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Royal Princess July16-31 Greed Med Review

Travlin grrl

By Travlin grrl,
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Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

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Up early to do an excursion of Lourmarin and Aix-en Provence on our own.

It's a really cute village where every few steps is a photo oppurtunity. Nice boutiques and art galleries where we bought wine, lavender soaps, perfumes and souveniers. There is a Castle that is at the beginning but we only had 2 hours there. The charge was 6.90 for adults and students 4.00. I was afraid that if I went in there I wouldn't have much time for the village so we opted out and that was a good decision because we spent the full 2 hours roaming around. On the way back we stopped off for gelato and (you guessed it) free wifi. I felt it was appropriate to try the lavendar gelato which was actually pretty good.

 

*On to Aix -en Provence where we were dropped off by the Apple store which was *our landmark, then on to explore for 2 and 1/2 hours. We found a cafe down a narrow alleyway to have lunch which was pizza all though I really wanted to try crepes someplace. Sometimes when you're hungry you just quit looking and settle for what ever is close by. *It was a cute place with good food and we sat outside as par for France. There are little alleyways and lots of little stores to see. *We were just about to buy some olive oils and thought about luggage. We can't put it in our carry on and were afraid to check it even though we have hard side suitcases so opted out. I really wish I would of bought some in hindsight, but next time I should prepare myself and bring some ziplock freezer bags and then wrap them in clothes. Afterwards I came around the corner and there it was. A restaurant with every crepe imaginable, but now I wasn't hungry.*

 

*All in all it was a nice day and the little village was just as I had imagined a little French village to be. Every store with natural stone walls, *colorful shops with flowers hanging outside and art gallery's sprinkled thoughout. Goodbye France.*

*Tomorrow is Italy.*

I'm going to try photobucket next as that is where I downloaded pics to but also have been working on my blog w/pics because I do know how to post there.

travlintheworld.blogspot.com

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Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

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I almost forgot my sea day which was after Gibraltar before Marseille. This is a port intensive cruise so there is one sea day per 7 days. So this is our day to *sleep in and relax. Oh yes and do laundry. If it's crowded on one floor you can always go to another floor and get lucky. And you may be really lucky if you don't get your clothes in time and someone actually folds your clothes. Which happened to us and luckily they didn't just throw them up on top.

 

Ater meeting our "Cruise Critic" friends/travel partners at Meet and Greet *we went to Croooners for a BOGO for a dollar. Then up to "the Retreat" to lay out in the sun and have our drinks. It was unusually windy so you needed to hang on to your hat. One thing I noticed on this cruise was a lot of people either saving tables or chairs unusually long. One instance was during the chamgpagne ceremony. On the Royal it's a larger area then most ships. We found a table with almost empty glasses and asked the couple sitting next to them if this table was taken. They said no , so we sat down. *About 1/2 hour later *a man came by with his wife and said that this was his table as well as another large one that his little girl was sitting at. All I said was that the adjoining people said no one was sitting there but to not cause problems we got up and left to go to the show. So as we walked into the Retreat area we were walking over to 2 lounge chairs no towels on them and just as I was about to sit down a voice behind me said " Oh I was going to sit there" It was like one of *those "what? moments ....are you for real?" It was so incredibly windy we decided to let her have these seats and we were holding 2 drinks each and didn't want a mess so we went where it was covered and not windy to at least have one drink. Then when went back to get a lounge chair and had no problem. We decided if this was to happen again we will just say, "Yes these were our chairs that we actually were sitting/holding on to also". If we are there first we will just sit down. The last thing we want is any sort of confrontation on the ship.

 

On to the Captains Circle party to meet the captain and free drinks. The drinks aren't the strongest but that's okay, it's still fun to go and see who has the most sea days, which I think was over 900 days. After that*is Crown Grill which is nice to do at least once during the cruise. We go for the lobster and feel like we need to roll out of there after everything we ate.

