Detailed Photo Review of Carnival Sunshine 12-Night Mediterranean Cruise 9/8/13

[mj]

Honestly, I keep going back and forth on if it was worth it to pay for the upgraded seats. One of the biggest advantages is that you get priority boarding in zone 1, but we booked with Delta AmEx credit cards, so we got priority boarding regardless. The seats have 4 inches of extra leg room... it was a noticeable difference (I flew on a similar Delta plane two weeks later in regular economy seats, and I could tell I definitely had more leg room on the Europe flights), but if the person in front of you reclines their seat, you will notice it despite that extra space haha

 

One thing I would highly recommend is that if you do the economy comfort, make sure there is at least one more economy comfort row behind you. We were afraid to be too close to the station where the flight attendants prepared their food, fearing it would be noisy when we were trying to rest, so we booked the last row in the economy comfort section. Unfortunately, what we did not think of is that the people in the row behind us didn't have any extra leg room... it was less than ideal to feel the knees of the man behind me digging into my back for the entire flight!

 

Thanks for the info! You given me some good tips.

[deladane]

Oh my, the Trevi Fountain was my favorite in Rome when I visited in May on the Carnival Sunshine. I am thoroughly enjoying & re-visiting these places with you on your fantastic review. I, too, used Rome in Limo for 3 tours in Italy. They are a top notch tour company. I can't wait for the rest of your day in Rome. Keep those pictures coming!!!

Thanks! I'm glad you are enjoying my review :) I always love reading other people's reviews when they are writing about an itinerary I have done before because it's fun to re-live my old cruises so I totally know how you feel hehe

 

 

Thanks for the info! You given me some good tips.

You're welcome! Let me know if you think of any other questions :)

[clearwatergirl]

Thank you for such a terrific review. I'm reliving my land trip of the Best of Italy. The Amalfi Coast, Capri and Rome were my favorites too! Hope to get back some day.

[deladane]

Thank you for such a terrific review. I'm reliving my land trip of the Best of Italy. The Amalfi Coast, Capri and Rome were my favorites too! Hope to get back some day.

 

Thank you! I hope to go back some day as well ;)

[deladane]

Sorry for the delay in posting the rest of my review. Life gets in the way sometimes! But anyway, let's get back to Rome...

 

After we got back in the van, Enrico drove us past a few other famous landmarks. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to walk/sit on the Spanish Steps and that we couldn't take 5 minutes to hop out of the van to take a decent photo of these iconic Rome sites, but I guess there were just too many other things we had to get to...

 

The Spanish Steps

 

The Victor Emmanuel Monument

 

We got back out of the van when we reached Circus Maximus and the Palatine Hill. Enrico explained a bit of the history, and even showed us a book with pictures of how it likely looked when there was actual a stadium there...

 

 

 

Up next, we drove to the Roman Forum, and we had about 20 minutes to take photos and walk through the museums on Capitol Hill to meet Enrico at the bottom of the stairs.

 

 

[deladane]

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

Incredibly, we had done all of that and it was still before 11am! Our next stop was the Coliseum. Enrico dropped us off and said to meet him at the Arch of Constantine in a few minutes while he parked the car.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the Arch of Constantine was half covered in scaffolding...

 

 

When I was planning this trip, my goal was to pre-purchase tickets to as many attractions as possible. My mission was accomplished with one exception: The Coliseum! For some reason, they never updated their website to sell tickets for any dates in September. I literally checked it multiple times every day, but for whatever reason, they never had tickets available for our date. I had emailed Jany a few times about the problem, and she said she was aware of it, that everyone was having the same problem, and not to worry about it. We told Enrico about it when we first met him at the port that morning, and he was able to purchase our tickets magically so that we had our skip-the-line passes by the time we arrived at the Coliseum later that morning!

 

After he parked the car, Enrico escorted us directly to the entrance. We literally had no wait at all, but there was a HUGE line waiting to get in (Enrico said they had at least a 2 hour wait! The skip-the-line passes were well worth the minimal extra charge!!) Enrico said to meet him at the van in 30 minutes, so I listened to the Rick Steves audio guide as I quickly walked around the first and second levels and took tons of photos. It was a bit rushed, but in the end, I don't think I missed anything by not staying longer.

 

 

[deladane]

 

 

 

The next part is a bit of a spoiler alert, so if you are planning to take this tour, you might want to skip ahead to my next post...

 

For our last stop before lunch, Enrico drove us to the top of a hill with several embassies. He told us to look through the keyhole in the doors of one of the buildings, and we had a perfect view of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica! Sadly, the Basilica isn't visible in my photos, but you can just imagine how cool it was to see it through that little key hole!

 

 

 

[Captain Carnival]

Incredible Pics - it's a virtual flashback to our LEGENDary Adventure in May!!!!

[deladane]

Ok, you can continue reading now if you skipped ahead...

 

Enrico gave us two options for lunch. We could get some take away food in a market or go to a sit down restaurant. Enrico said we had the time to sit down, so we chose the restaurant option. We went to a place called L'Insalata Ricca.

