Splendour of the Seas October 23

Still haven't gotten back into reality after our fabulous cruise aboard the Splendour.

Barcelona

We arrived in Barcelona 2 days pre-cruise. I can't imagine flying in and going straight to the ship. We really needed our time in Barcelona to adjust to the new time zone. Customs/passport control was a breeze. Wendy right outside the terminal and caught the Aerobus to Pl. Catalunya for 3.45 euro each. Bus comes every 11 minutes and is very punctual. From Pl. Catalunya it was a short walk to the Hotel which was located near the top of La Rambla. Stayed at the Hotel Continental. Hotel was satisfactory, staff was very helpful & had no problem speaking to us in English,nothing fancy, but the rooms were very clean, the breakfast bar was a nice plus, especially the cafe con leche and the location was excellent. Arrived at Hotel before our room was ready, about 8:15 am, they stored our luggage & we strolled from top to bottom of La Rambla. Grabbed a bocadilo (sp? - a sandwich) at the market "Mercat de Sant Josep or La Boqueria (which is fabulous & located at the upper 1/3 of La Rambla. Back at the hotel around noon we went to our rooms for a much needed nap. About 4:00pm, yes it ended up being a very long nap. We walked up to Pl. Catalunya & caught the bus turistic. I purchased the 2 day tickets (20.00 euro fro 2 days, 16 euro for 1) online at tmb.net and they were delivered to my house in less than a week. We decide to ride both routes (red & blue) to get a feel for the city & the next day do the on & off thing. Spent a good 3 1/2 - 4 hours just riding around and got a real good feel for where we wanted to hop on & hop off. After our bus ride we decided to start looking for a restaurant for dinner. Ended up at Les Quinze Nits located at Placa Reial. The line starts forming early for the first seating at 8:30 pm. Food was good & very reasonable. After dinner decided to try to walk it off & stumbled upon a local band playing in a little square with lots of locals doing traditional dances. Very enjoyable end to a long day. Even though we had the long nap we were ready for a good nights sleep.

Breakfast the next day at the Hotel, cereals, fruit, hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, croissants, toast, juice & coffee. Plenty to start the day off. Jumped on Bus Turistic, first stop we got off was the Sagrada Familia. We were on probably about the earliest bus so there wasn't much crowd until we were leaving. We climbe every step to the top of the bell tower for a fabulous view of Barcelona. There is a discount coupon included with your bus tickets. Next stop we got off at Parc Guell. This is a short walk from were the bus drops you off. Spent about 1 1/2 hours there. Great photo opportunities. Had some tapas and a drink at a local cafe on the way back to the bus. Didn't get off again until we changed to the blue route which coveres alot of the olympic venues. Back to the Hotel for another nap, we were growing fond of the Spanish siesta time. Got up & decide to walk around the Barri Gotic. Easy to get lost on the narrow winding streets. Ate dinner at The Attic. Excellent meal, we both had veal and each was prepared totally different. Remember when ordering wine at dinner it comes by the bottle, not the glass. Walked around a bit after dinner & back to the hotel.

Up bright & early for cruise day. Walked to the bottom of La Rambla near the Christopher Columbus Statue & caught the port bus. 1.50 euro each way or 2.50 euro round trip. We bought round trip, but on our return from the cruise found that the time had expired to use the second leg of the trip. Much easier just to buy the each way for 1.50 euro. Port Bus delivers you right to your ship. We have never experienced an easier embarkment. I think we were onboard in under 10 minutes, which put us on the ship by 11:00 am. We had filled out all the paperwork online prior to the cruise, printed it & just had to turn it in. Even ordered our wine for dinner that night before we boarded. Onboard we checked our luggage, we only had carry ons, roamed around the ship, picked our bags up at 12:30 & took them to our room, which was ready. Off to the Windjammer for lunch. Of course the best part of embarkment was striking up a conversation with a couple while we checked our luggage & quickly discovered they were fellow cruise critics which we had been chatting with for months. Cruise critic group met up at the Schooner bar at 3:30 for our own little unofficial meet & mingle. Back to the room for a nap. Are you noticing a pattern here, could be that afternoon glass or two of wine. We had the 9:00 dinner seating & were ironically seated with a second cruise critic couple we chatted with. Didn't catch any entertainment as we wanted to be well rested for what we had been warned was a very port intensive cruise. Which is very true. It seems as though I am rather long winded & should probably do each port individually. Also weather in Barcelona (October 21, 22 & 23) was absolutely perfect. Blue skies, sunshine & about 77 during the day & cooled down to needing a sweater in the evening. Next stop Marseille!

