WOW a million times wow! 9-26-14 on the Reflection

[jamona2311]

The jogging/ walking path. Could get a bit crowded if its busy with sunbathers.

Mast grille. Good burgers Ive heard.

Top deck with lots of places to relax and enjoy being outside.

Basketball court

 

One of the kid club areas

[jamona2311]

The arcade looked like fun!

Stairwell art.

 

 

Aqua spa cafe

The solarium

[jamona2311]

The main pool area

Comming out from the elevator area to the main pool area. I love these walls with the bottles behind the yellow glass.

When you walk into the Ocean View Cafe youll see the bar/smaller version of the coffee shop.

Ocean View Cafe

From the OVC looking out to the outside aft dining area. There is a staircase that goes up to the Sunset bar from there.

And this is it!

[jamona2311]

Eating area in the OVC

I always liked this. Cafe themed "shadow boxes" in the food stations

Is it a daisy or a fancy egg sunnyside up??? hha

 

 

The atrium tree

Stairwell art. Seriously I am leaving some out but I just really loved all the art on the ship.

[jamona2311]

A cozy place to hangout in the Hidewaway

 

 

An elevator area. It is seperated from the hall way, so if you have a room near by there really isnt a noise issue.

i lounge

The roots of the tree and looking down into the atrium

[jamona2311]

 

 

 

Before you get to the Ensamble bar you go though this cute room. There were even flowers on the ceiling

 

Ensamble lounge. Most of the specialty restaurant as well as Blu are this way

Looking into Murano

[jamona2311]

Take a walk through the "woods"

 

 

Qsine. We ate here on the last night of the cruise, so that story has yet to be told.

 

 

Looking into Tuscan grille

[jamona2311]

This was a really cool piece and Ive put in 3 picture of it. It starts as a black canvas and this little "live" person comes out and makes a little circle that gets bigger and bigger until its a complete picture

So then the tiny "live person is standing in the picture they created and he starts a fire in the woods....

The fire catches the picture on fire and it burns it all away until it is back to the black blank canvas. Really neat. Its ouside of Blu I believe.

Blu is beautiful. I would have loved to have eaten here once but it is reserved for Aqua Class rooms and maybe a few suite guests

 

Ahh theres my nice inside shot of Tuscan Grille

[jamona2311]

Walking up to Cafe al Bacio

The tea pots on the wall behind the baristas were really neat!

Ping pong in the Celebrity Central area.

Some gift shops near the Molecular bar

The passport bar in the Main Atrium area

The outside of Bistro on Five

[jamona2311]

The Opus Dining Room

How can one not be impressed by this two story wine rack. Hmmmm wonder if DH would make me one???hha

Peak a boo I see you!!!!

Coming up on Cellar Masters

 

 

 

[jamona2311]

A peak into the casino

A quiet Martini Bar

 

 

The atrium

As I was making my way around the Sunset bar I saw something in the sky....a water spout it turns out to be. We all stood around watching it and taking pictures. It was far enuf away and nobody seemed to be worried that it would come any closer. I dont know, but it looks like a tornado to me, I would think it would act like a tornado, but I watched it get smaller and all but fade away so no worries.

Mom and I meet in the OVC for lunch as they announced a special buffett/brunch for that day. I guess its supposed to replace the big brunches they used to have in the Main Dining Room. I can say I saw a couple of Ice sculptures but nothing like the pictures I had seen in other reviews. It was also soooooo crowded. The food was good and we still enjoyed our lunch together.

The rest of my day was spent at the pool, or in the spa when it started to get rainey out ( better now than on a port day huh?? hha, what luck!

For our second formal night we went to Opus again and I had this yummy blue cheese souflee and the lobster, other than that I dont remember.

Afterwards when mom went to bed I did stay out. I was gonna make the most of a good nights rest on last night, so this was my night to have some fun. hha.

So, off I went to the Molecular bar and tonight it was Lucky Cat. Oh boy, I was never gonna make that whole bar menu now, at least not without getting completely tipsy and that is never a good thing. I start to think Im cute and get terribly flirty and I think Im especially smart. I call it the " I feel pretty" stage. Not something I should be doing as a married girl hanging out on a cruise ship all by herself. If I get flirty with my husband thats fine, lol.

