Yes, I know this was ages ago but better late than never!
I saw a really good offer for a Med cruise and Mum did not take much persuading to join me. I had done an Alaskan cruise with Celebrity the year before but this was Mum’s first cruise. We booked a VF verandah cabin on the Nieuw Amsterdam, one of Holland America Lines’ (HAL) newer ships. Flights were with British Airways through HAL. A couple of weeks before we sailed, I received an upsell offer to upgrade our cabin but it was still expensive so I passed on the offer. A second email came through a few days later and on the 3rd round of offers I accepted and we moved to a Signature Suite on the 6th floor (SS6085).
We flew from London Gatwick to Venice on the 23rd July 2014. The ship wasn’t sailing until 11pm so we had plenty of time to get there, which was good because the flight was delayed a couple of hours. Nowadays I wouldn’t dream of flying in the day of the cruise! My case always seems to be the last on the baggage carousel no matter where I travel so we were pretty late getting to arrivals. We were met by a team of HAL staff who were wearing bright red polo shirts and easily identifiable. They walked us straight out to the waiting bus and our transfer took around 20mins to get us to the ship. It was now around 7pm so the terminal was very quiet. We gave our luggage to the porters and went straight to check-in, got our sea passes and got onto the ship.
We went straight to our cabin and were very impressed. Now I’m new to this so let’s see if I can get a photo to appear here <fingers crossed>
Yay – it worked !
We went straight to dinner – it was open seating in the MDR. The food was really great and we couldn’t get over how lovely and friendly all of the staff were, plus the food was amazeballs !
We had a quick look around the ship and then watched from our balcony as they cleared away the gangplank and the ship got ready to depart. We raced up to deck 9 to the pool area at the back of the ship and watched Venice pass by, it was a beautiful sight all lit up at night.
First day was a sea day so time to get to know the ship and relax by the pool before we started the port-intensive part of the trip
Dubrovnik was our first port of call. We were up early and out on the balcony eager to watch as we passed by the beautiful scenery
We docked and got the HAL shuttle from the port into the old town. Shuttle was $14 each return and took about 10 minutes. There were lots of taxis available and they were charging €10 each way.
The bus dropped us off right outside the Pile gate
It was really hot and we wanted to climb the walls so thought we had better do that first before it got even hotter. There is a gate to climb the walls on your left as we entered but I had read that it gets busy here so it’s better to walk straight through the town and find the gate at the other side of the town.
At the gate it was 100 kuna to climb the walls – well worth it for the gorgeous views.
After we walked the walls we sat for a while by the marina people-watching and looking at all of the boats. We had a coffee and a well-deserved ice-cream and then looked some more around the town. There was a nice little market in the centre.
Tired and happy we made our way back out of the walled town and got the shuttle bus back to the ship. When we got back to the ship we were impressed by the welcome from HAL – staff were there to welcome us back with cold towels and lemonade and water. It was the first real chance we had to admire the ship
Loved the way HAL helpfully reminded us what day it was in the lifts every day !
We had a good chat with our cabin stewards Anees and Eka when we got back on board. They were perfect, always there with a smile and a wave and they seemed to know exactly when we would be in or out of our cabin.
We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the sunshine on deck 9, thinking how great life is.
We had Open Dining so could go to the 2nd floor of the Manhattan Dining Room any time between 5.30 and 9.15pm. We tended to go around 6.30 so we would be finished in time for the show at 8pm. We never booked a table and never had to wait. A lot of the time we ended up in the first section on the right as you go in and had the pleasure of being served by Sandy, he was a real character. Food was brilliant, we couldn’t manage 4 courses so tended to stick to just a main course and a dessert (and of course some of the excellent bread).
Next stop was Kotor, Montenegro. Once again, beautiful scenes as we made our way to the port. It almost felt like we could have been in the fjords or even in Alaska
We had breakfast and then went to the Queen’s lounge on deck 2 to get a tender ticket. When a ship lies at anchor on a port stop, rather than docking at a pier, the passengers are tendered across to shore using either local boats or the ship’s lifeboats. You need to get a ticket to board one of these tenders and we expected a bit of a wait but were sent straight to board.
The Nieuw Amsterdam looked magnificent from the shore
We didn’t take an excursion here, it was enough just to walk around the town, it was so tranquil. Outside the town walls there were lots of bars and restaurants to sit at and watch the world go by.
As a side note for those that are that way inclined, cigarettes were really cheap to buy here (cheaper than duty free elsewhere)
We got the tender back to the boat early afternoon and went to the Lido deck for lunch. I had a burger from the Dive In – you place your order and then they give you a buzzer that will go off when the deliciousness is ready. Ice cream from the Lido was always great, I took it as a personal challenge to try as many flavours as possible. Raspberry Cheesecake and Rocky Road get my top vote !
