May 13, 2025 – Tuesday : We have to vacate our stateroom by 7:30AM, so we are up early. We have transfers at 9:25AM to the Rome airport, so we have plenty of time to eat in Blu, the restaurant for our class of stateroom. As we finished breakfast, our waiter came by. He brought me a cupcake with a candle and several of the staff sang happy birthday to me! I was stuffed from eating breakfast and couldn’t eat the cupcake.
We took the cruise ship transfer to the airport, found the location for the hotel shuttle bus. We didn’t have to wait long and the shuttle took us to our hotel, Best Western Rome Airport. We arrived about 11:30AM and figured we’d have to wait for our room, but they gave us a room right away. Unfortunately it was not the type of room that Dave reserved. He reserved a deluxe room that was suppose to have a sofa. The room they gave us was only big enough for the bed. So Dave went back to the front desk and they gave us a larger room. No sofa, but in addition to the king size bed, it had a single bed, so it was a bigger room. Not what Dave reserved, but we decided we could deal with it.
Since it is my birthday, we walked towards the waterfront to check out the restaurants and maybe pick one out where we’d have dinner. This town, Fiumicino, is right next to the waterfront, there are a lot of seafood restaurants. We also needed to have some lunch. We saw walked along and saw several restaurants and checked some menus, and got a lay of the land. We stopped for lunch at a pizza place and had quite a selection! We picked 3 different “slices” but they were big enough to share. One was a meatball pizza, one had dried meat (it was like a schnitzel) with crust on the top and bottom, and the third one was with ham. We liked all of them. You go in, and the pizzas are in a glass front case and you decide what you want. The guy serving would chop off a slice with a huge knife ( the pizzas were very large rectangles), and then you would go to a table to eat (or take it away). We each had a beer and sat at a table. It was a very Italian lunch.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a supermarket and bought a few essentials for our overnight stay – breakfast bars and milk for my coffee.
Back at our hotel, we rested, and discussed where we should have dinner. We did a little searching on trip advisor to see what was recommended. About 7:15PM, we headed back towards the waterfront to make our decision as to where to eat. We wandered a few streets that were a little off the waterfront as trip advisor indicated there were restaurants in this area….but we did not see anything interesting. So we walked back to the waterfront area and decided on a restaurant we had noticed earlier.
We ordered a bottle of wine, and our entrees. The wine came first, and while we weren’t crazy about it, we thought it wold be OK with food. I had linguine with seafood and Dave had Risotto with shrimp cream sauce. My linguine was good, but some of the seafood had not been thoroughly cleaned and I got a bit of sand. Unfortunately the wine was not that great with food, either. We did drink about 1/2 the bottle, and gave up. Dave ordered the house white wine which came in a “half-bottle” (375ml) and then before dessert I ordered the half- bottle of the house red. The house wines were much better. So for dessert, I had tiramisu and Dave ordered what they called wine donuts. They were actually cookies. Overall, a unique experience…
We walked back to the hotel and checked our steps – 15,812! We did a lot of walking!
This is the last blog for this trip. Tomorrow we will take the airport shuttle back to the airport and fly home.
May 12, 2025 – Monday: Today is a sea day, our last full day on the cruise. We did not do too much. We spent some time on the top deck as we passed Mt. Stromboli. It is one of 4 active volcanos in Italy. There are three villages on the island, and the population in the 20th century was about 1,000. The population now is about 500. It is amazing to me that anyone would want to live at the base of a volcano, but their families have probably been there for years. I think the last eruption was July 4, 2024.
Of course we packed, or Dave packed. He always takes on that job. Late afternoon we went to listen to music, and then the evening show. The last cruise and this cruise the last show was billed as a variety show, and they brought back entertainers from earlier in the cruise. The first guy was Sebastian Vanti, who sang Frank Sinatra songs. We actually sat through his earlier performance. I just don’t care for the music. He did sing “My Way” which I like. The second performer was a lady singer, Helen Wilding. We did not attend her show – not sure why – but she was very good. She worked the video screen into her performance, and did a clever number of “Sisters”. Her image in triplicate was on the video screen, and at one point she left the stage and appeared in the video (prerecorded of course), and then came out on stage as one of the sisters. Hard to explain, but very clever. She was much more entertaining than Sebastian Vanti, and I think we would have enjoyed her show. Then we went to dinner, and after dinner, being our last night, we stopped at the martini bar. We could not believe how dead the martini bar was! Usually it is packed! The bartender put initials on the martinis – the “M” stands for Milky Way Martini, and the “B” stands for Bananas Foster Martini.
After our martini splurge, we returned to our stateroom because we have to vacate our room by 7:30AM! Yikes!
May 11, 2025 – Sunday: Today is the last port day of this cruise, and we are in Katakolon, which is the port for Olympia. We are not scheduled to arrive until noon, so we went to a John Bailly lecture this morning, “The Museums, Monuments & Street Food of Europe”. He gave some tips on how to see the museums without the crowds. He recommended getiing an annual members pass as they are usually let in earlier than the public. Also, make a reservation if available for the earliest time available, or the latest time. He also suggested getting an annual pass or membership pass if there is a special exhibition you want to see, as it is usually the same price as a one day admission plus the cost of the special exhibition. He mentioned some places to het good, cheap food, but almost impossible to note these places because he says the name in Italian or Greek or Spanish and it is hard to catch.
We have a private tour that I booked through Viator.
I scheduled our tour for 1:00 as there is always a big rush of people to get off the ship as quickly as possible. We have been to Olympia, seen the ruins and the museums without. So I looked for an alternative. Our first stop was the ruins at Elis (or Iliá – I’ve seen it spelled both ways). Depending on what you read, the first olympics may have actually started 776BC Elis. The brochure I got stated it was the organizing city of the ancient Olympic games. The ancient site of the Olympics at Olympia is still part of Elis department (? – whatever that means). I did read that athletes would train at Elis before going to Olympia. Elis had a theatre, gymnasium, hippodrome, sanctuaries, dwellings and workshops to welcome and accommodate athletes from various states of the ancient world.
So, first we visited the site in Elis which has a large amphitheater built into a hill. It would hold 8,000 spectators. We browsed many ruins and stone blocks in the area.
We saw a huge container which you can see how big it is next to me. This was in a small building at the Elis archeological site that had a few relics displayed.
Leaving the site of olympics in Elis, we drove to the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Elis. We were the only people there! It was small, consisting of 3 large rooms, but the artifacts were labeled in English as well as Greek. The exhibits included items representing various aspects of public and private life.
Pictures of exhibits that were interesting to us:
I love mosaics because The stones are so small and I can’t imagine the level of craftmanship needed to design mosaics like the two above, in ancient times, with the tools they had. So, mosaics fascinate me.
Our last stop was Chlemoutsi Castle. We only had 40 minutes to see what we could before it closed, but I think we could have spent a little more time there. The castle is huge and the main building had two floors. There first floor was the public areas including the reception room, throne room, and garrison. There first floor kitchen was on two floors and it seems the oven was on the second floor. It was built between 1220 and 1223 and was the strongest fortress in the area. It is still one of Greece’s best preserved fortresses, although it has not been fully restored. The second floor was gone, and this would have held the rooms for the castle’s resident (prince?).
Since we had to leave the castle when it closed, we asked the driver to bring us back to the ship, in Katakolon. When ships are in town, Katakolon is a busy place. We decided to try some wine and get a snack. Besides the wine, Dave had a ham and cheese toast and I had a pita with tzatziki. Then I decided I had to have some Baklava since this was our last stop. Now we are too full to eat dinner.
We did go to dinner as it is “chic” night, so always a little special menu. Even though we were not hungry, we had a crispy crab cake for our “starter” and lobster tail for our entree.
