Insignia July 1-11 Barcelona to Rome Capsule Review

[sacway]

Several CC posters were on this cruise - I wonder how it looked from their POVs. Here's our capsule summary:

 

3 days pre-cruise BCN were fantastic. We stayed at Regencia Colon. Spain won the Euro 2008 soccer match while we were there. We enjoyed special exhibits, "Oblidant Velazques: Las Meninas" at the Museu Picasso and "Ukiyo-e" in the public exhibition space in La Pedrera.

 

Embarked early, before noon. No line for standard cabin or suite pax, but long line for A-cat or other early boarders at that time. Cabin was immaculate. Avg age of cruisers approx 5-10 years younger than last O cruise.

 

10 ports in 10 days. We found this pace intense but couldn't resist going ashore in each. A possible port worker strike in Marseilles led to the substitution of the industrial port Toulon where we had a good time anyhow, at flower market, i-net cafe, lunch al fresco with the local workforce, a whirl through the local mall, a naval museum, even a little souvenir hunting. In Portofino, a strike meant a walk instead of a bus trip to Santa Margherita, thank goodness for the water taxi ride back.

Took 3 trains which basically added 3 more cities: from Monte Carlo to Nice (looked for but did not spot Brangelina), Livorno to Florence (Uffizi tickets gave us a close look at Venus on the half shell; the museu near the Duomo offered the Pieta with Michelangelo as Nicodemus), and Sorrento to Herculaneum (ninety-five percent of train emptied at Pompeii Scavi, we had H to ourselves). At Herculaneum, after 4 hours we'd covered about 2/3 of the audiotour. A virtual reality museum near the ruins (http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/news-detailed.asp?newsid=10244)

had its blue ribbon opening with dignitaries that day -- couldn't tour it but we did convince the gift shop staff to sell us the museum t-shirt, pre-opening. No crowds, virtual reality and the Herculaneum scavi make a boffo combo. We caught the wrong train back (oops), had to retrace and redo our return to Sorrento, but plenty of time for this thanks to long stopover.

 

Most nights we ate at Tapas, enjoyed seeing what we were eating in advance, choice of portion size, and the great views off the stern.

 

At disembarkation, took train to Rome for three great post-cruise days in our #1 favorite city. (We stay at the modest Arenula Hotel in the Jewish Ghetto.) Ran into fellow O post-cruisers in Teatro Marcellus one night (open air concert) and at the Coliseum the next morning. An interactive traveling art exhibit in Largo Argentina allowed us to go down into that scavi for the first time, after dark with masks and music. Still enjoy great pizza at Florida Pizzeria across the street, lunch for two: 7 Euros.

 

Air travel torture home (flight delay in Rome = missed flight home in Atlanta = 18 extra hours in transit)

 

Other than art auction announcements, no on-board annoyances. Reception desk was very helpful at all hours day and night. Wait staff was friendly and attentive, several remembered us from our last O cruise 18 months ago. DVD players in every cabin meant all movie-loving pax were trying to check out the same most popular titles. We resorted to a "Dirty Harry" film festival and saw 4 of Clint Eastwood's finest. The gym (run by concessionaire) was oversubscribed, and we witnessed bad behavior: pax hogging treadmill and other paxs sternly trying to shame culprit to get off. Similarly the self-serve laundry was full full full; we heard rumors of near fisticuffs over washers and dryers but these are unsubstantiated.

 

After this port-intensive trip we are thinking of writing a pocket book called, "I need to go, now" with maps of all the cruise ports and major tour stops, indicating where one can, well, you know; and whether this will require entrance fees, the purchase of coffee etc. or coinage of specific value. Or maybe someone has already published this one? :)

 

Have not yet booked our next cruise, on O or any other line, but will do so before long.

[vdlcruiser]

How about the other ports. We are on this same cruise in Oct and would love to know what you did in the other ports. Thanks

[hondorner]

Great review; it took me along with you yet with an admiral economy of words -- I need to learn how to do that.

 

I hope you enjoyed the little Regencia Colon as much as we did; we had a neat corner room that gave us about 50% of the view of the cathedral as the much more expensive Colon Hotel.

