Semi Live, Semi, amusing, Semi Fun Trip Report from Rome and the Epic!

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I am a bit confused here. We embark from Barcelona tomorrow on the Epic...tomorrow is the 10th correct?

 

OP is not currently on the cruise. She did not purchase an internet package so the beginning of her review was "semi-live" but the rest is a post-cruise review. :D

[cincicruisers]

Wonderfull review! Thanks for sharing.

[AmR87]

I just thought of a question about your wine tour....did you happen to notice if the wineries will ship bottles of wine home for you so you don't have to pack them in your luggage?

 

They sure do! It wasn't cheap though, I want to say it was around 90 euros for three bottles.

[AmR87]

I am a bit confused here. We embark from Barcelona tomorrow on the Epic...tomorrow is the 10th correct?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Correct, this is delayed. I refuse to pay for Internet on the ship!

[AmR87]

Day 11 sea day

Finally, a day of relaxation! We were able to sleep in until about 830. I went to sit on the balcony, but our lovely new neighbors lovedddd to smoke out there. I know I could have called, but by the time anyone would get to us, the cigarette would be gone. Plus, I'm not really an enforcer of things when I'm out, so I let it be.

 

I preordered breakfast today and had lovely gluten free eggs Benedict and blueberry muffins. By the time we were done with breakfast it was about 1030. In the back of my mind, I knew we were not getting chairs but we tried anyway. Well, we walked the whole ship and just a lot of towels and books on chairs. I really wish NCL would actually enforce their one hour rule. It's not my job to watch to see how long someone has been gone for. This was probably my biggest pet peeve of the trip and it was the only time I felt like one of 4100.

 

We gave up and went to our rooms. Captain came on and said around two we would be going through the islands in the Mediterranean. We decided to try again outside and found a little open couch. It made do for the time being while I read and listened to music. Hubs decided to walk around a lot while mil stayed in her room. She said that she wasn't feeling too well and has a massage booked for 430.

 

We went to the buffet for lunch which was okay and insanely crowded. We gave up on the deck 15 idea as it was just too many people. We ended up at the martini bar where we said we would just get one drink and go to the room to relax. Well, 4 drinks and 3 hours later, we were laughing and having fun with others. I realized it was 430 and we were supposed to be at the ice bar at 600, so we left our new friends and went to the room to shower. Hubs drank too much so he laid around while I got ready for dinner. I was fine and dandy, which is surprising.

 

Hubs ended up not wanting to get up, so I had to tell everyone he wasn't good to go. I met my mil and offered to go to the buffet with her. It was seafood night, everything looked fine. I just had some shrimp cocktail in Hopes that my other half would feel better later.

 

I went back to the room and he was still just laying there. I brought him a ginger ale and semi forced him to drink it. Eventually he came around and we were able to go to the main dining room around 8. Dinner was great as usual. I had gluten free scallops, shrimp, and creme brûlée. However, since we both had many adult beverages today and an 8am pick up for the morning, we decided to call it a night.

 

Drinks tried today

Mimosa 3

Tequila sunrise 3

Cherry vodka Sprite. 3

French raspberry 5

Pistachio martini 5

Japanese martini 3

Apple blossom martini 3

[AmR87]

Thank you. Yes, I'd like to get his email address. I'm traveling solo, but will see on my roll call if there are others who would like to share transport to the port. I can imagine it was an uncomfortable situation when you'd already paid and he said you hadn't! Yikes!

 

 

 

I'll take a look at it. If I were going to book with the ship, that's the type of tour I'd choose. I wouldn't want to be herded around with a group that size, but since it's mostly free time and they provide the tickets to the next town and instructions, it could work for me. Thanks for the details.

 

 

 

That's it for now, but I may have more as you go along. :D Thanks so much!

 

I was on the Epic in March and really enjoyed her. This was my first cruise on a ship her size, and I didn't know if I'd like it. I was happily surprised. :D

 

 

Here's the info for you!

 

Honey Singh

Honeycarservice at gmail.

 

34-339-1988849

[AmR87]

Day 12 Naples

We had quite a day planned for today. I booked a private tour with Ap tours for 340 euros for the three of us. I felt it was well worth the money and actually hundreds cheaper than the ship.