 

We went to see David Copperfield the comedian, not the illusionist, and he was great. Not only was he funny but he played the guitar and sang.*

Tomorrow is Marseille (Marsay) I kept wanting to say Mar-sigh.*

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Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

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I haven't given up on photo bucket just yet. All my pics are there, just having a hard time getting them to load on the site. In the meantime my attached thumbnails and blog address I'm trying to keep up with.

http://travlintheworld.blogspot.com/2016/08/sea-day.html?m=1

And the main page http://www.travlintheworld.blogspot.com

20160717_104829.jpg.4973045f43d947df1b6014e836875c75.jpg

20160717_120007.jpg.42d1a282af05e0677d59aaf2b908aec8.jpg

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Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

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Genoa seems like a pretty city but I heard about Cinque De Terre from a Rick Steve's video. I was going to do it on my own until someone warned me about the trains not always being on time or reliable and being that it was an hour and 1/2 or more each way I didn't want to chance it. I had visions of missing the train or not getting back in time.*

 

So I booked a Princess excursion for an all day excursion that would visit 2 of the 5 villages. Even driving out to Cinque Terre it is beautiful with villages and steeples sprinkled through out the hills and mountains. The best tip I can give you is to sit on the right hand side going there. That has the best views. *We were running behind schedule becuase the ship came in late so we arrived at Manarola and walked down the hill snapping pictures along the way. This is the town with all the houses stacked upon each other in varying pastel colors that you see photos of all the time. When we got to the bottom we were shuffled on to the ferry to take us to the next village which was Montersosso. I was a little dissappointed that we didn't get to spend any time there as I thought we were going to be there an hour, but I'm guessing since we arrived late plans had changed. Too bad because that was a photographers dream.*

 

It was a bumpy, wavy ferry ride over to Monterosso which took about 20 minutes or so. Monerosso is also a beautiful place where we spent a few hours. We went over to a little cafe for wine tasting with the tour and *after that were on our way to be on our own. Beautiful village with crystal blue water that you can actually see the bottom. We had lunch in a little cafe and souveiner shopped till it was time to go back. My husband bough a ring from a craftsman on the side who custom fit his finger and now he wishes he would of bought one more becuase of all the compliments he gets on it. A train will take you back to the bus as no cars are allowed in the villages. You have to take the train from village to village or if you have more time you can hike from village to village with great views as it is now considered a National Park. But that would be good if you were there for a few days. A very serene beautiful place that you see in all the photos. I'd like to spend more time there and see all the villages.*

We take the bus back to the ship down a very narrow hairpin road and the bus driver honks around the corners to warn oncoming traffic.

 

Aboard the ship by 5:30 p.m.*we take a quick shower, go to the restaurant and eat then see the production show "Colors of the World" . One thing I noticed about this theatre (which is different from the other ships) there aren't side aisles so people have to got down the center and in front of the first row to get to the other side. I'm not really sure why they did that unless maybe more seats. It was a great show and it's always amazing to watch how well these shows are always put together.*

Time for bed, tomorrow is Florence.*

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Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

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I used Rome in Limo after reading other reviews about this company and I can't tell you how much I loved them. Everything was great. We did have 8 people but 2 had to cancel so 6 of us went on our journey to Florence. However he asked if we wanted to drive through the Tuscany scenery and visit a vineyard. Well of course we do. So we did a real quick tour of the winery and bought a bottle of wine and went on our way. Florence is extremely packed with tourists in July so having this guide was immensely helpful. We pre -bought our tickets on line and Vinnie pulled up really close to the ticket office, helped us exchange our voucher for tickets and knew a friend who got us in after a short wait in front of the long lines. We did a quick tour of the Accademia for the "Statue of David' and came out to meet him and went to a little Italian restaurant for Ravioli, lasange and Caprese salad. Vinnie gives us every option imaginable. Do you want something quick, sit down, pick your own, he'll pick one, inside or outside?

 

After that we had on our own to go see the Douma and walked down to the famous bridge to take photos and souviener shop before we got back on the minibus.

 

Then we drove to Pisa to climb the tower. They only sell tickets 20 days before the date and they go really fast. Lucky for us we got them and climbed the 275 (I think) steps to the top. You willl actually feel wobbly walking into the main room and going up the stairs. It was a bucket list wish and I did it. Then of course we had to go take the "I'm holding up the tower" and I have the "tower between my fingers" picture. Oh and one more quick stop before we get back to the ship. The best gelato shop in town. We each got a gelato and hopped back on the minibus to get back to the ship.

