Traveler

CK (finally) sunset

Getting ready .:-)

Day 4 - La Spezia.
What a wonderful day , finally the weather was much better and finally it was a full day without any conference calls. As I shared at the beginning of this blog my main plane was to rent a car , drive to Milan and retrieve my cell phone from the airport lost and found, but since I already got a new cell phone and my numbers were duplicated I decided it can wait. We did not had any plans because of my cellphone so we decided to take it easy and just visit the city , let our legs take us wherever it feels like. We started to walk on the boardwalk of this nice city and we were stoped by some girl offering us to buyt tickets to Portovenere which is a nice town near the bay , we said thank you but skipped it as we already visit it last time. 200 m after another one offered us a private bought tour to the same place,  we refused that also until finally we came to something which looked crowded , apparently it was the ticket booth for the HOHO boat to Cinque terre , you pay 35 Euro for a full day boat services which allows you to get off in each of the villages and get on the boat again later for the next village. Just to compare, same excursion with RCL will cost around 120 $. As we saw its almost the time for the boat to leave, we had a short discussion between us if to take it or not as it's a full day activity and decided to go for it , my spouse told me "you want to take it so you will have many pictures for the blog right ?" Well I can not argue with her ?.

 
On the boat we took the time table we got and tried to calculate the best route and strategy to maximize the number of ports we visit (without drinking package) , we found out the best route for us.
 
We past Portovenere but decided not to go off there so we continued all the way to Manarola , a very lovely village with great views. We spent half an hour there.






we took the boat to Verenazza where we proamed around and ate quick lunch. 








Next we stopped at Riomaggiore as it was already in our way back...





 continued...
 

Day 4 - La Spezia.
What a wonderful day , finally the weather was much better and finally it was a full day without any conference calls. As I shared at the beginning of this blog my main plane was to rent a car , drive to Milan and retrieve my cell phone from the airport lost and found, but since I already got a new cell phone and my numbers were duplicated I decided it can wait. We did not had any plans because of my cellphone so we decided to take it easy and just visit the city , let our legs take us wherever it feels like. We started to walk on the boardwalk of this nice city and we were stoped by some girl offering us to buyt tickets to Portovenere which is a nice town near the bay , we said thank you but skipped it as we already visit it last time. 200 m after another one offered us a private bought tour to the same place,  we refused that also until finally we came to something which looked crowded , apparently it was the ticket booth for the HOHO boat to Cinque terre , you pay 35 Euro for a full day boat services which allows you to get off in each of the villages and get on the boat again later for the next village. Just to compare, same excursion with RCL will cost around 120 $. As we saw its almost the time for the boat to leave, we had a short discussion between us if to take it or not as it's a full day activity and decided to go for it , my spouse told me "you want to take it so you will have many pictures for the blog right ?" Well I can not argue with her ?.

 
On the boat we took the time table we got and tried to calculate the best route and strategy to maximize the number of ports we visit (without drinking package) , we found out the best route for us.
 
We past Portovenere but decided not to go off there so we continued all the way to Manarola , a very lovely village with great views. We spent half an hour there.






we took the boat to Verenazza where we proamed around and ate quick lunch. 








Next we stopped at Riomaggiore as it was already in our way back...





 continued...
 

Day 4 - La Spezia.
What a wonderful day , finally the weather was much better and finally it was a full day without any conference calls. As I shared at the beginning of this blog my main plane was to rent a car , drive to Milan and retrieve my cell phone from the airport lost and found, but since I already got a new cell phone and my numbers were duplicated I decided it can wait. We did not had any plans because of my cellphone so we decided to take it easy and just visit the city , let our legs take us wherever it feels like. We started to walk on the boardwalk of this nice city and we were stoped by some girl offering us to buyt tickets to Portovenere which is a nice town near the bay , we said thank you but skipped it as we already visit it last time. 200 m after another one offered us a private bought tour to the same place,  we refused that also until finally we came to something which looked crowded , apparently it was the ticket booth for the HOHO boat to Cinque terre , you pay 35 Euro for a full day boat services which allows you to get off in each of the villages and get on the boat again later for the next village. Just to compare, same excursion with RCL will cost around 120 $. As we saw its almost the time for the boat to leave, we had a short discussion between us if to take it or not as it's a full day activity and decided to go for it , my spouse told me "you want to take it so you will have many pictures for the blog right ?" Well I can not argue with her ?.

