Review of Rome to London Cruise

[lindaann]

We have just returned from the Golden Princess Rome to London 14-day cruise. It was fantastic!! Europe is lovely. We were impressed with the cleanliness and the architecture of most of the cities. The cruise was wonderful and the sees were smooth. Every person in every country we were in was helpful and polite even if we did not speak each other’s language. We did not do many organized tours as we had been on previous Med. Cruises. Many days we would just explore the various ports; have a cappuccino in the morning and a lunch at local outdoor café trying to sample the local delicacies. Who knew deep fried sardines were delicious? Remember if you do wish to shop that in Italy, Spain and France many of the shops close for an afternoon siesta sometime between 1:00 and 3:00. I think that we must of walked about 10 miles every day. One of the greatest pleasures was walking down a cobblestone street and turning a corner and seeing a balcony with flowers cascading down or a bubbling fountain or a building that looked like it was straight out of a fairy tale.

 

We shared both transfers and tours with CC members we connected on our roll call. This saved money and allowed us to meet some very nice people. We would like to thank CC members on these boards for all the information they had given us before we left. If anyone has any questions, I would be happy to answer. A few of the highlights of our trip were as follows:

 

Rome- We stayed at the Hotel Raphael near the Piazza Navona, a lovely hotel. We had Romashuttle both pick us up from the airport and take us to the port the next day.

 

Livorno- Since we had already been to Florence we did the ship’s tour to Cinque Terre, the five villages perched on the side of the sea which have no road access. There is a great deal of walking and stair climbing on this tour so if you are not in good shape I wouldn’t advise this tour. It was very scenic.

 

Cannes- We took the tender into port. Because we had been to Nice, Monaco and St. Paul de Vence we just wandered around Cannes. If you have never been to those places, they are well worth the visit with a good tour guide.

 

Barcelona- We decided to do Barcelona on our own. I don’t know if it was because of three other ships in port but it was difficult to get the shuttle bus and very hard to get a taxi. Once we got to the city, we toured the Sagrada Familia (a bit disappointing since the interior is all scaffolding), and walked around the city, down Las Ramblas and around the gothic quarter. It is a lovely city.

 

Malaga- (This was the port that we went to instead of Casablanca) We had a private tour arranged and went to Ronda, Mijjas and Puerto Banus. Rondas is a very scenic town, with a gorge right in the middle of the town about an hour outside Malaga on a very windy road. Puerto Banus is a taste of how the rich and famous live.

 

Cadiz- We chose just to wander around the city with some friends. There is a great market and lots of shopping if you are so inclined.

 

Gibraltar- We were happily surprised with Gibraltar. When you get off the ship there are many taxis that do tours of the “Rock”. It was a great tour. I believe it was around 18 Euros a person for an hour and a half tour to the caves, the siege tunnels and a visit to the Barbary Apes. Very interesting. I would highly recommend it. At the end of the tour we just wandered around Gibraltar for a couple of hours.

 

Lisbon- We went to Sintra, drove down the Estoril coast and toured the city of Lisbon itself. Sintra was a lovely village in the hills about an hour north of Lisbon. We did not have the opportunity to visit the palace as it was closed on Wednesdays.. We had a driver prebooked.

 

Vigo- We spent the day just wandering around the city. We were impresed by the cleanliness of the city and the beautiful sculptures around. We did not do Santiago del a Compostella.

 

Le Havre- Another lovely day. Half day in Rouen and half a day in Honfleur. They are both worth doing. Rouen is a charming mediaeval city, which is famous for where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, and Honfleur is the most gorgeous scenic fishing village I have ever seen. We had a lovely lunch sitting in an outdoor café by the sea. We had a driver booked ahead of time, which worked well. If you haven’t been to Paris the people who did go with the ship’s tours found while a long drive very worthwhile. The people who went to Normandy found it to be memorable as well.

 

Amsterdam- We ended up taking a taxi with another couple to Amsterdam for $140 Euros and taking the train back to Rotterdam. The train was great, cheaper than the taxi. I would have no hesitation taking the train. It goes 4 times per hour to Amsterdam. Take a canal ride to see the city. We were there on a Sunday afternoon. It was packed in Damm Square but fine wandering around. Just watch those bicycles.

 

Brugges- We had a taxi arranged ahead of time to Brugges. What a magical and charming place. In the cathedral there is a Michaelangelo, one of his few sculptures outside of Italy. It was delightful just to wander around, take a canal tour, eat frites, waffles and have a glass of Belgian beer..

 

Southampton- We had arranged a driver with Woodford Chauffeurs to take us to London. Very efficient and well priced if sharing with another couple, which we did.

 

The trip was memorable and I can only say I wish I were still in Europe.

[seacrystal]

Lindaann,

 

Thank you for a great review. It's funny but before I read your review I had no interest in this cruise, but you made it come alive for me and I think I would really be interested in the future.

 

I didn't know you could actually get to the Cinque Terra area from any of the Princess cruises. This is one of the areas I am really interested in even though I will not be able to see it in September. This is a more interesting itinerary than I thought!

 

We have cruised on the Golden once already (Canada/New England). What deck were you on? We have booked the same room we had on the above cruise, Caribe deck.

 

Thanks again,;)

[lindaann]

Dear Seacrystal,

 

The itinerary was what sold us. I think that Princess does this route twice this year. I don't know about next. We always choose our ship based on where we want to go as opposed being loyal to one cruise line.The excursion we did was a Princess excursion. It was about $98 pp. It was the only ship's excursion we went on and it was fine, not overly crowded. This was one instance that the ship's excursion was cheaper than a private tour.

 

We were on the Dolphin Deck on the Starboard side. We were lucky enough to have a minisuite which we really appreciated.

 

Linda

[rykersdad]

June 7th the Grand Princess is doing the same route with Morroco and a few other ports (16 days). It sounds amazing.

[glenneagle]

Thanks For The Great Review Linda. We Also Loved The Cruise.we Did The Same Lisbon Tour As You But Went To The Pena Castle As Well. Definatley Worth Seeing.also Stopped At Stonhenge With Woodruff Back To London, Also A Great Side Trip If You Have Not Done It Previously.all In All One Of The Best Itineries We Have Done In Europe.great Meeting All The Cc People And Sharing Shore Excersions With Many Added To The Trip.

Athene

[melaniausa]

Lindaam,

 

Thanks for the great review. We plan to spend five days in Rome prior to our cruise. We are interested in staying around Piaza Novona and considering booking the hotel Raphael. You indicate that is a lovely hotel. Can you tell us more about what the room rates are and what the hotel offers (such as internet, breakfast, air conditioning, restaurant, lounge etc.)? I will appreciate any additional information about this hotel

 

Thanks, Yannis

[Claire1]

Lindaann: Very funny--we are doing almost all of the same tours that you did.

 

Quick question re Sintra/Lisbon--I have never been to either city. How would you suggest we split the day? 1/2 and 1/2 each in Sintra and Lisbon? Or a bit more time in Sintra? In Lisbon, I think we are most interested in the Alfama district. Thanks!

[Claire1]

Sorry, Lindaann--one more question (probably not my last). We also hired a private driver to do Rouen and Honfleur. How would you allocate your time between these two stops?

 

I think the drive to Rouen is 3 hours roundtrip and the drive to Honfleur is one hour round trip. So we have about 6 hours of actual touring time. Would you spend 4 hours in Rouen and 2 hours in Honfleur? Split our time equally? Thanks! Claire

[glenneagle]

there is plenty of time to do both. we did estoril and sintra first. then pena castle and after a quick bite to eat lisbon and the alfama. its a wonderful stop

we used a company called tours for you and had a wonderful guide danny.my husband wanted a quick stop at the maritime museum as well and we also did this.cost for 5 was 330 euros.

[lindaann]

Hotel: The Hotel Raphael is next to the Piazza Navona, a lovely hotel but not cheap. I researched the prices and ended up booking it on Expedia for about $310 including taxes. We were only there for one night so we spent most of the time running around Rome. They have a computer with free internet for guests use in the lobby. There is apparently a rooftop restaurant which we didn't go to and they set up an elaborate breakfast buffet which was quite expensive. We just went to a little cafe and had a cappucino and croissant which was more than enough for us. If you have read Dan Brown's Angels and Demons you will see the Bernini Fountain in the Piazza Navona has a big part.

 

Rouen and Honfleur: It took us an hour to drive from the port to Rouen which we did in the morning and then an hour to Honfleur and 15 minutes back to the port in the afternoon. I would strongly suggest you do Rouen first and then save lunch for Honfleur. There are dozens of delightful cafes in Honfleur. I think spending a couple of hours in Rouen would do the trick.

 

Lisbon and Sintra: We visited the Castelo St. George in Lisbon and the old town first and then drove to Sintra where we walked around and had a lovely lunch. The palace was closed on Wednesday the day we were there. We then went back to Lisbon driving down the Estoril Coast which seemed like a series of beach towns to me. We finally were dropped off downtown Lisbon and wandered around the shopping area downtown. I think you would be better off spending more time in Sintra if possible.

 

I'd be happy to answer any more questions.

 

Linda

[miagirl]

Hi Linda, thanks for taking questions! I"m on the same trip as Claire in September (Hi Claire!). How did you get from the ship to the train station in Rotterdam? Re Barcelona, where does the shuttle into town pick up and drop off? Last year we disembarked in Barcelona and I didn't see any shuttles into town. (We stayed for several days and had a driver pick us up at the pier.)

 

thanks!

