Recent Zuiderdam Cruisers out of Venice

[Alan2504]

We embark the day before we actually leave Venice can any recent cruisers confirm which day and when the lifeboat drill is?

 

Is it on the day of embarkation or departure?

 

Many thanks

 

Alan

[nellbell]

Hey Alan,

We just did this trip. You have lifeboat drill right before you set sail. Do not worry you will know when it is. They start to warn you about an hour before. Have a WONDERFUL trip.

[barbels]

Did HAL provide a shuttle to San Marco-either free or paid?

[nellbell]

There were water buses but you had to pay. I think they stop taking people around 8:00 pm. Just ask when you get off the ship when last bus gets back otherwise it is about a 15-20 minute walk. The first night we walked into town and back. We took our time taking in all the beauty. We were in a large group so we did not feel afraid walking back late that night. The next morning we took the water bus both ways. When you come back from town show them your ticket at the stand so you get on the right water bus back. We had I think three other ships in port so everyone was dropped off at different places. Have fun.

[luxurysailer]

My wife and I were recently on this cruise. I have consulted the daily program in order to be certain and have confirmed that nellbell is correct. The lifeboat drill was at 4:30PM on day 2, the day of departure from Venice. A suggestion if you don't mind. As soon as the drill is over hurry back to your room, dump your life jacket, and get outside up on deck 10. The sailaway is spectacular.

 

Barbels, I do not know for certain whether a shuttle was provided. I feel sure it was, although I suspect it was for a fee.

 

Alan2504, I would appreciate very much if you wouldn't mind posting a thread after your cruise and letting us know about how the Queen's Lounge (QL) was used. On our cruise, the first after renovation, it sat virtually unused on multiple nights. One night it was unused after 6PM. What I am most interested in is how often dancing was available during the evening in the QL. We had it only four of the twelve nights and thought that was unsatisfactory. We hope it was due to a problem booking a musical combo but are concerned that it might have been planned. We are most interested in the current state of affairs.

 

Hope you have a great cruise. You have some spectacular ports of call to look forward to.

[nellbell]

Alan,

Hopefully y'all will sail by the island of Stromboli. Cannot remember which ports it is between. The volcano on the island was erupting when we were sailing by and the captain was so AWESOME he let us watch for a while. We stayed for a long while and then slowly sailed away. It was sooooo cool. I felt like I was at disney. The volcano would erupt and then we saw shooting stars. Hope it is still erupting so y'all can see it too.

[Alan2504]

Thanks for all your all your answers....were are on for 24nights so luxurysailor.....we will be able to report back on the use of the Queens Lounge

and Nellbell will be still on for the sail past Stromboli...we passed it last year but it was only "smoking"....I read about the recent activity so hopefully it will be still "bubbling" away!

 

Thanks again! ...and we will be sure to enjoy our 2 sailaways from Venice! :)

 

Alan

[pisces223]

Well, that certainly sounds very exciting! When we cruised Hawaii last summer, the volcano on the Big Island had stopped erupting for some time. That was a bit disappointing :( Does anyone know if Stromboli can be seen on the Venice-Venice trip or is it when the ship is doing the Barcelona-Venice trip? Thanks! I am so excited - it's only a few days away!:)

[Fragile-Beauty]

Alan2504,

 

Maybe you can answer a question for me since you are doing a 24 night. We have booked 10 people for next June (Venice to Barcelona also 24 nights). We spend the 24th night (Sunday) in Barcelona (arriving 5 pm.) and we are to dis-embark the next morning (Monday). How early can we leave the ship? We would like to book early flights but are not sure what time we will be let off. Since we actually dock the day before I was not sure how this disembarking situation would work.

 

Thanks for any help on this subject.....

[Sir PMP]

Alan2504,

 

Maybe you can answer a question for me since you are doing a 24 night. We have booked 10 people for next June (Venice to Barcelona also 24 nights). We spend the 24th night (Sunday) in Barcelona (arriving 5 pm.) and we are to dis-embark the next morning (Monday). How early can we leave the ship? We would like to book early flights but are not sure what time we will be let off. Since we actually dock the day before I was not sure how this disembarking situation would work.

 

Thanks for any help on this subject.....

 

I did a 24 day in April after it came out of dock, venice - barcelona, there were people that got off at 4.00am in the morning (taxi)to catch an early flight, buses start at 7:00am, we had a 10.30am flight and got off at 7:30, airport is about 25 min. and is a very easy to walk around airport, very safe and lots of shops and coffee stands, reasonabe prices.

