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What did you do on Sicilian Splendors?


Ski Mom 2
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OK folks, I'm looking at so many ports and my roll calls are a bit on the quiet side so I thought I would put it out here on the main Windstar board.

 

Here are our ports of call on our Sicilian Splendors cruise, September, 2018.

 

Rome/Civitavecchia

Catania

Gozo/Xlendi

Valletta

Porto Empedocle

Trapani

Lipari

Sorrento

Amalfi

Rome/Civitavecchia

 

Did you take a WS tour or hire a different tour/guide? Did you DIY? Any and all information about tours for these ports would be appreciated. And yes, I have read the boards for each of these locations and I started a role call but for those of you who have sailed on WS, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thank you!!

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Catania - took WS tour to Taormina. Loved Taormina

Gozo - port was cancelled (but we were two days in Valletta instead, & folks could take a ferry to Gozo or a WS excursion there if they wanted. We didn't, because it made for a very long day)

Valletta - took a WS excursion for an overview of Valletta. Loved it.

Porto Empedocle - this was the included WS excursion to the Greek ruins at Agrigento. Very interesting and the included lunch was amazing.

Trapani - we just wandered around the town on our own. Probably our least favorite port, but still better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, right? Perhaps if we'd taken an excursion......

Lipari - adorable island. Again, we just wandered around on our own in the little town, but it was more picturesque than Trapani.

Sorrento & Amalfi - Both of these ports were cancelled due to rough seas precluding tendering, supposedly. We spent 2 nights in Naples instead. One day we took a Windstar excursion to Herculaneum, which we chose over Pompeii because it isn't so vast a site. More walkable. The other day we took a WS excursion to Positano which we loved. The great thing about the tour is that it takes you right down into the heart of town. Otherwise there are a lot of steps. If we'd stopped at Amalfi we'd intended to go to Positano by ferry.

What isn't mentioned in the itinerary is that you sail very close to Stromboli, an active volcano. If it decides to put on a show it can be very interesting!

Hope this helps. Looks like you're trying to decide between 2 itineraries. BTW our cruise was in very late April/early May.

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Thanks avalong for all your helpful hints! We are actually on a back2back2back starting in September from Lisbon for a total of 25 days on board Wind Surf. We are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and my husband's 65th birthday. It will be a fabulous time but I'm realizing I didn't think it through as far as having 25 PORTS to figure out! That's why I started the threads to see if I could figure it all out with others help.

 

Lucky you with the included excursion. As far as I can tell, we won't have any of those in our back2back2back.

 

I love the idea that you wandered in Lipari and that it's a cute place. We will definitely need a few of those!

 

Postiano is definitely on our radar. A few years back we did a land tour of Italy and rented a car and driver to take us from Rome to Pompeii and we had lunch high above Postiano. This time I want to spend time down in Postiano and eat, drink and soak in the sights.

 

Even though you missed Sorrento and Amalfi at least Naples was close enough you could still get to the area. That's the one thing that makes me nervous in booking independently from the ship and you can't get to the port you're suppose to be in.

 

You have given me a direction in which to head...thank you!!

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Valletta is very nice for wandering round on your own. Just get off the ship and walk 5/10 minutes to the Barrakka lift which takes you straight into town. However if Windstar are offering a tour of Mdina (the old capitol) its quite a spectacular walled city and well worth the trip. Its only about a 20=30 minute drive depending on traffic so you could even take a taxi yourselves. The white cabs are a bit expensive so try googling Wembley or Ecabs. There are a good selection of taxi services that can be booked online.

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Two of Caravaggio’s greatest paintings are in Valetta in the cathedral. The Beheading of St. John the Baptist and St. Jermone. He was a revolutional,painter in the art world. He was in Malta in the 1607 fleeing Rome from charges of murder. He was one of the most influential painters in art history. His paintings were first to represent realism with plays of emotion against the theatrical use of light. I am dying to do this cruise to see these paintings. I could not imagine going to Valetta and not seeing these two paintings. Have a nice time.

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Strenz and marama:

 

Thanks for the helpful hints about Valletta! I checked out the Beheading of St John the Baptist and wow! it's intense and beautiful! And walled cities like the Mdina always capture our eye. There are two WS tours, each seeing one of these locales or it sounds doable on our own.

 

At least now I know what to see in Valletta...thank you both!

