Trip Report - NCL Epic Mediterranean

[littlelulu01]

Thank you so much for your detailed review. So sorry about the train/luggage troubles. I didn’t take my father’s advice and brought full size luggage on our first trip. I was reduced to a sobbing idiot more than once. After my daughter study abroad year we had to pick her and her 6 full size luggage up/travel Venice and a cruise. I planned the trip around the luggage and it went much better but otherwise won’t ever travel with more than I can easily run up and down stairs with and carry carry on my lap if needed.

[Sailing12Away]

Ok, so finally make it to Venice. As we got off the train and were walking all the way back to the central terminal area, hubby realized he left his laptop bag on the overhead compartment of the train. I took the 2 suitcases from him while he ran back to our car. The cleaning crew had already removed the bag, but he was able to track it down from an employee with minimal difficulty. Pro Tip: Don’t forget all of your stuff when you get off the train! Between each of us having a suitcase and laptop bag (MIL only had ‘Bertha’), plus I had my separate camera bag, plus helping MIL off the train, then getting all the luggage down and off…it’s easy to forget something. We got lucky that he remembered slightly quickly and we were able to get it back, but his passport was in that bag. If it had walked away with another passenger, we would still be stuck in Italy.

 

It’s a fairly short walk from the train station to the water taxi, but the ground was uneven and lumpy so MIL focused on walking while we dragged everything else between the 2 of us. It’s a bit confusing, because there’s 2 different vaporetto companies, plus the separate water taxis, plus various other random private boat services, plus all the people ‘volunteering’to assist you with your bags. The hotel we were staying in gave us great instructions so we knew we had to take the regular vaporetto on either line 1 or 2 and get off at San Marco. Based on the maps it looked like #1 brought us a bit closer to the hotel, so we opted for that one. Pro Tip: look at the routes and all the stops before thinking that one route is better than the other. The one we picked was technically closer(one canal bridge, and ~3 min walk closer), but line #1 is the equivalent of a local train/bus. There were 15 stops before we got to our destination, so it took us ~35 minutes. Line #2 would of only had 6 stops and taken us ~20 minutes.

 

Not a huge issue if you have all the time in the world,have a seat, and are not holding onto 3 suitcases. The boat we were on was packed the entire time. Plus since we were now an hour later than we originally planned to be, we were running out of time to make our evening excursion that we had booked. So those extra 15 minutes would have been very helpful to us. Vaporetto tickets were 7.50 euros each, one way. We went to the booth with a person, but at some of the other stations there are self serve kiosks that you can use.When we saw those later on we realized we could have bought a day pass if we wanted to venture to some of the other islands with a reusable ticket. Depending on what your plans are, look into this option ahead of time so you make the best use of your time/money.

 

Finally got to our stop at San Marco, and again the hotel’s instructions made it super easy to find. We stayed here in Venice in a “triple”room: http://www.hotel-firenze.com/index_en.htmlIt was.... ok. MIL wanted something close to St. Marks because she didn’t want to have to walk over a bunch of bridges to go anywhere, and we honestly couldn’t get any closer than this. You’re right in the middle of the heavily toursisty area of Venice. So it was good for getting to explore St. Marks, easy walk from the vaporetto, but do not eat anywhere near here or buy anything near here. The hotel themselves told us to avoid that entire area on the map they gave us –they equated it to Las Vegas and said that no venetian ever goes in that area.

 

After getting off the boat, I ran ahead with one of the suitcases to check in while MIL and hubby followed behind. By the time they got there I knew the room number, so we sent MIL up with 2 suitcases in the elevator (it wouldn’t fit anything else), then hubby followed with the last bag. I grabbed the keys and met them up there, we threw everything into the room, then left MIL behind and literally ran to St. Marks. We had 5 minutes to get there for our belltower climb. https://www.venetoinside.com/attraction-tickets-in-veneto/tickets/st-marks-bell-tower-skip-the-line-entry/

 

13 euros each, skip the line, and it’s an elevator ride up to the top. We booked for the last time slot at 6pm and literally got thereat 6:01pm. The security guard was locking up the door for the skip the line entrance, and we just made it in on that last elevator up. Phew! We had a ticket for MIL, but knew there was no way she would make it there in time. So we told her to meet us in the square at 7:30 for our next excursion. The belltower was great, gives you good views of the city from all 4 sides. All of our subsequent tour guides said that the better bell tower though is at San Giorgio. I think it only costs 3 euros (plus the water taxi ride over to the island).Much less people, plus they said the church is nice to visit as well. We never made it over there, but it sounds like it’s worth looking into. https://www.introducingvenice.com/san-giorgio-maggiore

 

We actually saw what we thought was the rooftop terrace of our hotel while up top in San Marco, and we were correct when we headed up there later that evening. Pro Tip: The bells do in fact ring from the bell tower, and in the evenings they ring every~30 minutes or so. As we were on line waiting for the elevator back down, they went off. Right over our heads. We saw them start to swing and were watching,when suddenly “booooooooooooong!”, over and over and over again. Part of it was fun and silly, but then my ears hurt and I wanted that elevator to get here asap. So if you see them start to move, just make sure you’re not standing directly underneath them when to go off.

