New & Improved Grandeur ~ Venice to Palma ~ July 13 ~ My Diary

[maxs mom]

Veronica and I ditched the boys tonight and headed up to the Viking Crown for a night cap.

Not much going on up there tonight, but we did run into our Welsh friends from the roll call. We visited with them for a while before calling it a night.

[spookwife]

did you do Izumi as well? that's the one I am most looking forward to, actually.

 

we were unimpressed by Chops on Enchantment.. don't regret spending the money but in no rush to go back unless OBC covers it.. but Izumi....mmmm sushi....:D

 

love the on board pictures, I am getting all excited!

[maxs mom]

did you do Izumi as well? that's the one I am most looking forward to, actually.

 

we were unimpressed by Chops on Enchantment.. don't regret spending the money but in no rush to go back unless OBC covers it.. but Izumi....mmmm sushi....:D

 

love the on board pictures, I am getting all excited!

 

Thanks!

Yes....we ate at izumi as well. I was not looking forward to it.....just don't eat much Asian food, but We found it to be quite good. We ate there on the second formal night, so I'll elaborate more on it when we get there. Stay tuned!!

[spookwife]

yay! we have lived in Japan so we are a bit snobbish but I lurves me some sushi....:rolleyes:

[Topo Gigio]

Loving your review!

[Topo Gigio]

They added the ducktail to Rhapsody, which is slightly larger (heavier) than Grandeur... ???

 

Let's see if he knows the answer to this;)

[maxs mom]

yay! we have lived in Japan so we are a bit snobbish but I lurves me some sushi....:rolleyes:

 

I've never really eaten sushi before. Don't know why......just haven't. I am a very good eater......I like everything and will try anything. Well the sushi was so good......I found myself buying some at our local grocery store this week. It was so good. I am an ESL teacher and one of my students' parents (from Thailand) do the sushi at my grocery store. It was so good. I will be a regular customer now!

[maxs mom]

let's see if he knows the answer to this;)

 

lol!!

[tahqa]

Let's see if he knows the answer to this;)

 

I don't know the definitive answer, all I can do is speculate... :confused:

 

The ducktail was added on Splendour to counteract the instability from the extra added weight from the refurb, most notable that of the new balcony cabins added on. Rhapsody is larger (but not significantly so) than Grandeur and got the ducktail while Grandeur didn't. Rhapsody got new cabins (as did Grandeur) but not balcony cabins. So that probably isn't the answer.

 

 

The answer probably comes from the initial construction. Keep in mind that the Vision class ships are really three pairs of two ships each. Splendor and Legend were built in France as a pair, Grandeur and Enchantment were built in Finland as a pair, and Rhapsody and Vision were built in France as a pair. There are some similarities between all six (lots of glass for one) but they are not true sister ships. Engine placement is different between them for one thing.

 

 

I would guess that the Finland sisters are inherently more bottom heavy and therefore more stable to begin with. :o

[maxs mom]

Tuesday ~ July 17th ~ Naples

 

No plans for today. That was a mistake! Up and out around 9:45 today. It was nice to see the Sovereign of the Seas come in to port behind us this morning. She belongs to Pullmantur now.

 

 

We tried to see if we could catch a hydrofoil over to Capri but we were too late. If you are going to do that....you need to be out very early.

 

In Naples.....you really need to get out of town. But we had other things booked later that were very expensive so we needed to keep our expenses down today. We ended up going on the HOHO bus......22 euros. We did the blue route that got out of the city a little bit and was a little scenic. We never saw any place that looked worthwhile hopping off, so we just stayed on board. We were on the top level of the bus, so we got the full wrath of the sun. Here we go again.....HOT, HOT, HOT!!

 

Here are a few sites from the blue route:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For some stupid reason, we stayed on board the HOHO for the red route that toured the city area! Dumb, dumb, dumb! I've never been so hot in my life.

[maxs mom]

Please get me off of this thing!!

We finally got smart and got off at the next to last stop to get some pizza and beer. We found a trattoria and ordered our pizza:

It was pretty good, but we were charged 8 euros for cutlery when the bill came! Sheesh!!

I had really had it by this time.

From here we walked back to the ship.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m56/jhwhite1030/Med%20Cruise%202012/GrandeuroftheSeasJuly2012474.jpg[/iM

I hightailed it back to the ship while everyone else looked around in the nice terminal there. They found a place to get ice cream that had free wifi so they hung out there for a while. Meanwhile I was back on the ship napping away, so glad to be done with this port! Next time, if we are ever here again, the plans will be different!

 

Well....sorry.....I got a picture out of order up there. That's heading back to the ship.....it should be last here.

[marci22]

"Please get me off of this thing!!"

 

lol -you have saved me a trip on the Naples hoho.

 

Next time go here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples_National_Archaeological_Museum

 

Someone on our cruise went and said it was very good.

[maxs mom]

"Please get me off of this thing!!"

 

lol -you have saved me a trip on the Naples hoho.

 

Next time go here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples_National_Archaeological_Museum

 

Someone on our cruise went and said it was very good.

 

That's exactly what we should have done!!

[maxs mom]

So I elevated my poor swollen feet and had a good nap today and was ready for the evening.

The NCL Epic was in port with us today:

We enjoyed our time in the CL tonight:

Gorgeous sunset this evening!

