Bye bye until next year

Sadly, it was disembarkation day. We decided to finish the day with breakfast in Luminae.

Right after we arrived, Ann & Greg did, so we enjoyed breakfast together. From breakfast, we all headed to Michael's club. We saw our other friends, Danna & Bruce, so we all sat and chatted until Avaline told us we had to leave.

She escorted us to the gangway and we scanned out. There was a line to get to the escalator, but it moved fairly quickly. There there was also a gangway ahead of us, and we wondered why the Michael's concierge didn't walk us to the front gangway to merge in. Ultimately, it didn't delay us much.

We walked to the end of the terminal to find our bags (the suite bags were laid out, not on the luggage carousels). I guess we were almost the last people off the ship since there were only a few bags there. There was a fairly long line snaking through the terminal for customs. I think it only took about 15 minutes. We had a brief chat with a customs person and we were on our way, or so we thought.

We get out to the curb and Beth can't bring Uber up on her phone. Our plan was to Uber to Ft. Lauderdale airport. We spent about 10 minutes trying and then decided to take a cab out of the port to a nearby Starbucks. We got into the cab line, and when we got the cab he told it would be 20.00. What? For 1/2 mile? He suggested we get out and take the free shuttle out of the port area. We weren't sure what he meant, so Beth asked what it would cost to take us to the Ft. Lauderdale airport. He gave a discounted price that we could live with and we decided to just go with it.

About an hour later, we were dropped off at the Jet Blue terminal (her flight was earlier than mine). It was a zoo. When she tried to use a kiosk to check her bag, it wouldn't let her check in. So she went to the special service line, and I decided to walk from terminal 3 to terminal 1 to drop my bag.

It was quite a hike and uphill. A very nice gentleman going the same way did offer to help, but I was almost at the top.

When I got to the kiosk, it wouldn't let me get my luggage tag, so I went to to the premiere line, where a check in person told me it was too early. Oh well. In the meantime, Beth showed up. I got in the help line, but there was a guy there taking a long time. We gave up and headed to the baggage level, where there was seating and a few food options. We had Starbucks, and then she left for her flight. ,

I went back to the check in area, even though I was an hour early for my check in time. This time, the special service line was empty and I spoke to the agent. She was unable to get me onto an earlier flight, but she did override the system to get my bag checked. After that, through security and hanging out for hours. I'm pleased to report two very unexciting flights, and this trip was a wrap.

I'll be back on the Princess board for my cruise the first week of September, and then back here in January for the Eclipse.

Where to next year?

So today was our second sea day, and last day of the cruise. We had breakfast in Luminae as usual and we were pleased to be back in the front with Serkan, who hasn't been there at breakfast much. After breakfast, we were able to secure a bridge tour, so we headed to the elevator bank at deck 10. At about 10:20, the suite manager came by to take us there. We had to do a wand scan (same as last year on the Reflection during the behind the scenes tour). After that, we headed to the bridge. One of the apprentice officers gave a short talk about how the wing bridge station works (we were roped off from the center bridge) and then we had a chance to wander around and take pictures. Roxanna then gently encouraged us to leave.

We had some time before lunch so decided do a stop at Cafe Al Baccio. As always, enjoyable.

At about 12:55 we headed to Luminae. We had some OBC to burn, so we'd invited our RLFs (real life friends) to join us for lunch. We'd cleared it with the Maitre'd and asked her to charge our cards 20.00 each for lunch.

Right at 1pm, Ryan and Melissa arrived. We were promptly seated at one of the tables for 4, and Serkin came over. Because our friends were new to Luminae, he explained the menu in detail, including an explanation of the Luminae burger. He did tell them that it was impossible to eat as a burger.

Beth decided to try her grill cheese again. We explained that she wanted the cheese and jam on bread, and then grilled. That pretty much worked. Both Ryan and Melissa decided to order the burger, and I opted for the Cobb Salad with steak. I started with the Butternut squash Veloute (ie soup) and I think the others did too. Serkin thought we should have the Burrata cheese salad, so he brought two for the table. We had a lively long lunch, and then said goodbye. I know we will see Melissa stalking in November.

After lunch, Beth went for a swim, and I decided to head to Michaels to work on the blog. At 4 or 4:30, a future cruise person was going to come in to talk to us about our next booking. A couple of our friends were there, so I chatted with the for a while.

Beth showed up a little after 4, but no future cruise person. He did arrive at 4:30, so my time was off. Not a problem though. We knew we wanted to book the Eastern Caribbean for the first week of August. That part was easy, the time was spent determining what room to book. We'd enjoyed having the suite perks, but the price difference between that and Aqua and Concierge wasn't big, so we selected Aqua. We picked a room roughly under where we are now.

After that, we headed back to the room for a while and then down to our final dinner with Ann and Greg.

Tonight we ate in the front part of the restaurant with our favorite waiter. For dinner, he recommended the short ribs, so we all had that, and started with the Burrata. Very good. We pretty much closed the restaurant, bid Ann and Greg a fond farewell (turns out not the last) and headed back to pack and call it a night.

Does Costa Maya really exist?

Our final port.
,br> About a week before the cruise, we were researching Costa Maya. It's not actually a city or a town, just a port that was built a while ago to accommodate ships. It's near a small fishing village but that's about it nearby. However, there are several sets of Mayan ruins within striking distance. We thought we should do something, so we found an excursion that goes to the nearest ruins at Choco-choco-latti (actually Chacchoben) and then to a Mayan village for lunch.

The arrival time for the ship was 7 am, and we were to meet at the tour company an hour later. The tour was to be 5.5 hours, which should return us to the ship around 1:30 or so. Perfect. The map that the tour company sent said to allow 20-30 minutes to get there. We walk pretty fast, so we're on the 20 minute side.

We ordered room service to be delivered between 6:55 and 7 am. Jo arrived with it right around 7. We ate breakfast, and then headed out around 7:25. A stop for water and rest room, and we were off the ship around 7:40. We noted we never heard an announcement that the ship was cleared.

The port is a cluster of shops around a small body of water. It's also a fairly long hike along the pier and then you enter the port area - lots of shops and a pool. The map said to skip the first exit at the bell tower and go to the next. It wasn't clear to us that the second exit wasn't an arch as indicated, but the middle of a building that's perpendicular to the shops. We passed it, and found ourselves at the end of the shop area. We could go behind to the outside row of shops, so we did that and eventually found the exit, and the main street to head up. We walked two blocks up, turned left per the map, and then two more blocks across on a street without sidewalks, or, for that matter, much on it. To our relief, the office of the tour company was right where it was supposed to be.

We turned in our voucher and they gave us a wristband. There were a lot of people there, but they all had different color bands. They did tell us that they have chauffeurs, not drivers, explaining that taxis have drivers, but they are not a taxi company. They offered us water while we waited.

At about 8:10, they started loading the large family groups (different band colors than ours - we saw nobody with the same color as us) into vans. A couple of minutes later one of the guides came over to us and told us to join on of the family groups for the ride over. We'd be separated at the ruins, and go onto our tour. A guide, Rosa joined us and we set off. She gave us some information about the area and what we were about to see as we drove. It is about an hour drive. Apparently the rest of the bus was going to a lagoon after the ruins.

We arrived at the location and were given a few minutes to use the restroom, etc. After about 5-10 minutes Rosa came over and took us in - apparently she was our guide for the day. She did mention that there were supposed to be four people on our tour.

We went to the first pyramid and she gave us information on the site and the excavation. She also said that most of the hills in the area are covering pyramids because the land is pretty flat.

There is one pyramid towards the opening, and then the main site, which is a pyramid with a flat top that you could climb to. On top were two other pyramids. On the back side of one, under a cover was a piece with some of the original stucco. Apparently back in the day, they were brightly painted. Rosa also explained that the interior of Mayan pyramids are more pyramids (think onion not Egyptian pyramids). The stucco is on an interior one, so you can really see that.

