Mediterranean Cruise - Day 4 - Sea Day

This was a really nice and relaxing day. We had to turn our clocks forward an hour the night before because of the time change leaving Italy and heading for Greece. We slept in a little later that day and were worried that when we got to the buffet for breakfast that it would be crowded and difficult to find a seat. To our surprise, there was no problem at all!

The thing I love about the setup of the Equinox buffet as opposed to other cruises I have been on is the way the food is laid out. There are a series of small “islands” of food so that you could easily maneuver from island to island without having to wait on line for the person in front of you to get their food.

In the early afternoon, Ben headed off to the gym and I went in search of a chair to get some sun. The sun sure is strong in the Mediterranean this time of year! I couldn’t stay out longer than an hour because I started fearing experiencing the sun poisoning I had acquired while in Thailand a couple of years ago.

Afterwards, I spent the afternoon reading and organizing my photos and Ben stayed out on the balcony playing a baseball management computer game that I do not understand.

The only negative of our cabin was the fact that we could hear every time our next door neighbor flushed the toilet… this normally would not be an issue except for the fact that we realized our neighbor either has an overactive bladder or some case of bad food poisoning. Any time we were in our room, we would hear flush after flush after flush…

We really enjoyed the laid back sea day to “recharge” in preparation of five back to back port days coming up. 

first formal night that evening

This day gets a 9/10 because it was exactly what a relaxing sea day should be… Ben gives it an 8/10 

Mediterranean Cruise - Day 3 - Messina, Sicily

This was our first port day and we were looking forward to taking the ship shuttle to Taormina, a small hill town in Sicily. We usually do not like to take cruise line sponsored tours because those tend to turn into cattle herds but opted to this time because we had read that taking public transportation was costly and unpredictable. After speaking to some other cruise passengers who had gone to Taormina on their own, we realized we had made the right decision as they all had quite a bit of difficulty getting there.

Taormina was roughly an hour bus ride away from Messina. When we arrived, the first thing we were reminded of was San Gimignano, which we had visited last year while taking a day trip through Tuscany. It was a quaint little town with lots of narrow, twisty streets filled with shops and restaurants. 

We had three hours to spend here on our own and we spent the bulk of it walking around and looking through shops (taking advantage of the free ac!) and taking pictures (well, I was, Ben wasn’t… but no surprise there). I had my first granita, which to me tasted a little like slightly melted Rita’s Ice… I tried an almond flavored one and it was good but I still like Rita’s Ice more.

view from Taormina

church in the main square in Taormina

Ben and me in Taormina

picturesque buildings in Taormina

Ben was not as fond of Taormina since he found it to be somewhat of a tourist trap since everything was so expensive. It probably did not help that we had just visited San Gimignano, which we really enjoyed, not long ago. I enjoyed it a little more than Ben did but mostly because it gave me more photo opportunities. 

Ben was bored after wandering around for 2 hours and started playing video games

We headed back to the cruise ship by bus in the early afternoon and were pretty happy that getting back on the ship was painless and quick. One of my favorite moments of the day was the moment I stepped back on board and was blasted with the strong ship ac! We were both pretty wiped out from the heat and walking by the time we made it back onto the ship.

This port receives a 5/10 from me… Ben only gave it a 3/10. I think he is a harsher critic :P

Mediterranean Cruise - Day 2 - Rome and Civitavecchia

We woke up early that morning so that we could do some sightseeing before leaving for the cruise port around noon. After getting close to twelve hours of sleep, we were feeling MUCH better than the previous day. We brought a good map with us and made our way by foot from our hotel to some of the major tourist sites in Rome center – Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon.

It was around 8am when we left the hotel so the heat was not too big of an issue yet. Getting to the sights early was a really great idea as there were barely any crowds anywhere we went. When we reached the Spanish Steps, I did not even realize we were already there since I was expecting to see masses of people gathered on the steps and when we arrived, the steps were actually empty! We had a similar experience at the Trevi Fountain… only some scattered people around and we were able to get right next to the fountain and walk all along it. 

empty Spanish Steps

Spanish Steps

we're at the Trevi Fountain!

Trevi Fountain - larger and more beautiful in person than in photos

Trevi Fountain

Pantheon

Pantheon dome

obelisk in square outside of Pantheon

The sites are a little more difficult to find than we had expected (moreso than Florence and Venice from the year before), even with a good map. There are many twisty, windy roads and it is sometimes difficult to see street names as they are inscribed on the sides of light colored buildings at intersections. 

Of the three places we visited that day, we both liked the Trevi fountain the most. It is a very impressive and very large fountain! We also enjoyed seeing the Pantheon but probably would have gotten more out of it had we listened to an audio guide to know what we were seeing. The Spanish Steps are just that… a series of steps... good photo op I suppose. 

After spending a couple of hours sightseeing, we started to make our way back to the hotel. By that point, the sun was starting to get pretty strong and we were having a little difficulty with figuring out where we were on some of the smaller streets. We eventually figured it out and made it back to the hotel still on time to catch an 11am train to Civitavecchia, the cruise port.

