Vista Athens-Barcelona 7/19/16 Review - Pictures Included

[nybumpkin]

Absolutely loving your review. Thank you so much.

Glad you're enjoying it!

[ginjer2911]

Amazing review! Love seeing your pictures and all that you were able to see. new to the bucket list....med cruise.

[lettienets]

Thanks for posting review and wonderful pix. So enjoyable.

 

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[nybumpkin]

Like Civitavecchia, Livorno is a very industrial port. We had to meet our tour at 8 a.m., so we were up early on Lido for breakfast. We were greeted with the Invasion of the Towel Animals, which definitely were hogging the deck chairs! We saw this last year on Carnival Breeze, and in that time the stewards have become even more creative.

 

449 Livorno Dock by baxted, on Flickr

Livorno Port

 

450 Lido Towel Animals by baxted, on Flickr

Towel Animals

 

451 LIdo towel animals by baxted, on Flickr

Lots of Towel Monkeys

 

454 red Frog by baxted, on Flickr

The Frog, outside Red Frog Rum Bar

 

453 Lido towel monkeys by baxted, on Flickr

Towel Monkeys

 

455 Lido towel animals by baxted, on Flickr

Hanging out at the bar.

[nybumpkin]

Amazing review! Love seeing your pictures and all that you were able to see. new to the bucket list....med cruise.

This is definitely a bucket list cruise. My problem is the more I get to see, the more I want to see.:cool:

 

Thanks for posting review and wonderful pix. So enjoyable.

I hope you have a great time on your B2B! I'd love to do that cruise, but the timing just didn't work for us.

[nybumpkin]

For this day, we booked Carnival’s “Florence and Pisa On Your On,” which provides you bus transportation to both cities and free time to explore. We had a very good guide on our bus. The downside: since we did not know whether we would visit Florence or Pisa first, we could not book advance tickets for the Duomo or the Accademia in Florence, and the lines were too long to buy tickets that day. We visited Pisa first – about an hour drive from Livorno. Once at Pisa, we had 50 minutes to explore before we met our guide for the walk back to the bus. We did not go inside the buildings – just walked around. There were the usual people taking photos of themselves pushing the tower upright, but that’s just not for me.

 

459 Pisa City Wall by baxted, on Flickr

Pisa City Walls

 

460 Cathedral and Tower, Pisa by baxted, on Flickr

Cathedral and tower. I was shooting into the sun, but I have better tower pictures.

 

464 PIsa by baxted, on Flickr

Pisa tower

 

471 Boys, Pisa by baxted, on Flickr

The guys with the tower

 

472 Baptistry, PIsa by baxted, on Flickr

Baptistry

 

475 Cathedral, Pisa by baxted, on Flickr

Pisa Cathedral

[nybumpkin]

We were dropped off in Florence at Piazza Santa Croce, with instructions to meet at a particular store on the piazza about 3 hours later.

 

482 Santa Croce, Florence by baxted, on Flickr

Santa Croce Church

 

480 Piazza Santa Croce, Florence by baxted, on Flickr

Piazza Santa Croce

 

First we stopped for lunch on one of the streets headed to the river – pasta with pesto for me (and a half carafe of the house red wine), salad for DH, and pizza for the sons. (Younger son got his pizza “diavolo,” with some of the hottest pepperoni he’s ever had.) Then a walk down to the river and over to the Ponte Vecchio. Very crowded.

 

486 Boys, Ponte Vecchio, Florence by baxted, on Flickr

Sons, Ponte Vecchio

 

Then a walk over to the Piazza della Signoria, with its replica David taking the place of the original. We also stopped here for gelato – and they were very generous servings of gelato.

 

488 Palazzo Vecchio, Florence by baxted, on Flickr

Plazzo Vecchio

 

491 Steve and Gelato by baxted, on Flickr

Gelato. Seventh heaven.

 

497 Florence by baxted, on Flickr

Florence Street

[nybumpkin]

Finally, a walk over to Duomo and its beautiful baptistery (the enjoyment of which was somewhat marred by the crowds of people sitting on the steps in front of the magnificent bronze doors by Ghiberti and Pisano). Then back to Piazza Santa Croce, where I did some shopping – extra virgin olive oil and a tomato-basil spread.

