It was a beautiful day in Rome when we woke up and went up
to rooftop to have breakfast.
Then we took a taxi to the Vatican as we had a tour booked
for 10:30am.We arrived there at 9:00am
and the lines were so long to get in that we almost missed our tour time.
The guide we had, with 10 other people was very
knowledgeable and told us a lot of things that we did not know before.
After the tour, we went into the Treasury and oh my gosh the
riches that are in the Treasury are amazing.Everything gold or gold plated, gold threads, and lots of jewels!!
Then we walked back to hotel area and had lunch before going
to the Coliseum and Forman areas to see the excavations.
Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
We took a cab because it was a long walk to dinner at the La
Taverna Del Fori Imperiali, voted as one of the top 10 restaurants in Rome.
We met the owner when he came to our table and the restaurant
has been in the family for over 100 years, 4 generations.The 5th generation is a boy and he
is 14.Amazing.
The food was delicious.
We have walked 18,647 steps for a total of 7.2 miles!!
Back to the hotel to go to sleep after having a glass of
wine on the rooftop terrace.
Night from Rome.
At the Vatican
long lines to get in. 40 minuites to get to this point!!
We were out of our room by 9:30am after having a nice
breakfast on the rooftop terrace.
We had several goals to day and we met them all!
First, we walked to the Trevi Fountain. On our first of probably 6 trips to Rome we
went to the fountain and threw coins in and laughed that we would probably
never come back. Well, every time we are
here, we throw coins in and this year was not an exception.
As it was Sunday, it was very bust but we managed to get to
the rail to take pictures and get coins into the fountain.
Then it was to the Spanish Steps because we knew there were
good pizza places along the way. We had
their traditional pizza by the ounce and it was very good.
As we were walking all of a sudden we came apon the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum and we went it.
It was amazing. Most people know him from his painting, including the Mona Lisa, but my the other things that he accomplished pale by comparision. He is considered the greatest genius of all time and if you have time, read about him and what he did - we did not know all that he invented.
They just outside the north gate to the old city there was a
flea market that we wanted to go to. We
did and it was disappointing,
Then it was time to walk back to the hotel, about 1 ½ miles
with a lot of interesting places to see along the way.
Of course, during the day, we visited a lot of churches and
each one was beautiful.
After we were back at the hotel, we went to the rooftop to
have a class of wine and some snacks before heading out to dinner.
Earlier in the morning we had gotten caught in a huge
rainstorm and we took shelter under the awning of a restaurant that made their
own pasta for the 3 restaurants that they owned. Barb talked the head cook while we were there
and promised to come back for dinner.
When we got to the restaurant, we got the last table that
they had and from almost that moment they had a line. At one point we counted 40 people in
line. People who sat next to us said
they only had to wait 40 minutes and that sometimes the wait was 2 hours.
The pasta was wonderful and after that we came back to the
room and now it is time to say good night.
Night from Rome – tomorrow we are in Rome still.
Breakfast on the rooftop terrace
Ready to go our for the day
At the Trevi Fountain
One of many churches
A drink and snacks before dinner
Dinner
Some Lemoncello for a bedtime drink!!
Breakfast on the rooftop terrace
At the Trevi Fountain
Making pasta and then at dinner that evening
Dinner
Making pasta for the restaurant we ate at for dinner
They asked us to be out of our room at 7pm so we were up at
6 and out at 7 and to the inside restaurant.
This was the first time we had eaten breakfast inside.
We had a 12:30pm train to Rome so we didn’t want to get off
too early as the train station was only about 15 minutes away.
At 10:15am we asked our butler to take us off the ship and
WOW was it easy for us. He took both of our carry-ons and walked us to the
baggage area where he put the 4 pieces on one cart and took us outside where he
arranged for a taxi to take us to the train station.
The trip was so quick that when we got to our train platform,
we had 1 ½ hours to wait.At least we
were there.
The train was right on time so with the help of a big guy,
we got ourselves and our luggage in our car.
We are in the first-class car and it has 45 seats and there
are only 9 people in the entire car.The
6-hour train trip only costs us $113.00 so it was a great but, in our view.
We were only 2 hours away from Rome when the train came to a
complete stop.After a little bit we
heard the bad news in that there was a body on the track and the police were
are the scene!!
After 2 hours we finally starting.So now the train got to Rome at about 8pm and
we took a taxi to our hotel.
This is the same wonderful hotel (The Pantheon Iconic Rome
Hotel) that we stayed at last October
when Ed was sick so we are looking forward to it this time with both of us
feeling tired but great.
We checked in, went to our room, and dropped off luggage and
immediately went to a great pizza restaurant.
We are here for 2 full days and on the 3rd day we
will leave the city late to go to an airport Marriott as we have a 6:25am
flight.
We have some places in Rome we are really looking forward to
seeing and we will share them with you.
Our hotel room is very elegant with windows that look out over the front street and we have the windows open to get a great nights sleep.
It will be a relaxing couple of day.
Night from Rome
Time to leave the ship
Our butler leading us out
Heading to Rome
Going to dinner
Pizza in Rome
This street is very narrow!!
The view from the rooftop terrace
Another view from the rooftop
Leaving the ship
Our room in Rome
We have also added some videos from the past several days to previous days on the blog
We awoke at sea on our way to our last stop Marseille,
France
The weather was cloudy so we could not sit in the sun so we just
relaxed in our cabin and then went to the photo lab to look at our pictures.
The ship docked at 1:00pm and so we got off right away.
We took the ships shuttle bus to the city center, about a 30-minute
drive and then spent the next few hours walking around.
As we had to be back on the ship by 6:30pm we did not take time
to have lunch so we could see some of the sights that we had not seen the time
we were here before.
We got back to the ship at about 4pm, went to the pool deck
for food and then back to our room to pack as tomorrow we get off the ship.
As it our custom, we went to the 7:30pm show and it was music
from the Mediterranean and it was very good.We fell that the performances on this ship were better than on Celebrity
ships.On Celebrity, there always seem
to be a couple of shows that are not very good.Here the cast of performers have a different musical event ever night –
so much better than Celebrity.
Then it was back to the ship to get ready for our last
dinner on board the ship and it was delightful.
After dinner we went to the casino where Ed had his biggest night of the trip and Barb lost a little.
After we finished, we met with the Host and they gave us a certificate for a free cruise in the Mediterranean!!
I will post the pictures tomorrow because we have to be out of the room by 7am in the moring.
We will have breakfast and at 10:30am exit the ship to take the train to Rome.
Night from our last night on the cruise.
Some final words about the cruise from both of us
The ship was amazing -the cleanliness, the space, the luxury
and most importantly the friendless and attentiveness of the staff.
The entertainment was fabulous, not throw away shows to fill
gaps like other cruise lines. Every show
was fun and very well done. All the show
were made up of the dancers and singers from the ship’s cast as well as specialty
performers who were excellent. Not the
same old stuff. The performers were
better than any other ship we have been on.
The sound system was perfect, not loud like on Celebrity.
Because the theater was small, it was much more intimate
which we liked. The butlers would rope
off an area for us to sit every night which assured us of good seats.
The room was more spacious, the bathroom was huge and the
shower was unbelievable compared to our previous suites.
But, all of this is in the Yacht Club and we would not
cruise this line again if we were not in the Yacht Club because with 5,000
passengers no matter what you do, it will be always crowded!!
The lines getting off the ship were massive; however, with
the butler you went off easily ahead of everyone else.
In the Yacht Club none of the public rooms were ever crowded.
When we walked around if the general
areas, it was very hard to fine a quite space.
On the decks around the pools, almost impossible to find an open chair
unless you got up very early. On our
pool deck, there were always lots of lounges available in all sections of the
deck.
The pool deck with all the food and a bar was wonderful with
great lounge chairs.
It was very easy to get to know the casino staff, from the
manager down to the dealers. The staff
in the casino was the same as we have experienced in the Celebrity Casinos.
One big difference is that on Celebrity we have to wait
weeks to find out if they would comp us on a future cruise or not. With MSC, we received a free 7 night European
cruise certificate on our last night because of our play!!
If you were in a regular cabin on this ship compared to
Celebrity, Celebrity would win.
If you compare our experience on the MSC Seashore Yacht Club
compared to the suites on Celebrity, hands down, MSC is better by a large
amount.
If we had to choose any cruise line, it would be MSC and the
Yacht Club.
