ShotoJuku’s LEGENDary Mediterranean Adventure

[Froufie]

Indeed it is BECHAMEL that made the M&M's go M&M&M&M&M&M&M&M!!!!

 

 

And For That You Have Won A 24K Gold Plastic Chef Statue - Congrats!

 

Wow - I am truly honored - thanks! :)

[Captain Carnival]

The first thought that came into my mind when I saw this photo was, "That looks like the Death Star". And then I paged down to the bottom of the picture and saw your caption!

 

It only makes sense as "The Force" is strong at the Vatican! :D

[Captain Carnival]

I want to thank you so much for doing this trip report. It is fantastic! My husband and I were on the Inaugural sailing of the Carnival Breeze doing almost the same itinerary. You review has brought back so many great memories.

 

You and your wife seem to have such a great relationship. Congratulations on 30 years of marriage. I'm so glad you got to celebrate it by taking this wonderful cruise.

Glad to have been able to help you relive your cruise experience which is basically what I am doing as I write this and will be able to do when able to read it from start to finish - thanks!

[Captain Carnival]

Welcome to Marseilles, France!!

 

With Italy behind us, as was most of our cruise itinerary, we sailed into the Port of Marseilles on a somewhat overcast day with a bit of a chill in the air clearly demonstrating that we were no longer under the bright and brilliant Tuscan Sun…..Crap! Marseilles was also for us the last full port of call that we would be able to experience insofar as we would not be spending anytime in Barcelona, Spain on debarkation day. L

 

 

We had no scheduled tour for today and although we were not required to get up with the sun we were but had a much more leisurely opportunity to get ourselves together and we found ourselves leaving the ship at around 9:30 AM as opposed to 0800.

 

 

Once we were off the ship we found that although we at the port we had to take a bus to the “old port” area however we had to pay a fee of 14€ EACH – yikes! We actually stood in the terminal for a few minutes debating as whether we should suck it up and pay the 28€ (roundtrip) or just go back on board and enjoy the ship. See that it was such a gray and cool day and having little to no other choices we sucked it up and paid our bus fare without even receiving a “merci” from the clerk; John Heald is right!

 

 

It took around 10-15 minutes to arrive at the “old port” area which is little more than a boat basin for both pleasure craft and fishing boats. We did have an option to pay for a little train-like trolley-thing to take us around to see some of the local sites, including Marseilles version of Notre Dame, however we opted just to stay local and walk around.

 

 

 

The Marseilles version of the Church of Notre Dame under a very gray and cool sky.

 

 

 

 

During our stroll we saw a beekeeper removing a swarm of bees that started a hive just off the boat pier that kind of reminded us of the honey store and the bees we saw back in Messina.

 

 

Many of the local fishermen had returned with their catch that included a variety of fresh fish including eel, and octopus who were still alive with many of them climbing out of their bins in an escape attempt back to the sea; they were all apprehended at the scene.

 

 

We came upon a very large mirror-like overhang that reminded me of something you would see at EPCOT and I took these wide-angle and close-up shots.

 

 

Hey Boo – LOL!!!

 

 

Reached the SIX PICTURE limit - More to follow..

[Captain Carnival]

Welcome (Back) to Marseilles, France!!

 

 

 

I thought this was a very impressive street scape that in this first pic looks incredibly realistic however….

 

 

 

It is a very large mural relief painted onto the side of a building – impressive, most impressive!!

 

 

As it was a bit chilly we thought we would stop and try at the local French style coffee and found this very exquisite coffee café that if marketed properly might do well in the USA. J

 

 

We found a series of interesting painted animal sculptures and of course my Bride has taken the bull by the horns!

 

 

All-in-all we found our visit to Marseilles a bit of a letdown as each of our last several ports were more exciting and interesting than the last leaving Marseilles literally and figuratively a little dreary but we made the best of a bleak situation. It also felt it bit odd being by ourselves without any of our fellow M&M’s making us feel that we were the last two M&M’s in a virtual empty bag.