[lindaann]

Dear Miagirl,

 

In Rotterdam when you get off the ship there are a lot of taxis waiting to take people to the train station. Four of us apprached a driver and he talked us into taking us all the way to Amsterdam for $130 Euros which we did and then returned on the train. The train runs every 15 minutes from Amsterdam to Rotterdam and is very easy to navigate as long as you are not afraid to ask people. The Dutch are exceedingly polite and are happy to assist. Princess did offer a shuttlebus which dropped people off a few blocks from the station. I am not sure of the charge.

 

The situation in Barcelona was different. There were local buses (Bus Turistica-different colours.Check Barcelona's official web site)that were picking people up right at the pier. There were very long lineups for the bus and taxis and it was very hot. There were also two other ships in port the same day which might have been the problem. We ended up taking the Bus Turistica to the foot of Las Ramblas at the Columbus monument and then we were able to grab a taxi to take us to the Sagrada Familia where we toured on our own. We then got a taxi to get back to the ship in the afternoon which was a challenge because of the heat and the demand. it is only supposed to be a 5 Euro fare to the pier but we got the only obnoxious driver in Europe at that point who said he would only take the 4 of us for 20 Euros. We were so hot at that time we didn't care.

Linda

[dbh62ark]

Thank you for leaving this information on the boards. We will be in port in Cadiz in September, so do you have any additional information or recommendations? (We are traveling to Seville after the cruise so will be staying in Cadiz for the day.)

 

Donna

[miagirl]

Linda, thanks for the quick response. Yet another question - how long before you departure date did Princess inform everyone regarding the change in ports - from Casablanca to Malaga? I've been watching almost everyday to see if our itinerary gets changed too.

 

thanks!

[glenneagle]

We Did The Same As Linda In Barcelona But We Also Took A Walking Tour Of Barri Gothic For 25 Euros .princess Hires An Ipod That Gives Directions And Points Of Interest In This Quaint Old Quater

We Shared One Betwen 5 Of Us. The Barri Gothic Is Just Off The Las Ramblas. It Was Great And You Can Go As Fast Or Slow As You Like.

You Have To Leave Your Passport Or Drivers Licence With Them As Security. It Was Really Worth The 25 Euros.princess Let Us Know About 6 Weeks Before The Cruise About Casablanca.

[Claire1]

I'm with you miagirl. I picked this cruise primarily because of Casablanca (and Barcelona and Amsterdam). I really hope they don't cancel it. My only hope it that Casablanca features prominently in Princess' ads for Europe 2007-08. It would be hard to advertise it so heavily if no ship ever goes there. But perhaps I am being naive.

[miagirl]

Yet another question - Since this is a 14 day cruise, did they offer the "all the laundry that fits in a bag" for $?? special? If so, which day?

 

Claire1 - We're just crossing our fingers and hoping for the best. I'm sure Princess doesn't cancel a port unless it really feels it has to. If we end up in Malaga, we're planning on going on the Alhambra excursion. Did anyone on this trip go to the Alhambra? (We love Barcelona, stayed there four days after our cruise last year. Happy to answer any questions I can about the city.)

[lindaann]

We were very disappointed in missing Casablanca. We never received any official notice from Princess or our TA. We discovered the change on the Princess website. An email to Princess did not get a reponse. I searched both Canadian and US official sites to see if there were any travel advisories but there were none. We were wondering if it was more a situation with fuel costs than a security issue but we will never know. Hopefully you will have better luck than us. Our day trip around Malaga was very nice. Ronda, Mijjas and Puerto Banus were very lovely but I had been looking forward to my first time in Africa. I guess we will have to go on another cruise.

 

As far as laundry in a bag I didn't notice such an offer. We did use the laundromat twice. We brought American quarters, a couple of little boxes of detergent and some dryer sheets in a ziplock bag. This was useful because the vending machines were on the fritz.

[miagirl]

Lindaann, I found this bit of news on one of the other boards re Casablanca:

 

"Morocco: Terror Suspect Arrested

May 2, 2006

 

Moroccan police arrested a man suspected of plotting attacks against northern Morocco to follow the 2003 suicide bombing in Casablanca, Morocco, that killed 45 people, Arabic news daily Saout Aness reported May 2. The suspect has been hunted for nearly three years and was detained April 30 by Moroccan and Spanish police. Also detained were an unspecified number of Moroccans and three Chinese. The men are suspected of being active in the northern cities of Larache and Tangier."

 

Perhaps that's why Princess re-routed.

 

Pity about the laundry special not being offered. I was sort of counting/hoping that it would be. Thanks for letting me know. Nan

[miagirl]

Another question - Was there a historian on board for this trip? There was on the Grand Mediterranean last year and we so enjoyed his port talks. thanks!

[kguth125]

To my knowledge, there was no historian giving port presentations on the wonderful cruise. My family is still talking about the adventures we experienced!

 

 

KG in Tennessee