Rare Bimmer09 Posted October 6, 2015 #1 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Avast there, shipmates!! This is the tale of a daring sea voyage on the Emerald Princess, sailing from Rome to Barcelona in the year of 2015. If ye have a mind, pull up a comfy barrel, pour yerself a tankard o' rum (it's BYOB as I am not made of money), fill yer pipe with Old Ahab's Sea Shag, munch on some bole weevils and sit a spell while I tell my tale.... We (Carol and I) have the sea in our blood-in my case heavily diluted by Guinness-and we had a hankering to sail Mare Nostrum (the Med) again after last year's Venice to Rome cruise on the Ocean Princess. "We have to come back to Rome at some point" we said without putting a date on our return. Once home in Chicago we looked at our booking on the Caribbean Princess- August 25th from Southampton to ports in Norway....and cancelled it once we found the Rome cruise in the Cruise Atlas. The warm Mediterranean and a return to Rome won out over the cool fjords. We will get to Norway some other time. After two minutes of planning we decided to have two days in Rome and two in Barcelona to bookend the cruise. So here is the itinerary that will unfold day by day over the next few weeks..... DAY 1 AND 2 ROME [/url] DAY 3 CIVITAVECCHIA SAILAWAY DAY 4 PALERMO, SICILY DAY 5 SALERNO, ITALY DAY 6 SEA DAY To be continued.... Norris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlf1 Posted October 6, 2015 #2 Share Posted October 6, 2015 (edited) Norris, Each time I think that your pictures can't get any better you out do yourself once again. These pictures are stunning. Eagerly waiting for more (especially food). Judy Edited October 6, 2015 by jlf1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bimmer09 Posted October 6, 2015 Author #3 Share Posted October 6, 2015 DAY 7 LIVORNO, ITALY [/url] DAY 8 GENOA, ITALY DAY 9 CANNES, FRANCE (CANCELLED) DAY 10 AND 11 BARCELONA, SPAIN So with the itinerary established we can get on with the review.... Norris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bimmer09 Posted October 6, 2015 Author #4 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Norris, Each time I think that your pictures can't get any better you out do yourself once again. These pictures are stunning. Eagerly waiting for more (especially food). Judy Judy, welcome aboard! You are the first to comment and win the GRAND PRIZE!!!! A Princess lanyard!! Thanks for the photo comments. The cameras (I used 3) got a lot of use. FOOD PORN?? Yes. All will be revealed in time as this will be written chronologically. I would say that it is my best food porn ever. We ate well every day. Norris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRLess Posted October 6, 2015 #5 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Checking in and accounted for! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bimmer09 Posted October 6, 2015 Author #6 Share Posted October 6, 2015 WHAT'S UP AHEAD? ROME Two days of walking the streets in beautiful weatherFOOD PORN Annie and Judy prepare yourselvesXXX COFFEE PORN at the famous Sant EustachioROME walk at 5 a.m-dark empty streetsSunsetsA beautiful morning in the FORUMROME from the roof of the Vittorio Emanuel edificeDining outdoors at night CIVITAVECCHIA Transfer from Hotel Albergo del Senato to the Port via ROME IN LIMO Embarkation lunchBeautiful sail awayOther ships in portCrown Grill dinner PALERMO Sabatini breakfast City and beach tour (lots of TRASH PORN on the video)MDR woesFormal night SALERNO Excursion to HERCULANEUM ruins Princess Theater show LIVORNO Excursion to Florence- Accademia, Uffizi, PONTE VECCHIO SEA DAY (Tuesday) Photos and video of RAIN Pub Lunch$10 watch salePrincess Theater showCC Meet and Greet GENOA Excursion to CINQUE TERRE Boat tripTrain tripBus tripWalking tourAncovy and Sea Bass PORNPhotos and video of Costa Concordia SEA DAY Biblical rain Cancelled portAnother $10 watch sale!Crew talent show BARCELONA Big rainstorm at docking 4 hour guided tour of SAGRADA FAMILIA and PARC GUELLTAPAS PORNPanoramic view of Barcelona from MONTJUIC Tour of LA PEDRERA and CASA BATTILOMorning walking tour in the dark down Las Ramblas before the city wakes Along the way, life on the EMERALD PRINCESS Norris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bimmer09 Posted October 6, 2015 Author #7 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Checking in and accounted for! Chris! Welcome aboard. Muster drill is still a few days away so I hope you don't mind looking at photos of Rome in the meantime... Norris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ar1950 