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Live Oosterdam before/during/after 4/18 cruise

FloridaTourist

By FloridaTourist,
in Holland America Line

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FloridaTourist

FloridaTourist

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Hi Folks. Just getting this thread started. My DW and I will be heading to Rome on Friday from our home airport in Orlando to board the Oosterdam on April 18 from Civitavecchia. I plan on writing live each day and sharing our experiences. I hope to add some humor and general interest for everyone. We will stay in Rome from Saturday till Monday, than board the ship and disembark in Venice on April 30 and stay an extra night in Venice. We don’t have any shipboard tours planned but do have many private tours planned before, during and after the cruise.

 

A little about us. We both still work and are very active in our early-mid 50’s. This is our first trip to Europe, although we have been overseas three years ago on a trip to Israel. The kids are finally on their own and the dog has passed on, so finally we are able to begin our travels. We have been on several cruises. We sailed HAL last on the Zaandam in 1999. We have also sailed on Princess and most recent RCCL. We chose this cruise because we wanted to see some of Europe and we liked the idea of a port intensive cruise – 11 ports in 12 days and we wanted to do it in April. This fit the bill even though Kusadasi, Turkey is seeming more and more unlikely.

 

We have the spare bedroom filled with clothes ready to pack in our suitcases. I can’t say we are super experienced travelers although we have traveled all over the US and parts of Canada. We don’t travel lite. The DW says if she has to do laundry while on vacation it is not a vacation and I kind of agree. We are not opposed to doing a little hand laundry though, but we will utilize the ships laundry services. The DW doesn’t like her stuff in the dryer so this will be interesting. We also are not big on wearing things a second time. Since we live in central Florida in the heat and humidity we seldom can wear things twice. We are not flying first class so are limited to 50lbs per bag…total of 2 and 2 carry-ons. We will be bringing all of that.

 

So hold on to your seats as we begin the ride shortly…..I’m taking Cruise Critic on this trip with us…..Hope you all enjoy

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

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sotiris

sotiris

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Hi FloridaTourist

Looking forward to your report, especially since the Oosterdam will have just come out of dry dock. We are boarding on May 12 and are excited about our itinerary.

 

Safe travels and enjoy the sights. There will be many, especially the sail into Venice.

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FloridaTourist

FloridaTourist

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Hi FloridaTourist

 

Looking forward to your report, especially since the Oosterdam will have just come out of dry dock. We are boarding on May 12 and are excited about our itinerary.

 

 

 

Safe travels and enjoy the sights. There will be many, especially the sail into Venice.

 

 

We are very excited. We upgraded from a verandah room to a signature suite last month. Yesterday we received an offer to upgrade to a Neptune. But because this cruise is port intensive we opted not to upgrade again since we won't be on ship that much to use it.

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Lizzie68

Lizzie68

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We are very excited. We upgraded from a verandah room to a signature suite last month. Yesterday we received an offer to upgrade to a Neptune. But because this cruise is port intensive we opted not to upgrade again since we won't be on ship that much to use it.

 

That totally makes sense - and in any case a Signature suite is plenty roomy. I am looking forward to travelling along with you.:)

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Cindy

Cindy

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I'll be eagerly following along and gathering tips and ideas! My husband and I are booked on virtually the same itinerary on the Westerdam next April, and I'm just starting to do research for the trip. Thanks so much for sharing your travels...I'm looking forward to your posts!:)

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cuagrad90

cuagrad90

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About the laundry...at home I don't use a dryer for anything but sheets and sometimes towels; however, a few years ago when we got a free, last minute upgrade to a Neptune Suite, we got free laundry. They do a great job and most days if we sent it out in morning, we got it back that day. Three cruises later I still have not had any issues with the HAL laundry service. I understand from other postings, you can get a package price for laundry all week if not in Neptune Suite.

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cruznlisalisa

cruznlisalisa

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Will be anxiously awaiting your posts! We will be taking this same itinerary (in reverse order) April 30th. Eager to know if HAL will make the scheduled port in Kusadasi. Really hope so as we have booked the tour to Virgin Mary's house and doubt we will ever have the opportunity to do this again. I do trust they will take necessary precautions. I was on a HAL cruise many years ago when we were scheduled to stop in Honduras; however, there were guerillas fighting nearby so all shore excursions were cancelled. They did still have to dock at that port and they arranged to have vendors come portside. Have been on many HAL ships but never the Oosterdam. Safe travels and thanks for your review!

