Jade Cruise

Ta for the info...i am soooo excited, just booked Epic for our family of 10 inc 4 teenagers & Nanna /Grandad...celebrating my 65th. Looking for any info re WMed ports/self excursions as we are too many to book expensive trips with NCL . No idea how to start a roll call so hoping others more savvy than me will do it soon. :mad::D

Hi, have a look at my thread entitled 'Review from first cruise on Epic', http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2367498&highlight=epic, or if that link doesnt work its on page 4 of the Epic threads currently. There is some detail in it re self-excursion to Herculaneum, which I would recommend. We also went with teens. Enjoy!:)

We are doing a BI cruise next June and want to spend a week in Dublin post-cruise, we will be 4-5 adults and are looking for a centrally located self-catering apartment. I've contacted a few places but most of them require full advance payment. I'm not too happy about paying almost a year ahead of our trip, especially since the cancellation terms are rather severe.

 

Am hoping my CC friends will be able to help, look forward to suggestions from you, thanks in advance:)

Have you tried bookingdotcom? They have a free cancellation option and they appear to have lots of apartments available, e.g. Staycity aparthotels. :)

p.s. there's a picture of the library on my review 'Review of First Cruise on Epic' here on these pages.

I am hoping we will be able to visit the Herculaneum. I decided to putdown on the places we want to visit and then see what fits into a few hours. So many great places to see. We may have to do this cruise twice!

I'd highly recommend Herculaneum, very manageable to get around, plenty of shade and not crowded. Make sure you get a guide, it makes all the difference. Enjoy!

I will be taking online classes at the time..

Bear in mind that the internet access is slow and expensive, dont count on it.

More pictures:

1. Epic up close and personal, from the tender coming back from Cannes

2. Filmstar handprints at Palais in Cannes

3. the library, a lovely place to chill

4. our cabin

Think I may finally and belatedly have figured out how to post more pictures. These are from Herculaneum, showing the depth of lava that the town was buried under, our lovely and informative guide, and some of the original artwork

Can you tell me what time you can swim in the pools from?

Pools open 7am to 10pm but very small as others have said.

But we had been thinking of mainly checking out Rome and Cannes.

 

I've been feeling very nervous about us taking shuttle bus and then train to Rome - but your post about your day has given me a little bit more confidence. I panic that something drastic will happen to delay us and the ship will be gone!p

Hi SuzIreland, For what its worth, my advice for Rome would be to give yourself a generous time cushion, and dont have your agenda too packed, so that if something does go wrong you still have time to get back. You could bring a taxi contact number (and extra cash!) with you, and worst case scenario you could get a taxi back if you had to, but give yourself time. Cannes will be a doddle, just get on the tender, get off on the other end and you're there! Enjoy your trip.

Thank you for the great review! By chance do you have copies of the Freestyle Dailies???

Hi, they have been posted on this board already by Keith Jenner in a post entitled Epic Western Med Dailies:)

Do you think the girls would be allowed to stay onboard if they didnt want to join us on a particular day? .....I am just pre-empting they might just make new friends they want to hang around with rather than trailing behind us lol.

Hi Shazpat, I tried to see if there was anything in NCL's terms and conditions about leaving family behind while going ashore, but unfortunately I couldnt find anything. In October it will be much cooler so the hang-out areas in the pools and hot-tubs might not be as attractive for them if they stay behind.

So, we've come to the end! On Sunday we completed the last few minor bits of packing. Surprisingly, we had brought too many clothes (even though we only had carry on bags) and there were some things that we never wore. We had time to go to the buffet for breakfast before finally bidding goodbye to the Epic. For the first time in our experience, the buffet was very crowded and we had more difficulty than usual getting a table,but the downstairs 'spillover' area in La Cucina was available if we needed it.

Then, we just walked off and took the shuttle bus in the same place as we had started - it is to the left and a short walk when you exit the terminal. Be sure to have small value Euros ready, they will not take big notes on the bus, or better still, buy a return ticket when you are starting out and remember where you put it! The shuttle bus drops you back at the end of La Ramblas.

