Carnival Cruiser Sails Royal Caribbean ~ Navigator to Italy, France, Spain ~ 10/28/12

[Sinppu]

That's another reason I cruise in the spring the fall is Marathon season. Glad she finally made it to the ship, enjoying seeing Navigator again.

 

Up here summer (late May -early Sep) is the only season we have marathons. People would freeze to death in any other season :D

 

Although they did just run the Winter Marathon in Stockholm :rolleyes:

[tikif6]

LOL it's so narrow and tight, believe me you wouldn't go too far.

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I'd say give Carnival a try. I know people have said bad things about them on the RC boards, but I've also read bad things about RC on the Carnival boards. I once read a review from someone on one of my sailings and it was as if we were on two different cruises. He had a lot of negatives, and I had a lot of positives. I think a lot of people try Carnival after hearing bad things and start looking for something wrong. Take it all with a grain of salt and have an open mind to trying something new. You just might like it! Check out my review from my Valor cruise. If this doesn't convince you that you can have a good time on a Carnival cruise, nothing will! ;)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=30813274

 

Thanks for the feedback. I will definetly read your review! I'm trying to get some of my friends to come with us sometime in the summer and there are great deals on carnival as I know my friends won't pay more to do RCL. So if my friends give the green light then I'll be on carnival next year. If not then I might just do a land vaca with the girlfriend.

[ShellDil]

I'm really enjoying your review! We'll be on the Navigator next June, on a slightly different itinerary though. We go from Rome to Sicily, Athens, Ephesus and then Crete. It's our first trip to the Mediterranean and I can't wait!

 

I've sailed on Carnival before, as well as Celebrity, so I'm looking forward to your review of the ship and more pictures!

 

I love your writing style and enthusiasm. Can't wait for more!

[gapearl]

Oh I know. I've done a couple in the past. Planning to do one for our Vision cruise in February. The bar has been raised a good bit since the last time I wrote one too. I expect I'm going to try and do an onboard journal so I don't have to write as much when I get home. Hah! We'll see if I get past day 3 before I start short-cutting it.

 

This is my 4th one, but it's been a year since the last one and never this long. I write best as I go and things come to me, so that makes it even longer.

 

You mean you don't have little elves to write for you!!? Lol...

 

I am loving it and truly can't wait for more. :D

 

I wish I did! :D

[gapearl]

Love your detailed trip reviews, Kim! I too, have always only cruised Carnival and you know I'm pretty much a Carnival cheerleader. Very interested in hearing the differences. I have Allure booked for next year.

 

I didn't know you booked the Allure! That's awesome!

 

Thanks for letting me know you were doing a review! I rarely wander over to the RC boards, so I would have never seen it.

 

The ship looks absolutely gorgeous! Would love to try out Royal Caribbean one day. Loving your review so far and can't wait to see more!

 

You should give them a try one day if you come across a good cruise at the right price. Thanks for wandering over here. :)

[gapearl]

Yikes :eek:

It took me four days after the half to be able to walk properly... so if you book a cruise after a full marathon, be sure it starts with many sea days... a TransAtlantic maybe? :D

 

Yeah, it took me about the same to recover from the half. I don't know what I was thinking when I said I wanted to do a full??!!! :eek:

 

Loving this review! I'm planning a Eur. Cruise for 2014 & reading all the reviews & advice I can.

 

Mrs. Fecura: we're looking at the same itin. as you. Please tell me you're going to write a review too!

 

Tina

 

Thanks for reading Tina! Hopefully this helps you a little. :)

[gapearl]

That's another reason I cruise in the spring the fall is Marathon season. Glad she finally made it to the ship, enjoying seeing Navigator again.

 

Up here summer (late May -early Sep) is the only season we have marathons. People would freeze to death in any other season :D

 

Although they did just run the Winter Marathon in Stockholm :rolleyes:

 

I was looking at marathons in Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, and Jacksonville. They were all flat courses, which was appealing. Most importantly close to cruise ports. :D The half I ran in Baltimore was way too hilly. If you think Stockholm would be cold, have you heard about the marathon in Antarctica?

[BillOh]

Yeah, it took me about the same to recover from the half. I don't know what I was thinking when I said I wanted to do a full??!!! :eek:

 

 

 

 

Its an addiction, after 7 halves, I had to try the full at 51 years old. Had a great time. We now return you to your cruise.

 

PS, Delta flies to Columbus, the half and full in Oct is fairly flat. You could join me and 17 thousand others.

Edited November 9, 2012 by BillOh

[gapearl]

Thanks for the feedback. I will definetly read your review! I'm trying to get some of my friends to come with us sometime in the summer and there are great deals on carnival as I know my friends won't pay more to do RCL. So if my friends give the green light then I'll be on carnival next year. If not then I might just do a land vaca with the girlfriend.

 

Land vacations are good too. I went to Aruba this year instead of a cruise and loved it. It was a nice change to stay somewhere for a while. I did miss being on a ship though when I had to think where am I going to eat tonight, where am I going to go tomorrow, what am I going to do next, I need to find a taxi to get back.... :rolleyes:

 

I'm really enjoying your review! We'll be on the Navigator next June, on a slightly different itinerary though. We go from Rome to Sicily, Athens, Ephesus and then Crete. It's our first trip to the Mediterranean and I can't wait!

 

I've sailed on Carnival before, as well as Celebrity, so I'm looking forward to your review of the ship and more pictures!

 

I love your writing style and enthusiasm. Can't wait for more!

