Cruise Review: Reflection 11 day Eastern Med Oct 21, 2013 sailing

[Milhouse]

Dinner in the MDR (7:20pm)

N&H, Wendy, and I ate in the MDR this night.

 

Starters

Wendy and I shared the Country Style Pate which was disappointing because we were expecting a coarser texture like a Pâté de Campagne.

 

I had the Hawaiian Tuna Poke which was surprisingly decent. It came with a scoop of sticky rice which I was expecting to the hard/subpar but it was decent; I probably could have had more of it.

 

Wendy had the Double Beef Consomme to start which wasn’t memorable.

 

I needed some ruffage so I also had the Mesclun Greens which came topped with goat cheese and cranberries which I generally like on a salad.

 

N&H also had the Hawaiian Tuna Poke which they also enjoyed. They also had the Smoked Ham and Split Pea Soup which they also enjoyed.

[Milhouse]

Dinner in the MDR (7:20pm) (continued)

 

Entrees

For my main, I had the Steak au Poivre “Surf & Turf Style” which came topped with couple of shrimp and peppercorn sauce. The steak was ok. It came with way too many peas though.

 

Wendy had the Broiled Australian Sea Bass which was nicely done and not dry as is the typical concern. It also had a nice sun dried tomato and red pepper sauce.

 

H had the Steak au Poivre also but with mash potatoes instead of roasted potatoes.

N had the Sun-Dried Tomato-Gorgonzola Pasta which was ok.

 

Dessert

I had the Bananas Foster which was ok. I kind of like the flavour combination.

 

Wendy had the “Cafe Pot de Creme” which she quite enjoyed.

 

H had the Pineapple Sorbet which was... sorbet.

[Milhouse]

Gift Shops & Reflection Theatre Show: Kennedy (9pm early show)

On the way to the early show in Reflection Theatre we stopped by the gift shops which had a Turkish Bazaar 50% off sale selling Turkish Delight, post cards, bookmarks, mini woven carpets, etc. Even at 50% off, I did not think it was a great deal compared to what we could wheel & deal on shore.

 

We arrived late for the show but it was not hard to get seating; likely because it was not a production show. The guest performer was Kennedy who performed various “mind reading” tricks. I thought he was very entertaining. Most people, like myself, likely came into the show

pretty skeptical and expecting a pretty corny show. However, he did an excellent job managing the crowd, using humour to win them over and put everyone in a good frame of mind to start. He was really interactive with the audience which made it more lively. Some awkward audience participation was also pretty funny because Kennedy was quick enough to play off of it.

Even though I still left the show pretty skeptical, I also left the show feeling entertained and pretty amazed on how he was able to pull his tricks off.

While I would consider Kennedy’s show high recommended, I can see people just not liking this kind of entertainment. However, I’d suggest giving at least giving it a go and sneak out if you’re not liking it after 10mins.

 

Festivale Interactive Party at the Grand Foyer (10:30pm)

After Kennedy we caught the production cast doing a mini-show in the Grand Foyer. It was originally scheduled for but it was pretty chilly and windy outside so they moved it to the alternate venue.

 

The show followed a similar routine to the dance parties but this one included the singers and there were a number of costume changes. I quite enjoyed the show. Once the dancers finished their main routines, the crowd who attended a dance class prior to the show joined in. Adding to the fun were a couple of guys who started dancing along in the glass elevator which was stopped on deck four. I don’t know how they kept the elevator car there for so long but eventually they got whisked up to the disappointment of the dancers and the audience. But they came back down and kept on dancing.

 

Best spots for viewing for the shows in the Grand Foyer IMO as I previously mentioned are the balconies by the stairs.

 

After the show, it was time for bed as it was an early arrival into Mykonos. Internet off the phone was pretty sketchy sailing from Kusadasi to Mykonos. It was great while docked in Kusadasi though.

[Milhouse]

Arriving into Mykonos and Starting the Day

Mykonos was listed as a tender port but we docked at the new port at 7am. I think we lucked out because Reflection was the first ship in port that day. Starboard faced the port while port faced the harbour. It ended up being a beautiful sunny day worthy of shorts.

There were three other ships in port that day which tendered into town. They added about another 6000 pax in port.

 

Getting into Mykonos Town

The new port is a few miles outside of Mykonos IChora) Town so if you wanted to start there, you had a couple of options:

• You could walk it. While definitely doable, particularly from a distance perspective, personally, I would not recommend it. There’s no sidewalks, there’s limited unique views, and there are other very inexpensive options. We did see a number of people walk it though.
  
• The excursion desk was selling a pass for unlimited transfers to and from the ship on a designated coach bus for $8USD per person; running from 8am to 5pm. They stop just outside of the downtown area (5min walk)..
  
• There was a public bus just outside the port gate which was literally 50steps away from the ship’s transfer bus. It was going to was 1.60E per person each way, also stopping just outside of the downtown area at the old port (5min walk).
  
• There was Seabus near the buses charging 2E per person that took you to the pier right downtown. It left every hour at the bottom of the hour.
  
• And there were a couple taxis waiting to grab a fare. I didn’t check their pricing.
  

 

In this picture from our balcony, you can see the public bus (green), a rank of taxis, and to the right the building where you buy tix for the seabus.

 

N&H ended up taking the ship’s coach bus.

Wendy and I ended up taking the public bus. You just hop on and the driver can sell you the ticket and give change. The only complaint I would have of the public bus is that it tried to wait a bit for the bus to fill up before leaving. So we ended up waiting for about 10min until another four groups/couples jumped on the bus.

 

We ended up getting to bus stop just outside of Mykonos Town about the same time as N&H and we just synched up using the instant messaging on our phones.

 

Old Town Harbour and Skipping Delos

Our Rick Steves guidebook indicated the Delos, the archeological site reachable by boat, was closed on Mondays but apparently the site was open the Monday we were there. I’m not sure if they opened knowing that three ships would be in port that day. There’s a ticket booth right in the harbour area where you could buy tix for Delos. The tenders for the other ship(s) landed here also. We decided we were a bit ruined out so we decided to skip Delos and just stay to explore Mykonos Town.

 

Windmills

Even though its streets are windy, Mykonos town is small enough that, while you might get a bit disorientated, you won’t get really lost IMO. Our first stop was the windmills so we just headed in their general direction and tried to stay relatively close to the water. Walking along path parallel to the water allowed to poke our heads out and find a path that opened up to the harbour and gave some great views of the windmills from afar. Eventually, after we walked by the restaurants in Little Venice, the area opened up for us to see the windmills and chart a visual path to them.

 

The windmills themselves are kind of interesting but the it’s really the ambiance of the views of the harbour, the restaurants along the water in Little Venice, and the white buildings that dotted the hillside that was the appeal of visiting. While there were plenty of people around, I did not find it extremely crowded.