 

When we finally got back down to the ground it was close to 7, so we headed in the direction of the hotel to meet up with MIL. I also needed a sweater as I was sleeveless and wasn’t sure if I would be allowed inside of St. Marks for our after hours tour. As we got to the front of the square, we saw MIL walking towards us. She was super early to meet us, so hubby ran back to the hotel to grab my sweater for me. We wandered around the square for a bit looking at the overpriced shops selling “Murano” glass sculptures.When every shop has the exact same clown or ladybug or cup, I question how authentic and ‘one of a kind’ it really is. Pro Tip: If you want real hand blown glass, get on the vaporetto and head to Murano yourself. There are tours on Viator that will take you there, but every single person we spoke to who did them said it was a waste of time. By the time you get to the island and watch the demonstration, you only have ~10 minutes to walk around and shop. You’re better off going on your own and heading to a shop that isn’t filled with 100 people from a tour group. One of our biggest regrets was not making it over there and getting some glassware to ship home. With only 1 full day in Venice, we just didn’t have nearly enough time to get there. The shop we found that had the best looking glasses to us,wanted 90 euros to ship 6 glasses. I felt like I was back at that evil oil/wine farm in Tuscany. I get it, it’s international and glassware, but come on. When we’re willing to spend 300 euros on products, surely you can find a better deal for us with shipping to close the sale.

 

Back to San Marco… ProTip: Avoid making eye contact with the indian ‘bird wranglers’. They have bird seed in their pockets and the pigeons flock to them for dinner. They put seed in your hand and get a swarm of pigeons to climb all over you – in exchange for now wanting a tip for getting the birds to ‘perform’. Pigeons in San Marco are a huge problem and it’s actually illegal to feed the pigeons. So don’t get caught, and honestly it’s just gross so don’t do it. In NY we equate pigeons to our subway rats with wings, I don’t know a single reason why someone would want that climbing on top of them intentionally.

 

Met up with our tour guide in the square at San Marco forour after hours basilica tour (Viator #15693STMARK). You meet the guide at 8pm,then you casually walk through the square making your way to the basilica as the guide points things out and tells you about Venice and St. Marks. Around 8:30pm you get access into the basilica from the side door. If you’re interested in going inside the basilica, this is the tour to do. It is just your group (we were about 20 people, split up into 2 groups each with their own guide) and the rest of the basilica is empty. It’s dark in some spots as the lights are off in a lot of places, but it was very neat being in there. After walking through the front part, you end up in the main chapel area and sit down with both groups. Then they turn off the lights completely and put on a small show. After all the lights go off, they slowly start turning them back on, one area at a time. Unlike a regular basilica tour, you are 100% allowed and encouraged to take photos the entire time inside the basilica (no flash). After the light show our groups split up again with the guides pointing out the different areas of the basilica, all the different frescos and the time periods they were from. The other bonus to doing the after hours tour – you get to go down into the crypts. The guide walked slow for us, so MIL was able to keep up and even navigated the steps to get down into the crypts. I think there was also an option where you could add on a visit to the Dodge’s palace, but we didn’t do that. It might not be an option for the after hours tour, or maybe we thought we wouldn’t have time, I can’t recall. But we never made it inside the palace this visit, but did snag a picture of the bridge of sighs from outside of it.

 

The tour ended around 9:30pm and our guide gave us a good recommendation for dinner. The hotel had recommended one place, but the guide said it was overpriced. We ended up here based on his recommendations and it was great: http://www.osteriadacarla.it/Food was fantastic, quiet and intimate, staff was great, we felt bad because it was late and they probably wanted to close up, but they kept telling us to take our time and not to worry. It was $107 for the 3 of us, including 2 glasses of wine and 2 desserts. For comparison, we did end up eating at the hotel recommended place the following night: $117 for the 3 of us, no wine, and 2 desserts. https://veneziaautentica.com/venice-bar-restaurant-all-ombra-del-leone/You pay for the view at this place as it’s right on the water, but MIL was cold once again so we sat inside. Service was 100x better and food was 100x better at Carla’s.

 

Pro Tip: GPS doesn’t really work when you are in Venice. The streets are so narrow it’s hard for it to pinpoint where you are. Street names are located high up on the building walls, so it can be hard to figure out where you are and where to go.Go by landmarks to find your way to/from places rather than names.