 

We went down for our pick up at 8 and he was right on time. We left for the amalfi coast right away. We drove along the coast, which is stunning. Our first stop was postiano. We were given an hour to walk around this beautiful town. We tried some espresso and the lemon drinks there, both of which were fabulous. We did a little shopping too. We met our driver back at the meeting spot to go to our next stop.

 

He stopped along the way to take photos and answered all of our questions. He then asked us if we wanted free time in amalfi or in ravello. We chose ravello and I'm so glad we did. There was barely anyone there and it was a nice change of all the tourists.

 

We stopped for a fabulous lunch, where I just said senza glutine and they said they will take care of it. I didn't really get to order, but what they brought me was amazing. It was a tomato cheese pasta with veggies. I also had a two euro glass of wine. The whole bill with the service charge was actually only 30 dollars for the three of us. I was very happy in this little town.

 

After lunch we drove to Pompeii. I would highly recommend not doing this. It was way too much to do in a day and I didn't get to see nearly what I wanted to in Pompeii. I would choose one or the other for a day trip. I guess that just means I need to come back to Naples!

 

My mil was hungry when we got back on the ship, so we went to the buffet to get her some food. It was Italian night, which looked fine. Not really a gf friendly environment though, so I had some cheese and opted to wait for the dinner I ordered in taste.

 

Hubs and I went to dinner and asked for Roy again. Tonight I had a gluten free version of the pecan crusted chicken and it was fabulous. NCL really outdoes my expectations with gluten free food. I wasn't ever told no on this cruise, which is truly to be appreciated.

 

Hubs and I walked around after dinner and watched some of the games. We decided we wanted to enjoy one last night on the balcony so we went back. As for an aft balcony- it has really cool views and they are very private. Biggest negatives? We backed into every port and our room would vibrate every morning until we parked. Sometimes it was for 15-20 minutes. This was usually around the time we had to wake up anyway, so it was fine. However, if you're a late sleeper or light sleeper, I wouldn't recommend the room.

 

No drinks today... Tired of drinks

[GozzyM]

Loving your review so informative.

Quick question do you know how much the massage your Mil booked was on board?

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Here's the info for you!

 

Honey Singh

Honeycarservice at gmail.

 

34-339-1988849

 

This is for transportation from Rome to the port, right? :)

 

 

Day 12 Naples

We had quite a day planned for today. I booked a private tour with Ap tours for 340 euros for the three of us. I felt it was well worth the money and actually hundreds cheaper than the ship.

 

Your tour sounds great. Thanks for the advice on not trying to "do it all." Does AP Tours customize their tours if they're not shared?

 

Thanks!

[AmR87]

Loving your review so informative.

Quick question do you know how much the massage your Mil booked was on board?

 

I believe it was 170 or 180 for a 50 minute hot stone massage. This included the 18% added gratuity. It was the special on the sea day.

[AmR87]

This is for transportation from Rome to the port, right? :)

 

 

 

 

Your tour sounds great. Thanks for the advice on not trying to "do it all." Does AP Tours customize their tours if they're not shared?

 

Thanks!

 

Correct, we used honey for both from the airport to apartment and from the apartment to the port!

 

I'm sure they would customize! Even our driver seemed pretty flexible on everything. He stopped where we wanted, asked where we wanted to go first, etc.

[AmR87]

Day 13 disembarkation

 

Sad day- time to get off the ship.

 

 

We took our time getting off the ship as our pick up was not until 930am. We went for breakfast at 815 as our paperwork said we needed to get off by 9. We got off right at 9 and still saw a bunch of luggage. I guess we could've prolonged our stay for another twenty minutes or so. Oh well

 

I prearranged our ride for 88 euros through bobs limos. He came early and the ride to hotel Tiber was fine. I was only upset when the driver demanded money after I had already paid online. I refused and whipped out my iPad to prove I did. He got mad at me and goes 'well I call Sophie then!' (She's the person who runs it I guess). They talked back and forth for a while and then he gets off the phone to say yes you paid. Well no duh, I'm the one who provided the paperwork! I guess not everything can go without a hitch. After rereading my paperwork too, it said don't repay a driver if you already paid, call us. Now it makes me wonder how many of their drivers are demanding pay to unsuspecting tourists.

