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

[SeahawkSiren]

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

What an amazing day!

 

We capped it off with dinner at Pasqualino al Colosseo near our hotel where we ate outside. I started with a glass of wine and DH started with a very large beer!

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Friday, May 19 – Still in Rome. Happy 10 year wedding anniversary to us! Spending our 10 year wedding anniversary in Rome! Our honeymoon cruise was also in the Mediterranean and we stayed in Venice prior to that cruise. Now here we are in Rome 10 years later. Life is good.

 

What does a couple do on their 10 year wedding anniversary? How about visit the Vatican/Sistine Chapel/St. Peter’s Basilica? We booked the “Pristine Sistine” Tour with Walks of Italy. Another outstanding tour with another excellent guide, Maria Teresa. Our group again only had 12 people (the maximum allowed). Our tour started at 7:30 a.m. and lasted approximately 4 hours.

 

We had to basically rush to the Sistine Chapel though before it was going to open to the general public so we walked through museums to get there, so here are some photos from museums.

 

We were able to go into the Sistine Chapel before it opened to the general public. You are not allowed to take photos while inside the Chapel so I do not have any photos of it (I respected that policy). It was so beautiful in there. A moving experience. We got to stay in there for about 20 minutes. It was incredible in itself to just be in the Sistine Chapel in the first place, but to also experience it not elbow to elbow with massive crowds of people! That experience alone was priceless.

[SeahawkSiren]

After the Sistine Chapel we visited the Vatican gardens and more museums.

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

At some point we had to walk back through the Sistine Chapel again (but were not allowed to linger the second time) to get to more museums. To go back through there the second time when there was a massive amount of people and compare it to the first time we were in there earlier in the morning, well, no comparison really. It was worth every penny for this tour to get to experience it that first time before the opening to the general public.

 

More photos from museums.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

 

 

 

It is a shame that the Vatican does not limit the number of people allowed to enter per hour as it would make for a much better experience. Later when we walked back through the museums (after opening to the general public) there were so many people that you literally could not stop to view and admire any of the artwork. I was literally snapping photos of the artwork as I was walking past them. Thousands and thousands of people at any one time. And dozens of private tour groups guides all talking over each other. Going through those museums was not a really enjoyable experience under those conditions.

 

Here is a glimpse of how many people there were. And in some areas it was much more crowded than this.

 

[SeahawkSiren]

St. Peter’s Basilica was the grand finale of the tour.

 

[SeahawkSiren]

View looking out from the entrance to the basilica

 

 

Holy Door

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

Inside the basilica

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

After we got out of the basilica there was a line so long with thousands more people waiting to get in. The line was easily long enough that it was going to take some of those people 2 or 3 hours just to get in! I was again so happy that we booked a private tour starting early in the morning. I can't imagine spending that much time in line.

 

This photo only captures a very small section of how long the line was (the line is in the background).

 

Our final night in Rome. For our anniversary dinner we ate at Li Rioni, a block away from our hotel. We were so exhausted with all the walking and standing at the Vatican we just wanted a nice, quiet little restaurant near our hotel. After dinner we enjoyed our last evening on our terrace back at the hotel. An unforgettable day for our 10 year wedding anniversary!

[Turtles06]

Hi SeahawkSiren -- Happy Anniversary! I'm so glad you and your husband got to celebrate with such a wonderful cruise. Thanks for taking the time to share it and your beautiful photos with us. (I know how long it takes to go through photos and upload them here. So thanks for all that time.)

 

I agree with you about Valletta -- what a magnificent harbor, and what a great port call. I'm sorry you were not able to enter the Co-Cathedral that day. Not just because of the Caravaggio, but also because the interior is so interesting. Fortunately, you did not lack for beautiful places or interesting sites on this trip!

 

I'm looking forward to whatever you are planning to write about your bathroom on the Spirit. I have to say, I was amazed to see tiles in a cruise ship bathroom! :D

 

Thanks again for another terrific trip report!

[SeahawkSiren]

Saturday, May 20. – Rome to Seattle. Well, now our vacation is officially over and it is time for our long flights back to Seattle.

