Detailed Photo Review of Carnival Sunshine 12-Night Mediterranean Cruise 9/8/13

[deladane]

Rafa went to college in Pisa, so he drove us around the town and pointed out some other sites besides Miracle Square, including the other leaning tower in Pisa at a church (although unfortunately, the angle is wrong to see it's lean in this photo):

 

 

 

After that, Rafa drove us an hour and a half into Florence. Most of the drive was on the highway, but we had a few moments with a view of the Tuscan countryside. Our first stop in Florence was Piazzale Michelangelo, with an amazing view over all of Florence. Rafa pointed out each of the major buildings, so it was great to get an overview of everything we would be seeing for the rest of the day.

 

 

Il Duomo

 

Ponte Vecchio

 

[deladane]

 

 

 

Once we were finished taking our photos, we drove down into the city of Florence.

 

 

 

[deladane]

Our next stop was the Church of Santa Croce. Rafa dropped us off right next to the plaza, and we had 20 minutes to walk around the square. It was much more crowded here, with many large tour groups to dodge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

We got back in the van and drove through the city, and suddenly Rafa pulled up right in front of the plaza of Il Duomo! It was noon, and he said to meet him back at that spot at 1:45pm. He recommended a great little restaurant for lunch with pizza and paninis...

 

 

 

We spent the rest of our time walking around the plaza and shopping at the leather market. I found a leather purse that I really liked, and I was able to bargain the price down to half of what the vendor was originally asking, so I was happy with that. I also bought a leather bracelet and a few other things.

 

 

 

 

Does anyone have any idea what this sign means? haha

[deladane]

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

We pre-purchased tickets to the Academia to see the David at 2pm. Rafa helped us exchange our vouchers for real tickets, escorted us into the museum, and told us to meet him back at the van in 45 minutes. We wandered through the museum and spent a few minutes admiring the David. I thought it was well worth the price of admission to see the David statue in person. It stands 33ft tall and is truly huge and breathtaking. You are not permitted to take any photos in the museum, but some people were able to subtly sneak a photo of the David (wink, wink!) After seeing the David, we went into the room with hundreds of plaster casts. This room was a pleasant surprise, and I found it very interesting to admire so many sculptures.

 

We left the museum and met up with Rafa, and he drove us to an area of the straw market. He told us to find the boar at the far side of the market and that legend says rubbing its head will make you return to Florence. He also told us where to find the duplicate David status in the Piazza Vecchio so we could take legal photos. This straw market sold the same purses for the same prices as the other leather market that was closer to Il Duomo, so I was glad I did my shopping earlier when we had more time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

I think this was also when we were supposed to see the Ponte Vecchio, but Rafa only gave us 30 minutes, so there wasn't enough time to go there. We did drive by it several times during the day and I was able to take several photos from the van, but it would have been nice to take 15 minutes to get to walk through it and see some of the shops (although I have heard they are very overpriced, so it isn't likely I would have bought anything anyway!)

 

 

 

 

 

Our last stop of the day was at a local gelato shop on the other side of the river. They had about 30 flavors to choose from, and they were very inexpensive at 1.50 Euros for 2 large scoops in a cup. It was a delicious way to end the day before our hour-long drive back to Livorno.

 

 

[jtagphillycruiser]

Florence is so wonderful. I did indeed rub that boar's nose, so I will certainly be back!! Your photos of the Duomo were awesome. I am just re-living Florence through your pictures. Our RIL group also did not have time to cross the Ponte Vecchio & browse the shops, but that will have to wait for another time. I definitely want to return to Florence and spend a land vacation there to see all the museums and tour Tuscany. There just is so much to see in Florence and the surrounding area. Your review is wonderful, by the way.

 

Joanne

[deladane]

Florence is so wonderful. I did indeed rub that boar's nose, so I will certainly be back!! Your photos of the Duomo were awesome. I am just re-living Florence through your pictures. Our RIL group also did not have time to cross the Ponte Vecchio & browse the shops, but that will have to wait for another time. I definitely want to return to Florence and spend a land vacation there to see all the museums and tour Tuscany. There just is so much to see in Florence and the surrounding area. Your review is wonderful, by the way.

 

Joanne

 

Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying my review :) I too plan to return to Florence at some point bc I'd also love to explore Tuscany and spend a bit more time in Florence. I guess that is the one downside to taking a cruise- there's just not enough time to see everything you want to see at each port!!

[josefina022]

I am loving your review! I really have never had a strong desire to do a Mediterranean cruise, but you have definitely inspired me! I hope to be able to go on one of these cruises someday. Your pictures are gorgeous and it looks like you had such a wonderful time!!!

[stlrboo]

I am loving your review! I really have never had a strong desire to do a Mediterranean cruise, but you have definitely inspired me!

