Wonder of the seas Mediterranean live blog! 22nd May - 29th May 2022. Come cruise with us!

[AUgirl]

Your pictures are wonderful and beautiful, thank you so much for taking the time to post them and for your blog! I'm enjoying following along so much!!!

[CubedTofu]

Thank you so much for the detailed updates and photos. Love it!! So excited and am really enjoying seeing how your trip progresses!

[Cruisingcouple22]

11 hours ago, little britain said:

We went to the Mason Jar for dinner… it was an experience; far too much food and very heavy ( thank goodness I packed the Rennies!).  I don’t think it was worth the $51.19pp they charge on board.  
The bar area looked fun though and the band were good - sadly no time to listen to them as we went to the 9:45 show.   As said, like Stomp meets Blue Man Group…. The contortionist guy freaked me out and tbh made me feel ill….

 

After dinner we went for one last drink at Boleros which as jumping as many Spanish guests on board… love it that they all can dance… especially the children.

There were also a few quinceañera celebrations on board so stunning teen outfits.

Adherence to formal night dress ( yes it was called that still in the Compass - which is delivered daily still so that experiment didn’t last long!) was mixed to say the least. 
 

*don’t ask how a lady got the 2nd pic… it’s my challenge to get them all! 
 

 

got the one on the boardwalk for you 😜

[Cruisingcouple22]

9 hours ago, cloud_nine said:

Loving this review! Your photos from the Caves of Drach were stunning! Would you be able to find out if soda, wine and beer are free from 11-11 in the Suite Lounge, please? I've been hearing mixed reports. 

Had a chat with the bartender in the suites lounge today, and he confirms that soda, wine and beer are free for sky class between 11-11 👍 also there is daily happy hour from 5-8 where EVERY drink is free! Thanks for asking this because we had no idea!! Now we have even more free drinks to enjoy 😉 

[Cruisingcouple22]

Day 3 cruise compass - Marseilles

 

 

 

 

[Cruisingcouple22]

Day 4 cruise compass - La Spezia

 

 

 

 

 

[little britain]

One complaint: Everything on this ship is so LOUD!!! Music is played at a much higher volume. Even the music of an evening in Central park was so LOUD we could not have a conversation whilst sitting inside Giovannis wine bar ( which is at the end of CP) without shouting.

 

Went to the aqua show InTENse last night.   Needless to say that was very LOUD too…. It was very dark in colour - I preferred Hiro with the glittery red shoes! 

Edited May 25, 2022 by little britain

[Cruisingcouple22]

Marseilles day for us was an opportunity to sit, relax and enjoy all the ship has to offer. We’ve been to Marseilles a number of times and the thing we still want to do here is visit chateau D’if, of count of Monte Cristo fame! However, of our 3 cruise stops here, we are 3 for 3 on it being shut due to unfavourable weather! This is what must have made it such a good prison, no boat could get close enough to rescue anyone!
 

The impenetrable chateau! 
 

No matter though, as there is plenty to appreciate on the ship. Although it may not be as interesting for you guys reading! Sorry about that.

 

if you look closely you can see the stacked boats in the background. Crazy way to park then! 
 

 

We had a relaxed start to the morning and headed to the windjammer for breakfast. I like the layout of this one, and the seating in the middle at the back is really nice as you have windows in the roof and a view down to the boardwalk. We just had a light breakfast as we were preparing for our Wonderland dinner, but more on that later. We tried out most of the activities the ship has to offer today, starting off with the flowrider and water slides. A port day in the morning is the best time to try the flowrider, as there were only about 5 other people waiting to use it, and it was a mix of body boarding and stand up surfing. I was speaking to the sports manager and found our you can do semi-private lessons for 69 USD for one hour with a minimum of four people, or rent the entire flowrider out for an hour for 550 USD. Thats a bit steep for my taste but we have enquired about a semi-private lesson on the sea day.

