Eastern Mediterranean on Spirit

[tmt3698]

I've just returned from a 11 day Mediterranean cruise on the NCL Spirit Nov.2nd-12th 2017

 

 

I flew into Rome two days early to sight see, I organized a shared shuttle with Civitavecchia Shuttle express as a pick up from our hotels to the port.

They showed up on time in a Mercedes minivan. They are authorized to take us right up

to the terminal area. I had the luggage tags on my two bags dropped them off walked to the terminal building checked in and boarded the ship.I found my room, walked around the ship came back looking for my luggage but no luck did this several times then just gave up it took awhile to get my luggage I was in cabin 11123.

 

 

The first night I ate in Windows with a shared table, I had Chicken with green curry and veggies

It was ok but I like a lot of sauce and it didn't have much sauce. The other couple had tuna tartar as appetizer and some fish called Hikuor something with an H they really liked both.

 

Second day was a sea day and our CC Meet & Greet. We met at 10am in Shogun

I organized two shared excursions and two shared shuttles.

I think I ate at the Buffet for lunch at dinner in Windows with my newfriend from CC. I had mushroom soup delicious, 3 appetizers which seemed to confusethe waiter. I ordered tuna tartar, grilled veggies with goat cheese very good. Myfriend had a salad and the vegetarian pasta with peas, pesto she gave me some it was delicious

 

 

Firstport of call Mykonos, we had to tender here and the wind picked up they wanted everyone to stay in a public space so you can hear your tender being called, it was

Kind of chaotic. It took about an hour & half for our tender to becalled in the meantime

I ordered chicken wings from Blue Lagoon very tasty.

We arrived in Mykonos and just wandered around aimlessly found the windmills

Kept walking found a little restaurant facing the water and windmills, what a great view. We ordered coffee used their toilets and wifi and were off again wondering aimlessly. One person wanted Balkalva so we found another restaurant and ordered two Balkava to go.

Then headed back to the ship.

Very cute town, I think Mykonos caters to the party crowd in the summer. But it was nice to see

I ate at the buffet this night

 

In the mornings I ate in the buffet and stood in line for a made to order omelet.

 

 

Second stop was Athens we all met at the Cafe walked off the ship two hundred yards to the left are all the Hop on & Off buses we took the red City Signtseeing bus

It took us to the Acropolis, which I had already been to. We all went different ways, I walked down the sidewalk to the Ancient Agora it was free today which was Sunday very cool place with a very well preserved temple andlarge museum.

Took the H&O bus to the Plaka had a wonderful lunch at EstiaRestaurant............

More to come

Edited November 17, 2017 by tmt3698

[NMLady]

Looking forward to more. Thank you for sharing.

[tmt3698]

The evening after being in Athens I ate in Windows, ordered French Onion soup, two entrees: grouper and pasta w/ shrimp. The grouper was not seasoned at all and the pasta with shrimp was too salty.

 

Next day we are in Rhodes you can walk right over to the Medieval Town and do your own thing here unfortunately The Palace of the Grand Masters is closed on Mondays. But this was a beautiful place, I walked around it's very confusing the streets are zig zagged to confuse pirates/ and tourists! Once I had enough of that I left the walled city and walked on the outside toward the water. Some people found a mote but I was not able to find it and was tired of walking at that point.

Ate at Shoguns this evening, had the spring rolls and Udon spicy soup/noodles with octopus, calamari & shrimp. I've never had octopus before but it was tender and a little chewy. The soup broth was delicious and very spicy! Left there and had dessert at the buffet.

Edited November 17, 2017 by tmt3698

[tmt3698]

Rhodes along the waterfront

[tmt3698]

Tuesdayin Santorini very excited for this port, I've been here before and took the ships excursion so I was not doing that again. Got up at early for sunrise views, was heading back to my cabin and the line had started at 7:15 for tender tickets so I got in line and waited 45mins. but was given tender ticket #2. Was off the ship and off the cable car by 8:30am

I wanted to have a leisurely day in Oia with out being "rushed"around. I rented a car from Spiridakos for 45 euros and bought the extra insurance for another 10-15 euros. Then drove up to Oia found a free parking space and

walkedup and down every little alley way there. Had a wonderful lunch atApsithia facing the caldera I had Spanakopita/ spinach pie and a leekpie both delicious.

