Vista Vacation: Meet Me in Marseilles

Here we are, Marseilles, France, our last port of call.

Sadly, Marseilles was my least favourite port - as in, I should have just stayed on the ship. We were aware of the transit strike prior to arriving in Marseilles. It wasn't going to affect our excursion, but many other Carnival excursions were cancelled. In hindsight, I wish ours had been cancelled as well.

None of the excursions really stood out to us in Marseilles, so this was another last minute decision for us. We ended up choosing Top 10 of Marseilles. I know, I don't know why. I had said the Top 10 excursions felt too rushed, but this was a short one (4 hours) so we figured everything must be close together (which we were mostly right about) and it was also cheap ($70). Our tour guide had a very heavy French accent and a deep, hoarse voice. Most of the tour group had a hard time understanding her.

Marseilles is a large industrial port, and the tour started off with our driver not being able to find an exit. Due to the strike, several port exits were closed. So we circled around to find another exit, it took us about 15-20 minutes to get out. Not a great start.

Our first stop was Palais Longchamp. The building is centered on the beautiful chateau d'eau fountain in the middle of the park. There are two wings, both of which are museums. The panoramic view is magnificent. During this photo stop, our tour guide stayed on the bus. There were two other buses on this particular tour, and I saw the other two tour guides walk with their tour group, and explain the history of Palais Longchamp. I was very disappointed that our tour guide didn't bother to do so.

From there, we drove to Notre Dame de la Garde. As we drove up the hill, we could see the bell tower from afar. On top of the bell tower, we could see the infamous gold leaf statue of Mary carrying baby Jesus. Notre Dame de la Garde is located at the highest natural elevation in Marseilles, and there are about 170 steps to climb to get to the entrance of the basilica. Our tour guide did get off the bus this time to walk us up to the basilica. There were a lot, and I mean a lot, of people during our stop, so foot traffic was moving quite slowly. The view on top of the basilica is just truly breathtaking. You can see all of Marseilles. We also took a quick walk inside the basilica. The exterior of the church reminded me of the cathedral in Florence, but the inside of the basilica was decorated with mosaic with lot of marble. Unfortunately, we didn't a chance to visit the crypt due to time constraints.

Look at this gorgeous panoramic view from Notre Dame de la Garde!

Our tour continued on the scenic coast along the beaches until we reached our final stop in Old Port. For such a short distance to drive around, and the fact that there was not much traffic due the strike, it sure took a long time. We were dropped off at a mall, and given 45 minutes of free time, with no map. Our tour guide wasn't helpful at all, she pointed in one direction and said "Souvenirs that way," and another, "Restaurants that way." None of us had any clue as to where we were going. A lot of passengers were angry. The boyfriend and I walked towards the water for some pictures, and turned back to look for a snack. We found a busy street with many shops, and a few coffee stands, so the boyfriend grabbed a few croissants while I took a quick look at a nearby shop. I really wanted to try on a few things but we were short for time. We turned back, and ended up at a different entrance at the mall, so we decided to take a quick look inside. It was the loneliest mall we had ever seen. More than half of the mall was under construction and inaccessible. We found a busy bakery on the other end, so we bought some more pastries to hold off our hunger.

Because of the strike, we didn't want to take a chance with finding our way back on our own. We walked back to the motor coach, and back to the ship we went.

As we headed inside the terminal, we spotted a Carnival shuttle bus that was going to Old Port. We approached the tour guide at the bus, and asked if there was a fee for the bus. She replied €15. Crazy! No thanks, we thought. As we walked away, the girl called us back. She had seen our excursion stickers, and told us it was free of charge for us. At that time, more people were coming back to the ship than leaving the ship, so we waited for about fifteen minutes before the shuttle left with us and two other people. The bus dropped us off right at the entrance of Old Port.

We wandered into the side streets, and found a few corner stores, and a supermarket! We both have a sweet tooth, and we love buying candy from abroad. This supermarket had all the best candy. I stopped by a Mango outlet and Leonidas chocolates. The pier is where you want to buy your souvenirs. There are a lot of soap shops; soaps are a popular souvenir in Marseilles. After grabbing some soap, postcards and souvenirs, we took the last shuttle back to the ship.

