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

[maxs mom]

Here we go.......

We walked and walked and walked and walked.......and finally......we reached the Sistine Chapel. It was awesome but for some reason, was not what I had expected. There were huge crowds in there and of course you are not supposed to talk. And really, for the most part......people were being very repsectful. It was the guards continuously shushing the crowd and yelling to be quiet that I found so disrespectful. We stayed here gazing at the magnificent ceiling for a while and then exited to see if we could get into St. Peter's quickly. It was nearing the bewitching hour of 4 o'clock.

[maxs mom]

Next we scooted over to St. Peter's Basilica and it was also very crowded, but beautiful, as always.

We saw the Swiss Guards on the way out.

[maxs mom]

When we got outside we called Vinnie then had a look around the Square.

It was after 4 when we met up with Vinnie again. I think we did an awful lot and had an incredible day here. It was time for the 90 minute drive back to the ship, though.

[maxs mom]

Vinnie really hauled ass down the highway and made great time back to the ship. Before getting back to the ship, he found a convenience store for us so that we could buy some more bottled water.....really cheap.

We were exhausted, but had a great day. Vinnie was the best!

[Eng23]

I'm seeing that Grandeur didn't get the ducktail.

Good catch there. I had to go back up and look at the picture from Kotor myself just to be sure.

[Eng23]

Hi Jane. I am really enjoying your review. The pictures are fantastic. :)

[paget]

Great review Jane, I love your pics too. We are going on a med. cruise next summer, so I am gettings tons of info and ideas from you. Thank you for taking the time this write this review!

[maxs mom]

We only had a short time to rest this afternoon because we got back to the ship so late. We skipped the CL this evening and went to the repeat cruisers party since we were being honored as having the most cruise points. We went to the party at 7:45.

There was a real nice turn out.

The Captain was there and did his usual routine.

They presented us with a bottle of champagne. That was nice. We chatted with a few folks in there afterwards.

We were way too tired to go to the MDR tonight so we just went to the Park Cafe for dinner. They had hamburgers, hot dogs, French Fries, tuna salad sandwiches......not much of a selection, but we were just too tired to do anything else tonight.

Veronica wasn't feeling very well, so I fixed her up with some OTC medicine that I brought along. (Always a good idea to have a bag of that!)

Off to bed we went......another long day coming up tomorrow.

Another nice sunset tonight:

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Jane-I can tell for the signature you have MANY points. Are you willing to say how many?

[maxs mom]

Thursday ~ July 19th ~ Le Spezia/Florence

We dropped anchor early in Le Spezia this morning. It was a beautiful sail in and port.

Got my coffee in the CL, then headed to breakfast in the MDR. We were the only ones taking advantage of the D/D+ area for breakfast practically the whole week. I just don't understand that.

Once fortified......we got all our stuff and headed down to deck one for the tender. The girl there did not want to let us get on even though there were plenty of seats. Couldn't understand that.......she finally let us get on. It was about a 10-15 minute tender into the port. We had another rominlimo driver waiting for us there for what we thought would be a very leisurely day.

Once we got to the dock, we couldn't find a driver holding my name, so we just waited a little bit. Another family of 3 could not find their driver either.....but they were with a different company. A nice man on the dock offered to call their company for them. They found out that the company thought they were porting in Livorno and their driver was waiting for them there. I felt so bad for them. In the meantime, our guy shows up and we were on our way. Here is our fabulous driver for the day.....Ricardo.

We walk to our car but find out that they sent a van today......they thought we would be more comfortable in the van. We immediately thought of that family who didn't have a tour now, so Steve went running back to see if he could find them and they could go with us. We definitely had enough room. He did find them and they were delighted to join us. It would be a little more ecconomical for us......everybody wins!

Here is the Massa family who joined us on our adventure today.

Ricardo, our driver, is from Lucca and he very badly wanted to show us his town. So being that it was on the way.....we said, "Why not!" So we pull off the highway and Ricardo shows us a little bit of his town of Lucca.

This is neat place. Definitely worth spending some time here and exploring a bit. We just did the whirlwind version, though, since we had other places to go today.

[maxs mom]

Jane-I can tell for the signature you have MANY points. Are you willing to say how many?

 

We have 355 points now. We have many cruising buddies that have a lot more, but I guess that's a fair amount. We earned those points the hard way, too. Not staying in suites but only a few times. And we never did the 3 and 4 night cruises back under the old system.

[maxs mom]

Here are some pictures of the old walled city of Lucca. Very interesting place indeed!

Here is Ricardo telling us all about the city. He was born inside the walls, but lives outside now. He was very proud of this place.

Really cool place. Soon we are back on the highway again.

[maxs mom]

We were glad that we made the stop in Lucca. The wall around the city is totally in tact. We also drove inside and looked around.

Steve traveled to this area quite a bit for work about 20 years ago and he remembered going to this health and wellness spa village called Montecatini Alto. He was really impressed by it and wanted us to go and have a look since it was on the way to Florence as well. Ricardo wasn't real familiar with it, but that didn't stop him......he acted as if he knew exactly where he was going, and before long we were making our way to the Center of Montecatini Alto.