We had one more day in Barcelona and had booked the Evenia Rocafort hotel on bookingdotcom. From the Drassanes metro, which is just at the end of La Ramblas its just 2 stops to Poble Sec metro and a short walk. This was a good hotel option, reasonably priced at €118 per room B&B, €59 each. It is modern, clean, with friendly helpful staff, and has good wifi and is quite centrally located just off Av. del Parallel, one of the main routes. It is also close to Plaza de Espanya, where the airport bus stops, and this was handy for us the next morning. Breakfast was included and there was a reasonable choice of food, but nothing like the Epic buffet, of course!

As it was too early to check in, we left our luggage and went off to explore. By chance, the 'Art of the Brick' exhibition by NY artist Nathan Sawaya was on its last day just down the street at Plaza de Espanya. This is a great exhibition where all the art is made from Lego, thousands and thousands of individual bricks making up some astonishing pieces of work. Unfortunately for Epic cruisers, it is no longer in Barcelona but is currently in Hamburg Germany and a few locations in the US, and it definitely recommended for both adults and children alike, a good place to spend a few hours.

After that we took the Hop On bus tour. Tickets were €28 each and there was a stop nearby in Plaza de Espanya. The ticket price covers two different routes, and visits all the main attractions, including Camp Nou, the Barcelona soccer stadium, Sagrada Familia, and other Gaudi-themed locations. It is a good tour and a good way to get an overview of the city. Unfortunately the male members of our group were flagging from an abundance of late nights and they abandoned the bus before the end to go back to the hotel to sleep. Daughter and I disembarked in the Centre and went for a late lunch along La Ramblas. We had hoped to visit a few shops but we discovered to our disappointment that on Sundays the majority of shops don't open - Sunday is a relatively quiet day in Barcelona , so after wandering down La Ramblas a little we made our way back to the hotel, where we just rested up for a while.

In the evening we went for dinner to a local restaurant, and afterwards we went to see the Magic Fountains display which was nearby, a display combining music, lights and spectacular water fountains, which started at 9.30pm and attracted large crowds. it is worth a look if you are in the area. The meet.barcelona.cat website has good information on entertainment options in the city including concerts etc.

Next morning we walked a short way, about maybe 1km, to the Plaza de Espanya, where the airport bus stops outside the Plaza hotel. There are two buses, A1 and A2, going to terminals 1 and 2 respectively. The buses are very regular and we only had a short wait - the fare was something over €5pp. The trip to the airport was quick and uneventful and we made our way back to Dublin with Ryanair.

So that's the end of our Epic adventure, thanks to all who followed along and left comments, hopefully you got some useful info for your own trips - certainly Cruise Critic was a great source of good information for me before we sailed and it meant we were reasonably well prepared. If you have questions feel free to post them here. We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise experience and would go again. For what its worth, my teens tend not to like being too 'scheduled' and the trip worked best when we had broad plans but also left room for spontaneity - this is only a personal opinion and of course everyone is different. I had a good excuse for cruising this year because of a big 'round' birthday in June, no excuse next year, but still...I'm tentatively looking at Getaway in Baltic for 2017... I can always dream! :D

Bye for now,

Jade.

Hi again, just a short report this time, because our last day on the ship was pretty uneventful. We were in Marseille but most of us didn't go ashore. Our son went with his new friends and they took a shuttle bus into town. They had no particular agenda and just wandered around. After a bit some unruly soccer fans descended on the area and the atmosphere got ugly, so they got out of there quick. (Of course the hooligans were not Irish soccer fans, who are the best behaved in the world ;)) All aboard was much earlier than other ports, at 3.30pm.

It was cloudy and quite cool and windy out. There was practically no-one on the sun-beds pre-noon.

So, on board on the Saturday we used the time to pack, explore a bit more of the ship, have a few cocktails, relax, read, have some more food, etc. The activities in the Atrium (trivia quizzes etc )are a bit lame, only recommended if you are really stuck for entertainment. The magician was doing a workshop in main theatre in the afternoon, that is worth a look for kids.

We had a very long leisurely dinner in the buffet, watching the sun go down and having a few glasses of wine to mourn the end of the cruise. The Freestyle Daily helpfully tells you what time sunset will be at, so you can plan to have your camera ready. Contrary to what some people have reported, the waiting staff in the buffet were nearly too zealous, they kept coming around asking to take drinks orders and were determined not to leave any used items on the table - we nearly had to tell them to go away. The teens were once again off doing their thing, and didn't return until late night/early morning, bearing t-shirts and NCL paraphenalia that they had won.

