Bravo! Orchestra! Review with pictures of Med Cruise April 18-29, 2018.

[kathleen21]

It turned out that the decision to use the metro was very lucky – there was a traffic accident that blocked the road, and all the buses and bus tours were late to get here. We had the place practically to ourselves for an hour. It was fun to think of grandma playing on these rocks as a young girl. There was a display with pictures of the modern history and restoration that is in progress.

 

 

Look at the crowds now! Time to go.

 

 

 

We walked down to that amphitheater on the way out.

 

 

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[kathleen21]

Next stop- Mars Rock, or Areopagus Hill

 

 

We climbed Mars rock, where the apostle Paul preached the gospel to the Greeks. The Acts of the Apostles mean more when you are actually standing on the rock and looking at the temples that are being discussed in the letters.

 

We continued to explore. We were on a mission to get to the Parliament to see the changing of the guard at noon. We traced a path through the Roman Agoura and the library of Hadrian.

 

 

 

 

 

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[kathleen21]

Stopped to buy a few souvenirs and get some more souvlaki sandwiches. These were extra delicious! The shop has been here since the 1800’s.

 

 

Another mini church. This one was closed though.

 

 

We made it on time to Parliament for the changing of the guard. I have seen this on Amazing Race, and it is pretty interesting to watch in person. The soldiers guard the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Their uniforms relate to the Greek Independence in the mid 1800’s.

 

 

By now it was 1230. All aboard was 4 pm. Ray and I wanted to stay out and make a very full day of it. And we were done shopping and not that hungry. So we split up for a while and after a Greek iced coffee ( I really loved those) and a pastry or two, we took a walk through the park near the Parliament building that had us ending up at Hadrian’s Wall and the Temple of Zeus. Those columns were huge!

 

 

 

 

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[kathleen21]

 

 

 

 

 

We met up again at the taxi stand, thinking we would share a cab back. There was one cab there and he smelled like stale smoke. Plus the price had doubled from the morning. Our friends had found out from others on the cruise how to take the bus back. The bus stop is at the lower, right side of the square if you are facing the Parliament building. We didn’t see any place to buy tickets, and when we showed the driver our metro ticket from the morning, the driver motioned us on. I think we were supposed to buy tickets somewhere? Anyway, we just got on and jammed ourselves in with the crowd. The bus ride did take about an hour, but it dropped us off right across the street from the cruise ship. We were hot! So we headed up to the buffet for some cold fruit, and to the pool for a Pina colada. We were back on board at 3 pm.

 

 

 

 

 

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[kathleen21]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[kathleen21]

The evening followed its usual course – a long dinner with friends, talking and after dinner drinks on their balcony, and the evening show.

 

 

 

 

The performance tonight was a shortened version of the opera “Carmen”. The costumes and musical quality of these performances continue to be excellent. Tonight we managed to stay awake to go to the buffet for tea, but that was it. Luckily tomorrow is a sea day! Nothing to do, and nowhere to go. Bliss. It has been 4 days of Greek ports, and we are happy for the rest.

 

Also, I still have a good number of drink coupons left. Between the free champagne, and the wine and liqueurs we brought on board, we haven’t been using them as much. We are just going to have to power down and drink more delicious frozen drinks by the pool tomorrow. Like I said. Bliss.

 

 

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[perakcruiser]

Fusilli alla Norma from MSC, sounds like such a simple dish, but so delicious.

[kathleen21]

Fusilli alla Norma from MSC, sounds like such a simple dish, but so delicious.

 

 

 

It really was! I enjoyed all the pasta! They told us it was made fresh on the ship.

 

 

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[kathleen21]

Friday, April 27 – Sea Day

 

A day to sleep in and I was wide awake at 5:30 am! UGH. I tried to go back to sleep, but when that didn’t work I got up to get some coffee and exercise. It is really nice running on the ship. Each lap is about ¼ mile around and there is a good stair workout at either end. After all, I do love those mini chocolate croissants!

 

Here is today’s Daily-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[kathleen21]

We met up with our friends to see Master Chef at Sea. I like all those food network competition shows so I thought this would be fun. Honestly, it was a bit boring. The first half hour was a quiz for the audience. The top 8 winners would be the competitors. This was the first time that the multiple language thing started to get to me. The assistance CD read every question and every answer choice in every language. I think it shows more how fatigued we must have been that we sat through all that without complaining to each other. After half an hour the contestants were chosen and the cooking competition could begin. The dish? Bruschetta?! The only thing that really made the competition fun was that the mom sitting next to us was chosen, and her young daughter was just so very excited. The team of men from France won though.