 

Found our way back to the hotel, then turned in for the night. MIL was freezing, we were sweating. She kept raising the heat, we kept lowering it. Finally she found 2 extra blankets in the wardrobe that she used while we slept on top of the blankets. The joys of traveling with other people….Day 11 coming up next.

Edited June 1, 2018 by Sailing12Away

[richstowe]

What a great review . Love your Pro Tip's . We enjoyed our Epic Med cruise from Barcelona and your review brings back good memories. Don't remember if there was a Rome/Civiavecchia option for our cruise. I applaud you for travelling with someone with mobility issues . Perhaps an Alaskan cruise but I wouldn't be able to do what you did .

[Sailing12Away]

Day 11 - Venice

Breakfast was included with the hotel cost, so we all went down for a bite to eat. Hubby and I planned to do a huge walk all over Venice that morning, so we left MIL behind and she wandered around at her own pace closer to the hotel. We crossed over the grand canal at the Ponte dell'Academia. Normally this bridge has great views of the canal and is 100x less crowded than Rialto, but they were doing construction on it. So there were large plywood sheets on the sides and you couldn't look out at all.

 

When we got across we headed towards the Basillica di Santa Maria della Salute. http://basilicasalutevenezia.it/ Entrance is free, so pop in and look around. It's located all the way to the East on the outer islands (it gets confusing with left/right up/down because the grand canal curves so much), so there's great views of the canal and surrounding islands over there too. Then we walked all the way around that section of islands until we ended up at the Rialto bridge and could cross back down to the inner sections closer to our hotel.

 

There are tons of churches, but despite being told they are all free, nearly all of them had an entrance fee. Pro Tip: Walk inside every church that interests you. Even if there is a fee, you can still see the grand entryway and take a ton of pictures before you get to the ticketing area and can't go further.

 

Food in Venice was the most memorable outside of our amazing mozzarella in Sorrento. Not because of the sit-down full service restaurants, but because of all the quick take away food. Pro Tip: Don't waste time sitting and eating a full lunch in Venice. Stop at a few different places and grab little munchies to eat while you wander around. A lot of people are willing to take credit card payments if the minimum purchase of 10 euros is met.

 

Tons of sweet shops, gelato shops, chocolate shops, pastry shops... you name it, they have it, and it all tastes wonderful. Definitely recommend this place if you stumble upon it: http://www.stickhousesrl.com/en/ They have gelato ice pops in a ton of flavors, and then hand dip them in chocolate of your choosing (white, milk, dark) and then roll in an assortment of toppings. We went with amaretto dipped in milk chocolate, and it was amazing.

 

As we were wandering we kept seeing people with a seafood cone. Hubby finally stopped a couple and asked where they got it from. They pulled up a map on their phone and tried to point us in the right direction, and eventually we found it. We had walked right past it, and I even took a photo of the mini arranchini in the window, but we missed the fish cones. They had about 6 different ones to try, essentially it was a paper cone filled with calamari, or a paella mix, or risotto and other stuff. He was in heaven. I stuck with the mini rice balls (mozzarella & potato, curry chicken, and beef) and potato croquettes. http://acquaemais.com/ Prices were reasonable too, the cones ranged from 5 - 6 euros, and the mini rice balls were 1.50 each. So we grabbed a few snacks to bring back for MIL to try as well.

 

Finally made it over to Rialto and crossed back over into the "Vegas" part of Venice. The prices did go up, the crowds did go up as well too. We passed by a shop with bigger arranchini (one of my weaknesses) and I had to stop and snag one of those to try. They were the size of a baseball and only cost 2.50 and tasted great. We grabbed a cannoli for MIL as she had been dying for one this whole trip, then eventually made it back to our room.

 

We had put the bottle of champagne the cruise gave us in our mini fridge, so we took that out and headed up to the rooftop terrace of the hotel to sit and relax from our 3+ mile long hike that morning over the canals of Venice. It was nice to be able to just sit outside looking at the city and kill off the bottle of bubbly.

 

Hubby & I went walking to figure out the vaporetto situation for tomorrow as we were headed to Florence around noon. We figured out how to get our tickets that night ahead of time from the self-serve kiosks and that was when we figured out that taking boat #2 was much better than taking the much longer trip on boat #1. Having our game plan for the next afternoon, we went back to get MIL and then head to dinner.

 

She didn't want to do any walking, so we headed to the restaurant that the hotel had recommended that first night. I wasn't impressed. I was also a bit grumpy because we were the only people sitting inside at a restaurant known for its outdoor tables along the grand canal, but que cera. After dinner hubby & I did a bit more walking as the sun went down and then came back to the room for our last sleep in Venice.

