Carnival Breeze - Western Med - Western Mediterranean "Ports" Review by CommuterBob

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Home > Member Reviews > CommuterBob's Port Reviews of Monaco, Florence, Dubrovnik, Taormina, Naples, Rome (Civitavecchia)

CommuterBob's Port Reviews of Monaco, Florence, Dubrovnik, Taormina, Naples, Rome (Civitavecchia)
Carnival Breeze cruise in October 2012

Member Name:	CommuterBob
Cruise Date:	October 2012
Embarkation:	Barcelona
Destination:	Western Mediterranean
Member Review:	CommuterBob's Carnival Breeze Review

	Monaco Port Rating: Missed this port due to "high winds" yet the winds were less than 10 mph. No offer of compensation.
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	Florence Pisa Rating: Pisa was rainy and miserable, but at least we were off the boat. Our tour of Pisa was rushed and half of the group got separated by a train crossing the road as we were walking down it. The tower was the least impressive of the three buildings at the Field of Miracles and we wished we had more time to spend in the cathedral. Wine Tour Rating: The winery was a good time and they offered a basic lunch with plenty of wine. We even got to take the bottles on the bus with us for a fun busride back to the port. After getting back to the dock from the tour, we took the shuttle ($5 pp) back into Livorno, which is a nice, but small city and had a great market square. We even bought some more cheap wine to take back on the boat.
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	Dubrovnik Port Rating: We thought the Carnival tours were all overpriced, so we took the shuttle ($8 pp) into Dubrovnik and did stuff on our own. The old town area was nice and we did the cable car up to the top of the mountain (87 kuna pp) which had some great views of the harbor, old town, and the mountains of Bosnia to the east. The old town was very pretty and had lots of great shops, but the ship's tours all dumped their passengers out in the mid-afternoon and the place became a zoo. The return shuttle took about an hour to wait in line as a result of the influx of folks needing to get back to the ship.
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	Taormina Mount Etna Rating: The trip up to Mt. Etna included a stop in Zafferana for lunch, which was wonderful. Then we went up to the Silvestri Craters and had a great guide who was a vulcanologist and gave a thorough history of the mountain's eruptions and what we were looking at. Teatro Greco Rating: The tour of Taormina and the Greek Theater were nice, but brief. We had little free time (only about 40 min.) to shop in Taormina, but the town was nice and scenic, with the theater being the highlight with its great views of the sea and Mt. Etna.
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	Naples Pompeii Walking Tour Rating: Had a great guide!! We only got to see about 20% of Pompeii, but it was very informative and very cool. We were glad that we did Pompeii at the end of the day, because if we had done it first, we would have spent the whole day there and would not have seen Positano or Sorrento. Positano Walking Tour Rating: Had gorgeous views of the Amalfi coast and Positano and lots of stops for pictures. Had a decent amount of time in Positano to shop as well. Wonderful. Rating: Had lots of time in Sorrento to shop and eat and got some great views of the bay along the way. Lots of opportunities for pictures.
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	Rome (Civitavecchia) Catacombs Rating: This stop was part of the City Tour and was added because the Vatican museum was closed. The catacombs were neat to see and I learned a lot from the guide. City Tour Rating: We were rushed from one site to another, often with the only opportunity to take pictures while still seated in the van. Then we were taken to a restaurant where it took 2 hours to have lunch. The food was great, but because lunch took so long, the rest of the tour and the Vatican were rushed. While we technically "saw" many things, it would have been nicer to only see a few with more opportunity to spend time at them and learn more. Colosseum Rating: The Colosseum was impressive, but we only had 45 min. to walk in (with pre-purchased tickets so we didn't have to wait in line) and through the place. Basically enough time to see the ground floor, walk up to the second level, then back down and out the exit. St. Peter's Square Rating: While the square is impressive, the guide only gave us an hour to see it and the St. Peter's Basilica. There was a 2-hour wait to get into the basilica so there was no way we could get in to see it. Plus the fact that we were in Rome on a Sunday when the Vatican museum is closed made it pretty disappointing.
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	Venice Port Rating: Port skipped due to flooding and high winds - other ships seemed to be able to dock there without much issue and the flooding that Carnival was reporting did not last very long. Certainly not worth cancelling two days at port.
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