Dan and Marcela: September 2011

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Intro: Family Mediterranean Cruise

After our last family trip to Hawaii, we brainstormed on ideas on where to go for our next family vacation and decided on a Mediterranean cruise on the Norwegian Epic. The timing worked out perfectly with the Lebaran holiday in Indonesia for my family.

Here was our itinerary:
Day 1-2: San Francisco-Barcelona
Day 3 AM: Barcelona City Tour - Pre Cruise
Day 3 PM: Norwegian Epic Cruise
Day 4: At Sea
Day 5: Livorno (Cinque Terre excursion)
Day 6: Rome (Rome city tour)
Day 7: Naples (Sorrento, Positano, Pompeii excursion)
Day 8: At Sea
Day 9: Palma de Mallorca
Day 10: Barcelona - Post Cruise
Day 11: Barcelona - San Francisco

This trip report is really large, so we've broken it into multiple sections.

We left for Barcelona on Friday, August 26. We were so thankful we avoided hurricane Irene. Had we left the next day, there would have been a good chance our flight got canceled.

We arrived in Barcelona and met my family in the arrival area. We prepaid for an airport transfer from a company called suntransfer, and saw a man with that sign. We approached him but he did not have our name on his list. There was another lady from the same company, and she also didn't have our name. Their English was horrible but we understood that they told us to wait. Well, we waited for over an hour and to make long story short, our guy had actually been waiting for a long time but we didn't see him. His sign was very unclear. Not a good way to start our vacation, hopefully this was the only hiccup. Anyway, we were just thankful we found our ride.

We got to the hotel around 10:30 am. Our rooms were not ready since it was still early, so we walked around the Las Ramblas area. Our hotel, Hotel Pulitzer, was located very close to Las Ramblas, so we were able to walk conveniently to La Boqueria (the main market) and various shopping areas!

In front of La Boqueria Market

The first thing we saw at the market was the colorful juices that lined the entrance, followed by various candies, spices, and dried/cured meat. The market was pretty good sized and was pretty crowded. We weren't looking for anything in particular so just roamed around.

Hanging Meat

Colorful fruit juices

Afterwards we went across the street for tapas. We randomly chose this restaurant, and since it was located in major tourist area, the price was pretty steep. We got the croquettas, potatas bravas, and paella. The paella was HUGE. Food was ok, nothing special.

Patatas Bravas and Paella

We went back to our hotel to finally shower and rest after the long journey! It felt so good to clean up. Speaking of our hotel, we really liked the modern style of Hotel Pulitzer. The lobby area was beautiful with stylish furnishing. The rooms were a bit small (understandable since we were in Europe), but the bathroom was pretty good sized. The elevator was really unique which we had not seen before; it was an all glass elevator.

Hotel Pulitzer

Love the clean, modern design

Bar area

First floor area

The lobby area was very well maintained and looked pretty new. However, some parts of the hotel were a little tired (chipped wood on room floors, hallways could use some fresh carpet). But overall we thought the hotel was still in pretty good condition. The location was wonderful! Very close to Las Ramblas and Playa Catalunya. We enjoyed our stay at this hotel and would recommend it. The rate was pretty decent, too.

Hotel Room & Bathroom

Afterwards, we went out to shop. Zara, which is one of my most favorite clothing store is actually from Spain, so we checked it out. They were having some really good sales, with shirts from around 3 euros. Dan actually got more stuff here than me! Ha ha.

For dinner, we were determined to try one of the places that our friend recommended, so we went to a tapas restaurant called Cerveceria Catalana. The decor was very hip and modern, and the food display looked amazing. Since we went early (6 pm), we didn't have to wait for a table. Yay! Apparently most people in Spain do not eat dinner until 9 pm. We ordered so many things: Avocado salad, cod fish, filet, mini burgers, mini hot dogs, pork sandwich, fried mini squid, and fried Camembert. My most favorite item was the fried Camembert! It was basically a rectangular cut of camembert cheese, rolled in nuts, deep fried an then served with fruit jelly. AMAZING! Price was pretty reasonable and we were all happy with the food.

Cerveceria Catalana

Jamon, Pasta Salad

Fried camembert with jam!

After dinner, my family were all jet lagged and decided to call it a night. We weren't quite sleepy yet, so we hunted for the chocolate covered churros place. It was located in one of the smaller streets off Las Ramblas and was a little tricky to find, but we found it! Unfortunately it was late by the time we got there so we didn't get to try fresh churros (they had been sitting out for a while), but even then they were still pretty good. We figured we'd try and visit this place early next week when we make our return stop to Barcelona.

