NCL Epic - Rountrip from Civitavecchia - Loved it

[Yankee123]

This was a great cruise for my family and me. My wife and I travelled with our two children, DD (9 months old) and DS (5 years old), plus my father and mother in laws. Normally we book through our TA, but due to her not calling us back, we decided to call the PCC who has been emailing us for the past year. Yes, we missed out on the refund check that we could have gotten if we booked through our TA, but the PCC was amazing, and we just might use him from now on. On a side note, our TA always discouraged us from travelling with NCL, even though she knew we have only cruised with NCL. That brings me to a little background about us. We have only cruised with NCL. For my wife and I, this was our fourth cruise with NCL, and we have not had a bad cruise with them. For our DS, this was his third cruise (all with NCL) and DD’s first. For the in laws, it was their second cruise. Both times they have sailed with us and naturally both times on NCL.

We chose the Epic for its itinerary more than the ship itself. We had really considered the RCCL Liberty of the Seas before booking NCL Epic. The RCCL LOS itinerary was more appealing at the time and the ship is comparable if not better, but the only reason the NCL Epic won was the total cost. We all had a great time and don’t regret our decision one bit.

Warning to all those people on this itinerary – this is an exhausting itinerary if you get off of the ship every day and tour the particular port and the surrounding cities/towns, and it gets expensive depending on what you do.

I will state now that we did have issues on the cruise, but Kudos to NCL to resolve all of them before we disembarked and without aggravating us at all. All they asked was for patience, and it paid off. I will mention them as we go along. Overall a fabulous cruise, but exhausting. We couldn’t enjoy the ship for what it had to offer because of the itinerary but then that’s the reason we were there. We had pre reserved and naturally pre paid for our entire specialty dining, including Nickelodeon breakfast. We had also pre reserved and pre paid for the Cirque Dreams and Dinner (premium seating) along with the Blue Man Group and the Spanish Ballet. We had pre reserved (and in some cases pre paid) all our excursions through private companies such as Rome in Limo at all Italian ports, Barcelona Day Tours in Barcelona (Spain), Premium Riviera Private Tours at Cannes (France) and Tours in Provence at Marseilles (France). All of us have iPhones, so we had downloaded NCL’s iConcierge application from the app store (it is free).

We had flown in to Rome’s FCO airport three days in advance to tour Rome and its surrounding areas. We had pre booked Rome in Limo (RIL) for seven different services, but they will be posted separately. I will try to keep this post completely about NCL Epic. Our cruise was round trip from Civitavecchia, Italy and what a great decision that was for us in every way. We were picked up by a RIL driver outside our hotel (Relais 6) on time at 10:15 AM and headed out to Civitavecchia port where NCL Epic was already waiting for us (and all those boarding in Civitavecchia). It had to have been a 45 to 50 minute ride, but our driver/guide was amazing that he kept talking to us and telling us about Rome and its history. He was very good that we didn’t realize that we were already there. The driver/guide unloaded our luggage from the van and on to a cart for us. My in laws forgot their welcome aboard package at home with their luggage tags, so my in laws did not have their luggage tags. Our luggage porter immediately noticed that one suitcase did not have a luggage tag on it and without us asking him, he took us inside where they had the luggage tags on the table, and we could fill them out ourselves. We got their luggage tag filled out and on to the tent inside.

Check In and Board - Immediately as we entered someone took our luggage from us and told us that it will be in our rooms shortly. Next we were greeted by an NCL employee (at least he had an NCL polo shirt) who asked us to fill out the health forms for everybody and provided us with pens. Right next to him was a lady who had a signup sheet for the spa and health and fitness classes. We filled out the health forms for each individual in our party and took them with us to the Latitudes counter. The counter was empty and we walked straight up to a check in agent (if that’s what you call them). They asked for the usual stuff, and took our pictures. We had our cards with us in less than 10 minutes, and it only took so long because she had a problem with printing out my card (go figure). Next was the getting on board picture. We did have them take a family picture but it didn’t come out as we hoped, so you can imagine we left it on board. We then left the tent and on to the pier where we were greeted by more uniformed NCL employees who had smiles and greeted us and two employees immediately grabbed our hand bags and the stroller with the baby and walked us in. There was only a plank to cross on climb onboard, we didn’t have to go through the maze that you do in Barcelona, Spain. We then had our first of many hand sanitization stops (which we don’t mind at all, better safe than sorry), and I don’t recall swiping our card (I think they swiped it for us before they gave us the card), and we were on. The employees walked us up to the buffet on the 15th floor and told us to have lunch here and that are rooms were ready. We went down to our rooms, took pictures, settled in and changed in to our swimming trunks.

Slides - We wanted to hit the slides today (embarkation day in Civitavecchia) as it should be empty. Well it wasn’t empty but the lines were very small. On the orange and yellow slide (Epic plunge) with the tube, the wait could not have been more than 7 minutes and on the purple and green slides, there were maybe two or three people ahead of us each time. After the slides, we showered and changed and ready for a light lunch at the buffet. The light lunch turned in to a stuffing contest where we couldn’t walk back to our room properly but somehow managed. Back in the room, I relaxed on the balcony with the kids while my wife emptied out the bags. All our bags had made it to the room while we were on the slides.

General Information - We had a balcony for the four of us on the 11th floor, odd number towards the aft, while my in laws had an inside room on the 12th floor also on the odd side and towards the aft also. The odd numbered stateroom are on the port side of the ship while the even numbered staterooms are on the starboard side of the ship. You can also remember by the color of the carpet. If I remember correctly, it was red/orange and brown carpeting on the port side, and blue and brown carpeting on the starboard side. Honestly, because of exhaustion and any other excuse we could make up, in seven days we could not figure out if we were forward or aft. The only thing we had down was that the buffet was on deck 15 forward. They do have TV’s on most (if not all) the floors to locate where you are, plus on some of the floors, they have touch screen TV’s that you can press to check the dining options, and shows and other activities with description.

Safety Drill - I don’t remember what this is called exactly, but our drill was held in the Epic Theatre, and there couldn’t have been more than 350 guest there. It was quick and painless.

Balcony Room - We had the balcony room with the bed closer to the door. Our room steward introduced himself and was the best room steward that we have had in four NCL cruises. We had requested a pack and play for our DD, which was already in the room. He immediately suggested to us that the best way to store the pack and play in the room was if he could remove the sofa bed and he will open the pack and play in that location. That made us ask him where our son would then sleep, and voila, like magic he places a key in the ceiling and he pulls down a third bed (that he would turn down every night and make up every morning and put back in the ceiling). It worked out really well for us, as during the day the bed would not be there. Plenty of space now to walk around and the storage space was not compromised and we could all sleep in our place with plenty of space. The room had a ton of storage space everywhere. We had read a ton of reviews on cruise critic and noted everything regarding everything and we were able to find and utilize almost all the things that we cared for. There is storage space inside the top of the sofa bed also, ask your room stewards to remove the extra blanket and pillows from there. If you think you can open some space, most probably you can and it will have storage space. We had our room stewards also empty out the fridge because we needed the space for milk and snacks for the kids. Our room steward also brought two additional life vests in our room, one that would fit the infant and the other that would fit our five year old.

Light Switches - There are light switches everywhere. There are three as soon as enter. One for the room, one for the bathroom and one for the shower. There are two light switches next to the bed on both sides. The switch for the reading light is in the counter next to the light. There is also light switch under the vanity above the sink. There is another light switch on the other end of the counter with the sink. The light switch for the balcony is right next to the balcony door on the inside of the cabin. There is a light switch for the bed that comes out of the ceiling closer to the balcony. I feel like I am still missing a switch or two.

Phone – The phone has preset numbers on the display for the operator, room service, box office, shore excursions, and a few more options. To dial another cabin, you dial the floor number and the cabin number to connect. People have mentioned that the light off of the phone is bright, for us it worked great as a night light and we didn’t think it was too bright and we didn’t turn it off. To turn off the light, just tap/press on the top right hand corner of the phone display, and the display disappears. To get the display back on the phone, tap/press the bottom the right hand corner of the phone display and it will light up again.

Sink – The much talked about sink. For us it was not a problem. We did have some splash on the floor, especially with a five year old. We placed a hand towel on the floor next to it and problem solved for us. The spill was minimal on the counter also if you were careful not to open the knob completely.

