Our pre-cruise adventures in Italy

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Let me start by sharing that I’m not a blogger or an elegant writer. With that said, this group was so helpful in the planning of our vacation I thought I should share our experience to the best of my ability. 
 

We flew into Rome on Saturday, June 15. We arrived early afternoon and went directly to our hotel, Albergo del Senato. We had to wait in quite a long line for a taxi. If I were to do it again, I’d have arranged for a private transfer to avoid the wait. They held our bags while we walked to see the Spanish steps and Trevi Fountain. When we came back our room was ready. It was absolutely charming and very clean. The staff was very friendly and professional. We had a Pantheon view from our little terrace. I very much enjoyed looking out there every morning, afternoon and evening. It was so peaceful in the morning. I think we saw a bride out there taking pictures every day before the crowds arrived. We liked the buffet breakfast that was included with our room. Here’s a couple pics of the room. It was much bigger than I expected after reading how small they are in Europe. 
 

We had dinner reservations at Armando al Pantheon, based on recommendations here. It was quite good but I ordered the wrong thing. I’d never had carbonara before so I tried it. While it was ok, it wasn’t my favorite. Their lamb was delicious as was my husband’s pasta. 

Edited July 16 by NCteacherlovescruising

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Day 2 in Rome, Sunday the 16th of June. We had a private tour of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and the forum with Romewithmarisa. https://www.romewithmarisa.com/about-me/. We saw several large groups and were so thankful we had Marisa to ourselves. I would highly recommend her!  She always tried to get us away from the crowds, best she could, so we could see and hear her. I was in awe of the size of everything; they were larger than I envisioned!  

 

 

 

We had dinner at Ristorante Virginiae. I had the Cacio e Pepe and it was the best pasta I’ve ever had!  My husband had pesto pasta, which he said was good. 
 

 

Edited July 16 by NCteacherlovescruising

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Day 3, Monday. We had a private tour of the. Vatican and Sistine Chapel with Marisa in the morning. We took a taxi there since we had to meet her early and didn’t want to take a chance on getting lost. My favorite part was the museum, although the chapel was quite specular. We decided to just walk back to our hotel so we could explore along the way. 
 

That evening, from 5-8, we had a City Wonders walking food tour in the Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere. I hate to say I was disappointed with this. I don’t really care for any of the food, but I’m picky. My husband liked some but not all of the food. I wouldn’t recommend this one. We walked back to our hotel and went to bed since we had an early tour the next morning. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Day 4, Tuesday.  We took a City Wonders day trip to Tuscany. This was my favorite day so far. I’ve always wanted to visit Tuscany, so it was also one of my most anticipated tours. I would love to return here for several days so we could really explore the area. If I had it to do over again, I would have split my time between here and Rome. 
 

They took us to the beautiful town of Montepulciano. I fell in love with this quaint village with the stunning views!  I could have stayed for days!! If you plan to take this tour, be prepared to climb a steep hill. We don’t have any problem, but some could. Next they took us to a private vineyard where they served us lunch with a wine tasting. Everything was farm grown, fresh and delicious!  Their Brunello was very good!  We met a delightful couple from Australia we enjoyed lunch with.  The last stop was a wash-out because it was pouring rain. Only a handful of people dared the waterworks to get some quick photos but I stayed on the bus. This was the only rain on our entire 3+ week trip so I can’t complain. We walked back to our hotel with the couple from Australia. They invited us up to their hotel’s rooftop bar at 9Hotel Cesàri. It seemed really nice but we only saw the bar area. We ended up doing late night pizza with them near the Trevi Fountain. 

 

Edited July 16 by NCteacherlovescruising

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Day 5, Wednesday.  This was our final day in Rome.  We enjoyed wondering around the city and doing a little shopping. Well, I enjoyed shopping, not sure how much fun dh had doing this. 😜 Then we did a City Wonders Catacombs and Crypts tour. It was pretty cool!  I don’t recall the name, but they took us to a museum where there were designs made of bones on the walls and ceilings. I found it quite fascinating. 
 

