The health and safety regulations state that no case should weight more than 32kgs, otherwise it will be refused.

Be aware that you may be charged excess baggage of £4-5 per kilo if the cases are over the 20kg free allowance.

luci

Hi holidayinthesun,
just making friendly contact with you to let you know, myself & my wife are also cruising on the Destiny from the 10th August for two weeks. We have booked an oustside cabin on deck 3, this is our fourth cruise but the first on the Destiny. We have read a lot about the ports and more or less decided what we are doing at each port, the one that we are not to sure of is Naples. As it is a Sunday when we dock we are thinking of either the ships excursion to Sorento & Pompeii, or to DIY to just Pompeii. Cost wise there appears a large difference between the options.

Just wondering if you had made any forward plans for the ports, any tips would be welcomed. Rome will be DIY by train for us as it is very easy, also La Spezia we will DIY train/ferry. Barcellona want to do Guell Parc & Sangrada Famila, dependant on excursion cost may just take taxi. Anyway never know we may just bump into you on the ship. I keep reading yours and others comments on Holiday-Truth.com.

Ian & Sheila

Hi hotice

Parc Guelle and Sagrada Familia are easy to do by metro. I think we just bought a day pass which was quite cheap. There is also the Bus Turistica which is a hop on/off service and covers most of the major sights.

luci

we are trveling with a toddler 17 months old on the destiny in three weeks

1 -has anyone traveled with a toddler on this cruise
2 -what were the facilities like

also we have had to upgrade at conciderable expense to accomodate the cot to a delux room has anyone had this problem

johndeb, we took 18month old on last year and it was fab, no problem at all , but they are not old enough to go to kids club , we took her to the shows deck parties in fact evrywhere we went she came along with us , the waiters were amazing with her ,and most of the passengers 1 grumpy old so an so thought it was wrong for a child to have a toy that made a squeeky noise , im talking in the afternoon here down by our cabin(miserable old ...) other than that you will love it and so will the little 1 with all the attention

Hi, I'm also going on the Desiny on the 10th, just for the one week. We've got a cabin on deck 7.

Having read all the posts on this forum, a lot of the cruise reviews and talked it over with the rest of the party (my husband and 13 year old son) we have decided to do our own thing for most ports. The one trip we are definitely going to do is Pompeii. Some friends of mine did the trip on a cruise in Thompson Spirit a couple of years ago and they said it was excellent. They had been to Pompeii a couple of times before but the guide told them a lot of things they hadn't previously known and they were very impressed.

hotice, regarding the pompeii/sorrento-pompeii issue, I would give you one piece of advice. When we did Jewels of the Med last year, we chose the Sorrento trip (ie just Sorrento, not Sorrento/Pompeii) as hubby's ma and pa were on holiday in Sorrento at the time so we went to meet up with them.

It took us about 2 and a half hours to get there from Naples - Sunday being a public holiday, all the Italians in the area head down to Sorrento and a beach nearby before you get to Sorrento to enjoy the sunshine. Consequently the road to Sorrento was gridlocked. The trip was only a halfday trip so we ended up only getting an hour in Sorrento instead of 3 hours or whatever was advertised and we had to head back to the coach.

Its just unfortunate that the Destiny's schedule means it gets to Naples on a Sunday, as the local guide said it is always like this. Anyway, I don't know what the itinery is for the Pompeii/Sorrento trip and whether it goes to Pompeii first, in which case the traffic to Sorrento in the afternoon may not be so bad. With hindsight, we would definately have made our own way on the hydrofoil rather than taking the Thomson's coach trip as that only takes about half an hour to Sorrento - regardless of what day of the week!

I don't know if that helps make up your mind at all, but its certainly worth taking into consideration when choosing your trips - if you were considering DIY Pompeii, then may be wise to DIY Sorrento too. Although there wasn't actually anything to see there once we got there, although I would recommend the 'Foreigners Club' if you can find it as a lovely spot to have a drink:

pic here: http://www.jessandjay.co.uk/cruise05/48.htm

jessthepest,
thanks for the tips, from what you say does this appear feasible.