Bathroom & Shower – In our opinion (to each their own), not to small. My FIL is a large man and he fit in with bathroom comfortably with room to spare and the door closed. Same thing applies for the shower. We loved the shower head, and the speed. We also loved the fact that we could hang the shower at two different heights, and for my son it was a blessing. You could hang the shower high for adults and low for children. It was not a sliding deal, they actually only had two slots where you could place the shower head. Yes we did have spills from the shower with the door completely closed, so quick solution was to place a towel on the floor next to the shower. The do have a towel rack right next to the shower closer to the floor and they hang a small towel there. We just assumed that it was there for that purpose. All this did not bother us one bit. Finally, the dreaded privacy issue that we read about in almost every review. The privacy didn’t bother us at all. The only person who actually pulled the curtains to separate the bath/shower area from the bedroom was my wife. Yes, you could tell when someone was in the bath/shower, but it wasn’t like you made out everything, and even then pulling the curtains solved that. For us it was not an issue but again to each their own.

Suitcases – We actually always travel with duffel bags and they fit perfectly under the bed (once emptied) along with our shoes perfectly fine with tons of space left over.

Bed – Well I have already mentioned about the magic bed from the ceiling and the pack and play. The main bed was more than adequate for my wife and I and we thought the mattress was very comfortable. I am average height for men, and my feet would hang. I could have pulled the bed out a little, but chose not to because of the space between the bed and the counter. I slept a bit sideways and still didn’t disturb my wife. Problem solved.

Dinner Reservations – One of the biggest advantages of pre booking the dinners was not paying the Spanish VAT. The only two specialty restaurants that we had prepaid dinner reservations were at Shanghai and La Cucina. People who have prepaid dinner reservations and board from Civitavecchia had to inform the hostess seating you, that you had prepaid for dinner. They had a separate list for prepaid dinner reservations for Barcelona and Civitavecchia. We had dinner at Shanghai the first night and the service was amazing and the food was good (at best). Being from the New York area, we have been spoiled by fine cuisine, but we don’t expect the same on a cruise. We still had a nice time. We ordered multiple appetizers, and they really didn’t have a problem if you wanted to order multiple entrees also. We had dinner there the first night (leaving Civitavecchia). We had dinner at La Cucina on the third night (leaving Cannes). We enjoyed our meal here more, and the service was impeccable. We did not try any other specialty restaurants.

Nickelodeon Breakfast – This was naturally in the morning and we had prepaid reservations. This was held on the sea day at 8:30 AM. We received a letter in our room the night before reminding us that we had reservations and that the time had been moved to 9:00 AM. This is held at the same location where they have the Cirque Dreams and Dinner called the Spiegel Tent. It was a blessing for us because we were exhausted from the nonstop excursion hopping that we had been on. A half our sleep is a half hour extra that we definitely did use. We wore shorts to the event but I think a couple of families did show up in their pajamas. No dress code was announced so it was alright. Nothing to speak of the breakfast - scrambled eggs, hash browns, sausage, fruit plate, croissant, orange juice, coffee and tea. I might have forgotten some items. The characters that come out are, Sponge Bob, Patrick, Dora, Diego, and Aang from Avatar, the Last Air Bender (yeah, I didn’t know that one either). We got lucky and were seated on a table by ourselves. Others had to share the table with other families. Each table is numbered (we were table number 13) and each table is called sequentially to come up and take pictures with each character. You are allowed to take pictures with your camera but the ship photographers are also there and they also take your pictures. We didn’t feel rushed during breakfast or while we were taking pictures from our camera at all. Actually next to each character is an NCL employee, and the employees took our family picture for us next to each character. For my son, it was fun. For us, it was breakfast and watching him have a good time was plenty for us.

This is where we had our first problem on the ship. When you are entering the tent, they have to check for your reservation. They will ask for your ship cards individually or you could use one for the family and they manually check in the others. It was faster to have everyone’s card ready and available. Swipe - and you are in. Well, for my DS and DW there was no problem. As soon as they swiped my card, she informed me that I did not have a reservation for the event and she would be more than happy to charge me and let me in. Aha, I am a planning freak and I carry all kinds of proof with me. I had printed out all my reservations from MY NCL account and it clearly showed that I did have reservations. I had also printed out the payment page that was made and it clearly stated that I was charged the $15 for an adult for the event. The lady swiping all the cards didn’t believe all the paper work I had and just said, if you want to go in we will need to charge your on board account $15 and that I would have to take this up with guest services. She would not work with me as there was a line behind me. I knew I was right, so I said charge me the money and I will fight it after the show. I did not want to stop the line and create a scene. I also asked for her name and her manager’s name and number so I could resolve this after breakfast. After breakfast I went back to the room and called the box office manager and explained that I had been charged twice. This time, I was charged VAT also on top of the $15. She asked me if she could send someone to our room to collect the two pieces of paper that I have as proof. I - being a control freak (along with planning freak) - didn’t think that was a good idea as I would lose my evidence, and I told her so. She laughed and asked if I could bring it down whenever I had a chance, no rush. She assured me that she would be available any time I called. Later in the day, I stopped by the box office and called her and she showed up immediately and made a copy of the reservation and payment letter and said that she would call me back as soon as she could figure out what happened. I reminded her that I was on a round trip cruise from Civitavecchia and that I would be disembarking day after next. She assured that it would be resolved before then and that she would personally come see me with the result. She was so polite that I had to trust her. When we returned from our excursion the next day (port of Naples), we had a message from her on our room voicemail. She asked if I could call her when we return as she knows where the problem is. Long story short, everything was resolved that day and I was not double charged.

Dinner (Lobster) – We had dinner at the buffet a couple of times and we went to Taste once. We also had dinner at the Cirque Dreams and Dinner.

Buffet is …. Well it’s a buffet. Something for everyone. No one in our party left hungry or disappointed.

Taste - When we arrived at Taste at about 8:00 PM (port of Barcelona), there was a line to be seated. When our turn came, I was politely told that there was 20 minute wait. I accepted the wait time, and was provided with a pager to notify us of when our table would be available. We were also provided with a coupon for 6 for a glass of champagne or soda. We do not drink alcohol, so we had the soda from the coffee bar. It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes and our pager was buzzing. We were seated and given our menu. Low and behold, it was lobster night. This wasn’t planned at all but a nice surprise. Only my FIL and I ordered the lobster and red snapper, and it was decent. Decent enough that we were offered seconds and we accepted. The second serving literally took (and I do not joke) less than three minutes to serve. We also had dinner at O’Sheehans one night. I have to say I was a bit disappointed in the fish and chips. Having heard great reviews of the fish and chips, I was really looking forward to it and it was a disappointment to me. On the other hand my wife loved it. As you can see food is very subjective.

Shows – We had pre reserved Cirque Dreams and Dinner, Blue Man Group and the Spanish Ballet.

Cirque Dreams and Dinner – Well the show is amazing. Please do not confuse this with Cirque du Soleil shows. We have seen maybe 12 or 14 different Cirque du Soleil shows all over the US, especially in New York and Las Vegas. This show had quite a few different acts and magic and we actually enjoyed the show. We had prepaid for premium seating, and we were seated in the balcony. We had read a tip to arrive about 45 minutes early to the show and that was a great tip. The lines get long really fast. For some reason everyone stood in the premium seating line while the standard seating line was empty. My wife and I were tempted to walk over to that line. There was an NCL employee who kept reminding people that this was the premium seating line but no one would move. We had to have been 6 or 7 families in to the line and when we arrived at the door, we both had our cards scanned and this time they had my reservations. We were actually the first in the premium seating and we were asked where we would like to sit in the balcony. We asked the hostess which seat would be preferred here, and she responded any seat that does not have the light in front of it. She was right; always try to sit where there is no light ahead of you. We were able to see the entire show without tilting our heads. It is a round balcony, so everyone is seated against the balcony. There is no second row. We did not have to lean over as some reviews have mentioned. The dinner is subjective again. We don’t eat meat but do eat seafood. I had the shrimp entrée while my wife had the egg plant parmesan entrée. Neither of us liked our dinner but the other guests seemed to have finished their plate, so some people seem to have liked it. Never the less, we thought the show was worth it and we enjoyed it.

Blue Man Group – We had seen the BMG in New York and didn’t enjoy it here. My in laws saw it and didn’t care for it either. We decided to give up our reservation on board to let others enjoy.

Spanish Ballet – Even though we had reservations, they didn’t honor it. It seemed like it was on a first come first serve basis. Here was the second problem. We were in line (with the rest of the ship as it seemed), and as soon as the room was full; they stopped everyone else. There were other people with reservations and they didn’t honor it at all. To be honest, we were so tired that night that we didn’t even argue for a seat. We didn’t see the show so cannot comment on it. For those who make reservation and want to see the show, all I can recommend is to get there early and wait. They didn’t honor our reservation (repetitive to reiterate what happened - lol).

Movies – They did play Transformers 3 on the large screen one night. I think ten to fifteen minutes in to the movies, the blue ray got stuck and we left after that. The movie started pretty late, I think it was at ten or eleven o’clock at night.

