KeithJenner

Next up, the itinerary. Now my experience is obviously quite different from many people who were on this cruise. We have done many of the ports before so could be much more relaxed during the days. However, it really is a very good itinerary. There is a nice mix between the islands and the big city ports.Personally, there are Eastern Med ports that I prefer to these, but as a group they really hit the spot. Of the new ports, I liked Messina a loot (well, Taormina really, but Messina looked nice as well). I forgot to mention this earlier, but I would recommend taking a walk to the gardens (Villa Comunale), which are a really nice place with great views. Valletta was nice, but didn't wow us. I think that it is more a place to pick some specific places to see, rather than just walk, and we will plan things better next time. Of the others, I like Mykonos as a place to wander and stop for a drink when you fancy. We had considered doing the tour to Delos, but it sold out whilst we were deciding. It can be done on your own, but the port times weren't perfect for that. Next time. Santorini has been discussed on this thread already. All I will say is that it is worth seeing if you can. Check which other ships are in port. The queues can be avoided heading out, but getting back onboard you will have the cable car/tender bottleneck. We fixed that by heading back early but that won't work for everyone. Athens is a fantastic city. We have been a couple of times, including a weekend before a cruise last year. There is plenty to do there. The Acropolis is the obvious star, but I really enjoyed the Panathinalko Stadium, followed by a walk across the National Gardens to the Parliament where the changing of the guard is always fun. If you have the energy then a hike up to the top of Lycabettus will give you the best views in the city. On to Italy, and Naples. I don't particularly like the city itself, but the surrounding area has some real highlights. We have been to Pompeii a couple of times and in many ways I prefer Herculaneum. We haven't yet been to Capri, and intend to head down to the Amalfi Coast on a non cruise trip at some point soon to explore the area better. Finally, Livorno. This has never been a particularly successful port for us. We have been many times, but the weather hasn't been good on a few occasions (including once not docking). We have done Pisa and it is a nice city. We haven't yet made it to Florence (which again we intend to visit separately some time). Everyone we spoke to onboard who went to Florence enjoyed it, and many were tired, and not particularly enthuiastic, beforehand. We were going to do the Cinque Terre on your own tour, but decided to keep that for next time, as we have Livorno as the final port on our next cruise, with a slightly quieter few days beforehand. And I nearly forgot Rome. One of my favourite cities in the world. We have been there a few times, including extended stays, and there is still quite a list of things we haven't done yet for the next trip. One warning I will give (and often do on these European itineraries). Just consider what you have planned and make sure that you have some down time too. We met many people who were on tours, some of them very long, for 9 consecutive days. People react to this differently and many have no regrets, but I have had people say to me at the end of cruises (including this one) that they felt they had too much planned. "I don't need to see another ruin" was something we heard many times, which was particularly unfortunate when the next ruin was Pompeii, the best of them all. I'm not saying to anyone to miss a port or anything like that, but just consider what you have planned, and whether it is right for you.Naples and Livorno can be hard days and you don't want to start them fatigued. But most importantly, enjoy them.

If you haven't been on a ship with a waterfront before then you are in for a treat, especially on an itinerary like this. It will obviously be a bit cooler then, but still nice to be able to sit out there.

So, just some general observations to finish off. I was planning on doing this yesterday, but the journey home unravelled once we reached Heathrow and sat in the plane for an hour whilst they found us a gate. Than meant that we didn't clear the M25 before Ruch hour, and then when the next motorway on our journey was closed in a place it really went downhill from there. Anyway, first thing to cover is the ship generally. This is my third time on the Breakaway. The first was the first transatlantic 10 years ago and then we also did a Caribbean cruise in 2019. I like the Breakaway a lot. The waterfront is one of my favourite places at sea, and we spent a lot of time there. We didn't go up top very often, mainly just to grab a snack from the buffet if we wanted breakfast or lunch at a time it would be quiet. We did go to Spice a couple of times, but kept well away from the pool area. The ship appeared well maintained, and overall the staff were good. We haven't cruised since a year ago, and I was expecting a reduction in service, but other than a couple of isolated examples, the service was generally very good or excellent. We got the aft balcony as I don't like the tiny standard balconies on the Breakaway/Getaway. We usually pick a club suite with large balcony, but the deck 9 arts are excellent. Quiet and close to decks 6,7 and 8. The balconies are huge and we sat out there quite a lot, although it did get too hot at times. I love the aft location anyway and would certainly pick those rooms again.

Yes, a perk of higher levels is "priority restaurant & entertainment seating", which most of the time is a phantom perk, but once or twice a cruise it does seem to work. When they see your card they will sometimes try to find you a nice table. On this cruise there were two occasions where they obviously tried to seat us in nice tables, and this was one of them.

Onboard there will be a desk set up for restaurant reservations and changes. It varies by ship (and sometimes be sailing), but it is always very clear where it is.

Finally day 10 dailies. I will catch up with some general comments later.

