Recently (just two weeks ago), my family and I returned home to Canada from an amazing seven day European (Western Mediterranean Sea) cruise aboard Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) Epic. No, we didn’t win an all-expenses-paid trip to Europe, but rather paid all expenses out of our own pockets :( Good thing that unlike the 1985 comedy film European Vacation, we came back with good memories, not controversies and conflicts.
We planned (for the trip) for a while, almost few months, since we purchased our Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) Epic ticket from Costco Travel, back in March 2017, and the execution went almost flawlessly, except some minor issues here and there . Most of the work went on to devise a plan for shore excursions, because NCL's official excursion rate is way too expensive. We also planned how to stay safe, and secure our cash while in Italy and Spain. A few Travel books suggested that Barcelona, Rome and Naples are Pickpocketing Hotspots. I bought a Sling Chest Bag from Amazon. I had a hard time finding one, as I needed a sling bag that fits an iPad pro. Fortunately, we didn't have to face any pickpocketing. We found Italian, Spanish and French people very friendly, and helpful.
Note:
In short, here is how our overall travel plan looked like:
Note: Make sure to register (free) your kid(s) to Kids club, you also get free seat selection and other surprise goodies.
While the service provided by Air Transat was very satisfactory, I didn't like the complementary lunch/dinner sandwich. It was kind of tasteless. However, I enjoyed the complementary glass of wine. Thanks Air Transat! Hope, you'll serve better sandwiches next time :)
Passing through the Spanish custom/immigration was hassle free. I said 'Hola' and handed over our family's passports to the immigration officer, he stamped them and let us go. No baggage delay. Hurrah!
Finally, we were gliding on the street of great football/soccer city of Barcelona. We were so amazed looking around through our car window, we even didn't notice when we arrived at the hotel. Our driver had to knock us hard to let us know. Our hotel Garbí Mil·lenni (located near the cruise port and centre of the city), was nice. I had booked the junior suite for EUR 189.00.
We were greeted by Marco at reception. He was a nice Spanish fellow with a very business like attitude.
Special note about La Rambla: My family and I are deeply socked and saddened by the news of the tragic loss of lives and injuries on La Rambla street caused by the terrorist attack. I’d like to dedicate this post for those innocent souls. I’d like to express my deepest sympathy to all those who have been affected by this terrible act. Read more about La Rambla terrorist attack here.
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| Here is how Norwegian Epic looked like. Picture taken from Cannes' Beach |
We planned (for the trip) for a while, almost few months, since we purchased our Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) Epic ticket from Costco Travel, back in March 2017, and the execution went almost flawlessly, except some minor issues here and there . Most of the work went on to devise a plan for shore excursions, because NCL's official excursion rate is way too expensive. We also planned how to stay safe, and secure our cash while in Italy and Spain. A few Travel books suggested that Barcelona, Rome and Naples are Pickpocketing Hotspots. I bought a Sling Chest Bag from Amazon. I had a hard time finding one, as I needed a sling bag that fits an iPad pro. Fortunately, we didn't have to face any pickpocketing. We found Italian, Spanish and French people very friendly, and helpful.
Note:
- Make sure to check in online through NCL website at least 48 hours before your cruise departure schedule.
- Reserve your on-board entertainment (they quickly run out of seat). If you want, you can start registering for them few months in advance.
- Print baggage tags in advance.
- Plan your shore excursions. You can purchase directly from NCL or plan on your own.
In short, here is how our overall travel plan looked like:
- Flying to Barcelona from Toronto.
- Spend a night in Barcelona.
- Take cruise 2nd day from Barcelona.
- Take shore excursion in each city where ship docks and arrive back to Barcelona after seven days
- Fly back to Toronto the same day.
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NCL Epic route. Image taken from NCL website.
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Flying to Barcelona
We flew on Air Transat. Because of the Baggage Handlers' strike, we had a small delay in Toronto Pearson airport. Good thing, we had two kids belonging to Air Transat Kids club, we were prioritized while boarding the plane in Toronto.Note: Make sure to register (free) your kid(s) to Kids club, you also get free seat selection and other surprise goodies.