I never did either, but I tagged along with the wife and our 'friends' who live in the UK, and I had a real nice time...:) Port intensive, but real nice! :D

Besides, we met a bunch of really nice people on the sailing... like Dana and her Mom!!!:p:D:p

[deladane]

I am loving your review! I really have never had a strong desire to do a Mediterranean cruise, but you have definitely inspired me! I hope to be able to go on one of these cruises someday. Your pictures are gorgeous and it looks like you had such a wonderful time!!!

 

thank you! I have always wanted to go to Italy, and I love cruising, so I figured why not combine the two into one amazing vacation! Each port has so much to offer, so even if you aren't interested in the history or the art or whatever, there are plenty of other things to do, so I'd highly recommend doing a Med cruise at some point :)

 

 

I never did either, but I tagged along with the wife and our 'friends' who live in the UK, and I had a real nice time...:) Port intensive, but real nice! :D

Besides, we met a bunch of really nice people on the sailing... like Dana and her Mom!!!:p:D

haha thanks Dave! It was great meeting you and Denise too :D I'm so glad we got to spend so many great days in port together!!

[deladane]

We arrived back at the pier around 5pm for the 5:30 all aboard time. We quickly got changed and went straight to dinner.

 

 

My all-time favorite appetizer: Escargots!!

 

Seafood platter

 

Chateaubriand

 

Dessert menu

 

Apple and nuts baked in phyllo pouch

[deladane]

Double Roasted Pineapple

 

We sailed away 40 minutes late (they had paged 5 names on the overhead to call guest services, so we assumed they must have contacted the ship and the captain waited for them, although we will never know for sure), and when we did, it was very rocky. At 8pm, Noonan came on the overhead speaker to announce that the Latin Nights show had to be cancelled due to the rough seas because it was not safe for the dancers to perform. He rescheduled Latin Nights for tomorrow night, and instead, one of the dancers did a one-man show. He was fantastic!! He is very funny and we noticed he was the lead singer all week. You could tell he was improvising, as it looked like his wardrobe was one of the girl's skirts from the Motown show, but he had 6 or 7 shows that he sang while dancing all over the theater and interacting with the audience. We all agreed that his performance was likely better than Latin Nights would have been! haha

 

 

After the show, we very carefully walked back to the cabin. I think everyone looked a bit drunk while they were walking, but it was probably just because of the ship rocking back and forth... or was it ;) We decided to spend some time packing so we could enjoy our last night on the ship tomorrow night.

 

 

Up next: France!

[deladane]

Thursday, September 19th - Marseilles, France

 

Knock, knock, knock! I woke up to a knock on our door at 6:56am... it was the room service delivery! My alarm was set for 7am, and the requested delivery window was 7:15-7:30am, so it was quite a surprise for them to arrive before I even woke up! I got dressed, and when I got up to Lido deck, they were removing the towel animals from all the lounge chairs. I was soooo disappointed! I had read tons of reviews on Cruise Critic when other people posted photos of the towel animals taking over every lounge chair on Lido deck, so I was looking forward to seeing it in person. Apparently, it was so windy that the towel animals were blowing away, so the staff was cleaning them up and I never got to see it. Today was not getting off to a good start!

 

I ate breakfast on Lido, then went back to the cabin to finish getting ready. Noonan came on the overhead at 7:45am and said that the ship had to sail slowly overnight due to the rough seas, so we would arrive in Marseilles at 10am instead of 8:30am as originally scheduled. I guess we could have used those 40 minutes that we spent waiting in port for the stragglers yesterday!

 

Our original plan for today was to share a taxi with our friends to the train/bus station in Marseilles, and to take public transportation in to Aix en Provence. Now that we only had a max of 7 hours in port, we got nervous about relying on public transit. We met up with our friends and 2 other couples, and the 8 of us talked about a Plan B. We decided to find a taxi for 8 people and ask the price for him to drive us straight to Aix.

 

We met at 9:30 on Deck 1 at the forward stairs because we knew it would get very busy with people waiting to get off the ship ASAP. Sure enough, there was a handful of people already there when we arrived, and tons of people lined up after us, so we were happy to be at the front of the line.

 

It took a long time for the officials to clear the ship, but we finally got off at 10:30am. It was soooooo windy on the dock that we nearly fell over! We went straight to the taxi stand and found an 8-person taxi van. The driver said it was 15 Euros per person to drive to Aix en Provence, so we thought it was a good deal and got in the van (Carnival offered a shuttle to the train station for 14 Euros round trip, but that didn't include your tickets on the train, plus that would take way more time, so we knew this was the way to go.) Once we were on our way, the driver Adam offered us a full day tour for 350 Euro (44 Euro each). We had not planned to do a formal tour today because we had just finished 4 straight days in busy Italian ports, but we thought about it and realized it would cost us 30 Euros each just for the round trip drive to Aix, so for 14 Euros more per person we could see a 2nd town, so we said okay!