We had dinner in the MDR tonight and it was just OK.......mighty warm in there. After dinner we went back to the cabin and enjoyed some wine on the balcony. Gotta get up early in the morning for Rome!

[maxs mom]

Wednesday ~ July 18th ~ Rome

Up early this morning and had breakfast in the MDR. I had a good feeling about today because we booked with rominlimo! I was excited! We were off the ship before 8 and right there waiting for us was our wonderful driver, Vinnie and his beautiful S Class Mercedes. He whisked us away to Rome ahead of the crowds. (Don't worry......the crowds caught up with us!)

We had no real set agenda today except that we had Vatican tickets that I bought online and that was for 2 o'clock. We have been to Rome a few times before so we chatted with Vinnie and he came up with a plan for us right there on the fly!

First he showed us the old wall that was built around the city. Then we drove down the Apian Way until we got to the part that was original. Of course you can't drive on that, so we got out and walked down it for a bit. Amazing!

[maxs mom]

Here is our ride for the day!

Now let me tell you......this is the way to go. We've been here and taken bus tours through the ship......OMG......h o r r i b l e!!!!! This was so great. Vinnie drove us around in air conditioned comfort. Drove us right up to places, so there was very little walking that we had to do. Took us to the head of lines. It was incredible!

OK.....back to our day......

We were focusing on things that we hadn't seen before, so up next was a visit to the Catacombs of San Sebastian. We were first in line here and took a 35 minute tour of the catacombs. Very interesting. I got a little claustrophobic down in there, so fortunately we weren't down there for long. No pictures can be taken there so I don't have any to show you. We tried taking a couple, but they just didn't come out. There was a very nice church at the end of the tour and we got a couple there.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Jane how do you add your pictures to the review? They are so nice and clear.

[maxs mom]

Jane how do you add your pictures to the review? They are so nice and clear.

 

You need to upload your photos to a picture hosting website such as Webshots or Photobucket. Then you just copy the IMG code and paste on here. It's easy. I use Photobucket, but it's been giving me fits lately.

[PCWalton1]

On the Granduer in Oct/Nov staring in Venice. I am taking on the task of finding a drink & dinner location for CC pre-cruise gathering. Can you recommend a location in the mid $$ range for possible 15-20 people.

 

Appreciate your every effort to review the cruise. Lots of great photos and text

 

Thanks

 

John

 

Oct 26 & Nov 7th

 

For our cruise back in May I picked out Al Nono Risorto, it is a little north of the Rialto Bridge. We had about 10-12 in our group and they could have handle a larger group. Reasonable price, good service (a little slow getting the bill). Pizza, seafood, pasta. They have indoor seating and also outdoor in an enclosed courtyard. Found many good reviews of it online and I wrote about it too. :)

 

Bill

[maxs mom]

After the Catacombs, we made our way to the Pantheon......another sight that we have never seen. This is where the crowds caught up with us. Vinnie dropped us off and he went to park and wait on us. This was an amazing and beautiful place. The first two Kings of Italy are buried here as well as Raphael.

As we were walking in, our Welsh friends, Paul, Gina, and Sian, were walking out!

This is the beautiful domed ceiling:

We couldn't figure out who this guy was!

[maxs mom]

For our cruise back in May I picked out Al Nono Risorto, it is a little north of the Rialto Bridge. We had about 10-12 in our group and they could have handle a larger group. Reasonable price, good service (a little slow getting the bill). Pizza, seafood, pasta. They have indoor seating and also outdoor in an enclosed courtyard. Found many good reviews of it online and I wrote about it too. :)

 

Bill

 

I knew someone would come to the rescue!

[PCWalton1]

Jane,

Thanks for doing this wonderful review. The pictures bring back memories and just make me want to go back again. :)

 

Bill

[maxs mom]

Next up.....the Trevi Fountain. I've been here a few times but the others hadn't. Vinnie dropped us off and we had a short walk to the fountain. The crowds were unbelievable here!

A major part of the fountain is under reconstruction. Most everything in the left side was covered by scaffolding and tarps.

It was really a chore to get down to the fountain through the crowds so I could throw my coin in. Guess I'll come back one day......but I'll tell you one thing......It will not be in the middle of the summer!

But I will say this.......today was a lot easier on us because of rominlimo and how easy it was to get around with them. the car was always cool and there was very little walking that we had to do.

Vinnie took us to a restaurant near the Vatican for lunch. He drove us right to the door and our table was waiting for us. We had quite a tasty lunch with several courses including wine.

[maxs mom]

Jane,

Thanks for doing this wonderful review. The pictures bring back memories and just make me want to go back again. :)

 

Bill

 

Thanks, Bill! I enjoy your reviews, too. I always learn so much from reading other's reviews. Hang in here with me! More to come.

[maxs mom]

I've never been through the Vatican museum or the Sistine Chapel, so that was a priority for us today. Vinnie drove us right up to the door of the place and walked with us to the head of the line since we already had advanced tickets. He left us here and gave us a cell phone to call him when we were out. He would meet us at the obelisk in front of St. Peter's at 4. We did not get a guide here......we just winged it.

 

Things started out just fine. There is lots to see.

 

 

 

Oops.....this posted before I wanted it to.

 

We wandered around outside for a while before heading inside to tackle the endless and crowded halls and mazes of wonderful artifacts that you have to walk through to get to the Sistine Chapel. I swear we walked at least two miles!