starfruitvj

Great review so far Deidre - I enjoyed hitting the dance floor with you back in May :)

-Vanessa

My mom and I did the Italian Chef's dinner in May. It's typically held at the large table in Prime C, but we were lucky and had it in the Drawing Room. One of the staff members is the host for the evening, we had the Chief Safety Officer, 3rd in command. The ship's sommelier guided us through each paring. The food was delicious (the soup and homemade pasta were probably my favorite things I ate on the ship) and the wine pourings were very generous in size. Overall it was a very enjoyable experience.

On our cruise, we had an overnight in Sorrento. It was a tender port, and it was clearly stated in the daily newsletter and when getting off the ship that the last tender was at 2:30 am. However, when we got off the tender, the board announcing the return time had 4:30, with the next days date on it. I found it a little odd that it had the last departure time of the next day but no biggie.

After a lovely day with a driver on the Amalfi, we get back on the ship around 7:30pm and go to dinner. We had to wait a few minutes to get a table for 2 in the MDR, so we had a drink in the bar area.

We ended up next to a couple and she asks me if the food is any good as she's only eaten in the specialty restaurants so far (which clues me in that she's likely in a suite) after a few more seconds of polite chatting, she and her husband proceed to tell me how horrible their day was because they booked this whole cruise because they wanted to see Positanio, but saw the 4:30pm sign and thought they had to be back then. They figured they didn't have enough time, so they cancelled their plans.

I was stuck listening to them for at least 10-15 minutes about how mad and upset they were, and how their whole vacation was ruined because they spent so much money coming here etc. I had to do everything in my power to bite my tongue. I'm sorry but have a little common sense, didn't it seem a little odd that you have to be back so early at an overnight stop? All you had to do was ask one of the staff members at the dock to confirm.

Long story short, my lease favorite part of my cruise was getting stuck next to complainers while waiting for dinner. Thankfully I didn't have to sit with them!

If you like shopping, there is a premium shopping village nearby. http://www.lavalleevillage.com/

All Request night was my favorite night onboard! Mario really got everyone on their feet, we didn't leave the Looking Glass until 2am. I'm thankful we crossed time zones and got an extra hour of sleep!

Another option for getting a larger bathroom/shower is to book an accessible room if they have one available. We had 4035 - an inside accessible room (we booked a guaranteed room so were prepared for a small bathroom) & we found our bathroom nice and roomy.

Great review so far! I was on the same voyage as you, so it will be interesting to see how our experiences compare :)

In addition to walking around Rouen, if you're up for a nice view, I recommend taking the #4 bus (you can catch it at the Train Station) which goes up Mount Saint Aignan as you take it up the mountain, you get some awesome views of the city. It's not a long bus ride, maybe 15 minutes if you take it to Place Colbert (a little plaza with some market style shops and a cafe). Shorter if you get off beforehand. The buses run very frequently, about every 4-8 minutes (unless it's a Sunday/Holiday)

If you've got more time and are in decent shape, you can always walk up the hill.

Great review. I was in room 4035 on the Journey in May, with Husein and Andre taking great care of our room too. Glad you enjoyed yourself!

While it's not a big ship experience, Azamara might be one to consider. They go to Asia, and on many of their sailings, they offer single rates at 125% the d/o price. And while it's small, it's not super fancy and there are no formal nights.

Capri is pretty easy to do on your own, my Mom and I did it from Sorrento basically following what Rick Steves suggests in his book.

We caught the 9:15 Hydrofoil, buying a 3:15 return ticket at the same time. We then went strait to the ships going to the Blue Grotto, but had our oarsmen drop us off at the stairs afterwards, so instead of taking the boat back to Capri, we caught the bus at the top of the stairs to Ana Capri.

We did the chairlift, then explored Ana Capri for a bit, stopped for lunch, then took the bus down to Capri, walked around, had gelato and caught the funicular down to the pier to catch the 3:15 hydrofoil back to Sorrento.

It was a beautiful day and there were many people from our cruise who also did Capri on their own.

Cabin number 4035 (inside)

Ship Journey

Month/Year sailed May 2014

Choose again Yes

Balcony size N/A

Any noise? A small amount of vibration noise when the ship was anchored/docked. Zero noise at night.

Other comments: We booked a guaranteed inside room last minute and were prepared for a tight fit, but we were pleasantly surprised to discover our room was wheelchair accessible so there was lots of room. The bathroom was pretty large, and the shower area was very roomy (bigger than my shower at home). We had one chair instead of a couch.

We used JB Tours for a day trip from Sorrento - we had Paolo and he was a delightful driver! We had signed up to see Pompeii, Positano and Amalfi but after hearing from the group, he was happy with us changing things up and suggested we do Positano first, then drive through Amalfi to Ravello before hitting up Pompeii in the afternoon.

The day was beautiful, he was funny and charming, let us use his wifi hotspot in the van and use his charger when one of our phones was dying. Paolo was even kind enough to drive my mom and I back up to Sorrento after dropping the rest of the people off at the port below.

Nothing but good things to say about JB tours!