Live Report - Norwegian Viva Lisbon to Rome. April/May 2024

[KeithJenner]

Back onboard now, after a nice day in Palma.

 

As mentioned previously we got the hop on hop off bus, which was free after the latitudes and free at sea discounts.

 

We basically used it as a transfer into town and back, but did the full loop so we could see everything from the bus. The centre itself is quite compact so was easy to walk around without needing to use the bus.

 

Palma itself is quite nice, especially the area around the Cathedral. Not a favourite, but pleasant enough. We spent a few hours exploring before heading back.

 

One thing to be aware of, if you take the Hop on Hop off, the bus collects people who have booked through the ship from the pier and then goes direct to the cathedral. After that the port stop is outside the port gates. We were expecting most people to get off when we returned but not many did. Some were probably heading back into town, but I wonder whether some may have been expecting if to go all the way to the ship.

 

Here’s some pictures from Palma:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6bOo1OIpM6/?igsh=MjdjZDVqNjhvNXg0

[KeithJenner]

We went to Cagneys last night. Recently we have found it a bit hit and miss there but yesterday it was very good. Probably our best Cagneys meal for a few years.

 

However, once again the wine waiter went awol after he introduced himself at the start of the meal. Once again we were reliant on our server to refresh our wine but they had been empty for a while.

 

That’s Le Bistro, Onda and Cagneys where the wine waiters have been absolutely useless.

[cruiseny4life]

6 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

We went to Cagneys last night. Recently we have found it a bit hit and miss there but yesterday it was very good. Probably our best Cagneys meal for a few years.

 

However, once again the wine waiter went awol after he introduced himself at the start of the meal. Once again we were reliant on our server to refresh our wine but they had been empty for a while.

 

That’s Le Bistro, Onda and Cagneys where the wine waiters have been absolutely useless.

I'm pretty sure you know me enough to know that I can be a smart a$$...I'm not actually trying to be with this question. I am absolutely not a wine connoisseur! My idea of a fine wine is the Shades of Blue Riesling (you should try it - it's yummy to my not refined palate)! So, what exactly does a wine waiter do that a server is unable to do? 

[KeithJenner]

5 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

I'm pretty sure you know me enough to know that I can be a smart a$$...I'm not actually trying to be with this question. I am absolutely not a wine connoisseur! My idea of a fine wine is the Shades of Blue Riesling (you should try it - it's yummy to my not refined palate)! So, what exactly does a wine waiter do that a server is unable to do? 

I do like wine but I am also not a connoisseur. There are a couple of wines that I tend to go for at the bars.

 

However the restaurants have a larger selection and I quite like to let the wine waiter recommend one to go with my meal. In Le Bistro I specifically said that I would appreciate a recommendation when it came to the entree, but in the end I just took another glass of Veuve. Not a great hardship but a bit of a disappointment.

 

Yesterday in Cagneys it was just topping up our glasses, but we did spend about 10 minutes with empty glasses when eating our entrees. 
 

It is the one area where the cutbacks have affected us. They are trying to deal

with too many people. I don’t particularly blame the waiters themselves (except maybe the Le Bistro one), but it’s still disappointing as the customer.

[KeithJenner]

Barcelona today.

 

We have sailed out of Barcelona 7 times before and this is the second time we’ve been here as a port of call, so we know the city fairly well.

 

We walked into the city and spent some time walking around the area near the cathedral for a while. Spend a few hours just wandering round some

areas that we’ve not been to much before. Also got some more very nice Iberico ham.

 

No photos today as we already have plenty from Barcelona.

 

For people who are new to Barcelona you can’t really go wrong whatever you choose. We have never done any tours or anything here as it’s a very easy place to get around. All the obvious things (Sagrada Familia, other Gaudi buildings etc) are well worth seeing, but it’s also a great city to just wander around.

[cruiseny4life]

32 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

I do like wine but I am also not a connoisseur. There are a couple of wines that I tend to go for at the bars.

 

However the restaurants have a larger selection and I quite like to let the wine waiter recommend one to go with my meal. In Le Bistro I specifically said that I would appreciate a recommendation when it came to the entree, but in the end I just took another glass of Veuve. Not a great hardship but a bit of a disappointment.

 

Yesterday in Cagneys it was just topping up our glasses, but we did spend about 10 minutes with empty glasses when eating our entrees. 
 

It is the one area where the cutbacks have affected us. They are trying to deal

with too many people. I don’t particularly blame the waiters themselves (except maybe the Le Bistro one), but it’s still disappointing as the customer.

Thank you! I appreciate the reasoning. That does make sense and I suppose perhaps a wine waiter could be helpful for me. I could describe what I like and they could give me an idea of what would be tasty. As it is, I order blindly, figuring I have Free at Sea so if I don't like it, I don't have to drink it.

