Spirit review - Grand Med May 7-19th, Barcelona to Venice

First let me say, that this was an amazing vacation! We had a fabulous time and met some great people, which made it even more enjoyable. You all know who you are. ;-)



I traveled with a friend and we are both single women. I’m 53 and Tracy is 40-something. We arrived in Barcelona on Thursday morning and took the aerobus to Placa Catalunya. This was really convenient and easy. We actually purchased the tickets in advance so once we got our luggage we just followed the signs to the bus and got on. We didn’t have to wait at all because the bus was there, but I believe they run every 10 minutes. The bus has free wifi but it didn’t work for me – everything just kept spinning. We got off the bus and walked to our hotel. We stayed at Hotel Continental, which is at the top of La Rambla. It took us a few minutes to get our bearings, but the hotel was not more than a 5 minute walk from where the bus dropped us. Our plane got in at 9:00 am and I think we were at the hotel by about 10:30. We were lucky and were able to check in and get to our room right away. The staff was friendly and helpful, and we really liked the hotel. The room was small and pink… very pink. But the beds were comfortable and we loved the little balcony overlooking La Rambla. The hotel had a free 24 hour buffet which, to be honest, was significantly less than great. But we ate lunch there the first day and breakfast the next two days because it was quick and convenient. I have no complaints about the hotel. The free wifi always worked. It was clean, comfortable and the location was great. And we didn’t spend a fortune on it. I would stay there again.

After we checked in and grabbed a bite we set out to explore. We had a free walking tour with Sandemans at 2pm so we had a little time to wander around. We slowly made our way to the meeting point in the gothic quarter. Along the way we stopped and toured the gothic cathedral, which was awesome. After a while you feel like you’ve seen a thousand pretty churches, but this was our first one and we were suitably wowed. We found the meeting point easily and met up with our guide. This was just the thing to do on our first day. We were tired from traveling all night but we knew we couldn’t go to bed at noon or we would never adjust. The tour was 2 ½ hours and covered the gothic quarter. Our guide was energetic and loud enough that we could hear her explanations. One of the things we saw was the oldest synagogue in Barcelona – with a very small door. Our guide explained that they made the door really small so that a horse couldn’t fit through it and nobody could ride in and slaughter the people. I love the historical details that you get from guided tours, which is why I prefer them to just wandering around not knowing what I’m looking at. After the tour we got lost walking back to La Rambla and probably walked at least 1 ½ miles out of our way. Which wouldn’t be a big deal, but did I mention how tired we were? We had dinner of tapas and paella at a restaurant on Placa Reial on our way back to the hotel. I think we were both asleep by shortly after 9:00 pm.

The next day (Friday) we had an all day tour of Barcelona and Montserrat with Barcelona Day Tours. They picked us up from the meeting point, which was just around the corner from our hotel. Our guide was excellent from start to finish. I highly recommend this tour company. Actually, all our tours were really good throughout the trip, and I would recommend all of them. There were about a dozen of us on the tour, and it was a friendly bunch with no “duds”. First we went to see the outside of La Sagrada Familia. The inside is not included unless you take a private tour, which we didn’t. We spent quite a bit of time there and I would have missed almost all of it if I didn’t have the guide pointing things out and explaining. Everything on that church has meaning. It’s beautiful and fascinating. We went from there to Park Guell, where we spent about an hour. Another interesting place that we really enjoyed.

From there we left Barcelona and drove to Montserrat monastery. All I can say is – go there. It is just beautiful. It’s up high in the mountains in a magnificent setting and I loved it. We had about 2 hours there and I could have easily spent the whole day. We rode the funicular up even higher for some amazing views. Unfortunately, after racing to the church to get there in time to hear the children’s choir sing, we found out they weren’t there that day. But I got over the disappointment while soaking in the fantastic views.

We then returned to Barcelona and did the “lighter” part of the tour after people were tired. We drove to Montjuic for fabulous views of the city, and saw some of Gaudi’s other buildings and a few other highlights.

It was a great day, but we didn’t have a lot of time to relax because we had reservations for dinner and a flamenco show at 7:30. We also arranged this through Barcelona Day Tours. The dinner was good, the flamenco show was great, and the sangria was simply marvelous! I don’t have a lot to compare it to, but that flamenco dancer was dancing so fast that his legs were blurry, and it’s not just because of all the sangria – it was seriously fast. I don’t know how they do it.

