Live - Independence Italian Med (7/13-7/27) - European Vacation

[h20skibum]

A few sights around Old Nice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[h20skibum]

We walked along the beach, but I think beaches should have sand instead of rock.  I understand the locals voted against putting sand here

 

There was a sign that said part of the beach was unsupervised 

 

 

No zooming to see which was which😁

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[doveyy04]

Following this with a little sadness, this was supposed to be our first ever cruise next July and my 11 yr old sons first ever trip abroad but as you know RCL chose to cancel people’s dreams.

 

Anyway with the cruise credit we booked this ship for the summer sampler this August as Anthem of the Seas next summer was way too expensive even with the credit so we booked the Med cruise with another company and decided to get the summer sampler for free so my son can still see and do all the things he wanted to (weather permitting), so I’m interested in everything about this ship, the MDR food doesn’t look to appealing? Hope it tastes better then it looks, will only do MDR 1 night though, probably will eat at the other places other nights or just eat so much during the day we will be too full for dinner :-).

 

Enjoy your cruise and look forward to more posts.

[loveheart]

5 hours ago, doveyy04 said:

Following this with a little sadness, this was supposed to be our first ever cruise next July and my 11 yr old sons first ever trip abroad but as you know RCL chose to cancel people’s dreams.

 

Anyway with the cruise credit we booked this ship for the summer sampler this August as Anthem of the Seas next summer was way too expensive even with the credit so we booked the Med cruise with another company and decided to get the summer sampler for free so my son can still see and do all the things he wanted to (weather permitting), so I’m interested in everything about this ship, the MDR food doesn’t look to appealing? Hope it tastes better then it looks, will only do MDR 1 night though, probably will eat at the other places other nights or just eat so much during the day we will be too full for dinner :-).

 

Enjoy your cruise and look forward to more posts.

Really sorry that your cruise on Indy was cancelled for next year. Hope you enjoy your experience with which ever company you have booked with.

Regarding your comment about the food in the MDR,  having just returned from a 2 week cruise on Indy I can tell you that we ate in the MDR every evening and it was probably the best dining room experiences we have had. Every meal was perfect. There was lobster one night and even the strip steaks that are on the menu every evening were perfect.

I have to say that on some of our RCII cruises the food has been disappointing at times but certainly not this cruise.

[h20skibum]

7 hours ago, doveyy04 said:

Hope it tastes better then it looks, will only do MDR 1 night though, probably will eat at the other places other nights or just eat so much during the day we will be too full for dinner :-).

On the couple nights that choices didn’t appeal to us, we just ordered the Chops filet.  Those were tender, and cooked just right. 

 

We had initially booked a 3 night dining package, but cancelled it, because we enjoy our table mates so much. Plus, we can have 9 filets for the cost of the 3 night package. 

 

Sorry they cancelled your your plans for next year.  Indy is a great ship to do this itinerary. 

 

I agree Anthem is an expensive ship. We booked what will be our first sailing on her for next April. Noticed the higher cost than what we usually pay for a 7 night on other ships. 

[h20skibum]

At least our bus to Rome and back today has good WiFi, so I am trying to catch up the last couple days. 

 

More sights around Nice

 

A carousel we found

 

 

Downtown

 

 

Apollo statue

 

 

 

 

 

[h20skibum]

From there, it was on to Monaco. 

 

We stopped at the church where Grace Kelly was married, and where she is buried 

 

 

 

 

[h20skibum]

The Royal Palace is adjacent 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bobmacliberty]

10 hours ago, h20skibum said:

 few more photos from Eze

 

 

 

9 hours ago, h20skibum said:

A few sights around Old Nice

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have a similar eye when it comes to photography 📷 😀

 

[depplep]

Eze is stunning. I had no idea cactus grew in the south of France. The monkeys are freaking me out however.

[h20skibum]

9 minutes ago, depplep said:

Eze is stunning. I had no idea cactus grew in the south of France. The monkeys are freaking me out however.

We never thought about there being palm trees here either. 

