Jewel of the Seas Review (LONG) September 15-24, 2019, with travel pre/post cruise

[ROWSE]

Uffuzi Gallery was so huge and amazing!  This was a picture taken from a window back at the Ponte Vecchio Bridge.

 

 

and one of the Uffuzi inner courtyard down a street toward the Duomo.  We would find ourselves up at the tip top of that Duomo later in the day.   There was a lot of construction happening all over Florence. 

 

Toward the end of our time there we stepped out near their cafeteria and saw the Plazzo Vecchio which is the town hall of Florence and stands in the Piazza Della Signoria. 

 

 

The walled barrier around us.

 

 

We had other timed entrances so it was time to leave and we walked into the Piazza Della Signoria.  We would tour this area a lot better on a tour we had booked the next day.

 

The area was beautiful but got so crowded at times!

 

 

 

 

 

[ROWSE]

I had booked the cumulative ticket for access to all the monuments of the Grande Museo del Duomo online before we left.  The ticket is good for 72 hours after first use, and only the climb up the Duomo is a scheduled time.  We booked 2:00 p.m. and you needed to arrive 20 minutes prior.

 

We planned to see the Uffuzi, have a quick lunch, and then go over to start our time at the Duomo museums.

 

We walked past this on the way.

 

 

We found a little place off the street.  Here is the menu.

 

 

The wine was delicious as well as my husband's pizza.  I had Pasta e Fagioli (Italian Bean and Pasta Soup) and it was just okay. 

 

 

 

After filling our bellies and satisfying our thirst, we headed toward the Duomo.  The weather was perfect for all our fun in Florence!   The whole area is jaw dropping beautiful! 

 

 

 

Edited September 30, 2019 by ROWSE

[ROWSE]

More of the Duomo area

 

 

 

We were comfortably early for our scheduled 2:00 climb, so we decided to go ahead and start with the Bapistry.  There was no line and we were in very quickly.  It was beautiful inside.

 

 

 

 

 

This did not take us very long and afterwards we searched out a bathroom.  There is a pay toilet

in the area which I have no problem with, it is just that they are very hard to find!  There is a 1 Euro fee for this. 

[ROWSE]

We found the line to climb the Duomo and it was quite long.  No one could get in, though

without their timed ticket. 

A view of the area we would enter

 

 

As we wait in line we are serenaded and this song always makes me cry!  Just loved this!!!

 

[lovesthebeach2]

On 9/27/2019 at 4:40 PM, ROWSE said:

We have just returned from an amazing two week adventure which included some time in Florence, Italy, a Greek Isle Cruise on Jewel of the Seas, and a post cruise

night in Italy,  before returning home.

A little back ground on us...we are in our late 50's and have 38 cruises under our belts.  We are loyal to no particular line and have sailed many, but are Elite on

both Princess and Celebrity, the later getting us Diamond Status on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.  We already had four prior cruises on Royal Caribbean, but were

no where close to Diamond, so very much appreciated having our Celebrity Status recognized on RCCL.

 

 It had been 10 years since our last RCCL cruise, so I was a little worried when I was reading some very "Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad" reviews on

Jewel of the Seas.  Let me just stop there and assure anyone reading this, that we did NOT find anything of the sort!  As a matter of fact, we LOVED this ship

and had a wonderful experience I can hardly wait to tell you about!

 

Our travel was to be 3 nights pre-cruise in Florence, Italy, then the 9 night cruise, followed by one more night in Italy before flying home. 

The following review will tell it all, with pictures of course, and the review comes with a warning that it could take days for me to complete as real life sometimes

gets in the way.  I hope you all come along for the ride!

 

We traveled with dear friends, who suggested this cruise to us, and of course I am one to never say "no" to a cruise.  They spent a week before joining us on the

cruise in Portugal.   

 

So let the adventure begin....On September 11, we started our day with no sleep from excitement and were at the airport very early for our 7:00a.m flight.  We flew

Delta using the Cruise lines Air to Sea program.  Our stops were Minneapolis and Detroit before landing in Rome at 9:30a.m. on the 12th.  We were thrilled with the price of Air to Sea, and I urge anyone cruising Internationally to give it a look.  Our round trip from Spokane, Washington, to Rome was $579 per person in Main Ecomony.  That is not a typo!!! 