Photos/Pictures Gallery – I had read about the problems with pictures from some of the members. Well here was our third problem. On the first night we went to the photo gallery and spoke to the assistant manager regarding erasing of the pictures from the hard drive at the Barcelona port for all passengers. He assured me that this was not the case and to see him for any problems. Taking his assurance, we had the ship photographers take pictures of us everywhere on the ship and the port. He told us to make sure every night that if our pictures where not already in our room folder and they were on the display, then we should pick them up and place them in our folder. He made a note of our room number and assured us our pictures will be available on the last night after the port of Naples. We had communicated with him, that if the pictures came out well for the majority we would be interested in purchasing the all pictures on disk package for $249.99. On the last night, we show up to a desk and scan our card and it told us that there were no pictures on file. We immediately run over to the folder section and check our folder, luckily the prints were there. We went over to the same person who we spoke to and told him that our pictures were gone on the disk. He checked for us, and acted astonished as to how. I reminded him that we had spoken about this and he had assured me that they would be here. He told me not to panic and if we were still interested that he would be able to reproduce them. I think all he did was scan the printed version of the pictures on to a CD for us. The quality isn’t great but we didn’t pay full price either. We still purchased the printed version. If you are interested in your pictures on a CD and print, I recommend seeing the photo gallery manager there on the night the ship leaves Provence. Let them know your room number and ask them to save your pictures. This tip only works for guest boarding from Civitavecchia. Guest from Barcelona should be fine.

NCL iConcierge application from Apple – This app works great. To use the app on board you have to register your phone with the registration number that is provided to you through your TV in your room. Once registered, you can make all calls to the operator, room service, etc… for free. If you want to call another guest room or if you want to call another guest on their iPhone that have the same app and have registered their phone then you have to pay $7.95 per phone. We chose not to incur the additional cost, but we did use the phone to call room service from our balcony and order coffee and tea. We used it to call the operator for repair services that were required in my in laws room on the TV and phone from all over the ship.

Tender – The ship tenders at the port of Cannes, France. You have to book your tender as soon as you board through the TV entertainment system. It books fast so I would recommend this to be one of the first things you do when you get on the ship if an early tender is a priority. I booked our tender but forgot to book it for my in laws. When we arrived for the tender at our selected time slot, we were asked for our key cards to confirm our tender booking and time slot. Unfortunately, there was no booking for my in laws. They asked them to wait in a room next door with the rest of the people for standby boarding. They said if the next tender had any spaces available, they would board on a first come first serve basis. When our tender was ready, there were plenty of spaces available, not only did all the people for our time slot get on, but all the stand by passengers were boarded and there was still space available on the tender. If I recall correctly, each life boat can carry 200 passengers.

Daily Service Charge (DSC) – We had also prepaid our DSC for everyone. I know some people have the concept of why prepay everything, but it just works for our budget better and that’s what we chose to do. A little less on the final bill.

Additional Tip – We tipped our room steward in addition to DSC pool. He deserves everything and then more. The guy was really good. He memorized our names in first two minutes of our arrival. Our room was already clean when we arrived on the first day and it was available to us. He always greeted us with a huge smile and played with my kids. My DS loved him. He had a different towel animal every night for us. He left four pieces of chocolate every night in our room. Every time we ran in to him he asked us if we needed anything. We needed bubble wrap for all the olive oil bottles that we purchased at the ports, he provided us with more than what we needed. We had an early flight when disembarking and wanted to borrow a trolley for the duffel bags, but he arranged for all of us to get priority luggage tags. He made a difference on our cruise and he worked extremely hard.

We also tipped the Kids Crew members as they were great with my DS.

Casino – we don’t gamble so cannot comment here. Regarding smoke smell from the casino – we walked through the casino quite a few times (while the ship was in port and on the sea) and it never felt like the smoke smell was overwhelming. When the ship is on sea and the casino is open, there are people there just to smoke and walk, and even then we didn’t think that it was too powerful for us to change decks.

Under 2 Zoo – This is a decent size room that wasn’t utilized much but had a lot of toys and books for kids under two. They had activities planned there also every day. This is located behind the Collection Art Gallery. If the art gallery is roped off, walk around the ropes all the way to the back and turn right and the door is on your right. It is OK to pass the ropes to get there.

Humidor Cigar Lounge – This is meant to be for the cigar aficionado, but always had quite a few cigarette smokers walking in and out, and thus kept it noisy. The place actually had very few cigar smokers in there. I had brought my own cigars, so I would not be able to list what they sold, but I can tell you that they started lifting the menu’s off of the table for the cigar and drinks at 11:00 PM the nights that I was there. I left like it was properly ventilated and humidity level was great for cigars.

Chair Hogs – We do not lie out in the sun at all. We had a balcony and it was plenty for us. For those interested, every morning we would pass on the open deck to the breakfast buffet, and never once did I see someone reserving a chair with their towels or book or whatever. It might be because most of the people wanted to get off of the ship, or some other reason, but not once at least when we passed in the morning did we see chair hogs.

Spa – My wife did use the Spa services on the day we boarded in Civitavecchia. She had a 10% coupon for port days and chose a 50 minute freestyle message. She loved it, but hated the sales pitch in the end. I had told her about it and told her a firm “NO” should be plenty, but she said that they were good and kept pitching to her. Luckily she eventually walked out without buying anything from them.

Shopping On Board – They had some decent deals on the night the ship left Provence, France. We purchased two T-shirt for $25 or one for 12.50. There were a few deals on specific jewelry that had 70% off; needless to say my wife had fun. Watches were on sale and ties and pins and quite a few other things. Even on the sea day they had a few deals on clothes, and they had set up on deck 15. The last night for us, when the ship left Naples, they had the same deals.

Quick note on ports – Every time we boarded the ship at each port, they had a tent set up with sofas, and they had cold lemonade and water available to all guests returning. They had music playing and it was a lively event. They would help us with our stroller every time, never had a problem with the baby.

Disembarking in Civitavecchia and flight from FCO - Our experience was amazingly very pleasant. I would love to say that the majority of the 4100 passengers sail round trip from Barcelona, so the people embarking and disembarking from Civitavecchia or Marseille are very few, which makes life tremendously easy with no lines either way.

We asked our room attendant for the priority luggage tags so our bags would be the first ones delivered at the port from the ship. Even though we were assigned the time of 8:00 to 9:00 in the Aqua color, we chose to disembark at 7:45, and we were able to do so comfortably. There were no lines at all. When we got downstairs, all our luggage was already there along with all the other colors that were assigned. I am mentioning this because my in laws also had the aqua color and their luggage was also there right next to ours. It seems that the priority tickets weren't really needed other than for the peace of mind. We had a porter pick up our luggage and assist us taking it out to the pre booked romeinlimo van that was waiting for us. We had asked them to arrive at 7:30, but the first time slot for passenger to disembark from the ship was 7:45. I didn't know this until we got the disembarkation letter. The porter loaded everything in the van and we got seated immediately. I looked at the time in the van as soon as we were seated, and it was 7:58 AM. The driver got in and asked us what time our flight was and which airlines. We told him that we were taking United Airlines to the United States at 11:10 AM. He informed us that it was on Terminal 5 (which we knew) and took off immediately. He informed us that it was a 45 to 50 minute ride to the airport depending on traffic. He did mention that most of Italy is still on vacation so traffic should be very light. Needless to say, there was no traffic at all. As soon as we got to the airport, I looked at the time and it was only 8:32. At the time we walked in, there were no lines what so ever at the United Airlines desk. We walked straight up to an empty counter and the lady was very nice and helpful and checked us in immediately, printed our boarding passes and luggage tags, and tagged our luggage and our luggage was gone. Next was passport control, and I am sure you get the hint that there was no line at all. When we didn't see a line there, we chose to have some coffee (cafe Americano and cappuccino at the cafe next to the United Airlines check in area. Spent 20 minutes watching people and still no line, although people were moving very fast and going through passport control without any delays or wait. Once we finished our drinks, we decided to go in and naturally just walked up to Passport control and we went in. Next was security which again was a breeze. It took longer to take our belts and shoes off and put them back on and take the iPad and laptop out and put it back in then going through security itself. I forgot to check what time we actually got through everything and we were in because of the excitement that there were no lines. We then boarded a bus to the terminal and we are ready for our flight home.

My reason to post this is that a lot of people ask the question of will we make a certain flight (I did the same and got some great answers from fellow cruisers) and thus I wanted to share my experience.

Again, we flew on a Wednesday, not a weekend. We flew when there was less than normal traffic on the road, although during peak rush hour. So use your best judgment, but we did get lucky and everything went very well.

Hope this helps.

I think I covered everything that we used. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask and I will answer the best I can. I will try to post a quick note on ports after this, but it will mostly be a Romeinlimo advertisement – lol.