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Two of Caravaggio’s greatest paintings are in Valetta in the cathedral. The Beheading of St. John the Baptist and St. Jermone. He was a revolutional,painter in the art world. He was in Malta in the 1607 fleeing Rome from charges of murder. He was one of the most influential painters in art history. His paintings were first to represent realism with plays of emotion against the theatrical use of light. I am dying to do this cruise to see these paintings. I could not imagine going to Valetta and not seeing these two paintings. Have a nice time.

 

When you get in to see the paintings don't even THINK about taking a pic with your cell phone (not that you would). We saw people being summarily rousted out of the area for this offense. The paintings are amazing and our tour guide (WS excursion) enriched the experience by providing insight as the the meanings/background of the different characters in the paintings.

 

I have to say that we came away from our visit to Malta with a much better understanding of its place in history. It was sort of a "throw in" port for us, but we ended up being wowed. Due to it's position in the Med, it has been pivotal in history up to and including WWII. I had no idea. It was fascinating. And beautiful.

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Loving art the way I do nothing makes me more crazy than selfies with paintings. It is the ultimate “ I am what this painting is about”. In Italy in the churches taking photos is not allowed gratefully. Should be the same in museums. Nice to know about Malta. Happy Sailing.

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Sailed to Southern Italy and Croatia in May. We also took the Taormina tour from Catania and loved it. We tacked on the tour to the Baron De Villagrande winery and although expensive we enjoyed it very much.

Lipari was on our own, just a quaint little island to wander.

Sorrento was probably our favorite stop. We hired a private company and drove to Pompeii where we toured with a private guide. From there we drove to a lovely little place for Lunch, then stopped in Positano and Sorrento. Had some lovely views of the Amalfi coast as well. We could not ave done Pompeii and these stops on a ships tour.

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Thank you 3kidslater for sharing your experiences. We have decided to book a private tour with another couple we met on our Roll Call from Catania to Taormina and a winery. So that checks another port off the list!

 

It's nice to know about Lipari too. I haven't done much for most of Sicily yet so an easy day is good.

 

I have started looking at Joe Banana for our stop in Sorrento. Since we have a short stop in Amalfi I would like to see Postiano and Ravello and spend some serious time in both locations. We have been to Pompeii (loved it!) and we can't realistically do those two towns and Capri so Capri lost (I was there many years ago with my grandmother). I still need to arrange this but haven't pulled the trigger yet. We have until midnight in Sorrento so it really should be an easy tour to book!

 

avalong: it's nice to know Malta might be an easy day as well. I'm worried after the first two cruises I will be on overload by the time we get to the Sicilian Splendors part of our journey!

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I have visited Trapani (but not on a cruise, so I am not sure about logistics from the cruise port etc). I'd suggest a couple things that might be worth doing--

 

1) take the cable car to Erice. Erice is a lovely small medieval town perched on a hill above Trapani accessible by cable car. We had a nice afternoon wandering around there, and having a drink in the park.

 

2) visit the salt museum. Trapani has salt flats which you can visit. I don't want to oversell this because it's on the outskirts of town and there isn't that much to see, but we found it interesting and there is a restaurant next door where we had a very nice lunch.

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Erice is a beautiful town. Exquisit views. Maria Grammatico’s bakery and coffee shop is there. She was made famous by the writings of Mary Taylor Semetti, a American who married an Italian man, went to Sicily to live and wrote glorious books about the island. Worth a visit. Nice to know there is a cable car, there wasn’t one when I was there. Her writing’s about Sicily really get to the heart and soul of the island and the food culture. Happy Sailing

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Well, two votes for Erice and it goes on the list! I like another somewhat easy day and being able to walk, eat, drink and soak up the local ambiance. We really love finding the local spot and just being...Thanks!!

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Erice is lovely - but be aware: We walked from port to the cable car station (around 1 hour- one way!) - it might be best to use a taxi (and ask for the cell phone number of the driver to call him for the way back). Do it in the early morning, when the queues are short at the station!

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Lipari: Very small, but lovely island. We did the "large" tour with Taxi Antonio - booked it via internet - OUTSTANDING and individual. He picks you up directly next to the ship - very reliable ...

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Thank you 3kidslater for sharing your experiences. We have decided to book a private tour with another couple we met on our Roll Call from Catania to Taormina and a winery. So that checks another port off the list!