 

Here we come Italy!!! 

 

 

We’re doing almost the same itinerary next month.  We’re doing a 9 night pre cruise side trip In Rome and Florence before we board the ship.  Looking forward to reading your review. We love the Radiance class of ships.

[ROWSE]

It wasn't long till we were in and though it was a hard climb with mega amounts of circular stairs, you could always

let people pass and there were a few areas to rest a bit.  We loved it and would do it again in a heart beat! 

 

Some photos on the way up

the stairs...

 

 

One area to rest

 

Half way up there is a large walk around area to view the Cathedral below

 

 

 

The ceiling of the Cathedral has some cracks that you can see well at this level.  Top of photo just to the left.

 

 

 

This is a picture of the Bell Tower out the window as we climb.  Most of the climb

there is no daylight just lighting.  The Bell Tower has a caged in area over the viewing area and is shorter than the Duomo.  We chose not to do this, but it is not a timed entry for those that can't set a scheduled time. 

 

 

We keep climbing

 

 

We can see through the structure the top of the dome

 

 

 

 

 

[ROWSE]

13 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

We’re doing almost the same itinerary next month.  We’re doing a 9 night pre cruise side trip In Rome and Florence before we board the ship.  Looking forward to reading your review. We love the Radiance class of ships.

Lucky you!!!  I know you will have an amazing time!  Thank you for coming a long on our ride!

[ROWSE]

Climbing the Duomo...There is a very steep incline at the very top and then you have to go almost straight up out of the floor area.

 

 

A look down at me coming up.

 

 

We made it! 

 

 

Still romantic after 39 years!

 

 

The views

 

The bell tower a little below

 

 

Some of the structure around us

 

 

 

 

Edited September 30, 2019 by ROWSE

[ROWSE]

Climbing the Duomo... We were lucky enough to hit the ringing of the bells which went on for about a minute or more.

 

We meet some lovely people on the top and they recommend the Duomo Museums which we plan to see next.

It is time to head down.  Some of the area is one way and some you pass people. 

 

Going down we got photos of the last big stairs before the straight up.

 

 

 

I would urge anyone even remotely in shape to do this climb.  You can definitely take rest stops, but the views are absolutely breath taking! 

Edited September 30, 2019 by ROWSE

[schagpal]

Loving your pre-cruise review.  The Jewel cruise, weather, and ports were awesome and I agree anyone considering the ship and/or itinerary shouldn’t hesitate.  Can’t wait to see your pictures and review on that portion of the trip.  We are still unpacking and trying to get caught up on life! (We sat with you on the bus to Chania.)

Ron 

[ROWSE]

After descending the Duomo, we went to the next part of our multi-ticket which was the Opera del Duomo Museum.  

The door that is on the Baptistry is a copy and the real one is in this museum.  Amazing!

 

 

 

Some other things housed there...

 

 

 

This statue is by Michelangelo

 

 

 

 

They had beautiful displays of things. 

Edited September 30, 2019 by ROWSE

[ROWSE]

They say not to go to establishments near main attractions if you want the best in eating, but after the museum,

we were in need of an energy boost and we call that Gelato!  It may have not been the best, but we sure loved it!

This was right beside the Cathedral. 

 

 

 

 

Mine yummy flavors!

 

After our snack we decided to try to visit the Cathedral.  This is free and we noticed the line we had seen earlier was gone.

Well, it was gone because it closed.  BUMMER!!  We were met by this sign.  We knew we would have to do this after our tour tomorrow instead. 

 

 

We decided to check out our meeting place for our tour tomorrow at Piazza San Marco and some areas around there.

We passed a car museum with free entrance so in we went.  Free is always nice!  Love those classic cars!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ROWSE]

23 minutes ago, schagpal said:

Loving your pre-cruise review.  The Jewel cruise, weather, and ports were awesome and I agree anyone considering the ship and/or itinerary shouldn’t hesitate.  Can’t wait to see your pictures and review on that portion of the trip.  We are still unpacking and trying to get caught up on life! (We sat with you on the bus to Chania.)

Ron 

Hello to you Ron and Mary! 

So glad you found my review.  Feel free to chime in on anything along the way! 

[ROWSE]

We found our meeting place for our tour the next day and then started to circle back to our airbnb.  We found

a lovely little park area.

 

 

On the way back toward our airbnb we came across something that had us laughing.

It was not London and it was not 101 Dalmations, but these were the most Beagles we

have ever seen in one place....

 

 

This was our Santa Maria Novella square near our airbnb

 

 

After a short rest we took a little stroll as there was a full moon tonight, then returned and had dinner right outside our airbnb at a restaurant called Osteria dei Centopoveri.  It was wonderful and I did not get any food porn pictures this time, but we went there again later and those pictures will be posted I promise. 

 

Pictures of that full moon...

 

 

 

Back for the night and I realized I got a picture of how tight our bathroom ceiling was for my hubby.

Edited September 30, 2019 by ROWSE

[Coralc]

That's a lot of beagles! 

[Luckynana]

Your pictures are beautiful.  I am loving your review.  Thank you for sharing!  We were on a ship tour in 2011 in Florence, but it was absolute bedlam!  The striking Unions were marching through the streets protesting, the Piazza was completely fenced in due to a concert that weekend, and many venues were closed due to the day of the week we were there.  It was difficult to hear our Tour Guide, since hundreds of people and so many Tour Guides were all crowded in the area.  Luckily, this was our only unfortunate excursion on our cruise.

 

I am looking forward to reading about the rest of your wonderful vacation!

[ROWSE]

15 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

Your pictures are beautiful.  I am loving your review.  Thank you for sharing!  We were on a ship tour in 2011 in Florence, but it was absolute bedlam!  The striking Unions were marching through the streets protesting, the Piazza was completely fenced in due to a concert that weekend, and many venues were closed due to the day of the week we were there.  It was difficult to hear our Tour Guide, since hundreds of people and so many Tour Guides were all crowded in the area.  Luckily, this was our only unfortunate excursion on our cruise.

 

I am looking forward to reading about the rest of your wonderful vacation!

So glad you are reading along!  That must have been very discouraging in 2011!  We found our Saturday in Florence to be quite crowded as well!  Nothing like your experience though, as we were able to hear our guide!

[ROWSE]

Saturday morning, September 14, we headed out bright and early for our tour with Walks of Italy showcasing The Galleria dell'Accademia's David. 

We sought out breakfast along the way, and I did find my chocolate croissant!   I had one of those, a cappuccino, and a banana.  Trying to be healthy with the banana😉

 

We found our way to Piazza San Marco

 

 

There were a lot of people here for tours.  We had our names checked off and given our stickers for

Walks of Italy.  Ishmal was our tour guide.  We had a fantastic tour but realized along the way it was

not quite the tour we had purchased.  It had a little more added than we thought, but who are we to complain, it was

fantastic. 

 

 

We were each given head sets so we could hear our tour guide perfectly. 

We walked to the The Galleria dell'Accademia, given our tickets and in we went. 

 

As we entered the Accademia Gallery,  we saw the plaster cast model by Giambologna called the Abduction or Rape of the Sabine Women.  Every side of this sculpture has something different to see.

 

 

Ishmal told us so many things about the Galleria but then it was time to see what we had been waiting for....DAVID!!!

We were able to walk around all sides of David.  Another breathtaking moment!

 

 

 

 

 

Things I learned about this statue that I did not know.  An artist named Agostino de Duccio was asked to make a sculpture of David in 1464.  He started it and got maybe as far as beginning to shape the legs, feet and torso, roughing our some drapery and probably gouging a hole between the legs.  Then he stopped and years later in 1501 Michelangelo at age 26 was given the contract to finish this and would work on it for more than two years.  They realized eventually that it was too big for the original plan of hoisting it on top of the Cathederal and it was placed in the Palazzo Vecchio in 1504.  It took four days to take it from Michelangelo's workshop to the Palazzo.  It was then moved in 1873 to the Accademia and a replica was placed in the Palazzo. 

In 1991 a vandal damaged the foot of David but it was repaired.  (You can see the damage of the left toes in the pictures above.)

 

 

Edited October 1, 2019 by ROWSE

[ROWSE]

Before we left the Accademia Gallery, we took this because everyone should have a selfie with the behind of David!!

 

 

Ishmael took us on a walk past the Cathedral and WOW was it crowded.  We realized our plan to come back later to see the Cathedral itself and inside the Crypt, which was our final part of our Il Grande Museo Del Duomo ticket was not going to happen. 

