Celebrity

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Kalimera (Good day) to you all,

It's been a while since our last correspondence. The internet on the ship is hopeless and expensive so John can't read his Herald of a morning. Anyway back to the beginning.

Monday June 6, 2011

We arrived at the Termini in Rome very early and bought our ticket. A young man tried to help us but I told him loudly (twice) we were OK so he finally walked away. Another young man helped us with our luggage onto the train before we could stop him. When John gave him a euro he asked for more but didn’t get it. There was a woman walking through the carriage giving everyone a little printed note and then collecting it a few minutes later. It said “Poor with two child homeless and jobless. Help my family with few money for God’s sake.”

Our cabin is very comfortable. It is larger than on Pride of America and the TV is very modern and uses an Apple TV system. You can check your bill, look at all photos taken, watch movies and news on TV, listen to music of different genres, watch documentaries on ports you are visiting etc. The cabin has a "partial view" which means that while we can see the sea there is a lifeboat below the balcony (handy in an emergency). Dinner was very tasty. I was happy with my starter (crab and avocado) and my entrée (American for main course, though why I don't know) of lamb shank tagine. John booked a wine tasting for tomorrow afternoon at 2.30. We met quite a few people, a couple over lunch and more at lifeboat drill and more at dinner with whom we went to the show after.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

It is 4.11 pm and we have just come back from our wine tasting. We had three whites, two reds and a port. We didn’t drink it all or we would have passed out. There was a plate with some cheese and bread sticks to eat between the wines. The sommelier gave a long talk before we got to taste the first wine, getting us to look at the colour, swirl the wine to examine the viscosity, smell the wine to detect aroma (from the grape) and bouquet (from the winemaking process) and finally to taste on various parts of our tongue.

John's tuxedo arrived today with two shirts, a jacket, a bow tie, a cummerbund and a large pair of trousers. I rang Joel again and he took the trousers away, bringing back a smaller pair which fitted perfectly. When we turned up for dinner we were surprised to find that tuxedos were outnumbered by suits and ties. There were even people with open neck shirts! No-one under sixty appeared to be in a tuxedo. Still John looked very nice. We had our photo taken and have seen it on the TV in our room. It looks much better than the photo taken on the day when we boarded ship. We look like we have been on a long train journey and carried our luggage up and down numerous steps.

The “Remix” show was on tonight. We arrived about ten minutes into the performance but found it much better than last night. When it finished we listened to a jazz band in one bar and then moved on to a coffee lounge where we were entertained by a Capella group. Back to the Equinox Theatre and we were given a glass of sparkling wine and introduced to the crew and captain. The executive crew could have been on the Starship Enterprise as they represented many nations surprisingly excluding the USA.

In the morning we passed through the Straits of Messina. It was cloudy and windy and I was nearly blown off the ship when I went up to the 15th Level to view the shores of Sicily.

We have talked to different people at every meal. With Select Dining you can book for a different time every night and can sit alone or with other people. Our dining companions have mainly been American or British. We eat on one side of the ship and those who opted for traditional dining are on the other side.

Wednesday, 8th June, 2011

Today was a most stressful day and not a great start to our shore excursions. Saying that we really enjoyed the shower when we got back on the ship. As we woke up we saw many islands passing our window including Milos. As we hadn’t looked all over the ship we checked out the indoor and outdoor pools, the lawns of green grass, the glass blowing display, and other smoker’s area on the stern (where they should all be). John says they should be behind the stern. There is a smoker's area below our cabin which is almost giving John apoplexy. I wanted to go to a lecture on Athens held in the Theatre at 10.00 am. It was given by a lecturer from the Smithsonian Institute who was very interesting and later I was to find it very helpful when exploring Athens. Before the lecture I picked up our tender boat passes which were number 9 meaning Groups 1-8 would leave before us.

The Ocean View Café was packed with people preparing to go ashore so we went down to Silhouette where we sat with a new couple from Arizona. About 3.10 (over an hour late) our group was called and we climbed into our tender. The ship’s lifeboats were not used as there is an agreement to use the boats from Santorini. Once ashore we had the option of a one and a half hour wait for the cable car, a ride on a mule/donkey or a walk up 600 steps. Thinking we were in good shape we opted for the walk but didn’t count on sharing it with 600 mules, or the horrific smell of their dung and urine in 30+ heat. About halfway up we observed a large man walking down the hill with two riderless mules coming down the hill behind him. We yelled but it was too late. He was pushed forward and was running faster and faster (shades of Mt Keira). John heroically grabbed him by the arm and swung him to the side of the path. I had an image of them both rolling down the hill. He was very thankful but I don’t think he realized how bad the situation could have been. I think we were conned by the 600 steps as each step was three paces deep.