 

Wandering and the Ochi Day Parade

After the Windmills, we just decided to aimlessly wander through the winding laneways. We bumped into a non-descript bakery which Wendy decided to check out. She came out with a bunch of fresh pastries that were delicious. We think it was Gerasimos (ΟΓΕΡΑΣΙΜΟΣ). While wandering, we started hearing music so we just headed towards it. It was kind of difficult to track through the winding laneways but we eventually outputted by the harbour area and there was a parade going on.

 

Apparently (shame on me for not doing my research), October 28th is Ochi Day which is a public holiday celebrating Greece’s response of “No!” to Mussolini’s ultimatum demanding his forces be able to occupy Greece territory, which then precipitated Greece’s entry into WW2. The parade consisted of students, some in traditional outfits marching down the promenade along the waterfront. It was quite the event because you could see families out & about enjoying themselves before & after the parade. The area was just packed during the parade though. We ended up meeting a local that apparently has been to Canada and quite enjoyed his time in Montreal (I love Montreal too!).

Edited February 24, 2014 by Milhouse

[Milhouse]

Lunch

The four of us wandered around looking for a place for lunch. We googled some up suggestions and considered splurging at a restaurant in Little Venice. Eventually, we ended up eating at gyro shop called Snack Bar Leonidas (ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ) that looked pretty busy and had a couple of tables outside where you could people watch a bit. The 2.20E gyros were fresh and delicious, particularly when washed down with a Mythos beer.

 

More Wandering, Petros the Pelican, and Hillside Windmill

After lunch, N&H decided to head back to the ship. Wendy and I decided to wander the laneways a bit more. We ran into Petros the Pelican outside of Niko’s Taverna who was a bit shy and hung out in a corner.

 

We decided to make our way to the bus station to see if we could get to a beach. Google maps was surprisingly accurate getting us there. Along the way, we ended up walking by a mini-amphitheatre which was pretty neat. Finding the bus station was not too hard at all. By the time we go to the bus stop, we assessed our timing and we didn’t feel that we had enough time to wait for the next bus, get to the beach, spend some decent time there, and get back to the ship before all aboard so we changed plans.

If we did not dilly-dally throughout the day I’m sure we could have fit in a trip to the beach on public bus. Also, we discovered that the bus station was an easy walk to the Windmills. We would have missed the parade but it would have been more efficient to head to the bus station after the Windmills of course. The Windmills were quite a bit less busy in the afternoon I thought.

 

Instead, we invoked plan B which was to visit the other Windmills on the hillside. We were pretty tired and they looked kind of far up on the hill but we decided “Why not”. Again, Google Maps was really handy getting us to the base of the steps up to the Windmill. From there, there were a few signs and some travellers that beat us to the punch and were heading down the steps. I didn’t find it to be too steep of a climb at all. The views were EXCELLENT; beautiful, sunny day on a Greek Isle. We then hiked up another 10mins to a lookout which is accessible by car.

 

In this picture, you can see Reflection in the distance to the right which gives an idea how far it is from the ship to Mykonos Town below the viewpoint.

 

Back to the Ship via SeaBus

After enjoying the views, we slowly hiked our way back down to the downtown harbour area. We decided to try the SeaBus back for 2E per person which saved us a short walk to the bus stop. We had to wait about 15mins for the SeaBus which left every hour at the top of the hour. The ride itself was ok other than it being pretty packed.

[Milhouse]

Back on Reflection (3:30pm)

We were back on the ship at 3:30pm even though all aboard was at 5:45pm; so we left a bit of port time on the table. I wish we did a bit more planning in terms of activities because we likely could have fit something else in (a beach or Delos). Mykonos (Chora) Town is extremely easy to do. If I had to do it over again, I’d probably pick a further out activity to do first and then end my day in Mykonos Town.

 

We finally felt some chilly fall weather as it was breezy and cold in the shadow of Reflection while we chatted with the staff manning the welcome back tent outside the ship.

 

We picked up some food from the Oceanview Cafe (afternoon snacks items only) and the Mast Grill and headed back to our cabin to people watch cruisers heading back to the ship from our balcony. The afternoon snack we grabbed, finger sandwiches, were kind of subpar. I’m assuming they were sitting on the tray for a while and the bread got a bit stale. The Mast Grill burger and fries were yummy as usual.

 

Sailaway was scheduled for 6pm but I think we departed around 5:30pm. Captain Bouzakis also indicated that he was getting off at the next stop, Athens, as his contract was ending. I didn’t catch the name of our new captain.

[Milhouse]

Dinner in the MDR (7pm)

We ended up just lounging in our cabin, watching the day turn into night, enjoying the lights on some of the islands we passed.

 

Dinner tip: You can ask for a cushion to give your chair a bit more backing.

 

Starters

I started with the Vitello Tonato which is thinly sliced roasted veal which I only found it ok. I think I was expecting somewhat bolder flavours. The slices were also so thinly sliced, I had to essentially scrape them off the plate.

I also had the Warm Goat Cheese Croustillant which I really enjoyed as I like goat cheese and I like spring rolls.

 

Wendy had the Chilled Seafood Salad which was refreshing but a bit light on the seafood.

 

H had the Cobb Salad which she enjoyed. The tradition blue cheese was replaced by cheddar and H had them dress it with the lemon vinaigrette instead of the blue cheese dressing.

 

N had the Creamy Celery Root Soup which he thought was unmemorable.

[Milhouse]

Dinner in the MDR (7pm) (continued)

 

Entrees

For my main, I had the Roasted Veal Medallions which I also only found ok. I was expecting the medallions to be a bit more tender. The bed of saffron risotto it was on was nice.

 

Wendy and H had the Aged Prime Rib of Beef which I’m usually leery of because I’m concerned it might be dry. However, both their cuts were pinky, moist, and tender so I think I kind of missed out.

 

N had the Chicken Chiquita which was basically a banana and ham stuffed chicken breast. Although it sounded a bit weird, he enjoyed it as an alternative to the red meat binge we’ve been on.

 

Dessert

I had the Biscuit Croustillant which was basically a chocolate wafer cookie. I’m not big chocolate guy but I quite enjoyed it.

 

Wendy, N&H had the Chocolate Souffle with vanilla frangelico sauce which was not on the menu but which our waiter recommended.

[Milhouse]

Reflection Theatre Show: Gareth Oliver (9pm early show)

After dinner we wandered a bit before heading to Reflection Theatre for this evening’s show, Gareth Oliver.