Side note: We have officially discovered drivers more aggressive than NYC drivers – Rome drivers! Busy streets often have no lane markings and driving is one giant free-for-all. I have no idea how these cars, scooters, and bikes do not hit each other! Also, the concept “Yield to pedestrians” definitely does NOT apply in Rome… “Yield to driver” is definitely more accurate.

We were pretty fortunate that the train we took to the cruise port was not crowded at all. I was a little apprehensive since we both had luggage and bags… after our Italian train fiasco the year before, I have become wary of taking trains with luggage. We arrived in Civitavecchia roughly an hour later and I had a rough sense of how to walk to the cruise port but was not completely sure. I wanted to check a map but we soon realized there would be no need. As soon as we exited the train station, we witnessed a mass exodus of tourists with rolling luggage all heading in one direction – we decided just to follow figuring out that everyone was heading for the cruise port.

Celebrity embarkation was pretty simple and painless. Not too long after checking in at the port, we were able to board the ship. I had done a lot of research on the ship prior to the trip so I had a good idea what it looked like but it is still very exciting to get on the ship for the first time and see everything in person. One of the reasons I chose this particular sailing was because of the ship – the Equinox is by far the nicest of any of the cruise ships we have been on in the past. The décor is very modern and bright.

We were able to go directly to our room and were pleasantly surprised at the size of the room and bathroom. It was somewhere between the size of a standard US hotel room and a European hotel room which for cruise ship standards, is pretty large. The balcony, which Celebrity considers “obstructed” was also huge. My only concern is that I have now been spoiled and won’t be able to go back to a smaller room and non-balcony… uh oh :P

The rest of the day consisted of looking around the ship and eating… I had a smile on my face that couldn’t be wiped off. We both agreed it just felt so much easier to be on a cruise ship where we wouldn’t have to worry about searching for food, entertainment and worrying about packing and unpacking our bags. Some people think that takes the fun out of the trip but for us, this makes the trip that much better. I guess that’s why we like to cruise!

onboard Celebrity Equinox

first thing Ben does when we get to our cabin - no different than at home :)

Equinox Pool Deck

Most of the rooms on the Equinox are balconies - we stayed in an "obstructed" view balcony on the hump of the ship so even though we could see the lifeboats, we had a very large balcony which I think made up for the minor obstruction (10 cabins in from the left, bottom row)

Equinox martini bar

Equinox solarium

live tree in the center of the elevator bank

Equinox atrium

Equinox lawn - yes, it's real grass!

Equinox lawn after the sunset

 

Mediterranean Cruise - Day 1 - From New Jersey to Rome

I had always wanted to see Greece and Southern Italy and so a cruise was a great way to cover several of the Greek Islands and spots in Southern Italy that I wanted to visit, all in one trip. I spent over a year planning for the trip (almost as long as I spent planning our wedding!) and was super excited to see everything. Ben usually doesn't do much research or planning so he didn't know what to expect prior to the trip. I can preface this trip report by saying that we both agreed that this was our best trip out of all the trips we have taken so far!

On the morning of our flight to Rome, I woke up early at 6:30am hoping that by the time I boarded the plane at 5:30pm, I’d be tired enough to hopefully sleep at least 5 good hours on the plane. I have never been good at sleeping on planes but I was pretty convinced that this time I’d be able to do it…

Unfortunately, the plan did not work very well. Both Ben and I have arrived at the conclusion that we simply are not good at sleeping on planes. The combination of being woken up by flight attendants passing by with beverage and food service along with cramped upright seating made it pretty difficult to fall asleep and then stay asleep. We both did not get more than a few scattered hours of sleep on the seven hour flight.

Nevertheless, when we arrived, we were determined to stay awake because we were planning to tour the Vatican and Saint Peter’s Basilica. We also were not able to check into our hotel until the early afternoon.  This whole staying-awake thing turned out to be much more difficult than we had anticipated. We were literally dragging our bodies through the streets of Rome. It was slightly easier when we were walking around but very difficult to stay awake any time we sat down / stopped moving.

I was really looking forward to the Vatican Tour, especially after having recently read Angels and Demons and the guided tour definitely lived up to expectation. It was the first time we’ve been on a tour where we were given headphones so we could hear very clearly every word the guide was saying and we were even able to wander a bit on our own and still hear her.  My only disappointment was not being awake enough to fully appreciate everything we were seeing. I forgot to add that the heat in Rome that day was sweltering! I thought that it would be similar to typical NJ summer weather… I definitely was not expecting NJ summer heat wave weather plus humidity!

The Vatican Museum is a very interesting place and crammed full of people when we were there. St. Peter’s Basilica is much larger in person than it appears in pictures and is the most beautiful church I have been in. We had originally planned to climb the cupola but the thought of climbing 300+ steps on little sleep the night before was too much. 

Bridge outside of Castel Saint Angelo located close to Vatican Museum

Saint Peter's Basilica

Vatican Museum courtyard

sculpture in Vatican Museum

beautiful ceilings in Vatican Museum

original floor mosaic in Vatican Museum

sunlight streaming into Saint Peter's Basilica

Swiss Guards

  

By the time we finished with the tour, it was almost 5pm and we were pretty wiped out at that point. We had a quick dinner and made it back to the hotel roughly an hour later to check in and were pretty happy that we would finally be able to get some sleep!