October 29, 2011

October 29, 2011

Since I last wrote we went to Cannes (not Nice as I’d said) and it was not the best port experience.  That is our only tender port and of course the weather turned on us and it was raining and blowing a gale.  We’ve been sending postcards to Jacob from every port and although we had postcards from our 3 Italian ports, we had never found stamps for them so we felt we really had to mail them from Cannes, so off we went.  We were soaked through by the time we got to the main part of town.  I know that the scenery is beautiful because I’ve seen pictures, but you sure couldn’t tell that day.  We found a postcard, bought enough stamps for all the postcards and went to a café for a coffee.  It was so miserable that we gave up and just posted the cards and returned to the ship.  We were so wet and cold by the time we returned that we just took hot showers and did laundry.  Our clothes were wet already so might as well.  My tennis shoes were soaked through so I put them in the little cabinet that holds the fridge.  It’s warm from the fridge motor so they actually dried overnight.

At lunch today I learned that we could have just bought stamps from the Purser here on the ship and they mail them just before we leave port.  Figures.

Our next port was Barcelona.  We had a walking tour of Gothic Barcelona.  It’s a beautiful city and we would love to return and spend a little more time some day. 

Yesterday we were in Lisbon.  They have the bridge that was inspired by the Golden Gate and looks very similar, but not as substantial.  We just walked around there also.  We had no agenda, and just kept climbing the hill in front of the ship.  Many of the houses have beautiful outside tile work over the stucco and as you can imagine, it takes lots of maintenance so we saw scaffolding and workers all over the place.  The streets were so narrow that only one car could fit through and then only if pedestrians stepped into a doorway.  Finally we got into areas that felt a little less than ideal, so we made our way back down the hill and back to the central area. 

Tomorrow is our last port (the Azores) then on Monday we hit the Atlantic in earnest and won’t see land again until next Sunday morning when we arrive in Ft. Lauderdale.  On one of our cruises a crew member said he hated sea days because the passengers get bored and demand so much entertainment.  They certainly have enough here to keep you from getting bored.  One of my favorite things so far is a lecturer named John Maxtone-Graham.  He’s an elderly Englishman who has written several books about cruise lines, specifically those doing “the crossing” of the Atlantic.  His lectures are so interesting and he‘s got that dry English sense of humor so you have to listen closely or you‘ll miss a little joke.  His second lecture was about the Titanic (have to do that one of course).  In the early 70’s he interviewed a woman who was a stateroom stewardess on board and was then retired to the English coast.  She had wonderful stories and when she died, her heirs discovered a manuscript she’d written about her life.  Mr. Maxtone-Graham edited it and had it published.  It’s called Titanic Survivor and I plan to buy it when we return.  I bought a Nook e-reader before this trip and bought 4 books for it.  Well, I did buy them, but I neglected to take the final step of actually downloading them to the Nook.  I saw them listed in the book list and assumed they were there.  Wrong.  I went to open them and they all said “Download Now”.  Oops.  I couldn’t get it to connect to any wi-fi network on this trip.  Fortunately I realized this problem before our stay at the hotel in Venice.  We were able to get wireless in our room there so I used that to go the our Redmond library on our netbook, download some e-books they have for lending and then load those on to the Nook.  Crazy.  But it’s been a savior.  I’m on the last one now, so I’ll have to go the ship’s library next I guess.  What a doofus.  I’ll have to load them all when I get home.

Well, it’s almost time for the lecture on whales, so I’ll close now. 

 ,

Caroline

PS:  If you’re ever offered Turkish Delight Sorbet, I’d suggest you pass unless you like eating frozen roses.  Our waiter said it was like flowers with fruit pieces.  I didn’t think he meant actual flowers.  It was like eating perfume.  Uck.