Our last supper... the boyfriend had French onion soup to start, prime rib for his entree and carrot cake for dessert. I had the beef carpaccio, beef stew and fruit. Our dining staff serenaded us with a rendition of "Leaving on a Jet Plane."

We stopped by the Liquid Lounge to take a quick peek. A band (jazz, I believe) was performing a variety of music from rock to pop, and classical to country. Unfortunately, it was time to get ready for disembarkation so we rushed back to our cabin to pack up our luggage. We ended our night at the comedy club. We just made it about five minutes into Steve White's last show. Before we headed back into our cabin, we stopped by Guest Services to close out our accounts...

What a bittersweet feeling! Thank you for continuing to read my trip report on the Carnival Vista... my next entry will be Disembarkation Day, then our three-day stay in Barcelona. Stay tuned!

I'd love to hear from you! Please leave me a comment. 

Vista Vacation: Life in Livorno

I've been told Florence is an architectural gem, a "city rich in history as it is in culture." I've been wanting to visit since our first trip to Europe, so I was excited to find out Livorno was one of the port of calls on the Carnival Vista, meaning I would get a chance to visit Florence. Unfortunately, Livorno is also the port of call for Pisa and Cinque Terre, which means it was going to be a tough decision. We didn't end up booking our excursion until the night before. There are several excursions that take you to both Florence and Pisa, but after our rushed excursion in Malta, I was hesitant to take on another heavy excursion. Cinque Terre is on my list as well but I wanted to explore Florence more.

The excursion we ended up choosing was Highlights of Florence and Shopping. Our walking tour of the majestic city of Florence began after a 1.5 hours motor coach journey. Our tour guide was great, I think her name was Patricia. She was very informative and very efficient. She told us about the shortcuts and gave us plenty of tips. She was very real and had no qualms in pointing out the con artists around us. Funnily enough, she was from Pisa! We first visited the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. The cathedral is the main church of Florence. It also includes the Baptistry of St. John, located across from the basilica, and Giotto's Campanile (the bell tower to the right of the basilica). The exterior of the basilica has an elaborate Gothic style facade. The cathedral is recognized for its beautiful red dome, which can be seen from a great distance as it is the largest brick dome in the world.

In the Piazza della Signoria, we saw a replica of Michelangelo's David statue. The real statue is in the Galleria dell'Accademia, but alas a trip to the museum wasn't on our itinerary and we didn't get a chance during our free time. If you plan to visit the Galleria dell'Accademia, please purchase tickets prior to your visit. We walked past the museum first thing in the morning and the line was a block long already - and the museum wasn't even opened yet! Our tour guide told us the wait to purchase tickets can be up to two hours long.

From the Piazza della Signoria, we walked past the Galleria degli Uffizi through the narrow courtyard between the palace and into the view of the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. Ponte Vecchio is a bridge over the Arno river; it is known for having shops built along it. We didn't have a chance to walk along the bridge, but I imagine it is similar to the Rialto Bridge in Venice. I've seen beautiful pictures of the Ponte Vecchio lit up at night, but unfortunately we were only there during the day. From there, we walked to Piazza Santa Croce. Basilica of Santa Croce overlooks the square, but during that week, the square was set up for the annual historic soccer games. There was little room to walk around the square, especially since there were so many tour groups in the square. Aside from all the Carnival tour groups, another cruise ship was there as well, in addition to many Korean tour groups. It was a very busy day for Florence... or maybe it's like this every day!

Our walking tour ended at quarter to twelve in Piazza Santa Croce, and we were given about four hours of free time to "shop." What we really wanted was free time to explore the city! I enjoy these excursions because you still get a quick tour of the city, and the free time allows us to go back to revisit sites we are interested in. We quickly walked back to the beginning of the walking tour, to the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. The cathedral is the only church that didn't require an admission fee. There was about a two minute wait, and we were inside. The ceiling art in the cupola was just stunning. I stared until my neck started to hurt, but honestly, I could literally spend hours staring at it if it weren't for my neck!

