Cruise #11 for myself and also my annual trip with my son. It was cruise #4 for him. We booked on NCL again (the Escape which is the biggest I've been on, I think? Mega+ class). Anyway with everything included, air/drinks/wifi/$50 excursion credit/tips, etc. it was $2800 CAD each. Insurance was another $200 each so $3000 total for a 12 day trip seemed worth it to me. I booked the flights through Icelandair. We got to pick our seats and it included luggage. The air portion of the whole $2800 per person was $970 CAD each which I was happy with. I was dismayed to find out they had no free booze/food on their international flights though! That's B.S...
Sunday, October 27, 2024, Flight to Barcelona:
Our flight left YVR at 3:30 pm so we were there for 12:30 PM. Check in was painless. It was a rare time when the airport wasn't busy at all and we cleared security quickly. We went for drinks/dinner at "Lift" bar and boarded our first flight on time. We lucked out and had the row to ourselves as the flight was half empty. Icelandair provides NOTHING. They didn't even offer drink service till half way through the flight but if you wanted a stale cookie or anything in the form of a snack, it was not coming. I tried their two different gins as the deal was better for it. 14 € ($21.20 CAD) with the tonic water. The flight was almost 8 hours long.
Once in Iceland we did customs there so didn't have to do it in Spain which was a nice surprise! Even better was that our luggage was checked right through to Barcelona so no bothering with that either. We went and had a snack at a bar which had 2 for 1 mimosas so I drank a couple of those for 999 Iceland Kronos which was about $10 CAD.
Monday, October 28, 2024, Barcelona, Spain:
I had pre-booked airport transport to/from with "Welcome Pickups". It worked out to 90 € or $135 CAD. We boarded our 8 am flight on time. It was a full flight this time and then we got told we had to sit on the tarmac for 60 - 90 minutes as there was a weather advisory in Barcelona. The canned sardine situation always leaves me with anxiety... The airline did offer a cookie this time for having to sit for 90 minutes. Anyway, we made it, an hour late and that flight was four and half hours long. I had been in touch with my driver telling him when we left and landed as my esim was working on the tarmac. He called me on WhatsApp while we were waiting for luggage and I told him I'd see him soon. But of course there was some delay with the luggage (I could hear radio chatter and everyone including staff was pacing to & fro) and we were ten minutes late for the one hour grace waiting period. He was gone! I was pissed as he could have told me he was leaving, as we had messaged back and forth multiple times, I even told him about the luggage delay. As this had been prepaid, we had to hail a taxi. That was 35 € including 5 € tip. I decided to try and fight it with the company when I got to the hotel and sent an email...they did reply in two days with a refund so I was happy about that.
The hotel was typical Hampton Inn and just like the one I stayed at in Boston last trip. We had a great shower and nice room with view of the "red hotel".
We were exhausted as were basically up for 24 hours straight now! We freshened up and got ready for dinner. I had booked it at "Taps Bar" which I saw was within 5 KM of our hotel. I tried to use the "Bolt" app to get there but it was price surging on me, saying a driver bailed on the 12 € ride but I could pay 5 € more and for sure get a driver. I cancelled the ride and asked my hotel to get a taxi for us. Our reservation was 6:40 pm but and our driver showed up around then. Then he blabbed the whole way and joy-rided us. He added his own tip as we paid by card and it was 16 € ($24 CAD). We were too hungry and tired to argue with him...
Taps Bar honored our reservation and there was lineup, as I had read there would be, so that was nice we didn't have to wait. We got a pitcher of the sparkling wine sangria (20 € or $30 CAD) to share. It was delicious!!! Our server told us it would creep on us, and it did. 😉 We ordered all our favorite Spanish tapas, including Pan Con Tomate (our favorite) which is tomato bread (2 orders), croquettes, Spanish tortilla and Iberico ham. I didn't use a flash so my pics are not great, unfortunately.
The restaurant was unique in that the three owners were Italian, Spanish and Mexican in descent so the tapas catered to all three cuisines. Our only regret was that we didn't try the tacos as they smelled divine when they passed by us! Son ended with pistachio tiramisu and they brought us a complimentary digestive. 85 € for the feast and we left $100 ($149 CAD). We walked up the street to a hotel and got a taxi. The driver was so nice and it was only 10 € on the way home!
