This cruise is great if you love a combination of sunshine, history, and archaeology.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
They seem to make this faster and faster every cruise. Very easy
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We were happy with the main dining room and didn’t try any of the specialty restaurants. The variety and quality of meals kept us full.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
This was a busy cruise with only one sea day, so we didn’t have too much time for many onboard activities. We tried to get to the “adults only” solarium pool daily but several of those days were marred by young teens invading the pool and hot tubs while apparently trying to crowd us out. It’s a small thing, and maybe we should have mentioned it to staff, but I wish that staff would have been a little more proactive. By contrast a Disney Cruise has a more peaceful adult area.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
We really enjoyed “Hiro,” “Flight,” and the nightly live music.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Unflinchingly good service.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Plenty of room for the two of us, and a balcony big enough to do some stretching on
Ship tip
Pre book tickets to shows, My Time dining, and excursions
We scheduled a “Coasteering” excursion through TA. This featured hiking to the cliff side, then jumping into the water and climbing back up to jump in from progressively higher spots. This was so much fun and a nice adrenaline burst. As I’m in my late forties I was old enough to be all the other participants father, but it was ridiculously fun. 10/10 would do again
We could have easily skipped this port. We took a cab to the closest beach we could find, which was at Baia Blu, about 7 kilometers from the port. This beach was extremely underwhelming, and when we tried to rent a beach chair the local beach master denied us. He literally told us that they were all sold out, and 3/4’s of them sat empty while we sat on stones. Our taxi driver gave us a number to call for a return trip, but didn’t seem to be too enthusiastic and sure enough when we called and requested a ride no one bothered to show. The hostess of the beach restaurant politely declined to call for us, and proceeded to scroll social media while we considered our options. We ended up walking about three clicks in sliders until we found bus stop that took us back to La Spezia where we went to a gelato place just outside of the port. The server there pointedly ignored us until we left there too. I don’t know if we just caught the town on a bad day, but the collective indifference really left an impression on us. If we returned we would take a RC coordinated excursion (they all looked dull) or just stay on board for another sea day. C’est la vie
We went two nights early for the cruise as Rome is an hour’s drive from the port. We enjoyed a tour of the Colliseum, the Roman Forum, and so many other wonders of the Eternal City.
We scheduled the “Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius Hike” through Shipmate. It was great and featured two knowledgeable guides that shared their passion for the area. The Vesuvius hike not only scratched our itch for an active excursion but also revealed incredible views of the area. This is accessible for most, and I highly recommend it!
We made a self guided trip through this city and enjoyed it. Our highlight was taking the bus to Notre Dame De Garde and marveled in her spectacular views, then enjoyed a baguette as we looked at local artists work near the port
We had a snorkeling excursion through TA that was cancelled the day before, so we made the 30 minute walk into town and explored the Gothic Quarter. It was very interesting and a fun morning
Sounds like a great cruise, love your photos! When we went to La Spezia we got the train ourselves to Pisa and had booked a spot to climb the leaning tower, great day but I think it was a good hour each way on a busy train with a walk either side.
Thanks for sharing your cruise experience. Young teens in the solarium seems to be an issue fleet-wide from what I’ve been reading on other forums as well.
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