 
On the boat we took the time table we got and tried to calculate the best route and strategy to maximize the number of ports we visit (without drinking package) , we found out the best route for us.
 
We past Portovenere but decided not to go off there so we continued all the way to Manarola , a very lovely village with great views. We spent half an hour there.






we took the boat to Verenazza where we proamed around and ate quick lunch. 








Next we stopped at Riomaggiore as it was already in our way back...





 continued...
 

Day 4 - La Spezia.
What a wonderful day , finally the weather was much better and finally it was a full day without any conference calls. As I shared at the beginning of this blog my main plane was to rent a car , drive to Milan and retrieve my cell phone from the airport lost and found, but since I already got a new cell phone and my numbers were duplicated I decided it can wait. We did not had any plans because of my cellphone so we decided to take it easy and just visit the city , let our legs take us wherever it feels like. We started to walk on the boardwalk of this nice city and we were stoped by some girl offering us to buyt tickets to Portovenere which is a nice town near the bay , we said thank you but skipped it as we already visit it last time. 200 m after another one offered us a private bought tour to the same place,  we refused that also until finally we came to something which looked crowded , apparently it was the ticket booth for the HOHO boat to Cinque terre , you pay 35 Euro for a full day boat services which allows you to get off in each of the villages and get on the boat again later for the next village. Just to compare, same excursion with RCL will cost around 120 $. As we saw its almost the time for the boat to leave, we had a short discussion between us if to take it or not as it's a full day activity and decided to go for it , my spouse told me "you want to take it so you will have many pictures for the blog right ?" Well I can not argue with her ?.

 
On the boat we took the time table we got and tried to calculate the best route and strategy to maximize the number of ports we visit (without drinking package) , we found out the best route for us.
 
We past Portovenere but decided not to go off there so we continued all the way to Manarola , a very lovely village with great views. We spent half an hour there.






we took the boat to Verenazza where we proamed around and ate quick lunch. 








Next we stopped at Riomaggiore as it was already in our way back...





 continued...
 

So we done our way back to the ship as we booked the Chef table for day 4 , we started to get organized when I got a call from CK asking to verify our reservation for day 5 , day 5 what do you mean we ordered for today ?He said he will check and came back after few seconds saying many people canceled and we are the only one for today so they moved us to day 5 ? Well we did not want to be alone at the chef table which I think the people is part of the experience but hey let me choose,  do not let me think I suffer from memory lost... Anyway we agreed for that although it means we will miss the ice show , oh well next time

Day 4 - La Spezia.
What a wonderful day , finally the weather was much better and finally it was a full day without any conference calls. As I shared at the beginning of this blog my main plane was to rent a car , drive to Milan and retrieve my cell phone from the airport lost and found, but since I already got a new cell phone and my numbers were duplicated I decided it can wait. We did not had any plans because of my cellphone so we decided to take it easy and just visit the city , let our legs take us wherever it feels like. We started to walk on the boardwalk of this nice city and we were stoped by some girl offering us to buyt tickets to Portovenere which is a nice town near the bay , we said thank you but skipped it as we already visit it last time. 200 m after another one offered us a private bought tour to the same place,  we refused that also until finally we came to something which looked crowded , apparently it was the ticket booth for the HOHO boat to Cinque terre , you pay 35 Euro for a full day boat services which allows you to get off in each of the villages and get on the boat again later for the next village. Just to compare, same excursion with RCL will cost around 120 $. As we saw its almost the time for the boat to leave, we had a short discussion between us if to take it or not as it's a full day activity and decided to go for it , my spouse told me "you want to take it so you will have many pictures for the blog right ?" Well I can not argue with her ?.