 

The hotel arranged for our transfer to the airport (50 Euros).

 

We did not have good experiences with KLM Airlines. They cancelled both of our return flights without giving us any special notification. I just happened to notice one day while checking my email in one of the port stops that our return flights were scheduled for Sunday, May 21 instead of Saturday, May 20 as we had originally booked. So they cancelled our flights and just moved us to the exact same flights leaving 24 hours later. Not good. So we had to call them from the ship to get all this sorted out and ended up booking completely different flights home as we had to get home on the 20th, not the 21st.

 

It was nice just having a two leg journey back home (vs. the three leg starting our vacation). Our first flight was from Rome to Amsterdam. We had about a 2 hour layover in Amsterdam before our direct flight from there back to Seattle.

The pilot of our flight lives in the Seattle area and that was his final flight. He was retiring after 35 years so he got to choose his final flight. His wife was sitting across the aisle from me so we had some good conversations and I did get to meet the pilot. And the crew got a cake for him and his family was waiting for him in the airport when we landed. It was a fun plane ride home!

 

And flying from Amsterdam we flew over Greenland so I got some nice photos (well, as nice of photos as I could get through an airplane window)! Very beautiful scenery flying over all the snow and peaks and a nice way to end our vacation.

 

 

 

[SeahawkSiren]

General Thoughts on the Ship. We loved the Spirit, would definitely sail on her again. We also thought the Spirit was really the perfect size ship for the Mediterranean, not too big and not too small. The Spirit is a very classic and stately ship, nothing like the newer builds.

 

We also thought the layout on this ship was very nice with a good flow to it.

 

We had many excellent meals. No complaints from us about the food. We had great meals with our SDP and also enjoyed our other meals in the main dining rooms and the buffet. Beware of the almond sticky buns at the breakfast buffet, they are addicting!

 

We spent many afternoons/evenings up at the Bier Garten. Great place on Deck 13! Galaxy of the Stars on Deck 12 is another great spot!

 

For a ship that is nearly 20 years old we thought she was in really good shape for the most part. There were some dated aspects, like the spa as I previously mentioned.

Our cabin bathroom also really needed updating. The tiles in our shower stall were very old and worn, and you could see patch work where they had regrouted some of the tiles but not others. Not a good look. And the tiles on the floor of the shower had some little cracks/holes in them where some kind of black grit was coming out of them every time you stepped in the shower. Yuck! I had thought about taking pictures of it but did not as I didn't want it to take away from what an awesome vacation this was and how nice the Spirit really is. It just needs some updating in certain aspects.

 

We could also hear water sloshing around in the walls when in the toilet room. I don’t think this was a specific problem, maybe just the location of our cabin and how the pipes connect at that location, I don’t know. But it was odd and went on for the entire cruise, 24/7. It certainly was not loud enough to be distracting as you couldn’t hear it from anywhere else in the cabin other than the toilet room, but just more curious as to why you could hear it in the first place. DH and I laughed about it as time went on and just said, well it’s probably better we do hear the water moving through vs. not moving through the pipes.

[SeahawkSiren]

Final Comments. Another thing we really enjoyed about this cruise was the nice of blend of ports. It was nice to visit the more well known ports, but it was also really great to experience some of the lesser visited ports. This was not a mainstream itinerary.

 

Thanks to our great room steward, Rodrigo (“Rod”) from the Philippines. He was great and gave us excellent service for those 2 weeks! A very hard worker and also very personable. We enjoyed our conversations with him.

 

I cannot say enough good things about Walks of Italy for our tours in Rome! I had researched them before the cruise and they receive outstanding reviews. Very knowledgeable and well educated guides with advanced degrees in history, archaeology, etc. Gigi, our guide for the Colosseum was particularly outstanding and was very passionate in delivering the history and information about the Colosseum. Great sense of humor too. Very charming man. We booked our tours with them over 6 months ago over Thanksgiving weekend and received a 20% discount through their website for Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale. A nice savings. I highly recommend going on guided tours for the Colosseum and the Vatican. You get so much more out of the experience with the guides’ historical knowledge and giving color as to what you are seeing. And of course getting exclusive access to certain things and being able to skip the lines was awesome!

