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.
Saturday, August 4, 2018
Monday, July 30, 2018
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.
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.
Sunday, July 29, 2018
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)