Just a note about the evening housekeeping - if you have a family room and need the 3rd and 4th beds made up, be careful to turn the little wheel on your room number outside the door to 'make up cabin' if you forget to change it from 'Do not Disturb' they will not disturb, and you will have to ring Housekeeping and get someone to do it late at night when you get back to your room.

Our steward Allehandro was very pleasant and helpful if we ever needed anything, which wasn't too often. He kept a particularly good supply of towels in the room all week. Towards the end of the cruise he produced a towel animal on the bed each night when he was doing his rounds

We checked our account on the TV in our room throughout the week, and it was always accurate. On the last night, if you have given them credit card details they just charge the balance to your card so you don't have to go to the desk and 'check out'. When we woke up on the Sunday morning and checked the TV, the account was cleared and the balance was at 0.00, which was quite efficient, we thought.

So, maybe a few summary thoughts here. We had a great week and very much enjoyed the cruise. For what we paid (average of €950pp including tips ) we felt that it was good value for money, since good quality food, drinks and entertainment were all included - it would be difficult to get the same value on land in a hotel. Of course you can spend lots more, but equally there is no need to do so, and we could easily have left the ship with no bill at all, if we hadn't splurged a little on Teppanyaki and a few other bits and bobs. NCL do tempt you to spend extra, in this respect they are probably no different to any other business, but it is quite easy to avoid the temptations, nobody is going to force you to buy extras. I guess the key is to know before you go what is included and what is not, having realistic expectations is probably the key.

We are not big into being waited upon, so the freestyle nature of NCL suited us well, but clearly it doesn't suit everyone, and is probably more suited to those who want to be casual. We dressed up a little in the evenings but didn't feel any pressure to do so, and the general vibe was very laid back and relaxed. If you like your ballgown or tuxedo for dinner-wear you will probably not like this ship, there could be someone in a football jersey and flip-flops sitting next to you in Cagneys, as there was when we were there!

A small amount of pre-planning is required, mostly just to book the big shows, Priscilla and Burn the Floor. People seem to get very irritated by the need to do this, but to be honest it seems reasonable enough, you wouldn't expect to turn up at a similar show at home and walk in without pre-booking a ticket.

We did not do a very culture-intensive itinerary ashore, we just dabbled a bit in a few things, which worked ok for us because the teens were never going to tolerate a holiday that was one big history lesson - where we come from we already got 'a whole lotta history'! To get the best from the ports you would need to be travelling with probably one very like-minded person, otherwise compromise is the key to a peaceful week! For those with teens, as I've mentioned earlier, insist on them going to Entourage on night 1 and see who's there - for us it set the scene for the whole week and made their holiday a great success.

So, this has not been so short after all! Back to Barcelona on the next post, where we have a few more things to tell you about, and then its all over :(

Hi Jade

you mentioned drinks were very expensive, do you recall how much for beer/wine?

As someone else has mentioned here $8-$12 was about average. Every day there was a 'drink of the day' cocktail mentioned on the daily, at special reduced price of $7.95, normal price $10-ish.

When we booked, one of the 'perks' offered was the Ultimate Beverage Package UBP, so we took it. I liked the freedom of not having to budget for drinks, and also the novelty of trying different cocktails and combinations that I wouldn't normally have, without having to think about the cost. I think the high cost of drinks would have been an irritation if we didn't have the UBP. Just bear in mind that it doesn't include speciality coffee or water, but there is a good selection of juices and water available in the buffet all the time, as well as regular tea and coffee, but you have to pay extra for the fancy coffees.

Also, from time to time some of the bar staff were zealous about enforcing the one drink at a time policy, so if you wanted to use your card to buy a round or a drink for someone else, they would charge for all the additional drinks.

Hi you said the last tender back was 1700.

So presumably as long as you are at the quayside before 1700 even if there is a queue you will get back ok. Stupid question really.... They aren't gona leave people behind, are they!

