ajtraveler66

We are looking at a Norwegian Mediterranean cruise that starts and ends in Rome (Civitavicchea).  

We would like to spend a few days in Rome prior to going to the pier to start our cruise in Civitavicchea.  Any suggestions on hotels that have connections to the port, places to stay, tour companies to use, etc.

We may be willing to do an NCL pre-cruise tour (if they have one)....but then we'd like a day or so prior to that to catch some of the sites that are omitted from their tour.

It may be that we could do some sightseeing prior to the cruise ... and some more sightseeing after the tour.

Suggestions are welcome.  All we care about is the Sistine Chapel and the old sights of Rome.  And we prefer not to be rushed.

We are planning a 9-day Med Cruise for 2023.  I'll be honest, we plan to splurge in some ports (Athens, Santorini, Naples, Florence, Rome)  but cannot afford to do so in every port.  So ......

Is there any 'must do' in Malta? ... Is this a good place to 'hit the beach'? ... Is there neat stuff to do within walking distance of the port? ... OR  is this a good day to just rest and  'enjoy the ship'?

You mention that it is important to go to Oia.  Yes, I've seen the pictures, and I would have to agree.  There is an excursion through the ship that includes music, food, etc....and they go to Oia.  Would it be adviseable to take the tour? The reason I ask is that we plan to go in 2023 on the NCL Breakaway ... and it is a large ship.  Seems to me that having 'reservations' through the ship might be a good, but pricey, idea since so many will be at port at the time. Your thoughts appreciated.  (This is not a food tour....this is a 'regular' tour....and the food would just be a part of the tour).

8 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Finding Moussaka in Greece is like finding pasta in Italy!  It is everywhere.  One hardly needs a tour to enjoy food on any of those three islands.  The major cities on each island is relatively easy to access from a cruise ship.  In Corfu, the major town (and hundreds of restaurants)  are within walking distance of the pier.  In Santorini you can just take the cable car up to Fira where you have your choice of many eating venues although we do strongly suggest also visiting Oia.  As to Mykonos, depending whether you tender or dock the major city is at the tender pier or you may need a shuttle bus (or taxi) from the cruise ship pier into town (it is walkable but using a vehicle is a better option),

 

The thing about these major tourist islands is you will find nearly every menu in English, most folks speak/understand English, and you can do lots of pre-trip homework online.

 

Hank

We are looking at a cruise for 2023 that will port in Athens, Santorini, Corfu, and Mykonos.

I love Moussaka and would like to have an actual Greek serving of it while in Greece.  Since Athens is so historical, I doubt we'll seek it out while there.  So.... has anyone been on an excursion focusing on food in either of the other three islands -- Santorini, Corfu, Mykonos?  

Food would not have to be limited to the moussaka.  Domaldes and saganaki aren't bad either.

I was on a W. Med. cruise back in 2012.  Our port cities included Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Florence, Rome, and Naples.  (Lots of good places).

By far, my favorite excursion while on that cruise was Pompeii and Amalfi Coast.  It's definitely worth it.

Look forward to hearing from anyone who has taken this land/cruise trip through Princess.  The land portion is multiple days in Venice, Florence, and Rome.  The cruise portion is a 7-day cruise from Rome to Athens.  (See link below for details).

https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/details?tourCode=T2E04A&voyageCode=G235

We have debated whether to cruise the Mediterranean or just do a land trip to Italy.

Then I ran across an offering by Princess Cruises.  You have multiple days (on land) in Venice, Florence, and Rome.  You then board a cruise ship in Rome and go down to Naples and work your way over to Athens (I believe).

Has anyone ever taken this tour?  It really seems to be a solution for us.  I'm sure it won't be cheap, but we are aging seniors and this would be a 'last European' hurrah, so to speak.  After this...just touring in the U.S. mainland or taking cruises that don't venture out that far.

We look forward to your replies.

We took a W. Med Cruise back in 2010 with a group.  The group had pre-arranged our excursions, and we were able to see so much more than the excursions offered by our cruise ship.  And we were back to the ship with plenty of time to spare.  (For instance, while in Florence we were able to see so much more than we would have with the ship's options:  we saw a lot of Florence, the statue of David...and also got to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  (No such excursion have I seen with the cruise liner we were sailing with).

We're going to go again next year, but we'll be doing it on our own without someone else making all of the excursion arrangements.  Do you have any suggestions on which tour group to contact, etc., etc.  We DEFINITELY DON'T WANT TO MISS THE BOAT.  So if any other option is a risk (and we were purely lucky in 2010, then we will go with the boat).

