Our Star Princess Honeymoon Review

Namaste!

Naren and I went on our honeymoon on the Star Princess (5/16/04). Previously we’ve cruised with CCL x 7 and RCCL x 3. We’ve been only to Mexico and the Caribbean. This 12-day voyage sailed from Barcelona to Venice, and it was our first trip to Europe. We arrived a few days early and stayed a few days later. This is a review of our cruise. Using MS Word, I have rambled on for 19 pages, front and back! (See Friends episode 4.01 The One With The Jellyfish)

(Side note about our weather) It was always pleasant. On one of our sea days it was overcast, but it didn’t rain. In Athens it was down-right HOT! In other ports, the temps were about 81.5 degrees Fahrenheit. That average is based on a low of 75, and a high of 88. Yes, it is already getting that warm. It was cloudy and “almost†raining in Venice, but it was only during the morning. The warm weather is already making pleasant smells come from the Venetian canals. Be forewarned!

(Side note about tours) When they say extensive walking, they’re not kidding. You will walk for about 5 miles. Bring comfortable walking/standing shoes. If the tour is 9-9.5 hours, you will be on your feet for 8 of those hours. Bring sunscreen and water.

We thought it would be romantic to have a limousine pick us up and take us to the San Diego airport, which is about 30 miles from our home in Carlsbad, Ca. We chose Corporate Limousine in San Diego, and would NOT use them again. They said that they would be at our house at 9:15 am for a 12:00 pm International Flight. We were apprehensive about this. We thought we needed more time, as there is usually traffic heading southbound on I-5 at that time of the morning. The company assured is that we had enough time. They arrived at 9:30 “ish†and said their reason for being late was because they had to drop someone else off. UGH, GET ANOTHER CAR, YOU STUPID COMPANY! We finally got the car loaded and were off to the airport. We enjoyed champagne that we bought at the store, as the limo company did not provide this. They did give us the glasses to drink from and an empty ice bucket to keep the bottle in, so I guess that’s something nice. However, by the time we checked in our bags and got through security we were barely at our gate in time.

(side note) Naren gave me 22-23K wedding bangle bracelets for our Indian wedding in February, and the metal detectors don’t like gold, apparently. I got held up at security, and the lady proceeded to tell me that in the future, I should request a “hand wand†check due to the bangles and the under-wire metal in my bra! Her suggestion was for me to go through the airport without a bra and bangles on. Um, I don’t think so, I’ll just allow extra time next time. Needless to say, we were happy we had champagne to calm ourselves.

I did take that bag I had inquired about in an earlier post. It was a few inches over the size limit, but no one measured, and it didn’t come close to the weight limit. There were two huge suitcases and two little suitcases, one shoulder bag (toiletries and meds), my purse and a camera bag. We only checked the two big bags. We’re lucky the airline let us on with this much luggage, and that we had the bin space.

A few valiums later and we were headed off to Atlanta. This was a VERY crowded flight, and it was as comfy as an airline can be. The turbulence was bad due to storms over Texas and Louisiana …. So I was grasping Naren’s arm, trying not to wake him up. They had a meal for purchase program, and Naren and I bought two sandwiches, and a cheesecake (that he ate most of, as I don’t care for cheesecake). Each sandwich, which was pretty big, was $8 and the cheesecake was $5. We thought it was expensive, but was willing to pay it to keep that grumbling in our stomachs from eating at us.

We landed in Atlanta on time, and had about an hour to catch our other flight. We were worried about the times being so close, but since we were flying Delta again, we decided that it would be enough time, as it was in the same concourse. We were wrong again. That hour was BARELY enough time. As it ends up, we had to leave the concourse, take the train down to the international terminal and almost run to our plane, which was already boarding. However, as it turns out, we didn’t take off in time, as there were several planes late due to that bad weather patch. Many of those late arrivers were also Star Princess boat people! Had our plane left on time, we would have left behind cruisers, so had this been the “day of embarkationâ€, those people would have been stranded. Maybe some of them booked their air through the cruise line. The people behind us, who were late, did not. Issues beyond our control was part of the reason we flew to Spain two days early. Another reason was that we were flying 14 hours. By the time we landed our biological clocks were out of whack. We had jet lag so bad that we needed a NAP!

I learned Spanish in high school and was so thankful that I paid attention because hardly any of the locals spoke English. The hotel and tour guides did, but the cab drivers and the helpful residents who assist you in finding your hotel did not!

During our flight to Spain, we were given a meal (can’t remember exactly the food, but it was a main dish, a salad, a bread, and a dessert). We also had a breakfast right before we landed (Croissant, fruit and juice). We landed in Spain on Friday afternoon and went through Immigration. It always takes longer with Naren as he’s an Indian citizen, and the officials had to make sure his Schengen Visa was valid. Ok we found out that Spain does NOT charge for the Smart Carts (luggage carts) and they’re much smaller than those in LAX or San Diego. So we needed two carts. There was a Princess lady there, but she was only looking for people who bought hotels and transfers through the cruise line. We did not do that. We got our luggage, found a cab, and asked him to take us to Hotel Splendid (4 stars, 140 euro per night). This was a great hotel, located close to the University train stop, and Las Ramblas. So we thought it was a great choice in hotels and would recommend it again.

The cab fare was 25 Euros to go to the hotel and the two of us, and all 5 of our bags fit inside the cab. We were very impressed! It took only 15-20 minutes and we were at our hotel. Our room was ready and we took the elevator to our floor, and found out that you have to put your room key in the slot to get the lights to work. (very weird for this American girl) We packed the bags such that we wouldn’t have to get into the big bags in Spain. So we put them in the corner, and then lived out of the suitcases for two days. We were so tired, we laid down, and instantly fell asleep. About 3 hours later, we woke up and found out that the entire country takes naps too. The restaurants and such were still open, and Las Ramblas was alive and kicking.

We unpacked the electricity plug converter, and it worked great. I could use my curling iron! The hotel provided a dryer, but it was also only 1200 watts, and you had to hold the handle down. We got our comfy walking shoes on and walked up Las Ramblas and ate at the first place we saw. There’s an extra charge for eating outside vs. inside. Soda is like liquid gold and is priced accordingly. One can a bit smaller than a 12 oz can was 3.50 euros. Water is also an extra charge, the usual price was 3.50 for a liter. (very different from the US). Naren ate a Bikini sandwich, which apparently is ham-and-cheese. I had a tuna salad sandwich and we split a plate of fried potatoes. We paid for the food and left the restaurant, walked up Las Ramblas and found out that there were many magazine stands, restaurants, performers, and American restaurants like Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, and Burger King all in one vicinity. We stopped at a Gelato stand, and had FABULOUS ice cream. I had hazelnut and chocolate, Naren had Pistachio and something else (I forget). We loved it! We walked back to the hotel and found out that we got lost easily. We asked a local to help us find our street, and a few minutes later, recognized our hotel. Woohoo! Lesson learned … don’t leave your hotel without your map!

Our hotel had arranged a two day bus tour for Naren and me for 42 Euros. Basically, you walk to a stop and you can get on and off as many times as you wish. The last bus is at 8:30 pm or so. We were on the orange bus “Barcelona Toursâ€. But there is another blue/green bus called “Bus Touristicâ€. Both of these busses do the same thing, but there seemed to be more blue busses. We highly recommend this. It’s a way to get around the town, without having to walk, hire a cab, or anything like that. It allows you to see the famous and popular sightseeing attractions, and each bus comes by about every 10-15 minutes or so. Here’s a

picture someone took of the two busses. The orange bus is in the front. The blue one is in back.

