LisaSp

14 hours ago, pcrum said:

Love the idea about the grapefruit juice.  Loved the trip report!  Did you book your airfare through NCL?

Nope. I am neurotic and a control freak and did it on my own. Plus we extended our time in Italy after the cruise (got off ship Weds and didn't go home til Monday). We flew nonstop Dulles to Rome and coming home flew Florence to Frankfurt to Dulles.

And thanks for the nice comments! 🙂

We stayed in the Campo de Fiori area after our Med cruise and had 2.5 days in Rome before heading to Florence for a few days. The only "official" stuff we did was a Colosseum/Roman Forum tour that was great that first afternoon...next early morning did a "Pristine Sistine" tour of Vatican and Sistine Chapel. The rest of the time we walked all over. Used Rick Steves audio tour as a guide to see Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps...We loved our hotel (Boutique Hotel Campo de Fiori) and thought it was a great location. We ate well. Rome definitely captured our hearts and we liked it way more than we expected to!

55 minutes ago, Huntingdon1701 said:

Thank you for this great review. I'm doing this in 30 days and hadn't realised you could put the $50 shore excursion credit towards the shuttle in Palma - that's going to be much better than walking!

 

Can you remember how much the horse and carriage cost? And where you picked it up? It sounds like fun. 

 

I shall have to try a grapefruit mimosa too. 

Yes we had gotten the tip about taking the shuttle because the walk from the ship to town is kind of long. I didn't find out til I went to sign up that the shuttle counted toward the shore ex credit! 

 

The horse and carriage was 80EU and we found the guy kind of near the cathedral, which is close to where the shuttle drops you off. We had not been there very long before my husband saw a few horses and carriages and insisted that we do it. It was about 20-30 mins so it was expensive, but fun, and our driver was great at pointing out all the sights of interest. My husband is a great negotiator and originally planned to try to get a lower price (we didn't pay til the end), but the guy was young and charming, so we just forked over the 80EU without trying to pay any less.  🙂

 

If you like grapefruit juice, it pairs well with champagne. Enjoy your trip!!!

This was our first NCL cruise as well as our first trip to Europe. My husband and I are both 50, and the trip was a 25^th anniversary celebration. I will make a few general comments first and then give a day-by-day rundown. I will only include photos from the cruise itself. I have a zillion amazing photos from all of our excursions (plus we spent 5 days in Italy post-cruise), but I will focus on the NCL photos for this trip report.

 

We had a balcony cabin (#9165) and while the layout of the room was unusual (as I had read repeatedly on these boards), we had no issues. Hubby is tall (6’2”) but managed to fit in the bed. Suitcases easily fit under the bed and we had plenty of storage space. Loved the balcony. You need to put your key card in the slot by the door to keep the lights on, and some of the switches may take you a little while to find. The light above the sink has a switch under the mirror. 
 

 

 

 

There are no midship elevators so the hallways seem very long, but this wasn’t an issue, just an observation. A common complaint about the ship is that the elevators are very slow. We just factored some travel time in when we were going up to the higher decks. We usually took the stairs when going down to save time waiting. The ship is really big but it didn't take too long to figure out what was where. It only seemed super crowded during breakfast at the buffet on port days.

 

We basically treated the ship like a floating hotel since the ports were the main attraction. But we did eat in 3 of the specialty restaurants, saw one show, and hung out at a few different bars in the evenings (more on all of that on the day by day review). I booked all specialty and MDR reservations as well as show reservations when we were 90 days out (or whatever the date was that allowed us to make reservations-I can't remember!). The crew was attentive but with one or two exceptions, no one seemed to be particularly happy to be there. Felt like across the board, no one really made any effort to get to know us, but that did not detract from our cruise in any way, it was just different than what we had experienced on Celebrity and Disney. Anyway, here's my day by day...

