Making Arrangements for Our Pre-Cruise Stay in Italy

On November 30 of this year, Tim and I set sail on our Mediterranean Explorer and Crossing cruise. We had also booked a three-night, pre-cruise extension “Ultimate Italy – Tuscany,” which will begin on November 27.

I always like to arrive a few days before a cruise, and even before a pre-cruise extension, in case there are delays or other complications. We also like a few days to recover from jet lag and have more time to explore the city from which we will depart.

Our cruise departs from Rome (Civitavecchia, actually), but the extension starts in Florence. A few extra days in Florence, a city I love, sounded delightful, especially since Tim’s never been there.

I’ve been looking at airfares for a while, and there are no deals to be had, either using cash or miles. We had already made the decision to fly business class, so the search was even more difficult. One thing I found surprising is that it cost no more to fly to Florence than to Rome, and we would have to change planes in Frankfurt or Munich either way. The other wrinkle in finding a flight is that we will be flying around Thanksgiving Day, not my favorite time to be finding airfares.

Today, I finally bit the bullet and booked our flights. There were two bits of good news. Business class fares were no higher two days prior to Thanksgiving than on Thanksgiving Day itself. We could leave on Tuesday, November 21, and have five nights in Florence. The other bit of good news is that we could “fly” from the Fort Collins airport, which is ten minutes from our home. Travel is by motorcoach to the Denver airport, not by plane, but this makes it so much easier for us. The only slight negative is that we have to change planes in Frankfurt, not Munich.  Oh well, you can't have everything!

I had enough United miles for an award ticket for myself, and we paid for Tim’s. Done!

Our Seat Assignments in United's Polaris Business Class (Tim's Seat Is Next to Mine)

With our flights booked, I continued to look at hotels. I found a highly rated hotel in a perfect location that accepts Hyatt points. IL Tornabuoni Hotel has wonderful reviews, and it looked like a perfect fit for us. I transferred almost all our Chase points to Hyatt, bought a few missing points for $144, and made our reservation. The stay would have cost over $2,000. I love being able to use points!

IL Tornabuoni Hotel (Photo Courtesy of Hyatt.com)

Our transatlantic cruise will end in Fort Lauderdale on December 23. Although I would like to be able to spend a few days with friends in Miami, I know that most everyone will be busy with their own Christmas plans. Therefore, we decided to fly back to Colorado on Christmas Day. The airports won’t be quite as crazy, and the fares were about half what they were for the other days around the holiday. We went ahead and booked our flight, the first flight of the day. Luckily, we will be “flying” back to Fort Collins. Done!