[debnjoe1438]

Thanks for posting:D

[ShellDil]

Thanks for the review. We'll be doing the same cruise, with slightly different ports next June. I'm looking forward to you're port review! It sounds like you enjoyed the Epic. And you are quite adventurous taking such young kids on such a port intensive cruise! Way to go!

[SallyStrawberry]

Thanks for the review! We'll be on the Epic from Rome next June so its great to hear how everything went for you. Looking forward to reading your review of the ports.

[Yankee123]

Thanks for the review. We'll be doing the same cruise, with slightly different ports next June. I'm looking forward to you're port review! It sounds like you enjoyed the Epic. And you are quite adventurous taking such young kids on such a port intensive cruise! Way to go!

 

Thank you. Our kids are seasoned travelers, we take our kids with us everywhere and they are very well behaved if we treat them properly. My son loves to travel, I have already mentioned that this was his third cruise and I can not even count how many land vacations he has been on. He is now very easy to travel with. For our DD this was her second trip and we are grooming her, and she was luckily very easy to work with as long as we did not interrupt her feeding schedule and sleep schedule. We had to work with her to enjoy our time and it worked out great. It was truley a blessing for us.

[Yankee123]

For all the ports in Italy – Civitavecchia, Livorno, Naples – We had pre booked and pre paid Romeinlimo for their services. After all the reviews that we had read on www.tripadvisor.com and www.cruisecritic.com, I didn’t think we could go wrong and everything almost went perfect.

 

For us it was cheaper than the cruise excursions because of the count of people in our group and we saw a lot more then we would have otherwise and we got great personal attention. I do recommend checking the prices of NCL excursions online also just to get an idea of your saving and what you will be receiving in return.

 

We had booked Romeinlimo for seven different tours/services. We had reserved their services last year during the holidays, so we were able to get the multiple booking discounts and prepaying discounts. It definitely adds up on the savings. We prepaid using PayPal on our Capital One card, which did not charge us any international transaction fee as our AMEX card does. We are so glad we booked their services. I will have to Google some adjectives to list how good they were. All are drivers/guides were very professional, experienced, efficient, proficient, knowledgeable, skilled, etc... I cannot find one complaint about anyone their drivers/guides. Even the guides that they assigned to us for the Colosseum, Vatican’s Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter Basilica tour in Rome and for the archaeological site of Pompeii in Pompeii were beyond amazing. Having those guides was a must for us and I can only highly recommend that everyone who is going to visit these places without any history and knowledge of these places should hire guides. They will absolutely draw a picture in your mind of how it was back in the day and how it is now. They will tell you why each and every monument, picture, ruin is there and the history behind it. Not once were we bored by anybody on our trip. Not once did we lose our drivers/guides attention. They really know how to keep you interested throughout the tour and keep you entertained. We had two children, one infant and one 5 year old with us, and all the driver guides were extremely resourceful with them. I am sold on their services on how the drivers/guides treated our children. They found clean and proper bathrooms when the infant needed to be changed. They found perfect places to stop when someone need to be fed and have a snack. They really accommodated my children and I say BRAVO to all of them. Next we had my father and mother in laws. To make sure they didn't have to walk anywhere, they all drove us very close to the attractions so the walk was less then minimal. They stopped everywhere we wanted them to for photo opportunities. They all volunteered to take our family photo every time without asking. Actually Franco (in Rome) would take three different pictures at each site and asked us to choose which one we liked best. We are grateful that we had a new 16 GB memory card in our camera. Imagine the old days of reel in the camera, three pictures at each site; we would be going through reels like candy – lol. All the drivers/guides had our safety in mind first. It was like they were watching us everywhere, especially my five year who always wants to run. At so many of the attractions my infant was asleep in the van, and they had us get off for pictures and viewing while they stayed in the van with the infant sleeping and had the A/C running for her. Naturally every time we were only a few feet away from the van. We felt completely safe with them. We left our stuff in their vans at every attraction without a worry in the world. I had an international cell phone with me, and they gave me their numbers to call just in case we missed each other, but I didn't have to call anybody at all because they were always there smiling and waiting for you. Just as a note for those who do not have an international phone, they do have extra phones that they will give you (with their phone numbers preprogrammed) so you can get in touch with them when you enter a large attraction site or a museum. They all had cold bottles of water waiting for us as soon as we returned. They never rushed us at any attraction, that we are getting late and we will miss other things. They worked at our pace, with our children. It was amazing that all the drivers/guides would be so customer attentive and oriented. Can you see the details that have impressed us?

 

We have to start with the reservation process. Jany was the person who we communicated with throughout our reservation process and for every question and concern that we had. I mean I must have emailed this lady for anything and everything that I could think of. I asked her about weather, car seats, costs of items, guides, phone sim cards and I don't remember what else. I must have emailed her several times every month for 9 months. Even during our trip I emailed her. She always responded with the perfect answers and promptly. I don't think I waited more than 24 hours ever for her to respond to my questions or concerns. It is amazing how fast she responded to calm all our concerns. My assumption is there is more than one person responding to all their clients or potential clients emails, and they all sign off as Jany. If there is only one person who is responding to everybody, WOW, then she is super woman. I had to ask every drivers/guides that we had if there was only one Jany in the office and they all said Yes, only one. Mr Duman (owner of RIL) should absolutely have her cloned. By the way, I highly recommend following Jany's recommendation on pre purchasing tickets and guides, we were not disappointed. We skipped all lines and the guides were amazing. We had pre purchased tickets for the Colosseum, Vatican’s Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter Basilica in Rome, Accademia in Florence, and La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. We must have saved countless hours of waiting in the hot sun by pre purchasing. A word of caution/warning, pre purchasing tickets for some of these sites charge you up to four Euros extra for service fee. It adds up, but for us was worth skipping the lines and waiting when all you have is a 10 hours in each port.

 

We hired Romeinlimo for pick up at the airport and drop off at the hotel, then for Rome in a day tour, then Taraquinia and Lake Bracciano (in Lazio), then pick up at hotel and drop off at the pier to board our NCL Epic cruise in Civitavecchia, then in Livorno to tour Pisa and Florence, then in Naples to tour Possitano, Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, and Pompeii and finally pick up at the pier from our cruise and drop off at the FCO airport.

 

On our arrival at the FCO airport in Rome, after we collected our luggage and past customs, we walked out to an extremely crowded hall full of people, but we were able to locate our driver with a sign with my last name immediately. He was visible in the crowd of people. He took our luggage cart from us and walked us to where he had parked the car and loaded our luggage and made sure we were seated properly. He confirmed the location of our hotel and had us on our way to our hotel. We arrived without any incident and he unloaded our luggage at the door of the hotel from where the bell boy took care of our luggage and made sure that we had not forgotten anything in the van.

 

For those interested, we stayed at Relais 6, which is away from the city, in a residential neighborhood and really enjoyed our stay. If anyone is interested, I can post a review also.

 

Rome in a Day Tour - We had Franco as our driver/guide this day. He is an amazing person. He spoke English very well with an Italian accent but we never had a problem understanding him. His love and knowledge of his city is even great. There wasn't a question that he couldn't answer or provide the history on. He told us about everything along the way, including showing us the old walls of Rome to the keyhole to everything. He showed us everything that was listed in what will be included in the Rome in a day tour and more. He told us the history behind everything that we saw along the way on the streets and at the attractions, except at the Colosseum and Vatican (because we had a private guide for those). Franco had lived in Queens, NY for three years back in the seventies and worked in a pizzeria. He did share his little secret of what he placed in his pizza to make it better - lol. He was absolutely great, we loved Franco. He had our utmost attention throughout. Franco took us to a great gelato place called the Blue Fin (I hope that’s what it was called, or at least it did start with the word Blue …). Franco did not steer us wrong. A very great person and family man that made our day amazing. I am so glad we had Franco. He started the day by taking us in to the city of Rome and pointed at all the old walls and monuments along the way. He did ask if we were interested in stopping for pictures. We also drove by Castel Sant'Angelo(The fountain of four rivers). The first actual stop was Circus Maximus where we got off. There is nothing there anymore but a huge field. He showed us pictures of what it used to be and what it is now and where everything went. Then we were off to the Arch of Constantine Next was the Capital hill with the beautiful view of the Roman forum and Palatine Hill. He explained everything about the Roman forum and Palatine hill, and passed us on to our private tour guide Katarina, who continued the explanation and then took us to the Colosseum next. She took our prepaid tickets from us and exchanged it for actual tickets within two minutes. Then she took us through the exit (there was a huge line to enter) to enter. Even the guards knew her, and she was smiling and talking to them. It did help that she was attractive. Once inside, she took us to the elevators (because we had a stroller) and got us to the next floor and started to tour.

