Symphony of the Seas, June 8, 7 Night Western Mediterranean Cruise

[TheHobbys]

You ever wake up and have stuff on your mind you want to get accomplished for the day?  You know, something like deciding whether or not to work on a live vacation blog.  That's been me for a while, trying to make the decision on if I wanted to blog our upcoming trip or not.  It's taken some time convince myself to start writing and I think I'll make the attempt to create some type of blog for our upcoming trip.  Oh, yeah - we leave this Friday.  #Late  I know I'm a little late starting this and probably have a ton of writing that needs to be done, but we'll see if I can't get this thing started.  I'm sure there are some new faces around here and some 'old' faces around here  @CruisingKat(Kathy) @Lovetocruise2002 @WAAAYTOOO

Our last cruise was in 2019 and we had one booked in 2020.  I don't think the year 2020 happened, so we moved our cruise to 2021.  That year didn't happen either, so we just got our cruise money back and waiting for 2022 to show up.  Ya'll know what I'm talking about for 2020/2021 - those years didn't even seem to exists.  Fast forward four years and here we are ... heading to Italy for two weeks.  Oh, I didn't mention that part huh?  Yeah, so we fly out Friday June 2nd heading to Venice, Italy, then to Rome and then the cruise for a week.

Let's see if I can get ya'll caught up to speed.  About five or six years ago (do I have to count 2020/2021?), the kids where in middle school.  They seemed a little jealous of the 'parent' cruising and we felt bad about not taking them, so we took them on two star class (SC) cruises and spoiled them.  Somewhere around here might be my old blogs about those.  Anyway, at that point we started talking about taking them on a cruise for their high school graduation.  Doesn't seem that bad, eh?  Yeah - look where we are now.  Our daughter just graduated from high school  o_0   I blame those 'years-we-don't-talk-about' for time going by so fast.  This trip has been in the planning and talking phases for the past 4-6 years.  Oh, yeah - our son graduates in 2 years - so, we'll be doing this again.  Funny to think that some of ya'll might be in the same boat - kids graduating high school and all.  Ok, we can reminisce about that later - back to this trip.

After some conversations within our little family group (my, wife, daughter, son) it was our daughters turn coming up to pick our what she wanted to do for her big high school graduation trip.  She picked Italy.  We wanted to make sure if we went on this trip, it would be worth it.  Thus, we blocked out a two-week vacation.  Part of that was traveling to different places followed by a week long cruise.  Just to give anyone planning this type of trip - start working on it WAY in advance.  It's a ton of planning and I credit my wife for doing the most of it.  

You'll have to bear with me as I try to get everyone up to speed on what it takes to plan a trip like this, so be prepared for multiple posts ... Yeah, I'm a little older now and a little slower - lol   I crossed the 'big' hill a couple years ago during the 'years-we-don't-talk-about'.  btw - let me just vent on that #GetOnSoapBox... that was going to the the kids 3rd SC cruise, my 50th and 10yr anniversary all on one cruise.  That didn't happen.  #GetOffSoapBox

So the summary goes something like this:  Fly to Venice (13hrs), take the train to Rome (4hrs) and then cruise the western Mediterranean (Rome, Naples, Barcelona, Palma, Marseille, La Spezia).

A couple of quick notes while I'm thinking about it.  If anyone has questions about some of these quick notes, I'll try to respond during this thread to give more information.

1) flights are stoopid expensive to get over there  (about $8k for the 4 of us)

2) you have to take EUROs with you (figure about 15% to get this converted from your bank due to fees/exchange rate)  It's better to pay in EUROs for things, rather than a credit card.  It's a different way of thinking compared to how we do it here in the US.  

3) prepay for whatever you can on your credit card (check with your card about foreign transaction fees - if you going over there, you'll have to grin-and-bear-it, unless your card doesn't charge for those)

4) find a good travel planning app  (I don't want to push any specific one, but we found one we like that we are using - if you want to know, DM me)

5) be prepared to add the international plan to your phone  (this was a little more unexpected - I figured $100 based on initial reading of our wireless carrier to have international during our trip.  Yeah, that turned out to be $100 PER LINE ... it took me a bit to 'really' understand how they have it instead of just reading it at first.  Oh well ... cheaper than just letting the kids run wild across the social platforms while in another country, eh?)

6) for those of you with those fruity phones, invest in the air tags  (funny, in our house the girls have the iphones and the boys have the galaxys.  The air tags will help you sorta keep track of your bags.  Just 'hid' it somewhere in your luggage.  No, don't mix it with your clothes but put it somewhere else.  Maybe even tape it to the inside.  Either way - worth the piece of mind)

I think one of the most important things for a trip like this is the budget - at least for me.  But, if you plan far enough in advance then things should be ok.  Oh, make sure to budget casino money in there ... #Disclaimer:  Only budget casino money on what you can afford to lose.  Have to put that in here    cause we all know how they work.