We were both buzzed, stuffed from the meal and ready for bed. We both agreed that the dinner had been just what we needed and a fabulous end to a trying travel day. We lasted till 10 pm local time and went out cold - like a weighted sack thudding the ground!
Tuesday, October 29, 2024, Barcelona, Spain:
We both woke up at 2:30 am and I decided to write the trip report thus far. We tried to go back to sleep but were restless and tossed/turned. We didn't sleep well and only had 4.5 hours total. We were out of sorts with the time change and got up by 8 am. We were booked to board the ship at 10:30 am.. We checked out at 10 am and flagged a taxi. It was 14 € meter fare but when he dropped us at the port, he hit something on the panel and the fare jumped to $49.95 € ($75.00 CAD!). Of course our language barriers didn't make it easy to talk so we didn't know why the fare went so high and didn't bother with asking. He didn't provide a receipt either.
Check-in was so fast and furious I didn't even have time for one picture of the port or ship or anything. We were onboard and sitting in buffet by 11 am. My son did comment the buffet had excellent German chocolate cake. This was the only open spot on the ship which is why we even went there. Everything was served from staff, guarded and they even made you wash your hands in a sink before entering. No salt & pepper on tables. Each day they announced about the gastrointestinal illness (Norwalk virus) on board and advised extreme attention to hygiene and free attention from the doctor if you got it, which I thought was nice. Our deal was not to use the elevators at all, stairs only, so we hiked from 7th floor to the 16th floor and I thought I would keel over and die as I detest, no HATE stairs. This would get much harder and worse the more alcohol I consumed, haha.
We were the last floor (10th) to have our rooms ready which was about 3:30pm. We thought it was probably because norovirus was rampant mostly on our floor, haha. When we hiked up there and after I panted again for a long while, my luggage wasn't there so we couldn't even unpack. Our room steward advised it could take up till 7 pm. So, I had no makeup, fresh clothes or anything so we just went for early dinner.
We chose one of the smaller "main dining" restaurants. It was a catastrophe in service and food was awful. Below was my son's dessert, some kind of brulee with a sugar shard and meringue:
By the time we finished, it was after 7 pm and after a nice hike up the stairs again (pant, pant, pant) my luggage was there. I thought I packed light but had to request 10 more hanger to the 20 that were already in there. These pictures below were of the pool deck in the evening with the kids jungle gym and one of the pools:
Wednesday, October 30, 2024, Cannes, France:
I have a useless college diploma in Travel & Tourism. I remember in class when we had to plan trips for fictional customers, I always chose the French Riviera. In fact, France is one of my last bucket list trips I've still never been to...this would be a lightspeed visit of it and I still hope to spend more time in France in the future, much more than a day!
We slept horribly and only had 4 hours. My Fitbit reported my sleep as POOR everyday of this cruise and I think the longest I had in two weeks was 5 & 1/2 hours... We went to the Irish bar for breakfast on time and then waited for Tender 7 to be called. It didn't start till after 8:30 for #1 & 2 so we were concerned we'd be late for our 9:30am tour...BUT, as we were standing off the side waiting to called, someone told us if we were ready to go we could head on down. We were lucky and # 3/4 on the tenders. We booked all our tours through ItalyTours.Eu online.
Our guide was waiting but I knew the last in our party from Ohio were also on #7 as we had emailed each other on advice from the guide the week before to be EARLY. They showed up before 9:30 so all was good though it took a long while to get out of Cannes port with traffic for some reason. Below, Nice was our first stop. Our guide lived there and was definitely in love with his home.
We walked through a locals market, much like a farmer's market at home though our guide would not let us stop to look very long or buy anything. He had a fast, quick pace and he was passionate about showing us EVERYTHING he could in our short time together. An older man did rub/bump into me; creepy and disturbing but I assumed it was a pick-pocket attempt. I had a travel purse with zipper locks and he moved right on after I moved out of his way...
We did a series of "best view" stops next. Our guide was very enthusiastic about telling us how old everything was and its history. He also enjoyed taking pictures of all of us with our phones and the scenery through his eye. It was very nice and inclusive.
The French Riviera was beautiful with baby blue Mediterranean sea water and sandy beaches. The warm breezes and sunshine surrounding it all felt tranquil, and all the people actively enjoying just being there made me smile...😍
Monaco was next. We did so many underground twisty vertigo driven parking lots, it was amazing how deep and spiraling down they went. He said in Monaco were below sea level in a number of meters (though I can't remember how many).