We get one of those hours back that we lost earlier in the cruise. Now we are 6 hours ahead of Englewood.
Tomorrow is a sea day, which the cruise line usually puts in at the end of a cruise so everyone has time to pack.
May 10, 2025, Saturday: Today we are in Santorini. I think this is our 4th visit, and we are looking forward to visit the Akrotiri ruins. Every time we have visited in the past, the ruins were not open.
Santorini has experienced earthquakes recently which had disrupted some of the visits by cruise ships and tourists in general. Normally, the ship would be at anchor near the center of the island. Then we would be tendered to a point where we would take a cable car up to the capital city of Fira, or, you could ride donkeys up to Fira, or you could walk up trying to avoid donkey droppings along the way as well as jibes from the donkey handlers who have lost income because you walked up (or down at the end of your visit). Because of the earthquakes, the cable car has not been restored to service, cruise ships are anchoring near the ferry port instead, and no one is using the donkeys, either.
Our ship is at anchor in the middle of the volcanic crater, and we take a tender to shore at the ferry port, to the the bus that will be our transportation on the island today.
After driving up a very steep hill, we drive to the Akrotiri site.
Akrotiri was a Minoan civilization established approximately 4000 years BC. It was destroyed approximately 1600 BC by a volcanic eruption. Evidence of trading was established as it was on a primary sailing route. It was an important point for copper trade based on the moulds that have been found. The city had paved streets, an extensive drainage system, high quality pottery as well as other crafts. The city was built into a hill and the buildings were up to three stories tall. Our guide said there were 15,000 inhabitants and that only 10% of the site has been excavated. Also, no human remains have been found to date.The belief is there was an orderly evacuation before the eruption.
Like Pompeii, the volcanic ash preserved frescoes, pottery, furniture, etc. They used plaster of paris to fill voids in the volcanic ash to recreate some of the items lost in the eruption. Many of the important artifacts recovered are preserved in a museum in Fira. We have visited the museum on a previous trip. Our guide said there are hundreds of boxes of artifacts.
It is a very large site, covered with a roof, and a walkway around the area that has been excavated. I have tried to put descriptions on the pictures we took while touring the site.
After Akrotiri, we drove to the other end of the island and had an hour of free time in Oia, which is famous for watching sunsets. We will not be here long enough to see the sunset. We did see the marble plaza that our guide said was famous.
We walked around Oia a little, which is full of shops and restaurants. With only one hour of free time, we just stopped in a little cafe and had an hour glass of Santorini white wine and a little snack we shared which was chicken skewered on a stick with a piece of pita bread.
Next, we reboarded the bus and drove to the middle of the island to the capital of Santorini, Fira.
We left some USD in a jewelry store in Fira on a prior visit, probably 15 or 20 years ago. My favorite ring with little sapphires and diamonds that I wear everyday is from Fira. We also bought a Greek design necklace and matching earrings at the same time.
We wandered around Fira, found the jewelry store where we purchased the jewelry and tried to find the little bar where we drank wine and looked out over the ocean. But that area has changed and we were not sure the establishment still exists. So I asked Dave to buy me some ice cream which is where we spent our time this trip.
What Dave and I are finding in visiting these places that we visited maybe 20 years ago, is how much more commercialized they have become, and how many more people are around. We are not surprised by changes, but it is more than changes, it is an expansion.
Our one complaint with our tour is that we needed more time in Oia and/or Fira. It would have been nice to have enough time in one of them to have lunch and browse the shops.
So leaving Fira our bus dropped us off at the ferry port where we got a tender back to the ship. After resting a short while we checked the schedule and decided we could not stomach another magician, so we went to one of the lounges to await the party band again tonight. Then dinner, then to our stateroom.
May 9, 2025, Friday: We stayed in Istanbul overnight, and left about noon. Dave and I did not venture off the ship. We treated today like a sea day. We watched one of John Bailly’s (the professor from Miami) lectures on cruise ports on our stateroom TV. He gave the same lecture on the first cruise and again on this second leg. We did not attend either in person because as we expected, we had been to most of the places he talked about.
In order to reach Santorini, we have to sail through the Dardanelles Strait. It is very narrow, and in looking at google maps, I noticed there was one bridge across one of the narrow sections. It just happened that I looked out as we were going under the bridge! That was the high point of our day.
We did not go to the theater as it was a repeat from our first leg, but we went to the atrium and listened to a party band. They were really good, lively, and played songs we knew!
Afterwards, we went to dinner, got a glass of wine to go, and returned to our stateroom.
Tomorrow is Santorini. We don’t arrive until 10:00AM, and we have a tour. We have been to Santorini several times, and even left some USD there on prior visits buying jewelry. We have tried to see the Akrotiri Ruins on previous visits, but they were always closed. We will try again as our tour is suppose to go to the ruins.
May 8, 2025 – Thursday: Some additional thoughts on Ephesus and our guide yesterday….
Our guide’s English was a little hard to understand, but she was full of information, and based on my limited knowledge of Turkey, Ephesus, and its history, I felt she knew her facts. She was forthcoming and open to questions. I did not realize the Turks originally came from Asia in the 11th century. This turned what had been a Greek speaking region into a Turkish Muslim region.
I was also interested that the House of the Virgin Mary is a Muslim shrine as well as a Catholic shrine. Googling, I found the Prophet Mohammad named Mary as one of the “four spiritually perfected women of the world”. Also, there are more than 50 references to Jesus in the Quran, and more than 15 to Mary. Mary is the only woman named in the Quran.
Istanbul!
We have a late arrival into Istanbul, so we went to our restaurant, Blu, for breakfast. We had nice, hot pancakes and french toast which we don’t get in the buffet.
We were invited to the helipad at noon to watch our scheduled 1:00PM arrival.
Since we have been to Istanbul a few times before, even staying in a hotel on one visit, we do not plan to do any tours. We did get off mid-afternoon to find a restaurant for a late lunch. We stopped at “Sarihan Iskembe Karakoy” restaurant. Their menu had partial translations…so Dave ordered a meatball kabab, but it was an unknown meat. I ordered a meat pita, and it was an unknown meat, too, with two Coke Zero’s and 2 little bottles of water. It was OK and the cost was about $31USD. It got us off the ship for awhile and let us get some exercise.
Walking back to the ship we spotted this gas station. I always like to try to convert their price to see how it compares to prices in US.
The later afternoon we just spent relaxing in our stateroom and listening to the Islamic prayers coming over loudspeakers every few hours.
We went to the evening show in the theater. The performer was Sebastian Vanti, and his show was “A Tribute to Frank Sinatra and Friends”. I am not that familiar with many of Frank Sinatra’s songs, but this was the best entertainment option this evening. I felt sorry for the entertainer because the theater was pretty empty – maybe 10% of the seats were full. The ship is overnighting in Istanbul, and many people were out partying. I think the ship offered some late evening tours that included dinner and folkloric shows, too.
After the theater we listened to a band in the atrium, went to a late dinner, then to our stateroom.
Dave, on our balcony, listened to some music from the partying going on in the area right next to the ship. He took this picture of Galata Tower. We climbed to the top of this tower on one of our visits as it has 360° views of Istanbul. It was built in 1348 as a watchtower. It is now a museum and tourist attraction.
May 7, 2025 – Wednesday: We are in Kusadasi, Turkey and have a private tour today. There are 3 other ships in port with us today so the tourist sites will be crowded. Welcoming us in the port is a statue of Ataturk, considered the father of Turkey. I do not know much about politics, but the few things I read about him made Turkey much different than the Arabic Muslim nations. He made primary education free and gave Turkish women equal civil and political rights. I think the Turkish female Muslims have much more freedom than the Arab Muslim women. Our guide today is a young, Muslim woman and said the Arab muslim women are treated like property, which is the same thing our guide in India said.
