Mariner Transatlantic - Miami to Rome - Transatlantic "Ports" Review by Sequim88

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Home > Member Reviews > Sequim88's Port Reviews of Tenerife, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona, Villefranche, Florence, Rome (Civitavecchia)

Sequim88's Port Reviews of Tenerife, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona, Villefranche, Florence, Rome (Civitavecchia)
Mariner of the Seas cruise in May 2012

Member Name:	Sequim88
Cruise Date:	May 2012
Embarkation:	Miami
Destination:	Transatlantic
Member Review:	Sequim88's Mariner of the Seas Review

	Tenerife Port Rating: We took private bus tour with Roll Call group - stopping in several towns and touring Mt. Tiede. FANTASTIC! We want to go back to Tenerife someday as a shore vacation.
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	Palma de Mallorca Port Rating: Beautiful place. A but more expensive that Tenerife but well worth visiting. Again, we took privately arranged tour with Roll Call group than included stop in Valedemosa and Port Soler with tram to Soler Village and train back to Palma. Spectacular scenery. Another place to re-visit.
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	Barcelona Port Rating: Toured on our own. Took RCI shuttle to Columbus Statue area and then Metro to Sagrada Familia. Had not intended to go inside due to time but found out with wheelchair they allow entry at a special gate by the information booth that skips the long line (and turnstyles). Awesome - simply amazing place. Not to be missed. Then we took taxi (â‚¬6) to Parc Guell to tour around there. Veyr hilly though. We then walked & rolled down to nearest Metro station and went to Placa Catalunya and started walking down Las Ramblas - ate lunch along the way. Very relaxing way to tour Barcelona and get a real feel for the place. We did however maintain vigilance about pick pockets and had no trouble with that.
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	Villefranche Port Rating: This was a tender port and used local boats for tenders that hold more than ship lifeboat tendering. Very efficient and they had ramp for wheelchair. Main problem was finding accessible route to train station. We took streets since there were cars visible at train station but took wrong ones and climbed much too high on the hill so took an hour to eventually get there. Once there getting ticket for round trip to Monaco then to Nice and back to Villefranche was easy. â‚¬17 for two of us. Had to make sure to validate tickets at each boarding point. Went firs to Monaco and walked to the casino (closed in morning) to take pictures then too taxi back up hill to train station. Then went to Nice and fortunately (as it turned out) got off at wrong stop (first one for Nice) and had nice walk to the yacht harbor where we picked a restaurant and had Niciose Salad and glass of wine for lunch. Then walked Promenade des Anglais along the beach for an hour and then headed to train staion (the main one) - taking the streetcar tramway part of the way (â‚¬1 each). Then back to Villefranche and foudn the correct path to town - although it did have a few steps it was much shorter than the first route.
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	Florence Port Rating: Actually port was Livorno (Leghorn) and we never got to Florence. Took expensive taxi to train station and then train (â‚¬9 r/t for two) to Pisa. later found there was a bus to Campo dei Miracoli area but greatly enjoyed the walk & roll through town in the narrow pedestrian friendly street and across the bridge. We had found a tourist information office and the lady there was super helpful and also had a map. The cathederal area was fantastic and we were very glad that the night before we decided to skip the extra hour (each way) of train rides just for a couple hours in Florence and instead spend it in Pisa. The Duomo was amazing as was the Baptistry and of course the leaning bell tower. We spent the most time however in the Campo Santo cemetery which was fascintating. We had to arrange special entry via a ramp into the relics chapel due to stairs at the main entrance. As with many other places we found there is no entry fee for wheelchair and pusher. Then we walked back through town and had lunch before catching train back to Livorno and another expensive taxi to the ship. Note - there is NO WAY to walk out of the port on own so you either use ship tours or taxi to exit the area.
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	Rome (Civitavecchia) Port Rating: We took private transport with Roll Call group members to hotel in Rome and spend three nights there. Hotel as Albergo Cesari located exactly half way between Pantheon and Trevi Fountain and it was a really nice find. Nice room (small but bigger the cruise ship cabin) and great staff. Super rooftop terrace with bar and great morning breakfast. Highly recommend this hotel. We saw all the main sights (St. Peter's, Vatican Museum, Colosseum, St, Ignatius de Loyola, Castel St. Angelo (nice cafe on top), Plaza Navona, Campo di Fiori, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and much more. Off the beaten path we greatly enjoyed taking bus to Pyramide metro stop and seeing the pyramid and touring the non-Catholic cemetery with graves of Shelly, Keats and Goethe as well as the cats roaming everywhere from the neighboring sanctuary. Then we took train to Ostia Antica and toured the ancient Roman seaport ruins. VERY worthwhile. One wheelchair note - everywhere in Rome is paved with San Pietro Stone and is very difficult with wheelchair. I would say that for a solo wheelchair user it would be impossible and curb ramps are rare. Rome is perhaps the most wheelchair unfriendly city we have ever been in. Barcelona was by far the best.
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