UPDATED ONCE AGAIN!! 1-11-15: Trip review: Viva Italia, May 25- June 2nd, 2015

[Rapunzellover]

Part 1 continued later

 

[Cousin Orville]

Yikes! I can't imagine an 8 year old (or even my 10 year old) sitting by himself on a 10 hour flight! And I can't imagine the flight attendants wanting an 8 year old to sit by himself! And I can't imagine being a passenger sitting next to an 8 year old who is separated from his family on a 10 hour flight! Southwest gave me free drink tickets one time when they asked my son my son to sit directly across the aisle from me on a flight. I don't suppose the staff on your flight were that generous...LOL!

Yep. It was frustrating. As I remember it, he was sat next to another young family a few rows up that didn't want to be split up. Definitely no free drink tickets. It was a take it or leave it situation.

The worst are flight delays or cancellations as you're starting your vacation. Rapunzellover, I'm sure that was stressful.

 

[Cousin Orville]

I must say, the gardens are spectacular. Well worth visiting. Once finished, I wondered around the museum for a while. This was good, cause the ABD doesn't do a very thorough tour, although it's still awesome.

I didn't even know the Vatican had gardens. Sounds cool. How was the Grand Melia?

 

[sayhello]

That's one heck of a way to start a vacation!! So sorry yours started that way. But that's why I ALWAYS recommend people arrive at *least* a day or two before a tour starts. You just never know what will happen! Hopefully it's going to be smooth sailing from now on!!

I didn't even know the Vatican had gardens. Sounds cool. How was the Grand Melia?

You can see (at least part of) them through the windows in the stairway to the Sistene Chapel.

Sayhello

 

[Rapunzellover]

CousinOrville- the gardens were I believe closed to the public until Pope Francis opened them. I'll give my thoughts on the hotel later, but it's very nice and a good location.

Sayhello- definitely give a day between you and the tour. Those pre-days are insurance. Speaking of, i'm hoping United or trip insurance compensates what I missed.

 

[mare1203]

I'm here! Glad to hear you made it to Rome! Can't wait to follow along with your adventures, have so much fun!!

 

[OKW Lover]

After checking in, I walked from the hotel to the vatican museum. I had a necropolis tour I missed due to my flight troubles, but I was in time for my tour of the gardens at 11 am.

It sounds like you wound up doing two tours of the Vatican Museum then, one a pre-night on your own and the other during the actual ABD, right? How much time did you spend there on your own? When we did the DIS exclusive Viva Italia in September 2014 we thought the ABD tour was pretty good. I think we were in the Vatican for 3-4 hours, but my memory might be fuzzy.

 

[fosterkittymom]

I couldn't believe Chicago and Newark both only have one flight a day to Rome! Thanks for the sympathy, all!

Quick question: do you want my review in one thread? Or multiple?

Whatever is easiest for you. Thanks!

 

[Rapunzellover]

OKW lover-- by Vatican, are you including St. Peter's?

The Vatican is HUGE! There are 4 parts for touring 1. St. Peter's 2. The museum (palace) and Sistine Chapel 3. The necropolis (excavations) under St. Peter's 4. The garden's of the palace.

ABD only does 1 and 2. 3 and 4 require special vatican guides. The
tours are about 1.5 to 2 hrs each. I bought tickets for 3 and 4 but missed the necropolis tour due to my flight mess. But the garden tour was 2 hrs and very nice.

The entrance for St. Peter's is separate from the museum,
but for everything else you go
through the museum entrance, which is quite far away from the St. Peter's entrance (another 15-20 minutes on foot.) St. Peter's is close to the hotel, but the museum entrance will take
awhile to reach.

All the vatican tickets cost money except St. Peter's, which has free
admittance. The necropolis and garden tours kinda sell out kinda early, so buy in advance if you want to make sure.

Be prepared for lines at St. Peter's. It's free but there's security. Also, the museum entrance can be very long,
and purchasing in advance is faster
cause there's a separate line for those with tickets.