 

It took us 25 minutes to drive from the ship to the center of Aix (the train ride alone would have taken 40 minutes, not counting the time to get from the ship to the station, so we saved a ton of time by taking the taxi!). We tried to ask Adam questions about the history of the region and things we saw from the road, but his English wasn't great and he remained quiet for most of the ride. I guess that's what you get when you just hire a taxi driver for the day, and not a real tour guide! No worries- the price was right!

 

We got to Aix at 11am and Adam said he would meet us at that spot at 12:30pm. We were confident he would be there promptly because we hadn't paid him yet. Notice how cold I look in this photo... it was much cooler and windier in France than it had been for the last two weeks in Europe!

 

 

There is a big market on Thursdays along the main street in town, Cours Maribeau, so we did some browsing and a little shopping.

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

We also did a little bit of the Rick Steves walking tour. I just tried to soak it all in- it was such a beautiful little town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

Rick Steves recommended a fabulous pastry shop at the end of Cours Mirabeau. My goal for today had always been to eat my way through France, so I bought a chocolate croissant and 2 mini french macaroons in chocolate and raspberry as a mid-morning snack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adam picked us up as promised, and we drove 1 hour to Avignon. Since we only planned to spend the day in Aix, none of us researched anything about Avignon and we had no idea what to expect! Did we make the right choice? Would we enjoy Avignon? Stay tuned to find out!!

[swim4lifekac]

Wow Dana. You guys did the right thing. We did not even get off the ship until 11 because of the line, then the line for the bus was another hour. We stayed in Marseilles, and had a nice time, but your day seems like it was really nice!!!:)

Edited October 31, 2013 by swim4lifekac

[deladane]

Wow Dana. You guys did the right thing. We did not even get off the ship until 11 because of the line, then the line for the bus was another hour. We stayed in Marseilles, and had a nice time, but your day seems like it was really nice!!!:)

 

Oh no Kathy! I'm sorry you had to wait so long to get off the ship!! Since it was the last day of the cruise, we never really got a chance to check in with everyone else and see how their days turned out with the unplanned change of schedule. I'm glad you at least had a nice day in Marseilles once you got there :)

[deladane]

When we arrived in Avignon, we immediately knew we made the right choice. It was an incredibly charming medieval town, with beautiful old buildings and shops lining all the streets. Adam dropped us off in the town square at 2pm and told us to meet him at 3:15 for the drive back to Marseille. We spent our time leisurely walking around the town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

Zorro!

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

I was hungry for lunch, so we found a little take out restaurant. They had a bunch of lunch specials for salads, sandwiches, and pizzas with a soda and/or dessert. Continuing with my plan to eat my way through France, I got a flat bread pizza, a can of Coke Light, and a huge apple pastry all for 5.80 Euros! We sat on a bench outside on the street and enjoyed our delicious lunch while people watching.

 

 

 

 

 

Adam was waiting for us at 3:15, and he drove us to immediately outside the city walls to see the famous bridge.

 

 

[deladane]

After that, we started the long drive back to Marseilles. Originally, Adam said we would have time to go to Arles too, but I am glad we skipped it because we got back to the port at 4:40pm for a 5pm all aboard time! Talk about cutting it close! We definitely would have missed the ship if we went to Arles too!

 

We looked at the shops on the pier, but I didn't buy anything because it was all more pricey than at the market in Aix. We went back to the cabin to do a little more packing, and then went to our last dinner in the MDR. It was so sad to say goodbye to the people we spent the last 11 nights eating with!

 

 

Spring Rolls from the every day menu

 

Fried Shrimp

 

Dessert menu

 

Diet Apple Pie

 

After we finished eating, we said goodbye to our wait staff. They took great care of us all week, and they were very hard workers. This was our head waiter Hristo (Chris for short)

 

 

We went back to the cabin to finish packing and put our suitcases out in the hallway, then we went to the Fun Shops to check out the last night sales (but didn't buy anything because the prices were the same as they had been all week!) Last night, they cancelled the Latin Nights show due to the rough seas, and it was rescheduled for tonight at 9:30pm. At 9pm, Noonan came on the overhead speaker and I'll bet you can guess what he said! That's right, once again, the show was cancelled because the seas were even more rough tonight so it still wasn't safe for the dancers to perform. Instead, they moved the comedians from their usual lounge into the big show lounge, but we decided not to go. We just went back to the cabin and went to sleep early, since we had a busy day planned for tomorrow when we arrived in Barcelona!

[karinad]

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this review! Your pictures are beautiful and you make me feel that I'm right there! We just did a Northern Europe cruise on The Legend, so next year we're hoping to do the Med. again (of course no CCL!) We did do some of the ports you were at, but would love to repeat them.

 

Sorry your report will come to the end soon!

[wnycruisefam66]

Hi:

 

I've just started reading your review, but wanted to say how glad I am to find it! I'm sailing next year on the NCL Spirit, but with many similar ports (starting in Venice & ending in Barcelona too) & also flying Delta from/to JFK. Can't wait to read all about it!