 

So far, we have avoided port intensive cruises because I can't handle them without a day or two of rest scattered throughout, yet your descriptions make that itninerary sound appealing. Are there any ports that you could have skipped if you, like me, felt the need for a recuperative nap?

[sacway]

My favorite Abe Lincoln paraphrase: "sorry for the long letter, I had no time to write a shorter one." I started a longer review for the Cruise Reviews section, using in part longhand notes made midway through the cruise on the back of the port maps as we sat in a Portofino harbor cafe drinking cappuchinos. At the Regencia Colon we too had a corner-ish room, just a glimpse into the plaza without the noise. I attach a photo taken from the plaza that shows the Colon at left, and the Regencia directly behind, to the right a La Caixa bank branch with a handy ATM. "Our" hotel window was at the right edge of the palm tree fronds.

 

We are not shy about taking an afternoon siesta, and most of these port towns roll up commercially in the heat of the day, so we had a couple of short visits ashore. As for skipping a port altogether, after your 2nd or 3rd yacht harbor, you might figure watching yachts coming and going is as easy from the ship as from the harbor. We had thought about going to Porto Cervo from Olbia but by then (day 8) we weren't drawn to the effort of catching a cab from town to the resort harbor.

[sacway]

Here's a summary of our other port activities. We actually like to take a ship's excursion from time to time, but didn't see one on this itinerary that interested us or seemed a good value. Each day, near the destinations counter, someone local would be sitting with handy maps and helpful comments about what might be interesting to do in port.

 

Barcelona, Spain: described below.

 

Palma de Mallorca, Spain: briefest stop (7am till 1pm). Walked from the port to the walled old city along harbor. Visited the cathedral (not open till 11 so time at a nearby i-net cafe beforehand) and the Arab Baths. The cathedral has one of the largest rose windows in the world, apparently, and an interesting hanging alter piece designed by Gaudi. Walked back past nice little park and windmill.

 

Toulon instead of Marseille: described below. despite the alternate port, most of the ship's tours ran unchanged. Complete details of the port and maps were available same as other ports.

 

Saint-tropez, France: tender stop so even though we arrived pretty early, didn't get to town till about 10am. Walked along shore to the edge of town, along the rocky beach then up to the fort over the town, a few Euros for admission. Went back down hill and past cemetery to a small but clean public beach, not unreasonably crowded, and had a fine swim. A yacht pulled up and several persons got off in a little boat and came over to the beach for a swim, too. It seemed funny since in a yacht they could go anywhere or could swim right off the yacht and instead they came to this little beach with us simple folk. Walked back through town to the harbor, found a seat in a harbor side bar and had a cold drink and watched the parade of people and yachties. Back to the ship in time for a burger at the grill (open till 4 pm)

 

Monte Carlo, Monaco: train to Nice, described below. Great main shopping street in Nice, summer sales and Saturday so lots of local activity. Vieux Nice is a bit of a walk from the station, by the time we got there it was lunchtime so we found a cafe in an alley. After lunch, another visit to an i-net cafe, behind the big church. Walked to shore to see this massive geogeous beach with many private and a couple public areas. Watched part of a volleyball match, then climbed the hill to the city park and its fake waterfall. Back to train staion, back to Monaco, walked down stair-street and over to Grand Casino. Did not go gambling this trip.

 

Portofino, Italy: cappuchinos harborside, walk to Santa Margherita, described below.

 

Florence/Pisa (Livorno), Italy: train to Florence and Uffizi, described below.

 

Olbia/Porto Cervo (Sardinia): shuttle to town, walk up main street, off to what is apparently town's only i-net cafe. Afterwards sought out old church (not the newer one in the immediate area, the old one is across tracks and a bit out of the way, nobody there), walked back on parallel road, visited ruin of Roman wall. Back to ship pretty early.

 

Sorrento/Capri, Italy: train to Herculaneum, described below, back by 5 for last shuttle from town center to tender dock, though last tender wasn't till midnight.

 

Amalfi/Positano, Italy: another tender stop, visited paper-making museum and tried our hand at the task. big cathedral with long staircase is visually striking from outside, accessed via fee through adjoining cloisters. odd museum inside cathedral which is no longer used for services, there is a second building attached that is the "new" cathedral.

 

Civitavecchia, Italy: Disembarked at 8am, checked into hotel in Rome at 10am, very slick transit.