 

 

 

By this time it was noon and time to eat again. We had lunch in the dining room, again it was easy, not crowded and relaxing. After lunch we split up – our Australian friends will all be getting off in Civitavecchia. That is really making the day bitter sweet. Ray and I walked around for a bit, used our drink tickets [emoji16]and I went to the spa. There wasn’t much chair hogging on deck. Probably because it was a cool, overcast day.

 

At 3pm we were all going to meet up at the front of deck 14 to watch as the ship went through the Strait of Massena. But somehow we got that all confused, and didn’t see them. Instead, Ray and I ended up at the “hidden deck” at the very front of deck 9. A pilot came on board to get us through.

 

 

 

 

 

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[kathleen21]

We enjoyed the wind and excitement of cruising through the Strait with only one other couple there. What we found out later was that there is also a door to get to that same “hidden deck” on deck 14. Exit through these doors at the very front of several of the upper decks to get to the little used very front decks on the ship.

 

 

 

More photos from our sea day. Here’s the breakfast buffet-

 

 

 

Crafts class- they were decorating t shirts.

 

 

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[kathleen21]

 

Lunch food at la Cantinella wine bar. I used my last drink coupon on an Irish coffee.

 

Tonight was the returning guests cocktail party and our last Gala night.

 

Dinner was so good. The bread is just delicious too. On the first day they asked that a plate of different breads would be left at our table, and we started every dinner with plenty of choices for all. Even on nights when olive oil was served instead of butter, we were served butter too as quickly as we asked for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[kathleen21]

 

 

After dinner we wandered the ship a bit - we always finished about 8 pm, and the show started at 9pm. We would get to the show about 15 minutes early to get the seats we liked. Often the crew would be doing skits in the audience as a warm up that were hilarious.

 

 

 

We went to the show together, then they headed out to finish their packing. We are so very lucky to have made new friends. The best part of traveling is the people you meet. And now I have a pen pal!

 

We met only 2 other American families that we talked with on this cruise. But we never felt isolated. There are a lot of former and current British colonies out there! Not to mention that so many European and Asian people speak English. Once people heard us speak to each other, they often chimed in with comments and started conversations. We spoke to many people on shuttle buses and in elevators and rarely ran into anyone else that was on their first MSC cruise. Most had taken several cruises on MSC, and were having a great time.

 

 

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[kathleen21]

Saturday, April 28 – Civitavecchia

 

We met everyone for a last farewell breakfast at the buffet. Ray and I then took our time getting ready for the day and let the crowds clear out. Another opportunity for me to go to the spa. [emoji6]

 

Since we have been to Rome a few times, and this was at the end of our trip when I anticipated that our energy levels would be low, we had plans to stay local for the day. The trip into Rome involves a 2-3 bus or train ride, round trip, and we just didn’t want to. Ray had caught a cold and wasn’t feeling energetic at all. But he took some medicine and tried. After all, it was our last cruise day. Our plan was to take the bus to explore the Etruscan necropolis in Tarquinia. Ha! The world had other plan. Or maybe this was the payback for all that good luck we had in Athens…

 

Today’s Daily-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[kathleen21]

PORT INFO: We took the free port shuttle to the front gate. It seemed mandatory, but we noticed walking paths as we drove. The shuttle dropped us off across from the Fire Station. If you turn right and walk about a mile, there is the train station. A Bar across the street sold us bus tickets to Tarquinia and directed us across the street to the bus stop.

 

This is where the problems started. It was a Saints Day Holiday. The road was closed off.

 

The nice police officer directed us down the street to a different bus stop. The waiter at the restaurant near there directed us onward to another bus stop. And so it went for 2 hours. I still can’t believe we kept walking. Each person was just so positive that they knew where we should go next. If you zoom in on the map you can see all the circles and marks made to show us where to go.

 

At this point, we were tired, thirsty and cranky. We were now at the train station, and could have taken a train somewhere perhaps, but we were done. We decided to be locals and enjoy the holiday.

This place didn’t look that impressive but it was busy and the staff was friendly. Plus iced coffee and free WiFi! One last pasta dish in Italy..

 

 

The boardwalk that is to the right of the port, continue down this street to the train station.

 

 

 

 

 

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[kathleen21]

Then we walked around the open market, the cathedral and did some souvenir shopping for local foods at a grocery store.

 

 

 

 

By now it was 2pm, so we headed back to the ship. After all, we still had to pack, and we had a few more of those drink coupons left. We walked back along the boardwalk to the pier, following pedestrian signs. We could see the Orchestra. We just couldn’t get there! Every time we thought we were going the right way a fence would block us off.