After the surfing we tried out the different slides, and although i got slightly stuck in the blue one and had to scoot myself down (tip: don’t wear a tee shirt as they slow you down!) they were a lot of fun. Then it was time for some hot tubbing and relaxing in the sun, the weather was really lovely in the middle of the day. Lunch was at playmakers where we had the Poke nachos again (so much closer to finishing them today, but still not quite) and an interesting tasting stout. It said chocolate milk, but i didn’t really get those flavours, just the stoutness.

 

The afternoon was spent rock climbing, mini-golfing and trying out the dry slide, Ultimate Abyss! This is great fun and you should definitely try it when you are onboard. Whilst it is fast, it isn’t droopy at all, so its really not scary. We relaxed in central park for a bit and then headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. 

 

Thanks to cloud_nine asking about the drinks in the suite lounge, we headed up there before dinner. Lo and behold, we discovered that not only beers, wines and soda area included 11-11, but 5-8 is happy “hour” so you can have anything off of there menu. NEedless to say we tried a couple of the cocktails, including “cool as a cucumber”, “thyme for gin” and “kentucky summer”. They were all delicious, but the kentucky summer was a delicious mix of bourbon, mango and mint!

 

weather took a bit of a turn 😟

 

lovely rainbow in Marseilles. 

[Cruisingcouple22]

After our pre-dinner drinks we headed down to the culinary experience that is wonderland. If you haven’t been there before, think Heston blumenthal’s molecular gastronomy mixed with the wild imagination of Lewis Carroll! You have to come hungry though as there is a lot of food, but it is all delicious. A particular standout was the short rib, which literally does not need a knife to eat. The crab cones with avocado and wasabi as well as the liquid lobster with bone marrow are also superb. We had a couple of cocktails with dinner, including the smoke rings and down the rabbit hole (where you get to pick the blue or red “pill”) and then pretty much had to roll out of there to Mason Jar.

 

love the decoration

 

 

 

crab cone

liquid lobster

crispy prawn and smoked eggs

tuna with yuzu sorbet in a lime

 

tuna shasimi and yoghurt

chicken

short rib

mushroom garden

smoke rings

down the rabbit hole

 

 

We grab some rocking chairs in the window and enjoyed a few songs before heading down to watch the aquatheatre show.

[Cruisingcouple22]

We debated going to the boardwalk for the show, but instead decided to watch from our balcony. It was a really interesting angle, and we got to see a few little “behind the scene”  bits, like them changing out the trampoline etc., which would be hidden from the rest of the audience byt the fountains. Also it started raining very heavily during the show and and lot of people either covered up with umbrellas and towels or huddled under the overhangs. The show was an amazing exhibition of talent, the aerialists, divers, tight-rope walker and slack liners were all incredible, but there didn’t really seem to be a story it. Great fun though and we’ll definitely be catching bits of it again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

people sheltering under towels 😟

 

 

 

 

 

We had to leave slightly early to make our comedy reservation (no-one wants to be late for stand up comedy!) so we need to catch the end of the show next time. 

The comedian, John Moloney, was really good. I think we’ve caught him on another ship in the past and he seemed to be having fun. He started off by highlighting this was an adult show, and if you were easily offended then you should leave, and he lived up to his billing. Everyone seemed to enjoy it which was good. 

And with that it was bed time. We are catching the train the Levanto tomorrow morning, booked on the Trenitalia website today, and then planning on wandering around the villages and catching the ferry on the way back. Join us tomorrow to find out how it goes!

 

[Cruisingcouple22]

 

 

 

 

[jamessophie]

Do you know if unvaccinated children have  to test at each Italian port or just once to disembark? 

[island lady]

6 hours ago, little britain said:

One complaint: Everything on this ship is so LOUD!!! Music is played at a much higher volume. Even the music of an evening in Central park was so LOUD we could not have a conversation whilst sitting inside Giovannis wine bar ( which is at the end of CP) without shouting.

 

Went to the aqua show InTENse last night.   Needless to say that was very LOUD too…. It was very dark in colour - I preferred Hiro with the glittery red shoes! 

