Greek Island Cruise!

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We arrived at the port in Piraeus and joined the line in order to board our boat. The line was going pretty quickly but was still pretty big due to the fact that most people had decided (like us) to get there early. Once we got through customs, we headed onto a bus which took us to our boat. It was pretty big but not as big as the P&O ones. We got to our room on Deck 3 and then headed out to explore the boat. We got our unlimited drinking passes which all good Australians should have from a guy called Darrick. We then reserved our table at the restaurant which was free which was in turn extremely excellent! After sorting everything out like that, we decided to put the cards to use and got straight on the rum while Sarah had a mango mojito. We then booked ourselves into a 90 minute massage for the next day. After a few drinks, we had to do the safety briefing which was standing on deck 5 with life vests on. WOOOOOO! Glad I stopped drinking for that. After we were done with that we resumed drinking as we had to get about 5½ drinks a day to get our card value. At about 6pm we headed to the restaurant and had dinner which was absolutely sensational. When you think free dinner, you generally think pub food or something similar. Not here! We were treated to a 5 course meal while everything from Greek cheese pie to chicken liver pate and pork belly. It was great. We headed to the sports bar after dinner for some bingo but there were only 3 of us, including Sarah and I. Afterwards we headed to the top deck to check out the disco nightclub but there was no one there so we left and went downstairs for more drinks. Darrick, the guy that sorted out our drinking cards, was there and we all had a bit of a chat. He is a really nice guy and spends 9 months of the year on the boat away from his family in India. That sucks! Anyway, he got Sarah sorted with a few cocktails and kept the rums coming my way before giving us a few shots of some sort of raspberry liqueur. At 10:30 we headed to the theatre area where they were doing a performance of Mamma Mia. Now Ii'm not a big fan of Abba at the best of times but this was rubbish. I think two of these people could sing and the others were all suffering some sort of head trauma which made them think they could sing/dance. After this was over, we headed for bed.

The next morning we got up and headed to the buffet breakfast which was nearly as impressive and the dinner the night before. Afterwards, we headed upstairs to deck 9 which had become our new home. This was where the bar was! We had a few drinks and watched people fold napkins into things like boats and animals and all sorts of things that make a napkin completely useless! We had our massage just after and it was amazing. An hour and a half of getting all those knots out of my back was incredible and so worth it. We then went and had lunch a little while later and it became apparent that we were on a cruise that resembled a retirement home. It was like one of those APIA ads where you have to be over 55. Nevertheless, the food was still good and we didn't mind a bit of conversation from the old folks at our table. I did nearly lose it when I found that one man and I both work in the computer industry. Yeah he worked for IBM... 30 YEARS AGO!!! At about 3pm we were approaching Istanbul in Turkey, so we headed up to the top deck and took some pictures. Istanbul really is a beautiful city, especially when approaching from sea! We got off the ship at about 4pm and decided to wander around the city. The first things we noticed is that the men in Istanbul don't look like they have ever seen a woman before and walking with Sarah down the street made me feel like I was going to be mugged. So we headed up to the bridge to look out over the harbour which was an amazing view before heading back to the boat. We went back to deck 9 and Darrick gave us more drinks before we headed to dinner at the restaurant again. After yet another delicious meal, we headed back to the room for some sleep as we were wrecked from the long day.

Sunday morning came and we once again had breakfast in the buffet before spending most of the morning on the sundeck with drinks. Sarah went and borrowed a book from the library and at about 1:30 it was time for lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon just lazing around and reading, and at around 7pm we were leaving Istanbul. It felt great to leave places for once without having to actually go anywhere. Having someone else take us for once was awesome! WE headed for dinner and met Lauren and Meagan, two girls from Arizona. The other couple next to us got given this honeymoon cake as it was... well they're honeymoon! After dinner we headed to the sports bar to watch a "magician" do his magic show. It was good to watch but he wasn't very good up close because we could see what he was doing. Meagan and I then went in the Blackjack tournament that was one and she came out with €53. I came out with the inside of a donut! The game really went downhill when some guy from Adelaide knocked over his beer on the table and said the boat rocked and that he didn't touch it! After the game we went to the metro lounge to watch some sort of performance. I don't really know what it was to be honest but it had something to do with famous movies. We all went up to the bar and had a few more drinks before I called it a night and went to bed at around 1am.

