A Voyage for the Ages – VY 7/8/2024 – 7/15/2024

[OCSC Mike]

The baked goods!

[Lovetocruise2002]

After Nice, we hopped back on the bus to Eze. The village was still charming, and the kids loved it here, but it got really hot and uncomfortable here. And I don’t remember this place being as crowded and chaotic back in 2005 as it was today. They gave us about an hour here to wander as well. 
 

[Lovetocruise2002]

By the time we got to Monaco, it was past noon. They showed us the cathedral and you had the option to go in later during free time. Then the group walked to the palace to see the changing of the guard at 12:55pm. It was uncomfortable and hot by this point. After this we got free time until 1:45pm. We grabbed lunch (pizza) and wandered to take some pics. 
 

[Lovetocruise2002]

From here, we headed to the Monte Carlo casino. On the way there, our guide informed everyone that they (the tour guides) have no clue why Royal tells everyone there is a dress code at this casino, because there is not. This part of the tour is where I have my second complaint. They dropped us off at the Casino and left us here for an hour. If you don’t gamble (it costs 19€ pp if you want to go in and gamble), you are basically in the lobby for an hour. Most of the group did not wander into the gambling area. There were many families with kids under 18. They could have made this part of the tour 15mins. The lobby is not that big, and you definitely don’t need an hour here. They could have started the tour later, gone to Nice when things were open, and cut the time at the Casino.

 

[Lovetocruise2002]

In conclusion, this tour was “mid” as I said before. For those who don’t speak Gen Z, it was just ok. If you have never gone to this area, this tour is packed with a lot, and you get your money’s worth. I chose it because the freeloaders have never been here. For myself, I would rather have spent my time just in Nice if I was not here with the kids. 

Some pics that Hubby took along the way:

 

[Lovetocruise2002]

18 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

I sent pics of about 5 items to an English friend... to put it kindly, he was not impressed, lol

Yeah, the trifle was all sorts of wrong lol

[Lovetocruise2002]

17 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

The baked goods!

We got fresh juice, croissants, some sugar donuts, and madeleines. All yummy! 

[DDaley]

2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Omg as a huge James Bond fan I immediately recognized this facade! GoldenEye is my favorite and Monaco/Monte Carlo are featured prominently. 

[Ampurp85]

First.......I love the romper; it looks like a roper in the pics.

Second........the baked goods were everything.......plus fresh juice. You are right, there could have been a lot more time spent in Nice. I went almost 23 years ago and dream of this baked bread and cheese something I got at a market. 

Third........that casino looks amazing but why is this offered as part of a family excursion? Maybe because of the Bond films??????

Lastly, the food looks off. I have never had UK menu and the pie really calls to me but.......... Like so many shrimps on that baby salad.........what is that trifle? How is any of this a taste of UK????

Also, I am glad the transatlantic I want is in Oct, so the heat might be bearable. 

[twangster]

5 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Food is still mediocre at best, but I continue to love this dining room crew! 

You really should try Celebrity.  At least once. 

Then once rid of freeloaders, SilverSea.  At least once.  

[Lovetocruise2002]

5 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

First.......I love the romper; it looks like a roper in the pics.

Haha! Thank you. It’s a dress. It was hot and stuck to me, that’s probably why it looked like a romper in some shots. 

5 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

Third........that casino looks amazing but why is this offered as part of a family excursion?

That is sort of my beef with this tour. Or at least if you are going to stop there, don’t dump us there for an hour. That is overkill. 

5 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

Lastly, the food looks off. I have never had UK menu and the pie really calls to me but.......... Like so many shrimps on that baby salad.........what is that trifle?

The food has been edible. That is it. Trifle was a huge disappointment. However, like I mentioned, the dining crew makes up for it. That room service delivery that we found in our room upon returning yesterday, the red velvet cupcakes were actually from our waiter. I have never come across a waiter who sends his guests things! Thoroughly impressed by this crew on Voyager. 

4 hours ago, twangster said:

You really should try Celebrity.  At least once. 

Then once rid of freeloaders, SilverSea.  At least once.  

We are sailing the Reflection in a few weeks. I don’t know if I can convince Hubby to try Silver Seas at this point…

[Lovetocruise2002]

Today we are in Ajaccio. Headed off shortly for the Ajaccio scenic tour. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

7 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

The food has been edible. That is it. the dining crew makes up for it.

This is exactly how we felt on our last cruise (Enchantment).  The food is what it is.  There's not much they can do to change that....but the service was incredible....the best we've ever had, including Star Class.  That in itself made us look forward to going to the MDR.

[ScottD]

13 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

How is any of this a taste of UK????

What, mozzarella sticks don't  make you think of the streets of London!? 

[LTR]

Really cool seeing the Monaco harbour not set up for F1, I think I only ever see it dressed for the race! Did you see any celebs at the Casino?

[Lovetocruise2002]

Today we hopped on a bus for a 3 hour Ajaccio Scenic Tour. This tour again was just ok. We have never been here before so we wanted to get an overview of the place.

This tour achieved that, it was just a bit dry. Speaking of dry, Ajaccio is on a mountain and the landscape is quite dry here. 

The first stop was a park with a historical Napoleon landmark. We took a walk around to look at the monument and different plants in this area. D15 really like the plant viewing. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

Second stop was out a bit further to Îles Sanguinaires - Parata site where they gave us about 30mins of free time. It seemed to me this was a free washroom stop, but D15 really liked the views and water here. It was quite pretty. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

After that they drove us to the city centre (near where the ship docks) and there was a walking tour of some cathedrals. It was here that we left the tour (we were a bit bored) and explored on our own. We walked around for about an hour and then headed back to ship. 
 

