TMS9539

Sorry, I am really slow in getting this review done. Unfortunately, after the vacation real life starts again..

For the sail in to Venice you want to be on the starboard side. Since we were on the port side of the ship I went down to the promenade deck to watch. Had a great view and it wasn't crowded - I think a lot of people were probably up at the top of the ship. Otherwise I'm not sure it matters which side you are on. It seems to me that sometimes we had the dock side in port, and sometimes not.

Wednesday, May 11 - Naples

Today we had a tour of the amalfi coast with AP tours (http://www.aptours.it). There were 8 people in our group and we walked off the ship together and met our guide on schedule. It was a gray and rainy morning, which didn't really interfere with the fabulous views, but it didn't make for great photos. Fortunately the rain stopped by the time we got to our first stop, which was Ravello. Ravello is perched high above the amalfi coast, so there are beautiful views. We only had about 45 minutes and I wanted to see Rufolo gardens, so after a quick look around I bought my ticket (5 euros) and went on what is possibly the fastest tour of the gardens ever taken. Our guide didn't seem to feel that the gardens were worth it, so nobody else in the group opted to join me, but I thought they were well worth seeing and I was glad I did it. Although I didn't have a lot of time to linger, I did manage to see everything (I think!) and I took a ton of pictures. Both the gardens and the architecture were beautiful.

From there we drove to the town of Amalfi. Again, we had only a short time here. The rest of the group wandered around, but I opted to go inside the church. (3 euros). I really didn't have time to do justice to seeing the inside of the church. It's very big and there are various rooms that would be worth exploring if I'd had more time. I'm not sure I would bother going in if I had it to do over again, but it was, of course, beautiful. The outside of the church with the huge staircase leading up to it is magnificent, and you get a good view of the town square from the top of the steps.

After Amalfi we had planned on stopping and seeing the Emerald Grotto. Sadly it was closed due to the weather that day, so we didn't get to see it. It was a bit of a disappointment, but we pressed on.

Our next stop was Positano. Ahh.... Positano. Such a pretty town with the beach and the houses built into the side of the hills. I wish we had had more time there. It would have been great to sit in a restaurant (or on the beach) and relax for an afternoon. But we were on a schedule, so we walked down to the beach from where we were dropped off and dipped our toes in the Mediterranean sea. Be warned, the beach is not sand. It is made up of pebbles and they are rather painful on the feet! After that we meandered our way slowly back up to the parking area, poking around in the shops along the way. I would have gotten lost, but thankfully other people are less directionally challenged than I am, so I just followed them.

Our final stop was Sorrento. Sorrento is bigger and we had more time here. The rest of the group went to a restaurant for a pizza lunch, but I was too antsy to sit still, so I bought a sandwich from a shop and ate on a park bench so I could have more time to explore. The sandwich I had was mozzarella and tomato, and was possibly the best sandwich I've ever had. Then I just wandered around. I would like to go back and spend more time there. I think I didn't do Sorrento justice because it was the end of the day and I was getting tired.

Also, at this point I was starting to OD on quaint little towns. In retrospect, although I was glad to see Ravello and Amalfi, I might have preferred a tour that went to Pompeii or Herculaneum in the morning, and then went to Positano and Sorrento in the afternoon, just to break it up a little. Although they were all different, between the quaint towns of the cinque terre, and the towns of the amalfi coast, I was ready for something different. I'm glad I got to see it all though, so it's a bit of a toss up.

From Sorrento we took the ferry back to Naples. It's about a 45 minute trip and was very pleasant. I think we all enjoyed it and I was glad the ferries were running so we didn't have to drive back. All in all, it was a very enjoyable day, and made better by the new friends we met on cruise critic.

If you mean the main show in the theater, the late show was at 9:30. The early show was either 7 or 7:30 - I can't remember which, but I'm thinking 7:30.

This was the only ship excursion I did, and I have to say I'm glad we joined the roll call and booked private tours that way. The ship excursion was fine, but the guide was clearly just putting his time in until quitting time, and I was on a bus with about 40 people. It didn't detract from my enjoyment of the day, but it isn't as nice as being on a private tour with no more than 8 people.