While the service provided by Air Transat was very satisfactory, I didn't like the complementary lunch/dinner sandwich. It was kind of tasteless. However, I enjoyed the complementary glass of wine. Thanks Air Transat! Hope, you'll serve better sandwiches next time :)
Passing through the Spanish custom/immigration was hassle free. I said 'Hola' and handed over our family's passports to the immigration officer, he stamped them and let us go. No baggage delay. Hurrah!
In Barcelona
While we were heading out (of the airport) after collecting our baggage, my friend shouted, "Oh look, you're famous here in Barcelona. Someone is holding your name placard". "Yeah, you guessed it right, my friend", I said and I waved to the person holding my name. I wish I was famous, but it's just that I had pre-purchased (online) airport to hotel taxi/van service from suntransfers.com. They charged EUR 58.87 for a seven seater van. It had good and reliable service which I found as a very satisfactory deal. If we hired a van at the airport, we could have saved around EUR 10.00 or so, but we had to wait in a big line at the airport, negotiate and all that stuff. Our driver was pretty courteous, helpful, friendly and knowledgeable. My friend, with his just-in-time Spanish (I guessed little better than Google translate), was able to acquire a lot of information from the driver.Finally, we were gliding on the street of great football/soccer city of Barcelona. We were so amazed looking around through our car window, we even didn't notice when we arrived at the hotel. Our driver had to knock us hard to let us know. Our hotel Garbí Mil·lenni (located near the cruise port and centre of the city), was nice. I had booked the junior suite for EUR 189.00.
We were greeted by Marco at reception. He was a nice Spanish fellow with a very business like attitude.
After taking a shower and recharging ourselves, we walked towards the world famous La Rambla street. Yes indeed, we had sometime for walking around and getting ourselves lost as we flew to Barcelona one day ahead of our cruise schedule. Even though, one and half day is not really enough time to visit all the places in the city of Barcelona - a city with rich history and great architecture, it's still better than arriving the same day and rushing to the cruise. So, I recommend anyone taking cruise abroad, get there at least a day or two ahead and avoid last minute rush.
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| Here, I'm walking on famous La Rambla street. |
We had just enough time to tour the city on the Hop On Hop Out (HOHO) bus and we had purchased the ticket online in advance to save money (10% discount if you purchase online) and time. Barcelona has three (green, blue, and red) official HOHO bus routes . The first day, we took red and in the morning of 2nd day, we took blue line tour. HOHO bus seemed like a very convenient option for us; we could get off at any stop where we wished to take more time to look around and could hop back on at the same stop or another.
Note: Another convenient feature of HOHO bus is ticket validity period. It comes with either 24 or 48 hours option. During that time frame, you can use it any number of times in any of the designated route.
Note: Another convenient feature of HOHO bus is ticket validity period. It comes with either 24 or 48 hours option. During that time frame, you can use it any number of times in any of the designated route.
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| A street view of Barcelona (picture taken from the top deck of HOHO bus). |
On the 2nd day, since we had to checkout from the hotel before noon and rush to cruise, we thought, we didn't have enough time to walk to La Rambla and take HOHO bus to tour the blue line, we decided to take a taxi instead from our hotel to visit the Antoni Gaudi's famous architectural project Sagrada Familia. The hotel receptionist called the taxi for us and we headed to Sagrada Familia. I paid EUR 16.00 for the trip. Luckily, just after spending sometime at Sagrada Familia, I saw the blue line station right beside the Basilica and we hopped on the HOHO bus and ventured the blue line.
The blue line along with Sagrada Familia and other historic and architectural objects, include:
-Plaça Catalunya – The main square in the heart of historic city.
-Casa Batlló – The dragon-inspired house designed by Gaudí
-Park Guëll – An unique park from where you can see majestic city views.
-Camp Nou Stadium – The home stadium of FC Barcelona.
The blue line along with Sagrada Familia and other historic and architectural objects, include:
-Plaça Catalunya – The main square in the heart of historic city.
-Casa Batlló – The dragon-inspired house designed by Gaudí
-Park Guëll – An unique park from where you can see majestic city views.
-Camp Nou Stadium – The home stadium of FC Barcelona.
