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Published: June 26th 2017
Do you ever have that feeling you have forgotten something when you leave to go on holiday? I've had that feeling ever since I left home. I always have that feeling. Probably like most people, but I keep reassuring myself that as long as we have all tickets, passports, money and credit cards (oh, and driving licenses) and each other (Don't laugh! I've seen Home Alone!) if I have forgotten anything else we won't let it spoil the trip and surely we can do without.
At about 3:40am I woke with a start. My brain must have kicked in. I certainly wasn't thinking about anything. My camera battery charger! As we were only allowed one carry-on bag each I had transferred my camera and paraphernalia in to my back- pack and inadvertently forgot to pack the charger. I leaped out of bed and switched my camera on. This must have woken Roisin as she looked across at me, saw what I was doing and said:
'Blimey! You're keen!' 2 bars! I only had 2 bars left. Not even a full charge. It may last a few days more. What to do? We had also brought an iPad
and small digital camera with us so all was not lost. I tried to remain philosophical. There must be someone on board with a Canon SLR camera. Failing that, I may be able to borrow or hire something from the photo and video gallery. With that in mind I managed to drift back off to sleep. Like I said, as long as we have the essentials, other things just pale into insignificance!
We were showered and dressed by 8:50 ready to face breakfast. I lifted Roisin's suitcase on to the bed for her to retrieve ‘stuff' when she let out a gasp of horror. It definitely was a gasp rather than a shriek!! She was pointing to a large gash in her case that certainly wasn't there yesterday morning as we left the house. Not to be outdone, I then pointed to a second large gash. This damage could only have been done in transit from Manchester to Venice. What to do? Unfortunately we never reported this at the airport so it looks like something else we will have to live with. Blaming it on Princess when the time came never entered our heads. Well it did because I've
just written it!! This last sentence didn't just write itself!! However, those who know us know that this is not our style. No, we will just have to be careful; perhaps wrapping the case in cling film at the airport may hold everything together. I'm sure we'll manage. It's just something else we'll have to add on to our Christmas list!!
We took the local bus to Piazzale Roma where we headed straight for the People Mover that would take us to the cruise terminal.
Check in was straightforward. After filling out the obligatory health declaration and receiving our cruise cards, we followed the sign to the holding area. Must have been a few thousand waiting. There was a special waiting area for preferential boarding but as 90% of the passengers are either elite of platinum, that accounts for most of us. In fact, the special waiting area was packed and the other area was empty!! After about 40 minutes our number was called and we filed through security, got the welcome photo out of the way and entered the Royal Princess.
We were on deck 4 and our cabin was waiting a further 4 decks above
on Emerald deck 8. Now Roisin has been told of a trick if you don't want the elevator to stop at any deck before yours. As you press the button for your deck number, press the close door button at the same time. You should then have an uninterrupted trip to the deck of your choice. It worked!! 5 minutes later we were in our cabin that will be home for the next 18 nights.
After dropping off our hand luggage and while waiting for our suitcases to arrive we decided to head to Horizon Court for some lunch. En route we took a small detour to deck 12 starboard midships. There it was. My prize photo, ‘
'Rainbow over Moorea', courtesy of Mr Chris Hodgson. #585. Immortalised as long as the Royal Princess remains in service!
Horizon Court. The name of the buffet for the Princess fleet covered practically half of deck 16. There are over 1100 covers in this mega buffet serving food from every corner of the globe. The food hall is split in to 2. The first half is called Horizon Bistro while the 2
nd half remains traditionally ‘Horizon Court'. With plates of lovely food
in hand, Roisin peered to the right and stopped. Simultaneously, a waiter looked up. His eyes widened and immediately grabbing Roisin gave her a warm friendly ‘cheek to cheek' welcome and turning to me gave a hearty, manly handshake.
‘
Ciao. I have been expecting you', said the waiter in his perfect English with a hint of Italian accent. (Pity my name isn't Chris Bond otherwise it would have been fab to hear him say: ‘I've been expecting you, Mr Bond!!!') He continued: ‘
I remember you said that you were on the Royal when we were on the Island Princess but I couldn't remember what voyage you were on. You're both looking well. Have you lost weight??' It was Davide. An Italian waiter we befriended whilst sailed through the Panama Canal on the Island Princes last October. He was one of the headwaiters when we first made his acquaintance. He told us that he has since been promoted and is now in charge of one of the dining rooms on deck 5. ‘If you come to the Symphony dining room and ask for me, I will make sure everything is good, no?' Not sure what he meant by this. Could
he fix it that we had a table for 2 by the window? Free wine perhaps? I'm sure we'll soon find out sometime during the next few weeks!
Our first impression of the Royal Princess is that it's huge; 141,000 tonnes. Our previous biggest, the Sapphire Princess (116,000 tonne) would have to bow in the presence of this magnificent Noble. We looked out from deck 16 across at another cruise ship, the Celebrity Silhouette. It certainly lived up to its name as it was definitely overshadowed by the ‘Royal'!!
Our next stop on the way back to our cabin was the famous (or infamous) Sky Walk. This is a piece of the superstructure of the ship that arcs out over the sea and the decks below. Similar to the Grand Canyon and the Blackpool tower the Sky Walk has a ‘
walk of faith' named because of the clear glass walkway. Back in our cabin we met our cabin steward, Christina from Argentina or was it Christine from Philippines? (but it definitely wasn't Anne from Japan!!) During her introduction she happened to mention that the ship had had a few problems. These were well documented. The first was
just a power outage for a couple of hours. (Probably caused by a grease monkey changing a fuse ‘best he can'!!!) The second problem was a little more serious and had something to do with a propeller losing power. Maybe it was the same grease monkey dropping a spanner in the works (literally). The ship was towed in to Naples where the cruise was cut short as everyone was offloaded and flown home, despite the cruise terminating officially in Barcelona!!! Apparently everyone got a full refund but it still didn't stop people from feeling a little ‘pissed off' at having their holiday ‘trimmed' especially if they had planned to stay on after disembarking in Barcelona. Christin(a) emphasised that things are fixed now. They actually have a sign in the crew quarters saying: ‘
x days since engine failure!' And she's telling us this because???!!… Tonight we had booked a concert called Virtuosi Venezia, a tribute to Antonio Vivaldi So, after an early tea in the International café we headed down the gangway and who should be waiting there for us but David from the entertainment team on the Island Princess. He recognised us immediately. David is from Manchester but sound
very distinctively like Robbie Williams hence we tended to call him Robbie to distinguish him from Davide the waiter. He proceeded to tell us the same tale of woe regarding the previous failures of the ship practically word for word as Christina a few hours early. If we weren't so sceptical anyone would think it was rehearsed! On reflection I now think the medium who said we would meet someone we knew on our last cruise to the Black Sea (and we did - Francesco) was playing the numbers game!! We've already met 2 crewmembers from previous trips and we haven't even set sail yet!! So, we bade our farewell to David and started on the 1-½ mile stroll to St. Mark's square.
Despite the streets of Venice being all shapes and sizes, it is very difficult to get lost as every junction has a sign to either Rialto, the famous bridge over the Grand Canal, or St Mark's square. We meandered our way through the maze of narrow alleyways and across canals. Some thoroughfares were so narrow, one had to walk in single file!! It is so easy to lose one's sense of direction as of the streets
turn back before going forward. After 50 minutes, we arrived at the Ateneo di San Basso, the venue for tonight's concert.
The Ateneo di San Basso was built in 1076 making it one of the oldest churches in Venice. The concert was fantastic paying tribute to Vivaldi (who was born in Venice) and his chums (Puccini and Verdi). We were very lucky to experience this concert in this historic place as not only were the ensemble and musical formation chosen to recall the exact situation in which Vivaldi (and chums) worked but only several days ago, St Mark's Square was under a few feet of water due to the exceptionally high tide. Some one must be good with a mop and bucket as there was no evidence of flooding other than stacks of raised boarding that had been used as walk ways during this emergency.
After the concert and with ‘
La Donna e mobile' from Rigoletto still ringing in my ears, we headed for the nearby water taxi for the ½ hour journey back to Piazzale Roma. I have come to the conclusion that although Venice is a magical place to wander in the evening, it is not
very photogenic in the dark as most places are dimly lit and those buildings that are illuminated must be using those 40w energy saving bulbs!!
Tomorrow I will be starting of with a chop Unfortunately not the kind of chop that is usually accompanied by mint sauce!! I will reveal more in the next installment
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Carla
non-member comment
No monks? I am pleased :-))