We grabbed lunch in Piazza del Duomo. It was another expensive slice of pizza, but we did choose the heaviest topping (meatballs, below left)! This pizza tasted much better than the one we had in Rome (sadly, we never had pizza in Naples! They apparently make the best pizza in the world.). We chose this restaurant because it looked the most appetizing, and they had washrooms. It's hard to find washrooms in Europe. One tour guide had told us to eat at a restaurant with a restroom, that way you won't have to actually have to look for a restroom when you need to go, because you'll likely end up having to buy something a restaurant to use their restroom. We also stopped for ice cream at a cute little shoppe called La Strega Nocciola by the cathedral. It was pretty pricey, but the gelato was very delicious!

From there, we walked back to Piazza della Republica. In the middle of the square was an antique carousel (above right). Nearby was a dessert and coffee shoppe, Caffe Gilli, so we wandered inside to check it out. It was very busy as it was during the lunch hour. The sweets looked amazing, but they were pricey. There are many locals having a coffee in the cafe, so we each had a cappuccino at the bar. It definitely hit the spot!

It was also a shopping area in Piazza della Republica, so after the quick recharge, we walked back into the busy streets to check it out. There was a Kiko Milano on the next street over, so I was excited to stock up on my favourite makeup products. I discovered Kiko Milano during our last trip, and I was surprised with the incredible quality of their products. It was very affordable (even with the exchange), and the quality was comparable to brands like MAC and MUF. For all my makeup lovers out there, do give their products a try!

This is when we kind of got lost. We continued walking down the street until there were no more shops, and we turned a corner, and another, and somehow ended up back at the cathedral. It started sprinkling, so the boyfriend and I were both very frustrated. Our meeting point was in Piazza Santa Croce and we had ended up at the beginning. We had forgotten the shortcut our tour guide told us about, but I still remembered some landmarks during our walking tour, so we re-walked the original walking tour. When we finally got back to Piazza Santa Croce, we still had a little bit of time to walk around the square. We stopped by a souvenir shop and bought some souvenirs and a drink for the road. Most of the shops around the square sold quality leather items. I would recommend checking it out if you're interested in buying leather purses or wallets, there are some pretty gorgeous designs.

We reunited with our tour group, and walked to the motor coach. It was about a 10 minute walk in the (light) rain and it was starting to get windy, so we were really happy to be back on the bus. We arrived at the terminal for boarding at 5:30, and we were back on the Vista in no time. It was formal night, so we started to get ready.

Guess what I had for dinner again? Yes, that's right, fish! I honestly cannot believe I had fish every night! Tonight, it was salmon with an Asian flair (rice, teriyaki sauce, and one piece of bok choy...). I remember this being one of my favourite dishes, so I highly recommend it. As usual, I started with a soup, and had a side of pasta. The boyfriend started with crab cakes, and he had the beef tenderloin for his entree. We both had soufflé type dessert.

After dinner, we rushed to the Liquid Lounge for the show, American Rocks! It was like a high-energy rock concert of American rock anthems. It was a very fun show. I had a great time singing along to the songs!

Because we watched the show, we missed Steve White's comedy show. The night was still young so we went to check out John Dicrosta, who was unfortunately still not impressing me.

Our next port of call is Marseilles. Unfortunately, it is our last port of call, and our cruise will be coming to an end in Barcelona soon. Stay tuned for Marseilles!

Vista Vacation: Roam in Rome

Isn't that a super fun play on words?!

The boyfriend was super excited to be back in Rome, but I was a little less enthusiastic. We had stayed in Rome for four days during our last European cruise about a year and a half ago. Rome was by far my least favourite city in Italy. I guess it was a combination of aggressive street vendors, mediocre food, and busy, crowded tourist destinations that turned me off. Especially since we headed to Venice right after, and I truly fell in love with it. I wanted to stay on the Vista when we docked in Rome, but since I had been picking most of the excursions during this cruise, I let the boyfriend have Rome. He chose Rome-On-Your-Own.