Thanks for the wondeful report so far. I am anxiously awaiting the next segment!

Ginger:D

Had no real agenda for the morning, we were actually surprised to wake up and find it was already 8:30 am. Had a little breakfast in the Windjammer & then went off the ship & just walked around where we were docked. There was a shuttle available to take you into Marseille, 5 euro each way I think. We had a tour to Les Baux de Provence booked through the ship at 1:30 so we just hung out at the dock. There were a couple little stands set up right outside the ship where you could purchase local items; postcards, soaps, wine, tablecloths, pottery etc. We just hung around the ship until time for our tour. I know that on these boards everyone seems to recommend the do it on your own thing, but I really didn't want to have to think about or plan anything. The only port we did on our own was Villefranche, which I will get to next. Anyway, we were on the bus & pulling away on schedule. It was about 1.25 hour drive through Provence to reach Les Baux. We had an excellent guide on our bus who gave alot, but not too much information during the drive to Les Baux. She gave us some history of the Provence area and then gave us some history of the village of Les Baux. It is located atop the Alpilles Mountain Range & we actually drove past the village and accross the way to have a view of the village from across the mountain. After driving back, about 10 minutes, we got off the bus & walked to the village gates. The guide gave us the option of going with her for a short tour, after which we would have time on our own, or just going on our own & meeting back at a specified time. We decided to walk with her and get a little hsitory & explanation of what we were seeing. The village is very small and I believe it has only 60 people actually living in there & they are local craftsmen & cafe/restaurant owners. After seeing the sites with our guide, we just wandered around & enjoyed the scenery & the crepes which were fabulous. Great shops for purchasing soaps & lotions, etc. Back on the bus & back to the ship shortly after 6:00 pm. We were very pleased with the trip, it was a nice relaxing afternoon & we enjoyed seeing the French countryside.

Back in time to rest before getting ready for the first formal night. Since we had the 9:00 dinner seating, we attended the Captain's Welcome Aboard reception in the Top hat Lounge at 8:15. After dinner we just walked around & enjoyed the ship & checked out the casino.

The cruise if off to a great start & we keep bumping into cruise critic friends all over the ship.

I'm enjoying this! It is great to read what others did on the same cruise! I sure wish Kerri and I had come a few days early and had those naps!!! Coming from Australia, by the time 3pm hit we were in sleep mode and had to push through it....then at 3am we were wide awake ready to tour!!! You can tell from our photos...at places we were visiting at around 3-4pm we hardly had any!!! It took us most the trip to get used to it. Then when we got home again.....

David

Hi David,

Glad to see someone from our group still reading the boards. Hope your pictures came out great - we are really happy with ours, except I think you had us outnumbered a least by double if not more. We ended up with about 500 or so digital & about 100 on regular film.

Well, on to day 3:

Villefranche:

Villefranche is the only port where you have to tender to shore. It is also the only picturesque port we docked in. All the other ports are commercial have tankers & machinery & not picturesque at all. It is a quaint little fishing village between Nice & Monte Carlo. Since we were taking the train & doing this port on our own we took our time getting off the ship since everyone with ship excursions would need to be off early. We decided on breakfast in the main dining room. By the time we were ready to tender ashore, there was no wait. When you get off the tender, face the village and turn right & walk along the shore about 200 yards if you want to go to the train station. The platform for Nice is on the seaward side & the ticket office & platform for Monte Carlo on the opposite side. There is a stairwell & walkway tunnel to get from side to side. I didn't want to try to figure out the ticket kiosk so we went inside to the ticket office. No problem there, we told the attendant we wanted to go round trip to Nice & then round trip to Monte Carlo. This must be a common request because she just ripped pre-made tickets out of a booklet & handed them to us. R/T Villefranche sur Mer to Nice was 2.80 euro each & R/T Villefranche sur Mer to Monte Carlo was 4.80 euro each. This is 15.20 euro total for 2 (so you don't have to do the math) I had gone to the sncf.com website to get the train schedules. (Make sure you choose the english flag on the website if you want it in english) Choose information schedule & booking on the main page. You just put in the date you are going to be there & can get the schedule for the day between Villefranche, Nice & Monte Carlo. The trains were very punctual. Most interesting was that no one ever came through to check tickets. If you decide to go to Nice first, you will want to get off in 2 stops, that was our decision, we figured Monte Carlo got busier as the day went on because of the casino.

