Just Returned...

[bbyost]

from the May 31 Voyager of the Seas sailing. We were a group of six (myself, husband, dd (age 23) and ds(age 21) with two friends). We spent 3 days pre-trip in Paris and Normandy and 1 day post-trip in Barcelona.

I want to thank everyone on this board for all of their help in my trip planning. I spent many hours searching and reading and it paid off big time. This trip was amazing. I hope to post a trip review soon.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[eileen226]

We will be on the 6/21 sailing. What dining time did you have? Who was the Cruise Director? What tours did you take (private, ship) How was the weather? Are the menus the same as the Caribbean sailings? Do they do all the games (Quest, love and marriage show) poolside activities (bellyflop contest, sexy leg contest) Did you tour Palermo? Did you buy a lot of souvenirs?

 

Thanks!

[cujosmom]

We will be on the Nov 22 cruise.

 

I want to know everything Eileen asked and....

 

What was the % of Europeans on board?

 

Hurry up with that review !!! :eek: :eek:

[bbyost]

Okay, let's see if I can answer all of the questions.

We had the 6:30pm dining time. It worked out great for us. We were back to the ship by 5 or 5:30pm from every tour and had enough time to get ready without rushing. The 8:30 or 9pm would have been too late. We were up every morning around 7-7:30am.

 

The Cruise Director was Leo Papa. We didn't see a lot of him because we only went to one show. We spent a lot of our time in the Piano Bar.

 

We did private tours. In Villefranche we used Alain from Dream Tours-excellent. For Florence, Rome and Naples we booked through allarounditaly.net. We had Fabrizio for Florence and Rome and had the greatest time. We had Julio in Naples. All of the tour guides we very vigilant about getting back to the ship on time.

 

The weather was not the norm according to the tour guides. We had some rain, some clouds and some sun with temps around 68-72F. We actually preferred the temps. It had been 88F in Rome two days before we were there.

 

I don't know if the menus are the same. But we really enjoyed dinner and all of us always found something we liked.

 

We participated in Battle of the Sexes and the hula hoop contest. They seemed to offer most of the games poolside that I remember from our caribbean trip. If they had the Quest, I missed it. I do remember a Family Scavenger Hunt listed.

 

We planned to just do a quick walk around Palermo and spend the rest of the day at the pool. We ended up going by city bus to the Catacombs. That ranks as one the strangest places I've ever visited. We were disappointed in Palermo. After all of the other ports, it just doesn't measure up.

 

We didn't buy many souveniers. The guys all bought authentic soccer jerseys. My daughter and I each bought a leather purse in Florence. And I picked up some olive oil and wild strawberry liquor. I told everyone we'd go back to shop when the dollar was stronger.

 

I'm not sure what % was European. It was a nice mix of all nationalities and we really enjoyed meeting and trying to talk to everyone. Most people we met spoke some English. My husband is the guy that talks to people in the hot tub, in the elevator, and anywhere else that he bumps into them. He kept forgetting that not everyone understood him. We had some good laughs at his expense.

 

Whew...I think I answered them all, but I'll be glad to answer anymore!

Whew...hope that answers them all.

[eileen226]

What port did you buy the wild strawberry liquor and did they take it from you when you boarded and then returned it the last night?

 

Oh, and was lobster served any evening in the dining room?

 

Thank you for all your answers.

[bbyost]

I bought the wild strawberry liqueur in the charming village of St. Paul de Vence, near Nice. We chose to visit St. Paul instead of Eze on the advice of our tour guide and we fell in love with it. The shop was Les Trois Etoiles de Saint-Paul located at 7 Place de la Marie. They sold flavored olive oils and liqueurs and let you sample them.

I only bought a 2 very small bottles and of the liqueur and olive oil which the shop owner wrapped up in bubble wrap for packing safely. They did not make me check it on the ship. But my daughter's boyfriend bought some wine and they took it and delivered it to our room on Friday night.

 

Now that you ask I realize that we did not have lobster onboard. But I'm not a seafood person so I didn't miss it.

[Big Snack]

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

 

Hey Brenda,

We have the same tours booked with Fabrizio (Naples, Rome, and Florence). Can you give me an idea of what you were able to see each day. I know there is not time to see everything so I am curious on how much you were able to fit in each day. Thanks!!