Tuesday, May 10th - Civitavecchia

Today is the day that most people go to Rome. Tracy went on a tour to Rome with other members of the roll call, using Rome In Limo. She had a great day. I spent almost a week in Rome several years ago, so I wanted something different. Today is the only day I did a ship excursion. I was torn between Orvietto and the one called "Off the Beaten Path - Hilltop Towns". I have been to Orvietto before and absolutely loved it, and didn't have enough time there, but in the end I wanted to go someplace I'd never been before, so I chose the Off the Beaten Path tour. We went to Tuscania and Civita di Bagnoregio.

Before I even got off the ship I met a lovely woman who was also by herself for the day, so I had a touring buddy right away. First stop was Tuscania. On the way we drove through Tarquinia. I glimpsed enough to know I'd like to go back there and see more. Tuscania was a very small, walled town. Straight through at the back of the town is a pretty little park with outstanding views of the countryside and a castle on a hilltop. There was a working sundial in the park, but it was off by an hour. I guess they didn't have daylight savings time back then!

From there we went to Civita di Bagnoregio, which was the highlight of the day. It is a medieval town up high on a cliff. The only access is a long walking bridge. It was pretty amazing. It's extremely well preserved, and brought to life everything I'd imagined about what it would be like to live in the middle ages. We walked around and took a ton of pictures. After about an hour and a half we had a late lunch at a truly charming little restaurant. From there we had to walk back across the bridge to meet the bus, of course taking a gazillion pictures along the way. We were back to the ship before 5, so it was a shorter day than some of the others.

I really enjoyed Civita di Bagnoregio. It was unique and visually stunning, between the town itself and the surrounding countryside. It is small though, so a few hours is all you need. I would have liked to have it paired with something other than Tuscania (like maybe Tarquinia, which we drove right through). I would say that Orvietto has more to offer overall, in that you could easily spend an entire day there. But I don't regret my choice because I really liked it.

Monday, May 9th - Livorno

Today we had a tour booked with Papillon (http://www.papillonservice.com) to the Cinque Terre and Pisa. The Cinque Terre had been on my bucket list for a long time, so I was really excited to finally go there. We met up with our group and walked off the ship together. Our driver (Nicolette, if I remember correctly) was waiting for us. There were only 5 of us on this tour. We had deliberately kept it small because there was a long drive involved and we thought it would be more comfortable if we weren't crammed in. In retrospect, the vans they use are really comfortable, however, with only 5 everyone had a window seat, so it was nice.

Our first stop was Portovenere, which is not part of Cinque Terre. Our guide explained that even though it wasn't part of the tour she liked to take people there because it was very charming and not as crowded. She said there were only two streets and we would have 45 minutes to explore. I don't know what everyone else was thinking at that point, but I was thinking "what in the world are we going to do for 45 minutes in a town with only two streets, and let's just get going to the Cinque Terre because time's a wasting...". Yes, that is what I was thinking before we got there. But then we got there.

So, there is this old crumbling castle, fortress like structure, and you walk through the entrance and it's a street with the usual shops and things, but oh so very charming. Then you get to the end of the street and come out the other end, and there in front of you, on a huge promontory overlooking the sea, is a perfect medieval church, with the ruins of the fortress all around it. If I can figure out how to do pictures I'll post one later. There was a sign that said this is where Lord Byron found his inspiration, and I can see why. In the end, I think this was my favorite stop, and I didn't even want to go there. And I ended up racing to meet the guide at the appointed time.