Posted October 6, 2015 #8 Share Posted October 6, 2015 (edited) Chris! Welcome aboard. Muster drill is still a few days away so I hope you don't mind looking at photos of Rome in the meantime... Norris I'm here as well!! Photo away Norris. :cool: (OH, and looking forward to both of the $10 watch sales for sure.....) Edited October 6, 2015 by ar1950 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bimmer09 Posted October 6, 2015 Author #9 Share Posted October 6, 2015 THE PLANNING AND ANTICIPATION [/url] TUNIS was cancelled for safety reasons....Salerno substituted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerseyridgearts Posted October 6, 2015 #10 Share Posted October 6, 2015 looking forward to the entire review but really can't wait to see your photos of Cinque Terre and Barcelona! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jojiboy Posted October 6, 2015 #11 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Appreciating your photos and the humor! [emoji2] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bimmer09 Posted October 6, 2015 Author #12 Share Posted October 6, 2015 THE FLYING PART.... [/url] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bimmer09 Posted October 6, 2015 Author #13 Share Posted October 6, 2015 [/url] NOTE-aircraft NOT to scale.... COMING IN TO LAND Photos taken on an IPhone 5 Norris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bimmer09 Posted October 6, 2015 Author #14 Share Posted October 6, 2015 THE STORY SO FAR... We flew to Rome on September 23rd, a Wednesday, on the last scheduled DIRECT flight of the summer by United Airlines. We were first on the Waitlist for Business Class but all those people showed and so we sat in Economy Plus. We had an empty seat between us which came in handy. The plane took off around 6 pm and we did the same as we were strapped into the seats and had no other choice. 9 hours of eating, drinking, watching on demand movies (about 200 to choose from) and using our Bose Noise Canceling headphones (highly recommended) we traded the darkness of night for views of the sunny beaches to the west of Rome and were soon on the ground, right on schedule at 10 am and soon in the crazy scrum of baggage claim-a case of too small an area for too many people. [/url] Once we had the bags and had passed through customs we were able to spot my name held aloft by our driver from Rome in Limo. We introduced ourselves in Italian, he took our luggage and we walked a couple of hundred yards to the garage where a black Mercedes E Class was waiting. He didn't speak fluent English but with our Italian, some mime and a few smoke signals we chatted on the drive into the center of Rome. Our thanks as always to Jany from Rome in Limo who is always bringing her A Game when it comes to bookings. NEXT UP..... ROME Norris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bimmer09 Posted October 6, 2015 Author #15 Share Posted October 6, 2015 looking forward to the entire review but really can't wait to see your photos of Cinque Terre and Barcelona! Thanks for coming aboard. The Cinque Terre and Barcelona sections are a long way off but in each I went berserk taking photos-maybe 500 between the two. Both spectacular. Eat your Wheaties and stay with me.... Norris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bimmer09 Posted October 6, 2015 Author #16 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Appreciating your photos and the humor! [emoji2] Thank you-nice to see an unfamiliar face/screen name. 1800 more photos still to come. Norris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bimmer09 Posted October 6, 2015 Author #17 Share Posted October 6, 2015 ROME Founded-oh, let's just say a long time ago, predating the Selfie Stick by over 2500 years. It was founded by two brothers, Romulus and Remus who were apparently brought up by a she-wolf which really casts a dim light on parenting back in the day. Despite a diet of wolf-milk and howling at the moon lessons on a nightly basis one of them turned out pretty well-he founded a city that visitors flock to, while the other one is pretty much forgotten these days. The Greatest Roman of them all, of course, was Julius Caesar, some of whose books adorn my bookcase. He was so great they stabbed him with their steely knives and then burned his body just to make sure he was 100% not going to cause any more trouble. And he didn't. I'll show you a photo of the spot where they burned him later. We checked into our hotel at noon. The same one we stayed in last year. Albergo del Senato. Here it is-in