Saturday morning, we woke up and went to the breakfast bar place that our hotel had downstairs. It was a little expensive for the continental breakfast buffet, but had some good selections. We’re not sure it was worth the 12 Euros per person though. We went on that Barcelona tour on Saturday, and we saw Las Ramblas, this weird shaped house, La Sagrada Familia, the Art Museum, the Olympic stadium, the trade center and the port. We went at our pace, and it was fabulous. If you go to La Sagrada Familia, you can take the lift up to the top of one of the “points†and get an aerial view of the city. I got a serious case of vertigo. I didn’t think I was afraid of heights, but apparently it was windy and kind of scary, but what a view. So suck it up, put aside your fears, pay for the lift (2 euros) and look at the fabulous view!

On Sunday we woke up at 8am, walked fast to McDonalds, and found they were closed. They opened at 10am, as did Starbucks and Burger King. So we ate at this little café down the street from the hotel. They served us quickly and the food was good. A hamburger is not a hamburger. It’s a sausage patty. A hot dog is not a hog dog. It’s a frankfurter. Although tasty, it wasn’t what I was expecting, so that was another lesson learned. After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel, loaded our luggage in the minivan arranged by the hotel (40 Euros) and headed to the ship. We arrived at the dock at around 10am. There were about 5 people in line, but they let us on board. We received our “sign n sail†cards. They were blue. I’d later find out that they are different colors depending on how many times you cruised with Princess. One platinum member I talked with (much later in the cruise) said that she was never “welcomed back†to the ship, and her Captains Circle membership left a lot to be desired. I hope that she was an isolated incident. Before being allowed to get on the ship, the staff confiscated Naren’s passport, and he was told he’d receive it back the second to last day of the cruise. We had made a copy of it, including all visas, and carried that with us when we went into port.

Okay, back to Embarkation. We were told that our room wasn’t ready yet, but we went onboard and into our room and found that it was. We set our stuff down, and went to explore the ship. We spend a few hours getting acquainted with our ship. Since the ship was still in port all day, and we had the entire “second day†of our 2-day bus coupon, Naren and I decided to take full advantage of the coupon we purchased. We left the ship, and apparently a few flights full of Star Princess passengers landed because there were about 500 people in line. The line went through the winding ropes and out the door. We thanked our lucky stars we arrived so early and didn’t have to get in this line. We took a cab to the trade center (5 euros) and then took the Orange Bus all around the city and had a great time. Although after walking for several hours parts of my overweight body started to hurt. I would find that this would be a normal feeling on this cruise. I am seriously thinking that there should have been a disclaimer saying that heavy people will have a hard time on this cruise. Naren thinks I had a lousy time on tours. I was exhausted and tired and aching, but it was great to see the things we saw.

We got back to the ship about 8pm that night. We had anytime dining, so we weren’t in a hurry at all. There was a wine place at the pier. We bought a bottle of Sangria for 5 Euros and another bottle of Spanish Blush wine for 10 Euros. We had no problems getting them back on board. (NOTE .. if you take this into the dining room, they will charge a $10 corkage fee. However, a nice please will wave the cost of one of the bottles) Ok anyway, we get back on board and it being our honeymoon, we had a romantic time with sangria and the wonderful splendor of our balcony and lovely stateroom. We were not in a hurry to read the Patter.

I think Princess thinks we should have been. I’ll explain later why I say that.

At 8:45-9:00 pm, we were hungry, so we went for dinner. Our dining choice (assignment) was Personal Choice. We always seemed to dine in the Capri dining room. It was a nice dining room, but it wasn’t as elaborate as the Explorer of the Seas dining room. There wasn’t very many elaborate decorations. It had a Tuscan, Italian theme, and adorned paintings from Tuscan villages. It was very nice to dine in, but wasn’t very elaborate to see. There were pretty “special lighting effects†on the ceiling. The lights twinkled and flickered. It was very pretty.

We had a nice waiter, but he wasn’t the greatest. He was on the slow side, his English wasn’t very clear, and he seemed to try and hurry us through dinner. We were pleased we didn’t have to go back to him. However, that night we did meet some wonderful people, Marlene and Ron. We ran into them several times throughout the cruise. (Hi Guys … in case they’re reading this). Dinner was good, some items were not good, and some were great. I don’t remember exactly what I had, but the presentation was always fabulous. I did try the love boat dream, and didn’t care for the nutty part on the bottom, so I ate the mousse part on top. That was good! Naren had the cheesecake, and for me to like it is a miracle. I don’t like cream cheese in any form.

Ok, so we have had wine at dinner, wine in the balcony, we’re honeymooners .. romantic and such … we didn’t read the patter that night. We figured that we were going to be sailing the next day, our bus ticket expired and so we weren’t going to leave the ship. So very buzzed and heavy with “the burrito feeling†we went to sleep.

Monday we awoke to read Sunday’s patter, and come to find out that the tours for Cannes closed Sunday night. Some people didn’t even get to the ship until Monday morning. How were they supposed to book the tours? I guess they would have HAD to know to book them online or something. Anyhow, there wasn’t much flexibility, which I didn’t think it was a good idea.

Anyhow, we walked down to the purser’s desk after breakfast and tried to cash a Euro travelers check and to inquire about possibly getting on a tour for France “pretty pleaseâ€. We needed the money for France because we probably would need more Euros, because we spent some money in Spain. Well, the purser’s desk told us (very coldly and rudely) that we should have read the patter, and that there was no getting around reserving a tour for France at that point. It was closed. End of discussion. We were shocked to receive this attitude. But we thought she missed her family or something, and then asked her to cash a Euro travelers check for us – and give us the Euro currency – just like the 800 Princess phone number said that the ship could AND WOULD do for us. She made it perfectly clear to us that she couldn’t cash that Euro travelers check. She could only cash the USD travelers check, as US Dollars was the only currency on the ship, even in the casino. When we told her that the 800 number told us different information, she told us “the 800 number lied to us!†All we could do is take US Dollars and stick them in the converter machine and get Euros for a LOUSY exchange rate.

Figuring that we could, after all, go into shore – go into a bank and cash the Euro travelers check and get Euros back … we had to be back onboard the ship for the muster drill at 12:30. There wasn’t enough time to go to a bank. Lesson learned, don’t take Euro Travelers checks (or very many of them). You will have a hard time cashing them.

So why did Princess give us wrong information? Only the lord knows. We had better luck when we went across the walkway to the shore excursions desk. We pleaded with the guy that we were honeymooners, not eager to read a Patter, and that we wanted to do a France tour. He nicely told us that he couldn’t guarantee us a spot on a tour, but that he’d try. We’d know later that night. We filled out the form, and then waited. We spent the entire Monday wondering what we were doing on Tuesday. We figured at least we could go into Cannes and do some local sightseeing. But still, we really wanted to see Nice and St. Paul de Vince.

We were getting ready for sail-away, so we went to the front bow of the ship and watched us pull away from the pier. That was really cool. I believe there was a sail away party, but we had a more intimate romantic thing going on. From our vantage point it would have been better if we went straight – that way the bridge would open up and we could film that. Instead we backed up and didn’t go under the bridge. It was still pretty cool. We sailed under the flight path of the airlines, and a plane landed right over us.

After relaxing on board, unpacking and taking another nap, we went for dinner. It was formal night, and I’m really glad we had anytime dining, because we weren’t rushed for dinner and pictures. I used the ship provided hair dryer and it takes a long time to dry all this hair with just a puny and tiny 1200 watt dryer. I’m sooo used to my 1875 dryer at home. Once I was ready, we took some great pics, and then went for dinner. I had the Prime Rib, and it was pretty good. It wasn’t tender, but it was juicy and flavorful. Most nights, like this one, I had the shrimp cocktail and the Caesar salad. Both were consistently good. Our waiter looked like Roberto Benigni. He was very enthusiastic about life and everything. He reminded me of Parker (Phoebe’s boyfriend in episode 8.18 “The one in Massapequaâ€). Anyhow when it came time to put the sauce on the soufflé he didn’t gently put it on the dessert, he slopped it on, and it splashed … onto my satin gown. It was a few spots, and they came right up, but I was a little mad that the waiter was that careless. He offered to have the gown cleaned, but I declined, as the spots really did come right up. Incidentally, Naren had spilled Grand Marnier Soufflé on that same dress, and the local cleaner got it right out. They also got out the Wedding Cake Icing that Naren managed to get all over his tuxedo coat sleeve.

We had some time to kill before the main show, so we went into the Wheelhouse lounge to play Jeopardy. The Wheelhouse bar is an average size lounge with an artistic theme. It was a nice lounge, but not “very prettyâ€. During the game, we got into a team with a couple from Baltimore. We couldn’t understand them (mumbling problem), and didn’t do too well playing Jeopardy. After that, we saw the illusionists. They were good, not great, but good. We enjoyed watching them, but didn’t go back to see their next show later in the cruise. We retired to our cabin and found that we DID get on the tour for France. So we thought better of staying up all night. We had a long day ahead of us!

Tuesday we arrived in Cannes. I flipped on the TV to have “room noise†as I was preparing for the day. There’s a channel where the cruise director reads the patters and performs a “morning news serviceâ€. The name of the TV show is “Whazzup TVâ€. This 20-30 minute program runs continuously for many hours in case you missed the beginning. Here he recaps the Patter and tells you stuff about the port you are visiting. Here he tells us that “The purser’s office operates with US Dollars only, and is unable to give euro change. If you want to get euro change, take your dollars to this machine located at these places†… and then “a nominal service fee of USD $1.50 is made per transaction and current exchange rates are shown before you purchase. The smallest coin dispensed is USD 25 cents. Only U.S. coins are accepted on board. Non US coin is NOT accepted or exchanged.

Thanks Mr. Too late now!

Naren and I got ready, met our tour at 8:45 am, and then took the tenders ashore for the “Nice and St. Paul de Vince†tour. The Cannes film festival was approaching and there were expensive yachts everywhere! We prepared to be on our tour for 6.5 hours. The tour to Nice and St. Paul de Vince did not include lunch. We decided to take a few of our Euro travelers checks and try to cash them if we found a bank. It was Tuesday, so the banks should be open. We went to Nice, and along the way, went by the beach. Topless sun-bathing is a rule in France. If this offends you, don’t look. We also saw many topless or nude billboards. Different country, different rules! If this offends you, don’t look. Naren and I weren’t offended, just surprised at how different the US is from France. On our tour, we rode a train around the town, went to the top of this Castle Hill Park. It had a great view of the town. We took great pictures of the bay and town of Nice. They came out great! Ladies, you will have to pay either 20 euro cents or 50 euro cents for the bathrooms. Be prepared. Not all stalls have paper. Be prepared!

We then went to St. Paul de Vince and walked around the shopping areas. We found an exchange guy and exchanged a 100 euro travelers check for 95 euros. He wanted a commission. But at least we had some cash. We went to lunch at this little restaurant under a great big tree. Naren and I ordered pasta, a salad, and Naren and I ordered wine. I didn’t like the salad, and sent it back. They still charged for it. Different country, different rules. Oh well. We went back to our coach, boarded our tender at 4:30 ish, went back to our ship, went back to the cabin and napped until about 7:00. We got ready for dinner with our CC friends. After dinner, it was pretty late, and were very tired already. We were aching, tired, and mentally drained! Tomorrow’s wake up call would come awfully early!

Wednesday we were in Livorno. We signed up for the Florence and Pisa tour. We were surprised that on some of these tours there were 20 motor coaches that did the tours. All motor coaches we had on tours were air conditioned. Some were nicer than others, but all were pleasant and clean. We met at 7:30 that morning for the 9.5 hour tour. This did include lunch. We walked for about 4 hours around Florence. We saw great things and my feet started to scream. I was wearing very comfy walking shoes, but after walking so much, it didn’t make any difference anymore. We saw the Piazza Del Duomo and the Piazza del Signoria which were great. Here there was a copy of the Michelangelo’s David. That was pretty impressive to see. You see it in pictures and then you’re looking at it. It was awesome. I could sit down in the square and listen to the tour guide. I had one goal, and that was to find a good sitting place! We also saw the Church of Santa Croce. This was very cool, as Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Galileo are buried in this church. There is videotaping allowed, but no flash photography. You must dress with your shoulders and knees covered.

We photographed the Ponte Vecchio. That was cool. Then we walked for about 1 mile and a half to our lunch spot where everyone in the tour collapsed from exhaustion. We had a great lunch of lasagna, chicken and a custard dessert. Then we had to walk another half mile to our bus. We drove to Pisa and most of the people slept on the bus. But the countryside was great. It’s very beautiful there. When we got to the Leaning tower place there were two options. We could take the shuttle to the top, or walk up the hill. We took the shuttle. It was free, but it was a pushing match to get onboard the shuttle. An older lady (late 60s to 70s) was OUTRAGED at the way this was handled. She really went on and on about this! Yes it was bad. It was only for a minute, let’s go on!

We get to the Pisa Field of Miracles and we had to walk through this flea market to get to the entrance to the tower and cathedral location. We photographed ourselves there, and then went shopping for souvenirs. I got a Louis Vuitton bag for $15. Our bus took us back to the ship. We took our obligatory nap, then went to see Dance, the dancing show. It was so great. There’s a lot of creative choreography. We were very impressed. We went to dinner after the show and had a great meal. I can’t remember what we had, but one night Naren had frog legs and said they weren’t bad. They almost tasted like duck. I enjoyed the plethora of Italian food onboard. There seemed to be no shortage of it! After dinner, we went to sleep by 10:00. Tomorrow’s tour came early as well.

Thursday we were in Civitavecchia. This is pronounced as Rome. Our “Rome Sampler†tour met in the 7 o’clock hour, so we were up in the 5 o’clock hour. We had our usual breakfast and the bananas were starting to take a turn for the worse. You could tell that we were on board for some time as the fruit and produce didn’t look as fresh as it could. Anyhow, in the horizon deck in the morning, they offered "one sided-fried eggs on a hot plate". One lady was FURIOUS that they didn't have more choices and was ranting and raving about not wanting to eat raw eggs.

I took an egg from the offering, put it on a small plate, and handed it to the cook behind the counter. I asked him to "please" fry the other side, and to make sure it was "well done". I smiled. He smiled. 3 minutes later I had my egg. The shouting lady was in shock. Apparently no one told her, ask and you might receive.

Speaking of Fruit, at dinner time I would have the vegetarian “always available†fruit selection, and that was always good. Especially the oranges in Grand Marnier. Yummm!

Ok, so we got finished with breakfast, once again boarded an air conditioned bus and headed out to Rome. Our tour ticket said that we were in for extensive walking. They weren’t kidding. We drove passed the coliseum and parked the bus at the top of this hill. At this time, it would have been about 9:00 am. We walked down to the Trevi fountain. That was really impressive, although crowded. The legend is that if you throw a coin into the fountain you’ll return to Rome. We didn’t throw a coin in, because we would probably need that coin to help finance another trip to Rome! We took pictures, bought postcards, and then continued our brisk walk through the town. We walked to the Roman Forum. That was neat to see all of the columns and the buildings that were still standing. But it was a brisk walk to that place. The Roman Forum has streets made of marble stones. They’re slippery even when dry. My recommendation is to walk slowly and wear rubber-sole shoes. Some women were wearing high heals (2 inches or higher) and I think they were on crack. After the Roman Forum, and going down the hill for a 5 minute walk, is the Coliseum. This was really cool to see. At about 1:30, we were finished with the Forum and Coliseum. We boarded the bus again and went to the Vatican City. This was really cool to see in person. During this time my impressions of the place were that there were many buildings, long lines, nowhere to sit, bright sunshine, sunburned skin, and a dehydrated Jennifer. This 9.5 hour tour did not include lunch. We arrived at the Vatican city at about 2:15 and then stood in line for about an hour to get into St. Peter’s Basilica. There was videotaping and photography allowed, and it was dark and cool inside, but you can’t sit on the floor. Also the faucet in the ladies restroom dispenses ice cold water, so my face, neck and arms took a little bath. I felt much better after that. So Naren goes to film the basilica and I chose to sit on a column and ponder life. It was very awe inspiring to see the basilica. I wouldn’t miss it. When we visited Rome it was Ascension Thursday, and well the Sistine Chapel was closed. That was disappointing. After Naren filmed the basilica, it was about 3:45 and we were kind of hungry. We stopped at this self-service restaurant for lunch. We ordered a Marherita pizza, lasagna, and ½ liter of wine. This was 15 euros. Then we had some gelato and the Limon flavor hit the spot. It tasted like frozen lemonade. At 5pm we took a brisk walk back to the bus. We then went back to the ship, and at 6:15 we boarded the ship and took another nap until dinner time.

At dinner, there were many great choices and once again I had my usual choices, and I also included a hot chocolate. This is only free in the dining room at dinner. If you ask for hot chocolate in the lido restaurant for breakfast or lunch, you will be charged $1.50. Anyhow, Naren and I shared the fabulous hot chocolate, and ate a great dinner. Naren had the top sirloin steak and it was flavorful, juicy and tender. He said it was one of the best steaks he’s ever had. I can’t remember exactly what I chose, and then the waiter said that the head waiter was making a special pasta. You could get this as an appetizer or a main course. We chose the appetizer and received a lot of pasta! It was very good! Lots of garlic (how I cook at home) and lots of spices! Dessert was great as usual. After dinner we went to the photo gallery, chose our formal and embarkation photos and then went to sleep .. instantly!

Friday we were in Naples. The “Amalfi coastal drive and Pompeii†tour was an early tour as well. We boarded our bus at 7:30am and our tour guide Eugeneo was fascinated with mermaids. That was his nickname for every hottie young girl he saw. Mermaids were everywhere! LOL! Ok, thanks to the tips from this board, Naren and I sat on the right side of the coach. This is DEFINITELY the side of the bus to sit on. The Amalfi coast drive is very winding and turning and curving and you are turning on the top of cliffs that go straight down into the water. If you’re bothered by motion sickness, don’t take this tour. If you’re afraid of heights, don’t sit on the right side of the bus. As we drove through the winding streets, that were narrow, there were many close calls with other cars, busses and people. Our driver was great, and we made it safely. The views are so amazing from the top of the cliffs. There are lemon and olive trees everywhere. It is really scenic. When you pass by hotels in the Amalfi coast area, its weird to see the parking garage on the roof of the building. Anyhow, we stopped at this little village for a gelato and the bathroom. Then we got back onto the bus at 12:30 and went to this hotel for lunch. The food was spinach and cheese manicotti pasta and chicken parmesan breast and a tiramisu dessert. There was wine and water provided. It was a very good lunch. We then drive to Pompeii and walked around the ruins for many hours. It was really neat to see how wonderfully everything has been preserved. There was a grassy knoll right beside the entrance. Apparently this is still lava covered city. They’ve only uncovered part of the town. It was pretty amazing. At the end of the day it was going on 4:30 pm and it was time to go back to the ship.

We got back, and wanted to nap, but looked at the patter and decided not to. After all, tomorrow was a SEA DAY! Praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow! We did shower and change, then went to dinner early. We went into the Princess Theatre for our show. The theatre is nice, but it’s not (in my opinion) beautiful like the “Taj Mahal†theatre on the Carnival Pride. In that theatre, even the walls were decorated. This Princess theatre was decorated very conservatively, and the seats were individual chairs placed side-by-side. The seat width is 1.5 feet wide. It is about the size of an airline seat. My large butt and hips were slightly uncomfortable. Anyone larger would need a special chair. According to Naren the seats were fine.

We caught the 9:00 show of singing Jacqi Michaels and comedy Billy Vader. Jacqi sang tribute songs of Shania, Tina, Ella and other women in music. She had a great voice. Then Billy came out and had us in stitches. He was so funny. Then after that show, we went to the London Pub Night. It said that it was adult comedy, but I would have rated it as PG-13. There was maybe one swear word here and there, but that was really due to a tongue twister that the audience did. London Pub Night was funny, and then the Cruise Director Staff performed a skit called “If I was not upon the shipâ€. The cruise director apparently would have been something completely different than a cruise director, apparently. I won’t spoil what he came out in, but I must say I had a totally different opinion of him from that point on. One staff member would have been a naughty nurse, one guy an Indian cab driver, one gal would have been Lorena Bobbett. It was really funny. I would say not to miss this show! We went to sleep and DID NOT set a wake up call!

Saturday was THE BEST DAY AT SEA EVER! We woke up at about 9:30, and felt like royalty. We wanted to have breakfast in the dining room. This was a treat we couldn’t indulge in too often, as the dining room didn’t open for breakfast until 7am, and it takes an hour for service. Most of our tours met in the 7 o’clock hour. Anyhoo, we were too late for the dining room, so we opted for Room Service. We got ready for the day and attended the Trivia in the morning. Then we went shopping for “something French†for my parents. It’s a long running joke. Whenever one part of the family goes somewhere, we always ask to bring us back something “Frenchâ€. Anyhow, we got the French thing, I got some perfume (that I was out of), and we looked around. Then we ate lunch, played in the casino. I hit a 5/5 spot in Keno and won $200. I also won some money in the “Jackpot Party†$.05 slot machine. I think I broke even, because I never won that much again, but kept playing in the casino for the duration of the cruise! We had a leisurely afternoon, did some laundry, and went to the afternoon trivia too. We never won any prizes. These questions were pretty darn hard! We didn’t do much all afternoon. Maybe we took a nap, played cards, entertained ourselves, I don’t remember. At dinner that night, I think it was crab leg night. I do not care for crab. I had the crab because I didn’t want steak again. I also don’t care for lamb chops, so that was my only choice. The crab was so awesome, and again, I don’t like crab. We got about 8 legs and a body, and a huge bowl of butter! Oh it was so good!

After dinner we went to see the Comedy show time of Jody Reynolds. He was a juggler and a comedian and a unicyclist. His act really didn’t get going until the very end. He picked a volunteer from the audience and then gave her a piggy back ride while riding a unicycle around the stage. It was very impressive, but unfortunately it was the only good part of the show. His sense of humor was corny. He would say one liners from the Internet and claim his father told him these expressions (i.e. If a cow laughed would milk come out her nose?, etc.) Anyhow we went to sleep and prepared for Athens. We also set the clocks forward one hour before going to bed tonight.