We picked up the ferry in Portovenere and headed to our first stop, which was Manarola. The Cinque Terre is really beautiful from the sea. I'm really glad the ferries were running and we got to do it this way. It was about 45 minutes from Portovenere to Manarola. We then had about 30 minutes at Manarola before we got back on the ferry and headed to Vernazza. We had more time there - I think about an hour, or maybe more. I can't remember. Tracy and the California girls went to lunch, but I was itching to explore so I skipped lunch. I easily stumbled on one of the hiking trails and started walking. You have to pay to use the hiking trails, but the guy let me go through without paying when I told him I was only going a short way. It was very nice of him. I walked down the trail probably only about 15 or 20 minutes. I didn't have time to go far, but it was enough to get a taste of what it would be like. The views were amazing and I took a lot of pictures. Our driver picked us up in Vernazza, and from there we drove to Corniglia, which is the only town in the Cinque Terre that is not accessible by sea. It was small and picturesque, with great views of the surrounding area. From Corniglia we started heading back to the port, but not before a quick stop at Pisa to see the leaning tower. We only had about 20 minutes there, but it was enough time to take the mandatory photos of us holding up the tower. I had no real desire to go to Pisa, so I was glad it was just a quick stop, but I have to say I was much more impressed with the tower than I thought I would be. It's big and beautiful.

I enjoyed the day and I'm glad I got to finally see Cinque Terre. However, now that I've seen it I wouldn't need to go back again, unless I was going to hike the trails. They are charming and picturesque towns, but once you've seen them, you've seen them. I've already been to Florence and really wanted to do this. However, if you've never been to Florence I would recommend going there first, and saving this for a later trip. Of course, that's just my opinion.

The first day on the ship we had an informal meet & greet on Raffles Terrace with our roll call. It was great to finally put names & faces together, and we got organized for some of our upcoming tours. I was the organizer for the tour I took on the first port day. I collected the money from everyone going with me at the meet & greet, so I knew we were covered. I didn't hear of anyone having a problem with the way we did these shared tours. I know it probably happens sometimes, but I would hope not often. As far as I know, everyone showed up and paid up. With one exception that I'm aware of - Tracy organized a tour in Montenegro and there were 2 people who didn't show up (or pay). However, the way the tour was structured it didn't have any impact on anyone else. There just needed to be a minimum of 8 people to keep the price per person low, and I think there were about 15 on that one, so it didn't matter.

Now for the ports. I enjoyed all of them and I would recommend every single tour operator that we used. Some things I might do differently the next time, but that is based on what I know now and personal preference, all the tours and ports were awesome!

Sunday, May 8 - Toulon (Provence), France

I originally wanted to take a wine tour in this port, but we happened to be there on a national holiday (Victory Day) so that wasn't an option. Instead I booked a tour with Tour Designer In Provence (http://www.provence-travel.com) to Aix en Provence & Cassis. There were 8 of us from the roll call on this tour. We met just outside of Henry's Pub on the ship and walked off together. This is a good, central meeting point and we met there for all our tours for the entire cruise. Our guide Anais, was waiting for us when we got off the ship, and away we went. The van seated 8 people and was clean and comfortable. Some of us were larger than others, and it was still comfortable and roomy enough. We went to Aix en Provence first, and had a walking tour with our guide, before having free time. It was a really beautiful town with an open air food market in one area, and an open air craft & non-food items market along the main road. I had the best quiche I've ever eaten from the food market. Other people got things from a bakery that Anais recommended, and they said the food was fabulous. The architecture was really pretty, and so different from anything we have here in the states. I was glad we got the walking tour, because of course I would have missed all the details and historical information without it. For example, there are religious statues on many of the corners of the buildings. This was because the plague was so prevalent that they couldn't have large gatherings of people which would spread the disease, so people couldn't go to church. Instead they put these statues all over so people could still worship, but not in church.

From there we headed to Cassis, which is a little seaside town. We had hoped to take a boat ride out to see the calanques, but it was really windy so the boats weren't running. Instead we had free time to walk around and enjoy the town. It was very picturesque with colorful boats in the harbor and lots of little shops and restaurants. After that we drove up to the top of the cliffs for some truly inspiring views of Cassis and the Mediterranean sea. So beautiful!

I had been most looking forward to Cassis, but in the end I think I like Aix en Provence better. But I'm glad we went to both. It was a very enjoyable day.

Point to ponder - the bread in Europe is about 1000 times better than what we have in North America. No matter where you go, or what country, it's all really good. Why is that? Is it a secret recipe that only the Europeans know about? I just don't get it. Why can't we have good bread too? Just sayin....