We got amazing sandwiches, (his a croque monsieur and me a jambon and cheese on fresh baguette) both heated to perfection. I was scared how much they might be since we were in Monaco but they were only 7 € each ($10.50 CAD)! Well worth it even if we had to eat it while walking briskly and crumbs falling down my face and shirt, haha. I dreamed of trying "socca" in Nice but not this time, so I'll make it at home, for now...
Above, I had to cut us out of the picture, so no stairs or entrance doors of the casino in Monaco. Our guide then he told us we had 20 free minutes. Well, OMFG, it was so expensive here we couldn't afford to even window shop! What a strange place to give us free time at. I would have rather had those minutes to eat my sandwich...and I couldn't even get a fridge magnet. This was the only port I didn't get one from as we had zero time. 😞 Then it was off to Eze Village...
Eze is the highest point in the Côte d’Azur. And indeed it was, as we walked that uphill cobblestone path till I was schweddy and winded and decided I no longer liked my guide, haha.
Back onboard, son showered and we went for dinner. Immediately after we went to room for a one hour power nap and were out cold! At 9-ish I donated another $50 to the casino and pouted. Then we had reservations to a show called "Choir of Man". This was, in my opinion one of the best, if not the best I've seen on a cruise ship...a very talented group of men.
After the show we had a snack/dessert/drink at the Irish bar and then made our way to sleep. "Fitbit" reports I walked 16,938 steps today.
Thursday, October 31, 2024, Tuscany, Italy:
I had booked both days in Florence with tours, today was Tuscany. We only slept 4 hours again but were surprising bright and ready to go for our 7:30 am start time. We ended up being last to arrive and were 2 minutes early. It was a long drive to our first spot which was Siena, a medieval town. Our driver Carlo was engaging and very passionate about aggressive driving. He swore and flailed his arms often at traffic and almost got in two accidents while we were in his van. We all cringed, were back seat drivers and covered our eyes many, many times this day...We all also said we would NEVER EVER drive in Italy. Carlo was really expressive about this one thing. History was blah, blah, blah, he told it and was quite funny with his English translations but the driving... if only you had been there. Be thankful you weren't... Actually, here's exactly what my tour company wrote about our trip when we booked, so maybe the guests all had Carlo as their driver??? "Also, very few guests mentioned the roads seemed narrow and a little scary in this region of Italy". 😉 Below was a view shot he pulled over for to show us the olive groves and vineyards that Toscano is known for:
Siena was amazing! It was like nothing I've ever seen before. We were ALL really nervous when Carlo dropped us off and said, "I'm giving you a map telling you where to meet me and I'll even give you my phone number but I've circled on the map where to meet. See you in 3 hours". We were all freaking out as it he dropped us in the middle of a bustling busy town we had no clue about and the map looked huge! One couple was saying we better all stick together but we didn't and in the end, he was right, it was easy but the first part of the town journey was a little frightening, especially with crazy traffic zooming down these little streets that were like lanes, and that hundreds of people are walking on. In fact my son and I were backs pressed to brick walls as double vehicles felt like they were going to rip us apart sped by. I am not lying... To give you an idea, look below and see the streets with people walking and then imagine two cars coming in opposite directions barreling down those streets...
Anyway, we found a great place (below) to stop and have some Italian food! YAY!!!!
We got our google translate and asked how to get service and use the bathroom and then the lady answered us in English, lol. We were all nervous about this with no one speaking English but I guess it was a tourist town...
Pizza (this was good, not knockout and no cheese! But it was huge for a personal size!), lasagna (yum - reminded me of how my ex's Italian mother made it), two cappuccinos and americanos, plus chocolate cannoli (son LOVED it) was only 33 € ($49 CAD) and left 5 € as they didn't include tip in their bill tab. It was heavenly, every single bite and sip was divine and just what I imagined food would taste like in Italy. Wow, we were so happy and then we proceeded to find Carlo's meeting place (Piazza del campo under the Clock Tower, below) with ease.
We walked street by street always scared and sad when we picked one that vehicles liked to travel on and white knuckled brick walls. Luckily all the streets we encountered were not long so it was easy to turn off them.