[depplep]

I've seen Palm trees in England so I guess it doesn't surprise me, but the cacti sure do. Love the photos.

[h20skibum]

So, back to Monaco.  If you are there, you have to go to the casino. 

 

 

The patio to the casino entrance has some interesting floor decorations 

 

 

 

We did our part, and left our money behind in the casino.  Guess I will need to wait till the next trip to win big, to afford one of these cars. 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2019 by h20skibum

[h20skibum]

Love the multicolor buildings, as we tender back to the ship. 

 

Now, if I just could have gotten rid of the guy with the monopod, and the bald photobomber😁

 

 

Glad we did this tour. I would recommend it if you want to see these sights. 

 

Dinner was jerk chicken, and English truffle

 

 

 

 

[grapau27]

15 hours ago, h20skibum said:

We had a long day planned here. We booked the Nice, Eze, & Monaco excursion with the ship. We left the ship around 7:30, and didn’t return until 5:15 

 

So now, just enjoy some photos from this beautiful stop

 

We were supposed to go in Nice, Eze, then Monaco, but they took us to Eze first.  Maybe there was an advantage to being there early, and at the head of our group. No people!!

 

 

 

 

 

It cost €6 each to enter the exotic gardens, but the views were spectacular from there. They could not make change from a 20 euro, so we had to use our credit card 

 

 

 

 

Fantastic photos.

[h20skibum]

4 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Fantastic photos.

Thanks

 

Most of them are just with my old iPhone 6S, with just a few with my Nikon. 

[grapau27]

3 hours ago, h20skibum said:

The Royal Palace is adjacent 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great photos.

We recognised Monaco well.

We walked past Grace Kelly's daughters Caroline and Stephanie houses on our tour.

Did you go to Monte Carlo?

 

[livylotte]

4 hours ago, h20skibum said:

 

… and English truffle

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think you meant Trifle 😁

 

Thank you for your review, I'm loving all your photos. And looking forward to Italy as I'm sure you are too.

[h20skibum]

6 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Did you go to Monte Carlo?

 

Yes, just the casino.  

[h20skibum]

2 hours ago, livylotte said:

I think you meant Trifle 😁

 

Right you are.  I hate autocorrect sometimes 

[h20skibum]

The next port was La Spezia, and we booked a tour of Pisa. The original name of the tour was Pisa, but we got an email from Royal some months ago, that they changed the name to “Pisa by Trolly”

 

Pisa is about 1.5 hours from La Spezia, so on a 4 hour tour, it only leaves one hour in Pisa. Since they were running morning and afternoon tours, I think they were trying to maximize the number of tours they could sell.  It would have been nice if they offered a tour that gave you more time there.  Nothing offered for Pisa was longer than 4 hours. 

 

The bus parked in a large travel park about 3/4 mile from Pisa, and we transferred to the trolley.  They did a circuit to show many sites, before dropping us off near the leaning tower. 

 

A few sights from the trolley

 

 

 

 

if if you look closely in this photo, there is a plane making a low turn over the building 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[h20skibum]

No tour to Pisa would be complete, without a photo holding up the leaning tower. We both took turns holing it up, as did thousands of others. 

 

 

 

We would have liked to climb the tower, but there just was not enough time.  

[h20skibum]

We did buy tickets for entrance to two sites for €10. 

 

The first was Baptistery of San Giovanni. 

 

 

 

 

We climbed the staircase to the upper gallery for a view down. 

 

 

 

[h20skibum]

There were several open windows in the Baptistery, that gave nice views

 

Part of the city wall

 

 

A view of the cathedral, which would the the second building on our entrance pass

 

 

The top of the leaning tower is visible from here. 

 

[h20skibum]

For entry into any of the cathedrals, appropriate clothing is required.  In many, we saw women turned away if they didn’t have shoulders and knees covered. 

 

Here, they had a disposable garment, that would provide the required covering, but this is the only place we saw that. A few of the disposable garments are seen in this photo

 

 

 

It is amazing, how elaborate these places are

 

 

 

Plus, the magnificent paintings