Cruising is Great... Until It&#039;s Not

Spain Sunset

Welcoming

As our date to move onto the Villa Vie Odyssey for our world cruise approaches, we've been taking care of last-minute details. Keeping our priorities straight, we went on a Mediterranean cruise!

We had this 21-day Princess cruise planned almost a year ago. When we decided to start cruising fulltime, we canceled many of our future travel plans, but not this cruise. Originally, we planned to rent a motorhome in Spain for 21-days and explore and drive around Spain and Portugal prior to boarding our Princess cruise in Barcelona, Spain. However, we canceled the motorhome portion of this trip.

Sunset over Spain

Barcelona, Spain

On October 8th, we made the long flight to Barcelona, Spain, arriving on October 9th (my birthday). Luckily, the hotel let us checkin a few hours early and we slept for almost 20 hours. The next day, we caught a taxi to Barcelona and toured the city all day using a hop-on hop-off tour bus. Barcelona is a neat city but viewing it from the tour bus wasn't such a great idea. The streets are heavily lined with trees which prevented us from seeing much, even from the top deck of the double-decker bus. The terrible audio tour on the bus wasn't of any help either.

We did get to see much of Barcelona and especially loved viewing the various architecture and the Basílica de la Sagrada Família. Since we only planned on the one day, we didn't have time to do much else in town. Still exhausted from the long flight, we headed back to our hotel for more rest.

I did learn a valuable lesson on this initial trip to Barcelona. When we first planned to rent a motorhome, I reserved a hotel outside of Barcelona to be closer to where we would pick up the motorhome. Although I canceled the motorhome rental, I kept the original hotel reservation. That was a mistake. We had to take a taxi three times between Barcelona and the hotel. Since the hotel was outside of Barcelona, each taxi bill came to over $50 a trip. It would have been smarter (and cheaper) to get a hotel in Barcelona and save the high taxi fees.

Molins de Rei, city where we stayed outside of Barcelona

Molins de Rei Church's clock tower

Molins de Rei Meat market inside a mall

Iberrian Ham

Barcelona city sites

Barcelona city sites. An old Bull Fighting Ring turned into a shopping mall

Barcelona city sites. Basílica de la Sagrada Família from a distance. This church is huge!

Barcelona city sights. Christopher Columbus statue. He landed here after his America voyage.

Basílica de la Sagrada Família

Barcelona city sights. Cute lamp post.

Barcelona city sights. Lamp post

Barcelona city sights

Barcelona city sights. Gaudi Residence

Gaudi Residence

Waiting for our Tepanyaki dinner to start

The "Dome" on the Sun Princess

Marseille, France

Boarding the "Sun Princess" went very smoothly. This is one of the newest and largest ships for Princess Cruise lines. All went well finding our inside cabin and exploring the ship. The 21-day cruise took off as scheduled on October 11th with Marseille, France as our first stop. We enjoyed our hop-on hop-off (HOHO) bus tour. Marseille is a cute and quaint town. We enjoyed this bus trip and walking around the marina. The next cruise stop was in Genoa, Italy, where we did another HOHO tour.

The HOHO bus tour in Genoa was a waste of money. There wasn't much to see from a tour bus, the tour audio system didn't work, one bus had a scratched and faded covering over the top, preventing seeing much, and the two bus routes overlapped each other by 75%. However, Genoa was another interesting town to visit.

Marseille France. Cathedral La Major. Huge 1800s neo-Byzantine cathedral

Marseille France city sights. Fort Saint-Jean a 17th-century fortress

Marseille France city sights.

Marseille France city sights

Marseille France city sights.

Marseille France. Cathedral La Major. Huge 1800s neo-Byzantine cathedral

Marseille France city sights. Not the bus tour we were on, but cute.

Marseille France. Cathedral La Major. Huge 1800s neo-Byzantine cathedral

Marseille France city sights.

Marseille France city sights. Fort Saint-Jean a 17th-century fortress

Marseille France city sights.

Genoa Italy city sights

A fun looking ferry

A beautiful sunrise over Genoa marina

Genoa Italy city sights

Genoa Italy city sights. Well, kind of. This was on a different bus route.

Genoa Italy city sights

Hold it up Connie!

Larry's Favorite Spot on the Ship

On October 14th, the cruise ship pulled into La Spezia, Italy. This was one of the places we were looking to visit, as we were going to take a side to trip to Pisa, Italy. We've always wanted to see the famous "leaning tower of Pisa". We purchased this tour through Princess and visited Pisa, then had a wine tasting. It was more of a "all you want" wine tasting, which Connie took full advantage of.