We had bought tickets online in advance for La Sagrada Familia, so we went back there on Saturday morning to see the inside before boarding the ship. It was raining that morning so I was glad we had already had a thorough tour of the outside. Because of the rain we were not allowed to go up in the towers, which was a disappointment. But we got our audio guides and spent at least an hour on the inside. This church is really something and I’m glad we went back to see the inside. It’s a must see, even in the rain. Afterwards we caught a cab back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and head to the ship. We were excited to get on board and begin the cruise!

More to come, but I'm happy to answer any questions in the meantime.

First let me say, that this was an amazing vacation! We had a fabulous time and met some great people, which made it even more enjoyable. You all know who you are. ;-)



I traveled with a friend and we are both single women. I’m 53 and Tracy is 40-something. We arrived in Barcelona on Thursday morning and took the aerobus to Placa Catalunya. This was really convenient and easy. We actually purchased the tickets in advance so once we got our luggage we just followed the signs to the bus and got on. We didn’t have to wait at all because the bus was there, but I believe they run every 10 minutes. The bus has free wifi but it didn’t work for me – everything just kept spinning. We got off the bus and walked to our hotel. We stayed at Hotel Continental, which is at the top of La Rambla. It took us a few minutes to get our bearings, but the hotel was not more than a 5 minute walk from where the bus dropped us. Our plane got in at 9:00 am and I think we were at the hotel by about 10:30. We were lucky and were able to check in and get to our room right away. The staff was friendly and helpful, and we really liked the hotel. The room was small and pink… very pink. But the beds were comfortable and we loved the little balcony overlooking La Rambla. The hotel had a free 24 hour buffet which, to be honest, was significantly less than great. But we ate lunch there the first day and breakfast the next two days because it was quick and convenient. I have no complaints about the hotel. The free wifi always worked. It was clean, comfortable and the location was great. And we didn’t spend a fortune on it. I would stay there again.

 

After we checked in and grabbed a bite we set out to explore. We had a free walking tour with Sandemans at 2pm so we had a little time to wander around. We slowly made our way to the meeting point in the gothic quarter. Along the way we stopped and toured the gothic cathedral, which was awesome. After a while you feel like you’ve seen a thousand pretty churches, but this was our first one and we were suitably wowed. We found the meeting point easily and met up with our guide. This was just the thing to do on our first day. We were tired from traveling all night but we knew we couldn’t go to bed at noon or we would never adjust. The tour was 2 ½ hours and covered the gothic quarter. Our guide was energetic and loud enough that we could hear her explanations. One of the things we saw was the oldest synagogue in Barcelona – with a very small door. Our guide explained that they made the door really small so that a horse couldn’t fit through it and nobody could ride in and slaughter the people. I love the historical details that you get from guided tours, which is why I prefer them to just wandering around not knowing what I’m looking at. After the tour we got lost walking back to La Rambla and probably walked at least 1 ½ miles out of our way. Which wouldn’t be a big deal, but did I mention how tired we were? We had dinner of tapas and paella at a restaurant on Placa Reial on our way back to the hotel. I think we were both asleep by shortly after 9:00 pm.

 

The next day (Friday) we had an all day tour of Barcelona and Montserrat with Barcelona Day Tours. They picked us up from the meeting point, which was just around the corner from our hotel. Our guide was excellent from start to finish. I highly recommend this tour company. Actually, all our tours were really good throughout the trip, and I would recommend all of them. There were about a dozen of us on the tour, and it was a friendly bunch with no “duds”. First we went to see the outside of La Sagrada Familia. The inside is not included unless you take a private tour, which we didn’t. We spent quite a bit of time there and I would have missed almost all of it if I didn’t have the guide pointing things out and explaining. Everything on that church has meaning. It’s beautiful and fascinating. We went from there to Park Guell, where we spent about an hour. Another interesting place that we really enjoyed.