 

Day 1, Rome to Embarkation in Civitavecchia:

We flew into Rome on the redeye from Washington DC and arrived around 8:30 am. We had prearranged private transfer via Mary Roma (Rome Cab Transfer) and he was there waiting for us when we exited baggage claim/passport control. We arrived at the Civitavecchia port reallllyyy early but we were on the ship by noon! Bags arrived by around 2pm I think. Had my first of many, many Aperol Spritzes. Dinner that night was at La Cucina. We had a table window which was great because we had a wonderful view of sunset. The food was great.

 

 

Day 2, Livorno:

Breakfast in the buffet was your typical cruise buffet food. Decent assortment, good fruit, I loved the hash browns. The omelet station lines (there were several) were always really long and I never felt like waiting. There are multiple stations with the same food at the buffet so don't feel like you need to get on the first line you see, there will be another station around the corner. I had read here that during breakfast and lunch you can go down with your buffet food to eat in La Cucina but we never did that.

 

We got off the ship early to meet our driver for our excursion “Best of Florence & Pisa” (booked thru ItalyTours.EU). Our driver and guide were great. We included the skip-the-line tickets to see David at L’Accademia and I was so glad we did. He was magnificent. The views from Piazze de Michelangelo after our time within Florence were incredible. Then we headed to Pisa. Didn't climb the tower but it was so cool to see in person. It was a long but fun day. We would be returning to Florence after the cruise, so I wasn't too upset that our time there was short. That evening we ate in the Manhattan MDR. The food was pretty good. My favorite part was the fig apple cobbler dessert. 

 

That night I went to the 10 pm Priscilla Queen of the Desert show. I had booked us to both go, but hubby was too tired. I was SO glad I went. It was one of the best shows I have ever seen on a cruise ship. The performers, the costumes, makeup, sets...it was excellent. If you are homophobic or not a fan of drag queens, don't go, but otherwise, don't miss it!! This was the only show I saw on board and I highly recommend it.

 

Day 3, Cannes:

I booked an NCL excursion for this port so we wouldn't have to worry about tender schedules, and because we had the $50 per port excursion perk and I didn't want it all to go to waste since I booked external excursions in other ports. We booked "Highlights of Monaco & Nice." We tendered without issue and by 8 am we were on our tour bus en route to Nice. We spent some time in Nice, then in Monaco, and briefly in Monte Carlo. Would have preferred more time in each place, but that's the price you pay when seeing these places while cruising. The tour guide was lovely and we had a great day in these beautiful areas. The tender procedure when we returned to the port was a complete cluster. It seemed ALL the tour buses got back at the same time, so we waited in line for at least an hour before boarding our tender. It was hot. Then when we finally got on a tender and were near the Epic, the water got a little rough and it took a long time before it was safe for us to get off the tender. By that point it had been about 90 minutes from start to finish and everyone was irritable. Since we got back much later than anticipated, we tried to switch our Teppanyaki reservations to later (they were for 7:30) but there was no availability so we skipped a nap and went to dinner. We have done the Japanese steakhouse thing many times in many places so there was no novelty factor for us; the food was pretty good, drinks were great, and the chef's performance was OK...he was not the most enthusiastic, but he was fine. Met some nice people at our table.

 

Tip: If you want to use the ship's bus into town the next day in Palma de Mallorca, you can book it at the Shore Ex desk this evening and avoid the lines...it is $15/pp round trip and you can use your $50 shore excursion credit and that makes it "free!"

 

Day 4, Palma de Mallorca:

We got to sleep in-yay! Had brunch on the pool deck and spent some time on the adult-only area on Deck 18.

 

We had not booked anything for this port except the round trip bus. We got off the ship around 2:30 pm and took the shuttle bus into town. We spontaneously took a horse and carriage ride around the old city (very fun!) and then had tapas and sangria at an outdoor cafe. Got back on the ship around 5 pm. Took a lovely nap and didn't go to dinner til around 8:40 at Taste. Food was just OK. Had cocktails at the Cascades bar and fries on the pool deck before turning in. This drink was the "Rebellious Fish" but I way preferred my Aperol Spritzes.