I would assume your interpretation is right, but I've no experience so I can't tell you for sure! Maybe a more experienced cruiser will 'row in' here (- no pun intended!) and let us know. They have lots of tender boats so it would make sense for them to send as many boats as are needed to get everyone who is on the pier at 5pm.:)

Mking 8288, thanks for your advice, will give that a try, but not tonight - 23.44 here now! upload of thumbnails not loading tonight.:mad:

Hi again, our day in Cannes:

As you probably know the ship doesn't come right in to the port in Cannes and you have to take the small boats (tenders) to get ashore. If you want to go ashore up to about 10.30am they require you to pre-book your tender, which you can do on the TV in your room. By the time we went to pre-book all the earlier times were already booked, but that was fine, we were on vacation, we had a few rituals like the gym to take care of, and we're not early birds anyway;). If you were on an excursion it would probably be advisable to book your tender early in the week. We booked for 10.30. Once it gets past 11am it seems you can just walk down and take the next available tender.

When we went to get our tender there was a massive line spread over 2 decks. There was quite a long wait in line, and for the first time in our NCL experience, it didn't seem too well organised. There were people skipping the line and others getting irritated with them, and the pre-booked times didn't seem to count for much. Bring your patience. Once we were on the tender it was very straightforward, it only took a few minutes to get ashore and its a good chance to get a nice picture of the ship.

Cannes is such an easy port because it isn't large and industrialised like many of the others, and you are practically in the town once you get ashore. There is a beach just beside where you disembark, which I believe is free, but we didn't use it. The teens were not interested in doing any cultural highlights, so we just had an easy day wandering around together, taking in the atmosphere and taking pictures of how the other half lives!

We took the petit train tour which leaves just past the first car park you pass through after reaching the pier. It was €10pp and lasts about 45-50 minutes with an audio guide but no stops. We had a wait to get on board but it was nice and sunny so we didn't mind. It just goes along the shoreline, to the Film festival place, up through narrow streets to an elevated site where you get a nice overview, and back to the starting point, pointing out along the way the hotels where the rich and famous frequent. It was a pleasant enough way to spend an hour, but nothing to rave about. Kudos to the driver who negotiated very narrow streets expertly in a very unorthodox vechicle.

Our 16yr old son who knows his cars was entertained by the endless flow of very upmarket cars that drove past regularly. After the train we strolled along the shore and admired the millionaire's yachts. We went back to see the filmstars handprints at the film festival building and got some nice souvenirs in the official Cannes shop there. Then we had lunch at Ma Nolan's, which was coincidentally an Irish pub, just off Rue D'Antibes, which is one of the main shopping streets, it was a good spot.

After lunch the ATM, aka Mum, dispensed some cash and the teens went shopping on Rue D'Antibes, where there were plenty of stores to interest them and they picked up a few things. Again the cars passing along the street were a constant source of amazement. As the last tender was scheduled for 5pm we headed back to the pier about 4pm and were welcomed back by some very smiley NCL staff doing the 'welcome back, washy washy' rap. The tendering process was very smooth and we were back on board with no hitches well before 5pm.

We had a complimentary dinner at Cagney's from our travel agent so the adults availed of that while the teens once again went off to hang out with their friends. The older boy had discovered the chicken wings in O' Sheehans and went back there frequently.

I had pre-booked gluten-free options with Kent the night before, and I had a very good crabcake, surf n turf and a raspberry Creme Brulee. Hubby had scallops, beefsteak tomatoes and also surf n turf. His steak was cold and we had to send it back for reheating, but otherwise everything was good and we had a lovely table by the window. He tried the Cagney's signature cocktail - cant remember what it was called but it was some serious liquor and definitely not to my taste. I tried strawberry daiquiri which was much more palatable. Having the drinks package meant we could try things we would never normally try. After dinner we again did a mini tour of the music options, piano bar music, Paolo on guitar and we saw a little of Christian Miro the magician, unfortunately we missed most of his show, but the bit we saw seemed good, we never got back to see the full show. We would have liked to see the Supreme Dream girls too, but we never made it to them in the end. Hubby saw the Beatles but was not overly impressed with them.

On night 6 the jewellry shops seemed to be really ratcheting up their sales pitches, they were offering pretty big discounts (but their prices were pretty big to begin with). We didn't partake.

