RachelG

Thankful we didn’t have to have a negative test to return.

I am negative and would have gotten it by now if I were going to. George is off quarantine tomorrow.

Pretty sure it was dinner the last night of the cruise.

No, he is not seriously I’ll, and getting better. We are definitely glad we went! He and I are both fully vaccinated and double boosted.

Finally I am caught up enough to post. We got back Sunday night at midnight. Monday George was coughing and hacking which got worse on Tuesday, and he lost taste and smell. Covid positive. I am fine. He started one of the new anti virals, and is much better today (Friday), just losing his mind from talking on phone all day and trying to do all his work remote. He is currently out in the back yard shooting things, no idea what. I make him wear a mask if I am around and am sleeping upstairs.

We have been there multiple times and have always just used our waterproof hiking shoes

Enjoying your posts and photos. How do you manage to get the photos to post in the right orientation? Mine post upside down at least half the time

We have been to Ecuador many times, and I would hardly refer to it as a cesspool. We have walked around on our own in both Quito and Guayaquil and felt safe. Went to church in Mantas. I would happily go back in normal times.

But the real and most important question for me is who will acquire Endeavor and maybe the River boats. I have no interest at all in the traditional ships. I will stick with Regent for that type of cruise. But Endeavor would be a great acquisition for Silversea and would definitely be a ship I would sail on.

I was told on our cruise last week, by a staff member who should know, that they are restricting capacity to a certain degree to have enough cabins available for isolation and quarantine.

Great to hear you are onboard and will be following.

I got my refund for a cancelled cruise with Oceania in about 8 weeks. I was fine with that. Contrast with Crystal where refund took over 9 months.

We switched to bubbly in order to avoid the issue.

We ask for Perrier or Pellegrino and this far have not been refused. We think the very water smells and tastes weird.

June 19, 2022–disembarkation in Rome I had set the alarm early as our driver was to pick us up at 8 am. Of course, when I woke up, there was the message that the Delta flight was delayed. Not so much that we wouldn’t make the connection, but we could have scheduled the driver for an hour later. Oh, well. Going outside after getting our luggage, I was really glad we had a driver. There were lots of people looking for taxis and no taxis to be found. We had a quick drive to the airport, maybe 35 minutes. Going from the airport toward the port was the opposite, with that side of the freeway being really backed up. The driver said it was because of it being Sunday morning, and people going to the beach. The airport was an absolute zoo. Even with the priority check in and security, it took almost 2 hours to get to the lounge. Delta uses the ITA lounge, and it is comfortable and clean. Not particularly fancy but good seating and a buffet where you point to the food and someone serves you. Really good yogurt (the type I had hoped to have onboard the ship but was not available) and fresh strawberries (also not available at breakfast on the ship in La Veranda except the first day). At least I got some before flying home. The gate area was also crazy. As soon as they announced boarding, there was a crush of people. The gate agents made no attempt to all by groups or rows, so it was a free for all. Once on the plane, everything was good though. The Delta One seats were comfortable I thought—George did not agree, so maybe they fit short people better. Service onboard was excellent, and the food was good for airplane food. Long layover in Atlanta as there are fewer flights these days.

We were required to get insurance that covered covid to enter Israel on our recent cruise. We got covid only insurance for $100 for the two of us. So it depends what you want the insurance to cover.

Turkish food is so good, and Greek, And Italian. I am afraid to weigh myself. May wait a few days.

Back to work tomorrow. I don’t know how I am feeling about going back into the building, but it has to happen.

Hope you get the get out of jail card asap!

Have a great time!

Smaller deposit and OBC are main advantages. If you don’t know what cruise you want to take, you can purchase a future cruise certificate which has to be redeemed within a year (the cruise can be anytime in the future though, just booked within a year). That is like money in the bank. $2000 and that is the entire deposit for the future cruise. That is what we always do if we don’t have a specific cruise chosen. And it is fully refundable.

We have been to most of these ports. The scenery is beautiful, but there is a lot of walking, so you will need to choose excursions wisely. I know there are less walking tours available in most. In the others, you could always hire a taxi and do your own.