Um, let's see - since it's been some time since I blogged, trying to remember how to do this - right now just seems like a brain dump as I think of stuff.

The Cruise:  No SC for us this round - blame the flight costs, so we have two large balconies.  The girls and the boys.  It's sobering to not have SC and realize all the 'extras' you have to remember to book/pay for, right @Lovetocruise2002?  lol   Everything from drink packages, to the internet, to restaurant reservation and show reservations ... Yeah, I'm spoiled with the SC.  If you have never cruise using the SC (star class), you really need to try it once.  Check out my SC Anthem 2019:  

 

Packing started a month or so ago.  Well, not the 'actual' packing but getting the suitcases down and all the shopping for Italy clothes.  Oh wait - that started after the first of the year.  Once the 'reality' of the trip started to hit, the shopping started.  Even us boys didn't realize we didn't have enough of the right kind of clothes to take on the trip.  Yeah, so shorts, pants, nicer shirts (not t-shirts with a Venom logo), shoes without holes ... yeah and the counting if we had enough socks and underwear, which we didn't - so off to the store we went.  The past couple of months seem to be a blur with a lot going on, primarily all the planning around the actual graduation for our daughter.  Part of all this also included the whole - she's going to college in New York.  That's a whole 'nuther 'trip' planning in itself that we have been juggling with this one.

Sorry, back to this trip.  Let's see.  Overview, check.  Itinerary, check.  Rambling, check.  Budget, yall-send-me-a-check (ha).  Cruise, check.  For those that were familiar with the Periscope app, sorry to have seen that close down back in 2021.  I don't know if there will be anything posted here from a live streaming process, but will toss some pictures out here and try to stay on top of the daily blogging.  Bear with me as I try to get back to remembering how to blog. 

 

 

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

This is one I am truly interested in as we are planning ahead for a similar trip.  Looking forward to all your tips and insights from beginning to end!  Thanks in advance 

[TheHobbys]

5:00 am ... it's not unusual for me to be up this early.  One the brain starts to kick in, it's pretty much hopeless for me to go back to sleep.  So, off to work I go.  #InsertSnowWhiteDwarfSong   The past few days have been tying up work and covering all the bases for the house.  We have three doodles that aren't able to make the trip, thus they have to stay home.  Fortunately, we have family willing to come help.  A week long cruise is one thing, but two weeks out of the country seems to be a really long time.  Thus, planning who's getting the mail, feeding dogs, etc comes a little more into play. 

Two days to go before flying out.  Packing is about done, all with nicely rolled clothes.  We find that rolling most of the clothes will help it take up less space and cause it not to wrinkle as bad.  Pretty much all bathroom items will go in zip top bags, with a couple extra to tag along just in case we need.  Funny, when you start looking at packing the suit case you start to wonder if you'll fill it up (we'll, at least the guys one ... girls, ya'll on ya own).  But, as the packing for two weeks continues, it's fill up.  Just gotta make sure there's room for my pillow.  I won't go into all the 'hey, pack this' as there are other posts around here with really good packing lists.  I'll just say - for me - a larger bottle of pepto and pepcid will be going.  

This kids (B16 and G18) are in charge of packing their own.  Well, our son will have some 'overseeing' but will still be coached on his packing.  I'm not worried about our daughter, she's been working on packing for the past month or two.  

Along with all the packing comes the thinking about the house.  That goes for cleaning, making sure there's enough dog food, empty the fridge, wash everything and even mow.  Most of this is done throughout a normal week, however.  

Oh, for those of ya'll who do bill pay via your bank - guess what, you'll need to go ahead and setup your next set of payments.  Yesterday was a quick conversation with a nice lady from our cell phone company (yeah, she was actually nice).  After getting frustrated trying to add the international plans for our phones, it was just easier to call them and say this is what I need setup.

That's about it for now.  Friday's fast approaching, back then to talk about the day.

 

[Lovetocruise2002]

Yay @TheHobbys! I am so happy to hear that you are back to cruising and blogging!

Funny, your backstory sounds exactly like how mine will be next July 2024. My girls are just a year behind your kids (15/17) and next year when the older one graduates, we let her pick and she also picked Italy. We are cruising pretty much that same itinerary.

Can't wait to follow along.

[She Sails Away]

Happily following along! I just did this cruise last week and got home on Sunday. Looking forward to revisiting all of those amazing places right along with you.

[TheHobbys]

Day 1:  Travel day. 

I'm sure most of you have your rituals for when you travel, whether it be for a long weekend, work or a vacation.  Me?  Not really.  Oh wait, yeah I do ... it's called quadruple checking everything, and even after all of that there's still that little guy in my head going 'Hey man, you sure you got enough underwear this time?  You wanna fry your phone on their plugs?  Better check those converters.  Where's the money?  Did you get enough?'.  Sigh ... so, I check things again and ask my wife if she checked behind me.  