While she was starting the explanations, two guys from San Juan joined us. Apparently, since the ship didn't announce clearance until 8am, they waited for that, and were driven over after us. They were good company for the day.

After viewing the the pyramids, we headed back down. A few minutes for restrooms and shopping if you wanted, our new van (smaller) arrived. We headed out and off the main highway pretty quickly into a village with brightly painted houses. We pulled up in front of what looked like a few open air buildings with a nice garden. During the ride, she taught us how to say hello and thank you in Mayan.

Rosa walked us through the garden pointing out different plants and picking leaves for us to smell and guess the plant. These included allspice (I always thought it was a blend), cinnamon and garlic.

After the garden tour, we headed into the buildings. First we passed through the room where there were tables and a buffet line set up, and then into a room with a grill. After being introduced to the ladies there, we gathered around a table and were given a ball of tortilla dough. One of the ladies showed us how to flatten it into a tortilla. We all tried to copy her sample, but none were as round or as flat. One at at a time, she corrected the tortillas. Luis, one of the guys, did what we all thought was perfect, but she said no and corrected his. Another one of the ladies grilled the tortillas, and then we filled them with the pumpkin puree. Apparently, that's a Mayan specialty, called Sikil Pak.

Following that, we headed to the other building for lunch. There was a buffet lunch, with items in small clay pots. We each had a vegetable tamale (wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks) and there was chicken, rice, beans and steamed vegetables. We were also served a cold hibiscus juice to drink. For dessert, there was flan and a fruit skewer. We really enjoyed the meal and the company.

As we were finishing, we noticed another van pulling up. They were touring the garden as we gathered to leave. We thanked our hosts in Mayan and headed back to the port in our small van. I think most napped, I read.

We wandered through the port again. While it was deserted at 7:30 - not so much at 2pm. What we thought was a decorative pool was actually a swimming pool with lots of people in it (note that we were in port with a smaller MSC ship and the very large Norwegian Getaway). There were also a group of acrobats setting up.

We took the longish walk back to the ship, and boarded. First stop was actually Cafe Al Baccio for tea and coffee. Beth had a conference call, so she took it from our balcony and I went to Michaels for tea. She joined me after her call.

After that, we decided to head up to the sky lounge to watch the sail away. It was mostly empty and had a great view. We sat down, and noticed no bar servers. Usually, they have the captain's club happy hour, but I think there was the senior officer's party, so no happy hour. Our next door neighbors from the San Diego area came and joined us, and we chatted for a while.

Tonight was the second Evening Chic night, and the only production show of the cruise. It's called Life and I remember it being so so from last year. But since it was the only show, we went.

I'm not sure what the point was. It was simply a collection of songs, with singers and dancers, a couple with acrobats, and no story or staging. Last year we had Eylsium and Topper, both involved staging and were more entertaining. Of any cruise I've been on, this was the weakest in entertainment. The second weakest was the Reflection last year, which had the same cruise director. Maybe he's the problem?

After the show, we met our friends Ann & Greg at Luminae. They usually sit in the back room, so tonight we did that. We did have a window table, but the room seemed darker than the front. I think it's just that it's just smaller. Our server was their favorite Jesus (I think). He did a good job serving dinner. I chose the iceberg wedge salad, and the rack of lamb. I did ask for the lamb chop sauce for the main dining room (cabernet mint). For dessert, I had the coconut tapioca. Lobster was on the menu, and Ann had that and reported it was delicious. Everyone else had the chocolate bar for dessert.

It had been a long day, so to bed after a quick walk.

Tequila, Choolate and Chicken

Today is Cozumel. If anyone doesn't know, it's an island off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, just south of Cancun. If you do know, it's still the same.

For Cozumel, we'd booked a cooking class on the beach, with both a tequila tasting and a chocolate demo. The ship was supposed to arrive at 10, with a meeting time at 10:30. The location would depend on which dock we were at. The ship actually arrived at 9:30, so we were golden.

We went down to breakfast, and enjoyed it.

After breakfast, we went upstairs gathered our backpacks, tickets, water, etc. Upon exiting the ship with no waiting, we walked out of the pier area. We then took out the map to the meeting spot. First question - which pier were we at? Apparently, they use 3. We asked a couple of the vendors, and found we were at the international pier. The meeting point there was at the Playa Mia office on one side of the Hard Rock Cafe, or just in front of the cafe.

In front of the restaurant, we found a representative from Playa Mia, the waterpark hosting the tour. He told us to go around the back to the their office. It took a few minutes, but we did find it. They were expecting us and we registered by signing waivers. It was about 10:20. They did say that 10:30 was the check in time, and we'd be leaving at 11. She also told us how to get to the restrooms before we left. A few minutes later, a couple came in - they were joining us on our tour. They gave us wristbands for the water park (apparently we were welcome to stay, but we'd have to find a taxi back), and a sticker to indicate who's group we were with. Our guide was named Reyes, and he was there with, so at 10:40 he called the transportation, and about 5 minutes later, we headed to the taxi area, and boarded a mini bus.

Our first stop was a small village, where we'd have a few minutes to take pictures of the local church, as well as the remains of a Mayan pyramid. He did tell us we wouldn't have time to shop. That suited all four of us just fine.

After viewing the church, we headed into what appeared to be a bar, but was actually a tequila company. They had, similar to a winery, a tasting room. First, we learned that tequila, like other liquors can be barrel aged, and the longer it goes, the smoother it is. We then tasted some 6 and 12 year aged, as well as some flavored tequilas. I particularly liked the amaretto flavored one.

After we finished tasting, and our fellow tour members bought a couple of bottles, we piled back into the van and headed to the Playa Mia water park. First stop was the chocolate shop and, for lack of a better term, museum. We started with a greeting from a mayan priest (or worker dressed as one) and then wandered through the displays about chocolate. One fun moment was the display about coco beans as currency. You could buy a turkey for 300, an avocado for 3, or a public women for 30-50. We thought that was rather funny, but it turned out that public woman was a nanny or maid. Also along the tour we were treated to a tortilla stuffed with a pumpkin mixture that reminded us of refried beans.

We were then treated to a demonstration of chocolate making, including a taste of pure coco, which was pretty bitter. There was then a demonstration of how to make it into edible chocolate. They followed that with a local coco drink (in a ceramic tasting mug so ecologically friendly). It also was pretty bitter, but there was sugar, honey, cinnamon, etc you could add to it. Since I don't like chocolate anyway, I took one sip and gave up.

In the store, I found they had a nice white chocolate bar with puffed rice. The sample was good, so I thought I'd buy a few bars. Turns out they were 8.00 US. That's a lot for a chocolate bar, so I just got two.

After that, our guide lead us through the shops at the water park and over to the buffet. He told us to wait there. All of us had the thought that we signed up for a cooking class, not for =a lunch buffet. Reyes soon came back and said that our class would start at 1:30 in the building next door. In the meantime (it was about 1pm) we could shop, or have any drinks at the included bar.

After grabbing a drink and wandering a bit, we met at the entrance to the building. Reyes arrived and told us the chef would be there in 2 minutes, but that would be Mexican minutes, so who knows?

It was really close to two minutes. Chef Moses came and introduced himself and we headed up a few steps into the class kitchen. We donned chef hats and aprons and headed to the cooking stations. There were several cooking stations, similar to what you see on Master Chef. He put us all around the same station, facing the person you wanted to cook with (it was the Clare and John, the couple and me and Beth, the sisters).

We started with dessert. We had two cut plantains, some sugar and some cinnamon in front of us. We put the sugar and cinnamon on the plantains and then cooked them on the gas stoves in front of us, and we grilled the plantains until they were caramelized. We then peeled them them, got a demo of decorating the plate (note that mine looks nothing like that) and plated them. They went into the refrigerator when done.

Next up, was the entree. Normally, it's fish, but Beth and I requested something else and we got chicken. They also put out some chopped vegetables, and a couple of sauces. First up we grilled the chicken until the outside was was done. We put it aside, and then grilled the vegetables. When they were partially cooked we added the sauce, which was basically tamarind sauce and very sweet. We then took the other sauce, which was a chile sauce and added enough to cut the sweetness and add heat to our taste.