It was so much fun meeting you and Tracey! What a great trip we had. I'm hoping to get my review up by this weekend if I ever get the laundry done!

Right back at you! Wish you could have come on the pub crawl with us Venice - the wine flowed and we had a great time. Maybe next time when both your boys are over 21!

I just spoke to NCL about disembarking a day earlier in Venice and they claim that I just need to go to guest services and let them know that that's our plan. We'll have to check out with them prior to leaving. I wonder if the note's on the Dailies were there just to remind people that you could not simply walk off the ship a day earlier without seeing them first. Guess I'll find out this August if the info I received is correct.

I was also on this cruise, and I'm pretty sure you can get off the day before, but you definitely need to arrange with guest services. We needed to get off the ship earlier than the normal disembarkation time. Our TA told us to go to guest services on the first day and tell them we needed to get off at 7:30 am. So I did, and the guy said no problem, that he just had to inform the port authority, and wrote something in a spiral notebook. It didn't really inspire confidence in me, but I forgot about it until later in the cruise. Then a few days before the end there was a note in the daily that you could not disembark prior to 8 am, and if that was a problem to see guest services. So I went back down there and they told me that we could leave the ship at either 4:30, 5:30 or 6:30, but not at 7:30 am because the port authority dictates the times. They later sent a note to our room offering a courtesy phone call to change our pick up time. When I went back down for the third time the girl asked had I given them my flight information - that was the first I heard that they needed it. So I had to jump through a few hoops, but at 6:30 am we walked off the ship. We didn't go through customs or anything. They scanned our room card and away we went. I had changed our pick up time to 7 am, because they told me we needed time to get through customs. Nope. I guess they didn't want to start work that early. At 6:33 am we were standing on the sidewalk waiting for our driver. Who fortunately arrived a little early. We were at the airport before 7:30 am for our 11 am flight. It was fine though. I've heard Marco Polo airport can be a mess and we didn't experience any of that. Everything went smoothly.

Thank you for your great review! I have been patiently waiting for a Mediterranean Spirit review, we will be leaving in two weeks for ours and I am so excited!

It sounds like you really enjoyed Barcelona, now I'm thinking I need to add Montserrat and a flamenco show to our touring plans!

So glad you liked the Spirit, sometimes the reviews I read are not very kind to her. Weird about the pillows, I wonder if he just misunderstood your request?:confused: Did you have a balcony room? Were you able to use your hairdryer/curling iron that you brought from home? I have read such mixed reviews on the outlets on this ship.

I look forward to reading more of your adventures!

Thanks again for posting.

Tracy brought an adapter and was able to use a flat iron. I'm not sure what she did. It seems to me that her adapter had several different plugs and I don't know which one she used. I was really happy she brought it though. Between phones, cameras, kindles and fitbits we were always needing to charge something.

Will work on the port reviews next. I didn't take notes so I have to rely on memory, but I'll do my best.

I highly recommend joining the roll call for your cruise. We joined with people from our roll call for private tours in all the ports we went to. We met some great people and had more enjoyable tours with only 8 people, instead of being crammed on a bus with 50 other people for the ship excursions. And we saved a ton of money. You should not have to pay hundreds of dollars to go to Rome - you can do it on a private tour for about 75 euros.

 

 

You are going to have a great time - enjoy!

Can you please explain the roll call and also how I can find info on the private tour in Roma? I paid $369 to NCL for a tour from Naples to Sorrento and Positino then lunch and tour through Pompeii. I fear I was taken :confused:

If you look at the top of the Norwegian Board there is a link titled "Find your Norwegian roll call". Click on that and then find the roll call for your ship and date. If there isn't one it's because nobody has started it yet. You can either create a post to get it started, or wait for someone else to post and then join.

Regarding the back pack - you can buy an anti-theft bag. The brand I know about is called Travelon, and they are available on Amazon. The zippers lock and they have other safety features as well. I got one for my trip and I really liked it. I think I would have been okay with just a regular purse, but I liked the security of knowing it would be almost impossible for someone to pick pocket me. They come in all shapes and sizes. I agree with the poster who advised you not to wear the back pack in the back. The last thing you need is to be robbed when you just want to enjoy the vacation of a lifetime. It's better to be safe than sorry!