Flights.  If you haven't flown international yet, let's just say to fly in the baggage compartment is really expensive.  Well, maybe not there, just the next to last row it seems but, you get my point.  You will need to budget somewhere between $1.5k to $2.5k to fly regular.  Oh, that would be per person.  My wife did a boat-load of research, checking and strategizing on getting us the 'best' price.  Still, when you are used to flying for less than $200 one-way (and that's a little high), this flight blew that concept outa the water.  Oh well, we were warned (and now so are ya'll).  I'll get off my soap box now.  

The total flight time for today will be around 13 hours.  About 2 1/2 hours to get to New York where we'll have to wait 45 minutes to get off the plan (cause we in the back) then figure out where our next gate is - oh, all this with an hour layover.  Thus, we'll have a very small window to stretch our legs and grab some better food for the next trip.  Leaving New York, we'll be headed to Brussels, Belgium (no sprouts) with only an hour layover there (hope to wander the airport looking for souvenirs - the first of probably many.  I doubt we'll have time for a Belgium waffle - oh well) and then about 1 1/2 to 2 hour jump down to Venice.  Somewhere along the way, we'll get to fly over a lot of different time zones, putting us somewhere in the future (Venice is 7 hours ahead of Central US time).  Funny to think about - but when we leave NY we'll get to Brussels in about 10 minutes.  If you can't figure that one out   you need more coffee.

Well, coffee #2 is empty and there's just under 5 hours before heading to the airport.  Time to go check my bags again ... 

[TheHobbys]

On 5/31/2023 at 4:05 PM, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Yay @TheHobbys! I am so happy to hear that you are back to cruising and blogging!

Funny, your backstory sounds exactly like how mine will be next July 2024. My girls are just a year behind your kids (15/17) and next year when the older one graduates, we let her pick and she also picked Italy. We are cruising pretty much that same itinerary.

Can't wait to follow along.

Can you believe how fast time has flown by?  Seems like it wasn't that long ago that they were in middle school.  I'll try to do you justice with blogging this trip to give you some ideas for your trip.  For us, we didn't see much stuff on the cruise excursions that we wanted to do so most of the stops will be us wandering around ... though, the self-guided tour of Pompeii was a 'must'.  It was one of my bucket lists things.  The only other thing is the little island of Palma De Mallorca, Spain will be a beach transfer to Palma Nova, it'll only be about 4 hours then we'll meander around the dock and jump back on the ship.  I'll try to toss some pictures out on these days to give a little more context if anyone is considering the beach (I think Pompeii is a must for any first-timer heading thru there - a second time, could even see a different section).

[TheHobbys]

On 5/31/2023 at 4:09 PM, She Sails Away said:

Happily following along! I just did this cruise last week and got home on Sunday. Looking forward to revisiting all of those amazing places right along with you.

Thanks for the follow - looking forward to see how this differs from the Caribbean, that's pretty much where we cruise.  Curious, though - how was the language barrier with other cruisers?  Did you notice a lot of teens or young adults?  We are hoping there will be some that our 16 and 18 yr kids will find to hang out with - they met and had a blast with some other kids their age on our last one.

[TheHobbys]

On 5/30/2023 at 3:14 PM, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

This is one I am truly interested in as we are planning ahead for a similar trip.  Looking forward to all your tips and insights from beginning to end!  Thanks in advance 

I hope I can do ya justice on giving insights   My plan is to document / blog in the mornings during coffee - tossing out a few pictures here and there.  Hopefully, I'll cover any questions or 'curious about' items.  

[She Sails Away]

36 minutes ago, TheHobbys said:

Thanks for the follow - looking forward to see how this differs from the Caribbean, that's pretty much where we cruise.  Curious, though - how was the language barrier with other cruisers?  Did you notice a lot of teens or young adults?  We are hoping there will be some that our 16 and 18 yr kids will find to hang out with - they met and had a blast with some other kids their age on our last one.

We found there to be a huge mix, much more so than usual Caribbean trips, of international passengers. Lots of French spoken, lots of Italian, I heard quite a bit of German as well. There were tons and tons of teenagers and kids on the ship and everybody seem to be having a blast. Didn't find language barriers in the least. People were friendly and/or kept to themselves. Everybody got into the spirit of dressing up in white for white night, formal night, there were a couple of community dance parties in the promenade and they were packed with happy people getting along just fine. Adventure ocean always had kids scurrying in and out the entryway whenever we passed.

 

as far as shore excursions, there were several options for Italian speaking only, Spanish-speaking only, etc.

 

[TheHobbys]

Day 1.5.  It's going to be difficult to blog today as we are pretty tired and frustrated.  We had no issues leaving our airport heading to Newark to connect to a bigger plane.   Bbbbuuuuttttt ... I'll edit out my four letter words ... there was supposed to only be an hour layover in NY and about an hour and 45 minute in brussels.  Well for some reason or Newark connection was about 2 hours delayed.   Which shouldn't have been to much of a problem since we had layover credit in Brussel.   However,  someone messed up somewhere and we landed right as our connecting flight to Venice took off.   