Once that was done, we put the chicken in foil, topped it with the sauce and vegetables (plus a couple of tomatoes) wrapped it, and put it on a plate, which we wrote our name on (in heavy cream). It was then going into the oven to finish cooking.

Our last course was our first course. We started with a ball of tortilla dough and a tortilla press. Our goal - make sopes. Those are a small bowl made from tortilla dough that's filled with something. The class called for shrimp, but we had chicken. First step was to grill the tortilla. At this point chef Luis took over for chef Moses. We put the dough balls in the tortilla press, and pushed down until they were roughly the thickness of a sugar cookie. We then put them on the grill and grilled until cooked through. Then we pinched the sides up to make a little bowl, and put them on a plate. We then cooked the chicken or shrimp, added tomato sauce and chile sauce to taste. We split that between the tortillas, and topped it with lettuce and crema.

We then removed the hats and aprons, and took the sopes to a room with a set table upstairs. Bottles of water were provided there as well. Chef Luis sat and chatted with us as we enjoyed the appetizers. Following that, the chicken was brought up, supplemented with rice and cabbage. Finally, they brought our dessert plates.

After enjoying our meal, our guide Reyes came back and took us back to the port. There was a lot of traffic on the road, but it was only about a 15 minute drive without traffic and the ship wasn't leaving for about 4 hours, so all good. Reyes dropped us off at the port around 4:15 and we headed back to the ship.

Since we hadn't yet visited the martini bar, we stopped in for a martini. I had the Candied Apple martini and Beth had a Cosmo. After enjoying those, we headed to the room. For tonights snack, Jo had left a cheese and meat plate, a plate of shrimp, plus two glasses of wine. (When we ran into him later, we said to just bring the normal plate, but no fish or sea food).

Beth decided to go for a swim, while I hung out in the room. Earlier in the day, we'd talked about maybe having dinner with our friends Dana & Bruce. They agreed we'd call at 6:30 to see when they wanted to go. I called while Beth was still at the pool and left voicemail. Beth returned soon after. Dana called, and apparently they'd had a rough day snorkling, so were going to skip dinner. We then called our usual 8pm friends, but they'd had a very late lunch, so were going to just have their small appetizer plate, and some left over birthday cake. I offered them my shrimp platter, and took it over. I chatted with them for a while, and we agreed for dinner at 8 the next day.

Back to the room, dressed for dinner and headed down. We were seated along the wall, and Serkin took our order. A few minutes after that, Dana and Bruce came down - they'd decided to do dinner after all. We moved our tables together. Interesting since we had a different waiter. Our service was slightly offset, but it was fine and we had good conversation.

This is the day that I love the appetizers in the main dining room, so I ordered 4 for dinner. From Luminae I had the Mushroom Terrine, which was only OK. From the main dining I had beef Carpaccio, a gorgonzola salad and crab cakes. My waiter thought it was a bit odd, but made it work. (Next time, I'll just get the beef tartare, salad and an entree, as the crabcakes weren't great either). For dessert I had the Hibiscus parfait.

We had an early start the next day so it was a quick after dinner walk and then off to bed.

What's a Cayman?

Today was Georgetown, Grand Cayman. What exactly is a Cayman?

No matter. Our plan today was to get breakfast, grab our stuff and tender off, and then walk around.

We did just that. We went to Luminae for breakfast and then grabbed our bags, and headed to Michael's club where Avaline, the concierge, would escort us to the tender. Beth, realizing she'd forgotten headed back to the room, while I went in. There was another woman there waiting for her husband. When Beth arrived, the other person said for us to go since she didn't know how long he'd be. She took us down to the tender (from the port, not the ship), and off we went.

We arrived at the port entrance, and quickly left the port area. We decided to just take a walk, and arbitrarily turned left. We walked past a few stores, and then saw a bus stop. It mentioned the bus went to some of the well known spots, and was 2.50 per person. We decided to take a bus ride, assuming it could get us back in a timely manner.

We only waited a few minutes and a bus pulled up. The driver told us he does go back and it would be 5.00 each round trip. The total time would be about 45 minutes. Since we had about 6 hours before we had to be back on this ship, that seemed fine.

The bus ride was fun - the driver pointed out a few things along the way, including a new hotel going in, the hotel where the Queen stayed when she visited (apparently the only hotel at the time), turtle farm, and the entrance to the rock formation known as hell. Periodically, the driver would stop and back up to pick up someone he'd noticed walking along the street. Very nice. He also varied his route to take someone to the grocery store.

As promised, he got back to Georgetown, and dropped us off near the port. We noticed a peace memorial building, so we checked it out. There was a plaque from Britain thanking the Jamaican troops for their help with WW II in Palestine, so I guess Grand Cayman was part of the jurisdiction of Jamaica back then. We then got a coffee from a local shop, and walked around the port area for a bit (with the required stop at Del Sol, of course). Following that, we took the tender back to the ship.

Before lunch, we decided to head up to the spa to see about facials to use our OBC. Their special of the day was an Oxygen facial for about 70.00 off the 200+ price. We said we could do that. She had an appointment at 3 and one at 4:30. We said 4:30 wouldn't work, but 3:00 would. While trying to figure a different service for one of us, she said she could do one now and the other at 3:00. So I took the current (12:30) one, and Beth the 3:00.

I had a young woman from Poland and had a nice chat while I did the facial. At the end, she said that it probably wouldn't be worth her time to try to suggest products. I agreed, and away I went.

After that, it was lunch time so we headed up to the buffet. We easily found seating in the back, and enjoyed lunch.

After lunch Beth went off to the spa, and I headed down to Michaels for afternoon tea before our little see the suite party. Beth eventually joined me and we spent some time with our cruise critic friends and our hallway neighbors. At just before 5 we headed back to the room.

Yesterday, we'd asked our butler to for some cheese and crackers for our friends, as well as wine glasses and cork screw. He assured us he'd take care of it.
So, back to the room, not only were there wine glasses and a corkscrew, there was a bottle of Prosecco, a platter of shrimp, chocolate covered strawberries and of course the cheese and crackers. At 5 promptly Ryan and Melissa arrived and were, needless to say, quite impressed with the spread. We enjoyed a nice hour chatting with them, and then they were off to their specialty dinner. We gave them our second bottle of wine, and the shrimp platter.

We decided to see the show - it was a Broadway Cabaret. The lead singers and dancers did a bunch of old songs from somewhat obscure shows. How many have seen Smokey Joe's Cafe, or Man of La Mancha, and the favorite Songs for a New World (has anyone even heard of that one?). The only current show they did was Aladdin. Overall, fairly ho hum.

We had a bit of time until our dinner at Murano, so we relaxed in the room.
>br> At 8:30 we arrived at Murano. We were seated at a table at the back of the restaurant, in a very cosy location. We shared a goat cheese souffle, I had the spinach salad and Beth the pear in puff pastry. We both had the Rack of Lamb for our entree. For dessert, she had the chocolate souffle and I the Grand Marnier. All was excellent, although I thought the spinach salad was better on the Reflection.

We had a nice long chat with our waiter after dinner about his life in Romania. Thus ending a very nice day.

Key Lime and the 3 day

Sunday, July 29 - our first port - Key West.

Beth was excited to visit a bookstore there because it is a non-profit bookstore owned by one of our favorite authors, Judy Blume (Are you there God, it's me Margaret and SuperFudge). So after breakfast in Luminae we gathered our stuff, got some water and headed off the ship. We walked out of the port area, and turned to Google maps to guide us for the about 12 block walk to the bookstore. We arrived just after 10:00 and were relieved to see that it was already open.

Sadly, Judy was not there, but the very nice young lady told us that if we bought books, they could be autographed and then shipped. Beth bought a book for her super fan daughter, and I got one of her adult books. Both will be shipped to Beth in about a week. We also asked where we should go for Key Lime Pie. She gave us a couple of suggestions consistent with what we'd read on the web. We decided to go to the Key West Key Lime Pie CO, with Kermet's as a back up.