It depends. On ships that sail from and return to Barcelona without leaving the EU then currently yes I believe so. if it leaves from Barcelona and ends somewhere else then I’m not sure. I believe that other than that you are ok.

Just a little more about last night, as it was a very interesting day. The waterfront bar was a great place to be. Soon after sail away we passed an aircraft carrier and a couple of other warships, and then passed Stromboli as it was getting dark. We had quite a good lava show from the Island. We went to Taste for dinner, and had the worst service of the cruise. Overall we have found the service to be good, but it took 90 minutes to get two courses. They changed where we were going to sit due to latitudes, and it was quite a nice table, but I think that it meant that we were an extra person for the server and he struggled to cope. The food was good though. Then o’Sheehans. We had been talking to this guy before the game started and he was really nice. I wastched the game with a couple of other people who were sitting at the bar and when there was about 5 minutes left on the clock the guy came back completely drunk. He was banging on the bar and shouting obscenities. We ignored him, and the. He took off his hat and kept telling me that he was bald, whilst putting his bald head in front of my face. We asked the barman to call security and then he punched me (not hard) on the arm and reached over and grabbed by beer, which he took a mouthful of That’s when I walked away and I spoke to security when they came. He went away with them and we watched the last bit of the game, but I had missed quite a bit. A truly bizarre experience, and not something I have experienced before on a ship. I was all set to go to guest services today to discuss it with them, but have decided to just put it down as one of those experiences.

Today we did the Pompeii on your own tour. We have been before with a guide so wanted the opportunity to explore by ourselves. After the free at sea and latitudes discounts the tour cost us 1p each, so it made sense. We had 2 and a half hours at Pompeii, which was plenty in the heat. Buying tickets for entry took about 10 minutes. We got there just as it opened at 9am so it was relatively quiet to start with. We managed to get quite a few pictures without anyone else in them. A good day, but we didn’t take enough water with us. Also forgot the suntan lotion, but we seem to have got away with it.

Ok, catching up again, here are day 9 dailies.

The coach parks a short walk away from the entrance and then they walk you to the entrance and you meet up at the same place at the end. The meeting point is in the blue circle and the coach will likely be across the Via Plinio (and a little way down the road). You then enter the site and walk west, parallel to the Via Plinio and enter the main site where the map says Pompeii Walking. Of course things can change, but I think that is fairly fixed.

Yes thanks. Not happy though.

In a rather interesting development, I was at the bar on o’Sheehans watching the NFL when a passenger who we had been talking to earlier came and sat next to me, started shouting abuse, punched me on the arm and drank my beer. He was last seen being escorted away by security. It isn’t NCLs fault, but it also isn’t what you expect when on holiday. We will have discussions tomorrow.

Today in Messina we took the “Taormina on your own” tour. The original plan was to take the train, but I found out a while ago that it doesn’t run on Sundays (or was too late in the day, something like that). The on your own tour was cheap with free at sea plus, and it worked fairly well. We had about two and a half hours in town. It is a really nice place and did wow us, although it was very busy. I would certainly recommend a visit.

A bit of catching up to now, now we have been to the two new ports. I was a little disappointed with Valletta. It is a nice port and maybe my expectations were a little high. When we go to a new port which is within walking distance to town we tend to walk around to get a feel of the place. It is a nice town with a lot to see. There we’re plenty of taxis outside the port, along with hop on hop off buses also running. Overall I liked it, and we would certainly enjoy going back (when we would pick some specific places to visit). A great port, but I was hoping that it would really wow us, which didn’t quite happen.

Day 8 dailies.

Day 7 dailies

I wonder whether this may be due to stocking issues. If they are running low on wines that are in the P+ package then they may restrict them to others. Just speculating. I’m currently on the Breakaway and whilst there isn’t a restriction on paying the difference they do appear to be rather hiding those wines away in some bars, which I wondered whether is because they are trying to look after stocks.

I agree that Olympia is clearly the main attraction from Katakolon. We’ve been here once before and we hired a car to go there last time. This time was just stayed in Katakolon. It is a small town and we had some excellent ice cream at Maniera Gelateria. We are going to be more busy in the next few days (it’s our first time in both Valetta and Messina).

Finally managed to get a picture.

Just noticed you are on the Dawn. The Dawn goes to some ports where tendering is particularly challenging, due to long tendering distances and some short port times which really make things busy. What port are you taking about?

It really depends on the port and how individual ships deal with the process. You book a tender ticket and are given a group (unless you are on an NCL tour or have priority due to latitudes status or or in a suite). They call the group numbers and once those are done then it is open access. Getting through the groups usually takes a couple of hours so if you need to get off early then get a ticket as soon as you can. You can usually get tender tickets through the NCL app as well as places mentioned earlier.

We went to Ocean Blue yesterday. We’ve not been before as my wife isn’t a big fan of seafood, but it was a really excellent meal. Probably my new favourite NCL restaurant.

Day 6 dailies.

Yup. Things have certainly changed. I wouldn’t say it’s a waste though. We’re having a great time. They do need to limit the ships in Santorini tough. It’s crazy.