October 2019 - 14 Night Holy Land & Ancient Kingdoms Explorer (Rome Roundtrip) Cruise on Rotterdam
sunloveratlanta
Third Mate
Joined 05/2015
4
Cruises1
Review50
Helpful VotesPast cruises
May 2019 - 4 Night Bahamas (Port Canaveral Roundtrip) Cruise on Carnival Elation
June 2017 - 7 Night Western Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip) Cruise on Norwegian Escape
April 2015 - 12 Night Grand Mediterranean (Barcelona To Venice) Cruise on Norwegian Spirit
Awesome itinerary and great value
Norwegian Spirit
Sail date: April 25, 2015
Awesome itinerary and great value
This itinerary cannot be beat and the price was great on . The ship is not fancy and new but it had what we needed. Great food with lots of choices of venue and type. The Italian specialty restaurant was great, the French was good and the steak house was probably not worth the extra money as we had a really good steak in the main dining room the next night. Drinks are extremely expensive but you can take on both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages in Barcelona. Our room steward, Arnel, was amazing. Felt like staying in a five star hotel. We did excursions through the ship which I recommend if it is your first time to these locations even if it is a little expensive. Getting around could be tricky in the short amount of time that you have in each port so knowing the ship will wait for you if you are late getting back is priceless. The ship left three or four ports late because tour buses were late getting back. If it had been private excursions, I doubt the ship would have waited long. The ship's excursions will get you into the top attractions so it was worth it to us as it was our first time visiting these ports. I recommend taking snacks as the day trips are very long. I recommend making advance reservations for dinner for the first couple of nights on the cruise line's website as everyone will be getting on the ship at the same time and will all want to go to dinner at once. After that, you don't need reservations for main dining rooms unless you eat at peak dinner hour. Buffet had best deserts ever plus ice cream!!! If you get off ship early in Venice, you must arrange for taxi in advance. The ship will tell you to just walk out but you will not get a taxi if you have not made advance arrangements. NCL will tell you that you can get off the ship at any time in Venice but to disembark before 8 a.m., you must prove you have an early flight, make advance arrangments with ship to leave at specific time and you will have to carry your luggage off by yourself down the gangway. If you need more than one plug in, you will need to take a converter. Get Euros in advance because the ship charges $10 per transaction to convert cash. Get at least a balcony cabin because the cabins are small. Take movies on your tablet or something as there will only be one television station for each language showing anything other than news or sports. They do not have a movie theater or movie screen. Normally not a big deal but this cruise was so strenuous and port intensive that we did not want to do anything more active than watch movies on the sea days or days where we got into port late. Wifi is slow and expensive as with other cruise lines but it worked. Be prepared to dress for any weather as this cruise covers different climates and you will be exposed to the elements a lot. That means take jackets, hats, sun screen and umbrellas along with a good bag for carrying such stuff around all day.
Cruise tips
Awesome! Loved Ephesus wished we had more time there. Pretty coastal resorts.
Must see Acropolis and I enjoyed the Archaelogical museum. Lunch on ship's excursion was terrible.
If you need to get off ship early, there are limited time slots. It requires advance arrangements. You need to reserve a taxi the day before. Do not listen to the people on the ship that tell you that you can just walk off the ship and get a taxi.
Sagrada Familia and the Hop on, Hop off bus are awesome.
Scuba/beach!!!!! Crystal clear water.
Livorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy
Pisa was not worth the time. Focus on Florence unless you just have to check it off your bucket list because someone else told you that you have to.
Pompeii was amazing. I bet the Amalfi coast was too. Capri was pretty but underwhelming.
Nothing to do. Go somewhere else.
Book Sistine Chapel ahead. The galleries leading up to and leaving the Chapel are amazing.
Glad to have seen Hagia Sophia, Grand Bazaar and Topapki Palace but would not get off the ship if we went there again. To be fair it was a holiday weekend so traffic was even worse than normal when we were there.
Norwegian Spirit
Cabins are very small so upgrade whenever you see a price drop on Orbitz. Get midship to save yourself from extra walking. You will be walking miles every days on excursions so it will really be a life saver.
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This itinerary cannot be beat and the price was great on . The ship is not fancy and new but it had what we needed. Great food with lots of choices of venue and type. The Italian specialty restaurant was great, the French was good and the steak house was probably not worth the extra money as we had a really good steak in the main dining room the next night. Drinks are extremely expensive but you can take on both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages in Barcelona. Our room steward, Arnel, was amazing. Felt like staying in a five star hotel. We did excursions through the ship which I recommend if it is your first time to these locations even if it is a little expensive. Getting around could be tricky in the short amount of time that you have in each port so knowing the ship will wait for you if you are late getting back is priceless. The ship left three or four ports late because tour buses were late getting back. If it had been private excursions, I doubt the ship would have waited long. The ship's excursions will get you into the top attractions so it was worth it to us as it was our first time visiting these ports. I recommend taking snacks as the day trips are very long. I recommend making advance reservations for dinner for the first couple of nights on the cruise line's website as everyone will be getting on the ship at the same time and will all want to go to dinner at once. After that, you don't need reservations for main dining rooms unless you eat at peak dinner hour. Buffet had best deserts ever plus ice cream!!! If you get off ship early in Venice, you must arrange for taxi in advance. The ship will tell you to just walk out but you will not get a taxi if you have not made advance arrangements. NCL will tell you that you can get off the ship at any time in Venice but to disembark before 8 a.m., you must prove you have an early flight, make advance arrangments with ship to leave at specific time and you will have to carry your luggage off by yourself down the gangway. If you need more than one plug in, you will need to take a converter. Get Euros in advance because the ship charges $10 per transaction to convert cash. Get at least a balcony cabin because the cabins are small. Take movies on your tablet or something as there will only be one television station for each language showing anything other than news or sports. They do not have a movie theater or movie screen. Normally not a big deal but this cruise was so strenuous and port intensive that we did not want to do anything more active than watch movies on the sea days or days where we got into port late. Wifi is slow and expensive as with other cruise lines but it worked. Be prepared to dress for any weather as this cruise covers different climates and you will be exposed to the elements a lot. That means take jackets, hats, sun screen and umbrellas along with a good bag for carrying such stuff around all day.