 

498 Duomo, Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore by baxted, on Flickr

Duomo, Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore

 

499 Duomo, Florence by baxted, on Flickr

Cathedral facade and bell tower

 

501 Baptistry, Duomo Florence by baxted, on Flickr

Baptistery, bronze doors

 

504 Baptistery, Duomo, Florence by baxted, on Flickr

Baptistery

 

509 Boys, Piazza Santa Croce, Florence by baxted, on Flickr

The guys, Piazza Santa Croce

 

511 Piazza Santa Croce, Florence by baxted, on Flickr

Piazza Santa Croce

 

A note about pickpockets and panhandlers: before we traveled we knew that many European cities have problems with pickpockets. In fact, John Heald had written about this issue on his Facebook page, noting his own experience in Barcelona some years earlier and a couple in Florence on one of Vista’s earlier cruises who had lost all of their money and credit cards to pickpockets. DH and I put together a plan. He wears compression stockings, so he took a small wallet for our cash and his photo ID and placed it well down one of his stockings. I used a cross-body purse with a zippered compartment inside another zippered compartment for my photo ID and a credit card. Older son had a backpack – but just for our water and sunscreen. Twice in Florence he caught someone trying to get into the backpack. We found the panhandlers particularly aggressive – if you said “no,” they would try to wear you down until you gave them some change. One actually hit DH on the nose with her cup. About all you could do was move away from where you were sitting or standing.

 

We had a good time on this tour, but if I were to do it over again I would book a tour similar to what we did in Rome – small group with a driver and advance tickets. Nothing to do with pickpockets, but everything to do with maximizing our time. I would have liked to have had "skip the line" tickets in Florence.

[nybumpkin]

This evening was the second cruise elegant night. It had been another long day so we again ended with a walk on Promenade, drinks, and music.

 

515 Leaving Livorno by baxted, on Flickr

Leaving Livorno

 

513 Kathy, Balcony by baxted, on Flickr

Yours truly, on the balcony

 

516 Towel Animal, Florence by baxted, on Flickr

Towel animal Livorno

[lettienets]

The invasion of the towel animals were super pix. What a trip of a lifetime for your boys!

 

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[nybumpkin]

The invasion of the towel animals were super pix. What a trip of a lifetime for your boys!

Thank you! We've always been happy that we've been able to give our sons a love of travel.

[lettienets]

Thank you! We've always been happy that we've been able to give our sons a love of travel.

Not just love of travel, love of learning. Lucky boys.

 

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[nybumpkin]

Our last port of call. Mercifully, we did not dock until 9 a.m., so we could sleep in a bit. When I looked out, we were sailing by some amazing coastline as we approached Marseille. Just beautiful.

 

519 Shore near Marseilles by baxted, on Flickr

Shore, approaching Marseille

 

521 Shore near Marseilles by baxted, on Flickr

Shore near Marseille

 

525 Marseilles Harbor by baxted, on Flickr

Entering Marseille harbor

 

528 Marseilles Harbor by baxted, on Flickr

Inside the breakwall, Marseille

 

529 Marseilles Harbor by baxted, on Flickr

View from the pier

 

526 Forward Mast, Marseilles by baxted, on Flickr

Forward mast, Marseille

[nybumpkin]

We had booked a “Best of Provence” tour through ItalyTours.eu, the same agent we used for our Rome tour. The tour was provided by Provence Connection and I can’t say enough good things about them. Chris, our guide, met us as we exited the ship. In Marseille, the independent tour operators are not permitted to park near the ship, so we had to walk down the pier to a parking lot. This was an issue for us when we returned, but I understand – the tour companies that have contracts with Carnival get the rights to parking close to the ship.

 

Our tour was to visit four towns: Avignon, home of the Palace of the Popes; St. Remy-de-Provence, where Van Gogh was once treated (and where he painted Starry Night) and the birthplace of Nostradamus; Les Baux-de-Provence, a beautiful medieval village and the site of the discovery of the ore Bauxite; and Arles, an ancient Roman city and also a place where Van Gogh painted (and where he cut off his ear).