 

We gathered a group of 5-6 people, all wandering trying to find the shuttles. Later we heard that the Saints Day Holiday had disturbed the normal shuttle bus schedule, and no port shuttles were running. Lucky for us, a nice Princess Cruise shuttle driver felt sorry for us and drove us to our ship. A cold drink by the pool for me, and cold medicine for the hubby, and all was right with the world again.

 

 

Finally back on board at 4pm, we ate second lunch at the buffet, drank up the last of the coupons, lounged at the pool, and did our packing. Sail away was 1.5 hours late due to the lack of port shuttles. We watched from that secret deck at the front of deck 14, then had our last dinner at the buffet. We made one last tour of the ship, saying our own good byes to places we had enjoyed, then went to the cabin to finalize our packing and get to bed. We were carrying off our luggage, but had a plane to catch. So the alarm was set for 0530!

 

 

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[kathleen21]

We had lots of company for sail away.

 

 

 

 

The saddest Daily ever.

 

 

 

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[musicalianne]

Love reading your review! Thank you for taking the time to post it!

 

 

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[kathleen21]

Love reading your review! Thank you for taking the time to post it!

 

 

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Thank you! It’s always fun when people comment. Kind of like getting mail😁 It has been fun reliving the trip.

[Bobal]

I have loved this review and particularly appreciate the pictures of Dailies, Menus and Food :D We are taking our first MSC cruise on Musica later this year and it's nice to see pictures of what goes on onboard, of food offerings (struggling to see why people are so critical of the food) and from this class of ship in particular since almost every thread on here seems to be about Seaside.

[kathleen21]

I have loved this review and particularly appreciate the pictures of Dailies, Menus and Food :D We are taking our first MSC cruise on Musica later this year and it's nice to see pictures of what goes on onboard, of food offerings (struggling to see why people are so critical of the food) and from this class of ship in particular since almost every thread on here seems to be about Seaside.

 

Thank you! I love this size ship. There is plenty to do, and many different music choices each night. We were happy with the food. Maybe we aren’t as picky? My best tip for the dining room is to order extra dishes. It’s fun to try new and different foods, and that way if something doesn’t work out you still have plenty of food.

Let me know if there are any questions I can answer for you. You will have a great trip!

[kathleen21]

Sunday, April 29 – Disembarkation and on to London

 

We were up at the buffet for our last breakfast at 0640. Not bad, considering they put the food out at 0630! I am really going to miss the food and the great view from “our” table outside overlooking the ocean. I will confess to taking a couple of those delicious chocolate croissants with me for emergency plane food… The view entering port in Genoa-

 

We hauled our backpacks on and were standing downstairs at the exit door before 8am. We were among the first to arrive, and in that 20 minutes that we waited for the door to open we talked with the people around us and found a nice couple from New Zealand who were also going to the airport and were willing to split a cab. Our flight wasn’t until 1150, but the MSC shuttle wouldn’t commit to getting us there in time. It would have cost us 17E each, and didn’t leave port until 0845. Sharing a taxi turned out to be so much better. We followed the crowds through an easy security check to the taxi line. We split the 27E cost and were in the airport waiting in line by 0845! Actually, british Airways hadn’t even opened up, we were so early.

 

After checking our bags we had time to kill, so we hung out upstairs in the MSC lounge for a bit, bought espresso at the downstairs café and people watched until boarding time. Security to the gate did take some time. They had only person there until finally the line became so long he called for help. There is also one coffee/snack shop after security. The flight was quick, and we were soon landing at Gatwick.

 

I booked the Hampton in the South terminal, which was a quick shuttle train away. It was only 1:30pm, but they let us check in early. This hotel was so convenient! We made a coffee in the room, ate those chocolate croissants I had thought to save and were cleaned up and in line at the Underground ticket booth in the North terminal in an hour. We bought day passes for the train/underground for 17GBP each.

 

One of the happy coincidences of this trip was that our middle daughter would be in London with a college music tour at the same time we were. We had plans to spend this afternoon and evening with her. I was hoping that all the transportation would go smoothly, and it did. We were at our meeting place, the Starbucks under the Tower Bridge at 3:30pm.