Sunday we arrived in Athens. Our “Best of Athens†tour started at 7:45 am. Since we were visiting no churches, I wore a tank top and shorts into the town. I applied sunscreen and still burned like toast! We got on the bus and drove around the city. We passed many of the 2004 Olympic stadiums and wondered how they were going to get this city ready in time. But we will see. The bus of people seemed to be in agreement that many last-minute preparations would be taking place. Either that, or they will be working around the clock in the weeks prior to the opening games. Anyhow our first stop took us to the Olympic Stadium. We only stopped here for 10 minutes to photograph one of the Olympic buildings. Then we got back on the bus, and drove around and were “not gently†reminded that we are to be punctual and to keep up with the group. We had a schedule to keep and hell-or-high-water we were going to keep that schedule. Ok that was fine. So we get to the Acropolis and we had to make a technical stop. Sometimes I wish I was a man. When it was available, I did use the men’s restroom, but this was not one of those possible times. There was only 10 minutes given to us to use the restroom, but there was a queue of 50 women in line for the bathroom. Come to find out most stalls didn’t have paper or function properly. So not every stall was used. Although the working paperless stalls had help from neighbor stalls. We women stick together. I made it out of the restroom, but there were still other members in our group that were still either in line or were in the bathroom itself. Our tour guide didn’t seem to care. She proceeded onward to the gate. She also did not tell us that we had to check our backpacks (but not camera cases) at the “deskâ€. So I told Naren I would be walking with the helper and friendly guide, who was usually at the end of the line. That guide was waiting for women who were still stuck in the bathroom. The mean tour guide pressed on after giving a talk about what we were looking at, on the steep hill going up. Naren eventually joined us, and there were other people behind him, on our tour, still checking the backpacks. The mean tour guide did not take a head-count, she pressed on and left people behind. The helper guide at the end of the line was actually a youth counselor that didn’t have much to do that week, as there were only 35 children under age 17 on our cruise ship. So in cases like this, the youth counselors can sign up for tours. She was very nice and helped make sure people made it to the group. We continued to walk up the equivalent of 20 flights of stairs to the top of the Acropolis and stood in the sun, baking, and listening to the guide’s explanation of the Parthenon and other buildings.

For some reason the Stoa of Attalos Museum was closed and so we saw the Acropolis museum instead. That was really interesting and not to be missed. You can take photos here. There is also a “watering hole†drinking fountain that shoots water at you. You can refill your bottle here. Our guide told us to meet down the hill (where we checked the backpacks) at 12:30. Not everyone heard this, but by using the buddy system, tour members found the missing persons and made sure that they knew where and when to meet.

We were all accounted for, and so we walked down the hill from the Acropolis and then walked about ½ mile to the Agora. It was a market and meeting center. Now it is a place of ruins. It is amazing to see what’s still here from a long time ago. Apparently Socrates and Plato taught here. But we walked all around the town. Whenever the group found a tree, we stood underneath it. It was out of the blazing sun. From the Agora, the group walked to the Thisson Temple. It was pretty impressive at the top of a hill I didn’t want to climb. The guide offered the group the option of sitting down at the bottom of the hill, while the rest went up to the temple. I took the backpack and gave Naren the camcorder and water. He recorded the footage. I’ll watch it later. I saw it from a distance. At the Thisson Temple, it was a perfectly preserved Doric Temple and was dedicated to the Gods Hephaetus and Athena. It looked very nice, from my shady tree resting spot.

We left the Agora and temple area and walked through a flea market from the wrong side of the tracks. People were selling old shoes, old stained clothing, rusted metal things and other crap that looked like they came from a dumpster. Apparently it was the only road back to the bus. We walked for about a mile through this flea market and then boarded the bus so that we could go to this hotel. All members were accounted for. We went to this hotel and had a buffet lunch. It was very good. I wouldn’t say it was Greek Food, but it was good food and we were hungry. It also had soda, wine and water. We were all very exhausted from being in the sun for so long.

We then finished lunch and found a camera in the lobby, in an area where some of our group members were sitting. Someone took the camera to the front desk of the hotel, and we asked our “in a hurry†tour guide to ask the group if anyone lost their camera. She never made this announcement. We hope it wasn’t someone from our group.

We took the bus to the Plaka. We stopped and then walked ½ mile to the shopping streets. There were also café’s there if you chose to eat something. There were cabs, which said they wanted 80 euros to go back to the ship, but they should not have charged more than 10 euros. They were trying to rip off the tourists. Anyhow, Naren and I wanted nothing, so we sat under a tree for 90 minutes and imagined how it would be to participate in the “Not so newlywed game†later that night. Naren got bit by the shopping bug, and went and bought some playing cards and some post cards. I still sat under the tree.

We went back to the ship around 5:00 pm, rested, showered, applied aloe to my sunburn, and then went to dinner. We had another great meal. Sometimes we went to a different wait staff. When we would ask for more than one appetizer, we would get weird looks. When we’d ask for hot chocolate, they thought we said “Caffe Latteâ€, and asked for our cruise card. We really missed Bradley and Frederick when we didn’t have them! Then we went to the Vista lounge, deck 7 aft, and were hoping to “sign up†for the newlywed game, because it said in the patter that you needed to sign up. Well, when Frankie came into the lounge, he picked voulenteers. He got a couple married for 50 years from England, and one for 20 years from Canada. Then he had many newlyweds to choose from. He wanted a couple from the USA, so Naren and I thought we could participate. He chose the couple from Texas. Then he was looking for a couple to be “couple #3â€. Naren and I asked if we could play. Pretty Please. He said he’d like to, but we were from the US. Naren took his microphone and said in his hilarious Indian Accent (picture Apu from the Simpsons) “I am not from the US, I am Indian, can’t you tell?†LOL. The audience was laughing so hard. So Frankie let us on stage! Our dream had come true!

We played the game very well. Guys were asked 1) How many pounds has your wife gained on the cruise. I answered zero, and actually lost 5 pounds from walking all around EUROPE! We got 5 points. 2) Where’s the strangest place you made whoopee. I answered in the shower, but he answered “something very different†and we didn’t get the points. Naren didn’t understand that Whoopie was sex, not making out. LOL, we didn’t get the points. 3) If Naren could have two wives, who would the second woman be? I answered this Indian actress (Madhuri Dixit), and got the points. He absolutely loves her! Then I had to answer questions about Naren. 1) What is Naren’s worst habit. I said smoking. He said smoking. We got the points. 2) What candy bar describes our love life. I said snickers because it satisfies. He said Hershey’s kisses. We didn’t get the points. The bonus question was: When Naren is nude what fruit describes his physique, I said a banana. He said a cucumber. We didn’t get the points. We came in third place overall. We had a great time! In our spare time we play the Newlywed game. We never get all the questions right! When we’re together we are never quiet, so we talk all the time! It was great fun to play that game, and we’re so happy we got to play! We went to sleep happy and content.

