Hi everybody!!! we're are PCSing to Naples next summer 2011 and would like to get some more info on moving to Naples. I've read many of the threads and have gotten some info already but some is conflicting. Please any further info you have is greatly appreciated.

I can answer 2 of your questions for you! :)
You can use XBOX live although in setting up a new account there is no option for "AE" in the address field, so as far as I know they use NY,NY  with our FPO zip code and it works.
I have not been able to use most online TV show broadcasts :(
There are TONS of activities for kids-including those you listed boyscouts, girlscouts, sports. Also there are dance classes, etc.
There is a "Connect the Tots" group for the little ones and you can easily find information on it. If you have trouble just tell me and I can give you contacts for it!
Good luck moving here. All I can say is, look past Naples and you will love it here. :) It took me almost a year to say that, but I never really left base much either (was pregnant and my son is now 3 months so traveling is not easy) Anyway, do your best not to listen to others' opinions and decide how you feel in your first week. Give it time, get out of Napoli, and find the beauty this station gives you at your fingertips! i definitely recommend getting to markets as they are such a great taste of Italian life, and get to the Amalfi Coast in early spring or fall (less busy and expensive) Also Rome and all the northern places of course! MWR does some great trips and has a WONDERFUL tour guide named Aldo who is such a blessing for your first time going to the historical places-you will learn a ton!

Hey Elizabeth! My husband, son and I have been here for almost 9 months now. As long as you travel and get out to the markets and stuff you will love it here!

Thank you for the information... it's very helpful

Hi Elizabeth,

Netflix will work here on certain conditions.  Yes they will ship disks to FPO AE addresses only.  Netflix will work if you are accessing the online content via computer, one just needs to find some "free" IP blocking software.  According to international copyright agreements, US media cannot be streamed outside of the US.  Now if you are using Netflix through a gaming platform forget it.  I believe Hulu should work with IP blockers as well.

USAA is fine to keep for insurance, only downfall is that the only insurance company that has a local office on the support site is GEICO, so you will spend time on the phone if you have any claims.

As of now the officer housing on base is something like 90% (plus/minus) manned so they are giving many officers the green light to live off base.  Finding a place off base and all the paperwork and inspections involved can take some time so be patient.  I currently live on base in a three bedroom roughly 1530 sqft.  The people in the building next to us have four bedrooms, but the sq footage is the same.

I shipped my vehicle from Baltimore and it took 45 days, I recall that shipping fom the west coast can be upward of 90 days, but don't quote me on that.

I use Hulu on base with no ip blocker :) on my computer but i cant use netflix or like cbs.com

Jessica

Try ultrasurf.

Well time for my two cents. xbox live runs good with a lag of 200ms. cbs.com works if you can get your ip address listed as a us ip, it takes a few weeks for cbs to update it. Also there are very slow times during the day for the internet. you'd have to talk to housing about getting a bigger apt here on base. but I  know that my king fits and I  have a 2 bd apt here on base.

We moved this summer and got a 3 bedroom apartment (officer housing) on base.  It is the largest 3 bedroom floorplan at 1800 sq. ft. (we just got lucky!)  BUT, one of the frustrating things about housing is there are so many floorplans that you really don't know what you're going to get.  I agree with everyone else, though, that your king bed should fit no matter where you are.  We have a high school aged kid so living on the support site was one of the best decisions we made.  But do get off base as much as possible for your sanity.  It takes a little time to feel comfortable but you'll be glad you did.

I have 4 kids, 3 will be under the age of 3. So I think our best bet is to live on base, especially since the RNs at the hospital are still being deployed to Afghanistan or at least that's what we've been told.

Oh! I forgot to ask... How many choices does housing give you and or how many times can you allow to refuse a house? I know you can do that stateside, which we've done and were able to get a great place on base.

Elizabeth,

I never check these blogs but I was excited see someone coming to Naples.  I think I can answer all your questions.