We hit 15,000 steps so more than we thought we walked actually... so I rewarded myself with a glass of chianti from a cute wine bar:
Carlo met us at 1 pm, told us all about the horse racing in the 13th century (Palio di Siena) and then we headed to San Gimignano and stopped for a glass of wine. Beautiful olive fields surrounding it.
The next town known as "Town of Fine Towers" was much like Siena but smaller, busier and seemed like everyone smoked there and the brick walls held it all in, lol. Son walked around avoiding the clouds of cigarette smoke...
We had gelato (I didn't love it but I'm not big on sweets) but it was lined up always so I'm assuming it was good. All of the different stores claimed they were Italy's #1 place for it...but this one had the longest line and Carlo said this was the place to get gelato...
I tried another place for wine (that also sold porchetta sandwiches) and I managed to do all my gifts/souvenir shopping between these two towns and all the free time allotted to us. It was kind of a perfect day that way.
Back to the Livorno port which truly was a port and industrial and nothing interesting around it for miles and you were not allowed to walk around it anyway. So back on the ship and stuck for the evening, even though we were staying overnight. 😞 At least the casino wouldn't be open so I didn't have to bleed more US money, haha.
Son and I were planning on doing nothing tonight except having dinner and getting a decent night's sleep so after dinner in the main dining room we went to the wine bar where I got a decent bottle of wine ($30 USD - I got 20% off) and not a soul in there because no one wants to pay on a cruise, do they? We wrote and discussed the trip report up to date and giggled at our great memories we already had made.
We retired to the room for more crappy sleep and I took my bottle of wine with me. "Fitbit" reports I walked 20,894 steps today.
Friday, November 1, 2024, Florence & Pisa, Italy:
Today our tour was at 7:30 am for Florence & Pisa. We had nice female driver, Elena who drove like a sane woman and the distance to Pisa was short. It was basically empty and felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. We didn't bother with getting photos of "holding up the leaning tower" as we can barely take selfies that get both our heads in the shot together, lol.
We had coffee with our new friends from Ohio so we could use the restroom. I ordered a cortado and it was like drinking lethal caffeine! I bought my Pisa fridge magnet and then we were off to Florence.
Above, I loved these "Umbrella Pine" trees I saw everywhere. Our guide mentioned they are a problem in storms as they topple over and cause major traffic problems. The first stop was to the best photo op view point for Firenze (Florence).
The dome and the walls are ideally situated for viewing in these shots.
We spent some time there and I got my fridge magnet and talked to my guide about the notorious pickpocketing that goes on in Florence. She advised me to be careful when taking pictures as they like to come in packs of 3 or 4, push you so you drop your phone and then run off with it. She said they like singles so it was good my son was there with me and to have him watch out if using cash or taking photos. Sorting through the pictures here was one of the worst for me, so many to choose from!!! UGH!!! I guess it wouldn't be Italy if I didn't show one statue of a god with a penis, would it?
I can't lie, this made me stressed. It was "All Saints" day there and the city was wall to wall people packed. It was insane. Below gives an idea of just how many were here this day:
Our driver left us with a guide but recommended a couple of places for lunch and cappuccino. We met up with our Ohio friends so it was nice to have company along with us in the swarm of "humans". I was surprised to see a statue of Poseidon as why would there be so many monuments to Greek history there? Later in Pompeii, our guide there said that the Romans stole everything from the Greeks and then did it better... Neptune is the Roman god of the sea and the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Poseidon. He was originally a god of fresh water and became associated with Poseidon early on in Roman history...(this ends your Roman/Greek god lesson, lol)...
The tour was a gong show (I could show you endless more sculpture/statues but I won't). One lady fell off the curb and the guide was oblivious so I ran to get Mr. Ohio to tell the guide to slow down while I tried to give assistance to the woman (who didn't want it). My son was trying to help when she fell but I didn't know who it was and thought it may be a scam as that was another way my driver had mentioned they do with distractions like that. Perfect time to pick your pocket. I was in sensory overload. 😞 Another couple dropped out of this tour as they had mobility issues and it was just becoming a nightmare. The guide was pissed off they didn't tell her and others on our tour did but she wouldn't have noticed anyway!
Finally we could break for lunch and I asked my Ohio friends if they wanted company and told them about the place our driver recommended. The guide told us the way to walk and we found it. It was called "MammaMia" "Yes, just like the song" my driver said, and then she sang it. 🎶
I really, really wanted to have porchetta but it was food truck style and wasn't going to work, unfortunately...but the smells wafting off it made my mouth water...