 

I wasn’t familiar with Gareth Oliver until the cruise. Apparently he’s is a ventriloquist that competed on Britain’s Got Talent the same year as Susan Boyle. I’m not sure if you’re thinking what I was thinking, which was “Who wants to see a ventriloquist?” But he was very entertaining. Just like Kennedy the previous night, Gareth slowly got the audience on his side during the first part of his show by using humour to address the common preconceived perception of a lame ventriloquist act.

 

However, his act was generally very quick and funny. It was a bit raunchy too with a few puns that likely went over people’s heads. He and his assistant/wife, Alice, both have great singing voices that they incorporated into their act. Gareth followed up this show with a mini-performance on the last day of the cruise in the Farewell Show (which I don’t think was as funny).

 

Glancing on his website, it looks like he’ll be rotating on Celebrity Reflection and a few other X ships the next year. Don’t look at too many of his videos because his act is fairly similar. I’d recommend checking him out. “I’m only 4 years old!” You’ll get that joke when you go see him.

 

Sizzle Interactive Theme Party at Sky Lounge (10:30pm)

After Gareth Oliver, we headed up to the Sky Lounge to watch another iteration of the interactive theme parties that featured the production dancers. It followed that same format with the dancers kicking it off for a few numbers, guests joining in, and then the dancers sneaking away after the party is started.

 

Tonight was a Latin dance theme and we liked the dancers’ outfits. We got there early and got some prime seating in front of the stage. The female asian contingent that was at essentially every dance event was there in full force. One issue we saw was this group kind of crowded into a couple’s personal space who also has some primo seating. The couple eventually left, with our thinking being because they felt a bit cramped by this group, and the group just took over the bulk of the front seating area area. Anyways, the perils of large groups on cruises…

 

We too left shortly after and did a quick stroll of some of the public areas before heading to bed.

We missed the Newlywed, Not-so-Newlywed Game that evening but caught it on repeat on the tv later.

[Milhouse]

Reflection got into Piraeus fairly early in the morning (6am) but we couldn’t be bothered to start our day in port that early after a somewhat late night. We got up at 8am, had a bit of breakfast at the Oceanview Cafe, and strolled around the Lawn before heading back down to the cabin to get ready for our day in port. Wendy was in Athens in February but was going to come into town with us.

 

Only the MSC Magnifica, who had been with us in previous ports, was in Piraeus with us that day adding an additional 2500 pax on top of us from Reflection.

 

Getting to Athens (9:30am)

We were docked at Cruise Terminal B “Themistocles” (we probably should have noted this down initially to be able to figure out how to get back :) ) and just walked off the ship and through the terminal. Piraeus being essentially a suburb, we needed to figure out how to get to the key sites in Athens. There was a taxi rank just across the parking lot. However, we decided to walk outside the port area to check out our options.

 

As we walked towards the gate (E12), a couple of taxis propositioned us along the road. They were asking for 5E per person for the four of us to get us to the Acropolis but we declined. As one was chatting with us, a motorcycle cop pulled up and started freaking out on him. I’m assuming taxis aren’t supposed to pick up passengers outside the rank.

 

Just outside the gate, there were HOHO busses. We’ve done HOHO’s a couple of times but it’s typically not our thing. They wanted about 27E for all day access.

 

In February, Wendy took a bus and metro combination into town and I was hoping to do that. The Rick Steves book outlines the process nicely and there was a bus stop just outside the gate but with the four of us, Wendy was thinking a taxi might be more efficient.

 

Near the bus stop, another taxi pulled up to see if we wanted to get a ride from him. We were able to get a quoted a price of 15E to the Acropolis. I was somewhat leery due to the reputation Athens taxi drivers had but we decide to just go for it. However, when we were about to jump in, a guard from the Port Gate came running over flipping out at the driver. We hinted that we would meet him down the block and there he was waiting for us. Our driver mentioned there’s a 500E fine for picking up pax. I think this also saved us a 1E per pax port surcharge.

 

Anyways, the taxi ride to the Acropolis was pretty uneventful. Traffic was pretty good and we got there in about 15 to 20mins; being dropped off in the parking lot. We didn’t get “overcharged” the 15E we negotiated but the meter did show 10.60E.

 

Acropolis, Vicinity, and Ancient Agora (10:30am)

The Acropolis was swarming with tourists.

TIP: It was dead in the afternoon. If we had to do it over again, I would have reversed our itinerary.

 

We walked up from the parking lot to the east entrance area. First item on the agenda was a washroom break for the girls which was near the entrance gate. Next stop was the ticket office which is not beside the entrance gate but maybe 50 yards away along with a snack shop, post office, currency exchange, etc. Tickets were 12E.

 

There’s probably not a lot of value describing what we saw walking up to the top; you just have to do it. I must say however, it was pretty cool in that pretty much any direction you looked in the distance, you could see interesting buildings or ruins. My highlight was the Parthenon which I’ve been wanting to see after viewing the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum.

 

After spending about 45mins at the top, we walked down and took some pictures from Mars Hill before heading over to the Ancient Agora area wander around for another 45mins or so.

 

Lunch

We exited Ancient Agora near Monastiraki and headed over to Monastiraki Square. It was pretty busy but also a bit seedy. We ended up grabbing 2E gyros from Bairaktaris (ΜΠΑΙΡΑΚΤΑΡΗΣ?) one of the corner shops on “Souvlaki Row”. The reviews online seemed mixed but I enjoyed mine enough that I had to go grab a second one.

 

Miscellaneous Wandering

After lunch, we explored the streets between Monastiraki Square and Syntagma Square, running into various churches/cathedrals. I really enjoyed Ermou Street because I love pedestrian friendly retail streets. At the end of the shopping street, we pitstopped for a few minutes at McDonalds.

 

After crossing the street to check out Syntagma Square and the Greek Parliament, N&H had enough and decided to head back to the shop. Wendy and I just continued to wander the streets in the neighbourhood. We ended up by the Temple of Olympian Zeus and just viewed the remaining standing columns from a far because we were too lazy to look for the entrance. We eventually found our way to Adianou Street which had a number of restaurants and shops. This led us back to the Acropolis. Our ticket from earlier in the day allowed us to enter from the West side which had more ruins to see and turtles. The Acropolis was sooo much less busy at that time of day. We didn’t go back up but we definitely agreed that we should have reversed our order and come here later in the day to give us a calmer experience with less people.

 

Back to the Ship (3:45pm)

We eventually walked back down towards the parking lot. Although we could have wandered more, we weren’t sure if we would get caught up in some kind of rush hour jam so to be safe, we decide to give ourselves A LOT of time (ie over an hour) to get back to the ship and head back now.