Upon arriving in Nice we decide to go to Old Town Nice. It is a bit of a walk from the train station, but quite nice. We walked around Old Nice & found the most fabulous market, antiques, spices, pottery. Also, even though we had eaten breakfast on the ship, we couldn't resist the french pastry. The tarts with fresh blackberries & raspberries were out of this world. We grabbed some pastry & coffee & headed to the famous Riviera. we were actually surprised as to how pebbly the beach was, but beautiful all the same. We spent about 2 1/2 hours wandering around Old Nice & the Riviera & headed back to the train station to go to Monte Carlo.

The train statin in Nice is very busy, but we found everyone to be quite helpful. We just showed our tickets to Monte Carlo & someone pointed the platform we needed to go to. Once again no one came through to check our tickets. Got off the train in Monte Carlo & just started walking. Walked to the casino, very long walk from the train. We then bumped into cruise critic friends - Hi Janet & Emmett. They had taken the morning & gone to Eze which they enjoyed very much, they recommend a taxi from the train station. After looking around the casino area we jumped on a bus, again very easy, we told the driver where we wanted to go & he told us what bus # & where to get it. We bought a multiple ride ticket & I can't seem to remember the cost. Anyway, we took the bus up to the area around the Palace. One of the guards even let me take a photo with him. The view from the Palace area is beautiful. Also a first, we saw a turbo porsche zoom up the hill, beep its horn, a door opened ( we thought garage door) it was an elevator for his car. Monte Carlo is definitely a rich principality. So who do we bump into again - Janet & Emmett. We all decide we are wiped out & catch a bus back to the train station at about 5:00. Even the train station in Monte Carlo is upscale. We find our platform, wait on the train & head back to Villefranche. Since the ship didn't leave until 10:00 that night, TOm & I decided to walk around Villefranche. It was a great little village to walk around & it small, so you can't get lost. Got the tender back to the ship & still had time to rest before dinner. Splendour's all glass dining room is spectacular & it was very beautiful pulling out of port that evening during dinner & seeing all the lights of the French Riviera. We are enjoying the 9:00 dinner seating, we don't have to rush back & get ready for dinner, we have time to shower & rest. Even though it is about 10:45 when we finish dinner, we walk around for about 20 minutes & are able to be in bed by 11:30.

Next port Livorno!

Looking forward to Livorno tomorrow. Thanks again for sharing.:)

thank you so much for sharing. we are booked Sept. 10 2005.

Hard to belive we are on day 4 already. Since we scheduled the Florence & Pisa on you own tour through the ship, we decided to try room service. Our tour left at 8:15 am which meant we had to meet at 8:00 am, so we decided to try room service. Good choice, not only is a hot breakfast delivered to our stateroom, but it also served as a wake up call. Everything arrived HOT & on time. We ordered for 7:00 am to give us time to eat & meet our bus on time. Once agian we were fortunate to have an exceptional guide on the bus. It was approximately a 1 1/2 hour drive from the port in Livorno to Florence. Our guide kept us well informed during our journey into Florence. Our meeting point was the Church of Santa Crocein the Piazza Santa Croce. The Church contains the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo & Machiavelli. We had approximately 4 hours to explore Florence. We decided not to enter any of the Museums, with only a small amout of tiem we wanted to see as much of the city as possible. Although the origanal of David can be seen in the Accademia we passed on the Museum & saw the reproduction in a Piazza near the Uffizi Gallery. Florence is a beautiful city after viewing the David (reproduction) & other sculptures near the Uffizi we headed to the Ponte Vecchio on the River Arno. Absolutely beautiful, great shops if you are looking for gold. Headed back toward the Cathedral, which I think is the 2nd largest in the world. It is breathtaking. We then decided it was time for a cappucino. Major lesson learned. If you don't want to pay double or plus, do not sit down for a coffee. You pay double + service if you sit at a table. If you just stand & have a coffee it will be 1 euro each, if you sit double + service. This doesn't come to much for just coffee's, but the same holds true if you have a sandwich & drink at a cafe. If the sandwich's are advertised as 2.50 euro that is take away, it will cost you double with service if you sit at a table. Just a little lesson we learned. Florence is the place if you want to purchase leather or gold.

After meeting at our assigned point in Florence, we boarded the bus & headed to Pisa. Arrived in Pisa & had a 10 minute down pour. The rain stopped & teh skies cleared. You only need about 1 hour in Pisa, as the Leaning Tower is really the only thing there except for vendors trying to sell fake Rolex & Louis Vuitton Purses. Don't get me wrong, the Leaning Tower is amazing to see in person, but after you see the Tower, not a whole lot else to see in Pisa. It is a University Town & if you walk off the main path there are some interesting buildings from the Romans, etc (we stumbled upon a guided tour & heard some history or Pisa). All in all, Pisa is worth seeing, but something you probably wouldn't yearn to see twice. Got back to our meeting point & the sky started to cloud over, made it back to the bus before a MAJOR rainstorm.