October 24, 2011

October 24, 2011

Our first port on this cruise was Naples.  We took a tour of Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii, with a stop at a local cameo factory (today for you a 20% discount!).  It was actually pretty interesting as they demonstrated how they carve the cameos out of seashells and you could watch it being done.  I’ve always wanted a cameo ring so this seemed like the place to get it.  Then it was off to hike Mt. Vesuvius.  I thought they were exaggerating when they said “hike”.  Turns out they weren’t.  The bus drove us most of the way up on a typical Italian mountain road that you’re sure is one way, but isn’t.  Fortunately most of the traffic was going up also so when the driver honked at every hairpin turn, he only alerted the birds that we were coming.  The buses stop at a parking lot and you hike the rest of the way.  It took about 25 minutes and it was a very steep grade.  Then just when you arrive at the place to meet the guide and you’re sure you’ve reached the top, you learn that you’ve only come about 2/3 of the way.  But once I caught my breath, I lost it again just looking at the views.  Oh my goodness.  It was a perfect day - clear and after a rain so we could see for miles.  We hiked up to the crater and could clearly see that it’s still an active volcano with the steam rising all around.  Good thing it didn’t decide to blow that day as we never would have gotten out of there in time.  In fact, there are about 1 million people in the nearby area and there are plans for evacuation of 700,000.  Mmmhhh.  Something doesn’t add up there.  Anyway, after the hike back down to the bus we took off for Pompeii.  That is a fascinating place.  Our guide explained how they know the uses for all the buildings that they’ve excavated.  And there’s even a brothel with a, ahem, visual “menu” on the wall for the customers who were visiting from foreign ports and didn’t speak the language.  We saw the largest house (over 30,000 sq. ft. including gardens) with 8 bedrooms and a mosaic of over 1.7 million pieces of tile.  There’s also a tile floor with a 3D design that Bill Gates used as the inspiration for a background for Microsoft.

While waiting for our bus back to the ship, we found a store that sells Limoncello, which comes from Naples originally.  They have a Limoncello cream that was quite yummy so we bought a bottle for afternoon cocktails in our cabin.

The next port was Citivecchia which is the jumpoff spot for Rome.  I’ve been to Rome before and we didn’t really want to go into the crazy busy city on a Sunday when the Vatican was closed to visitors anyway so we just walked around “Civi“.  Not the most exciting place, but we did have a nice time sipping an espresso at an outdoor café and watching the people go by.  For some unexplained reason at the marina there is a huge statue that is a replica of that famous WWII photo of the sailor kissing the nurse in Times Square on VJ day.  It was commissioned in 2004 but we don’t know why.  Michael wants me to point out that the sailor in the statue was not wearing an American uniform.  More mystery.

Today was Livorno which is the gateway to Florence and Pisa.  We chose to take a tour to see the tower in Pisa.  That was amazing.  When you come around the town wall and see that tower you just gasp.  In person the tilt is frightening.  You’re just sure that it’s going to fall.  We learned that the church and the baptistery which are also located in this square are also tilting, though not nearly as badly of course.  They finally stabilized the tower around 1994 and so now you can climb up if you choose.  They limit it to 40 visitors at a time and there are 264 steps so it takes a while.  You have to book your tickets in advance because they sell out every day. 

After our tour we returned to the ship for something to eat (of course!) and then a little nap.  We’ve been very good about taking the ship’s stairs everywhere instead of the elevator, but I’ve got to tell you my calves are still in protest after our hike up Mt. Vesuvius and so the stairs are killing me. 

Tonight we left Italy and tomorrow we are in Nice, France.  We don’t have a tour there, will probably just walk around and look at all of the beautiful people.  This cruise is very port intensive for the first 8 days, then we have the Atlantic crossing with many sea days.  I’m looking forward to the change of pace.  It’s amazing how many people we’ve met who do these crossings once or even twice a year. 

Our weather has been generally pretty good.  Some clouds and occasional light rain, but nothing too serious.  And the seas have been very calm so far.  It’s easy to forget you’re on a ship since there is so little movement.  Our cabin is on deck 10 out of a total of 16 and we’ve only felt a little gentle rocking one night. 

Time to take my aching calves to bed.  Till next time,

Caroline

October 20, 2011

October 20, 2011

Today is Thursday, October 20.  Our last port on the Costa cruise was Dubrovnik, Croatia.  The main place of interest is the walled city.  There’s a walk all around the top of the wall and you can purchase audio guides at various points along the way.  We were wandering around looking for the maritime museum and inadvertently got on the one-way walk.  It’s only one way since the wall is only wide enough for one and ½ persons (or one typical American person).  We walked right by the ticket booth as if we knew what we were doing and got off the walk at our first opportunity. 