Discovered on Day 6 that the teens had only used the waterslides a handful of times and hadn't used the climbing wall at all, which was a bit surprising, since those items were part of why I picked this ship. It turns out once they had company that they were happy with they could have been anywhere and the amenities didn't really count for that much. The Entourage meeting on the first night proved to be a good move, they linked up there with other kids and were able to keep themselves entertained all week.

They were initially impressed with the novelty of the buffet and the unlimited food, but after a few days they just went back to having fairly standard plain meals, much as they would at home. They had the soda package but they didn't use it much, there was always a selection of juices and water available in the buffet and they tended to go for them. For anyone who likes their Breakfast tea, there is PG Tips tea available in the buffet.

So thats about it for Day 6. At this stage the little 'holiday nearly over' clouds were starting to gather and we were starting to think about packing for leaving :eek:

Loving your review! Can you recall how much the orange bus from Civitavecchia train station to port was?

Thanks. Just a Euro or 2 for the bus.:)

uploading of photos working again for some reason - here's two from Day 5, leaning tower and Teppanyaki:

Another instalment, while I still have a little of the weekend left!

Day 5 was Livorno. The late nights and partying had got the better of the men and they were in no hurry to get up. Daughter and I decided to go ashore and have a girl's day out, with nothing in particular planned. We got the ship's shuttle to the train station for €15 each return, it left from just outside the ship, and there was a desk in the terminal selling the tickets, which are charged to your room. We got the train to Pisa, which was only €2.60 each way. Unfortunately it was raining heavily. From outside the train station, across the road, we got the 'Red Line' bus to the Leaning Tower, which is just a few stops. There is more than one red line bus, so you need to ask someone at the bus stop to make sure you're on the right one. We could probably have walked it but the rain was quite heavy. The vendors were doing a strong trade in plastic raincoats and umbrellas. When we got there the rain had eased off and we visited the tower for the obligatory photos, but we didnt climb it. If you want to climb it you can book online in advance.

After that we wandered through the little streets and did a bit of shopping. Pisa is a nice place to visit. There were some lovely good quality leather bags, at fairly reasonable prices, (as well as a lot of tatty souvenirs!) Daughter managed to wrangle a few late birthday presents, as it had been her 14th birthday a few days before we sailed. We had a nice leisurely lunch in a pizza place in one of the side streets, so that she could have some more authentic Italian pizza, and access the all-important WiFi. It was easy to get the bus and train back and the NCL shuttle was waiting where we had been left off. We probably could have taken a local bus but it was reassuring to know the shuttle bus would bring us right back to the ship in good time. It was a relaxing day, very light on sightseeing, and a pleasant way for the two of us to spend a few hours.

We had booked Teppanyaki for that evening, for about 6.00 or 6.30pm. It is quite a small restaurant. You sit around the grill and each chef cooks for up to 8 people right there in front of you, while doing a witty commentary and performing some tricks. Our chef started off by juggling a series of very dangerous-looking knives and cleavers. I tried the Wasabi cocktail, which was good. There are set courses of Miso soup and seaweed salad for everyone, these were not very inspiring. There is a choice of main courses, with a number of shrimp, scallops, steak and chicken options and combinations. I had a different soup because of needing gluten-free and the chef cooked my food before the others, without soy sauce, to avoid gluten. The chef kept up a funny commentary throughout and performed a few tricks while preparing the food. The mains he cooked were delicious. The NCL photographer came around at the start and we had a group photo with the chef, which we bought for $24, (a bit pricey, but it was one of the few photos we had of us all together on board and it looked good!). Dessert was again a set course for everyone, a green tea cake with green tea ice-cream, which tasted of nothing much. The main courses were very good food, the other courses were just ok, but the dinner overall was fun because of the performance element and we all enjoyed it.

The teens went their own way after Teppanyaki to meet their friends and take part in the Entourage activities. We went to the Martini bar and had a few drinks, while listening to the pianist.

We had pre-booked Priscilla for 10pm that evening, for the adults. Even though we had met some people who said the shows were all booked out, it turned out that there were lots of empty seats, so anyone who hadn't pre-booked could easily have turned up and got a seat. There were floor staff taking drinks orders in the theatre right up to curtain-up, which was handy as we could stay in the very comfortable seats and have the drinks brought around.