Back to the ship, nap (a pattern here) dressed for dinner. We arrived at dinner & realized the ship hadn't left port. Very strange since we were scheduled to leave at 7:00 pm & it was now 9:15 pm. Not sure what was happening, but finally set sail shortly after 10:00 pm.

Once again, we we very happy with the ship's excursion. We were given plenty of information on the journey to Florence & Pisa to enjoy the short time we had in each place.

Next Port Civitavecchia (Rome)

Weather, despite the short downpours is ideal for travel, about 73 F

Thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this review. I will be doing the same cruise next year in October and am excited to get more information on the Splendour!!

Thanks for these GREAT reviews! I'm leaving my hubby at home and taking my friend (an old friend from high school) on the Splendour next October. So, all of your info is soo helpful. I'm copying your reviews into Word so I can easily refer to them later. Can't wait to hear about Naples and Rome.

I'd love to hear about prices-- how much the tours were, how much you spent on board, airfare prices . . . I'm trying to set a budget up so I can save properly. I HATE paying for a cruise AFTER it's completed. I'd rather have the funds on hand.

Did you tip with dollars or Euros? How many Euro bills did you need . . on the trip?

thanks

First, I am more than happy to post info because I used these boards for about 6 months researching our trip & the information I got here is the reason our trip was so wonderful.

In my previous post I mentioned that we were serveral hours late leaving port & when we were leaving Pisa there was a major thunderstorm. Well, we found out what happened after meeting up with a fellow cruiser (we met her while on our excursion in Naples) who got stuck at the train station in Pisa with about 50 other people from the Splendour. Because of the storm, the trains out of Pisa stopped & approximately 50 people from the Splendour were stranded along with other tourists, people from other ships (5 cruise ships including the Queen Mary 2 were in port that day). Therefore, there were not enough cabs or buses available to take everyone back to the ship. Well, one of the stranded people worked for RCI & was able to notify the ship & tell them how many people were stranded & they were able to hold the ship up for a few hours. To make a long story a little less long, the ship waited for the first wave of passengers to get back but left approximately 14 people stranded when they finally pulled out of the port. It is our understanding that the cruise line must pay heavy fines for extra time them spend in port, so they felt they had they had to finally leave those passengers& they would have to find other transportation to the next port of call. These passengers were not on RCI sponsored tours, which is another plus for booking through the ship because your transportation is guaranteed if you book through the ship. Nothing against private tours/drivers as we had crusie critic friends who were very happy with their excursions outside of those provided by the cruise line but we were also happy with the tours & cost provided by RCI.

To answer the question as to cost of ship excursions: We chose the ships excursion in Marseille which was an afternoon trip leaving at 1:30 pm to Les Baux de Provence. The cost was $45.00 per person & included transportation & a guided tour. The tour returned to the ship at about 6:30 pm. In port at Villefranche we were on our own & the cost of the train for 2 R/T Nice & Monte Carlo was jsut over 15 euro. The cost of Florence & Pisa on your own ship tour was $79.00 per person, leaving the ship at 8:15 am & returning by 6:00 pm. Ship tour Rome on Your Own was $65.00 per person, leaving at 8:15 am and returning at by 6:30 pm. We were very happy with the guides provided on the bus during the travel time into the cities as they gave recomemnded routes to maximize your time & even came around to each individual to ask if we had a specific interst that they could help us plan our day. I know everyone kind of puts down the ships tours on these boards, but we were very happy with them & it just made our trip very relaxed. Ok on to Rome......finally!

During the bus ride into Rome our guide highlighted the hisory of Rome & gave recommendations as to sites. Being that we ported on a Wednesday, we were in Rome & our tour dropped off at St. Peter's in time for an audience with the Pope. The only downside to all of this was the weather......a 20 minute downpour, after which we did not have a drop of rain the rest of the day & the temp was a very comfortable 70-75 all day.

So, we are dropped off near St. Peter's, which you don't realize its size until you see it from a distance, we arrived just in time to see the Pope be driven in begin his service. One thing that made me realize I wasn't in ancient Rome was the TV large screens set up around St. Peter's so everyone could see the Pope. Other than that little bit of 21st century technology, it was amazing to be standing there in the audience of the Pope - & I'm not even Catholic. We spent about 40 minutes in St. Peter's & decided we only had a short period of time to discover Rome we left St. Peter's & headed toward St. Angelo Castle.