 

From there we left Barcelona and drove to Montserrat monastery. All I can say is – go there. It is just beautiful. It’s up high in the mountains in a magnificent setting and I loved it. We had about 2 hours there and I could have easily spent the whole day. We rode the funicular up even higher for some amazing views. Unfortunately, after racing to the church to get there in time to hear the children’s choir sing, we found out they weren’t there that day. But I got over the disappointment while soaking in the fantastic views.

 

We then returned to Barcelona and did the “lighter” part of the tour after people were tired. We drove to Montjuic for fabulous views of the city, and saw some of Gaudi’s other buildings and a few other highlights.

 

It was a great day, but we didn’t have a lot of time to relax because we had reservations for dinner and a flamenco show at 7:30. We also arranged this through Barcelona Day Tours. The dinner was good, the flamenco show was great, and the sangria was simply marvelous! I don’t have a lot to compare it to, but that flamenco dancer was dancing so fast that his legs were blurry, and it’s not just because of all the sangria – it was seriously fast. I don’t know how they do it.

 

We had bought tickets online in advance for La Sagrada Familia, so we went back there on Saturday morning to see the inside before boarding the ship. It was raining that morning so I was glad we had already had a thorough tour of the outside. Because of the rain we were not allowed to go up in the towers, which was a disappointment. But we got our audio guides and spent at least an hour on the inside. This church is really something and I’m glad we went back to see the inside. It’s a must see, even in the rain. Afterwards we caught a cab back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and head to the ship. We were excited to get on board and begin the cruise!

 

More to come, but I'm happy to answer any questions in the meantime.

I am really looking forward to hearing about your trip. Reliving my cruise of last month through your eyes :D

We got on the ship about 1 pm. The lines were short and it didn’t take long. I wanted to carry my own luggage on because I’m paranoid about it getting lost, but they wouldn’t let me because the luggage is too big to fit through the xray machines. Or whatever those things are. Happily, our luggage was delivered to the room pretty quickly and we were completely unpacked before the safety drill.

This was my first cruise on NCL. I’ve previously cruised on Celebrity, Carnival, Princess and Royal Caribbean. I’ve enjoyed them all and I’ve never had a bad cruise. We were in a balcony cabin – 10672. It was small with less storage than I’ve had on other cruises, but we managed just fine. I thought the beds were really comfortable. Tracy said her bed was too hard, but after the first night the room steward put a memory foam thing on her bed and after that she was fine.

There were only a few negatives, so I’ll get them out of the way here. On the first day our TV got stuck in the “On” mode, and I couldn’t turn it off. I called guest services and they said they would send someone, but nobody ever came. As it turns out, I’m just an idiot who doesn’t know how to work a remote, and Tracy figured it out. But guest services didn’t know that and just didn’t show up. So if you really have a problem you may need to be a little persistent. Also on the first day, I requested 4 extra pillows from our room steward. He told me there were two extra on the closet shelf. I said yes, but I want 4 more in addition to those. He said okay, and when I ran into him in the hallway later I asked if he had given me the extra pillows. He said he could only give me two more – not four. But when I got back in the room all he had done was taken the two on the shelf and put them on the bed. So I never got the extra pillows. I’ve never been told no when asking for extra pillows before, so I don’t know if the problem was our room steward, or if it’s an NCL thing. It seems like a small thing to me and I was kind of annoyed, but I chose not to push it, and I got over it. Life is too short. The only other thing was that our toilet seat was broken the entire trip. We reported it to our room steward twice, but it was never fixed. Maybe if we had gone to guest services about it that would have made the difference, but we didn’t. The thing is, you don’t think about it except when you’re using it… and then you forget because you’re too busy having a great time… so I apologize to the next person in that room. Your toilet seat is still broken.