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| Sagrada Família, designed by Antoni Gaudí, still under construction (Started 1862 and anticipated completion date of 2026) |
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| Tourist hot spot - La Rambla | Casa Milà/La Pedrera, designed by Antoni Gaudí and built between 1906 and 1910, (picture taken from the top deck of HOHO bus) |
At around 12:00 PM, we checked out of the hotel, and headed to the cruise. We got a seven seater van and the driver charged us EUR 25.00. Not a bad deal! The driver was cheerful and helpful and became our unofficial guide too. On our way to the cruise, I could see a huge ship from a distance, parked at the port. But, my younger daughter was saying that she could not see it. She worriedly said, “how come I can’t see it?". Later she laughed to herself, she was under impression that the huge structure looking like a multi story building was in fact our ship. Norwegian Epic is one of the largest ships. Third largest? As per Wikipedia. It accommodates more than 4000 people on board. See more details on the NCL site.
We were in a long queue of people on hot summer day in Barcelona, desperate to check into the cruise to have that so called first time (or may be nth time) cruise experience. Standing in line was a daunting task, but thanks to my friend's little son, we got some priority treatment for our luggage and ourselves.
Note: make sure to print your NCL Cruise luggage tag (you can find it in one of the pages of your NCL eDocument) before hand and attach/staple it into your baggage handle, so that your baggage is checked in without any issue. For details, see NCL page - packaging for your journey. NCL staff deliver your checked in baggage to your room later that afternoon.
During check in, each of us got a NCL card (Note: it works like your identity while in the ship as well as your cash/credit card), with our room number on it. Children got the one with corner chipped, meant they're not eligible to enter into the adult entertainment zone or buy alcohol etc. It also worked as room key and and to enable the light switch.
Note: It is important that you have your NCL card with you or near you all times. It may be a good idea to buy waterproof cardholder, especially for children as they go into the water (pool, water slides etc) all the time.
Note: It is specially important to choose your room carefully while booking your cruise vacation. Location matters. It will be too noisy if it's near to engine floor or theatre or near to other entertainment venues. Also important is to choose which side of the ship you want your cabin, specially if you have ocean view window or balcony. Some info from NCL here. And some valuable insight from cruisecritc here.
The first day, we familiarized ourselves to all the cruise amenities - swimming pool, water slides, sports zone, gym and fitness place, running track, theatre, casinos, restaurants, buffet etc. We had good lunch in garden caffe on the top floor of the ship beside the swimming pool and water slides. I also spent some time in pool and went in the Jacuzzi to relax myself.
We were in a long queue of people on hot summer day in Barcelona, desperate to check into the cruise to have that so called first time (or may be nth time) cruise experience. Standing in line was a daunting task, but thanks to my friend's little son, we got some priority treatment for our luggage and ourselves.
Note: make sure to print your NCL Cruise luggage tag (you can find it in one of the pages of your NCL eDocument) before hand and attach/staple it into your baggage handle, so that your baggage is checked in without any issue. For details, see NCL page - packaging for your journey. NCL staff deliver your checked in baggage to your room later that afternoon.
During check in, each of us got a NCL card (Note: it works like your identity while in the ship as well as your cash/credit card), with our room number on it. Children got the one with corner chipped, meant they're not eligible to enter into the adult entertainment zone or buy alcohol etc. It also worked as room key and and to enable the light switch.
Note: It is important that you have your NCL card with you or near you all times. It may be a good idea to buy waterproof cardholder, especially for children as they go into the water (pool, water slides etc) all the time.
On Board
Once checked in and passed through security, we took the escalator to enter the ship. In the entrance of the ship, we were greeted by cheerful NCL staff. And as we walked inside, we were amazed by the fancy carpeting and glittering chandeliers, and of course people from different corners of the world. We took the elevator up to the 11th floor where our ocean view balcony suite was located. It was a beautiful suite with twin beds, along with sofa bed and just-in-time use ceiling bed. Just imagine a bed that comes out of the ceiling! Immediately my family started calling dibs on who got to sleep there but in the end I won! :) Yeah, amazing! That night, while sleeping on my ceiling bed, I could see the ocean in peace and in war/wave. Yeah, I have to admit that initially we didn't know about the existence of ceiling bed in our suite. I became furious, because there was not enough beds for a family of four and went hurriedly to customer service. They calmly explained me that the room service would come in the evening to prepare the ceiling and sofa bed.Note: It is specially important to choose your room carefully while booking your cruise vacation. Location matters. It will be too noisy if it's near to engine floor or theatre or near to other entertainment venues. Also important is to choose which side of the ship you want your cabin, specially if you have ocean view window or balcony. Some info from NCL here. And some valuable insight from cruisecritc here.