Edited November 17, 2017 by tmt3698

[tmt3698]

Edited November 17, 2017 by tmt3698

[tmt3698]

[tmt3698]

I'm having difficulty getting the pictures in here. Very frustrating

 

Wednesday Crete/ Chania we arrive here very early but was off the ship right at 7am, I thought we docked right along the waterfront but we didn't. There are local buses waiting to take you into town for 1.70 euro it takes about 20-25 mins. When you get off the bus cross the street to the right and continue down that street to Old Town(waterfront). There is the Nautical/Maritime Museum there are two of them the largest and more extensive one is the big red building to the left of the waterfront, wish I would have gone in there first very cool museum only cost a few euros. I just walked around the waterfront and up on the wall facing the water. Gorgeous views. I would say take some time for the Nautical Museum here lots of info it's two floors with a bathroom.

We were only there until noon, got back to the ship went to Windows

ordered the pulled pork sandwich or what I thought was going to be pulled pork it was a hamburger with just a little pulled pork on top. Maybe I read the menu wrong. Not sure. That was for lunch. After a few times of going to Windows I really wasn't happy with the food and it takes sooo long I just decided to eat at the buffet the girls at the entrance were always so nice and the food was pretty good. In the morning my trick is to get there very early before all the other people get out of bed. I think most mornings they open the hot food section and start making made to order omelettes at 6:30. And I bring my large refillable cup from home, the glasses they give you are so small.

After a few days of omlettes I thought I should go back to my normal cereal,

my only complaint here is they have regular milk out but if you want soy milk you have to ask for it. So I asked for it twice and then suffereed with skim milk a few times.

 

I had an inside cabin 11123, I was very happy with the cabin it had a large closet with little shelves on the side and a safe in the bottom. The shower was the biggest I've ever had a cruise ship. There is a built in blow dryer with two outlets connected to it for shavers. The bed and pillows were heaven, especailly after the super hard bed and pillows at the Rome hotel.

Edited November 17, 2017 by tmt3698

[Linda the Book Lover]

I am enjoying your review. I started to read it and then kept going. Very nice and easy going pace.

[tmt3698]

It's almost lunch time here so I'm thinking about the food I ate on the ship. Overall it was fine, I didn't pay for any specialty dining. I had chicken wings twice at Blue Lagoon the first time they were delicious, the second time I ordered the chicken wings and potato skins both were not fresh and were just ok.

Then I ate at Shoguns twice and it was great both times.

The rest of the time I ate at the buffet.

 

The breakfast buffet opens at 6am most mornings with continental items, hot buffet opens at 6:30 they have 3 spots for made to order omelettes. All the meats are out bacon, sausage etc and you can take as much as you want. On Carnival they have the bacon police they only give a couple pieces at a time! They have the fruit buffet, a yogurt buffet with yogurt and fruits and grains to add to it. They have the bread buffet. Free drinks are tea, juices, kiwi strawberry, coffee, several different hot teas. Oh and don't forget the soft serve ice cream.

They have a great salad bar and a few nights Cesar salad out and they mix it up for you......super delicious!

 

I had several cream based soups that were delicious:

mushroom, clam chowder, parsnip, and another one all great and from the buffet.

 

They also have a small section for vegetarians, although none of that ever looked great.

But they do have lots of veggies available.

Edited November 17, 2017 by tmt3698

[tmt3698]

Okay I'm using Shutterfly now hopefully this solves the picture problem.

This is Mykonos

[tmt3698]

Mykonos, it was cold and a little rainy this day.

