Our (almost completely DIY) 12-night Med Cruise on Vision of the Seas - Aug 2015

[markoCR]

The important thing when planning your own DIY excursions is to prepare a route. This can save you a lot of time and helps make sure that you include everything you want to see during the day.

 

Florence is a reasonably small and compact city which means that it is possible to see a lot of things in a short amount of time. It's obviously not enough for you to completely explore the city though. With queues to enter places you have to decide... do you want to go into places like Il Duomo and sacrifice seeing other parts of the city, or see as much of the city as possible without entering the majority of places.

 

We opted for the latter. Mainly because we had a feeling we were going to love the city, which meant that in the future we would almost certainly return.

 

 

We arrived at Firenze Santa Maria Novella station and headed straight outside. We had to planned to start the day on the outskirts of the city, at the famous viewpoints of San Miniato al Monte and Piazzale Michaelangelo. Outside the station there are a number of bus stops. We were looking to catch the number 12 bus, and got lucky as the first bus stop we checked was the one where the number 12 stopped. And 30 seconds later it arrived!

 

It took us a while to get up to San Miniato al Monte as the bus went all around the city, but after 20 minutes or so we were there. The plan was to start there as it would mean no hill climbing at the hottest time of the day, and we could plan a route that would end up back at the train station.

 

 

San Miniato al Monte

 

 

 

We had a little look around San Miniato before making the short walk down to Piazzale Michaelangelo. The views from there were amazing. You can also get your typical souvenirs from up there, as well as other things like paintings. We took the typical photo of the city and purchased a painting (which is now sitting in our living room!) before making our way down to the city.

 

 

View from Piazzale Michaelangelo

 

 

 

TIP: If you want to see the city by yourself, make sure you plan a route before you leave. This will save you a lot of time and stop you doubling back on yourself.

[AZEmom]

Thank you for posting this! Very helpful as we plan our first Med Cruise

[ken_nyc]

Thank you for posting this! Very helpful as we plan our first Med Cruise

 

I agree, this is also helping us for our first Mediterranean Cruise. Thank you!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

This is a FANTASTIC review! Thank you. It s well written and organized. I am looking forward to the next installments.:)

[markoCR]

From Piazzale Michaelangelo there are steps you can take down to avoid having to follow the winding road. These brought us down to Piazza Giuseppe Poggi. From there we took a left and walked along the river, until we got to the Ponte Alle Grazie. We crossed the bridge there, where we could see the famous Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) in the distance.

 

 

 

 

After crossing to the other side, we took a right and headed back along the other side of the river, until we reached Piazza Piave. There wasn't really anything special there to see, so we crossed it and took another left up Via dei Malcontenti. After a few minutes we were in Piazza di Santa Croce. We were really impressed by the Basilica di Santa Croce.

 

 

 

 

 

We loved how Florence was full of squares, with narrow streets connecting all of them. From Piazza di Santa Croce we headed west to another very impressive square, Piazza della Signoria. Here you can find the Palazzo Vecchio, which is the town hall, as well as a copy of Michaelangelo's David. There are also loads of statues there. Unfortunately it was absolutely packed with tourists, so we weren't able to spend much time here, although we did manage to take a few photos.

 

 

 

[markoCR]

Thank you to everyone for the comments! As I said before, if anyone has any questions please feel free to ask! I've decided to try and post at least once a day now, otherwise I'll still be here this time next year :D

[ken_nyc]

This review is just wonderful! Details, tips and photos are great! :)

[vavasmom]

I am really enjoying your review (and photos). Thank you for taking the time to do it

 

I have a med cruise on my to-do list once my daughter graduates from college. As a person who enjoys do-it-yourself excursions, I really appreciate all the details.

[js4rq]

Enjoying your photo review so far!! :D

[markoCR]

From Piazza della Signoria we followed the crowds up the narrow Via dei Cerchi. We then took a right onto Via Dante Alighieri, which took us up past Dante's house. A left onto Via Proconsolo then took us up to towards Il Duomo, the highlight of the day.

 

 

WOW! We were taken aback by the sheer size and beauty of Il Duomo. We had seen many photos and had seen it from a distance, but even so it's such an impressive building when you actually see it close up. Not even the photos do it justice. We walked all around it, taking photos from all angles and admiring all the little details of the Cathedral.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the disadvantages of a DIY-cruise is that you don't get some of the advantages that you might get when booking through a tour company, like being able to jump the line to get into places. It isn't possible to get tickets online for Il Duomo so we decided to see what the queue was like to get in.