The show was preceded by several warnings that the show was not for children or the easily offended. I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it was an excellent production, with high quality singing, dancing and extraordinary costumes. While there are certainly adult themes and some coarse language, IMO it was relatively tame by comparison with what can be seen on both TV and cinema at home, even in the early evening time - I've seen and heard much worse. Mature teens could have attended IMO. My other half was not so taken with it and left before the end even though he likes music and entertainment generally, said it was not for him. You probably know already whether its for you - if you think already that you might be offended you probably will be. For what its worth I would highly recommend it - for me it brought day 5 to a close on a high. Next up, Cannes.:cool:

trying to load photos again, some will upload, some will not, cant understand it but here's one that uploaded.

Hello again, back to posting, had to go back to work since last post, (at the moment employment is the only option in order to pay for the next cruise ;).)

Day 4 for us was Civitavecchia. We decided to see the Colosseum on our own. We had a much earlier start this time, dragged the teens out of bed at 7am and after breakfast in the Buffet we were leaving the ship shortly after 8am.

There was a free shuttle bus to take you out of the port, with just a short waiting time. The bus takes you straight to another set-down point where you can get another public bus to the train station. Tickets for the train station are just €2 and you buy them at a little office there, it is well signposted, have small value Euros ready. Again there was not much waiting time and we were in the train station at about 8.50am. It was all very well organised and easy to do.

Although it is not necessary, we had pre-booked our seats on a fast train at 9.18am, you can do this on the Trenitalia website. It cost us €22 per adult return, and the 14 year old was free as we were able to avail of a 'bimbi gratis' option - applies to children aged under 15. By doing it this way we were able to pre-select our seats both ways, as we were a little apprehensive that the trains might be very crowded and that we might have to stand for an hour to Rome. As it happened, the train was relatively quiet and we had a very smooth journey to Roma Ostiense, arriving about 10.20. From there you just follow the 'M' sign to the metro, which you can do without leaving Ostiense station, and take the metro to Colosseo, which is only 2 stops. Metro ticket was €1.50pp. Once you emerge from the metro the Colosseum is right in front of you.

It was very crowded at the Colosseum and there were long lines everywhere. We were immediately targeted by multiple guides selling tours. We had pre-booked our entrance tickets on the official coopculture website and we went first to pick them up at the ticket office, where there was just a short wait. It is possible to use the 'print at home' option for tickets booked on line, but because our u18s were free except for a €2 booking fee, we had to go to the ticket office to pick up the tickets. They didn't ask for ID for u18s, but we had heard that they sometimes ask for proof of age and had brought it along anyway.

We picked a tour randomly from one of the many who were offering, it was €13pp and covered both the Colosseum and Capital Hill. Even with tickets already purchased there was still quite a bit of waiting in line for security, but we eventually made it into the Colosseum.

Unfortunately the guide was not nearly as good as the one we had in Herculaneum. She took us to the first meeting point at the iron cross and gave a short introduction and time for photos, and then to a further point about 100m away, where she gave more info. That was it!! about 40-45 mins in total. She gave us instructions for how to find the guide for part 2 of the tour at the other location. We all agreed it was a poor tour and we opted not to do part 2 with them. We had downloaded Rick Steves audio guide, which is free and we listened to it and did some more investigation on our own. If I was doing it again I would probably try to get an official tour or source a company with a good reputation, the one we had was definitely not great. The underground and third tier tours are highly recommended, however the tickets only seem to go on sale at specified times and sell out very quickly on the official site - we were not able to get any when we tried back in March. It seems that the tour companies snap them up and then sell them on to you at a premium.

For me, our visit was not ideal, I would have liked more time with a better guide. If you are particularly interested in the detail and the history it would be worth doing a bit of research and getting a good tour guide. However, one of the 'joys' of cruising as a family is that the teens had very different interests and were more than happy to cut short the cultural tour! As a first time cruiser this was one lesson I learned, - you will not please all of the people all of the time, particularly when you go ashore. On the ship it is easy for everyone to do their own thing but once you go ashore you really need to be agreed on the itinerary because splitting up is not an option.