[tmt3698]

Me at the Ancient Agora in Athens: The Temple of Hephaestus

[tmt3698]

Moussaka( Greek lasagna) in the Plaka(Athens) at Estia restaurant.

[tmt3698]

Rhodes: Grand Masters Palace as close as we could get, it's closed on Mondays

[tmt3698]

Thursday Valletta, Malta

I was really excited about this port and really couldn't find any excursions with everything I wanted to see so Malta Private Guides/ Clive was nice enough to put together a custom tour for me. I wanted to see: Marsaxlokk, Blue Grotto, Mdina & Rotunda church of Mosta. We also did a quick photo op at the Dingli Cliffs. We had a van with 8 people from the excursion I planned on CC. The ship docks right in Valletta you can walk to Valletta. We were picked up at 1:30 went to Marsaxlokk fishing village the sun was trying to come out luckily it did come out long enough to take some pics of those colorful boats. The Blue Grotto was beautiful Clive had allocated a 20 min. boat ride but it was too windy.

We stopped at the Dingli Cliffs for pics, then on the Mdina

Wow! Glad we didn't skip this stop gorgeous place.

Then to other place high on my list the Rotunda Church, it closes in the middle of the day so we got here just at dark and they were reading the rosary so we had to quickly and quietly look inside, Wow spectacular. Then we drove back to Valletta and just walked a little bit it was dark now so we headed back to the ship.

Tonight was "grill" night at the buffet had some very tender grilled chicken and then just the normal stuff.

I do remember two cakes they had one night was pineapple cake and the other was a cake with fruit in the middle sounds weird but it was delicious and they actually ran out.

 

The Rotunda Church or Mosta Dome Church

 

Not sure if this is a church but it's in Mdina

 

Me in Marsaxlokk

 

Malta: Blue Grotto

 

Here is Santorini one of the most beautiful places on earth, Oia

 

Santorini, Oia

[tmt3698]

Oia Santorini, poor tired donkeys

 

Oia

 

Crete/ Chania

 

Crete/ Chania

 

Castelmola, Italy

 

Castelmola, Italy

[tmt3698]

Friday Messina/Sicily Italy

This day is a shared excursion that I joined from CC,

Sicily w/ Mario tour: Taormina & Castelmola. They picked us up right on time and in two vans we headed out. It took about an hour to reach Castelmola near Mt. Etna. Very cool little village. After that we went to Taormina the guide took us around then let us have 1.5 hours of free time.

We all had lunch here at the place the guide recommended then we head out, it started raining so we stopped and had coffee and desserts at another cafe. The souvenirs here and the next day were quite a bit more than all the other places. And both days it seemed like a lot of driving to get to these places but they were very nice.

We headed back to Messina and went to a church there then back to the ship.

Tonight at the buffet it was Italian night.

One night on the ship they featured the MoonDogs who sing the Beatles songs I popped in for a couple songs but the Beatles really aren't my thing. Another night they had an acrobatic couple Duo Flyadage I did go to that show and stayed the whole time. It was good. Those are the only two shows I went to.

I would have liked to attended the Canvas by You class(painting) but they charge extra for that. And would have enjoyed Wine & Chocolate Pairing but they charge extra for that too. On Carnival they did a food tasting in one of their specialty restaurants and it was free.

 

Saturday Naples Italy:

Today was a shared excursion I put together with AP Tours/ Full Amalfi Coast. They picked us up right on time and 8 of us headed out in the van. Again a long ride to the first stop, the driver who's nic name is Coca Cola was great and kept us laughing the whole time. He would pull over so we could get great shots of the sea and cliffs. The first stop Positano was a small village but very nice. The second stop Amalfi had more shopping and cafes, we ate a cafe right when you walk into the square with red chairs. That was the best pasta of my trip, wish I would have gotten their card. Then I was off to find souvenirs. Then walked across the street to look at the sea. After this stop we headed to Ravello which was my favorite stop it was more spread out and just charming. There isn't much to do here but it was very pretty.

Then we headed back to the ship which took 1.5 hours.