We met up with our guide just outside the port. Kusadasi is the port for visiting Ephesus. Although we have been to Ephesus before, I wanted to revisit the sights we had seen because of my recent Bible studies about Paul the Apostle who spent a lot of time in Ephesus. When I arranged this tour, I specified no shopping!
This is probably long, so I have written longer descriptions with the pictures, and there are several pictures.
Our first stop claims to be the house of the Virgin Mary. Jesus asked John, an Apostle to take care of his mother. It is believed that John built this house for Mary on the Aladag Mountains, 5 miles away from Ephesus, and Mary lived in the house from 37AD until her death in 48 AD. Catholics do not believe that Mary died, but that she ascended into heaven. It is a Catholic Shrine and is much more touristy than when we visited some 20 years ago. For one thing, we had to stand in line for about 20 minutes where previously we walked right up to the house. There is an outdoor amphitheater where ceremonies take place, a souvenir shop, spigots of holy water, and a wishing wall where you can write a “wish” on a piece of paper, attach it to the wall, and supposedly your wish will come true. As you approach the house, there is a key- hole shaped pool, which resembles a baptismal pool, but our guide said it was a cistern. Photos are not allowed inside the house. The inside of the house is small, and an altar has been placed at one end. There is no furniture and it only takes a few seconds to walk from one end to the other.
The one thing I will say, is it seemed bigger than our visit over 20 years ago.
Next we drove to the ruins of what was once Ephesus, and while it is inland, when Paul visited, it was a port city. As a port city, it was a major departure point for trade routes into Asia Minor.
We walked the marble main street of Ephesus and saw the ruins and reconstruction.
Toward the end of the main Ephesus Street, which was the Adminisrative area of the city, we visited the Terrace Houses.
The Terrace Houses had not been available for us to visit previously because of all the archeological work going on. They are still working on reconstruction and excavating, but are now allowing tourists – for a fee.
In the classical period, 6th-4th century BC, the area under the Terrace Houses was used as a graveyard.
Leaving the Terrace Houses we walk into the area for citizens, and the first building we see is the Library.
After seeing the Great Theater, we left Ephesus.We saw some wildlife at the exit.
We drove to the Basilica of St. John. It is believed that the evangelist St. John had spent his last years in the region around Ephesus and was buried in the southern slope of Ayosolug Hill, inside what is considered the Basilica of St. John. However, our guide said when they excavated the sight, no remains were found. Her thought was perhaps grave robbers stole his body centuries ago.
We stopped at Artemis Temple which used to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world as our last stop before drive back to Kusadasi town center and port. When Paul was preaching in Ephesis, the artisans who were selling images of Artemis were mad because people were converting to Christianity didn’t buy images of Artemis anymore and the artisans were losing business. So they led a mob to find Paul and, not finding him, grabbed two of Paul’s traveling companions and dragged them to the theater. There the mob continued shouting the praise of Artemis for about two hours. They were only quieted when the city clerk gained an audience and reminded the mob they were breaking Roman law in disturbing the peace. Soon afterwards, Paul left Ephesus.
Dave and I both felt like today was the highlight of our trip. It was a long full day, but full of ancient history, which we love.
We went back to the ship, had over 10,000 steps and 13 flights of stairs. So we just wanted to sit and rest for a bit. We have already seen the show “Live”, maybe even multiple times, so we don’t go to the theater tonight. We just showered, went to dinner, and then back to our room.
We are invited to the helipad to watch the arrival into Instanbul tomorrow.
May 6, 2025 – Tuesday: We are in Mykonos which is one of the Cyclades islands of Greece. Our ship is at anchor and we have to take a tender to the port. The most popular shore excursion is a visit to Delos Island. Delos is the mythological birthplace of Apollo and has many ruins of temples, markets, houses, etc. Because we visited Delos on a previous visit to Mykonos, we decided to do something different.
Our tour was called “Scenic Island Drive and Ano Mera Monastery Visit”. We started in a big bus and drove around the island. The island is just over 40 square miles. Our guide says there is one chapel or church for every 6 people on Mykonos because every family, if they can, is supposed to be to build a chapel. It is true that we see chapels everywhere we look. Their religion is Greek Orthodox. The population in winter is 15,000 and 50,000 in summer. There is a tradition that doors and windows and chspel roofs are painted blue for sailors, green for farmers and red for everyone else. Our guide said white chapel roofs are for people who come from somewhere else.
Our first stop was a photo op at Kalo Livadi beach….and it was a beach.
I think the second photo op was called Elia beach…we did not get off the bus.
Then we drove to the little village of Ano Mera. It is small but has a cute village square, with a few shops and tavernas. We went to one taverna where we were served mezé or greek appetizers with a small glass of (diluted) ouzo. This was a cute place and we enjoyed the food and drink. Afterwards we went next door to the monastery, which was pretty small. It consisted of a small chapel where a priest (?) was speaking, but in Greek, so we coukd not understand. The chapel was tiny and maybe would fit 25 people standing in close quarters. Outside the chapel building and up some stairs was a museum of religious artifacts, including garments that would have been worn by the priest. The monastery was constructed in 1542 by two priests. It was renovated in the mid 1700’s. The bell tower is made of marble donated by one of the other islands.
We had less than an hour to spend in Ano Mera, but could have used more time to walk around and explore. Bottom line, we were not happy with the overall tour, but the visit to Ano Mera was interesting.
Our tour ended back to where the tour started, which is where the tender boats are located for going back and forth to the ship. We did not go back to the ship, but walked around Mykonos Town. It is a maze of narrow walkways filled with shops and restaurants. We walked and looked, but have no desire to purchase souvenirs. We did stop at a little restaurant along the water where Dave had a glass of wine and I had a beer. We shared an order of Greek Bruschetta which was bread, tomato and feta cheese. It was nice to sit for a while as Mykonos is beautiful with all the white buildings (which is the law), and the red, blue and green colored doors and roofs.
We caught a tender at just the right time and didn’t have to wait to go back to the ship. The ship will be staying in Mykonos until 10:00PM, but we have an early tour tomorrow morning, so we will stay onboard.
After resting in our stateroom awhile, we checked the evening entertainment which did not look interesting. Probably because the ship will be leaving Mykonos late. So we decided to eat early and then turn in early. Tomorrow we have an early (for us) tour, so we’ll just call it a night.
May 5, 2025 – Monday: Sea Day – I am still congested, but feeling OK. Dave has whatever I had. We lost an hour last night, but because we went to bed early, I think we are not feeling the effects too much today. We went to breakfast, and considered going to the lecture, but it is a repeat from the first part of our trip. So we decided not to go. Just as we were leaving breakfast, the captain announced another medical emergency. He made a U-turn just south of Sicily, and was awaiting the Italian coast guard to send a helicopter to pick up the passenger. My heart aches for that family. They closed off all the top decks and secured the furniture.
When the helicopter came, a person was let down from the helicopter to the front of our ship. Then the helicopter circled until the transport was ready. We did not hang around to watch, but I assume the person was lifted up into the helicopter and the helicopter never landed on the ship. My little video of the person descending from the helicopter will not load. But this is a picture of the helicopter.
After the sick passenger was removed, the captain announced the medical emergency was over and we would arrive in Mykonos at 11:00AM instead of 9:00AM, do 2 hours late. It is not surprising, because it was a long wait between his first announcement of a medical emergency and the arrival of the helicopter. All the while we were stopped in the water.
We have a tour planned for 9:30AM in Mykonos which will either be started later or cancelled.