Barcelona City Tour - Pre Cruise

Day 1-2: San Francisco-Barcelona
Day 3 AM: Barcelona City Tour - Pre Cruise
Day 3 PM: Norwegian Epic Cruise
Day 4: At Sea
Day 5: Livorno (Cinque Terre excursion)
Day 6: Rome (Rome city tour)
Day 7: Naples (Sorrento, Positano, Pompeii excursion)
Day 8: At Sea
Day 9: Palma de Mallorca
Day 10: Barcelona - Post Cruise
Day 11: Barcelona - San Francisco

We were picked up promptly at our hotel at 9:30 am for our Barcelona city tour. We booked this tour from Hola Barcelona, which was highly recommended from Trip Advisor. Our guide was Jean Pierre, a Frenchman who migrated to Spain some 20+ years ago. He was very nice and passionate about art and history.

We drove passed Passeig de Gracia, the Rodeo drive of Barcelona, which was actually not that far from where we were staying. Our first stop was Casa Batllo, which was a house designed by Gaudi. We heard so much about Gaudi and this was the first of his works that we saw in person. The house facade was very interesting, very sensual and curvy. Gaudi's design is very unique and different compared to other architects during his generation. We learned that Gaudi was a devout Catholic and was married to his work, so he never married a woman. A lot of his work has Christian references as well as nature. As you can see on the roof of Casa Batllo, it looked like the scales of a dragon. We went to visit another house that he designed just down the street called Casa Mila.

Next stop was la Sagrada Famiglia, or the holy family. This is probably Gaudi's most famous work. When we arrived, we were all amazed by the beauty and the size of the church! Little did we know that the church is actually not nearly done. He never actually finished, so continuous work is still being done with a planned completion date of 2026. There were approximately 3 million visitors last year and with a ticket entrance of 14 euros, they must have enough money to continue building.

Sagrada Familia - So beautiful in person!

One side of the church tells the story of Jesus's birth...the intricacies and details of his work were just amazing! The other side of the church tells the story of his death.

Our next stop was Parc Guell. This "park" was originally built as a garden city project, where rich citizens could buy a lot to build a house. The project started in 1900 and was declared a failure in 1914. They were able to only sell one house! Gaudi also had a house here. The park was very unique and there were a lot of Gaudi's work all around.

Inside Parc Guell

Interesting architecture

We went to Montjuic with it’s amazing look out point over the city! We also got to see our cruise ship docked on the port! It got us really excited! Turns out this was our last stop, and we then got dropped off at the port to start our cruise.

We got a peak of our cruise ship - the Norwegian Epic

Norwegian Epic Cruise

The Norwegian Epic

The 411 displayed on board

Once we got in, we made our way to the Garden Cafe buffet for lunch (which later turned out to be our most frequented place for breakfast and lunch). This place was packed!! Guess everyone thought the same way as we did which was to get lunch buffet!

After lunch we checked out our room, which was located on the 9th floor towards the back of the ship. The reason why we chose the back of the ship is because supposedly you feel less of the movement on the back of the ship and on lower floors.

The room was furnished nicely with modern decor. Style-wise, this was probably the nicest balcony room out there. We loved the dark faux wood paneling and the flat screen tv. The room color was soft creme and blue, very relaxing and zen-like.

Their signature "curvy" room

Our balcony cabin

Love the modern design

Our balcony

The bathroom was interesting...the toilet and the shower were separated into 2 areas. We didnt mind it but from the reviews on cruisecritic, some people really didn't like it. We loved the modern sink style. Room size was a bit small but that's expected. Overall, we were very happy with the room decor and cleanliness.

After checking out our room, we roamed around to get acquainted with the ship. One of the central points of the ship was the main chandelier above Taste Restaurant. We then checked out the Main Dining Room for dinner (which we only visited once during the whole week).

Main Dining Room

They have a pretty big spa area - we ended up purchasing the weekly spa pass which was worth it! The pass cost $199/couple for the week which allowed us access to the spa lounge area, whirlpool, sauna, steam room and the relaxation room. We did this a couple times during our cruise. It's so relaxing and highly recommended! Next we checked out the gym which was just across from the spa. The gym was actually pretty big! Lots of equipment and the views overlooking the ocean was an added bonus. Too bad we hardly used the gym :p

Mandara Spa

Gym

There were a number of specialty restaurants where you have to pay a nominal fee to eat, such as the teppanyaki restaurant, steakhouse, French fine dining, etc. We took a peek at some of them and actually tried the teppanyaki restaurant later in the week. Afterwards we went to O'Sheehans Pub to grab a snack. We ordered chicken wings (free) and Diet Pepsi (not free) - apparently only water was included. Everything else cost extra.