We then had a couple days at sea as the ship headed to Bar, Montenegro. We didn't take any tours of Bar, as it was a fairly small town. We walked around on our own for a while.

Pisa

Pisa Italy sights

Ristorante Fattoria Il Poggio in Montecarlo, Province of Lucca Italy

Wine tasting. Ristorante Fattoria Il Poggio in Montecarlo, Province of Lucca Italy

Pisa Italy sights

Wine tasting. Ristorante Fattoria Il Poggio in Montecarlo, Province of Lucca Italy

The bus was a little rowdy after our wine tasting

Pisa Italy sights

Wine tasting. Ristorante Fattoria Il Poggio in Montecarlo, Province of Lucca Italy

Pisa Italy sights

Dish one of our "snack". There were 3 more dishes plus dessert! Wine tasting. Ristorante Fattoria Il Poggio in Montecarlo, Province of Lucca Italy

Site along our route to Montenegro

Sights in Bar Montenegro

Sights in Bar Montenegro. King Nikolas's Castle built in 1885

The Sun Princess towers of the city of Bar

Sights in Bar Montenegro

The "Dome"

Enjoying a "Premium" Dessert

The next day's stop was in Corfu, Greece. We did a two-part HOHO bus tour. The first bus took us up the hill to the Achilleion Palace. Although the inside of the palace was closed, we were able to walk the gardens and enjoy the views from outside. The second part of the tour was the normal hop-on bus touring around town. We stopped mid-way and walked around, having lunch at a nice outside diner. Of course, we had to have Gyro's in Greece.

The next day was a sea day, and this is where it all started going bad. Initially, I got sick with a "cold" and didn't feel like doing anything. The ship arrived in Naples, Italy which as another stop I was looking forward to. We had tour tickets to visit Pompei. It was a hard decision, but I wasn't up to walking around. Luckily Connie still felt well and went on the tour without me. She enjoyed touring Sorrento and Pompei and took plenty of photos for me but was exhausted from all the walking.

Tour buses are ready. Corfu Greece

Sights of Corfu Greece. Achilleion Palace

Sights of Corfu Greece. Old Fortress

Sights of Corfu Greece. Sangria and Ginger Beer for lunch

Macado Japanese specialty restaurant onboard. Lots and lots of sashimi for dinner.

Sights of Corfu Greece

Sights of Corfu Greece. Achilleion Palace

Sights of Corfu Greece. Old Fortress

Sights of Corfu Greece Spianada Square

Sights of Corfu Greece. Gyro plate for me and Larry had a veal stew

Sights of Corfu Greece

Sights of Corfu Greece. Achilleion Palace

Sights of Corfu Greece. Old Fortress

Sights of Corfu Greece Spianada Square

Sunset from Corfu Greece

Sights of Corfu Greece. Achilleion Palace

Sights of Corfu Greece. Old Fortress

Sights of Corfu Greece. Sign inside the restaurant

Macado Japanese specialty restaurant onboard. Our first time having Saki

Sights along the route to Sorrento Italy

Sights along the route to Sorrento Italy. Mount Vesuvius across the bay.

Sights along the route to Sorrento Italy. Isle of Capri is just off Sorrento's peninsula.

Sights along the route to Sorrento Italy

Sights along the route to Sorrento Italy. Lots of vineyards, lemon trees and olive trees!

Sights in Sorrento Italy. Demonstrating how inlay pictures are made.

Old Town Sorrento piazza

Sights in Sorrento Italy.

Sights in Sorrento Italy. Cute little cafe.

Sights in Sorrento Italy.

Sights in Sorrento Italy. Cafe on the dock.

Sights in Sorrento Italy.

Sights in Sorrento Italy. My sfogliatelle ricce lunch.

Sights in Sorrento Italy.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece. Chariot ruts.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece. This was the baker's wood oven.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece. Public water cistern

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece. There was no sewer system in Pompei. It ran down the road down to the river. These boulders were a way to cross the road.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece. This was one of the Roman baths.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece. Inside the Roman Baths

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece. A cast of a servant's body they found in the Roman Baths.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece. A cast of a servant's body they found in the Roman Baths. They say she was about 5 months pregnant.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece. A cast of a servant's body they found in the Roman Baths.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece. Direction sign to the prostitutes.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece. Another water fountain.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece. Mount Vesuvius

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece. Mount Vesuvius

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece.

