Just Back from Galaxy 8-13 cruise

[newcruiser99]

Cruise was great. any questions, i would be happy to answer.

[jstducky]

what cities ports of call were on the itinerary. what shore excursions did you take? did you do them through the ship or with private tour companies?

[newcruiser99]

rome

naples

mykonos

santorini

malta

barcelona

nice

 

hired marcello moresco in naples for a full day tour of the amalfi coast and pompeii. We really enjoued marcello.no excursions on the greek islands, santorini was nicer. one suggestion is to take the bus in santorini to oia and then walk down to the town of amoudi. it is a small fishing village right on the water... very cool.

 

malta we took a ship excursion. 8 hour jeep tour of the island. malta was suprisingly nice and one of our favorite ports. we got up early and watched the ship come into port. the port of malta is very interesting to enter.

 

barcelona was beautiful. we took a half day tour of the city and our tour guide took us to the picasso museum. our tour guide was great. he explained so much to us (i really don't know much about art) and made the exerience a great one.

 

in Ville Franche we also took a ship excursion to Nice and Eze. The drive along the coast was great, nice was really nice and Eze is exceptional. there is an old castle/village that you can tour there that is terrific.

 

In rome, we took a private tour on the day we arrived with Driverinrome.com. this was good and they took us around the city to several sites, lunch at a really cool restaurant and drove us out to the ship. when we returned, we spent an extra day and walked the city going to the vatican, trevi fountain, etc.

[bon voyage!]

What did you think of the ship? Thinking of taking the 11 day med cruise next year. Did you find the traditional dining times cumbersome, being in port late some nights? (I am used to the Princess personal choice dining.) Overall, were you happy with your choise in the Galaxy? Thanks!

[newcruiser99]

yes. the ship was great. we had the late dining for dinner. it started at 9pm which was nice. we got back to the ship late afternoon most days and had time to relax before dinner.

[jstducky]

i have heard a lot of good things about driverinrome.com

 

when i get around to booking my med cruise for next year. i think i want to use them.

 

would you recommend them? where did you go in rome with them? how many were in your group? and who was your driver?

 

thanks!

[newcruiser99]

we had 2 drivers Fabrizio and Remo. we went on two tours. one on the day we arrived and the second on the day we returned from the ship. we went to all the prime tourist spots and more i.e trevi fountain, spanish steps etc. Fabrizio took us to a really nice restaurant (forgot the name) where we had a great lunch experience.

we had 8 people in our group in a large van. the air conditining could have been better, but we didn't let that bother us. they did a great job!. very accomodative and got us past the long lines and into the sites quickly.

[kekoa3uk]

Newcruiser,

 

Just curious about the sunbeds/loungers situation onboard during your cruise. We were on the Galaxy on 8/2/04, and many people complained about not being able to locate any vacant chairs. There were people walking through the buffet area carrying chairs from one deck to wherever.

[newcruiser99]

same thing on our cruise. everyone hogs the chairs in the morning by placing a book or some other item on a chair. i didn't find it to be a problem as i didn't spend much time around the pool. i did see several people complain about it.

 

you either have to break the rules and hog a chair in the morning or hope one is available when you are ready to head out to the pool deck area.