Joe33472

Happy to share about our time in Florence. So excited for you taking the TA next spring. We were thinking the other night how much we miss being on the Odyssey. The crossing was a fantastic experience. I'm still dreaming about Malaga. Totally unexpected and world class city. We'll be doing another crossing at the end of our time in Europe as we're on the QM2 out of Southampton to NYC in June. That's likely to be a totally different experience than the Odyssey. As far as Florence, we're using the city as a home base for a number of day trips (our stamina pending 🤣). What we're thinking at this point is: Bologna - day trip Verona - day trip Rent car and drive thru Tuscany (3 days and 2 nights in hotel) Venice (2 nights in hotel and travel by train) The road trip looks something like, drive and lunch in Lucca, drive by the Leaning Tower in the early afternoon, and the drive to San Gimignano and stay overnight. Get a slow start and make our way to Siena and stay overnight. Maybe Assisi the next morning and return the car the latest time possible on day 3. We're spending a short amount of time in Milan after Florence, but that would be another possible day trip to consider from Florence. We're using Milan to go to Lake Cuomo and see the Last Supper. Then onto Switzerland.

We were neighbors in Rome 😀 when you were here. We're staying on Via di Pietra which is only a short distance from the Pantheon. We're in an AirBnB, but it's SO noisy. A lot of foot traffic and restaurants open very late. And then recycling in the morning at some early hour. We have another week here, but have some day trips planned. Positano, Naples, Tivoli, and maybe Ostia Antica. On the 20th we move onto Florence and things will get a little more civilized. I have a love/hate relationship with Rome for all the things you mention. It's similar to how I feel about NYC. I work in the city, but it's tough. Rome is the same. Florence is my favorite place in Europe, so I'm excited to get out of Rome next week.

I've rented cars at Termini several times, but it was immediately leaving the area and out of the city. Totally agree that driving in Rome would be a nightmare, not to mention parking and the ZTL zones that are all over the city. The bus system is pretty extensive and we've taken the bus a ton of times since we've got here on Sunday. Yesterday we took one of those cute little buses up to the top of the Spanish Steps. The bus was adorable and much easier walking down the stairs than up. Really small inside, but there was only a couple of other travelers besides us, which was a nice change.

We didn't really like the Solarium much, but it's very popular. Every time we walked through it was totally packed. A lot of chair hogging, but still a LOT of people in there. We brought swimwear but never sat out in the Solarium or pool deck.... too many other things we wanted to do. But if we were going to sit out, it would probably would have been at the regular pool deck. We did visit these outdoor areas via the Solarium which were cool. As far as vendors on the streets in Rome, I've found it's best just not to engage or even make the slightest of slight eye contact with these folks. No reason to even say "NO". Pretend they don't even exist and they will get the message quickly. I've found that engaging can make it worse. Definitely don't accept any "free" gift (bracelet, rose, trinket, or whatever) is being offered or take a picture with someone dressed up in a costume. This trip the street vendors seem to be pushing battery chargers and selfie sticks, more than bracelets. And an annoying jelly toy that makes an awful screeching noise. The guys are just trying to lake a living and approach thousands of peoples per day, so if you walk past and don't say anything, they will be okay.

Up and early and in line at 6:45 am for the General Audience with the Pope. We did the Scavi tour on Monday. And Castel Gandolfo tomorrow. Mass at the Pantheon on Saturday at 5 pm will wrap up most of our pilgrimage. Next week we do two nights in the Almalfi coast then onto Florence on the 20th.

This is our very first AirBnB ever, so it's been interesting experience. The location of this AirBnB is fantastic. We're on Via di Pietra which connects the Pantheon to the Trevi fountain. So, it's very central to the old historical sights. We're 5 minutes from Trevi and 7 minutes from the Pantheon and about 15 minutes for Piazza Navona. There are a ton of restaurants, shops, and gelato in both directions. The only issue we've had is that the pedestrian street outside is very loud and we're quiet people. The apartment had great ratings on AirBnB and the host is a super host, but there were a few posts about the noise from the restaurants below, but I guess I underestimated how much noise. I've walked this street many times before the pandemic, but things are way more busy now and the outside dining wasn't there before the pandemic. It's a struggle with the noise. We are here for 2 weeks, and I told my girlfriend we could leave and go to a hotel or find some other lodging if the noise was too much for her, but she wants to stay because of the location. We also have two bathrooms (makes getting ready really helpful) and tons of space, so a hotel room would definitely be more like the cruise ship. There are some issues with cleanliness of the apartment, but I find that in a lot of Italian hotels, so it's not surprising to me. Having a full sized refrigerator is priceless.