 

Day 12 coming up next.... last day in Venice and the trip to Florence for the last leg of our journey.

[Sailing12Away]

Day 12 - Headed to Florence

Last morning in Venice before hopping on another train to get to Florence. We booked the train for 1pm so that we would have the morning to do some last minute sight seeing in Venice since we were there for such a short amount of time. After breakfast, hubby & I went to wander the streets again with MIL tagging along.

 

The hotel gave us a few recommendations that were close by to walk to and kill an hour or so, but we struck out. The opera house had a large fee to go inside, plus an additional fee if you wanted to be allowed to take pictures inside (I had never seen that or heard of that before in any other location we visited. I think it was an extra 5 euros per group for the permission - not sure how they enforce it.). http://www.teatrolafenice.it/site/index.php So again we walked inside, took a picture of what we could see then quickly left.

 

Made our way over to Campo Manin to see the winged lion statue, and MIL found a place to sit while we wandered around some more. Nearby was the Scala Contarini del Bovolo that we wanted to peek at and eventually found. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/scala-contarini-del-bovolo From the outside it looks like the leaning tower of Pisa and there's a big spiral staircase that you can climb up. I wasn't sure if there was an entrance fee, but more importantly I wasn't in the mood to hike up 180 steps with a potentially exhausting train station excursion coming up soon, so we took photos outside then went back to get MIL.

 

Meandered our way back to the hotel, then climbed back up to the terrace for some last views of the city. MIL was anxious about not missing the train and kept pushing us to leave sooner rather than later. I tried explaining that it was just a single train, no transfer, and would be easier than our previous trip in, but she was relentless. Eventually we caved in and agreed to head over there way too early to quiet her down. As I said before, you want to get there early, but not too early because there is no place to sit.

 

We did the short walk (~5 mins) to the vaporetto, climbed over the bridge to get to station #2 instead of station #1, then had a very short ride of only 6 stops, 20 minutes, to get to the train station - rather than 15 stops and 35 minutes coming in on boat #1. It was much less crowded too, so we all had seats if we wanted them, although I found it easier to stand and hold onto the bags. After getting off the boat we had another short 5 min walk to get into the train station. Then we stood and waited, and waited, and waited. Our train was at 1:15pm, we got there at 11:55am. They don't even list the tracks until ~10-15 mins before departure time.

 

When our track got announced we made our way over there then looked for signs to show you where which train car would be positioned on the track. 4B, 4A, 3B, 3A, 2B, 1B.... wait, we were in car 2A. We weren't too concerned as some cars you couldn't enter from both sides due to the cafe on board, so we thought we would just get on at 2B and walk a little ahead. Nope. 2A and 1A were another 3 cars ahead for some odd reason - plus you couldn't walk to them through the train as they were a separate train not connected internally.

 

So here we are with Big Bertha trying to figure out where our seats are, because our seats 9A, 10A, 10B were filled with other bodies as they belonged in car 2B and we really belonged in 2A. They were a huge group of travelers, so we were lucky that their guide was very helpful in trying to find where we were supposed to go. But by this point, we were out of time. There were no employees nearby, so he had to run 2 cars down to ask someone who told us we had to get off the train and walk up 3 cars. Yeah... not going to happen in the next 45 seconds with MIL and Bertha.

 

We ended up just walking ahead and dragging our bags as far as we could go, then taking 3 empty seats in car 1B. When the conductor finally came around asking for tickets we explained what happened and we got lucky that the seats we were in were not sold and we could stay in them until we got to Florence. But we ended up in the quiet car, so no talking allowed. And we had paid for business class again, so we missed out on those perks as minor as they were.

 

It was just very frustrating and annoying. Pro Tip: When picking out your seats on the trains, pay attention to the cars and how they are set up. It made no sense to me that cars would go 4B, 4A, 3B, 3A, 2B, 1B, beverage trolley, cafe food court, 2A, 1A when I had only 3 minutes to figure it out and get all of us and our bags on board. I most certainly wasn't paying another extra $400 if I missed this train. Had I paid more attention when I bought the tickets, I would have known we still had 3 more cars to walk past before we were at the correct spot. Pro Tip: Unless you have a very long (8hr) trip, don't waste your money on business class tickets. It just means more walking and higher prices - it really was not worth it at all. And if you do have an 8hr journey, fly.

 

Finally make it to Florence and we found the taxi stand. Hubby & I wanted to walk it to the hotel (~0.5 miles), but MIL just kept complaining. So we waited on the long taxi line. Spent more time waiting for the taxi than we did inside the actual taxi. Plus the taxi going to the hotel took the longest route possible (we had the maps out and opened on our phone and kept looking at each other saying 'where is he taking us??'). Took us almost 20 minutes and cost 15 euros. For comparison, after we did a wine tasting excursion that returned us next to the train station, that taxi took 8 minutes and 10 euros to bring us back to the hotel.