Monday we arrived in Kusadasi, pronounced Kushadasi. This was a great day, as the tour was only 4.5 hours long. We had signed up for the “Ephesis, St. John’s Basilica and Virgin Mary Shrine tourâ€. I was looking forward to not being out all day. We did our usual breakfast in the Horizon court and then debarked the ship, walked out of the pier and then around to the left, where there were several busses waiting for us. We boarded our bus, and our tour guide, Rica was very nice. She took us to the Basilica first. We got off the bus and walked up the slippery marble street steps (2 flights of stairs) and saw the basilica. We saw graceful columns and mosaics. Venders wanted to sell us flutes, coins and postcards. We didn’t buy anything. Here we spent about an hour overlooking the view of Kusadasi and the ruins of the basilica. It was really nice, and very pretty as everything was in bloom, with it being Spring. Anyhow, we left the Basilica and boarded the coach again. We took a 20 minute ride to the Virgin Mary’s house. From the entrance you have to walk up this hill, and then some steps (3 flights all together) and then you can go into the house that the Virgin Mary believed to once have lived in. This house was really neat, and photography and cameras are not allowed to be used. The house was restored, but you can see what part was the original house. It was really cool to see. After the house, and down the hill, walking back toward the entrance, was a wishing wall. You tie a cloth onto the wall and make a wish. I made a wish, and lets hope it comes true! From the wall, we walked down past the market and I bought another Louis Vuitton bag. It has suede interior too! Anyhow, Naren bought a cool looking dagger. We then left and inquired with one guy about some Saffron. We were first told it would be 10 euros for 5 packets. We said no, and the guy chased us all the way to our bus. He finally wanted 5 euros for 5 packets. It was unbelievable. According to Rica, it wouldn’t have been the same type of Saffron used in Indian cooking, so we’re glad we didn’t buy it. From here, we took the 15 minute ride to Ephesus. We started at the top of the hill and walked down. WOOHOO! This was a really cool site to see, as it was where the ancient Ephesians did some stuff. We walked past the Odeum, the Library, the temple of Hadrian and the theatre. That theatre is still used today for a local spring festival. Walking through Ephesus took about 2 hours. From here we went to the bus and that took us to the shopping district. On the way back, Rica shared with us a box of “Turkish Delights, Mini Mixed Fruits†THEY WERE FABULOUS. It’s like a gummy square covered in powdered sugar. But they’re soo good. We went into town, and were lured into a carpet shop. We were given a great lunch/snack. The carpet store, which had the best prices gave us a cheese and tomato sandwich and warm apple tea. It was so good. The carpets were breathtaking. They were beautiful, but also were WAY too expensive for this couple, that just happened to have bought lunch for 110 people two months ago! Anyhow, we didn’t buy a carpet, but the carpet sales guys about broke down in tears when they learned we wouldn’t be buying anything. Sorry :-D

We walked out of that shop and went shopping. There was some great bargains, but we stuck to the cheap gifts. We bought presents for people back home. I bought a beautiful ruby red pashmina for 10 Euro. We bought 4 boxes of Turkish delights back too! The store keepers are so persuasive. They see you walking down the street. They ask how you are, where you’re from, how is your family, and then why don’t you come into their store and have a free look. You’re breaking their heart if you don’t come into their store! Wah wah! Anyhow, we broke many hearts that day. We walked back to the ship and took it easy!

We were back on board at 2:00. We did a spot of laundry, and then saw the movie “Love Actuallyâ€. We’ve seen it before, but seeing it again made me cry all over again! I loved this movie! They cut out the “nude couple†scenes, and the swear words, but it was still a good movie. Most women came out of there crying. We went to dinner at 8:30, and then went to the show time of Chris Hamilton. He was a singing piano player. He was very good, but without our nap, we were so tired at 10:45 pm. We tried to stay awake, but his soothing piano music put us to sleep. We snuck out of his show, and went to sleep … immediately!

Tuesday was another sea day! Amen! We had breakfast in bed again, and prepared for our day at sea. We did not get up early. We watched the sea go by. We attended the culinary demonstration, which was very funny. From the culinary demonstration, there was the galley tour. It was neat to see the galley, but it is hard to get an idea of what is what when its not being used for its rightful purpose. I’d like to be a fly on the wall during dinnertime just to see how things work there, and how all those dishes get washed! From there we went to the Trivia Challenge, and recruited a player who won trivia from a previous day. With him in our new team, sadly we didn’t win at that either! We had lunch after trivia, and then went onto play Pictionary. We had our new trivia friends in our team. We seriously didn’t win at that either! We went for more trivia later that afternoon, and again didn’t win. We took pictures, had dinner early (which was lobster night … the entrée included two tails which the waiter de-shelled for us. I had the salmon, as I don’t care for lobster, and the fish was bland. I wouldn’t have recommended it.) Then we went to the 8:45 showing of Billy Vader. His show was funny, but it wasn’t as hilarious as the first show. I still would recommend it. After that, we went for Jeopardy. With the same 4 team members, we ended up with $9600. We came in third place. The winning team had $17,000! WOW! After Jeopardy, we went to play James Bond Trivia. We had the same members in our team, and again didn’t win. The capers said that the Champagne fountain would be “after the showsâ€, and the times were approximate. Word got around quickly that this was not to be missed. All 2600 passengers were in the atrium at one point, and this was at 11:30 pm. The fountain was still being assembled. We stood on the staircases in the atrium, behind people’s heads, and viewing the show from our camcorder “viewfinder†LCD screen, lifted up high above the people’s heads that were in our view. Our camera had a great view. We did not. The thing is, it became tough to hold a camera up that high for very long without my arm dying. Anyhow, the cruise director staff passed out streamers that people eventually threw down during a hyped countdown. There was a countdown (20 minutes late), and champagne started to pour, but 15 minutes into the champagne pouring, and there still wasn’t anything happening down there! The pyramid wasn’t getting any more filled, but the wait-staff members were dancing to old disco songs. The champagne “fountain†wasn’t flowing. I had been sent a picture of this from Jodi, and was imagining something more spectacular. People did get a chance to go down to the fountain and “pour†champagne into the glasses, BUTTTT, if you want to do this, keep in mind that there were 2600 people in the atrium. I wouldn’t necessarily say miss this, but at least show up SUPER early to get a good seat, with a nice view, without someone blocking your view. Worn out from the day, we went home, and slept, instantly! We were so happy that we got our hour back, as the ship’s clocks were set back an hour.

Wednesday was another sea day! We ordered room service, and took our time getting ready. We read through the debarkation form. Apparently we said that we didn’t need any of the ship’s help getting to our hotel. We read through the form which said that the debarkation would begin at 4:30 am. WOW! It said that if passengers didn’t need the ship’s help, that they could disembark between 8:30 am and 10:30 am. We thought we’d be on the later end of that timeline! That day we didn’t really do much. We sat around, played cards, drank wine, slept, napped, shopped, browsed, went onto the internet, played in the casino, and didn’t do 5 miles of walking! I found out I didn’t get a job I wanted, although I went on 5 interviews and met the CIO. Sigh. Whatever! Hopefully something else will come along. Naren had to work overtime to bring me out of my depression slump. I was almost sure I had that job! Anyhow we had dinner that night at Tequilas. The Patters kept saying that we should go to Tequilas and order a margarita. So we made reservations. We should have read the menu before making a reservation. We actually sat down and saw the same thing (with two or three exceptions) of items that were available in the PC dining room. It was not the fault of the wait staff, but we were very disappointed with the limited variety. Plus the fact that there were jalapenos in many items, including the corn muffins! We thought that was weird. Naren ordered the spinach and artichoke dip. I didn’t like that very much. I ordered the quesadilla (minus the jalapenos) and it was great. I had another! Naren’s margarita was great! That was strong and sweet and great. But since it had salt around the glass, I didn’t have much. I had a swelling problem all cruise long, as all food is heavily salted. Amen for water pills! When it came time for the steak, I had the filet, and Naren had the porterhouse, but found that the FREE top sirloin was actually a better steak. We were very disappointed, but it was our fault, as we didn’t read the menu. We saw many people enjoying their dinners there, and you might, but we really had good food (in our opinion) in the dining room. We should have stuck with that. To make our dining experience worse, the waitress sensed we weren’t happy with what we were going through, and had the head waiter come and talk to us. We appreciated her effort, but the head waiter could have waited. He was talking to us for so long about how Tequilas is Mexican during the Mexican Riviera cruises, but Sterling Steakhouse all other cruises … our food got cold. We could have asked them to heat up our steaks, but then they would have been overcooked for our taste, and we just weren’t interested in going through all that trouble. Actually we lost our appetite and just left. We didn’t want dessert. We just wanted to get out of there! Later that night we went to the Family Feud show. We teamed up with Marlene and Ron, and were called the Honeymooners. There were three rounds, where two teams faced off. The two highest scoring teams came back for the championship. WE were one of them! We didn’t win though! Our question was hard. Name something with a hole in it. I said donut, and that was 52 points. Coming up with the other 4 answers was tough. We came up with a life preserver, and swiss cheese, but couldn’t come up with the final answer. We lost the point, and the game. But we had fun playing.