Wow......this was a beautiful place.

This is the center courtyard area:

There were no crowds here and it was such a pleasant place......not hot either!!

[maxs mom]

Here are some shots of the Tuscan countryside made from there:

We were just lovin' this place!

[maxs mom]

Some more shots from this wonderful place:

And here is our fabulous tour group for the day!

[sailorgrammy]

As always Jane, this is a wonderful review and I am travelling right along with you and John. Wish we could be doing it in reality instead of virtually! LOL

[sentosa25]

Jane,

 

just wanted to compliment you on your fantastic review and pictures.

 

We are sailing on Grandeur from Venice in October, and thanks to you, I am even more excited!!!!! :D :D :D

 

Thank You.

 

Anne

[maxs mom]

As always Jane, this is a wonderful review and I am travelling right along with you and John. Wish we could be doing it in reality instead of virtually! LOL

 

Thanks, Karen! We've got to cruise together again soon. Wish we could go with you on the Enchantment.....y'all have a great trip. Let us know when you are cruising again and maybe we can join you! Oh wait......I'm still working! Soon, my friend.......soon!!

[maxs mom]

Jane,

 

just wanted to compliment you on your fantastic review and pictures.

 

We are sailing on Grandeur from Venice in October, and thanks to you, I am even more excited!!!!! :D :D :D

 

Thank You.

 

Anne

 

Thanks, Anne!

You will have a great time on the Grandeur. I would love to go in October!! You should have lovely weather.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Jane: That was so nice of you to ask the other family to join you. They would have been out of luck!

 

Yes--355 does sound like a great deal to me. We wish now that we had sailed on RCL more and Carnival and Celebrity less. The perks for diamond and D+ are very worthwhile.

 

Love your review.

[CRUISEMAMI]

Jane, I love your review, as always!!! But this one it's the best: I was born in Tuscany, so those pics made me want to go back!!! And the pics from Rome???? OMG.... The one from the Appian Way??? That's very, very close were I lived, when I lived in Rome!!! Walked the Appian Way, every Sunday and went few times to mass at the San Sebastiano church!!! Thanks for the memories!!! We had lots of picnics, after church, on the side of the Appian Way!!! Right were the Old Appian Way and the New Appian Way meet, is were my neighborhood was: it's called Quarto Miglio and means 4 miles from Rome Center!!!!

Wish that Vinny showed you were Gina Lollobrigida lived or lives, don't know if she still alive, but she lives/lived right in the Appian Way... I worked right beyond her house, and walked to work every day!!!

Again, I love your reviews the best; and BTW, the Grandeur was my FIRST ever cruise (Apr 5, 1997) and I fell in love with cruising!!!

Have a good one,

Franca

[maxs mom]

Jane, I love your review, as always!!! But this one it's the best: I was born in Tuscany, so those pics made me want to go back!!! And the pics from Rome???? OMG.... The one from the Appian Way??? That's very, very close were I lived, when I lived in Rome!!! Walked the Appian Way, every Sunday and went few times to mass at the San Sebastiano church!!! Thanks for the memories!!! We had lots of picnics, after church, on the side of the Appian Way!!! Right were the Old Appian Way and the New Appian Way meet, is were my neighborhood was: it's called Quarto Miglio and means 4 miles from Rome Center!!!!

Wish that Vinny showed you were Gina Lollobrigida lived or lives, don't know if she still alive, but she lives/lived right in the Appian Way... I worked right beyond her house, and walked to work every day!!!

Again, I love your reviews the best; and BTW, the Grandeur was my FIRST ever cruise (Apr 5, 1997) and I fell in love with cruising!!!

Have a good one,

Franca

 

Franca! How neat! Wish you had been with us. You could have told us lots of cool stuff! You would love what they have done to the Grandeur.

[PCWalton1]

Jane,

Bringing along the other family was such a terrific thing for you to do. That family will talk about you for years to come. :)

 

Bill

[Malabar]

Thanks Jane, Loving reading this review & seeing photos. We are going on the Grandeur from Vience to Barcelona in October, It will be our First cruise to celebrate our Silver (25th) wedding anniversary. We wanted to travel back to Dubrovnik where we had our honeymoon, so seeing your photos brought back many happy memories we are really looking forward to it. Any tips for first time cruisers?

Regards

Anita & Bryan (UK)

[maxs mom]

Thanks Jane, Loving reading this review & seeing photos. We are going on the Grandeur from Vience to Barcelona in October, It will be our First cruise to celebrate our Silver (25th) wedding anniversary. We wanted to travel back to Dubrovnik where we had our honeymoon, so seeing your photos brought back many happy memories we are really looking forward to it. Any tips for first time cruisers?

Regards

Anita & Bryan (UK)

 

Glad that you will be celebrating your 25th on the Grandeur. Be sure and get the Specialty Restaurant Package and pick one of the restaurants for your anniversary "date".

Here is one cruise tip that I always give everyone.......take a full sized bar of soap with you. Those little slivers that you get on the ship just don't cut it!