We had dinner reservations at Restaurante Moma this evening. It has one Michelin Star. My husband is a foodie so this one was for him. I’m a bit picky so I didn’t love this experience but he did, so it was worth it. It appears I didn’t get many pictures here. My favorite part was the chocolate soufflé. 

Edited July 16 by NCteacherlovescruising

[euro cruiser]

50 minutes ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

Then we did a City Wonders Catacombs and Crypts tour. It was pretty cool!  I don’t recall the name, but they took us to a museum where there were designs made of bones on the walls and ceilings. I found it quite fascinating. 

 

It was likely the crypt at the Convento dei Cappuccini, on Via Veneto:  The Crypt - Museo e Cripta Cappuccini

[marazul]

Thanks for posting. I kept wondering how you were doing.

Just curious. Did Marissa's tour take you from the Sistine Chapel to St. Peter's through the short cut? I keep hearing different things about who is allowed to do it.

Welcome back to sweltering NC!

 

Edited July 17 by marazul

[firefly333]

Interesting. Thanks for the pictures. I dont really like pasta but people tell me I will be able to find other food.

 

I'm booked 4 nights at the Albergo Santa Cliara Hotel which should be close to those same places you walked to like the spanish steps. 

Edited July 17 by firefly333

[euro cruiser]

The Albergo Santa Chiara is only a block and a half from the del Senato, where the OP stayed (about a tenth of a mile, according to google maps).

[NCteacherlovescruising]

8 hours ago, marazul said:

Thanks for posting. I kept wondering how you were doing.

Just curious. Did Marissa's tour take you from the Sistine Chapel to St. Peter's through the short cut? I keep hearing different things about who is allowed to do it.

Welcome back to sweltering NC!

 

Honestly, I had the time of my life!  It completely surpassed my expectations and felt like I was living in a dream!  Yes, Marissa took us through the short cut. I didn't realize all tour guides weren’t allowed to do so. Perhaps it is because she also works as a tour guide for the Vatican. I believe she said she does tours for them twice a week. She had one in the afternoon the day she took us so she brought her lunch and was just going to stay there until it was time. She was very passionate about the history and artifacts. She was super annoyed when she saw a “crazy family” placing their toddler on displays that were roped off to take photos. At first she said, it isn’t my job, but eventually she approached one of the employees (I forget what she called them, I know it wasn’t security) and told them what they were doing and he went over and spoke with the family. She was an excellent guide, with a degree in archeology, and was obvious she loves her city and its rich history-good and bad. 
 

5 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Interesting. Thanks for the pictures. I dont really like pasta but people tell me I will be able to find other food.

 

I'm booked 4 nights at the Albergo Santa Cliara Hotel which should be close to those same places you walked to like the spanish steps. 

They did have other food, but we usually got pasta or pizza. We saw several sandwich shops but you usually had to stand and we were always ready to sit down and rest with a large glass of ice water. We were putting in around 18,000 steps a day, sometimes over 20,000. Most places offered appetizers, pasta dishes, meat/fish, and desserts. Everyone said how small there portions were there, but we found them quite large. I rarely could finish an order of pasta and several times I was asked if something was wrong. Nope, I was just full. Of course, we had gelato everyday which probably contributed to that. lol

 

I’m not familiar with that hotel, but I see @euro cruiser responded to you. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

The next morning we had a private transfer to Amalfi with Joe Bananas. The driver came inside our hotel, where we had just checked out and escorted us and our 5 bags of luggage (yes, 5 bags, which I will discuss at a later time) to a Mercedes parked out front. Later in the day this wouldn’t have been possible, but it was only 8:15 so it wasn’t full of tourist yet. We had prearranged with them a private tour of Pompeii on our way. Again, I was surprised at how much we enjoyed this tour. Our guide was terrific and I had such a mix of emotions. Of course, terribly sad knowing what had happened to all those people there, but amazed with their ingenuity, the incredible artwork, and envisioning how beautiful it would have been back then. But it was hot!  I was so thankful we booked it early in the morning. 
 