So, yeah now we stuck in brussels for 12 hours waiting on the only other Venice flight ... 930pm.  We'll end up losing half a day in Venice.  Yeah, fly all the way over here just to sit in an airport for half a day. 

Ok enough frustration, yall don't wanna hear this... lol.  

The flight over here was right at 7 hours. The plane had 10 seats per row.   3 x 4 x 3

We had two rows with a middle and window.  The flight actually didn't seem to take that long after watching a movie,  stopping to eat dinner and then another movie.   Tried to sleep but failed miserably.  I thought we paid for a little more leg room, but guess that only meant a couple cm.

The dinner was not that bad .. except the side which was so.e type of couscous with tomatoes or something like that. I had the chicken and my son had the pasta.

Ok enough for now ... kinda tired.   Lost like 8 hours somewhere.  Back to waiting in security line for a different terminal here.  Then to find our gate and back to waiting for about 10 hrs.

[TheHobbys]

Scratch the 12 bit, that would have been nice if they actually scheduled it for today.   Oh no, it was for Monday ... like 2 days from today.   Well another round of frustration set in as we tried to find a way to Venice.   Long story short ... it took almost 7 hours to figure out how to find someone to help, walk the airport hunting s united person to no avail, then chasing or bags.   

We checked on just taking a train to get there faster but we would have to change trains 4x ... to tired for that, so we resigned ourselves to stay at the hotel here and just do the flight tomorrow.   Think of it as an added bonus to fly way over to Poland then back to Venice ... about 8 hours total. 

We've had to cancel a few plans we had there and will adjust what we do.   For example, we won't have time for the murano glass company tour... oh well. 

The kids have been troopers thru this, though I hate it for them to start the trip like this ... but somethings can't be helped. 

Time to pass out for the night ... been running on fumes.  Will be back when we get to the next adventure. 

BTW... we'll never got united airlines again after this .... but that's just us. 

[TheHobbys]

Good morning folks ... I have to say we all slept like logs last night and it to three different phone alarms to wake us up, with the last one being our daughter's. The coffee over here is really good but strong as, uh, yeah let's just say you only need maybe two small cups or shots vs 2 venti ones from back home.    

Today will be another long travel day but cross ya fingers we'll finally make it to Venice tonight.   Off we go ... more later. 

[TheHobbys]

Quick update ... with a stop on Poland and another delayed flight, we finally arrived in Venice... woo hoo.   Talk about jet lag.  We are now sitting down to treat to a nice dinner,  so will post some pics later on. 

 

[TheHobbys]

26000 steps is about 12 miles worth of venice walking.  Sometimes you think your in shape and then your body reminds you that you aren't.   Walking around venice was a lot of fun and it's bet cool to see even.   However, you start to see the same types of little shops in every little turn.   There were a lot of tourist from all over.  

We are staying in a 3 bedroom apt just outside of the San Marco square. So we are right in the middle of the tourist.  The apt is nice if you plan on being here for a few days.  One tiring thing was the stairs coming up to the third floor with all our luggage.   That was tough but we managed.  The bathrooms were a little small but the rest of the apt is pretty nice. 

We were a little surprised that the food in some of the restaurants were not as good as we hoped but that may just be our American taste buds.  

The walk to a pier sorta north east of the rialto Bridge was scenic as that was where we found a water taxi to take us to burano.  We went over there to check out the glass factory but decided to just visit a few shops instead.   The kids find some little glass trinkets, so we made a donation.   There was an awesome Gelato place where we got a snack.   They even took s scoop of vanilla and mixed it with expresso in a drink that was too good.   Yeah, the wife and I had two each.   Wired?  Not really but we had plenty of energy to keep walking. 

Back over to venice we went.   Now, I will tell you that the water taxi was about 40 eruos for the 4 of us but funny enough they didn't check if we had tickets... you read between the lines, heh.  

For those who saw the spiderman movie, far from home ... there was a scene filmed at the rialto Bridge, so we had to take some pictures.   BTW it was packed with people.   Wandering around there were lots of little alleys to explore with some good bridge picture taking places.

My brain is fried and legs are exhausted, so time to call it a night.   Gotta get up early for our water taxi to the train station.   Tomorrow is the 4 hour train ride to rome.   Will hang out there till cruise time Thursday.   I think we are all ready to get on the ship.   There's just something about the comfort being on board that yall understand. 

Oh yeah, blogging on a phone sucks lol.   

[TheHobbys]

Let's see if I can get yall some pictures

[Lovetocruise2002]

Oh man, I miss Venice!

[TheHobbys]

7 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Oh man, I miss Venice!

I'm sure it may require another trip here possibly down the road.  Our one day here just didn't give it justice.   But after all the walking and stairs I'm glad there's s cruise massage coming up on at sea day, lol.   I surprised my wife with a couples one as an anniversary present.

