Italy/Greece 2023 – Day 3: Sea Day (September 4, 2023)

Trip: Rome and Cruise through Italy and Greece (Norwegian Breakaway)
Dates: September 1 – 15, 2023
Who: Me (Jess), Emily (one of my best friends), Beverly (my mom), Jeff (my stepdad), Jen (my aunt), and Megan (my sister).

Our first day was our only Sea Day, which I started by waking up a few times, only to fall back to sleep. I finally woke up for good about 10:15am. I had a pedicure appointment at 11am and headed to that. My pedicure felt great…. However, the poor lady doing the pedicure was NOT having a good day. She did a good job, but clearly needed a break.

Megan and Emily went to the gym while my toes were getting done, so I stopped in to say Hi once I was done. We were all hungry, so I ran to Taste/Savor to look at the lunch menu and up to The Manhattan Room to grab a peek at the dinner menu for the night. This was something I wasn’t used to…. Carnival and Royal’s apps have the daily menus. NCL still has the old system where you have to go to the restaurant to see them. I texted everyone a plan for lunch and went back to the room for a few minutes.

At 12:30, Jen, Megan, Em, and I met for lunch in Savor and, again, thoroughly enjoyed it…..

Lunch above was Mushroom Bisque (good), Bistro Salad (not pictured – really good), Chicken Flautas (Excellent), split Monte Cristo with Jen (Excellent), and Chocolate Molten Cake (really good).

I went to check out the hot tub situation. They were all really full, so we decided against it. I ran back to the room to put on some comfy pants and met the other three at the Martini Bar. However, it was closed. Oddly, the bar outside (essentially directly behind it) was open, so we hung out on the deck, drinking and chatting.

We got notification that Mom and Jeff were finally awake, lol. They wanted lunch, so Megan and I met them at O’Sheehan’s. They ordered a smorgasbord of Spinach & Artichoke Dip, Pretzel Bites, and Nachos, so we both tried a few bites. We all sat chatting for a while and telling them what we’d been up to.

From there, most of us retreated to our rooms or chilled around the ship. I got a shower and changed out of slub wear. Eventually, we went to dinner at one of the complimentary options, Shanghai Noodle Bar.

Pictured above was my dinner…. Pork Potstickers (great), Vegetable Steamed Dumplings (really good), I don’t remember what the noodles on the left were called, but it wasn’t good, Combo Rice was just ok, I picked at it, and the Five Spice Chocolate Cake (good).

After dinner, Jeff, Megan, Emily, and I had reservations at the Ice Bar on board. We all ran back to our cabins to get close-toed shoes and slightly warmer clothes. I’ll be honest, I was sort of ambivalent about going. I wasn’t dreading it or anything, but I also was of the mind that I didn’t HAVE to go.

I was wrong. It was SO.MUCH.FUN. It’s only like 20-25 minutes, but we had a blast. It’s an upcharge, but you get a pretty good discount when you have the drink package. You also get two drink tickets to choose from a small drink menu.

They tell you to arrive early to get checked in and they have you pick a parka….

They also issued a challenge to see who could stay the entire time before we entered. Once you go in, there’s fun music and ice sculptures. Everyone gets their drinks and takes a bunch of photos.

There’s about 25-ish people in there… us and another small group were the only ones from Florida. And, we were the only ones to stay the entire time, lol. Everyone else chickened out and left early. It was cold, but after a few days of Europe’s subpar AC, we were THRILLED, lol.

We all went back to get rid of the warmer layers and then met at the theatre for the production Burn the Floor. It was a fun show with really great dancing. Mom and Jen were down for the night, so the rest of us decided to go up to the 80’s Deck Party. It was a lot of fun!

Megan decided to FaceTime home, so I also got to see and talk with my niece for a few minutes. My BIL and nephew were busy with something, so we were showing her a few fun things about the pools and slides.

I got my water set up for the night and headed back to the room. Megan and Emily wanted to go dancing, which was great for them. I wanted to sleep, lol.

Our first port was the next day and a place I’d been dreaming of, for years!

Italy/Greece 2023 Trip Report (September 1 – 15, 2023)
– The Beginning (Vivi Alla Giornata!)
– The Planning Process (Rome)
– The Planning Process (Greece Ports)
– The Planning Process (Italy Ports)
– Flight Confusion
– Day 0: Leave for Rome (September 1, 2023)
– Day 1: Rome Arrival and City Tour (September 2, 2023)
– Day 2: Board the Breakaway (September 3, 2023)
– Day 3: Sea Day (September 4, 2023)
– Day 4: Santorini, Greece (September 5, 2023)
– Day 5: Athens (Piraeus), Greece (September 6, 2023)
– Day 6: Mykonos, Greece (September 7, 2023)
– Day 7: Olympia (Katakolon), Greece (September 8, 2023)
– Day 8: Valletta, Malta (September 9, 2023)
– Day 9: Messina (Sicily), Italy (September 10, 2023)
– Day 10: Naples, Italy (September 11, 2023)
– Day 11: Florence/Pisa (Livorno), Italy (September 12, 2023)
– Day 12: Disembark and Vatican City (September 13, 2023)
– Day 13: Rome (September 14, 2023)
– Day 14: Leaving Rome (September 15, 2023) and Some Final Thoughts

Italy/Greece 2023 – Day 3: Sea Day (September 4, 2023)

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