 

There were a number of parked taxis around. We generally hate trying to get a ride from a parked taxi because they generally charge an arm and a leg compared to one that has just dropped someone off and we could pop into. The first guy we asked wanted 25E to take us back to port. After we told him we paid 15E to get here in the first place, he got confirmation from some other guy and agreed to take us for 15E. Apparently, the guy he checked with was his boss. Our driver drove like a madman and there was no traffic so we got back to the ship just under 15mins.

 

My regret around Athens is that we weren’t more organized. H brought the Rick Steves book with her on her tablet but I probably would have liked to have access to my physical book to give us more defined options as we wandered. Eg. I regret missing going to the central market.

 

Sunset and Sailaway (5:30pm)

After getting back to the ship we headed back to the cabin and watched MSC’s Magnifica sailaway. After falling back to end Daylight Saving Time, sunset was pretty early now so we watched it at 5:30pm and listened to the announcement from the new captain. We were pretty much on time for sailaway at 6pm as all aboard was at 5:45pm and they lifted the gangway up once it looked like the pilot walked aboard. It was kind of a weird maneuvering out because of how we were docked, the size of Reflection, and the position of the breakwaters. We didn’t see the pilot boat from our cabin before we headed down for dinner though.

[Milhouse]

Dinner at Qsine (7pm)

We had dinner at Qsine tonight with N&H joining us. They weren’t in our original booking but they said that we could add them later and they could get our discount also. We had dropped by the previous day to let them know N&H were going to join us. At first counter person was concerned about adding another two for that time period but the manager walked by and said it wasn’t a problem. Qsine was pretty full the night we went so I can see why they were initially concerned. (Side note: There also was a short eight person line up at Blu.) There was never a time where there were people waiting to be seated but most of the seats were occupied throughout the night with tables turned around fairly quickly for the next group. I’m assuming the near full capacity slammed the kitchen. Dishes didn’t come out bang, bang, bang but that was fine by us as we were enjoying the ambiance.

 

Overall, we quite enjoyed Qsine’s expereince overall but found some of the dishes to be a bit hit and miss. We needed to be a bit more selective and strategic in our ordering as we went a bit overboard with our items. We were served by LindaDonna(?) and she was very nice, including the other staff that assisted her. She indicated that four guests should usually order 6-8 items and I feel that is pretty on target with the exception of M’s Favorites being a bit of a huge oddball in terms of dish size (see review below). Two things to also keep into consideration when ordering: (1) dish size varies quite a bit and (2) I’m not sure if this is standard but LindaDonna occasionally brought us out double the order of some dishes since there were four of us. Sometimes this worked out great for stuff we liked while other times it didn’t. I’d recommend either doing some research to get an idea what to order or to Qsine more than once.

Pictures were difficult because the room was so dark.

 

The little details in Qsine were pretty cool from the tumbler choices, to the mismatched chairs, and to the cutlery. While I love technology, I didn’t really love ordering from the iPads. I didn’t hate it but I felt the interface and how the menu was structured could have been better. With the dishes being so whimsical and dish size varying so much, it would have been nice to have pictures to aid in selection (you’re using an tablet for a menu, let’s make better use of it!).

 

Bread

The bread was small pull apart loaf which was nothing fancy. Save you stomach space. :D

 

Sushi Lollipops

Normally I’m pretty critical of the sushi I’ve had on cruise ships but I really enjoyed the sushi lollipops. However, I think there’s a reason for that. The lollipops were essentially pieces of maki (rolled) sushi on a stick. It came with two lollipops of four different types (ie eight pieces), some pickled ginger, one small serving of “sashimi bits” (I think… I wasn’t quick enough to grab it) and a mini squeeze bottle of wasabi mayo & a mini squeeze bottle of teriyaki (??) sauce (I didn’t add either to my lollipop). Part of the reason I think I enjoyed the sushi lollipops is that six of the eight pieces were rolled in some kind of crunchy covering. My biggest complaint about cruise ship sushi is that the rice is not up to snuff. Some may say it’s about the fish or other filling but for me a properly cooked and vinegared rice serves as the foundation. I think the crunchy covering hid potential deficiencies in the rice and made me less picky. Winner.

 

Treserviche

The Treserviche was essentially three shot glasses of different types of ceviche (shrimp & scallop, salmon, and sea bass) and a side of fries. Wendy and I (N&H hate ceviche… yay more for us) loved the flavours. Portion size was great. The fries were pretty tasty too. Winner.

 

Disco Shrimp

Disco Shrimp were pieces of shrimp with bits of avocado, tomato, and celery covered in a bit of sauce. Really enjoyed this dish as I love the shrimp and avocado flavour combination. LindaDonna brought out two orders for us which worked out well as the dishes were small. They were placed on fishbowls containing ice (I’m assuming to keep the shrimp chilled) and a flashing blue light (disco?). Honestly, I really could have done without the flashing blue light was went from whimsical to annoying after five seconds on the table. Winner.

 

“Popcorn” Fish ‘N’ Chips

Popcorn fish and chips were essentially small pieces of cod and some fried potato balls in a popcorn container you’d get from a movie theatres. I thought the serving size was fairly good for two with just enough pieces of each to satisfy a sampling of everything. Even for four, it was a good sampler. For condiments, it came with small bottles of tartar sauce and malt vinegar which were nice. Winner.

[Milhouse]

Dinner at Qsine (7pm) (continued)

 

Lava Crab

The description on the website said this was Alaska King Crab but I forget if it actually said that on the iPad menu or they replaced it.

A simple description of this dish would be a fried crab ball completely wrapped in kataifi (a stringy pastry) covered in sauce. While we love crab and wanted this to be a winner, it was a miss for us because we didn’t enjoy the kataifi nor the flavours in general. LindaDonna brought out two servings (ie two balls) for us as I guess it’s logical to just split the balls down the middle and serve a half to each person. But since it was a miss, it ended up being too much of something we all didn’t really like. Miss.

 

Spring Rolls

Normally I love spring rolls but these were a miss for me. The serving size was four medium sized spring rolls, each placed in a metal spring, a side of slaw, and small bottle of sauce as a condiment. There’s a baby back meaty version and a veggie version. While I found the wrapper quite nice, I just thought the baby back spring rolls “too meaty”. N thought they were a bit dry. Personally, I generally like the filling in my spring rolls to be more minced while I think the filling here was more like larger pieces/strips. Maybe I would have liked the veggie spring rolls better which I didn’t try. I think four medium sized spring rolls filled with all that meat was pushing it in terms of serving size for two. The slaw was nice though. Miss.

 

Soupe & Souffle

I’m not a big souffle fan so I’m not sure why I ordered this. lol

The dish came with three very small (shot glass sized) souffles (crab & asparagus, lobster & corn, and cheddar cheese) accompanied by three test tubes of soup (celery root, green pea, and tomato basil). I think were were told we were supposed to pour the soup onto the souffles. While the soups were a bit mixed for me, I thought the souffles were pretty good. Service size for two was reasonable IMO. Mixed.