Thursday we arrived in Venice. Naren and I didn’t plan any tours today. Instead we decided to do the city on our own, and get our bearings, because we were staying here for two days after the ship left (for a total of 4 days in Venice). The ship was nice enough to arrange a water taxi from the ship to St. Mark’s square (San Marco) for $10 per person. You could get on and off the water taxi as many times as you’d like to. Beware, getting on and off this taxi is tricky because your loading platform also floats, as does the taxi, and the water is choppy.

Anyhow, we had breakfast, and then caught the water taxi to San Marco. We decided that we should find the way to our hotel while we are NOT lugging 4 suitcases around. We found our hotel (Casa Santa Maria Formosa, 140 Euros per night, 4 star hotel) and confirmed our reservation and looked at our room. It was beautiful and palatial. We would recommend this hotel again! Then we discovered something interesting. Santa Maria Formosa is equidistant from the Rialto stop and San Marco stop. So we could take our pick. We walked back to San Marco, and went into St. Mark’s Basilica. I checked the backpack into the “locker room†and then asked the locker room guy if cameras and camcorders were allowed inside the church for use. He said absolutely, just no flash photography. So great, I walked back to the line (5 minutes) and joined Naren. He said that he would take the still camera and I could take the camcorder. We went in, and before entering, confirmed with the guard at the door what the locker room guy said about cameras. They were allowed. I just want to make this point clear.

We walked up the stairs and then went into the “museum†part of the basilica. Photography was not allowed here. But we were told that after we had filmed some part of it. We walked back downstairs (which are steep and short stairs … you can easily fall down the stairs, be careful) and walked around the basilica. We were filming away, as other people were. As we were filming one part, an Italian tour guide (who did NOT work at the basilica) said that photography was forbidden. I told her that the guy at the front door said that it was allowed, as did the locker room guy, and therefore, she had been outnumbered 2 to 1. She got really snotty at that point, and said I wasn’t respecting the church. Then a greasy passer buy guy (old 65-ish Grecian guy, who was very oily) said that when I was in my country I could do by those rules, but when I am in Italy, I have to abide by their rules. I tried to tell him to mind his own business, and tell the tour guide that I wasn’t trying to disobey her, but other “employees†said that photography was allowed. I then suggested that she talk with those people to get on the same communication page, and then not yell at people for not doing anything wrong. She became insistent with her tour sign, and Naren and I didn’t wish to talk with her anymore. We said “Fine, whatever!â€. We put the camera away, and walked out of the church. For the most part we had seen the most impressive things. Naren was trying to get me to believe that the security guards and the locker room guys didn’t understand that I wanted to film inside the church. We fought about this. I explained to him that our conversations were in English, and that both employees spoke very eloquently. We made up and concluded that the tour guide was misinformed and also having PMS.

We went back to the ship, and packed. We packed our bags the same way that we had packed coming to Europe. We would live out of the little suitcases in Venice. We had to set our suitcases out by 7:00 pm, so we did so. We had dinner that night, and the meal was great. We did not attend the passenger talent show. Instead we rested and prepared to be woken up by disembarkation announcements at 4:30 am.

Friday we were pleasantly we were surprised that we were not woken up, but instead woke up on our own account. We showered and had breakfast. We came back to the room for our little luggage and then disembarked the ship. In order to insert our card into the machine, we had to show our luggage tags. In 11 cruises, I’ve never had to do this. Naren kept them in his pocket for easy access. We took the shuttle to the “luggage room†and found our luggage. We had four hands between us and had four suitcases. I had my purse and the camera case, and the two little suitcases, Naren had the shoulder bag (toiletries) and the two large suitcases. We were told that to get to our hotel we would have to go to the stop “Piazza Romaâ€, which was a 30 minute walk with heavy luggage. We asked a cab driver how much to Piazza Roma. He said 20 Euro. We told him that we would walk. So we were walking along the street, toting luggage, following the signs for Piazza Roma. Halfway there, just before the uphill bridge, a guy driving a shuttle bus asked us if we wanted to go to Piazza Roma for free. We gladly accepted. We gave him a nice tip and many “gratzi’sâ€. We went to Piazza Roma, bought two tickets (21 Euros) for us and our luggage and waited for the 82 route to take us to Rialto. We were on the platform when the 82 bus came gliding along side our platform and crashed into us. It knocked us for a loop, because we didn’t know to “braceâ€. Anyhow we boarded and then went to the Rialto stop. We found our hotel, but had to go over four bridges (up and down) to get there. With four suitcases that’s a bit much. We made it, checked in, and there was no elevator in the hotel. We had to drag four suitcases up a flight of stairs. That wasn’t easy. Our hotel room was nice. We put the key into the slot to get lights and air conditioning. We relaxed, laid down and fell asleep. After our nap, we went roaming around Venice. We walked to San Marcos stop and then took route 1 up the grand canal. We noticed that it wasn’t in the height of summer yet, but Venice stunk. Don’t misunderstand, there were many great things to do and see, but the city has an odor problem. The still water in the canals, and the sludge along all the buildings kind of stunk! But it was only on the odd breeze through the streets. It took some time to get used to the bus routes, but that’s what we did the first night. Mostly we ate along streets “Specchieri†and “La Guerra†from St Mark’s square. And on the streets from Rialto, we ate along “Salizzadaâ€, “Paradise†and “bandeâ€. Along the street Salizzada, there are two restaurants next to each other Taverno del Tio and Marco Polo. Both had GREAT food. You can get a first course (lasagna for example), a second course (fish fillet), a salad, and coffee or fruit for 16 euros. They have no cover charge and the service charge is also included. We ate here at both restaurants for dinner during our stay. For lunch, we ate at pizzerias along Salizzada. There are only 300 to choose from. They’re all in between the gelato shops.

After dinner, we grabbed some gelato and then went to sleep.

Saturday we woke up and ordered the breakfast in our room. It was a continental breakfast and was delivered. It was fresh baked croissants with fruit compote inside. We also had fresh rolls, butter, jam, chocolate spread, strawberry yogurt, coffee, fruit punch juice and tea. It was complimentary. It was delicious. We showered and then walked to St Marks square (5 minutes once you know where you’re going, 10 minutes if you don’t). We found a bank there “Banco di Romaâ€. We cashed 400 Euro travelers checks and ended up with 394 euros. Woohoo! No more travelers checks!

We went into Doge’s Palace and would not have missed this for the world. We thought it was better than the Basilica. We then left that Palace and caught the 82 bus from San Marco and then went to the Accademia stop. There we saw the Galleria del Accademia. We spent many hours here looking at all the fabulous pictures here. We took our umbrellas because it was looking to sprinkle any moment. It hardly did. Also at the Galleria del Accademia, the admission was free, but you had to check your cameras and bags. We enjoyed what we saw. We also ate lunch at the pizzeria on the water right next to that Ponte de Accademia bridge, across the canal from the Pal Barbaro. It was great. We asked the gondola guy for a ride. He wanted 80 euros. We walked away quickly. We decided that we just wanted to see the canal. So we took the 1 back to St Marco. From there we got back on the 82 going up the canal. See, the 82 finishes its route and makes everyone get off at San Marco. So we were front at the gate to get on the water taxi. So we boarded it, and got the seats up front and outside. That made for PERFECT photo opportunities. So we filmed the canal, and then went out and around the city to the west. We passed by the cruise ship, and got GREAT PICS of her! Then we took the Giudecca Canal back to St Marco. We enjoyed our canal tour and only spent 20 euros to do it. We then went back to the hotel and rested for a while.