[TheHobbys]

Day 5 

On the train bound for Rome...pretty packed at first but then after a few stops it got a little lighter.  Amazing how people get all frantic about where to put their luggage but it all gets worked out 

The kids are paying in and out of sleep.   Wife and I keep laughing at them and talking pictures they'll kill us for later. 

Hope some of the pics turn out decent.  Oh, yeah so the upgrade we paid for wasn't really that much extra room or anything.   You gotta pay the premium to get the nice train.   All in All it's been a lot of fun riding. 

Getting close to end of line.   Today is get checked in then walk to Vatican city for self guided tour.   Here comes another high mile day. 

[Sweety]

14 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Oh man, I miss Venice!

Me too.!!!!

[TheHobbys]

Day 6.  Another 20k in steps and my legs are feeling it.  Gearing up for another long day.  Today is heading to the pantheon, Spanish steps and a tour of the colosium.  Giddy up.

Yesterday was hopefully the last frustrating travel day.   The train ride was fun but we were all so tired most of us kept dozing in and out of naps.  We thought the train was s straight shot to rome but it actually had like 6 stops.  We had pre-purchase our train tickets and had assigned seats, which was good because they would have kicked us out of someone else's seat .. ha.

As we got into the rome terminal, the train was about 30 to 45m late.  Our private cab ride was waiting somewhere for us but we ended up on the other side of the station trying to text with him to find each other.   He was very nice and accommodating, probably deals with that alot.  

Rome is not a place I would ever want to drive ... you think new york is bad, this place is insane.   However it seems to be controlled insanity with the small cars, motor bikes, busses and pedestrians.  You'll get run over if you aren't watching. 

We had tickets to the Vatican city at 330 am found ourselves rushing again to make it.  Dropping our stuff off at the apt, we then commenced the 30m power walk in that direction.  The place was very crowded and we really didn't have s clue where we needed to go.   After finding someone who told us we were in the wrong place and still had a 10m walk to the other freaking side, of we went again.   Excited tired kids in tow .. yeah that was sarcasm. Lol

The entrance closed at 4 and we were able the last ones in.  If we hadn't prepaid almost 150 we were close to just calling it quits.  There were lots of tour groups inside but we were on our own.  The crowds flowed like a small stream looking at the history pieces and artwork... slow and steady moving.   Until we got to some of the doors then it was cramming next to each other to funnel to the next room.  

I feel like we rushed through but after seeing some of the pieces most of or crew was done .. guess I was done also.  I highly recommend doing the museum as soon as they open, just be prepared for tons of people. 

The whole walk through took us a little over an hour.  I think there was s little more to see if we followed the tours but we thought it best to let the kids lead us out.   I say kids, but they are 16 and 18 and if you have or have had these ages, you'll know sometimes it's better to move on.  Heh

We made our way back to the apt since most of our phones were either dead or dying ... weird how fast battery's are draining.   Guess that's because of more usage or location tracking or roaming or who knows.   After getting a quick recharge, off we went again to play frogger in the traffic hunting a place to eat.   

There are tons of places to eat, so we found one that looked kinda cool and ordered a few pizzas.  They were really good, even the kids said so.   We asked the waiter for his recommendation of a good Gelato place and he plugged in the address for us.  The girls went one way and the boys another to meander around and the met at a bridge.   The bridge was the one in the James bond film spectre.. cool for those movie fans. 

By the time we got to the Gelato place we knew it must be good because the line stretched down the street.   Thus, we got in line.  It moved relatively quick.  You really need to know what you want when you get up there .. because the Seinfeld "no soup for you" kept playing in my head.

It was worth the wait ... then again I don't think you would find any bad Gelato around here.  We made our way slowly back to the apt where shortly thereafter we all crashed.

Tomorrow, finally we get on the cruise!  Gotta go rustle up the gang and get our steps going.   Pictures to follow shortly.

[TheHobbys]

Here's what our apt looks like

[TheHobbys]

Some shots within the Vatican museum.

[TheHobbys]

Yeah ... a few more steps than we are used to walking.  

[TheHobbys]

Day 7. Cruise day

Most of the time keeping track of days is not that hard.   Well, after the first week you start to take extra time to think about what day it is.  This, here we go trying to remember yesterday. 

I think we all slept pretty good, well as good as can be expected.  The wife and I spent a little time trying to get the expresso machine working but to no avail.  They do those types of machines here instead of the big coffee pots.  We get asked multiple times if we really want three shots in our coffee and we just say yup .. hook us up.  We had to go the previous night and get a couple triple shot lattes to put in the fridge for the next morning. 

After getting everyone up and moving the only set time for something was to be at the colosium by 330, we ventured out to start seeing how many steps today would bring.  BTW it was about 26k, so another 10+ miles ... think we are just over 50 miles walking so far over the past few days.

