Traveler

One more Capri picture , this one was when we went up the hill and the only one I convinced my self to stop and take

Food info : If there is one thing to avoid in Capri is seating in a restaurant, 95% of them are pure tourist traps the other 5% are closed for renovation until they will open , well, as a tourist traps. Just an example Pizza that will cost you in Naples 8 E will cist around 30 in Capri. The best to do is what the local tourist do , bring a sandwich with them. We didn't done it so we sat on one of the tourist trap to eat very small pasta and two salads. After that we went to eat some more local pastries (Pistacchini and Mandorali) in the place were is a huge line for the ice cream. We took the ferry back and decided we can not leave Naples without eating a pizza. So we went to one of the local resturant , order drinks just to find out they ran out of pizza dough so we took two more salds. Full, but still committed to have a pizza (no Sorento is not an option) we went to another pizzeria, verifying they still serving one. Eventually we shared this nice pizza evening (cost 9 E). You can guess we did not show up in the CK this evening:-) Here is Allure, a view from Naples

So you can go only during the summer month which make some of the places very hot , still many things to see there. Maybe now, when they starting this star class semi experience in other ships will help you convince your husband:-) Well Legend of the seas is there in August, just saying

Well you still can make it to the June group cruise

Today plan was Capri , although we have been there few times already it still a nice place and the weather is much better to visit. We booked directly at NLG site A ferry tickets fir 20 E PP each way. When you book it like that you don't need to wait in line for the tickets and you can go directly to board the ferry. We had the 8:35 ferry to be there before it's becoming too crowded. We left the ship around 8 AM which was just enough as they moved the entrance to the ferry terminal. It use to be directly from the cruise port parking lot but now they build a new terminal so it's 5 minutes more. The ride suppose to be 45 minutes but since the sea was rough it took almost 70 minutes. It was not a rough ride but I guess fir some it was as some cleaning had to be done after disembarking... just take it into consideration when using the ferry during this month. We went directly to buy tickets to the funicular and took it up from the port to Capri. After arriving we went to eat some local pastries and drin coffee. It was a bit chill at the morning , i took a light coat , my spouse thought it not necessary so she left her at the cabin , in other words I was shaking, she was OK . We wanted to take advantage of the nice weather and decided instead of just going to the Augusto gardens for the view to go the other side and see to another view point. Arriving the view point we decided to take the Via Del Faraglioni a famous trail that takes you all the way down to the beach. It's like the donkey trail in Santorini minus the donkeys and what they leave on the trail The plan was that when we will be down we can catch a water taxi back to the port , or that's what we thought... When went down , no taxi , no boat will maybe just water , but a huge bonus, free washroom! So we had to do the way back , up hill... Oh what a wonderful challenge, going up I had few thoughts like : Did I updated my spouse about my life insurance? , should I updated my will ? , do my travel insurance includes rescue from mountains trails. Finally we done it , 44 floor, did not even counted the steps

Capri More later

Breakfast at WJ as we wanted something quick for our early Capri ferry. Food as usual but I found there Shakshuka eggs (it's actually over cooked tomatoes and bell peppers with spices) it was actually very good and spicy enough. I will add a recipe for my version of Shakshuka a la Traveler. Good morning Naples

Good morning Naples

Actually it was very good .

Dinner was at CK , the dessert you already so. I must say the service so far is very good , I guess it starts from the CK manager who always there watching everything and make sure the waiters are attended for any request. Lobster was on the menue even in the MDR which is not that common in Med cruise. We took the small portions as we were still quite full from lunch. So it was the lobster and the Tuna tartar, both were very good. Returning back from dinner we found those things on our bad , I guess it still consider inaugural cruise , hope to see more of such things in the next days. Few observations: You can go to shore even in embarkation day , no issues , we went for some shopping near by as it was raining. Although tge ship went under upgrade they did not find time to replace the public washrooms open button to touch less , can't really understand why . The promenade cafe git some Perl cafe features such has pre packed salads and fake Hummus dip. Nice upgrade. Still it's not self service. Tommrow Naples , we booked early ferry to Capri hopefully with good weather.

Dinner time , dessert time : Y: "I don't want a dessert, let's just have a coffee" Me : "I will take the chocolate dessert, it's looks good." Y: "OK let's take one and split it 50/50" So we got one. I am looking at my phone for few second just to raise my head and see that : Me : " you were sick when they teached fractions at school right ? ..." Me ending eating this: Me , sleeping on the sofa ???