We weren’t terribly sad to get off the ship since, as I said before, this was not our best cruise experience.  We then went to our hotel for 2 nights in Venice.  We stayed at the Hotel Danieli which is right next to St. Mark’s Square using buckets of our Starwood Points for a basic room.  Good thing too, since the “special” rates started at over 440 euros per night (one euro is about $1.40 so that‘s close to $600, right?).  And when we checked in they gave us a “double upgrade” to a room at the front overlooking the canal!  Whoo boy, we were living high now.  The rate for that room would have been over 800 euros!  The hotel is a former doges palace built in the 17^th century.  It was beautiful.  Our room was huge and had the most beautiful furniture.  We didn’t eat any meals there after seeing the price list in the room for a continental breakfast was 42 euros ($55 or so).  Seemed a little steep for coffee, juice and rolls.  We spent the next couple of days walking around Venice getting lost.  It really is a beautiful city.  The streets and canals were generally odor and litter free and it was fascinating to watch everyday life going on.   On the Grand Canal it’s like watching a busy city street, only with boats.  How they avoid bumping into one another is a mystery to me since they drive like typical Italians and can’t exactly stop on a dime.  The only advantage is that they don’t have to deal with pedestrians also.  We took a vaporetto (a water bus) which was a real hoot. And a couple of times we sat at an outdoor café with a coffee and just people watched. 

Yesterday we boarded the Ruby Princess for our transatlantic crossing and it’s like coming home.  We took a couple of cruises on a sister ship last year so we already know the layout.  The food here is fantastic and once again we hear English everywhere.  Our dinner table mates are from Florida, originally from New York, of course.  They seem like they will be entertaining.  For some reason the ship stayed overnight in Venice and we will set sail shortly as soon as the winds calm down.  We’ve had fantastic weather the whole trip until yesterday when rain and wind set in. 

Well, better close now so we can grab some lunch before we watch the sail away.  The ship sails right down the main canal past St. Mark’s square (and our hotel) so it’s quite a sight.  And all the little vaporettos, water taxis and gondolas scramble around the big cruise ship which is a giant lumbering through.

Arrivaderci,

Caroline

October 15, 2011

October 15, 2011

After Ryan and Laura's lovely wedding in San Francisco on Saturday night, October 8 we were awakened on Sunday by all 3 of the alarms that I set for 3:15 am so we could be at the airport around 4:15 am for our flights.  All went quite smoothly and the flight connection was perfect.  At the Venice airport we were able to buy the bus ticket to the central square near the port and get euros from the cash machine.  Fortunately you could select instructions in English.  Boarding the ship, Costa Fortuna on Monday, October 10 was also quite smooth.  The bathroom in our cabin wasn’t completely clean, but that was taken care of in short order.  We also discovered that, although we were supposedly confirmed at the “early” dinner seating (7:15 pm) at an English speaking table, we were actually assigned to the late seating (9:30 pm).  That was a little late for us so Michael was able to get it changed.  He was told the early seating was full, but they could squeeze us in at an Asian table.  Since the extent of my Asian language skills are “thank you” and “I love you” (Michael taught me that one), this was going to be a long cruise.  But, when we arrived at our table we were delighted to find only one other couple, who were decidedly not Asian.  Turns out Claude and Joanne are from Quebec province and he speaks English quite well and Joanne doesn’t speak English, but understands it very well.  They are a lot of fun so it all turned out well.  After eating with them for several days I’ve begun to speak with a little bit of a French accent.

English speakers are definitely the minority on this cruise.  All the ship’s announcements are in at least 5 languages, usually English is second, but not always so you have to pay close attention.  The life boat drill took about 5 times longer than usual since every instruction had to be given 5 times.  Once in a while you’ll hear an announcement in only one language and then you wonder what secret that group was being told.  The staff here is amazing.  They all speak at least some English as well as enough of several other languages to get by.  We’ve had occasion to visit the Customer Service desk a number of times and the staff there wear lapel pins to indicate which languages they speak.  They all have at least 3 and most have 5 or more!  Really puts us to shame.