What a fabulous vacation! OUR BEST VACATION EVER (either cruise or land trip)! Absolutely wonderful experiences. And also some very humbling experiences as well. It was fascinating and humbling to be visiting some of these ancient sites and to see how people lived centuries ago. It is very hard to put into words. And it’s truly amazing that so many of these places are still standing today. A true testament to the building skills and ingenuity of the people back in ancient times. Mind blowing really. A truly unforgettable trip with memories that will last a lifetime.

 

Now, as many of us know, the only cure for depression when a cruise is over is to have another cruise to look forward to. Well, unfortunately we now have to wait a year for our next cruise. In June 2018 we will be experiencing our first ever mega ship! We are booked on the inaugural Seattle to Alaska cruise on the NCL Bliss! So excited! And how awesome that this ship will be homeporting in the Emerald City. Born and raised Seattle native here! Very exciting for us on the west coast to be getting a brand new ship! And we won’t even have to fly anywhere to go on this cruise. Even better.

Happy cruising everyone. Enjoy your cruises and your travels wherever they may take you.

THE END.

Edited June 10, 2017 by SeahawkSiren

[SeeUsoon@Sea]

GREAT REVIEW! And a Big Thank You.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[NMLady]

Thank you for taking time to share your cruise with us, especially the photos. I have enjoyed every minute.

[firstcruiseafterdisney]

Loved reading your entire journey and review of the Spirit! We are going on our first NCL 10 day cruise out of Rome in June 2018 and many of the ports are the same. Thanks for sharing!

[Joeydog1]

Final Comments. Another thing we really enjoyed about this cruise was the nice of blend of ports. It was nice to visit the more well known ports, but it was also really great to experience some of the lesser visited ports. This was not a mainstream itinerary.

 

Thanks to our great room steward, Rodrigo (“Rod”) from the Philippines. He was great and gave us excellent service for those 2 weeks! A very hard worker and also very personable. We enjoyed our conversations with him.

 

I cannot say enough good things about Walks of Italy for our tours in Rome! I had researched them before the cruise and they receive outstanding reviews. Very knowledgeable and well educated guides with advanced degrees in history, archaeology, etc. Gigi, our guide for the Colosseum was particularly outstanding and was very passionate in delivering the history and information about the Colosseum. Great sense of humor too. Very charming man. We booked our tours with them over 6 months ago over Thanksgiving weekend and received a 20% discount through their website for Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale. A nice savings. I highly recommend going on guided tours for the Colosseum and the Vatican. You get so much more out of the experience with the guides’ historical knowledge and giving color as to what you are seeing. And of course getting exclusive access to certain things and being able to skip the lines was awesome!

What a fabulous vacation! OUR BEST VACATION EVER (either cruise or land trip)! Absolutely wonderful experiences. And also some very humbling experiences as well. It was fascinating and humbling to be visiting some of these ancient sites and to see how people lived centuries ago. It is very hard to put into words. And it’s truly amazing that so many of these places are still standing today. A true testament to the building skills and ingenuity of the people back in ancient times. Mind blowing really. A truly unforgettable trip with memories that will last a lifetime.

 

Now, as many of us know, the only cure for depression when a cruise is over is to have another cruise to look forward to. Well, unfortunately we now have to wait a year for our next cruise. In June 2018 we will be experiencing our first ever mega ship! We are booked on the inaugural Seattle to Alaska cruise on the NCL Bliss! So excited! And how awesome that this ship will be homeporting in the Emerald City. Born and raised Seattle native here! Very exciting for us on the west coast to be getting a brand new ship! And we won’t even have to fly anywhere to go on this cruise. Even better.

Happy cruising everyone. Enjoy your cruises and your travels wherever they may take you.

THE END.

