Solo in a Studio; Epic Western Med 7/6-7/13

[Powriv]

Very much enjoying your review.

 

I am thinking about doing this same cruise Oct 2015 and had a couple of questions

 

Did you have trouble communicating with the locals? Was English widely spoken in the tourist areas of Barcelona and at the port stops?

 

Was it expensive for the train passes? Eating? Entrance fees?

[Sparkles87]

Subscribing :)

Loving your review - on Epic a week today and getting very excited!!

[Zhane's mum]

Great review, keep it coming :)

[glittergal1]

I have booked a studio cabin May 31st 2015 and I am excited already :D

[CoffeeGoddess]

Very much enjoying your review.

 

I am thinking about doing this same cruise Oct 2015 and had a couple of questions

 

Did you have trouble communicating with the locals? Was English widely spoken in the tourist areas of Barcelona and at the port stops?

 

Was it expensive for the train passes? Eating? Entrance fees?

 

I found it was fairly easy to communicate and that most people had a smattering of English outside of the shops. In the shops and restaurants near tourist sites most everyone spoke enough English that with a little pointing you could understand each other. I can only think of the cab driver in Barcelona and the person in the bakery in Cannes that didn't know quite a bit of English. If you can though, I would suggest learning some common phrases from an online site or book to help you out.

 

I didn't think the public transport was expensive at all. Check out the Europe Ports board here on Cruise critic for information on transportation costs. I can't remember the exact cost of my T-10 ticket in Barcelona but it wasn't much. The BIRG ticket for Italy was, I believe, 12€, and the Naples ticket was about 12€ as well.

 

As for food, it really depended on what and where you ate. I never had a meal over 25€ even with drinks and picking up a sandwich and drink was usually between 7 and 12€. Of course I didn't sit out at a tourist area on the exterior seats either but would eat at the counter or do a take-away. Gelato was consistently around 1,50€ to 2,50€ for the small cup and usually went up about a Euro for each size. A beer was anywhere between 4-7€ and bottled water was usually cheap.

 

As for entrance fees, you can find those for whatever you were planning to do on the websites. It usually paid to get reserved tickets for the big attractions, you can learn about those in most travel books and on the ports board.

[ColinIllinois]

Enjoying these pictures. More please.

[bobg529]

Thanks for the excellent review so far. I hope your foot feels better. Nothing better than a spa pass after a long day seeing the sights!:)

[Powriv]

I found it was fairly easy to communicate and that most people had a smattering of English outside of the shops. In the shops and restaurants near tourist sites most everyone spoke enough English that with a little pointing you could understand each other. I can only think of the cab driver in Barcelona and the person in the bakery in Cannes that didn't know quite a bit of English. If you can though, I would suggest learning some common phrases from an online site or book to help you out.

 

I didn't think the public transport was expensive at all. Check out the Europe Ports board here on Cruise critic for information on transportation costs. I can't remember the exact cost of my T-10 ticket in Barcelona but it wasn't much. The BIRG ticket for Italy was, I believe, 12€, and the Naples ticket was about 12€ as well.

 

As for food, it really depended on what and where you ate. I never had a meal over 25€ even with drinks and picking up a sandwich and drink was usually between 7 and 12€. Of course I didn't sit out at a tourist area on the exterior seats either but would eat at the counter or do a take-away. Gelato was consistently around 1,50€ to 2,50€ for the small cup and usually went up about a Euro for each size. A beer was anywhere between 4-7€ and bottled water was usually cheap.

 

As for entrance fees, you can find those for whatever you were planning to do on the websites. It usually paid to get reserved tickets for the big attractions, you can learn about those in most travel books and on the ports board.

 

Thanks for the information, much appreciated

 

Looking forward to rest of your review

[CoffeeGoddess]

Florence Day 7 - 7/10 - This was one of my favorite stops. This time I decided to get the NCL "Florence on your own" excursion which was basically a bus trip into the city and then back to port. During my trip planning I had figured that at that time I would be ready to just let someone else worry about getting there and I was right. They dropped you off near the river and then walked us to the Piazza Santa Croce right in front of the church. As soon as I knew what the meeting time and spot were I busted out of there before they did their spiel to try and sell whatever the shop was selling. Another solo cruiser I had previously met in the solo meetings had the same idea.

