Freedom of the Sea - LaSpezia

So we have come to day 3 and our second port. La Spezia, Italy is a commercial harbor so unlike most ports where you can get off and explore here you can get off but you need to arrange some sort of transportation in order to get to where you would like to explore.So this means when it comes to touring there are lots of options and in different directions and really made it hard for me to chose what I wanted to see. However I do know that a trip to Italy with my family will be in the future and and while there are some things I will not have to repeat there are others I now know will take more time. Many people ask what is the benefit of a cruise and really in this case it helps you decide if something is worth spending more time in or if the 5-8+ hours was just enough. It is also a quick way to knock things off a bucket list if yours happens to be very long. Not sure if I am sad or happy to announce that when it comes to travel mine is very long.
So again because this was the President's cruise there was an opportunity for a shore excursion with Micheal Bayley. It was a Tuscan Hot Air Balloon Festival & Wine Tasting, you could go as a rider or as a spectator. There were members of our group who had signed up for both opportunities but unfortunately the weather did not co-operate for this excursion they experienced hail and loss of power. Royal did reimburse everyone on these excursions and opened up more wine that anticipated.
Here are some of the other excursions you could chose from: Florence & Pisa Exploration with smart device, Florence & Pisa, A taste of Florence, Historical Florence & Accademia Museum, Explore Florence, Florence Sightseeing & Row Boat Ride, Florence on Your Own, Accessible Florence, Pisa,  Pisa & Luca Highlights, Pisa on your Own, Pisa City Sights, Portifino, Rapallo & Santa Margherita, Coats of Cinque Terre & Portovenere, Portovenere Independent Exploration, Carrara Marble Tour by Jeep, Wine Tasting in Tuscany and Italian Pasta Experience. These tours range in price from $59 USD to $399 USD.
Another couple of agents from our group decided to shuttle over to the train station and take a train to Florence to explore. They had pre bought their tickets online. However buying them online they did not know that the train workers were on strike from 9 to 5 everyday. So while they took the train to Florence and paid for a return they did not have a return that would get them back to the ship before the 7:30 pm all aboard. They ran into another couple and the four of them taxied back together to make it on time. When you venture out on your own that is a risk you take and then you would have to find your own way to the next port or home as the ship will not wait for you.
I will have to admit this was the hardest port to chose an adventure on as Pisa, Florence and Cinque Terre are all bucket list items

So we chose Portovenere & Cinque Terre

This tour included a bus ride to Portovenre. A Ferry ride to explore Cinque Terre  where we stopped to explore Monterosso. Then we took a train back to the buses as they are not allowed in Cinque Terre and then the bus back to the ship. The only thing missing was a helicopter. So the first day we did the French Riviera the second day we explored the Italian Riviera. 

 My next blog will discuss the day in detail

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Freedom of the Seas - Villefranche (Monaco)

So I left my last blog off with we were taking the bus from Nice to Monaco for the second half of our excursion from the Villefranche port. Honestly our tour guide was great out of all the tours we took there was only one I did not care for. Now the driver was scary but all the drivers were scary. Driving in Europe on very narrow roads with big huge buses is an eye opening experience for sure. He was not a bad driver it is just the nature of where we were.
It took less than a half hour to get to Monaco and we had to backtrack through Villefranche where we started. We actually went through the small town/village of Boileau which is actually my maiden name. I meant to research more about this but to be perfectly honest I had forgotten completely about this until I was sitting here writing this blog.
So again we did a quick bus tour around Monaco to see some of the sites and then we were dropped off at a parking garage under the Aquarium. When we got to the top it was very cold out and my mom was still in a lot of pain and walking was going to be an issue and unfortunately most of the attractions/sites were a good distance to walk to. Some people took a bus to go and check out the Monte Carlo Casino. We were going to find something out of the cold and close by when we noticed a "train"tour of Monaco and Monte Carlo so we decided to do that first.

 Here is the train

 The price was reasonable 9 Euros per adult

The train provides you with headsets that will give you a guided tour throughout the ride and it is available in about 14 languages. It starts off in front of the Jacques Cousteau Oceanography museum and aquarium. It goes through Monaco along the path of the Grand Prix up in front of the Monte Carlo Casino back through the shopping/hotel district, to the castle and parliament and back to where you started. A good 30 minutes give or take.

One of the shops along the grand prix course. 

 The casino. You most obey the dress code to enter as well as surrender your passport

The shopping district

Parliament

When we finished this tour we still had quite of bit of time to kill and it was still quite cold out so we decided to pay to get into the Oceanography. I think we paid 30 Euros for both of us but I am not sure. They also had combo tickets for parliament and a few other places as well. A few pictures I took outside before we made our way inside

Inside the Museum the first place you head is down to check out the Aquarium. It is actually spread out over two floors. There are some hugs tanks with some huge specimens in them and then smaller one's separated out by species etc.. I am including a few of my favorite pictures.