 

 

We headed back to the ship, enjoyed dinner saying our farewells to our table mates and incredible wait staff including Ramon, Maja, and Nicholai of table 240. As we were scheduled to arrive in Barcelona at 0500 hours the next morning we had no other choice but to get ourselves packed and carefully balance out our bags to being no more than 50 pounds each so we through all of the dozen spoons that we bought overboard so we would go over the weight limit………….KIDDING!!

 

After leaving the port we caught this shot of the "Pilote" boat pulling away just after the pilot got back on board.

 

I guess that will be all for today until we reach Barcelona at zero-dark-thirty so as always…

 

Ciao For Now!!

[Captain Carnival]

BONUS CAT PIC

 

 

 

Kind Of...It's from my phone on the date we flew to Venizia! :D

[4evercruiser]

Enjoying your review. Congratulations on 30 years of marriage!

 

I too was disappointed to learn that the Legend will be leaving Tampa for good next year. She is my and hubby's favorite ship, for one particular reason. We were married onboard the Legend in 2009. I will be sad to see her go :(.

[Captain Carnival]

Enjoying your review. Congratulations on 30 years of marriage!

 

I too was disappointed to learn that the Legend will be leaving Tampa for good next year. She is my and hubby's favorite ship, for one particular reason. We were married onboard the Legend in 2009. I will be sad to see her go :(.

 

Thank you very much!

 

I don't know if LEGEND will be leaving Tampa for good, however it sounds as though she will in Austrailia for a long time so I am hopeful that we will get a replacement as Paradise just doesn't do it for me.

[oncruisecontrol]

I thought this was a very impressive street scape that in this first pic looks incredibly realistic however….

 

 

 

It is a very large mural relief painted onto the side of a building – impressive, most impressive!!

 

 

 

 

Ciao For Now!!

Now I know for sure that you are a Star Wars fan. Loving your review.

[ucfalli]

Enjoying reading your review.. hope to one day do an European cruise!

[Captain Carnival]

Now I know for sure that you are a Star Wars fan. Loving your review.

 

Star Wars? I find your lack of faith disturbing! :D

[oncruisecontrol]

Star Wars? I find your lack of faith disturbing! :D

Please don't choke me:D. I see you're a Star trek fan as well. Sorry, I don't mean to sidetrack your review.

[boaterette]

I have loved your pictures and your review. Thank you for posting. Congrats on your 30 anniversary.

[Captain Carnival]

Please don't choke me:D. I see you're a Star trek fan as well. Sorry, I don't mean to sidetrack your review.

 

Hmmmm...."Side Trek"....Fascinating! :D

[africandoll18]

Hope you are safe from Andrea? Saw on the news Tampa had a bit of damage. We are getting rain and wind. Nothing Major so far.

Stay Safe. Derrell You too!!

awe thanks girl but i saw it coming up your way , i hope i'm wrong

[africandoll18]

Thank you very much!

 

I don't know if LEGEND will be leaving Tampa for good, however it sounds as though she will in Austrailia for a long time so I am hopeful that we will get a replacement as Paradise just doesn't do it for me.

noooo, i luv the legend come back to tampa

[Captain Carnival]

Ciao To & From Barcelona, Spain

 

 

They say that all good things come to an end, and it was here in Barcelona that we have come to our final port of call of the cruise although for us we would spend the majority of our time in Barcelona waiting at the gate in the airport. Although it would have been nice to have spent an extra day on vacation in Barcelona, time constraints and such required that we head back for home that day. To top it off the only flight that we were able to get was wheels up at 10:40 AM so our early morning timing left very little room for error.

 

 

 

Although we arrived in Barcelona at 5:00AM we were up at around 0430 just to make sure that we had ourselves together as when it came time to leave the ship there would be no turning back. As this was an unusually early port, the ship came to life very early on to so we were able to grab some breakfast before grabbing our luggage and head off the gangway at around 0600, however that was not going to be.