It is at this point I must recommend that if you are going to Rome to read Angels & Demons, this is the novel before the Da Vinci Code. It gives such a detail of Rome, I must return because I read the novel after we returned & now I want to go back & investigate the things I missed which are mentioned in the book. St. Angelo's Castle is a mojor point in the book!

I had an idea of all the places that were must sees, we planned on taking the metro between points but there is so much to see in Rome that isn't a "major tourist atttraction" that we ended up walking Rome in a Day. We were exhausted that night but it was well worth it. After leaving the Castle we walked to the Spanish Steps. From there we walked to Trevi Fountain, we threw our coins over our left (I think) shoulder to ensure our return to Rome. Trevi Fountain is not to be missed, it is breathtaking. After leaving Trevi Fountain we walked towards the Forum & on to the Colliseum. When you get to these places it is so hard to imagine the history you are seeing, walking on & actually able to touch. After just sitting in awe, we headed toward the Pantheon. If you choose you can pay an entrance fee to enter the Coliseum, we didn't because we wanted to take in as much of the city as possible. There is no entrance fee charged for teh Pantheon & it is well worth a walk through. Once again, words cannot describe what you see & feel. From the Pantheon we walked to the Piazzo Navona (Read Angel & Demons by Dan Brown), the fountain is amazing & it is a great little Piazzo to hang out & have a glass of wine, a cappucino or a slice of pizza. We found a little pizza place & had great pizza at a place called Pizzeria Le Piramidi at C. So Rinascimento 3 Roma. It was the first time we paid for pizza by weight. When you choose which pizza you want, they hold the knife over the pizza until you tell them what size slice you want & then they cut it & weigh it, cut it in half place the tops together, wrap it in paper & hand it to you. From the Pantheon we started walking back toward St. Peter's as we wanted to go into the museums at St. Peter's. When we got back to St. Peter's we found out the museum's had closed at 3:30 (at least the Sistine was closed & that was my main interest, another reason I must return to Rome) Well, since we had walked Rome in a day & couldn't get into the Sistine Chapel, we visited the Vatican post office & mailed cards home & found a little cafe about 2 blocks away from St. Peter's & had a couple of glasses of wine & killed time until we had to meet the bus.

Made it back to the ship before 6:30 went up to the top deck to watch the sun set & the moon rise. It was a full moon that night. Back to the room to rest & get ready for dinner. After dinner we went back up to see teh full moon & then back to the stateroom. The bed is a welcome sight!

Tomorrow - Naples

I really am enjoying reading about your experiences in each port. Thanks for taking the time to do a review.

Wonderful review....Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed review of the ships.... on your own tours....DH and I did Paris on our own on The Jewel this June and had a wonderful day.

Pisa...did you climb the tower?

Hi Wendy,

I'm enjoying reading your review. It was great to meet you and Tom and the fellow cruise critics that were posting prior to our cruise. Wondered why we were late leaving Livorno.

Mary

Thanks for the latest installment of your review. It is much appreciated. Waiting for Naples!

Ginger:)

Hi guys,

Kerri and I had lunch with a group of people who explained why the ship left late from Livorno.... a good lesson for people who plan to do completely on your own day trips too...

Apparently there were four ships in harbour and many of the people from these ships (including ours), including a number of ship staff members, were stuck in Pisa on a train which would not move due to that sudden downpour we had. According to the people we had lunch with (who were among those sitting helplessly in the train) one of the staff members phoned it in to the ship and it waited. Unfortunately about 12 people or so, including some staff, were still left behind. The ship, having been notified, and due to the numbers (and perhaps due to its staff left behind), left a shuttle for those who were left behind to take them to a hotel in Rome where they re-joined the ship.

We had a similar problem in Rome when we did the train thing. First of all we were hard pressed (despite aiming for an earlier train) to make the last train that would get in on time due to the fact that the 110 tourist bus was caught in terrible traffic and not moving much (we were perhaps too optimistic and should have run for a metro somewhere...). We got to the station and ran around like people from Amazing Race trying to see which platform it was (and there are a lot of them quite a distance from each other!) because it didn't have a platform marked on the screen and we didn't get much help from people. It turned out (we finally worked out) that the train was late. In fact it was really really really late, and again many of us were stranded from our various ships due to this. When we got to Civit. we rushed for a taxi, called for more Splendour passengers- who rushed the taxi, (we had heard that the port shuttles were no longer running that late) and made it to the ship first (a bit past departing time I think). As it turned out there were two tour buses still late anyway and the ship waited for them.