Food was excellent, and yes we were hungry. Son and I both had pasta with a tuna salad side dish (loved the purple bowl!) to share. It was fantastic. It was 50 € ($75 CAD) after all was said and done.
The wine and company made the stress dissipate and I calmed right down. Afterwards my new friend said we needed to go a "wine window" she had seen on TikTok, so I was all up for that 😍. This was something on her bucket list and I was happy to add it to mine as well! We arrived to a beautiful flowered window with a sign that had the drinks listed below and an Open sign with a "knock on the window" to order to the right of it.
We asked for two glasses of Chianti Classico, paid and the window closed. A couple minutes later it opened back up and our wine appeared. We drank it on the street with fellow wine revelers and a guy smoking a cigarette with a handful of empties collected the glasses when we were done.
We moved along back to the square and shopped at the various kiosks and then it was time to meet our guide at the Apple store. She drove us back to Livorno and we went back on the ship for dinner and more drinks. Our new friends told us about "The Waterfront" on the ship which was an outdoor deck with a bar. We sat out, I had an Aperol Spritz (when in Rome...) and watched the sunset. "Fitbit" reports I walked 17,836 steps today.
Saturday, November 2, 2024, Civitavecchia/Rome, Italy:
I struggled with what to do in Rome the most. It is an hour to 90 minutes away from the port depending on transport, so three hours of the day was already gone if we chose to go. My son has been before and visited the Vatican, etc. and I had zero interest in it (The Vatican). I maybe wanted to see Trevi Fountain or the Colosseum (The Gladiator movie fan in me) but nothing else really.
I had read Rome is soooo overly packed with tourists, filthy dirty streets, homeless, panhandlers, rude locals, pickpockets and tourist traps everywhere, etc. etc. Sort of like every big tourist destination I guess? The only shared mini-bus tour (8 people max) I was interested in was just a blast through the city where we'd see 7 sites but all for just a photo op. This was about $300 CAD for the two of us. I booked this but cancelled it while having wine in San Gimignano and discussing it with others. They explained that all the attractions were closed or under scaffolding for the "Jubilee" celebration happening there next year...Civitavecchia means “little ancient town” and it's a modern seaport town on the shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Like Rome, it too has ancient roots dating back to the Etruscan times. We decided to stay local and just visit this port city. We even had time to eat in the dining room today, our one and only visit for breakfast and had eggs benny (the smoked ham was awful and yes I ordered a banana on the side, lol).
The ship offered a free shuttle to Civitavecchia and I made a reservation on my phone for a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant called Forma. I had already researched it prior when deciding what do at this port...
But first we walked the city taking in all the sights.
Below was a barber shop called "Spaghetti's", lol.
We had to stop for a restroom and to use them you have to pay or buy something so we ordered cappuccinos. Well, the lady forced us to take some tarts that we tried to refuse but she wasn't having it and insisted we take them. I mean, she handed them to us and wasn't taking them back no matter what we said! Neither of us were hungry!
So my son ate both and said they were okay. Anyway, that ended up costing us 18 € ($27 CAD!!) Well played on her part and then we also found out that the bathroom was free to anyone, you didn't have to buy anything 🙄.
Fast forward to lunch. Service at Forma was amazing, as was the food. The olive oil served with the complimentary bread basket was the best I have EVER tasted...
We were started with an amuse bouche of a mozzarella cheese/tomato sauce arancini with eggplant gravy and a buttered bread with anchovy.
Both were delicious though I don't think son LOVED the anchovy as much as I did, haha. I chose their signature egg with truffle and son got fried cod for starter.
We just ooohed and awed over both. We could have licked the dishes clean. The entree for my son was duck and I had tubetti with truffles.
Now, I have never enjoyed truffle anything at home or on travels in the US (and we detest truffle fries most!), but now that I've tried them in Italy, I understand what all the fuss is about. I LOVED both dishes. For dessert son had some cookie, dark chocolate, peanut dolce thingy (that's all he can remember and we didn't take a pic of the dolce menu unfortunately)... and he had cappuccino, both of which he said was amazing.
I had another glass of wine our server chose. All this goodness, with tip was only 120 € ($178 CAD) I left him an additional 5 € as I believed the tip was already included so just wanted to give a little extra.