 

Thanks for reading! You're going to love the Navigator. That sounds like an awesome itinerary. Hopefully you got a few pointers about Rome. ;)

[gapearl]

Its an addiction, after 7 halves, I had to try the full at 51 years old. Had a great time. We now return you to your cruise.

 

PS, Delta flies to Columbus, the half and full in Oct is fairly flat. You could join me and 17 thousand others.

 

 

I was supposed to run my 2nd half last month. Didn't train because I was having too much fun on my Vegas and San Juan layovers :rolleyes:, so I wasted $80. I need to redeem myself next year. I'll look into that one!

 

Ok, back to the cruise. :)

[gapearl]

 

 

 

[gapearl]

We were off the ship at 9:30 am. Livorno is a central port where you can go several ways- Pisa to see the tower, Florence to see David in all his glory, or you can do both but have very limited time at each. We only went to Pisa. I bought our tickets online in advance to climb the tower. The tickets were 17 euros each. I recommend buying them in advance because they may be sold out by the time you get there.

 

http://boxoffice.opapisa.it/Torre/index.jsp

 

When you get off the ship, you have to take a shuttle to get to the center of town. It's 5 euros round trip per person.

 

So, I thought I did enough research in advance about getting to the tower. I *thought* there was a train that left directly from the city center to Pisa. Wrong! We went to the information center and this is what the man told us to do.

 

 

We were at the bottom where you see the xx. Follow me closely. He told us to take the #1 bus to Stazione Centrale (circled). It was just after 10 am; the next bus wasn't until 11 and it would be a 40 minute ride. From there we would take the train to Pisa (and they only run every 30 minutes), and then walk almost a mile and a half from there. He said it would take us about an hour and a half. :eek: WHAT? Our tickets for our climb were for 12:15. If we did all that we wouldn't have made it in time for our climb. Plan B was to find some people to share a cab. It took us close to 30 minutes, but eventually we did. The more people, the cheaper it would be. Cabs started at 140 euros for 1-4 people. For us it was 180 euros for 7-8 people, and we shared a cab with a nice family of 5 from England. It came to 26 euros per person. Our driver would give us 2 hours there and bring us right back to the port so we didn't have to go back to the city center and take the shuttle, so that was a plus. The drive to Pisa was about 30 minutes.

 

Side note: I talked to some guys from the ship in Pisa that said they talked to a lady in that SAME information office that sold them tickets to a shuttle. It was 15 euros but she gave them a discount since they were on the ship and they only paid 10 euros each. We asked around before getting the cab after and no one seemed to know anything about a shuttle. :rolleyes: Oh well, whatever, we got there. Just be prepared for anything if you're trying to get to Pisa.

 

Rant over, time for pictures.

Edited November 9, 2012 by gapearl

[gapearl]

 

 

 

 

 

[gapearl]

 

And now the bucket list pictures!

 

 

 

This one is my favorite.

 

 

 

[gapearl]

I had to literally lay down on the ground to get this shot. LOL

 

 

 

 

At 15 minutes prior to your climb time, you have to go take your bags to the free locker area. No bags are allowed on the climb. You can only bring your camera.

 

It's completely hollow on the inside.

 

 

Ugh. More stairs. It's about a 7 story climb. You can really feel the tower leaning on the climb, especially when you go back down.

 

 

The awesome view!

 

[BillOh]

 

This one is my favorite.

 

 

Seen this done 1000 times, but these really turned out well. A coworker thought you were really holding up a scale model. :D

[gapearl]

More great views from the top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We only had 15 minutes to spend at the top. We went back down, got our bags, and still had time for a few more pictures and some more souvenir shopping.

 

One more picture of the back before leaving.

 

 

We all made it back to our taxi driver on time. The kids in the family were knocked out on the drive back. We made it back to the ship at 1:45 pm. We headed straight to the Windjammer for lunch, followed by a good nap back in our room. Climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa makes you hungry and tired!

[gapearl]

Unfortunately that's it for now. I have to get ready to go back to work after 21 days off. :rolleyes: I'll try to get the rest of day 2 done tonight.

 

Seen this done 1000 times, but these really turned out well. A coworker thought you were really holding up a scale model. :D

 

Thanks! We took dozens of pictures from so many different angles.

[jobell]

Your pictures from Pisa are amazing. but ugh...stairs. :p

[gapearl]

Your pictures from Pisa are amazing. but ugh...stairs. :p

 

We were sick of stairs by the end of this trip.

[poncho1973]

A favorite...

 

Edited November 10, 2012 by poncho1973

[jobell]

We were sick of stairs by the end of this trip.

 

no doubt!!!! but it was all worth it, right?!?! :)

[mrsfecura]

Loving this review! I'm planning a Eur. Cruise for 2014 & reading all the reviews & advice I can.

 

Mrs. Fecura: we're looking at the same itin. as you. Please tell me you're going to write a review too!

 

Tina

 

Oooh I've never done one before but have been thinking about it since 2 reviews in particular (one from Sherri AKA Middle Aged Drama Queen and one from Stacy Gregorski AKA stacycakes1 on the Carnival boards) helped me out so much and actually convinced me that I had to book a Med Cruise!

[tiger belle]

very interesting and fun review...will be on Navigator this upcoming Saturday for its first cruise out of NOLA for the season after being across the Atlantic...it will be my first RCI cruise, having just been on Carnival before...even though our itinerary is a Caribbean one, I am especially enjoying your comments and reviews of the ship itself...look forward to more!

[gapearl]

A favorite...

 

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA LOVE THIS!!!!

 

no doubt!!!! but it was all worth it, right?!?! :)

 

Absolutely! Plus climbing all those stairs was about the only exercise I got on this trip. :rolleyes: