Live from the NCL Breakaway May 6-16, 2023 – Spring in Italy, Greece, Malta and France Roundtrip from Rome

[Happycrafter123]

I’ve spent hours poring through everyone else’s live reports this past several months, it will be fun to pay this forward, and share this next adventure with you guys!

 

We will be boarding the Breakaway on its first itinerary after it’s transatlantic repositioning to Europe this Spring, May 6^th, and will be starting our journey departing home on April 29^thwith a day for travel, and 5 full days to explore Rome and the area around it before we embark on the cruise.

 

The cruise itinerary is:  Rome (Civitavecchia),Italy, Santorini,Greece, Athens (Piraeus),Greece, Olympia (Katakolon),Greece, Valletta,Malta, Messina (Sicily),Italy, Naples,Italy, Florence/Pisa (Livorno),Italy, Cannes,France, Rome (Civitavecchia),Italy

 

We’ve travelled a lot, but it is only our second cruise, and we are full of nerves!  Travel is such a lottery!  What will Rome be like?   Will we get a last minute room upgrade?  Will we like our room?  Will we enjoy the excursions we’ve selected?  Which will be our favorite port or experience?  What drinks will we try, will we manage to get value for our Plus beverage package?  What friends will we make?  What things will we learn?  What new foods will we discover?  It is hard to say what this journey ahead holds, and the only thing I’ve learned about travel in my time is to enjoy the path….I sure hope it is a good one!

 

Share your tips and questions as we go along!

[YVRteacher]

Sounds like a wonderful itinerary and I can’t wait to read about how your questions are answered!

[YVRteacher]

Are you doing the tour of Olympia in Katakolon?

[Happycrafter123]

Yes, I'm quite excited for Olympia - it was an itinerary change from Corfu, which I had been dithering on excursion options for, and I love history so was pleased with this change.  We will be doing the NCL excursion "Olympia & Archaeological Museum", it's 4 hours in the morning so will also leave us lots of time in the afternoon to lounge on the deck and have a few drinks 😉

 

Have you been to Olympia?  It does not seem to be a more common port compared to the others.....

[YVRteacher]

Yes, I’ve been to all the ports on your itinerary except Cannes.

 

I absolutely loved Olympia and so did my dad. We were there in July and it was extremely hot.  May will be better.  We didn’t have a good tour guide so left the group and mixed up the meeting point.  It ended up being fine, but be prepared for crowds of groups.
There is a wonderful gelato place in the town of Katakolon.  They have Gelato University certificates on the wall behind the counter. I will never forget that delicious gelato!

 

If the temperatures do increase, something I found helpful was to take a large Ziploc bag, place ice in a facecloth and put it in the bag.  Then when I was hot I put the icy cloth on the back of my neck. 
 

Olympia is very dusty so take water and don’t wear white clothes or shoes.

 

I also wanted to go into the Ionian Sea and Katakolon was the best place for swimming/wading. 

[Happycrafter123]

These are great tips, thank you!  At that time of life where I can't bear heat, ice baggies sounds excellent (and something I can do this summer in golf season too), I'm adding ziplocks to my list of stuff to pack!

 

I hear you about the the guides, on our last cruise it was really hit or miss, we are crossing fingers especially for the museum that will likely be boring without a good guide.  Hubby is not a big museum person and is never going to read plaques on the wall or next to a statue, but does like to listen to a guide talk about history and explain what we are looking at.

[YVRteacher]

Tell him he can have a double scoop gelato after the museum!

[YVRteacher]

How are you getting from Rome to Civitavecchia? Are you taking the train?

[smillerholmes]

Following...I am on a similar itinerary for Breakaway in November.

[Happycrafter123]

The train looks pretty straightforward however I’ve been watching the news about revolving strikes, and so happy I had set up a ride with a ride service.  I’m always a bundle of nerves on transit days—am I the only one?

On our last few disney trips I arranged rides in advance and it makes it so much less stressful, so did that again for this trip.  

[YVRteacher]

Oh yes! I always plan all the transport in advance as well.

[Happycrafter123]

42 minutes ago, smillerholmes said:

Following...I am on a similar itinerary for Breakaway in November.

@smillerholmeslooks like we will be bookending this itinerary then with the beginning and end of season being covered!  Have you started booking or planning excursions yet?

[smillerholmes]

Just now, Happycrafter123 said:

@smillerholmeslooks like we will be bookending this itinerary then with the beginning and end of season being covered!  Have you started booking or planning excursions yet?

I'm on a back to back.  November 2-12th and then November 12-26th.  I plan to start working on that one when I get back from my Panama Canal cruise in May.  It will be my first time on the Breakaway.

[gatorchinsky]

I’ll be following long as I’m on the November cruise. It’s a 10 day as well but with a slight different itinerary. It will be nice to know the days of certain entertainment for scheduling purposes.

 

Have a great trip!!

[nadeki]

10 hours ago, Happycrafter123 said:

These are great tips, thank you!  At that time of life where I can't bear heat, ice baggies sounds excellent (and something I can do this summer in golf season too), I'm adding ziplocks to my list of stuff to pack!