     Do you have school age children?  If so you might want to consider living on Support Site.  I have two children, my daughter is 3 and my son is 8 months.  My family and I live off base.  My daughter goes to a school off base which is excellent! She has a great social life for a 3 year old.  She's at Carney Park or doing some activity everyday.
    
     My wife and I agree that living off base is the best decision we have made since we've moved here.  If you really want to immerse yourself in the Italian culture move off base.  We only go to the Support Site when we need to buy groceries or get something at the NEX.  Besides that we don't really like to go there.  We live in a neighborhood that has only one other American family.  We have a Greek and British neighbor and the rest are Italian.  The neighborhood is quiet and safe.  Our neighbors genuinely care for each other.  Regardless of what people say "On Base" living off base is great.  The homes are beautiful and BIG!  I live like a king here.  You wouldn't have any issues with your king size bed.  Most of the horror stories that I've heard were from people that live on base.  We didn't listen to them and found a beautiful "SAFE" home 30 minutes from base.  Like I said it's the best decision we made.  All of our friends live American and other nationalities live off base and we're always doing something in town.  I won't say anything negative about living on base because I know that people will take it personally.  I just see myself living in an apartment worrying about people getting into my personal life.  Which happens very much on base.
    
     I haven't had any issues with internet or AFN unlike the current or past situation on base.  Our electricity doesn't go out as much either.  I would have to say after two years our electricity only went out 3 or 4 times for a couple of minutes.  Usually during severe thunderstorms.  I'm an avid X-Box player.  I never have any lag on my X-Box no matter what I'm playing online.  It's true you can't stream Netflix.  What I do download movies and stream them wirelessly from my computer to my X-Box through my television.  We never miss any shows.  It's almost like TiVo.  The bandwidth to my house is very very very impressive.  Download speeds are better than most of the people I know.  It's definitely better than what I've seen on base.

     I'm not sure how long it will take your vehicle to get here from the west coast.  I shipped mine from Baltimore and it took a little over 30 days.  I shipped my wife's brand new CRV and I bought a Naples beater.  My wife hasn't had any break ins or problems.  You just have to drive like everyone else.  If you've driven in D.C. you can drive here.  It's not that bad.  The only time I had an accident was with an American LoL!  The insurance is not triple of what you pay in the states.  For full coverage for my wife's car 2009 Honda CRV and my 2002 Nissan Micra (Naples Beater) with liability, I pay just over 200 a month.  That's nothing!

     There are plenty of activities for kids.  Like I said there is always something going on at Carney Park, ie. swim class, soccer, tee ball, baseball, softball, football, rugby and more.  My wife goes there and the Support Site.  There are even activities for my 8 month old son.  There are a couple of really good head start schools in the area.  I'm sure you'll learn about them when you get here.

     If you have anymore questions let me know I'll be more than happy to answer your questions.

Dave 
    
    

Melissa might be correct.  My friend an O-3 had the choice to move off base and he just got here in September.  I've heard that E-6 and below don't have a choice.  Of course things might have changed.

Please be prepared to pay more on vehicle insurance.  Back stateside I paid $86 a month with a $100 deductible for my 2007 Mazda CX-9.  Here I pay $212 a month w/ a $500 deductible. I have no Idea how one of the forum posters has two vehicles for the same price, but I have Geico.

Officer manning in housing is in the high 90's for percentage so they are being authorized off base.  The new 0-3 in the office just sign his contract for off base housing.

The best thing you can do for yourself is put some things in non temp storage because it might not fit here.  Do not bring a washer and dryer.  You cannot use them off base, nor on base as the washer power here is 220v and the dryer is gas fitted (My $1700 pair washer and dryer are collecting dust in my fourth floor storage).

My three family members and I have lived in smaller places in my 17 years of Navy service and I can tell you, we would rather live in a tent than be back in DC.

I do have a boy who will be in 7th grade when we get there so I have to figure out if I want him to go on or off base to school.

A couple of things...

