What a wonderful experience!! I am ready to go back and do it all again.
We left Houston on June 4th and arrived a day early. We took the bus into BCN and tried to find ramblas, well, we found out there are several streets and never found it that night. We did have a fun time trying to find that and the magic fountain. The next day we all planned on meeting at the port to drop off our bags at 9ish. When we got there, they let us register. We then left the port at around 10ish by taxi and all went to the chocolate museum. I had emailed earlier and made "reservations" for 23. The cost to enter is only 4.5 euros and worth every penny. The taxi was about 10 euros per car. It was amazing the things they made out of chocolate, and the smell!!! Anyway, we all really enjoyed the museum. We then walked to ramblas and yes, we finally found the right place, and walked up and down the street enjoying the street performers. We then walked back to the port at around 1:30 and were able to go aboard at that time. They were still serving the buffet and pizza, so we all went to deck 9 and just ate and relaxed. All of our bags did not actually arrive to our rooms until really late that night, so we were not able to unpack until after dinner. We did the show the first night and all enjoyed that, as well as the launch party on deck 9. The only glitch we had at first was that we were confirmed late seating, only to find they gave us early seating. Needless to say, I was a bit upset and was not getting anywhere with guest services. I finally went downstairs and was about to tell the resturant manager what to do with his early seating when he informed me that a group of 20 had just requested to change from late to early, so we seriously lucked out and got the late seating. I still do not know how they can confirm one seating for a group of 23 and then change it!! Anyway, I thought that we had lucked out, I think the late seating is great for the excursions - you have plenty of time to get back and eat on the boat, saving big bucks. BUT, with it being 8:30 seating, by the time you get out of dinner everything has either started or is ending. That is a big negative. I dont really know what more they could do though, but it is something to consider. Our first day at sea was a sleep and relax day, with 4 of us adults eating at Palo's. Joe was able to get reservations online prior to us leaving...dont know how he did that because I kept trying myself with no luck. I did sign up for the $90 week pass for the spa rainforest thing. I love that, did this on my last cruise as well. It actually worked out really well for us because we had 4 females - one being a teenager, in our room, so I would go and work out first thing in the morning, use the rainforest and then shower at the spa. I love that one shower head they have, so much better than the one in the rooms. Also, the yoga and other classes they have in the morning are wonderful and andrew the guy who teaches it is just such a sweet person!! Anyway, it was a great way to start the day. They did different things every day, just ask for a schedule at the spa. The first port, well, I actually ended up sleeping until 3 pm!! I know, I could not believe it, guess I must have needed it. Anyway, the rest of my group went into Palermo and shopped. They all enjoyed seeing the town and thought it was great just to hang around and explore the port town. We all thought dinner was for the most part great, loved our server Ever lee. We had a group of 13 teens and they really enjoyed the dinners, getting into whatever the theme of the night was!! It was fun seeing them get excited about Snow White, or dancing and clapping, etc. In our group, about half of us never missed the shows, while the other half enjoyed the various offerings such as the wine and beer tasting. The kids did hang out at the stack, but were kind of offended with the list of "dont do" that they were given on the first night. Anyway, the enjoyed the basketball, swimming and just hanging out! In Naples, we had our first private excursion. WOW, what an amaxing time we had. I had booked the excursion not really knowing what to expect! Were we going to get some broken down school bus with no air conditioning or what!! Well, we were not disappointed when we got off the bus to find a beautiful coach bus with driver and guide waiting for us!! Our guide was funny and the teens in our group LOVED him!! His name was Augustino, and when he introduced himself, he asked if we liked his name, if not, he would change it!! Very funny, very informative and just overall wonderful!!. I did comment when we first got on that we basically were going to do three normal excursions in one day!! Oh well, to have a group of young people keeps you on your toes!! Anyway, we did have a very full day of exploring the region. We started off with Pompeii and with Augustino guiding us, had an amazing look at the ancient town. At his suggestion, even though we are all starving, we headed over to Mt. Vestivius to climb up the volcano. The drive up to the trail head was beautiful. The climb was short, but steep!!! But worth the effort. When we got to the top, Augustino had arranged for the woman to give us a brief yet thourough tour of the volcano edge. At one point she asked us to come up with a one sylable word to yell...ok, we had 10 guys and they came up with DUDE!!! Our first try had us saying dude with a very heavy california flair, and the echo did not work well. When we did it stacato, our group was humored!!! The volcano echoed dude for us as clear as day!! OK, so it does not take much to humor teen boys!!! Anyway, it was fun, and they view, amazing!! And just seeing the crater was interesting, all worth the hike up!! We then left and went to a resturant on our way down and had a very traditional italian lunch before heading off to the Amalfi Coast. We then drove the coast up to Positano. I can not even put into words how amazing this drive it!!! Absolutely beautiful, breathtaking!!! We stopped outside the town and were amazed at the size of the lemons there. They sell lemon ice things that are delicious. Anyway, Naples for us was an amazing day!!! When we got home we were able to catch the show and eat dinner. The next day we all slept in and ordered the free room service. The poor people who work room service!! With my group anyway, they were kept very busy. One night I think the group ordered everything on the menue, seriously. There was a stack of the silver covers waist hight outside the guys room the next day!! Pretty funny actually. I must say that the hostess and host working our rooms were the best! No complaints at all! They worked with us, even with us having 5 of the guys sleep in one room, they let us take the matteress from the one room and would make that bed up for us every night!! They were just so wonderul!! Really everyone was great!! Our servers, hostess, even guest services ended up being wonderful. One of our group, Disney actually left her computer in BCN, and they bent over backwards to help her out and accomadate her! Anyway, our next day was Oblia. Getting there on a Sunday was not the best timing, half of the city, more than half actually, was closed!! Anyway, we managed to do a bit of shoping, finding some neat things made from cork, like purses, etc. It was just interesting. Again, we ate and enjoyed the shows, the movies, and the hanging out!! Some in our group took part of the art auction, others enjoyed the pools, it is just great because there is something for everyone. The next day was Rome. Well after such a great experience in Naples, i thought that everything was downhill from there. Well...when we got off the boat, our bus was not there!! I went into a bit of panic mode as we sat there waiting!!! It seemed like forever, but they were only 15 min late!! I guess they had a bit of issue with traffic, but after this little glitch, things went very smoothly!! We drove to Rome and went straight to the colesium. We bought our tickets at the palatine hill entrance and avoided any lines. Although the colesium was crowded, it was amazing to see. We then walked over to the forum and just seeing all the ruins was so interesting. We got a bit to eat from the street vendors and it was so delicious. We then loaded up on the bus and went to the vatican. We had booked a tour through the bishops office for american visitors to the vatican. What an amazing place, the museum, the sistine chapel. st. peters basilica and his burial placer. All very amazing. We then went to parthenon and trevi fountain. It was a very long day again, with the tour guide telling us this is more than what they usually do and tha tw might not get into everything. Well, we did!! We saw all that we set out to see. I will finish this later....just so much and such a great trip!!!
We left Houston on June 4th and arrived a day early. We took the bus into BCN and tried to find ramblas, well, we found out there are several streets and never found it that night. We did have a fun time trying to find that and the magic fountain. The next day we all planned on meeting at the port to drop off our bags at 9ish. When we got there, they let us register. We then left the port at around 10ish by taxi and all went to the chocolate museum. I had emailed earlier and made "reservations" for 23. The cost to enter is only 4.5 euros and worth every penny. The taxi was about 10 euros per car. It was amazing the things they made out of chocolate, and the smell!!! Anyway, we all really enjoyed the museum. We then walked to ramblas and yes, we finally found the right place, and walked up and down the street enjoying the street performers. We then walked back to the port at around 1:30 and were able to go aboard at that time. They were still serving the buffet and pizza, so we all went to deck 9 and just ate and relaxed. All of our bags did not actually arrive to our rooms until really late that night, so we were not able to unpack until after dinner. We did the show the first night and all enjoyed that, as well as the launch party on deck 9. The only glitch we had at first was that we were confirmed late seating, only to find they gave us early seating. Needless to say, I was a bit upset and was not getting anywhere with guest services. I finally went downstairs and was about to tell the resturant manager what to do with his early seating when he informed me that a group of 20 had just requested to change from late to early, so we seriously lucked out and got the late seating. I still do not know how they can confirm one seating for a group of 23 and then change it!! Anyway, I thought that we had lucked out, I think the late seating is great for the excursions - you have plenty of time to get back and eat on the boat, saving big bucks. BUT, with it being 8:30 seating, by the time you get out of dinner everything has either started or is ending. That is a big negative. I dont really know what more they could do though, but it is something to consider. Our first day at sea was a sleep and relax day, with 4 of us adults eating at Palo's. Joe was able to get reservations online prior to us leaving...dont know how he did that because I kept trying myself with no luck. I did sign up for the $90 week pass for the spa rainforest thing. I love that, did this on my last cruise as well. It actually worked out really well for us because we had 4 females - one being a teenager, in our room, so I would go and work out first thing in the morning, use the rainforest and then shower at the spa. I love that one shower head they have, so much better than the one in the rooms. Also, the yoga and other classes they have in the morning are wonderful and andrew the guy who teaches it is just such a sweet person!! Anyway, it was a great way to start the day. They did different things every day, just ask for a schedule at the spa. The first port, well, I actually ended up sleeping until 3 pm!! I know, I could not believe it, guess I must have needed it. Anyway, the rest of my group went into Palermo and shopped. They all enjoyed seeing the town and thought it was great just to hang around and explore the port town. We all thought dinner was for the most part great, loved our server Ever lee. We had a group of 13 teens and they really enjoyed the dinners, getting into whatever the theme of the night was!! It was fun seeing them get excited about Snow White, or dancing and clapping, etc. In our group, about half of us never missed the shows, while the other half enjoyed the various offerings such as the wine and beer tasting. The kids did hang out at the stack, but were kind of offended with the list of "dont do" that they were given on the first night. Anyway, the enjoyed the basketball, swimming and just hanging out! In Naples, we had our first private excursion. WOW, what an amaxing time we had. I had booked the excursion not really knowing what to expect! Were we going to get some broken down school bus with no air conditioning or what!! Well, we were not disappointed when we got off the bus to find a beautiful coach bus with driver and guide waiting for us!! Our guide was funny and the teens in our group LOVED him!! His name was Augustino, and when he introduced himself, he asked if we liked his name, if not, he would change it!! Very funny, very informative and just overall wonderful!!. I did comment when we first got on that we basically were going to do three normal excursions in one day!! Oh well, to have a group of young people keeps you on your toes!! Anyway, we did have a very full day of exploring the region. We started off with Pompeii and with Augustino guiding us, had an amazing look at the ancient town. At his suggestion, even though we are all starving, we headed over to Mt. Vestivius to climb up the volcano. The drive up to the trail head was beautiful. The climb was short, but steep!!! But worth the effort. When we got to the top, Augustino had arranged for the woman to give us a brief yet thourough tour of the volcano edge. At one point she asked us to come up with a one sylable word to yell...ok, we had 10 guys and they came up with DUDE!!! Our first try had us saying dude with a very heavy california flair, and the echo did not work well. When we did it stacato, our group was humored!!! The volcano echoed dude for us as clear as day!! OK, so it does not take much to humor teen boys!!! Anyway, it was fun, and they view, amazing!! And just seeing the crater was interesting, all worth the hike up!! We then left and went to a resturant on our way down and had a very traditional italian lunch before heading off to the Amalfi Coast. We then drove the coast up to Positano. I can not even put into words how amazing this drive it!!! Absolutely beautiful, breathtaking!!! We stopped outside the town and were amazed at the size of the lemons there. They sell lemon ice things that are delicious. Anyway, Naples for us was an amazing day!!! When we got home we were able to catch the show and eat dinner. The next day we all slept in and ordered the free room service. The poor people who work room service!! With my group anyway, they were kept very busy. One night I think the group ordered everything on the menue, seriously. There was a stack of the silver covers waist hight outside the guys room the next day!! Pretty funny actually. I must say that the hostess and host working our rooms were the best! No complaints at all! They worked with us, even with us having 5 of the guys sleep in one room, they let us take the matteress from the one room and would make that bed up for us every night!! They were just so wonderul!! Really everyone was great!! Our servers, hostess, even guest services ended up being wonderful. One of our group, Disney actually left her computer in BCN, and they bent over backwards to help her out and accomadate her! Anyway, our next day was Oblia. Getting there on a Sunday was not the best timing, half of the city, more than half actually, was closed!! Anyway, we managed to do a bit of shoping, finding some neat things made from cork, like purses, etc. It was just interesting. Again, we ate and enjoyed the shows, the movies, and the hanging out!! Some in our group took part of the art auction, others enjoyed the pools, it is just great because there is something for everyone. The next day was Rome. Well after such a great experience in Naples, i thought that everything was downhill from there. Well...when we got off the boat, our bus was not there!! I went into a bit of panic mode as we sat there waiting!!! It seemed like forever, but they were only 15 min late!! I guess they had a bit of issue with traffic, but after this little glitch, things went very smoothly!! We drove to Rome and went straight to the colesium. We bought our tickets at the palatine hill entrance and avoided any lines. Although the colesium was crowded, it was amazing to see. We then walked over to the forum and just seeing all the ruins was so interesting. We got a bit to eat from the street vendors and it was so delicious. We then loaded up on the bus and went to the vatican. We had booked a tour through the bishops office for american visitors to the vatican. What an amazing place, the museum, the sistine chapel. st. peters basilica and his burial placer. All very amazing. We then went to parthenon and trevi fountain. It was a very long day again, with the tour guide telling us this is more than what they usually do and tha tw might not get into everything. Well, we did!! We saw all that we set out to see. I will finish this later....just so much and such a great trip!!!
Spend time shopping but remember many stores close 1:30 to 4:00.
i think the rockette might have em