 

They have replaced Karaoke with "Voice of the Ocean". Tonight was the finale in the Princess Theatre. It's a close variation of the one on T.V. The tryouts are 2 days in the Vista Lounge and the top go to the live show. There are 3 judges who pick their favorites and the passengers vote for the winner. It's actually a pretty good show and entertaining but the theatre isn't packed.

We had an amazing day and can't wait for tomorrow for Rome with the same company.

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HRPro

HRPro

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Thanks for the review--looking forward to more. I'm taking the Athens to Barcelona cruise next summer, so will be interested in following along. Loved Barcelona on our last Mediterranean cruise several years ago, and can't wait to go back.

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Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

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We have another day with Rome in Limo to see *the Colisseum, the Vatican, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and other city sites. *We have a minibus with 8 people and our driver Nik (thanks Nolagrrl for the info, we had HIB) *and head out to the Pantheon in the early morning and the streets are quiet with not too many tourists out. We visit the Pantheon and the church close by and also picked up a dozen rosaries at the souviener table for 10 euros. It had the Popes pictures on one side and the vatican on the other. Then we drive through the Beverly Hills of Rome before heading over to the Colisseum.

Best tip ever#Pre buy your tickets online for anything that you can.*

Definitely pre buy your tickets otherwise you will have to stand in a really long line to buy them. Our driver dropped us off right in front and we stood in the shortest line for reservations and turned them in for tickets. This is *the height of the tourist season so everywhere is super crowded. Once we got in we went to the top and circled around taking photos and then went to the lower level to take photos. Because we had limited time I had all ready down loaded the "Rick Steve's Euro guide " app and listened to it before I even went there. It helped me explain to my family what we were looking at. We came out and our driver pulled up to whisk us away to the next destination, but first a quick lunch. We went to a small hole in the wall pizza place that was really reasonably priced and sat outside to eat. Actually my husband said it was his favorite pizza so far and I can't remember the name of it. *Once we left there we were on our way *to the Vatican and Nick stopped off at a souvenir shop for a restroom break and the entertainment of him arguing with another driver over a parking spot was something I wish I would of video taped. After arms in the air and exchanging words he came back to say "well, we-ah worked-ah it-a out-ah " . I said " Are you sure? Because he is still giving you stink eye". We chose to take the private guide for the Vatican otherwise we would never get through it all in 2 *and 1/2 hours. We also pre ordered our tickets on line and turned them in for the real tickets and she got us on our way. Auroura *knew a lot of history and was able to get us through the whole thing in our time frame. The Sistine Chapel is amazing and you are not allowed to take pictures or even talk. Being the busiest time of the tourist season I don't have to tell you how that worked out. Every 5 minutes or so I would hear over the speakers "Silencio...grazie" ( Not sure how you spell that) and everyone would quiet down for ...oh, about 30 seconds then back to normal level. One of the highlights is that we got to walk through the "Holy Door" into the Basilica which is only open once every 25 years. *Rome for a day was a whirlwind and we had a great experience .....loving RomeinLimo.*

Back to the ship to shower and eat.This is the 7day break where a lot of people get off and new people get on.*

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Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

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Thanks for the review--looking forward to more. I'm taking the Athens to Barcelona cruise next summer, so will be interested in following along. Loved Barcelona on our last Mediterranean cruise several years ago, and can't wait to go back.

Thanks,

So you will probably be doing the reverse of what we did. I would do this cruise again because there is so much to do in each port.

It was my first time in Barcelona and my second to Athens. However it was about 20 years ago for Athens and boy has it changed.

