Trip Reports - Western Mediterranean Cruise

Honolulu to Barcelona

Tuesday, June 8, 2004

UA 64 HNL to SFO
My trip begins on the United 11:00 pm red-eye flight to San Francisco. It’s a 757-200 and I’m in seat 3C which is an aisle seat in the middle of the first class cabin. Since red-eye flights only provide a cheese and fruit snack, I took the precaution of going for a nice dinner at 3660 on the Rise (http://www.3660.com/) with my husband before leaving for the airport. I love their Ahi Katsu with the wasabi butter sauce and New York Steak Alaea topped with crispy Maui onions. Mmmmm…

Check-in goes smoothly especially since I only have carry-on bags. I’m worried about lost baggage since I’m headed on a cruise and didn’t want my luggage chasing me from port to port. I usually check my luggage so it’s a hassle taking all my stuff with me.

I am hoping to catch a few hours of sleep on this flight. The person sitting in the window seat next me promptly falls asleep on taxi and doesn’t stir until landing. This is good since I don’t have to worry about having him climbing (and perhaps falling) over my sleeping body throughout the flight!

Wednesday, June 9, 2004

I get about 4 hours of sleep and awake to the captain asking the FAs to prepare for landing. It looks like the beginnings of a nice sunny day in San Francisco.

I drag my luggage out to the curb and my friend, Kathleen, picks me up to grab breakfast and do some shopping during my 6 ½ hour layover. The long layover is always the worst part of my travel to Europe. Kathleen takes me to the little town of Burlingame near the airport. It’s been awhile since I’ve been in the area and didn’t realize how developed it has become. We go to a great breakfast place called Stacks (http://www.bayareabest.com/SMCT/). Yummy and definitely a place I recommend!! After breakfast we wander around the many and varied stores in the area. I even pick up a few last minute items that I “had to have”.

Finally, it’s time to get back to the airport for my 2:20 pm Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. I stop at the LH desk to get my boarding passes for the LH flights since the Hawaii agent wasn’t able to print out the LH passes. Unfortunately, the check-in agent eyes my suitcase makes me check it in because it is over 10 kg. Grrr…. I cross my fingers that it will make it to Barcelona with me.

I breeze through security at the International terminal, do a quick run through Duty Free to confirm that I don’t need anything, and head to the United First Class lounge. The lounge is nice as usual, but I notice that the food looks like it’s been sitting out for quite some time. Luckily, I’m still stuffed from brunch and definitely don’t need any more food. Boarding for LH 455 is called and I go down to the gate area which is packed. The boarding process is haphazard and I join the long winding line to board.

LH 455 SFO to FRA
On boarding, we are greeted warmly by the FAs. I go up the stairs on this huge 747 to my coveted first class seat 83A. I settle into my window seat with the vast exit area in front of me. I am reminded of the upside of flying so much – frequent flyer miles which get me this luxury once in awhile :D.

Drinks are offered immediately and continue to be offered throughout the flight. The FAs stop at each seat and give us our amenity kits and long-sleeved Etienne Aigner sleep shirts. My seatmate is a German speaker and does not make an effort to converse so I anticipate a quiet 10 hour flight.

As soon as the seat beat light goes off, the FAs start their rounds offering drinks and warm nuts. After each FC passenger is given a fresh rose, dinner (http://home.hawaii.rr.com/tropicalflyer/pages/LH-dinner-menu_jpg.htm) service begins. I really enjoy the caviar and all the works on toast points. The food is so much better than UA FC! It takes almost 1 ½ hours to get through all the courses. By the time dessert is offered, I’m starting to nod off. I change into my sleep clothes and am so happy for my comfortable sleep seat. Zzzzzz….

Thursday, June 10

The FAs gently wake me at 7:00 am and offer me breakfast. I am totally amazed at how nice the LH FAs are after so many hours in the air. The breakfast (http://home.hawaii.rr.com/tropicalflyer/pages/LH-Breakfast-menu_jpg.htm) is quite good especially the freshly made eggs.

My plane lands in Frankfurt at 9:00 a.m.. I check the arrivals board and find that my mom and aunt’s Air Canada flight is 45 minutes late. This is great since it gives me ample time to go to the lounge and shower before they arrive. We landed in Terminal A so I try the LH Senator lounge first. The showers are occupied and the waiting list is long. Time for Plan B. I take the train over to Terminal C to the Red Carpet Club. I’m in luck since there is an empty shower room. Yeah!!

I feel like a totally new woman after the shower and change of clothes. I run over to Terminal B to meet my mom and aunt’s flight. Walking through the terminal, I am reminded about how grateful I am for the North American non-smoking policies. Who puts smoking stations right in the middle of the walkway? After a very long trek, I finally find the gate.

My mom and aunt emerge from their flight and we have to trek back towards Terminal A. Along the way we go through passport control and finally make it to the gate.

LH4452 FRA to BCN
We board LH 4452 for Barcelona. I’m in a business class 4C and the middle seat is blocked as promised. Meal service is a cold deli plate which is quite tasty compared to my usual UA deli plate. The flight only takes 1 ½ hours, but it certainly has been a long 28 hours since my first flight from Hawaii!!

BARCELONA

Getting off the plane, I notice a sign that tells you which baggage claim (1 or 2) to go to for your flight. Make sure to pay attention since you’ll have to follow the signs towards your baggage claim area. Of course, you can always follow the rest of the passengers from your plane and hope that they know where to go!

I wait anxiously for my luggage to appear. What a sense of relief as I see my TravelPro suitcase chugging towards me. Luckily, all our suitcases make it off the flight. We leave the baggage area and go out into the main departure area with all the shops and eating places. Our next stop was the closest ATM to get Euros. To find the ATMs, you take a left after exiting the doors into the main departure area. Keep walking towards the overhead signs you will see above a hallway. Before you get to the hallway, you can see the ATMs on the right far side wall. There are several ATMs from different banks. Strangely, two of the three that were part of our banking network (Plus) were out of order.

After getting our Euros, we walk back towards the outside doors to catch a taxi. We get in a relatively short line for a taxi. I had written down the address at La Rambla and Carrer dels Escudellers for our rental apartment to make sure I didn’t have to try my awful Spanish pronunciations. It takes about 20 minutes to get from the airport to our destination and we pay 18€ for the ride. You can also take the Aerobus (http://www.emt-amb.com/links/eng/ibus.htm) which my uncle tells me is quite good and cheap (3.45€ one way or 5.90€ roundtrip). It let them off at Placa de Catalunya and they walked to the apartment.

We walk down Carrer dels Escudellers past many shops and restaurants to get to our rental apartment (http://www.citysiesta.com/accom_description.php?city=Barcelona&AccomNr=191&lan=1). The apartment is clean, newly renovated and very spacious with two bedrooms, living room with a sofabed, large modern kitchen, and separate vanity and bathroom area. The only complaint is that it is on the fourth floor and the building doesn’t have an elevator. It provides good exercise for us though! You have to book the rental apartments for a minimum of 3 nights. Luckily, my uncle and aunt arrived the day before us so we rented the apartment for a total of 545€ for the three nights for the six of us. What a deal!

It’s time to start exploring Barcelona. We walk out to Las Rambla paying close attention to our surroundings because of the stories of pickpockets and muggings. I do notice a few suspicious looking people eyeing the tourists a little too closely and we steer clear. From all the advice we received before our travels, we are especially careful to avoid the women with the long flowing dresses clutching babies and walking back and forth in the middle section of La Rambla. Our first stop is the Mercat Sant Josep (La Boqueria) which is the city’s main food market. There are stalls after stalls of fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, seafood, deli items, etc.. We pick up fresh eggs, dry cured ham, fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, wine and more to stock our apartment.

On the way back to our apartment with our goodies, I notice that the major internet place, Easy Everything (http://www.easyeverything.com/), is at the entrance to our street (Carrer dels Escurdellers) at La Rambla 31. It’s a massive place with at least one hundred flat screen terminals. The cost is very reasonable. You have to buy a prepaid card from the machine at the entrance. If you are using it at several locations, you can use up your card at a per hour price. I opt for the 4€ for 24 hour option which can only be used at one location.

We drop our groceries at our apartment and continue our exploration of the city. This time we walk towards the port area and along the Passeig de Colom. It’s 6:30, but we are hungry so we look for a place to have dinner. Unfortunately, most of the restaurants we pass don’t open until 7:30 pm. We do find a local restaurant on Carrer Ample for some delicious tapas, seafood, paella and sangria for a grand total of 10€ per person.

Back at the apartment, we enjoy the wonderful breeze through the open veranda windows as we sit back and sip a glass or two of sherry. I’m happy to snuggle into bed and get a good night’s sleep that night.

Edited to remove possible discriminating remarks against minorities.