 

The first thing I did I was hit a Pharmacy for some ibuprofen. Don't ask me why I didn't do that several days ago because I really don't know. I guess I kept thinking the pain would get better but after Rome it was worse. My next stop was the Bargello museum for some sculpture and artifact goodness and it did not disappoint.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately I realized at that point that I had forgotten to charge my camera battery. So it was cell phone pictures for the rest of Florence. After reviewing the displays (it's a small museum, used to be a prison and they only have two floors open) I went out and headed towards the Uffizi gallery to get some pictures of the sculptures outside. Now I did not go into it or the Academia because I knew that I would spend the entire day in one of these. So I determined I would just have to come back and see more of the city this trip.

 

 

It was very crowed outside the Uffizi:

 

I decided to head up towards the Domo and found an interesting site:

 

 

Yep, the entire Baptistry building was under cover and being renovated. I had not heard about that but it was only mildly disappointing since the Domo itself was still open.

Edited July 21, 2014 by CoffeeGoddess

[CoffeeGoddess]

 

 

Then it was time for a gelato break and I went to the one that Rick Steves talks about in his Renaissance walk (I was doing a backwards one of that from the Uffizi); Grom gelato.

 

 

It was some of the best I had in Italy. That's extra dark chocolate, pistachio and apricot. I picked the chocolate and pistachio and the server suggested the apricot. It was an excellent suggestion.

 

I then walked over to the Piazza della Repubblica and up to the rooftop cafe at the department store there for a great view and lunch.

 

 

Tip: go up for the view and maybe a drink or pastry. Don't bother with lunch. The meal was meh.

 

I then headed down to the Mercato Nuovo to find the bronze boar. He was swarmed with tourists but I was able to rub the snout and do the coin in his snout thing. So I guess I've guaranteed my trip back to Florence, eh?

 

 

I picked up some souvenirs for the family but sadly not from the stall below:

 

[CoffeeGoddess]

I wandered a little more and mailed a post card to my mom from the post office set up like a DMV (2€! what a racket!). By that time I was ready to sit down and have some wine and some more ibuprofen so I started looking for a nice little wine bar. Coming around the Piazza della Signoria again I headed off towards the northwest corner and down the next street to find tables in a little alley heading towards a wine bar, di Frescobaldi.

 

 

The waiter was friendly even when I told him I was just looking to have a glass of wine. He even brought munchies with my glass of local red while I checked in online.

 

Well, I then had to have a glass of white and asked him to recommend a good local one. He picked a good one and I wound up buying a bottle to take with me.

 

 

From there I wandered down to the river and then started back up towards the meeting place since it was getting around that time.

 

 

Stopping for another gelato from a different place along the way.

 

 

What can I say? I was in Italy; I ate gelato.

 

I was a little early and just a little after I got to the piazza a quick rain storm wipped in and the downpour brought out people trying to sell you umbrellas and ponchos. I really don't know where they came from, since they were there so quickly. Maybe they were following the rain clouds.

 

Most people just took refuge in the stores there and it was over quickly.

 

 

Our guide rounded us all up and it was back to the bus for a ride home through some beautiful countryside.

Edited July 21, 2014 by CoffeeGoddess

[tinyrose]

Thanks for the review. Love your pictures! Brings back memories of our trip. Looking forward to more.

[CoffeeGoddess]

Thanks for the excellent review so far. I hope your foot feels better. Nothing better than a spa pass after a long day seeing the sights!:)

 

Thanks!

 

It was feeling better once I got home and had a chance to stay off it and elevate it. I also wore completely different shoes when I went back to work from what I wore while walking. So it was doing great until I did a little too much today in a dance class. But it's already feeling better so I'm hoping it was just some muscle thing and it will continue to improve.

 

The spa was the best after getting back from walking all day! It really wasn't busy either for the most part and I was always able to find a chair on the balcony.

[Fifi1910]

Enjoying your review. You got us looking over the balcony at H20.

I recognise you from the cruise, saw you a few times and had a feeling you were from the roll call ( wish I'd said hello now ).

We had posh pass for the week, apart from the windy sea day we were there every day it was blissfully quiet.