 

Ok, it was long. Really long. I mean stretching a long way around the building long. And it wasn't moving. We decided to wait for 10 minutes to see if there was any movement, but there was nothing. I don't know if they let people in at certain times, or wait for a certain number of people to leave before letting more in, but we were forced to make a decision right there and then. Do we join the back of the line and devote the remaining hours there? Or do we go and have a pizza and beer and see the rest of Florence?

 

 

We went for the second option. It was a difficult choice (our stomachs made the final decision for us!), but we were really happy that we had at least been able to see everything from the outside, and we knew already that one day we would love to return here and maybe spend a few days instead of 6 hours.

 

So we decided to go for lunch. Unfortunately my planning went a bit wrong here as the places I had researched for lunch were a good 15-minute walk away from where we were. So we decided we fancied a pizza and headed off to have a look around. We walked away from Il Duomo fearing ridiculously expensive prices and headed north, ending up in Piazza di San Lorenzo. Here we found a lovely pizzeria hidden on the corner of a street which served a great pizza, cold beer and had free wifi. I wish I had written the name of the place down as I've completely forgotten now, sorry.

 

After a lovely lunch we headed towards our final main attraction, the Ponte Vecchio. We walked south via Piazza della Repubblica and made it to the bridge. As you can expect it was full of people, but we enjoyed looking at all the shops they have along each side.

 

 

Edited October 6, 2015 by markoCR

[markoCR]

From the Ponte Vecchio we started heading back towards the train station. It was quite a short walk back, and we went via Piazza Santa Maria Novella, another enormous square, with the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella at one end.

 

 

 

 

From there the train station was just round the corner. We absolutely loved Florence and will definitely go back in the future. 6 hours isn't a long time, but it's definitely long enough to cover quite a bit of the city on foot and take in the majority of the sites.

 

 

The 15:28 train got us back to Livorno at 16:48, giving us plenty of time to get back to the ship. We decided to walk back to where the shuttle bus had left us in the morning. It was about 2 kilometres away, so easily doable in around 30 minutes (it's pretty much a straight road all the way there). Obviously I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, especially if you're tired after all the walking in Florence!

 

It was quite a nice walk though, and we saw the old Fort on the way. The shuttle bus picked us up from Piazza del Municipio, and by 6pm we were back on the ship.

 

Once we were back on the ship, we reserved a meal for later that evening, and as we had a bit of time we decided to head outside on Deck 5 to watch the remaining passengers get back on the ship. Amazingly, two passengers didn't turn up. The ship waited and waited, but 30 minutes after it was due to leave, it had to go. We have no idea what happened to these two people after that!

 

 

Next stop, Civitavecchia and Rome!

[markoCR]

Like the previous day, we were due to arrive in Civitavecchia at 7am, which meant another early start and breakfast. We had had an early-ish night, and knowing we had 2 days at sea to come, we didn't feel too tired.

 

Again everything was well organised and by 7:15 we were disembarking. Again we were sent to a shuttle bus which would take us out of the port area. This time it was free! So we jumped on, and after a while we were off.

 

The shuttle bus dropped us off in the centre. What we didn't know was that there was then another shuttle bus which could take you to the train station. We decided to walk it, and in 15 minutes we were at the station.

 

I had researched train tickets online, but when we arrived we saw there was a special ticket being offered. For 12 euros each, you could get a return ticket to Rome, which also included the Rome metro. We thought this was excellent, so got a ticket each.

 

Walking to the station was a good idea because soon after a bus arrived carrying a load of people from our ship. This of course caused an enormous queue in the station for tickets! However, as we already ours we sat happily in the station and had a coffee. We ended up getting the 8:42 train, and we were on our way!

 

 

 

 

 

Remember to validate your ticket before getting on the train!

 

 

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USEFUL INFO:

 

Civitavecchia Train Station Coordinates: N42 05.270 E11 47.900

 

Roma Termini Coordinates: N41 54.065 E12 30.000

 

Price of Return Ticket to Rome (Including Rome Metro): 12 euros per person

 

Shuttle Bus from Port to centre of Civitavecchia: Free

 

Shuttle Bus from Centre of Civitavecchia to Train Station: 2 euros

Edited October 9, 2015 by markoCR

[markoCR]

Rome is a pretty big city and so you have to accept that you're not going to be able to see everything in 6 or 7 hours. However, there are things you can do in order to save yourself some time.

