WanderlustJourney

The inaugural press trip is a cruise to nowwhere and only 2 nights ;)!

 

Just finished my deck by deck review - restaurants, bars, lounges are to follow soon.

 

steamboats

The inaugural on May 30th is for 3 nights, will include the christening of the ship on the 30th in Seattle before we depart and has a stop in Victoria :)

I agree, the reviews currently live onboard now are fantastic!

I was waiting for someone to try the slides too!! Could you tell you were that high up?

Great review so far! Thank you so much for all the photos, May 30th can't come soon enough! :)

Thanks for your review, really enjoying following along!

Thank so much for your review so far! Loving following along!

I’ll be on this sailing as well! Can’t wait to get onboard and check her out!

So exciting to see all the photos and videos starting to come through on Instagram! She looks beautiful!

I had heard it was scheduled for May 30th. Followed by a short promotional cruise for the media.

Yes, the christening is on May 30th, I’ll be on that 4 day/3 night sailing. We were told to arrive and check in by 1:30pm and our sail away out of Seattle is at 9pm.

I can see them not redeeming points for a free product (in Las Vegas, out of the 100s of Starbucks on the strip, only one will let you redeem points) but I also find it intriging that they have the sign there. I use my app for payment so I may need to pick up a physical card, just in case. And I totally hope they have a special Bliss mug.

I hope so too! I collect the Starbucks mugs from all over the world 🌎

I seriously doubt they will accept any form of outside payment.

Ditto for redeeming your Starbucks Points for free product.

That’s what I thought, but if this is the Starbucks onboard, why would they mention Starbucks Rewards? That would be highly misleading as you have to use your Starbucks card to make your purchase to receive stars... Interesting that’s all...

I’m officially intrigued by this... it mentions earning stars, which means they would have to also accept Starbucks gift cards!! Plus... Starbucks mugs with maybe featuring the Bliss for the “you were here” collection?!

Just curious, did you end up using most of your cash? We are bringing cash to tip the tour drivers and guides and that alone is around €240, so I wonder how much to bring for a snack or souvenir?

I did quite a few of the stops on my cruise on my own, so for me it was local bus fares, small entrance fees, etc. I did spend my euros during my cruise and when I got back into Rome is when I used an ATM to get more out, but during the cruise I spent probably only €200 in actual cash, rest was credit card purchases. Also keep in mind that I’m one person when I travel, some will probably need to double the budget based on more people in their travel group.

This will be our 2nd cruise on Spirit. We were on her end of May 2016 for my 50th. This cruise is for our 20th wedding anniversary. :)

Congratulations! :)

Always fun to sail when celebrating something special!

Gift shop, activities, spa...

I had $75 to burn on my last day, I needed a new piece of luggage (bought too much stuff), so bought an NCL roller carry on!

For my Mediterranean cruise I did have about €250 that I brought with me, I always kept €20 or so in my wallet, the rest in my safe. I found I could buy most souvenirs and food at restaurants with my credit card, used the cash for shuttles, public transport and a few smaller souvenir purchases.

My cruise in the Mediterranean was August 20-31st and had amazing weather, it was quite warm, some days over 90F. Not one drop of rain my entire cruise.

Your itinerary sounds great!

I did see some of those videos of staff "quality testing" the go kart track and wonder if they really are that slow? They don't seem very fast and remind me of the snails pace cars I've seen videos for on the Joy.

Reading this has made me excited about our trip in 7 weeks!! Thanks for posting!

Thanks for reading! I loved cruising the Spirit, I hope you have an great cruise! :)

Just to clarify, as I can’t remember.

 

If you want a taxi, do you still need to use the shuttle, or can your taxi come right to the ship?

 

Thanks.

 

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When I disembarked, I didn't see any taxis or private cars until after the port shuttle dropped us off, at this bus stop, just outside the gates to the right is where the taxi line is.

Most transfers back to Rome are here as well I believe?

I know they have been doing continual updates at Civitavecchia, they were building actual terminals for the cruise ship passengers when I was there and assumed those are now completed or close to for this cruise season, not just the temporary style domed storage type facilities that were being used when I was there in August.

Wanderlust.....absolutely love your blog and pics.

 

Thanks!

Your photos are beautiful and the blog is a joy to read!

Thanks for reading, glad to hear you enjoy it :)

Whilst I have visited Rome quite a few times as a port of call, I have never actually disembarked there, so you can probably get better advice from others.

 

However, whilst I always use the port shuttle and walk, I doubt I would do it that way with luggage, as it is quite a walk to the station from the drop off point. I would probably get a taxi.

 

 

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Yes, disembarkation in Rome is really easy.

As you mentioned in another post you've already cleared customs, so it's just a matter of walking off the ship, picking up your luggage in the "terminal" then boarding the free shuttle to the port entrance/exit. From there I used the car service that was 5 euros to the train station including luggage per person :)

There is also the bus shuttle service that is 2 euros to the train station, however there can be a bit of a wait for that depending on the number of people waiting for it...

Hi WanderlustJourney!

Thank you for those links! What a savings on the Amalfi Coast tour! That is the exact thing I want to do while porting at Naples (I was on an Italy tour last August and while in Sorrento we only had one day and my group all wanted to go to Capri. So I really want to go back and see Amalfi. That tour is perfect because it also goes to Ravello and Positano, not just Amalfi. Did it go to the Villa Rufolo in Ravello? You said you are going next May. Are you by chance going on Norwegian Jade on May 12, 2019? That is the one I'm looking at because of all the ports, although I've never cruised on Norwegian. The second tour looks amazing also. I want to drive that winding road that goes through that arch above the road, it's supposed to be amazing views! Did your tour do that? I would love to hear more about it, and which one I should pick of the two you posted!

Thanks for the info! I'm so excited.

I'll be on the Epic around those dates (May 2019) doing the Western Med itinerary that does include another stop in Naples... YAY! :)

It did go to the main area in Ravello, we had about an hour of free time to walk the town and visit where we wanted. I wandered around in Ravello, enjoying some of the beautiful ceramics that come out of these areas. I bought an oil pourer (I was on a mission to buy on this trip) in Amalfi from a lemoncello store at the foot of the steps to the church (best lemoncello in all of Amalfi as far as I'm concerned). Definitely try the creme limoncello, very different taste from the straight limoncello :) We had most of our free time in Amalfi on the last tour. The one I want to do this time has free time in Positano, Amalfi and Sorrento, where we didn't really have that on the last one. The Amalfi Coast is an amazing drive, be sure to get a spot on the right side of the mini bus (water and best views will be on the right as you drive).

Oia in Santorini was also a huge highlight! I just posted my tips for Santorini on my blog - https://wanderlustjourney.ca/2018/04/09/cruise-review-11-day-mediterranean-cruise-norwegian-spirit-day-7/

I did Oia on my own using the public bus, very easy and cheap (€1.80 per direction from Fira).

Day 7 in Santorini - http://wanderlustjourney.ca/2018/04/09/cruise-review-11-day-mediterranean-cruise-norwegian-spirit-day-7/

Thanks for your comparison!

I actually agree with a lot of your statements...

Added a few more posts to my blog... Here's the one I added tonight about Athens:

http://wanderlustjourney.ca/2018/04/08/cruise-review-11-day-mediterranean-cruise-norwegian-spirit-day-6/