There you go...if you rely on trains, you'll have to leave EARLY to get back to the ship or you risk missing it.

David

Looks like I just told the same story about Livorno (I had skipped ahead after reading the Livorno post....). Wendy tells it better anyway!

David

Wendy,

I did read that book before I left and we did manage to see all the piazzas mentioned (though a couple were from the top deck of the 110 bus), but we didn't get enough time to really explore them. We went into the Pantheon, and wandered Navonna and just outside St. Peters and St. Angelo (I wanted to go in, but we were pushing it). It was a shame we didn't have more time...but I did see Raphael's tomb (mentioned in the book).

Personally I liked this book better than Da Vinci code...more action, less theorising.

About the 110 bus and Rome...if you only have a day there then you won't get to see everything in any detail. I planned on seeing WAY too much and the reality just wasn't, well, realistic. I thought I had cut it down several times in the planning stage.... I am happy with what we saw but I would have done it differently. First I would have arranged transportation and not relied on the train, or I would have left even earlier than originally planned. Second, I would have walked places and not used the 110 tourist bus. This bus is popular on these boards, but it is way too slow (and that wasn't even the summer). We were tired out from all the walking we had done so far and wanted to do it easier (we had had big walking days in Barcelona and onwards) but the stress at the end to get to the train on time and then to get back was not as fun. Mind you the walking trip described above by Wendy seems HUGE from what I saw. Sure some of the sights are close but the Vatican is a bit away...you guys must have been exhausted! Well done!

David

Hi Mary & David & all

Yes it was great meeting everyone after chatting for so long on the boards. Writing about the cruise just helps me enjoy it all over again.

I am only about 1/3 of the way through the Da Vinci Code & I have to agree I liked Angels & Demons better at this point, but I have never been to Paris & I really felt like I was back in Rome while reading Angels & Demons.

Naples: Originally we had planned on just doing the Exploration of Pompeii tour through the ship at $52.00 each & then just hanging out in Naples. We live in a very ethnic area in NE Ohio which is heavy on Italians & everyone I spoke with said don't miss the Amalfi Coast it is breathtaking. So we ended up taking Amalfi Drive & Pompeii (I was not about to miss Pompeii) at $120.00 per person. Well, if we were going to splurge on a ship excursion we were very happy that we chose this one. The excursion left at 7:45 am so we again decided on room service. Room service was great for the days we had early itineraries since it not only served as a wake-up call but we were able to enjoy breakfast at our leisure in our stateroom.

Although I have read horror stories about the guides/ship tours, we once again had a fabulous guide. Gave us plenty of information & had a sense of humor on top of it all. We had kind of pictured the Amalfi Drive to be similar to driving the Pacific Coast Highway from LA to San Francisco, well the Amalfi Coast makes PCH look like a hiking trail. It is unbelievable we traveled it in a bus. Of course, the looks on the faces of the drivers coming into a turn and finding themselves face to face with a full size tour bus on a one lane road -PRICELESS. You could always tell the tourists from the local drivers. The drive got more beautiful & amazing around each turn. Our first stop, which our guide called a restroom break, was actually kind of a tourist trap, but enjoyable all the same. It was a woodworking plant were they showed us how they made tables, jewelry boxes, etc with wood designs in laid. They were actually quite beautiful & the demonstration interesting, but after they offered you espresso & biscotti, use of the restrooms, they filtered you into a showroom to purchase the wood crafts. Touristy but the coffee was great. Our second stop was atop a cliff overlooking Sorrento. We stopped for approximately 15 minutes which was plenty to take some great photos of the coast. From here we drove through Positano which is a small very picturesque fishing village and then on to the seaside resort of Amalfi. We had approximately an 1.25 hours to explore Amalfi. There is a great little Piazza which is home to the Cathedral of St. Andrew which dates back to the 13th century. Plenty of shops are around the Piazza & up the main street, with the main item to purchase being Limoncello, a lemon liquor. A very quaint little village which also had great gelato. After leaving Amalfi, we drove about 1/2 hour to a hotel/restaurant overlooking the Mediteranean Sea. This was our lunch stop which was included in the price of the excursion. Lunch was started off with a glass of champagne, rolls, then a pasta course of cannelloni stuffed with spinach & cheese, followed by a course with chicken, potatoes & peas in a white sauce with a glass of white wine. For dessert a light lemon cake & espresso. The food was 1st class, the restaurant/hotel was beautiful & the view from the dining room was spectacular. Now we decide we all needed a nap, but we still had Pompeii to explore. We continued along the Amalfi Coast, along the Bay of Salerno & on to Pompeii.

Upon arrival in Pompeii we first stopped at a Cameo factory which most reviews I have read complained about this, again a tourist trap but we only spent about 20 minutes there & to see a craftsman actual carving a cameo I found it interesting, plus it was another restroom stop. One thing I learned was to take advantage of all restroom stops in Europe because public restrooms are few & far between. Also, you should always carry the travel toilet paper (avaibale in the sample size sections of K-Mart/Walmart/Target etc) or travel tissue packs because restrooms in Europe generally don't have toilet paper

Ok, into Pompeii. Entrance fee is included in the cost of the excursion. I think it is a must that you have a guide in Pompeii. We had fellow cruisers who had a private driver for the Amalfi Coast & Pompeii, but the driver was not permitted to accompany then into Pompeii because he wasn't an official guide. Since we were on a ship excursion, our guide went with us into Pompeii & he was very informative as to the sights. Our friends without the guide didn't feel they really got a good understanding of Pompeii. Our guide did a very good job of explaining the sights & the history of Pompeii which was destroyed in 79 AD. One thing I found very interesting was that the people of Pompeii were killed by the gas emitted from Mt. Vesuvius before the eruption. It was amazing to see the actual casts of people as they died & you can see them with there hands at their faces showing they were having trouble breathing. Another interesting thing was the stepping stones across the streets. Because Pompeii did not have an underground sewage system, they flushed the sewage down the streets, thus the stepping stones, if you happened to be walking around town when they were washing the sewage out to sea, you could cross the streets on the stepping stones & avoid the sewage. It was amazing how ingenious they were over 2000 years ago. It is also unbelievable the art & marble still intact. We spent about 1.75 hours in Pompeii & were given a very informative guided tour. Back to the bus & then back to the ship by 6:15 pm. Another long day and almost too much information & history to process. Again the weather was very agreeable, no rain, partly cloudy & about 73. Perfect for sight seeing.

Back on the ship we had time for a much needed rest & still plenty of time to dress for formal night. This is also lobster night & the midnight buffet. Good thing we get to sleep in tomorrow. The viewing for the midnight buffet was 12:00 & then it was open to eat at 1:00 am. We decided after dinner that we better not return to the room or we wouldn't leave to see the display. Hung out in the casino & then listened to the Splendour of the Seas Band in the Top Hat Lounge. Did the viewing of the midnight buffet, took pictures & I didn't think I could eat another thing after dinner, but Tom thought he needed to sample some of the desserts, so we waited & tasted & then couldn't wait to be able to sleep in. Tomorrow is a much needed day at see & then we have 2 more days to explore Barcelona. We also are planning on taking a day trip south of Barcelona to Sitges.

Tomorrow - At Sea

Sweet Sea,

No we didn't climb the tower. You can only go up at certain times & we only had about an hour & wanted to look around the town also.

You have no idea how much you need this day at sea until the day arrives. Sleep in, after an exhausting week in ports I can't even guess what time we got up on this day,except I know we were in the Centrum at 11:00 am for a cooking demonstration which was seafood linguine that we all got a chance to sample. After this we went for lunch, then played a little putt putt & enjoyed the ship. Back to the room for a still needed nap, got up & dressed for the evening. Farewell show in the 42nd street theatrer at 7:15 featuring British Magical Champion Mark Taylor - Very Good. After this we went to the centrum to hear Renato Pagliari perform. He was fantastic. Then on to our final dinner. After dinner we headed up to the Crown Viking Lounge for a farewell drink & dance! What a fabulous week.

Tomorrow-back to Barcelona for 2 days.