We got on the ship about 1 pm. The lines were short and it didn’t take long. I wanted to carry my own luggage on because I’m paranoid about it getting lost, but they wouldn’t let me because the luggage is too big to fit through the xray machines. Or whatever those things are. Happily, our luggage was delivered to the room pretty quickly and we were completely unpacked before the safety drill.

This was my first cruise on NCL. I’ve previously cruised on Celebrity, Carnival, Princess and Royal Caribbean. I’ve enjoyed them all and I’ve never had a bad cruise. We were in a balcony cabin – 10672. It was small with less storage than I’ve had on other cruises, but we managed just fine. I thought the beds were really comfortable. Tracy said her bed was too hard, but after the first night the room steward put a memory foam thing on her bed and after that she was fine.

There were only a few negatives, so I’ll get them out of the way here. On the first day our TV got stuck in the “On” mode, and I couldn’t turn it off. I called guest services and they said they would send someone, but nobody ever came. As it turns out, I’m just an idiot who doesn’t know how to work a remote, and Tracy figured it out. But guest services didn’t know that and just didn’t show up. So if you really have a problem you may need to be a little persistent. Also on the first day, I requested 4 extra pillows from our room steward. He told me there were two extra on the closet shelf. I said yes, but I want 4 more in addition to those. He said okay, and when I ran into him in the hallway later I asked if he had given me the extra pillows. He said he could only give me two more – not four. But when I got back in the room all he had done was taken the two on the shelf and put them on the bed. So I never got the extra pillows. I’ve never been told no when asking for extra pillows before, so I don’t know if the problem was our room steward, or if it’s an NCL thing. It seems like a small thing to me and I was kind of annoyed, but I chose not to push it, and I got over it. Life is too short. The only other thing was that our toilet seat was broken the entire trip. We reported it to our room steward twice, but it was never fixed. Maybe if we had gone to guest services about it that would have made the difference, but we didn’t. The thing is, you don’t think about it except when you’re using it… and then you forget because you’re too busy having a great time… so I apologize to the next person in that room. Your toilet seat is still broken.

For the positives – the ship was very nice. I liked it more than I thought I would based on the things I’ve read. It has a very nice promenade deck that goes all the way around, unlike some of the newer ships where you can’t walk all the way around the ship. I like to walk on the sea days so I really enjoyed that. Sitting out on Raffles terrace was very pleasant, and we did that quite a bit. I only went to one of the shows, and I wasn’t crazy about it, but Tracy went to a lot of them and liked them, so it’s a matter of personal taste. Obviously they aren’t really my thing, which is why I mostly didn’t go. The food was a lot better than most of the reviews indicate. We ate in the specialty restaurants three times – once in Teppenyaki’s, and twice at Cagney’s. Teppenyaki’s was good, but Cagney’s was great. Except that I ate way too much both times we were there, but I can’t blame that on the cruiseline! Food in the main dining rooms, Windows and Garden, was very good. We never had a bad meal there. Service in all the restaurants was good. The food in Raffles buffet was typical of most cruiselines. Some good, some not so good, but we certainly never went hungry. And in spite of the few issues with our room steward in the beginning, in most other ways he was really good. He even knocked on the door once when he realized we had just come back to ask us if we’d like him to refill our ice bucket.

In addition to all the great ports of call, we really had fun on the ship in the evenings too. There were some days we were tired and just had dinner and an early night. But other nights we did some of the ship activities. I don’t remember what we did on which days, but Tracy participated in Karaoke superstars and tied for first place in the finale. She rocked it out with the help of back up dancers from the roll call. My contribution was to clap, cheer and take video. She also took several dance lessons. (I watched). Most of the time we just sat back with a drink and were entertained. The Dancing with the Stars thing was very entertaining (that's not what they called it). They paired a member of the crew (the professional) with passengers and had a dance off contest. Silly, but very fun!

