LIVE Norwaylady sails on Edge World Cruise from Rome to Singapore 30.10 to 25.11.23 , 26.night

Norwaylady · October 29, 2023

🇮🇹 Amore ❤️

I was early awake… 06.30 winter time🙃 Mr awake??? 💤💤💤💤

So it was a slow morning in bed for me. Answering some mails for work and accepting travel bills on a project🤓

At 8’o clock I started to poke Mr… Rise & Shine please🕺🏻

A little after 9 we went for breakfast. It’s breakfast in your stay at our hotel.

It’s nothing fancy, very typical Italian easy style breakfast. All types of barista coffee, Kaiser roll bread, mortadella, salami, yoghurt, cereal, juice and a large selection of Italian pastries ( perfect if you like sugar😂)

We do have a church in our hotel!

After breakfast it was time to go on adventure🕺🏻💃🏻

Our only plan that are locked is a food tour in Trastevere by Eating Europe Rome at 16.00. (Mr loved this type of adventures)

We kicked off our walk by heading to the right out of our hotel. We walked over to Basilica de Santa Prassede.

They were rehearsing for something. But we could go inside.

Beautiful painting and mosaics.

After our visit, we continued onward to Chiesa di San Martini ai Monty.

We could go inside, but it was a service. So we took no pictures.

We left the church to go down to Colosseum. (We have visited before, so just walk by). It gets crowded when you get closer, but not too bad.

We walked by and continued in direction of Tiber River.

We walked thru a Sunday market at Parco Della Resistance.

It was handcrafted jewellery, paintings, oils, honey and fresh flowers.

From the market we continued to Tiber.

We crossed Tiber at pointe Sublicio.

We took the stairs down to the river walk and went in direction of Isola Tiberino.

Just after the bridge to Isola Tiberino there’s a water fall. The stream is strong and makes a swirly look. (I don’t know the English word for this phenomenon🧐)

We walked upstairs to the bridge from the riverbank and walked onto the Isola Tiberino.

The church was closed for visiting, they hosted a Sunday brunch for locals.

So we walked to the other side onto the oldest bridge in Rome, Ponte Fabricio.

When you cross the road, you have lots of old history to view. (You do understand why digging in Italy takes time😝)

We continued onward to Marcellus theatre ruins and went into the Jewish ghetto of Rome.

Plenty of kosher restaurants and stores for food.

Mr was starting to be a bit hungry around 13.30… So we decided that a stop for something to eat and drink was good timing.

We decided for Camerino on Largo Arenula.

Mr ordered an Limoncello Spritz, Café completo and some snacks for us.

So now we have a break and enjoy.

DaKahuna · October 29, 2023

You two are having so much fun. I wish we were half as energetic but alas our ages have caught up with us and we are starting to slow our pace a bit.

On our first Mediterranean cruise we did a walking tour of Rome excursion through RCL and it was wonderful. Our last time we were in a group that was permitted to tour the Vatican Garden. It was beautiful. We can understand why you are having such a wonderful time there.

maggie.1008 · October 29, 2023

I am enjoying your review. We met you on our Hawaii cruise.

Have you made any plans for Catania? We did a tour with Viator that was fantastic.

I think it was called Street food of Catania or something similar. A lot of walking and eating street foods along the way. We bought some wines made in Sicily and they are now some of our favorites. Cheers 🥂

hcat · October 29, 2023

Great photos of Rome.. some diff areas than we had on tours...very beautiful! thank you

Ken the cruiser · October 29, 2023

On 10/25/2023 at 1:47 AM, Norwaylady said:

New itinerary was waiting in my mailbox

Have we visited Muscat before? Yes😂

By our first cruise, MSC Lirica in 2011.
We went on a shore excursion to Nizwa Fortress.

Muscat is a very classy Arabic style city.
So this is a very good and decent trade off to an extra sea day😇

Sorry you aren’t able to go to Luxor or Petra on your cruise. But here’s hoping you have a great cruise and have a wonderful time at all of the other interesting ports you’ll be stopping at.

We booked a Tours By Local tour around Dubai on our transition day there last year when we were on the Jade. Definitely a cool city to tour through if you haven’t been there before. Definitely a place where money is no object when you want to build som! 😂

The Camel Auction was another cool excursion we took when we were in Abu Dhabi the day before.

Have a great cruise!!! 😁

hcat · October 29, 2023

lots of sea days..good for relaxation

Norwaylady · October 29, 2023

5 hours ago, maggie.1008 said:

I am enjoying your review. We met you on our Hawaii cruise.

Have you made any plans for Catania? We did a tour with Viator that was fantastic.