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Travlin grrl

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This is our 3rd tour with Rome in Limo and our 5th day of full excursions and are all pretty wiped out. We woke up and walked out to thunder, lightening and pouring rain. Our driver was a little late but we eventually found him and poured into the minivan for another adventurous day. The first 2 minivans had the tall head room and Nik's even had wifi. This one didn't have either but we are all okay with it. There are 8 of us this time , 2 in front , 3 in the middle and 3 in the back. The driver decided to go to Positano first since it was further away and possibly not raining there. So up the mountain along a scenic beautiful drive looking down on Sorrento with the most beautiful views but no where to pull over we missed that photo op but do pull over on the other side of the Amalfi coast which is more towering cliffs and ocean views down to the other side. *I don't know how many hairpin curves there are but I thought I heard the number 75, we arrive in a tiny seaport village to walk down small narrow steep alleyways through boutiques and art gallery's and end up at the beach. We are there for I think about one and *1/2 hrs*to shop and take photos and go back up the hairpin curves to Sorrento. I will tell you that the best photo oppurtunity is the Sorrento side towards the top but not many places to pull over. When we did pull over it was the Amalfi side and even though it is beautiful there the better side is Sorrento.

 

I'm not going to lie to you, I felt a little motion sickness by the time I got to Sorrento so instead of Pizza just had a sprite while my family ate and found the little alleyway to go shopping. Off of the Main Street if you turn towards the ocean down an alleyway you will see more alleys of great little shops and even better prices than the Main Street. Found a Christmas ornament, t-shirts, wine and even some lemon fudge. I know it doesn't sound good but it really was. My husband is the type that if he samples something he usually buys it. The ornaments were hand made there and hand painted on the inside the date/place.

 

After a little over 2 hours there, on to Pompeii. *The driver recommended we get a guide and there were 8 of us. Since we previously decided on no guide we weren't prepared for the option and opted out being there were 4 in our group which would be more than the other groups of 2 each. We told them they could do it but we would decline. We were there for only around 2 hours which is really not enough time to see everything and also know that even though guides are a wealth of information it would of slowed us down even more with our little time frame. We decided that we would come back some other time and spend a full day there with a guide to really enjoy it. It's a lot bigger than you would expect and there is no way to get the full picture of it in only a couple hours. I think when you do it the first time you really go a quick pace to see as much as you can and then decide what you would like to immerse your time in if you come back. Yes I thought Positano and Sorrento were beautiful and I love to take photos and go shopping but I think I would of really liked to spend the day at Pompeii with a guide and not rush through it. Another reason to come back.

 

At the end of our tour Diego our driver presented me with a bottle of Limoncello for booking the 3 tours with Rome in Limo. OK I love them even more now!

Back on the ship we shower, eat and head over to round 2 of "Voice of the Ocean" tryouts. One girl is amazing and I all ready know she will win doing a Whitney Houston song. Tomorrow is a sea day and I can't tell you how much we are all looking forward to it as the last 5 days were long excursion days.

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Travlin grrl

Travlin grrl

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This sea day is much needed after 5 full port shore excursion days. So that means we get to sleep in and do some much needed laundry.

Our Cruise Director is Ron Goodman who is funny and entertaining. That has to be a hard job and you do have to have that natural comedian personality.

We go relax out by the pool and watch Zootopia. I love movies, my DH not so much but he actually likes this one. Especially the characterization of the sloths at the DMV and how slow they are. And because I'm a kid at heart I like those kind of movies.

 

It's British Pub Lunch today and as much as I love it and want to go to it, I ate a late breakfast so am too full. Darn! So we just relax most of the day by the pool and finish up laundry because tonight is Formal night. And we have noticed that usually the 2nd formal night is Lobster so we are excited for that. Most times I am too full for dessert and I eat it anyway. But towards the end of the cruise I skip dessert at the dining room and if I want some go later to the Horizon *court where late at night there is no one there and a lot more choices.*

 

I go look for some photos in the gallery which there are a lot more passengers on this ship so a lot more to go through. I know I'm in the minority when I say this but I love to do the photo with the characters getting off in the ports. I think it's funny but the hard thing is everyone looking in the camera when they take it because it happens so fast.*

 

There is British Invasion midship in the piazza and of course it's crazy because everyone loves the Beatles.*

 

My DH has decided to get into cigars. So the Churchills lounge is on Deck 6 which is smallish and only a couple cigar smokers with more cigarette smokers. I thought the other ships had more of a restaurant style lounge which this isn't. You can also smoke on the aft underneath the Outrigger. I'm not a smoker so we don't hang out too long and sometimes I leave. Especially in the lounge. There are fewer pools on the Royal and there is not spa/jacuzzi in the aft of this ship.*

 

A great relaxing day and night on this Sea day.

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