 

Frankie was really keen on the idea of going to the Vatican. If you want to do the same, it's probably best to do this first. Therefore, we took the train to Roma San Pietro station (the main station is Roma Termini). This meant the journey from Civitavecchia was about 45 minutes (it's normally an hour to Roma Termini).

 

We arrived at San Pietro station and started walking towards the Vatican. We had read before coming about the Vatican private railway line which you can see, so we had a look at that before making our way towards Vatican City.

 

If you follow the crowds you can't really get lost. You enter the main square called Piazza San Pietro where you can get some pretty good photos of the Basilica and Sistine Chapel. We saw that there was quite a long queue to enter the basilica when we arrived, but as it seemed to be moving quite quickly we decided to join it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luckily we joined it when we did, because 15 minutes later the queue had quadrupled in size! We ended up getting into the Basilica after about 20 minutes, which we didn't think was too bad. Obviously the inside is incredible, and we spent almost an hour wandering around taking photos. They also offer you the chance to confess in different languages if you want.

 

After a bit of a shop for souvenirs, we started heading into the centre of Rome!

Edited October 10, 2015 by markoCR

[markoCR]

From Vatican City, you can be in the centre of Rome within 5 minutes. We walked down Via della Conciliazione and then took a right along Via. S. Pio X. We followed this down and crossed over the River Tevere. On our left we could see the Castel Sant'Angelo and the Ponte Sant'Angelo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there our next stop was Piazza Navona. I'd always wanted to go there after using a book called Piazza Navona to study Italian a few years ago! We loved this square, and spent a good 15 minutes taking photos of all the different fountains, statues, and of course Sant'Agnese in Agone, a Catholic Church.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A short walk from Piazza Navona is the Pantheon, which is well worth a visit. It's free to enter as well so we had a quick look inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our final stop before lunch was the Trevi Fountain. We walked along the Via dei Pastini which took us past Adrian's Temple on the way. We had both really been looking forward to this, so you can imagine our disappointment to find that it was dry and under restoration (although we would have known this had we looked online beforehand!). So instead of spending quite a bit of time there as we had originally planned, we took a few quick photos and then headed off for a much needed beer and lunch!

 

 

 

[AZEmom]

Thanks again. Love the tips and pictures. Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.

[Pmorton3360]

I've seen more pictures of the Trevi fountain under construction . when will it be done? Really enjoying your reveiw. Thinking the way to go with a little help from CC and Rick Steves.Thanks.

[aweller88]

thank you so much for your ongoing review. My future husband and I are doing a Med cruise next summer and are hoping to DIY it too so this is great food for thought!

[markoCR]

Again my lunch planning went a bit wrong as the places I had prepared beforehand were a little off our route. So we ended up checking out different restaurants and eventually settling on one. We had a pasta dish which was slightly disappointing but we just needed energy to keep us going for the afternoon.

 

Before heading to the Colisseum, we decided to go first to the Spanish steps, as it wasn't too far away. There were so many people there though that it ended up being quite a quick stop, even our photos aren't that great because the only thing you can see are the crowds!

 

 

 

 

We decided to end the day at the Colisseum. From the Spanish steps you can take the metro, but as we were doing ok for time we decided to walk, hoping we may be able to see a few more things on the way. From the Spanish Steps we headed down Via dei Condotti, before turning left onto Via del Corso. This is pretty much the main street in Rome, and is full of shops, so if you have time and want to get something, this is the place to go. You'll walk past Piazza Colonna on your right, and then Chiesa di San Marcello on your left. Eventually you'll get to the impressive Piazza Venezia at the end of the street. Nearly there!

 

 

[Clarea]

Enjoying this very much!:)

[markoCR]

Make sure you get your Colosseum tickets in advance. This is really really important as the queues to enter the Colosseum itself were just ridiculous. As we booked ours before we left we just strolled right in. They cost 14 euros per person, and you can get them sent to you by email for you to print off. Really easy. The ticket covers the entrance to the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.

 

To get there you need to take the road that runs behind the massive building in Piazza Venezia (Altare della Patria I think it's called) to the left. This is called Via dei Fori Imperiali. There are some lovely views down there so have your cameras ready! This road takes you down to the entrance to the Colosseum. By this point it was getting really hot (about 35 degrees) and we were really tired, but this was one of the highlights of our cruise so we weren't going to miss it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't think I need to say much else... enjoy it! Give yourselves a couple of hours at least, explore as much as you can.

 

 

TIP: Get your Colosseum tickets in advance to save time!

