Day 19/4: Livorno, Italy

It is Thursday, April 28. I have to post some of these blogs the day after the actual events. The internet connection is so bad, when everyone gets back from their tours at the end of the day, it is nearly impossible to get a connection. I gave up days ago trying to upload pictures. I am adding photos on May 12...

We slept in again this morning, arising around 0900. We were thinking of taking breakfast in the Grand Dining Room, but they stop serving breakfast at 0930. Instead, we went to the Terrace again and had their buffet.

After breakfast, we prepared and went down to the gangway to depart to the city. We got on the shuttle bus and it took about 20 minutes to get to the Piazza Del Municipio, arriving at about 1100.

We strolled around for a couple of hours. We stopped at the Saint Ferdinand and the Saint Caterina. Both were very nice and you would will really enjoy the pictures. 

We then walked around the Fortezza Nuova (New Fortress), circa 1591. This fortress was built to supplement the Fortezza Vecchia (old fortress) as the city grew. Interestingly, according to the signs at the Fortezza Nuova, the new fortress they built was much larger than was needed for defense of the city. Therefore, they implemented incentives to grow the city to justify the size of the new fortress, including debt forgivings and tax abatements (what are called “loop holes” by the politicians of the 21st century).

We had walked about four miles and decided Livorno had shown us the best it had to offer. We went back to the shuttle bus pickup site, waited about 15 minutes and got back to the ship in time for our regular 1300 appointment at the pool side bar. 

Tonight, we have reservations at the Polo Grill.

Day 18/3: Villefranche, France

Having canceled our Monte Carlo excursion yesterday, we slept in this Wednesday morning, awaking around 0800. The Captain was making an announcement about commencement of tenders from the ship to Villefranche, France, our substitute port-of-call. The seas last night were inconsequential, despite the warnings of foul weather. This morning there are gentle swells in the bay and white caps out in the Mediterranean.

We are not going to make it over to Monte Carlo, Monaco, but we will go ashore here in Villefranche. The schedule shows arriving at 0800 and departing at 2300 tonight. Once the people going on tours are off loaded, they should start open tendering with tenders running every 30 minutes or so. A little before 0900, the Cruise Director came over the intercom to announce that those planning to take the train to Monte Carlo (the mode of transportation recommended to us by Nick last night) will find that there is a train employee strike going on today and the trains are not running. Now they are recommending the bus. Glad we decided not to go to Monte Carlo (of course Nick's attitude last night helped persuade us).

On the way to breakfast, we stopped by the spa and T scheduled a manicure and pedicure for 1600 this afternoon.

We arrived for breakfast at the Terrace cafe around 0900. It was the usual buffet style but you could not serve yourself, a staff member had to dish it for you and then began the negotiations of just exactly what you wanted and how much you wanted while trying to overcome the normal language barriers. I don't get it!

We went down to the tender and boarded at 0945. It took about 15 minutes to reach shore. Once on shore, we started climbing. Villefranche is built into the side of a steep hill rising from the coast. According to T's Fitbit, during the course of the day, we ascended over 800 feet in total. We visited the Chapelle Chapel and the St. Elme Citadel. I got a lot of great pics, but cannot share them due to the exceedingly poor internet connection (no wonder it is free). I have started composing these blogs in MS Word. More than once, I have lost my work due to loss of internet connection.

 We decided to head back to the boat about 1300. The tender ride back was significantly choppier and we actually had waves crashing over the bow. I enjoyed it.

Once back on board, we changed our shoes and headed for the bar and lunch. We opted not to purchase the beverage package this cruise so we are experiencing the sticker shock of buying our drinks a la cart. My gin and tonic for example is $13 and T's glass of wine is $11. Ridiculous! Almost makes you want to stop drinking all together...well, almost! It is easy to see where our $1,000 of ship board credits will be going. No matter, with only one sea day this cruise, there will not be much opportunity to ponder over any gift shop potential purchases. Oh yes, on top of the ridiculous prices, they add 18% tax (turns out this is a gratuity and not a tax) to everything.

During lunch on deck at the Waves (we both had their Ruben and they were very good), the Captain announced that they were suspending tendering so that they could reposition the ship. He said they had anticipated winds of 20 knots and it actually was twice that. Looks like we were luck getting back on board when we did. It was almost 1700 hours before they restarted tendering transfers.

After lunch we sat in the forward Horizons lounge for a bit before T suggested retiring to the room so she could soak for awhile before her appointment. A little before 1600, I escorted her to the Solon and I adjourned to the pool side bar for another $30 double gin and tonic. T decided to only get a pedicure, but she said it was excellent!!

After her pedicure, T joined me and we attended happy hour at the Martinis bar. During this one hour of the day, the prices of drinks are reasonable, but not a bargain.

Tonight, we had reservations at one of their specialty restaurants, Jacques. It was very good and the service from the wait staff was definitely several steps above what we have experienced on this ship up to now. We had a total of three glasses of Pinot Noir which totaled $45....and no, T had two and I had only one!