 This huge tank was quite amazing it housed so many different species and at the very top was this giant sea turtle. We decided to sit and watch for a bit and all of a sudden the turtle finally came down lower almost as if he was performing for the audience and then snap he grabbed the fish in front of him and ate it. If you could have heard the gasps among the audience. It was just so unexpected and yet it captures how things really work out in the ocean!!

 There were a few smaller tanks with these camouflaged fish. It was very interesting picking them out of the sand and not always seeing them right away

I just had to get a close up of the Seahorses (Interesting fact it is the male of the species who carry the babies)

Once we finished in the Aquarium area we moved upstairs to check out a few exhibits up top.

 Cool Shark mouth with a mirror on the inside

 Jacques Cousteau

A back view of the Museum it over looks the Sea

Once we were done and met up with the bus we were headed back to the ship. The last tender was supposed to leave at 6:15 pm but we were late getting back to the port as were several other bus tours. Keep in mind these bus tours were all booked through Royal excursions so we were very lucky that the ship waited for us. It took time to load each of the buses on the ferry's to get back to the shop.

 A view of the ship on our drive back to the port

One of the biggest problems encountered in Europe is traffic and so it makes getting back from excursions harder sometimes but with the guarantee from Royal they will either wait for you or get you to the next port.

I truly enjoyed our day if the weather had been a bit warmer and my mom in better condition I would have braved a walk down to the beach to add to my sand collection from around the world. Stay tuned for the next port La Spezia.

Want to get in touch here is where you can find me

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slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.com

Freedom of the Sea - Villefranche (Nice)

So in the last blog I gave you the different tours that were available in Villefranche and a bit about how a tender port works. So the tour that my mother and I chose to do was Nice & Monaco on Your Own. We boarded a bus just outside the Citadel with an awesome tour guide. She started the tour right away while we drove to Nice so we learned about all the little towns. Once we arrived in Nice we also took a quick tour around on the bus showing us some of the major sites that we may want to look closer at. We were then dropped off and given two hours to tour on our own.
My mother suffers from sciatica and her pain has been kept at bay for quite some time but with the long flight to Europe it decided to flare back up. Of course there was no down time between our arrival and first port day so she was suffering, but we decided to try and make the most of it and see as much as we could. Thankfully this tour is mostly on your own so we did not have to worry about holding up anyone else.

View of Villefranche from the ferry boat

 Fontaine du soliel

 Place Massena Heart of Nice

This is where the bus tour let us off. If you went down the streets behind the famous Apollo fountain you could tour the market. If you tour in front of the statue you will find all the high end stores such as Rolex etc.. But you will also find hotels and a natural park/fountain not quite sure how to describe it.

 There are two of these on each side of the square. All of sudden the water will start jumping and flowing it is awesome to watch

 One of the hotels

Modern art piece

So because mom just could not walk we sat and enjoyed watching the traffic and people going by. There was a lot to do and watching the fountains go off was relaxing as well.

You can see the fountains going off behind us

We shared this awesome baguette sandwich for lunch

Fresh made bread, fresh goat cheese, tomato and lettuce

 Transportation through the shopping district and some of the art

 close up of the art

 Taxi's

You can also rent electric bikes and tour around as well

Once the tour hours was up we met up with the square and we were headed off to our next detisnation which was Monaco

.I took this picture from the bus and wish I had been able to get a better shot. This is the library. The base is a head and this is where the library itself. A box sits on the head and this is where the offices of the Library administration are. Apparently it is even more fascinating at night when the box windows are lit up.

Somewhere at the top of this cliff is Elton Jon's house it is yellow. The tour guide pointed it out several times both as we drove into and out of Nice but to be honest I could not make it out. Apparently Bono and his family also have a home in Nice along with many other celebrities.

I definitely wish my mother had been in better shape for a walking tour because there was so much that we did miss out in Nice. We did see the Promenade des Anglais which is a nice beachfront property and unfortunately the place that suffered a terror attack in the summer of 2016. We weer shown the new barriers and palm trees that have been added to the promenade to prevent attacks in the future. We did also see some of the Casinos and Famous Hotels via the bus but it would have been nice to explore them. I am definitely thinking another trip to Nice may be required in my future.

However a day would probably be sufficient for a visit so it would be an add on to another vacation.

Military is everywhere and they are carrying assault riffles

Shortly before our trip there was a terror attack in Barcelona so most of the countries were on heightened alert. My mother talked of cancelling but I felt safer travelling because of the heightened security and I am glad that we did not let fear rule us.

I will move on to Monaco and Monte Carlo in my next blog.

