Puglia, Italy Tour Logistics page
DATES: Leave the USA March 23, 2025 / Return to USA April 3, 2025
NOTES ON DATE ALTERATIONS You can choose to add a few days on prior to your trip to allow time to accomodate jet lag. You could stay some pre-nights in Rome or Bari. We can arrange extra hotel nights for you in either city. For the end of the tour return date alteration….
We HIGHLY RECOMMEND you add some post-trip days/nights and experience Rome as you never have guided to experiences with Deb and Dan you will not have on your own. We have been to Roma 17 times and it is our favorite city. We will have a customized itinerary for up to 5 nights for you to enjoy. So: YOU RETURN DATE will be altered according to how many post-Rome days you choose to do. Once you are on board, we will help you determine how many post-Rome days you would like to do and how that will effect your departure from USA date.
OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES BY DAY….
All activities must be signed up for before deposit deadline, late January. Costs will be added to final invoice amount.
Day 2: Monopoli lunch :$45
Day 2: Wine tasting at Cervarolo:$25
Day 3: Optional bike ride: $110 for transport to starting point, bikes, (electric-assist bikes +$33), guides
Day 7: Truffle pasta lunch at Mamma Mia’s: $55 Day 8:
Optional bike ride in the countryside: $110 for transport to starting point, bikes, (electric-assist bikes +$33), guides
FIRST DEPOSIT due upon signup.
Other deposits, see below.
COST: Base price for tour is $2,985. There are many upgrade choices for all segments of the trip, including single occupancy, hotel choice in some cases, and room upgrades. These options are explained in a following section.
How to get on board this tour:
A $700 deposit is due upon signup BY NOVEMBER 15, 2024. Details about this and other deposits as well as cancellation information can be found at end of this page. All payments are made to Morningstar directly as per instructions below.
If the trip does not go due to insufficient participants, all deposited monies will be refunded in full.
We highly advise purchasing trip insurance! Don’t leave the country without it. Details below.
Important: Please be sure to include the following at time of initial deposit:
Email address
Names of participants
All room upgrade choices at all properties where applicable.
We highly recommend you protect your trip a Trip Insurance policy. It protects your trip in case of accident or illness that prevents you going, as well as on-trip incidents such as lost luggage, trip delay, and most importantly medical coverage and evacuation. It is truly requisite to overseas travel. If you are under 70, look at World Nomads. If 70 or over and for comparative policies and prices for any age, www.aardy.com.
Air details
LEAVE USA March 23, 2025. The nearest major airport to Bari is Rome FCO. Of course, you can route your air thru other cities, as you chose. But no matter, you must arrive in to Bari, Italy on March 24 for your first hotel night of the tour. If you would like to arrive a day or two earlier to shake off the jet lag and recharge, we can arrange extra hotel nights at either our 4-star Excelsior Hotel or our 5-star luxury Bari hotel, upon request. You fly out of Bari returning to USA or points elsewhere any time on April 3, 2025. The LAST HOTEL NIGHT of the tour is April 2 in Bari. Important note: IF you are going to participate in Dan and Deb’s Rome add-on tour days, you will adjust your return date from Rome accordingly. Click Rome add-on button below for Rome details.
NOTE: If you are flying into Rome, you can book 55 minute flights from FCO to Bari airport. CAVEAT/ WARNING: Make sure to get a flight that is non-stop! Otherwise, what should take an hour can take five hours. Plan carefully and accordingly. Further, there is a 3.5 hour train ride from Rome to Bari as well. Organizing all your air to/from Bari is each participant’s responsibility. Please: pay attention to all the details and make sure your flights are on correct dates and that your flights mesh with each other.
Currency adjustment possibility:
There is a chance the Euro could strengthen between the time of deposit and the time of final payment in January. This is a risk with foreign travel. This could result in a increase in the final payment amount due.
Small local room taxes: There may be a small local room tax of a euro or two a night per room. It depends on the locale. These are not included and if applicable, will be added to each room’s final bill, payable individually at checkout.
Masseria Cervarolo minimum surcharge: Nights 2,3,4,5 are at Masseria Cervarolo. A condition of the great discounted rate we received from this property for the group was that we use all 17 rooms in the property. These rooms must be paid for whether occupied or not. So in addition to the above minimum size surcharges, there will be an additional surcharge to cover any unused Cervarolo rooms as per below. In 4 previous Puglia trips, we have never had to implement this fee.
1 unused room: +$39 per person 2 / unused rooms: $69per person / 3 unused rooms: $89 per person
Mimimum trip size: The trip price is based on 25 paying participants. There will be an adjustment on the base price as per below:
24 paying participants: +$30
23 paying participants: +40
22 paying participants:+50
21 paying participants: +60
Room types and upgrade costs
This trip has many complexities when it comes to room selections and upgrades. Please read below carefully and you will have a good picture of what your choices are.