It was a 2 hour food journey of splendor. We waddled off back to the shuttle and returned to ship late, late afternoon. I wanted to walk back to the ship but staff around the shuttle were pretty negative about it saying it was over 5 KM (that was not a problem) but not many sidewalks so would have to be done on a one lane road with buses and vehicles. Previous walking in Siena made us decide the shuttle was fine then, haha...
By dinner time people started rolling back from Rome. Word of the day was "Exhausting" and I saw it in everyone's faces. Almost all said it was a true shitshow of hoards and hoards of people. The Trevi fountain was dry and yet hundreds and hundreds of people were cramming for photos, etc. etc. Most couldn't even get into the colosseum saying it was booked 3 months ahead. Also, most said Rome was a one and done place and no need to return. I felt better about missing it...
Some little brat purposely tripped me too! I told him he got me good but that was not nice to do that to old ladies. I fell into the waiting area couch. My son said he watched him purposely stick out his leg and trip me. What surprised the kid was that his mom (looked like a RHONY and she said she was from NYC) came out and started to talking to me, asking when she had to cut the kids internet off before the ship sailed. The daughter was busy making INSTA poses to all her friends, lips all puffed out and hair flipping going on with each different posture, lol. The kid who tripped me eyes grew so wide when his mom sat down beside me, so I told her what he did. She made him apologize but it wasn't sincere, he smirked while doing it, but at least I got him back. 😉 The mom complained her feet couldn't take much more of her 5" inch heels on tours and then they went into dinner. 🙄😆
We had dinner in the main dining room. I'd rate the food we'd eaten so far as good. Sometimes it verged on being very good but never quite hit that mark and honestly a lot of it was subpar/immemorable and served cold which is a pet peeve of mine. I am not a big fan of NCL dining so adjust my expectations accordingly. Son said he enjoyed a lot of the desserts though, which isn't a surprise, 😉. We then saw the comedian at the Comedy club. He seemed familiar and then I remembered that he was the same one I saw on my last Bermuda cruise. Still funny and son and I had good time. I was still plummeting my USD cash in the casino so I was glad that we were going to bed early and it wouldn't be open! We really enjoyed this "down" relaxed day. It was perfect and just what was needed for us both. "Fitbit" reports I walked 17,694 steps today.
Sunday, November 3, 2024, Naples/Pompei, Italy:
Today we woke up in Naples. We had a tour of the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento and Pompeii lined up and it left at 8 am.
There were a couple of view stops (Salerno, Positano) and I have to say that our guide was hilarious!!! He was a real gem in the best way possible. His name was Luigi and he/we called his driver Mario. We laughed and smiled the whole way. A true pleasure driving with him. Below were the Li Galli Islets and Luigi told us the myth/legend of the "Siren Song" that brought doom to the sailors they encountered there. I love stories like that!
When we arrived in Sorrento Luigi walked us into town and showed us where the Limoncello was (said you could get drunk if you tried all the free samples in all the stores) and he also pointed out different restaurants. He told us we would not be allowed back in the van unless we tried the mozzarella cheese while here.
I also loved that he talked about food all the time. Right up my alley! 😋 He walked us to a view restaurant and we stayed.
What a view it was!!! He advised us to eat the spaghetti here so son and I both ordered different dishes and of course a Caprese salad with the mozzarella. And yes, he was right, the fresh mozzarella was indeed better than any I've had at home.
This lunch, patrons paid for the view setting as it was 85 € ($127 CAD). We shopped after and Luigi actually strolled around with us pointing out anything people were looking for.
We had a guided tour of the ruins. It turned out that the entrance was free (Sundays) so we saved about 40 € which was nice. I ended up just tipping the extra savings to Luigi & Mario and our Pompeii guide on top of the regular tips as they deserved it.
Pompeii was a walking tour of two hours. It didn't even begin to cover the scope of the ruins but our guide covered the main highlights. We were lucky for such beautiful weather as if it was rainy I imagine walking those uneven stones would be slick and a deathtrap.
On the drive back Luigi told us we couldn't leave Naples without trying the pizza as he said it's the best in all of Italy. We have lots of Neapolitan pizza at home but I did want to compare. So Luigi offered to take us to a place close to the port that he liked. I think he was surprised that eleven of us took him up on his offer! He walked us over and got us a table but sadly he didn't join us. Below, my son and I shared the Diavolina pizza: € 9.90 ($15 CAD), Tomato, mozzarella, red sausage from Castelpoto (BN), ricotta flake. As you can see the toppings are one one half as you're meant to fold the pizza. Luigi said you're meant to eat one pizza per person but we all shared.