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slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.com

Freedom of the Seas - Villefranche

 Sunday was our first day in a port and it was Villefranche, France. This port is a tender and so you must get into a small boat to the Pier. I must say they are very efficient at getting everyone off and back on the cruise ship. On my other cruise we played everything by ear and had nothing booked through the cruise line. This time I decided to book everything directly through Royal. I had suppliers I could use and contacts in Europe but figured I would give this a try. I was not disappointed in this method at all.
So let's start with the Cruise Compass every evening you will receive a pamphlet in your room and it will tell you everything that will be happening on the ship for the following day. On the first evening you will also receive a booklet with a list of all the excursions available in the ports that can be booked. In our case we pre-booked all of our excursions for the week online from our account for each port. We did save some money by doing this as the weekend I booked everything there were discounts on most excursions.

 Page 1 of Day 2 of the Cruise Compass

 Page 2

 Page 3

Page 4

The ship arrived at 9:00 am and the first tenders started at 9:45 am give or take. Getting off the ship always depends on clearance by customs of the country you are in. When you get off the ship you must always take your seapass card as well as photo identification or proof of citizenship. The only place I have every been asked for my passport/proof of citizenship to get back on a ship has been Bahamas but all countries have the right to ask.

Villefranche is a very small town there is a Chapel to see as well as the Citadel and shops. Most of the excursions took you out of the town to explore what the Cote D'Azur/French Riviera have to offer. Some of the agents I was travelling with chose to do just that.

So I forgot to mention in my earlier posts that this cruise was special as it was the 2017 2nd Annual President's Cruise. What this means is that Michael Bayley the President of Royal Caribbean was on board this cruise along with a lot of senior members of Royal's Leadership. So there were special excursions offered that included time with him.
I am going to list a few of the excursion that were available so you can get an idea. Cote D'Azure Wine & Dine with Michael Bayley, Best of the French Riviera, Discovering Monaco & Monte Carlo, Nice, Eze & Monaco Discovery, Monaco & Monte Carlo, Easy going old Monaco & Eze Perfume Factory, Nice & Cannes on your own and many more...The excursions were as low as $59.75 USD per person to as high as $319.00 per person.
Most of these tours require walking of at least a mile and over cobblestone paths. This of course is a common theme in Europe. My mother has knee problems and suffers from sciatica and so we had to be careful with what excursions we chose.
My next blog post will discuss the tour we took and what we thought of it.

Want to connect here is where you can find me:

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slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.com

Freedom of the Seas - Main Dining Room

So as I mentioned in my last blog we had the second seating for our supper. This was done so that our whole group could eat together. I will say it is a rather later time to eat but that it really does make sense on the Mediterranean cruise, Most ports are 8 plus hours and therefore the excursions are longer. By having the second sitting you do not have to worry about being late for your supper. However the my time option is also available which means you could book your reservations for dinner around your excursion times. Also the buffet is always available as well. We did not eat at the buffet once for supper so I can not speak to what they served that may have been different from their lunch time offerings.
The first night they of course offered prime rib and really who can turn that up. I didn't.

medium rare with au jus, potato and mixed veggies

A chocolate souffle type dessert

The way the dining room works is you are offered an appetizer, main course and dessert. You can chose whatever you want to eat no limits. So if you want two appetizers, that is fine, two main dishes, that is fine, two desserts that is fine. They will keep bringing you whatever you order. I have seen people make a meal over several appetizers. You will sit at the same table every night and you will have the same waiter and assistant. They do get to know your preferences. Now because of our group we were a bit different as we had five tables and were encouraged to mingle. But the wait staff took this is stride.

My second night was chicken it was ok but not as filing as I would have hoped

 My ceviche appetizer

The lamb was so good. It has been a long time since i have had lamb

 Crab cake appetizer

 Chicken Cordon awesome sauce

Strawberry dessert (this was my mom's I only do chocolate lol)

 Shrimp and rice dish

 Another one of my mom's desserts

All the waiters did a singing number this evening and all the guest were waving their white napkins

The second last night is also the last night for assigned dinning. It also the second time they offer prime rib and Lobster time. I will admit this was a first for me as I ordered two entree's. I figured they would just combine them onto one plate but they brought them separate. I did not eat all of the sides but I so enjoyed this meal.

 Lobster tail with shrimp, rice and broccoli

Prime Rib with potato croquette and green beans

I did have escargots as an appetizer one evening as well and I did miss a few pictures. I am still not into the whole taking pictures of your food but I am learning that people do want to see this. Now on my NCL cruise I had seafood every night of some sort, ,now it was a Caribbean cruise. I had hoped to have the same being in the Mediterranean but there was not a lot of choice. I still enjoyed the food in the dining room much better than I did the buffet as it was not cold. 

People have asked about gratuities. They can be pre paid and they are set at a certain amount per day per guest. These get split between your cabin steward and your dining staff. There is nothing that says you can not pay out more or leave a little something extra for them. They do leave envelopes on your last evening that you can leave tips in.

I still have so much to share about the ship itself but the next blog post will be about our first Port Villefranche.

Want to get in touch you can fine me here:

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Email: slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.com