This is the 3rd medical emergency this trip, and 2nd helicopter evacuation. They removed somebody by ambulance when we were in Barcelona. For all the cruises we have taken, I think we may have had 2 or 3 helicopter evacuations. Several years ago when we were on a cruise and close to Italy, they took someone off the ship in a ship’s tender, and the Italian coast guard circled the ship until the tender returned. We figured Italy was afraid people would jump ship and try to swim to the Italian shore! So I hope this is not an indication of older travelers and things to come.
We pretty much chilled out until time to go get beverages and then go to the show in the theater. Tonights show was Steve Hollington doing a phenomenal tribute to Elton John. His show was unbelievably fantastic. Of course he came out looking like Sir Elton with lights on his shoes and sparkles elsewhere. While he played the piano and sang Sir Elton songs, the video in the background showed clips of Sir Elton and his singing was in perfect timing to the various video clips. Truly, it was amazing, and ended too soon.
Then we went to dinner, and since our favorite table was not available, they sat us in procably the best seat in the house, on a banquette by a window. It was a table fir teo, but we chatted with a very nice couple from Australia that sat next to us.
After dinner, which lasted longer than normal, we went back to our stateroom.
We have messages in our stateroom that since our arrival in Mykonos was delayed 2 hours, our tour is also delayed. No big deal for us – we get to sleep a little longer!
May 4, 2025 – Sunday: Sea Day – We basically did nothing! I was under the weather with my cold, so we tried to rest in our stateroom. A lecture on Greek Art was a late addition, so we missed the live lecture but watched it on TV in the afternoon.
By evening, I was feeling better. It is “Chic” night, so we dressed up. The show in the theater was a repeat, “Life”, so we skipped the theater. We tried to find music in a lounge, but seems like it all stopped at 7:00PM. We listened to DJ music for awhile and went to dinner a little early. After 15 days, Blu has figured out our favorite table and fortunately it was available for us. It is a little separated and with us now both feeling a little under the weather, we were glad not to be close to anyone. After dinner, we went back to our room. Tomorrow is another sea day.
May 3, 2025 – Saturday: Today is the end of our first cruise and the beginning of our second cruise. When they handed out the new information, I found out we lose another hour tomorrow! But, we will get it back at the end of our cruise.
We are in Barcelona, and while we don’t have to get off the ship, Dave and I wanted to get off and run a few errands. We visited a hotel we have booked for two nights in August and took advantage of their bathrooms, I got some batteries, Dave got a chocolate bar, and we got some Euros out of an ATM machine to have on hand for this next part of our trip.
The cruise port authority in Barcelona has a “Cruise Bus”. The ships dock quite a distance from the city, so we were able to use the cruise bus which worked very well. It was 4.5 Euros per person for a round trip ride.
The cruise line gave us a few extra benefits for being booked on a back-to-back cruise. This included discounts in the specialty restaurants, and lunch today in the main dining room which is not available to everyone.
Usually Dave gets sick, but I guess it’s my turn this cruise. I seem to have caught a cold. Fortunately we always bring DayQuil and NyQuil, so I am think with some extra rest, I’ll be OK.
Ship is busy with new people boarding, so we mostly hung out on our balcony.
We took only one picture while we in Barcelona, and it is from our balcony. It is a picture of their famous Gaudi Basilica, Sagrada Familia, which is unfinished, but still being worked on. You can see the cranes in the photo. Dave and I visited the Sagrada Familia on a previous trip, and we both commented that we could see it is more complete. The architect, Antoni Gaudi is buried in the unfinished Basilica. Maybe we will visit next time we are in Barcelona, but tickets have to be purchased way in advance.
The evening show is a comedian, Michael Fabbri. We should have been warned as he did not have a fancy billboard like the other entertainers on the first part of our cruise. He is from England. As he gave his spiel, Dave and I kept looking at each other because we could only understand about 75% of what he was saying, and therefore did not find him funny at all. We left after about 15 minutes and went to one of the lounges to listen to music.
Then to dinner, and then to bed, as my cold is bothering me.
The next two days are sea days, and from looking at the program, it does not look like we will have any good lectures. And with me not feeling the best, we may not participate in many activities. But Tuesday is Mykonos, and we have a tour planned there.
May 2, 2025 – Friday: Today we are in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, which is one of the Balearic Islands, in the Catalonia region, founded in 124BC, by the Romans. We have not been here before, but plan to return on a cruise in August this year. We have a “small group” shore excursion today which today means 18 people instead of 40 people.
Quite a few pictures today, too.
Our guides name is Frank, he speaks English with a British accent, and his father was from Waukesha, Wisconsin. Not sure of his mothers heritage, but he pointed out his college on the tour, which is in Palma de Mallorca.
Our tour bus drove drove along the seafront to Bellver Castle, our first stop. It is a circular, Gothic style castle built in the 14th Century. It was built as a residence for the kings of Majorca, but later was seldom used as a residence. At the end of the 14th Century, it became a prison mostly for political prisoners who subsequently engraved their names on the walls. Our guide pointed out that it has a double moat, but neither was ever filled with water. As I understand it, fresh water was scarce, and the castle sits on top of a hill. The entrance is off set from the walkway as a defensive move so it would be difficult to try battering it open. The tower (keep) sits between the two moats and the main security guard (our guide called him the sheriff) lived in the keep with his family. The keep was also used for storage. As you enter the castle, you walk into a large, open, circular courtyard, with an enclosed two story building around the top. There is a well in the middle of the courtyard indicating a cistern down below. We walked to the top where we had marvelous views of the city. There was a large cement type feature that was oblong, but kind of looked like a kiddie pool. The guide said it was used for doing laundry.
Not related to the castle, but interesting – there are Roman statues and plaques all over the castle! I would guess over 100 objects. Our guide said a Roman Catholic Bishop, Antoni Depuig, later a Cardinal, had connections to Palma de Mallorca, but moved to Rome, apparently in the 18th century. When they were excavating for his villa in Rome, all these old Roman statues were found. The Bishop sent them back to Palma de Mallorca. After some period of time, the owners wanted together rid of them and offered them to the city. The city accepted and displayed them in Bellver Castle.
Leaving the castle, we drove down to the older part of town to visit Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma, more commonly called La Seu. The cathedral was built on a site originally occupied by a Mosque. Construction began in 1229 and continued into the 17th century. It has a beautiful rose window. Our guide said the ceiling is 150 feet high and is the 4th highest in the world. He also said the interior is the size of a football field. Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926), who is famous for his works in Barcelona, including the work in process of Sagrada Familia, oversaw wide-ranging changes in the interior. He added tile floors on top of the original dirt floors, pews for people to sit during services, designed a large canopy to hang above the altar as well as many other changes. It is not the same design as his works in Barcelona which are very unique. There were more recent renovations by Miquel Barceló, which included covering the entire apse in Italian ceramic. It took him 8 years and our guide said Barceló was paid $8 million. Personally, I did not like Barceló’s work. I prefer the traditional Catholic churches where everything is covered in gold!
Leaving the Cathedral, we walked over a glass floor. We could see the ruins underneath and our guide said they were Roman ruins that were 2000 years old.
We walked through some narrow alleyways to get see one of the few remnants of Arabs in Palma de Mallorca, Banys Arabs, or Arab Baths, built around the 11th century. The island of Mallorca was under Muslim rule from about 902AD to 1229AD. There in not much to see, but it is a small 2 room building set in a beautiful garden. The first room was the probably the changing room and the second room was the warm room. Our guide said a cold room probably existed, but these two rooms are all that remain. Also, these baths were for men only.
