Love from the VIVA! Italy-Greece

[Lvbhappy]

Currently on board, setting sail for a 9 day cruise. I’ll try to post things daily in this thread as we were super curious before getting on board, but I’m not a seasoned reviewer/poster like some I’ve seen, but I’ll do my best!
 

it poured today so we were water logged getting from the train station in Trieste to port— we had planned to walk it but it was raining too hard so we opted for the bus. For anyone else that does this, you’ll need to buy a bus ticket, either inside the train station or next door at the bus station next door $2.40€ for 2 people. Bus line 8 took us directly in front of the ship- had a bit of a scare when we got on and it seemed to go the opposite way but if you just stay on it, it’s only 2 stops the other way and then goes back to where you need to be. Dropped our luggage under the white tents and went inside. 

 

got through checkin pretty easily, had a 10am check in and was on the boat by 12. Less organized than other trips out of Seattle or Miami, but no big hassle. Our friends in the haven got through faster than we did despite not getting there til 11,and and drinks and snacks,  so if you are in the haven lucky you! 
 

went and selected our shows…icons are 2 nights beginning of the trip and beetlejuice is 2 nights towards the end. Picked our dining, upgraded the Wi-Fi… then went to find food at the buffet! They have wine on tap up there (cab and Chardonnay), have i mentioned yet that cruising is awesome 😂. 

rooms were ready by 2, and Omgosh they are awesome. So much storage and plug ins and everything was very pretty. Actual wall hooks built into the wall. 
 

layout of the ship is quirky, but honestly i dig it. My husband loves it too, it’s going to be fun figuring everything out! 
 

plan to take it easy the rest of the night, have a few drinks but we have an early excursion + jet lag so sleep will win at some point! 
 

And for those that have been wondering if there is Veuve Cliquot on board, (not a champagne drinker myself) snapped this pic outside of the Hudson restaurant I think. They do have it!

[rnfulk]

Thank you for doing this review! I’ve been excited for someone to do a live from the Viva!

[JIMESOPUS]

@Lvbhappy Thanks for the review, boarding the Viva on November 6.

 

Jim

[cruiseny4life]

I'm sailing V!va's sister ship on November 20th, so I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on V!va since they are mostly the same. Also, sometimes the new live'rs are the best, so if you're able, please do keep coming back to update us on your wonderful journey through the Med!

[bluesea777]

2 hours ago, JIMESOPUS said:

@Lvbhappy Thanks for the review, boarding the Viva on November 6.

 

Jim

 

@Lvbhappy ditto and we board on November 16, 4 weeks from today! 

 

Jim, don't drink the ship dry before we board!! 😁

 

 

[Travel R]

Great start of the review - will be on her next year with this same itinerary (so very much appreciate the Dailies as well).

 

I am following!

[schmoopie17]

6 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

Also, sometimes the new live'rs are the best, so if you're able, please do keep coming back to update us on your wonderful journey through the Med!

I'm always in awe of the people doing the live reviews. Especially, since on our last two cruises, I wasn't even able to get "free" CC access...not even to just browse. Went to talk to the onboard tech gurus, and even they couldn't get me in. Just as well, I probably didn't have anything interesting to say, anyway. 😁

Edited October 19, 2023 by schmoopie17

[Lvbhappy]

Okay! Had a great rest of the night. 
 

Tried out the indulge food hall—what a cool idea. Have about 6-7 restaurants with sampling of what I assume is their best selling items, let people choose and bring it to the table. And you can order some drinks—set known cocktails/drinks or beer. 

Went up to the pool deck level after, sail away party was cancelled, my bet is because of the wind and rain. Underneath the ceiling though, beautiful spot to watch the sail away. Walked down to syd Norman’s, rocking shoe going on. People standing listening all the way out the door. 
 

we went to the metropolitan bar—good singer and good cocktails, enjoyed the rest of our night there. Early excursion tomorrow so didn’t kill it tonight. Asked the casino when they’d be open and they said about 1130. 
 

we did splurge on the premium plus package so you may get my unfiltered view of a bunch of the whiskey my hubs tries and I try that are fancy😂. 

[disneysnob]

Looking forward to your review…we’re boarding next Saturday in Athens for 9 days back to Rome.  Sailed on the Prima last year and loved it!  Hoping the Viva is just as beautiful.  Enjoy.

[olemissreb]

3 hours ago, Lvbhappy said:

Okay! Had a great rest of the night. 
 

Tried out the indulge food hall—what a cool idea. Have about 6-7 restaurants with sampling of what I assume is their best selling items, let people choose and bring it to the table. And you can order some drinks—set known cocktails/drinks or beer. 

Went up to the pool deck level after, sail away party was cancelled, my bet is because of the wind and rain. Underneath the ceiling though, beautiful spot to watch the sail away. Walked down to syd Norman’s, rocking shoe going on. People standing listening all the way out the door. 
 

we went to the metropolitan bar—good singer and good cocktails, enjoyed the rest of our night there. Early excursion tomorrow so didn’t kill it tonight. Asked the casino when they’d be open and they said about 1130. 
 

we did splurge on the premium plus package so you may get my unfiltered view of a bunch of the whiskey my hubs tries and I try that are fancy😂. 

Please post about the Bourbons! My boyfriend and I will be on Viva in March '25 and he's a big bourbon drinker (his fav is Blantons). We'll probably upgrade our drink package just so he can have his fav(if they have it) at a somewhat smaller charge ('cause I suspect it will be over the max $ amount included in the package).

[sjacobs11]

11 hours ago, olemissreb said:

Please post about the Bourbons! My boyfriend and I will be on Viva in March '25 and he's a big bourbon drinker (his fav is Blantons). We'll probably upgrade our drink package just so he can have his fav(if they have it) at a somewhat smaller charge ('cause I suspect it will be over the max $ amount included in the package).

We drank Blanton's all week on our recent Vibe sailing. Our hangout was the Belevedere Bar on deck 6. Drank the last drop and got the cork at the end of the week! Say "hi" to Nick and the team for us!

[Lvbhappy]

Day 2! It’s my birthday so we had an excursion booked:). 

 

we booked the comacchio (co-mock-key-o for those wondering like me how to say it!) lagoon and wine tasting. We did NOT receive our excursion info the night before, stopped by guest services the night before to ask about it (shore excursions desk was closed) and they said some times they drop them off in the morning at like 6am. Okay… but they didn’t.
 

So I ran down in the morning at 7am to find out, shore excursions still closed and guest services had to look it up for me, and tell me our meeting time at 745 in the theater. So that was not my favorite.  They looked it up for me in the theater and while she did find the reservation, I was lightly scolded for losing the ticket—which I didn’t get—which is the thing that made me finally get a bit hot about the situation! I literally checked the night before! 

45 min bus ride to the tour, tour guide gave a decent history of the area. The walking tour of Comacchio in my opinion was a bit of a waste of time. Took about 1.5h to go 2 blocks in a square, show you a hospital, bridges, library, a couple of shops, and a church. High light of the tour was when a dog jumped in the canal and got out and he was super cute😂. We are not big museum or history buffs to that that with the grain of salt. We did sneak into a little cafe by the church to have a coffee and snack (hai un caffè?) and the mozzarella and prochetto pastry was amazing!  
 

wine tasting was SO FUN. Great wine, provided little plate of salami, breadsticks and cheese. Victor the owner was very welcoming and funny- “I want you to drink a LOT!”  We sampled all the wines and bought 5 bottles. They do not ship unfortunately. You can bring on the ship with you, and if you have the drink package you could even bring it to dinner and they’ll open for you. I attached the ncl policy in pictures! 

got back and snacked in the local..wings are goodddd. 
 

freestyle dailies attached. Let’s see where the rest of the day takes us, it’s been good so far! 
 

Oh! And while there are no fishes, there are triangles to point the way:). 

[Lvbhappy]

[Zignewt]

Thank you so much for doing this.  We are on the TA in November and have been looking for a live review!  Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip.

[SullytheBFG]

Loving this! We join the Viva next Saturday, great to hear Beetlejuice and Icons are running.

 

Do you stop in Turkey? Just keeping an eye on the Middle East with the war at the moment.

 

We fly in to Athens from London.

[Lvbhappy]

We do stop in turkey as of now-Kudasi and Istanbul. As of now the state dept as them as an “increased level of caution” due to the current situation, so we have not booked anything and will decide day of and looking at it and the news, if we will even get off the ship. While I’d hate to miss out on such a great place, the unrest is real and caution is warranted. 
 

I am PUMPED for icons and beetlejuice. Will for sure post how they are, icons are tomorrow night. 

[SullytheBFG]

Thanks for replying so quickly! We are supposed to have Olympia and Istanbul, we haven’t booked any trips either as going to play it by ear. I think we have a different route as Santorini, Mykonos, Sicily, Naples etc on our itinerary.

 

We only booked three weeks ago so really looking forward to some fun and a break.

[vacation44]

Thank you for taking the time to share your vacation with us.    This is an itinerary my two young adult children want to do for a future extended family trip.

