K&K’s European Adventure ~ Carnival Legend Review May 2013

[cjknox]

Wow. I loved the review, very thorough and the pictures were great.

[gck1249]

TRAVELINGTS

 

Thank you so much, I will now buy the 72 hour pass, wow, the pics of Venice are unbelievable!! I am in my 60's and really concerned about all that walking around with 2 bad knees, and a body that just doesn't want to run around like it used to!! The problem is I am 40 in my brain but somehow the two don't connect that..... lol

 

I read that the glass factory is closed on weekends in Burano, so we are thinking of getting off the ship at 8:00 AM Monday morning, we are hopeful it is in plenty of time before the ship leaves Venice.

 

Thanks so much for the advice

[travelingts]

TRAVELINGTS

 

Thank you so much, I will now buy the 72 hour pass, wow, the pics of Venice are unbelievable!! I am in my 60's and really concerned about all that walking around with 2 bad knees, and a body that just doesn't want to run around like it used to!! The problem is I am 40 in my brain but somehow the two don't connect that..... lol

Thanks so much for the advice

 

I hear you gck1249. My brain keeps saying the same thing. Unfortunately my knees, hips and back don't always agree! But one of the nice things about visiting Venice is that there is no traffic to worry about and it's slow paced. Just have some good walking shoes 'cause the pavement is uneven. I'm 60 with 7 inches of titanium in my right tibia, and Hubby is an active 68. We had no problems and were on our feet all day long. Here's the key - every time you pass a gelato stand, stop for nourishment and rest a bit! Mmmm, and if it's to your liking, insert a few wine stops in there too. Ahhh, getting melancholy just typing about it. You will love this cruise. It's busy, but so much fun. We had an incredible CC group.

 

Here are a couple of Venice recommendations - pizza, gelato, great view points. When traveling with time constraints it's nice to have as much information & recommendations as possible: Venice Recommendations

 

Caio!

[gck1249]

So good to know that I am not alone.... thanks for all the tips, one other thing I keep hearing about is the bathrooms in Venice and all over Italy costing money, they even sell toilet cards, lol,

Pizza & gelato two of my favorite things!! And our friends are wine people so we will be stopping lots for sure. We booked a 3 hour tour "Venice by night" ending with a Gondola Ride so hope they take it nice and easy also.

 

I did a lot of research into good walking shoes and bought Skechers like Air, a little costly, walked around Disney World for a day and my feet hurt so bad I couldn't move! So it is back to the drawing board there.

 

Sounds like you guys did have a really fun group. Our roll call is pretty small being only 3 months to sailing, not too much going on. Lucky for us we are going with some friends we met on the Carnival Magic back in 2011 so we already have a great group going on the Sunshine.

 

Thanks again

[CupKayke]

Thank you everyone ~ and Travelingts :D I have attempted to reply to the recent comments on this review several times but CC seems to be blocking me from doing-so or maybe it is my Internet service provider but alas... I will try this again.

 

Thanks again to everyone who has written nice comments. This review was a joy to write and this trip was wonderful. Anyone who traveled with us ~ feel free to answer questions or post links to pictures or etc... I am not on CC enough lately to keep-up but I'm sure I'll be back when we take another long cruise next year. :)

[travelingts]

 

Thank you everyone ~

 

... I am not on CC enough lately to keep-up but I'm sure I'll be back when we take another long cruise next year. :)

 

Cupkayke, how's the new job?

[love_the_sea]

I hear you gck1249. My brain keeps saying the same thing. Unfortunately my knees, hips and back don't always agree! But one of the nice things about visiting Venice is that there is no traffic to worry about and it's slow paced. Just have some good walking shoes 'cause the pavement is uneven. I'm 60 with 7 inches of titanium in my right tibia, and Hubby is an active 68. We had no problems and were on our feet all day long. Here's the key - every time you pass a gelato stand, stop for nourishment and rest a bit! Mmmm, and if it's to your liking, insert a few wine stops in there too. Ahhh, getting melancholy just typing about it. You will love this cruise. It's busy, but so much fun. We had an incredible CC group.

 

Here are a couple of Venice recommendations - pizza, gelato, great view points. When traveling with time constraints it's nice to have as much information & recommendations as possible: Venice Recommendations

 

Caio!