Disembarkment was by far the easiest of any cruise we have taken. When we got off the ship the line for taxi's was a mile long, but we grabbed the port bus within 3 minutes of getting off the ship. 1.50 euro to take you to the bottom of La Rambla. From here we walked up La Rambla to Hotel Continental, it is a little bit of a hike but we each had a suitcase on wheels & a backpack, so it wasn't really too bad & we got to enjoy La Rambla preparing for a busy Saturday morning. Upon arriving at our Hotel, we found that our room had an air conditioning problem, no big deal, we didn't use the air pre-cruise, but they insisted on moving us to the sister hotel Continental Palace. Well, I had viewed this on the internet prior to cruise & knew that it was worth the move, especially when they were giving at the same price & would pay for our cab fare to change Hotels. Well, no argument from us & after an 8 euro cab fare to go about 3 1/2 blocks, Peter welcomed us to the Hotel Continental Palace. It was absolutely beautiful & Peter told us he had researched it & it was the townhouse of the Royal Family when they came to Barcelona for special events. Got settled in our room & decided to hit the streets. We hadn't really walked around the Gothic Quarter, so that is where we spent the main part of the day exploring & enjoyed very much. It seems we have grown very found of the european tradition of siesta & headed back to the hotel. Well, the Hotel Continental Palace has a 24 hour complimentary buffet for all guests, so we grabbed a couple of glasses of wine, some olives, nuts & cheese (our afternoon tapas) headed back to the room for snacks & our nap we had grown accustomed to. After waking, grabbed 2 more glasses of wine ( beer was also available) watched some TV & dressed to head out for the evening. Walked around La Rambla & decided around 8:45 pm to try the Attic for dinner again since we enjoyed it so much pre-cruise. Well, being a Saturday night with no reservations - no luck!. We decided to walk around a little more & stumbled upon a restaurant called L'Oliva - Carrer Jovellanos 2 which I had written down in my notes from this board as a restaurant to try. We decided to give it a shot since they had a nice crowd & it was off the beaten path. Well, no atmosphere, but the food was excellant, possibly the best rabbit we have ever eaten. We ordered 1 rabbit entre & 1 pork tenderloin - both were exceptional if you don't need atmosphere. Good thing the Hotel was a short hike back, so we could walk off the meal & the wine.

Tomorrow - day trip to Stiges

Well I am finally getting around to finishing the review of our trip.

After spending one day back in Barcelona, we decided to venture out of town. Peter at the Hotel was very helpful with directions to the train station. He pointed out that the entrance to the train station & the metro were right across from each other & not to go to the metro. He also told us to make sure that once we got to Sitges to check the schedule at the station to make sure we knew what time the last train was leaving to return to Barcelona. We made our way to the train station around 9:00 am & purchased 2 R/T tickets to Sitges for 4.5 euro each. I am not sure how many stops, but it is about a 30-40 minutes train ride. Once at the station in Sitges, we just made our way toward the water. Once we hit the water the town opened up into a beautiful seaside resort. We just decided to start walking along the water & enjoy the day. Which was about 78 & nothing but blue skies. We started walking at the ancient church of Sant Sebastia which is a landmark of Sitges. We must have walked about 2 miles down the shore & decided to take the little "tourist train" back to the church. It runs from the church to the far end of the main beach. I think it cost 1.5 euro each for one way. After we got back to the church we decided to explore the streets of the town. It is actually a small town with about 20,000 population. Although I did read that Sitges is the most expensive area in Spain for purchasing property. Plenty of little cafes to grab some pastry, tapas or just a glass of wine or cappucino. While walking through the town we saw a crowd start to gather. We never did find out if this was a special event or something that goes on regularly. It ended up being adults & children in different colored shirts, I think we saw 4 different team colors. We also noticed men wrapping long pieces of cloth around their waist & pulling it very tight. All of a sudden a group in matching shirts starts to build a human tower. It was a least 5 levels of people (standing on shoulders) tall. It was finished by a small child scampering to the top & raising one arm. It was very interesting & we watched 3 diferent teams, although like I said, we never did find out what it was all about. Well being that we were still not recovered from our cruise we decided to head back to Barcelona around 2:00 pm. Caught the train back & then stopped for some Tapas at a little place on Passeo de Gracia in Barcelona. It was really hopping for a Sunday afternoon & we knew we wouldn't have dinner before 9:00 pm. So, after our tapas & some wine, it was back to the hotel for our nap. Gosh we have come to love our afternoon siesta. Back at the Hotel Peter arranged reservations for Attic for that evening.

Got cleaned up & dressed for dinner around 8:00 & just strolled along La Rambla until our 9:00 dinner. Once again we had a very good meal at the Attic. We didn't walk around too much after dinner since we had to head for the airport by 8:00 am the next morning.

Monday morning we had no problems getting to the airport (got the bus 1 block form the hotel) or checking in. Since we got there in plenty of time I did make a few more purchases at the duty free.

Well, we hated to see this vacation end!

I will be happy to answer any questions.

Wendy

Thank you so much for ALL the great info. I am impressed with all the details. They will be helpful to me for the planning of our cruise.

I am so glad you had such a wonderful time.

Ginger:)

Glad to be of help. These boards were extremely helpful when we were in the planning stages-just want to give back! Happy Cruising....Europe is fabulous!

Wendy