Highlights or lowlights of NOS trip 6/3/12 from a pita

[Marysunshine]

Hi: We left for Rome on the 30th of June arriving on the 31st. Had reservations at the Hotel Grifo in the Monti district two blocks from the colosseum and forum. We took the Terravision Bus to Termini and then a taxi to the hotel and all went smoothly and easily.

 

The hotel was a positive and negative experience. It was much newer and cleaner than reviews had said and the beds were much more comfortable than I had thought. The shower was also much more usable than people had led me to believe. The staff was very friendly and helpful.

The negatives were that there are NO drawers in the room. Not one. You have to live out of your suitcase which isn't easy in a room that small. But the bigger issue is that when I saw satellite tv I assumed that meant some US channels or a channel with English. Nope. Only Italian which made it difficult to sleep for me as I sleep with a tv on every night.

 

We went on a Vatican Gardens Tour. This is definitely something to miss. It was worthless. If you have a botanical garden near you, you will see more than you can see at the vatican. I live in NY so we have two botanical gardens here and I've been to the Buchart? gardens which puts all others to shame. The Vatican was so crowded that you didn't have to walk, the people would just move you.

Saw the colosseum, forum and trevi fountain which really was lovely albeit so crowded it was unreal. had to push to throw our money in :).

 

We met up with a woman and daughter from our roll call in Rome for dinner and liked each other so spent a bit of time together on the cruise as well. We were fortunate to find two other couples who shared a taxi from jump limousine with us from Rome to the ship so no trains or dragging luggage.

Embarkation was very quick and we were on the ship in no time.

We had a very nice group from our roll call although only about 14 showed up for the

M & M.

We did not take any tour in Messina. We were tired and just walked the town which I personally found boring. We returned to the ship and just relaxed.

 

We did a half day tour of Kusadasi to Ephesus and the Terrace Houses. Now let me say: while ephesus and the terrace houses are absolutely amazing and wonderful, beware the tour company. We went with ephesus deluxe tours and I specifically told them NO carpet factories. well to cut a long story short, the young guide got one couple to say they wanted to go out of 14 of us, and we were dragged there anyway. I was very angry and found out later that the same thing happened to everyone else who booked them. So if you are going on a tour and don't want to waste your time in a carpet factory with them trying to sell you carpets, you might want to use someone else. As I said, Ephesus was truly amazing and I was in awe of the whole site.

We did not take other tours as we hooked up with all different folks to take a taxi to and from Athens, which was very smart to do.

In Crete, they wanted 25 euros to take us to the beach. We took the shuttle bus to town and then a taxi and it cost us 10 euros total, three for the bus and 7 for the taxi. Once at the beach, we ran into another couple from the roll call and we shared a taxi straight back to the ship paying 20 euros for all four of us which we felt was a good deal. It was Golden Beach, by the way.

 

Now shoot arrows if you must, but here's my opinion: while the ship was in very nice condition, I thought the food and entertainment had really deteriorated since we were on AOS in 2008. On Thursday night the menu was so awful, that we went up to check the Windjammer after dinner. We never go to the buffet at night, but we were desperate. Desserts, which are an essential part of meals for me, left much to be desired. Our waiter, though, Angel, pronounced Ankel, was amazing. He was friendly, attentive, and efficient. He really made the dining room experience for us. Our headwaiter, Mr. Rodriguez, was also extremely helpful.

The shows were also awful. We had two nice shows: Fourever and the welcome show. That was it. The ship's entertainers were awful. They sang slow songs fast, fast songs slow, and worst of all, for some reason, felt they had to change the original tunes when they sang.

Quest was fabulous. We had the best time that night and the fun was overwhelming. It truly was a blast. They also had a dance contest for the passengers and that was fun as well.

For our return, the taxi we had pre ordered never showed up and I am sooo grateful to the couple we were sharing the ride with , as he managed to find another van to take us to the airport.

All in all, we had a wonderful time, but as I said, I really believe things have gone downhill.

Frankly, my cruise with Carnival about 18 months ago had better food and entertainment. But before you kill me, let me say I did purchase a next cruise certificate so I will be sailing RCL again. However, just as I love my family for who they really are, not who I want them to be, I like RCL for what she is but she could be a lot better.

I know this is not a real review, but it's just a quick overview of my experience.

P.S. THEY DID HAVE ESCARGOT.