 

Have an wonderful time!

[SullytheBFG]

12 minutes ago, SullytheBFG said:

Thanks for replying so quickly! We are supposed to have Olympia and Istanbul, we haven’t booked any trips either as going to play it by ear. I think we have a different route as Santorini, Mykonos, Sicily, Naples etc on our itinerary.

 

We only booked three weeks ago so really looking forward to some fun and a break.

Just putting brain into gear! You get off where we get on!

[SullytheBFG]

The British Foreign Office has just changed to terrorist attacks highly likely in Turkey. IF we get into port we are staying onboard!

[olemissreb]

10 hours ago, Lvbhappy said:

OMG my boyfriend is going to have to make some serious commissions between now and March 2025. He'll want to try at least 3 of those last 4 bourbons! Hope they still havs them in 499 days.

[Ixtoras]

@Lvbhappy Thanks for doing this review!  Your pictures are great, as is the narrative.   Thanks also for posting the menus and dailies.

 

We're just about to book the Viva for one of the January / February itineraries in the southeastern Caribbean, so this is getting us psyched up.  🙂 

Edited October 21, 2023 by Ixtoras

[Travel R]

On 10/20/2023 at 11:40 AM, Lvbhappy said:

We do stop in turkey as of now-Kudasi and Istanbul. As of now the state dept as them as an “increased level of caution” due to the current situation, so we have not booked anything and will decide day of and looking at it and the news, if we will even get off the ship. While I’d hate to miss out on such a great place, the unrest is real and caution is warranted. 
 

I am PUMPED for icons and beetlejuice. Will for sure post how they are, icons are tomorrow night. 

We have already begun booking excursions pre-and post cruise for next summer. We are on the same itinerary as you and I have started looking at 3rd party excursions for Istanbul (there are a few things I would like to see (and gain entry) that do not seemed to be available on the current list of NCL excursions. Although I will continue with my research, I will hold off from booking anything as of yet (although most tours are refundable).

[Lvbhappy]

yesterday was a lazy day…we were supposed to be in Split but the port was cancelled due to bad weather and being unable to dock. Had a sea day instead, got to see a thunderstorm in the Adriatic Sea!

 

Ate dinner in the Hudson, wow that’s a pretty venue. Food was good—finally tried the Veuve Cliquot champagne I’ve read so much about on some threads here 😂. It was good, had to buy it by the bottle, couldn’t get it by the glass. 

 

Had Icons at 930pm. Very fun show! Performers were excellent, but the guys in the show really just looked like they were having the time of their lives which made it that much more fun! 
 

went to a dance party after icons in the improv theater. Danced the night away and then ended up at the bar close to the casino, and listened to the live music in there. The bartenders here were so fun, busting out moves from Cocktail Tom cruise style. 

[Lvbhappy]

Dubrovnik! 
 

This was far more beautiful than I had expected. I am so glad we got to make this stop. Our (non NCL) excursion to the blue caves was cancelled the night before due to the weather, so we went on viator and booked a game of thrones walking tour. Have to take a shuttle bus ($20 round trip) to the downtown area. Met up with the tour at 11 for a 2h walking tour. Again I cannot stress enough how pretty this place is. The tour was fun for my hubs and the people I was with as they are big game of thrones fans, the tour guide had a book made up of tons of the scenes from the movie and toured us all through where they were filmed. So many steps though so take that into account when you go. 
 

We found a little restaurant afterwards and ate all the food. It was delicious. I was pumped because I’ve heard that Croatia has great olive oil and I was able to get some at the market they had there—note though that most shops are only open Monday-Saturday so a lot of shops were closed including the olive oil shop I had heard was good. 
 

The walking wiped us our so we changed our dinner reservation to later at 845 and napped for a couple hours. Onda was great, I loved the little mezzalune pasta, and the pizza was amazing. 
 

For the first time, we upgraded to the premium drink package so we’ve been taking advantage of that—more my hubs with the whiskey than me, but I do enjoy my daily green tea from Starbucks and he’s trying all the yummy drinks. We did ask today about how to get water bottles for our room as our steward did not know—you can go to any bar and ask for water and bring it back to the room. 
 

Booked our tender to Santorini but we have a priority boarding because of being gold latitudes—apparently we can meet in the theater about an hour before official off board time and then we’ll get off the ship first. Never done that before so I’ll let ya know! 
 

tried the Vidal inskillin icewine—yum!

 

I will say as to the staff and crew on board, for the most part it’s been extremely pleasant, people seem happy and helpful.