Looking forward the rest of your review.

[janpo]

Great report and pictures!!

 

Sorry about your foot. That happened to me walking in Vegas last year. Mine is plantar fasciitis. Google and see if your symptoms are like that. I stilll have it after a year but its slowly getting better.

[Elmartellama]

Nice review, thank you!

[zounds]

Thank you very much. I've enjoyed your "journal" immensely.

[CoffeeGoddess]

Continuing on, when I got back to the ship it was spa time. I have to say that being able to soak my foot was the best and I was glad to have spent the money on the spa pass.

 

Since I'm at work and don't have access to my photos I'll take this time to just give some miscellaneous information before I move on to Cannes and Palma.

 

Studio Cabin - The cabin was a perfect size for one person. The only real issues I had with it were I would have liked an actual chair to sit in on occasion. Having a double bed was nice but I could have done with a single. Yes, there was a small stool under the desk but there wasn't that much room. I suppose I could have moved the desk out with the stool to the foot of the bed and then put it back but it just seemed like a bit too much.

 

Additionally, the shower was a bit small. It was perfectly fine for washing but I had to step out of it to shave my legs. Also, and I had read about this before, the water temperature kept fluctuating from hot to cold. It would stay fine for a little bit and then it would get really hot (never enough to burn just a surprise) and then swing down to colder and then back to where I had it set.

 

The only other issue I had was that you could hear people fairly easily through the walls and the opposite cabin door. I did bring ear plugs though so I made use of them when I was sleeping.

 

Laundry - I took advantage of the laundry special this time and was pleased with it. My clothes came back cleaned, pressed, and either on hangers or neatly folded. It was great to have more clothes to choose from and to not have to do a large load when I got back home.

[CoffeeGoddess]

Alright, let's finish this up.

 

Cannes Day 8 - 7/11 - This was the day we ported in Cannes and it was a tender port. If you wanted to tender from when we ported (about 8:00am) to about 11:00am then you needed to reserve a ticket and use that. After that time it was a free for all with the last tender at the dock scheduled to come back at 5:30pm.

 

I had planned to take the train to Antibes today but with my foot still hurting I decided to just bum around close to the tender port. So I didn't set any type of alarm and got up around 8:30am so missed pulling into port. It was a great view of the shore and you could see the tenders running back and forth.

 

 

They opened the tenders to everyone a little before 11 and I got on the first open one. It was quick ride to the port and then a jam getting out the gate since another ship was also tendering. The port area did provide maps of Cannes which was good since this and Palma were the only ones I didn't have already. One of the things on the map they showed was were you could find pay toilets like this one:

 

 

I did not use one so I cannot comment as to how clean they are. I was able to find free ones while I was there. The tender port was fairly close to downtown with just a short walk around the small port to get there.

 

 

There is a spot right were you came out of the port that rented bikes, scooters, and cars and I was sorely tempted to rent one of their awesome Vespas. However, even though it was only 50€ for the day, they required a 1,500€ deposit on a credit card for the rental. While I had that available, I just didn't want to do it so I limped along to the downtown are to search out wifi and perhaps some wine. I wound up with neither in town since I could not connect to the three wifi spots that were available to me. The only time I got wifi was when I got back to the tender port and they had free wifi available for everyone at the port. Both NCL & RCL provided wifi and passwords there.

 

I did find some cute little hotels that were back a bit from the sea. I can say that I would probably stay in one of these simply because of how they looked at the entry.

 

 

Edited July 25, 2014 by CoffeeGoddess

[CoffeeGoddess]

I also decided I might want to check out the beach clubs and go for a swim if they weren't too expensive. However, I had forgotten my swim top on the ship so I was looking for a store that sold separates for swimwear (and that had my size). Amazingly enough I found one and was able to pick up both a top and bottom for 25€ due to a sale they were having.

 

Since I was back in the town area I decided to grab something for lunch and then head back to the sea. Nothing was really grabbing my attention for lunch so I just stopped at a little bakery by an outdoor market place and had a sandwich with one of their brownies. It was a good decision.

 

 

 

 

 

The lady at the counter didn't speak much English but was more then happy to open the sandwiches to let me see what was on them. They also had this little stand that looked like a change machine that you put your money into and got your change back after they rung you up.