We thank you in advance.

1 hour ago, Isabella Benjamin said:

Onda was our favorite restaurant on our Encore cruise.  Way better than our experience at Ocean Blue. 

I think I have to agree with you on "Onda".  We did "Ocean Blue" too.  It was fine, but "Onda" was superior.  ...  We always love going to "Le Bistro" French restaurant too.  You certainly can't go wrong there.

We were extremely impressed with "Onda" on the NCL Encore.  At this point, I don't think it is any of the other ships.  I'm hopeful that NCL will put "Onda" on some of the other ships as well in the near future.

Just returned from NCL Encore cruise to St. Thomas/Tortola.  I absolutely loved it, and I definitely want to go back again some time.  

Hopefully we will be cruising again next February.  So now we're debating on whether to repeat the cruise we just did....or to check out the W. Caribbean.  [Costa Maya, Belize, Cozumel, Honduras].

We're talking beaches here.  That's our main interest when we get off the ship.

We did the St. John's Champagne and Snorkel. (Catamaran).  It was a decent excursion, but we were only at the beach for about an hour.

I went because I heard that St. John is so beautiful...and it is.  I think if I went back on that cruise again, I would do something on St. Thomas...and do it with a reliable private tour.  (We were at port at St. Thomas around 8.  Our tour to St. John didn't go out until about 11:45.  In essence, we wasted a good three hours while in St. Thomas).

The USVI and British VI are relatively close together.  It's a shame that a ship can't be at port at St. Thomas or Tortola and be there for two days or so.  [Bermuda cruises, for instance, are at port for over 2 days.  It's so nice not having to worry about the clock. ... But then, I don't make the rules].

Recently went on the Encore to the Caribbean.  It is an absolutely beautiful ship.  If I have any complaint, it would only be that it was very loud and noisy--even in some of the specialty restaurants.  This may sound like a stupid question, but are any of the NCL ships known to be less noisy than others?  I've been on several of the NCL ships, but I don't think I ever noticed the specialty restaurants to be quite as noisy as they were on this one.  Perhaps it's just the fact that we were in the Caribbean which--in and of itself--suggests 'party' atmosphere.  Just curious.

10 hours ago, big al said:

 

Is this the catamaran that leaves like 7 am and comes back around noon? A group of 6 of us are considering doing this excursion...apart from your bad food experience, how was the beach ? Did you go to the Soggy Bottom Bar?

 

Big Al

The excursion was thru NCL and it was called "Escape to Jost Van Dyke".  I'm sure other ships use the same excursion.  It's the "Soggy Dollar Bar", by the way....not Soggy Bottom... and it was there, right next to Hendo's.  Yes....the beach was very nice.  It was pretty crowded and there were a lot of boats near the beach....but that didn't seem to interfere with anything.   ...  Overall, it was a wonderful excursion.   I just hope you don't have to waste your time at a restaurant like we did.  I have no complaints other than our wasted time.  Guess I'll have to go back and do it right.  LOL.  The video that NCL has put out on their excursion offerings gives you a pretty accurate picture of what it looks like.  Hope you have great weather like we did.  ENJOY!

5 hours ago, blue_water said:

sorry you "lost time" aj...Where did you wait 2 hours to be served? Having a great lunch on the beach is part of the experience!   

 

It was at Hendo's.  Looked like a great place..and the food wasn't that bad.  One waitress was waiting on a huge area.  It's possible they were short-handed that day.  Needless to say, we were quite frustrated.

 

Just got back from a wonderful cruise that included St. Thomas.

I took a ship excursion from St. Thomas over to St. John.  I loved what I saw, but I only got to spend about an hour there instead of the two hours of beach time we had been counting on. (Long story).  

The excursion didn't start until about 11:45....and we had been in the port most of the morning.  It seems such a shame that the ship didn't offer a longer excursion.

In some ways, I wish we had arranged for a private excursion, but it's always nice to have the 'security' of being on a ship-sponsored tour.  

Would love to go back to the Virgin Islands.  Any suggestions on how to make things better that next time?

As a commentary....I enjoy the NCL Bermuda cruise because the ship is at port for over 2 days...and it makes for such a relaxed time.  That said, with so much to see in the US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands, it is such a shame that ships can't arrange for a multiple- night stay while at port in this magnificent part of the world.  Maybe they'll read my post and do something about it.  Ha, ha!