 

We had decided on hotel Tiber near Fco for a few reasons. The rooms were very large, close to the airport for our early Friday flight, room was much cheaper, and it was a different area to explore.

 

The overall hotel is beautiful. Our room actually had two balconies and a whole separate area with a sofa bed for my mil. Not total privacy, but okay for a day And a half. If you need a room for one night near Fco, I would definitely stay here.

 

We didn't really do much today. We laid by the pool for a bit, walked around, and lounged. This area feels much more authentic than Rome though as there is very little English and all stores follow the open for lunch and close for afternoon schedule. Unfortunately we were all hungry by 6, so we ended up eating at the hotel.

 

Our meal was fine, but I feel like I missed out on the seafood. Our bill was 77 for two drinks, water, cappuccino, calamari, risotto and two pastas. I thought the price was very fair for hotel prices.

 

We returned to our room and watched the sun set and got ready for bed. I booked a car to Ostia antica for tomorrow to give us something to do.

[AmR87]

Day 14 hotel Tiber

Originally we ended up booking the extra day because nonstop flights on Thursday were insanely expensive or had layovers, which my mil said she wouldn't do. I found this hotel on hotels.com and it looked nice, had a pool, was by the airport for our early flight on Friday, so I booked it.

 

We went to the included breakfast, which was very good. They even had a drawer of gluten free items! I'm actually excited to have it again tomorrow for breakfast. The waitress even snuck me some to take on our day trip today. So sweet.

 

Our driver came right at 10 to take us to Ostia antica. It was 35 each way, charged to our room for about a 20 minute drive. We luckily asked the driver about getting back home before getting off. He knew very little English but we figured out he could come back at 245 for us. I'm so glad we asked because I could not see any taxi stands anywhere.

 

Ostia antica is quite a gem. No people, no crowds, lots to see. I enjoyed our time here and felt like it was well worth the trip to go. I mean our pictures have no people in them. How awesome is that!?

 

We went to the little cafe inside the area which was actually quite good! Our total was only 35 euros for three drinks and three plates of food. It is cafeteria style, but everything i got was great.

 

We were picked up promptly at 245 and brought back to the hotel. We showered and waited for 730 to roll around so that we could go to dinner.

 

It was our last night, so we decided to go all out. We started with two martinis each in our hotel, then walked to a cute little seafood Restaurant. This seafood as out of this world. Their house wine was amazing too. Our whole bill he was only 88 euros, which I couldn't believe. I would suggest to stay at the hotel for a night just to get some great seafood!

 

We then walked down the street and got some gelato and cappuccinos. I was quite.... Happy... At this point and I needed to go back to the room. My hubs and mil continued to walk around while I spent some time in the restroom. Oh how I like to go out with a bang!

 

We went to bed early as we had booked the hotel transfer for 6 a person to Fco at 7 am.

 

Day 15 home again home again.

 

Well this time always comes and I'll leave it short and sweet.

 

Time to go home.

 

We left our hotel at 7am. We were in and to our gate in under 1 hour. I would say the airport is the only place I experienced truly rude people. For example, one man asked if I wanted to complete a survey and I said, what for what? He told me American Airlines survey, to which I said no thanks. He then raised his voice at me and said you should have just said no in the first place! I was really ready to get on the plane at that point!

 

It's amazing how months of planning go by in a blink of an eye. I was so glad to have done a trip like this to see what I liked and what I didn't like. I am very much looking forward to the day I can go back to Europe. It's very beautiful and different from home.

 

I love my home, but I love Traveling just as much.

 

There's always something new to see.

[AmR87]

Up next.... Pictures!!!

 

I'm currently working on uploading and organizing our 1000 pictures from the trip. I'll share as soon as. I'm done.

[AmR87]

Here are some pictures from our first day in Rome.

 

Trevi Fountain

 

First Sunset from Apartment

Gelato!

 

Pantheon

 

Piazza Navona