 

It was then back to the seaside to see what the beach clubs were charging for a chair and umbrella and it was not what I wanted to pay, especially for only a couple of hours. I took a quick stroll in the surf at the public side of the beach and then headed back to the tender port. I headed straight to the spa when I got back and that was basically the day.

[CoffeeGoddess]

Palma Day 9 - 7/12 - This was the last day of the cruise and we didn't port until 1:00pm so I again slept in as much as possible and but was up on deck for lunch and to watch us port. Now this port was were they offered a pay shuttle service ($12.00 RT) from the port to the city center. However, you did not have to take the shuttle. Many people walked from the port into town but it certainly was a lit of a walk and it was a warm day. I took the shuttle because I wanted to do a beach day and while it didn't get me right to the start of the beach it got me close.

 

Here's the drop off point right in front of the cathedral:

 

It was then a walk along the walk & bike way they have along the seaside to get to the beach. There was a small section of public beach, a beach club, another long stretch of public beach, and then more beach clubs. I went for the first one since I liked the little beach and it was close. I paid 25€ for a chair which included a towel, an alcholic drink, and a bottle of water. It was money well spent for me.

 

The little public beach, which was topless by the way:

 

Anima Beach which was very relaxing and the public beach on the left:

 

 

 

 

It was great to swim in the sea and just relax and just what I needed. the only complaint I have about the beach club is that once they set you up they did not come back to take any drink orders. If you wanted something else you needed to go into the restaurant/bar and order it.

 

After relaxing there I started back to the shuttle drop off by walking up to the cathedral and then through a little bit of the town and back down. Back on ship I went and read in the spa for quite some time and after dinner started packing.

Edited July 25, 2014 by CoffeeGoddess

[CoffeeGoddess]

Disembarkation & flying back Day 10 - 7/13 - Disembarkation was really easy. I got up, packed my little bag with everything I didn't put in the big one, had breakfast and then left the ship. I did wait a bit at the baggage belt until my bag came around but man is that sucker long! I the went out to await my shared shuttle which I had booked online and had put a preferred pick up time of 8am. And waited, and waited. Not having a working cell phone I couldn't call to find out where they were. I did ask another tour person if they knew the shuttle and they did and said "it's not time for them yet".

 

So I decided if they weren't there by 9am that I would just take a taxi and then try to get my money back when I got home. About 15 minutes till, the shuttle showed up. He had 9 people on his list to pick-up, including me, and I was the only one there. I'm guessing the others had the same issue I did where we were expecting to be picked up at a different time. So I was the only one there and he took me to the airport.

 

It didn't take very long to get my bag checked and then get through security. I then had about an hour and a half wait until my plane boarded to Heathrow.

 

Heathrow was one of the busiest airports I had ever been in but there were still areas to sit down. I spent my last 6€ in a delightful little chocolate shop.

 

 

I had to take a tram to my gate once it actually showed up on the screen and then boarding was fairly quick. By 7:15pm local time I was back in Las Vegas and home by 9:00pm. One of the things I noticed right away was that my ankles had swollen from the flight. This did not happen on the way there and I credit the lie flat seat for this.

 

Anyways, that's basically it. If anyone has any specific questions I'll be happy to answer if I can.

Edited July 25, 2014 by CoffeeGoddess

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

 

Laundry - I took advantage of the laundry special this time and was pleased with it. My clothes came back cleaned, pressed, and either on hangers or neatly folded. It was great to have more clothes to choose from and to not have to do a large load when I got back home.

 

Thank you for the review. Do you remember on what day was the laundry special? I'll have a few days of dirty laundry upon boarding and I am really, really striving to pack lighter this trip.:rolleyes:

[CoffeeGoddess]

Thank you for the review. Do you remember on what day was the laundry special? I'll have a few days of dirty laundry upon boarding and I am really, really striving to pack lighter this trip.:rolleyes:

 

I'm pretty sure it was Wednesday night and they picked it up on Thursday morning. You can always double check with your steward as well. There was a 50% off pressing special as well on Sunday when I boarded the ship.

[valleyvillage]

Your sweetness and generosity in posting this wonderful piece are overwhelming! Thank you so much.