SeesAtSea

Hotel Splendide Royale in Rome was wonderful. The staff couldn’t have been more friendly and helpful. Our room was beautiful. We had a balcony that looked over the Borghese Park toward the Vatican City. The bathroom was big with marble accents. We opted to include breakfast with our room. A little more expensive, but worth it. It was fantastic! Lots of choices and the view over the Borghese Park while dining was great. By having a big breakfast you can skip lunch, unless you are a 3 meals a day person, and have an early dinner. An afternoon gelato or piece of fruit would hold us over. Hint: the restaurant on the top floor is extremely expensive, bottled water 12 euros...we passed! So many local places to eat, delicious and inexpensive.

El Palace Hotel in Barcelona was very nice. A little older, more traditional. Big rooms, great bathroom. Again we opted to include breakfast. Breakfast was fantastic! The coffee was the best hotel coffee I’ve had. The staff was also friendly and very helpful. The hotel is in the middle in town, convenient and fun for walking around. 

We also did several tours in both cities through Viator. They were fantastic!!! After doing the historic sites, as this was our first time in both cities so those sites were a must, we opted for a few additional tours that sounded fun and informative. ’The Jewish Ghetto Navona Food Wine and Sightseeing Tour’ in Rome was one of our favorites. So much food, come hungry! Our tour guide, Georgia, was a delight. In Barcelona one of our favorite tours was the ‘Tapas and Wine Experience Small Group Tour’. Our guide, Nick, was so much fun. We visited several different tapas bars with a side trip to a great olive oil shop, which also had balsamic vinegars and unusual pates. All our tours were small groups of 4-6. From our experience I would highly recommend Viator.

Just writing all this down is making me long to return. Have a wonderful cruise everyone!

We did Rome to Barcelona this past March on the Viking Jupiter. Loved it! Weather was in the low 60’s most of the time. Both my husband and I wore long sleeved t-shirts with a lightweight windbreaker, but we tend to be warm most of the time. As far as excursions, if you don’t do the Viking excursions, I highly recommend Viator. Everything we did with the company was great! We also used Viator in Rome, pre cruise, and Barcelona, post cruise. Usually there were only 4-6 people and all our guides were knowledgeable and personable!

Oops Wabamun, fat fingers😜

Thank you Wanamun!!! That’s it!

Hi Jim and Heidi13, as a laymen (laywoman) I found your comments regarding the Jupiter mishap in Piraeus interesting, even though most of it was over my head! It appears you two are quite knowledgable about the workings of cruise ships. I have a question, a little off topic...somewhere I saw a link to viewing ‘live feed’ from the Jupiter but can’t seem to find it again. Would either of you have the link? I enjoyed watching. My husband and I will be on the March 9 sailing and can’t wait. This will be our first experience with Viking. Thank you in advance for your help.

Peregrina651,

Do you mind a private email? A silly question I’m embarrassed to ask publicly! SeesAtSea

Obrienla, my husband and I are on a VO cruise in March. We booked our desired excursions, when they opened, with no problem. We are also PV. This will be our first VO and we were pleased with the ease of booking. Good luck with your choices.

Merry Christmas everyone that has tried to help!🎄 And a special pseudo ‘like’ to JB if I could find the ‘like’ button!!! I must really be missing something. I do see JB’s 2 in a green square on my post, but beyond that I don’t see any hearts. Do you all see a heart to right of the box that says...+ quote?  I guess I’ll stop worrying about the silly heart and be happy knowing that my posts are readable😜 Happy New Year too🎉 

A ❤️ symbol, within a shaded circle, appears on fellow cruisers posts, mine don’t? Curious as to why and how? Thank you. SeesAtSea

philw1776, thank you for the quick reply! 

Does anyone know if you can reserve a table for 4 when your time slot opens for restaurant reservations? We are traveling with another couple. Could we reserve in one restaurant for 4 and have the other couple reserve for 4 in another restaurant? Thank you for any help.