 

Thanks for putting together the great map with the Venice Recommendations. That will really help when I am in Venice. Can't wait and I know that even though we have a full day and part of the next there it will be too little time!

[diminsion]

May 3rd - Venice Day #2

 

 

We took the train into Venice around 8:30 am this morning which was a mistake. Nothing opens until 9:30/10:00 so we found ourselves sitting and waiting around on the steps – just like everyone else.

 

 

It was foggy & cool this morning and this was my first picture of the day..

 

 

 

We went to a ticket booth and purchased Vaporetto dell’Arte tickets. We had seen the ACTV sardine cans the day prior and decided NO WAY we would be getting on one of those. The VA tickets are purchased from the same ticket booths. They were a bit more expensive but worth it to us. She asked if we wanted public transportation added for 10 Euro more per person and we did not. We walked to P. Roma (about 5 minutes from the train station) and caught the very first VA waterbus of the day – which does a full Grand Canal tour starting at 10am.

 

 

The VA...

 

 

 

 

Here is a tip… and it’s sad that I have to say this but… If I had not decided to push through the crowd and insist for others to let us through to get on the VA, we would have missed the 10 am tour, despite our waiting for quite a while for the boat. You see, there are LOADS of people that wait for the ACTV waterbuses and they crowd around and don’t want to let you through. When you see the VA, push yourself through and say VA VA VA – because the locals don’t use the VA and frankly, hardly anyone does because the word is not out yet so they think you are cutting in line for a sardine can AKA an ACTV waterbus.

 

 

My husband took this picture of a typical, crowded ACTV waterbus…

 

 

 

 

And this picture of our VA waterbus…

 

 

You can sit outside or stand near the front on the VA and get plenty of great pics and a cool breeze – we did both on several occasions today.

 

 

We LOVED our Grand Canal tour on the VA! They give you headphones and a guide booklet when you get on the boat. It really is a great option in Venice and I highly recommend you try it versus the ACTV buses.

 

 

Some pictures going down the Grand canal today…

 

 

 

 

So hard to explain amazing Venice in pictures…

 

 

Hey CupKayke,

 

I'm going on the same cruise in about 80 days, can't wait!!! Thank you so much for the review, I've read it several times :)

I've read slightly conflicting information on the Vaporetto dell 'Arte website. It says that it starts in Piazzale Roma but on one of the maps it only shows Ferrovia. Can you shed any light on this? Can I take the VA to San Marco, from P. Roma and back again?

 

Thanks again, Sheena

[CupKayke]

Can I take the VA to San Marco, from P. Roma and back again?

 

Thanks again, Sheena

 

Yes you can! :D We did this and it was easy breezy. The VA starts at P. Roma at 10am each day so you will be the first passengers onboard - at least it did when we were there. You can take the VA to San Marco and back again - we did this, also.

[diminsion]

Thanks CupKayke, exactly what I needed to know and couldn't seem to find anywhere else :)

[CupKayke]

Cupkayke, how's the new job?

 

Thanks for putting together the great map with the Venice Recommendations. That will really help when I am in Venice. Can't wait and I know that even though we have a full day and part of the next there it will be too little time!

 

 

I have been busy and haven't been on here to respond lately so....

 

The new job was a good idea but it is busy-busy-busy all the time... NOTHING like the old division!

 

And love-the-sea... you are welcome. I hope you have a marvelous trip. I am just now beginning to think about our next "bigger" trip. Cruising and traveling is truly an addiction for me! :D

[heatherbelle]

I just wanted to thank you for your lovely explanation on how to get to Lucca, we followed this and had a great day.

 

 

On tip to pass on if you don't want to catch the bus to Pisa Central is to return to Pisa Rosse! don't walk all the way to Pisa Central, we did big mistake. I had forgotten we could catch the train at Pisa Rosse and change at Pisa Central.

 

Cost of bikes was €6 per hour.

[CupKayke]

I just wanted to thank you for your lovely explanation on how to get to Lucca, we followed this and had a great day.

 

 

On tip to pass on if you don't want to catch the bus to Pisa Central is to return to Pisa Rosse! don't walk all the way to Pisa Central, we did big mistake. I had forgotten we could catch the train at Pisa Rosse and change at Pisa Central.

 

Cost of bikes was €6 per hour.

 

You're welcome. :) I like the bike idea, too! :)

[Jimmy Geegitz]

Gotta love big pic reviews!