22 minutes ago, SteveH2508 said:

Any chance of a picture of a menu - or a link to one?

You should find it by navigating through this link.  Look for the restaurant and there should be some click-on menus.  Not sure how up-to-date they are.  But the Onda one looked current from last week.

https://eatsleepcruise.com/2019/12/norwegian-encore-restaurant-menus-and-dining-guide/

We just returned from a cruise to the Virgin Islands on the NCL Encore.  (A wonderful cruise, by the way).  While on the boat, we ate in several of the complimentary and specialty restaurants....all were good.  But after all was said and done, all four of us within our group agreed that our dining at Onda (by Scarpetta) was the finest and most enjoyable.  Everyone raved about their food.  I ordered "Mezzelune" and it was the lightest and best-tasting ravioli dish I have ever experienced in my life.  I had the "Panna Cotta" for dessert, and it was unbelievably good.  If you are on the NCL Specialty Restaurants dining plan, don't pass this restaurant up just because it's not the Italian restaurant you are familiar with on most other NCL ships.

What a beautiful beach we got to see on a fine sunny day.  That's what we had.  And we could have had three hours of it.  Unfortunately we blew it because we planned very poorly.  We thought it would be fun to eat at a restaurant on the beach and then actually take in the beach after we had eaten.  DON'T DO LIKE WE DID.  We wasted almost 2 hours of our precious time waiting to be waited on and then waiting on our food.  By the time we got to our beach time, we couldn't relax because we had to start watching our watches...so we wouldn't miss our catamaran back to the ship.  ADVICE:  You can eat ANYWHERE, but you can only experience this tremendous beach for the three hours that you are there.  Come on a full stomach.  Enjoy this absolutely wonderful beach, and then eat when you get back on the boat.  I am not complaining.  I just wish that I would have read a post such as this prior to my going on this really wonderful excursion.

We will be doing the St. John Champagne/Catamaran Sail excursion next month.  We have no desire to snorkel; we are only interested in the beach.  

How do we get to the beach once the catamaran arrives?  We will have items with us that we will want to keep dry...so if the catamaran does not go into shallow water, we are hoping that a small raft or small boat can bring us ashore.  Just curious.

We are to fly into Miami the day before our cruise this February.  We have gone through a travel agent and they have us booked at a hotel near the airport for our overnight stay.  It is the Pullman Miami Airport Hotel.

Getting to the cruise terminal will not be an issue for us because we will have most of the next day to get there.

However, we'd like to have a little fun time that night while we are in Miami (maybe go to a good Cuban restaurant).  

Knowing all of this, are we going to be fine with the airport hotel location.  Or would we be better off calling our agent and arranging for one closer to the port.

Also.....do most hotels provide a shuttle service to the port area?

We will be taking the Jost Van Dyke excursion to White Bay Beach while we are ported at Tortola in mid-February 2020.

Our party of four's average age is 65.  We are wondering which restaurant/bar would be more suited for us for lunch and beverages?  I'm guessing that it would be Hendo's, just from looking at the website pictures.  But pictures don't always tell the whole story.  If we choose to have lunch at Hendo's are reservations required?   Pro's and con's of each place would be helpful.  Thanks much.

We have purchased the "Champagne Catamaran Sail to St. John" and are really looking forward to it.  Too many have told me that St. John is a must while at port in the USVI.

We do have a few questions for those of you who have done this excursion (or plan to do it soon...and know the answers).

Evidently, our boat goes to Honeymoon Beach...  Are there chairs/umbrellas available at the beach?  What about food & beverage vendors?  I know that food and beverages will be offered on our return to the cruise ship, but we need to know whether to bring our own water, etc. in the event that the beverage vendors are not nearby  [We realize that this is part of the National Park....so I certainly would understand if stands are unavailable].

Our main focus, of course, is the beach and the water, but to help us better plan, the answers to these questions will be helpful.

Thanks.

We are going to narrow down our excursion plans in the next few days (NCL Encore--Feb 2020 -- Will be at port on Wednesday, February 12)

The excursion to St John (Champagne Catamaran) looks great....and it goes to Honeymoon Beach.  Then I see another excursion to St. John which will go to Trunk Bay.

Both excursions look tremendous to me.  There is food and drink on the way back on the Honeymoon Beach excursion.  But apparently none on the excursion to Trunk Bay.

Best beach wins.  Food is not a factor.  Your comments, please.