 

I hear you about the the guides, on our last cruise it was really hit or miss, we are crossing fingers especially for the museum that will likely be boring without a good guide.  Hubby is not a big museum person and is never going to read plaques on the wall or next to a statue, but does like to listen to a guide talk about history and explain what we are looking at.

We have discovered in our family that this expression is true: "there are two kinds of people in the world, those that read the signs and those that wait for them".  

 

I am definitely in a comfortable location waiting for the rest of my crew.

[lizygirl3]

Will be on the same itinerary sailing August 23rd keep me posted 

[Happycrafter123]

@gatorchinsky I’ll look forward to any questions you come up with!  Do you have Mykonos on your itinerary or what is the main difference for yours?

 

in terms of entertainment for now I can say that burn the floor and six are each on two nights only.  Burn the floor is on day 2 and 4.  And Six is on days 7 and 8.   

[lizygirl3]

Mykonos after Athens and Catania instead of Sicily 

[gatorchinsky]

4 minutes ago, Happycrafter123 said:

@gatorchinsky I’ll look forward to any questions you come up with!  Do you have Mykonos on your itinerary or what is the main difference for yours?

 

in terms of entertainment for now I can say that burn the floor and six are each on two nights only.  Burn the floor is on day 2 and 4.  And Six is on days 7 and 8.   

Thank you so much! Even though our itineraries are different I would think the show days will be the same.

 

Yes, we have Mykonos instead of Olympia and we get another sea day instead of Cannes (which we’ve already been to).

[tsahall01]

The Canadians and I are doing this trip in September.  Our ports are slightly different as well:  Rome-Santorini-Athens-Mykonos-Argostoli-Valletta-Messina-Naples-Livorno-Rome.  I have been to most of the ports, but the Canadians have not!  I've been on the Getaway (did not care for it, LOL!), but not on the  Breakaway--hoping things will be better.  Lots of problems on the Getaway along with most of the passengers getting sick--October of 2019--It was surprising full even though it was a 19 day TA from Copenhagen to New Orleans.  Very bad weather, so most of the Waterfront was closed off and we couldn't use our balconies.   Long wait times for the restaurants, even those with reservations (they did NOT honor reservations in Savor or Taste--only Manhattan Room, which I thought was very RUDE--why allow reservations if you're not going to honor them!!  MANY people VERY upset!)  With the number of people getting sick, we were all thinking afterwards that it was pre-covid covid.  My sister ended up getting pneunomia and whopping cough.  MANY people coughing their heads off (both of our cabins as well, with my cabin mate also getting pneunomia).  I was coughing for a couple of months later....

Anyway, that being said, we are looking forward to the cruise and following you on this one for hints and suggestions!  Have a  great cruise!!

[amypintx]

We're doing this same cruise in July. Excited to follow along with you for a preview!

[Happycrafter123]

@tsahall01 your friends are lucky you will be with them to navigate these places!  Are you planning to go out on your own or take excursions, given you are familiar with the ports?  Which is the port you are most excited to return to?

 

Wishing for you and all of us that things go well on the Breakaway.  We picked this option specifically rather than another option as we had really enjoyed our Baltic cruise on the Getaway in June 2022 - we liked the spa and all the restaurants and bars and the Waterfront.  Fingers crossed for health and good maintenance!

[Happycrafter123]

@amypintx July is not far away!  Is it also your first Mediterranean cruise as it is for me?

[amypintx]

8 minutes ago, Happycrafter123 said:

@amypintx July is not far away!  Is it also your first Mediterranean cruise as it is for me?

 

@Happycrafter123 Yes! We were supposed to go on a similar itinerary in July of 2020 which was, of course, cancelled for Covid. This is our makeup cruise for that one... finally!

[tsahall01]

1 minute ago, Happycrafter123 said:

@tsahall01 your friends are lucky you will be with them to navigate these places!  Are you planning to go out on your own or take excursions, given you are familiar with the ports?  Which is the port you are most excited to return to?

 

Wishing for you and all of us that things go well on the Breakaway.  We picked this option specifically rather than another option as we had really enjoyed our Baltic cruise on the Getaway in June 2022 - we liked the spa and all the restaurants and bars and the Waterfront.  Fingers crossed for health and good maintenance!

Most of our excursions are independent--using Tours by Locals, Italy Tours EU, George's Taxi (Athens) and Viator.  We have things booked for each port except for Naples.  We have already been to Pompeii.  I'm interested in Capri, but the tours there are very expensive.  Just might wing it, or have a "down" day as we will be running pretty much nonstop once the cruise starts.  I am looking forward to retuning to Malta--St John's Co-Cathedral is not to be missed!

 

I'm sure that the Getaway was just a one off combination of unfortunate events.  I took a cruise 6 weeks later in Australia and New Zealand--my first solo and first time on the Jewel--BEST cruise ever!!  Love solo cruising.  I'm retired, but my husband is still working and cannot cruise as much as I can.  I'm sure the weather will be much better in the Med than what it is in the North Atlantic in October/November/December.  After my last TA last December on the Epic, I said never again!  LOL!  Never say never, I'm booked on the Jade for a TA from Lisbon to NYC  Nov 3rd!