We all enjoyed 😋 the Napoli pizza (comparable to the good brick oven places at home) and then wandered back to the ship. My Ohio crew and us went for a few drinks at different places. We even tried a pistachio martini my friend had found out about that was "off the menu" at the steakhouse bar. Everyone thought it was super sweet except me for some reason which was highly unusual since I don't like sweets, per se. 🤷♀️
My son and I had a quick appetizer in the main dining room. Actually I only ordered the lamb shank as it's usually my favorite dish on NCL. It was very good tonight though only served tepid in temperature.
We were in bed by 9:30 pm as we had another early day as the tour started at 7:30 am. "Fitbit" reports I walked 20,432 steps today.
Monday, November 4, 2024, Messina Sicily, Italy:
Sicily!!! Today we were headed to Mount Etna (one of the world's most active volcanoes) and then Taormina. All our van passengers were early and we were first out to depart at 7:30 am sharp. Our driver told us a lot of Sicily's history and said it is time for olive oil to be pressed and made. He took us to a place that did that. We saw a lot of the farmer's with their bounty and he said it was a rush to get theirs made first.
It was very interesting. Next we went to a honey/grape farm of some sort. We did wine tasting as well as honeys and grapes.
Then it was off to the long winding uphill road to Etna. I believe he said were going up 2000 meters. Well we were speeding along a highway and then he pulled right over to the side just before we entered a tunnel. There was barely any room to pull over and he said we had a problem. The van had stalled. Vehicles were zipping past us, flying into the tunnel. He said he was afraid. I thought if he's afraid then I'm 💩💩💩 my pants. I was scared. Somehow he jump started his own vehicle and then like the autobahn he had to merge back into the tunnel and he counted down "3, 2, 1" and I was so freaked out...
We finally got to the mountain/volcano and he said it was going to be very steep and windy and if anyone felt sick to let him know... And after climbing up higher and higher, AGAIN the van stalled. This time he had to roll backwards down the hill to somewhere he could pull over. If it was busy I have no idea what would have happened. There are only 2 narrow lanes on this road. My heart was pounding out of my chest. When he finally stopped to fix the van again, he let us all out. I told him I was scared and he said, "why?" I said, "Well the fact that we rolled backwards down a hill with two lanes only, no power and traffic runs both ways on a narrow cliff?". He didn't understand me as his English was limited.
Anyway, we made it to the top. It was nice to see but unfortunately it was foggy so not the clearest views.
I was less stressed about going downhill (facing the right direction!) on the way back down but he didn't stall.
He drove us by the beach town of the "Little Bays" on the Ionian sea. I don't have pictures but do remember we went through a town called "Naxos" which was almost as charming as being in Greece. He then he took us to Taormina which is another medieval town. He said it is the #1 tourist destination in Sicily. He said at the entrance below there would be no vehicles until we got to the exit of the town.
We wandered through. I googled and found a 4.7 rated restaurant featuring Sicilian food and we wandered down there (about a 20 minute walk). It was outside of the car free zone but we managed fine...We sat right at that front table below with the oranges beside us where everyone walking by gawked at our food, lol.
Lunch was excellent and service was so friendly and welcoming. I asked them to pick me a Sicilian wine to drink and they were more than happy to oblige.
We enjoyed it a lot and spent the majority of our time there in our 3 hour visit, relaxing and people watching... They brought us complimentary chilled digestif drinks that were really tasty, actually.
Honestly, by now I was feeling like if you've seen one medieval town you've seen them all... I did buy some olive oil though. I learned this season's wouldn't be ready for another couple of weeks though. I found a litre in a can though and was happy it wasn't glass for my luggage.
After our driver picked us up we drove to Messina and he stopped for another view photo op.
Then he returned us to the ship. I found the outside deck bar and wrote up the trip report. We went for dinner in the main dining room and nothing on the menu appealed to us. We ordered off the Steakhouse menu ($65 USD or $91 CAD for the two dishes below). Son had the ribeye and I had twin lobster tails.