Tonight at the buffet it was seafood night, they had some delicious seafood gumbo/soup, baked fish, shrimp cocktail.

Can't remember what else.

 

Amalfi

 

Amalfi

 

Positano

 

Positano

 

Sunrise somewhere LOL

 

Another sunrise

[Huntingdon1701]

Thanks for the review. I loved Oia when I was there. I'd be interested in more of your thoughts about Spirit herself. I'll be sailing on her in April and she's by far the smallest ship I'll have been on. I'm a bit worried she'll be claustrophobic. The dining options look very small.

 

Thanks in advance, and look forward to more pictures.

[Gotts123]

We are sailing this Spirit next August/September. The draw is the itineraries. Looks like a dream vacation... not totally relaxing per se.... but covering a lot of history, beauty and cultural opportunities. Thank you for sharing your experiences!

[tmt3698]

Hello,

I felt like the Spirit was a fine ship, I've only sailed on this size so I don't really know anything different.

Windows MDR is huge that is the more formal DR then they have Garden MDR which is no dress code at all. Never went in there.

Shoguns is free, small but good food

The buffet area is large and it spills out onto the pool area there are tables & chairs on two levels out there.

They will deliver coffee, juices, continental breakfast to your room for free

in the morning. Any other time room service has a charge.

They have Blue Lagoon pub food, Beir Garten never went in there. If you have a large group you may want to make reservations. I like the smaller ships it's easy to learn your way around. I thought the Spirit was pretty but I sailed on the Carnival Liberty last Jan. and she is gorgeous lots of of chandlers and the atrium has lights that changes colors and they have art all over the walls.

I attached a Freestyle Daily to this post it's down below.

Hope that helps. :)

 

 

Thanks for the review. I loved Oia when I was there. I'd be interested in more of your thoughts about Spirit herself. I'll be sailing on her in April and she's by far the smallest ship I'll have been on. I'm a bit worried she'll be claustrophobic. The dining options look very small.

 

Thanks in advance, and look forward to more pictures.

Freestyle Daily.pdf

[TruRed76]

Thank you for your review and beautiful pictures! We will be in the Spirit in April, also in an inside. We will not have very many ports in common, though, just Malta. We have also only sailed on the smaller ships. How did you find the seas? I’m prone to sea sickness but have heard the Mediterranean and Adriatic are fairly smooth.

 

 

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[tmt3698]

Taormina, Italy

 

Amalfi Coast

 

Amalfi Coast

 

Sunset in Santorini

 

Not sure where this is but it's beautiful

[tmt3698]

Hello,

I was on deck 11 Aft(back), there was one night we were really rocking and rolling, the closet doors were banging around(they have magnets but I didn't know that then) and so was the shower door.

But I find the captain really hits the pedal to the medal at night, it must have been some big waves that night.

I don't get sea sick but bring candied ginger with me

I find it at Marshall's. It's much better than dramamine

that stuff puts me to sleep.

Malta was stunning, the economy there is very good so it's a very well kept place with pride of ownership and expensive cars everywhere you look. Beggars are not allowed.

Hope that helps........have fun!

 

Thank you for your review and beautiful pictures! We will be in the Spirit in April, also in an inside. We will not have very many ports in common, though, just Malta. We have also only sailed on the smaller ships. How did you find the seas? I’m prone to sea sickness but have heard the Mediterranean and Adriatic are fairly smooth.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[tmt3698]

I typically pick cruises that are port heavy, for me it's really a mode of transportation. Santorini is a challenge to get to so being on the ship and getting there is nice.

They take deposits on the cruise and match your deposit dollar for dollar. So I put down a deposit while I was on the ship. Thinking about Alaska. Plus I've already paid for a Western Caribbean cruise next Nov.

I love to travel!

We are sailing this Spirit next August/September. The draw is the itineraries. Looks like a dream vacation... not totally relaxing per se.... but covering a lot of history, beauty and cultural opportunities. Thank you for sharing your experiences!