 

It's nice to know about Lipari too. I haven't done much for most of Sicily yet so an easy day is good.

 

I have started looking at Joe Banana for our stop in Sorrento. Since we have a short stop in Amalfi I would like to see Postiano and Ravello and spend some serious time in both locations. We have been to Pompeii (loved it!) and we can't realistically do those two towns and Capri so Capri lost (I was there many years ago with my grandmother). I still need to arrange this but haven't pulled the trigger yet. We have until midnight in Sorrento so it really should be an easy tour to book!

 

avalong: it's nice to know Malta might be an easy day as well. I'm worried after the first two cruises I will be on overload by the time we get to the Sicilian Splendors part of our journey!

 

While in Sorrento, we are doing Capri- we already booked the 9:50 ferry to Capri. We have been there twice, but are traveling with another couple that has never been there, so we are going back. I love it there- plus like you said we are in Sorrento until late that night too.

Tim

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We went from Rome to Athens last summer with Windstar. In Sorrento we took a windstar excursion to Pompeii and were very glad we did! We had an excellent guide and on the way back our bus broke down. Since we were on the Windstar tour the ship waited for us - we were about an hour late, past our ship departure time. Our tour guide (not the driver) got the bus working temporarily so that we could make it to a little cafe with a view of the coast . Then he bought us drinks - not a bad way to sit waiting for a new bus! and we were relaxed, knowing that the ship would not sail without us!

 

We spent a few days in Rome prior to our cruise. We took an excellent food tour with Eating Italy. We took the night tour of the Traverstre neighborhood. I would highly recommend it. We also toured the Borghese museum - which was excellent. You must book this museum in advance. We book a group tour with them as well and it was excellent. This museum is a jewel with amazing sculpture.

 

We took a tour of the Vatican and had a terrible tour guide - do not use City Wonders! Years ago we used another tour company that was excellent - so I had a comparison of what it should have been.

Enjoy your trip!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just want to say Thank You! again to all of you that shared your thoughts on the stops on Sicilian Splendors. I feel so much better about all our stops on the third leg of our back2back2back. We are so very lucky to be able to celebrate on 25th wedding anniversary and my husband's 65th birthday on board Wind Surf and I love how this community helps one another! I will be sure to post afterwards to pass along our experiences to the next guest!

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You are most welcome. As you are an American, you may be interested to google The Ohio (ship) and the part that she played in WW2 to help Malta. Many Americans are unaware of this very important link that the USA has with Malta. Also, when in St John's Cathedral, do not miss the marble flooring which is exquisite. Outside the exit from the Cathedral you should also find a little train which takes you on a tour of Valletta. I am sure that you will have a wonderful cruise.

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  • 3 months later...

We have returned from our grand 25 day adventure on Wind Surf with Sicilian Splendors being our 3rd and final leg of what was a glorious vacation celebrating my husband's 65th birthday and our 25th wedding anniversary.

 

Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy: Most passengers boarded today but because we have been on Wind Surf for 2 previous cruises, it's a regular port day for us. Our key cards continue to work so there is no check in required. We were also able to make our Candles and Stella Bistro reservations for this portion of our cruise last night so no rush to get back to the ship today. When we arrive, we are one of at least 6-7 ships in port. We took our time this morning so as not to get mixed up with those having to leave. We did have to say good-bye to our new best friends we met over 2 weeks ago when boarding in Lisbon on the first leg of our journey. It is a bittersweet day.

Today is an easy day for us. We walk off the yacht and decide to see where our legs take us. We found the market which has more clothing and such than other markets we have seen. This appears to be more of a working man's port (plus it's a much bigger city than what we've been to so far) so the feeling we get is different too. Not in a bad way; you can feel the love of families as they talk to one another out windows and on our walk. We stopped for some delicious pastries and coffee and then wander some more (a big theme of ours). We head back towards the sea and find ourselves on the beach with some locals and enjoy a beer and WiFi before heading back on board.

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The next day is a sea day and what a sea day it was! 3-4 meter swells and lots of rock and rolling going on! This is crazy and nothing like we experienced in the last 2 legs of our journey. Many people didn't feel well and I have to admit, I wouldn't have wanted to have a massage scheduled for my day at sea. We rested some that day but didn't feel any of the effects of the day.