The first day, we familiarized ourselves to all the cruise amenities - swimming pool, water slides, sports zone, gym and fitness place, running track, theatre, casinos, restaurants, buffet etc. We had good lunch in garden caffe on the top floor of the ship beside the swimming pool and water slides. I also spent some time in pool and went in the Jacuzzi to relax myself.
The 2nd day, I woke up early in the morning. I wanted to start with Yoga. I went to the balcony; it was very early, just the beginning of dawn and little bit chilly outside, but peaceful. And guess what? I did my Yoga for the first time in the middle of Mediterranean Sea. Below are two pictures taken from balcony that morning. One early morning and another little later.
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| Cargo ship seen far. Picture taken from my balcony, early morning. |
Picture taken from balcony - Mediterranean Sea |
The whole 2nd day, we were on the water as there was no planned docking and most of us did whatever we wanted. We had continental breakfast at Garden Caffe on the top of the ship. The cafeteria was huge and selection of breakfast items was amazing and it operated 24 hours a day. Later, I went to swimming pool for a bit and then went to jacuzzi, there I talked to lady from Netherland and her husband for few minutes and after that spent time under the sun on beach chairs while reading the book I brought with me - The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley Ph.D., William D. Danko. And, What the heck! I was allegedly imagining myself as millionaire while relaxing and reading the book. Once, I'm awaken from my millionaire day dream, I went to the gym with my friend. When I looked out the window while running on the treadmill it felt like I was running on the ocean.
The Evening was total blast that day. We went to the Epic theatre to watch the 'Burn the Floor' performance. Wow, it was amazing. They presented it in a real professional way. As NCL puts it in their website, "...The performances of Burn the Floor are not just hot - they sizzle..." Yeah, they did. Everybody liked it including my daughters.
Dawn in Naples (Italian: Napoli)
What an extraordinary morning in Napoli! I just awoke up and saw the beginning of the twilight through the glass door (obviously, I was peering from my ceiling bed). I rushed to balcony, and in few minutes I saw the majestic sun rise. And after some time, we were nearing to port of Naples. |
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| Sun rise in Naples (picture taken from the balcony of my suite) | City of Napoli from harbour front side (picture taken from the balcony of my suite) |
Note: You need your cruise card to check in and check out. In NCL Epic, the exit deck is usually either deck 6 or deck 4, depending upon the port and their infrastructure. Listen for an announcement to find which deck to exit from.
Note: At Naples, cruise ships dock at Naples Stazione Marittima, which is right in front of the city centre. From here, you can easily walk around the city or take the HOHO bus. Another option is to take the train (Naples Circumvesuviana) and go to Mt. Vesuvius.
We entertained the 2nd option and took the HOHO bus- "City SightSeeing Napali". It was quite a good choice and we really enjoyed the whole trip. The whole Naples city itself looked like a big open museum with it's architecture, arts, monuments and cathedrals.
Note: Just like in Barcelona, Naples standard "City Sightseening" HOHO buses also operate in 3 routes. Line A (Red), Line B (Blue), and Line C (Green). Price: EUR 23.00/adult; EUR 11.5/child. In addition, there is a 4th route (Purple line), which is called "City Sightseeing Hystorical Center - Cathedral" and it's cost is EUR 12.00/person. It operates in small van as it passes through narrow streets neighbourhoods. If you have standard ticket and you also want to take Purple line tour, you can just add EUR 3.00/person.
We ventured through all three tour lines and also the purple one. One of my favourites was the Purple line which passed through city's historic narrow street neighbourhood. Since, big double decker bus would not pass through the narrow street, they'd use smaller fifteen seater van on this route.