TropicalFlyer :cool:

Barcelona

Friday, June 11, 2004

I awake to a beautiful and sunny day in Barcelona. It’s all good!! Our plan today is to do some sightseeing and shopping. After a breakfast of some of the goodies we bought at the market the previous day, we begin our day by walking up to La Rambla to the Placa de Catalunya. Along the La Rambla we stroll past the newspaper stands, flower stalls, and pet stands. There are also plenty of banks with ATMs along the street so we stop and get some more Euros.

At the top of La Rambla is the Placa de Catalunya. We turn right and walk to the front of El Corte Ingles which is the big department store. Since we were going to take it easy today, we decided to forego the double decker tourist bus (http://www.tmb.net/en_US/turistes/busturistic/busturistic.jsp). It has three routes and 40 stops at shopping and sightseeing sites. It cost 16€ per person for a day pass or 20€ for a two-day pass with on and off privileges.

Our alternative is to hop on the Tombus (http://www.bcn.es/turisme/english/turisme/mobilitat/ser_tra_hom01.htm) (the shopping bus) which takes you along the 5 km shopping line. The shopping line stretches from the Placa de Catalunya along Passeig de Gràcia and up Avenue diagonal to Placa Pius XII. A one-day pass is 5.40€. A route map can be found here (http://www.emt-amb.com/resources/tom.jpg). We are just taking the bus to get a quick look around so we opt to buy two one-way trips for 1.35€ each way. The driver does give change. The bus has nice big windows and is air-conditioned. One thing that perplexed us was that there are a couple of nice table lamps mounted on two flat services of the bus. They just didn’t fit what we usually find on buses. The ride gives us a good overview of the various neighborhoods and shopping areas. We also get to see some of the whimsically Gaudi designed buildings which are fascinating. It takes a little over an hour to go to the end of the line and back.

We want to visit Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia church so we get off the bus at Passeig de Gracia Mallorca. As we walk to the church, we run across lots and lots of interesting shops which makes our journey to the church take much longer ;). When we finally get to Sagrada Familia, it is as impressive as described. Gaudi was certainly a master architect and this is a must visit site.

By this time, everyone is hungry and tired. We take the metro from the church back to Placa de Catalunya. I had heard about the rooftop restaurant in El Corte Ingles. We decide to try it. As we ascend the escalators, it certainly is a long and winding process to get to the top floor where the restaurant is. When we finally make it to the top floor, we find that there is a sit down restaurant and a cafeteria style restaurant. On first inspection, we think that the sit down restaurant is the only section with huge windows overlooking Barcelona so we go there. Later we realize that if you walk to the back of the cafeteria style restaurant, there are windows overlooking the other side of Barcelona. This is an important distinction because, as you already suspect, the sit down restaurant is much more expensive than the cafeteria style one. In fact, the sit down restaurant menus don’t have prices! Well, we’re on vacation so we throw caution to the wind… We order a couple of seafood salads, cheese and proscuitto plates and a bottle of wine. The food was delicious especially the seafood salad. There was plenty of food for the six of us which cost us 24€ per person (not too bad) – whew!! I glanced at the cafeteria menu on the way out and the prices are very reasonable for the huge platter of food you get.

The next few hours were spent shopping or more accurately, trailing my mom and aunts around as they shopped. I was trying to pace myself and was worried about the EasyJet flight in my future. We finally stopped shopping in time to go to dinner.

For the past couple of days, my uncle had spotted a long line in front of the La Fonda restaurant (Carrer dels Escudeliers, 10) which is on the same street as our apartment. We decide to see what all the fuss was about and join the line. The restaurant serves dinner from 8:30 to 11:30 pm and has two levels so it seats more people than it appears. Tonight the La Fonda has delayed its opening to 9:00 pm since the electricity was out for a bit. Our first look at the menu makes us salivate – we want it all! Ironically, the inexpensive prices would allow us to have it all if we are that hungry. We order calamari, octopus, anchovies, fish, seafood paella, lamb, vegetables, wine and more. It’s definitely a feast on our last night in Barcelona! The place is very busy, but the food comes quickly. The hard part is catching the wait staff again if you want to order more food or drink so order a lot the first time they come around. By the way, the man who takes the orders does speak English. The line in front of the restaurant is definitely justified since the food is well seasoned and very tasty. The grand total for our dinner which includes two bottles of wine is 16€ per person. By the way, La Fonda is also open for lunch from 1:00 to 3:30 pm.

We drag our stuffed bodies back to the apartment. I’m actually glad to walk up to the fourth floor so I have some semblance of exercise! We begin the task of packing to board the cruise ship tomorrow.

TropicalFlyer :cool:

Barcelona and Cruise Day 1

Saturday, June 12, 2004

It’s cruise day!! We have a few hours before we go to the pier so I suggest going to breakfast at a place I read about on one of my travel guides. Granja M. Viader is a little breakfast and snack place which is run by a dairy family. It is just off La Ramba and Carrer del Carmen at Carrer Xucia 4-6. This is definitely a place that is frequented by locals since we see many of them coming in and out buying deli items and such while we have breakfast. My aunts rave about the thin and delicious french toast. I’m taken by the foie gras grilled sandwich and wonderful coffee. The hot chocolate is rich and creamy made with real chocolate. One thing we notice is that everyone around us is ordering milk. Hmmm…we must try some too. The milk comes and it is fresh and sweet. Mmmm… A big difference from the processed milk we get at home.

Now it really is time to collect our luggage from the apartment and go to the pier. Yeah!! I’m on my way to my first cruise! I make one final check that our cruise luggage tags are on the bags. We hail a couple of taxis to go to the pier. I show the driver the port name in our cruise document to make sure we get to the right dock. One taxi charges us $10 for the ride and the other charges $15 – a slight difference. We arrive at the dock at 1 p.m..

As soon as the taxi stops, the dock stewards descend on the trunk and take the luggage. We tip $1 USD per bag. I want to make sure our bags make it to our room! We enter the cruise ship terminal and see that it’s set up like a airport check-in. There is a special check-in line for people booked in suites and frequent Royal Caribbean cruisers. The terminal also has a duty free shop (mostly for overpriced alcohol and cigarettes) and stands for soda (no bottled water), souvenirs and jewelry. We enter the regular check-in line and get up to the counter in 2 minutes. Since we registered on-line before the cruise, we only have to tear out the completed pages from our travel documents, show our passports and give them our credit card for an imprint. It takes about 10 minutes to complete the check-in. We receive our RCCL seapasses and are directed to the second line.

In the second line we have our hand carry luggage x-rayed and pictures taken by the security guys. We exit the building and the photographers strongly urge us into place for pictures with the Brilliance of the Seas sign. We finally get onto the ship and go straight to our room on the 4th deck. It also happens to be the deck with the Guest Relations, Atrium Bar, and main dining room which is quite convenient. We are surprised to open our cabin door to see our luggage already waiting inside. Great!!

No time to dilly dally so I drop my hand carry in my room and go straight to Guest Relations while there is no line. I’m fairly sure that situation will change soon. I sign up for the special cord to access the internet in my cabin. It cost $100 USD for the 7 days with a $25 deposit for the cord. I examine the cord and it’s got a RJ-11 plug on one end and a RJ-45 plug on the other. I also ask the staff to punch holes in our seapasses so we can hang them from the lanyards I made. I pass the internet stations on the 4th deck and see that those cost 50 cents per minute…cha ching!

Now it’s time to check out my inside cabin that I’m sharing with one of my aunts. The room has a large closet with shelves inside the closet. The vanity table/desk has several sets of drawers on each side. The vanity/desk also has two 110V electric plugs (the type in North America) and the plug for the modem end of your internet cord. There is a big mirror above the vanity/desk. Next to the vanity table is a shelving unit which has the safe in the upper portion, mini-refrigerator in the lower portion, and television on the table portion in-between. We have two twin beds with two nightstands in-between them and a separate sofa with a small coffee table. We notice that our room also has two pullman type beds that can pulled down from the ceiling if more than two people are sharing the cabin. The bathroom is compact with plenty of shelving and a stall shower. The shower has a retractable clothesline in it and a unit which dispenses a combination liquid soap/shampoo. I am happy I brought my own shampoo and conditioner since the combo soaps usually don’t agree with my hair too well.

Based on recommendations gleaned from cruise internet boards, I made sure to bring some little extras to make my cruise better like: small oust air freshener for the bathroom, one small plastic hanger with the multiple clips, my own travel hairdryer (the one in the room is weak), and a mini power strip.

While we’re unpacking, our cabin steward, Albert, knocks on our door to introduce himself and give us an overview of what services he will be providing. He seems quite nice. I take the opportunity to give him the laundry I need pressed since the ship does not have irons available to the guests. The cost (http://www.royalcaribbean.com/customersupport/faq/onboardExtrasFaq.do;jsessionid=0000mXDhieaZg8-USk4dSu-idxA:v2mocb1m) of pressing is quite reasonable and is half of the cost of washing on the laundry price list. Albert tells me that the regular service will have my items back to me before 5 pm the next day.