 

Our hotel location could not be beat. http://www.lestanzedelduomo.it/en/ We ended up in the Rhadda room, although I could have sworn we requested a different one as this was a duplex with stairs. It ended up working out ok as MIL kept her suitcase downstairs and just climbed the stairs with a handful of new clothes each night when she went to bed. The room was huge with a separate upstairs loft area for MIL with her own private bathroom. We had a huge bedroom with a jacuzi tub, and then there was a separate living room with a kitchenette as well. It's steps from the duomo, about a 5 min walk to the Academia, and a 10 min walk to the Ufizzi and Ponte Vecchio. The location was perfect, and the price was dirt cheap (~$180 euros/night). We thought there had to be a mistake, or that it was a bait and switch - nope, this place was legit and a great bargain. To be able to spread out and not be tripping on each other like we were in Venice was great. Having a separate and private area for each of us was nice too after being so close for the past 2 weeks.

 

We had about an hour to kill before our excursion, but we all just sat on the couch watching bad Italian dubbed versions of American tv shows and relaxed. Our excursion for the night was a pizza & gelato making class that we booked through Viator (#5919P38). The description from Viator is not accurate. It calls it a pizza and gelato making class in Florence - it was a wine tasting event in Tuscany where you sort of made pizza. We had a great time, but it was not what we were expecting.

 

The meeting place was literally across the street from our hotel, so a 60 second walk. We met up with one other couple there, so it was 5 of us in total. Our 'driver' came to meet us, and we were all confused. He said it was about a 45 minute drive to the pizza making place. We were all confused as we thought it was being held at a restaurant here in Florence. You can see my detailed review on Viator as it is the most recent one up there, but this is where they ultimately took us to: http://www.bottegatorciano.com/USA/winery/ Again, it was very lovely, but just not what we were expecting. We thought we were getting a single glass of wine to eat with our pizza when it was ready - nope, our group of 5, with MIL barely sipping her wine, probably killed off several full bottles of wine during our class. Prosecco while we were making the dough, rose prosecco while we were putting on our toppings, then sat for a full on tasting of 6 different Chianti wines while the pizza cooked, then topped off our glasses of our favorites while we ate our pizza, then a dessert wine as well.

 

Our driver was over an hour late to pick us up, so after all that wine we were quite chatty and just sat and talked and drank espresso to sober up. Had a wild ride back to Florence and finally got back to the hotel at almost 11:30pm. So the 3 hour excursion turned into a 5 hour long trip. Went right up to the room and passed out from the wine and train adventures.

 

Day 13 coming up next, more of Florence.

[MLA]

Day 12 - Headed to Florence

 

Last morning in Venice before hopping on another train to get to Florence. We booked the train for 1pm so that we would have the morning to do some last minute sight seeing in Venice since we were there for such a short amount of time. After breakfast, hubby & I went to wander the streets again with MIL tagging along.

 

 

 

The hotel gave us a few recommendations that were close by to walk to and kill an hour or so, but we struck out. The opera house had a large fee to go inside, plus an additional fee if you wanted to be allowed to take pictures inside (I had never seen that or heard of that before in any other location we visited. I think it was an extra 5 euros per group for the permission - not sure how they enforce it.). http://www.teatrolafenice.it/site/index.php So again we walked inside, took a picture of what we could see then quickly left.

 

 

 

Made our way over to Campo Manin to see the winged lion statue, and MIL found a place to sit while we wandered around some more. Nearby was the Scala Contarini del Bovolo that we wanted to peek at and eventually found. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/scala-contarini-del-bovolo From the outside it looks like the leaning tower of Pisa and there's a big spiral staircase that you can climb up. I wasn't sure if there was an entrance fee, but more importantly I wasn't in the mood to hike up 180 steps with a potentially exhausting train station excursion coming up soon, so we took photos outside then went back to get MIL.

 

 

 

Meandered our way back to the hotel, then climbed back up to the terrace for some last views of the city. MIL was anxious about not missing the train and kept pushing us to leave sooner rather than later. I tried explaining that it was just a single train, no transfer, and would be easier than our previous trip in, but she was relentless. Eventually we caved in and agreed to head over there way too early to quiet her down. As I said before, you want to get there early, but not too early because there is no place to sit.