[Lovetocruise2002]

We decided to make this a shorter day because the next 5 days are going to be heavy full days. Hubby and I were really feeling the hustle and bustle of this sailing catch up to us today. We slept away almost the entire afternoon. Freeloaders chilled on their own around the ship.

Now getting ready to head off to dinner and probably going to bed right afterwards. Apologies if we are old and boring, but I was telling the family that we really need to prioritize our rest for the next 5 days. The busy nature of this sailing just reaffirms what I already know, it’s not worth it to us to sail a newer ship to Europe. I don’t feel bad at all going off to bed each night right after dinner. On Oasis or QN class, I would.

[CravingaCruise]

18 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

this tour was “mid”

Ha!  I thought it was a typo!  

[Lovetocruise2002]

18 minutes ago, LTR said:

Really cool seeing the Monaco harbour not set up for F1, I think I only ever see it dressed for the race! Did you see any celebs at the Casino?

I don’t follow any F1 stuff but D17 and her friends do. She loved seeing everything in Monaco. She said she will go back with her friends one day. I told her she better make lots of money

There were people on the bus who were saying they saw someone famous getting into the purple Lamborghini, but I do not know who it was. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

2 minutes ago, CravingaCruise said:

Ha!  I thought it was a typo!  

Nope! That is Gen Z speak lol. It’s one of the better words. Half the things they say make no sense. One might assume they are having a stroke when they start talking

[Sweety]

Welcome to my world of high schoolers. The essays I have to read.

[CravingaCruise]

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Nope! That is Gen Z speak lol. It’s one of the better words. Half the things they say make no sense. One might assume they are having a stroke when they start talking

Right?  I saw a  video  recently where gen X said a word/phrase and gen z said their equivalent. They made no sense to me at all. It’s like they  make weird things up just to be different. 

[Sweety]

2 minutes ago, CravingaCruise said:

Right?  I saw a  video  recently where gen X said a word/phrase and gen z said their equivalent. They made no sense to me at all. It’s like they  make weird things up just to be different. 

So true!!!

[OCSC Mike]

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

it’s not worth it to us to sail a newer ship to Europe

You know my feelings on smaller ships and I agree 100%. My only comparison is Alaska and I only have a handful of memories of what Radiance actually looks like b/c I didn't care... I was there to see Alaska (and also exhausted from 10 days on land before the cruise, lol).

[SMOKEY0202]

Gonna need another cruise just to recover and purely relax without leaving the suite

[Lovetocruise2002]

1 hour ago, SMOKEY0202 said:

Gonna need another cruise just to recover and purely relax without leaving the suite

already got that covered!

[Lovetocruise2002]

Dinner tonight was Taste of Italy. 

Our waiter actually brought up how much the MDR has changed since the restart. Kids were cracking up and eyeing each other because they apparently were counting down the seconds before I mentioned JL it did not take me long. However, I did tell our dining staff what I shared on this blog. That they are amazing and more than make up for it. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

We packed up our bags for tomorrow, ordered room service through Luisa this time, and headed off to bed. At least I am. Tomorrow we have a private tour of Florence & Pisa booked with LivTours. Someone should be meeting us on the dock at 7:45am. It’s an 8 hour tour. 

[Ampurp85]

My brother said that coffee pot de creme was the worst thing he has ever tasted, and I don't he has ever not finished a dessert......until it came to that one. I hope the lemon tart was delicious at least, it was really good on Freedom in May. 

[OCSC Mike]

12 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

I hope the lemon tart was delicious at least, it was really good on Freedom in May. 

Was good on Wonder last month too (per your recommendation).

You're the only reason I'm only ordering the panna cotta at Giovanni's this time... b/c I really need a 4th dessert there, lol.

[GregD]

6 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Nope! That is Gen Z speak lol. It’s one of the better words. Half the things they say make no sense. One might assume they are having a stroke when they start talking

@TheBoss518 and I love using some of the new slang (poorly) with our kids and watching them cringe in horror, especially the daughter. It's so much fun

[GregD]

2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Kids were cracking up and eyeing each other because they apparently were counting down the seconds before I mentioned JL it did not take me long.

betcha they had a bet going on there.....

[JustMeJoe]

2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

tour of Florence

Love Florence!  Don't miss Michelangelo's David in the Accademia Gallery of Florence.  Florence also has very nice fine leather goods stores (if you like that type thing).  Have fun exploring!

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

We packed up our bags for tomorrow, ordered room service through Luisa this time, and headed off to bed. At least I am. Tomorrow we have a private tour of Florence & Pisa booked with LivTours. Someone should be meeting us on the dock at 7:45am. It’s an 8 hour tour. 

Ooo I’ll be super interested in this tour!  Can’t wait….

[twangster]

17 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

We are sailing the Reflection in a few weeks. I don’t know if I can convince Hubby to try Silver Seas at this point…

I haven’t seen the live blog started yet.  Slipping? 

[Sweety]

2 hours ago, GregD said:

@TheBoss518 and I love using some of the new slang (poorly) with our kids and watching them cringe in horror, especially the daughter. It's so much fun

When I use it in class, the students stop and stare. My next line, now that I have your attention.

[CravingaCruise]

I saw your next ship today!  She parked across from us!

 

[ScottD]

One thing this blog has reminded me- get family pics! I just scrolled through our two previous cruise pics and we don't have ONE pic with all three of us in it!!