 
On the boat we took the time table we got and tried to calculate the best route and strategy to maximize the number of ports we visit (without drinking package) , we found out the best route for us.
 
We past Portovenere but decided not to go off there so we continued all the way to Manarola , a very lovely village with great views. We spent half an hour there.






we took the boat to Verenazza where we proamed around and ate quick lunch. 








Next we stopped at Riomaggiore as it was already in our way back...





 continued...
 

Day 4 - La Spezia.
What a wonderful day , finally the weather was much better and finally it was a full day without any conference calls. As I shared at the beginning of this blog my main plane was to rent a car , drive to Milan and retrieve my cell phone from the airport lost and found, but since I already got a new cell phone and my numbers were duplicated I decided it can wait. We did not had any plans because of my cellphone so we decided to take it easy and just visit the city , let our legs take us wherever it feels like. We started to walk on the boardwalk of this nice city and we were stoped by some girl offering us to buyt tickets to Portovenere which is a nice town near the bay , we said thank you but skipped it as we already visit it last time. 200 m after another one offered us a private bought tour to the same place,  we refused that also until finally we came to something which looked crowded , apparently it was the ticket booth for the HOHO boat to Cinque terre , you pay 35 Euro for a full day boat services which allows you to get off in each of the villages and get on the boat again later for the next village. Just to compare, same excursion with RCL will cost around 120 $. As we saw its almost the time for the boat to leave, we had a short discussion between us if to take it or not as it's a full day activity and decided to go for it , my spouse told me "you want to take it so you will have many pictures for the blog right ?" Well I can not argue with her ?.

 
On the boat we took the time table we got and tried to calculate the best route and strategy to maximize the number of ports we visit (without drinking package) , we found out the best route for us.
 
We past Portovenere but decided not to go off there so we continued all the way to Manarola , a very lovely village with great views. We spent half an hour there.






we took the boat to Verenazza where we proamed around and ate quick lunch. 








Next we stopped at Riomaggiore as it was already in our way back...





 continued...
 

A YOLO moment brought us here , will have more info later

So we done our way back to the ship as we booked the Chef table for day 4 , we started to get organized when I got a call from CK asking to verify our reservation for day 5 , day 5 what do you mean we ordered for today ?He said he will check and came back after few seconds saying many people canceled and we are the only one for today so they moved us to day 5 ? Well we did not want to be alone at the chef table which I think the people is part of the experience but hey let me choose,  do not let me think I suffer from memory lost... Anyway we agreed for that although it means we will miss the ice show , oh well next time

Day 4 - La Spezia.
What a wonderful day , finally the weather was much better and finally it was a full day without any conference calls. As I shared at the beginning of this blog my main plane was to rent a car , drive to Milan and retrieve my cell phone from the airport lost and found, but since I already got a new cell phone and my numbers were duplicated I decided it can wait. We did not had any plans because of my cellphone so we decided to take it easy and just visit the city , let our legs take us wherever it feels like. We started to walk on the boardwalk of this nice city and we were stoped by some girl offering us to buyt tickets to Portovenere which is a nice town near the bay , we said thank you but skipped it as we already visit it last time. 200 m after another one offered us a private bought tour to the same place,  we refused that also until finally we came to something which looked crowded , apparently it was the ticket booth for the HOHO boat to Cinque terre , you pay 35 Euro for a full day boat services which allows you to get off in each of the villages and get on the boat again later for the next village. Just to compare, same excursion with RCL will cost around 120 $. As we saw its almost the time for the boat to leave, we had a short discussion between us if to take it or not as it's a full day activity and decided to go for it , my spouse told me "you want to take it so you will have many pictures for the blog right ?" Well I can not argue with her ?.

 
On the boat we took the time table we got and tried to calculate the best route and strategy to maximize the number of ports we visit (without drinking package) , we found out the best route for us.
 
We past Portovenere but decided not to go off there so we continued all the way to Manarola , a very lovely village with great views. We spent half an hour there.






we took the boat to Verenazza where we proamed around and ate quick lunch. 