I think it was called Street food of Catania or something similar. A lot of walking and eating street foods along the way. We bought some wines made in Sicily and they are now some of our favorites. Cheers 🥂

Hello❤️

We have traveled Sicilia extensively before😊🤭🇮🇹 Both by land holiday and cruise stops.

We were on the island by my professor emeritus in Italian art history. So we traveled around the island for 14 days, visiting everything😂😂

We had a great time and really enjoyed Sicilia🇮🇹❤️🇮🇹 We went on wineries, Tempels, mosaics, Etna etc.

We really like Sicilia❤️ This time we dock later in the day. So we are just going to Taormina.

JeanieC,Aston · October 29, 2023

Hi

That little waterfall in the river is a Wier here in the UK.

screwsmcernst · October 29, 2023

I am loving your review. I can't wait to hear how the ship has been "Freshened up" from dry-dock. We sail on her in May.

Your photos are beautiful. Bon Voyage!

Norwaylady · October 30, 2023

So, after a snack and a little break. We were ready to walk a little more.

We had 1 h before our food tour started.

It was meeting on Isla Tiberina.

We walked to Basilica Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.

Beautiful decorations and painting.

Mr wanted to stop by a gentleman store… He wanted a thin sweater.

The store was just next to the Largo di Torre Argentina. Here you will see lots of 🐈 cats 🐈‍⬛ in the ruins.

After shopping, we needed to walk to our meeting point. The check in for our tour worked well.

The guide and the group was ready on time and off we went🙃

Our guide for the evening was Kath.

First stop was in the Jewish quarter.

It was serving of artichoke Italian Jewish style( double fried) . And a conchae zucchini fried and marinated. All flushed down by a glass of Prosecco 🥂😋

Next stop was in Trastevere😊

We went downstairs to the basement, they have a marvellous wine cellar. (Hiding a treasure until it was located and moved…)

We were served red wine and pork shoulder stew.

it’s former Jewish synagogue. ( It’s Hebräisch inscription on the column, very hard to get a good picture) But visible from the ground by eyes 👀

We continued our walk in Trastevere.

Pizza pizza 🍕 2 types of pleasure in hand…

Potato pizza and a red sauce with parsley, garlic and salt olive 🫒.

And a beer to go 🍺

(you know he’s happy 😊 2 beers for him🍻 cheers to you)

Dashing by the basilica di Santa Maria Trastevere. Beautiful up lighted during the evening outside and 🤩 indoor.

Next stop we had mozzarella stick, you know the breadcrumbed melted style… (comfort food) 😋accompanied by more🍺 🍺

Now it was time to take comfort food and full stomach to next level….

Pasta!
First a starter, deep fried zucchini and mozzarella in tempura batter.

2 pasta types are served and a glass of wine 🍷

Pecorino Roman style is a little bit more salted than the usual pecorino cheese in Italy. (So of course it was one pecorino sauce pasta) and a red base pasta🙃

Oh lala…… stuffed and marinated is a good thing for a food tour?

YES, a very good description of us after the pasta stop😂🥰

Well, we still haven’t had dessert…. So off we walked ( did we walk?) to the neighbour.

A gelato store!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream🤭🕺🏻💃🏻

2 scoops of cold happiness is the final stop on our tour🍦🍦🍦🍦🍦

Our guide thanked all 7 of us participating in the tour and wishing us a fabulous stay in Rome🇮🇹

Mr had scouted in the Untappd app….👀

In Trastevere is several places for beers 🍻…… (what chicken bone 🦴 do I need to give him tonight?😂)

So off we walked in direction of the pub and pointe siste pedestrian bridge.

The beer bars are located 50.m away from the bridge crossing Tiber. So it’s on its way to our hotel🙃

Mr got his 🦴🦴🍺 (what can I revive in return🤔🤭😅)

Oh, that’s one happy camper and Mr🥰

After finishing the beer we started to walk against 🏛️ pantheon. (Rome is a cosy city in the evening🥰) Passing by and continuing in direction of Trevi.

Took some pictures by night and continued to our hotel.

We arrived back by 22 and it was an instant food coma when I sat down to relax for a few minutes🥱😴😴😴

We walked 20.000 steps.

Norwaylady · October 30, 2023

Well, a very good morning!

What day is it? It’s CRUISING day⚓️🚢🥳🥳🥳

But you know, we will not stand as first in line to board the ship😝

We started the day for breakfast at 08.00.

It was a bit chaotic, we were arriving just after a big rush🤪🤪🤪 So everything was empty. So it was a faulty tower 🇬🇧 demonstration of how not to handle it🤣🤣🤣

We took some corn flakes and got a cappuccino each.