Sights of Pompei Naples Greece. Roman fortified wall

Surf and Turf at The Catch

Specialty Dining - The Catch by Rudi

During the cruise, we ate at many of the "Specialty" dining restaurants. Before I got sick, we cancelled our main dining reservations and made many more specialty dining reservations. We weren't impressed with the service in the main dining area, or our seat location. Unfortunately, when we got sick, we lost our appetites and cancelled many of these additional specialty dining reservations. I lost over 10 pounds while sick.

One of the specialties I was looking forward to on this cruise was the "Spellbound" experience. This is an extra cost that allows entry into a small area sponsored by The Magic Castle (in Hollywood). The bar and rooms were on a magic theme. We had a couple special drinks and watched a couple short magic shows. It was fun, but not worth the extra expense. I was glad we did it, but not again.

Spellbound Specialty Show

Spellbound Specialty Show. Isabella self playing piano.

Spellbound Specialty Show

Hot Pot Specialty Dining

The next day, the ship was stopping in Civitavecchia, Italy. This is the nearest port to Rome, Italy. Although we had been to Rome many years ago, we still had a bus tour planned for the day. By now, Connie wasn't feeling well either and I was much worse. I then realized I had booked a one-way bus tour into Rome, with no plans on how to get back to the ship. We skipped taking the tour of Rome in hopes we'd both start feeling better soon. It wasn't happening.

When we booked this 21-day cruise, we didn't know it was actually two cruises back-to-back. The first cruise ended in Rome and the second cruise started. For us, it was just one long cruise. The ship, starting a new cruise, returned to Naples. We spent the day in our cabin feeling terrible and coughing our heads off.

The next day was another sea day, and we decided to visit the ship's medical center. They were very professional. I was diagnosed as having pneumonia and Connie with the Influenza. However, since she was running a fever, she was placed in isolation. She had to stay in our cabin until her temperature was normal for 24 hours. Luckily, she was released the next evening.

Santorini Greece

Views of Kusadasi Turkey

For the next week, we still felt terrible. We had no energy, our entire bodies ached, and we were still coughing our heads off. We missed the next several ports as we stayed on board, trying to recover. We missed visiting Santorini Greece, Kusadasi Turkey, Athens Greece, Crete Greece, and Sicily Italy. This was hard to swallow, as we were looking forward to several of these ports. But our illness wouldn't allow us to do anything except lay around in pain. During this time, it was also Connie's birthday. The ship did a special room decoration in our cabin for her and had a special dessert for her at "The Butcher Block". Unfortunately, we still didn't feel well and didn't eat much of the all-beef dinner.

Connie's birthday specialty dinner from The Butcher Block.

My special dessert wrapped up to go

Connie's birthday specialty dinner from The Butcher Block.

Connie's birthday specialty dinner from The Butcher Block. My special dessert, the next day.

Views of Sicily Italy

Finally, we started feeling better and were able to tour Mallorco (Palma), Spain. We did another HOHO bus tour, which wasn't that great. I've decided to rethink using HOHO bus tours. We've had some great ones, but we've had more that were not so great. This day was also Halloween. We dressed up a bit and enjoyed some of the festivities and decorations.

The next day was our return to Barcelona and the return flight to Arizona. We had 15 hours of flying time that day. Boy, were we tired!

Sunset on the Mediterranean.

Happy Halloween

I spy a castle in Mallorca Palma Spain

Views of Mallorca Palma Spain

Views of Mallorca Palma Spain Fortified Wall

Views of Mallorca Palma Spain Fortified Spain

Views of Mallorca Palma Spain

Views of Mallorca Palma Spain Bellver Castle

Views of Mallorca Palma Spain

Spooky cupcake

Happy Halloween

Ooo Spooky!

The cruise started out great but went downhill fast as we got sick. Unfortunately, we missed half of the ports and didn't have a great time the last half of the cruise. But we do have many new memories. Normally, we don't pay for the numerous photos they take while you're on the cruise. However, we splurged a bit on this cruise, and photos were included in our package. I'm glad we got them, as we don't have many recent photos of us.

With this cruise over, we now need to concentrate on our next chapter. We're finalizing our plans to embark on the Villa Vie Odyssey in February 2026. Let's hope we don't get sick too much while cruising fulltime!