 

 

 

We did the short walk (~5 mins) to the vaporetto, climbed over the bridge to get to station #2 instead of station #1, then had a very short ride of only 6 stops, 20 minutes, to get to the train station - rather than 15 stops and 35 minutes coming in on boat #1. It was much less crowded too, so we all had seats if we wanted them, although I found it easier to stand and hold onto the bags. After getting off the boat we had another short 5 min walk to get into the train station. Then we stood and waited, and waited, and waited. Our train was at 1:15pm, we got there at 11:55am. They don't even list the tracks until ~10-15 mins before departure time.

 

 

 

When our track got announced we made our way over there then looked for signs to show you where which train car would be positioned on the track. 4B, 4A, 3B, 3A, 2B, 1B.... wait, we were in car 2A. We weren't too concerned as some cars you couldn't enter from both sides due to the cafe on board, so we thought we would just get on at 2B and walk a little ahead. Nope. 2A and 1A were another 3 cars ahead for some odd reason - plus you couldn't walk to them through the train as they were a separate train not connected internally.

 

 

 

So here we are with Big Bertha trying to figure out where our seats are, because our seats 9A, 10A, 10B were filled with other bodies as they belonged in car 2B and we really belonged in 2A. They were a huge group of travelers, so we were lucky that their guide was very helpful in trying to find where we were supposed to go. But by this point, we were out of time. There were no employees nearby, so he had to run 2 cars down to ask someone who told us we had to get off the train and walk up 3 cars. Yeah... not going to happen in the next 45 seconds with MIL and Bertha.

 

 

 

We ended up just walking ahead and dragging our bags as far as we could go, then taking 3 empty seats in car 1B. When the conductor finally came around asking for tickets we explained what happened and we got lucky that the seats we were in were not sold and we could stay in them until we got to Florence. But we ended up in the quiet car, so no talking allowed. And we had paid for business class again, so we missed out on those perks as minor as they were.

 

 

 

It was just very frustrating and annoying. Pro Tip: When picking out your seats on the trains, pay attention to the cars and how they are set up. It made no sense to me that cars would go 4B, 4A, 3B, 3A, 2B, 1B, beverage trolley, cafe food court, 2A, 1A when I had only 3 minutes to figure it out and get all of us and our bags on board. I most certainly wasn't paying another extra $400 if I missed this train. Had I paid more attention when I bought the tickets, I would have known we still had 3 more cars to walk past before we were at the correct spot. Pro Tip: Unless you have a very long (8hr) trip, don't waste your money on business class tickets. It just means more walking and higher prices - it really was not worth it at all. And if you do have an 8hr journey, fly.

 

 

 

Finally make it to Florence and we found the taxi stand. Hubby & I wanted to walk it to the hotel (~0.5 miles), but MIL just kept complaining. So we waited on the long taxi line. Spent more time waiting for the taxi than we did inside the actual taxi. Plus the taxi going to the hotel took the longest route possible (we had the maps out and opened on our phone and kept looking at each other saying 'where is he taking us??'). Took us almost 20 minutes and cost 15 euros. For comparison, after we did a wine tasting excursion that returned us next to the train station, that taxi took 8 minutes and 10 euros to bring us back to the hotel.

 

 

 

Our hotel location could not be beat. http://www.lestanzedelduomo.it/en/ We ended up in the Rhadda room, although I could have sworn we requested a different one as this was a duplex with stairs. It ended up working out ok as MIL kept her suitcase downstairs and just climbed the stairs with a handful of new clothes each night when she went to bed. The room was huge with a separate upstairs loft area for MIL with her own private bathroom. We had a huge bedroom with a jacuzi tub, and then there was a separate living room with a kitchenette as well. It's steps from the duomo, about a 5 min walk to the Academia, and a 10 min walk to the Ufizzi and Ponte Vecchio. The location was perfect, and the price was dirt cheap (~$180 euros/night). We thought there had to be a mistake, or that it was a bait and switch - nope, this place was legit and a great bargain. To be able to spread out and not be tripping on each other like we were in Venice was great. Having a separate and private area for each of us was nice too after being so close for the past 2 weeks.

 

 

 

We had about an hour to kill before our excursion, but we all just sat on the couch watching bad Italian dubbed versions of American tv shows and relaxed. Our excursion for the night was a pizza & gelato making class that we booked through Viator (#5919P38). The description from Viator is not accurate. It calls it a pizza and gelato making class in Florence - it was a wine tasting event in Tuscany where you sort of made pizza. We had a great time, but it was not what we were expecting.

