When planning my family’s cruise to the Greek Isles from Venice this year, I discovered that if we flew to Venice, it actually cost less to go with Royal Caribbean’s air than to book air independently, notwithstanding the fact that Royal Caribbean air includes transfers.
Furthermore, adding hotels didn’t shift the scale in favor of independent travel in this case, so my son and I booked air and one night post-cruise at the Hotel Carlton & Grand Canal through Royal Caribbean Air/Sea. Some others in our group, including my wife, opted to fly into other cities such as Milan or Zurich, where cheaper flights were available, allowing them to tour a bit of the countryside before and after the cruise, but my son and I didn’t want to be away from home that long.
Jay and I arrived at the airport about three hours and twenty minutes early, so we had absolutely no line for check-in. By the time we went through security and found our gate, we were still over three hours early, but there’s not much restaurant selection once inside the international gates section, so we went back to the main terminal for lunch at the Daily Grill. The description of their Cobb Salad paid hommage to the Brown Derby, which stimulated a little discussion about that former institution. The mountain of salad our friendly waitress brought proved to be delicious. Jay thoroughly enjoyed his roast beef sandwich, too. After our meal, Jay broke out a deck of cards for a game of Gin Rummy. Rather than being an inconvenience, it proved to be a great prelude to our vacation.
Our flight to Venice left LAX in the afternoon and arrived in Venice at about the same time the next day, factoring in the nine hour time change. By the time we checked in three hours early and made the flights totaling another fifteen hours, it seemed a long ordeal, despite relatively good flights on Lufthansa. Others were not so lucky, but that is a story for another day.
On Lufthansa, they offer complimentary beer and wine as freely as coffee and soda, with a little Bailey’s Irish Cream after dinner as a bonus. We flew from LAX to Frankfurt for our connecting flight into Venice, with a short layover in between. The movies on the transatlantic flight included a European flick about a soccer player and “Wild Hogs,” which I had missed in the theater despite a rave review from my brother-in-law Rollie. I also did a little reading, and every now and then I would nod off for a few minutes. All in all, it was about as good as it could be.
A
fter claiming our bags, we followed the signs to the airport transfer pick-up point for Royal Caribbean, where we were loaded onto a modern, air-conditioned bus and whisked over to the Splendour of the Seas. I was a bit disappointed to be transported by bus rather than some type of boat in a city where water travel is the norm, but the tranfers were handled very efficiently, and the fact that we arrived in Venice less than three hours before the ship sailed left very little margin of error for elderly or other mobility challenged individuals who may have trouble boarding a boat.
At the pier, the check-in process could not have been better, with no lines and immediate processing.
Furthermore, adding hotels didn’t shift the scale in favor of independent travel in this case, so my son and I booked air and one night post-cruise at the Hotel Carlton & Grand Canal through Royal Caribbean Air/Sea. Some others in our group, including my wife, opted to fly into other cities such as Milan or Zurich, where cheaper flights were available, allowing them to tour a bit of the countryside before and after the cruise, but my son and I didn’t want to be away from home that long.
Jay and I arrived at the airport about three hours and twenty minutes early, so we had absolutely no line for check-in. By the time we went through security and found our gate, we were still over three hours early, but there’s not much restaurant selection once inside the international gates section, so we went back to the main terminal for lunch at the Daily Grill. The description of their Cobb Salad paid hommage to the Brown Derby, which stimulated a little discussion about that former institution. The mountain of salad our friendly waitress brought proved to be delicious. Jay thoroughly enjoyed his roast beef sandwich, too. After our meal, Jay broke out a deck of cards for a game of Gin Rummy. Rather than being an inconvenience, it proved to be a great prelude to our vacation.
Our flight to Venice left LAX in the afternoon and arrived in Venice at about the same time the next day, factoring in the nine hour time change. By the time we checked in three hours early and made the flights totaling another fifteen hours, it seemed a long ordeal, despite relatively good flights on Lufthansa. Others were not so lucky, but that is a story for another day.
On Lufthansa, they offer complimentary beer and wine as freely as coffee and soda, with a little Bailey’s Irish Cream after dinner as a bonus. We flew from LAX to Frankfurt for our connecting flight into Venice, with a short layover in between. The movies on the transatlantic flight included a European flick about a soccer player and “Wild Hogs,” which I had missed in the theater despite a rave review from my brother-in-law Rollie. I also did a little reading, and every now and then I would nod off for a few minutes. All in all, it was about as good as it could be.
A
fter claiming our bags, we followed the signs to the airport transfer pick-up point for Royal Caribbean, where we were loaded onto a modern, air-conditioned bus and whisked over to the Splendour of the Seas. I was a bit disappointed to be transported by bus rather than some type of boat in a city where water travel is the norm, but the tranfers were handled very efficiently, and the fact that we arrived in Venice less than three hours before the ship sailed left very little margin of error for elderly or other mobility challenged individuals who may have trouble boarding a boat. At the pier, the check-in process could not have been better, with no lines and immediate processing.
