... and on to the 'stay' part of our cruise/stay package holiday

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Overnight we sailed 128 nautical miles at an average speed of 11 knots and found ourselves back in Marmaris this morning. This trip the Pommy package holiday that Kath and Albert organised for the four of us to enjoy was a cruise/stay combination which meant that today we commenced the 'stay' component of our Aegean holiday. Some of our fellow cruisers were due to fly back to the UK today after either a week or two aboard the Thomson Spirit. Other passengers were spending the day in Marmaris before cruising the Black Sea with stops at Istanbul, Odessa and Nessebar before they return to the UK early next week.

Although the Marti LaPerla hotel is just a few kilometres away from Marmaris in Icmeler, it took us nearly all day to get there! After breakfast we lazed around on the deck reading our books to fill in the hours until we would be transferred to the hotel. In hindsight we should have disembarked and spent the morning exploring Marmaris Castle but ... more on that another day!

Finally, it was time to head down the gangplank for the last time and head to the minibus that would drive us around the bay to Icmeler. Once we were actually underway it took us only about half an hour to reach the hotel where we will spend the next four nights. Well, the drive to Icmeler only took about half an hour, unfortunately it took much, much longer than that to get checked in! Kath and Albert's room was ready so they were checked in quite quickly. Our room was still being made up so we had to wait until it was ready before we could do our paperwork.

So, we wandered around the hotel and checked out the facilities and then ventured down to the beach to have a look at the gorgeous blue Aegean and the sun lounges that we will be making use of over the next few days, before returning to reception. Sorry, your room's still not ready. Alright then, let's go and have some lunch. It was well past lunchtime so we headed out to the outdoor cafe/bar and had pizza for lunch. All unpacked and settled into their room, Kath and Albert joined us about half way through lunch.

And back to reception. Oh, for goodness sake the room's still not ready, but the ice-cream bar is open so let's eat ice-cream to fill in some more time. No check-in, no Internet access so there wasn't much else to do. We were also reluctant to start unpacking our bags in the foyer or Kath & Albert's room to change into our bathers to head out to enjoy the pool and/or the beach. Very frustrating. Finally, after hours of being in limbo, our room was made up and we could check-in. What a waste of a day though! It seems unbelievable that they can't manage the transfer for cruise/stay patrons a bit more efficiently.

At last we could get into our bathers and enjoy the late afternoon sun by the pool. Better late than never I suppose and at least with it being well after three, we didn't have to worry about too much UV exposure! While we were out by the pool we tried to log in to the hotel's wi-fi, but we couldn't. A check with reception found that they hadn't processed our paperwork yet. They moved ours to the top of the pile and told us we should have access very soon. Hmmn, we managed to progress from no internet access at all to access that was sooooooo slow that it wasn't really worth bothering. So much for hoping to be able to catch up with the blog! Ah well, I guess the blog can wait until we are back in Stalybridge?!

We met Kath and Albert in the dining room for dinner. It was a bit of a shock to have to serve ourselves from the buffet rather than having two waiters and a wine waiter looking after us! At least we only have ourselves to blame now if we over indulge.

After dinner we listened to the hotels live show 'Grease' while we played cards. Bernie just can't escape the musical entertainment!



Steps for the day 11,745 (8 kms)

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