[debsjc]

Thanks for your review :)

 

Could you tell me how long the walk from Portofino to Santa Margherita takes please?

[suzieque]

Sacway,

You mentioned a term several times in your great review that I am unfamiliar with. What is a scavi?

Thank you in advance for your explanation! We are leaving on the Insignia for a port intensive cruise,too on Aug.6th;Barcelona to Istanbul.

Best,

Suzie

[sable1]

Greetings Sacway,

 

Did you use O's air or book your own? If O's, which carrier did they use?

 

And did you walk from Portofino to S. Margherita over the mountain or along a road? We did the mountain route and it was very interesting and scenic.

 

Thoroughly enjoyed your review, thanks.

Joanne

[hondorner]

We were probably in the room next to yours. In your picture, see the tiny windows in the stone facade? We were in one of those.

 

Here's a shot of the window from inside; it's right above the TV.

 

Next, a shot of the view from the window -- the Colon is on the right, the bank on the left, and the corner of the cathedral we could see is between them. We could actually see more than the camera captured. The cathedral was undergoing much remodeling, and the view was ruined by huge banners hung outside.

 

 

It's a great location -- we could easily walk to most of the popular locations -- La Rambla, Plaza Catalonia, the Music Palace, etc.

 

We loved Barcelona and definitely will get back there. Last time, we rented a car and drove to Montserrat, then on to Cardona, in the mountains, where we stayed a night in a Parador -- a hotel built in an 11th century castle. The next time, we want to drive down the coast to Tarragona, to see the Roman ruins, and maybe the Port Aventura theme amusement park -- there's still enough "kid" in me to want to see it.

 

Sable1, we used Oceania's air with deviation -- they booked us on Air France on the best possible flights from Miami to Paris, then on to Barcelona. We could not have done better on our own, and we could not have matched the flights they got us with the amount of the credit. The flights they arranged were the quickest overall and among the least time in the air. The transfer in Paris was unwieldy, involving a bus from one terminal to another in part, but went smoothly.

[sacway]

Regarding walking to S. Margherita, I'll tell you what the pleasant woman at the port desk on the 4th deck said when she gave me the maps: it's 50 minutes if you don't stop to take pictures. Ha. So, for me, about an hour. The path over the mountain was partly closed for repairs, but it would have been possible to skip some of the roadside walk by heading up to the Hotel Splendido (a destination of its own anyhow) and then over & down the other side. I didn't realize this until I caught up with that piece of trail on the far side. The walk is an adventure of its own, part on boardwalk attached to the cliff, past several small beaches and resorts. At one point the waves were hitting the wall below so hard it sounded like thunder, I actually looked up to see if there was a storm! As I noted, you can take the water taxi back to Portofino, I think it was 5 Euros. I'm attaching a couple of pix to whet your appetite.

[suzieque]

Hi again Sacway,

I'm a fellow Californian & really would like to know what a scavi is. Looks like you are o-line. Could you please let me know?

Thanks!!

Suzie

[sacway]

scavi means excavation in Italian. So when you step into a church, say, you might see a little sign in a corner that says "Scavi" and an arrow pointing down a stairs. Or, like when we caught the wrong train back from Ercolano: the first stop was Pompeii, but when we had come up from Sorrento in the morning, the train stopped at Pompeii Scavi; so we might have figured out a few stops sooner what we'd done. :) Or, if you want to go to see the church and other Roman remains under the St. Peter's Basilica, you email scavi@fsp.va for a reservation.

 

There's whole other worlds under this world! And sometimes we get a chance to look into them.

[sacway]

We booked our own air, since Sacramento is a one-off airport and I think we'd have to pay a double premium, one for flying out of here instead of San Francisco, and another for deviation, since we prefer to arrive a day or two early. I always crunch the numbers, and in terms of dollars it's been pretty much the same cost as having O do it (if we didn't have to pay a premium for our selected deviation, which seems the case from many postings). So for us, the no-air option was a fair reduction in price for the cruise.

[suzieque]

Thank you so much! I felt a little lost not knowing what scavi meant. I appreciate the education, and am sure i will encounter the word in our trip, so good to know what it means.

