Ray and Traci spent their pre-cruise night wandering down La Ramblas, Barcelona’s “Broadway.” Saturday night attracted a wide variety of street performers, merchants, and customers along this promenade lined with restaurants and shops of all shapes and sizes. The crowded street is best explored on foot, as traffic is limited to two narrow lanes each way with a mile long pedestrian promenade in the middle. At one end stands a large Christopher Columbus statue and the other, two huge water fountains anchor Placa Catalunya, Barcelona’s version of Times Square. Exhausted, Ray and Traci retired to their very nice room at the Le Meridien hotel located on La Ramblas two blocks from the fountains.
Ray started Sunday morning with a run along the waterfront – he did not realize it was 34 degrees until passing a temperature sign well into the run. After returning, Ray and Traci boarded a double decker tour bus traveling around the city. Despite warm clothing, both travelers were freezing after the 2 hour tour. Rather than viewing more of the city, Ray and Traci headed to the hotel, warmed up, checked out and headed to their ship, the Norwegian Jade.
Check-in was quite busy, but the friendly NCL staff brought Ray and Traci to their new home and delivered their luggage. The first day was spent sampling the dining room food: Ray had a steak, Traci had the mahi-mahi special. Unfortunately Traci did not like her fish so they went to the buffet for Spanish rice and chicken curry. A good thing about cruise ships is you can keep going to different places to eat until you find something you like. The Jade offers over a dozen places to eat, however many carry a supplemental charge of $10 to $25. The night ended with a quite impressive show featuring 2 former Cirque du Solei performers doing many of the stunts you see in the troop’s Las Vegas shows: Contortions, spinning chrome cube, 2 person power lifting, and suspension from twin hanging curtains.
Monday was spent at sea. Ray started the day by running around the good sized dedicated running track (5 ½ laps = 1 mile) while Traci went to a well equipped but surprisingly empty gym. Unlike their previous experience on Holland America’s Rotterdam where outdoor running on the main deck wasn’t allowed, the Jade had a walking track on one deck and a 24 hour lighted jogging track on another. They next tried their luck at playing Bingo but were quite disappointed – and not simply because they didn’t win. After paying $39-$59 for cards in 4 different games, winners split only about $125 per game. NCL Bingo is for people who are bad at math! Lunch followed, and then Traci spent the sunny afternoon (temperature reached 60 degrees!) on the balcony while Ray watched videos of lectures by the crew about the ports to be visited and played his Nintendo Wii (Super Mario Galaxy 2). On their last Alaskan cruise, Ray spent much of the “free” time finishing the first incarnation of this amazing video game. Ray and Traci decided to have dinner at the main buffet – the selection of food is generally good although the overall quality seems a bit less than their only other cruise with Holland America. The evening ended with a nice production of a musical from England called “Shout.”
On Tuesday, much of the ship woke up early for tours into Rome. The Jade docked at Civitavecchia, a 60 minute drive from Rome. Ray previously organized a small group excursion using the company limoinrome.com, and found 5 other people to join the tour from the internet community site cruisecritics.com. A 7 person group afforded much more flexibility, and the opportunity to see many more attractions than a cruise ship program – not to mention saving over 50% in cost. Ray’s group guide picked them up at the dock and drove them to the Roman Colosseum.
The 2,000 year old immense structure once hosted 50,000 fans watching bloody combat as entertainment. While time, earthquakes, and scavenging for building materials has worn down much of the Colosseum, the surviving structure highlights the incredible building talents of the Romans. The tour continued to the Circus Maximus (where chariot races were once held), the Pantheon (A Roman house of worship with an amazing skylight), and Trevi Fountain.
Ray and Traci pitched the obligatory coins into Trevi Fountain, and the tour group stopped at an Italian restaurant near the Vatican. The owner was proud to show his American customers a pizza paddle signed by Tom Cruise. Ray had a pizza with ham and Traci ate spicy pasta. After lunch, the group went to the Vatican, starting with the museum. After admiring some of the art amassed over centuries of Vatican “antiquing foreign lands,” Ray and Traci headed to the Sistine Chappell where Michelangelo’s paintings of biblical scenes populate the ceiling. Next, the travelers entered St. Peters Square (actually shaped like an ellipse) where 300,000 of the faithful can take in a Papal Mass. The final Vatican stop was at St. Peters’ Basilica, the world’s largest church, which is covered by Michelangelo’s giant dome. Ray and Traci climbed to the top of the dome and enjoyed the amazing view of Rome.
Before the group departed for the ship, Ray and Traci purchased some genuine Italian gelato to end a long day of exploration. While some may prefer a tour with a guide accompanying guests at each stop, Ray liked the limoinrome.com service with a knowledgeable driver providing transportation and allowing the guests to make their own decisions on how to spend their time at each stop.
To end the first day in port, Ray and Traci watched the musical act, Journey South, made famous by Simon Cowell’s X-Factor talent show in the UK. They played many “sing a long” covers of very popular hits from the typical suspects – The Beatles, Billy Joel, Elton John, Michael Buble. Since Simon Cowell has always made fun of cruise ship musicians on his former show, American Idol, it was somewhat ironic that a band signed by his company is playing on a cruise ship. Afterwards, Ray and Traci enjoyed a dining room meal (Ray had prime rib, Traci had Coq au Vin) before retiring for the evening.