For the positives – the ship was very nice. I liked it more than I thought I would based on the things I’ve read. It has a very nice promenade deck that goes all the way around, unlike some of the newer ships where you can’t walk all the way around the ship. I like to walk on the sea days so I really enjoyed that. Sitting out on Raffles terrace was very pleasant, and we did that quite a bit. I only went to one of the shows, and I wasn’t crazy about it, but Tracy went to a lot of them and liked them, so it’s a matter of personal taste. Obviously they aren’t really my thing, which is why I mostly didn’t go. The food was a lot better than most of the reviews indicate. We ate in the specialty restaurants three times – once in Teppenyaki’s, and twice at Cagney’s. Teppenyaki’s was good, but Cagney’s was great. Except that I ate way too much both times we were there, but I can’t blame that on the cruiseline! Food in the main dining rooms, Windows and Garden, was very good. We never had a bad meal there. Service in all the restaurants was good. The food in Raffles buffet was typical of most cruiselines. Some good, some not so good, but we certainly never went hungry. And in spite of the few issues with our room steward in the beginning, in most other ways he was really good. He even knocked on the door once when he realized we had just come back to ask us if we’d like him to refill our ice bucket.

In addition to all the great ports of call, we really had fun on the ship in the evenings too. There were some days we were tired and just had dinner and an early night. But other nights we did some of the ship activities. I don’t remember what we did on which days, but Tracy participated in Karaoke superstars and tied for first place in the finale. She rocked it out with the help of back up dancers from the roll call. My contribution was to clap, cheer and take video. She also took several dance lessons. (I watched). Most of the time we just sat back with a drink and were entertained. The Dancing with the Stars thing was very entertaining (that's not what they called it). They paired a member of the crew (the professional) with passengers and had a dance off contest. Silly, but very fun!

One thing to note: Our ship was only slightly more than half full. So we never had lines, never had to wait for the elevator, and always found a lounge chair in a good location (back of Raffles terrace is very nice!). I don’t know what it would be like if the ship was full.

Another thing to note: We joined our roll call here and booked all our tours in advance with people we met on these boards. I’ve never done this before and it worked out really well for us. We had great tours and met some really lovely people that I hope to stay in touch with. It was really nice to see people you know all over the ship, and it really added to the whole experience. I would definitely do it this way again.

It was so much fun meeting you and Tracey! What a great trip we had. I'm hoping to get my review up by this weekend if I ever get the laundry done!

Thanks for the review.

Yay a Spirit review ... we are on in Sept. and staying in the same hotel you did so that review was very helpful as well ....

Thank you for your great review! I have been patiently waiting for a Mediterranean Spirit review, we will be leaving in two weeks for ours and I am so excited!

It sounds like you really enjoyed Barcelona, now I'm thinking I need to add Montserrat and a flamenco show to our touring plans!

So glad you liked the Spirit, sometimes the reviews I read are not very kind to her. Weird about the pillows, I wonder if he just misunderstood your request?:confused: Did you have a balcony room? Were you able to use your hairdryer/curling iron that you brought from home? I have read such mixed reviews on the outlets on this ship.

I look forward to reading more of your adventures!

Thanks again for posting.

Hi! Thanks for your review!

We leave in two weeks. I'm trying to get more information on a few things:

1. How was Livorno? Any tips for that port?

2. What companies did you use for your port excursions and how were they?

Thank you for your great review! I have been patiently waiting for a Mediterranean Spirit review, we will be leaving in two weeks for ours and I am so excited!

It sounds like you really enjoyed Barcelona, now I'm thinking I need to add Montserrat and a flamenco show to our touring plans!

So glad you liked the Spirit, sometimes the reviews I read are not very kind to her. Weird about the pillows, I wonder if he just misunderstood your request?:confused: Did you have a balcony room? Were you able to use your hairdryer/curling iron that you brought from home? I have read such mixed reviews on the outlets on this ship.

I look forward to reading more of your adventures!

Thanks again for posting.

Tracy brought an adapter and was able to use a flat iron. I'm not sure what she did. It seems to me that her adapter had several different plugs and I don't know which one she used. I was really happy she brought it though. Between phones, cameras, kindles and fitbits we were always needing to charge something.

Will work on the port reviews next. I didn't take notes so I have to rely on memory, but I'll do my best.

Thanks for the report.

Enjoying your report.

Keith

Excellent report

We are on this ship in July and would like to hear more about your shore excursions

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

It was so much fun meeting you and Tracey! What a great trip we had. I'm hoping to get my review up by this weekend if I ever get the laundry done!

Right back at you! Wish you could have come on the pub crawl with us Venice - the wine flowed and we had a great time. Maybe next time when both your boys are over 21!