 

If you request a private guide with RIL you have to ask for Katarina by name, you just have to. You will believe me after you have spent some time with her. There is not enough I can say about her knowledge of both places and her professionalism with our family. She won our hearts from the moment we met her. She is a graduate student who is also a guide. She catered to our kids before us. She explained everything with so much love and interest and history that it was amazing. She told us the history as stories to keep us interested. Not once were we bored or lost her attention. If anything, we were scared to blink or think for ourselves as we would miss what she said. She knew how to communicate with all ages; she interacted with us to keep us happy. She shared so much with us, it was amazing. She loved our children and took care of them. She found us perfect bathroom and helped my wife at every step with the baby. She took the stroller from us to have it checked in and then brought it back out for us. She also volunteered to take our pictures at every spot, actually she knew the best spots for pictures and she wasn’t wrong. We must have spent over an hour easily in there and didn’t realize it. We didn’t miss a thing. We didn’t have enough time, but there is an underground tour of the Colosseum also, which is on our to do list for next time. Katarina brought us outside to Franco again and promised to meet us at the Vatican. Next we went to splendors of Ancient Rome, we saw Rome’s oldest church, then to another church – I forget the name but we were told that this is the place where women in the old Rome used to walk up to the church on their knees and say a prayer if they wanted to get married. We then were dropped off to walk through the famed Piazza Navona. Next stop was the Spanish Steps which was surprisingly empty. We went up the steps without a crowd at all. We did have a fight with those Bengali men forcing flowers on to the women. Luckily my FIL speaks Benglai (don’t ask me why) and they were shocked at him yelling at them. On the way back to the van we filled up our water bottles with water from the Piazza di Spagna. Surprisingly it was cold and fresh. Then on to the famous Trevi Fountain, to throw our coins. We had the kids throw in the coins also. He then drove us to Vatican City where we had prepaid tickets to enter at 2:00 PM. We were promptly met by Katarina again outside the Vatican and yet again she took our tickets to get them exchanged for actual tickets and showed us where the rest rooms where and where the elevator was to get us upstairs. Yet again, she chatted with a smile with the guards and had us inside in no time at all. She really showed us her value here and her knowledge. We are so glad she was with us. Before we got to the Sistine Chapel, she explained everything outside so we could quietly observe everything inside. Anyways we spent the next two and half hours with her and time flew. Needless to say, we tipped her well. She passed us back out to Franco again and we had to say our goodbyes after taking pictures outside. Next was Pantheon on Franco’s list. We went to the Pantheon and Franco explained everything we would see inside. After coming outside, we shopped for some souvenirs had some more gelato and got back in the van. Franco asked us if we wanted to go to the Catacombs next, but we were done. We were exhausted, the kids had been amazing all day but we wanted to go back to the hotel and shower and get ready for dinner. We had skipped lunch to maximize our touring time, which we gladly did but we had to take care of the kids also.

[Yankee123]

I will try to get the ports in as soon as I can, but got to work also. I normally write them at home and email myself, correct them here and post it. lol

[Yankee123]

Day 2

 

Taraquinia, and Lake Bracciano - We had Franco as our driver/guide for a second straight day. Franco yet again does not disappoint and is amazing. We had originally planned for the Tuscon towns and the countryside tour, but due to some mix up somewhere we ended up at Taraquinia, and Lake Bracciano. This actually worked out fine for us as later I was told that the drive from Rome to Tuscany alone is over 4 ½ hours.

 

Franco took us on a picturesque drive along the country side to the town of Taraquinia. This is a nice small beautiful town. First stop was the Etruscan tombs. We could have skipped the Etruscan tombs, but that was part of the tour. We didn’t really care for it and not much to say. We purchased the audio guide but still couldn’t justify the stop. When you purchase the tombs tickets you can purchase the tickets for the museum also, which we did. This is one of the few tickets that we purchased on site. We didn’t last half an hour in there. When we came out, Franco was standing there and was surprised that we were done already. He told us that normally people would spend over an hour comfortably, but I guess to each their own. He then drove us to the Etruscan museum. This was a bit better and we did enjoy the well-preserved sarcophagi, paintings, tombs, frescoes from the 6th to 1st centuries B.C. and the largest Etruscan necropolis. Keeping DS interested was impossible so we promised him a toy if he behaved and he did and he was rewarded. Next we were left to explore the town of Taraquinia. It was a beautiful town, we did roam around on her own, took lots of pictures, had gelato and café Americano there.

 

Next we were supposed to go to the medieval town of Ceri, but Franco must have realized that we were bored, so he asked us if he could take us to a beautiful Lake that might be a drive away. We decided to go for it.

 

Lake Bracciano was the next stop and we are so glad it was. Franco came through again and it was a great day. We spent the rest of the day by the lake. We had Pizza by the slice (square shaped) at a hole in the wall Pizzeria, which was very good. Then we had some more gelato and café Americano and cappuccino by the lake. The lake was so calm. It is such a shame that we didn’t have our trunks with us or we would have been in there with the rest of the very few people there. I am not sure if people don’t come out here, but all the people there seemed to be local. Finally around four, it was time to drive back. This overall was a relaxing day and after the day we had in Rome, our body might not have been able to handle another day like that. We will not forget the lake, and it is such a shame that the pictures don’t do justice at all too it. Granted we have a small point and shoot camera.

 

During the day, we had told Franco that we were expecting to go to Tuscany and get some great Olive Oil. While we were at the lake, he told us that he would be back shortly and that if we needed anything to just call him. Well, shortly was two and a half hours later, but upon his return he had a nice surprise for us. He had gone out somewhere and got us two large bottles of Olive Oil. He didn’t have to, but this was very nice of him and very professional of him to at least fulfill some goals that we originally had today. Who knew that we were about to get a ton of Olive Oil from different places.

[Yankee123]

Day 3

 

Today was checkout day from the hotel and board the NCL Epic. So we had a drive from Rome to Civitavecchia. Low and behold, the hotel also gave us a nice large bottle of olive oil as a parting gift – Bottle number 3 and counting.

 

We then had another driver/guide pick us up at the hotel and drop us off at the Pier in Civitivecchia. He didn't have to, but he pointed out all the sites along the way and explained everything along the way. He communicated with us throughout the trip and made it fun. I forget his name (something close to Emanuel) but he did mention that he is normally a driver/guide for all the tours in Spanish, Portuguese and French. His English wasn't great but he communicated just enough and we figured him out and entertained us throughout our trip.

[Yankee123]

Day 4

 

 

Today we had our day planned for the highlights of Pisa and Florence. We didn’t get off the ship until 8:30 (although we had planned for an 8:00 o’clock start), but with two kids, it’s not always easy.

 

At the port in Livorno - we were promptly met by Clara. The best driver/guide ever. She is amazing. Like the rest of the drivers/guides, she loves her town but she shows it the best. You have to ask for her by name. She made our day amazing. Not enough that I can write about her to tell you how much we loved our day with her.

She took us to the Piazza del Duomo ("Cathedral Square") first and then on to spend the day in Florence. Before we got to Pisa she had give us the history of the town of Pisa and the story behind the leaning tower of Pisa and the significance of the cathedral next to it and the surrounding so we could understand everything what we were looking at. She drove us as close as she possibly could and told us exactly where to meet her. She also told us that the story of Pinocchio comes from Florence, and thus all the Pinocchio toys out there. We spent a while out there taking all kind of pictures of the Leaning tower of Pisa. We definitely took all the pictures of pushing it, holding it, hugging it, and even trying to stop it with our legs. This took a while; we were the family of six that looked funny that day. We had not purchased the tickets to climb it as the only person who wanted to climb it was me. This place is partly paved and partly grass, so we had a little trouble with the stroller. We then visited the the Bapistry and the Campsanto from the outside. We didn’t purchase the tickets to enter.

 

We then spent some time shopping for some more souvenirs, as there are quite a few stalls on the paved street. At the end (or the beginning – depending on where you are standing) there was a café at the corner, where we used the restrooms and some more café Americano’s. Clara told us that if we liked biscotti, this café would be a great place to buy biscotti (packed) and bring back with us. I shamefully have to say that we only bought two packs of biscotti, which I don’t know had how many pieces. It hasn’t been a week since we returned and they are already gone. I saved the pack, as I hope I can order it online. The chocolate biscotti were the best that we have ever had anywhere.