Next we stopped at Riomaggiore as it was already in our way back...





 continued...
 

Here you go the teen compas

 

I will try to scan it better tommorow

Day 3 - Marseille
No big plans for today  , we visit this port at the past and I had many planned conference calls (some that I lead so I can not just  come to the call and stay mostly  on mute while saying every few minutes "yes we should handle it , or let's take it ofline"). My spouse wanted to visit the city for  few hours so she can buy some french cosmetics and other stuff as  it was a quite cold day with s good chance to rain so less outdoor activities . There are few ways to get from the port to the city: 
The firs is to take a shore excursion , the second is to take a taxi (25 $ each way) the third will be to use RCL shuttle which cost 20 $ per person (which mean taxi is cheaper for 3 + people) and there is the hash hash secret option which no one from RCL will tell you about - free shuttle from the port gate. All you need to do is to follow the green lane until you arrive the port gate were you will see a covered waiting area with a big sign "free shuttle to the city". We decided to try it as we had enough time and so I will have some content for today blog . 10 minutes walk (which we follow other people that seem to know the way or maybe they also  just followed other people that  they thought  knew  the way) we got to the station

, I guess we just missed the shuttle which should go every 20 minutes as we were waiting for quite a while until it finally came. Here is the time table:

10 minutes ride and we were in the city, nice option. My spouse did some shopping while I located a quite place and started my conference calls, once they were done I still had time to update the blog (and to add funny spelling / Grammer mistakes) so it was time well spent ? . We did learn one big lesson regarding bring your passport with you while going of the ship : When you buy several things  (besides food)  over 175 Euro in one shop or one mall you can claim the taxes back by fillings a form in the shopping center desk and with the sign form you can claim it in the exit point from the EU. Good thing , but we did not  bring the passports with us so we could not claim anything ....  Oh well lesson learned. We went back to the free shuttle station , this time we only waited 3 minutes until it came , 10  minutes ride and 10 minutes walk we arrived back. We went up to the diamond club got few drinks and continued to the C&A event were the sand artist gave some nice demo 

. 150 Diamonds, 120 D+ and 15 pineapples , top cruiser had  1570 points. Later we went to eat dinner in Solarium Bistro. Food was good and the service excellent , they also accepted the Diamond vouchers. The cost , well nice round 0 , nice option indeed.



 
 




 Next  day at La Spezia

The ship dock at the new port which is around 10 to 15 minutes ride from the city and the old port

Here you go the teen compas

 

I will try to scan it better tommorow

Day 3 - Marseille
No big plans for today  , we visit this port at the past and I had many planned conference calls (some that I lead so I can not just  come to the call and stay mostly  on mute while saying every few minutes "yes we should handle it , or let's take it ofline"). My spouse wanted to visit the city for  few hours so she can buy some french cosmetics and other stuff as  it was a quite cold day with s good chance to rain so less outdoor activities . There are few ways to get from the port to the city: 
The firs is to take a shore excursion , the second is to take a taxi (25 $ each way) the third will be to use RCL shuttle which cost 20 $ per person (which mean taxi is cheaper for 3 + people) and there is the hash hash secret option which no one from RCL will tell you about - free shuttle from the port gate. All you need to do is to follow the green lane until you arrive the port gate were you will see a covered waiting area with a big sign "free shuttle to the city". We decided to try it as we had enough time and so I will have some content for today blog . 10 minutes walk (which we follow other people that seem to know the way or maybe they also  just followed other people that  they thought  knew  the way) we got to the station

, I guess we just missed the shuttle which should go every 20 minutes as we were waiting for quite a while until it finally came. Here is the time table:

10 minutes ride and we were in the city, nice option. My spouse did some shopping while I located a quite place and started my conference calls, once they were done I still had time to update the blog (and to add funny spelling / Grammer mistakes) so it was time well spent ? . We did learn one big lesson regarding bring your passport with you while going of the ship : When you buy several things  (besides food)  over 175 Euro in one shop or one mall you can claim the taxes back by fillings a form in the shopping center desk and with the sign form you can claim it in the exit point from the EU. Good thing , but we did not  bring the passports with us so we could not claim anything ....  Oh well lesson learned. We went back to the free shuttle station , this time we only waited 3 minutes until it came , 10  minutes ride and 10 minutes walk we arrived back. We went up to the diamond club got few drinks and continued to the C&A event were the sand artist gave some nice demo 

. 150 Diamonds, 120 D+ and 15 pineapples , top cruiser had  1570 points. Later we went to eat dinner in Solarium Bistro. Food was good and the service excellent , they also accepted the Diamond vouchers. The cost , well nice round 0 , nice option indeed.



 
 




 Next  day at La Spezia

Time to relax

Check out my Youtube videos of our cruise on Navigator of the Seas to CoCoCay! 
 
 

4:45 got my tubing for $10, they were very nice. A bunch of people in there for stepping on sea urchins, so, be careful if you walk on the beach. 
Ben and Jerry's makes some nice strawberry smoothies 

Nice!!  Venice & Milan are the only two big stops I can think of my son missed.  He's currently in Taormina, touring Sicily before heading out from Palermo.
Ahhh, to be 16 again and be able to live on french fries and not have them go straight to my thighs!  LOL 

@Traveler I love your blogs and trips.  Thank you for sharing she helping me make it until July 24!!!!   Jane

Day 3 - Marseille
No big plans for today  , we visit this port at the past and I had many planned conference calls (some that I lead so I can not just  come to the call and stay mostly  on mute while saying every few minutes "yes we should handle it , or let's take it ofline"). My spouse wanted to visit the city for  few hours so she can buy some french cosmetics and other stuff as  it was a quite cold day with s good chance to rain so less outdoor activities . There are few ways to get from the port to the city: 
The firs is to take a shore excursion , the second is to take a taxi (25 $ each way) the third will be to use RCL shuttle which cost 20 $ per person (which mean taxi is cheaper for 3 + people) and there is the hash hash secret option which no one from RCL will tell you about - free shuttle from the port gate. All you need to do is to follow the green lane until you arrive the port gate were you will see a covered waiting area with a big sign "free shuttle to the city". We decided to try it as we had enough time and so I will have some content for today blog . 10 minutes walk (which we follow other people that seem to know the way or maybe they also  just followed other people that  they thought  knew  the way) we got to the station

, I guess we just missed the shuttle which should go every 20 minutes as we were waiting for quite a while until it finally came. Here is the time table:

10 minutes ride and we were in the city, nice option. My spouse did some shopping while I located a quite place and started my conference calls, once they were done I still had time to update the blog (and to add funny spelling / Grammer mistakes) so it was time well spent ? . We did learn one big lesson regarding bring your passport with you while going of the ship : When you buy several things  (besides food)  over 175 Euro in one shop or one mall you can claim the taxes back by fillings a form in the shopping center desk and with the sign form you can claim it in the exit point from the EU. Good thing , but we did not  bring the passports with us so we could not claim anything ....  Oh well lesson learned. We went back to the free shuttle station , this time we only waited 3 minutes until it came , 10  minutes ride and 10 minutes walk we arrived back. We went up to the diamond club got few drinks and continued to the C&A event were the sand artist gave some nice demo 

. 150 Diamonds, 120 D+ and 15 pineapples , top cruiser had  1570 points. Later we went to eat dinner in Solarium Bistro. Food was good and the service excellent , they also accepted the Diamond vouchers. The cost , well nice round 0 , nice option indeed.