[Sir PMP]

Well, that certainly sounds very exciting! When we cruised Hawaii last summer, the volcano on the Big Island had stopped erupting for some time. That was a bit disappointing :( Does anyone know if Stromboli can be seen on the Venice-Venice trip or is it when the ship is doing the Barcelona-Venice trip? Thanks! I am so excited - it's only a few days away!:)

 

No you can only see it to Barcelona, it will stop at Stromboli, between Catania or Messina(Sicily) to Napels. Stromboli always burns and smokes (rain or shine) so does Mt. Etna in Catania.

[jmb4534]

Pisces223,

 

If Naples or Civitavechia are one of your ports of call you WILL pass Stromboli on a Venice to Venice cruise. Whether you get up close to it will be up to your captain. Hopefully he will take the ship in close!

 

We passed it May '07 on the Galaxy during daylight hours and thought it was awesome.

 

In May '08 we passed it at night on the Zuiderdam and as a previous poster said, the captain sailed around for a couple of hours with the CD giving commentary as we watched from our balcony.

[Fragile-Beauty]

Thanks Sir PMP we have a chance to catch an early morning flight and would like to be able to get off at 4 or 5 a.m.

 

By the way how was your cruise in April? We are booked but still narrowing down our excursions and what to do in each port.

 

thanks again

[Sir PMP]

Thanks Sir PMP we have a chance to catch an early morning flight and would like to be able to get off at 4 or 5 a.m.

 

By the way how was your cruise in April? We are booked but still narrowing down our excursions and what to do in each port.

 

thanks again

 

Well, don't overload yourself with too many tours, because you will be exhausted to get into another bus everyday, for example, in Livorno and Rome take the train, you will meet fellow cruisers who will do the same, in Napels we took the ferry to Sorrento, and you can take one to Capri too, just give yourself plenty of time to get back, but you have lots more fun doing everything by yourself and save a lot more too, and remember, if you see a tour in the brochure that you like,10% of other people on board might do the same, that's 180 people or so, which is 3 buses and if there 3 more cruise ships in town that will offer the same tours, you will have 10 buses or so going to the same place, there goes all the fun...

[SabreSailor]

Do any of you know if they are running the free shuttle bus from Piazzale Roma to the ship on the day of embarkation, and if so, when it starts running? We're staying in Venice for a couple of days before the cruise....

 

Thanks!

[Sir PMP]

Do any of you know if they are running the free shuttle bus from Piazzale Roma to the ship on the day of embarkation, and if so, when it starts running? We're staying in Venice for a couple of days before the cruise....

 

Thanks!

 

No, it starts the next day, reason is during embarkation there are a lot of people walking towards the ship with luggage etc, and the bus would be in the way, too dangerous I guess.

[Harry1954]

Well, that certainly sounds very exciting! When we cruised Hawaii last summer, the volcano on the Big Island had stopped erupting for some time. That was a bit disappointing :( Does anyone know if Stromboli can be seen on the Venice-Venice trip or is it when the ship is doing the Barcelona-Venice trip? Thanks! I am so excited - it's only a few days away!:)

We were on B2B in April-May this year .. first Venice-Venice - no Stromboli .. second Venice-Barcelona - fabulous Stromboli

The captain spent about three hours around the island so everyone would be able to take in the the view, the volcano, and the eruptions .. it was great. We have past it many times before, but this time was the most well-conducted and longest of trips ... cudos to the Captain!!

harry

[15432081]

Alan2504,

 

Maybe you can answer a question for me since you are doing a 24 night. We have booked 10 people for next June (Venice to Barcelona also 24 nights). We spend the 24th night (Sunday) in Barcelona (arriving 5 pm.) and we are to dis-embark the next morning (Monday). How early can we leave the ship? We would like to book early flights but are not sure what time we will be let off. Since we actually dock the day before I was not sure how this disembarking situation would work.

 

Thanks for any help on this subject.....

We are doing the Venice to Barcelona, arriving on 5th September. I asked HAL the same question and was told you can stay on board until 10 a.m. the day after arrival.

[waiting2retire]

Sir PMP,

 

Can you confirm that there is no shuttle from Piazzale Roma to the ship on embarkation day? That makes no sense to me... if there was a shuttle people wouldn't have to walk and be in the way of the shuttle :confused:

 

Does that mean the only way from Piazzale Roma, for those who take the land bus from the airport, is to walk it, dragging all their luggage?

 

Bonnie