 

Appreciate you educating me while you're on vacation! 

[www3traveler]

Keith, it is being reported that a couple got left behind in a port a couple of days ago and re-joined the ship in Palma.  What have you heard?

 

When is you next adventure?

 

BIG BIG BIG BIG HUG

 

Love and prayers always,

 

Mandy

[smilegirl07]

2 hours ago, www3traveler said:

Keith, it is being reported that a couple got left behind in a port a couple of days ago and re-joined the ship in Palma.  What have you heard?

 

When is you next adventure?

 

BIG BIG BIG BIG HUG

 

Love and prayers always,

 

Mandy

I just heard this also!  They were left behind in Granada and rejoined the ship after their family back home arranged the transportation, hotel etc.  They were on a private tourand were late by. about 1.15 hours, the ship's all back aboard time was 5, leaving the dock at 6 but they did not make it back till about 6:15.

 

 

 

 

Keith,

 

Thank you for all those updates!  It is disappointing when you are eating your steak and your wine glass is empty! But I am glad your Cagney's experience was better than the ones before!

 

Hope you enjoy the rest of the cruise and keep us posted!

 

Have a good night!

 

 

 

[CruisnHallelujahs]

5 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

I'm pretty sure you know me enough to know that I can be a smart a$$...I'm not actually trying to be with this question. I am absolutely not a wine connoisseur! My idea of a fine wine is the Shades of Blue Riesling (you should try it - it's yummy to my not refined palate)! So, what exactly does a wine waiter do that a server is unable to do? 

Made me giggle here…lol. I mostly ask for the blue Riesling too (must be good, they keep running out)  Unless I’m feeling fancy and ask for the seven yawn blonk.

[KeithJenner]

We haven’t heard anything directly about the people that were left behind, but have seen the news report.

 

Im confused about how their bus was delayed due to the weather. Apparently there was quite a downpour, but everyone else’s buses all left on time. Not sure what was going on there.

[KeithJenner]

So, a bit of catching up to do.

 

We went back to Indulge on Barcelona day for dinner. As we have 6 meals in speciality restaurants this leave 4 for the complementary places and I think we will go to Indulge for all of them. We really like it there. The first couple of times I had a curry, but this time we just ordered a few dishes to share. Very nice.

 

Plenty of room in Indulge once again. I’ve not seen it more than half full all cruise.

 

Yesterday was Food Republic, which was our second visit there and again it was excellent. More dishes to share and the food was excellent.

 

I have heard that they used to let you share a dining credit to get four items to share at Food Republic, but we haven’t asked if we could do this. Six items between us is about right.

 

We didn’t do much in Marseilles yesterday. Pre cruise we close Ibiza and Marseilles as our relaxing days. We did actually get off the ship to stretch our legs, and walked for a mile before turning back and were still in the port. There was a shuttle bus to the city centre, which I think was complementary,

 

Other than that we spent a lot of the day in the local and my wife is feeling the after effects this morning. We are a little later than planned getting the tender this morning. We were considering getting the train into Nice but it actually looks like there is quite a bit in Villefranche, so we may just stay there.

 

We have a long day in Florence tomorrow so aren’t looking to do too much today.

[smilegirl07]

2 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

So, a bit of catching up to do.

 

We went back to Indulge on Barcelona day for dinner. As we have 6 meals in speciality restaurants this leave 4 for the complementary places and I think we will go to Indulge for all of them. We really like it there. The first couple of times I had a curry, but this time we just ordered a few dishes to share. Very nice.

 

Plenty of room in Indulge once again. I’ve not seen it more than half full all cruise.

 

Yesterday was Food Republic, which was our second visit there and again it was excellent. More dishes to share and the food was excellent.

 

I have heard that they used to let you share a dining credit to get four items to share at Food Republic, but we haven’t asked if we could do this. Six items between us is about right.

 

We didn’t do much in Marseilles yesterday. Pre cruise we close Ibiza and Marseilles as our relaxing days. We did actually get off the ship to stretch our legs, and walked for a mile before turning back and were still in the port. There was a shuttle bus to the city centre, which I think was complementary,

 

Other than that we spent a lot of the day in the local and my wife is feeling the after effects this morning. We are a little later than planned getting the tender this morning. We were considering getting the train into Nice but it actually looks like there is quite a bit in Villefranche, so we may just stay there.

 

We have a long day in Florence tomorrow so aren’t looking to do too much today.

 

I think I am going to choose Maseilles as one port that we are not getting off as well.  

 

Sounds like all is going good though, hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise!

