MSC Sinfonia April 6, 2019 11 Day Mediterranean with photos

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Next, we walked to some shops where we had a few minutes to explore before the bus returned. We ducked into a small cafe for a little lunch/snack. We ate grape leaves and spinach pie. Some of the best we have ever eaten! 

 

We got back on the bus for our ride to the port, but because of demonstrations in the center of the city, we had to reroute our path. We got back to port a few minutes late, but so did many other tour buses. We have never cut getting back to the ship so close!

 

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The next day (Sat., April 13) was our second and final Sea Day. We were looking forward to a restful day, but it did not start out that way.

At 6 am, the ship's emergency announcement woke me. It scared the you-know-what out of me, and I was concerned that something had gone very wrong.

It turned out that it was a drill for the fire suppression team. I get that they need to have surprise drills, but how about a second announcement telling passengers that it's a drill? This was my only disappointment with MSC.

 

DS was an active member at the Young/Teen club throughout the trip. He enjoyed going to the club most evenings. And, on our sea day, he spent the afternoon playing soccer/football on the basketball court. DS speaks English and a few words of Spanish, but he was able to make friends from all over the world. He told me that once they started playing cards or video games, the language didn't matter.  

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On Sunday, April 14, we took the MSC "Rome on Your Own" excursion. I had considered several MSC and private excursions, but we wanted to go inside the Colosseum. It appeared that preordering reserved, timed tickets would be the way to go. Let's see how that turned out.

 

The bus took 1.5 hours to arrive at Piazza del Popolo. Because of the travel time to and from the ship, we really did not have all day in Rome. We arrived after 11 am and had to meet back at 4:30 pm.

 

From Piazza del Popola, we took a taxi to the Roman Forum. There is a taxi stand in the Paizza. It cost us 15 euro and was metered. Our original plan was to view the Forum before our timed Colosseum tour at 1:30, but the line was so long at the Forum that we walked directly to the Colosseum to wait in line.

 

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We waited in the reservation line for 1 hour, then waited in the entrance line for another 15 min and then waiting for our tour to begin. 

 

The Colosseum was amazing. We were all very glad to have seen and toured it.  We were there, however, for nearly four hours. And we were hungry.  So, we grabbed the first pizza cafe that we found. It was made for tourists, but we didn't mind. By the time we left the cafe, it was about 3:30, and we needed to get back to the meeting point in Piazza del Popola. Google maps show this is about a 30 min walk.  This was Palm Sunday, though, and the sidewalks were packed with people viewing a religious parade.

 

So instead of a nice walk through Rome where were planned to stop at the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps, we ended up weaving through the crowd and trying to find our way. We made it back to the meeting spot with 10 minutes to spare! If we make it back to Rome, I will book a walking tour. We can skip the Colosseum that time.

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The next day, Monday, April 15, we visited Genoa. I much preferred our relaxed touring of the Genoa waterfront to the frantic pace of our last hour in Rome.

 

We walked along the waterfront to the Bigo - a panoramic lift which was not open yet. Some more gelato may have been eaten...are you noticing a trend?

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Here are some Genoa waterfront pictures.

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Then we visited Villa del Principe, a private museum. This located within easy walking distance from the port. We were the only people touring the Villa for the hour we were there. It was strange to have such a beautiful building to ourselves. 

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Here are some interior and ceiling pictures.

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The next day was our visit to Marseilles, France, on April 16. We took the MSC bus to Vieux Port. It was extremely convenient because it was very close to the ship and dropped us off directly across the street from the Marseilles History Museum. In this case, we paid for convenience.

 

I saw the free bus further away from the ship. There was a significant line for it, and I'm not sure where it drops you off.

 

Our day in Marseilles was controlled by the weather. If it had been sunny and less windy, we had planned to take a ferry to Chateau d'If. But it was neither sunny nor calm, and so we visited the History Museum. While the collection tags are in French, complimentary listening devices in several languages are available.

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After the museum, we walked around old port and found a bakery with delicious treats.

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We took the bus back to the ship, and started to pack. Marseilles was our last stop before disembarkation in Barcelona. This was one of the least stressful disembarkations, in my opinion. We left our cabin at 8:30; handed bags over for storage in the casino, and ate one final breakfast in the buffet.

 

With our bags back, we camped out in the Sinfonia Lounge playing cards until 10:30 am. Our flight wasn't until 2:30, and the lounge was much more comfortable compared to the airport. It was very easy to walk off the ship and hire a taxi.

 

The airport experience was not great. We waited in 3 lines: checkin, security and passport control and were greeted with a delayed Veuling flight. Then the delayed flight turned into a broken airplane when we had to debark and get bused to a different plane. I am grateful for a safe arrival in London!  