Wednesday started with a beautiful morning at sea – cool, crisp and clear. Traci woke up early to see the boat pass the active volcano on Stromboli Island.
During his morning run, Ray had a beautiful close up view of Sicily as the ship traversed the Messina Strait in the southern portion of Italy. Dinner on this sea day was “lobster night” and “Dress Up (or not)” night – On NCL, there are no obligate formal nights but some diners wore black tie apparel anyway while others wore jeans. Ray enjoyed his dining room steak and lobster, while Traci had a goat cheese and pear salad, an asparagus and scallops dish, and ox tail soup. Dessert was apple pie (Traci found a stem and a seed in hers). The show for the evening featured a winner from UKs version of Star Search back in the 70s – a surprisingly entertaining and very talented violinist Gary Lovini. The organizers were quite crafty and didn’t mention Gary was a violinist in the promotions; an unsuspecting crowd may have been disappointed when Gary and violin took the stage but by the end of the show he had clearly won over the audience with a wide variety of music skillfully adapted to the violin.
Thursday started with an amazing sunrise over Greece. The weather was fantastic and Ray was in awe watching the Greek Islands pass from the ship’s 13th floor running track. Ray and Traci had a delicious breakfast at Cagney’s restaurant – Belgian Waffles with bacon for Ray, French toast for Traci and then boarded the NCL bus excursion to Athens. Traffic from the port city of Piraeus to Athens was especially heavy with a labor demonstration and a funeral of one of Greece’s wealthiest people taking place, giving the guide ample time to launch a diatribe over the International Monetary Fund’s austerity being forced on Greece as well as the country’s past mistake to join the European Union. While her solution (price controls) may be off the mark, her honesty about the causes (Greece’s lack of any industry other than tourism) was refreshing. As one travels into Athens it is obvious that parking is at a severe premium – probably because street parking is free and no one has garages. Gasoline is also very expensive with unleaded going for $8.50 per gallon (Italians pay about $7.80) although many cars run on diesel which is marginally cheaper. Athens buildings almost all have merchants selling everything imaginable in street level stores instead of providing interior parking. A 45 minute drive brought the bus to the Acropolis, perched on a hill in the center of town. The Acropolis is now a small collection of buildings which first represented the whole town of Athens 2,500 years ago. The most famous building, the Parthenon, was originally built as a house of worship and suffered extensive damage when gunpowder stored inside blew up while under attack in 1687.
Scaffolding around the Parthenon reflects recent efforts for reconstruction which have been halted due to controversies about contaminating ancient ruins with modern construction. Some of the original statues in the Acropolis represent copies with the originals placed in museums (including the British Museum in London) for “safekeeping.” While the extensive damage to such a treasure was disappointing, the mere thought that Plato and Socrates once roamed these hallowed grounds was inspiring. Local dogs seemed to agree as quite a few gathered around the Acropolis and greeted tourists. After visiting the Acropolis and picking up a few souvenirs in the shops in the adjacent neighborhood, the bus made one more stop at the stadium which hosted the inaugural modern Olympics in 1896 (and represented the finish line of the 2004 Olympic marathon.)
Back on the Jade, Ray and Traci had dinner in the buffet (it had special Greek dishes in honor of the host country) before viewing a magic show by Sander & Alison. While Traci was not a big fan of the magic show, Ray watched the illusions which included small animals, snakes, and disappearing people with amazement. Those interested in watching a good illusionist were treated with a great production.
On Friday, the ship docked at Izmir, Turkey. Ray and Traci’s luck with wonderful weather ran out. After breakfast, both boarded a bus to Ephesus, one of the best preserved Roman cities anywhere. Unfortunately cool temperatures and rain affected the enjoyment of this ancient landmark but with the assistance of a very good tour guide, most of the travelers had a great visit. Ephesus is remarkable for many things including being the home the Virgin Mary, at one time hosting one of the world’s great libraries with 12,000 scrolls,
having a communal latrine with slaves used as ‘benchwarmers’ keeping the marble warm for their masters, and having a 25,000 person ancient theatre that hosted present day concerts by Elton John and Sting.
Unfortunately, the city died off when silt deposits turned the once seaport into a city 6 miles from the Aegean Sea. After the Ephesus visit, the bus made the customary tourist trap stop at a rug maker who demonstrated how silk is spun and how rugs are made by hand. Ray and Traci (along with most of the 43 on the tour) went back to the ship rugless. Back at the ship, the BBC news showed the civil unrest going on in Egypt. After the Egyptian army was mobilized to restore order in Cairo, it was no surprise that the Captain announced the ship would not be going to Egypt as planned, and instead was going to Istanbul. The hardest job on the ship fell to a guest entertainer, comedian Mike Goddard. Amusing a crowd of disappointed pyramid travelers would be difficult but Mike had a very good act, mostly clean, and appealed to a wide range of ages and cultures. Both Ray and Traci thought he was very funny, something that is hard to accomplish due to their differing tastes in comedy. After the show, Ray and Traci had dinner at the buffet and then watched some more news from Egypt including the US Government’s official warning against travel to Egypt.The new schedule put the ship in Istanbul Saturday afternoon. Ray’s biggest complaint was that the ship picked a destination farther north (colder) rather than south – even if the ship just sat in the Mediterranean, people could enjoy warm and sunny weather. In hindsight, this would have been a mistake as Istanbul is an amazing place.