 

Quick Q.  Is the gym on Viva open 24/7 or if not what are the hours?  I Googled but could not find the info....  

 

Have an awesome day!

[KeithJenner]

53 minutes ago, smilegirl07 said:

 

I think I am going to choose Maseilles as one port that we are not getting off as well.  

 

Sounds like all is going good though, hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise!

 

Quick Q.  Is the gym on Viva open 24/7 or if not what are the hours?  I Googled but could not find the info....  

 

Have an awesome day!

According to the freestyle daily it is open 6am-11pm daily.

[bluefish17]

5 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

So, a bit of catching up to do.

 

We went back to Indulge on Barcelona day for dinner. As we have 6 meals in speciality restaurants this leave 4 for the complementary places and I think we will go to Indulge for all of them. We really like it there. The first couple of times I had a curry, but this time we just ordered a few dishes to share. Very nice.

 

Plenty of room in Indulge once again. I’ve not seen it more than half full all cruise.

 

Yesterday was Food Republic, which was our second visit there and again it was excellent. More dishes to share and the food was excellent.

 

I have heard that they used to let you share a dining credit to get four items to share at Food Republic, but we haven’t asked if we could do this. Six items between us is about right.

 

We didn’t do much in Marseilles yesterday. Pre cruise we close Ibiza and Marseilles as our relaxing days. We did actually get off the ship to stretch our legs, and walked for a mile before turning back and were still in the port. There was a shuttle bus to the city centre, which I think was complementary,

 

Other than that we spent a lot of the day in the local and my wife is feeling the after effects this morning. We are a little later than planned getting the tender this morning. We were considering getting the train into Nice but it actually looks like there is quite a bit in Villefranche, so we may just stay there.

 

We have a long day in Florence tomorrow so aren’t looking to do too much today.

When we were in Villefranche, we did a quick trip to the medieval village Eze, which is a quick trip by taxi or Uber. Spend an hour or 2, see the gardens at the top, etc. Then still plenty of time to walk around Villefranche before returning to the ship.

 

https://allthingsfrench.com/eze-french-riviera/

[schmoopie17]

23 minutes ago, bluefish17 said:

When we were in Villefranche, we did a quick trip to the medieval village Eze, which is a quick trip by taxi or Uber. Spend an hour or 2, see the gardens at the top, etc. Then still plenty of time to walk around Villefranche before returning to the ship.

 

https://allthingsfrench.com/eze-french-riviera/

Agree. For cruisers who do the stairmaster in the gym...if you have a stop in Cannes, (or the other French place I can't pronounce)...skip the stairmaster and take the excursion to Eze. More than enough stairs in that place.

 

Edited May 4 by schmoopie17

[KeithJenner]

Villefranche was very nice.

 

There was some sort of event going on from the Nice automobile club, which was quite fun. I’m not into cars, but it was still nice to see them. We then had a walk around town for a few hours.

 

We were going to stop and eat somewhere, but everywhere was quite busy so we ended up just finding a bench to sit at for a while,

 

The weather was very good today so we spent a few hours up at Vibe this afternoon. We probably won’t get there tomorrow as we are in Florence for most of the day, so that is probably Vibr done for us for the cruise now.

 

Dinner was at Hakuzi. We were at a table for 4. We always enjoy Teppanyaki and this was as good as usual. Very enjoyable.

 

As we have an early start tomorrow we are having a quiet night. I’ve been reading on the balcony for a while. A lovely evening.

 

Edit: here’s some pictures from Villefranche:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6i4bukIjK-/?igsh=azl2NHUyYmI2cWl0

Edited May 4 by KeithJenner

[smilegirl07]

5 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

Villefranche was very nice.

 

There was some sort of event going on from the Nice automobile club, which was quite fun. I’m not into cars, but it was still nice to see them. We then had a walk around town for a few hours.

 

We were going to stop and eat somewhere, but everywhere was quite busy so we ended up just finding a bench to sit at for a while,

 

The weather was very good today so we spent a few hours up at Vibe this afternoon. We probably won’t get there tomorrow as we are in Florence for most of the day, so that is probably Vibr done for us for the cruise now.

 

Dinner was at Hakuzi. We were at a table for 4. We always enjoy Teppanyaki and this was as good as usual. Very enjoyable.

 

As we have an early start tomorrow we are having a quiet night. I’ve been reading on the balcony for a while. A lovely evening.

 

Edit: here’s some pictures from Villefranche:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6i4bukIjK-/?igsh=azl2NHUyYmI2cWl0

Thank you for another update of a great day.  I can't believe how fast time goes by!

 

I was so torn today trying to decide what to do in Villefranche, should I just hang out at the port area and town of Villefranche or go to Eze, Nice or even Saint Paul de Vence....