One thing to note: Our ship was only slightly more than half full. So we never had lines, never had to wait for the elevator, and always found a lounge chair in a good location (back of Raffles terrace is very nice!). I don’t know what it would be like if the ship was full.

Another thing to note: We joined our roll call here and booked all our tours in advance with people we met on these boards. I’ve never done this before and it worked out really well for us. We had great tours and met some really lovely people that I hope to stay in touch with. It was really nice to see people you know all over the ship, and it really added to the whole experience. I would definitely do it this way again.

First let me say, that this was an amazing vacation! We had a fabulous time and met some great people, which made it even more enjoyable. You all know who you are. ;-)



I traveled with a friend and we are both single women. I’m 53 and Tracy is 40-something. We arrived in Barcelona on Thursday morning and took the aerobus to Placa Catalunya. This was really convenient and easy. We actually purchased the tickets in advance so once we got our luggage we just followed the signs to the bus and got on. We didn’t have to wait at all because the bus was there, but I believe they run every 10 minutes. The bus has free wifi but it didn’t work for me – everything just kept spinning. We got off the bus and walked to our hotel. We stayed at Hotel Continental, which is at the top of La Rambla. It took us a few minutes to get our bearings, but the hotel was not more than a 5 minute walk from where the bus dropped us. Our plane got in at 9:00 am and I think we were at the hotel by about 10:30. We were lucky and were able to check in and get to our room right away. The staff was friendly and helpful, and we really liked the hotel. The room was small and pink… very pink. But the beds were comfortable and we loved the little balcony overlooking La Rambla. The hotel had a free 24 hour buffet which, to be honest, was significantly less than great. But we ate lunch there the first day and breakfast the next two days because it was quick and convenient. I have no complaints about the hotel. The free wifi always worked. It was clean, comfortable and the location was great. And we didn’t spend a fortune on it. I would stay there again.

After we checked in and grabbed a bite we set out to explore. We had a free walking tour with Sandemans at 2pm so we had a little time to wander around. We slowly made our way to the meeting point in the gothic quarter. Along the way we stopped and toured the gothic cathedral, which was awesome. After a while you feel like you’ve seen a thousand pretty churches, but this was our first one and we were suitably wowed. We found the meeting point easily and met up with our guide. This was just the thing to do on our first day. We were tired from traveling all night but we knew we couldn’t go to bed at noon or we would never adjust. The tour was 2 ½ hours and covered the gothic quarter. Our guide was energetic and loud enough that we could hear her explanations. One of the things we saw was the oldest synagogue in Barcelona – with a very small door. Our guide explained that they made the door really small so that a horse couldn’t fit through it and nobody could ride in and slaughter the people. I love the historical details that you get from guided tours, which is why I prefer them to just wandering around not knowing what I’m looking at. After the tour we got lost walking back to La Rambla and probably walked at least 1 ½ miles out of our way. Which wouldn’t be a big deal, but did I mention how tired we were? We had dinner of tapas and paella at a restaurant on Placa Reial on our way back to the hotel. I think we were both asleep by shortly after 9:00 pm.

The next day (Friday) we had an all day tour of Barcelona and Montserrat with Barcelona Day Tours. They picked us up from the meeting point, which was just around the corner from our hotel. Our guide was excellent from start to finish. I highly recommend this tour company. Actually, all our tours were really good throughout the trip, and I would recommend all of them. There were about a dozen of us on the tour, and it was a friendly bunch with no “duds”. First we went to see the outside of La Sagrada Familia. The inside is not included unless you take a private tour, which we didn’t. We spent quite a bit of time there and I would have missed almost all of it if I didn’t have the guide pointing things out and explaining. Everything on that church has meaning. It’s beautiful and fascinating. We went from there to Park Guell, where we spent about an hour. Another interesting place that we really enjoyed.