 

M’s Favourites

M’s favourites was my downfall. It seems like Qsine’s signature dish because they always display it; multiple small dishes in a 3x4 rack. However, it’s kind of a bad choice IMO because it comes with 12 different items and you’re kind locked in with dishes you like and others you may not like. IMO, it’s better to see if they can grab you an item or two that might interest you from the list of 12 instead of bringing the whole rack. Again, LindaDonna doubled up on a few items. I did like a few items namely the Zathaar lamb chops and goat cheese cigars but everything else was kind of unmemorable. Big miss.

 

Lobster Escargot

By now, we were just stuffed. However, Wendy didn’t really get to order any of her dishes and she really wanted to try the lobster escargot. H had never had escargot and kind of wanted to try it. N didn’t want to touch the stuff. Since I messed up with M’s favourites, we decided to order the lobster escargot for Wendy.

It came with six escargot pieces and four cone shaped brioche(?) buns. I liked the parsley garlic butter but I think I like traditional escargot better. Wendy and H thought it was ok. Just OK.

[Milhouse]

Dinner at Qsine (7pm) (continued)

 

Strawberries on a Stick and Creme Brulee/Coffee Custard in an Egg Shell

Instead of an amuse bouche to start dinner, Qsine has a couple of signature post dinner snacks. The first is chocolate covered strawberries on a stick served from a tray of “grass” (strawberry fields). The other is a creme brulee/coffee custard in a plastic egg shell. I didn’t have a strawberry but I’m told it was good though not super sweet. The custard was nice.

 

Qsine Surprise

I wanted the Silver Bullet but to give us some variety I ordered the Qsine Surprise which ended up being a brownie covered in chocolate sauce in a small pot and a side pail of vanilla ice cream with chocolate bits. It was only ok for me as I found it a bit too chocolatey.

 

Cupcakes

Wendy ordered the cupcakes which arrived in a multi-piece compartmentalized lunch pail. It came with two cupcakes and a variety of frostings and toppings to dress them up with. The concept is kind of fun but flavour wise, it was only ok. Wendy had to pack these to go to eat later because she was stuffed.

 

Silver Bullet

H had the Silver Bullet which was three different types of gelato with mixed berries and chocolate served in a shiny stainless steel container shaped as… you guessed it, a bullet. She enjoyed her dessert and I think it was the winner amongst the three we had.

[Milhouse]

Dancing with the Officers in the Grand Foyer (10:30pm)

After dinner, we caught a bit of Dancing with the Officers Dance Competition in the Grand Foyer. It was pretty funny and extremely popular. Get there early for a good sightline.

 

Reflection Theatre Show: Lindsay Hamilton (11pm late show)

We went to the late show for Lindsay Hamilton whose claim to fame is performing in British musical theatre. Even though it was a sea day tomorrow, only a third to half the theatre was filled. Even as a generally non-musical theatre type guy, I really appreciated her beautiful, powerful voice. She was also very engaging and light-hearted with her banter with the audience which enhance the experience. My regret is that not all the songs were familiar to me. I quite enjoyed the songs that I did recognize. As with other shows, it went for an hour and she was back by the Reflection Orchestra.

Lindsay followed up with a mini performance on the last day of the cruise in the Farewell Show.

 

Settling in for the Night

We ended up with green luggage tags. We wanted to self disembark so we checked with Guest Services who said if we could then ignore the luggage tags.

[Milhouse]

Overall, this last sea day was quite a lazy day for us as we did not do very much. We woke up around 9am and grabbed breakfast in the Oceanview Cafe. Cell coverage was great again as we entered the Messina Strait and remained good for the rest of the trip.

 

There was another galley tour today at 10:30am which surprised me.

We missed the Star Chefs Cooking Competition at 11:30am in Reflection Theatre. We watched a similar event on a previous cruise on Equinox and it was entertaining as it was an Iron Chef mimicked show.

 

H went off to do the final scrapbooking activity of the cruise. However, they had an issue; they did not have enough scrapbooking kits for the last kit in the series. Apparently they didn’t receive a shipment. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a solution for the issue and they were essentially at a stalemate until someone guests decided to leave. Anyways, I’m not sure what a better solution would have been.

 

After H did scrapbooking N and I ended up at the Paper Aircraft Folding Class. I think it was a bit of a stretch to call this an activity but there was a more than a dozen people here. They gave out sheets of paper for you to build two paper airplanes with the goal of launching them in the Grand Foyer an hour later to see who’s went the furthest. We built a couple of planes but didn’t make it to the Grand Foyer for launch. I’ve got to say the activities staff seem pretty precise in terms of starting on time (which I’m assuming you kind of have to in order to keep a schedule of events going on throughout the ship continuously).

 

The Gift Shops had a Bella Perlina (Pandora-like) bracelet, bead, and charm sale in Entertainment Court on deck 4 at 12:15pm that H really wanted to attend. It was a one hour sale for items up to 70% off. It was a madhouse with a number of tables set up and people grabbing everything. I safely observed from deck 5.

 

Looking for one more activity to do before a late lunch Wendy and I headed up to the pool to watch the Officers vs Guests Pool Volleyball featuring Drew and Mickey for the officers. It was fun times as it was another opportunity for guests to interact with the crew. There was a large crowd watching the game. The officers built up a good lead but they eventually kind of seemed to throw the game. No big deal as it’s just for fun and it was an entertaining event.

 

After the game, we headed over to the Aqua Spa Cafe to check out their selection for the day. We grabbed a bowl of the Chilled Tomato Watermelon Gazpacho which was delicious. This kind of tied us over until we decided where we wanted to go for lunch.

 

We headed over to The Porch to check out the menu selection for the day and nothing really stood out for us so we decided to head to Bistro on 5 since Wendy prefers crepes over paninis.

[Milhouse]

Lunch at Bistro on 5 (2pm)

After a quick pitstop at the cabin, we finally headed to Bistro on 5 for a late lunch.

 

Overall, we really enjoy eating at Bistro on 5. While it doesn’t have an extensive variety of different items to choose from (crepes, salads, a soup of the day, and desert), the selection kind of hits the spot for us as an alternative to the other venues. I can see us hitting Bistro on 5 for lunch on embarkation day as an alternative to the Oceanview Cafe on our next cruise.

 

We were served by a couple of staff members because they were in a bit of a flux as with some of them needing to run off to work other events throughout the ship. We ended up with Marlon at the end who was very personable and took the time to answer our numerous questions about life working on Reflection.