The next morning we headed to breakfast again and had some greasy to counter the hangover from the night before. After brekky we went and had a nap as we were still pretty hungover. Sarah went to get her facial that I had won earlier that day from being picked out of a hat or something. We went to lunch at 1pm and by 3pm we had landed in Mykonos. We caught a bus into the town and had a look around at all of the little shops and huts. There wasn't really too much to do but people kept saying that Mykonos really came alive at nighttime. Apparently the nightclub scene is "rocking". We sat by the water for a bit and just talked and relaxed which was good. We were back on the boat by about 5:30pm and went to dinner later that night. After dinner it was straight to bed mostly due to the big night the night before!

Tuesday arrived and it was not a fun day. I had been up with vomiting and was really not feeling great! We had two tours booked for that day in Patmos and Kusadasi respectively and so at 7am we were in the metro lounge getting the info we needed. We then got onto the tender boats that would take us ashore and it was really the last thing I needed. I was pretty green but relieved once we got ashore. We started our tour in a coach which I managed to get to the top of the hill before needing to go back to the boat because I still felt really dodgy. While I was resting in the cabin, Sarah saw the Byzantine Monastery, the Grotto of the Apocalypse and the Windmills of Chora which would have been amazing. I was coaxed into going to the doctor to see what was wrong as Sarah was quite worried.
This doctor then told me that I would have to be isolated in my room for 2 days, not allowed to eat in the restaurant, would not be able to use my drinks card and not leave the ship. At this point I was too sick to care and welcomed the rest in the cabin. He though it was a gastro intestinal virus. I was feeling a little better after lunch despite my boiled chicken lunch. Although I was feeling better I thought it best to skip the Kusadasi tour. Sarah spent the next few hours seeing the sights of Kusadasi with Lauren and Meagan while I rested up and watched some TV. That night I was feeling much better and had come to the realisation that I didn't in fact have GI, but had a simple 24 hour but that I had probably picked up. So with that I went and had dinner with Sarah and the girls. After dinner I decided to get and early night while Sarah went to the show with the girls. I figured I wasn't missing much.

Wednesday came and I felt much better but not 100% unfortunately. I still hadn't got my full appetite back. We did have some breakfast before heading out to see Rhodes at around 12:30. We bought a few souvenirs before heading back to the ship. It was a bit of a fight to get the doctor to let me off the boat but at this stage I was fine and not willing to be locked in my room. Persistence eventually prevailed and he gave in but said I still had to eat in my room. Righto mate, good luck with that. The cleaner that cleans the rooms in our floor found it pretty funny that the guy freaked out when I wasn't in there to deliver my food to my room. We had a bit of a nap after we returned from Rhodes and were only awoken by the sound of the boat leaving. We went upstairs and waited for dinner and were treated to a really cool dessert. The waiters turned off the lights and came marching out of the kitchen to the tune of "Feeling Hot" with a flaming flambeed baked Alaska cake in each hand. We then went and saw the magician again, but this time on stage where he was actually really good. The boat was rocking around something chronic, so naturally this didn't sit well with my stomach. Afterwards we went upstairs and saw this massive arrangement of chocolate desserts before heading to bed

Our last full day on the boat had arrived and we got into Crete at 7am. We jumped off the boat and wandered around the port before heading back on board for some lunch. The boat left shortly after and arrived in Santorini at around 3pm. We headed to dinner at around 7:30 and then collected our passports before heading back to our cabin to get ready to leave the next morning.

We woke up at around 5am and got off the boat by 6 in order to get our flight to Turkey. We waited for our bags to be unloaded and then headed for the bus terminal a few km away. We jumped on the bus and took around and hour to get to the airport. We got to the airport and after a week of not having internet we went to Maccas to use the free Wi-Fi... only to find that my website had been shutdown due to someone hacking and using my email account as a SPAM server. After freaking out a little bit about this, we boarded our plane destined for Istanbul

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