After our tour, our driver took us to a restaurant shortly outside of Pompeii. Here we had one of the best pizzas of our trip. I love meat on pizza, and spicy foods, so every time we had pizza I ordered Diablo. We’ve already said we plan to find an Italian Grocery store here to buy the ingredients to make our own. Our good friends, who joined us once we get to Athens, have a real pizza oven, that was shipped from Italy, in their backyard. We’ve already told them we’ll buy the ingredients and Bill can cook them for us. (They kept ordering it too, after we told them about it) 

 

Then we were on our way to the Hotel Residence in Amalfi. It was a small, but nice hotel. I was shocked at the size of our room. Even by US standards it was large. And we had an ocean view. The included breakfast was great. They had the typical pasties, yogurt and cereal out but also a menu where you could order eggs, pancakes, etc. There were 3 options.  Their pancakes with the blueberry compote was my favorite breakfast of the entire trip!  I’m still craving it!  They also had the best cappuccinos we had. It was a sweet bonus sitting on their restaurants terrace with the sea view while dining. 
 

The first day we just went to the beach for a while and then walked around the shops. I spotted a purse I wanted, but dh had already bought me one in Rome so he didn’t think I need another. Our timing was excellent because they had some special celebration going on. Dh got more pictures of it than I did but it was fun to watch and the night ended with a spectacular fireworks display we could watch right from our balcony. 

Edited July 17 by NCteacherlovescruising

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Our first full day in Amalfi we had a small group boat tour. There were 10 of us. We had such a blast and the views were out of this world. It’s hard to pick a favorite day out of our entire vacation, but this and our day in Tuscany are definitely at the top!  We just happened to be staying right in front of the pier where this tour started. It was an 8 hour excursion but the time flew by. He took us all along the Amalfi Coast, explaining which village we were looking at and telling us about the village. He would either completely stop or slow way down so we could get lots of pics. We had a couple swim stops, and an incredible lunch at a restaurant overlooking Positano. This was one of my favorite meals on this trip. I had linguini with lobster. Delicious!! And we had an hour in Positano which I used for shopping. I bought my favorite clothing purchase here, a linen skirt with matching crop top that was exactly what I had in mind before we even left home. I think it’s absolutely beautiful, although a bit of a splurge. 
 

When we returned I found a salon and scheduled a blow out for the next morning. Walked up and down the street again looking at the same shops, eating dinner, holding the same bag again I spotted the previous day, dh still shaking his head no. Sat down for a pastry and cappuccino at a bakery then returned to our room to read then sleep. 
 

Our 2nd full day in Amalfi. We went to the beach early and then I went to the salon for my blowout. He only charged me 30 euro!  I figured in a touristy area like this it would have been triple!  Dh said he was going to walk around while I got my hair done. He arrived just as the gentleman finished my hair. My sweetheart had went back to that purse shop to buy the purse I kept looking at.💗 

 

Next we took a taxi to Ravello. Oh my what a beautiful, charming, quiet village!  I feel in love with it. I found myself doing that quite frequently on this trip!  I’m not sure if we got ripped off or not. I’m thinking he charged us around 210 euro, dh think it was 150, so I’m not sure. I just remember thinking it was high. He said taxis aren’t really a thing in Ravello so we needed to pre-arrange our ride back, which we did. I have to admit I was a bit nervous paying upfront but he sent a driver for us at the agreed upon location and time outside the ceramic factory. They had some beautiful pieces. We bought a small vase. They wrapped it quite well and it survived the trip. It is a lovely souvenir I will see daily. We also bought a Christmas ornament and trivet. 
 

After this we worked our way up to the Villa Cimbrome gardens. Absolutely breathtaking views!  I’d love to stay here on our return but I assume it’s extremely expensive. They were setting up for a wedding and couldn’t help but wonder how much that would cost. I can’t imagine a more exquisite place to get married. 
 