Our other stops were planned to be Starbucks so Beth could download books to her Nook, and a mail box or the post office so she could mail letters to her kids. We decided to do the pie first (everyone should have a piece of pie at 11:05 am) since there was another ship coming in, and we wanted to get the pie before it got too crowded.

So, we made a slight wrong turn, and ended up at the Key Lime Bakery. We decided to turn and around and find the shop we planned to. About 5 minutes later we arrived, ordered our slice of pie and sat down to enjoy it. Right after we started, a tour group arrived, and their leader said for everyone to find a place and he'd bring the pie. We decided to finish quickly to give them the table, but all but one couple disappeared. They told us it had been a bike tour, but was at the end, so I guess people took their pie and left. We had a nice chat with the couple that were there, and then decided to go to Starbucks, then post office. I found a Starbucks about two blocks from the post office, back by where the book store was. So back down the main street (Duval) we went. We found the Starbucks, and a CVS nearby, so we decided to go to Starbucks, then post office, and then a stop at CVS before heading back to the ship.

We had our coffee, Beth did her download, and we headed to the post office. We arrived at the location, and no sign of it. We asked in a store and they pointed us to a brick building across the street. We walked over and saw it was the side of it. The grounds had a couple of iguanas, and a lot of chickens running around. Beth mailed her letters, and we headed back to CVS. We bought a few items and then headed back to the ship. As we were approaching the pier, someone tapped us on the shoulder from behind. It turned out to be our friend Melissa from the sweep team in San Diego. She and her relatively new husband were also on the cruise. We decided to have breakfast in Blu tomorrow morning.

We headed back on the ship, dropped our stuff, and went up to the buffet for lunch.

Later in the afternoon we headed to Michael's club for afternoon tea. We enjoyed cucumber sandwiches and chicken sandwiches, as well as desserts and scones. We'd been invited to the helipad for Sailaway, so at about 4:35, we made our way to deck 6. A security officer was there, and told us that the group had already gone, so we headed down the hall and joined the group.

We spent some time talking with our roll call people, and enjoyed watching the Florida keys disappear.

Tonight was formal night, and so after leaving the helipad, we got ready for dinner. It was evening Chic night, so we had reserved seating in the theater. At about 6:45 we headed down to the theater. Jo seated us and we settled down to watch Jessie Hamilton Jr sing. He's most known for playing Simba in the Lion King on broadway. He was moderately entertaining.

We then headed to Luminae. There weren't a lot of good seats available, so Auri (the maitre'd) suggested we go to Michael's to wait for the table. Serken, our favorite waiter, said it would be about 10 minutes. We sat down and started chatting with a couple from the San Diego area. Turns out they are in the room next to us. By about 8:30, the concierge had left, so we asked one of the bartenders to call the restaurant. She did, and they said it would be about 5 to 10 more minutes. Ok, we continued chatting. Finally, close to 9, Auri arrived to tell us our table is ready.

For dinner, I had beef tartare, a tomato watermelon salad and cote de beoff. All good.

After dinner, we headed up to the room, still catching up on sleep.

Sea day, sea day

Our first of two sea days. We started with a breakfast in Blu with our friends Melissa and Ryan. It was good, and similar to Luminae, but not as good. They mentioned that they wanted to see a suite, so we invited them to visit us tomorrow around 5.

Next up was the Cruise Critic Connections Party.

At the gathering we met many of our fellow cruisers, including a couple of ladies who were also flying out of New York on Friday. They were on the 9:00 flight from Newark (yes, one of the ones I thought about protecting onto) and it was cancelled. Apparently, they flew into Fort Meyers at 8 am on Saturday morning, and just made the ship. Like me, they'd contemplated booking a back up reservation to Grand Cayman.

Immediately following that, we headed to the casino for the slot pull. We all kicked in 15.00 and loaded it onto a machine. That gave us 5 spins each. The idea is that after everyone spins, you cash out and split it. One alternative is to keep playing until you run out of money, which is what we did. That took until about lunch time, so we headed to Luminae.

During the slot pull we arranged to have dinner at 8 with a couple of our roll call members.

We ordered lunch, and then our friends Danna and Bruce walked in. They were at a two top near but not next to each other. There was an open four top, so we asked someone if we could move, and just did it. That confused things, and our orders were on slightly different timing, but it was all good. I ordered the lamb burger, and Beth decided to try to make the Luminae burger into a grilled cheese sandwich (cheese and the great bacon jam). However, she just asked for it without the beef, so that's what she got. I realized, when I got the burger, that their burgers are just too thick. So, I cut it in half horizontally and ate half that way. Perfect.

After lunch, we brought our computers to Cafe al Bacio, and enjoyed coffee and tea until around 3, then headed to Michaels Clubs. When the butlers arrived to serve the tea, I asked Jo if he could bring 4 wine glasses and some cheese and crackers tomorrow. He assured us he would take care of it.

After a nice tea with some of our cruise critic friends, we decided to head to the room, and then back up the Sky Lounge to watch the ocean.

Following that, we headed to the theater to see Charlie Peachock - a juggler who was a finalist on America's Got Talent. He showed some videos of that and did a bunch of juggling combined with humor. Very entertaining.

After that, we headed to Luminae to meet our friends. We were seating with Serkin, our FWT (favorite Turkish waiter). One of the appetizer was a kale salad that looked great, except for the kale. At home, we use Blue Apron, and I get kale a lot. I know that to make raw kale palatable, I have to massage it a lot. I didn't trust Celebrity to do that, so both Beth and I asked if we could have it with Romaine instead. His comment was that that would be a caesar and we could have the standard one. We explained we wanted the parmesan, lemon, and especially the roasted tomatoes. Somehow, he made that work. I followed with the NY Steak and finished with a pine nut flan. After dinner, Beth and I took a walk, and head back for the night. The plan for tomorrow is to go ashore and just see Georgetown.

So happy to be here

After a short sleep, we were up around 9 to grab breakfast before leaving the hotel, just in case we can't get food for the next week. (ha).

The hotel had a very nice buffet for their elite members, and after enjoying juice, coffee, an omlette etc, we headed over to the CVS next door so that we could get sunscreen and Beth could pick up her sea sickness bands. Perhaps the world's best placebo.

Following that, we went back to the room to pack up and grab an uber to the port. She wanted to send letters to her daughters, so, as we were checking out, asked the front desk if they had stamps. They did not, but did mention that there was a post office next door. So we left the bags, and found the post office. Of course it was closed, since not all are open on Saturday. And this was one of the few post offices that didn't have stamp machines outside. So back we went for our bags. Beth summoned Uber and we were on our way.

Not long after, we pulled up to the pier. Last year, there were two ships in, this year there were 4. Two Carnival and the MSC Seaside. We quickly gave our luggage to the porter, and heading inside. As we were checking in, wearing our Mardi Gras beads to identify us as Cruise Critic, the couple behind us introduced themselves as members of our roll call. They were another of the several people who had taken advantage of the last minute price reduction to move to a mini suite.

Check in went smoothly and we were shortly on the ship. With our welcome drinks in hand, we headed to Michael's club to wait for the rooms to be ready. We sat at a corner table, and a crew member brought us a small plate of appetizers. I stopped to chat with fellow roll callers Ann and Greg, and Beth soon joined us, so we moved ourselves over with them.

At about 1:10 I asked the suite manager if the rooms were ready, as it was getting close to restaurant closing time. She confirmed that our deck was ready. We went to the room, dropped our bags and headed out to lunch. On the way out, our butler Jo introduced himself. He mentioned that he'd be bringing appetizers to our room each night and a few other things.

We headed down to Luminae for lunch and met the hostess, Maitre'd and some of the wait staff. We settled down at one of the window tables. For lunch, I ordered one of the famous Luminae burger. The jam on it was great, but the burger is way too thick. I had to take it out of the bun. Beth had the risotto and pronounced it very good.