Navigation was really not that bad ... except the iPhone directions took us the wrong way a few times.  Break out the boys Galaxy phone to lead the way.  First up was the pantheon, which really only took us about 15 minutes to get to.   There, just outside we found a pastry shop to grab breakfast and people watch.  Yeah, there were a lot of people.  Like, too many.  The line to go in was extremely long and both kids declined waiting.  So, few outside pictures then it was off towards Trevi fountain then on to the Spanish steps.  

The fountain was covered in people, not literally they can't get in but it was extremely crowded.  The boys found a perch at the top and watched as the girls made their way down to the water edge for some selfies.  After some pictures and elbowing, we regrouped and headed thru the crowd towards to out.

next stop the spanish steps, for some reason we walked a little faster than we thought and the next thing we knew we were there ... along with hundreds of others, or what felt like that many.  Most were at the bottom not wanting to walk up.  The girls opted to stay down while the boys ventured up.  It wasn't to bad.  A few quick pictures then back down.   There we discussed directions to the colosium and hunting lunch.   Oh,  we had 3 hours to kill.  At some point we found a nice little outside lunch spot and had some pizza, salad and muscles ... not all together I mean but separate dishes.   

We parted ways with the boys heading to the Roman forum and the girls shopping.  We were to meet at the colosium for the tour later.  I could have spent half the day walking around the forum and the archeological dig sites cause it was so cool to see.  We found a really large building with some dude on a horse, can't think of the name right now but guess what.... more steps.   With my son bitching at me for dragging him up there we took off on the climb.   A few pictures later and we were sorta at the top.  It cost extra to tour some of the inside so we opted to just walk around.  There was a brief argument to go into one area that looked cool ... there were two sets of armed guards but all you needed was an ID and I had our passports.  But the son won that round cause he wasn't interested in checking it out ... so off to walking around we went.

We made our way to the colosium meeting spot where the girls finally caught up.  Shortly thereafter the tour started.  We did the one that included the gladiators entrance and part of the form.  They have us little boxes to hang around our neck with a wired earpiece to listen to the guide.  She was extremely awesome.  It seems most of the tour guides are also archeologists.  The tour was amazing and well worth it, however is was almost 3 hours.  The wife and I were fine but the kids were about done.  I'll toss out some pics in aa bit but way to much to blog about on a phone.

Once the tour was over, the iPhone started to take us in the wrong direction back to the apt.  Oh, my phoned battery died so had to use my son's... at 25%.  Tip ... might want to bring some type of extra battery.  The right direction found, of we went.  There was a little opening near our apt with lots of restaurants and outdoor seating, so we ate and people watched.  

One last stop for Gelato and back to the apt we went ... to get in line for four showers using one bathroom. 

Finally, tomorrow, or rather today, is cruise day and it hasn't come fast enough.  We have all been taking about it might have been better to do a longer cruise than deal with some of the frustrating things we dealt with so far.   But it has still been a lot of fun. 

Ok gotta get everyone packed and ready for our taxi to the cruise.   Back later with pictures.

[TheHobbys]

Rome pictures 

[TheHobbys]

Day 8 .. Naples and Pompeii.   Oh guess we haven't done those just yet. Days are blending together but that's just fine.   

We were all anxious to get on board yesterday so everyone was up early and all happy.   Oh wait, that wasn't the case just yet.   You should know teenagers aren't the best at getting going in the mornings, so we just had to get them motivated.  Our p private rome cab to the port was scheduled for 11 ... so we were all packed and ready to walk out the door at ... wait for it ... 930.  Ha. Yeah so we all packed most everything the night before just to make it easier. 

With a little over an hour to waste, we ventured out to a little street market hunting for a day bag.   Ok, so a good tip is to make sure you always bring a smaller bag than a backpack and a little larger than a purse.   This way you can have something a little easier to carry around.   We found a bag, great now just another hour before our taxi.  Ugh... when you want time to hurry, it doesn't ... but then you can't slow it down when you need.   

Oh well, of to get the kids some donuts and red bulls.  Well maybe not the bulls just yet. After snacking in a little park we ventured back to grab our luggage which thankfully we were able to leave in the apt.  By the time we got our stuff and walked outside our driver showed up.   Of to the port ... an hour drive, maybe little longer since traffic decided to slow us down. 

We got to the port and were dropped off almost in front of the ship.  Uh, where was everyone?  It was almost deserted.   Oh, @Lovetocruise2002 ... we got dropped off right next to another family meeting their geni.... think I felt a tear welling up.  No geni For us this time. 

Sorry, moving on.   We were greeted and dropped off our luggage then made out way up to finish checking in.   Still, hardly anyone around.   Check in was like 5 minutes, then we were told to go get on board.   Wait, what?? This was a first.   To be able to show up at a designated time and just walk right on ... we didn't complain and rushed aboard.   Happy to be there, finally. 

There were cruisers milling about already, so of we went to check out the ship.  It was a lazy day.   Our luggage came to the rooms about an hour or two later, thus the unpacking started. 