We walked back to near where our bus was waiting, and Frank gave us 40 minutes of free time to check out the shops or get a drink. We walked around, and made a small purchase in a mini mart. Then back to the bus which brought us back to the ship.
Upon entering our room, we have some sweet treats from the food and beverage team onboard as a gift for staying onboard for the next sailing!
We zoned out and missed our opportunity to go to the helipad for our sail-away! We always enjoy those, but about that time Dave was showering and Im sure I was just zoned out. Bummer!
We did go to the evening show which was billed as the “Ultimate Farewell Variety Show”. It was really good! I think we have had the best entertainment on this cruise than we have seen for years! So first Johan Anderson came out and sang a couple of songs, then the Boy Band Revolution – whose show we missed_ then the cruise director sang Louis Armsrongs song, “ It’s a Wonderful World”. He definitely has the voice – he sounds like the older brother – Brad Barone – in Everybody Loves Raymond. Then Cece Teneal sang a couple of songs and then Carlos Nebot finished it off. These were all the phenomenal performers this week and I give Celebrity credit for bringing them together for a send off variety show. Phenomenal! Interesting that Johan Andersson and Carlos Nebot both live in Mallorca!
After the show we had dinner in Blu. The ship is much quieter than it has been all week. I assume lots of people are packing up to depart tomorrow morning…early tomorrow morning! We have 10 more days before reality sets in.
We have to meet tomorrow morning at 9:30AM to go through immigration, and then we will wander around Barcelona on our own for awhile.
May 1, 2025 – Thursday: Today we are in Cartagena, Spain and our 3.5 hour shore excursion tour is titled: Cartagena and Concepción Castle.
Lots of pictures today.
We were given an overview of the city on a short bus tour, but actually the interesting part of the city is small. Many shops, especially those in the newer areas are closed because May 1 is a holiday. But most of the shops and restaurants in the old town are open. The old town is the touristy area and there are 3 cruise ships visiting Cartagena today, so of course they’d be open to serve the tourists.
We drove by a Peral Submarine exhibited on a square which was the first fully capable military submarine, and it was electric.
This morning at breakfast, Dave pointed out submarine bunkers built into a mountain. We asked our guide about them and he said they were built by Russians during the Spanish Civil war, but were never finished. A navy shipyard was built in Cartagena and they built a lot of submarines. We saw a submarine in the water as we were leaving the port.
Cartagena was established in 227 BC and the original name was Qart-Hadast which means new city. It was conquered many times because of its strategic location, harbors and silver mines. Hannibal departed Qart-Hadasto on his famous expedition to Italy across the alps with his elephants. Not sure when the name was changed to Cartagena.
Our first stop was a museum showing excavations revealing a funeral crypt built in 16th and 17th centuries, and what looked like altar.
The museum had the ruins of ramparts built about 220 BC visible. This was the Punic wall, one of the few remaining Carthaginian relics still found in Spain. It was a double wall with the area between the walls open and a double floor. The lower floor was used for stables and the upper floor was soldiers quarters.
Then we got back on the bus for a short drive, and we began our LONG walk UP to the Concepción Castle. There is a lift that will take people up part way, but we did the walk.
The castle stands on the hill of the same name, which in the past has been home to a Roman temple dedicated to Asclepius, a Moorish fortress, a medieval castle and the siren which warned the population of bombing raids during the Civil War. In addition, the best panoramic views of the city and its natural harbor are those afforded by the fortress. The castle is mostly just ruins, and really not much to see. The benefit of visiting are the views of the city from the high vantage point. However our guide did point out the walls which were built at different times and different methods. The oldest wall was built by the Punic’s or Carthaginians using small pebbles and sand, kind of an ancient concrete, to form the walls between two boards. When the mixture dried out, they removed the boards and build another layer on top of the first one. The Roman walls, which are newer, used very large stones with mortar between the stones to hold them in place.
We could see the remains of the Roman Coliseum in the distance, and we walked past the Roman Amphitheater which was discovered under a housing development – I think around 1920.The archeologists are still working at this site.
We were given 40 minutes of free time in the old town. We walked a bit, but really wanted to sit down. So we found a little cafe, sat outside and had a glass of wine.
After the 40 minutes were up, we met up with our guide for our bus ride back to the ship. In all honesty, we could have walked. All day we could see the ship from our various stops. Basically the ship docks in the old town.
As we were walking to our bus to go back to the ship we passed these people dressed in period dress, having a picnic and playing croquet.
Late lunch on the ship in the buffet – a little disappointed in the offerings! So I finished with some soft serve ice cream.
We finally have a beautiful day and relaxed on our balcony and watched sailaway.
The evening show is not thrilling to us, but not much else to do. It is a lady playing the violin. Her name is Juliette Primrose and she is from New Zealand. She is very talented snd we managed to last through her whole show! A violin is not our first choice of entertainment.
After the show, dinner in our restaurant, Blu. Dave and I both had the Barramundi which was very good. After dinner, Dave grabbed a glass of wine and I got a bottle of water to take back to the room. We need to be ready fir an early (for us) shore excursion in Palma de Mallorca tomorrow. The port today, Cartagena, and tomorrow, Palma de Mallorca, are two ports we have not been to before.
April 30, 2025 – Wednesday: No more time changes! Today is our last sea day for this leg of our trip. We went to “Elite Continental Breakfast” in Tuscan Grill, one of the specialty restaurants. This breakfast is open to passengers with loyalty status on Celebrity, which we have.
After breakfast we went to two lectures. The first was with John Bailly, the professor from Miami. His talk was titled “Barcelona: City of Dragons”. He says there are several myths about dragons and Barcelona, and images of dragons can be found in the architecture of buildings. He also said dragons with wings are of European design, and those without wings are Chinese.He pointed out various sights to visit in Barcelona. We have been to Barcelona a few times, will be going there on this cruise, and plan to be back in August when we cruise again. We made notes of places we have not seen, including some places to eat.
The second lecture was with Dr. Keith Pritchard, the gentleman from Wales. His talk was titled “The Man Who Never Was”. A book snd a movie were written about this event. The short version is World War II, the British and US devised a scheme to make Germany think the British and US were going to attack Germany in Greece, where the plan was to attack in Sicily. The British they took the body of a homeless man that died and created a military identity for him. They dumped his body in the ocean where it would wash up onshore and the Germans would find it. They dumped his body with official looking papers indicating the British & US were going to attack in Greece. The Germans prepared for supposed British & US attack in Greece, and the British & US actually attacked in Sicily. At the end of his talk, Dr. Pritchard suggested there may be more to the story than what has been told, as some of the details are still classified. It was an interesting talk.
About this time, the ship entered the Strait of Gibraltar. We were able to get a picture of Tangiers on the African continent, but the European side was totally fogged in, so it was impossible to see the Rock of Gibraltar when we sailed past. We did spot some dolphins however! Actually we saw several pods of dolphins!
There was a Captain’s Club event scheduled for 5:00 which we planned to attend. When we arrived, there were hoards of people waiting to get in the room. We decided we did not need to be there, but weren’t sure what to do for the evening! We went to a lounge to listen to some so-so music with Dave switching our seats 3 times to get a better location. Then we decided to goto the evening show, which was the magician, Matt McGurk, again. He is very good, but we just aren’t crazy about magic. Maybe its a feeling of being deceived which is not comfortable to us. So if there were another option, we would not have gone to his show.
After the show, we had dinner and back to our stateroom to rest up for tomorrows tour in Cartagena, Spain.
April 29, 2025 – Tuesday: Another sea day, but no more time changes! We are finally on the same time as Barcelona where this first cruise ends, and I think it is the same time as Rome, where our second cruise ends.