We were starting to push uo against muster drill time, so we decided to just stay around the lower decks to wait for it.

Our muster station was Michaels club, and I noticed that this one was taken a bit more seriously than our previous drill. There was a life jacket demonstration, and then the silly movie. After that the station leader went through some of the safety information.

< By this time, it was pouring rain. We were planning to do the usual Cruise Critic mast bar meeting, so we headed up. Too wet to get there, so we went to the Cafe Bar instead. No one was there, so we grabbed a drink. Eventually, the rain let up a bit, so we went up to Sunset Terrace Bar. No one there either, so walking under the overhang we headed towards the center of the ship. We then ran into Bob and Vicky from our roll call. We chatted with them and some of the other CC folks for a while, and headed back to the room to get ready for dinner and the show.

We decided to go see A.J. Jamal, a comedian. I've seen his name around cruise ships a lot, so thought it might be fun to actually see him. He was basically funny, although he had three very embarrassed boys on stage with him, so that was honestly more painful than funny.

After that, we headed to Luminae for dinner. We had our soon to be usual waiter, and enjoyed the first night dinner. It was nice that Yun, the Sommelier, did base our wine on what we were eating. I started with Burrata cheese and a steak for dinner.

After dinner, it was back to room, since it has been a very long couple of days.

Are we sailing?

So, Beth and I are off on our second Celebrity summer break sister's cruise. I've been in NY for bout a week, since I went with her to camp visiting weekend last weekend.

Our day started great - we were packed and ready to go to the airport (JFK) early, called a ride and away we went. About 5 miles from the airport, we got notices that our flight was cancelled. We both immediately got on the phone to the airline and were put on hold. We were on a 3:30 flight, but there was a 2pm flight so maybe we could get on that.

We arrived at the airport around 1:15, still on hold and were directed to a very long line for people with cancelled flights. There was no way we'd get to the front in time for the 2pm, so it was a good thing we were on the phone. We both got called about 10 minutes in, and it turns out it didn't matter because every flight to Florida on Jet Blue was sold out. And by Florida, we had them look at Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Orlando and Tampa. The best they could do was fly us to Boston from La Guardia tonight, and a 7 am flight to FLL from there tomorrow morning. It arrived at 10, so we would have made the ship, assuming not late. In the meantime, I looked at the United App, and found a 7pm flight to Miami, but from Newark. We bought it for not a small amount. Now we had to get to Newark from Kennedy, about 35 miles. We called a ride company and the driver showed up around 2:30. It took almost 3 hours, so we we a bit nervous. (Well I was, Beth trusted what Waze said). We arrived around 5:30, so plenty of time. During this time, we were canceling the rental car in Fort Lauderdale and replacing it with one in Miami. The first plan was to rent a car, drive to the FLL hotel, and come back in the morning. Beth asked why we were driving just to sleep, so I called Marriott and changed the hotel to this very nice one in Miami. At about 6:15, they pushed the flight to 7:15 - ok, still arriving on time. Then got pushed a few more times, until it was 8:30 and they boarded us at 7:45. We pushed at 8:44 and then were held while a flight went out to see if they could get around the weather. We'd get the news at 9:15. At about 9:30 the announcement came for flight attendants to take their seats for departure, and we took off soon after. While it was unclear if we'd depart, I actually booked a reservation to Grand Cayman. I was happy to cancel it on the way to the hotel. We were also worried about the crew timing out (Beth said they told her that it came close.) So here we are getting ready for our last sleep before the trip. I'm going to try to add a picture of us waiting for our bags in Miami airport, completely relieved to actually be in Florida.

Going Home

After 10 fun filled days of seeing new cities and towns, and making lots of new friends, it was time to leave. We'd joined a shuttle from the port with 4 other people. The latest we could get was 9:00, although our flight wasn't until 3pm. Our luggage tags indicated that we could just disembark whenever we wanted and our bags would be waiting. I'd asked the concierges how long we'd need to get off the ship - my thinking was it wouldn't be long because there should be no reason to go through any sort of customs, since the entire cruise had been in both the EU and the Schengen area, ie passport free zone. And they confirmed you just walk off and get your luggage and away you go. Of course, we did have to get out of the room by 8.

So we left at 8 to grab our last breakfast at Luminae. After breakfast we said goodbye to the staff with lots of hugs, and went back to the room to grab our carry ons. Glen needed to use the restroom, so I headed to Michael's to wait for him. Just about 8:45 he arrived, so we said good bye to concierge Adrianna and headed to the gangway. Sure enough, walk off, grab the bags, and look for the shuttle.

It was a bit chaotic there, so I left Glen to wander the port area. At the far end, I found the driver. I told them I was going to get Glen and back I went. I found him, lost him in the crowd, but he quickly after a call to me, found us, and the 6 of us introduced ourselves to each other. We loaded the van and away we went.

By 10am, we were at the airport. I was concerned about our friends JoEllen and Alan, since they were traveling to Atlanta, at that point in the midst of the visit from Hurricane Irma, so I texted her. Yes, their flight to Atlanta was going and on time at 12:30.

We tried to check our bags, but was told by the stern looking Lufthansa employee that we couldn't check our bags until 3 hours before the flight. I then asked about trying to get on a earlier flight since there was one leaving at 11:45. Even if we couldn't get the earlier flight from Munich to London, we could at least get to Munich, which would probably be a better airport. We were directed to the customer service counter for Lufthansa. They said since it was a United ticket, we'd have to go to the United counter, or call. The agent gave me the European number to call. We then, with bags trekked down to the end of the terminal where the US flights go from. When we asked about about the United counter they said there wasn't a counter. So I called. They could move us, but only for several hundred dollars. I guess we are staying put.

So we grabbed a luggage cart, loaded all our luggage and took the elevator to the 2nd floor and the food court. Actually it was more of a counter service restaurant with stations like a corporate cafeteria, actually. We staked a table, and then I went to get us some coffee. I got in the coffee line, but was then told I had to go to the order counter first and pay. So I did, and of course had to explain that to the next American in line.

We enjoyed our coffee, hung out at the restaurant until noon. While there, got a confirming text that our friends were on their flight. Went back to Lufthansa, checked our bags, and were directed to the Alitalia lounge.

United Club it was not. We noticed a food section with no labels, and lots of seating areas with used dishes glasses etc. I finally found two seats, moved some dirty dishes, and we settled in (said dishes were not removed for at least an hour and half). Our 3:15 flight was ontime until about 2:30, when it went late, along with almost every other flight on the board. Agents said it was the weather.

We finally boarded, and I think we were about an hour or so late. The flight attended assured me that we wouldn't miss our connection in Munich. I was just a little worried, since we'd go through passport control there, but she let me know it wasn't far, and flights to London were always late.

Upon arrival, we headed directly to passport control, up one level in the same terminal. No line, so we headed toward the gate. We stopped for a brief break in the Lufthansa lounge - much cleaner than the Alitalia one. The flight was showing on time, so we headed to the gate just after 7. We were told that due to ground holds from London weather, we were delaying boarding and departure. Eventually, they decided to board us about 20 minutes after we were supposed to depart and sat on the plane for a while. We left about an hour late.

My original plan was to check in to our hotel and walk to a local pub for dinner. Our late departure would put us on the bubble for that.

When we arrived in London, we had to go through customs, and we did get a fast pass for that. Grabbed our bags, and headed to where the buses were. For the London airport busses there are no free shuttles, but there's a 5 pound "hoppa" bus which has about 5 routes, each of which visits different hotels and terminals. The first bus we saw said "Renaissance" so I asked the driver, and he said they didn't, I needed a different number. From what I saw from the website, it would be another hour, and the hotel was close enough to the airport that the price would be close, so we took a cab. Most of the drive was getting out of the airport, but we soon arrived at the hotel.

By the time we checked in we decided, due to two meals on the Lufthansa flights and some snacks, we weren't really hungry, so we passed on the pub. About then I got a text from Jo saying the'd landed, but in New York, not Atlanta. I offered to share my sisters contact info, but it seemed they had the situation under control (I found out later they did manage to get home in the middle of the night).