Rome-On-Your-Own with Carnival is basically a $70 bus ride (round trip, and per person) to and from Rome. Now I'm not sure how much it would cost with a local tour company, but whenever we decided to do excursions, we always stick with the ship. I know many will disagree on this with me, but we personally feel safer knowing we won't be left behind if the excursion runs late. Sure, we may end up paying more, but it's better to be safe than sorry. I don't recommend Rome-On-Your-Own to someone who hasn't been to Rome before. Rome is a big city. It's overwhelming, and while everything is within walking distance, it is a challenge to get to know the city in eight hours. You really do need prior experience to be able to get around the city smoothly. Rome is an hour and a half away from Civitavecchia. Once we were dropped off in the city, we wasted no time in purchasing a one day pass for the red City Sightseeing HOHO bus. We didn't want to spend all day walking around, so this was the most efficient way to go.

Rome is a city we know well. After our four days there, we knew the tourist areas like the back of our hands. So naturally, during this second visit, we knew we had no problem in hitting all the major tourist sites.

Stop #1: Castel Sant'Angelo. Castel Sant'Angelo was our first stop during our first trip to Rome. Admission was free, since it was the first Sunday of the month. Castel Sant'Angelo was initially commissioned as a mausoleum, but it was used as a fortress by the pope. Today, it is a museum. We weren't interested in re-visiting the museum, so off we were, on our way to St. Peter's.

Stop #2: St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. We were in Rome during a Jubilee year, so St. Peter's Basilica was very busy. However, foot traffic moved smoothly so it didn't feel crowded at all. There were friendly volunteers in yellow vests directing traffic and answering questions. You can see all the wooden gates that that have been put up to direct traffic. We also noticed they had installed metal detectors on the edge of the square (not pictured) - not sure if they were permanent or temporary during the Jubilee, but they definitely weren't there a year and a half ago! After a few pictures and about fifteen minutes of debating (fifteen minutes was actually the wait time to get in St. Peter's), we decided not to go in. We felt that there would be more crowds inside during the Jubilee. We headed back towards the HOHO bus stop by Castel Sant'Angelo, but not before stopping for a cappuccino along the way! We absolutely love the cappuccinos in Italy, so we make an effort to stop for one wherever we see a coffee shop.

Stop #3: Trevi Fountain. Last time, the Trevi Fountain was under construction. We were disappointed but we did what all tourists do - we threw a coin over our shoulder to ensure a visit in the future. What do you know!? Here we were. I'm not sure what the Trevi Fountain looked like before the renovations, but with water in the fountain, it was gorgeous. It was also very crowded, so it was very difficult to get a picture of the entire fountain. We tried our best, but unfortunately, if you want a full shot, you'd have to get a postcard... or maybe we'll just have to come back sometime in the future on a less busy time and day! It was noon, and we were a little hungry, so we decided to share a cup of ice cream from the same store we visited last time. We sat in front of the fountain eating our ice cream, but the sun was on full blast at that time of the day, so it was melting fast. Be sure to sit down and take in the view if you visit the Trevi Fountain. It's truly stunning!

Stop #4: Pantheon. The Pantheon was close by, so we decided to walk over for a brief visit. There was a small queue outside, and a guard was monitoring the number of people being let in. We waited for about five minutes. After admiring the Pantheon, we were starving, so we grabbed a couple of pizzas. I wished we had time to sit and eat a proper meal, but we were short on time! Pizza in Rome is charged by weight, and it's quite expensive. Two medium sized slices costed us over €7.

Stop #5: Spanish Steps. Rome is playing jokes on us! The Spanish Steps were closed for restoration during this visit. We had some fond memories sitting on the steps, so we were sad to see that it was closed. The Spanish Steps are surrounded by upscale merchants, like Prada and Gucci. We didn't have time or funds to shop, but it's a fun area to window shop in, and definitely very crowded during the day! We walked around the Spanish Steps, and I passed by a cute store called Blue Sand. The prices were affordable and the clothing seemed well made. They have some very nice, classy pieces. I ended up purchasing a dress, which I wore to dinner that evening.