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FloridaTourist

FloridaTourist

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Well we arrived today in Rome at approx 10:50am local time. We left Orlando via Delta to JFK. The airport lines were not bad at all. Matter of fact the shortest I have seen them at MCO. The pre-tsa line moved quickly. All in all from drop off to gate took 15 minutes. The MD 88 had very small luggage bins. That was an issue for most most folks. We Arrived in JFK on time but had to change terminals there. We left from from terminal 4. Ate dinner at Blue Smoke BBQ or some name something like that. Looked like a good bar/bbq. Looks can be deceiving. Note to self: airport food is worse than airline food!

 

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 8:00pm but Delta started lining up everyone an hour before. Never did that before. Priority boarding on one side of the hall everyone else on the other. We had "sky" boarding which was a priority type as we had purchased the economy comfort. We boarded the Airbus rather quickly and watched everyone else. We thought these would be good seats to have. Bought economy comfort once before for a long flight but different plane type. Well another note to self: check plane type when booking economy comfort. We had our choice when we booked and didn't want bulkhead. So took the row behind it. That was a bad move. Should have taken the last row of EC as on the other side of the bulkhead wall was the business class kitchen which operated and banged and made noise all night. Anyway service was good. Food better than I expected and flight was on time. Oh and right before we boarded at JFK Kristin from LivItaly tours emailed me to let me know my driver would be waiting for us in Rome. By the time we got through a fast moving customs line the luggage was waiting for us. FYI-luggage carts at FCO are free. The driver was there as promised and he took us to he Mercedes. It was nice to get off the plane and have someone with my name on a sign. No hassles.

 

He took us to our hotel the Hotel ****onale right in the center of Rome. Great reviews on Tripadvisor. Even though I booked this room in September and told them we would be early, of course it wasn't. So we went to lunch and walked around and also got ghetto. Came back at 3:50 and said at least another 45 min. Ok at this point I am not happy. The manager apologies and takes full fault. So after some Italian discussion between staff we finally got into another room. Very cool hotel in same square as the Italian parliament. So lots of armed police etc. very safe feeling. Lunch was great in a place locals go Taverna Antonina. Living in Orlando where tourists abound there is one thing here that makes us feel at home - just like home no one speaks English!!!

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FloridaTourist

FloridaTourist

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Can't seem to edit last post but that's gelato not ghetto.

 

So more about the Hotel ****onale. We had reserved a deluxe room but the upgraded us to an executive room. Room is very spacious even by American standards. Nice bathroom. Very clean hotel. I see a few things that could use to be replaced but all in all a good place and amazing location. We took a nice nap this afternoon so we can get caught up on sleep and will soon venture out for the evening. But we won't be late as we have an 8am pickup from Rome Driving Tours for a tour of Rome. I will try to add some hotel pics below. ImageUploadedByForums1460825437.660591.jpg.8f16268ea82a45183d36ed8191735ac6.jpg

ImageUploadedByForums1460825398.592184.jpg.a0adc9828c3f669bedc6f570a53d1815.jpg

ImageUploadedByForums1460825416.640738.jpg.3110449d19a37d633d50a7f8efad9dcf.jpg

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FloridaTourist

FloridaTourist

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On the way to dinner we stopped and toured the Pantheon. Interesting place. Good thing was that it was not crowded. Than Had dinner tonight at Baffetto. It's supposed to be the best pizza in Rome. Waited 40 minutes for a table. The line continued all evening going down the block. Pizza was really good. Mine had artichoke, red pepper yellow pepper, onion and an egg in the middle. I also had an Italian beer. DW had mushroom pizza. Both were really good. Interesting in that most pizza doesn't come with cheese. After dinner we just walked through the narrow streets and ally's. Sunday will be your dayImageUploadedByForums1460842015.746259.jpg.d648c80df90f9f0a2544fda34d9617eb.jpg

ImageUploadedByForums1460841993.960791.jpg.df27e11b45eb5e90ac93f683020d6259.jpg

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