 

Are you planning to stay in Rome for a few days before you head back home once you disembark?

 

Hope you enjoy a great day in Livorno, looking forward to the update!

 

Have a good night!

[KeithJenner]

3 hours ago, smilegirl07 said:

Thank you for another update of a great day.  I can't believe how fast time goes by!

 

I was so torn today trying to decide what to do in Villefranche, should I just hang out at the port area and town of Villefranche or go to Eze, Nice or even Saint Paul de Vence....

 

Are you planning to stay in Rome for a few days before you head back home once you disembark?

 

Hope you enjoy a great day in Livorno, looking forward to the update!

 

Have a good night!

Some friends went to Saint Paul on an NCL excursion and seemed to enjoy it. I would suggest going there or Eze rather than hanging around Villefranche based on reports from others, but we still really enjoyed it.

 

We have work on Tuesday so are going straight to the airport. We have done Rome a few times and as we try to get away a few times a year we are always tight on holiday leave.

[olemissreb]

Can you tell me what the difference is between the 2 MDRs? Is one typically busier than the other? Is one easier to get a table in than the other?

 

We sail Viva in March and are trying to decide which MDR we might want to eat in.

[CruisnHallelujahs]

Really enjoyed all your instagram pictures. Great way to present them. Thanks for sharing your trip with us. Safe travels!

[Panhandle Couple]

Have they finished the conversion of the speedway bar to Entourage club?

Just curious.

[smilegirl07]

Keith,

 

I hope you had another amazing day.  

 

I wanted to ask you one thing.  I came to find out that quite a few reviewers on Youtube weren't that happy with Viva and one thing they pointed out was that when they stayed behind to experience the ship at a port, unfortunately a lot of the venues were closed.  Even the dining options were limited, they said.

 

But then they were on different itineraries, most of them were in the Caribbeans, I believe.  And i get it.  I bet NCL is trying to be more $$$ conscious and when most of the people are off the ship at ports, they limit venues.

 

Was this the case for your cruise as well?  As I have mentioned, I am traveling with kids and there may be a few days we are just going to stay behind to explore the ship, and enjoy the venues while it is less crowded.

 

But at the same time if the most of the places will be shut I might as well get off and keep the kiddoes busy.

 

Let me know what your cruise was and if they kept places open/closed/limited at ports!

 

Thank you in advance and have a safe trip back home!

 

 

 

 

Let me know

[KeithJenner]

16 hours ago, olemissreb said:

Can you tell me what the difference is between the 2 MDRs? Is one typically busier than the other? Is one easier to get a table in than the other?

 

We sail Viva in March and are trying to decide which MDR we might want to eat in.

We rarely use the MDR, and only went there once on this cruise (Hudsons for breakfast), so we aren’t the best people to advise.

 

I believe that Commodore is the more upscale of the two.

[KeithJenner]

10 hours ago, Panhandle Couple said:

Have they finished the conversion of the speedway bar to Entourage club?

Just curious.

Yes. Apparently it was finished this week and I think they may be opening soon. Apparently it was quite noisy during the transatlantic.

[KeithJenner]

9 hours ago, smilegirl07 said:

Keith,

 

I hope you had another amazing day.  

 

I wanted to ask you one thing.  I came to find out that quite a few reviewers on Youtube weren't that happy with Viva and one thing they pointed out was that when they stayed behind to experience the ship at a port, unfortunately a lot of the venues were closed.  Even the dining options were limited, they said.

 

But then they were on different itineraries, most of them were in the Caribbeans, I believe.  And i get it.  I bet NCL is trying to be more $$$ conscious and when most of the people are off the ship at ports, they limit venues.

 

Was this the case for your cruise as well?  As I have mentioned, I am traveling with kids and there may be a few days we are just going to stay behind to explore the ship, and enjoy the venues while it is less crowded.

 

But at the same time if the most of the places will be shut I might as well get off and keep the kiddoes busy.

 

Let me know what your cruise was and if they kept places open/closed/limited at ports!

 

Thank you in advance and have a safe trip back home!

 

 

 

 

Let me know

Activities were certainly more limited than on previous cruises. When our son was younger we used to stay onboard sometimes and there was quite a lot going on. There were quite a few things that didn’t seem to be open until later on the Viva.

 

For example, we didn’t have particular plans to do the go carts but would probably have done them on one of the days we stayed onboard if they had been running during the day, but they weren’t whenever we checked.

 

However, it wasn’t something I was really looking at much as our preference when onboard during the day is to find a quiet place to read or have a drink.

 

I didn’t really keep up with posting the dailies, but will try to get them all uploaded (probably on a separate thread) later this week. It is worth you checking through them to get an idea what is likely to be open.