Holland America Line Nieuw Amsterdam Cruise: Day 11 Livorno, Italy

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Viv & Jill’s Holland America Line Nieuw Amsterdam Cruise: Day 11 Livorno, Italy
12-Night Mediterranean Romance Cruise June 3-15, 2011

Livorno is the gateway to Tuscany, Italy

Day 11 – June 13: Livorno, Italy

Docking in Livorno, the gateway to Tuscany, by 7 am and with most passengers planning excursions of some sort off the ship, we actually decided just prior to going to breakfast that we were thoroughly exhausted from our last 7 weeks exploring Europe and being in a different place almost every day. Our original plan was to take the train to Pisa, take the obligatory photos with the leaning tower, jump back on the train and go to Lucca for a leisurely lunch and make it back to the ship by 5 pm. So, instead of doing the mad dash tour of Tuscany in a day, we decided to stay on board and have the ship almost exclusively to ourselves for most of the day. This turned out to be a splendid idea.

We waited until 8:30 am to go the Manhattan Dining Room for breakfast and enjoyed being served by our cheery waiters. Once finished we donned our swimwear and with reading material in hand eased into chaise loungers next to the pool where we parked ourselves for the next 6 hours. For the first 4 hours it was only us using the pool and we enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of only a couple hundred fellow passengers on board. Throughout the day we grazed lunch munchies at the Lido buffet, Terrace Grill and Slice, but didn’t overindulge as we  wanted to be able to enjoy the Formal Farewell Dinner.

During Happy Hour in the Ocean Bar we caught up with friends that had been off exploring and eating their way through Tuscany all day. Although they’d had fabulous excursions they were very jealous when we told them of our lazy day with so few people aboard and wished they’d taken more time to just relax and enjoy the ship.

Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam Mediterranean Romance Cruise – Farewell Dinner

Arriving at the Manhattan Dining Room for our 5:45 pm reservation, we were promptly seated and started our meal with the Escargot Bourguignon and Duck Foie Gras Pate appetizers. Next we each had the Boston Lettuce with Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese Salad. For main courses we both chose the Surf and Turf with filet mignon and lobster tail on porcini basmati rice and an array of sauteed vegetables. Then we were treated to the Baked Alaska parade which allowed us the opportunity to applaud the kitchen crew that had worked so hard to fatten us up during the cruise. We both decided to skip the Baked Alaska for dessert and instead opted for the Molten Chocolate Cake with berry sauce. Although this was tasty, it was the only culinary disappointment of the trip, simply because we expected cake to be gooey inside and not the texture of a brownie.

After finishing with a cappuccino we made our way to the 8 pm performance of NYC in The Showroom at Sea. The entertainment by the Nieuw Amsterdam resident performers was very well done and their singing and dancing routine was a nice way to wrap up the evening.

At 11 pm I headed for the Northern Lights disco with friends to dance the rest of the night away while Jill had already retired with a good book.

Towel Art – Monkey Business

Explore More of WJ’s Holland America Line Mediterranean Romance Cruise

Overview | Itinerary | Photos | Day 1: Venice, Italy | Day 2: Venice, Italy | Day 3: Dubrovnik, Croatia | Day 4: Corfu, Greece  | Day 5: Argostoli, Greece | Day 6: Santorini, Greece | Day 7: Sea Day | Day 8: Catania, Italy | Day 9: Naples, Italy | Day 10: Rome, Italy | Day 11: Livorno, Italy | Day 12: Barcelona | Day 13: Barcelona Disembarkation |

Click here to visit the Holland America Line website.

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