As its a Sunday and we are docked from 7.30am to 6.00pm, do you think we will have time to catch the Hydrofoil to Sorrento say arrive cira 9.30am, have a couple of hours in Sorrento then catch the train to Pompeii arrive cira 1.00pm, have a couple of hours at Pompeii leaving at say circa 3.30pm to arrive in Naples at the latest around 4.30pm ready to taxi back to the port. Is this realistic ?

I know Thomson charge around £40 each for Sorrento & Pompeii coach trip, but I wonder how much DIY would cost, the train may be cheap but surely adding in the hydrofoil (cost ??) & entrance to pompeii ruins (cost 10 euro each), plus a taxi fare may not make it as cost effective as it first seems.

Does anyone know the approximate DIY cost of Sorrento & Pompeii from Naples port.

I'm not too sure on the timings question, I don't think you will realistic be off the ship until about 8.30/9am to start with (but could be wrong, I've never been up that early to know if they let foot passengers off before trip coachloads).

I read about the hydrofoil on either this forum or on ship happens, and I seem to remember the price being something like 10 euros but I could have dreamt that, I will have a look and see what I can find.

But I would say that if Thomsons can do a coach trip to Pompeii and Sorrrento that includes several hours sitting in traffic then you should have no problem doing both yourself.

hotice, I used the search function on here and found this which was posted in 2003, but should give you at least a rough idea:

"Naples- We caught the first shuttle bus at 8.30 to the Marritima station (other ships being in the closer berth) found the ticket office & took the 8.45 ferry to Sorrento for 6 euros (the 9am hydrofoil was enclosed, cost 7.20 euros & only beat us by a few mins). After a look round the harbour area we purchased a 3 hour combined bus/train ticket from the kiosk for 3.10 euros & took the next bus up to Sorrento centre, had a look round, walked to a hotel yard to get the view from top of the cliffs, back to bus for station then took the 11.07 train for Naples. Lot of people got off at Pompeii scavai we carried on to Ercoleum scavai (Herculaneum)."

Hi all
Hubby and I are off to the canaries in nov on the destiny can anyone shed some light on the smoking policy please. Is it still allowed in the cabins, lido,entertainment lounges ect????
Thanks
Kerrie

Hi- just back off the Destiny. They gave out a leaflet about smoking policy on the coach from the airport so everyone knew where they stood.
You can't smoke in the Can Can theatre, the Sky Bar, Blakes (this was the old Neptunes but revamped), and obviously the restaurants. You can still smoke in the cabin (for now!), one side of the open deck including the pool deck and Mast Bar, Clipper bar (restricted area) and a few tables at the back of the Oklahoma lounge. We did find it a bit restrictive, but managed ok. We would have liked a more peaceful evening venue to go to but both of these (Blakes and Sky) were out of bounds to smokers.
It would be good if companies could set out their policy before taking our money!

can anyone tell me about prices for cigs and tob onboard the destiny is it still duty free prices

thanks

The duty free shop will only open if the cruise stops at a non EU country- e.g. Gibraltar, Turkey. If it only calls at EU countries then the shop won't open at all that week. If it DOES open then the prices are quite good- £15 for 200 Dunhill, down to about £11 other brands.

im cruising around the canary islands

thanks laine

what about the excursions are they toddler friendly were going on the rennaissance tour.

have been on royal carribean and carnival in the past but had no children then.

john

just been told by thomson that coz we are travelling with infant and he needs a cot we have to upgrade to a deluxe cabin at a cost of £800.

what a rip off has anyone else experienced this

nowhere on thomsons terms and cond does it say this

what would of happenbed if we booked on line and turned up at the port

john

Hi kate 52
Thankyou for your reply. WELL SAID!!!!!!! about the TA mentioning about the smoking policies They should!!!

My hubby and i also like to have a little quiet time and listen to the piano while having a drink (really relaxing ) but hey i think i will manage.

We went on the spirit last may for our honeymoon and we really loved it (it was our first cruise) have you been on the spirit?? If so which ship did you enjoy the most??

Thanks again for your reply
Kerrie

Kerrie- I haven't been on the Spirit (yet!!) but never heard a bad word about it so it's on the list.
We have been on Island escape, Emerald and Destiny. They all had plus and minus points, but have to say Emerald was my favourite because of atmosphere, itinerary, cabin comfort, and entertainment, though it wasn't the smartest.
Would like to do a cruise round the canaries as you are doing, but can't get time off to fit in with the dates. Hope you have a great time.