Finally settled into our AirBnB in Rome from a long day of travel, grocery stores, much needed laundry, and quick walks to the Pantheon and Trevi fountain. We had a great day at Cinque Terre on Day 14 and didn't take that many pictures. @LooneyCruzer provided an amazing collection of photos, just beautiful. Even if we had taken pictures, ours wouldn't have been that great. Although I've been to the Cinque Terre a few times before, this visit really reminded me of the beauty of the area, just stunning. The weather was beautiful. Disembarkation today was a breeze, although the private car pickup area was a madhouse, likely due to the predicted train strike. Not sure if there was an actual strike or how much service it disrupted. Thinking about our 14 days on the Odyssey, we had a wonderful experience and would definitely do another TA on Royal Caribbean. Not sure if we'd do a spring break or holiday cruise on RCI, as I think that we fit into the demographics on this crossing perfectly and I think that helped with the overall experience. Don't get me wrong, we like kids, but the level of kids on this cruise was perfect for us. Some young ones, but not overwhelmed with kids and families.

We're SO excited to be in Italy. We arrived in port on time and cleared immigration quickly. Passengers with excursions (I'd imagine especially those going to Pisa/Florence) were on their way very very early. There are a ton of port shuttles to take passengers to the cruise terminal. These busses look like organized tours and excursions. Most promising for us, the port has a taxi stand right outside the ship. I thought that we'd have to take the shuttle and then search for a taxi. Everything I read online suggested that we'd have to do the shuttle, so I'm hoping by the time we're ready that there is still a taxi available. There are not a lot of taxis, but most people seem to be taking excursions or the free shuttle, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Our plan is going to the train station and taking the train to Monterosso and spend a few hours there and then take train back to La Spezia and walking back through town.

Cruise Compass Day 14.pdf

Say it ain't so, Joe....

Just crossed paths with the Norwegian Escape. I think the mountains in the background is the island of Mallorca.

Up early this morning (5 a.m.).... time changes really mess me up in unpredictable ways. The quiet time had me thinking about the last 12 days of our first cruise in decades and our overall experience on Royal Caribbean, as we're rapidly approaching the end of our time aboard the Odyssey. I truly think that the staff onboard are wonderful and overall that the service is excellent. Yes, there were some hiccups here and there, but certainly nothing big and nothing for me to complain about. I realize that the staff is required to be nice to the passengers, but we had many occasions of true helpfulness, where the staff members were under no requirement to assist us or be nice to us. And overall, I think that the niceness of the staff helps to promote a positive attitude onboard between passengers. Lots of small talk between passengers, which is really nice. Only a few really grumpy folks and some bad elevator etiquette, but that happens on land too. At sea today on our way to La Spezia. We're hoping to get ourselves organized today as tomorrow will be busy and Sunday we disembark.

We ended up just doing some laundry by hand, wringing dry by hand, and used a portable clothesline on the deck (which I'm sure is against the rules), but we did it discretely and respectfully. I'm sure that the towel idea saves a lot of time. We kept hand wringing the bottom of our garments, as the water seemed to collect there. Overall, it freshened up our clothes a bit, but can't wait to do a proper wash in Rome. Security came to our room (long boring story) and didn't say anything about the clothesline. But we didn't have a ton of items on the line when security was here, but it was out there.

Cruise Compass Day 13.pdf

We went into Cartagena today and walked around for a bit, had some tapas, some gelato, and now we're back on the ship around 2:00 p.m. The port is a short walk from the old town area (about 5 minutes), so no need for a shuttle or other transportation. We noticed a bunch of folks leaving for early excursions, so that might be a good idea for this port. Since, although old town is nice enough, I'm not sure there is enough to do for a day, unless you've planned something. Our highlight was this gelato. As good as the gelato in Italy and about the same size. This was four euros. Overall, a nice stop, but much more looking forward to the Cinque Terre and some nice Italian food.