 

Day 5, Barcelona:

Had breakfast at the buffet and then met our tour guide outside the ship. We had booked a half-day tour "Barcelona Highlights" (with Barcelona Day Tours) which included Skip-The-Line tickets @ Park Guell and Sagrada Familia (after the group tour, with an audio guide). Park Guell was very cool, and La Sagrada Familia is amazing. You *need* to go inside. Don't miss it...it is breathtaking and any photos you might see of it will not do it justice. Loved it. Ate a late "pinxos" lunch at a bar/restaurant called Aitor that was yummy. Got back to the ship late in the afternoon. We had planned to have dinner in one of the MDRs but the menu looked super boring and we weren't that hungry so for the first time ever (for us) on a cruise, we had dinner at the buffet. It was perfect because I got to have exactly what I wanted. We were exhausted and in bed fairly early that night.

 

Day 6, at Sea:

Enjoyed coffee on the balcony after my failed attempt at sleeping late. The coffee in our stateroom, made with the in-room coffee maker, was actually way better than the coffee at the buffet. It was relaxing and peaceful to drink coffee while sitting out there. We had a late breakfast at the buffet and then hung out at the adults area on Deck 18 for a couple of hours. It was sunny, warm, and delightful!

 

Tip: If you don't love orange juice, get a mimosa with grapefruit juice. Delicious (I happen to love grapefruit juice).

 

 

Had a lovely and relaxing day, saw a beautiful sunset from our balcony as we got ready for our 7:30 pm reservations at Cagney's.

 

Hands down, our best meal of the cruise was at Cagney's and I am not even much of a meat person (hubby had filet and lobster, I had lamb chops). Service was terrific and they poured HUGE glasses of wine. Wish all of our meals on board were this good!

 

This was the "OMG Caramel-Butterscotch Cheesecake, next pic is the Warm Apple Cardamom Crisp-both were outrageous:

 

 

After a leisurely dinner, we went to Cascades bar and then heard a guy sing Cher songs at Shaker's bar. He was great and it was fun.

 

Day 7, Naples:

Up early, breakfast at buffet, you know the routine. Had booked "Pompeii-Sorrento-Positano" with ItalyTours.EU and met our wonderful driver and guide right at the port. First stop was Pompeii which was so cool. Then on to Sorrento which is beautiful and quaint. Had the best pizza I have ever tasted there. Wish we could've stayed longer (well, we did stay 45 minutes longer than expected, in the van, waiting for the couple who got lost/had their watches set incorrectly). It was not fun to wait/waste time but such is life. The delay caused us to miss our opportunity to drive all the way to Positano (so bummed) but we did go to a beautiful scenic overlook and had delicious fresh lemon granitas. And now we HAVE to come back to the Amalfi Coast!! So stunning. Got back to the ship and had dinner at Taste MDR. Again, it was just OK. Went to Cascades and Shaker bars for a while and then back to the room.

 

 

Aside from Aperol Spritzes, I also had many of my own version of a grapefruit crush (Grey Goose vodka, grapefruit juice, and a splash of seltzer). We had opted to handle our own luggage for disembarking so we packed a little and planned to finish in the morning. 

 

Day 8, disembarkation in Civitavecchia and on to Rome:

Since we opted to handle our own luggage, we had some flexibility on timing in the morning. Had breakfast at the buffet and then got off the ship by around 8:15 am. Disembarking was super quick (longest part was waiting for an elevator) and very very easy. We had prearranged a private car, again with Mary Roma/Rome Cab Transfer, to take us from Civitavecchia port to our hotel in Rome (we would be in Rome Weds and Thurs nites at Hotel Campo de Fiori, then took train to Florence on Friday afternoon and stayed thru Monday at the Grand Hotel Cavour, with a day trip by train to Venice on Saturday).

 

All in all, we had a great time. The cruise was a good way to get a taste of all of these fabulous places but we were left wanting more! We have been on 2 Celebrity and 2 Disney cruises in the past decade and while there were many areas where I felt NCL was lacking, it really did not affect our good time! We had the Premium beverage package which was basically a waste for my husband who doesn't drink alcohol, but we didn't pick that perk, it was one of the ones automatically given to us and I tried to drink enough for the both of us (just kidding, sort of). 

