Cruise to Italy

[scott_vt]

Good Evenin Eddie,
I have cruised with Carnival twice, one was great the other not so hot, but not terrible... I have cruised on Royal three times, the food was very good on all of them, but one cruise from NYC to bermuda was late Oct, and we went through a fairly bad storm, some 30 ft waves, not to comfortable of a ride.

Kathleen and I are going to Italy this year for the first two weeks in May. We fly into Rome a few days there, also Venice, Tuscany, Lake Como, train ride to St Moritz...Im sure Im missing something here. Really looking foward to the trip...

I will be following your thread, to see on what you decide !

[Coyote machine]

Hi Eddie,
Consider getting flight cancellation insurance for your travels. My wife and daughter went to Italy for 10 days the year the Icelandic volcano blew up and their flight to return home was cancelled. If it hadn't been for all outgoing and incoming flights they would also have been out of a place to stay too for the extra 10 days!
They were able to get a smaller room in the hotel they had been staying at, and after they returned home it took almost two years, but the airline eventually refunded almost 2K in expenses related to the additional lengthy stay in Italy.
Sounds like you're really researching this trip and it will pay off big time. leave yourself some extra time between connections, locations, countries in case of any bumps in the road, and enjoy yourself- sounds like fun. Consider too looking at having a travel agent book the whole thing for you- there can be advantages in room amenities, meal plans, etc.

[EddieWalker]

Good Evenin Eddie,
I have cruised with Carnival twice, one was great the other not so hot, but not terrible... I have cruised on Royal three times, the food was very good on all of them, but one cruise from NYC to bermuda was late Oct, and we went through a fairly bad storm, some 30 ft waves, not to comfortable of a ride.

Kathleen and I are going to Italy this year for the first two weeks in May. We fly into Rome a few days there, also Venice, Tuscany, Lake Como, train ride to St Moritz...Im sure Im missing something here. Really looking foward to the trip...

I will be following your thread, to see on what you decide !

Scotty,

I'll send you an email and see if we can meet up in one of those places once I book the trip. We just added Austria to the trip, so nothing is set in stone just yet.

Eddie

[Alan L.]

My daughter and my son in law took a Mediterranean cruise a couple of years ago and loved it.

[scott_vt]

Scotty,

I'll send you an email and see if we can meet up in one of those places once I book the trip. We just added Austria to the trip, so nothing is set in stone just yet.

Eddie

Good Mornin Eddie,
That sounds great,I will send you our itinerary along with the dates ! We are down to 70 some odd days for "bon voyage " !

[Uncle Doug]

We are thinking about taking the repo cruise on Carnival Legend leaving Tampa to Spain then taking the next leg to Italy. Still undecided at this time. The Carnival Legend will have their best Cruise Director John Heald on board the Legend. Look him up of Facebook and like his page for the latest cruise info. He is a funny dude also.

In the meantime we leave on the Carnival Magic this Sunday out of Galveston. It will be our 24th Carnival Cruise.

[EddieWalker]

Thanks, I liked his page and looked at his blog. Seems like a very approachable guy!!! Nice to know he will be the cruise direction on the Legend!!!!

Karen and I where going through all the stops we will be making and looking at excursions. Most of the places that we are going to look like we'd just get into town and walk around. Might book a few excursions, but I'm thinking about waiting until we are on board the ship. I know that some will fill up, but I'm wondering if there will be more options on board then what we are seeing online?

We haven't booked it yet. Karen needed to be sure she could get three weeks off and is having to get the staffing in place to handle her job while she is gone. She is a nurse manager in charge of 50 beds at one of the big hospitals here in Tyler.

If nothing changes, I will book the trip this weekend.

Thanks,
Eddie

[tallyho8]

Eddie, I have not seen shore excursions on the ship that were not listed online. I usually take excursions from outside sources because they are so much cheaper and usually less crowded. I have a few links you may find of interest.
Dubrovnik Shore Excursions | Viator
Athens Shore Excursions | Viator
Izmir Shore Excursions | Viator
Messina Shore Excursions | Viator

[Uncle Doug]

Eddie, while you are looking around on Cruise Critic, check out the port of call section for information about ports on the Medeterian cruise. There are some great reviews there. Here is one I found that is very detailed on Rome. Rome Review - How we covered all of Rome in a day on our own - Cruise Critic Message Board Forums

We have sailed with John Heald a couple of times. Once a year he hosts a friends and bloggers cruise with private parties and special entertainment. Next years will be in Feb 2014 out of New Orleans. Lots of fun. Many of his blogs are very informational on cruise info but sum are just outright crazy fun stuff.

[Steve_Miller]

We did the Alaska cruise in 2006, international waters, all foreign crew, very good service, lots of food, great scenery. Wife and 9 other women did the Med trip and she absolutely loved it and wants to go back sometime again. Went to Eygpt in 2010, dirt cheap at the time for a lot of stuff, did a Nile river cruise from Luxor to Aswan. Small boat as expected, food was North American but also local if you wished, loved seeing the country side from the river, an eye opener compared to our expectations for living. Hawaii (four islands) in the fall of last year, cruise ship doesn't leave US waters so the crew belongs to the coast guard union, not nearly as friendly and outgoing as the foreigners, food was ok. Looking to do the Baltic area next.

Steve
Nova Scotia