After a quick breakfast in the buffet, we went to the morning lectures. The first one was with Dr. Keith Prichard, the Psychologist from Wales. He is 80 years old and just seems like a delightful guy. Every lecture he wears a different color vest with a matching bow tie. He is a great presenter and very interesting. Today’s lecture was “Who Pulls My Strings”. According to Dr. Richards, humans have to make a lot of decisions each day. We like to have a limited number of options when making those decisions. An example he used was a grocery store with 25 different kinds of ketchup. Aldi grocery store have taken a different approach and offer maybe 3 or 4 choices of ketchup, and have been more successful. He discussed hiw we are deceived in advertising, and how salespeople will offer compliments to you to better set your mood. It was very interesting.
The second lecture was with William Kramer, titled “The Overview Effect-Returning From Space”. We have attended several of his lectures which have all been connected to space and space travel. He discussed how astronauts felt when being in space and how it changed their perspective. He said when they come back they express a feeling of awe, a connection to humanity, highlighting the beauty and fragility of the earth, a desire to protect the environment, and oneness with civilization. When viewing earth from space, in the first day, the astronauts point out their country, then in the next day, they point out their continent, then they point out earth. When they look out in the other direction, into the vast outer space, they feel coldness whereas they feel warmth when looking at earth. When William Shatner returned from his Jeff Bezos Blue Origin, he said looking out into outer space was seeing death! Interesting!
Not much activity in the afternoon. We went to the evening show – “Feel the Funk”. We did not feel the funk, and left the show early. The costumes were sparkly, but otherwise, just not entertaining to us.
So an early “Chic Night” dinner with crab cakes and lobster. Then the martini bar where a DJ was playing music and taking requests. There was a medical emergency with an announcement looking for a male with O- blood, and then later the person was taken off the ship by helicopter. We did not see it, but read a report on Facebook.
There was a medical emergency with an announcement looking for a male with O- blood, and then later the person was taken off the ship by helicopter. We did not see it, but read a report on Facebook.
Tomorrow is our last sea day.
April 28, 2025 – Monday: We lost another hour of sleep last night, and tonight we lose another one! But tonight will be the last one. A total of 6 lost hours between Florida and Barcelona, but lots of sea days to ease the pain. This morning we had a “Continuing Cruisers” meeting at 9:00AM. An officer gave us information about what is happening on May 3 when our current cruise ends in Barcelona, and new passengers board the ship for the cruise from Barcelona to Rome. We have to go through immigration in Barcelona, but otherwise, not much change for us as we have the same stateroom.
After our meeting, we skipped the lecture from John Bailly, the professor from Miami, which was about his many cruises and visits to various ports, and getting immersed in the culture. We felt we have probably been to most of the ports, and probably won’t be returning.
Returning to our stateroom, we complained it always feels cold, and customer relations first suggested we turn to thermostat to “red”. As Dave rolled his eyes, he explained it is turned as far red as it will go. So, they said they would send someone to check the thermostat.
We did attend “What’s Art Got to do with Outer Space” by William Kramer. It was not as interesting as some of his other lectures. He pointed out that there have been artist representations of outer space for centuries, historical art may have been very similar to current rocket ships and space travel, and Leonardo Di Vinci was ahead of his time.
We returned to our room to find it absolutely freezing, and whoever came to fix our problem, turned the thermostat as far as it would turn to “blue”, which indicates cold. So Dave called again. It was past lunchtime, but we didn’t go to lunch as Dave wanted to speak to the person when they came to check out the problem. When the repair person came, he said he was told that our room was too hot! Anyway, it is finally fixed. So we had a late lunch – we went to the pool grill and got burgers and fries for lunch.
Losing these hours has caught up with us, so we took a little nap in the afternoon.
We went to the evening show in the theater with Johan Andersson, who is from Sweden. He is a vocalist and also played the guitar and piano. He sang a lot of songs from the 60’s and 70’s – Queen, Rolling Stones, Elton John, Elvis Presley, etc., and ended with Abba since they are from Sweden, too. He was pretty good.
After the show, we went to dinner, and then back to our stateroom.
Since we are 6 hours ahead of home, I was awakened about 2:00AM with a “chain-text” from Lily: “Copy this and send to 10 people and your wish will come true!”. She was sending this about 8:00PM her time. I guess I was one of her 10 people. I hope her wish came true!
April 27, 2025 – Sunday: Our port city today is Ponta Delgada, Portugal in the Azores. The Azores is an island chain of 9 islands and we are visiting São Miguel, which is the largest and most populous island. We do not arrive until 10:00 AM and we have a ships tour planned which starts at 1:50PM. The weather is looking rainy, so we stayed on the ship and just took it easy until time to leave for our tour.
Our tour was called “Village of Sete Cidades and Wine Tasting”. “Sete Cidades” means “Island of seven tribes or seven peoples”. What we saw was a small village in the center of a volcanic crater. The area is known for it’s lagoons. When we arrived in the village, it started raining. We walked to the edge of a lagoon. In the right circumstances, the water would look blue, but on this rainy day, it did not look very blue. Our guide said we could also visit a coffee shop or walk to a church, but with the rain, we decided to get back on the bus. Of course, as soon as the allotted time of our visit was over, and everyone was back on the bus, it quit raining.
The next stop was a photo opportunity at a lagoon, Lagoa de Santiago. It is easy to see it was formed by volcanic activity.
Across the road from the Lagoa de Santiago lagoon, we had a nice view of the two lagoons which are well known because one has a green color and the other has a blue color (we visited the edge of the blue color one at the village, in the rain).
We drove on to the Vista do Rei viewpoint which, on a clear day, gives a panoramic view of the two lagoons. You can see how the two lagoons are separated by a bridge. Our guide said the lake with the green color is because it is shallow and has more algae, where the blue one is deeper and no algae grows because of the depth of the water. As we stood at the overlook point, the clouds lifted enough for Dave to get a picture, but when we first arrived, we could not see anything.
There is an infamous deserted hotel at this overlook. It was open in the 80’s, but closed shortly after opening as its remote location did not attract tourists. The deserted building is a tourist attraction now, and people climb on the roof to get better views of the green and blue lagoons. We did not explore the hotel as it is really falling apart and we did not want to risk having cement falling on us. Besides, with the weather, the views were not that great.
We reboarded our bus and drove back to Ponta Delgada, where our ship is docked. We were escorted to a very nice hotel that hosted our wine and cheese tasting. We had a red and a white wine, and four different cheeses as well as crackers, breadsticks and breads. This was the best part of our tour. We liked one of the cheeses which had a drier texture, but based on the number of days ahead of us, we did not want to hold it over until we fly home on May 14.
Back on the ship, we went to the Cece Teneal’s show before dinner. Her show was titled “Divas of Soul”. She has a wonderful voice and is entertaining, but we enjoyed her first show which honored Aretha Franklin, much better.
After the show we had dinner, visited a lounge to listen to music, and then back to our stateroom.
April 26, 2025 – Saturday: Another sea day, and we lost another hour overnight. But because the lectures are early today, we set our alarms to get up early and go to breakfast before the lectures.
The first lecture was another one by John Bailly, the professor from Miami. He is interesting, but he throws out a lot of facts, and in my opinion, it makes his presentations a bit hard to follow while still being interesting. Today he spoke on “History of Miami”. He had several recommendations of places to visit snd places to eat, but again, it all passed by so quickly that I remember very little. I do remember him talking about the Deering Estate which was the original site of an indian settlement. He also spoke about Henry Flagler and the railroad. He gave credit to several women that were instrumental in the development of Miami.