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| Largo Castello at the Piazza Municipio, Naples (picture taken from the top deck of HOHO bus) |
Guglia of the Immaculate Virgin (1750), Gesu Nuovo square (picture taken from the top deck of HOHO bus) |
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| Naples, Mt. Vesuvius seen in the background (Picture taken from the upper deck of HOHO bus. |
One of the historic narrow streets neighbourhood in Naples (picture taken through the window of HOHO bus) |
We returned to the ship after our Naples excursion around 2:30 PM and had fun on the ship. My daughter went for rock climbing, and she successfully touched and ringed the bell. Bravo!
Later in the night, we went again to the Epic theatre to watch a Broadway musical show "Priscilla Queen of the Desert". It featured the journey of three "divas" with hundreds of colourful costumes and headdresses along with disco hits from the 70s and 80s.
Note: Parental guidance is recommended if you're taking children to the show.
Road to Rome
We arrived in Civitavecchia, a port town and comune of the Metropolitan City of Rome on the 3rd day of our cruise trip. We were planning to go to Rome and visit Vatican today, so we were ready and got out by 8:30 AM. We took the free shuttle provided by NCL from the pier to the port gate and from there took a city bus (EUR 2.00 per person) to reach the train station. We got a combined train ticket ( Civitavecchia to Roma Termini (Rome)) plus HOHO bus tickets for Rome city tour at Civitavecchia train station.Note: Some of the agents working inside Civitavecchia look and act like Train Italia staff, but be careful, they may represent private tour operator.
Note: There are express as well as local commuter train available from Civitavecchia to Rome. For details visit Train Italia web site.
So, we took the train. While going to Rome, the train was jam packed, and not everyone of us got a seat. But we were still happy that we were visiting the historic city of Rome. Once we got out of the Roma Termini, a bunch of street agents (representing tour buses and others) were behind us trying to sell tickets. Since, we had our ticket already purchased, we just moved forward, kind of ignoring them. We had to walk around 7 minutes to reach to our Big Bus Tour bus.
Note: There are multiple HOHO buses operate in Rome. You can find information about all these here. Compare and take the one that best suits you.
We were on the top of a double decker HOHO bus and it seemed like one of the hottest day here in Rome, however, we weren't worried much as we were sight seeing one of the greatest city on earth - Rome; and travel through it's history and visit the places where the ancient Romans lived, worked and socialized. We got a chance to admire the fine arts and architecture attached to Rome's grand buildings and beautiful churches. Compared to Naples, I found that historic monuments and buildings were well preserved/maintained here in Rome. Maybe Rome is richer and gets a bigger budget?
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| Touring Rome in style? Definitely, next time. Rolling Rome on Sageway? |
monument dedicated to King Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy, in Piazza Venezia (picture taken from the top deck of HOHO bus) |
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| Rome colosseum | Street of Rome (picture taken from the top deck of HOHO bus) |
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| Road to Vatican. We were entering one of the smallest but historically significant country of the world. |
St. Peter's Basilica and Square, Vatican. |
Back to the ship, after having a quick late lunch, I went to spend some time in pool and later on in Jacuzzi. That night, we went to watch the musical show "The Epic Beatles" in the Epic Theatre. Someone has posted a footage of the show here in Youtube.
Later on, we decided to go for dinner at the Manhattan dinning room. NCL Epic has a lot of dinning options. See here for details.
Note: If you like Indian dinning, you need to ask for an Indian menu. The main menu does not include Indian dishes.
Touching the Tower in Pisa.
The ship docked in the port of Livorno, Italy at around 7:00 AM and we were out for our excursion at around 9:00 AM. We planned to go to Pisa to see the leaning tower.Note: There are few option for self excursion here in Livorno.
1. Take train, taxi or tour bus and go to Florence
2. Take train, taxi or tour bus and go to Pisa.
3. Take NCL Shuttle which charges EUR 12.00 and go to downtown Livorno and either take HOHO bus or other form of transportation to go around the city.
We wanted to go to Pisa, and fortunately, found a good deal with a tour bus. We had paid EUR 21.00 per person. The tour bus took us first to downtown Livorno, and from there another bus took us to Pisa.
Note: Here is their website, if you like to get more info or plan ahead for your tour. http://www.livorno.city-sightseeing.it/eng/tour-livorno-pisa.html
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| Port of Livorno, Italy |
Piazza dei Miracoli - Pisa Cathedral with the Leaning Tower of Pisa |
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For you to guess.