Pantheon Square (Piazza Della Rotonda) [/url] Our room (3rd floor from top) had a window onto the square and one to the narrow alley on the side so we had light from two sides. As is our custom we entered the hotel and began babbling away in Italian as the only way to get better is by using it and then being corrected/laughed at. "Io ho una stanza prenotate-sono Signori Adair" and that brought a big smile and a welcome. Loosely translated I said "I ran over a raccoon on the way here-can I borrow a shovel?" Si, Signori! I said I have a reservation. They welcomed me back. A bellboy brought our luggage and us to room 302. As is our custom Carol immediately unpacks while I go outside to savor Rome and have a cigarette sitting on the walls of the Pantheon. THAT'S THIS THING... IT HAS BIG COLUMNS AND LOOKS OUT ON A LIVELY SQUARE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bimmer09 Posted October 6, 2015 Author #18 Share Posted October 6, 2015 After my brief visit to the outdoors it was time to return to our room for a Planned nap of 90 minutes duration. VIEW FROM THE ROOM [/url] VIEW DURING THE NAP IN A DARKENED ROOM After the nap we will go to a place where XXX COFFEE PORN is their business.... Norris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jase0581 Posted October 6, 2015 #19 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Great so far, can't wait for the rest of the review. Thank you for taking the time to put it together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LC1950 Posted October 6, 2015 #20 Share Posted October 6, 2015 G'day Norris (and all) from the merry old land of Oz. Been looking forward to your review Norris, and booted up this morning to find it's here! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasperdo Posted October 6, 2015 #21 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Norris, Glad I found this review early. I usually don't see it until it's 20 pages deep. Anyway, I'm very much looking forward to tagging along on another of your terrific reviews. Your photos are simply amazing. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
js4rq Posted October 6, 2015 #22 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Enjoying your amazing photo review! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bimmer09 Posted October 6, 2015 Author #23 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Great so far, can't wait for the rest of the review. Thank you for taking the time to put it together. Thanks Jase- I am happy you found this ramble. The rest of the review is "coming right up" and will be completed about a month from now (judging by past experiences) Welcome. Norris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bimmer09 Posted October 6, 2015 Author #24 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Norris, Glad I found this review early. I usually don't see it until it's 20 pages deep. Anyway, I'm very much looking forward to tagging along on another of your terrific reviews. Your photos are simply amazing. John Glad to see you here again! 20 pages deep? That's usually dinner at the end of the first day...and it might just be the case. Our first dinner is a doozy-can't wait to show you the food-best we have eaten in Rome. Thanks for the photo compliments-under the circumstances of always being in either crowds or walking the streets in the dark I used the main camera (Canon Eos Rebel T3i) in auto mode which means I have to look at and tweak every photo before posting. 1800 photos....yikes. I always had to be aware of pickpockets and camera thieves and keep my wits about me, so I changed lenses less than I might have in say the villages in Cinque Terre where there was less of a threat of losing the camera. I also avoided shooting in RAW as I knew I would be taking a lot of photos and RAW eats up the memory on the card faster. I didn't lose anything to pickpockets or early-morning muggers, thankfully. I've watched several pickpocketing videos on youtube and am all eyes and ears when walking the streets in Europe. You'll see some of my 5 a.m Rome stuff in a few days. Money? I wore a Rick Steves moneybelt. Norris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bimmer09 Posted October 6, 2015 Author #25 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Enjoying your amazing photo review! :D Thank you! I enjoy seeing new faces in my reviews-and rejoice (usually with another beer) when old friends pop in. Hope you like very long reads..... Norris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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