Roland4

I suspect it depends on the number of sea days and where they fall. We just got off 12 days on Symphony and our two sea days were within the first six days of the cruise. They did do a dinner, but no lunches.

We were out on tour when it happened, but a couple of the staff said it came in far too fast, and it sounded like a bomb went off when it hit!! The sand-fall continues today in Mykonos, but not nearly as badly. It looks like a light fog in the air and everything feels gritty. The Lido guys were washing down all the deck furniture and the pool deck itself this morning. We didn't want to get in the way, so I couldn't check the sand level in the pool!🙂

At the end of the day we turned Nafplion into an "in-port sea day"!! We needed the time off after five days of all-day tours, plus it was a grey, showery and dreary day! Then to top it off the Namseem winds arrived, filled the air with sand, and a weird orange colour! When we walked across the pool deck, there was sand in the bottom of the pool, and I would not be surprised if the pool has a beach tomorrow! 😮😮

It turned into an interesting afternoon. About 4:00 we started seeing smoke in the air just above the town. By 5:00 there was a raging inferno burning up into the hills above the town!! Thankfully, the howling winds pushed the flames up into the hills above the town, but it looked pretty scary from the ship! Finally it came time to depart, and nothing happened. And nothing happened. And nothing happened! Apparently the winds and waves were so intense, they could not capture the final tender! It took almost two hours, and multiple attempts. I watched the second last one from Deck 7, and as the tender came alongside, a gust of wind pitched the bow of the tender into the hull and forced it to back off. Finally, it came in. They were able to latch onto the bow davit, and then two crew manhandled the davit into the stern. The moment they got contact, the cables tightened and they pulled it out of the water! The seas are fairly intense, but fortunately are running mostly from behind us as we head west toward Nafplion!

Our first, and hopefully last, itinerary disruption was just announced by the Captain. The forecast for Santorini tomorrow is for 50 knot winds in the anchorage, so our stop has been cancelled. We are instead going to Nafplion, which is certainly not Santorini, but we were there on Esprit in 2017 and quite enjoyed it! And the side benefit is we don't have to get up at 00:Dark-Hundred as we would have had to do for our very early tour departure!!!!! 😁

Sliding back on topic! We were in the Osterria two nights ago and are now firmly on the side of liking it better than Prego. They have made a few changes to the menu since we dined there on Serenity last September, adding a Caprese Salad option and a Filet Steak option that I don't recall being there. We enjoyed it so much, we are going again the last night of the cruise! We did the Vintage Room last night and it was amazing as usual! The room is a little smaller than on Serenity, but we had a full table of 12, with lots of wine and lots of conversation!! A good time was had by all!!

There is a larger table in the centre section that I always thought was the Captain's Table, We had dinner with the Captain after the Society party, but there were only six of us, so we were at the next table. Only time this cruise we have been in the centre section, but then we have only been in Waterside three nights of the first eight! Had a great time tonight in the Vintage Room!!!

Can't say that I did, but pushing 4 two-tops together to create one would not be a problem.

The previous cruise count is honored. We were "recognized" for our 45th cruise on our current cruise. It is these new milestone "benefits" that are effective Jan 1/23.

On the one Formal Optional night on this cruise, the dress ran the gamut from Tuxes and Ball Gowns, through dark suits and dresses all the way down to "Did you look in the mirror before left your suite???" So yes, people are dressing as they wish.

We thought the all day tour was about an hour too long and we personally could have done without the Grand Bazaar as we are not shoppers. Beyond that, we enjoyed both tours, and we certainly learned a lot about the history of Istanbul!

But the fountain in the Cove/Atrium is running again! It seems to me you once commented on that!

Thank you from the bottom of my Digital Klutz heart!!!😁

We did the V-E-R-Y L-O-N-G all day Legacy of The Ottomans yesterday that went to the Sulieman Mosque (Blue Mosque was closed), Top Kapi Palace, lunch at a Michelin Star restaurant, and the Grand Bazaar. Today was Asian Istanbul and Bosphorous Cruise, which had us back on board by 1:30. There is new cruise port facility in Istanbul that makes getting in and out for tours very easy! We depart Istanbul at 8:00 this evening.

It's me Patty!!!!!😮 I am still learning how to use my iPhone and the pictures saved in an HEIC format. Had to figure out how to change them to jpeg. I tried replacing them, but now I am getting download errors. Turkey is partially blocking Starlink, they are still "evaluating it", and I think that may be the problem. Since I have passed the allowed time to edit, I will try reposting the pictures either later this evening or tomorrow. I did discover that if you download the individual HEIC files, you can then open the pictures, or at least I could on my Surface tablet.