[bbyost]

We were able to see quite a lot.

We went to Pisa to see the tower, then on to Florence. Unfortunately, it was a Monday and the museums are all closed. And it was a National Holiday on the Monday we were there so the Tuscany wineries were also closed.

Fabrizio kept us busy. We saw both of the David statues. We walked around the city quite a bit. Did a little shopping. Ate unbelievable pizza. Went to the Ponte Vecchio. Learned a lot about the history of the city and it's buildings from Fabrizio. It was a great introduction to Italy, but relaxing enough so that we were ready for a busy day in Rome.

Rome-Wow! We did it all...and more. We met Fabrizio at 7:30am. We were a little panicked at first because there was a major traffic jam in Rome but Fabrizio worked his way around it Some people we talked to from the ship's tours sat on the bus for 4 hours and didn't see much.

We started at one of Fabrizio's secret spots(I don't want to spoil it for you), then off to the Coliseum, Trevi Fountain (we all threw in coins and made a wish for the rain to stop), Piazza Barberini (it stopped raining),Circus Maximus, Pantheon, Spanish Steps,another secret spot, quick lunch(the guys said it was the best pizza they ever ate) Vatican City-met with excellent private tour guide for Vatican Museum, Sistene Chapel and St. Peter's, then Palatine Hill, plus numerous other sites that we drove by. I know I'm forgetting some of the places we stopped. We did so much more than we expected. And we were back on the ship by 5:30pm.

Fabrizio let's you have input on the tour and the stops.

You'll have a great time!

[Big Snack]

You'll have a great time!

I have no doubt. It seems like you were able to see everything in Rome that we want to see. How about Naples? We are planning on Pompeii and the Amalfi coast. Did you see both? If so, did you do Pompeii first or last and with a guide or without? What towns did you get to see on the Amalfi coast? Thank you so much for your time and help in answering my questions!!!

[waiting2retire]

Hi Brenda,

 

Thanks for taking the time to respond to all of our questions. I will also be doing a post-cruise overnight in Barcelona in October. Where did you stay and how did you like it? What did you do during your one day/evening in Barcelona?

 

Bonnie

[Casey2]

We will be on this cruise on Nov. 1. We also have Allain of Dream Tours and All Around Italy booked for Rome, Florence and Naples. I am so glad to hear that you had such a great time. Did Fabrizio arrange guides for you in the sistine Chapel and Colliseum? Did you go to Pompeii, if so did you have a guide there?

[bbyost]

Oops, I did forget to mention the Naples portion of our trip. Fabrizio could not meet us so he arranged for Julio to drive us around. We met him at 8am at the pier.

First we went to Sorrento and walked around and the guys went looking for a specific soccer jersey. My daughter and I picked up some local olive oil and a piece of local pottery. Sorrento is beautiful and we would like to return and spend a few more days there.

We then took the stunning Amalfi Coast drive. We stopped for pics. and then headed to Positano for lunch. Fabrizio recommended the restaurant that we stopped at. Lunch was very authentic and fun(limoncello!!)and the setting was amazing.

We then drove back to Pompeii for a 2pm tour. Julio arranged for the tour guide(Reginaldo) to meet us. Reginaldo did a great tour of Pompeii, he took us through "a day in the life" of a Pompeiian. What a fascinating place.

We chose afternoon to tour Pompeii because it is closer to the ship and don't have to worry as much about traffic when returning to the pier.

Reginaldo also told us that there is usually an afternoon breeze. He said around 11-1 it gets very hot. Pompeii was definitely a highlight of our trip.

[bbyost]

In Barcelona we stayed at the Petite Palace Museum. Very modern and high tech(free wi-fi and laptops in the rooms). It was in a great location near Las Ramblas and the hop-on, hop-off bus.

We arrived at the hotel around between 8:30. They let us check in upon arrival, so we dropped the bags in the room and went in search of the hop-on, hop-off bus around 9:30am.

We took the bus to Sagrada Familia. We had to walk around the back to enter and they handed us tickets for no charge...we're still not sure how that happened. The elevator to the top was closed, so maybe that explains the free entrance. This is definitely a "don't miss" place! Another WOW.

It wasn't very crowded when we got there, but when we came out there was a long line to get in.