 

Hope this report is helpful to someone doing planning. I did tons of research here on Cruise Critic and got so much good info!

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

Highly recommend Boutique Hotel Campo de Fiori. It was awesome.

Hotel Campo de Fiori was excellent in every way-stayed there 2 nights after disembarking from the Norwegian Epic a few weeks ago.

We had a great experience with romecabtransfer.com from FCO to port and from port to Rome!

20 minutes ago, Sun Lover said:

So as long as we take the luggage ourselves, would we be guaranteed there would be space to stow it?  Do you know if there are size restrictions on the luggage to be stowed?  Would there be an overhead rack to put small carryon bags?

We traveled from Rome to Florence last week on Italo with 2 large bags and 2 carry ons. My husband put the bags on the overhead racks because we wanted them in the car with us but there is space in between cars to store large bags as well. We loved the train. Also took it from Florence to Venice and back for a day trip.

 

On 9/3/2019 at 7:20 PM, luckyfincruiser said:

We just spent two nights at Hotel Campo de Fiori in Rome before our cruise.  Found it from recommendations on here.  Excellent breakfast, great location, elevator, AC, nice staff members.  

 So happy to read this as we will be staying there after our cruise in less than 2 weeks!!!

14 hours ago, Maleficent's Dad said:

I had same itinerary and concerns as you - got off ship easily, tour guide was there waiting.  No issues, he was laid back, so even if we were a few minutes late, it wouldn’t have been a problem!

OK cool. Thank you so much for the reassurance!!! We also have early tours in Barcelona and Naples, but since Florence is our first morning after embarkation, that one had me most concerned.

On 7/26/2019 at 9:55 AM, Maleficent's Dad said:

On 7/26/2019 at 9:53 AM, Maleficent's Dad said:

I enjoy these before my trips, so hopefully it’ll help you!  Some are marked up as my family likes to highlight activities they’re interested in.

Thank you for sharing these. Taking the cruise from Rome on Sept 11. I have a question...the cruise itinerary has us arriving in Florence at 7am, and I am supposed to be off the ship for my ItalyTours.EU excursion at 7:30 am...did you have any early non-NCL excursions and if so, was it easy to get off ship in time? Thanks for any reassurance you can provide! 🙂

Have you checked your cruise's roll call? I found some good and helpful info there as well as on the Italy, France, and Spain ports of call boards. I am going on Epic in September as well. We booked semi private excursions with ItalyTours.eu (in Florence and Naples), with Barcelona Day Tours (obvi in Barcelona) and we booked with NCL for Cannes (since this port requires tendering, I heard you get off ship sooner if you book with the cruise line, and also this is a more leisurely port so I didn't mind a potentially larger group). We are doing Mallorca on our own. We booked specialty dinners at Teppanyaki, Cagney's, and La Cucina based on recommendations I got on the boards. It is our first time with NCL and first trip to Europe-can't wait!!

25 minutes ago, zqvol said:

 

This is not really true. If you take an NCL shore excursion you receive the credit. Once you have the credit you can use it for anything, but if you don't take an NCL excursion you don't get it.

That's really semantics though isn't it? We both agree the point is if you don't take the NCL excursion you don't get the credit and thus cannot apply it to anything else. To us, it was worth it to mostly forfeit this perk (well, we are only doing one excursion thru NCL) because we would rather have smaller tour groups and pay less than what NCL charges for our shore excursions. 

So glad to read these positive reviews for Walks of Italy--we booked a Colosseum tour as well as Pristine Sistine with them for our upcoming trip next month!!

7 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Thanks...sounds like I'll be using it for extra meals etc....

You can't use the $50 shore excursion credit for anything except shore excursions, unfortunately.

 

1 hour ago, saraandemma said:

Hi,

My family will be on this itinerary in August. My husband and I are concerned about what times the buffet opens in the morning due to very early excursion times. Are the buffet hours different on this Mediterranean  cruise as compared to the many US based cruises we have taken?

 I am hoping you remember or have a copy of the freestyle daily. Thank you!

