Venice 04 - the final push...

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Final distance travelled: 3,850 nautical miles


The cruise had now officially ended. Out of our cabin by the required time of 07:45. No sign of Pika, our cabin steward, or as Roisin had christened him 'Pikey'. All I could think of adding was calling him, in my best pompous Capt. Mainwaring voice ‘stupid boy'!!

The ship actually docked slightly early at 08:25. We had our last breakfast in the restaurant and headed down to the Shaker Lounge to await ‘Light Blue 02' to be called to disembark. At 09:20 we got the nod and headed with the rest of the Light Blue 02 passengers and the odd Light Blue 01 straggler.

One last look around and a final ‘beep' as our cruise cards were swiped for the last time indicating that the Hodgson's had left the building (or in this case, the Ship!)

As we approached the arrivals hall, a desk had been set up at the entrance. On it, there appeared to be lots of coloured objects, all shapes and sizes. What could they be? Too small to be bottles that had been confiscated until the end of the cruise. On closer inspected each item had a tag attached, more than likely to identify the owner. Blimey! I was staring at the most lethal collection of pen knifes, flick knives, knuckle dusters I had seen since Greater Manchester Police declared an amnesty on all gang weapons handed in. Who brings a set of knuckle dusters on to a cruise with them for heaven's sake?? There was even a long handled screw driver. Was someone planning on doing a spot of DIY on the ensuing sea days??! During the 5 minutes or so that this desk was in my eye line, I don't recall anyone reclaiming their unsavoury belongings. We entered the arrivals hall and quickly located our luggage before the owners claimed their tools and we were caught up in a pitch battle between the Red Star Eighty-somethings gang and the Lazio Dodgy Hip Posse…and so began the journey home.

‘Every journey starts with the first step.' Ours started with a 20 minute walk through the dock complex to the people mover. €1.30 later we were once again in Piazzala Roma.

I still had 50 Bulgarian Lev on my person. This is as a result of not actually making it to Burgas coupled with being too keen to ensure we had some currency in advance. I called in to one Cambio. He took the currency from me even though I'd told him what it was, he looked at the obverse and turned the notes over to look at the reverse. It was as if he'd never seen this money before. The notes were brand new with no marks on them. Maybe he thought it was some sort of scam. He said politely, ‘No! I'm sorry. You may be able to change them at the train station'.

It may have been the cruise line equivalent of ‘chucking out' time but Roisin and I had further plans before metaphorically staggering home after a good night out! I had arranged to meet a colleague I worked with back in '95 in Hungary and Romania. We were both seconded to the Western European Union (WEU). This was an International Task Force consisting of Customs, Border Forces and Police from Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy and the UK. The WEU was a preventative and enforcement non-military division of the United Nations. I say ‘was' because it is no longer in existence since 2004. This was during the height of the Serbian/Yugoslavian conflict. Our objective was to stop all traffic on the Danube before it entered Serbian waters and to ensure they were not carrying any strategic goods that had been embargoed by the UN security Council from entering Serbia (such as tyre for the rubber, steel, firearms, oil or practically anything that could be used to aid the war effort.) Elio DeGianpietro worked for the Italian Guardia di Finanza and we have kept in touch ever since. He lives in Mirano, several miles outside Venice but he no longer works for the Guardia. There is more money to be made in private consultancy so he has been working in private security/investigating.

I received a text from Elio yesterday 2. October to advise me he would be at the hotel THAT NIGHT!! I had to quickly email AND text him back to remind him we would be arriving in Venice today 3. October. I haven't yet had a reply. I hope it reached him OK.

We took the No. 19 bus to the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel. The hotel was on the opposite side of a busy dual carriageway separated by a crash barrier. The overpass was 4 flights of stairs and with no lift working. As running across the highway and jumping over the barrier with two large suitcases was not an option, we struggled, carrying the cases up, over and down the other side of the road. Roisin has already decided we would not be repeating this route in reverse tomorrow morning to catch the bus to Marco Polo airport. Regardless of cost, and against my principles we were taking a taxi!!

On checking in at the hotel, the receptionist said that I had a message from another guest. She handed me a rather sturdy large gift bag. A note was attached:

‘Dear Hodgson', the note began, (we use surnames as a term of endearment!! ‘I am Mr Elio. I am sorry but I got here the 2^nd. I can't make it for the 3^rd. This is a little gift for you. I will be getting you my email. Greetings, Elio'

Apparently Elio had been called away to Trento this morning and then was going up to Udine and Trieste for a few days on investigative business (very cloak and dagger!). He wasn't due to return home until Monday night or Tuesday. I must confess to be a little relieved once I'd seen the lovely Murano glass dish he had left for us. I'd only brought him a Liverpool pen and fridge magnet!!!

Once we freshened up we took the short bus ride to Mestre where we had lunch in the main town square that had been taken over by a European Market. There were stalls represented from Latvia to Hungary. There was even a stall from Ireland complete with Christie Moore DVDs and Guinness sweatshirts. The English stall was full of London landmark tat as well as individually wrapped cupcakes.

Dinner was spent back at the Ristorante Brindisi in Campo Geremia, Venice where it all started 2 weeks earlier.

No taxi was required for the journey back to Marco Polo airport. The hotel run a shuttle service for €7 each.

The British Airways flight was on time and landed at City airport 15 minutes early. Flying British Airways in to London then taking 1^st class train travel to Runcorn was still much cheaper than flying direct to Manchester with EasyJet. However, if we'd have known how difficult it would be to get across London with suitcases we would have waived the expense for the sake of convenience!! We took the Docklands Light Railway from London City airport to Canary Wharf then changed to the Jubilee Line. This was a short walk away down 3 flights of steps and across a busy concourse. Canary Wharf Jubilee Line has an elevator. We then travelled to London Bridge where the only elevator was to the exit (street level). The transfer to the Northern Branch Line we found there were never ending flights of steps that had to be negotiated. Our final destination took us to Euston where at least we only had 3 escalators to negotiate to the mainline concourse and then the safety of the Virgin 1^st class lounge.

So now only a few hours before the train and time to reflect on yet another eventful trip. It's strange that whilst I am the first to defend MSC should anyone ‘slag' them off, we do find that we often criticise their customer service and attitude at times whilst we're on board. However, like all cruise lines, I'm not saying MSC are perfect…far from it. I have always maintained that MSC may not win awards in any individual categories but as a complete package I feel it is the best value for money on the high seas!! Saying that, I am confident that the cleanliness of the ships will give anyone a run for their money. A few days ago I walked past a cleaner who was on his hands and knees wiping down a brass skirting that decorated the bottom on an ornamental column. 80%!o(MISSING)f the skirting was hidden from view by the adjacent bulk head but every spot of that brassware was being cleaned. Examples of this dedication can be seen throughout the ship anytime, day or night.

Another favourite of mine is that YOU make a cruise what it is. As long as the cabin is clean and the staff are cheerful you shouldn't let any other inconveniences come between you and a fantastic time. I am now firmly of the opinion that although consciously you may not let other ‘issues' affect your holiday, subconsciously the weather and cancellation of ports are important factors that must have had a bearing on the positives of this trip. It has not been the best of cruises for a number of reasons. It has by no means been the worst but out of 10 we have both scored it a ‘6'. We did become Black status on this voyage AND in my view more importantly met up once again with Beryl and Brian so during those evenings when we've been re-reading our old blogs and we've said to each other: ‘I wonder what happened to them'. Well now we know!!!

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Comments

[Ragnhild]

Nice to read your travel log. Thanks for sharing it and nice to read that you got home well.