 

 

Apparently the gangway was the singular piece of equipment that would not come to life on this early rainy morning and thus preventing us from “having” to leave (by force). We were provided with updates by John Heald over the PA that seemed to indicate that we may in fact have to remain on board and perhaps do another Back-to-Back cruise however by around 0630 John’s usual pleasant /happy voice turned into the voice of doom when he announced that the gangway had been fixed and that those passengers who were in group 1-3 were now cleared to debark as it was these groups that would be off to the airport first and that meant us.

 

 

 

We went back to our stateroom 7243 for the last time gathered our things and said farewell to our growing menagerie of towel animals (except for the monkey who refused to come down) that had taken up residency on the couch since the day we sailed; we left them and a (€) tip for “Mart” our stateroom steward.

 

 

After being herded off the ship we found ourselves on the Carnival Airport Shuttle (highly recommended) that would brisk us away to the airport and dropping us off at the US Airways terminal where we checked our bags; both around 48 lbs. each and then it was off to the gate to…wait. L Oddly although we had plenty of time on our hands, neither of us took any pictures of the airport and only a few on the plane…I suppose they would serve as reminders later on that our adventure was soon to be over and then it would be back to reality and that being work – Boooo!!

 

 

Actually we have a pretty cool reality, three great kids, (With Two Weddings Coming Up) two incredible grandkids, two cats (in the yard), another cruise already booked, and of course plenty of great memories and new M&M friendship’s that I would like to see continue – Carnival Ecstasy (11/4/13) anyone?

 

 

 

This has been the most incredible cruise and adventure of our lives, one that I hope we may be able to recreate somewhere (else) down the road which certainly begs the question: I Know Where we Can Get Some Really Good (Insert Food Here), Interested?

 

So Until We Meet Again Let Me Seal This LEGENDary Review With One Last Kruise-KISS!!!

 

 

 

 

 

So with that being said…..let me say once again…

CIAO FOR NOW!!!

 

 

 

 

PS: This really isn’t the last thing that I’ll be posting here per se as I have some additional pics that I would like to share (in time) and will be more than happy to answer any questions that I can.

Edited June 9, 2013 by ShotoJuku

[Captain Carnival]

...And of course plenty of great memories and new M&M friendship’s that I would like to see continue – Carnival Ecstasy (11/4/13) anyone?...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Captain Carnival]

Enjoying reading your review.. hope to one day do an European cruise!

 

Thanks! Just make it happen!!!

[Captain Carnival]

I have loved your pictures and your review. Thank you for posting. Congrats on your 30 anniversary.

 

 

Thank you very much and I hope to post some more pics soon!

[oncruisecontrol]

Hmmmm...."Side Trek"....Fascinating! :D

"Live long and prosper!"

[Hogladyrider]

Excellent review thoroughly enjoyed all your writings/pictures!

Susan

[Captain Carnival]

"Live long and prosper!"

 

"Cruising: the Fantastic Frontier. These are the voyages of the Funship Legend-prise. Its 12-Day mission: to explore strange new countries, to seek out new food and old civilizations, to boldly go where no Man and Bride has gone before."

 

[Captain Carnival]

Excellent review thoroughly enjoyed all your writings/pictures!

Susan

 

 

Thanks - more pics are on their way soon!

Edited June 10, 2013 by ShotoJuku

[Captain Carnival]

Nearly 5000 views now - I just wish I had more feedback like this one! Gratzi John!!!!

 

 

John Heald commented on your link.John Heald wrote: "that was fantastic Susan. What a brilliant couple and what a fantastic review. I am honoured by their kind words and enjoyed the photos of two people having fun. I have sent this to all the senior management here and I know they will be thrilled. Thanks Susan for posting this here and my best wishes to you and to ShotoJuku.......love that name. cheers"

 

Just a curious observation...

Thus far this thread has had more that 14,000+ views and yet only a mere 223 posts. It just seems that of all of the "views" there has only been around 1.5% of the amount of writtens posts; perhaps it's the "new math" but it just seems odd. :confused:

More pics to follow tomorrow! :D