We went back to our room, had a phone meeting by our contractor for our renovation plans and at 08.50 we were ready for a walk outside.

We walked over to Piazza Della Republica, went into Basilica de Santa Maria degli Angeli.

The church is big, some of the paintings are taken down for renovation.

After visiting the basilica, we continued onward to XX Settembre and continued in direction of Trevi fountain.
We walked by Santa Maria Della Vittoria

We stopped by a shop in the pedestrian area. ( I didn’t get it yesterday and regretted)

After the shopping, we needed to speed up to get back to our hotel in time for check out 11.00.

We were there on the minute, picked up the bags and backpacks from our room.

We walked our little 8.minute walk to Termini and decided we had earned a gelato 🍨

After finishing our gelato we went to our train. We had booked tickets for the 11.42 train .

Trains to Civitavecchia leaves from track 27. It’s the remote track….

So you need to walk a fair distance from the other tracks to get there. So you can’t arrive last minute. The train will leave you behind.

We are now safely installed on the train and on our way to the port⚓️

Tags, visas, passports and boarding pass is all ready for inspection 🧐

hcat · October 30, 2023

walking and eating ..good combo

hope your day goes well..BON VOYAGE!

FeebeeH · October 30, 2023

Beautiful photos of Rome. We also visited Largo Di Torre Argentina - in 2019. Being a cat lover I had to include it in our itinerary, I would have loved to smuggle a cat home, but Australian quarantine laws & our 3 rescue cats waiting at home prevented me. Hope you have a wonderful cruise, I look forward to many more lovely photos and stories.

WNCtourist · October 30, 2023

Wow, you certainly made the most of your pre-cruise stay in Rome! Thanks for the photos and mouth-watering food tour report!

Shiba_Lover · October 30, 2023

That foodie your sounds really fun! Bon voyage!

theopup · October 30, 2023

What amazing photos once again. Looking forward to the continuation of your trip.

Jim_Iain · October 30, 2023

Enjoying your stay in Rome. Look forward to your first pictures of Edge. I read on Social Network site that they didn't install the stand alone bar in Retreat.

Jim

Norwaylady · October 30, 2023

So well, we are on the ship❤️

Let’s rewind ⏪ to the 🚂 train.

Arrival in Civitavecchia was on time 12.53.

Our plan was to walk to the ship/complimentary cruise shuttle from the port gate.

As we are walking towards the pier, we do understand by the Michelangelo fortress that we are not docked at 12b as port schedule shows online at the port authority.

So we have a recheck on marine traffic…🧐

Oh, what do I see??? Gate 25😝

That’s the loooong away terminal🫣

So we changed our direction to the port gate for terminal 25….

It’s a far stretch and it’s not as flat and good for walking as of to 12/13 etc.

So partly sweaty and warm we arrived at the port gate.

We arrived at the port gate and boarded the bus asap. It was us and 4 other guests and some crew.

But it was packed in the tent terminal. Lots of people😳 lots of buses arriving.

Normally everyone is onboard when we arrive… But the check in went quick in the terminal.

They did not check a single thing. No India/Sri Lanka visa or take in the passport. (So much for sending out the email telling us clearly that b2b needed everything ready for Rome😜)

So this will be fun at some point….

We walked out on the pier and the line was long to the gangway. It moved slowly.

The reason was a line for the 🛗 lift from deck 2.

Once onboard we walked the stairs from deck 2 to deck 12 to find our stateroom.

We are in a concierge stateroom aft deck 12.

As we opened our seapass cards, I asap discovered that I’m not registered as a captain’s club member😳

Mr had Elite and everything in order….

Paperwork on arrival in the stateroom:

We decided to solve the captain’s club problem first, then go for a small lunch…. (Not a smart decision😝) I was on the border of hangry. (You know Italian sugar is not food for a Viking from the north😆)

The line to captain’s club was not too long, only 3 people in front of me… but they all had a long list… Captain’s Club Gertruida did her best.

Mr didn’t want to wait… So I said he could go. (Guess what he was up to😜🍹)

I took 25.mins before it was my turn, and it became my turn due to concierge Marcella arrived to help.

I told her my issue and had my number ready…

Well, she was multitasking calls from captain club members and trying to solve my problem. Not very effective… So it took 3 try outs to be able to register my number and get it correct….

Since I was there, I did bring my envelope to captain’s club hostess. For the next sailing. Since we will pass Elite Plus on Wednesday this sailing and it will be valid for next leg of our journey Dubai to Singapore.

The concierge wondered why I had a notification to Captain’s club.

I told her why and it was easier to “warning” them now and everything would be in order on next sailing.

She didn’t understand… So fingers crossed she delivered it to Gertruida🤓 She was on the ball from what 👀 while waiting…..

Next stop was then guest relations…. Captain’s club and Concierge could not replace my card… So down to deck 3 I went….

Yes, the line was looooooong.

Another 20.minutes in line and finally a new card in hand🥳

Time to find Mr🤪🍹

He reported back, I’m in Eden.

So up to Eden it went🫡

Mr was enjoying some live music and overall had a horrible time🤭😅😂

We were no finally ready for some lunch😊 A bit fashionable late…. 16.00😅

So we went up to OceanView to have some salad.

Cake, salads and paella, pasta and pizza was available.

After the late lunch we headed downstairs to our stateroom. One of two luggage’s had arrived at 17.00.

Luckily it was mine🥰 So I could empty it and takes shower🥰

The other didn’t arrive until 18.00

Our housekeeper stopped by to introduce himself, Mustofa.

Fingers crossed 🤞🏻 for excellent service🥰

Tonight’s plan is show 19.00 +dinner.

jelayne · October 30, 2023

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Enjoying your stay in Rome. Look forward to your first pictures of Edge. I read on Social Network site that they didn't install the stand alone bar in Retreat.

Jim

That is correct they did not install the bar, so far haven’t heard why. We have not been on the Edge in 2 years but it seems they did rearrange some of the furniture and changed some chairs, but comfortable seating is still lacking.

The sofa in our MC Sky Suite has different upholstery, a medium brown vs the light cream color. They also removed the loungers that were on the MC balconies. We had ours returned😂.

Stem to Stern · October 30, 2023

Bon voyage Norwaylady and Mr !!!

I am following your wonderful posts and your insta.

Cheers to you both !!!

Daneenm · October 30, 2023

2 hours ago, Norwaylady said:

Our housekeeper stopped by to introduce himself, Mustofa.

Fingers crossed 🤞🏻 for excellent service🥰

Our cabin steward on Edge last November was named Mustofa. If this is the same person, he was excellent! Enjoying your TR!

theopup · October 30, 2023

2 hours ago, Norwaylady said:

(You know Italian sugar is not food for a Viking from the north😆)

Lol

Jim_Iain · October 31, 2023

8 hours ago, jelayne said:

That is correct they did not install the bar, so far haven’t heard why. We have not been on the Edge in 2 years but it seems they did rearrange some of the furniture and changed some chairs, but comfortable seating is still lacking.

The sofa in our MC Sky Suite has different upholstery, a medium brown vs the light cream color. They also removed the loungers that were on the MC balconies. We had ours returned😂.

Are you on through Sydney?

Norwaylady · October 31, 2023

Tonight’s show was Andrew Derbyshire.

He’s from 🇬🇧 UK. The man can sing and he’s preforming by the Edge orchestra.

But the show was a little off for both me and Mr. So a decent start, but really hope they tune up the vibe🎶

Orchestra did an excellent job, so I have faith that they will deliver lots of great music to further guest entertainment.

The man, the legend, Mr Mafia, our “Goodfather” of Edge, Cruise Director Guiseppe, aka The crazy Italian started the show tonight🇮🇹 So happy to have him onboard.

After the show we decided to go to dinner. We hadn’t made a reservation, so we were prepared for a queue an a beeper.

Mr wanted to have dinner in Cyprus, deck 4

We went in line and got a beeper.

We walked back to Al Bacio to get a glass of wine and a pre drink for Mr. After 10. Minutes our beeper started to dance🎶🎶🎶

We got a table in the middle of Cyprus.

We were escorted to the table off a lovely lady, she took out the chair, placed napkins, handed the menu and handed us over to our team for tonight. (Well done, not all “follow” people do this👏🏻)

Tonight’s menu:

Mr was hungry and was more half full after the late salad for lunch…

So we agreed on a shared Meze plate in the middle.

And then Mr had: tartare, grilled shrimp and lamb.

I went for caprese and Wild mushroom Vol-au-vent.

All tasted excellent and service was fine.

Alpha sommelier was running by after Mr asked for wine to his main course.

The man can speak on in & out breathe😂😂😂 So this can be fun later in Cyprus.

For dessert I went for the Cyprus exclusive, Galaktobourko.

And Mr got frosty 🥶 ice bomb 💣

After dinner, we went to bed.

I was deadly tired after a little more stressful day than planned. My only downtime was the train ride and during the show😅 And remember, all those steps on land and then (I lost count) of all those stairs up and down on the ship🦾🦾🦾🦾 ( no regrets on my gelato and dessert today😂)