Once at the top I decided to list this in my top ten of bad holiday experiences. It rates alongside the bat/bird’s nest cave in Sabah full of cockroaches and bat dung. We found a café with a beautiful view but I headed straight to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face until I felt human again. We had cold sparkling water and a beer (John) and at last took in the view. Fira is on the edge of a caldera. The crater is now filled with water and may have once been the site of the lost city of Atlantis. The houses and buildings are all white. We could see four large ships and two smaller ones in the harbour. That could mean 8000 visitors ashore at one time which is a heck of lot for a small village. We planned to catch a bus to Oia but with the late arrival on the island and the heat we opted to just look around Fira. Once away from the crowds in the town we had a pleasant walk along the cliff edge admiring the views of white washed houses and blue domed churches. I vowed I wasn’t going down that track again with all the mules but the line for the cable car was snaking down the street and into the distance so we reluctantly started downhill. The trip back wasn’t so bad once we got past all the mules who were patiently waiting at the top. I went for a slide when I stepped on a patch of mule dung so walked very carefully from then on. John beat me but saved a place in the line for the return tender. We were so glad to get back on board.

Thursday, 9th June, 2011

This morning I was a bit apprehensive about our “do it yourself” tour in the unknown city of Athens and briefly wished we were on an organised tour as well. Not for long. Back in the room the safe refused to open. Imagine if we were supposed to get on a tour bus and couldn’t access our money or IDs! We spoke to Joel who rang the person in charge of opening safes. Two frantic phonecalls from John later and a man arrived, plugged a contraption like a large mobile phone into the safe and was able to open it. We hurried off the ship, jumped onto a transfer bus from Terminal B to Terminal A and then began walking to the train station. Ahead we could see Hop On Hop Off buses and thought they might be a good idea. There were lines of taxis, all trying to get our business. One driver said E20 so John said OK and soon we were off in a/c with a cheerful driver telling us about the things we should see. For E85 he was prepared to be our tour guide for the day but although tempted we bid goodbye at the foot of the Acropolis. The first glimpse of the Parthenon, so close to the city was awe inspiring. Ever since reading my Primary School Social Studies textbooks I have wanted to see the Parthenon and now at 60 it has finally happened!

We used our Rick Steve audio guides as we wandered around the Acropolis. John was amazed at the amount of restoration since he was there in 1969. It is partly funded by the EU and will take forever to restore.

After leaving the Acropolis we found our way to the Plaka where we had cold drinks in a shady bar. We wanted to see the smaller Parthenon like building we had spotted from the Acropolis on the plain below. It looked to be in good repair and was surrounded by trees and gardens. With John’s good map reading skills we arrived at the Temple of Thesseion, entry to which was included on our Acropolis ticket. We also walked between the columns of the Stoa of Attalos which I identified as Ionic and Doric. It has been fully restored and is now a museum.

John was getting hungry by now so we went back to a restaurant we saw earlier where the fans sprayed a mist of water over everyone to cool them down. We thought we should have a look at the protestors outside Parliament House at Syntagma Square. There were many tents and people playing music and waving banners. As we had seen the Monastiraki Station near the Temple of Thesseion we walked back and bought two tickets for E1.40 each. There was some doubt as to whether the trains would be running because of the strikes but to our relief the only ones running were to Piraeus. We had to stand all the way but it was only 20 minutes. We chatted to an American woman over here on business as we stood in the train. Once at Piraeus where the station had been beautifully restored inside we wondered where the ship was. We walked a long way in the heat until we came to a metro sign so we should have got off at the station before called Faliro. Shortly after we came to the shuttle buses returning to the ship. Hot and tired we are looking forward to a day at sea tomorrow.

John's PS: The ship is 122,000 tonnes, has 2,850 passengers, 1300 crew. Passengers are very multicultural, from US, UK and parts of Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada. It's luxurious 5 star standard. It has all facilities including its own grass lawn. We can travel at 24 knots and the seas have been pretty calm so the ship is stable and quiet. We've got a king sized bed and good food with expensive wine and internet.

Linda's PS: You have to be really careful not to be charged extra on this ship. At breakfast a waiter came around with orange juice and asked if we wanted some. I said yes but then he asked for my room number. I was furious as he had not told me they would be charging for it. He apologized and gave them to us for free. I am now wary whenever I'm offered tea, coffee, water etc in case it's an extra charge. The ship had a gastro outbreak last voyage so now the buffet is no longer serve yourself. There are masses of waiters serving people. That suits me as I don't want grimy little fingers in my food. We are constantly reminded to wash hands and staff squirt antibacterial stuff in our hands before each meal. Even so I've got a cold (and I can't blame Grace).

PPS: Apologies to the two people who received a text at 2.00 am Australian time, one of whom complained. I must have miscalculated the time difference in the heat of the moment. Thank you to all those people who have sent messages. It's nice to be in touch with home when so far away. Now to do battle with the internet.

PPPS: I spent 5 minutes and $3 trying unsuccessfully to send this email on my computer. I stormed up to the internet room where every computer was occupied only to be told, "sorry, internet slow because so busy". I was advised to try at dinner time. What a rip off!

Adio (Greek for Goodbye)

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Photos

view from cabin
View from our cabin in Civitavecchia

tuxedo
John looking handsome in his hired tux

ship's pool
Outdoor pools on the ship

ship's lawn
There is even a lawn on top of the ship.

Santorini mules
Sharing the road with mules

white houses
White washed houses and ships in the bay