WOW, I just relived the cruise and loved seeing areas that we did not get to because we were on different tours. It was fabulous and I cannot wait for our next cruise which we do not have booked yet like you two. It was great fun meeting you and look forward to seeing you again somewhere. Please look us up if you get to Olympia. Laura and Bruce!

[pk_crusing]

Thank you for the great review and the pics of the ship, we will be on her in May next year.

[meremarflorida]

Thank you so much for this review. We will be on the Spirit for 12 days in April next year (Med and Adriatic - we did 10 day Western Med last year. Great way to see the sites). Can't wait for the Spirit esp after seeing your photos and review. Thanks 😊

[tweetylori]

What a terrific review and terrific pics, thank you so much! I know how much effort goes into doing these. Much appreciated! I want to go to Valletta!!!! :cool:

 

We sailed on the Spirit many years ago and it's kinda strange to not recognize any of it. I don't know if it's changed a lot or if my memory is its usual terrible self. :confused:

 

Anyway, thank you again for your hard work in posting this. And happy anniversary!

[goddessofchaos]

I eagerly read all of your posts and loved seeing the photos as well. I will be cruising from Barcelona to the Canaries Casablanca, etc. and the only port we will be duplicating from your cruise is Malaga. But I have been to Athens,Naples, Pompeii and Rome so it was lovely to revisit those places via your photos. We are booked in a guarantee BD on deck 9 and fingers crossed we don't have a problem cabin. I do have one important question about the Spirit cabins - what is the situation with electrical outlets? My first and only other cruise was on HAL Volendam which I heard was just a small step above the Spirit. That cabin only had ONE electrical outlet to share for everything. Fortunately I knew in advance to bring a power strip which worked out will so just wondering if I will need one on this ship as well.

Thank you for ALL of your information - especially on the restaurants. I will be celebrating a milestone birthday and plan to book dinner in Le Bistro for that night (I hope!) Loved the photo with the snail, and especially the full moon as well. Awesome and the tour of the caves in Malaga sounds like something I would really enjoy. Thank you again for taking the time to do this!

[jancl57]

Thank you for such a great review! We did the 9 night cruise on the Jewel of Seas last year. Am researching the Mediterranean cruises with NCL as we have 2 cruise next certificates to use. We really want more then the 7 night cruise on the Epic, so was looking for reviews of the Spirit! Thank you again!

[SeahawkSiren]

I eagerly read all of your posts and loved seeing the photos as well. I will be cruising from Barcelona to the Canaries Casablanca, etc. and the only port we will be duplicating from your cruise is Malaga. But I have been to Athens,Naples, Pompeii and Rome so it was lovely to revisit those places via your photos. We are booked in a guarantee BD on deck 9 and fingers crossed we don't have a problem cabin. I do have one important question about the Spirit cabins - what is the situation with electrical outlets? My first and only other cruise was on HAL Volendam which I heard was just a small step above the Spirit. That cabin only had ONE electrical outlet to share for everything. Fortunately I knew in advance to bring a power strip which worked out will so just wondering if I will need one on this ship as well.

Thank you for ALL of your information - especially on the restaurants. I will be celebrating a milestone birthday and plan to book dinner in Le Bistro for that night (I hope!) Loved the photo with the snail, and especially the full moon as well. Awesome and the tour of the caves in Malaga sounds like something I would really enjoy. Thank you again for taking the time to do this!

 

Glad you enjoyed the review. There was only one American outlet in the cabin, the others were European so you will want to bring an adapter. We didn't use a power strip but then we only needed to charge 2 phones and 1 camera and not necessarily all at the same time. The outlets are by the desk area where the coffee maker is located. There was also another European outlet up by the top shelf where the tv is plugged into.

 

If you don't want to use the hair dryer that is attached to the wall in the bathroom (a relic, for sure) you will want to bring your own and need the adapter. The American outlet had a label specifying "no hairdryers" so I plugged my hairdryer into the European outlet with the adapter. The only outlet in the bathroom is one to be used only for electric shavers and is labeled as such.

 

Enjoy your cruise. Someday I would like to see the Canary Islands and Casablanca.