I found another drink somewhere else and went off to Reflection-The Show. This is one that I really didnt want to miss ( per CC reviews) as it had the ariealists and the contortsionist,and a guy who did really cool stuff with a ladder and then a large hoop. Sorry about the blurry pictures, camera issues again. I just cant seem to get the setting right in darker situations.

After the show was over it was off to the Atrium for the So You Think You Can Dance Like The Stars show. LMAO!!!!! this was sooooo funny. As it got to the end these people were doing whatever it took to win, not that any of them were professional dancers by any means. They even were told by the judges that they had to do impressionistic dance.

They played the theme from Titanic and the stuff these "dancers" came up with had me laughing so hard my face hurt! One couple ( the one I liked but came in second) even threw up both of their hands on a pillar trying to make it seem like the Car Scene from the movie, if ya know what I mean, so funny.

After that I did go off to bed. This was also the night we turned our clocks back.

Hmmm I cant seem to find my pictures from that night. I thought I had them in snapfish but theyre not here :( I guess well just end the sea day right here......oh noooooo that means we only have one more day left....I dont want our trip to be over......

[fxcarden]

Thank you for your sweet comment! Im glad youre enjoying the review. Sometimes it hard to tell if its going well so comments ilke yours are much appreciated :D

 

I really hope you do get to do a trip like this. It was amazing, everyday was a Wow day. I really am greatful to my mom for wanting to do this for us.

 

 

Could you post your itinerary so I can show my wife. Looks like you did a few days on land before the ship. We've been thinking about Venice or Rome first, then sail from there. There used to be a Barcelona to Venice itinerary, but I don't think it exists anymore.

[mlrandpkm]

Thank you so much for this incredible review and photos....I'm really enjoying it!

[YVRCanuck]

Loving your review and your photos. I apologize if this has already been answered, but can you tell me what camera you are using?

[berkyvdr]

So cool you got a picture of the waterspout! We heard about it, but were on the wrong side of the ship.

 

Oops, posted this twice and although I can hit "edit" I cannot seem to delete.

Edited December 21, 2014 by berkyvdr
double entry

[berkyvdr]

A waterspot caught a lot of attention this morning. Do worry it kept its distance. So cool to watch.

 

So cool you got a picture of the waterspout! We heard about it, but were on the wrong side of the ship.

[jamona2311]

Thanks for your comments everyone! :D I cant believe Im almost done. Thanks so much for your patience as I know its taking me forever to post it all!:o

As far as my camera (no it hasnt been asked;)). I used my Nikon Cool Pix S6500 and my iPhone camera. Most days I would run out of battery power on my Nikon so I would finish out the day with my phone! hha

Surprisingly my iPhone took some really great pics, some of my favorites in fact. Also I was kinda doing a facebook vaca blog so the phone made it really easy to post to FB when I had some internet.

More coming up some time today. Gotta get some work done first......

[jamona2311]

Could you post your itinerary so I can show my wife. Looks like you did a few days on land before the ship. We've been thinking about Venice or Rome first, then sail from there. There used to be a Barcelona to Venice itinerary, but I don't think it exists anymore.

 

Hi there!

If you look at the first post of the review you can see our itinerary. :)

[fxcarden]

Hi there!

If you look at the first post of the review you can see our itinerary. :)

 

 

Duh.....what an idiot I am. Anyway, so you did Rome round trip with stops in Greece, and the rest by land. I get it now.

 

(starts plotting while suppressing evil laugh)

[jamona2311]

Saturday, October 5, Naples

Good morning Napoli! Ahhh Ive been waiting for this day. Pompeii has been on my bucket list for quite a while.

Mount Vesuvius from our balcony! How cool is that!?!?!

The usual port day breakfast and we meet our group at the Passport bar at 7:15.

This tour was with Aldo Limos and was arranged by Travis and Sophie. The plan for the day was Positano, Vesuvius and Pompeii....is this what we got????