 

That was my complaint on Odyssey...and indeed  on other ships now.  LOUD!!!!   From what I have observed from other Wonder posts...IMHO, this ship seems to be a hybrid of both Oasis class and Quantum class (most especially Odyssey).  

[cloud_nine]

16 hours ago, Cruisingcouple22 said:

Had a chat with the bartender in the suites lounge today, and he confirms that soda, wine and beer are free for sky class between 11-11 👍 also there is daily happy hour from 5-8 where EVERY drink is free! Thanks for asking this because we had no idea!! Now we have even more free drinks to enjoy 😉 

Thanks so much for finding this out for me! And I'm glad I asked now since you get to enjoy the Suite Lounge perks that you weren't aware of! Enjoy those drinks! 😉 

[little britain]

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

That was my complaint on Odyssey...and indeed  on other ships now.  LOUD!!!!   From what I have observed from other Wonder posts...IMHO, this ship seems to be a hybrid of both Oasis class and Quantum class (most especially Odyssey).  

I’ll be on Odyssey next month so will compare!  

[island lady]

29 minutes ago, little britain said:

I’ll be on Odyssey next month so will compare!  

 

Take your ear plugs.  😉 

[little britain]

As we had already been to Cinque Terre and Portovenere- we looked along the coast in the opposite direction and stuck a pin in the map (ok we actually just looked at Google maps) and decided to visit Lerici.

The L bus leaves from the south side of the square (piazza Europa) opposite where you are dropped off. Buy your bus tickets from the tabacchi with the green awning on the other side of the square €5 return. The L runs every 15 mins and it is about a 20-30 min ride. A pretty sleepy little town, nice walk up to a castle and there are beaches.

We had beer, wine and pizza and came back again! 

Edited May 25, 2022 by little britain

[LPTCruiser]

16 hours ago, Cruisingcouple22 said:

the thing we still want to do here is visit chateau D’if, of count of Monte Cristo fame! However, of our 3 cruise stops here, we are 3 for 3 on it being shut due to unfavourable weather!

Can you share how you had planned to do this visit? Did you purchase tickets ahead of time? How/when were you notified about the weather cancellation? It is a definite bucket list item for me and I didn't know weather challenges were so common to access the island.

[Cruisingcouple22]

What an eventful day! Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men! We started off with room service breakfast on the balcony again with the plan of getting our train just before 10 this morning.
 

 

If you are stopping in La Spezia, keep in mind it is an industrial port so you have to take a complimentary shuttle bus from the ship to the cruise terminal, it’s only about 5 minutes but you have to wait for it to fill up before it will leave. We were running a bit late, which is normal for us, so had to pick up the pace on the walk. As we were nearing the train station we noticed what appeared to be a plume of smoke go up into the sky.

 

Whilst this was a bit strange, we didn’t think too much more of it until we got out front of the train station and there were a lot of people milling about outside. And then the fire engine came into view! It turns out one of the electric engines had caught fire in the station! The police and fire service didn’t seem to be too worried about this, but it was obvious that the quoted 30 minute delay was not going to be accurate, as the engine was still actively burning!!

 

So we went to our back up plan, which was to catch the ferry into Cinque Terra instead. The only problem with this was the ferry pick up point was a 15 minute walk away, we had 17 minutes until it departed and we needed to buy tickets too! Cue speed walking round two! We made it with a little time to spare, but needn’t have worried because they waited around a few minutes to pack as many people as possible onto the ferry, it was literally standing room only by the end.

 

 

Whilst i do enjoy a good ferry ride, this one did take quite a long time. From La Spezia to Porto Venere, the first stop, was only half an hour. But then to get to the next stop, Riomaggiorie, which is the first stop truly in Cinque Terre, was a further 45 minutes. If you wanted to go all the way to Monterosso, the furthest stop, it was 2 hours and 10 minutes. With the loading and waiting times a lot of the day was spent on or about the ferry. The rides in and out of the villages are pretty special though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took the ferry to it’s third stop, Manarola, and had a walk around town. We went in a geletaria that had dairy free and vegan options which were delicious and then took a walk the short distance you are allowed down Via dell' Amore, lovers lane, at present. There was a landslide about a decade ago and they are taking their time in repairing and reopening it. Apparently the new date is summer 2024 so not long now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

these two dogs did not want to get back on the boat!!