 

 

 

The meeting place was literally across the street from our hotel, so a 60 second walk. We met up with one other couple there, so it was 5 of us in total. Our 'driver' came to meet us, and we were all confused. He said it was about a 45 minute drive to the pizza making place. We were all confused as we thought it was being held at a restaurant here in Florence. You can see my detailed review on Viator as it is the most recent one up there, but this is where they ultimately took us to: http://www.bottegatorciano.com/USA/winery/ Again, it was very lovely, but just not what we were expecting. We thought we were getting a single glass of wine to eat with our pizza when it was ready - nope, our group of 5, with MIL barely sipping her wine, probably killed off several full bottles of wine during our class. Prosecco while we were making the dough, rose prosecco while we were putting on our toppings, then sat for a full on tasting of 6 different Chianti wines while the pizza cooked, then topped off our glasses of our favorites while we ate our pizza, then a dessert wine as well.

 

 

 

Our driver was over an hour late to pick us up, so after all that wine we were quite chatty and just sat and talked and drank espresso to sober up. Had a wild ride back to Florence and finally got back to the hotel at almost 11:30pm. So the 3 hour excursion turned into a 5 hour long trip. Went right up to the room and passed out from the wine and train adventures.

 

 

 

Day 13 coming up next, more of Florence.

 

 

 

Don’t mean to sound negative, but all this sounds like MIL should have done something like a riverboat trip. Seems like everything was much too taxing for her!

 

 

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[sha32]

Great review,

I’ve noticed on the dailies that the night time parties like Norwegians big night out and 70s night etc, are being held in Bliss and not outside at Spice H20 like usual.

Has the weather not been warm enough or is there other reasons for it?

 

 

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[egdr22]

Thanks so much for the info! We'll be onboard in October! :)

[cabincop]

Thanks for your review. Ive done this variation both out of Barcelona & Rome. When you embark on Rome you have less tours available because Barcelona is main port. Also why Haven is more limited they hold most for Barcelona. We noticed a big difference in cruises from embarking in Barcelona & Rome. I still would go out of Rome. We arrived 3 days early. So much to see & do. Again thank you

 

 

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[Sailing12Away]

Great review,

I’ve noticed on the dailies that the night time parties like Norwegians big night out and 70s night etc, are being held in Bliss and not outside at Spice H20 like usual.

Has the weather not been warm enough or is there other reasons for it?

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It was chilly at night when the sun went down, and windy. During the day we were in the high 60's low 70's, at night it dropped below 60F and the wind made it feel even colder. Only had drizzly rain 2 days and while we were on land, but it wasn't warm summer weather just yet.

 

Don’t mean to sound negative, but all this sounds like MIL should have done something like a riverboat trip. Seems like everything was much too taxing for her!

Yes, we were probably a bit too ambitious with our plans. After suffering for many years, she had both knees replaced last year and has a new lease on life. But just because she's 100x better than she was, doesn't mean she can keep up with people half her age. But I was proud of her for doing as much as she did and glad that we were able to bring her along for this opportunity.

 

When we were looking at our vacation options we saw the Free at Sea promotion where a 3rd passenger could join us for free. We asked her if she had any interest in taking her new knees for a spin in Italy and she said absolutely, especially at the price. We were all in agreement going in that she would probably not be able to keep up and do everything, but she was fine with doing what she was comfortable with, and then meeting up with us later on. She viewed this as her first real vacation in many many years, and possibly the last she will take (of this magnitude).

 

A lot of people think I'm crazy for inviting my MIL to join us, but she was much easier to get along with than my own mother would have been. We're taking another (much smaller) vacation in August with my side of the family, which will be very different. MIL knows her limits and is independent and didn't want to hold us back or prevent us from enjoying our trip because of her limits. My own mother, well, she's in denial about her limitations and manipulative where the only person who ends up doing what they want is her.

 

Hopefully we've shown MIL that she is much stronger and able bodied than she sees herself, and the travel bug we put in her stays there.

[armstrong677]

Hi sailing,

 

 

just about to have a good read through your posts, looking forward to it, would you happen to have any of the dailies to post? think thats what they are called.

[armstrong677]

just read comment that you lost the folder with the dailies, doh

[buggins0402]

Great review. I love your writing style.

 

:DAnother ProTip… when using trains to go elsewhere in Italy after disembarking in Civitavecchia, a transfer from the ship to Termini might cost a bit more, but simplifies life immensely (the regional trains always arrive on the far track there). Termini is much easier to handle when not transferring from the train from Civitavecchia, you don't have to schlepp luggage up and down steps and bother with shuttles and busses.

[armstrong677]

yay, got to the bit where you found your folder

[armstrong677]

yay, just got to the dailies, fantastic, many thanks, will give them a good look over.

dont know why the cruise liner dont post these in advance with changes as necessary, would help guests plan their days better, and may even get them more revenue from trips/events.

[armstrong677]

many thanks for a very informative blog, taken lots from it to use on our august trip.

truly appreciated.

[kandpsmom]

Loving your report. Thanks for taking us on this journey with you.

[twallan59]

Great information.