 

Back to the van, and our next stop will be Florence. She gives us the rundown of Florence, and gives us the history and what we should be looking at and in which order to avoid the crowds. First stop was the Academia. We got off and in line even though we had prepaid vouchers. She told us to wait in line because out ticket was for noon and they hadn’t opened yet. She took the vouchers and exchanged them for tickets for us. Then she had us walk with her and skip all the lines and through security with her and at the door inside, she explained how we should tour the Academia to avoid the crowd and see everything. She was amazingly correct, if you have her as your driver/guide, follow her instructions. The trick she told us, that after we enter, the entire crowd will enter with us and go straight to the statue of David, what we should do is go to the room in the right, and check out the musical instruments, once done walk over to the David, and the crowd would now have dispersed. She was right. We were walking towards the exit and she was already waiting for us inside. She walked us to the van and we were off to the Duomo (Cathedral).

 

She parked in front of a department store, next to five other vans just like hers. We were now in Piazza della Signoria in front of Palazzo Vecchio. She explained everything about Florence before we got off the van in detail and showed us everything on a map that we could keep. She told us the route to take to explore everything and save time and where to meet her. She took us to a great gelato place. It was so good that I had to go back for seconds. This place was a small hole in a wall away from the crowded area and they made the gelato in the back. She also pointed out a fabulous Panini place, again a hole in the wall but great food. We followed the route on the map that she had outlined for us and we saw Loggia Dei Lanzei (the arches), Tribunal of Merchandise, two or three more Palazzo’s. We saw all the statues outside in the square and the fountain of Neptune. Then we walked over to the famous bridge with all the gold stores. We didn’t take the tourist streets, she actually mapped out the local inside streets, which was longer going but fabulous to see the local street of Florence, and we took a ton of pictures. The local street happened to be empty also (go figure) while everyone took the main touristy street over to the bridge. We crossed the bridge over, and stopped at what looked like a castle. Got some more souvenirs, and started walking back. On the bridge back, there is a small water fountain that we filled up our bottles. Being that it was a hot day the water wasn’t very cold. We were tired now, and the walk back seemed like forever. Once back, we told her that we were done for the day and wanted to go back. She said that would not be a problem. It was a steamy hot day in Florence that day, and we had to be careful with the kids. When we got in the van, she had a nice gift for our son. We promised her that we wouldn’t mention to anyone what it was as she didn’t want everyone to expect a gift from her. This was a nice gesture from her.

 

Half an hour in to the drive back to the ship, she asked us how tired we were; now that we had a chance to unwind, get some cold water in us and rest a bit in the air conditioner. We told her that we were recovering but what did she have in mind. She told us that she would like to make a stop at an Olive Oil farm/factory. The season for Olive Oil grinding had not started, so we couldn’t see the process, but we would be able to stop for Olive Oil tasting, and if interested to purchase Olive Oils. We were more than happy to make that stop. She took us to the farm first, where we took pictures next to the Olive trees, then inside the shop, they had a small tasting station setup. It had four different types of Olive Oils, and we could eat/taste as much as we would like. Needless to say the bread and Olive Oil were both done. She had plenty of different types of cheese at this shop also. I don’t even know the count, but between my wife and my MIL, they bought quite a few bottles – all different sizes for gifts and for home. Now we had more Olive Oil than we had planned on bringing back. BTW – getting the Oils back on the ship was not a problem, as they opened our bags and saw it was oil. They did not confiscate it. Now we were headed back to the ship. Once there, we said our goodbyes and we tipped her for her time and hospitality and we were getting back to the ship. It was great to see NCL’s set up with the tent and couches, and we loved the cold lemonade before the washy washy and card scan.

 

Clara was absolutely great and has a great personality. She was amazing with my kids also. My son remembers her name and loves her too. We will definitely remember her every time we talk about Pisa and Florence. I sincerely believe a driver/guide can make or break your day as we will see later in the review.

[cyndepet]

Thank you so much for posting your review of both the cruise and ports! We are doing the Epic from Civi next May. After reading your posts, I'll definitely be contacting Rome in Limo for some tours.

[Yankee123]

I'm glad I can help. I found cruise critic's website to be a great resource for us so I want to give back anything I can. I will attempt to do pictures in the end if I can.

[Yankee123]

I am skipping days here because I want to finish all the Italian ports first.

 

Day 9

 

At the port of Naples - we had Giovanni. An amazingly great and polite person. He had customer service written all over. His English wasn’t the best but he tried very hard and was great. We start our drive on the Amalfi coast and he took us to Possitano first, and told us exactly what to do and look for and he was right. Before we got to Possitano, we stopped several places for pictures and he told us to wait for a few stops that he know where the pictures will come out great. Pictures don't do justice to what he showed us. Possitano is a great drive along the coast and the winding street down to the beach are amazing. Be careful if you decided to walk all the way down to the beach. You have to walk back up also, and for some people it might be smart to take breaks in between. Lots of shopping and cafes along the way. This is one of the few towns that we would love to visit again and spend at least a couple of day here if not more. This whole route is known for their lemons and thus limoncello.

He got us back on the Amalfi coast and he was driving like it was his private alley. He safely maneuvered through every turn like it was a second nature to him. He knew exactly where to stop for the best pictures and safely and he was right every time. Along the coast there is a stop that all the tour guides stop closer to the top. We stopped there, and the view from there was breath taking. There is a fresh fruit and vegetable stall there and he bought some figs from them. I cannot tell you how fresh and good they were. They had to be the freshest and sweetest figs we have ever had. Right next to the stall is a stall that sold dried spice ingredients to add to your pasta. Out of curiosity my wife only bought ten individual packets. I think she got three or four different mixes. She is kicking herself for not buying more. They cost was 1 euro per packet but totally worth it. We also had some fresh lemonade or rather lemon juice also here.

Next was Sorrento, Giovanni's home town and it showed. He took us to the best Pizza place that we have had. It was raining and my infant was asleep. He drove us to the door step of the restaurant, and called inside and told someone to come out with an umbrella. Five seconds later the owner was out there with an umbrella and walked us all in to have the best Pizza we have ever had. We were then given an hour to roam around the streets of Sorrento. It was a beautiful walk. We shopped for more souvenirs.

 

Finally he drove us to Pompeii with the famous music that everyone writes about. He had us all singing along to Dean Martin and it was so much fun. We had reserved and prepaid for a private guide here also. I forget the name of our guide, but he was a much older gentleman, and spoke great English and spoke very properly. He is also a professor at some university nearby and thus his knowledge was overwhelming. We had to purchase our tickets here as this is the second place where we did not purchase tickets in advance. The professor told us to pick up both of our children in our hand. Apparently if they can walk, we have to pay full price ticket for each child, but if they are in our hands, we don’t have to pay for them to enter. That’s interesting because up to now we were not even asked to pay for our children at all the sites. We did as we were told and we walked in to the ruins of Pompeii. If you do not have a guide here and do not know the history, I think you are wasting your time and money. He was very good at explaining everything. He kept us away from all the large crowds and showed us exactly what we should be looking at. There is so much history that it was fascinating. Two hours flew by and we hadn’t even seen everything yet. At the end he was rushing us to get the main points across to us because we all got so involved. He made friends with my kids immediately. He suggested that we leave the stroller in the van, and he was right. It is impossible to push the stroller in there. This guide was well worth the cost for us learning what happened there and how advanced they were back then. Once the two hours was up, he handed us back to Giovanni who was patiently waiting outside.

 

We had mentioned to Giovanni along our way to Pompeii that on the way back we would like to stop at a location where we could purchase fresh Mozzarella from the area to take back with us. After he dropped us off at Pompeii, he drove off to get us Mozzarella. After our tour he was waiting outside and he had a styrofoam box full of cheese. He explained that there was three different types of fresh cheese inside that was vacuum sealed and packed in water and protected in styrofoam. Finally we went shopping for souvenirs in the perfect place with lots of choices and competition for bargaining power. Giovanni is also very amazing and fun and loving.

 

Then we were headed back to the ship. Giovanni did mention that we had only partially seen the Amalfi coast, and that the coast was a lot longer. Hopefully when we return, we will see the coast in its entirety. I will say again that pictures do not do justice to the beauty of the coast and the towns. Once back at the port, we were greeted as usual by NCL employees with their tent and lemonades.

[Yankee123]

Day 7

 

 

In Barcelona we had reserved a full day Barcelona tour with Barcelona Day Tours. We had yet another fabulous day but exhausting.