It has been a really long time since we did the wind hammer, I mean jammer.  You get spoiled by other places to eat ... like coastal kitchen.   But we don't have access this time around. 

Not much else other than wandering around until we called it quits about midnight since our tour starts early today. 

Back in the morning with Pompeii pictures.  At sea day tomorrow, so we all going to try and sleep in .. me at least till 6. .. sigh. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

On 6/7/2023 at 4:02 AM, TheHobbys said:

Here's what our apt looks like

Just curious, how did the cost of this compare to booking a hotel instead? Did you use Airbnb?

7 hours ago, TheHobbys said:

, @Lovetocruise2002 ... we got dropped off right next to another family meeting their geni.... think I felt a tear welling up.  No geni For us this time. 

Darn it!  I hate that feeling lol

[TheHobbys]

3 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Just curious, how did the cost of this compare to booking a hotel instead? Did you use Airbnb?

Darn it!  I hate that feeling lol

It was a little cheaper since with a hotel we would have needed 2 hotel rooms.   This way we had three rooms.   Although still only one bathroom.   We went thru booking.com to find ours. 

[TheHobbys]

Naples - Pompeii 

Today was our Pompeii trip.   We opted for the see it on your own transfer.   What we didn't realize was that there was still a cost to get in.   It was only$25 per person with kids under 12 or 16 free .. yeah that depends on who you asked.  Our transport guy had a sheet where we had him get the tickets and charge our room.  

Ok, I just have to say that place is huge and you can get lost very easy (not us of course  lol ).  You could spend a whole day just walking around but after a bit the rooms start looking the same.

One of the cool parts was seeing some actual excavation going on.  We could have sat and watched that for awhile.  With kids leading, they were mainly looking for the bodies.  They are all stone but was humbling to see the people who got overtaken by the blast cloud.  I won't go into the history but yall should know .. volcano erupted and the city was buried in ash and cloud very quickly.  People were frozen in place because of the heat and speed.  If you haven't see the Pompeii movie ... it's well worth watching.

Our visit was only 4 hours which for us with the kids was plenty to see a lot.  The trip to and from the ship was only about 30 minutes or so depending on traffic.  Do the early tour so tour can chill back on the ship in the afternoon and avoid some of the potential sun.  

Back to the ship we went and back on board about 1.  We had a quick lunch at park cafe then parted ways.  Girls to the pool to lay out, my son to hunt for his new found friends and me to the cabin for a nap.  Yeah yeah ... I needed a nap.  Think I slept till almost 5 ... but feel a little more rested.

My wife won a 100 bucks in spa credit, so went down there to book her something.  Funny, there's not much to get for 100 bucks, so we just paid the difference for some facial treatment.  We've been to the diamond lounge a few times to get to know JJ .. the host.  She's great.

Tomorrow is at sea day so planning to try the slides and mill about.  Since we didn't get our 10yr anniversary cruise a few years ago, I'm treating us to a couples massage.  We had one on the last cruise and it was great...except for the sea weed wrap.  Little claustrophobic for us lol.   

Pompeii pictures to come in a bit.

[TheHobbys]

Pompeii. Most of this was covered with over 15 feet of dirt and stuff.

The pic with scaffolding is where they are doing new excavation.

[TheHobbys]

Day 9 ... I think.   Let me count on my fingers.   Yeah, that's it.   It's 830am here and I'm down in the diamond lounge with my coffee and donuts.  My son was supposed to meet a new friend for breakfast in the main dining room, but evidently it is 9am and not 8am.  He overslept so just told him he was late to class if he was in college.  Oh guess it's like 130am over at home, so yall better be sleeping.

Last night saw some hanging in the casino .. no, I can't retire yet.  But someone on a machine behind us hit a 10k jackpot ... dammit.  I mean good for them.  

We walked around seeing what the shows were about and decided to hit up the battle for the sexes.  No, not to play we did that a few cruises ago.  I hate to say but there was hardly anyone in there.  We expected it to be packed but they were having a hard time getting enough just to play.  Off we went looking for something else.  Not finding much we ended back in the casino.  

For those who don't play, we have a daily budget.   If we run out early then we go home early,  so there's a lot of slow button pressing on 25cent bids lol.  It's entertaining.

Today is our massage, dinner at Jamie's Italian and the main show ... something called flight.   To bad or genie isn't around to hold our seats.   If you don't know what a genie is on a cruise then you may be better off.  Cause once you have one to take care of your family it's really hard to cruise again without staying in a Star class room ... sigh. 

Lemme find some ship pictures to toss out here.  Back later.

[TheHobbys]

We got a balcony this round ... one for the girls and one for the boys.   I think ours is cleaner .. heh

If you can upgrade, it's well worth the extra space.  

Honestly it's not bad ... I'm just spoiled

[TheHobbys]

[TheHobbys]

BTW diamond lounge breakfast.