The next morning we had breakfast in the restaurant, and noticed it backed up to the runway, so after breakfast, since our flight wasn't until mid afternoon, and due to London being an hour earlier than central Europe we were up early, we took a walk through the parking lot to watch the planes take off.

We then grabbed our bags, and waited for the next bus that went to our terminal. It came roughly when the schedule said it would. It was the same number we'd seen the night before.

When we arrived at the airport, we checked our bags, and then headed to the VAT refund area. I suggested we go there first so that we could then put our purchases into checked luggage, but apparently I wasn't clear enough so the bags got checked.

Things got a bit interesting at the VAT refund area. We had to do it in London because that was our point of departure from the EU. (Brexit hasn't happened yet). Because the amount had to go from Euros to Pounds to Dollars it dropped considerably. They also had to give some change in Pounds. On the way to the lounge and the gate, we stopped in a store and bought a few odds and ends. Not enough to use up the pounds.

Our visit to the United Club was uneventful and our flight was on time. I was happy to see that all three Godfather movies were on the entertainment system, because I wanted to see them now that I visited some of the filming locations.

Things were going great until about midway through Godfather 1, when the entertainment system froze. And froze. The rebooted it. Freeze again. etc. Oh, wait it was also on the personal entertainment system, so I could watch on the phone. Nope, that was so slow that I could watch a minute, wait for it to reconnect and then watch another minute. Eventually I gave up and watched some stuff that I had on my laptop. We did get some flight credit for the inconvenience.

That was the most interesting thing about the trip home. Arrived in LA, waited for our SF flight, all good.

Thus concludes our first cruise to the Med sea. And I still can't spell it. Next cruise is a 5 day to Cabo in February.

Most recent and (probably last) ship tour

Today was Naples, and our last stop before disembarking in Rome tomorrow. For this port, we'd booked our first ship tour in quite a while. We opted for that because all the private tours our friends were hosting were longer than we wanted. We (at least me, and I do all the booking) wanted Sorrento and Pompeii, but not the Amalfi coast. Celebrity had what they called a Taste of Sorrento with Pompeii - Small group. Since it was what we were looking for, and also had some tasting, I thought it would be a good tour for us. I picture about a dozen of us with personalized attention from a guide, much like all the private tours we do. Because it was before Celebrity changed their policy, we paid in advance (now you can use on board credit).

So, up early since we were supposed to go to the theater at 7:45. At 7:20 we went to Luminae, but they weren't open yet. We then thought we'd get the express breakfast in the dining room, but they weren't open yet either (with tours departing that early you'd think that the restaurant at least, would be open to accommodate them). So up to Cafe al Bacio for coffee and a pastry. At 7:45, we arrived in the theater to collect our (pretty much hated) stickers. The few times I've done ship tours recently it was for things like flights, so not a sticker thing. Oh well, I can suck it up for a day.

They called our tour and told us to go down to deck two. Down we went and off the ship. There was a line of buses there each with a number corresponding to the stickers. This I expected, but what I did not expect was that our small group was in a full size bus, not a van. It was too late for a refund, and I really wanted to see the sights, so I hoped for the best. We got in, as did 22 other people. Turns out their idea of small is 24. Mine is 12, no more than 16. oh well.

We headed out with the guide, Fabio, on a headset explaining what we were seeing. Our first tasting was a Lemocello store. They offered Lemoncello, candy, and olive oil tasting, and we're pretty sure it was simply a kickback store for the guide company. We were there with full bus tour 15 - same tour name, just without the Small group designation.

After a couple of tastes and pictures of the view and 10 minutes (of the allotted 20) we went back to the bus without buying anything. Our next stop was to be a farm to taste mozzarella.

We arrived at the farm and were escorted into a room that looked like a restaurant or a bar with table set up with a plate with 3 kinds of cheeses, bread, bread with a hot spread, and a couple of pieces of salami. Also on the table was white wine and water. About 1/3 of the room was set up for us. After we finished the tasting, we were ready for our tour of the farm, but Fabio was busy talking to other guides. We gathered him up, and watched a cheese making demo, and then got a tour. That was fairly enjoyable. We also did purchase some olive oil in the gift shop, because the sample was great.

From there we headed to Sorrento. The bus stopped in a square, and we thought we'd be on our way, but wait - there was a shop we were hearded into so we could learn about how wood inlay is done, and by the way, they ship free and today only the price quoted would be charged in US dollars, not in Euros.

Once we could escape, we wandered around for a while and grabbed a pizza. We then went back to our meeting point, stopping at a grocery store to get some lemon candy for Glen's work. (We got some for us too - yummy!)

Next stop - Pompeii. The road in was full of campgrounds, hotels, restaurants, etc and looked totally like a tourist trap. We parked in one of the many lots and walked to the plaza in front of the site. Our guide led us to the cameo store, and told us to go in, take the brief tour while he got the tickets. So, we had to learn how they make cameos. We got out as quickly as possible. When Fabio caught up with us, he had some people with VR headphones for us. Those were cool once we were inside. Armed with a bottle of water, we went in.

We visited several sites within the sites, although I would have preferred more time there, and less time at stores. I sent Celebrity an email about that after the cruise. Got an apology and that was about it.

Once we finished there, back in the bus and back to the pier. On the whole, I thought the excursion had been misrepresented, and I remembered why I don't do ship excursions.

At Michael's club later we ran into to Claude and he said that their private tour went to the Lemoncello stop too, so maybe it's standard.

Dinner, and then packing. It was a great trip and we will be back on Celebrity again.

Second Sea Day

Our second, and final sea day. Honestly? I missed sea days on this cruise. Maybe that's why I sail the west coast so much - lots of sea days there.

Prior to the cruise, we'd booked the backstage tour excursion for 12:30. We'd done the ultimate ship tour on Princess, and thought we'd enjoy this as well. Once on the ship, I realized the timing of the tour meant that we'd miss lunch at all venues, including the full lunch at the buffet. I'd gone to the Shore Excursions desk to try to change it to the 10:30 tour, but that was full. They also wouldn't let me waitlist it. I then asked the Michael's concierges to try to get me on the waitlist, but they actually got us on the tour.

So after breakfast, we headed to the shore excursions desk, where we checked in for the tour. We'd actually been told it was at the Passport bar, but there was no one there. A gentleman sitting there said that if that's why we were there, we had to go to the Shore Ex desk next door. We did, and found the check in. We were given a lanyard and an ear piece.

Right around 10:30 our guide appeared, a shore ex representative from Germany (I'm not sure I ever had her name right). She explained that she was our escort, and that commentary would be done by the crew members at each venue. She also explained that we will have body scans before the bridge and the control room (I guess nobody cares if you ruin the laundry or poison everyone).

Off we went - first stop bridge. Wand scan, and in we went. One of the bridge officers took us to one of the wing bridges, the main bridge was roped off from us (I've been on the bridge of 4 Princess ships and have always been able to walk the whole bridge). We learned the function of some of the instruments, got some questions answered, and then went off to our next venue.

Following the bridge, we headed to the crew area of the ship. Our next stop was the laundry, but on the way we went through the crew dining room, and bar, and headed down the main corridor, dubbed Highway 95. There were all kinds of announcements, activities, and accolades posted. In the process, we waved at some of the Luminae staff (they mentioned seeing us at lunch and seemed happy that we'd seen their digs).

The laundry master explained the workings of the laundry machines, and it was kind of interesting to see all the automated folding machines, etc. I did look for my shirt while I was there, but there was a lot of things there. (To end the suspense - it was delivered when we got back - Celebrity 1 Princess 0 on finding lost laundry).

Following the laundry visit, it was the engine control room, and another body scan (since we'd been together and not out of sight of our guide, I'm not sure what they were looking for). Lots of dials and security cameras there. I think Glen liked that part, partly because he'd worked on power turbines and he could see the monitors for the ship's turbines.