Lunch at CK I always disappointed from the lobster bisque, something is missing , it's still OK but had better: The Ceaser sald was good as always. I ordered a truffled grilled cheese, I don't think I got it Still o enjoyed it.

Good news from the suite lounge, it seems wine , champagne and beer are available from 11 am to 12 pm beside the happy hour between 5 to 8. I know some of the Oasis class have it and some are not , well another thumbs up for Allure.

So it's not a myth We went down to check what is new in the casino and we so this : The bet was 2.5 $ the grand was over 60 K$ . I am sure he was enjoying his day in Rome

Some room tour pictures. No new thi gs in the room and no electricity new ports near bad , just the three near the desk (one European two US) it's a bit of a shame since they could add some USB ports on the bad lamps without big electricity changes.

And we are on the ship The nice thing about boarding in Rome is that the room was ready for us when we board (11:30) !

Good news the elevators in Civitavecchia station is working again ! That's refreshing. We took the train from the airport and switched trains at Ostiense station, vert easy , it took us 30 seconds to locate the right platform and we even had time to grab a coffee (hey , when in Rome). 4p minutes ride and we arrived to Civitavecchia. From the station we took the poet bus which brings you to the ship and cost 6 E per person. Other option is to walk 15 minutes to the port gate and go on the free shuttle bus or to take a taxi that will drop also on the port gate. Total travel cost 25 E for two train first class tickets + 12 E for the port bus. 37 total vs 170 for private car service or 40 E for airport to port gate shuttle. Total time 1:30 minutes vs 45- 60 minutes. Next we are waiting to board

Day 1 , Doing our way to the port using the train option. We woked up quite early ( one hour Jetlag after all ) we weren't very hungry so we went to find a coffee, we did not not found any beside the breakfast resturant so we asked if we can get just coffee. They prepare us , asked the room number but later we so they did not charge for it. Nice of them. The hotel which was the Hilton Rome airport is the only one in a walking distance from the terminal (around 10 minutes under covered trail) shower was good once I figured out how to operate it. The hotel gets many negative reviews but I think for an airport hotel it's not bad , maybe we got the new rooms , not sure. Next , Civitavecchia.

Italian breakfast.

Just read now on one of the FB groups that someone just hit the Grand of 60 K$ in the Allure casino. I am just asking, couldn't they wait one night ?

Day -1 continue. Flight was smooth, my spouse finally got to use her upgrade voucher so she enjoyed tge business class for the long 3.5 hours flight while I got three seats fir myself so watched a movie and catched a very short nap. The immigration was very fast without lines and the suitcases arrived 1 minutes after we arrived the luggage convey belt. For hotel we decided to take the airport hotel as we did not want to start and search for shuttles or taxi to bring us to another hotel considering the fact we landed around 9 PM. The hotel is OK , clean and suitable for the one night stay. I consider renting a car and driving to hotel in Civitavecchia but the one way price just did not make any sense. Tommrow we will take the train to the port unless we will find a shuttle. The only downside of the train is the missing elevator in Civitavecchia train station and that from tge airport you need to switch a train in Rome. Well tommrow is cruise day.

Well we are still on the ground waiting for our turn to be pushed from the gate so I have few minutes more. We booked a junior suite for this cruise (using the club royal certificate) two month ago we got the option to upgrade so we put a minimum Bid + 25$ on a grand suite and two weeks after it cleared so Costal kitchen here we come. Actually the upgrade was even cheaper as we got the internet with the Grand Suite and I could cancel our internet package. No plans yet for a special resturant beside the Sushi and Sale lunch on our sea days. Ok , starting to get the bad eye from the flight attended so to be continued

Yes , another cruise starts soon. This one bring us back to one of our favorite ship Alure of the seas. We really thrilled to check what is new and how the amplified ship will look. The twist is that we are taken this ship first time from Rome port (Civitavecchia) and not from Barcelona. This itinerary use dual embarkation ports, most of the people are embarking I'm Barcelona but few hundreds are embarking in Rome. We said we will give it a chance as we done many time the Barcelona embarkation which is strait forward but the Rime flight is shorter for us. We are going to : Napoli , Barcelona, Palma , Marseille, La Spezia (Florence) and back to Rome. Well , we are going to start the flight to Rome now so I will need to add more details later.

Great review thanks ! Make my time until our Allure cruise (in less than 10 days) pass faster. One question , in the deck plan I can see an empty space between the Doghouse and Johnny Rocket ? Have you had a chance to see if anything there yet ?

Well apparently I jumped into conclusions as it seems to be Samba gril is there to stay