 

 

They offered very reasonable prices and a huge menu with many options for appetizers, salads, pizzas, pastas, and entrees. They also allowed us to do separate checks.

 

I ordered the brushetta with garlic and olive oil:

 

They brought out each dish from the kitchen as it was ready, but mine was last to arrive and came 15 minutes after the last person before me, so everyone was almost done eating by the time my dish arrived. The waiter said it was because we did separate checks, but that did not make sense and I think they probably just forgot about my dish.

 

 

I ate very quickly, and we paid and left to drive to the Vatican. We arrived at the back entrance to the Vatican at 2pm to meet our guide Marco. He has not given many Vatican tours before, but he was a great guide. He warned us that we would have to walk/run fast to see everything in just 2 hours. We had pre-purchased tickets online, so we went through the metal detectors and exchanged our vouchers for real tickets.

 

Marco took us through several rooms and halls, and stopped along the way to explain the history and art. It was very crowded inside, but Marco moved fast and dodged between people so we had to rush to keep up with him! It was worth it though because we got to see a lot.

 

 

 

[deladane]

 

 

 

 

 

[swim4lifekac]

When I was planning this trip, my goal was to pre-purchase tickets to as many attractions as possible. My mission was accomplished with one exception: The Coliseum! For some reason, they never updated their website to sell tickets for any dates in September. I literally checked it multiple times every day, but for whatever reason, they never had tickets available for our date. I had emailed Jany a few times about the problem, and she said she was aware of it, that everyone was having the same problem, and not to worry about it. We told Enrico about it when we first met him at the port that morning, and he was able to purchase our tickets magically so that we had our skip-the-line passes by the time we arrived at the Coliseum later that morning!

 

The same thing happened to us. We had seen the Colosseum before, but now they have the underground tour. We had already decided to do Rome on our own, and we really wanted to see the Forum again with the Palantine Hill, which we did not see last time and also the Colosseum since we were rushed on our last visit and again now they had the Underground Tour. Like you, starting in like July, I checked every day. Then two days before we left on September 6, Joel called Italy and got someone who also said the site was down, but we were able to purchase the tickets over the phone. There was a problem with one of the emails, so he called again the day before we left and we got them. What a bad time for the site to go down :p.

[rmandmm]

I've sat up late the past two nights with a glass of wine reading this review from the start to this point. It is absolutely fantastic!!

 

I've visited some of these places but now I feel like I really need to make plans to visit the others. We haven't made it to Rome yet, and I'm having an uncontrollable urge to stay up and start making plans for a trip!

 

Thank you!!

[jtagphillycruiser]

I must say this review is wonderful. I am re-living my Sunshine cruise from May. Wasn't that red marble bowl/tub amazing in the Vatican. My RIL tour did have us stop & take pics at the Spanish Steps but I do not remember making a stop to view the keyhole. I guess the tour guides try to mix it up. I look forward to each of your entries (no pressure on you to post). Take care & your trip with you mom will hold such awesome memories. My daughter is 24 and I want to do a trip with her in the future back to Italy. Have a great weekend. Joanne

[deladane]

I was amazed by the ceilings throughout the Vatican... I think I gave myself a neck ache by the end of the day because I spent so much time looking up!!

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

Marco explained each of the paintings inside the Sistine Chapel before we entered because you cannot talk inside. Unfortunately, no photos are allowed but it was incredible to view in person, especially considering Michelangelo had no prior experience painting before he did this project!

 

Once we left the Sistine Chapel, we made our way back outside and ended up in St. Peter's Square.

 

 

Marco lead us into St. Peter's Basilica. I was not prepared for how grand it is inside this building! The ceilings go so high and looking down the hall, it looks so majestic.

 

 

 

 

Marco showed us the tomb of Pope John the XXIII. I was very weirded out by it because his body is so well preserved despite him passing 50 years ago.

 

 

Marco then lead us out to the exit at 4pm, which was timed perfectly to see the changing of the guards!

 

[deladane]

I've sat up late the past two nights with a glass of wine reading this review from the start to this point. It is absolutely fantastic!!

 

I've visited some of these places but now I feel like I really need to make plans to visit the others. We haven't made it to Rome yet, and I'm having an uncontrollable urge to stay up and start making plans for a trip!

 

Thank you!!

thank you! Just don't let me be responsible for the overpriced flights to Europe that you may book while drinking that wine ;) haha

 

I must say this review is wonderful. I am re-living my Sunshine cruise from May. Wasn't that red marble bowl/tub amazing in the Vatican. My RIL tour did have us stop & take pics at the Spanish Steps but I do not remember making a stop to view the keyhole. I guess the tour guides try to mix it up. I look forward to each of your entries (no pressure on you to post). Take care & your trip with you mom will hold such awesome memories. My daughter is 24 and I want to do a trip with her in the future back to Italy. Have a great weekend. Joanne

Yea, I've heard that some of the RIL drivers take a slightly different itinerary than what is scheduled. Our day ended with a pleasant surprise which was not part of our original itinerary (stay tuned to see where we went!!) I think there probably would have been time for a 5 minute stop at the Spanish Steps, but overall we had a fantastic day and definitely saw way more than I could have seen had I done it all on my own!