Another day, another Country ! This time Corfu in Greece. We docked next to the only other ship in port that day, Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth. It was great to look at another ship so close up and compare and contrast. The 2 ships looked to be pretty similar in size and design (but Cunard didn’t seem to have drinks and towels waiting for their guest as they made their way back on board)
Another day, another Country ! This time Corfu in Greece. We docked next to the only other ship in port that day, Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth. It was great to look at another ship so close up and compare and contrast. The 2 ships looked to be pretty similar in size and design (but Cunard didn’t seem to have drinks and towels waiting for their guest as they made their way back on board)
The port provided a free bus to the terminal building but it was only a 5min walk away. HAL provided a shuttle from the terminal to the old fort for $14 each return, chargeable to your onboard account.
Another day when we explored by ourselves. There were lots of shops, bars and restaurants. Some really good deals on ‘genuine fake’ handbags (!)
After a hot morning we got the shuttle back to the terminal building. There is free fast wifi at the terminal so a lot of folks were there checking up on what was happening in the real world. (This was before free roaming was available on UK mobiles!)
We left Corfu at about 8pm and then had another nice sea day for some R&R. It was really hot so spent some time by the pool reading and people watching and when it got too hot I went for a stroll on the promenade deck. They have lots of old fashioned steamer chairs here and I could often be found chilling out here.
The Port Guide Tom announced that we would be cruising through the Straits of Messina at around 4pm and that he would give commentary as we went through. They opened up the bow of the ship so we went on out there to watch. The commentary was really useful and it was a great vantage point to see us cross the narrow divide between Sicily and mainland Italy.
We had our second Formal night (first one was on the sea day between Venice and Dubrovnik) and the food was excellent as usual. I had Beef Wellington which I hadn’t tried before and it was lovely.
The next day we docked in Naples bright and early. We had booked a HAL excursion to visit the isle of Capri. HAL handle excursions really well. You are told to meet in the theatre at a specific time and then the excursions are called and leave the ship group by group. We were called first and skipped off the ship to be met by a lovely local guide called Fabio. He put us on a bus for the 10min journey to the boat that would take us to Capri
This is what we saw at the dock
The boat was really busy but we were on first so managed to nab seats on the upper outside deck. The journey took about 50mins.
Our first view of Capri
We could either go on the chair lift (ticket was included) or go with Fabio to some kind of museum, or of course you could have free time. I didn’t give Mum a choice – we were going on the chair lift ! I had been on it a few years prior with my friend Samantha and really wanted to experience it again.
We admired the views for a while and then had a quick look around the small cafe and shop that are up there and then went to get the chair back down. As we were waiting a chair arrived at the top with a big box on it rather than a person and it turned out to be a food parcel for the guy manning the lift at the top ! The ride was just as fun on the way down. We saw a few shoes and other personal belongings that looked as though they had been dropped so I would definitely suggest not wearing flip flops and taking care with your possessions.
After that we met the rest of the group and took the bus back down to the main town of Capri, which is on the middle level of the island. We had lunch (included in the trip price) at a local restaurant which was being used by a number of different tour groups. Water and wine were included but soft drinks and other beverages had to be paid for. We were given bread and a spinach & ricotta Cannelloni to start and then veal and potatoes. They were happy to provide a veggie option too. A small slice of nutty chocolate cake/torte was provided for pudding but I wasn’t a fan so decided to save the calories to splash out on a gelato later on. After lunch we went to a shop specialising in Limoncello, the local lemon liquor which was available to taste. There was no hard sell but a lot of people seemed to make purchases there. After that we were given free time to explore Capri
We used a different boat line to get back, again the journey was 50mins but this line docked right next to our lovely ship so we were able to say goodbye to Fabio and walk straight back onboard. We enjoyed being on our balcony watching the last few stragglers make their way to the ship, especially the ones that had to run once they realised they were about to miss the ship!
Our next stop was Civitavecchia, which is around 90mins from Rome. I had been to Rome before so we decided to stay on the ship and relax for the day. We had planned to sit by the pool but there was a huge storm in the morning so that plan was revised. By lunchtime the grey skies were gone and we were able to sit outside. It was great to have a day to ourselves to read and relax as the cruise is very port-intensive.
The next morning we arrived at the port of Livorno. This is the port closest to Florence so a lot of people decided to visit there but we didn’t want an 11hr day so booked onto HAL’s Lucca & Pisa excursion. We met our guide Paula and it took around 40mins to drive to Lucca.
Lucca is another pretty, walled town. We had a guided tour of the city from a local guide – we walked a part of the city walls and then went down and further into the town. There was lots to see but as we were there early a lot of the shops weren’t open yet (which is probably a good thing!) We had some free time to explore on our own and then met the rest of the group to get the bus to Pisa, which was another 40min drive away
We parked in the coach park at Pisa and followed the guide to walk to Piazza dei Miracoli (Miracle Square), which was about a 10min walk. There were lots of street traders trying to sell handbags or sunglasses but they didn’t hassle us. It was very busy as we got closer to the action so we had to keep a close eye on where our group was headed. We met another local guide, Antonella, and she took us into Miracle Square and watched us gaze at the sights.