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Hey look, I touched the tower! |
We spent around 2 hours in Pisa and took bus back to Livorno at 1:00 PM. We were back to the ship by 2:30 PM for lunch. After lunch my friend and I went to try the rock climbing. You probably guessed it right, we couldn't touch and ring the bell, but nevertheless it was a very good experience.
Later that night, we were supposed to enjoy the Cirque Dreams and Dinner Entertainment. All dressed up, we went to the show, but after inquiry we found that the ticket we purchased "standard seating", might not give us the right experience, and also the show was not what we thought - a full fledged circus kind of show, but it seemed more of an acrobatic performance only. We asked to cancel our booking, and a nice lady coordinating the show agreed to give us full refund. We were little disappointed, but found another interesting dance show that featured dancing with the NCL staff.
Coming to Cannes.
The ship arrived around 8:00 AM in Cannes, France, but didn't exactly dock, it remained offshore and tendered the passengers to the shore . Since we had not reserved it in advance, we had to stay in line of hundreds of people. Fortunately, line moved quickly and we arrived at shore in no time.Note: You can reserve (free) Tender seat from NCL concierge service few days in advance.
Note: On the shore, there is an information kiosk, wash room, wi-fi etc.
At the information desk, my friend asked some questions in French, but to our amazement, the lady replied in English. Any ways, we got a city map, and we headed to take the trip on Le Petit Train.
Note: Le Petit Train starts from Palais des Festivals, the Hotel Majestic beaches and for one hour goes around the historical part of the city and covers the Croisette Tour - luxury hotels, beautiful beaches, brand name boutiques, lavish yachts, Palm Beach, casinos etc. Cost EUR 10.00 (adult), EUR 5.00 (children)
We were amazed by the beauty of Cannes - clean well maintained streets full of flowers, towering palm trees and sandy beaches. It gave us whole different perspective of Europe - Luxurious, and Lavish life style and beauty. I've never seen so many luxury cars - Bentley, Maserati, Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini you name it, parked in the small fragment of the street. Same goes to brand name boutique stores one after another. No wonder, this city is called sister city of Beverly Hills. If I had a million dollars, I'd definitely go there again, you know, to spend it in style!
We spent an hour going around the city on Le Petit train, while inhaling fresh Cannes' air and submerging our eyes onto the beauty of French Riviera.
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| Cannes. Picture taken from balcony of my suite. | Le Petit Train |
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| Street of Cannes - see the palm trees | (picture taken from the top deck of HOHO bus) |
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| Beach, Cannes, France | Beach, Cannes, France |
Back on the ship, that day other than our regular activities like going to gym, swim and Jacuzzi, we went to the “Michelle” musical show. Michelle not only sang and touched our heart but also made us laugh with her humor and funny stories.
Path to Palma De Mallorca
Even though, our ship was supposed to dock only around 1:00 PM today, I woke up early morning, went to the gym and when I came back to my room, everyone was ready to go for breakfast. Since, it was our last night before checkout early the next morning, we wanted to do as much as possible. After breakfast, my younger daughter went for Bungee Trampoline jumping and my older daughter went for Rock Climbing again.Finally, our ship docked at Palma island port - Estacion Maritima 1 around 1:00 o'clock in the afternoon. We had already taken our lunch and were ready to explore the beautiful Palma island.
Note: Ships dock at the port directly in front of the old town of Palma. Around 10-15 minutes walk and you can pass the terminal and reach the street where you can catch a HOHO bus (Cost: EUR 18.00/adult, EUR 9.00/child)or other form of transportation or walk further ahead to the Palma town. However, in order to go to Mallorca island you need transportation.
Note: Each HOHO bus stop has name and number. The one near to port is number 14 (Estacion Maritima). If you want to go to beach, get off the HOHO bus at stop # 6 (Av. gabriel Alomar i Villalonga (porta des camp)
It was a very hot day and we had to line up for about 30 minutes for the HOHO bus. Once, we were on the top of open double decker bus, because of ocean wind, we didn't feel that hot after all.