After visiting the gift shop we left the area and went for lunch nearby. We had plenty of time to get back to the train, via the metro and again it was not crowded and we had pre-booked tickets. We were back in Civitavecchia by about 5pm. The orange bus to the port was right outside the train station, which took us back to the free shuttle bus meet up point, with no hitches at all.

The adults ate at O'Sheehans, where it was 'prime rib' theme night, the kids had made arrangements to have dinner with their friends. The portions of meat in O' Sheehans were ridiculously big, one portion would easily have fed 2-3 people. We had prime rib with baked potato and corn, but we sent back a lot of food. We were a bit uncomfortable about all that waste. Afterwards we wandered through the bars and listened for a while to the pianist, the Manhattan band and the guitar player Paolo.

That was our day in Rome. Bye for now:)

oops, Small edit to my previous post, cost of trip to Herculaneum was €26.70 per adult, not €16.70, I forgot to include our lovely guide. (embarrassed to say I do figures for a living!!:o)

Tried again to upload a few photos from laptop but I keep getting an 'upload failed' message. If anyone has any insights on what I might be doing wrong please advise:o

As I've mentioned, we are independent travellers/savvy shoppers/cheapskates (take your pick) so we didn't do any of the ship's shore excursions. On Day 3 in Naples we had a leisurely breakfast in the buffet and our gym bunny did his thing in the gym. We left the ship shortly after 10am. Remember to bring your keycard with you, you will need it getting off and getting back on.

We went to Herculaneum via tram and train. It is quite easy to do on your own. When you disembark just walk all the way forward until you reach the main road, there will be a coffee shop/tabac there where you can buy a combined tram and train ticket for €3.20pp one way. Then just turn right, you will see the stop for Tram no. 1 in the middle of the street. Make sure to validate your ticket on the tram. The tram heads along parallel to the shore and after a few stops it turns left and next stop is The Porta Nolana train station - it is easy to see. This is the terminal and the best place to get on, otherwise you will probably be standing. Take the train in the Sorrento direction. Again, validate your ticket on the train. The stop for Herculaneum is Ercolano, 'Scavi' is written on a separate brown sign under the main signs on the platforms, it is approximately 8-9 stops, doesnt take long to get there. Once you exit the station at Ercolano Scavi, turn right and almost immediately left. You will be looking down a long street and the entrance is via large gateway at the very end of the street, not a very long walk, maybe 10-15 mins. There are lots of cafes and pizza places enroute.

Once you go through the gateway continue on to the ticket office which is further on in a red brick building. Entrance was just €11 per adult and under 18s were free. There was just a short line of 4 people in front of us. We joined with them to avail of the services of a guide, at €10 per person. We were very lucky with our guide, who was very knowledgeable and interesting and brought the whole thing alive for us - I would highly recommend getting a guide, it is well worth it. The tour was meant to be for an hour but it went on for easily 1.5 hours. The site was not busy and had plenty of shade, so it was very manageable and we thoroughly enjoyed the visit, it was just right for us, but if you are particularly interested you could easily spend far longer there.

After our visit, we walked back up to the train station and had some Neapolitan pizza on the way. I dont remember the name of the place, but there are lots to choose from. The ticket back to Porta Nolana was €2.50pp and the ticket office in the station was open. The total cost of our trip was €16.70 per adult, not including lunch, which was pretty good value. Using the public transport was a novelty for the teens since we live in a rural area at home and there is no public transport of any kind - this may be hard for some city dwellers to believe! The only hitch in our plans was when we got back to Porta Nolana it was raining and the tram we took broke down or got stuck in some way about half way back to the port. There was a bit of confusion so we just got off and walked the last bit, which took 15 mins or so. We also had to have the obligatory stop for WiFi as we had some people having withdrawal symptoms from not being able to connect since we left Barcelona on Sunday. We were back on the ship at about 6pm, having had a very leisurely day.

We ate in the buffet, where it was Italian night. There is a different theme in the buffet each night, although the variety of food there is so vast every day that the themes don't seem to matter much. Again, the food was consistently good.

After dinner the teens went off to meet their new friends and Husband went to the Karaoke in Bliss. I just went to the cabin and had a leisurely read for a few hours.

Thats about it for day 3 - next up Civitavecchia. :)