The second lecture was another one by Dr. Keith Pritchard which is a delightful, 80 year old gentleman from Wales, whose profession was Psychiatry. He also worked for the British equivalent to the Secret Service. He is very interesting and his presentations are easy to follow. Today’s lecture was titled “Teach Your Grandchildren to Lie”. He described different types of lies, where the worse is downright hateful, and damaging. Others are white-lies where one is making themselves sound better or with more experience such as when applying for a job. But he said social lies are acceptable and possibly required. This type of lie is like when you go to someones house for dinner, and the dinner is awful, but you tell the hosts you enjoyed the food. He said by 4 years old, children already know how to lie. For example if they sneak a cookie, and then when asked, refuse to admit it. It was an interesting presentation.
This afternoon, the gentleman from Spain, Carlos Nesbot, gave a matinee performance, and the theater was packed. Dave and I tend to not enjoy vocalists, but we have really enjoyed Carlos and Cece Teneal (who sang Aretha Franklin songs one evening). Cece will be performing another evening, singing songs by “Women of Soul”. Anyway, this afternoon was Carlos. He has a fabulous voice with a wide range, and his songs are from Queen, Marvin Gaye, Opera, Spanish music, etc. He is really easy to listen to!
We went to the evening show which was titled “Broadway Caberet “. Four members of the cast sang familiar songs from broadway musicals. We recognized all the songs except two from the musical “Hairspray”, which we never saw.
Then dinner, a little time in a lounge listening to a singer before returning to our stateroom. Tomorrow we will be in Ponta Delgada, a Portugeuse island in the Azores. Then, two days in a row of 23 hour days to adjust to the time in Europe. A total of 6 hours difference.
April 25, 2025 – Friday: We have decided we kinda like breakfast in the buffet because we really do not eat big breakfasts. We are able to get juice, coffee, fruit and maybe a muffin or scrambled eggs and sausage pretty quickly. Sometimes the hard part is finding a table because apparently lots of other people on the ship like a quick breakfast.
After breakfast we attended two lectures by presenters we have heard before.
The first lecture was by William Kramer and is a continuation of his previous lectures on space travel. Today the topic was “Creating Homo Space-ians”. He discussed how rockets and space travel is being explored by private enterprise rather than governments. Unfortunately when Elon Musk was mentioned, there was cheers and boo’s. Poor Elon is taking the fall because people hate Trump. Mr. Kramer mentioned many projects currently taking place as well as future space explorations. He mentioned the Japanese have a space station where I thought the International Space Station was the only one. Some of the space travel could take years, which means babies could be born, grow up and die, before the destination is reached. Their whole life would be on a rocket ship. I guess thats hard for me to understand or maybe even accept! But it could happen sometime in the future.
The second lecture was with Dr. Keith Prichard, who we have heard before. His presentation was “Laughter, the Best Medicine”. He was a psychologist in his professional life, so this was one of his areas of interest. He showed us all kinds of film clips and the audience was laughing. So it was a fun presentation.
We are not big on magicians, but the evening show was a magician. He had a big personality, and did some interesting magic tricks – especially with cards.
Then a late dinner and to bed.
April 24, 2025 – Thursday: After losing another hour of sleep last night, we managed to get up a little earlier this morning. Fortunately, today will be a 24 hour day!
After a breakfast in the buffet, we went to two lectures. The first was with William Kramer entitled “Is there Life Beyond Earth”. I think he called himself an “Astrobiologist”. I think he is a very good presenter. His presented several different experiments being conducted worldwide, not just by US, looking for lifeforms throughout the galaxy. Some of the experiments have been conducted for years whil others are current and being planned for the future. He compared our sun to a grain of sand and said there are so many planets in the universe that you could fill a train of tank cars with grains of sand to represent all the other planets. (Not sure if that sentence makes sense). He said Stephen Hawking had a different point of view: by telling whatever is out there that we are here, we may become their prey! So Stephen Hawking did not think we should be looking for trouble out in the universe, but to take care of earth and what we have here. Our speaker, Mr. Kramer, believes that with the universe as large as it is, it is likely there is life elsewhere.
The second lecture was with John Bailly who presented “Grand Exchange from The Americas to Europe”. (Yesterday was Grand Exchange from Europe to the Americas”). He has a lot of good information, but he throws out so many facts and information that he is a little difficult to follow. This is one of the slides from his presentation which I found interesting, which shows all the origin of agricultural products that are now used worldwide.
We did some walking on the track to get a little exercise. It is pretty windy on the open decks.
We went to the production show in the theater, “Topper”, which we think we have seen before. The singing, dancing, aerobatics and costumes made it entertaining.
We had a great filet mignon in Blu, our dining room. After dinner, we went to the martini bar to listen to a Queen sing-a-long. I sat next to a lady from Canada who doesn’t understand why Trump is causing tension between our two countries…and neither do I. We actually agreed on a lot of things that Trump is doing, such as trying to rid biological men from women’s sports, so it was a good discussion.
April 23, 2025 – Wednesday: Today is a sea day. We lost an hour of sleep last night, so we were not up early. We went to the theater to listen to two lectures.
The first lecture was by a former professor, John Bailly, from Florida International University in Miami. The topic was “Grand Exchange from Europe to the Americas”. He gave lots of information, but almost so much that he was a little hard to follow. His message was that that food, animals, etc. were removed from their native lands and transported to countries around the world earlier than you would expect. Horses, cows and pigs were introduced to North America by the explorers. Spaghetti with tomato sauce is not native to Italy. Noodles were first made in China. Tomatoes were originally from Peru and were tiny – the size of a fingernail! But over time, horticulture increased their size and enterprising Italian cooks adopted noodles and tomatoes, putting tgem together, resulting in pasta with tomato sauce. He had many examples of how animals, foods, traditions, religions spread worldwide.
The second lecture was part 2 about Columbus – was he a friend or fiend. He was searching for gold. Columbus on his journeys brought disease to South America and Caribbean Islands which decimated the native populations, captured people and in effect, started the slave trade. At the end of the lecture, most people thought he was more fiend than friend.
The rest of the day was uneventful, but we did a (very) little walking, got dressed for the evening, visited one of the lounges, and went to the early show. The entertainer, Carlos Nebot, was billed as a singer and guitarist. However, he was very entertaining. His music spanned several genres from Amore to Purple Rain. He sang some song in what I assume was Spanish, also Italian, and English. He had a phenomenal voice and a great range. We really enjoyed his show. Then to a mediocre dinner, and then back to our stateroom.
We lose another hour tonight, but we will set our alarms to try to get going a little earlier tomorrow.
April 22, 2025 – Tuesday: We are in Bermuda today. I convinced Dave to rent a car this visit. It is a tiny electric car, and Dave is not happy with the legroom.
But by having our own transportation, we can go wherever we like. The last time we were in Bermuda, it was a national holiday, and we did not see much. Today we set out to see some sights we missed last time.
Our first stop was Horseshoe Beach to see the pink sand. The temperature is about 70°, so a little too cold for us to make it a beach day, but I wanted to see the pink sand at the famous Horseshoe Beach. So we were expecting PINK sand…and it did have a slight pink tinge, more so when it was wet. The water is a beautiful aqua color, and it is a gorgeous beach. The sand was not as dark a pink as we expected.
Our next stop, which we had to backtrack to reach, was Gibbs Hill Lighthouse. We accidentally passed it and went to Horseshoe Beach first. We do not think the roads have good signage…especially when you are driving on the “wrong” side of the road (You drive on the left in Bermuda).
Gibbs Hill Lighthouse was designed in London and built in 1846, made of cast iron. There are 185 steps to climb to the top…we decided not to make the climb. The grounds were interesting and we had good views from ground level as the base is about 245 feet above sea level. An old weathervane that was originally on top of the lighthouse was displayed on the grounds. It was replaced by radar and the weathervane sits on the ground.