 

Starters

I started with the Daily Soup which was a cream of mushroom and came with a piece of grilled bread. If I’m not mistaken, I think The Porch was serving it cream of mushroom too. It wasn’t spectacular but I enjoyed the soup because it was “creamy.” (It’s a pet peeve of mine when cream of X soups are more brothy than creamy.) It was a fair sized bowl of soup.

 

Wendy had a Nicoise Salad which we both enjoyed. Without getting into the argument of what’s in a traditional nicoise salad, it had many of the ingredients we looking for: tuna, anchovies, eggs, etc. It was fairly large and getting close to entree size IMO.

 

Crepes

I ordered the Spicy Italian, particularly for the sausage but I liked all the ingredients. Loved it. If I didn’t kill myself with the large bowl of soup, would have probably ordered another crepe.

 

Wendy had the Mediterranean which she enjoyed also.

 

Both crepes came with a small side salad bowl of mixed veg; tomatoes, olives, carrots, cucumber, etc drizzled with oil and vinegar I think. Tasty.

 

I’m not sure if they changed policy but we kind of ran into a roadblock when trying to customize our crepes. Based on our last cruise, we thought we pretty much had carte blanche in terms of customizing the ingredients in our crepes but this time we were told customization was limited to the Build Your Own section. Oh well, no big deal because the pre-defined list was fine.

 

On the flipside, they said they were happy to make us half sized crepes which I’m assuming they just built with half as much filling (??).

 

Dessert

I had the Creme Brulee particularly because it was the best creme brulee of all the venues I had on Equinox. This one was good too but I would have liked a better caramelization job on top (me being picky).

 

Wendy had the Italian dessert crepe of nutella, banana, and pistachio which came with a bit of whipped cream. I`m not a big fan of those flavours but Wendy liked her crepe.

[Milhouse]

Dinner in MDR Formal Night (7pm)

There wasn`t a lot of activities in the afternoon that appealed to us so we just wandered and lounged in our cabin until dinner time. The last five days were go-go-go port days so it was nice just have some down time.

 

Tonight was the second formal night of the cruise and had the “fanciest” menu of the cruise including: Lobster tail, Beef Wellington, and Baked Alaska. They also did the traditional parade of waiters and staff as one opportunity to guests to show their appreciation.

TIP: If on the upper deck of the MDR, ask for a table by the railing if you want a better view of the presentation with staff grouping on and around the stairs connecting the upper and lower dining floors.

 

I’d estimate about 25 to 33% of the men were wearing tuxes.

 

Appetizers

I shared the Creamy Salmon Rillette with Wendy which was essentially a pate/spread. We enjoyed it but thought it was a too much rillette for one person as a starter.

 

Next, I had the Creamy Smoked Tomato Bisque which I thought was ok/good but I was a bit disappointed in that it didn’t match up to a similar soup I order at a local greasy spoon which is way smokier in taste and the basil sweetness more intense.

 

Wendy had the Oysters Rockerfeller which came in a set of three. I had the oysters rockerfeller on the Equinox and was disappointed by them so I warned her about ordering them. (I think I just like raw oysters.) Wendy thought they were ok but nothing special.

 

To get some veggies, I also had the Kale Salad. Kale being the “in” leafy veg nowadays, I also wanted to get some ideas on how to incorporate kale in our meals (apart from kale chips and throwing it into soups). Apart from the salad substituting kale with romaine, it was pretty good as it had the other ingredients, dried cherries and caramelized pecans, I was looking forward to.

 

H had the Creamy Salmon Rillette also and thought it was ok.

 

N had the Chilled Pea Soup which he did not like and didn’t finish.

Edited February 24, 2014 by Milhouse

[Milhouse]

Dinner in MDR Formal Night (7pm) (continued)

 

Entrees

Having been disappointed with the lobster on Equinox, I opted for the Beef Wellington for my main. Apart from being a bit more done that the medium rare I was looking forward to I enjoyed it. The duchess potatoes looked cool but was a bit dry for my liking.

 

Wendy, N&H all had the Broiled Caribbean Lobster Tail. I think their review kind of summarizes the inconsistency you can occasionally get from the same entree as Wendy thought her lobster tail was dry, N thought his was ok, while H thought hers was perfectly good.

 

The staff recognition was occurring as we were being served our entrees and the lighting was pretty variable, hence one timing issue with Select Dining.

 

Dessert

I skipped dessert while Wendy had some kind of pastry I didn’t write down.

 

N&H had the Baked Alaska because “You have to have the baked alaska.” They enjoyed the ice cream in the middle and the meringue on the outside but the sponge cake didn’t do anything for them. That was my impression also the first time I had it.

[Milhouse]

Reflection Theatre Show: Reflection The Show (9pm early show)

Get here early! The theatre filled up quickly and was PACKED for the early show save for the reserved seating(?) in the centre upper balcony. The theatre also has some bad seats which we were able to avoid by arriving early; namely seats behind structural columns and seats that are a third the regular seat width (the result of jamming in the odd seat in a row due to spacing).

 

The show as excellent as I enjoyed all the different acts, the music, the costumes. There’s even a bit of a twist which I won’t give away but it’s easy enough to figure out. This show was very Cirque du Soleil-esque, which I’m generally not that huge of a fan of, but it was packaged together very well in terms of music and variety of performances that was really entertaining to me.

 

Apart from the performances of the production singers and dancers, there were:

• An “acrobat” who did all kinds of amazing balancing tricks & maneuvers with a ladder and later coming back out doing some more amazing tricks with a six foot diameter hoop.
  
• A pretty standard aerial routine with a couple who later came back out to do some strength & agility moves
  
• A contortionist who showed a lot of strength & agility and did one trick that kind of blew your mind
  
• Another aerial routine, this time with three girls. I’m pretty sure a couple of the dancers pull double duty in the air.
  

 

 

With the itinerary being a bit different that what I’m used to with the second last day being a sea day and the last day being a port day, instead of the reverse, I felt this show was kind of THE BIG finale show for the cruise, whereas the Farewell Show was a bit anti-climatic IMO.

 

Halloween Dance Party at Sky Lounge (10:30pm)

After the show, we kind of puttered around the ship taking pictures until the Halloween Dance Party in Sky Lounge.

 

Although Halloween was the next night, about a dozen people dressed up for the costume contest and did a costume march hosted by Mickey. I have to applaud everyone that took the effort to bring a costume on the cruise as I wanted to but never got around to packing one. A lady dressed as a belly dancer won best costume.

Batman: You had my vote! ;)

 

Wrapping up for the Night

After a bit of dancing at the Halloween Party, Wendy and I wandered the ship top down to take pictures. Normally, we do this on the last night but changed plans to tonight with the last day being a port day and the fact we had an early flight the day of departure.