[deladane]

Ok, let's try to wrap up the day in Rome! Here are a few photos from standing in St. Peter's Square...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

We met Enrico with the van on a side street right next to the Square. Our last stop was a bit of a surprise, as it was not scheduled on our original itinerary! Enrico took us to see Piazza Navona and to get some gelato. Marco gave us 20 minutes to see the square, take photos of the fountain featured in the drowning scene from Angels and Demons, and to buy gelato. It was delicious and the perfect way to end a fabulous day in Rome!

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the 1 hour drive back to the port, I read some of the information in the Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise Ports book to try to take in all that I had seen and learned all day. It is a jam-packed itinerary, but it was fabulous and well worth the extra expense over doing it yourself on public transit. We really saw all of Rome in 1 day!

 

We got back to the ship at 6pm and said goodbye to Enrico before boarding the ship to get ready for dinner.

[mj]

Wow! You covered a lot in one day. I had thought of doing something similar, but decided to spend 5 days pre cruise in Rome before boarding the Epic and hitting all of those sites. There was so much to do in Rome. Your guide did a good job of hitting all of the major sites with the time given.

 

Loved the pictures of the Vatican and looking forward most to seeing the Coliseum and the Vatican.

[pcvtmom]

We also had Enrico as our guide back in June. He was a great driver and very informative, as well! Sounds like your voyage on the Sunshine was as wonderful as ours. Fantastic review!

[deladane]

Wow! You covered a lot in one day. I had thought of doing something similar, but decided to spend 5 days pre cruise in Rome before boarding the Epic and hitting all of those sites. There was so much to do in Rome. Your guide did a good job of hitting all of the major sites with the time given.

 

Loved the pictures of the Vatican and looking forward most to seeing the Coliseum and the Vatican.

The Vatican and Coliseum were definitely highlights of the trip for me. When you visit the Vatican, make sure to look up... a lot!! The ceilings were absolutely amazing!!! I opted to spend my pre- and post-cruise days where the ship docked, but it would have been nice to spend a few extra days in Rome. My mom was there for a few days last October and she thought it was impossible to see everything I saw in just 1 day. She spent the 9 months we were planning this cruise trying to tell me it wasn't possible and she thought there was a mistake in the itinerary or something. It was really amazing to go back to the ship at the end of the day having seen everything on our itinerary, plus an extra unplanned stop at Piazza Navona!! I certainly didn't get to spend the time there that you will have, but it was nice to have a small sampling of everything :)

 

We also had Enrico as our guide back in June. He was a great driver and very informative, as well! Sounds like your voyage on the Sunshine was as wonderful as ours. Fantastic review!

Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying the review :) It was certainly a trip I will never forget!!

[deladane]

My mom got back from her tour at 6:30pm, and neither of us was hungry at all, so she called Irena in the MDR. Irena said it would be okay if we came to the late seating in the MDR. She sat us with our usual wait staff because one of the tables was empty as they ate at the Italian specialty restaurant. It was kind of funny to have a table for 8 all to ourselves, but we were grateful that she accommodated us and we could avoid eating from the buffet.

 

 

 

Mediterranean Seafood Chowder

 

Hawaiian Fruit Plate

 

Duck a l'orange

 

Dessert menu

[deladane]

Pistachio and Almond Clafoutis

 

We finished dinner at 9:30pm and we were completely exhausted! We were very happy we didn't have the late seating for dinner every night haha We went back to the cabin and were asleep by 11pm.

 

 

Up Next: "Under the Tuscan Sun" in Pisa and Florence!

[deladane]

Wednesday, September 18th - Livorno, Italy

 

Another early port day, another 6:15am wake up time, and another excellent burrito for breakfast! And again, we met our roll call friends in the lobby to get off the ship by 8am. Today would be the last of the 3 tours I organized with Rome in Limo, and we met our guide Rafaeli (Rafa for short) outside the port area with our oversized 8-person van. I think it was probably the same size as the 12-person vans we used in Athens and Izmir, but there were only 8 seats inside. It had a huge trunk space, so we suggested to Rafa that he should install a bathroom in the back haha

 

Once in the van, we drove for about 20 minutes to our first stop: Pisa! We arrived by 8:30am, and Rafa said we could have 45 minutes to walk around and take our photos. Since it was still very early, it wasn't crowded yet, but there were a few other tourists walking around. I really wanted to take the typical photo of holding up the Leaning Tower, but I was surprised to find out that it is really hard to get the right angle for the photo! We kept walking around to different sides of the tower, and after about 30 minutes, I finally figured out a good place to stand to get the right angle for the photo haha

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miracle Square