CRUISE TRAVEL

The Trans-Atlantic Cruise

A repositioning cruise, in our case Trans-Atlantic, is when the cruise lines send their ships from the warmer Caribbean waters in Winter, back to the European seas such as the Mediterranean for the Summer months.

The length of these cruises tends to be from 2 to 2.5 weeks, depending on the ports of call and duration of those.
Our cruise was 16 days, and originally included 7 ports of call for one day each, and a final destination/disembarkation port. At one-point Norwegian Cruise Lines dropped 4 ports of call and added 2 to make up for it. Due to further circumstances, one of the add on ports had to be skipped, leaving us with only 5 ports visited along the way.

As we learned through our research, it is not at all uncommon for cruise lines to make changes to the itinerary, and some are even dodgy in how/when they are done. As per our plans and expectations, this was merely our “Transportation with Benefits” to Europe, so our disappointment level was not like that of many other passengers we encountered.

Also referred to as a Repositioning Cruise in nearly all cases

Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Also known as Palma. It is the capital city on the Southern coast of the Island of Mallorca, off the Eastern Coast of mainland Spain. Its founding is attributed by many to be by the Romans in 123-124 BC/BCE. There are a few locations where the remains of the original Roman wall can still be seen.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city and the entire island of Mallorca changed hands many times. The Moors, Byzantines, Arab caliphates, Christian Crusades, large Jewish sectors, pirates and even a few major Viking raids have all left their influence on the culture and architecture of the city.

For the modern-day explorer, there is a castle, cathedrals, a royal palace, caves, beautiful beaches, and many wonderful food dishes to discover.

Barcelona, Spain

Capital of the Catalonia Region in Northeast Spain. Home to 1.6 million inhabitants within the city limits and 5.3 million in the metropolitan area. Situated between scenic mountains and its port on the Mediterranean Sea. Residents are most likely to speak Catalan, what we would consider another dialect of Spanish, but don’t expect many “Catalonians” to agree with you. They are a proud, autonomous community within Spain itself.

Barcelona was founded by either the Phoenicians or the Carthaginians, who had trading posts along the Catalonian coast, sometime BC/BCE.

There are two UNESCO World Heritage sites in Barcelona.

Villefranche-sur-Mer, France

A tiny resort town and part time cruise ship destination on the French Riviera. Situated perfectly between the country of Monaco, and the well-known French city of Nice.

A population of just over 5,000 after a slow decline over the years in full-time residents. Most are now retirees, and part-time residents, and real estate is priced at a premium.
It is one of the deepest natural ports in the Mediterranean Sea and has been historically significant militarily because of that.

Many brightly colored buildings dot its coastline and rise above it on narrow, winding streets.

Livorno, Italy

A port city on the Tuscany region of Italy’s West Coast Livorno has a population of over 150,000 people. Said to be mentioned as a town in 1017AD, it was established by the Romans. During the Renaissance, Livorno was specifically designed by the House of Medici to be a thriving port city, with massive influence economically, multi-culturally and politically. This prosperous time lasted from the 1600’s to the mid 1800’s and many palaces, churches, cathedrals and villas still stand as proof.

Naples, Italy

With a population of nearly a million people, Naples is the third largest city in Italy behind Rome and Milan. It's one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban areas on Earth, with easily traceable origins to the Greeks in at least 1000yrs BC.

The significance and amount of Naple’s influence on the Arts, Humanity, Food, and Culture that has been contributed to the world is beyond this writer’s ability to even attempt to include here. Suffice to say, it is an almost certainty that everyone reading this has heard of Naples.

We were so impressed by certain aspects of Naples and her people that we will do our best to share a few specific experiences with you all. Grit. Resilience. Honor. Beauty. All instinctively fall off the tongue when describing her.

We both experienced an intense attraction and interest in this extremely urban landscape, in stark contrast to our usual disdain of large cities. We hope to someday return.