From there we left Barcelona and drove to Montserrat monastery. All I can say is – go there. It is just beautiful. It’s up high in the mountains in a magnificent setting and I loved it. We had about 2 hours there and I could have easily spent the whole day. We rode the funicular up even higher for some amazing views. Unfortunately, after racing to the church to get there in time to hear the children’s choir sing, we found out they weren’t there that day. But I got over the disappointment while soaking in the fantastic views.

We then returned to Barcelona and did the “lighter” part of the tour after people were tired. We drove to Montjuic for fabulous views of the city, and saw some of Gaudi’s other buildings and a few other highlights.

It was a great day, but we didn’t have a lot of time to relax because we had reservations for dinner and a flamenco show at 7:30. We also arranged this through Barcelona Day Tours. The dinner was good, the flamenco show was great, and the sangria was simply marvelous! I don’t have a lot to compare it to, but that flamenco dancer was dancing so fast that his legs were blurry, and it’s not just because of all the sangria – it was seriously fast. I don’t know how they do it.

We had bought tickets online in advance for La Sagrada Familia, so we went back there on Saturday morning to see the inside before boarding the ship. It was raining that morning so I was glad we had already had a thorough tour of the outside. Because of the rain we were not allowed to go up in the towers, which was a disappointment. But we got our audio guides and spent at least an hour on the inside. This church is really something and I’m glad we went back to see the inside. It’s a must see, even in the rain. Afterwards we caught a cab back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and head to the ship. We were excited to get on board and begin the cruise!

More to come, but I'm happy to answer any questions in the meantime.

I just came back from a med cruise on the Spirit and we handed over our passports at embarkation and got them back a few days before our last stop. I think it is to make going through customs easier at all the ports. I kept a copy of my passport in my purse but I never needed it.

I highly recommend joining the roll call for your cruise. We joined with people from our roll call for private tours in all the ports we went to. We met some great people and had more enjoyable tours with only 8 people, instead of being crammed on a bus with 50 other people for the ship excursions. And we saved a ton of money. You should not have to pay hundreds of dollars to go to Rome - you can do it on a private tour for about 75 euros.

Also, we went to drop our luggage at our hotel at about 10:30 in the morning and they had a room available so were able to go ahead and check in. Your hotel will almost certainly hold your luggage for you until check in, but you may get lucky and be able to check in early. You can also request an early check in and they will accommodate you if they can.

You are going to have a great time - enjoy!

I will be doing this in May. I plan to hike the city walls in the morning and then do this in the afternoon. This is not a tour - just scenic transportation to Perast and Our Lady of the Rocks.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductDetail?product=7630P3&d=548922&aidSuffix=tvrm&partner=Viator

I've also been to Rome before, so I wanted a "different" thing to do while the Epic stops at Civitavecchia.

 

I am doing a tour to Civita de Bagnoregio (I also considered a tour to Orvieto, but Civita looked more appealing to me). I get to see more of the Roman countryside and visit a really old scenic hilltop town.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civita_di_Bagnoregio

 

I've been to Orvieto and it is lovely. I would highly recommend. You could easily spend a day there. I almost decided to go to Orvieto again, but I want to see someplace that I haven't been so I'm going to Civita de Bagnoregio and Tuscania this time.

We fly into BCN at 8:45am and were hoping to do a bike or walking tour of the city in the early afternoon (12noon or 1:00pm). Most tours I am finding depart at 10:30 or 11am, which is too tight of a time frame for us. Anyone have a suggestion of a tour company with a noon or 1pm tour? Thanks for any help you can provide.

Sandeman's does a free walking tour at 2pm (guides work for tips). We will be doing this next week.

http://www.newbarcelona-tours.com/daily-tours/free-walking-tour-of-barcelona.html

Or you could probably arrange for a private tour at the time of your choosing. I know Barcelona Day tours does private tours. I don't know if there is a time restriction.

I am doing the same cruise in May, although we are going from Barcelona to Venice. I would suggest joining the roll call for your cruise. You will get lots of great ideas there and people will form private tours that you can join for a fraction of the price the cruise line charges and without the big busload of people. That's what we have done for most of the ports.