The next knock on the door brings the rest of our party of six so we go to explore the ship (http://home.hawaii.rr.com/tropicalflyer/pages/Brilliance-postcard-for-tri_jpg.htm). On the fifth floor we find the coffee bar. There is an additional charge for the specialty coffee (lattes, mochas, etc.), but the pastries are free. There are additional internet stations by the coffee bar.

The gift shops are next to the coffee bar, but are not open when the ship is in port. This fact is lost on me until I needed to buy a forgotten toiletry item while we are in port. Grrr…. We continue exploring the ship and find the casino, theatre, photo area and we even take the spa tour which presents a very nice spa and exercise facility. I want to book a spa appointment since they are offering some good deals that need to be booked the first day. Unfortunately, the line is long and slow so I give up and we go to lunch in the Windjammer restaurant instead.

The Windjammer is the buffet restaurant. On entering the Windjammer, we pass a table selling the soda (Coke products) sticker which goes on your seapass. It costs $35 for the week of unlimited fountain soda with a souvenir coke cup. An alternative is that you can buy a can of soda for $1.50. Unless you drink A LOT of soda and like fountain soda, buying individually is a better deal in the long run. Of course, you can always lug your own soda on board and keep it in your room;). The buffet is huge and has salads, soups, sandwiches, pizza, meat, potatoes, hamburgers, French fries, desserts, fruit, cheese, vegetables…well you get the idea. Lemonade, water, iced tea, hot chocolate, coffee, and hot tea are free. During lunch I peruse the ship’s daily newsletter, The Compass (http://home.hawaii.rr.com/tropicalflyer/pages/Compass-page-1_jpg.htm), to figure out what activities are happening today.

After our hunger is satiated, we go to the Atrium area to figure out what the Brilliance Expo is since it’s described in The Compass. The Expo turns out to be different stations which advertise the different services (spa, casino, photography, etc.) offered on the ship. Each station gives out raffle tickets for visiting the station. At the end of the hour long Expo, the cruise director, Bill Brunkhorst, draws tickets for prizes. I feel lucky and I do win an hour in the golf simulator – too bad I don’t play golf! I think a lot of people don’t participate in the Expo so you’re chances of winning are very good.

Next we head to the RCCL/CruiseCritic Meet and Mingle in the Hollywood Odyssey room on the 13th floor. I had been corresponding with several people on the cruise board and this is the get-together that is arranged by RCCL. The ship provides a big spread of appetizers, punch, etc.. Bill, the cruise director, and a couple of his staff are on hand to greet the Cruise Critic people. Unfortunately, less than a dozen people show up, but it was still nice talking to the ones who show up. It definitely is hard to have a get together the first day of the cruise! My lucky streak continues and I win a RCCL computer mouse with a floating cruise ship inside. My uncle is luckier and wins a bottle of French champagne.

It’s a very busy day already and it’s time to take a rest before dinner. I decide to take can chance and call the spa since I’m interested in the La Therapie Hydralift Facial special (two facials for $160). It’s an oxygenating facial that uses galvanic stimuli and high frequencies to penetrate the deepest layers of skin. I’ve read about the machine used for the facial and want to try it. I’m in luck and get an appointment for tonight and Thursday night. Yeah!!

The ship has a large group (1200) of the top pharmaceutical sales people from Bristol Meyer Squibb (BMS). The cruise is their prize for being such high sales. Due to the BMS group, the dinner sittings are split from two (6:30 and 9:00) to four sittings (6:30, 7:00, 9:00, and 9:30). We had signed up for the early seating at 6:30 pm and luckily retained the same time. The upside of the early seating is that the wait people are energetic, we can go to the first show, there’s plenty of time to participate in the many evening activities, and we have a little time to digest our food before going to bed.

I’ve been looking forward to my first dinner on the ship. The main dining room is beautiful and the first night is casual dress which seems a little out of place. We get a fabulous waitress, Helen, and assistant waiter, Derek. We arrive at our assigned table and we are surprised to find that we do not have the table for six that we requested. Instead, we are sharing a table for twelve. Oh well, it’ll be nice meeting some new people. Wrong!! The other family is not very friendly since they wanted their own table too. Unfortunately, this makes the table conversation very stilted.

Even though the table atmosphere is not the most jovial, the food is very good. We have several appetizer choices, a clear and cream soup choice, salad choices, and several entrée choices. There is even a lighter menu choice. To end the meal, we receive a separate dessert menu that includes sugar-free choices. I was a little worried about the quality of food after reading some of the complaints on the Cruise Critic board. However, I should not have been concerned since the food was quite varied, fresh and delicious for such a mass produced setting.

The ship leaves port as we eat dinner and I can feel a little sway as we sail. Why does everyone keep saying you don’t feel anything?! It’s not too bad, but I’m glad my husband declined to go on this trip. He is very sensitive and would have been nauseous :( . Before we leave the dining room, the maitre’d stops by the table to introduce himself and asks if everything is okay. I mention our desire to have a table for six for our family and he says that he will try the best he can for future nights. I’ll keep my fingers crossed :)!

The Compass describes tonight’s show as an introductory show featuring the cruise staff. I take a pass on the show to do some work on the internet until my facial appointment. My family decides to go check on the show and then go to the Piano Bar.

I go back to the cabin to find that Albert has turned down our cabin while we were at dinner. I follow the instructions from Guest Relations and set up my laptop internet connection. The connection speed seems to about the same as a slower dial-up access at 35-40 kbps. I work for an hour and then go to the spa for my facial. My esthetician is from Australia and very friendly. The next hour is spent relaxing as I receive a very thorough skin cleansing and moisturizing. Any trace of dryness from the long flight over to Europe has been erased! I’m so relaxed that I crawl right into bed when I arrive back at the cabin. Zzzzzzzz……

TropicalFlyer :cool:

Cruise Day 2 - Ajaccio, Corsica

Sunday June 13, 2004

At 7:00 a.m., I awaken to “DING ding ding…those holding pass #1 may go to the disembarkation area…DING ding ding. These announcements continue every 5-10 minutes for the next 2 hours - very distracting and annoying if you want to sleep in. Turning down the volume control in the cabin doesn’t help much since the announcements can be heard perfectly from the hallway speakers.

Today we are docked in Ajaccio which is the largest city in Corsica and the birthplace of Napolean Bonaparte. Ajaccio is a tender port so you have to get on the large lifeboats to get the land and back.

We’re going to take it easy today since Sunday in Ajaccio won’t take much time. We’re going to be good and start the day with some exercise. First we go to the Windjammer for a quick and light breakfast to fuel us. Then we go up to Sky Bar to begin the Walk-A-Mile which is a Ship Shape activity. The Ship Shape dollars are used to buy items (t-shirt, cap, water bottle, bag, towel, etc.) at the end of the cruise.

The staff member tells us that four times around the whole ship or six times around the track equals 1 mile. I start briskly walking around the ship. It’s a lot easier to exercise while taking in the gorgeous view on this sunny day. I’m completing my 3rd lap around the ship when the staff person hands me the Ship Shape Dollar. I guess he wants to leave and not wait around for us to finish. My aunt is not as lucky since he misses seeing her and leaves before she finishes the activity. Boy, is she mad! She arrives back in the cabin and I get sent to complain to Guest Relations. They offer to send a couple of the Ship Shape Dollars to our cabin for her as compensation. She’s satisfied for now.

After showering and changing, we go back to the Windjammer to have lunch. Sit down lunch is also available in the main dining room, but we don’t want to spend a lot of time on lunch. During lunch my family tells me that the show last night wasn’t very good and the tape of it will replay over and over again on the ship’s television. I guess I didn’t miss anything. However, they really enjoyed the piano bar and even found out that the piano player is from Victoria, British Columbia. Another Canadian!

After lunch, we hop on one of the tenders to get to port. Tender tickets aren’t needed since it’s already noon and based on the announcements, haven’t been required since 9:30 a.m.. Our seapasses are scanned as we leave so they know we left the ship. We wear the seaband to prevent any chance of seasickness. It must have worked since we felt good even when the tender was rocking.

We get off the tender and find that a small outside market has been set up right by the port. Many of the cruise passengers are eagerly buying items for souvenirs. We take a pass on the market and walk into town. The street along the port (Qual L’Herminier) is filled with sidewalk cafes and many of the cruise passengers are eating and drinking at the cafes. Since it’s Sunday most of the retail stores are closed. Drats! We wander over to Place de Gaulle and take the normal touristy group shots with Napolean’s statue.

Since the ship’s coffee is not the best, our desire for a good cup of coffee leads us to a small café across the street from the square on Avenue de Paris. The Nord Sud café has a scattering of sidewalk tables which are filled so we head inside. We order café au lait (1.30€/2.20€/2.40€) and can’t pass up ordering some crepes citron (2.50€). The coffee and crepes are both excellent!

