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CAPTAIN & GM
The Happy CookersMEDITERRANEAN SEA AND THE AMALFI COAST
Several weeks ago there was an auction on board and the proceeds benefited the Crew Welfare Fund. Over $22,000 was raised for the crew. One of the auction items was a dinner prepared by Captain Pier Paolo Scala and dessert created by GM Ralph De Klijn. The dinner would be served in the Captain's Quarters. Our friends Kitty and Norm won the bid for the dinner and graciously invited us to join in the festivities. The evening began with a sunset champagne toast on the Captain's veranda. Captain Scala made the pasta earlier in the day and that evening he cooked it up and and added his handmade sauce. The head sommelier Darko poured some fine wines to accompany our dinner and then we were served a delicious parfait dessert created by Ralph. It was all great fun and we thoroughly enjoyed this outstanding evening.
The Cruise Director Jamie organized a farewell party for the world cruisers. He made a slide show of all our ports of call and special events on the ship and photos of each of the circumnavigators. Jamie asked us to write down some special moments or memories we
had of the cruise. I submitted six excerpts from our blog and they were read by Dana, Gudrun, Elda and Andreana. Tour Manager Cinthya read one of her own which was very touching. Darko sang “Time to Say Goodby.” The whole event was very moving and it seems almost impossible that we have covered so much of the world and experienced so many cultures in the past five months. Fortunately we still had another two weeks of this wonderful cruise.
After two days at sea we awoke just as we were cruising by the beautiful Isle of Capri. We were in Europe! We dropped anchor off Sorrento and jumped in the tender to go ashore. After all the past weeks in brown desert countries, it was wonderful to arrive in Italy on a gorgeous spring day. It seems that the whole city was ablaze with the colors of blooming flowers. Scarlet Bougainvillea covered the ancient walls and Jacaranda trees rained down purple blossoms and roses and wisteria added to the rainbow of color. Italy is a multihued place at any time of the year but in spring it really shines. It was so nice to see men and women
together and women in shops and restaurants and strolling the cobblestone streets—active participants in public life. That is something we hadn’t seen much of recently.
We walked and walked and soaked up la dolce vita. We found an elegant restaurant on the cliff overlooking the Bay of Naples, Mt Vesuvius, Capri and our ship. We had our first Italian pizza while gazing out at our home for the past five months.
That evening as we sailed away we had a Cruise Specialists party outdoors on the fantail. We wanted to make sure everyone got to experience the spectacular scenery of the Amalfi Coast.
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Sandy Warren
non-member comment
We've enjoyed every word of every blog!!!
Hi Kevin and Susan, Lee and I were just leaving our twin great grandchildren's play school near the water in San Francisco as the Voyager sailed off last January. It was really exciting to get to see you head out to sea and we loudly wished you "Bon Voyage". It would seem that our wish for you came true and that you have had a really good trip. It has really been a joy to sail along with you via the internet. Our very best to both of you! Fondly, Sandy Warren