 

We had Noorudin (please forgive my spelling) as our driver guide. He arrived at the port before time and was waiting for us with my name tag. He immediately had us seated in his clean van and started spilling his great knowledge of the city. Right out of the port, we first came to the Columbus circle, naturally named after Christopher Columbus and there is a museum there also. We stopped for pictures but our first main stop was La Sagrada Familia. Yet again we had pre purchased the tickets to enter here. Online they do not allow you to buy tickets to go upstairs, and if you are interested you have to purchase it there. We are so glad we had the tickets already because when we saw the line to get in, it was almost wrapping around the whole site. We walked up to the gate with our printed tickets and he scanned them and we were in. We are upset that we didn’t hire a guide here, because they could have explained everything better and we would have had a better concept. Noorudin had given us the rundown but I bet there was more to be learned. This is an amazing place and we spent over an hour and a half touring the inside and out, and taking pictures. Once outside, our driver/guide was waiting for us but we decided that we wanted to purchase some souvenirs from here also. Back in the van, the next stop was Park Guell – another work of Gaudi. Wow, beautiful work by Gaudi. We spent a lot of time admiring his work here and taking picture. Noorudin provided us with a lot of details about the park and its design and concept. He actually came in here with us and volunteered to push the stroller and help us go up the stairs with the stroller. Next we headed to Passeig de Garcia which I guess is comparable to the Fifth Avenue of New York or Champs Elysees in Paris. We did a drive through and did not get off here. Next stop was more of Gaudi’s work at Casa Mila. We then continued on to Casa Batllo. We didn’t go in because there was a fee to check out the apartment inside, but we stopped for pictures. Right next to it was Casa Amatler. More picture time. He explained the history behind the two buildings to us. And finally to the Casa Lleo Morera. All three buildings are on Passeig de Garcia and are great works of art. I am sure architects would have loved this.

 

From there we went to the Plaza Catalunya. This is where Passeig de Garcia and La Ramblas meet. Next stop was Las Arenas. This used to be a bull fighting ring that was converted in to a mall I think three years ago. We didn’t go in the mall, but we took the elevators all the way to the top to see a 360 degree view of the city of Barcelona. It was a nice quick stop for pictures. Our driver stayed in the van and kept circling downstairs and waiting for us. Then we were off to La Ramblas. We spend a lot of time here, walking, shopping, drinking café and eating churros. We also had fruit juices here and ate some gelato. We took quite a few pictures with mimes. The mimes are really really good here. They don’t move until you drop a coin. My only disappointment was that we couldn't see La Boqueria in La Rambla, but that was because it was Sunday and it was closed. This was not Barcelona Day Tours fault at all, just happened that we were in Barcelona on a Sunday.

 

Now he took us to the Barcelona FC stadium. We past the gates and took pictures from outside the field but inside the stadium. You can buy official merchandise if you were interested on the inside, or for 1/3 the price you could buy the replica jerseys and what not outside the stadium. I think we drove by the national palace on our way to the stadium. I don’t recall it exactly, but we didn’t stop for pictures.

 

Back in the van and we are now off to Plaza Espanya. Great views of Barcelona from up here. Next we headed to the Olympic Stadium. You can enter here for free. There are two people outside asking for donations but that is completely voluntary, you are not forced to donate. Took pictures inside the stadium and then headed out to Montjuic Castle. You get a great view of the port with all the ships in that day. Then inside the castle was actually fun. It was fun for our DS to run around, and we got a lot of great pictures there. Finally the last stop for us was port Olympic. We didn’t spend too much time walking around as we were all tired. Back to the ship for us.

 

This was the only time when we got back to the ship that they didn’t have a tent outside, because this was the embarkation port for the majority of the guests on NCL Epic.

 

It seemed he had extreme knowledge of everything we asked him, there wasn't a question that he wasn't able to answer. He has great driving skills and wonderful street knowledge. There was some kind of bike race in Barcelona that day, and one of the main roads was blocked off. He immediately had us rerouted through the inner streets of Barcelona and we were well on our way without any delays. He was driving properly throughout our tour, and we were never concerned or scared of his driving skills. He is such an asset to your BDT because of all the languages he speaks. He was very professional and courteous. He was very well dressed which is not important, but this showed his professionalism as our guide and towards BDT. He was very accommodating to all our needs. We had two kids with us, and we had to make multiple stop for their needs, and he was great to find the proper clean spots for feeding and bathroom and rests. He took us to all the places that we wanted to visit and more. He was always with us and making sure that we were safe and happy. He always had a meeting spot whenever we got off of the van. We were never rushed at any site, and he followed our schedule and still managed to show us more then we planned. He volunteered to take group pictures of the family at every spot. He stopped safely at every location that we wanted a picture. He had safety first in mind throughout our trip. He had two car seats for us as requested. He showed us all the places to shop for souvenirs and where not to be ripped off by the tourist shops. We are still talking about the amazing cafe where we had amazing coffee and churro's. I can go on and on about Noorudin's professionalism, experience, expertise, efficiency, proficiency, knowledge and skills. I will definitely use Barcelona Day Tour's services again the next time I am in Spain and I will specifically ask for Noorudin. I apologize for not spelling his name correctly.

[Yankee123]

Day 6

 

Provence, France – We had pre reserved a full day tour of AIX en Provence with Tours in Provence – Private Day Tours. Our driver/guide was Cecile. She is a one man show and has her own shop, she does everything from reservations to driving to be a guide and whatever else is required. In her defense, she was very professional and polite and was running a business.

 

Cecile had informed us at the time of booking that we would need to bring a car seat for our infant as she did not have one. This should have been a red flag for me, but she had great ratings on trip advisor, so I ignored the flag and went ahead with the tour. I did carry a travel car seat for the infant for this and only this tour – I regret this to no end. Every other tour provided car seats for both our children. She did work a little bit on the price, but I wouldn’t do it again.

 

Remember how I told you a guide can make or break a tour for you, well this one broke it for us. She spoke English but with a very French accent. Great person, but the other drivers/guides had set the bar so high, that she fell off the expectations completely. Not her fault, I guess it was Romeinlimo’s fault for setting the bar so high. Then again, Barcelona Day Tours guide was also excellent and so was our driver/guide from Premium Riviera Private Tours.

 

She promised us a tour that will start with a drive to a great view point other the city of Marseille, we would have a panoramic view other Marseille and the Mediterranean sea. I don’t think we did this, if we did, I sure did sleep through it.

 

Next we went to Aix en Provence, on Saturday morning there is a great market to shop for almost anything on the street. We then visited the town which is one of the most beautiful in Provence. We spent the rest of our afternoon here. On the way back we did drive through the mountains and had great picture spots. Finally to the ship.

 

 

This was the most uneventful port. I shouldn’t have spent the money on the day trip, but what’s done is done. We were pretty bored the whole day, and if we were to go back to this port, we would have slept in like most of the guests on the ship and stayed on the ship.

 

 

The one shopping my DW did do was buying a lot of lavender stuff, such as soap, potpourri and what not. We had amazing olive bread here as snacks. The café here was amazing. I would still skip the port next time, or find some town to visit completely outside with a more scenic view.

[Cruzinbabe06]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post your review.

 

I am so excited about this trip! Can't wait!:D

[Yankee123]

I am glad that you are enjoying it and I really hope people can benefit from it.

 

Last port to follow - technically Day 5

[Yankee123]

Day 5

 

Cannes, France – Well I am down to the last port for this review. This is a tender port. NCL has this down to a science. You actually walk down the stairs from the side of the ship on the outside and stand on a platform that the tender life boat is somewhat connected to and you board the life boat by walking over a ramp. It sounds difficult or dangerous but is not. Think of it this way, we walked on that ramp comfortably without a second thought, and I had my infant baby in my hands and her stroller on my back and I didn’t need anybody’s help. Coming back was a different story and we will leave it for the end.

 

We hired Riviera Premium Private Tours for a full day tour of Cannes, Nice, French Riviera, Eze Village, Monaco, and Monte Carlo. It just sounds like a lot but we really didn’t spend too much time at each stop. Our driver/guide today was Cathy. Cathy was there on time and very professional. When we got off the tender, past the gates for NCL, then again past the tourist map table (not a long walk – just sounds like it) she was standing there with my name tag. She had the same exact eight seater van that we have had so far with all our touring companies, and we now have the drill mastered and can move/lift the chairs and fit ourselves without assistance. She laughs and starts her friendly tour. She spoke English very well albeit with a very slight French accent, but we never had a problem understanding or communication with her. She had cold water bottles for us available throughout our trip.

 

She drove us on the famous Croisette boullevard (sea front of Cannes) and our first stop would be at the Palais des Festivals et des Congres where they hold the annual Cannes International Film Festival. Along the drive to the Palais des Festivals et des Congres, we must have stopped five or six times to check out the all the glamorous hotels along the way. We then continued on the Croisette boullevard all the way to the amazingly beautiful city of Nice, France. The only other place that my wife would like to revisit other than Possitano, Italy is Nice, France. Wow this was a wonderful picturesque trip. I don’t even recall how many times we stopped for pictures. The drive to city of Nice along the "Promenade des Anglais" and its popular beach to end up in the old town of Nice built from the 13th century. The "Promenade des Anglais" is the amazing French Riviera.You have to see it to believe it. The French Riviera is a must see. Even if you do not want to visit any town/city at this port, I would recommend hiring a cab just to drive you on the French Riviera. The Amalfi Coast is amazingly beautiful but the French Riviera is completely different and has amazing views. The stops along the way had our camera clicking away. We stopped and just took the scene in. Google the pictures to see what I am writing about and you will want to make this stop.

