Venice to Barcelona Cruise May/June 2013

Hi Everyone!

We are leaving on May 21st for Venice. Staying there 6 nights and then we board the Carnival Legend for a 12 day cruise.  

Here is our itinerary: 
Tue May 28 Venice, Italy (overnight)
Wed May 29 Venice, Italy departs 3:00pm 
Thu May 30 Dubrovnik, Croatia 10:00am 7:00pm 
Fri May 31 At Sea 
Sat Jun 1 Messina, Sicily, Italy 8:00am 5:00pm 
Sun Jun 2 Naples (Capri), Italy 7:00am 7:00pm 
Mon Jun 3 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 7:00am 9:00pm
Tue Jun 4 Florence / Pisa (Livorno), Italy 7:00am 7:00pm 
Wed Jun 5 Monte Carlo, Monaco 8:00am 5:00pm 
Thu Jun 6 Marseille, France 8:00am 5:00pm 
Fri Jun 7 At Sea 
Sat Jun 8 Palma de Mallorca, Spain 8:00am 5:00pm 
Sun Jun 9 Barcelona, Spain 5:00am

We will then stay 2 nights in Barcelona before heading home. So excited!! 

I will be keeping a blog of our trip and will also be posting photos.

Please follow along with us as we cruise the Mediterranean!

Wed May 29 Venice, Italy

Hello from the Carnival Legend! 

We boarded the ship yesterday after staying 6 days in Venice. 

We had a wonderful time exploring back alleys and streets. Loved the lack of cars and the noise they make. We stopped for gelatos and cappuchinos, had pasta and wine, took numerous ferries, visited Murano and Burano and also just walked and walked. We will return to this great city! 

Today at 3pm we set sail from Venice on our way to Dubrovnik, Croatia. The sail away from Venice was spectacular. Just an amazing sight!

Wandered around the ship after dinner and later tonight we will go to the welcome aboard show. We are looking forward to a wonderful cruise!

Thu May 30 Dubrovnik, Croatia

It was raining while we were eating breakfast but the forecast said it would clear so we waited for the rain to stop.

When it stopped, we headed off the ship and met a couple at the taxi stand who were looking for a couple to share a panorama tour of the city. It was a one hour tour and cost 50 euros (25 per couple) and it was excellent! We went to 3 different look-offs and saw some amazing views of the old town. 

The sun came out as we were touring and it turned into a beautiful day. At the end of the tour, our driver dropped us off at the entrance to the old town. We exchange cabin numbers with the couple and hope to do the same thing in other ports.

We walked around the town for a while and then went up to walk the wall. The old town of Dubrovnik is a completely walled town and walking the wall is very popular. It was pretty crowded up on the wall today. 

Once we walked around the entire wall, we went looking for a buza bar. There are a few buza bars; they are bars on the water side of the wall. There are no signs but we saw one as we were walking the wall so we had an idea where to go. 

They are quite small but have wonderful views and are right on the rocks at the water's edge. We sat and had a couple of local beers and enjoyed the sun and the view.

We walked around a while longer and then decided to head back to the ship. We met a different couple at the taxi stop and shared a taxi back to the ship (10 euro = 5 per couple).

We went to the buffet for dinner and sat outside watching the ship sail away as we ate.

Walked around the ship for a while and then went to the family friendly comedy show. It was really good. We will return later for the adult show.

We had a wonderful day in Dubrovnik. Tomorrow is a sea day as we make our way to Messina, Sicily, Italy. Looking forward to sitting in the sun and just relaxing.

Fri May 31 1st Sea Day

We had a pretty quiet day.

We went to hear John Heald give a talk on the next couple of ports and then went and laid in the sun for a while.

Then it was time for the Cruise Critic meet and greet. It is nice to finally put faces to people you have been talking to online for many months. We then grabbed a bite to eat and went back to get a bit more sun.

Tonight was formal night so we got dressed in our fancy clothes and went to the dining room for dinner. 

We sat with a nice couple on their honeymoon. Service tonight was very slow. It took almost an hour and a half to receive our main course.

After dinner we went to change back into our casual clothes and then went to the comedy show. It was lots of fun!

Tomorrow: Messina, Sicily, Italy!

Sat June 1 Messina, Sicily, Italy

We had a private shuttle bus booked with some people from Cruise Critic. It was a great deal at 30 euros per person and the shuttle took us to Taormina and back. We met up with our group at 8:30am and were in Taormina by 9:30. Most stores weren't open yet so we just walked around.

Stopped for some coffee and cannoli (Taormina is home of the cannoli) and the cannoli was delious!! 

More walking around and boy was it crowded. With 5 ships in ports, the medieval town of Taormina was packed!

We stopped for a beer break at an Irish pub. I think there has been an Irish pub everywhere we have gone.

More walking and shopping and then another stop back at the pub this time for beer and bruschetta.

At 2:30pm we met up with our group and we were back in Messina at 3:45pm. All aboard was 4:30pm so we just headed back to the ship.

We went to the buffet for dinner.

Not much of interest going on on the ship tonight so we went back to the cabin and watched a movie.

Naples, tomorrow!

Sun June 2 Naples, Italy

We were in Naples today from 7am to 7pm. Took our time getting up and ready since today is Sunday and we knew not much would be open early.

We really didn't have much planned for today. There is a galleria that I had saw photos of and really wanted to see so that was our first stop. It is a beautiful building!

Then we headed to the Archaeological museum. Most of the artifacts from Pompeii are kept there (we went to Pompeii last year when we were here).

After the museum which was just ok, we headed back to the ship. We stopped for a Margherita pizza (Naples is home to pizza) and beer at a little place we went to last year.

Then at the port we stopped to use the internet cafe and had another beer.

While walking to the museum we realized Naples is not our favourite city in Italy. It is very gritty and dirty. If we ever come back we will plan to go back to the Amalfi coast which I love.

Back on board we went up to the Serenity area on the ship. This is an adult only area and it has really comfy chairs. We laid in the sun in a big round sunbed for a while.

Back to the cabin and got ready for dinner. We went to the dining room tonight.

Walked around the ship and realized after the huge ship we were on last year, we find this ship really small and there is not a lot to do (that interests us). I did go to the casino and my $10 went a long way.

We went up on deck for a walk and then called it a night.

Rome tomorrow!

Mon June 3 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

We woke around 8am and went up to the buffet for breakfast. Left the ship by 9am and caught the 9:45am train into Rome. We arrived at the termini at 11am.

We walked to the Colosseum. 

Lots and lots of people were wandering around and waiting in line to get in. I had heard it was easier to get tickets at Palatine Hill (which included the Colosseum) so we headed there. It was also very busy. We waited in line for a few minutes and then decided to go back to the Colosseum and see about getting a tour which skips the line. Just as we got out of line there was a guy offering a free tour of Palatine Hill and if we liked that he then had a tour of the Colosseum (for 30 euros pp which included admission). Well the free tour was WONDERFUL and we then went and did pay for the tour of the Colosseum. The tour company is RomAdventure and our guide was Brent - highly recommend!

We spend a few hours seeing these 2 wonderful places and really enjoyed learning about ancient Rome.

When the tours were over we decided to head back to Civitavecchia (Rome's port) and walked around and stopped for a beer and wifi.

We were back on board by 5:30pm (all on board is 8:30pm and sail at 9pm) and went up for dinner. Then walked around for a while and played a game of mini golf.

Sat on our balcony and watched a few ships sail away.

Watched a movie and then called it a night.

Livorno (Florence) tomorrow.