There was also a long line for the bus, so we walked to the Placa de Catalunya and hopped on the red-line bus there. We got off to see the Guell Parc. You'd think after 12 days of walking you'd be in shape, but the walk was 10 minutes up a very steep hill and that wiped us out but the park was worth it. We grabbed the bus again and took the red line around the city until we got off at Las Ramblas had lunch at a Tapas restaurantthen walked around the whole area. By 5pm we headed back to take a rest and then headed out for dinner. We ended up at place that we realized was a chain restaurant but it was okay. I was too tired to care anymore.

We enjoyed the bus but at some of the stops the lines were extremely long so we walked a lot too.

Barcelona is a beautiful city and there is a lot that we missed but we did get a good overview.

[bbyost]

Fabrizio arranged for our tour guide at the Vatican and told Julio who to get for us in Pompeii. We did not use a guide at the coliseum. I would definitely recommend guides for the Vatican and Pompeii, we learned so much from them.

We paid the tour guides separately after the tour.

[eileen226]

I thought the venue where the "real" David is was closed on Monday

as well. Your review says that you saw "both" David's. Is just the Uffizi closed with other museums?

[bbyost]

I should have written that we saw both copies of David. One is in Piazza della Signoria and the other in Piazzale Michelangelo. The Accademia Museum with the original was closed. The view from the Piazzale was worth the stop.

[AF-1]

Hello, I'm traveling on voyager next year. I do have a few questions. Did you book your hotel in Barcelona thru the cruiseline or on your own? It sounds like you liked the hotel. Did the hotel have CNN? Am I correct that u used allaroundrome.net for your tours in Rome and Florence? I had Leo Papa on the Spendour of the Seas last year. I had a hard time with his accent. It was hard to understand him. He was nice but hard to understand. Thanks for any info you may have.

 

Cheers.

[betonic]

Fabrizio is with allarounditaly.net so I think the company that you used last year is a different company.

[bbyost]

I booked the hotel through http://en.venere.com/ The hotel had BBC but not CNN. But with the free wi-fi and laptop you could watch CNN.

And I used http://www.allarounditaly.net which will take you to Fabrizio's homepage. He took us around Florence and Rome and set us up for our tour in Naples.

I don't have a hard time with accents so I didn't even notice that Leo Papa had one. Sorry. We really did not see him very much. We seemed to run into his staff more than we did him. The staff was excellent and very enthusiastic.

[seakat76]

Well, this isn't about the cruise, but I am interested in knowing what you did in Normandy. How did you get there (from Paris?) Did you take a tour? Thanks!

[bbyost]

For Normandy we booked a tour through http://www.fattirebiketoursparis.com

They arranged our train tickets and had a guide (Matias) meet us at the Bayeux train station. This tour meant so much to me because my father landed at Omaha Beach as a 19-yr. old army private. Matias was able to take us to the area where my Dad's division landed. He later thanked me for sharing my Dad's stories with him. It was an excellent tour and fascinating. We fell in love with the Normandy countryside. It was actually very peaceful, for a place that knew such bloody battles.

We left Paris on the 10:30am train and arrived back in Paris around 9pm. It is a 2-hour train ride and we took food with us.

[cck0000]

Brenda,

How was the tendering for Villefranche?

I am wondering what the earliest I could expect to begin our private tour that day?

thanks :)

[bbyost]

We had a ticket for tender group #1. I thought that meant to be ready for the first tender, wrong...it's the first group after the ship's tours depart. We finally got on the tender about 10:45am. We met our guide around 11am.

It would help if they put estimated times on the tender tickets. The hallway was jammed with people waiting and some of the people had numbers 5,6 or 7. They kept announcing only tender tickets 1 or 2 should be waiting in line, but people were confused. It seems they could come up with an easier procedure.

[AF-1]

I have allarounditaly.net bookmarked on my computer. When I get ready to make my shore excrustions I will contact them. Thank you.

[Fran&Tom]

We will be on this cruise on Nov. 1. We also have Allain of Dream Tours and All Around Italy booked for Rome, Florence and Naples. I am so glad to hear that you had such a great time. Did Fabrizio arrange guides for you in the sistine Chapel and Colliseum? Did you go to Pompeii, if so did you have a guide there?

 

We are sailing June 23 and have then same tours for Rome and Pisa/Florence- great tohear your +++ report about them.

Fran