Satiated we begin walking again. We turn onto rue Cardinal-Fesch which is a quaint street full of shops and restaurants. Again, many of the stores are closed since it’s Sunday, but there are enough to wander into to see what Ajaccio has to offer. We examine the wines at one of the small stores and ask the two female proprietors to recommend a couple of bottles of wine. We also take the opportunity to pick up several bottles of water since it’s very expensive on the ship. The shop ladies are very nice, but don’t speak english. Between my high school french and hand gestures, we communicate fine. Before we leave the shop, they motion for us to wait. One of the ladies runs into the back room and comes back with two wine glasses which she wraps and presents to us. We leave the store with a chorus of “mercis.” It’s 3:00 so we decide to walk back down to the port. We walk all the way back to where we were dropped off earlier. We get there and one of the ship’s staff tells us that the tender port has been moved to the other side of the port in the direction we had just come from! Grrr…. We do an about face and walk about ½ mile to the new tender port. The line isn’t long and we get onto a tender within 10 minutes. On arrival back on the ship, our seapass is scanned so they know we came back on board and our bags are x-rayed.

The next few hours before dinner are spent lying in the Solarium, reading, swimming, and relaxing. It’s nice to be able to spend some relaxation time on the ship since this cruise is so port intensive. Aaaaah….it’s time for dinner again. Tonight is smart casual so no shorts in the dining room!

We arrive in the dining room and go look for the maitre’d to see if we have a new dining table assignment. We’re in luck! A table for six is available since the group assigned to the table moved to a later seating. And, we still have Helen and Derek as our waitpeople. Yeah!! The food and service is wonderful again. Derek remembers our drink (iced tea, juice, etc.) orders from the night before and our drinks magically appear. You can also order alcoholic drinks which will be charged to your seapass. Watch out though, those drink charges (plus the 15% mandatory gratuity) adds up fast on your account!

Helen encourages us to try more than one entrée, but that’s just too much food for one person. We do request sautéed mushrooms if possible at future dinners. Helen tells us that she will ask the chef. We have Helen open one of the bottles of wine we bought in Ajaccio. It’s okay, but not great and we would not buy it again. Note to self: locals don't always know what wine is best. I ordered coffee with dessert and really regret it. The coffee is not good! Yuck!

Tonight’s show is a Magic Show and we decide to check it out. There is a bar at the back of the theatre and servers take orders before the show starts – nice! The show is quite good, but I’m tired and a darkened theatre lulls me into short “naps”. I'm glad when the show is over. Now it’s time to head over to the photo gallery and shops. We browse, but don’t buy anything which is a relief to our seapass! We’re curious about the Karaoke Idol contest so we go to the Colony Club to see what it’s all about. It turns out that there are many talented and not so talented singers who enter the contest. Several of the contestants (many who are drunk) imitate famous singers like Elvis and are side splittingly funny! The best singer tonight is one of the pharmaceutical sales guys who did a great rendition of Elvis. There is another qualifying round on Thursday night and the top three singers in each round go onto the final contest on the final night of the cruise.

It’s 12:30 a.m. and time to get to bed. Tomorrow is Villefranche and we need some rest.

Will post more as I write it.

TropicalFlyer :cool:

Honolulu to Barcelona

[It’s time to start exploring Barcelona. We walk out to Las Rambla paying close attention to our surroundings because of the stories of pickpockets and muggings. I do notice a few gypsies eyeing the crowds and we steer clear.

TropicalFlyer :cool:

Great Trip Report but please keep your racial stereotyping to yourself.

Great trip report! Thanks for including all the detail. I know it must have taken you quite a bit of time. I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

This is making me even more excited for my mediterranean cruise (same ship) on August 18th for my honeymoon. Only 20 days to go :D :D :D

Great Trip Report but please keep your racial stereotyping to yourself.

:rolleyes:

Thank you for sharing your pictures. Very interesting report.

:rolleyes:

You may well roll your eyes but discrimination against Romanies is a major political issue here in Europe. In the UK we have accepted thousands of asylum seekers from Eastern Europe who have been viciously discrimated against by their fellow citizens AND governments simply because they were Romanies. They may not be a recognised minority community in the USA but that doesn't mean it's acceptable to peddle blind prejudice against them on this site. I can't imagine you would tolerate such comments about African-Americans and consider it worthy of a sarcastic eye-roll?

You may well roll your eyes but discrimination against Romanies is a major political issue here in Europe. In the UK we have accepted thousands of asylum seekers from Eastern Europe who have been viciously discrimated against by their fellow citizens AND governments simply because they were Romanies. They may not be a recognised minority community in the USA but that doesn't mean it's acceptable to peddle blind prejudice against them on this site. I can't imagine you would tolerate such comments about African-Americans and consider it worthy of a sarcastic eye-roll?

Aristoph -

I consider myself well educated, well traveled, and sensitive to issues faced by minority populations around the world, despite being a white, male republican voter [cue pithy remarks from other FTers. . .].

That said, however, I have to admit that I wouldn't have thought twice about making a comment about gypsies, and, in fact, have made comments such as that many times in the past.

Your second post made me think about this. It presented a description of the issues facing Romanies, and while a bit snippy in tone, gave FTers an opportunity to learn something and consider their own feelings towards this group of people. Many, many of us on FT have traveled in places where warnings against "gypsies" are part of the standard travel briefing. You've reminded us that we always need to examine these warnings in context.

Your first post, however, was curt to the point of being offensive. Rather than taking advantage of an opportunity to teach, you chose to be confrontational and turn many people off.

Education requires that the teacher know their pupils and adjust their lessons accordingly.

That's a long-winded way of getting to the important message to TropicalFlyer that this is a GREAT trip report and can't wait for the next installment.

[/soapbox]

Greg

Greg 99

You're right - my first mail was curt and I apologise to TropicalFlyer for the self-righteous tone. However I am glad that it has highlighted the issue of racism against communities other than the standard minority groups. I myself have been guilty of such thinking about Romanies and have heard the warnings given out by hotels in parts of Europe. But there is a very long and deep cultural history of discrimination against and fear of Romanies across much of Europe. This is not the corporate "glass ceiling" type of discrimination but real life-threatening violence, exclusion from education and ghettoization. This is the extreme spectrum of a prejudice that begins with educated well-travelled people thinking it is acceptable to equate Romanies with pickpockets. I'll get off my soapbox now! :rolleyes:

Cruise Day 3 - Villefranche, France

Monday, June 14, 2004

This morning I am reminded that the one problem about staying in an inside cabin is that I can’t look outside to see the weather. There is a channel on the television that is connected to the camera at the bow of the ship, but it just isn’t the same. Otherwise, the inside cabin is quite fine since I’m not in it that much.

Anyway, it’s Villefranche today and another tender port. We’re awakened again by the tender announcements which start sometime between 7:00-8:00 am. Grrrr…. I check the on-line train schedule (http://www.voyages-sncf.com/dynamic/_SvHomePage?_TMS=1091184810608&_DLG=SvHomePage&_LANG=UK&_AGENCY=VSC) and see that there is an 12:23 train to Cannes. We had decided the previous night to take it easy and go to Cannes instead of trying to do Monte Carlo, Nice and Cannes. Cruise Day 4 and 5 are going to be long and intensive and we need to conserve some energy. My uncle really wants to go to Cannes (40-50 minutes away) since he kept telling us that the train station was right in the town versus the train station in Nice (6 minutes away) which is over a mile from the city. So Cannes it is…

Of course, pain before pleasure. We are trying to stay ahead of the legendary cruise/vacation weight gain so it’s a quick breakfast at the Windjammer again and the Walk-a-Mile again. This time the cruise staff person manning the activity gives out the Ship Shape Dollars at the beginning of the walk :)!

While most of us are walking, one of my aunts goes to the salon to have her hair washed and set. It cost her $50 USD! She decides to stay on-board today since she doesn’t want to ruin her hair if it rains.

After our walk, we quickly clean up and meet again to get on the tender to the port. It’s 11:00 so there is no line for the tender and no tickets are needed. The weather is not looking so good, but we’re hopeful that it will stay dry. We get to the port (map (http://www.villefranche-sur-mer.com/)) where there are many taxis and buses available. We want to take the train so we head towards the Villefranche Sur Mer train station. I pull out the instructions I printed from “Luv to Travel’s” trip report from the Cruise Critic (www.cruisecritic.com) website. We exit the port building facing the town and go towards our right. Following the street along the water (Quai de l’Amiral Courbet which turns into Quai de l’Amiral Ponchardier), we look for the SNCF (French railway) sign. Right after the buildings on our left stop, we see a small blue sign with SNCF on it next to some stone stairs. Boy, these signs are smaller than the ones allowed in Hawaii and we have strict sign laws! At the top of the stairs we find the train station.