We had some free time after the tour but we would have liked longer. It really is an amazing place to be and we could have spent a lot longer soaking up the sights. We met up with Paula again at a cafe near the square and then made our way back to the coach. Journey time back to the ship was about 25mins. The port of Livorno is absolutely huge, it took us a while for the coach to get from the entrance to the ship. There is a modern looking terminal there that alleges to have free wifi but I couldn’t get it to work.
Monaco was another tender port and we were due to arrive at 8am. Some great views as we got nearer to Monte Carlo
I had booked an excursion through Viator that picked up at 8.30 so was conscious that we needed to be in the Queen’s Lounge on deck 2 early enough to beat the tender ticket rush. We headed down there as soon as the Cruise Director said that tendering was starting and were prepared for a bit of a wait but there was no queue and we got tender ticket #1. Once again we enjoyed the tender process, it took around 10mins to get to the dock.
I had booked ‘Small-Group Monaco and Eze Half-Day Tour’ through Viator and the local provider was called ‘Liven Up’. We were met as we got off the ship by a lovely French lady called Morgane. The tour was for 8 people in a small minibus and fortunately all 8 of us arrived on the same tender so there was no waiting around and we were ready to go. Mum & I got to sit in the front of the vehicle which gave me some great photo ops.
First of all we were headed to Eze, which is on the outskirts of Nice in the French Riviera. We stopped at a local perfumerie on the way and I expected a hard sell but actually the factory tour and explanation of their perfumes was excellent. We were able to try a lot of different scents and several of us purchased our favourites. (I still buy my perfume from them 6 years later!)
Eze is a small village that started life as a fortified stronghold built on a steep hill. Morgane was able to drive up the steep and windy streets and leave us at the entrance to Eze but was not allowed to drive back again so showed us the steps to get back down. It was so tight on the roads there that vehicles actually had to reverse down as there was no space to turn around.
INSERT EZE PICS
There were some very exclusive looking hotels, nice shops, Art Galleries and restaurants and the scenery was great
After Eze we headed back towards Monaco. Morgane had some great commentary about the area and made sure to stop whenever we wanted to take pictures. She stopped the bus on another steep bend and we all got out to admire Monaco from above. It is only 2km square and so heavily built up that they are starting to build underground in some areas.
INSERT MONACO VIEWS
We drove back down into Monte Carlo, enjoying listening to the commentary about Monaco – its Royal Family and its history
Next, Morgane took us up to the Palace where Prince Albert of Monaco lives. I was very excited to see that we were driving on parts of the Formula One track to get there – you could even see the red & white curbs that they use on race weekend
INSERT GRAND PRIX
Sadly we couldn’t go quite as fast as Lewis Hamilton does so we had to make do with pretend racing car noises! Morgane then dropped us off close the Palace, just in time to see the Changing of the Guard Ceremony at 11:55. The Palace looked a bit Disney to me… not quite real.
INSERT PALACE PICS
The Guards are called the ‘Carabiniers du Prince’ and have a snazzy white uniform. There was a small procession as the guards were swapped over
INSERT GUARD PICS
After that, we were given the option to get the bus back to the boat or to stay in Monte Carlo and make our own way back. There are a series of escalators & lifts to get you back to the port level. We decided to go back to the boat and relax after our busy day. I would definitely recommend Monaco and think that going by cruise ship would be a lot cheaper than stopping in a hotel on the principality itself as it seemed very expensive.
The next stop was Marseille and we had booked the ‘Marseille Highlights’ trip through HAL. Our first stop was Notre Dame De La Garde which is a Basilica that is set on top of a hill and can be seen from miles around. There were lots of steps to climb to get to the top but it was worth it as the views were great.
INSERT BASLICA PICS
After spending some time at the Basilica we drove back down to Marseille’s old port area. It’s a really nice place with lots of shops, bars and restaurants to explore. We had some free time and could elect to get the tour bus back to the ship or we could use the HAL transfer bus if we wanted to stay longer and explore further.
INSERT MARSEILLE PICS
The final formal night of the trip took place on this day. We enjoyed the spectacle and napkin twirling of the staff parading through the restaurant and were pleased to get the chance to see our room steward and say hello. We had several photos taken on each of the formal nights and the staff were great. No pressure to buy and they were all great fun. Most people made an effort to dress up on formal nights, we did see a couple of gents being offered the chance to borrow a jacket but this only seemed to apply if they weren’t wearing a tie.
Jennywhereintheworld 