Transatlantic Cruise to Europe That Leaves From My Doorstep

In 39 days, I will drive a few miles to board a shiny new ship that will cross the Atlantic and take us to Europe. This will be my first trip on Celebrity Cruise Lines. As always, I will have a nice balcony room.

Here is the itinerary:

Day :1 departs Ft Lauderdale
Days 2-7: Days at Sea
Day 8: Ponte Delgalda, Portugal
Days 9-10: Days at Sea
Day 11: Cartagena, Spain
Day 12: Barcelona, Spain
Day 13: Toulon, France
Day 14: Florence/Pisa Port City
Day 15: Rome’s Port City

Perfect day touring Rome from cruise ship

I had the perfect day touring Rome with 6 great folks. Highlights were visiting the inside of the Colosseum; having a guided tour of Vatican City including St Peters and the Sistine Chapel;Seeing Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, and The Spanish Steps.

7AM awoke (with no wake up call)
7AM room service breakfast
Dressed, ate, and packed knapsack
Rained hard from 730-755ish
740AM met group in lobby
3 couples + Karla went into a 7-passenger mini-van with Fabio our driver and guide for our full day in Rome.
--Tom and Rosemary-Ottawa rolockett@hotmail.com
--Susie and Joel -Portland, OR suzierue@yahoo.com
--Jason and Mike-San Francisco

It was the perfect day with the perfect group. We all met online on cruisecritic.com where Tom set up the trip and invited others to join. We split the cost of 650 Euros for the van and guides for the day (8AM til 4:45PM). The ship left at 7PM.

We got along sooo well: No conflict, everyone was friendly, everyone was cooperative and punctual----we stuck closely together. They are all frequent cruisers who really like NCL. They all book balconies, suites, penthouses, and villas. Everyone loves the 5 days at sea in between port visits!! They all like the Jade and feel it is the perfect size ship. (there are virtually NO KIDS on this cruise) We paid 1/3 of what NCL tours charged to be in a small van that is easy to navigate and squeeze into tight places. Fabio was awesome; Katerina, our Vatican City guide was awesome and passionate. I will join them on an Athens tour (in 2 days) since we got along so well. (I was going to take the train into Athens and tour it solo). We walked lots, climbed lots of stairs, made only one restroom stop at 1:00, did no shopping, and we chose not to stop for a meal (we munched on snacks we had brought). Since we skipped lunch, we had more time for touring and did not have to rush back to the ship.

Firsts for me:
--Going inside the Colloseum
--Guided tour of Vatican museum, St Peters, and Sistine Chapel.

Everyone had a positive attitude and intellectual curiosity.
No one complained.
Everyone was easy-going and flexible.
We all agreed we were perfect travel companions.
We all agreed it could not have been a better day.

I sat out on the aft deck as we sailed out of the port at 7PM. I watched the twinkling lights fade to darkness. I was one of 3 people out there.
I felt like a master of the sea.

Mediterranean Cruise Tweets!

Mediterranean Cruise Tweets (Dec 8-20, 2009)

Stood on my balcony as the ship pulled out of Barcelona. Breathtaking views of the city at night. It’s magical! Tomorrow: day at sea. Next port will be Rome.

Loved feeling of being rocked 2 sleep on ship last night. Slept TEN hours. Salsa lessons; past NCL cruiser Meet & Greet parties. Rome tomorrow

2nd bag never made it to ship. Miss my groovy shoes and boots. Lucked out and bought boots and pair of shoes in Barcelona

Great weather. Sunny, not windy, not cold at all on the Mediterranean Sea!

Ship’s internet moves like a melting glacier because they use USA satellite from the Mediterranean Sea

ROME: Sistine chapel- no crowds; Coliseum grand; Spanish Steps; Trevi Fountain; Tour guide hosted us for snacks and sang 2 us at his villa

2nd piece of luggage for my stress-free cruise is missing in action-went 2 airport 3 hours early just so flights & luggage could go smoothly

Athens: hope the riots have calmed down so it’s safe for tourists

Sick in bed yesterday-sea day

My 4th time in Athens. Great Athens Day with small group. -Glad it rained AFTER Acropolis visit! I love the Plaka.

Too sick to take my tour to Ephesus today. Rested some. Went into Izmir, Turkey a bit.

Izmir,Turkey. My 1st visit 2 Muslim nation(Indonesia doesn’t count cuz I went 2 Buddhist Bali.)Turkey very secular and modern.Will join EU.

Re-reading all about history of Europe from my balcony. Smooth sailing today.

I love watching sunsets from my balcony on the Norwegian Jade. We are en route to Alexandria. 7AMarrival tomorrow.

Brazilian line dancing lesson is HIGH energy and aerobic!

Nightly shows on the ship are great: tonight was exquisite ballet flamenco

Egypt-our ship just arrived! Off to Giza to see the PYRAMIDS, Nile Cruise, & overnight at the Cairo Marriott. A dream comes true! 140 characters



The Pyramids at Giza were everything I had imagined they would be and more. Nile dinner cruise, Memphis, & crawled into a 3000 year tomb

Security tight everywhere in Cairo—metal detectors everywhere

The Egyptian Museum took my breath away.Saw King Tut collection, mummy room, and many well-preserved thousands year old artifacts.

2000 miles from Barcelona

Windstorms in Cairo are brutal with dessert so close. We heard another ship could dock in Alexandria today because winds are so strong.

Saw whirling Dervishes perform

Malta, our last stop on the cruise, is tomorrow.

All day at sea today. Saw more great shows tonight. Also, it is Lobster night.

Will arrive in picturesque Valletta, Malta soon! I will explore on my own.

Circled beautiful island of Malta in 1.5hrs. Love the walled Medina. Most Catholic place around. 320+ churches.

Sand from the Giza Plateau seeped into our lungs. We coughed til we left Egypt.

I miss high speed, unlimited use internet.

Finally tasted dinner on 3rd to last night-Lobster night. Tasted all day today (Malta Day) hopefully my taste buds are back for good!

Truly enjoyed visiting cradles of civilization & cradles of Western thought in Italy, Greece, Turkey, & Egypt.Great cruise! Barcelona in AM.

Really rough sailing our last night on the ship. I hear they cancelled 2nd show! Glad I saw it earlier.

Back in Barcelona. Flight to JFK. Hope my evening flight to Miami will go as scheduled.

Stuck in Spain. American Air put us up for the night and gave us 3 meals. Wonder where I will sleep tonight? Spain? New York? Miami? Dread heading back to the airport with all the uncertainty.

Good News: My desperation paid off!! Instead of having to transfer from Newark to La Guardia, they booked me on sold out flight Newark to MIA in FIRST Class!! I am so happy!!! Also got business class to Newark from Barcelona!!