But you cannot bypass security, even
with Disney-- though after hours means it's just your group in the security line. The garden and necropolis tickets come with museum entrance. The tours start and end in the museum complex, but outside the actual museum entrance (so after
security, but before you show your ticket to enter the museum), which is up some stairs.

Since I had museum entrance, I spent some time meandering around the museum after my garden tour to
see some things. But not as much as I could have, since I was naturally distracted by the gift shop

Does this clarify what I was doing?

 

[sayhello]

Rapunzellover, do you have trip insurance? Because it should reimburse you for things like the night you didn't spend at your hotel, and the missed necropolis tour. Make sure you have documentation for it all.

Sayhello

 

[OKW Lover]

OKW lover-- by Vatican, are you including St. Peter's?

Yes, including St. Peters

 

[MinnieGarden]

Not to hijack, but we'll be flying United out of IAH to FRA in a couple of weeks on the flight that leaves at 6 pm-ish. Have you flown that route recently...how is it? The flight is currently a 787, but a few days before our trip it changes over to a 777. I am not looking forward to the flight.

We are also from Houston and have been on the IAH to FRA flight a few times. As long as you are on the United/ Star Alliance plane, it's comfortable. The Lufthansa A380 is the most uncomfortable plane we have ever been on in all classes of service.

 

[TXTransplant]

We are also from Houston and have been on the IAH to FRA flight a few times. As long as you are on the United/ Star Alliance plane, it's comfortable. The Lufthansa A380 is the most uncomfortable plane we have ever been on in all classes of service.

Yes, we are booked on a United 777. The Lufthansa flight on the A380 leaves about three hours before our flight. I intentionally did not book that flight because I had been told that economy class is very uncomfortable.

 

[Rapunzellover]

Yes, of course I have insurance, SayHello. ABD's trip insurance, naturally.

 

[sayhello]

Yes, of course I have insurance, SayHello. ABD's trip insurance, naturally.

Cool! Did you book your pre-days through ABD? If not, it will be interesting to see how much of which items they do cover...

Sayhello

 

[Rapunzellover]

Oh yes, sayhello; my pre-days were through ABD. I think they'll get covered. But United's mechanical problem caused the issue. They should pay, imo.

 

[sayhello]

Oh yes, sayhello; my pre-days were through ABD. I think they'll get covered. But United's mechanical problem caused the issue. They should pay, imo.

Oh, I agree that United should pay. But they won't. Good luck with that one!
If ABD booked your pre-days, then you're good to go with their insurance!

Sayhello

 

[carpenta]

I agree with you Sayhello......they SHOULD pay but won't. One time we were flying home from Hawaii on United on a Saturday. The plane,crew and one pilot were all present....all we needed was another pilot. United cancelled the flight and informed us they could fly us home on Thursday. That would be great but WE HAD TO WORK!!!!. It took us 30 hours to get to New York and then we had to pay out of our pocket $1600.00 to Burlington Vt. to get home. And of course they lost our baggage. We tried to collect from United and NUTTIN"....One of many "problems" with United.

 

[Rapunzellover]

Wow, that's different than what I have heard-- several people I talked to, who have been in similar situations, told me United would probably pay. I wasn't/ain't holding my breath or anything, but I was slightly more optimistic until
reading these response.

 

[sayhello]

Wow, that's different than what I have heard-- several people I talked to, who have been in similar situations, told me United would probably pay. I wasn't/ain't holding my breath or anything, but I was slightly more optimistic until reading these response.

If you didn't have insurance, I'd say sure, go after United. See what you can get from them. But since you have trip insurance, and this is what it's for, I'd think you'd want to spare yourself the utter aggravation of trying to get money out of United. Ten to one, even if they *did* offer you some sort of compensation, it would be a credit for a future flight. The insurance will pay you cash.

Sayhello