[Cruisingcouple22]

After popping in the shops and getting our christmas ornament, we caught the ferry back to Porto Venere and had some lunch and a walk around town. We stopped in one of the many restaurants along the harbour and had some excellent, and reasonably priced, pizza.

 

 

 This dog seems fairly happy with his lot in life though! 
We took a walk up to the church and fortifications overlooking the village and then came back down and dangled our feet in the harbour whilst waiting for our boat to take us back to La Spezia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 There are a lot of stairs around Cinque Terra so bear that in mind

 

 By this time we were pretty tired, so the wait for the boat seemed to take quite a while! We snagged some top deck seats and were soon speeding back to our big boat, Wonder of the seas. We didn’t mind the movement of the ferry, but heard a few people note that it made them a bit queasy, so if you are prone to motion sickness, be prepared!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cruisingcouple22]

5 hours ago, LPTCruiser said:

Can you share how you had planned to do this visit? Did you purchase tickets ahead of time? How/when were you notified about the weather cancellation? It is a definite bucket list item for me and I didn't know weather challenges were so common to access the island.

We planned on catching the Frioul express, their timetable and prices can be found on the website https://lebateau-frioul-if.fr

There’s no need to pre-book you can just buy your tickets at the kiosk in the centre of town. You’d have to catch the shuttle bus from the cruise port to the town first though. And the website will show if D’If is open or not, there is usually a red banner if it’s shut, like this 

 

Hope that helps your planning

[Cruisingcouple22]

When we got back on the boat we headed to the suite lounge to have a couple of non-alcoholic refreshments. After all the walking and the heat I think I would have been ok the floor after one drink if I hadn’t! We then went back to the room to freshen up before heading back up to coastal kitchen for dinner. This was our first trip here this cruise as we have been making full use of the dining package but it did not disappoint. We had a lovely crab cake to start, then lamb loin with a lamb meatball (double lamb!) with a small portion of the truffle cheese tortellini and a chocolate and olive oil cake for dessert. All very tasty and with a beautiful view to boot!
 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner we made our obligatory evening trip to the mason jar for some country music and moonshine. The band got one of the bartenders to come up for a song today and he was brilliant, so much fun.

I had a quick wander around the ship for some night time photos and then we had the Hector is magic show at 2200.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

also spotted the stowaway pianist a couple of times today! 
 

 

Hector’s tricks are incredible and I really don’t see how some of them are done, and he also does a little hand shadow show in the middle too. Then it was back to our room to catch a bit of the Aqua show before collapsing into bed knowing that we would be doing all again in Rome tomorrow! Shouldn’t complain though 😁 

 

 

 

 

[little britain]

Some idiot has totally reconfigured the exit to the port in Rome!!! 🤬😤. Instead of the free shuttle bus dropping you by the white tents opposite the fire station; you are now dropped further back, behind barriers and it is a good 5 minute walk round a maze of street crossings to get to the fire station.

If you want to go to the train station you now catch the red or green bus €3pp from directly at the port now ( to the left as you exit the terminal) 

[little britain]

We hired a car from Avis ( just around the corner to the fire station) for €102 and drove  to Orvieto which took about 1 3/4 hours. 
A stunning city with a beautiful cathedral, cute shops and great restaurants… and no ships tours! 

Edited May 26, 2022 by little britain

[little britain]

1 hour ago, little britain said:

Some idiot has totally reconfigured the exit to the port in Rome!!! 🤬😤. Instead of the free shuttle bus dropping you by the white tents opposite the fire station; you are now dropped further back, behind barriers and it is a good 5 minute walk round a maze of street crossings to get to the fire station.

If you want to go to the train station you now catch the red or green bus €3pp from directly at the port now ( to the left as you exit the terminal) 

Correction: 7 mins 45 seconds from the fire station to the shuttle bus stop!