Tomorrow, we should be docking in Livorno, Italy. We have opted not to sign up for any shore excursions. Florence and Pisa were appealing sites to visit through this port, but it meant spending the majority of the time on the bus getting to and from these cities and very little time actually in the cities. We will visit these another day. We believe we will journey into the port city itself, similar to what we did today in Villefranche. There supposedly will be a free shuttle running from the port to the city center throughout the day.

Day 17/2: Marseilles

We awoke at 0700 and breakfast was delivered by our butler, Askof, at 0745. It was hot and very good. We got ready for our shore excursion.

We docked in Marseilles at 0800, as scheduled.

We went down to the Riviera Lounge at the appointed 0845 only to find a LONG line. Around 0900, we got to the front of the line and were given a boarding tag for bus #20. Not long afterwards, we were called to disembark. The tour of Avignon was scheduled to last about eight hours. There were only ten guests on the huge bus, so we had plenty of room to spread out and everyone had a great window view. Our guide was Dominique. She spoke good English with a British accent. We first went to Avignon and toured the Pope's Palace.

Then we went on to Les Baux de Provence. While both stops were amazing, the landscape between and back to the port were also interesting. This is a major olive and grape growing region. There were olive trees and vineyards everywhere. Made us think of Napa Valley. I wish I could attach some photos (I took 101 today, but the internet connection will not permit).

We got back to the ship around 1530 quite exhausted. We adjourned to our room and found a note to check with the Destination Services Desk to pick up our iPod for our self-guided tour of Monte Carlo tomorrow. We went down to the desk on the way to dinner. Nick, the "gentleman" who attended to us gave us our iPod and showed us how to use it. This tour just includes a map and narration of the highlights. We can go where we want at the pace we want. Oh, in addition, Nick told us that due to the high seas, we will not be docking at Monte Carlo but instead at Villefranche, France. We were "on our own" to get to Monte Carlo. Nick suggested a taxi, or perhaps the train. To this we were almost speechless. I told Nick that we expected to be taken to Monte Carlo. Nick indicated he understood and asked us to wait while he checked again. He returned a few seconds later and essentially said "tough luck". If we did not like it, we could cancel our excursion. We did cancel and told Nick we would remember this. He did not seemed moved.

We ate at the Grand Dining room, having foie gras in chicken breast and prime rib. I thought it was OK. T thought it was better than that. I may have still had a bad taste in my mouth from talking with Nick.

After returning to our room, Askof arrived with our canapés for the evening. We had selected the Ciabatta Petit Loaf with Brie, Apple, and Cherry Tomato Garnished with Fruit AND the International A.O.C Cheese Platter. It was delightful. Askof also noticed we had set out all the sugared sodas from our refrigerator and asked if we did not like them. I told him we were not in to sugared sodas and asked if we could get some sparkling water and club soda. No Problem! was the response. While we have been disappointed with several cultural issues on this Oceania cruise, the butler service and the housekeeping service (Carolina) have been shining stars. Carolina came to our door this evening and introduced herself and made sure we promised to let her know if there was anything we needed. She is from Honduras and Askof is from Calcutta, India.

Today they predicted the temperature would get up to 77F. I don't think it ever got over 60F. I found it very delightful. They are warning of heavy seas tonight. I am looking forward to it and sleeping well!

We may still go ashore at Villefranche tomorrow and T may take the opportunity to have a spa visit. Regardless, we will not let Nick spoil our trip.

Day 16/1 Riviera And On To Marsielles

We got up at 0630 Monday morning and got our checked baggage out into the hall by the designated 0800. Around 1000 we ventured down to breakfast. We would not last long living in Barcelona at the Hilton. We have eaten one breakfast (discounted), one lunch and one dinner for a total of $300.00. The scrabbled eggs this morning were very good however.

After breakfast, we still had some time before we needed to be out of our room and before the shuttle was to pick us up to take us to the port. It was  a beautiful morning in Barcelona. Sunny and a temperature around 60F.

We decided to walk around the block. It was nice and interesting, but a little deceiving. The first half of the walk was down hill while the second half was....up hill. By the time we got back to the hotel, T was wiped out. She was a good trooper and did not complain. We got to rest a little while before checking out and only waited about 15 minutes for the bus.

The check in process for Oceania was superior to that of Seabourn along Seabourn offered Champagne. We were on-board quickly and were able to go directly to our room. Our first impression of the Riviera is very favorable. It has a capacity of 1,250 guests compared to the Seabourn Odyssey's 450. However, from the standpoint of appointments in their common areas, the Riviera is much grander. Our suite is classified as a PH1 Penthouse and with a stated square footage of 322 (and that includes the 70 sq ft veranda). While it is larger than the Hilton hotel room we just left in Barcelona, it is about one-third the size of our Wintergarden Suite on the Odyssey. None the less, it is an adequate size and nicely laid out.

 

Tuesday, we get up at 0700 for an 0745 in-room breakfast before reporting to the Riviera Lounge at 0845 for our shore excursion at the port of Marseilles. We will not be touring the City of Marseilles but, instead, we will be going to Avignon to visit the Pope's Palace. This was T's idea, but I've read so much about the place, I am anxious to visit it as well.