The train station office is on the side of the tracks which is farthest from the water. I enter the station and get in line to buy tickets. I ask in my best french for five tickets to Cannes. The not-so-friendly man behind the glass tells me that he can’t sell me tickets to Cannes. He says that he can only sell tickets to Nice and waves me away. Huh??? I do a quick huddle with my family and decide to buy tickets to Nice and pay the additional fare to Cannes with the conductor on the train. I get into the line and ask for five tickets to Nice. This time he tells me that he does not sell tickets to Nice and directs me to the ticket machine outside. I’m very confused since I just witnessed him selling tickets to Nice to the couple in front of me in line. I go outside again and confer with my family. The man in line behind me who had witnessed my confusion comes outside and tells us that he was just sold tickets to Nice and doesn’t understand what’s wrong with the guy. Hmmmm…. I wonder if the station man just doesn’t like females. We test out my theory by sending my uncle in to buy tickets and he strikes out too! I guess there’s just something about us he doesn’t like :confused:.

Anyway, our only option is the automatic ticket machine. After much pushing of buttons, I figure out how to buy the tickets for us. Unfortunately, I did not figure out until later how to choose different destination cities (default is to Nice) or buy multiple tickets at once. Fortunately, this works to our advantage later ;). We have enough change (no paper money accepted) to buy all our 2nd class one-way tickets to Nice (1.40€) and will try to purchase the upgrade all the way to Cannes (additional 4.40€ each) on board. I also see that there is a place on the machine to use your credit card too.

Whew!! What an ordeal to buy train tickets! Since the train to Nice/Cannes boards from the track across from the station office (Marseille sign above track), we go back down the stairs and across to the other side of the tracks. The train to Monte Carlo boards in front of the station office (Vintimille sign above track). It’s now 12:10 and I notice that the train station office has closed for lunch. This is bad news for the hoard of people that descend on the station right now. Very quickly a long line forms at the ticket machine outside the station office with a lot of confused looking people hunting for change. Strangely, there is another machine on our side of the tracks and there is a very small line. I spot a couple struggling with the machine and offer my help. Helping them is how I accidentally discover the trackball twists to allow me to choose different destination cities and buy multiple tickets at once. Suddenly, I find myself ticket machine concierge as each subsequent family in line asks me to help them. One family did want to try using their credit card, but for some reason the machine just kept churning around trying to get the VISA card authorized. It’s a good idea to have change on hand to buy the train tickets.

It’s 12:33 and the train is still not here. As it starts to rain, it dawns on my aunt that we should stick the tickets into the yellow validation machine before we board. We start a flurry of validation as all the other people on the platform follow us :D. It’s 12:53 and the train finally arrives. Yeah!! We rush over to the cars with the number 2 on it since we have 2nd class tickets. It’s crowded and we can only find seats in a smoking car. Yuck!! Very quickly we arrive in Nice and many people get off. At stop after stop, we wonder where the conductor is so we can pay for the additional fare. We finally arrive in Cannes and still no conductor. We realize that it’s lunch time and they are probably at lunch. Hmmm…the mean station man and my ineptness at the ticket machine worked to our advantage this time :)!

On exiting the train, we run into some friends from our cruise. They had left the ship early and taken the train to Monte Carlo first. They are much more enterprising than we are. It starts to rain harder as we walk into Cannes. I can’t believe my eyes when I spot a Monoprix store! This is one of my favorite stores in Paris. I guess it can only be described as a smaller French version of our Super Target stores. I duck in quickly to buy an umbrella for 10€ - not bad since I’m desperate! No time for more shopping since a growling stomach is calling.

We hold back our shopping urge as we hunt for a local restaurant. We finally find one down a little street from the local McDonald’s. The plat du jour (plate of the day) is 8.00€ inclusive of tip not including beverage. We order family style and get several complete meals to share. We start with mussels and salads. Then we have hamburger steaks with frites (fries), large sardines, and plump shrimps in garlic as entrees. We end our meal with a choice of custard or chocolate mousse and wonderful little cups of cappuccino. The bill for this very delicious meal comes up to 11€ per person which includes several bottles of water.

On full and happy stomachs, we walk towards the harbor area of Cannes. Luckily, the rain has stopped for now. Along the way, we stop at the auditorium where the Cannes Film Festival is held to take pictures. There are foot and handprints of famous people in the cement outside the auditorium. The harbor is just picture perfect and I can see why it is a haven for the rich and famous. The stores are calling…time to shop!! Cannes is great for shopping. There are so many nice stores including the previously mentioned Monoprix and a more upscale department store, Galeries Lafayette. My family picks up some good bargains on clothes and shoes. I am very happy going back to Monoprix and pick up my favorite french chocolate with hazelnuts. The best part is that it is so inexpensive which goes to show that chocolate doesn’t have to cost a lot to taste expensive! We are running short on time so I don’t have time to check out the great clothes at Monoprix - great styles at affordable prices. Darn!

As we go back to the train station, I’m a little worried about buying the return tickets. I go up to the window and this time have no trouble buying the 2nd class tickets back to Villefranche Sur Mer for 5.80€ per person. We board the 5:09 p.m. train which is scheduled to arrive at the Villefranche Sur Mer station at 5:52 p.m.. We’re not sure if this will allow us to make our 6:30 pm seating in the dining room, but we’re prepared to sacrifice a little luxury and eat in the Windjammer.

The train arrives 5 minutes late into Villefranche Sur Mer and we hurry back to the tender port. We’re a little concerned to see a huge line snaking its way through the building. We ask around and find out that the long line is for the Splendor of the Seas and not our ship. Whew!! It seems that the ship excursions from the Splendor have released its passengers from the buses and something is wrong with their tender. The people in line do not look happy at all and are starting to get vocal about it. We duck past the frustrated crowd to our line and only have to wait 5 minutes to board our tender. We arrive back on-board at 6:45, go through the security process and race to the dining room. Lucky it’s casual night so we don’t have to take time to change :)!

Helen and Derek are smiling and waiting as we make our way to our table. We have a good laugh with them about our day’s adventures. It’s so hard to decide what to eat since everything sounds so good even the light meals. Everything I order is delicious as usual. I’m trying hard to be good and not overeat ;).

After dinner, I go back to the cabin to work on-line while my family explores the other activities on the ship. After a couple of hours of toiling on work, I join everyone at the piano bar. It’s time for “Name that Movie Tune”. We do pretty well and come in second with 21/30. The winning table gets 24/30. Drats again! We do get a nice fashion show since the BMS group has blocked off the Colony Club for a private formal party and the attendees walk in and out of the room past the bar.

Yawn…it’s been a long day and tomorrow is an intensive day in Florence. It’s going to be our first experience with a private escorted tour – good, bad, indifferent – I can’t wait!

TropicalFlyer :cool:

Wonderful report. Looking forward to next day.

I'm enjoying this trip report. Makes me want to take another cruise!

Bill was our cruise director on the Radiance this past December. Nice guy. The Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle was also a little disappointing (for the lack of turnout), but it's very generous for Royal Caribbean to put such an effort into organizing it.

You have yet to mention the best part (IMO) of the Radiance-class ships...the Solarium! :) (That, and the casino. ;))

Anyway, our only option is the automatic ticket machine. After much pushing of buttons, I figure out how to buy the tickets for us. Unfortunately, I did not figure out until later how to choose different destination cities (default is to Nice) or buy multiple tickets at once. Fortunately, this works to our advantage later ;). We have enough change (no paper money accepted) to buy all our 2nd class one-way tickets to Nice (1.40€) and will try to purchase the upgrade all the way to Cannes (additional 4.40€ each) on board. I also see that there is a place on the machine to use your credit card too.

Whew!! What an ordeal to buy train tickets! Since the train to Nice/Cannes boards from the track across from the station office (track closest to the water), we go back down the stairs and across to the other side of the tracks. The train to Monaco boards in front of the station office. It’s now 12:10 and I notice that the train station office has closed for lunch. This is bad news for the hoard of people that descend on the station right now. Very quickly a long line forms at the ticket machine outside the station office with a lot of confused looking people hunting for change. Strangely, there is another machine on our side of the tracks and there is a very small line. I spot a couple struggling with the machine and offer my help. Helping them is how I accidentally discover the trackball twists to allow me to choose different destination cities and buy multiple tickets at once. Suddenly, I find myself ticket machine concierge as each subsequent family in line asks me to help them. One family did want to try using their credit card, but for some reason the machine just kept churning around trying to get the VISA card authorized. It’s a good idea to have change on hand to buy the train tickets.




We had the same exact problem in May with the Villefranche ticket machines not taking credit cards. We thought it was user error on our parts (or a language thing). Good to know its not either ;)

Great report. We rarely get cruise reports, so they're nice to see.

As for the gypsy issue -- I know of no one who has been pickpocketed or mugged by anyone other than a gypsy while in Europe. Fair or not, I'll continue my policy of steering clear of all of them.

We had the same exact problem in May with the Villefranche ticket machines not taking credit cards. We thought it was user error on our parts (or a language thing). Good to know its not either ;)

I'm sure someone more experienced with travel in France than me will soon reply to this issue with a very detailed explanation, but meanwhile allow me to offer my reasoning behind the cause of your problems.