Many thanks again,

Suzie

[sacway]

Great pix of the Regencia Colon! Clean, safe, quiet, cool, great location, and substantial breakfast, enough to walk most of the day without refueling. Suited us just fine.

[debsjc]

Thanks for the pictures of the walk, it looks beautiful. I would love to do that, but my mum has a bad back, so I'll have to see if it's too much for her or not.

 

Once you were on the boardwalk was it quite flat and level, or were you going up and down slopes and hills?

[sacway]

The route along the road is flat, though a set of stairs from harborside Portofino leads up past the church to the road. (There are cars/motorcycles at the harbor, so there's a less steep roadway, somewhere.) The town itself is steep, some of the picturesque houses that appear about 3-4 stories tall are actually street level at top. There's also a path above the road, for a brief way that then comes down to the road. The first picture is from the early part of the walk, one needn't go all the way to S. Margherita to get some dazzling cliff views.

 

As one alternative for your mum, you might taxi up to the Hotel Splendido, have a drink on the patio and walk the grounds, or perhaps stroll back down.

[debsjc]

Thank you for all the detailed information, that's really helpful.

[sherkston]

I have a hold on a cabin for this same cruise for next year (July 4, 2009) - I am a repeat Oceania and very familiar with the ship and this cruise compay, but this exact itinerary is what appealed to us.

So my question is to those that were on the July 1st sailing:

1. In hearing other passengers experiences/travels in the various ports, is there something, in hindsight, that you would've visited/seen/done differently - or just skipped altogether.

2. Did anyone visit the village of Eze?

 

As we don't book any excursions through the cruiseship (we get off the ship and make our own arrangements with a driver) - does anyone have any referrals or recommendations. Also would appreciate any recommendations for hotels in both Barcelona and Rome.

Grazie!

Lilian

[sacway]

Here are some changes we might make:

 

Barcelona

We could have gone for the Gaudi Trifecta: La Pedrera, Sagrada Familia, Parque Guell. That would have added a taxi ride to/from the Parque Guell, plus packing a picnic lunch/supper to eat while there (lots of delis all over town to pick up bread, cheese, meats, water or wine). I also would have taken the 2nd elevator at Sagrada first (shorter line) and then decided if I wanted to go on the 1st elevator.

 

Saint Tropez

I loved Plage des Greniers beyond the cemetery, the water was spectacular. But we didn't see St. Tropez's many other beaches. Next time, maybe we'll rent bicycles and ride out. Or take a bus. And I'll bring my swim goggles for a better look at the fish I'm swimming with. I might have had a 2nd beer harborside before going back to the ship, the bar couch was comfy and the people watching lots of fun.

 

Monte Carlo

We got off the ship with directions to the bus stop (we had planned originally to take the bus to Nice) but wandered around for a while looking for it unsuccessfully. That's because my piece of paper had directions to the bus stop -- in Cannes! It turned out that when we'd gone to Kinko's the afternoon before we left, to photocopy pages for the stops we were making (rather than bring along the entire Europe guide book), I'd copied some of the wrong pages. I also missed some pages, which led to a bit of an information gap in later ports. It also would have been nice to have had a decent map of Nice. Not that it's a hard town to find your way, but we made a wrong turn or two and then chewed up a little bit of time in the heat and humidity finding our way back to where we wanted to go.

 

Livorno (Florence/Pisa)

Next time, we may go just as far as Pisa, and have time to see Livorno as well. Maybe it was the crowds, or having to choose between seeing Michaelangelo's David or Botticelli's Birth of Venus, or because it was Sunday so the Duomo and other churches could only be entered if one wanted to go to a service, but several people were underwhelmed by Florence. For sure, even if we go again, we won't eat at the Uffizi cafeteria.

 

Rome

Definitely catch the evening atmosphere down at the Tiber! We didn't head over toward Trastevere till our last night, and were astonished at the full-blown street scene with dozens of bars and restaurants, music and film, public-interest booths, flea market, crazy activities (tango lessons anyone?) all in one attractive lamp-lit package running from the Isola Tiberina half-way to the Vatican. Cooler and equally Romanesque as the crowds at the Colosseum. We joined a small group along the Ponte Garibaldi off Via Arenula to watch a Roman Fabio, barefoot and shirtless, lead a yoga class below us on the edge of Isola Tiberina. The Lungo er Tevere ("tutti i giorni" "ingresso gratuito") opens about 8 pm, when the air cools; the special acts start at 9:30.