Same sex roommate requests: Single occupancy always adds to the cost of any tour. If you are signing up for this tour, would like a room mate, but upon signup do not have one, we are happy to make note of your willingness to have a room mate of the same sex and that you would like us to attempt to find a room mate for you. There is no guarantee of success and you must be willing to pay the single occupancy upgrades should no room mate become available.
Room selection: Note that there are limited numbers of each room type. The sooner you deposit, the better your chances of getting the room type you want. Once the room types sell out, you will have to choose from another category of room.
Room upgrades: Note that the Pitti and the Cervarolo properties are comprised of many room types of varying degrees of luxury. Not everyone will want the same room level. Of course, the nicer the room, the higher the cost. Below are the additional costs by room type. The upgrade amounts shown below are per person and cover the entire stays at the hotels.
Please refer to hotel websites as per below for more information about room types.
www.iluoghidipitti.com
www.masseriacervarolo.it
Night 1 and Night 10 (first and last nights) / Bari
Included hotel is 4-star Excelsior for Night 1. It is an excellent property located near the pedestrian shopping district and a 15-minute walk to old town harbor. Single upgrade for both nights total is $159
Upgrade: 5-star hotel Ih Nazionali This is a superb property located in the coolest part of Bari: the old harbor town. There are seaview rooms or non-sea view. Due to a mix up with the 4-star hotel for the April 2 stay, we cannot offer any rooms at the Excelsior. So everyone has to be at the Nazionali. The upgrade cost for a non-seaview room is $29 per person. The upgrade for sea view rooms is $61 per person.
Nights 2,3,4,5: Masseria Cervarolo Upgrades
Small classic room / 1 available no upgrade cost for double occupancy
Single upgrade small classic base room for all nights $369
Double Classic rooms / 7 available: $189 per person above base price double occupancy for entire 4 night stay at Cervarolo
$569 single occ above base price for entire 4 night stay at Cervarolo
Double superior / 2 available: $217 per person above base price double occupancy for entire 4 night stay at Cervarolo
$599 for single occupancy upgrade for entire 4 nights
Double jr. suites / 1 available: $229 per person above base price double occupancy for entire 4 night stay at Cervarolo
Triple jr suite 1 available: $299 per person above base price double occupancy for entire 4 night stay at Cervarolo
Family jr. suites 5 available: $299 per person double occupancy for entire 4 night stay a Cervarolo
Nights 6,7, 8,9: 4-star Hotel Fuori and Masseria I Luoghi di Pitti upgrades
Fuori Upgrades
Double occupancy at Fuori is included with no upgrade.
Single occupancy upgrade is $229 for entire 4 night stay.
Masseria Pitti upgrades:
NOTE ON SINGLE OCCUPANCY FOR PITTI: The Pitti has a hefty single occupancy upgrade fee because they do not have any true single rooms. The rooms are all double rooms. The upgrade fee is $698 for the stay. Economically, it makes good sense as a single to stay at the other hotel for much less. Keep in mind, ALL people at both hotels will participate in all the Pitti activities and dinners.
Double standard room / 4 available: $299 per person upgrade double occupancy above base price for entire 4 night stay at Pitti.
Single occupancy Double Standard: $698 above base price per person for entire 4 night stay at Pitti.
Jr suites / 3 available $359 per person above base price double occupancy for entire 4 night stay at Pitti.
Deluxe Suite / 1 available $379 per person above base price double occupancy for entire 4 night stay at Pitti.
Deluxe Superior Suite / 1 available $399 per person above base price double occupancy for entire 4 night stay at Pitti.
Deposits
Note: Please make sure to send Morningstar an email so we can have you email address. We will communicate via emails for all details pertaining to your tour.
First deposit for those taking the place of an original participant: $700 per person due upon sign up. Deposit is non-refundable. Buy trip insurance upon deposit and your trip and your deposited monies will be protected. (see below for link)
Deadline for first deposit: upon sign up
Second deposit of 600 due December 15, 2025
Final payment: January 31, 2025
Passports
Make sure you have one and that it does not expire within 6 months of your departure date.
Cancellation policy: First deposit fully non-refundable. Cancellation after final payment has been made will result in loss of all unrecoverable funds, to be determined by Morningstar.
Methods of payment
Zelle: The easiest. Use our email address ([email protected]) as the locator for our Zelle account at U.S. Bank.
Check: Make out to Morningstar Tours and mail to 21080 Oriole Ln. Bend, OR 97703
Paypal: Our goal is to offer quality trips at the best prices we can to our friends. Our prices are based on payment by check or Zelle. However, it is possible to pay using PayPal on our site, but there is a 3% surcharge to do so. The link for PayPal is on home page.
[email protected] (520) 405-5508
www.morningstarseeskisavortours.com