 

How much time to you need to get off in port?

 

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[ejnsb]

Thanks for all this great information- do you recall if they had a laundry special during the week? we plan on 6 days land post cruise and packing will be interesting.

 

 

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[ElaineKeagy]

Enjoyed your review immensely, probably more than any other I’ve read here. Chock full of info and REALLY helpful tips about everything. I love reading trip reports but I appreciate your “just the facts, ma’am” style and enjoyed not having to scroll past pics of your shrimp cocktail and prime rib.

Bless your heart, and hubby’s too, for including your MIL on what might be a once in a lifetime trip for her. I travel with my 90 year old mother, and at 67 with hinky knees myself, I have to hold down on expectations. I joke with my friends it’s like traveling with a toddler.

 

 

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[Sunkissed Mommy]

Thank you sooo much!

 

We just booked this same trip for next June for our 10 year anniversary. On the Epic from Rome. I had concerns about embarking in Rome, but honestly I want the extra days before the cruise to explore everything there is in Rome rather than Barcelona. So we're willing to take that chance. We aren't overly social on cruises so we are okay with being our of sync with other people on the ship and with all your good advice we should be okay!

 

I wrote down a few notes from your review because that one tour in Pisa & Tuscany sounds exactly like what we're looking for.

 

Finding reviews of the cruise from Rome is challenging so, again, thank you!

[Sailing12Away]

Great information.

 

How much time to you need to get off in port?

For final disembarking in Rome? If you know where you're going and what your plan is, it's a very quick process. Depends on how fast you walk. From the time we got to the correct deck, it took less than 15 mins to walk off the ship and get our suitcases, then head outside to the buses and taxis. We started making our way off the ship around 8:15 and were at the Civitavecchia train station by 9:15. Including wandering in circles for a bit, taking the free shuttle bus, the 2 euro transfer bus, and then walking through the station to our correct track.

 

Thanks for all this great information- do you recall if they had a laundry special during the week? we plan on 6 days land post cruise and packing will be interesting.

Yup, they had a paper bag that you fill and they wash the entire thing for $19.95. It wasn't advertised in our room until after I had called and specifically asked about it (knew about it from other travelers on these boards). As long as you write "$19.95 promotion" on the top of your itemized list, you get charged the correct rate. We had 6 days post cruise, so it was a godsend to us.

I appreciate your “just the facts, ma’am” style and enjoyed not having to scroll past pics of your shrimp cocktail and prime rib.

Ha! Thank you. I take 1,000's of pictures on any trip I go on. So my Facebook friends & family get bombarded with all of those. It's been a while since I used an image hosting site, so I don't bother hosting and linking to them. I certainly don't mind putting up a shot if someone is looking for something in particular (a picture is worth 1000 words sometimes).

I wrote down a few notes from your review because that one tour in Pisa & Tuscany sounds exactly like what we're looking for.

Despite the price, it was one of our favorite stops. You get the obligatory Pisa photo shoot, and the food and wine at the restaurant was fantastic. If you can find a similar tour outside of NCL it will probably be cheaper, but I didn't have much luck on finding ones that also included Pisa. Since we had 3 full days in Florence, I wasn't as interested in a "Florence" trip, but the taste of Tuscany was a perfect fit for us.

I'll get to the rest of Florence soon in this thread, I promise. Glad everyone is finding it helpful so far.

[Gregor4500]

Nice review.

 

Do you by chance have the food option page of a daily from a sea day. I'm trying to find out if there is an alternate buffet for breakfast and lunch in Cagneys/Maderno on sea days. Thanks.

[Sunkissed Mommy]

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Despite the price, it was one of our favorite stops. You get the obligatory Pisa photo shoot, and the food and wine at the restaurant was fantastic. If you can find a similar tour outside of NCL it will probably be cheaper, but I didn't have much luck on finding ones that also included Pisa. Since we had 3 full days in Florence, I wasn't as interested in a "Florence" trip, but the taste of Tuscany was a perfect fit for us.

I'll get to the rest of Florence soon in this thread, I promise. Glad everyone is finding it helpful so far.

 

I have not been able to find a similar trip elsewhere either. I am okay with doing the NCL one, we plan to ask our family to buy us Norwegian Gift cards for any upcoming birthdays and holidays! lol

[Sailing12Away]

Nice review.

 

Do you by chance have the food option page of a daily from a sea day. I'm trying to find out if there is an alternate buffet for breakfast and lunch in Cagneys/Maderno on sea days. Thanks.

Here you go... Cagney's & Moderno are only open for dinner starting at 5:30. The only specialty restaurant open for lunch is Yakitori & Sushi. Besides the buffets, you can always go to Taste for breakfast & lunch too and that is included.