Dan enjoying chicken wings at O'Sheehans Pub

For dinner, we pre booked tickets for the cirque dinner show, which was a cirque du soleil type entertainment with dinner. The show was held at the Spiegel Tent. The cover charge was $20 for standard seating and $30 for premium. We came around 30 minutes before the show started and there was already a line: one line for the premium seating and another line for the standard seating. The usher assigned seats, and we got seated on the second floor. The view from the second floor was not bad at all, we actually enjoyed it.

Spiegel Tent where they held the Cirque Dinner Show

Inside the Tent

Today was also my little sister's 17th birthday. We wanted to do something special but due to the format of the show, we couldn't really celebrate in this venue since we were watching the show the whole time. It was pretty entertaining and enjoyable. It was not typical Cirque du Soleil calibre but we were pleasantly surprised. Definitely try to see this if you are on board the NCL Epic.

First Sea Day

Dan rappelling down the wall

We saw a spa special for $89++ for 3 mini treatments at the Mandara Spa, which included a foot massage. Our feet had been soo tired from all the walking, so I booked this treatment. It was definitely relaxing and much needed! Apparently for any spa treatment, the cruise automatically charged an 18% gratuity, so the total bill was not that cheap after all :p After the mini spa treatment, we got ready to watch the Blue Man Group show. I had seen the Blue Man Group before but none of the other family members had. It was actually a pretty good show, and it was one of the free ones, which made it even better! We came in a bit early so we could get good seats.

In front of the Blue Man Group Theatre

Inside the Theatre

Afterwards, we went to Taste restaurant for dinner. Taste was also one of the free dining options but a seated one. We liked the food and also liked the decor of the restaurant. It made us feel like we were at one of the paid restaurants since the decor was so nice. We asked our server for a birthday cake for my sister, so they provided free cake at the end of dinner. How awesome! My sister didn't expect it at all so it was a good surprise.

At Taste Restaurant

Cinque Terre

Day 1-2: San Francisco-Barcelona
Day 3 AM: Barcelona City Tour - Pre Cruise
Day 3 PM: Norwegian Epic Cruise
Day 4: At Sea
Day 5: Livorno (Cinque Terre excursion)
Day 6: Rome (Rome city tour)
Day 7: Naples (Sorrento, Positano, Pompeii excursion)
Day 8: At Sea
Day 9: Palma de Mallorca
Day 10: Barcelona - Post Cruise
Day 11: Barcelona - San Francisco

Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. The literal translation of Cinque Terre is "The Five Lands", and it is composed of five villages: 1. Riomaggiore, 2. Manarola, 3. Corniglia, 4. Vernazza, 5. Monterosso. Our guide explained that these villages used to be poor fishing villages, and life for the people there was very hard. They have just recently become a somewhat major tourist destination. Now their life is supposedly better due to the revenue from tourism. Some fishermen were now selling souvenirs or opened drink/coffee shops. Not sure if this is true or not, but supposedly Cinque Terre's popularity was partly due to Rick Steves, an American travel writer. We found a video of Rick Steves' travel journal to Cinque Terre which we thought was very informative. Click here to view.

Vernazza - Cinque Terre

We pre-booked an all day tour to Cinque Terre with a quick stop in Pisa with Joe Banana Limos, a private tour company in Italy. The shore excursion from our ship was outrageously expensive, and surprisingly it was cheaper to do a private tour than to do the big bus group tour via the cruise. So it was almost a no brainer for us to go with a private tour--it's cheaper, we have our own private van and guide, and we don't have to wait for other people in a huge group! Our guide was Lorenzo, whose English was surprisingly good. Turns out he lived in Australia and New Zealand for a couple years, so it made sense why his English was good. We didn't realize it at the time, but the drive from Livorno to Cinque Terre was about 1.5 hours one way.

Getting ready to walk the "Path of Love"

The reason why we chose Cinque Terre as our excursion was because half of my family had been to Florence and Pisa before (which is the most popular shore excursion out of Livorno), so we wanted to go somewhere that was new for everyone. I heard about Cinque Terre from one of my well-traveled coworkers and after looking into it, was sold immediately. Looking back, we were glad we chose to visit this small jewel!