The first day on the ship we had an informal meet & greet on Raffles Terrace with our roll call. It was great to finally put names & faces together, and we got organized for some of our upcoming tours. I was the organizer for the tour I took on the first port day. I collected the money from everyone going with me at the meet & greet, so I knew we were covered. I didn't hear of anyone having a problem with the way we did these shared tours. I know it probably happens sometimes, but I would hope not often. As far as I know, everyone showed up and paid up. With one exception that I'm aware of - Tracy organized a tour in Montenegro and there were 2 people who didn't show up (or pay). However, the way the tour was structured it didn't have any impact on anyone else. There just needed to be a minimum of 8 people to keep the price per person low, and I think there were about 15 on that one, so it didn't matter.

Now for the ports. I enjoyed all of them and I would recommend every single tour operator that we used. Some things I might do differently the next time, but that is based on what I know now and personal preference, all the tours and ports were awesome!

Sunday, May 8 - Toulon (Provence), France

I originally wanted to take a wine tour in this port, but we happened to be there on a national holiday (Victory Day) so that wasn't an option. Instead I booked a tour with Tour Designer In Provence (http://www.provence-travel.com) to Aix en Provence & Cassis. There were 8 of us from the roll call on this tour. We met just outside of Henry's Pub on the ship and walked off together. This is a good, central meeting point and we met there for all our tours for the entire cruise. Our guide Anais, was waiting for us when we got off the ship, and away we went. The van seated 8 people and was clean and comfortable. Some of us were larger than others, and it was still comfortable and roomy enough. We went to Aix en Provence first, and had a walking tour with our guide, before having free time. It was a really beautiful town with an open air food market in one area, and an open air craft & non-food items market along the main road. I had the best quiche I've ever eaten from the food market. Other people got things from a bakery that Anais recommended, and they said the food was fabulous. The architecture was really pretty, and so different from anything we have here in the states. I was glad we got the walking tour, because of course I would have missed all the details and historical information without it. For example, there are religious statues on many of the corners of the buildings. This was because the plague was so prevalent that they couldn't have large gatherings of people which would spread the disease, so people couldn't go to church. Instead they put these statues all over so people could still worship, but not in church.

From there we headed to Cassis, which is a little seaside town. We had hoped to take a boat ride out to see the calanques, but it was really windy so the boats weren't running. Instead we had free time to walk around and enjoy the town. It was very picturesque with colorful boats in the harbor and lots of little shops and restaurants. After that we drove up to the top of the cliffs for some truly inspiring views of Cassis and the Mediterranean sea. So beautiful!

I had been most looking forward to Cassis, but in the end I think I like Aix en Provence better. But I'm glad we went to both. It was a very enjoyable day.

Point to ponder - the bread in Europe is about 1000 times better than what we have in North America. No matter where you go, or what country, it's all really good. Why is that? Is it a secret recipe that only the Europeans know about? I just don't get it. Why can't we have good bread too? Just sayin....

The first day on the ship we had an informal meet & greet on Raffles Terrace with our roll call. It was great to finally put names & faces together, and we got organized for some of our upcoming tours. I was the organizer for the tour I took on the first port day. I collected the money from everyone going with me at the meet & greet, so I knew we were covered. I didn't hear of anyone having a problem with the way we did these shared tours. I know it probably happens sometimes, but I would hope not often. As far as I know, everyone showed up and paid up. With one exception that I'm aware of - Tracy organized a tour in Montenegro and there were 2 people who didn't show up (or pay). However, the way the tour was structured it didn't have any impact on anyone else. There just needed to be a minimum of 8 people to keep the price per person low, and I think there were about 15 on that one, so it didn't matter.

 

 

 

Now for the ports. I enjoyed all of them and I would recommend every single tour operator that we used. Some things I might do differently the next time, but that is based on what I know now and personal preference, all the tours and ports were awesome!