It was nice that they put out Halloween decorations in the Grand Foyer. I’m curious where they got all the pumpkins from.

 

Final note before bed: We had to set our clocks one hour back, back to Italy’s time zone before heading to bed.

[Milhouse]

Arriving into Naples and Starting the Day

We didn’t wake up early enough to see us sail into port at 7am. However, we were awoken by the mechanical sounds and sirens related to getting the port’s gangway configured to Reflection. Our starboard cabin faced the terminal and we had a bit of a view of the castle

 

We headed up to the Oceanview Cafe for some breakfast and took our time getting off the ship. In retrospect, I wished we would have gotten off a bit earlier as because I felt a bit rushed at the end of the day, wanting to explore Naples a bit more.

 

Into Port and to Pompeii (9:15am)

We finally got moving and off the ship at 9:15am. The weird part was that the gangway was through Cellar Masters. We headed through the terminal pretty quickly as Wendy stopped in Naples during our February cruise so she generally knew where she was going. There appeared to be a TI in the terminal, which I like to stop at to get maps, but we just skipped it because the line was kind of long.

 

We didn’t really come to a decision on where to go while in port until breakfast. The choices for us were really Pompeii and Herculaneum. Although she went to Pompeii, she was agreeable to going back since the weather was somewhat miserable the day she went. I’ve been wanting to go since I was in grade 3 and we studied volcanoes and Pompeii. So, we ended up going to Pompeii even though we read the ruin were better preserved in Herculaneum.

 

After we exited the terminal, we exited the port area, crossed the street, and headed to a tobacchi shop. I led us to what seemed to be a larger one on the right but they didn’t carry the day pass we were looking for. We went back to a smaller one on the left that Wendy went to in February and were able to buy the 8.40E all day local pass we were looking for which was valid for the tram (and buses?) (normally 3.60E for a day pass) in Naples and the Circumvesuviana train to get to Pompeii (normally 2.80E each way).

 

The end of the tram line was just outside the tobacchi shop but we just missed one after buying our day passes. My mistake in going to the wrong tobacchi shop ended up costing us about 30mins because the next tram tool about 20-25mins to arrive at 9:45am. I’m not sure if there was a problem or if the frequency is that slow. I’m assuming the former because a bunch of trams seemed to be arriving soon after ours left. The trams run at grade so I can see them being impacted by traffic issues. Needless to say, our tram was CROWDED! If we were thinking on our feet, we could have option to jump on a bus (601), a few of which we saw pass by.

 

Word of caution: Walking across the street in Naples seems like playing Frogger (I’m dating myself). The best piece of advice from Rick Steves book was to find a local crossing the street and tag along with them! :D

 

It was about a 25min ride to the Corso Garibaldi train station. It would have been walkable instead of the tram but it would have been a bit of a hike which, if you’re trying to hurry to Pompeii, is probably not a great idea. The train station was a pretty non-descript building and I probably wouldn’t have known to get off unless Wendy told us to (or researched it). Once inside, we basically looked at the boards looking for a train to Sorrento. There was one leaving within a few mins (10:12am) so we ran for it down the stairs. We had to put our passes through the turnstile and fortunately it worked.

 

The Circumvesuviana train’s cars were not fancy; more configured like a commuter train with 2x2 seating facing each other. It was pretty full also with locals and tourists. Being so full, it did put me a bit on edge with reports of pickpocketing being prevalent on this route. With the weather being clear and sunny, we had nice views of Mount Vesuvius from the train towards the latter half of the trip. The journey took us about half an hour and was pretty non-eventful.

 

Pompeii (11am to 2pm)

After arriving at Pompeii Scavi, we pretty much followed the crowds to the right (though Wendy knew the way) and found the entrance to Pompeii site and its ticket booths (11E tix). There’s probably no value in describing Pompeii in my eyes; you just have to go to experience it yourself. However, I would say that I enjoyed myself roaming around as much of the grounds that I could; particularly since it was a beautiful day. We took our time, saw a lot of the grounds, and finally called it after three hours. Interestingly, the Rick Steves book also estimated giving a tour three hours so I think it’s pretty bang on if you want fully explore the grounds. One annoying issue was that we occasionally ran into a dead end where they were doing maintenance in an area and we had to backtrack.

[Milhouse]

Back to Naples and L' Antica Pizzeria da Michele (3pm)

The trip back to Naples was pretty uneventful. As we arrived to Pompeii station side of the tracks, it was pretty logical that we had to cross under to the other side’s platform to catch the train back to Naples but there seemed to be a bunch of people that were pretty confused on which platform to wait for the train.

 

We must have just missed a train because it took a while for the next one to arrive and there wasn’t a lot of people waiting. While I’d consider looking up the train schedule as a lessoned learned to limit our wait time, my impression of Italian trains are always late so I’m not sure how much good that would be. :D

 

After arriving back in Naples, the next plan of action was to find L' Antica Pizzeria da Michele for our Neapolitan pizza fix. It was a 10min walk from Corso Garibaldi train station. We used Google Maps and it was bang on. With some many pizzerias to choose from, we ended up targeting da Michele because it showed up on pretty much all top 10 pizza lists I researched. With time for only one pizza meal in Naples, I wanted to go for a relatively safe bet.

 

Unfortunately, there was a bit of a line up even at 3pm. It was long enough to make Wendy consider doing take out, concerned that waiting for a table would push being back about Reflection in time for our 6:15pm departure. I thought this was nuts considering we had three hours. However, I relented, Wendy ordered our pies for take out, and by the time Wendy came back out with them the line had me it to us being next in line. Ugghh!! Oh well, so we ended up eating our pies off the pizza box in front of the restaurant.

 

Wendy and I each had a Margherita while N&H split one. They were classic Neapolitan style which, in my books meant a thin, relatively soft crust, with close to soupy tomato sauce topping. In reality, there’s actually a certification standard. They were tasty pies. There were spots of charring around the pizza, that is indicative of a hot oven, which adds a smoky flavour to the crust. The tomato sauce, cheese, and splash of sunflower oil (I read they use sunflower oil instead of olive oil?!?) was great blend of sweet gooeyness. I really enjoyed my pizza though I wouldn’t consider it the best pizza I’ve ever had. Top 5 though.

 

Rick Steves “A Slice of Neapolitan Life” Walk back to Reflection (3:45pm to 4:50pm)

Having wolfed down our pies so quickly, we still had another 2.5 hours before we had to be back on the ship. The Rick Steves book had a walk that ended by da Michele so we decided to walk it in reverse. However, we had to streamline it a bit as was slated for 3 hours including stops and food.