On our way back down, we stopped at a wine shop just before the glass factory. We were offered free wine samples and then purchased a bottle to drink while we awaited our taxi. After we enjoyed some of the wine we had him cork and bag it so we could finish it on our balcony. Our hotel restaurant let us borrow wine glasses, which we returned once we finished. We don’t eat at the restaurant there. It was another Michelin star restaurant, but after looking at the set menu I knew I wouldn’t like it. 
 

The next morning we slept in a little then went to the Amalfi Cathedral. It wasn’t as impressive as the basilicas we’d seen previously, but still quite lovely. Once again we had a Joe Bananas private transfer this time to Naples. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

When we arrived in at our hotel, the Royal Continental, in Naples our room wasn’t ready. We wanted to go to the museum to see the Pompeii artifacts. They told us it was about a 20 minute walk and gave us directions. It seemed easy enough so we checked in our luggage and headed off. For some reason our cell service wasn’t working so we couldn’t use maps, as we’d been doing previously. Long story short, we got lost, ended up on a bad area, and I was a bit worried about our safety. After about 90 minutes we gave up and headed back. That was as the beginning of a not so great day. When we finally found a taxi we hoped in and had him take us to the hotel. Although the lobby was beautiful and the online photos were quite nice as well, our room was tiny and musty with no view. We were in a completely different section of the hotel. Our shower had mold. I could go on about other bad experiences there but let’s just leave it with I don’t ever want to return to Naples. Thankfully it was only one day, which we ended up spending the majority of on our bed (since there were no chairs in there) reading. Thankfully we had an early flight to Athens the next morning. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

I had to get photos of our boat tour from my husband because I left my phone in the hotel. 

[firefly333]

2 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

They did have other food, but we usually got pasta or pizza. We saw several sandwich shops but you usually had to stand and we were always ready to sit down and rest with a large glass of ice water. We were putting in around 18,000 steps a day, sometimes over 20,000. Most places offered appetizers, pasta dishes, meat/fish, and desserts. Everyone said how small there portions were there, but we found them quite large. I rarely could finish an order of pasta and several times I was asked if something was wrong. Nope, I was just full. Of course, we had gelato everyday which probably contributed to that. lol

 

I’m not familiar with that hotel, but I see @euro cruiser responded to you. 

I eat pizza so that would work or fish etc. I grew up irish meat and potatoes and just hate pasta. I'm older than you and all the walking worries me too. I hope I can manage to do what kve booked. Lots of steps for sure. That's my worry. I can wish I'd done it at a younger age but didnt feel comfortable doing it while I was taking care of elderly parents for the last over 20 years and now I'm old too. 

 

And I havent even started on my ports. A few on my TA and then I added 10 days, lots of ports, 4 in italy, 2 in greece and maybe 1 more. Then 4 nights in rome. May 2025. Excursions just a few have shown up so far. Just booking excursions in rome, hotels in rome, and flight/brightline train. I feel like I better get walking then go outside and it's so hot to get in shape. All those steps. Worried. Reading ... I love how you enjoyed rome so much. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

3 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I eat pizza so that would work or fish etc. I grew up irish meat and potatoes and just hate pasta. I'm older than you and all the walking worries me too. I hope I can manage to do what kve booked. Lots of steps for sure. That's my worry. I can wish I'd done it at a younger age but didnt feel comfortable doing it while I was taking care of elderly parents for the last over 20 years and now I'm old too. 

 

 

Pizza was everywhere!  Lots of seafood too. You wouldn’t have to do near as much walking as we did. You could always take a taxi to the sites and then just walk once you get there. We enjoyed walking all over the place and do a lot of walking at home as well. 
 

3 hours ago, firefly333 said:

And I havent even started on my ports. A few on my TA and then I added 10 days, lots of ports, 4 in italy, 2 in greece and maybe 1 more. Then 4 nights in rome. May 2025. Excursions just a few have shown up so far. Just booking excursions in rome, hotels in rome, and flight/brightline train. I feel like I better get walking then go outside and it's so hot to get in shape. All those steps. Worried. Reading ... I love how you enjoyed rome so much. 