Following that we went to the environmental control area, and mostly it seemed to be about recycling bins.

Then onto provisioning - the stores of food items, all temperature controlled. We also saw where food is loaded onto the ship. Carlos, the head of provisioning, was the only presenter who didn't need to use the microphone.

From provisioning we went up to the galley, and pretty much got the same tour we did on the public galley tour on the Equinox.

We exited through the dining room. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to go into the wine tower. They took back the earpieces but we did get to keep the lanyard. Cool. On Princess, we got robes, snacks, stationary, chefs jackets and pictures, but that cost 1.5x as much. Overall a good tour, and worth doing once.

From there, I went to the mega sale to try to find small Kipling backpack. I did find one, but not as small as I would have liked and not on sale as much as I would have liked. However, since we had a lot of on board credit, I went ahead and purchased it. Glen texted me that my missing shirt was in the room. I then went back to the room to drop off the backpack, get Glen for lunch and get reunited with my shirt.

As mentioned earlier, some of the staff at Luminae mentioned seeing us on the tour. Today, we ate in the back room of the restaurant - there are two rooms, and the back has the large tables, so we were usually seating in the front because it is somewhat quieter.

After lunch we relaxed in the room for a while, did some reading and I worked on the blog - at that point about 3 days behind (as opposed over a month behind now). Following that, back to the stores to use up the OBC and get enough back for Vat. With jewelry for me and sunglasses for Glen, I accomplished both.

It was late afternoon by that point, so we decided to get dressed for Evening Chic night early and go to Michael's. We hung out there until it was time to meet Claude and Carolyn for dinner. They eat earlier than we usually do, so we couldn't go to the 7pm show before dinner. Since Celebrity does two shows a night based on fixed dinner seating we knew we could go after dinner.

Tonight at dinner, I decided that Glen should see the butter dishes that the main dining room has (they have 3 sections with 2 or 3 different choices, such as different aiolis, etc). I asked our waiter for some, as well as a couple of breadsticks. I got the butter, and an entire bowl of breadsticks. Next cruise, I'll get the butter every night. Dinner was great with lively conversation. It was nice having friends to have dinner with a couple of times.

After dinner we headed to the show, called Broken strings. It was a boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets back with girl thin plot taking place in a bar. Not to the level of the first show. I was a bit disappointed that on this cruise there were only those two shows.

Following the show, we headed to the room to watch a bit of TV and get ready for our last day.

Bucket list checkoff

Today was Athens, and our final port in Greece. We docked early, and we had a 7:15 group meeting time. We decided to skip breakfast, and just get a coffee and a pastry at Bacio. So, up at 6:30, dressed and out at 7:10. It was a little tight on time but I did have just enough time to grab a latte to go. Down two decks, to find the rest of our group of 10 waiting. We were with people we knew - Adele and Frank, Beth and her Aunts and our occasional dinner companions Claude and Carolyn. After introductions were made, we headed off the ship. Just off the ship we found a young woman holding a sign with Adele's name on it. She introduced hereself as our guide Georgia, and then introduced Mario, our driver. We headed to our van to explore Athens. Our first stop was to be the centerpiece and bucket list item - the Acropolis.

On the way, Georgia let us know about a potential problem for our schedule - the French President was visiting for the day, and roads in Athens would be closed periodically.

We arrived at the base of the Acropolis. It's on a hill, and the only way to get there is up the hill on foot. A couple of people in our group decided not to go up. I understand that the lines can be terrible, so our guide and driver pre purchased our tickets for us.

We headed up the hill, and then entered the site. We first looked at a small temple of Athena Nike, (meaning victory, not Athena of the shoe company). It's a small temple just to the side of the Propylaea, the gateway to the acropolis. We then we to the Propylaea, and watched the end of the daily ceremony where soldiers go up the Acropolis to place the flag, and then head down. There march was an interesting variant of a goose step, for lack of a better term. To see it, look at soldiers at acropolis on you tube.

From there, after some very good explanations by our guide, we headed up to to the top of the Propylaea (the gate) and saw the Parthenon. Bucklist checkoff! They are in the process of doing a restoration, so the Parthenon was covered with scaffolding, but still pretty impressive. Next to it is the Erechtheum (makes me giggle), originally a temple to both Athena and Poseiden. One of the most impressive features was the 6 statues of maidens holding up one corner. Here on the hill the statues are replicas. Five of the originals are in the Acropolis museum, and one is in the British museum, as it was stolen by Lord Elgin and then sold to the British museum. The British museum says they bought it legally, so it's theirs. The Greeks, of course, want it back. We also saw the remains of the Odeon of Herodes (theatre) as well as some others.

We wandered around there for a while, and then decided to head to the center of Athens. However, the French President had other ideas, and we were blocked on various roads. So Georgia decided we should go to the Acropolis museum first. We went there, and once again a couple of people decided not to go. Georgia gave them some shopping ideas, and they went off. We all purchased our tickets, and she lead us through the museum. There were both many items taken off the hill, and some replicas showing how they would have been during ancient times. The two most impressive things for very different reasons were the 5 maidens, with an empty pedestal for the empty one (one other is in pieces, but held together) and the lego replica of the entire hill. It has 120,000 pieces and took 300 hours to build. While it's pretty accurate in showing what the hill looked like, there are a few interesting figures along with the ancient Greeks. Performing in the Odeon is Elton John (lucky ancient greeks), and Gandalf in his wagon is heading in.

After the museum, we again tried to get our city tour. No luck, president still there. So instead, we headed to Monastiraki Square - the remains of an old monastery. It's a center of stores, restaurants and the Athens flea Market. When we got there, Georgia told us we had two hours, which seemed like a lot. Oh well.

We joined Claude and Carolyn for lunch at one of the restaurants on the square. Georgia had warned us that the portions were huge. We got one order each of Tiropitakia (cheese turnovers) - we should have shared one. Glen and I shared a kabob with yoghurt sauce, and they shared a mixed grill. Both were a lot of food and we were glad we shared. Also, all of us were going to specialty restaurants this night. We then still had an hour and a half to kill so we wandered some of the streets. First we walked up one and found a church. In the courtyard was a status of the Archbishop of Greece during the second world war - he was apparently a great humanitarian. We then turned and went through the Plaka old part of Athens. We saw the oldest house in Athens, and looked at the Roman Agora and the Library of Hadrian sets of ruins, but we were a little ruined out, so opted not to pay to go in.

We eventually made our back to the square via different streets, and found the local Starbucks. When we got back to the square, we found Claude and Carolyn sitting on the steps of the metro - they'd seen all they wanted to. We hung out with them for a bit and then went to a bakery for some coffee. I also got a baklava, which I tried back on the ship. (I can get just as good at home). They then came over to the bakery - apparently where they were sitting was a haven for pigeons and they were doing their business all over our friends. We could find nowhere to sit in the shade that wasn't going to be a pigeon haven, so we just stood and waited until the rest of the group showed up and Georgia came to get us.

After that, we headed to the Temple of Zeus ruin and the Hadrian's Arch. The temple was started by the Greeks and completed by the Romans. Pretty impressive, lots of standing columns still, and ruins of homes and bath houses.

By that time, supposedly the French President had gone home, so we could continue our tour. We saw the city hall, the olympic stadiums, and a great view from a high point above the city.

We finished at the Parliament building, in by the tomb of the unknown soldier. Georgia explained about the two army guards who are there. They don't move at all for the hour they are there and if there's some sort of problem they can bang their bayonet on the ground to attract the attention of the regular army guy that's with them. They wear traditional mountain wear. Every hour there's a changing of the guard. We got there at 3:50, so waited for the 4 pm changing. It was fascinating. I actually did a video, but don't know how to post it, so you'll have to find that on you tube. Apparently the elaborate leg and foot motion is representative of what they did in mountains, and requires special training (ballet would help if that's a gig you'd want). It looked a little like a Lindy hop basic to me. Also, from what I see on YouTube, the dress changes by season.