June 18, 2022-Sorrento, Italy Sorrento is one of our favorites, so we were looking forward to revisiting today. It was another bright sunny and warm day. Perfect weather really. The last time we were supposed to be here, there was too much swell to run the tenders safely. And this is always a tender port. Outside the coffee connection window, I could see the little tender port and the high cliffs rising up with the town stretched along the top. The tender ride was quick, and we were at the little port to board minibuses to take us up the hill to the town where we boarded the big busses for the excursion. The minibus driver was a maniac. Our guide apologized. Our excursion was to a farm where they produce their own mozzarella cheese, olive oil, fruits and vegetables. They only have 4 acres but maximize every bit of it. The lady showed us how the cheese is made, then we got to sample that as well as olive oil. It was very nice. The rest of the tour was a bit of a snooze. They drove us up along the drive toward Amalfi, and the views are great, but I am not much of one to like bus drives. Back to Sorrento, we went in search of pizza. We found a really good place, and had pizza, caprese salad, and wine. Then took a walk and did some shopping. Everything was busy, and I would say they are recovering well. George wanted to walk down to the little port, so we did that. Unfortunately our suitcases had appeared when we got back on board. Getting all our purchases in was quite the task. Final trivia went well with us coming in 2nd. Could have won if I had not overthought. Final dinner inCompass Rose was excellent. I splurged on a shrimp and asparagus risotto—lots of carbs but so good. We have an early morning so finished packing and put our suitcases out.

Currently in Italy. We were required to wear masks on the bus yesterday in Palermo, but today in Sorrento, no one was wearing a mask. I had brought ours, but no one, including bus drivers was wearing.

June 17,2022–Palermo, Sicily Sea a dead calm all night. I was awake early as the bright sunshine was peaking around the edges of the drapes even before 6 am. By the time I went up to the coffee connection, we were pulling alongside the port with lots of old buildings and churches nearby on one side and mountains in the distance. On the other side, there was a HUGE MSC ship, the Opera. I have no idea how many passengers this thing holds, but it is a lot. It is twice as long as Explorer with way more decks, and most cabins just have portholes, very few with balconies. We have been to Sicily several times before, including on a land trip, but this is only the second visit to Palermo. The plan for the day was to walk around on our own in the morning, find some good pizza, then do a wine tour in the afternoon. When the announcement that the ship was cleared came on, it was already 82F. George and I walked all over the old town, past lots of little local shops as well as ones we see all the time like H&M, Sephora, etc. More stores for formal gowns and men’s dress suits than I have ever seen, also lots of old crumbly historic buildings and churches. Good people watching opportunities. The pizza place I had chosen gets very good reviews on Trip Advisor. It was supposed to open at 11. We arrived at 11:05 as our afternoon tour was to start at 1:25. They were open, but no pizza until 11:30. Ok. We waited. The pizza was by the slice and good, not great, certainly not good enough to be rated the best in Palermo. But it was cheap. I dropped a big glob of tomato sauce on my white shorts. Stuff like that always happens when I wear white. We walked back to the ship, took a short siesta, and I changed clothes. We boarded the bus (first time this trip that masks were required) and drove an hour out into the countryside to Alessandro di Campinale which is a lovely winery surrounded by rolling hills and lush fields—vineyards, olive and pomegranate groves, fields with tomato anplants. The scenery was really spectacular. And the wine was great. So good we had some shipped home. Back to the ship, they were waiting on us so they could sail out. Ours was literally the last tour to return, and we sailed just a couple of minutes after boarding, a good reason to do a ships tour since they waited for us. We quickly changed for dinner. George wanted to eat at Pacific Rim again. We didn’t have reservations, but he ran down to see if they could fit us in, and they did. Very good meal. My chicken curry was actually spicy without me having to add sambal. George had a double portion of sushi. The Polish violinist performed again, and I really enjoyed it. The music was more to my taste I guess—show tunes from Broadway, things I recognized.