We actually disembarked from Cellar Masters today! Wierd , but necessary as I guess Naples port must be a lot higher???

Anyway, once we came out we met Tony our driver for the day. This guy was Italys Vince Vaughn! I mean he looked and sounded like him, at least to me. It was crazy. I should have videoed him talking.

Tony informed us that the park where Vesuvius sits was on strike that day so no going up to the top for us. So ironic for a couple that was with us said they had been here 4 years ago and the same thing! Maybe its not meant to be guys?? Tony was able to take us up as far as he could get to the entrance of the park, so we had to settle for that.

Vesuvius kitty

Its sad how much garbage is there along the roads leading up. I guess its a popular place for lovers to go and hangout too....provided Vesuvius doesnt blow its stack again and ruin your romantic night.

[jamona2311]

Apparently, there is a red zone around Vesuvius, as shes not done reaking havoc yet. Yet people still build houses up toward the still active volcano. I mean I know the view is nice and all over the bay of Naples but did you forget whats in your back yard?!? Anything for a view I guess....

Moving on, we head towards Positano. We decide to catch Sorrento on our way back since we ran into the stike issue. This makes me happy as I was hoping somehow we would have time for Sorrento this day.

 

 

Theres Sorrento down there.

 

On the road to Positano

What a drive along the Amalfi coast! stunning!!

[jamona2311]

I was eventually the navigator ( I sat in front with Tony) and that is the place to be if you drive up the Amalfi coast. Wow how amazing was this. It was another picture fit moment, although they really didnt compare to what I really saw, so Ill spare you most of them.

Im sure glad Im not driving!! Eeek!

Positano is lovely, this Im sure you already know, as well as very expensive. Tony mentioned we might want to save our souvenier shopping for Sorrento.

We were given some time to walk around Positano and ran into a lot of other CC friends that we knew from the ship Its funny like that, the whole cruise, either on the ship or in port we always ran into people we knew.

We did end up buying something, a canoli. We could smell wonderful things from outside and followed our noses into a bakery. Our Positano souvenier didnt last long! lol. At least I also got a magnet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jamona2311]

 

 

 

We left Positano and wound our way back along the coast to Sorrento. Tony gave us ideas on where to eat and shop and we were set free again. He lives here so Im sure he went home for lunch or something.

Mom and I decided to go to l'Abate for lunch which is also a cooking school ( one of Tonys reccomendations) The food was very good, one of the best Cabonaras I had on this trip. We also both enjoyed the outside view on another wonderful day.

 

[jamona2311]

Now it was time to find some Lemmoncello! We headed down the main drag where everything yellow was for sale. You can get tipsy trying all the free lemoncello samples in all of the shops. Melloncello was good too!

It was fun walking around, there was a lot going on, even a guy singing out side a cafe trying to draw people in. We even got some gelato on our way back to meet Tony. Maybe as good as the gelato we had in Rome close to the Trevi.

 

you guessed it! Sorrento kitty!! hha

Sorrento monster Lemons next to walnuts.

 

[jamona2311]

Time for Pompeii, I was bubbling inside I was so excited. I got to sit in the front seat again and as we made our was there, Vesuvius was in full view. It was really starting to effect me. I couldnt keep my eyes off of it. I think just knowing what it did all of those years ago and knowing it could do it all over again made it suddenly seem so ominous. I kept looking like it was gonna go any second. A sleeping dragon just waiting to wreak havoc again.

Out side of Pompeii we met out guide, Manuel??? I dont know, he called himself a few names, hha. He got our tickets and we breezed in.

Once inside I was all hands. I just had to touch everything to know that I was really here, really in Pompeii. I had done this touchey feeling thing all through out our trip. Like seeing it and being here wasnt enuf, I had to touch it first hand like I would somehow absorb it all better and maybe take something of it home with me for the rest of my life. IDK, Im just a silly girl like that.

 

The small theater with original flooring still in tact.

 

 

See the three bumps in the middle of the street. Pompeii had its streets washed regularly you could still cross without getting you sandals wet. Also, only Pompeii chariotts would fit through these bumps so if you came here with your personal transportation you couldnt drive it through the streets!