What I have heard is that the credit card system in France normally uses the chip embedded in the card rather than the magnetic strip. Thus the machines which accept credit cards, such as in the Metro in Paris, only attempt to read the chip and not the magnetic strip. I have also observed on one time when I was paying for a hotelroom in Paris that the staff attempted to read the chip several times prior to using the strip. (My Swedish credit card has an embedded chip which is used for a completely different purpose)

You have yet to mention the best part (IMO) of the Radiance-class ships...the Solarium! :) (That, and the casino. ;))

Thanks for the reminder. I mistakenly wrote "lying in the atrium" earlier when I meant the solarium. My disclaimer is that my family spent a lot of their little free time there while I generally stayed in the shadier areas of the ship. I get enough sun in Hawaii :cool:.

TF

[QUOTE=PresRDC]Great report. We rarely get cruise reports, so they're nice to see. As for the gypsy issue -- I know of no one who has been pickpocketed or mugged by anyone other than a gypsy while in Europe>>

I can assure you that you can be pick pocketed by anybody; not only gypsies. There was a very interesting report about pickpockets in Barcelona and Rome.

Cruise Day 4 – Livorno, Italy

June 15, 2004

Ding, ding, ding….by this time I’m used to being awakened by the morning announcements. I’m thinking that one needs to go on a cruise with a lot of at sea days to be able to sleep in peacefully ;) . I jump out of bed this morning since it’s our day in Firenze (Florence)! I’m looking forward to our private tour of Florence sites in the morning and shopping at the outlets in the afternoon.

Since it’s going to be a long day of walking, we can skip the morning exercise and go straight to a leisurely breakfast today. Yeah!! I have to say the variety of food offered in the Windjammer for breakfast is impressive. I’m not rushing off to exercise so I treat myself to a custom made omelet. I’m a little wide eyed at the size of the omelets the man is making. It must be about a 4 egg omelet! The woman in front of me tries to communicate to the omelet chef that she wants only half of the amount of eggs for her omelet. The chef misunderstands and puts in two scoops of egg in the frying pan – an 8 egg omelet. I have to laugh as the woman turns to me and rolls her eyes! I learn not to make the same mistake and just take what he gives me. Overall, breakfast is good, but the coffee still sucks :td:.

We leave the ship at exactly 8:30 a.m. to meet with Paola Migliorini of Tuscany Tours (www.florencetour.com). I found Paola through recommendations on the Cruise Critic website. The cost for the private tour for 6-8 people is 650€ (782 USD) which doesn’t include admission to museums and lunch. The ship’s excursion into Florence cost $84 USD per person for just the transportation to/from the Livorno to Florence. The full Pisa and Florence excursion (includes lunch and admissions) is $448 USD per person. There are also several other excursions which cost something in-between the two extremes.

Paola greets us warmly and we are escorted to her waiting 9 passenger (8 passengers + 1 driver) Volkswagen van. The van is equipped with a microphone system so we can all hear what Paola is saying as we tour in the van. Paola is a licensed tour guide rather than just a tour driver and speaks English, French, German, and Spanish.

Paola describes the Port of Livorno and surrounding areas as we drive towards Florence. As we drive, Paolo explains that she has booked another family of 9 who are in another van with another driver. The other family will be joining us for the morning and then we will be transferred to the other driver for our afternoon shopping excursion. Wow, what a surprise to us and with no prior warning! I’ve never been on a private tour so I don’t know if this is normal procedure or what. Since we’re pretty much a captive audience, we decide to go with the flow and see what happens.

For an hour we drive through the lovely countryside and finally reach Florence. Paola keeps in constant contact with the driver of the other van which is distracting as she interrupts conversations with us to talk on her cell phone. As we enter the city, we notice the big tour buses parked outside the city on the bigger streets. One of the reasons we chose a private tour is that the van can drive you into the small streets of the city. This is really important for the more senior members of the family.

We head straight to the Galleria dell'Accademia Galleria dell'Accademia (http://www.sbas.firenze.it/accademia/) since the other family is going to meet us there. I knew we would drive close to the museum, but I am surprised when we pulled up right next to the museum. Paola asks me to get out and help move the unlocked bicycles across the street so that we can park. This is certainly something we wouldn’t do in a large city in the U.S. even if the bikes aren’t chained to stationary objects.

Paola requests 15€ from each person for the reserved admission to the Accademia. I check the website later and find that the adult admission is actually 6.50€ and the reservation fee is 3€. Paola goes inside the reservations office to get the tickets and we wait outside. As we wait, we are approached by several women selling a variety of colorful scarves, men selling copies of artwork and wooden train alphabet blocks. Paola returns and leads us into the museum to wait for the other family. As we wait, we take in the Statue of David. I am amazed at the size and detail of the statue. David looks alive. This work of art definitely leaves no question about Michelangelo’s artistic skill. Although there are many signs and several announcements forbidding pictures in the museum, the many tourists in this wing of the museum boldly snap way even with flashes going! I feel badly for the one lone female museum worker running around in her futile effort to stop people from taking pictures. The other family arrives and Paola starts her tour of the Accademia. She really knows her information about the artwork and history. I find the room with the plaster copies of famous marble statues used by the students to learn proportion fascinating. The statues have holes all over the place where the students can stick rods and string to measure proportions. All too soon it’s time to leave the museum and move on.

Since the other van has too many people, two of the other family members move to our van for the rest of the morning. Our next stop is up into the hills to the Piazzale Michelangiolo. The terrace gives a beautiful and picture worthy view above Florence. Paola tells us about the history of the buildings and bridges that we see. We get back in the van and go back down towards the city through the small winding streets. We drive pass the Duomo on the way to Piazza Santa Croce. The dome on the Duomo is truly amazing and the frescoes on the outside just add to the magnificence of the building.

When we arrive in the Piazza Santa Croce, we park right next church. The grandmother in the other family is not up to walking especially as the day gets hotter. She elects to sit in the square as we move on following Paola around the cobblestone streets. We enter a small building to find a craftsman working on a mosaic tile picture. As the man works, a lady gives us information about the labor intensive process of making the mosaic artwork. The mosaics are made from thin slices of natural materials like shell, stone, precious gems, and wood. I’ve never seen such meticulous mosaic work. The man is working on a commissioned coffee table top which we are told cost about $30,000 USD. Yikes!! An example of the work can be found here (http://www.madeinfirenze.it/index1_e.htm). I would be more than happy to personally own a piece of their work, but my pocketbook is not cooperating!

Our next stop is the leather school at the Santa Croce church. Paola collects 5€ from each of us for the admission fee. Again, I find out later that the admission fee is 4€ per person. The leather school was started after World War II to give train orphans after the war a practical trade. We gather in front of the demonstration tables as one of the craftsmen gives us a demonstration of decorating the leather with 24K gold leaf. I’m impressed as the craftsmen heated up the metal decoration tool and pressed it into the gold leaf on the leather several times without any guidelines. He removes the piece of gold leaf and the design is perfectly centered. Wow!! During the demonstration I notice that some of the other family members are angry with Paola. They are telling her that this is not part of the tour they agreed upon and didn’t want to stay. As a result, we are quickly whisked past the school’s gift shop and out into the church itself. I guess it’s a good thing for my bank account, but it would have been nice to see examples of their workmanship. We quickly move through the church and back outside to the Piazza.

Paola tells us that it is time for lunch. We ask for a quick lunch since we don’t want to waste time eating on our one day in Florence. Paola assures us that lunch will be quick and has been pre-arranged. Hmmm…news to us. We follow Paola across the square to a small restaurant called Leo in Santa Croce. We order a couple bottles of water since we are a little dehydrated at this point. The meal begins with brushetta, salad and wonderful Italian bread. Then we have ravioli and a pasta in tomato sauce. We are offered seconds on the pasta. The bill comes and we are a little surprised because it works out to 24€ (29 USD) per person. It’s definitely overpriced for what we got based on past experience with meals in Italy.

Anyway, we’re off again. We are switching vans to go with the other driver, Max, who will take us shopping. Paola is going to take the other family to more museums and sites in Florence. Since Paola is a tour guide and Max is just a driver, she doesn’t think we need her services for a shopping expedition. It seems logical to me, but still feels weird since we did not agree to the arrangement previously. Paola also asks me if it’s okay for me to pay her now since she might not see us at the ship later. I hand over our money and we head off with Max.

Before we leave the city, we make a quick stop at Lilium (www.liliumflorence.it). I am buying a nice handmade leather journal for my friend, Rudi. He has his guests write in a journal and I want to get him the best. Lilium is THE place to buy handmade leather books in Florence. The workmanship is top notch. I can’t help myself and take the opportunity to buy a couple of books for myself ;).