We are taking this cruise in September, so I was looking at recent freestyles posted in another recent thread. It looks like on port days, the buffet has an "early riser breakfast" 5:30-6:00 am, and then regular breakfast buffet 6:00-10:00 am, so that should work fine even with the early excursions.

On 6/23/2019 at 12:57 PM, HappyCruiser37 said:

On our recent cruise we used ItalyTours for our shore excursions from Livorno to Pisa and Florence and 

from Naples we did the Pompeii and Amalfi Coast tour.  We were a family of eleven, ages 13 to 80 and

we all had an excellent experience.  We had Wolfgang for our Florence tour and Antonio for our Amalfi Coast tour.  They were on time, vans were in excellent condition, and our guides were knowledgeable and made sure we all had a memorable experience.  Do not hesitate to use this company.  You will not be disappointed...my only regret is that we did not have a private guide for Pompeii.  Do not try and see it on your own.  Not possible in a short period of time...

Again, Italy Tours, Wolfgang and Antonio thank you for everything....

 

Glad to hear it as we have 3 tours booked with them in September. But I thought their excursion with Pompeii includes a guide? The one I booked says so ("Unlike so many other tours, we make sure you tour with an English speaking expert guide for a complete visit to this important site").

Glad to hear you had a great cruise! We are getting on and off Epic in Rome in September. So excited! What was your favorite specialty restaurant? Just curious...we have booked Cagney's, Teppanyaki, and La Cucina.

Fabulous photos-thanks for sharing! Boarding Epic in Rome in September!

1 hour ago, Yakb0 said:

I'd do it the day afterwords. By the time you reach your hotel, check in, unpack etc... the lines for the Colosseum and the Vatican are going to be enormous. You want to get an early morning (or late night if you do a night tour of the Colosseum) start.

Thank you. But if we did it on disembarkation day, it would be an early start-will be off ship likely by 8 am...

3 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

I just know that many people get burned out trying to rush through everything.

Yes, I worry about this too...the whole cruise will be a whirlwind so my thought was make disembarkation day crazy too and then chill the rest of the time on land!!!

2 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

I think you'll be doing Rome a disservice by cramming everything into one day when you have several. 

 

Book a Vatican tour one day and a Colosseum tour on another day. (Or see them on your own.)  Then plan to do other things on your own near the areas where these places are. It's easy to get around Rome.

 

The joy of having several days in Rome is being able to spread it out. By seeing only one or two major highlights each day, you are more likely to enjoy and remember them.

I don't disagree with you, but I also kind of liked the idea of having empty days without tours being booked so we weren't on any set schedule. Decisions, decisions!!! Thank you!!

27 minutes ago, LisaSp said:

Can someone who has "been there, done that" chime in with suggestions? Thanks!

 

And by suggestions, I don't mean which specific tours to do--I can figure that part out--I just mean the logistics of which day to attempt to make this tour happen. Thanks!!!

We are sailing in and out of Rome on Norwegian Epic in September. We are spending a couple of days in Rome post-cruise, then a few days in Florence. We have booked shore excursions for our port days in Florence/Pisa and Naples with ItalyTours.eu and those are confirmed. We also wanted to do their "Best of Rome" tour the day we disembark. This tour includes the Colosseum and Vatican with guides. My thinking was we can make that first day crazy, and then spend Thursday and Friday exploring Rome on our own/in a more leisurely fashion. But I am getting worried that we won't end up with the total number of participants needed to do the post-cruise tour (there are 2 of us, we need 5). Chicco from ItalyTours.eu seems to think the tour will fill but I also worry about being able to get tickets for Colosseum and Vatican the longer we wait. My roll call is SUPER quiet. Would it make more sense to just arrange transport to our hotel from the port on Wednesday and do our own thing that first day, and then book a formal tour for all day Thursday? What I liked about ItalyTours.eu's post-cruise excursion is the price and convenience as it includes transport from port and drops us at hotel at end of day. Can someone who has "been there, done that" chime in with suggestions? Thanks!

I will chime in with a plug for our roll call too--if you are boarding in Rome on Sept 11th--come to our roll call!!!