Vista 7/1/16 8 day Med Review - a Vista like no other

[Jamman54]

On the Vista, Cucina and Jiji's are on floor 11 aft. Cucina is on the starboard side. One of our group is an amateur photographer, and had been asking the wife and I to let him take some pics of us (I shy away from being on the other side of the camera for obvious reasons). At any rate, there was a wonderful sunset going on as we were eating and he asked us to step outside so he could take a couple of pics. While the sunset was fading and not quite as nice as it had been, here is a pic he snapped us of us.

 

 

That's a lovely picture of you guys!

[jimbo5544]

Thanks Jeff!

 

 

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[sjn911]

Lovely Pic and a wonderful new Stanley!!

[vistacruise16]

lovely photo and thanks for all the info/photos your sharing.

 

quick question, is that a lanyard for the s&s card around your wifes neck? if yes, how much was it?

 

thanks

[soccersharon]

Hoping to retire by then and either will be inaugural or TA

 

 

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Wonderful review and fantastic photos, Jimbo!

 

Some of us from the Vista Repo are already planning on the Horizon TA. Looking forward to it already [emoji3]

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

lovely photo and thanks for all the info/photos your sharing.

 

 

 

quick question, is that a lanyard for the s&s card around your wifes neck? if yes, how much was it?

 

 

 

thanks

 

 

It is a lanyard, I don't know how much they cost. That one I got from doing the behind the fun tour a couple years ago. Thanks for the kind words on the review.

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

Lovely Pic and a wonderful new Stanley!!

 

 

Thanks Sarah! Art was never my strong suit in school.

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

Thanks Sharon. As you know, we considered the repo from New York to Miami but could not make it work. We will however be getting off the ship as you are getting on in New York for a TA event and sleepover. We will see what works for the Horizon.

 

 

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[soccersharon]

Thanks Sharon. As you know, we considered the repo from New York to Miami but could not make it work. We will however be getting off the ship as you are getting on in New York for a TA event and sleepover. We will see what works for the Horizon.

 

 

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Too bad things didn't work out for the Repo. We have a great roll call, with some great friendships already made. Fingers crossed for the TA!

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

Too bad things didn't work out for the Repo. We have a great roll call, with some great friendships already made. Fingers crossed for the TA!

 

 

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Understand and I have been following along in the shadows on the roll call thread. It's a family wedding so there was not much Could do.

 

 

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[soccersharon]

Understand and I have been following along in the shadows on the roll call thread. It's a family wedding so there was not much Could do.

 

 

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Family first, of course!

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

Family first, of course!

 

 

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Ended up that way, but we did discuss it.

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

If it is Thursday, it must be Marseille.....

 

This was an interesting port (as we have never been there) and excursion choice for our group. Unlike the previous ports of call, they (and us) were all over the map on deciding what we wanted to do here. In the end, some did a winery visit and others did their own thing. My sister in law has a friend who has gone there many times and she when we asked her for input (specifically from the Carnival excursion selections, she came back quick saying she thought the best option was Arles and Aix-en Provence (she is a History teacher) and we went with her recommendation. So a group of nine of our group went on this tour. Upfront I will say that it was not quite what I was expecting, but I learned more on this excursion than any other of the trip. It also almost turned into a nightmare for some of us....but I am jumping the gun on that part of the review.

Edited August 1, 2016 by jimbo5544

[jimbo5544]

Before I jump into the actual excursion, it is worth noting that on this particular day, France was going to play Germany in the semi final soccer tournament in Marseille that evening. Not only was this a big deal, there were concerns from the ship and we received letters in the cabins the night before about security in and around the city in regards to this.

[jimbo5544]

So we had another early rise, go to breakfast and then meet in the lobby by 7:30. We exited the ship and were directed to our bus, loaded up and ready to go in nothing flat. The trip the Arles was about 90 minutes (see the trend here?). During that time our leader told us about this region and how the Roman Empire had taken it and made it a (my words here) kind of Rome east, with many of the features of Rome in a somewhat smaller state and size. An example of this we saw when we got there. The built a coliseum (on a smaller scale but ore more intact) like the one in Rome.

 

The town has what I would say is a fair during fall months where they where they do plays on reenactments of what happened long ago. The town itself is very nice, old and def has a tie to its heritage. Here are some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jimbo5544]

....and a couple more..... Flat Stanley was enjoying it, the last one is our tour guide

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 1, 2016 by jimbo5544

[jimbo5544]

....and some more....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jimbo5544]

....and a few more.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jimbo5544]

On the banks of the Rhone river, Flat Stanley wanted to take a swim....

 

 

 

 

[jimbo5544]

.....and some more.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jimbo5544]

......and a couple more...... The third pic is two older sisters that were traveling with us. The take part in the next piece of the story..... The last one is a quint little sandwich shop we got something to eat in. Run by a father and daughter, we had the most trouble of the trip trying to communicate with them in placing our orders. They were extremely nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jimbo5544]

loving the photos and story. thanks!

 

Thank you very much for the kind words.... I am enjoying bringing to you! I very much appreciate the feedback.

[jimbo5544]

After our "on our own time", we boarded up again and headed to Aix-en Provence. This was kind of on the way back to the ship. On this ride our guide mentioned that there was concern that with the soccer game, we might have issues in getting back to the port on time...:eek: She was in contact with the land based ship agent and would keep us posted.

[jimbo5544]

I always try to make sure I leave feedback :) I know when I wrote my reviews sometimes I felt like I was writing to the air.

 

counting down the days until my next cruise!

 

Exactly! I totally get it. Reading reviews helps in the wait until you cruise as well.

[SMSACE6]

Jimbo5544, just wanted to say that your beautiful photos are bringing back a lot of memories of years gone by. I used to spend most summers in Europe from childhood and up to 40 years thereafter. Most of my time was in Germany, Holland and France, but also spent some time in Italy and what is now Croatia and Slovenia. While I may not have been to the exact places you visited on this cruise, the European "ness" is so familiar, and makes me nostalgic and I just want to go back!

 

Thanks again for this wonderful review, and photos. I know it has taken a lot of work to do.:)

Edited August 2, 2016 by SMSACE6