 

At Nice, we had plenty of free time to enjoy the flower market square. This was a lot of fun, this city is beautiful, and we took to the local streets and enjoyed the city. Naturally we had more café and snacks here. My wife did some more shopping here. We had agreed with Cathy on where to meet and at what time and we had to rush back because we got lost in the small alleys full of shops, cafes and restaurant in Nice, and didn’t regret one bit being late.

 

 

Our next stop was the medieval village of Eze which is perched on top of a hill overlooking the sea (1200 feet above the sea). Cathy drove us all the way to the top, while we actually saw an NCL bus letting off all the guests at the bottom. The guests at the bottom had to walk up, and it is not an easy walk up. Even inside the village, it is not an easy walk, so be prepared, have good shoes, and don’t bring anything you don’t need to carry. We left the stroller in the van upon Cathy’s suggestion and she was right. After she dropped us off at the top, we walked inside the village, and it is beautiful. Again, I highly suggest to Google for pictures. Cathy suggested that we walk to the top where a garden setting view point overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. There is a 6 Euro fee to enter the top for the view and it was amazing. Pictures just don’t do justice to what you are about to see. Even if you don’t go to the top, roam around the village. This is a very uneven on a hill village so walking is not easy at all. Be warned, but for us it was worth it. I carried by baby throughout our walk. Exhausted from the walk, Cathy asked us to walk down the stairs and meet her next to the bus. The walk down is easy but steep, so take your time. Since we had spent so much time here and we were late in Nice, we opted to skip the perfume factory and head out to our next stop.

 

We then continued on our drive tothePrincipality of Monaco. Cathy found a parking spot in a garage on the 6th floor below the ground. We walked some more, took some stairs, took the elevators and finally above ground. This time it was an easy walk even though it was slightly uphill. We first visited the old city of Monaco, with the palace of the Prince and the cathedral where Prince Rainier and Princess Grace got married. We missed the changing of the guards at noon, because of us taking too much time at other stops. Here we had some Panini and café that we bought in the streets across from the Palace. We spend some time walking around these expensive streets and then back to the van. Next was the promised one lap drive of the world famous Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit to reachMonte-Carlo and the famous Casino, the Golden Square, the very nice Hotel de Paris and hotel Hermitage. We couldn’t get off and take pictures but we slowed down and took pictures and finally back to the cruise ship.

 

This was a great tour, and I would definitely recommend this tour company.

 

On the tender back, we had to wait inside a small building to get on the tender. Apparently the winds were really strong and they had to stop the entire tender process. The life boats were not attaching to the ship because of the winds. They had to reposition the ship to block the winds so the life boats would attach again. After about half an hour to forty five minute wait, the life boats were running again, and the passengers were ready to board the life boat. The ride back to the ship on the life boat was very rocky, and it was even worse getting off of the boat and on to the ship. We let everyone get off, then my family got off while I waited with the baby in the life boat. Then one of the NCL employees took the stroller and bag from me and asked me to hold on to the baby while two other employees grabbed me by the hand while I crossed from the life boat on to the platform attached to the side of the ship. One of the employees stayed with me and covered the baby also all the way up the stairs and past the security guards. Kudos to NCL for a great job, and customer service.

[ShellDil]

Thank you for the wonderful details of your excursions! We'll be traveling with kids - although mine are older than yours (11 and 13) - as well as my parents - and I don't often see reviews that highlight how well guides handle kids on the tours. It's great to hear that romeinlimo was so attentive to your children. I haven't yet decided who to book for our Italy ports, but this may make our decision a bit easier! We're also spending some time in Rome after the cruise so I may look to them for that time as well. There are some really long, intense days, so it's important to keep the kids engaged at the sites!

 

Do you have links to your pictures? I'd love to see them!

[willysgrandma]

I am also getting on in Civitavecchia in a few weeks, this has been a valuable post!

 

I do have a few questions for you. Do they still have walk off disembarkation where you can just walk off with your luggage?

 

Do you by any chance recall the earliest tender time you could book for Cannes? We do have a private excursion planned and I will make sure I let the other guests know about this, as it is the very first time I ever heard about booking the tender. Thank you.

 

As far as the VAT for pre-paid specialty restaurants, I am under the impression that the VAT can be recovered. Is that true or not?

 

We are also flying in to Rome 3 days early and have pre-booked some skip the line tours. I was looking at a night time illuminations tour to see the city at night - would you recommend that or isn't it necessary? DH is a great photographer and I know he'd like to do some night shots.

[chipq]

Thanks for the great detail in your excursion summaries. Sounds very good.

 

http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

[Yankee123]

Thank you for the wonderful details of your excursions! We'll be traveling with kids - although mine are older than yours (11 and 13) - as well as my parents - and I don't often see reviews that highlight how well guides handle kids on the tours. It's great to hear that romeinlimo was so attentive to your children. I haven't yet decided who to book for our Italy ports, but this may make our decision a bit easier! We're also spending some time in Rome after the cruise so I may look to them for that time as well. There are some really long, intense days, so it's important to keep the kids engaged at the sites!

 

Do you have links to your pictures? I'd love to see them!

 

Glad to read that you enjoyed it. I am sure your kids will enjoy the trip more than ours did, let alone remember the trip. Hope you and your family have a wonderful time. RIL are great and they will accommodate you and your family and work with your schedule. Actually on trip advisor's website, there are a quite a few companies, and they are all rated very highly.

 

I am still working on the pictures, hopefully this weekend I should have something.

[Yankee123]

I am also getting on in Civitavecchia in a few weeks, this has been a valuable post!

 

I do have a few questions for you. Do they still have walk off disembarkation where you can just walk off with your luggage?

 

Do you by any chance recall the earliest tender time you could book for Cannes? We do have a private excursion planned and I will make sure I let the other guests know about this, as it is the very first time I ever heard about booking the tender. Thank you.

 

As far as the VAT for pre-paid specialty restaurants, I am under the impression that the VAT can be recovered. Is that true or not?

 

We are also flying in to Rome 3 days early and have pre-booked some skip the line tours. I was looking at a night time illuminations tour to see the city at night - would you recommend that or isn't it necessary? DH is a great photographer and I know he'd like to do some night shots.

 

You will have a wonderful time on the cruise. Boarding and disembarkation will be a breeze.

 

To answer your questions:

 

They definitely have walk off with luggage - no questions asked. My FIL and MIL walked off with their own luggage. Those passengers disembarking use a different deck then those who are getting off for a tour, and thus the lines were completely empty when we walked off.

 

If I recall correctly, first tender is for 8:00 AM.

 

Regarding VAT, from my understanding, YES they can be recovered but on goods, such as souvenirs and stuff. I don't think it can be recovered on food and beverages, but I could be wrong. I have attached the VAT document that another user posted earlier in the year. Hope this helps.

 

 

We asked RomeInLimo the same question without the photography added to it, and they responded that you will get to visit the places from the outside and can only enter sites if it is open. If you want to do this for photography purposes, I think it might be a good idea. We couldn't do this because we didn't want to exhaust the kids, but you might get some great pictures.

 

Good Luck. I will be more then happy to answer any other questions that you might have.

Spanish VAT.pdf

[Yankee123]

Thanks for the great detail in your excursion summaries. Sounds very good.

 

http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

 

Thank you. I am hoping to help people pick what they would like to do or skip, or if they choose to do the standard listing (like we did) then they would get an idea of what to expect.

[willysgrandma]

You just answered the disembarkation question my husband had - dont' they allow those with tours off first.

 

Thanks for the information! You have been really helpful.

 

You will have a wonderful time on the cruise. Boarding and disembarkation will be a breeze.

 

To answer your questions:

 

They definitely have walk off with luggage - no questions asked. My FIL and MIL walked off with their own luggage. Those passengers disembarking use a different deck then those who are getting off for a tour, and thus the lines were completely empty when we walked off.

 

If I recall correctly, first tender is for 8:00 AM.

 

Regarding VAT, from my understanding, YES they can be recovered but on goods, such as souvenirs and stuff. I don't think it can be recovered on food and beverages, but I could be wrong. I have attached the VAT document that another user posted earlier in the year. Hope this helps.

 

 

We asked RomeInLimo the same question without the photography added to it, and they responded that you will get to visit the places from the outside and can only enter sites if it is open. If you want to do this for photography purposes, I think it might be a good idea. We couldn't do this because we didn't want to exhaust the kids, but you might get some great pictures.

 

Good Luck. I will be more then happy to answer any other questions that you might have.