Mykonos and Dubrovnik we are doing on our own. We are still deciding about Kotor, but it certainly looks easy to do on your own. We will be in Barcelona a few days so are mixing it up between tours and DIY. In Venice we are on our own but are meeting up for a walking tour.

I do not want to use public transportation for two reasons: because I want to see as much as possible in the limited amount of time I have, and because I get nervous about getting lost. I once took the train from Rome to Orvietto on my own (which is lovely by the way). I managed okay but my nervousness about making sure I made it back to Rome put a damper on my enjoyment of the day, so I decided then that I wouldn't do that again.

However, it's pretty easy to form a private tour. There are many operators that are recommended on these message boards. If you go with one that has good reviews you should be fine. Or you can join someone else's tour. However you do it, I'm sure you will have a great time. I have 4 weeks before we leave, and I shall report back!

You can pick up the hop on hop off bus right at the cruise terminal, so maybe that's an option for you. That's what I had been planning to do, but in the end I signed up for a private tour. It's a good way to DIY though. I don't think the first bus starts until 8 or 8:30 though.

I did an excursion that combined Pompeii and Vesuvius. It was a great day but if I had to choose between them I would definitely choose Pompeii. The feeling of standing on streets and seeing a city that was built over 2000 years ago can not be described. Just an amazing experience.

We used Through Eternity tours when we were in Rome. It was hands down the best tour I've ever taken, anywhere. If I remember correctly, our guide was working on an advanced degree in history. He knew so many fun details that really brought history to life for us. We took the longer tour - I think 5 or 6 hours, which included a break for lunch. Afterwards we climbed the dome of St. Peter's for fabulous views. There is not enough time to do this if you're only in Rome for a day on a cruise ship, but if you are staying in Rome a few days I can't recommend this tour highly enough. This is not a driving tour, so we did have to take a cab to meet the guide at the Vatican. I don't remember the details but they were very detailed in the directions and we had no problems finding our guide. This was definitely the highlight of our trip to Rome. http://www.througheternity.com

We will be in Kotor from 8am to 8pm in May. I would like to hike to the fortress in the morning and then go to Perast and Our Lady of the Rock church afterwards. I know there are some great tour companies and guides, but I do not want to set up a tour in advance. I want to be able to just grab a cab or boat to Perast when I'm ready to go. Is that doable? And will there be cabs in Perast to bring us back? Is there a ferry or something like that? Thanks.

I think we have about 3 feet here. It's hard to tell, but they reported on the news 32.5 inches as of noon, and it's still snowing at 7pm. All I know is it's a heck of a lot of snow. I hope I can dig out in time to get to the airport in May for our Mediterranean cruise.

Will there be taxis lined up at the port after disembarking, and if so, how early will they be there?

Or, is there a better way of getting to the airport? We need something quick and convenient.

We are looking at booking a 10:55am flight out of Marco Polo airport. Our ship arrives in Venice the day before disembarkation so I'm assuming we can get off the ship as early as we need to, but I want to make sure we won't have any trouble getting to the airport in time. From reading the various posts it sounds like the airport can be a mess, so I want to be sure we get there in plenty of time. Thanks.

We have 10:00 am flights booked from FLL for December. I'm not worried. If you carry off your own luggage you will be one of the first people off the ship and to the airport, so there shouldn't be long lines for cabs or at airport security. We've gotten to our gate by 8:15 in the past.

You'll be fine. For an 11:30 flight you don't really have to rush off the ship, but if you're nervous then definitely take the early disembarkation option.

Nope, there is absolutely nothing to honor. The deals shown on website, for example here are clearly marked like this (emphasis mine):

 

Inside staterooms

from

$699*†

Ocean view staterooms

from

$799*†

 

..and even at the end of the page is states that:

 

"Offers and prices are

subject to availability

and

change without notice

, capacity controlled...."

 

It really, really can't get clearer than that.

I clicked on a link in an email and the page I was taken to did not say "from". The price listed was $399 and the disclaimer about prices changing did not show up until you clicked the button to book the cruise.

I ended up getting the deal anyway, and if I hadn't another one would have come along. But I still think it's a shady way of doing things. Apparently it's legal though.