 

 

 

Sunday, May 8 - Toulon (Provence), France

 

 

 

I originally wanted to take a wine tour in this port, but we happened to be there on a national holiday (Victory Day) so that wasn't an option. Instead I booked a tour with Tour Designer In Provence (http://www.provence-travel.com) to Aix en Provence & Cassis. There were 8 of us from the roll call on this tour. We met just outside of Henry's Pub on the ship and walked off together. This is a good, central meeting point and we met there for all our tours for the entire cruise. Our guide Anais, was waiting for us when we got off the ship, and away we went. The van seated 8 people and was clean and comfortable. Some of us were larger than others, and it was still comfortable and roomy enough. We went to Aix en Provence first, and had a walking tour with our guide, before having free time. It was a really beautiful town with an open air food market in one area, and an open air craft & non-food items market along the main road. I had the best quiche I've ever eaten from the food market. Other people got things from a bakery that Anais recommended, and they said the food was fabulous. The architecture was really pretty, and so different from anything we have here in the states. I was glad we got the walking tour, because of course I would have missed all the details and historical information without it. For example, there are religious statues on many of the corners of the buildings. This was because the plague was so prevalent that they couldn't have large gatherings of people which would spread the disease, so people couldn't go to church. Instead they put these statues all over so people could still worship, but not in church.

 

 

 

From there we headed to Cassis, which is a little seaside town. We had hoped to take a boat ride out to see the calanques, but it was really windy so the boats weren't running. Instead we had free time to walk around and enjoy the town. It was very picturesque with colorful boats in the harbor and lots of little shops and restaurants. After that we drove up to the top of the cliffs for some truly inspiring views of Cassis and the Mediterranean sea. So beautiful!

 

 

 

I had been most looking forward to Cassis, but in the end I think I like Aix en Provence better. But I'm glad we went to both. It was a very enjoyable day.

 

 

 

Point to ponder - the bread in Europe is about 1000 times better than what we have in North America. No matter where you go, or what country, it's all really good. Why is that? Is it a secret recipe that only the Europeans know about? I just don't get it. Why can't we have good bread too? Just sayin....

Interesting comment about the bread. I travelled to Paris in 2005 and loved their bread. I have never been able to eat non European bread since. At home I seek out all the Artisan bread shops and most of our privately owned bakeries are producing it. Soft white doughy bread, hot dog rolls or hamburger buns are definitely not for me.

Right back at you! Wish you could have come on the pub crawl with us Venice - the wine flowed and we had a great time. Maybe next time when both your boys are over 21!

Or we will leave them at home! It sounded great!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Was on the same cruise and loved it. As for the ship being only half full, my understanding is there were 1800 passengers for that cruise and that is about 80 percent full.

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Thanks so much for all the info. We are going on same cruise in September. We also have Barcelona Day tours and Tour Designer in Provence tours booked, so I am glad that you were happy with both :)

Monday, May 9th - Livorno

Today we had a tour booked with Papillon (http://www.papillonservice.com) to the Cinque Terre and Pisa. The Cinque Terre had been on my bucket list for a long time, so I was really excited to finally go there. We met up with our group and walked off the ship together. Our driver (Nicolette, if I remember correctly) was waiting for us. There were only 5 of us on this tour. We had deliberately kept it small because there was a long drive involved and we thought it would be more comfortable if we weren't crammed in. In retrospect, the vans they use are really comfortable, however, with only 5 everyone had a window seat, so it was nice.

Our first stop was Portovenere, which is not part of Cinque Terre. Our guide explained that even though it wasn't part of the tour she liked to take people there because it was very charming and not as crowded. She said there were only two streets and we would have 45 minutes to explore. I don't know what everyone else was thinking at that point, but I was thinking "what in the world are we going to do for 45 minutes in a town with only two streets, and let's just get going to the Cinque Terre because time's a wasting...". Yes, that is what I was thinking before we got there. But then we got there.

So, there is this old crumbling castle, fortress like structure, and you walk through the entrance and it's a street with the usual shops and things, but oh so very charming. Then you get to the end of the street and come out the other end, and there in front of you, on a huge promontory overlooking the sea, is a perfect medieval church, with the ruins of the fortress all around it. If I can figure out how to do pictures I'll post one later. There was a sign that said this is where Lord Byron found his inspiration, and I can see why. In the end, I think this was my favorite stop, and I didn't even want to go there. And I ended up racing to meet the guide at the appointed time.