 

[TheHobbys]

I've had deep tissue massages before and I always end up really sore for the next few days. Weird, it's like you need a massage for the massage you just had. Yesterday was our couples massage which was really good but the 75 minutes went by way too fast.   

It was a semi lazy at sea day, which is good just as long as you avoid the casino.   It being open all day was tempting but we held off till the night. 

Dinner at Jamie's... was good.   Unfortunately we weren't as impressed as the one on the Anthem.  Now the service was great, but the food was just ok.  We were going to try and get JJ out diamond lounge host to help get us another reservation but decided to pass.   I can't put my finger on what it was but last cruise it made us want to go back.   I know... last time we were star class so we got the better food .. this time, not so much. Ha

After dinner we had reservations to the main show, Flight.   The theater was mostly packed, not like some of the shows in our previous cruises, still a fair amount of people though.   The show was actual really good ... think of a show telling the story of aviation backwards.   Blast of towards Mars, then rewind to space shuttles,  then back to landing on the moon ... you get my drift. The music was cool but some of the songs needed a little musical 'help'.  

The night ended with us making another small donation to the casino.  Sadly, we just could find a steady machine.   Oh well, it was still fun.

The kids disappeared after dinner to go hang with friends.   It seems most of the friends they made are leaving today in Barcelona.   I guess this is a sorta weird concept for us.   Everyone gets on at a port, then you all hang for 7 days.  Well, seems over here a bunch get on in rome on Thursday then we make our way to Barcelona and kick some of and pickup new ones.  So, new friends may only hang around for a few days. 

I was actually surprised that my son managed to go to sleep at 2am and still roll out of the bed at 730 to go meet his friends for breakfast before they depart.   Of course, he was back at the cabin as I was heading to diamond lounge for my morning coffee and virtual blogging.  Im sure he's gone back to sleep ... wish I could.  But then again I try to power nap when I can.

Sad, you want to nap and rest and lay by pool ... but then I get that feeling I'm going to miss something or sleep my vacation away.   So, there will be some extra sleep when we get home next weekend.

Barcelona today ... at some point we'll get motivated and go walk around some.   Only a few hours cause there's some water slides on here i need to test out.   Maybe I should have done those before the massage.

[TheHobbys]

Some pics from dinner.  Looks good but didn't make us go wow.

Garlic dinner rolls .. very soft

 

Some crab dip appetizer

 

Fried risotto balls.  They could have been good but risotto needed a little more cooking.  My wife makes better ones

My lamb chops.. medium.  These were tasty

 

The salmon .. wife said it had bones, so careful 

And dessert ... cheesecake and a tirramasue . Uh . Teramassue .. hmm teriblemassur?  Crap, can't get spell check working.   Stupid phone.   Maybe it needs coffee.

[Mr.Cruiser]

@TheHobbys
 

Thanks for your daily blogs !
I'm doing the same cruise this summer, so I find it interesting how things are currently going on the Symphony.

Are there places on the ship that you should definitely have seen and not miss? 
Have you been to the "King of the World" near the Solarium yet ? 

How is the food at MDR and Windjammer?
If the food has also gotten worse on my cruise I will have to look for alternatives where you can still eat well for dinner.

Thank you

[WAAAYTOOO]

6 hours ago, TheHobbys said:

I've had deep tissue massages before and I always end up really sore for the next few days

I've quit getting massages for this very reason.  Actually, there is significant discomfort WHILE they are doing the massage as well as afterward.   Maybe I'm just a wimp.  ...but I've decided, after trying soooo many times, that deep tissue massages just aren't for me.

[TheHobbys]

4 hours ago, Mr.Cruiser said:

@TheHobbys
 

Thanks for your daily blogs !
I'm doing the same cruise this summer, so I find it interesting how things are currently going on the Symphony.

Are there places on the ship that you should definitely have seen and not miss? 
Have you been to the "King of the World" near the Solarium yet ? 

How is the food at MDR and Windjammer?
If the food has also gotten worse on my cruise I will have to look for alternatives where you can still eat well for dinner.

Thank you

Glad you enjoy them.   I find it kind of a therapy to take time and just write about the day.   

Haven't done the king on this cruise but will send my son to check it out.  

We haven't done the MDR since probably 2009.  The WJ ... um let's just say it seems good but we got spoiled to other places to eat.  Mainly the coastal kitchen because we had access ... this trip we don't.   We ate at the WJ once a few days ago and it was ok.   However, I think what I ate didn't agree with me but that's just me

if you are diamond you can hit up the club there for happy hour and snack on something like the below.  If not, sorry for the tease

oh, the little Irish pub on the boardwalk doesn't have food which sucks because on the anthem they do and it was pretty good. 

You may want to book dinner in the Solarium, well you have to if you want dinner in there.   Breakfast and lunch are open to all.  It's included but you get a little nicer atmosphere.  That's where we heading tonight ... oh on about 10 minutes lol

hope this helps, anything you want pics of or have other questions I'll try to post ya back