[nybumpkin]

We headed first to Avignon; as Chris explained, the town hosts a huge music and arts festival each July, and the streets are shut down between 1 p.m. and the early hours of the next morning, so we needed to be there early. We walked through the old town, past the Palace of the Popes (DH and sons thought it looked like the castle in Monty Python and the Holy Grail) and then drove over for a view of Pont d’Avignon on the Rhone River.

 

536 Palace of the Popes, Avigon by baxted, on Flickr

Palace of the Popes

 

542 Overlooking Avignon by baxted, on Flickr

Family at Notre Dame des Doms, overlooking Avignon

 

545 Castle, Avignon by baxted, on Flickr

View from Avignon across the Rhone River

 

547 Pont d'Avignon by baxted, on Flickr

DH and me with Pont l'Avignon behind

 

549 Avigon by baxted, on Flickr

Avignon street

 

551 Pont d'Avignon by baxted, on Flickr

Pont d'Avigon. Those are lavender plants in the foreground, but we were past lavender season. You need to sail late June/early July for lavender. However, there are many, many shops that sell lavender products.

[nybumpkin]

We had lunch in St. Remy. Chris took us to a boulangerie where we could purchase sandwiches, quiche, etc. I had a ham and cheese quiche – very good. Chris was very happy to act as our interpreter. We then walked around the town and drove over to where Van Gogh had been confined.

 

553 Lunch in St. Remy by baxted, on Flickr

Lunch in St. Remy. "Boulangerie" generally means "bakery," but in addition to various breads this shop had sandwiches and the quiche. The store had tables outside, which made for a quick, pleasant lunch. This is the type of shop to visit for a quick meal - as Chris explained, there is no such thing as a quick meal at a restaurant in France.

 

554 St. Remy Street by baxted, on Flickr

St. Remy street

 

555 St. Remy Street by baxted, on Flickr

St Remy street

 

558 Nostrdaus Birthplace, St. Remy by baxted, on Flickr

Birthplace of Nostradamus

 

557 Nortradamus Birthplace St. Remy by baxted, on Flickr

Plaque at Nostradaus' birthplace

[nybumpkin]

Les Baux does not allow cars in the old town, so Chris dropped us off to do a tour on foot. It’s a very quaint village with sweeping views of the valleys below and the Alpilles mountains.

 

559 Les Baux by baxted, on Flickr

Alpilles mountains. Van Gogh painted these mountains while in Provence.

 

560 Les Baux by baxted, on Flickr

Entrance to Les Baux

 

562 Les Baux by baxted, on Flickr

Les Baux church. I should note that the church and hall both had signs advising of terrorism threat levels - this was days after a priest was killed while saying Mass in northern France and two weeks after the attack in Nice. However we felt very safe throughout Provence.

 

563 Les Baux by baxted, on Flickr

The guys at Les Baux

 

564Les Baux by baxted, on Flickr

Les Baux street

 

565 Bauxite by baxted, on Flickr

Bauxite

[nybumpkin]

Arles. Our last town on our last port day. Here’s where we hit a problem. DH has chronic cellulitis, and inflammation in his leg due to a bacterial infection. He doesn’t travel without a supply of antibiotics. As we arrived in Arles, he let me know it had flared up – I figured we overdid it, with so many tours back to back, and it just made him susceptible to the infection. At any rate, he wasn’t doing any more touring on foot, so he sat on a bench.

 

566 Coliseum, Arles by baxted, on Flickr

Arles amphitheater

 

567 Coliseum, Arles by baxted, on Flickr

Arles amphitheater

 

568 Arles by baxted, on Flickr

Arles

 

569 Arles by baxted, on Flickr

Arles

[nybumpkin]

Once back at the port, Chris asked the port guard for an exemption to be able to drive us right to the ship, since DH really shouldn’t walk distances. The answer was no, so we had to walk slowly and carefully to get DH back to the ship. Once back in the cabin, he took his antibiotics and crawled into bed. Sons and I went to dinner without him for the last night.