 
 




 Next  day at La Spezia

Day 3 - Marseille
No big plans for today  , we visit this port at the past and I had many planned conference calls (some that I lead so I can not just  come to the call and stay mostly  on mute while saying every few minutes "yes we should handle it , or let's take it ofline"). My spouse wanted to visit the city for  few hours so she can buy some french cosmetics and other stuff as  it was a quite cold day with s good chance to rain so less outdoor activities . There are few ways to get from the port to the city: 
The firs is to take a shore excursion , the second is to take a taxi (25 $ each way) the third will be to use RCL shuttle which cost 20 $ per person (which mean taxi is cheaper for 3 + people) and there is the hash hash secret option which no one from RCL will tell you about - free shuttle from the port gate. All you need to do is to follow the green lane until you arrive the port gate were you will see a covered waiting area with a big sign "free shuttle to the city". We decided to try it as we had enough time and so I will have some content for today blog . 10 minutes walk (which we follow other people that seem to know the way or maybe they also  just followed other people that  they thought  knew  the way) we got to the station

, I guess we just missed the shuttle which should go every 20 minutes as we were waiting for quite a while until it finally came. Here is the time table:

10 minutes ride and we were in the city, nice option. My spouse did some shopping while I located a quite place and started my conference calls, once they were done I still had time to update the blog (and to add funny spelling / Grammer mistakes) so it was time well spent ? . We did learn one big lesson regarding bring your passport with you while going of the ship : When you buy several things  (besides food)  over 175 Euro in one shop or one mall you can claim the taxes back by fillings a form in the shopping center desk and with the sign form you can claim it in the exit point from the EU. Good thing , but we did not  bring the passports with us so we could not claim anything ....  Oh well lesson learned. We went back to the free shuttle station , this time we only waited 3 minutes until it came , 10  minutes ride and 10 minutes walk we arrived back. We went up to the diamond club got few drinks and continued to the C&A event were the sand artist gave some nice demo 

. 150 Diamonds, 120 D+ and 15 pineapples , top cruiser had  1570 points. Later we went to eat dinner in Solarium Bistro. Food was good and the service excellent , they also accepted the Diamond vouchers. The cost , well nice round 0 , nice option indeed.



 
 




 Next  day at La Spezia

Day 3 - Marseille
No big plans for today  , we visit this port at the past and I had many planned conference calls (some that I lead so I can not just  come to the call and stay mostly  on mute while saying every few minutes "yes we should handle it , or let's take it ofline"). My spouse wanted to visit the city for  few hours so she can buy some french cosmetics and other stuff as  it was a quite cold day with s good chance to rain so less outdoor activities . There are few ways to get from the port to the city: 
The firs is to take a shore excursion , the second is to take a taxi (25 $ each way) the third will be to use RCL shuttle which cost 20 $ per person (which mean taxi is cheaper for 3 + people) and there is the hash hash secret option which no one from RCL will tell you about - free shuttle from the port gate. All you need to do is to follow the green lane until you arrive the port gate were you will see a covered waiting area with a big sign "free shuttle to the city". We decided to try it as we had enough time and so I will have some content for today blog . 10 minutes walk (which we follow other people that seem to know the way or maybe they also  just followed other people that  they thought  knew  the way) we got to the station

, I guess we just missed the shuttle which should go every 20 minutes as we were waiting for quite a while until it finally came. Here is the time table:

10 minutes ride and we were in the city, nice option. My spouse did some shopping while I located a quite place and started my conference calls, once they were done I still had time to update the blog (and to add funny spelling / Grammer mistakes) so it was time well spent ? . We did learn one big lesson regarding bring your passport with you while going of the ship : When you buy several things  (besides food)  over 175 Euro in one shop or one mall you can claim the taxes back by fillings a form in the shopping center desk and with the sign form you can claim it in the exit point from the EU. Good thing , but we did not  bring the passports with us so we could not claim anything ....  Oh well lesson learned. We went back to the free shuttle station , this time we only waited 3 minutes until it came , 10  minutes ride and 10 minutes walk we arrived back. We went up to the diamond club got few drinks and continued to the C&A event were the sand artist gave some nice demo 

. 150 Diamonds, 120 D+ and 15 pineapples , top cruiser had  1570 points. Later we went to eat dinner in Solarium Bistro. Food was good and the service excellent , they also accepted the Diamond vouchers. The cost , well nice round 0 , nice option indeed.



 
 




 Next  day at La Spezia