 

Catania, Sicily: Our first stop in Sicily! We had "met" a couple on our Roll Call and they had arranged to have a private tour today covering some of the same stops the WS tours had on their tours. Our first stop was Castelmola, a cute town high up but very small. We were there early so it wasn't crowded but as we left, the tour buses started to arrive. Our next stop was Taormina which we are all excited about. Sadly, it was OVERRUN with tourists on a late September day and we just couldn't take it. My DH and I found a cafe and had some beer and wine and people watched. I would have loved to walk more but the mob scene was overwhelming. I can't imagine what it must be like in the middle of the summer. Our last stop on our tour was the Gambino winery on Mt. Etna. The views were spectacular and while we enjoyed the wine tasting and all the food that came with it, we weren't crazy about the wine and left empty handed. 

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That evening, my DH and I hopped a taxi to check out the town. As the sun set, the locals gathered in Elephant Square and we found ourselves at a seafood restaurant where my husband could pick out a fish from the catch of the day. He loved it.

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The next day we were suppose to arrive in Gozo/Xlendi, Malta at 8 a.m. and then continue on to Valletta, Malta at 9 p.m. Well, as we left Catania, the seas were still pretty rough and the decision was made to skip Gozo (a tender stop) and also to skip our late night arrival in Valletta which meant an unexpected day at sea. Everyone was disappointed but if you could have seen those swells, you would have realized there would have been no way to access the tenders. So, another day at sea; we slept in, ate a little, drank a little and hung out.

 

 

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Valletta, Malta: We awoke to a sunny day in Valletta and what a beautiful place it was!

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We walked off the ship and found our way high up above the port and started our wanderings for the day. Valletta has beautiful architecture, a British influence, and was fascinating. They were getting ready for a festival so there was lots of activity going on. 

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We wandered down a small street and came to a place with all these Brits were hanging out waiting for something to happen. We stopped and found out they were waiting for The Pub to open at noon which is where the actor Oliver Reed had his last drinks before he died during the filming of Gladiator. So, we waited a few minutes with the group, muscled our way in and grabbed a beer! 

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We found a delightful restaurant for lunch where we were the only tourists. We watched the firing of the cannons, saw the crew at a local bar, had one last beer and headed back on board. 

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But...not everyone was on board to leave on time and so an announcement started asking for a couple to come to reception. This happened again and again and again and we finally found out there was a "missing" couple. The captain blew the horn several times but still no one appeared. Finally, after an hour, the couple came back on board and we were off. What we found out later was they were at a jewelry store right by where we ported and were buying a diamond bracelet. Luckily for them, we had another ship ahead of us to leave, the seas were high and the way out of the port of Valletta is narrow but the officers were not pleased. But due to the delay, we had the most spectacular sunset leaving Valletta!

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Porto Empedocle, Italy - We opted for the WS Temples Valley tour @ $119 per person today and it was worth the price of admission! We took a bus just a short ride to Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples. We had a lovely guide who explained all there was to see and the history behind it. It was a picturesque day and we enjoyed it very much.

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Afterwards, we took the bus from the yacht into the town of Porto Empedocle although we could have walked it was so close. There wasn't a lot to see but we found a nice restaurant and had lunch and then walked back to the yacht.

 

Trapani, Italy: Researching this port I had several folks here on CC tell us to go to Erice and it was easy to do it on our own. We found another couple as we left the yacht who wanted to share a cab with us so after a bit of walking we found a cab to take us to the cable car. The cab driver gave us his card to call him when we were done and ready to come back to the yacht. The cab cost the 4 of us 20 euros. We took the cable car up to Erice and proceeded to wander the town, getting caught up in the Sunday lives of the folks that live there. We walked to the old fort (amazing views!),

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we had a yummy pizza, we ate Sicilian pastries and cookies,

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we did some shopping and stopped for a beer and people watched.

 

When it was time to go, we met our new friends to ride back down the cable car but not before I asked the taxi driver at the top of the cable car to call us a cab to be waiting at the bottom. And that was our smartest move since the taxi was there but so was another set of people who tried to take our cab! Another 20 euros back to the yacht and we definitely beat the WS tour price of 99 euros each. That night we ate at Stella Bistro and brought our pastries and a bottle of wine we found in town and it was all delicious!

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