Edited July 20, 2016 by markoCR

[markoCR]

After walking around the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, it was time for us to head back. It was really hot by this point so we were looking forward to finding some shade. To save time, we decided to take the metro from the Colosseum (the station is right next to the Colosseum, you can't miss it) to Roma Termini. It was just two stops on the blue line, and our 12 euro ticket we got back in Civitavecchia covered the metro, so we thought we would get our money's worth.

 

Something very important. Roma Termini is pretty big! There are loads of trains as well, so you need to make sure you get the right one and know where you are going. Also, the platform we had to go to seemed to be miles away from the main station! It took us a good 10-15 minutes to get there, but luckily we got there in plenty of time. Other people from the ship who were doing the same obviously had the same issue, as we saw them running along the platform later! Luckily for them, the train left 10 minutes late, so they got there just in time.

 

 

TIP: Get to Roma Termini in plenty of time, as it's a big station and you might have to walk quite a way to the platform.

 

 

It was an hour back to Civitavecchia. Originally we were going to walk back to the centre to get the free shuttle bus, but we were pretty tired after all the walking in Rome, so we got the shuttle bus from the train station to the centre, which cost us 2 euros each (worth it if you're tired!). We then got the free shuttle from the centre back to the ship. Another day over, and it was 'arrivederci Italia' for the moment.

[markoCR]

So after three pretty action-packed days we had two days at sea to look forward to. I know other cruise reviews are full of accounts of people doing loads of things on the ship during their days at sea, but I'm going to have to disappoint you all here. We did absolutely nothing :D

 

Ok I'm exaggerating slightly. Frankie actually got up at 7am both mornings and went to the stretch classes in the fitness centre, while I had two much-needed lie-ins. She also went to the Zumba classes on deck with Elvis which she and plenty of other people seemed to thoroughly enjoy. We spent most of the time in the Solarium reading and putting our feet up. There were plenty of activities going on (which I'll talk about later), so it's difficult to be bored to be honest. Also, Day 6 was a formal night for dinner, so we got dressed up and had a lovely meal in the MDR.

 

 

On day 7, we arrived in Athens!

Edited July 20, 2016 by markoCR

[markoCR]

Athens

 

Athens was the earliest start in the whole cruise, as we arrived at around 5.30am, and were allowed to leave from about 6.15. We actually woke up at 6.20, had a shower and then headed up to the Windjammer for breakfast. After eating quickly we got our things and headed off the ship. We managed to walk straight off pretty early which we were happy about.

 

Again we completely DIY-ed this port, and it's pretty easy to do so. We were directed by a couple of people on how to get to the metro station, and it was a 15-20 minute walk around the harbour until we walked past a big abandoned building and then walked up the street to the station. If you keep following the road that bends around the harbour you shouldn't get lost.

 

We got our tickets for 1.20euro and got onto the train. After 6 stops we got off at Thissio. I recommend heading to this station, because it's on the same line as Piraeus, and the path up to the Akropolis is not that steep. We decided to head straight to the Akropolis, as we didn't fancy doing it in the heat, and walked up the path before turning left. Follow the crowds, as most people are heading to the same place!

 

In Athens they offer a ticket for the main sites in the city. We got our tickets for 12 euros each (7 sites included: two parts of the Akropolis, Ancient Agora, Hadrian's Library, Roman Agora, Kerameikos, Olympieion). Even if you don't have time to see all the different places (we managed 6 of them), you're still going to save a lot of money, so go for it.

 

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USEFUL INFO:

 

Piraeus Train Station Coordinates: N37 56.875 E23 38.575

 

Thissio Metro Station Coordinates: N37 58.600 E23 43.250

 

Price of Metro Ticket to centre of Athens: 1.20 euros per person

 

Admission to 7 different sites in Athens: 12 euros per person

Edited July 20, 2016 by markoCR

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thank you for continuing on with this review! We are looking forward to the rest.:)

[markoCR]

The Akropolis is as amazing as it looks in photos. I would definitely recommend getting there early if you go in the summer, as it can get very hot and very busy. There were loads of people when we got there and it was quite early in the morning!

 

One piece of advice, don't make the same mistake I did! I realised when I arrived that I had left my water on the ship, so decided to buy a bottle. There was a man selling drinks outside so we went over, and as he didn't have any still water I bought a bottle of sparkling for 3 euros. As soon as we entered the Akropolis, I saw a vending machine selling cold bottles of still water for 35 cents! Gaaah!