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| Palma | Catedral de Santa María de Palma de Mallorca (picture taken from the top deck of HOHO bus) |
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| Sea shore street, Palma. | Palma beach, near to HOHO bus stop # 6 |
Comparing Cannes' beach vs. Palma's one, both were amazing. However, water seemed cleaner in Cannes and a lot of weeds here in Palma. Also, unlike Cannes, no fresh water tap was available for beachgoers here in Palma, so we carried our ocean salt with us to the the ship :(
In the evening, we did our packing (as we had to check out early next morning), attached the baggage label and put our check in baggages in the corridor for NCL staff to pickup.
Later that night, we went to watch the four station concert. It was a really good show. Here, I found some footage of the show in an Youtube video.
After the show, rather than going to sleep, I went to Spice H2O - Hot White Party to get the taste of music and dance under the open sky. Spice H2O is adult only zone for having fun with music, dance and with some energizing cocktail-drink. Here, I found some footage of the show on Youtube.
Note: Get your tag for each luggage from NCL concierge and put your name, room number and other relevant info and attach it to each baggage and put your baggage in the corridor just beside your door. Next day, you'll collect them once you check out.
Saying Goodbye :(
The last day, it felt little sad as we were leaving the luxurious cruise life and going back to our every day life. But we had to do it anyways, so we got our last breakfast and headed for check out around 9:00 AM. I met my room service guy (from Indonesia) in the corridor, and gave him some tips and thanked him for his excellent service.After checkout, we collected our baggages from baggage carousel and headed out to find a seven seater van to airport. It was a big line (few hundred people were already in line) for taxi. After around 40 minutes our turn came, but there was no van (only taxis were there). Now, we either had to split and take two taxis to the airport or wait for a van. After another twenty minutes, we finally got our van. The Spanish driver this time seemed not as friendly. He charged us more than the standard rate. We also ran into little blunder here. Driver asked us what our airport terminal number was. I checked our Air Transat eTicket and there was no terminal number written for return flight from Barcelona. When I said that there was no terminal number in the ticket, the driver said confidently it was Terminal 1. I countered him saying that we landed in terminal 2 while coming to Barcelona. However, he showed his confidence again and said it was for sure terminal 1. We agreed and he took us to terminal 1. We only found while we were already inside the terminal that we were in wrong terminal and had to go to terminal 2. By that time, our taxi already left and we had to take the airport shuttle bus (Note: takes around 20 minutes from terminal 1 to terminal 2) and go to terminal 2. Since we had enough time until our flight, it did not cause any lasting issues.
Note: Check your ticket carefully. Our Air Transat ticket had terminal info for outbound flight (both Toronto and Barcelona), but for Inbound flight, there was no terminal number for Barcelona airport.
At terminal 2, we found that there was a strike going on by the workers handling luggages, which delayed our flight by almost an hour.
We arrived in Toronto at around 6:00 PM safely. No issues at the airport. We were home in Canada! And by the way, the complimentary food provided by Air Transat was good this time. May be, because it was prepared by Spanish chefs? Anyways, thanks Air Transat!
Overall, the trip was quite fun and became a success story. We met amazing people from around the world, saw European culture, arts and architecture with our own eyes. In terms of the cruise, our family’s favourite would be the sky deck with the pool and water slides and beach chairs. We also equally enjoyed and used the gym, the sports court and the library.
Note: In terms of food, basically, the ship has everything (kind of) and best of all there is 24 hour FOOD! Nothing gets better than that. You can go and eat whenever you like, and eat whatever you like. Each day there is something different to eat and there are always special dinners of a certain theme for example “The Taste of Spain” or “Italian Night” or “Seafood extravaganza.” Regardless of the theme there is something for everyone (kind of) to eat and enjoy no matter what food restrictions you have.
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| Desert from NCL dinning. |
NCL provided overall good services. The room was cleaned twice a day, once around noon - when we were out for the excursion and again in the evening - just before dinner. Room service did quite a good job. During the evening service, they created cute towel animals (towel art) and my daughters really liked them.
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| Towel (Art) animal created by NCL room service staff for our room. |
Personally, both Europe and the cruise were the first time experience for myself and my family, and we really enjoyed it. If I had a chance to go again, I'd like to visit Rome and Naples and get a more closer look of the arts and architecture, but my daughters and wife told me that they would go to Cannes, France instead.