Our next stop is the outlet shops about 45 minutes outside of Florence. Again, we pass through the lovely countryside to get to our destination. Max is a lot less talkative than Paola which is fine since the rest of my family succumbs to the pasta lunch and naps during our drive. We reach the outlet mall to find Prada, Gucci, Armani, Fendi, D&G, Celine, Lowe, YSL, Bottega Veneta, Max Mara, Feragamo, Miu Miu, etc.. After wandering around the stores for a about 30 minutes, my family decides that they aren’t interested in buying designer goods. I guess they need to be in a “designer mood” ;).

We find Max and ask him to take us back to Florence to shop on the local streets. He’s surprised that we’re done with the outlet so fast, but rolls with the changes. Max checks the traffic reports to make sure we avoid the traffic jams which are plentiful in Italy. We get back into Florence and Max drops us off at the San Lorenzo Market. We wander the streets for the next hour or so. I guess we really aren’t in a big shopping mood since we don’t buy much. I do find a nice small shop where I purchase some olive oil, truffle oil, and balsamic vinegar. My uncle buys a nice bottle of wine for dinner. While my family is shopping, I can’t resist some pistachio gelato. I guess I misunderstand what the young Italian man is asking me since I end up with about a pint (size of an entire carton of Haagen-Daz) of gelato on a cone for 5€ (6 USD)! The gelato was heavenly, but it was hard trying to finish the cone before the sun melted it down my shirt :D! I did notice some interesting looks from men passing by as I'm madly licking the my mountain of gelato ;).

My aunts are exhausted and sit down at some sidewalk tables to have a coffee. I walk over and remind them that it’s very expensive to have coffees sitting down at a sidewalk table in a touristy location. At this point they don’t care since their feet are tired. They tell me later that each cup of coffee was 8€ (9.60 USD)! Yikes!!

Finally, we get in the van for the trip back to the ship. It’s 4:30 pm and we want to make it back to the ship by 5:30 p.m.. It’s our first formal night and we need some time to get pretty. We make good time out of the city, but hit a big traffic jam as we near the federal penitentiary which is next to the highway. BTW, shouldn’t they put the penitentiary in some remote area? The traffic jam delay eats up an extra 15 minutes and we arrive back at the ship at 5:45 p.m.. We say our quick good-byes to Max and run back on-board to get ready for dinner.

As usual, Albert is doing something around the cabins and greets us warmly as usual. I duck inside to “beautify” myself. Since this is also the “Captain’s Night”, it’s supposed to be the more formal night. I go all out in my flaming red floor length evening gown!

On entering the dining room, I see there are so many nicely dressed ladies and gentlemen. It’s like prom again! Of course, I also notice that some people are wearing jeans and running shoes. Hmmm…I thought you had to dress up on formal nights? The menu choices are a little fancier tonight. I was hoping for lobster, but Helen tells me that lobster will be served during the second formal night. Darn!! It’s okay since the food is delicious as usual with no complaints about any of the menu choices. The wine we bought in Florence is also wonderful. We don’t have to worry about not having pictures since one of the ship’s photographers comes by to take pictures at the table during dinner. Of course, our conversation revolves around today’s tour. Our conclusion is that it was a better option than the ship’s excursions due to the lower cost and more personalization, but we are not happy about the unannounced changes. With the inflated admission charges and lunch, our tour worked out to 152€ (183 USD) per person.

After dinner we wander into the Atrium bar. It seems that the ship’s photographers are set up all over the place to take pictures of people in their formal wear. I guess selling photos is big business on the ship. We follow suit and snap pictures of ourselves in every combination we can figure out :). Tonight’s show in the theatre is a featured Italian tenor. I’m not a big opera fan so I opt out. My family loves opera and goes to the show. I go back to the cabin to be a good girl and work a little.
By 10 p.m. I’m wiped out and crawl into bed. My aunt returns to the cabin and raves about the show. She liked it so much she stayed for both shows! That’s nice, but I’m falling quickly into dreamland. I’m hoping that our private tour in Rome tomorrow has no surprises like today.

TF

Before we leave the city, we make a quick stop at Lilium. I am buying a nice handmade leather journal for my friend, Rudi. He has his guests write in a journal and I want to get him the best. Lilium is THE place to buy handmade leather books in Florence. The workmanship is top notch.

The handmade leather journal (gift from TropicalFlyer is really very very nice - our Wengen guestbooks fill very quickly, until today I have already over 50 different FlyerTalkers signed in.

TropicalFlyer your trip report is simply amazing! I love to read about people's cruise experience but there are very few on this board. I have a cruise coming up this November. My wife and I are going to the Carribean on the Queen Mary 2.

I can't wait for the rest of the report. :)

The handmade leather journal (gift from TropicalFlyer is really very very nice - our Wengen guestbooks fill very quickly, until today I have already over 50 different FlyerTalkers signed in.

After seeing that you've switched to a bigger format journal this time I visited you, you've given me an excellent excuse to visit Florence again to buy you a bigger journal ;).

Still 4 more cruise days to describe before I start on the Swiss part of the trip report :).

TF

Cruise Day 5 – Civitavecchia, Italy

June 16, 2004
I slowly pry my eyes open to see on the television that we are in port and it looks like the beginnings of a beautiful and sunny day. I was trying out some advice from the Cruise Critic website to keep the television on (muted) set to the channel showing the bow camera. It is supposed to make us feel like we have an outside cabin. I guess I’m not as delusional as some since it does not make me feel like I have an oceanview cabin ;).

I’m thinking of how nice a tank top and shorts would be on this hot day. My sensible self is reminding me that I am in Rome and need to be more “conservative” and wear something to cover my shoulders and knees. Hmmm...should have brought a muumuu. Of course, wearing a muumuu would have freaked out my mom. After seeing me wear one the first time she visited me in Hawaii, she forbid me from wearing my “pajamas” out in public ever again :eek:! I compromise by wearing a t-shirt and breezy travel skirt. I think to myself that it’s too bad most men don’t take the option to wear skirts since it’s so much cooler than pants.

Anyway, back up to the Windjammer to have breakfast. The dinging is still going on and I pass huge mobs of people moving through the halls towards the exit to board their big tour buses. Today I treat myself to hash browns. I’ve been trying to reduce my carb intake and potatoes are such a luxury now. The hash browns are crispy on the outside and tender inside, just like I love them. I convince myself that by also eating lots of grilled tomatoes I’m actually going for the “balanced” breakfast of champions ;). I happily omit coffee this morning since I’ve asked for the “ultimate coffee experience” to be part of private tour today. I can’t wait!!

We’re still a little apprehensive about our tour today given our experience yesterday. We’ve decided that we will be much more assertive today if things start to get away from what we want. Today’s private tour company was also recommended by the Cruise Critic internet board. I initially contacted Claudio Caponera of Limo in Rome (www.limoinrome.com). He was already booked with another party from our ship – nice of him to tell me up front and not double book. He offered to have his colleague, Carlo, take us on the tour. I know that it was taking a chance since there were no reviews of Carlo’s services, but Claudio was so nice and reassuring in his e-mails that I took the chance with Carlo. The cost of the tour for six people in a Mercedes van is 390€ (469 USD) which does not include admission fees or lunch. The ship excursions ranged from 84 USD per person for just transportation to/from Rome to 448 USD per person for the Exclusive Best of Rome tour (includes lunch and admission fees).

We step off the ship at 8:00 a.m. to meet Carlo who is holding a sign with my name on it. Carlo is pleasant looking Italian man with striking blue eyes who is nicely dressed in a dark suit with tie. He speaks excellent English with a lovely Italian accent. I find out later that he learned to speak English in school and worked for the local American Express office for 10 years where he had a lot of practice speaking English to tourists. Carlo leads us to his van and is certainly a gentleman as he opens the doors, helps us into the van and closes the doors once he makes sure we are sitting comfortably inside. At this point, I am unaware that this royal treatment is pretty much the standard for the rest of the day.

The drive into Rome from Civitavecchia takes over an hour. Carlo keeps us entertained with information about the countryside and life in Rome during the drive. We make sure to go over two important activities that we want to do: 1) Go to a great coffee place where the locals go and 2) Go to my uncle’s favorite pizza place near the Trevi fountain for lunch. Carlo assures us that he will make sure we complete both tasks. Our first major stop will be the Colosseum since we want to avoid the crowds in the afternoon. On the way to the Colosseum, Carlo shows us the ruins of the Baths of Diocletian. It was huge and could accommodate up to 3,000 bathers at one time!

Before we reach the Colosseum, Carlo tells us that if we want to go into the Colosseum, he will stop at a ticket seller just before we get there to avoid the lines. Half of my family has already been inside the Colosseum previously, so we decide to not spend too much of our precious time inside the structure. Carlo parks by the Arch of Constantine and tells us to take our time wandering the grounds while he stays with the van. He continues to make sure to help everyone out of the van. We walk around the Colosseum peeking through the arches into the impressive structure. There are several men outside the structure dressed as ancient Roman soldiers. They keep gesturing us over so that we will take a picture with them, but we decline. Carlo had warned us that the “soldiers” will expect you to pay if they pose with you. A lot of the Japanese tourists do take the photo opportunity and I see that they are asked to pay.

