Review of Mediterranean Cruise - 14 Days on NCL Spirit May 4-18, 2017 (with photos)

[NMLady]

Loving your photos. We first saw La Sagrada Familia in 1991 when no fence or crowds but only outside viewable. After seeing outside several times over the years we finally were able to see inside last year. Awesome!! Your photos of it are excellent. Thank you for sharing.

[Kfoot]

A Mediterranean cruise is on my bucket list for late 2018 or around May of 2019. I've heard that in May the weather can be "iffy". So I'm not quite sure when would be the best time to go. How was the weather for you? So far it seems you had good weather. Also, did you do your currency exchange at home or can you do on the ship also? Looking fwd to the rest of your review.

[SeahawkSiren]

Tuesday, May 9 – Cagliari, on the island of Sardinia, Italy. We did not have a ship excursion here and did our own thing. But first things first. Time for breakfast to get some energy we will need for the day with all the walking we did!

 

I think some fruit, blueberry pancakes and bacon will do the trick.

 

 

 

Arriving in Cagliari

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

We walked up to see the ancient Roman Amphitheatre but the entire thing is fenced off so we could only view it from outside the fence. It was built in the 2nd Century AD.

 

On the way up to the amphitheatre we came across this beautiful church, Chiesa di San Michele, which we visited as well. It was off on a side street so we stumbled across it by accident and it’s not even listed on the “points of interest” brochure we had. It’s amazing what you can find once you get off the main streets away from the crowds of people! And there were 5 cruise ships here that day so there was a ton of people!

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

The Roman Amphitheatre

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

We then went to the Bastion of Saint Remy only to find out they are currently doing a lot of restoration work so several areas were blocked off. Bummer!

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

After a lot of walking in the morning it was time for lunch at Trattoria La Pirata, a nice little sidewalk spot where we enjoyed some great food and drinks!

 

 

 

 

A unique hull design on this ferry, the Moby Tommy, we saw after lunch on the way back to the ship.

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Getting back to the ship was a real mess! This port really needs to get organized. There were 5 cruise ships total that day and everyone was trying to get back to their ships at the same time. None of the shuttles had signs for particular ships, it was just a free for all. People were pushing, shoving and yelling. :rolleyes:

 

There were also policemen attempting to “keep the peace” and trying to get people to board the buses in an orderly fashion. Good luck with that. We made it back to the ship with all limbs intact! :')

 

Goodnight from Cagliari

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

A Mediterranean cruise is on my bucket list for late 2018 or around May of 2019. I've heard that in May the weather can be "iffy". So I'm not quite sure when would be the best time to go. How was the weather for you? So far it seems you had good weather. Also, did you do your currency exchange at home or can you do on the ship also? Looking fwd to the rest of your review.

 

We had spectacular weather for the majority of the trip. Had a very little bit of rain (not even raining hard enough to need an umbrella) for just a few hours in Barcelona and then a little rain in Rome on our last morning on the way to the airport. Other than that we had a lot of blue skies and temperatures in the 70's and 80's for most of the trip. And May is still considered shoulder season so the crowds were not what you would expect to see in the summer months.

 

We did our currency exchange at home and then also hit an ATM in the Naples, Italy cruise terminal. I don't know if you can exchange currency on the ship or not.

[SeahawkSiren]

Wednesday, May 10 – Valletta, Malta. WOW! I can easily say that Valletta is one the most beautiful and picturesque cities I have ever sailed into/out of. Just absolutely stunning! I think only Venice has topped it for me as far as beautiful sail in/out. The Grand Harbour was just so, so beautiful. It is the largest natural harbor in all of Europe. Valletta has been on my bucket list for a long time and I am so glad I got to see it. It was one of my favorite ports on the entire cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

We did not have a ship excursion here either. We visited many places on our own. Valletta is not a large city and is very doable on your own.

We first stopped at the Upper Barrakka Gardens. There is a lift near the cruise terminal that you can ride to get up there. I can't remember the exact cost to ride the lift but I think it was only 1 or 2 Euros per person.

 

Views from the gardens

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Amazing architecture in Valletta

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Unfortunately we were not able to visit inside Saint John’s Co-Cathedral as apparently the President of the European Council (or so we were told) was visiting there complete with a motorcade so the general public was not allowed to enter at that time. There was also a lot of scaffolding for restoration work taking place at the cathedral.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Just loved walking around the streets of Valletta. Never a dull moment or lack of things to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

We also went to Fort St. Elmo, best known for its role in the Great Siege of Malta in 1565.

 

 

 

 

 

Views from the fort

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

We had lunch at Rampila Restaurant. This will go down as one of the most memorable meals ever. The setting was so unique.

 

We sat at an outdoor terrace surrounded by limestone walls which were part of Valletta’s original fortifications. The interior portion of the restaurant is covered by a limestone ceiling. There is also a glass bottom floor in the wine bar where you see an old wine cellar below. A very beautiful place.

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

After lunch on our way back to the ship we got a view of the restaurant from the other side. How cool.

 

 

 

Back to the ship!

 

 

Goodbye Valletta. Thank you for a wonderful day.

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Thursday, May 11 – At Sea. Our second of three at sea days.

 

I had my first ever massage on a cruise ship (and probably my last) on this sea day. The spa on this ship was not very inviting. I enjoyed the massage itself but it went quickly downhill after that when the massage therapist tried the hard sell to push $400 worth of "change your life" products on me. Maybe this is standard operating procedure in cruise ship spas but I was not impressed with that. Not a great way to end my massage experience.

 

The spa "relaxation room" as they called it while I waited to be called back for my massage. Not very relaxing and very dated.

 

 

We had dinner at Teppanyaki on this night. Always a fun time! The chef was great and had a good sense of humor. All of our table mates were also nice and we all made conversation with each other.

 

 

 

Good night from another at sea night with a full moon to boot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Friday, May 12 – Piraeus (Athens), Greece. We arrived in Piraeus at 7:00 a.m. Of course going to see the Acropolis was going to be the focus of this port stop.

Sunrise as we were arriving in Piraeus. Another beautiful day on tap!

 

 

 

We did not take the ship excursions to the Acropolis. There were 2 other ships in port in Piraeus that day so we knew that the Acropolis was going to be packed. We were one of the firsts off the ship in order to make the early 7:30 a.m. X80 bus in the hopes of getting to the Acropolis before all the masses showed up on tour buses. That worked out so well as we arrived at the Acropolis right at 8:00 a.m. when they opened so the first 2 of the 3 hours we were there we had very little crowds to contend with. The bus fare was 4.50 Euros per person. Athens is about 30 minutes from the dock in Piraeus.

[SeahawkSiren]

Our very first look at the Acropolis, a glimpse of what was awaiting us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]