I forgot to mention in the last post on the way back to the ship that we saw a really nice and modern area closer to the port that was accessible from the port without taking the shuttle. We were too exhausted to look over there, but there looked like shops and restaurants. Can't believe that tomorrow is day 12. Below is the cruise compass. Cruise Compass Day 12.pdf

We LOVED Malaga. What a great city. So, clean and beautiful and so much to do right in town. Rather than do an organized tour, we decided to do things on our own. We used the cruise port shuttle to get to the edge of old town. The shuttle was €5 each and that was the ten best euros that I think I've ever spent. Drops you off in a perfect location for exploring the city. We started by taking a cab up to Castle Gibralfaro. The cost was €8 from near where the shuttle left us off. Since I was delinquent in doing my research, I thought the Castle and Alcazaba were one and the same. Thank goodness I asked the cab to drive us up to the Castle because the entrance to Alcazaba is relatively easy to reach from the drop off point. The castle on the other hand is up a HUGE hill. You can buy a ticket for entrance to both, but we opted for just the castle. The views are amazing from up there, actually breathtaking. Even though it was drizzling and a little windy, we totally enjoyed ourselves up there. A little treacherous with the wet stairs, but nonetheless, a totally enjoyable experience. When it came time to leave we couldn't find a cab so we decided to walk down the hill. There were tons of people walking up the hill and all I can say is that my hat's off to them. That's a major hill. The Hop-on Hop-off stops up at castle, so that might be an option for some. We really didn't want to sit on a bus, so I'm glad we just did it on our own. The walk down was tough on our knees and took about 20 minutes, but we could have waited that long for a cab. Had some sangria and tapas for lunch and then explored old town. We got the most amazing pastries in old town. We forgot to take pictures and we didn't eat the pastries until back on the ship and wish we had bought more. It was SO good and amazingly inexpensive. One was like 1.8 euros and the other 1.4 euros. Did some more shopping in town and then visited the Cathedral of Malaga which was very beautiful. Entrance was 10 Euros per person and comes with audio tour. We skipped the audio and just looked around. We went to see the Book again and now we're wired, but exhausted at the same time. Overall, a great day.

Went to Cafe 270 today and took a picture of the menu. Not sure what happened with the spirited drinks. Today we had caramel frappucino and and an ice mocha latte. Both were great. Ended up going back to the jewelry shop and I won't be leaving with a zero balance on my onboard account. 🤣😀

Attended the Fine Jewelry auction this morning and we didn't leave with anything, but was invited to visit the store tonight at 9:00 p.m. to purchase items at the reserve price. Didn't bid on items, so I'm not sure why we'd want the pieces at the reserve price. I would say that the jewelry store staff (and I would say the concession staff in general) has been super nice and friendly. Overall, the entire staff on board has been delightful. Reflecting upon our experience so far is that the crew is so hard working. The guy who makes our coffee drinks in Cafe 270 is constantly busy. He told me that I can get specialty coffee at Windjammer, but I prefer the way he makes coffee. But we drink a lot of specialty coffee, so we actually use both locations. Prior to the cruise I found this cafe menu, which I thought was for Odyssey, but onboard I don't see the spirited coffees. Would have like to try a couple of those, but the regular coffees are great too. Odyssey-Cafe-Two70-menus.pdf

We attended the event today where Captain Marek decorated a cake with the help of the Cruise Director and culinary staff. What a fun event and the cake was good too. IMG_1736.MP4

We went for our last dinner at Chops Grille for this sailing tonight. To be totally honest, we both were kind of dreading going. I tried to not voice my dread too much lest it be contagious. We didn't have a great lunch there and our first dinner was just okay. Tonight was a total redemption. Our waiter was great and made the dinning experience wonderful. We were in and out in 1 hour and 10 minutes, which we really appreciated. We both basically had the same meal. Started with Lavender Martinis, Filet and Baked for our entrees, and red velvet cake for our desserts. We also had truffle fries. Everything was hot or very warm, which we really appreciated. The waiter totally redeemed the experience and I would definitely go there again.

We're going to try breakfast in our room again tomorrow morning and filled out the door hanger. We had American Breakfast this morning, and that went much better than our last attempt when we used the door hanger because I called in the order. Tomorrow we want to keep it light so we're just doing continental breakfast items, but trying the door hanger again.

Cruise Compass Day 10 Cruise Compasy Day 10.pdf

Our plan was to take a cab up to the Sete Cidades and then just explore town afterwards. Due to the weather being overcast when we first arrived, we decided not to go up there, but looking at @LooneyCruzer photos, it just looks wonderful the higher up you went yesterday. We really didn't plan too well and would have loved to do the pineapple farm. I'd definitely recommend coming up with a plan in advance to do something. We're going to firm up some plans for Malaga today or tomorrow. Maybe the hop on hop off or something I've heard mixed reviews from other cruisers about Sete Cidades, with most saying it's over rated.

Cruise Compass Day 9. Cruise Compass Day 9.pdf Had a great day in Ponta Delgada. We stayed downtown and explored the churches, fort, etc. and had lunch at a local restaurant. Because it is Sunday, a lot of things were closed, which was a bummer. Love the mosaic streets and unusual trees.