September 12, 2011
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Vacation post!
I know I promised yesterday that I’d come back and give you a recap of our vacation, so here it is!
The basics: Cruise was through Norwegian Cruise Line, the ship was the Epic. We began/ended in Barcelona, Spain, and hit up these ports: Florence, Italy; Orvieto, Italy (a lot of people went to Rome, but we’d already been there, so decided to go somewhere else instead); Naples, Italy (we actually went to Pompeii); and Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Reviews:
Barcelona, Spain - OMG. I’m in love with this city! The food was amazing, and we tried to hit up all the major Gaudi spots in the city. La Sagrada Familia was my favorite, by far, and I thought it totally put all other European cathedrals to shame. While we were there, a choir was practicing downstairs, so soft music was floating throughout the cathedral…bliss. The stained glass windows are also stunning! We also went to the Parc Guell as well, but since we only had one day, we only managed to hit up the Parc and Sagrada Familia. Also stopped at a local place for some Tapas…delicious! And the white sangria was to die for.
Florence, Italy - I feel bad saying this, but Florence was sort of “blah” for me. It probably didn’t help that the whole city was on strike that day, so the museums were all closed. We wanted to stop in the Uffizi, but it was closed as well. DH saw his first political protest, however, so I guess not all was lost. It was probably my least favorite port of call, which was sad, since I had high hopes.
Orvieto, Italy - Our port was in Civitavecchia, and many of the people headed to Rome for the day. DH and I had gone to Rome for a long weekend a year or so ago, so we decided to go somewhere else. We headed to Orvieto, deep in Umbria…small town, very cute and quaint. Has a great Basillica with some beautiful frescos…similar painting style to the Sistine Chapel. The town wasn’t crowded, which was wonderful, and we had a great time just strolling around and people watching.
Naples, Italy - We docked in Naples, but I had zero desire to see the city. Instead, we took the train to Pompeii for some hiking/sightseeing. Honestly, the place is ENORMOUS! And, frankly, after a few hours, I got bored, because it all starts to look alike (stone walls, some places with awesome stone paintings, etc…but it all starts to blend in). In addition, the place where they kept the casts of those preserved from the volcano was under construction, so we couldn’t see any of it. It was hot, and a lot of walking, but I would still recommend it if you’ve not seen it before, because it was pretty interesting.
Palma de Mallorca, Spain – Probably my favorite port of call while on the cruise. We didn’t book anything with the cruise ship. We, instead, booked a SCUBA diving excursion on our own. We met up with the guy from Big Blue Diving at a nearby McDonald’s and he took us to the shop. From there, we geared up and headed out! DH is scuba certified, but I’m not, so we had to do a “discover” scuba course instead, so there was some initial stuff in the beginning to deal with. Overall, the dive was fantastic! A ton of different fishes going by in big schools, and we even saw and octopus! I’ve definitely decided to get scuba certified, so I’m sure we’ll go back to Palma to do more courses through Big Blue. They were great to work with and were super professional and knowledgeable. Highly recommend them.
The ship – OMG…the ship was fantastic! The Epic is the biggest that NCL has, and the newest. Not as gaudy as the earlier ships, and nicely decorated. Tons of places to eat, two large formal dining rooms, a few buffets, and a lot of other choices. We saw Blue Man Group one evening, and they also did a Cirque dinner show, which was amazing! My favorite meal was probably at the Moderno Churrascuria, which was basically a Fogo de Chao on board…omg…some of the best beef I’ve ever had! We got passes to the thermal spa, which allows up in the spa every day of the cruise, which was a great place to relax, since it’s kids free. The gym was great, but I found it pretty stuffy, even at 6:30am, when we worked out. Had some great, state-of-the-art equipment though, so can’t complain too much.
Overall – the cruise was fantastic. I’m glad we went a few days early to see some of Barcelona, and I’m definitely sad it’s over! We really loved cruising with NCL, and would recommend them to others!
Comments (4)
I’ve always wanted to take a cruise and this one sounds fantastic. I’m really surprised that Florance was blah…………not just surprised but disappointed as well.
Living in Europe, it is so awesome you are taking advantage of the close proximity and really getting to check out all these amazing places! The history in Europe is fascinating and I LOVE reading about all the places you go.
Do you have pictures of Pompeii? I’m absolutely fascinated by it and how scary that must have been for the people.
@heckels - I took my first cruise last year…before that I was super hesitant because I don’t like to be in close quarters for too long. I thought I’d be claustrophobic and hate the entire vacation…I was WAY wrong! The staterooms are much bigger than I thought, and we had a great time…you should really give a cruise a try! They have some pretty decently priced ones to the Caribbean…that might be an option?
As for Florence…I was disappointed as well. I think the biggest reason why I thought it was sort of “blah” was due to most of the things being closed because of the strike going on. Public transportation was down, museums were closed…shops were closed (not all, but some)…it was a mess. The only things open were churches…and well…after while they all start to look alike. I think if it weren’t for all that, we would have really liked it. The city itself is beautiful, so that’s nice!
@PennyLumpkins - We are definitely trying to see as much as we can before we come home, as I think we’ll probably move back to the States (or somewhere else) after this contract is up. We’re really fortunate to have been able to see as much as we have while we’re here…it’s been great!
I’ll definitely add photos…no worries!