As we approach the van, we are greeted by Claudio since he is there with his group from our ship too. He wants to make sure that we are having a good time. He also wants to know if we are interested in a typical Roman lunch since we can join his group at a restaurant that he knows. Hmmm…sounds familiar. Carlo speaks up and says that we’ve already requested to go to my uncle’s favorite pizza place for lunch. I like how he advocates for us. Carlo helps us into the van and we are off again.

From the Colosseum we drive to a vantage point above the Circus Maximus. The Circus Maximus used to be a stadium for horse and chariot races. At its peak, it could hold 300,000 spectators. Now, it just a huge oval of grass and dirt, but you can just imagine how busy and noisy a place it was during the races. Carlo tells us that he has a surprise for us so we get back into the van and enter the streets of the Aventine area. He points out the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican as we pass a lot of beautiful homes. We pull up at the Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta. Carlo explains that the Order of the Knights of Malta is one of the oldest religious orders of the Catholic Church which runs international hospitals and relief organizations, and is a sovereign entity under international law. The land was given to them by the Pope to build a Priory. He took us to the Priory door to look through a bronze keyhole. Looking through the keyhole we saw a tree lined walkway leading to a beautiful miniature view of St. Peter’s Basilica. Carlo tells us that we are standing in Italy, looking through Malta, and into the Vatican – three sovereign entities. How cool!

Now it’s time to go get coffee. Yeah!! The streets are very narrow and many of them are one-way. I’m certainly glad that Carlo grew up in Rome so he really knows the shortcuts. Along the way Carlo shows us the multitude of squares, fountains, and obelisks. We pull up to Sant'Eustachio (http://www.santeustachioilcaffe.it/) for our coffee. It looks good since there are several Italian businessmen in suits enjoying their coffee at the bar. We line up at the bar until a nice woman turns around to tell us that we need to go to the cash register to pay first. My uncle asks her if the espresso is good and she quickly replies that it is very good. We guess it must be good because we watch as she proceeds to lick the inside, yes the inside, of her cup after she’s finished her drink :eek:. We peruse the menu and I briefly consider ordering Rudi's favorite dopio. However, I don't think I don't need a coffee that I can eat ;). We pay for our grancappuccinos (http://www.santeustachioilcaffe.it/grancoppuccino.html) . Then we walk over to the bar again and follow the locals as we put our receipt on the bar and hold it down with a few coins. Immediately we are awarded with hot delicious cappuccinos. Now I know why the woman licked her cup :D! Before we leave, we pick up some coffee to bring a little taste of Italy to home.

We’re a stone’s throw from the Pantheon which is our next stop. Again we get driven right next to our destination. We’re getting spoiled! We pass a lot of people hawking souvenirs outside the church. We also see some men eyeing the tourists which puts us on alert since they may be pickpockets. The inside of the Pantheon is nice and cool. Magnificent is the only way to describe the interior of the dome. Now I understand why it would be a good pickpocket place since everyone is busy looking up! We exit the church and Carlo drives even closer to pick us up. He’s really scoring points with my mom and aunts.

TF

On our way to the Trevi fountain, we stop at the Victor Emmanuel monument. In fact, we stop and park in the middle of the busy traffic circle in front of the monument! We quickly pile out of the van, snap pictures and pile back in. I’m worried about whether we’re allowed to stop here until a big bus comes up and parks right behind us so I guess it’s normal.

Our stomachs are growling by now so we’re glad to be near the pizza place when we get to the Trevi fountain. We invite Carlo to eat lunch with us, but he declines since he doesn’t eat lunch. He says that eating lunch makes him want to go to sleep – not good for us. Weaving our way through the crowds of tourists, we do the coin throw at the fountain to ensure our return to Rome. Now it’s time to hunt down the pizza place. Facing the fountain, we go left down the street in front of the fountain. We almost get distracted by a big shoe store, but our hungry stomachs pull us back. A few stores down on the left, we spot the huge slabs of pizza. You tell them or point at the pizzas you want and gesture to show how large a piece you want. They weigh the pizza and charge you accordingly. Interesting! Of course we had to order beer to go with the pizza since it was a lot cheaper than the cost of soda. The pizza was really good! I had to stop myself after 4 pieces although I could have had a lot more :D. The massive lunch came up to a grand total of 4€ per person – very different from yesterday!

After refueling our bodies, we go out into the hot and sunny streets of Rome. We take one last look at the Trevi fountain as we walk back to the van and a smiling Carlo. How does he stay so cool looking and good natured in that dark suit :confused:.

We continue our drive through the obstacle course of Rome and pop out at Piazza Navona. One of the obelisks is in the middle of this Piazza sandwiched between two more fountains. Fountains and obelisks – seems to be a recurring theme. We stroll around the Piazza taking pictures and admiring the displays of the local artists. The artwork is really good and my aunt stops to buy a couple of small oil paintings to remind herself of our visit. Afterwards, the rest of us kick ourselves for not buying a painting since we really like the ones she bought. I guess we were operating on pizza and beer filled brains at the time.

The next stop is the Spanish Steps. Our plan is to see the Spanish Steps and then go to the Sistine Chapel to view more of Michelangelo’s work. We drive to the foot of the Spanish Steps and realize what a shopping mecca this area is. The shopping engine shifts into gear and my family makes an instant decision to skip the Sistine Chapel and take time to SHOP! Carlo is just fine with our decision and waits for us at the van again. We jump on the stairs and take some quick snapshots before beginning our quest. We fan out and go shopping. My first stop is the Furla store. I spot a lovely purse and watch that I definitely need – yes, need. Cha Ching!! The shopping adrenaline is kicking in as we meet back at the van to continue to our next shopping locale. Carlo is the absolute gentleman again and takes our purchases from us to put safely into the back. I make a mental note that I want a Carlo at home to drive me around! Hmmm…how to convince my husband?

We continue our shopping adventure by purchasing fabulous embroidered jeans, more wine, shoes, etc.. Finally, Carlo tells us that we have enough time to go to see the St. Peter’s Basilica or shop some more. It’s a hard decision, but we opt to see St. Peter’s. Carlo drives us right up to the barrier in front of St. Peter’s which is still quite a distance to the church. This is the farthest we’ve had to walk all day! The artwork and items inside St. Peter’s are unbelievable. While in St. Peter’s, we run into many of the ship excursion groups from our cruise. This time we just know that we’re having a better Rome experience on our tour ;)!

It’s almost time to leave Rome and head back to the ship. Before we leave, we stop to have gelato! Right near the Vatican is the Old Bridge Gelato. There is a sit down restaurant area and next to it is a closet size area to buy gelato to take out. We join the crowd waiting in line to buy gelato and marvel at the different combinations as other people order. We finally get up to the counter to place our orders. We throw our waistlines to the wind and order double scoop cones which cost 3€ each. We’re all grinning ear to ear as we madly lick our gelato before it melts. Carlo is patiently waiting for us and trying not to laugh. All too soon every last lick of gelato is gone and we have to start driving back to Civitavecchia.

My family is totally exhausted on the drive back and they sleep almost all of the way. While I enjoy the view as it is whizzing by, I notice some scantily clad women standing on the highway exit ramps. I ask Carlo if they are prostitutes. He confirms that they are indeed prostitutes who have been driven more and more out of the city. He says that the locals are quite perturbed that the women are attracting men who overflow the exit ramp which then plugs up traffic on the highway. Hmmm…it seems to me that the locals are more bothered by the traffic jams caused by prostitution than the actual trade itself. Interesting…

We finally pull up in front of our ship at 6:00 p.m. and it’s time to say good-bye to Carlo. He’s done such a great job for us today that we give him a 20% tip rather than the standard 10%. We also take a group picture with him so we can have a nice reminder of our “perfect” day in Rome. It’s casual night in the dining room so we leisurely walk back on board, through security and to our cabins before dinner.

Dinner tonight is a blur since we are still euphoric from our day in Rome. The wine we bought in Rome is delicious and we toast our good fortune for such a great day. After dinner we go to the Atrium bar and join in the line dancing lesson. It’s fun and we get another Ship Shape dollar! We also visit the photo gallery to see our pictures from the formal night. Unfortunately, most of our pictures are not very good. The wall behind our table cast some bad shadows in the pictures and makes some of us look like our heads are twice as big! It’s not the most attractive look. I like my picture and fork over the 15 USD plus tax for it. Yikes!! We go through the shops on our way back to the bar. There are special sales every day, but nothing is really grabs us. Other people must be having better luck since they are buying in a frenzy!

Everyone is tired from our long day and we call it an early night. Tomorrow Naples is our last port on this cruise. We’ll be going it on our own to explore Sorrento and Naples.

TF

I'm lovin' it so far. Can't wait for the rest of the report. :D