Now, remember that HOHO bus we had taken twice thus far during the entire day? We finally made it to a stop near the Spanish Steps after my shopping stop. It was about four - five stops to our meeting point with the motor coach. The problem was the next stop was a train station - and 30 minute break for the driver. Now these busses come by every 5-10 minutes, so I didn't understand why we couldn't hop on a bus that had been at the train station for 30 minutes already. Maybe not all drivers took a break? We had such a hard time communicating with the tour guide on the bus, so we gave up on the bus. The meeting point looked like a walkable distance, so we asked how long it would take us to get to the meeting point. He said twenty minutes. We had an hour to get there, so we decided to walk. If you are doing Rome-On-Your-Own and you are planning on taking the HOHO bus, be aware of this break! There are many other HOHO buses in Rome, and I definitely recommend doing some research prior to choosing one. Last time around, we chose the Roma Cristiana bus, which had significantly less stops than the red bus, but it was less expensive.

We definitely took the road less travelled. There was not one tourist in sight. I had downloaded an offline map of the area on Google maps the night before - I highly recommend doing this - so we were following the shortest route, and it was only a brief twenty minute walk. We were on quiet street with a lot of cars, but no pedestrians. As we rounded the corner, we spotted the Capitoline museums. Finally, we were in familiar quarters.

Stop #6: Roman Forum. We didn't quite get to the Colosseum. It was within view, but I really didn't want to miss our bus! So close, yet so far. We had an amazing tour at the Colosseum last time, so we really didn't need go again. However, our tour was also extremely uncomfortable. It was melting hot, and we were completely exhausted after the tour. As we walked along the Roman Forum on the street, it was starting to get really hot. We still had 25 minutes, but we were getting thirsty, so we turned around and walked towards the bus. Luckily, there was a Carrefour across the street, so we grabbed a few drinks and a snack before boarding the motor coach. All the passengers on our coach arrived before 5 PM, and we were the first out of three buses to leave on time. It was another hour and a half to the port... Nap time!

Now our cruise director, Matt, had warned us about Rome. It is challenging to get in and out of the city on your own. Many cruise passengers miss the train returning to Civitavecchia, so this port usually has the most ship runners. During the last cruise, two passengers were left behind. When it came to sail away time, we were missing about seven (or eight?) people. We were on our way to dinner, but we stopped by deck 5 to see if there were ship runners. Many passengers were watching on their balconies as well. Ten minutes after sail away time, a family of four arrived by shuttle. Twenty minutes later, a bus with two more people arrived. We were getting hungry, so we left for dinner. Sail away time was 8 PM, but we didn't actually leave until after 9 PM. One of our head waiters told us the ship will usually wait for all the passengers to return. There is more paperwork for the captain to fill out if they leave behind passengers. I'm never did find out if everyone made it back on the ship, but I sure hope they did.

Tonight was another two entree night for me. I guess they figured out I really liked mac 'n' cheese since I'd been ordering it every night! When I ordered tonight, one of our head waiters gave me a full entree size plate of mac 'n' cheese! I'm not sure what the boyfriend had for dinner. We can't remember to be honest, but we only have pictures of yet another fish plate. I can't believe I had fish everyday, I don't even like fish that much! On the other hand, the tuna tartare appetizer was amazing! For dessert, we shared a fruit plate, and I had the apple crumble, and he had the creme brûlée.

We had two new comedians on board the Vista, Steve White and John DiCrosta. Another confession, we cannot remember if John Dicrosta was funny or not but I do remember he went off topic - a lot. He would start one story, and jumped to another story, and never finish the original. His jokes were completely scattered. Oftentimes, he often started to laugh so hard, he could't finish his jokes. I didn't enjoy him that much. Steve White, on the other hand, was hilarious!

We did pretty good right? Granted we didn't enter some of these stops, but we were there! If you interested about our first trip to Rome with more details, you can read it here.

I'm so glad we visited Rome again, and I'm even more happy that we got to see the Trevi Fountain in all its magical glory. Kudos to the boyfriend for making this decision! Rome is an amazing city, and there is so much to see and do, you can't possibly do it all in one day. It's one of those cities you have to visit at least once in in your lifetime. I hope you enjoyed our reading my review... I certainly had fun writing this entry. Next up is Livorno - also known the port of Florence and Pisa!