IntrepidFromDC

Do I hear a little grumbling out of #17? 😁 🏴‍☠️

Oh yeah, I forgot to post about these guys in my thread. Really fantastic cover band with a wide variety of music.

Same here for the past two hours.

My overall take on partner and cruise/train? I wish my daughter had come with me, of course the best memories are shared ones. That said, I already told her I'm doing another trip to Italy next May, with or without her. In fact I already completed a first draft of the route, based on some reading of "hidden gem" Italian towns. I will probably be visiting Cinque Terre and Venice again in May, I just can't get enough of them. The other cities and towns I visited I would like to see again, but not so soon (Bologna, Pisa, Parma, Rome). As for cruise/train, this trip was a 10-day cruise and 12-days training around. I like the mix alot. But I'm getting an itchy finger for May and don't see any cruises (free casino offers) to match up with training around except the one I just did. That doesn't exclude it, but I'm looking for variety before repeating the same itinerary if possible. I would enjoy the same cruise again, there is enough to do at every port that I can stay happily busy without any redos. If I compare the itinerary - Mykonos, Santorini, Ephesus, Athens, Olympia, Taormina, Pompeii, Positano - to any other I've been on, none other comes close.

Some people got out of line to purchase the speedboat tickets when they saw how slowly the line was moving, and as the heat got to them. The Oia hawkers have cleverly stationed their storefronts about 10 feet from the long line. So the line is between the ticket store and the speedboats filling up with people and going. I note these are not those little speedboats but just medium sized ferry boats for people only that have a lot of hp. I will definitely do the Oia option (includes ticket on speedboat, a couple hours free time in Oia, then private minibus back to Thira/Fira at the top of the cliff.

Mine wait on the Sept. 11 cruise for the cable cars was "only" about 50 minutes. But it was in the sun which made it awful.

I was going over my photos to see if there were any I meant to post but left out and found one. At first I looked at this one and wondered why I even took it. Then I remembered, it was a reminder that I needed to comment on the condition of the Pride, as others have done. Pride is in need of dry dock.

I believe if they will turn platinum on day one or two (or seven) of the cruise, they are considered platinum for boarding.

Very nice start to your review! I note that you (platinum) waited to board with your family member (gold) during gold boarding. It has always been practice that golds could board with platinum in the platinum boarding zone. I don't think this has changed, but not sure.

Jimbo, I hope you get a better tourguide at Acropolis than we did. We didn't even get the headphones promised in the Carnival excursion description. Then we were promised refunds and apology phone calls from Excursions and neither happened. Disillusioned because Carnival "always" keeps their promises.

Jimbo, what town in Fl is your condo in? Glad to hear no wind damage, hope water surge spared you as well. The video coming out of Sanibel is heartbreaking, I have great memories of shell-hunting with my daughter there when she was 9 and 11.

Unless juvenile rock lobster's shells turn bright red like a Maine lobster, I don't think that's correct. Rock lobster is tougher than Maine lobster, and doesn't taste like Maine lobster. When I eat the juvenile mystery lobsters in MDR (without paying the steakhouse selections upcharge) the lobster shell is bright red and the taste and texture are more similar to Maine than rock. Plus rock retains it's brownish/orangish color with the white dots. The itty-bitty mystery tails are bright red.

No it is not the same. The lobsters in the steakhouse are bona fide, delicious lobsters. The juvenile ones in MDR are some kind of anomaly because they look like Maine lobsters (shell red when cooked) but they don't taste like them. They still taste pretty good, but if you had your tastebuds set for amazing lobster taste you will be disappointed. If you pay the $23? upcharge (used to be $20) you get the lobster they serve in the steakhouse. I have done it three times to put the steakhouse selection lobster on the plate next to the MDR juvenile mystery lobster to oohs and ahhs.

We have two dogs and six ferrets that have free roam of the house, so I guess the answer is "both"... Thanks for following on the trip. Except for the fact my daughter didn't come with me, it was my favorite trip ever! 😁 🏴‍☠️

Wait a minute. Now I'm not even a "real" gambler??? This is going too far!!! 😁 🏴‍☠️

Hey leave us alone! It's bad enough we get labeled degenerates!! 😁 🏴‍☠️

One more shot from the last night, Venice (l) and Murano (r) from the plane just after takeoff, and the Alps as we were flying over northern Italy.

The 45 minute speedboat to the airport can be caught in the vaporetto area of Rialto. Ticket is $15 one-way and can be bought as you board. Venice "Marco Polo" airport is modern and clean. No need to take shoes off at security.

Ponte Rialto

Dinner tonight was at Nono, a restaurant I last ate at 9 years ago with my daughter. Clam Stew (wine, butter, garlic, more wine) and pizza.

Last night in Venice is sooo sad! Here are pics just after sunset of St. Mark's Basilica, Palazzo Ducale (where the rulers of the Venetian Republic lived and worked, including passing judgment in the court, Bridge of Sighs which was the last glimpse of sunlight prisoners who were sentenced to life in prison would see as they passed from the sentencing to prison (court on left, Bridge of Sighs with one window allowing sunlight in center, prison on right)

I agree, and did it twice on previous visits. Seeing the beautiful glassworks for sale in the shop windows around Venice is WOW, but actually seeing one of the artisans creating a masterpiece completely manually is really amazing!

Oldest church in Venice. The tourguide said it was built in 421. Looks kinda new for 421 so I'm guessing it has been refurbished over the centuries. Also the public stands where the Venetian equivalent to a town crier would announce death sentences from the higher pedestal, lesser sentences from the lower.

Amazing. I had this dish, spaghetti alla vongole, 5 times on this trip and this one was the best.