I’d be happy to share what we did at some of our ports if you have any questions. This thread was just about our pre-cruise days on land, but we were also in Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, Zakynthos, Corfu, Kotor, Dubrovnik, Split, Ravena and then 2.5 days in Venice. We loved Venice! 💕 I’m sure you will have a wonderful time!

[euro cruiser]

4 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I eat pizza so that would work or fish etc. I grew up irish meat and potatoes and just hate pasta.

 Pasta is only one course in Italian cuisine, just skip over it.  I think the North American view of Italian food came from immigrants, who were almost entirely poor, and therefore could afford less protein and ate more rice and pasta.  That does not represent Italian cuisine, just a small part of it.

 

Hundreds of restaurants in the major cities have their menus posted on line, check out a few of them to reassure yourself that you'll have plenty of options beyond pasta and pizza.

[marazul]

@NCteacherlovescruising

Fabulous! I hope you are planning your next trip to Europe already. France, Spain and Portugal?

[NCteacherlovescruising]

48 minutes ago, marazul said:

@NCteacherlovescruising

Fabulous! I hope you are planning your next trip to Europe already. France, Spain and Portugal?

We have a cruise booked out of Barcelona next June. Barcelona, Marseille, Portofino, Naples (we’re going to Capri), Sicily, and Malta. We plan to go a couple days early to explore Barcelona. We haven’t decided what we’re doing at the end. It won’t be to the extent we did this year. Most likely 2-3 days on each end. I’d love to go back to a charming village in Tuscany and spend a day in Florence but I think dh has something else in mind. He has mentioned perhaps Portugal. This year he catered to me so I told him he could pick what we do after the cruise next year. 

[marazul]

Great! Is it round trip Barcelona?

Make sure you have at least two full days (3 nights) in Barcelona. If it returns there at the end you could do a train to Madrid and then to Seville, or just fly to Lisbon.

Somehow I thought you would be returning.  😉

 

 

[firefly333]

4 hours ago, NCteacherlovescruising said:

 

Pizza was everywhere!  Lots of seafood too. You wouldn’t have to do near as much walking as we did. You could always take a taxi to the sites and then just walk once you get there. We enjoyed walking all over the place and do a lot of walking at home as well. 
 

I’d be happy to share what we did at some of our ports if you have any questions. This thread was just about our pre-cruise days on land, but we were also in Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, Zakynthos, Corfu, Kotor, Dubrovnik, Split, Ravena and then 2.5 days in Venice. We loved Venice! 💕 I’m sure you will have a wonderful time!

I'm sure hoping I dont have to take a taxi everywhere. This rome add on imo is already out of hand. Costs keep mounting. Someone on the carnival board said they used the HOHO bus and plotted from those stops. The whole reason I choose the hotel was because it was close to things supposedly. 

 

People said take a TA they are cheap, then it was the next leg went to greece. Then it was well it ends in rome, you have to see rome if you are there. I'm trying to save money. What I meant was I havent even booked the ports on the cruise. More $. Royal hasnt posted the choices so until i see what royal offers idk. This was supposed to be a inexpensive trip lol. 

 

I'm hoping there are places to eat i can just walk into. I saw you said you had booked reservations. I'm hoping to do this on a budget. It's just me, a solo trip. I already am worried this inexpensive TA is out of hand. I'm reading everything for tips. I got 3 excursions booked plus a day of walking and exploring on my own. Yes I can afford whatever it costs, but trying to budget.

 

• Ponta Delgada, Azores
• Málaga, Spain
• Cartagena, Spain
• Palma De Mallorca, Spain
• Barcelona, Spain

 

VISITING:

• Barcelona, Spain
• Ajaccio, Corsica
• Sardinia (Cagliari), Italy
• Sicily (Palermo), Italy
• Santorini, Greece
• Athens (Piraeus), Greece
• Mykonos, Greece
• Naples / Capri, Italy
• Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

[marazul]

24 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I'm hoping there are places to eat i can just walk into

There are lots of places like that in the area of your hotel. Menus are posted outside. Just look at them and pick a place that looks good to you

 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

29 minutes ago, marazul said:

Great! Is it round trip Barcelona?