Oh...and utilities.  When we lived in Pozzuoli, our utilities were about $250/month and we were mostly comfortable.  We only turned on the a/c (all wall mounted) in the rooms we were in and at night.  Same with the heat in the winters.  We had radiators, but they just aren't warm enough sometimes.  

David (or anyone else who wants to share), I may be PCSing to Italy this Summer with my wife at what will be our 3mo old baby boy.  We really want to live off base but don't know where to start looking?  would you mind sharing what part of town you live or where you recommend?  Also, this may be TMI but we are planning on cloth diapering so will be doing lots of laundry; any info on off base utilities would be much appreciated.   Thanks, Jose

Hi Jose, We live in the city of Avellino and absolutely love it. Virtually no crime, very clean, it's just great :) If you are considering moving off base I'd highly recommend looking for a house here. (we are meeting more and more families that are moving out this way and everyone keeps asking why they werent told about Avellino... we all love it. )From the support site we are 35miles but it is all interstate (autostrada) and is a beautiful drive :) Also because you are outside of the province of Naples your car insurance will be significantly lower, we are paying about 1/2 of what we were paying there, and you'll get more for your money with housing as well since housing is lower here just because you are outside of the big city. If you'd like any other info let me know I'd be happy to help. post pics or whatever...

Kathy,

Kathy wrote: Hi Jose, We live in the city of Avellino and absolutely love it. Virtually no crime, very clean, it's just great :) If you are considering moving off base I'd highly recommend looking for a house here. (we are meeting more and more families that are moving out this way and everyone keeps asking why they werent told about Avellino... we all love it. )From the support site we are 35miles but it is all interstate (autostrada) and is a beautiful drive :) Also because you are outside of the province of Naples your car insurance will be significantly lower, we are paying about 1/2 of what we were paying there, and you'll get more for your money with housing as well since housing is lower here just because you are outside of the big city. If you'd like any other info let me know I'd be happy to help. post pics or whatever...  With regards to cloth diapers...I'm not sure what info you were wanting...I used cloth with my youngest who is now 24m and she potty trained herself at 17m. We have an Italian washer and dryer. The washer is just a typical front loader and the dryer is a bit different as European dryers dont have a vent, they collect the water and you have to dump it after each load. They take a bit longer but are more energy efficient. It took me a little while to work out a washing routine with the cloth diapers :)Working in an extra load of diapers every other day, but other than that it was great. I do about 10 loads of laundry a week, wash and dry...run my dishwasher each day and pay about 70 euro a month for electric. If it was sunny I'd line dry the diapers just b/c they last longer and the sun removes spots and stains. Again, just let me know if you need to know anything else or if we can help out in any way....Kathy

Hi Kathy-

How is the commute to Capo during business hours?  Is the traffic bad Approximately how long does it take?  Also- did you use a realtor to find your home?  If so, who did you use?

Thanks for the info. :)

Gosh I'd like to know about the commute also and if you have any school age children attending school out there... it sounds like an ideal place to raise my family for the next few years... we will be paying to bring our second vehicle out so transportation is not a big deal. What are your fuel cost? Carpools?

Do we need a multisystem tv out there or can we still use our regular American tv's?

Elizabeth, Unless you have special family needs, or you have money to burn, IMHO I would ditch (store) the second vehicle and go get one from the lemon lot here.  Yes there are some beaters that you could have trouble with, but also there are some very nice and large vehicles for sale there as well.  Not all vehicles for sale on the lot are listed on this site.  My opinion again is to have one large vehicle and one small.  I have a 7 seat CX-9 that makes it tough when navigating back roads in small towns as I am a bit adventurous.  A small vehicle will be much appreciated when you want to take that quick zip in tight areas.

Multi-system TVs are great to have, but not a must.  If you plan on living on base not needed unless you want to get the digital decoder box (25 euro) and receive OTA Italian TV.  Off base one again if you want to watch Italian programming (PAL format) or sky satellite, one is necessary, but the AFN decoder does not require on as I know.  Bring a few US TVs and plan on getting a European TV as well, either from this site or out in the multiple electronic stores around the area.