Via dell Amore trail

The first town we visited was Riomaggore. We followed the Via dell'Amore / Lovers Path. This path connected Riomaggiore with Manarola. The Cinque Terre towns were extremely isolated until the last century. Villagers rarely married anyone from outside their town. After the trail was established, it became lovers’ meeting points for boys and girls from the two towns. The walk was pretty easy for the most part. The view was absolutely beautiful! We noticed a lot of locks on this path, apparently they symbolized couple's love locked forever.

Locks along the trail

Once we got to the second town, Manorola, we were going to take the ferry to Vernazza (town #4). Unfortunately, the ferry service that day was not running because of choppy waters. There is no port whatsoever, and the so called "ferries" are really water taxis--very small boats. So we ended up taking the train, which was easy enough. We went directly to Vernazza, skipping Corniglia.

Us in Vernazza

Vernazza was bigger than the first two towns. We saw a lot more souvenir shops, and there were restaurants alongside the water. We ate at a restaurant called Cucina Aperta Tutto Il Giorno that turned out to be excellent!!! We loved the lasagna pesto and the gnocchi with pesto. Apparently pesto sauce was invented in the region (not in Cinque Terre per se, but in the larger region of Northern Italy). After lunch, we did some souvenir shopping and then our guide picked us up from Vernazza to go to Corniglia.

The MOST delicious Pesto Lasagna Ever!

Corniglia was the only town of Cinque Terre that was not on the water. Instead, it is located on the top of the cliff. The drive there was torturous and definitely not for the faint of heart. We didn't really have much time here, so we walked around the town for 15 minutes or so, and we got a lemon granita which was excellent and so refreshing! Afterwards we went back to Livorno. We were hoping to make a quick stop in Pisa but the guide said we didn't have time. Boo.

Corniglia

We all loved Cinque Terre and would love to come back some day and explore the area more. Here are some tips based on our experience:

We do not recommend driving between towns in Cinque Terre. The drive is very windy and the roads are small on many parts where only one car can pass at a time. Reminds us of the Road to Hana in Maui but worse. Instead, take the train or ferry to travel to Cinque Terre and in between the towns.
If you are traveling with a big group from a cruise, try to look into private shore excursion. We had 8 people, and our total for a private shore excursion was considerably cheaper than the ship's bus tour.
The drive from Livorno to Cinque Terre was quite long, but we all thought it was well worth it!
If you have the time, it would probably be nice to spend 1-2 nights in Cinque Terre to really explore the different villages.
Definitely try the pesto lasagna and gnocchi in Cinque Terre!
Lemon is also a specialty from this area, so try the lemon granita. It's so refreshing on a hot day!

Lemon Granita

Rome City Tour

St. Paul's Basilica

First stop was St. Paul Basilica where Saint Paul was allegedly burried. Most of the original church was burned in the 1800s and was almost immediately rebuilt. It was a beautiful church and not very crowded at all. Afterwards, we drove by a small pyramid that was built in honor of Cleopatra, who had some famous affairs with Italian men. It was interesting to see a pyramid in Italy!

Random Pyramid in the middle of Rome

Next stop was the Colosseum. We didn't have time to actually go inside, so we just walked around and took some pictures. It was amazing to see how intact the Colosseum was. There were 80 arches around the Colosseum with roman numerals at the top. The people in the old days had a ticketing system which told them which archway and seat they had.

Colosseum

We went to visit the Pantheon, with the fountain in front that was featured in the movie, "When in Rome". This area appeared to be very popular with tourists. After the Pantheon, we were dropped off at the Trevi fountain. We had lunch at a restaurant nearby. The pasta was excellent although the service was mediocre. Unfortunately they didn't have pizza, so we actually went to a second restaurant straight after. That's how my family rolls...food after food. :) Oh, and after pizza we had some gelato for dessert, too!

Pantheon

Another famous fountain where they filmed "When in Rome"

We tossed the coin over our left shoulder at the Trevi Fountain, so hopefully we'll be back in Rome some day. :) After lunch, we met our driver and were dropped off at the Spanish steps. We didn't have much time for shopping so after walking around for a little bit, it was time to go to our next stop.

Trevi Fountain

We went for a quick stop to the Vatican. Dan was amazed at the size of the square, which looked much bigger in person, although the country in total is not very big at all.

St. Peter's Square - Vatican

Our last stop was another fountain with views overlooking the city. The guide reviewed all the sites that we visited that day from the lookout point. We did a lot in such a short amount of time!

Rome lookout point

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