Our upcoming vacation on the Norwegian Epic is the most port-intensive cruise of my 20 to date with just one sea day. That’s a lot of ports to prepare for and it’s not just a matter of deciding which beach to go to as with a Caribbean port.
The four of us have finalized plans for all but our last port.
Ports of Call
We’re spending three nights pre-cruise in Barcelona, our embarkation city, and have our touring plans firmed up. Our plans include a full day trip to Monserrat and a winery, touring Sagrada Familia, self-guided Las Ramblas walk and seeing the Magic Fountains.
We’ll play it by ear for our meals based on where we are when hungry and what we find. Here’s what we have planned for the cruise ports of call.
Naples: Two of us are doing a do-it-yourself trip to Herculaneum followed by pizza in Naples before re-boarding. The other two are taking an all day tour with italytours.eu to Pompeii, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast.
Civitavecchia (ROME): Everyone but me is taking the Best of Rome & Vatican tour with ItalyTours.eu. Since I was there a couple of years ago, I booked a tour to two hilltop cities, Tuscania and Civita di Bagnoregio.
Livorno (FLORENCE): We split up again with me taking a ship’s tour to San Gimignano and San Donato Farm for lunch and wine tasting. The rest are doing the Best of Florence and Pisa tour with the same company.
Cannes: Ooh, la la. None of us have been to France let alone this area so we booked an all day Best of the French Riveria tour. I’m looking forward to Eze and Nice!
Palma De Mallorca: This is the port we’re playing it by ear. We’re not certain how tired we’ll be after the previous days of touring and there’s nothing that stands out as a must do. We don’t get to port until 1 pm and may find a beach or explore the town.
We’re all flying to our respective homes after debarkation and used the same transportation company to get us to the airport that is picking us up 10 days earlier and getting us to the ship for the cruise.
Palma, the economic and cultural hub of Majorca, is a delightful base for exploring the island’s many gold and white beaches. A former Moorish casbah, or walled city,
Palma’s Old Town is an appealing maze of narrow streets that are a delight to explore on foot.
I also went there with my hubby last year and it was an amazing trip 🙂