While watching this, they closed the road, since apparently the French hadn't left yet. Mario, our driver (dubbed super Mario based on his ability to get around stopped traffic) went across 4 lanes of traffic to make a u turn before the road closure. We drove to the port, and got back to the ship around 4:45. Perfect timing.

Glen and I dropped our stuff and went down to Michaels club. I took advantage of my Verizon travel pass and called my mother and sister. I also watched the gangway - I watched a few people, between 5:15 and 5:28 running towards the ship. They were fine, though since the passenger back on time was 5:30. However, the gangway stayed down for about 45 minutes. There were several police cars there (one the concierges told me it was probably port police and they're always there when a ship doesn't leave). People kept coming and going. Finally a few people got off with suitcases, got into both the police and regular cars, and drove off. Then we left. We never found out why, but Manuala (concierge) said she heard that there was a family emergency of some sort.

Tonight we had dinner at Murano planned. Our reservation was at 8:30 and we were so hot and sweaty that we decided to take showers. We went back to the room, and our laundry that we'd sent out was back. I noticed the dry cleaning wasn't there, so we called Arun. He said he'd bring it shortly and he did. Between when we called and he arrived, we counted our items and a shirt of mine was missing. Panic set in, since the last time we had missing laundry was in 2010, and I'm still waiting for it to show up. Arun said he'd take care of it. I figured the shirt was lost for good - oh well.

At 8:30 we headed down to Murano. They gave us a nice table by the window, but the restaurant was pretty loud due to a couple of large parties. The service was good, but a lot of people helping. I had the what they called a forest mushroom carpaccio aka mushroom soup, and Glen had the pear in philo dough to start. We also shared a spinach salad. All were good. We split the Chateaubriand for two, and it was very good. We both had the Grand Marnier souffles. While waiting for this the brought some small cookies and such, mostly chocolate.

After dinner, we went back to the room, and pretty much went to bed early since it was a very early and long day.

Cable car or Donkey, rose or dessert wine

Santorini! We had a tour booked with some of our cruise critic friends - there would be 6 of in a van taking a tour of the whole island. It was, however a tender port, and we had to meet our guide at 9 am. I'd asked the concierge at Michaels if there was a way to use priority tendering, and they said to just bring the other four with us. So, our original plan was to meet in the lobby, so we changed it to the Ensemble lounge, just outside Michaels. We got up in time to grab breakfast, and then headed to the lounge. One couple, Joe and Ruth were there, and JoEllen and Alan arrived soon after us. Manuala was taking a couple down to the tender area, so she just had us follow.

When we arrived, the tender wasn't there, so some of us went up a deck to get water, and came back down. Soon, we were on the tender, and docked below Fira, the main town on Santorini. There are three ways to get there. The first, and easiest is the cable car. The lines can get long, since it holds only 36 people at a time. There is a trail up, and you can walk (way 2) or take a donkey ride (way 3). Note that walkers share the trail with the donkeys so have to be very careful. We opted for the cable car. Fortunately, going up there wasn't a line - so we got on the first available car. (There are two of them, one goes up as the other goes down - a very common layout). We reached the top right on time, and there was Spriros waiting for us. After introductions, he told us where to wait, and went to get the car. Apparently, parking near the cable car is not possible, as, like many Greek Islands, Santorini's main town is full of very narrow streets pre-dating cars, so parking was impossible near the cable car exit.

Our first stop was the town of Their (I think) simply for the view, and to give the big buses from the ships time to leave Oia. Spiros took us part way, talking about some things about the island. He left us to wander to a point where he could leave the car, so we walked for about 10 minutes, admiring the spectacular view of the caldera. He also told us that it was too deep for the ships to anchor, so they have to keep the engines going to avoid drifting. We also had the Costa Classica with us down there.

Our next stop was the town of Oia, most photographed of Santorini. On the way, we stopped to learn about the geography of the island. The soil is volcanic, and there’s lots of pumice. We also learned a little bit about our fabulous guide. Apparently, he has a PhD in Archeology, and worked as an archeologist in the middle east, but it wasn’t a good way to make a living, so he became a tour guide.

We arrived in Oia, and Spriros gave us an orientation to the town. Part of his advice was not to do our shopping here, but to wait for Athens. Apparently there’s a lot of competition there, and things are fairly inexpensive. He took us to a square in the middle of the town, where there was, of course, the obligatory small cathedral. There was some sort of thing going on with bells ringing, and priests walkings. He gave us an hour to wander, visit the fort at the end of the street, or get a snack.

We joined JoEllen and Alan at a cafe overlooking the water and had coffee and desserts. That pretty much ate the entire time, so we headed back to meet Spiros. Joe and Ruth arrived at the same time we did and we headed to the car. Among the things we noticed was venders selling roasted street corn. He recommended that we have some if we found it in Athens (we didn’t).

We then drove across the entire island to a monastery that’s the highest point on the island. There are still a few monks there. The view was spectacular. You can’t go into the monastery itself, but you can go to the chapel. It’s in a lovely courtyard. Apparently, in Greece, they only show the Virgin Mary with Jesus, to indicate she’s not a dirty. Also, the pictures of their saints are fairly unadorned.

Our last stop was a nearby winery. JoEllen had read about one, but Spiros said it was about 50.00 to taste, so we opted to go to the one he’d selected. The tasting table was down some steps outside, so we had a beautiful view. There were a few price points - you could get full glasses, or two types of tastings - 3 and 5 wines. The tasting for 5 was 10 euros. Each couple opted to share one 5 wine tasting. They have grape that’s special to Santorini, so we tasted two different varietals for those, a rose, a red and a dessert wine. Generally the group liked the rose and the dessert wine the best. Glen and I decided to buy a bottle of the dessert wine. I found out later that when he bought it, they applied the cost of the tasting to the bottle, just as they do in Napa.

Following that, we drove back to Firo. When Spiros dropped us, he gave us a couple of restaurant recommendations. JoEllen had seen one on the travel channel, but it was in Oia, and thus too far to just go to. We select Argo, one that offered a wide array of greek dishes with a view of the Caldera. JoEllen found the Octopus she wanted, Joe and Ruth split a cheese stuffed burger, Alan also had that, and Glen and I each had something we don’t see at home - stuffed rolled beef. It was very good.

Following that, we headed to the cable car. We followed the signs, and soon encountered a line snaking around a square with shops along the side. We joined the end of the line and snaked along with everyone else. The wait ended up being about 30 minutes. The ride down was about 5, and then there was about a 15 minute wait for the tender. The crew was out in the line with cold water and cold towels.

One interesting fact about the tenders in both tender ports - the ship tenders were not used. Instead, they were local boats with a lot of seating. Glen’s guess was the unions in the area required their boats.

Once back on the ship we dropped our stuff in our room, and headed down for our nightly drink in Michaels club. Following that, Glen went back to the room for a bit and I went down to the shops to find out if they were planning to sell Kipling (I wanted a small backpack) and how the vat works. I did get different information than last time. Prior, I’d been told to just save my receipts from onboard purchases, and at the end of the cruise bring them to a shop. Today I was told they all had to be purchased on the same day. Earlier, Glen had purchased an adapter for the iPad, and now apparently that couldn’t be included. Apparently, the iLounge purchases could never be included even if purchased the same day. Oh well. I also learned the Kipling would be out on the last sea day when they did their sales.

We'd been invited to the helipad for sailaway, so at the appointed time we headed up. Nobody was there (at the meeting point) but someone sitting on the stairs said that the group had headed down the hall, so we went there. The line onto the helipad moved slowly but we were on the helipad before sailaway. We chatted with some of our friends as we sailed off.

We went to dinner at around 8:30, and after dinner tried to dance to one of the musicians. The floor is small to begin with, and they’ve put a statue on it. We gave up, went up a couple of decks and tried to dance in the hall. It’s hard on carpet so we gave up and headed up to the room. Relaxed for a bit, and then went to a reasonably early bed, since we had a very early start in Athens.