 

Instead of flying directly to Boston, we were spending two nights in London. This was like a little vacation at the end of our cruise vacation.

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Once we landed at Gatwick, we purchased train tickets from a very kind gentleman who told us which track to go to to get to St. Pancras station in London. We promptly got on the wrong train which was an express train to Victoria station.

 

Another patient person, helped us to pay the difference of about 16 euro and included tube tickets to get us from Victoria to St. Pancras. Once there, we found our way to Judd Hotel. It was a charming, very recently renovated hotel with various hallways and doors making it somewhat of a maze. It was very clean and the breakfast was decent, too.  I would stay there again.

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That evening, our hopes of taking a night tour of London were dashed because we were so late arriving at the hotel. We found a nearby Chinese restaurant to eat at and lucked out with some delicious meals!

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The next day was Thursday, April 18. We took an Uber that morning to the Tower of London. Like the Colosseum, I had prebought the tickets for this particular day. But this time, it worked swimmingly! We arrived a few minutes before 9 am. Workers were canvasing the line making sure everyone had their tickets.  Once the line started to move, it was very quick to get in to the Tower. 

 

The Tower of London is not only a tremendous historical site, it is presented as a world-class museum. This was a bucket list visit for me, and it met every expectation.

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After our visit to the Tower, we grabbed a snack at Pret A Manger, and then we found where to buy tickets for the Hop On Hop Off bus by Golden Tours. We walked across the Tower Bridge as well.

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Like our day in Athens, demonstrations had blocked off part of London. We took a circuitous route on the HOHO to the British Museum.

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We spent hours that afternoon and the next morning at the British Museum. We marveled at the collection, and wondered how it came to rest in London. (I know how...I'm being generous here.) Our hotel was within walking distance, and we had discovered the value of using Google walking maps to get us around the city.

 

On Friday, April 19, it was time to depart London for Boston. We took the correct train this time to Gatwick. We flew on Norwegian Air to Boston which was not a pleasant experience. And that's all I'll say about that.

 

Overall we loved the trip. We will cruise MSC in the future, and we've decided to start saving for a Northern European cruise.

 

Please post any questions you may have about what we did or the MSC Sinfonia. I'll try to answer. This cruise board is always very helpful while I'm planning our trips. I'm happy to give back!

[jimbri]

Great review and photos!

[mimmy52]

Loved your review!  You were allowed to take photos in the museum by the Parthenon!  Lucky you.  When we visited about seven years ago, photos were not allowed.

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2 hours ago, jimbri said:

Great review and photos!

Thanks for hanging in there, Jimbri!

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2 hours ago, mimmy52 said:

Loved your review!  You were allowed to take photos in the museum by the Parthenon!  Lucky you.  When we visited about seven years ago, photos were not allowed.

Thanks, mimmy52.  There are still a couple of restrictions at the Parthenon museum. Our tour group had to store all large bags and backpacks in a big carriage at guest services. Also, there was a large section of the museum in which no photos at all are allowed.  Also, museum security is extremely vigilant about getting too close to the objects.

[rikitikitavii]

Match Game, 

We were on this same cruise, embarked April 2nd. Must say this was one of our best cruises, great itinerary, great staff, food was very good. Easy embark and disembark.  We had a wonderful time, no complaints at all.

Cabin 1210 - Suite - Aurea experience.

 

Rick

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1 hour ago, rikitikitavii said:

Match Game, 

We were on this same cruise, embarked April 2nd. Must say this was one of our best cruises, great itinerary, great staff, food was very good. Easy embark and disembark.  We had a wonderful time, no complaints at all.

Cabin 1210 - Suite - Aurea experience.

 

Rick

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed yourself, too, Rick! 

I agree that the itinerary was terrific. It was the main reason we choose MSC Sinfonia which is an older, smaller ship. With all the days in port, we did not miss any of the sort of activities offered on the larger cruise ships. 

[luvcruzing]

On 4/28/2019 at 9:58 AM, Match Game 72 said:

more cabin pictures including the balcony.

Thank you so much for doing this review. I’m wondering if there are two chairs on the balcony. Also, if there were two bathrobes in the cabin and a hair dryer? 

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16 hours ago, luvcruzing said:

Thank you so much for doing this review. I’m wondering if there are two chairs on the balcony. Also, if there were two bathrobes in the cabin and a hair dryer? 

Yes, there are two chairs and one small table/footstool.

We did not have bathrobes in the cabin, but there is a hairdryer that was perfectly adequate.