 

 

That girl had plans for us! She used Google maps and we followed her across Tower Bridge to the tube station and to Selfridges Department store for High Tea. This was something she really wanted to do, and she told us that she was very happy that she could do this – with someone who could afford it. Haha. No kidding. The 55GBP/80$ it cost for tea for two and an extra piece of cake is probably not in most college students budget! At least the food was delicious, although very sweet, and she was able to cross this off her bucket list. We were one of the last tables seated, and finished up just as the store closed at 6pm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[kathleen21]

Afterwards we walked miles throught Hyde Park, pass the lake and to the Royal Albert Hall and monument.

 

 

 

We kept going through Kensington and the university area. The day had been cold, but by now, at 8pm, it was also windy. We were chilled, and happy to find some cute shops and resaurants. We had considered finding a pub or looking for traditional British food, but she had done that enough already. Instead dinner was at Honest Burger, where the burgers, fries and onion rings felt a bit like home, and the mineral water was free.

 

There was Underground stop nearby that we could all use to get to our respective hotels, so after hugs and kisses we were on our way back to Victoria Station and the train to Gatwick. That transfer was more confusing than it should have been, but we were lucky to get a train leaving soon and ended up being back in our hotel less than an hour later. I thought I would have trouble falling asleep after all the sweets and late dinner, but that was not the case.

 

 

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[kathleen21]

Monday – April 30 Home, and some final thoughts.

 

The one day I really, truly could have slept in – and the fire alarm went off at 0655, It was real, too. Someone had smoked up the whole place using the toaster. The fire department was there, and we were all cleared out of the hotel, waiting in the attached airport terminal for half an hour until the all clear sounded. After that there was no going back to sleep. We had breakfast and I went to the gym, since we didn’t have to check out until noon. Ray’s cold is getting worse, so he was moving slowly anyway. We easily took the shuttle to our Norwegian flight, and were back home in time for a late dinner. That we had to shop for and cook ourselves. That is so sad.

 

MSC and the Orchestra-

 

We thought the ship was beautiful. We especially appreciated how easy it was to view the sea from the public rooms. Our inside cabin was fine for our needs, and the location Aft and so close to the stairs was perfect. The staff we met was friendly and helpful, except for one person at guest services – so that is a pretty good ratio, I believe. Our cabin steward got the job done, and once he understood our needs was consistent in following through. Our ice bucket was always full, we had extra supplies, clean towels, etc. No towel animals, if that is important to anyone.

 

 

Guest services – except for the last day when they didn’t answer, the people at guest services were very helpful. We had one incident with a slow drain in the shower that took 3 phone calls, but I think that had more to do with language. Twice we complained about the shower taking a long time to drain, and twice we came back to a toilet with foamy chemicals in it. On the third time I was extra specific and asked for a repeat of my request and the drain was cleared. Hey, we’re in Europe, English is often not the first language here.

 

Buffet – Take the time to walk all around and look at the different sections, they are not all the same. There is a great area to sit as a large group that is between the salad bars. There was almost always seating at the back and outside. The waiters kept the area so clean that we sometimes lost our plates and silverware if we walked away for a minute! No standing dirty dishes here!

 

 

Dining Room – From reading CC I expected to find watery salad. That happened. But we didn’t have any other food complaints. The food was hot or cold appropriately. At every meal someone got a dish that was excellent, about half the time someone got a dish they didn’t like. All the rest of the food was good. We were allowed and encouraged to order as many plates as we liked, or to have appetizers as a main or vice versa. The one thing that was difficult was to change up the side orders, i.e. ordering extra vegetables or fish with the sides from the beef entree. We either ordered both plates or ate what we were served. It was good, and we didn’t have to cook it or clean up afterwards. Eating lunch in the dining room, especially on sea days, is a great tip. No crowds and the combination of table service and buffet works for everyone.

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Shows/entertainment– We were very happy with most of the nightly shows. The quality of the costumes, sound system and the talent of the performers made for an enjoyable evening. This ship has many areas with live music nightly, so it was never a problem to find a place where we were happy to sit and listen. Or even dance. This is a very port intensive itinerary, and we travelled a long way to get here, so we did not take any extra “sea days”. There must have been plenty to do, we were not bored.

 

 

Other guests – People were polite and friendly. There was one loud French group that we kept running into, but they were just having fun and didn’t get out of hand. Thanks to all the Australian and New Zealand guests we seemed to always find people to talk to!

 

Well, that’s it for this trip report. It has been a wonderful year planning, travelling and writing about this trip. Bon voyage!

 

 

 

 

 

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[Nimloth]

Kathleen, I'm sorry your review is at an end! I have enjoyed it immensely and thank you for taking the time to write it and include so many photos as well as detailed information. It's nice to have a European cruise review on a very American orientated board.