 

572 Marseilles Harbor by baxted, on Flickr

Marseille harbor

 

573 Waiter Dragan by baxted, on Flickr

Dragan, our headwaiter

 

574 Havana Lounge by baxted, on Flickr

Havana Bar

 

575 Havana Pool by baxted, on Flickr

Havana pool

 

577 Vista Wake by baxted, on Flickr

Vista wake

 

576 Marseilles Sunset by baxted, on Flickr

Last sunset

[nybumpkin]

We were docked early and off the ship before 7 a.m. The airport transfers were right there; they checked our names off the list and loaded us onto buses. We got a few glimpses of Barcelona – the Christopher Columbus statue, and a fleeting sight of Sagrada Familia. The flights home worked fine (although Customs and Immigration in Philadelphia is a nightmare).

 

I'll finish with some thoughts about sailing in Europe and sailing on Vista.

[nybumpkin]

This is not a relaxing cruise. It’s very port-intensive, and the port days are long. I know some folks will say to take one of the port days and turn it into a sea day – but if it’s Europe, and you’ve never visited any of these ports, that’s not really an option. While we enjoyed our sort-of port day in Messina, we didn’t go to Mt. Etna or Taormina, which other people really enjoyed.

 

The best purchases I made pre-cruise were (1) a pair of Cushion Aire sandals and (2) a pair of Soft Spots huaraches. Both held up well to all the walking we did, and the Soft Spots have turned into my go-to shoes for everyday work. The second-best purchase was a broad-brimmed hat. Between the hat and the sunscreen (we brought six cans with us), I came home without sporting a sunburn for once.

 

Take water with you in port. As Platinum cruisers, each of us had a large complimentary bottle of water waiting for us in the cabin – and we went through them, even refilling a couple of times. (BTW, in France if you want regular bottled water the phrase is “eau minerale,” not just “eau.” I learned that on a prior trip to France and needed it for DH when we were in Arles and his leg flared up.) And it’s hot. However, I’ve learned to deal with that – right now, we’re limited to vacations in July.

 

Overall, this was a very rewarding cruise. I think we came home with over 1000 photos between us. The sights are unbelievable. I’d like to see Carnival Horizon’s 2018 itineraries, because I’d consider doing this again. I'd like to see Cinque Terre in particular. Once again (as was the case for us in the Baltic and Alaska), you can only scratch the surface of everything there is to see and do.

 

And Vista – she has something to offer just about anyone. As I said at the beginning, given the nature of this cruise I knew there would be a lot that we just wouldn’t get to experience. No IMAX, no Thrill Theater, no Ji Ji’s, no Cucina, no Cherry on Top, no Alchemy, no Playlist Productions (although that was by choice). We walked through the Havana area but that was it. One thought I had was that there’s almost too much.

 

Matt Mitcham is an excellent CD. For those of you who will be sailing with Jaime Dee when Matt is on vacation, though, you will have a great CD as well. We've sailed with Jaime twice - very nice, and very high energy.

 

Two big pluses for me: (1) the exterior promenade with its sitting areas. We loved sitting outside Red Frog or Ocean Plaza both morning and evening. (2) Pixels, with the ability to download photos to your phone. When you get your picture taken, you give your cabin number to the photographer and when it’s ready, it shows up on your phone. A click and it’s purchased. No more mad scrambles to look through printed photos – it completely changed our morning routine. I think they could do something extra with package pricing, though.

 

I enjoyed a lot of the music available around the ship. You could choose classical, rock/pop with Velvet Vibes (really liked them a lot), an acoustic guitar duo, Edd Carr’s pub guitar in Red Frog, Ben in the piano bar, or Mambo Magic at the Havana Bar.

 

I think Vista will be well suited to Caribbean cruising, particularly on cruises with at least three sea days.

 

As for our next adventure? Already booked. Carnival Pride, July 2, 2017. It will be our first Bermuda cruise. Two sea days out, 2 ½ days in port, 1 ½ days back to Baltimore. It should be relaxing….

Edited September 1, 2016 by nybumpkin

[easyboy]

Thanks for the recap. Really nice photos.

[nybumpkin]

Thanks for the recap. Really nice photos.

Thanks so much! Most of the photos were mine with some from DH - particularly Malta, where my camera died at the Tarxien ruins.

[lettienets]

Thank you from me too for all the photos and commentary! [emoji259]

 

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[nybumpkin]

Thank you from me too for all the photos and commentary! [emoji259]

I hope you have a wonderful B2B! Please share your experiences when you return.