 

Places we didn't see that others mentioned: Eze was one people liked. So was Ravello. People also seemed very satisfied with their cars and drivers if they used one, I think some are on the Ports of Calls board

 

If you take trains, ask the ticket agent for the up-to-date schedule (e.g., just for that day, perhaps). The schedules were not quite identical to the ones I downloaded from the Internet before leaving, including no 4:27 train from Florence on Sundays.

 

The weather is quite hot and sticky, and yet many Europeans look fantastic. The secret in part is they are dressed stylishly but appropriately for the weather. I could have left half my luggage at home and done just as well, picking up a couple of shirts and slacks in Barcelona. All kinds of stores to pick from, large multinationals and smaller boutiques, and affordable. (Everyone whose luggage got lost had this type of stylish look, or else wore the clothes worn when they boarded their plane, for several days.)

[brian_uk]

Sacway

 

Just how easy was the train service to Herculaneum and what about the walk at the other end to the site. I have a little difficulty walking and at the moment have a Private Tour booked from ship to site andthen on to Ravello.

 

We have allowed 2 hours at site but this does not seem long enough according to you. What was the cost of Audio tour and was it easily available

 

Your response will go a long way to making my mind up as we have already visited Pompeii.

 

Brian

[sherkston]

Sacway -

Many thanks for the reply and the details - sincerely appreciate it and found it very helpful.

 

With thanks,

Lilian

[sacway]

Sacway

 

Just how easy was the train service to Herculaneum and what about the walk at the other end to the site. I have a little difficulty walking and at the moment have a Private Tour booked from ship to site andthen on to Ravello.

 

We have allowed 2 hours at site but this does not seem long enough according to you. What was the cost of Audio tour and was it easily available

 

Your response will go a long way to making my mind up as we have already visited Pompeii.

 

Brian

 

Hi Brian -

 

The train service was a snap, except for our little snafu not checking where the returning train was going! If we'd just used a little common sense we might have figured out there could be more trains than just the one we wanted to catch, plus we had the timetable with us (picked it up in Sorrento on our way) and knew the train that pulled in was "early" *if* it was our train which it wasn't. :)

 

The distance from the shuttle drop off point in Sorrento to that train station was longer, we estimate, than the distance between the train station in Herculaneum to the archeological site. That is, it's only about 3 blocks directly down the street. Similarly, just as there is a bit of an incline from "downtown" Sorrento up to the train station, there is a moderate incline to/from the Herculaneum site. (The whole area is part of the volcanic cone, as is very clearly shown when the ship sails away from Sorrento, I've attached a photo.) However, when you head back up, it'll seem steeper since you'll be starting at the bottom of the ruins and it'll be later in the day (second photo)

 

The audio tour was 6.5 euros, and I also picked up, after returning the audiotour device, a very nice book on the excavations published by the Soprintendenza Archeologica Di Pompei with text in English for 7 euros.

 

The site may be laid out a bit differently when you are there, since it seemed (as everywhere) there was construction going on, but we bought our ticket at one building near the entrance/ticket taker to the ruins. To get the audioguide however, we had to go around a white office building to another small set of buildings that include a portable with the bookstore (nicely air conditioned which we appreciated after our hours in the ruin), a kiosk handling the audioguides, and bathrooms. You'll also pass a vending machine selling drinks.

 

I'm very slow touring museum and sites, so you may find 2 hours is sufficient, especially if you have a plan for what you most want to see instead of trying to visit each and every building and listen to the audiotour, which also includes supplemental material on the various eras for the murals and other art. I could have used 8 hours! especially now that I understand the excavation better. There's a big cave, for instance, on one side of the ruins, with a floor mosaic and a statue, and some tunnels off it. I didn't really understand this, but now I realize that this respresents much what the early excavation process was, people tunnelling down to "mine" statuary and other remnants of the Roman past. There is also a theater ruin that is a couple blocks away, I saw a sign when we entered the ruin but didn't know what that represented. Again, another tunnelled excavation that was a tourist destination in the 19th century, but we didn't visit it on this trip.