We picked up the ferry in Portovenere and headed to our first stop, which was Manarola. The Cinque Terre is really beautiful from the sea. I'm really glad the ferries were running and we got to do it this way. It was about 45 minutes from Portovenere to Manarola. We then had about 30 minutes at Manarola before we got back on the ferry and headed to Vernazza. We had more time there - I think about an hour, or maybe more. I can't remember. Tracy and the California girls went to lunch, but I was itching to explore so I skipped lunch. I easily stumbled on one of the hiking trails and started walking. You have to pay to use the hiking trails, but the guy let me go through without paying when I told him I was only going a short way. It was very nice of him. I walked down the trail probably only about 15 or 20 minutes. I didn't have time to go far, but it was enough to get a taste of what it would be like. The views were amazing and I took a lot of pictures. Our driver picked us up in Vernazza, and from there we drove to Corniglia, which is the only town in the Cinque Terre that is not accessible by sea. It was small and picturesque, with great views of the surrounding area. From Corniglia we started heading back to the port, but not before a quick stop at Pisa to see the leaning tower. We only had about 20 minutes there, but it was enough time to take the mandatory photos of us holding up the tower. I had no real desire to go to Pisa, so I was glad it was just a quick stop, but I have to say I was much more impressed with the tower than I thought I would be. It's big and beautiful.

I enjoyed the day and I'm glad I got to finally see Cinque Terre. However, now that I've seen it I wouldn't need to go back again, unless I was going to hike the trails. They are charming and picturesque towns, but once you've seen them, you've seen them. I've already been to Florence and really wanted to do this. However, if you've never been to Florence I would recommend going there first, and saving this for a later trip. Of course, that's just my opinion.

Tuesday, May 10th - Civitavecchia

Today is the day that most people go to Rome. Tracy went on a tour to Rome with other members of the roll call, using Rome In Limo. She had a great day. I spent almost a week in Rome several years ago, so I wanted something different. Today is the only day I did a ship excursion. I was torn between Orvietto and the one called "Off the Beaten Path - Hilltop Towns". I have been to Orvietto before and absolutely loved it, and didn't have enough time there, but in the end I wanted to go someplace I'd never been before, so I chose the Off the Beaten Path tour. We went to Tuscania and Civita di Bagnoregio.

Before I even got off the ship I met a lovely woman who was also by herself for the day, so I had a touring buddy right away. First stop was Tuscania. On the way we drove through Tarquinia. I glimpsed enough to know I'd like to go back there and see more. Tuscania was a very small, walled town. Straight through at the back of the town is a pretty little park with outstanding views of the countryside and a castle on a hilltop. There was a working sundial in the park, but it was off by an hour. I guess they didn't have daylight savings time back then!

From there we went to Civita di Bagnoregio, which was the highlight of the day. It is a medieval town up high on a cliff. The only access is a long walking bridge. It was pretty amazing. It's extremely well preserved, and brought to life everything I'd imagined about what it would be like to live in the middle ages. We walked around and took a ton of pictures. After about an hour and a half we had a late lunch at a truly charming little restaurant. From there we had to walk back across the bridge to meet the bus, of course taking a gazillion pictures along the way. We were back to the ship before 5, so it was a shorter day than some of the others.

I really enjoyed Civita di Bagnoregio. It was unique and visually stunning, between the town itself and the surrounding countryside. It is small though, so a few hours is all you need. I would have liked to have it paired with something other than Tuscania (like maybe Tarquinia, which we drove right through). I would say that Orvietto has more to offer overall, in that you could easily spend an entire day there. But I don't regret my choice because I really liked it.

This was the only ship excursion I did, and I have to say I'm glad we joined the roll call and booked private tours that way. The ship excursion was fine, but the guide was clearly just putting his time in until quitting time, and I was on a bus with about 40 people. It didn't detract from my enjoyment of the day, but it isn't as nice as being on a private tour with no more than 8 people.

Hi! Thanks for your review!

 

We leave in two weeks. I'm trying to get more information on a few things:

1. How was Livorno? Any tips for that port?

2. What companies did you use for your port excursions and how were they?

Appreciate your detailed review

We are travelling on this ship in July

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Thanks for the review! We are doing Cinque Terre with Papillon on our Sept cruise, so I was especially excited to read about that part!

Cheers,

Dani