Make sure you have at least two full days (3 nights) in Barcelona. If it returns there at the end you could do a train to Madrid and then to Seville, or just fly to Lisbon.

Somehow I thought you would be returning.  😉

 

 

Yes, it’s round trip from Barcelona. We’re thinking of flying out on the 10th which would get us there early on the 11th and the cruise is on the 13th. I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have to embark early so we would have the 11-13th to explore. We have talked about Madrid or Lisbon. Just haven’t made any decisions yet. We’ve only been back a couple days and have been super busy. 
 

20 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I'm sure hoping I dont have to take a taxi everywhere. This rome add on imo is already out of hand. Costs keep mounting. Someone on the carnival board said they used the HOHO bus and plotted from those stops. The whole reason I choose the hotel was because it was close to things supposedly. 

 

Rome is totally walkable!  You mentioned concern with the amount of walking. You could always just do a leisurely walk. I didn’t notice the hop on hop off bus but wasn’t looking for it either. As I mentioned, we enjoy walking and sight seeing along the way. The only time we took a taxi while we were there was to the Vatican and that was because it was early and we wanted to make sure we got there on time. We walked back. 
 

20 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

People said take a TA they are cheap, then it was the next leg went to greece. Then it was well it ends in rome, you have to see rome if you are there. I'm trying to save money. What I meant was I havent even booked the ports on the cruise. More $. Royal hasnt posted the choices so until i see what royal offers idk. This was supposed to be an inexpensive trip lol. 

 

You definitely need to see Rome!  We loved our tours there!  It’s much cheaper to book your own than through the cruise line but I’m sure you know this. 
 

20 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I'm hoping there are places to eat i can just walk into. I saw you said you had booked reservations. I'm hoping to do this on a budget. It's just me, a solo trip. I already am worried this inexpensive TA is out of hand. I'm reading everything for tips. I got 3 excursions booked plus a day of walking and exploring on my own. Yes I can afford whatever it costs, but trying to budget.

 

• Ponta Delgada, Azores
• Málaga, Spain
• Cartagena, Spain
• Palma De Mallorca, Spain
• Barcelona, Spain

 

VISITING:

• Barcelona, Spain
• Ajaccio, Corsica
• Sardinia (Cagliari), Italy
• Sicily (Palermo), Italy
• Santorini, Greece
• Athens (Piraeus), Greece
• Mykonos, Greece
• Naples / Capri, Italy
• Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

We wanted specific restaurants so we made reservations. We also just walked into some and had good food. They also have sandwiches but usually that involves getting one to go and after walking so much we were always ready to take a load off. 
 

In Mykonos we just took a bus to Tropicana beach. We rented two sun beds for 70 euro and a 20 euro minimum which made for a cheap day. But others just put a towel down which is free. 
 

Athens we had tours with Georges taxi. They were fantastic!  Maybe you could find someone on your roll call to share one with you. In Santorini we booked a private excursion, but again that would be expensive for one unless you could find someone to share with you. It was stunning!! We didn’t go to any of the other ports. Our cruise was from Athens to Venice. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

13 minutes ago, marazul said:

There are lots of places like that in the area of your hotel. Menus are posted outside. Just look at them and pick a place that looks good to you

 

It seemed like most of them had nearly the same menus. At least the parts I was looking at. 

[marazul]

21 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Someone on the carnival board said they used the HOHO bus and plotted from those stops. 

The HO-HO bus is nearly useless in Rome.  The bus cannot go in the narrow streets where the main sites are located.  You would be doing a lot more walking and wasting more time sitting in traffic than if you plotted your walking routes from the hotel.  An occasional taxi, like going to the Vatican costs 10-12 euros.