Our first port, Bari, Italy was nice, although not terribly memorable.  We did hear of a couple who had a bit of a dust up with a local hoodlum.  The young man grabbed the woman’s purse and she put up enough of a fight for her husband to be able to knock the fellow to the ground and then, just for good measure he poked him in the eyes, a la the three stooges.  Guess that kid will think twice about grabbing another purse.

The next port, Katakolon, Greece is famous for being the location of the original Olympic games back when it was only Greece involved.  The original Olympic stadium is near and the ship had several tours scheduled to go.  (We did not sign up).  Turns out that the workers at the stadium were on strike so the tours drove the 40 kilometers to show you the outside of what you would have seen, then took everyone to a local hotel for a drink and a bit of shopping instead.  And for the inconvenience, they gave everyone a 20% refund of the tour price.  You can imagine how pleased everyone was with that. 

Santorini, Greece was next.  We did take the tour there and saw some lovely scenery, walked through a local village, and visited the island’s winery to taste their wines.  The towns built right into the cliffs are quite a sight. 

Yesterday was Rhodes, Greece.  We took one of those red hop on-hop off buses that toured the island and points out the important stuff.  Then we walked around inside the old town that is surrounded by ancient walls and currently is full of shops and cafes.  We noticed that most of the time the men who are trying to get you into their shop or café will speak to us in English even if they don’t hear us speaking.  Must be the way we are dressed or something.  Yesterday Michael was wearing his socks that are red, white and black and look sort of like the x-ray of a bear’s foot.  (Russ, you know the ones he won at the Altrec picnic.)  Now the vendors approached us in French!  I knew it! 

Greece really is full of cats.  They hang around the cafes hoping for scraps I guess.  They are all pretty healthy looking, albeit very thin, and they don’t bother the customers.  We also saw a feeding station for pets in a park.  At the bottom was a bowl of water and a bowl of food (dog?  cat?) and at the top was a bowl of bird seed.  Don’t know who fills it.

The ship is OK, but it’s a little different for we Americans.  Not bad, just different.  The Europeans smoke a lot and most of the lounges have a smoking “section”.  Obviously that doesn’t work very well so many areas are just too smoky for us.  The food in the main dining room has been a bit of a disappointment as well.  We had “crispy fish” the other night that was not as good as the Gorton’s breaded fish fillets we buy at Safeway.  And it is very difficult to get a glass of water unless you buy a bottle.  They really push beverage packages so we bought one that includes 4 bottles of wine and 7 bottles of water.  And for an Italian ship I really thought the pasta and pizza would be better.  I was all prepared to take the extra carbs, but have discovered it’s not really worth it.  Now, the gelato on board is another story …  Breakfast in the buffet is very good though.  Since we generally rise early we get there when it opens at 7:00 am and the only other people there are Asians (“thank you, I love you“).  The coffee is very strong - even for Michael who sometimes adds water.  The Europeans really like to stay up late and so they don’t come out for breakfast until 9:00 or so.  There are a fair number of kids on the ship (local holidays apparently) and they are up at all hours.  We hear them running down the hall outside our cabin in the middle of the night.  One night I couldn’t sleep around midnight so ventured out.  The ship was jumping and there were even little ones (2- 3 years old) still playing and dancing with their parents in a lounge.  The general age of passengers here is probably closer to 50 than 60 or 70 as on the American cruises we’ve done.  And there are very few obese people.  Michael has pointed out, though, that European women tend to wear bikinis long past the time when they should.  One piece suits here are few and far between.  And the men really do still wear those speedos. 

The sheets on our bed serve a dual function.  Not only are they sheets, but you get an all over exfoliation treatment every night.  Good thing the cruise is only 7 nights or I’d be losing more than just the top layer of skin.  And don’t get me started on the toilet paper.  We’ve noticed that all the toilets in the towns have signs telling you not to flush paper down the toilet.  They thoughtfully provide a garbage can for that purpose.  At least most have actual toilets although I did go into (and right out again) of one that only had a hole in the ground.  I guess we Americans are just a bunch of softies.

Tomorrow is our last port, Dubrovnik, Croatia.  Then we return to Venice on Monday.  On Wednesday we board the Princess ship that takes us back across the Atlantic to Ft. Lauderdale.  It will be interesting to see how many Europeans are on board that one.

Ciao,

Caroline