 

We headed toward the Palazzo Vecchio to see the copy of David and all the other beautiful things in this square. 

Passed this lovely building again.

 

 

 

 

We had seen this yesterday but hearing Ishmael bring it all alive was wonderful.

 

We went past the Uffuzi and saw the Ponte Vecchio bridge which I thought we were going to cross and tour over there, BUT, we did not, and headed back to the Cathedral and the door of the Baptistry.  We saw the original in the Museum, but Ishmael described each of the sections on the door here for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The area around this and the church were jam packed with people.  You could barely walk it felt like.  We were so glad we had done the things we did yesterday here instead of today.

 

 

 

 

[ROWSE]

At this point we are starting to wonder about somehow getting on the wrong tour but they had checked us

off their list and put the sticker on us so no idea how we got upgraded to this tour as it was an upgrade as

we were then directed to a waiting room across from the exit door of the Cathedral and given special passes

to go in that back door and skip the line of the Cathedral.  I know the Cathedral is free, but the line would

have been hours long so this was some kind of special deal.

This was some sites in our waiting area.

 

 

I can't remember if this was to carry people after death or sick people. 

 

 

 

After a few minutes, we were ushered in that exit door of the Cathedral.

We were thrilled as we knew from the crowds outside we weren't going to get to do it short of a Miracle of God. 

I think we got our Miracle!!! 

 

Edited October 1, 2019 by ROWSE

[ROWSE]

Then we were suddenly in the vast Gothic structure of the  Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral! 

 

 

The clock of the Duomo in Florence is one of the oldest (1443) functional mechanical clocks. The dial is a fresco painted by one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance, Paolo Uccello. The clock is one of only a few examples in the world that marks the Italic hour, measuring time from sunset to sunset. Thus, “Paolo Uccello’s clock” is both a timepiece and a work of art.

 

 

 

 

It is really hard to see but the error in this painting, which is that the horse is raising both feet on the right side of its body, and a horse would not be able to do this.  The photo angle doesn't quite show how that back leg is up.  

 

 

Yesterday we were up there looking at the ceiling from the walking deck! 

 

 

[ROWSE]

After giving us a tour of the church, this was where Ishmael bid us all farewell.  He said we could stay as long as we like AND since the Crypt of the Santa Reparata part of our ticket started inside the Cathedral, we were able to use it after all!!!  Tours of Italy is absolutely a class act!  Loved everything about our time with Ishmael!

 

We found the stairs and used our multi ticket for the last time. 

Some of the sites under the floor of the Cathedral.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ROWSE]

We finished off with the sites at the Cathedral about 12:40 and we were starving.  We knew we wanted to head toward the river and try to see the Bobli Gardens that we did not have time for on day one so we headed in that direction.  We love to just find an out of the way little spot for meals, so we popped in one that looked good.

 

 

The portrait behind my husband on the wall is the owner. 

 

 

 

 

I had Bruschetta and my husband had a risotto dish.  Everything was delicious.  

 

 

They brought us Limoncello after lunch!  It was amazing!  Aren't these the cutest glasses! 

 

 

 

Edited October 1, 2019 by ROWSE

[tcmagnum]

21 minutes ago, ROWSE said:

Aren't these the cutest glasses! 

 

 

I love how you are loving your trip.  We also loved everything about Florence when we were there 3 years ago - also on a pre-cruise trip before we boarded the Connie.  Keep your smiling going...

Edited October 1, 2019 by tcmagnum

[ROWSE]

We left and found ourselves a bit lost.  We have flunked map reading obviously, and we did not

have our phones to guide us.  We only turned them on two times the whole trip for cellular roaming, and we

did not feel this merited enough of a problem to have to resort to that.

Eventually we found the name of a street on the map and we found our way to the river.  Once at

the river you can easily navigate!

 

The Boboli Gardens ticket line is one and the same as the Pitti Palace, and we seemed to have a shorter line

today and soon we found ourselves inside.  It is a lovely garden.  Maybe it was time of year, but the plants and water features seemed to be quite neglected.  Some things listed on the map were blocked off but still, we had a wonderful time.  Well worth the 10 Euro each.  Some of our sites as we walk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a very nice napping area, or so my hubby demonstrates! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 1, 2019 by ROWSE