Travel Agent Windhoek

When we arrived at the pier in Barcelona we got a fright at the site of the LONG queues. Luckily we had completed our “online check-in”, had our SetSail Pass, credit card and passport ready, which expedited the check-in process tremendously. It was almost like a “walk-in”, taking the length of the queue into consideration. For those of you, who are visiting Europe on a Schengen visa, please note that they will keep your passport for the duration of your cruise until your departure date.

We had booked a balcony stateroom onboard of The Voyager of the Seas. Luckily our stateroom was ready when we got onboard –without our luggage. The luggage is delivered any time between check-in and 21h30. Knowing that from our previous cruise we had packed a small extra bag with a change of clothes. Our stateroom was right at the end the ship, which wasn’t such a good position, as it was a bit noisy – being above the engine room. But that was only a minor issue.

The rest of the day we explored the ship and trust me, there is so much to do and so little time!!! There is an ice-skating rink, the Royal Promenade for shopping, a Rock-climbing wall, Day Spa and Fitness Centre, 9-hole miniature golf course and lots more. Every evening they offered brilliant shows in the La Scarla Theatre, as well as a fantastic Ice Show.

The dining in the evening is something special. There are 3 beautiful designed dining rooms, The Magic Flute, La Boehme and Carmen. And because we always look forward to meeting other people, we had requested to be seated at a bigger table. We didn’t regret it. The food was great and our waiters went out of their way to meet our needs.

Our first port of call was Villefranche, which is a tendered port. Even though we have cruised before, we have never had that experience before. And we have definitely learnt from this. We had been told that we should only get the tender tickets once we are ready to leave the ship. By doing that we had to wait 2 hours until it was our turn to get off. We should have collected the tickets before breakfast already! Villefranche is a beautiful town and easy to discover on your own. We first strolled around in town and then took the public bus to Monte Carlo, which takes about 25 minutes. Just the drive along the coast to Monte Carlo was worthwhile.

The next port was Livorno, from where we visited Florence and Pisa. We again decided to do it on our own. We visited the “Exploration desk” the evening before in order to get all the information on how to get there. We first took the shuttle bus into town, then the bus to the station, from where we got on the train to Florence. There are trains operating between Livorno, Pisa and Florence on a regular basis. The train journey to Florence took about 1½ hours. Florence we explored by foot, not missing out the famous leather market and Ponte Vecchio. And while we walked through Florence we couldn’t resist having a creamy delicious Gelato Italian Ice cream. On our way back to Livorno we made a stop in Pisa, to visit the Field of Miracles. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to climb the leaning tower, as tickets for this are given with a time (one group every 30 minutes) and we had to head back to the ship.

Civitavecchia was my absolute favorite port! We had booked a private guided tour, just for the 4 of us in an air conditioned Mercedes Vito, which was the best decision we could have made. We were picked up by Gilberto at 8h00 in the morning. By exploring Rome like this we managed to see so much. The Coliseum, Circus Maximus, The Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, the Pantheon and in the afternoon we visited the Vatican. Gilberto was fantastic. He dropped us off right in front of a sight –which is not possible with a big coach. He even got our entrance tickets for the Coliseum before hand, so that we don’t have to waste time standing in the queue.

On the 5th day we got to Naples. This was the only time where we booked an excursion through Royal Caribbean to visit Pompeii and Sorrento. We were glad to have booked a guided tour for Pompeii. It wouldn’t have been so intense and I am sure we would have missed out on a lot of information, even with the use of audio guides.

Our last port was Palermo, which was our least favorite. We only went to town for a while, but couldn’t wait to get to the ship. We were a bit exhausted after four days of touring, so we used the rest of the day to relax at the poolside and in the Jacuzzi.

The disembarkation went very smooth. We had to put our luggage outside the room before 23h00 on the last night. Every piece was color coded and we were given a disembarkation time for the next morning. By the time we got off the ship, our luggage was already waiting for us.