutes before sailing time

3. Just realised as typing this I have requested early dinner seating - we have kids. What time is this early dinner likely to be and what time do we have to get there? On the four E. Med MSC cruise I taken 1st sitting has been at 6:30 with 10 or 15 minures after that efore the MDR doors are shut

4. I have paid for the drinks package in advance but have a couple of tours in my shopping cart. Will I be booked onto these and be able to check this when we board? You should be booked on the excursions but on one occasion my booking did not get to the ship. Take a print of the booking from the MSC web site as proof that you pre-booked it and once on board enquire at the shore excursions desk a early as possible. For the most part my bookings have been communicated to the ship

 

 

5. I'm collecting any recent info about people's experiences disembarking at Venice and when me might be likely to get off - scheduled to arrive 8am. We may take our own luggage off I think...

 

In october you could get fog bound and then it may be as late as 10:30 befor the ship docks (this has happened to me twice once in Sept and once in Oct)

ordinarily I would expect you should be able to get ashore by 9:00 to 9:15 if you self disembark. If you are fog bound it could be as late as 11:30 or even 12:00

 

Thanks so much in advance.

 

Hope this helps

Sorry I can answer the questions relating to car hire

Pete

Edited August 30, 2014 by Skier52

[suuluu]

Thank you both, most helpful. I didn't realise that the early dinner sitting would cut into our port time as well as mean we generally can't watch the sail away which is a bit disappointing. Cant have the kids eating at (9pm?) though I guess.

AmoMondo I can't see how to check out from my shopping cart. It says:

 

Your shopping cart contains the items your selected so far.

Please remember that you can modify or cancel the items in this cart up to 8 days before departure.

After this deadline and once onboard, tours and special services change request will not be accepted, while any cancellation will be subject to a cancellation fee.

Your onboard account will be debited at the time of check in.

 

Will it let me do this at the 8 day mark maybe?

Edited August 30, 2014 by suuluu

[Kiwi67]

Hey Suuluu,

Sorry I cant answer any of your questions but I am on the same ship as you on 5/10. As there doesnt sound like there are many english speaking people hopefully we can meet up for a drink at some stage. I am travelling solo from NZ.

Only a few weeks to go....

Bronwyn

Edited August 30, 2014 by Kiwi67

[suuluu]

Hi Bronwyn - we may be the same age if the number 67 is telling me something. Yes I expect we will be in the minority so happy to meet for a drink. There is another aussie/kiwi family on the cruise that I came across here at some stage. They had kids similar ages to mine I recall. We are from Brisbane and really looking forward to our trip. We fly out 20/9 and will have some other travel under our belt before the cruise.

 

Cheers Sue.

[Kiwi67]

Hey Sue,

Yes you guessed correctly we might indeed be similar ages.

KiwiAus is another Ozzie family on Fantasia at the same time. I have briefly made contact with them and a lady from Patagonia on the roll call for this cruise.

I would love to meet you guys for a drink one time as sounds like english speaking people will be the minority on this cruise.

I too have been trawling through this forum for many months and am very thankful for all the posts of other cruisers as I have learnt so many tips :)

See you on board in a few weeks.

Cheers Bronwyn

[Elmartellama]

Hi All

 

We are on Fantasia October 5. I have learnt much from these forums but could I get help with a few things:

1. We are planning to hire a car in Corfu and Katakolon. The scheduled times for arrival are 12.30pm and 1pm respectively. What time should I book the cars? (Also Katakolon has docked/tender listed - does that mean it could be either and they decide when they get there? I assume tender takes longer)

2. And in reverse what time before scheduled departure should I list to return the car? 1 hour before the set times of 6.30pm and 7pm respectively? What is the usual time to reboard?

3. Just realised as typing this I have requested early dinner seating - we have kids. What time is this early dinner likely to be and what time do we have to get there?

4. I have paid for the drinks package in advance but have a couple of tours in my shopping cart. Will I be booked onto these and be able to check this when we board?

5. I'm collecting any recent info about people's experiences disembarking at Venice and when me might be likely to get off - scheduled to arrive 8am. We may take our own luggage off I think...

 

Thanks so much in advance.

 

We booked a car in Katakolon, with Avis, just tell them which ship you'll be in and they will hold the car. If you prepay you can pick it up any time, if you pay upon arrival you have one hour from the ship arrival (I guess this way they protect themselves against no shows).

 

In our case, the ship had just a brief 5 hours stop in Katakolon, due to bad weather. That is actually 4 hours if you count 30 minutes to embark and disembark. Usually you should have more time, at least one hour.

 

All in all, I believe we made a wrong call by renting a car. In the end MSC offered shuttles to Olympia for 22€ or so pp. The problem is that those were never advertised in their web page! Had I known that, we would have booked a shuttle.

 

Reting a car is OK if you want to go to Agia Andrea, the winery etc, but in 4 hours that is hard to accomplish. Plus the weather was not good during our day. We also played it safe and came back well in time, made a stroll in Katakolon and went to the little beach by the pier, opposite to town.

 

If it's only the Costa and you, both ships do dock. I wouldn't worry too much. We had a very windy day, and still docked there.

 

Late seating was 21:00 and early seating 18:30. We saw no kids at all in the late seating.

 

Disembarking in Venice was delayed in our case, we made it at 10:45 or so. But then again, we never attempted to get off earlier.

 

You can see my review here, we sailed on June 1st this year. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2060313

[suuluu]

Excellent see you soon Bronwyn.

 

Elmartellama thanks for your info it is very helpful and gives me another option. I have followed you wonderful review. Thanks again.

[Kiwiaus]

Hey Sue,

Yes you guessed correctly we might indeed be similar ages.

KiwiAus is another Ozzie family on Fantasia at the same time. I have briefly made contact with them and a lady from Patagonia on the roll call for this cruise.

I would love to meet you guys for a drink one time as sounds like english speaking people will be the minority on this cruise.

I too have been trawling through this forum for many months and am very thankful for all the posts of other cruisers as I have learnt so many tips :)

See you on board in a few weeks.

Cheers Bronwyn

 

Sue & Bronwyn we would love to meet with you. Our gathering could be bigger than the roll call:). We are a similar ages as well. We leave Aus on 13 September and are doing a 9 night on MSC Poesia from Genoa on 24 September before the MSC Fantasia cruise. I am a bit worried though as we fly in to London initially and our daughters have mentioned about packing lightly as the shopping is so good. :eek:

 

 

Steve & Diana

Edited August 31, 2014 by Kiwiaus

[suuluu]

Great Steve and Diana. Yes we are going through London as well and my daughter has been saving. I say I am going to avoid Oxford st but I am my own worst enemy where shopping is concerned so we shall see...