 

We did the bulk of the Spaccanapoli part of the walk and it was very interesting. We detoured a bit generally headed in the direction of the ship. Parts of the walk seemed somewhat dark as it was difficult for a lot of sunlight to penetrate down to street level. This likely added to a bit of the seedy feel it had. Personally, I did not feel unsafe but I did feel I had to be on my toes. That was our general feeling in Naples and Wendy did not want me to keep my SLR out dangling so most of my pictures in Naples are off my phone camera. However, how “bad” can this area be when we ran into a couple of large walking tour groups. Although the area is essentially pedestrian friendly, there are the odd crazy scooters zipping up & down the lanes and cars going up lanes where people had to go into the stores to allow enough room to pass. (It wasn’t as bad as Bangkok though. :D)

 

Once we had the port area relatively within sight we slowed it down, picked up some supplies at a grocery store, and bought some souvenirs (fridge magnets) at a couple of stands. Personally, I enjoyed the walk but wished we timed it better so that we could have enjoyed the neighbourhoods more. We made it back to the shop by around 4:50pm. For some reason, they had us a bunch of us take some weird routing through the building, down the stairs, and board at the lower part of the ship (deck 2?) instead of where we got off through Cellar Masters. Back in our cabin, we saw people boarding through Cellar Masters again so I’m not sure what the deal our detour was all about.

 

Sailaway (6:15pm)

All aboard was 6am with sailaway 15mins later and we left on time as no one appeared late for the ship (from watching sailaway from our cabin). We watched the pilot boat sail beside us to the breakwater and the pilot finally left around 6:25pm.

Edited February 24, 2014 by Milhouse

[Milhouse]

Dinner in the MDR (6:45pm)

As with everything that evening, dinner was pretty anti-climatic as the whole night was about winding down for the night and the trip in general. Last night being the formal night, it was way more festive… apart from the few folks that dressed up in Halloween costumes to eat in the MDR. :D

 

Starters

I started with the Crispy Salt Cod Bacalao Croquettes which were quite tasty. With only three to a plate, I probably could have had more if I didn’t also order a soup.

 

I also ordered the Creamy Shellfish Bisque which was ok but kind of a let down as both Wendy and I were hoping a deeper seafood flavour.

 

I needed to keep getting some veggies so I ordered the Mixed Greens and Red Pepper Salad.

 

Wendy had the Fluke Cerviche which she found ok; fairly refreshing.

 

H also had and enjoyed the Crispy Salt Cod Bacalao Croquettes and Creamy Shellfish Bisque like me.

 

N wasn’t feeling so hot so he just asked for a fruit platter to start.

[Milhouse]

Dinner in the MDR (6:45pm) (continued)

 

Entrees

Nothing really caught my eye as a main so I just went with the recommended Lamb Shank “Tagine Style”. It was a lot of meat. And I think I just confirmed I don’t love braised meat.

 

Wendy and H had crusted flounder which they only found ok. Nothing special but any time the fish is not overdone is generally considered a win.

 

N had Southern Herb Roasted Half Chicken which he found pretty dry.

 

Dessert

Wendy and I split a Creme Brulee and Apple Pie a la Mode from the everyday favourites menu. The creme brulee was good as usual (not spectacular). The apple pie was just ok for me as I’m not that big of a fan of apple pie to begin with.

 

H had lemon meringue tart which she enjoyed.

[Milhouse]

Reflection Theatre: A Voyage to Remember Show (9pm late show)

The activity schedule was pretty light this evening. We caught the tail end of the Everybody Dance! competition in the Grand Foyer where guests were paired up with a production dancer partner. It was pretty popular and difficult to get a good sightline as was any (dance) activity happening in the Grand Foyer area.

 

We finally made it to the theatre for the farewell show and it was pretty anti-climatic as previously mentioned. The Celebrity orchestra played a few numbers, Lindsay Hamilton sing a few more songs (with some background video), and Gareth Oliver, the ventriloquist, did another 20mins. It was an hour show. Again, enjoyed Lindsay Hamilton’s voice. Wished her selection of songs resonated with me more though. Gareth’s follow up wasn’t as funny for me but a lot of people seemed to enjoy it.

 

Drew did a duet with one of the production singers (I think) (he has a very good voice himself), said the farewells, and that was that.

 

Wrapping up for the Night (10:15pm to 11pm)

The line for guest services was SUPER long. If you thought you’d beat the day of departure rush by going the night before, think again. It’s probably best to try to sort out any issues you have during the sea day.

 

No wandering the ship to take pictures on the last night as is our normal tradition because we had to pretty much complete our pack that evening because of our early departure & flight the next day. We were going to self disembark so we kept our luggage in our room of course.

[Milhouse]

Breakfast and Disembarkation

We woke up at 5:45am in order to grab a bit of food from the Oceanview Cafe before our 7:01am transfer with Rome Cabs was for 7:01am which we booked in order to make our 10:20am flight. We started to head off the ship from our cabin around 6:45am and there was no line up to get off. The only issue was that the elevator got a bit cramped with us, our luggage, and a few other folks in there with their luggage. The gangway was on Deck 2.

 

We just rolled right through the luggage tent to the other side and easily found our Rome Cabs driver who was already waiting for us (prior to our 7:01am booking time) with a sign with my name. I’m pretty happy with the transfer service since it got us shipside pickup versus having to bus it back to the port gate to grab a cab there.

 

Civitavecchia to FCO Terminal 3 (6:55am to 7:40am)

Our drive from Civitavecchia to FCO Terminal 3 was uneventful. The drive took 45mins and was a comfortable ride with a lot of space for the four of us. Even though Friday was a public holiday (All Saints Day) Marco, our driver said the road to the airport is always clear. There two tolls: a 1.10E and a 2.30E toll along the way that Marco paid for.

Rome Cabs completely met expectations and did not let us down considering this was a somewhat tight and important transfer. Highly recommended even though they’re one of the more pricier transfer services.

 

We were flying Vueling (a Spanish low cost carrier (LCC)) to Barcelona. There was a two person wait at check-in. After a quick washroom break, we headed to security where there was about a 15 person queue. After a passport and boarding pass check by initial security, there was about a 10 person queue for the x-ray. All told, we made it past security just past 8am while taking our time.

 

We essentially made it to the airport easily 2 hours (in fact 2.5hrs) before our 10:20am flight. If we self-disembarked at 6:30am and paid the Rome Cabs surcharge for a pre-7am booking, we probably could have made a pre-10am flight. I’m not necessarily advocating it; just saying that it is within the realm of possibilities. Your appetite for risk/reward will vary.

 

Flight to Barcelona/BCN

All that rushing and our flight was slightly delayed. :D Complicating matters, they took forever to post our gate number.

We found Vueling to be a decent LCC, particularly for a short 1.5hr hop. I found the legroom a bit tight. However, we would consider flying Vueling again.