The newspaper delivered to our room every day
Ed on the couch reading the paper
Going our for the day
We visited this church - it was huge and amazing inside
The ship docked in Valencia, Spain. We had shuttle tickets to go from the pier to
the city center which took 30 minutes.
While we docked at 7am, we were told that nothing opened
until 9am, so we took the 8:30am shuttle.
We had to walk over a bridge to get into town.
We headed towards the main cathedral in town and it was
very, very impressive.
The church had audio guides so we could walk the church and
hear all about the history.
The most important part of the church was the section that
housed The Holy Chalice of the Lord’s Supper, The Holy Grail.
Here is a quote from the literature that we were given.
“Based upon references from the ancient liturgy, various
investigation from distinct scientific disciplines, and even the legends of the
Grail – all indicate it is perfectly plausible that the Hold Chalice of
Valencia was in the hands of Jesus Christ at the Last Supper, and it contained
the Most Precious Blood of the Redeemer.
In contrast, there is no evidence that counters this position.”
WOW!!
After that we went to the large food market and bought an
Iberian Ham and cheese sandwich and sat on some steps and ate it along with a
lot of other people in the area.
Since we had to be back to the shuttle bus station no later
than 2pm, we started walking back enjoying the sites along the city streets and
of course buying a few items.
After taking the shuttle back, we went up on the pool deck
and had some snacks and relaxed until it was time for the show.
The show was a production number and it was just fine.
Dinner was wonderful and then we went to the casino where Ed
had a nice win and Barb lost a little.
Tonight, the seas are a little rough and tomorrow we make
our last stop, Marseilles France.
Night
Going out for the day
Meeting our Butler whowil get us through the long lines
We are now in Ibiza, an island of Spain in the Mediterranean
Sea.
The ship docked at 11:00am and we left with out butler
leading the way at about 11:30am.
The only way to get to the town was by a shuttle bus as the
ship docked at an industrial port.
The line for the shuttle bus was huge, but we walked right
to the front of the line.
After about a 15-minute shuttle bus ride, we arrived in the city
of Ibiza Town.The town is well known for
its nightlife and electronic dance music clubs and we are staying in port until
11:00pm.Most of the clubs open
at10:00am and go until the morning.
The largest club, which is 6 miles from the city holds
15,000 people with 6 stories of music and it cost $60 per person to get it!!
We did not go there.
The castle for the island sits on top of a very large hill
and we walked the streets up until we were almost at the top. There were lots
and lots of very short street winding up to the top and we walked 13,000 steps
by the time we were back to the shuttle bus.
We got back late in the afternoon and had snacks by the pool
and then came in and got ready for the show, dinner, and the casino.
Almost every night there is a different theme night and
tonight it is tropical night.
At the casino, Ed had a great run and Barb p;ayed for the first time and lost a little.
Sunrise
The fort at the top of the Old City
Getting ready to go out for the day
The entrance to the Old City
We are at the highest point
Having a small lunch
And now Gellato
Our ship - the MSC Seashore
Inside a church on the island
A typical street and there were lots of them.
A tourist street
We walked up to the top - a long winding walk
Stairs from the lounge to the dining room - they sparkel
Today is a sea day and after 9 days, it was wonderful to
just relax and take a break from all the places we had already visited.
Ed got up at 7am as always to go up the top deck to get lounge
chairs.To his surprise, there were no
other guest there.On most, if not all
cruises we have been on by 7:30 all the good lounges were taken.Today, it wasn’t until 9 when people started
showing up.
Breakfast was ready which was great and we had the perfect
position for our chairs – up front and away from the pool.
After lunch, with the sun getting very hot, we decided to
walk around the regular decks and wow, were they crowded.No way we are ever going to sail with this this
without upgrading to the Yacht Club.It
seemed like all 5,000 people were all in the same space.I will attach a video of the main pool
deck.People younger than us would
probably enjoy all the action.Think a
large Carnival ship on steroids!!
One thing that they did have was 3 floors of shops so it was
time to go see all the shops.
Then it was back to our pool deck for the rest of the
afternoon before we came in and cleaned up and went to dinner.
This was elegant night so we dressed up a bit.
Barb had Lobster for dinner and Ed had a filet and then it
was onto the casino where Ed won a little and Barb did not play.
It was a long session at blackjack and it is now
2:00am.
The good news is that tomorrow we dock at Ibiza, Spain at 11:00
so we can sleep in some.