Mine was good (though not delivered hot), his was a little chewy and also not hot enough. Service also lacked tonight. We then caught the comedy show again. I knew all his material now so that would be the last time for me. "Fitbit" reports I walked 17,480 steps today.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024, Valetta, Malta:
We had nothing booked for Valetta (another medieval town 😉) and I was very happy about that.
We decided to walk to the Barrakka Elevator Lift (20 minute walk from port?) in town and then explore.
There were some very pretty views once off the lift and in the town center.
Valetta was super, super BUSY. We were kind of shocked once we started walking around:
Unfortunately we chose to sit outside and were bugged by bugs the whole time. Inside actually had A/C and beautiful decor. We didn't see this until we used the restrooms after eating.
Food was done well and huge portions but I wasn't feeling it. I couldn't eat my biscuits as they were too sweet for my liking. It would be a great place relaxing with cocktails & brunch with friends, for sure.
We bought my son a "Popeye" T-shirt as they were all over Malta. We learned they even have a village there dedicated to him. It was because a film set was built there for the 1980 movie "Popeye", starring Robin Williams. It was time to go back to the Lift and it was good we did as there was a HUMONGOUS line for it. The line back to the ship afterwards was also horrendous. We got back pretty much just on time and that was with a hustle in our step.
Tonight dinner was in our one and only pay restaurant that was included in our package. We chose Bayamo, a seafood place. We were seated on the outside deck which was beautiful and I have to say this was the best meal we ate on the ship! I was super surprised, shocked and impressed. Below are a couple of the appetizers and the desserts (I forgot to take the entree pics as we got our own pictures done then).
I had bouillabaisse for my entree and it even had a lobster tail in it. Son had the filet mignon and it was perfectly cooked and melt in the mouth tender. Well done and service was excellent (we tipped over the 20% already included). After dinner we went and saw a rock show at "Syd Norman's Pour House". Son liked it, I thought it was more of an exaggerated acting performance with mediocre singers...Below was just the band only. We went to sleep after it finished. "Fitbit" reports I only walked 13,039 steps today!
Wednesday, November 6, 2024, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy:
We had no plans for Cagliari as the city center was only a fifteen minute walk from the port. I didn't do well at taking pictures today, it seemed to have slipped my mind mostly. I also think we were starting to be "done" with it all...
As we were there early again, not much was open and the town felt a little sketchy and rundown. I don't think my son was thrilled with me as we started exploring deserted streets not knowing anything about where we were...
We started walking where more people were present and stopped for a morning coffee/snack. It was pretty cheap, under 10 € for everything. Even with the exchange and it was not good for us Canucks, I still found food/wine cheaper than at home or in the US.
The meal was very underwhelming and almost inedible. Below I ordered meatloaf which was 2 hamburger patties with a bottle of Bullseye BBQ sauce dumped on it. BLECH!!!!
Son did like his carrot cake though. That being said, I don't think there is a dessert he doesn't like... 😆
The views were nice though and it was relaxing sitting here. Our server who was friendly and efficient came over and dropped a comment card to us and begged us to write a good review on him. That was a first for me on a cruise, and no I didn't... he might have been more humble, like, "here's a comment card if you enjoyed my service" or something like that...
My son went to the comedy show with the Ohio crew while I sat and drank "Buffalo Trace" Old Fashioned(s) in the Whiskey Bar. They found me after. Son went to bed and my Ohio girlfriend and I went to dance at the "Glow" party which started at 10 PM.
When the party ended outside, they moved everyone to the Sky Bar inside and we went and continued to dance our asses off. Finally about 1 am, I asked her to go to the Irish bar with me for something to eat. Some creepy guy kept talking to her about how he loved her "energy" and then lech stared at her the whole time we were there. 🙄 She walked me to my floor and then we said goodnight about 2 am. I remember waking my son up to look at my glow sticks. He told me to go to sleep, lol. "Fitbit" reports I walked 23,647 steps today.
The area was lovely around here and we explored a bit. I would have enjoyed more time in Palma, but boy oh boy was I hungover...
We had to go to the host stand and pay as our time was running out. I think it was really cheap, like 35 € or $52 CAD. We went back to the ship and arrived right before the 2 hour mark. I paid him exactly as he asked and we said our good-byes. We made the looooooong walk back to get onboard... Below was the only way to get the Cathedral of Santa Maria in one picture...from a LONG distance away...
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