 

Even though the train station is only a few blocks from the museum, we stopped both ways. On the way down, for a cappuchino at a street stand, and on the way back, at the new museum that will be open when you go. (It was afternoon hours on the way back so most of the shops that were open when we went down were closed coming back, but the museum would be open.) That would be a nice stop on the way back, and another reason I'm pretty much convinced we need to visit Herculaneum again.

[ledfoot300]

Can you enlighten me re getting to Florence from docking port? You are a great tour guide.

Several CC posters were on this cruise - I wonder how it looked from their POVs. Here's our capsule summary:

 

3 days pre-cruise BCN were fantastic. We stayed at Regencia Colon. Spain won the Euro 2008 soccer match while we were there. We enjoyed special exhibits, "Oblidant Velazques: Las Meninas" at the Museu Picasso and "Ukiyo-e" in the public exhibition space in La Pedrera.

 

Embarked early, before noon. No line for standard cabin or suite pax, but long line for A-cat or other early boarders at that time. Cabin was immaculate. Avg age of cruisers approx 5-10 years younger than last O cruise.

 

10 ports in 10 days. We found this pace intense but couldn't resist going ashore in each. A possible port worker strike in Marseilles led to the substitution of the industrial port Toulon where we had a good time anyhow, at flower market, i-net cafe, lunch al fresco with the local workforce, a whirl through the local mall, a naval museum, even a little souvenir hunting. In Portofino, a strike meant a walk instead of a bus trip to Santa Margherita, thank goodness for the water taxi ride back.

Took 3 trains which basically added 3 more cities: from Monte Carlo to Nice (looked for but did not spot Brangelina), Livorno to Florence (Uffizi tickets gave us a close look at Venus on the half shell; the museu near the Duomo offered the Pieta with Michelangelo as Nicodemus), and Sorrento to Herculaneum (ninety-five percent of train emptied at Pompeii Scavi, we had H to ourselves). At Herculaneum, after 4 hours we'd covered about 2/3 of the audiotour. A virtual reality museum near the ruins (http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/news-detailed.asp?newsid=10244)

had its blue ribbon opening with dignitaries that day -- couldn't tour it but we did convince the gift shop staff to sell us the museum t-shirt, pre-opening. No crowds, virtual reality and the Herculaneum scavi make a boffo combo. We caught the wrong train back (oops), had to retrace and redo our return to Sorrento, but plenty of time for this thanks to long stopover.

 

Most nights we ate at Tapas, enjoyed seeing what we were eating in advance, choice of portion size, and the great views off the stern.

 

At disembarkation, took train to Rome for three great post-cruise days in our #1 favorite city. (We stay at the modest Arenula Hotel in the Jewish Ghetto.) Ran into fellow O post-cruisers in Teatro Marcellus one night (open air concert) and at the Coliseum the next morning. An interactive traveling art exhibit in Largo Argentina allowed us to go down into that scavi for the first time, after dark with masks and music. Still enjoy great pizza at Florida Pizzeria across the street, lunch for two: 7 Euros.

 

Air travel torture home (flight delay in Rome = missed flight home in Atlanta = 18 extra hours in transit)

 

Other than art auction announcements, no on-board annoyances. Reception desk was very helpful at all hours day and night. Wait staff was friendly and attentive, several remembered us from our last O cruise 18 months ago. DVD players in every cabin meant all movie-loving pax were trying to check out the same most popular titles. We resorted to a "Dirty Harry" film festival and saw 4 of Clint Eastwood's finest. The gym (run by concessionaire) was oversubscribed, and we witnessed bad behavior: pax hogging treadmill and other paxs sternly trying to shame culprit to get off. Similarly the self-serve laundry was full full full; we heard rumors of near fisticuffs over washers and dryers but these are unsubstantiated.

 

After this port-intensive trip we are thinking of writing a pocket book called, "I need to go, now" with maps of all the cruise ports and major tour stops, indicating where one can, well, you know; and whether this will require entrance fees, the purchase of coffee etc. or coinage of specific value. Or maybe someone has already published this one? :)

 

Have not yet booked our next cruise, on O or any other line, but will do so before long.

[samloveboat]

Sherkston - you mention getting off the boat and hiring a guide - is this possible or do we need to pre-book guides