Our next stop was supposed to be Bermuda’s Botanical Gardens, but upon arriving we were told the Gardens were closed as they were preparing for an exhibition.
So next we drove to the Verdmont House, which is an 18th century home filled with antiques. It was used as a residence until the mid 20th century with virtually no structural changes since it was erected approximately 1710. No electricity and no plumbing. Many of the antiques are not original to the house and have been donated or loaned to the current owner, Bermuda National Trust. It sets on a hill with views out to the ocean, and well groomed gardens.
We had hoped to visit a couple more spots, but based on our limited time in Bermuda, and lunchtime, we headed to Hamilton. We stopped in Hamilton on our last visit, but everything was closed, even the restaurants, because of the national holiday. So we wanted to spend some time walking around and checking out the shops.
Because it was lunchtime, we ate outside at Hog Penny Pub. Hog Penny Pub was the inspiration for the “Bull & Finch Pub” in Boston, also known as the Cheers bar. I had a Hawaiian Lamb burger, which was served with the standard lettuce, tomato and onions, but also pineapple slices! I had to add a little salt, but otherwise it was tasty. Dave got Wahoo fish bites. With our 2 diet cokes, it was a $65 lunch, but not unexpected as Bermuda is pricey.
After lunch we wandered around and walked past the Cabinet Building which is where Parliament meets. On the grounds is a statue of Sally Bassett. In 1730 she was burned alive at the stake for being convicted of “suspicion of poisoning several persons”. She maintained her innocence until her death. In 2008 when the statue was erected, it was the first time an enslaved person had been memorialized in Bermuda.
We walked down Front Street and looked in a couple of stores, but the street is mostly lined with restaurants and bars.
After visiting Hamilton,we headed back to the Royal Naval Dockyard where our ship is docked. We had a pretty full day and used most of the time we were allocated in Bermuda.
This evenings show does not look interesting to us, so we tried to find a lounge with music and seats…ended up trying the martini bar where there was suppose to be a DJ – but we did not see or hear him.
We went to dinner and were disappointed with the slow service. We have to find a better time to go to dinner.
After dinner we stopped back at the martini bar for a nightcap, and then to our stateroom. We lose another hour of sleep tonight.
April 21, 2025 – Monday: Another sea day. We went to two lectures: “The Age of Discovery” and “Looking for Life in all the Strange Places”. The evening show was a tribute to Aretha Franklin by Cece Teneal and she was excellent!
She had everyone in the theater dancing at their seats, clapping, and singing along. We have been having a hard time finding seats in lounges where there’s music! Tomorrow we will be in Bermuda.
April 20, 2025 – Easter Sunday. We missed the church service this morning – I forget to check the time. No pictures today.
Pretty quiet sea day for us. Listened to a lecture, “From Chinese Kites to Musk on Mars”, went to show, “Live” which featured the Celebrity singers and dancers as well as some acrobatics. Tonight we lose an hour…I think we have 5 “23 hour” days on the crossing, since we are traveling west to east. I prefer transatlantic crossings from Europe to USA because they are east to west, so we get “25 hour” days.
We had dinner in “Blu” which is the restaurant for Aqua Class staterooms. I had an almond encrusted scallop for my “starter” and lamb for my entree…I didn’t think the scallop was anything special, and the lamb was maybe a little over done. Dave had crab bisque for his “starter” and salmon for his entree. Went to a game show, and then a lounge. The lounge singer was not very good, so we left and headed back to our stateroom.
April 19, 2025, Saturday: With several sea days on the first of two cruises, there won’t be much to write about. We had no issues driving from our hotel by the Orlando airport to Port Canaveral. Deciding to get a hotel room and leave on Friday instead of Saturday was a good decision. Just a long drive from Englewood. Embarkation was smooth with no lines and no waiting. We were scheduled to board at 11:30AM and we we walking onto the ship at 11:27! A little confused as all aboard time was 2:30PM, sail away was suppose to be 4:30PM and we actually left port about 5:30PM. As the ship was backing away from the dock, we saw a turtle swimming around in the water. He took one look at us and then did a deep dive! As we headed out to sea, we saw a SpaceX boat. I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised because we are close to Cape Canaveral.
After dropping our carryons in our cabin, which wasn’t ready yet, we walked around the ship. We are pretty familiar with this class of ship as we have been on sister ships, and maybe even this ship, before. The ships were not open, but I spotted some Mary Frances Handbags that I love to look at because they are so unique – but totally unpractical. Would never fork out the cash to buy one and just have it sit in my closet!
Saturday was our 40th anniversary so we planned dinner in Murano’s which is a specialty restaurant. The service was very attentive! For appetizers, Dave had a Phyllo Baked Anjou Pear and I had Wild Forest Mushroom Cappuccino which was a soup. We both liked our appetizers. Our entree was Chateaubriand for Two. It was very tender and tasty. For dessert we had a sampler which was 7 small portions of something like flavored puddings. They also brought us some chocolates, AND a chocolate cake for our anniversary! We brought the anniversary cake back to our room as we were just too full! After dinner we went to the evening show which was a comedian, Jeff Shaw. He was OK – very energetic!
Then we went to one of the bars and listened to some music wrote heading to bed.
May not be much to write about until after Bermuda on Tuesday, April 22.
4/28/2025 – Friday: We left a day early since it is such a long drive to Port Canaveral. Left about 2:10PM and arrived about 7:00PM. Going to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse.
Itinerary:
| Date | Arrive | Depart | |
| Saturday 4/19 | Port Canaveral | 12:00 PM | |
| Saturday 4/19 | Port Canaveral | 5:00 PM | |
| Sunday 4/20 | At Sea | ||
| Monday 4/21 | At Sea | ||
| Tuesday 4/22 | Royal Navy Dockyard, Bermuda | 8:00 AM | 5:00 PM |
| Wednesday 4/23 | At Sea | ||
| Thursday 4/24 | At Sea | ||
| Friday 4/25 | At Sea | ||
| Saturday 4/26 | At Sea | ||
| Sunday 4/27 | Ponta Delgada, Portugal | 10:00 AM | 7:00 PM |
| Monday 4/28 | At Sea | ||
| Tuesday 4/29 | At Sea | ||
| Wednesday 4/30 | At Sea | ||
| Thursday 5/1 | Cartagena, Spain | 8:00 AM | 5:00 PM |
| Friday 5/2 | Palma de Mallorca, Spain | 8:00 AM | 5:00 PM |
| Saturday 5/3 | Barcelona, Spain | 5:00 AM | 5:00 PM |
| Sunday 5/4 | At Sea | ||
| Monday 5/5 | At Sea | ||
| Tuesday 5/6 | Mykonos, Greece | 9:00 AM | 8:00 PM |
| Wednesday 5/7 | Ephesus, Turkey | 7:00 AM | 5:00 PM |
| Thursday 5/8 | Istanbul, Turkey | 1:00 PM | |
| Friday 5/9 | Istanbul, Turkey | 11:30 AM | |
| Saturday 5/10 | Santorini, Greece | 10:00 AM | 8:00 PM |
| Sunday 5/11 | Olympia, (Katakolon), Greece | 12:00 PM | 8:00 PM |
| Monday 5/12 | At Sea | ||
| Tuesday 5/13 | Rome, Italy | 5:00 AM | |
| Tuesday 5/13 | Rome, Italy | ||
| Wednesday 5/14 | Rome, Italy | 1:20 PM | |
| Wednesday 5/14 | Boston, Logan, MA | 4:25 PM | 8:25 PM |
| Wednesday 5/14 | Tampa, FL | 11.42 PM |