I have to say, I had purchased the AAA spiral guide, which was helpful. I also purchased Venice Top 10. That was helpful too. I then purchased “Streetwise†Venice. This was a detailed map, but the font was so small, it was hard to read.

At AAA, I bought the BEST MAP EVER! It was water proof, BIG, and used a 12 POINT FONT! It also was two sided, and included close ups of the best places to visit. I hope I can tell you where to write to get this map. It has a “cartoon†style to it and the front looks like this . It is VERY easy to read, use and I don’t know where we would have been without it. In fact, we helped lost tourists with our map and they wanted to know where we got a map that was so easy to read. It’s called:

MAPEASY’S GUIDEMAP to Venice, A location map and guidebook in one, The unique, easy-to-use guide to Venice. Detail maps for: San Marco, Rialto, Shopping Areas (it will tell you “*postcard vendor hereâ€, and other interesting facts about buildings.

ISBN 1-878979-52-3, US $6.95

Telephone 631-537-6213, Fax: 631-537-4541, Email: info@mapeasy.com, Website: www.mapeasy.com

After we rested, we got some dinner, gelato, and then went back to the hotel to pack for tomorrow’s departure. We set a wake up call for 7:30 am, and ordered a water taxi for 9:00 am, to go to Marco Polo airport for a 12:00pm flight.

Sunday morning, we woke up, and got ready. We ordered breakfast again from the hotel, and drank champagne with breakfast. We caught our water taxi, and loaded the heavy luggage into his motorboat. Getting in that boat was hard, as the boat moved, the water moved and it was unsteady. Be careful! We spent 85 euros for the 30-minute ride to the airport. On the main “water road†to the airport, if another boat passes you, you can catch serious air from the other boat’s wake. Catching air makes you fly off your seat. Hold on! We arrived at the airport, and found that we had to take a shuttle to the ONLY terminal. Everyone was catching a flight that day. The airport was crowded. There were lines forming through other lines. Our flight was on time, we checked in, and the weight limit for our bag was 32Kg. Our bag weighed 31.9 KG! We came close! Anyhow we checked our luggage all the way through to San Diego. Our flight plan was to go from Venice to JFK New York, then to Dallas, then to San Diego. Went through security and barely made our flight to New York. The local people say two hours is enough time to get through security, but I don’t agree. I would allow 2-3 hours.

Anyhow we boarded our flight and we had Mr. Wiggleworm sitting next to me. I was in between him and Naren. The guy asked me to move over, but there was no where to move to. Its painful to put the arm rests down, as it cuts into my hip. He wasn’t very understanding. There were no other seats though! Ok, we landed in New York and it was an uneventful flight. On the flight we had chicken and rice or pasta for our dinner. It came with a salad, a dessert, bread and butter, and water. Then the juice cart came with other drinks. Later when we arrived closer to New York, our meal was a sandwich. That had a cookie and a piece of cheese to go with it. During the flight I asked the flight attendant if Naren needed an I-94. She said he didn’t. So we didn’t fill one out. We landed safely and it was really neat to see the NY skyline as we landed. We left the plane at 3:30 pm, and our next flight to Dallas was at 5:30. So we tried to hurry through immigration. It took an hour for Naren to get out of Immigration. Since Naren is here with advanced parole, he went with me through immigration, and not in the “Non US†line. The first immigration guy said that we can have one customs form. The ship tells you differently, because I don’t have his last name yet. If you’re not the same last name, you’re not the same form. Anyhow, that customs guy had different rules. Ok, that wasn’t a big issue, just an inconsistency.

So then the immigration guy asks to see Naren’s green card. It will probably come when we celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. We’ve been waiting so long for it! Anyhow, he sends Naren back to the other side of his “office†with an I-94 to fill out. We started to fill it out, and come to find out it was in French. We went back for another form. As we started to peacefully fill this out, a jerk-of-jerk’s immigration guy comes out and YELLS at us for taking up time in line, and not having filled out this form on the airplane. We tried to tell him that the flight attendant wouldn’t give us one, and we were hurrying, just leave us alone for 5 minutes. He didn’t like that. I told him his yelling at us was a “Moo†point (See Friends episode 7.08 The one where Chandler doesn’t like dogs) , and he didn’t like that either. But when he was done with his tirade, Naren was done with his I-94. So I told Naren I would get the bags that were now coming off the carousel and that I would meet him in the immigration room. I stood there for 45 minutes waiting for ANY immigration official moving slowly to give me an answer when he’d be able to move! I even offered to show our marriage certificate to get him out of the “jailâ€. Anyhow, one short and bald guy finally asked me what he came to the US with, and I explained it was a valid Advanced Parole paper, and that we had a flight in 45 minutes! He sped up the paperwork, and let Naren out. We went through customs in 60 seconds. And then we had to recheck our bags. That took about 10 minutes, because we had to go through security AGAIN! Had I known this, I would have bent my hand in half and removed my bangles. Anyhow we get through security and found our gate and didn’t see our plane. Our flight was to begin boarding in 5 minutes! We searched high and low and found this dinky-dorky origami plane outside. Although it had jet engines, it looked like something a rock band would fly on, not AIRLINE PASSENGERS! Naren and I had a scary experience on an origami turbo-prop plane, and we were NOT getting on this plane! The gate attendant found another plane to California (LAX) and it left in 30 minutes. The guy re-routed us and our luggage to the flight from JFK to LAX, and then to San Diego. We got new boarding passes and took the 10 minute walk to our new gate. We felt better flying on a 767.

Guess who was also on that flight? Mr. Wiggleworm! Thankfully he was sitting at the other end of the plane. We sat next to a family of 4, a Mom her two kids (one infant) and her husband. We took off on time, and the flight that took off ahead of us was that dorky origami plane. Once in the air our flight was VERY BUMPY. The pilot came over to tell us that we were going to fly over Canada because of SEVERE storms over Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Actually, according to the tower in Minneapolis, there was choppy air from 25,000 and all the way up. We had terrible bouncing for about an hour. Ugh! Anyhow, the baby across from us didn’t like the bouncing. The mom was trying to console him, but couldn’t. Then another passenger with a baby about 6 months older than hers came over to talk to her and proceeded to tell her that she should give her baby this herbal “drug†to make him calm down! And that she was holding the baby wrong, and that was why he wasn’t going to sleep! I had my ear plugs in, trying to sleep, and this creep’s advice actually woke me up. Yes, I could hear him through the plugs. I can also hear Naren snoring through the plugs. They don’t work great, but they’re better than nothing. Anyhow, I removed a plug and continued to listen to this Dr. Phil’s advice, and got this “Where in heck do you come off, and who do you think you are†look on my face, and he looked over at me, and then said angelically, “Oh, am I being too loud?†I smiled and put my finger to my lips and went “shhhhâ€. He wasn’t pure evil, he left, and the mom gave me a GREAT BIG smile! Ugh, what a creep!

We landed in LAX on time, and were pretty hungry at about 8:45. There was only a meal available for purchase on the flight from New York. I had bought a can of chips (Pringles BBQ style $3). So we ate at a McDonalds with a broken thermostat, because it was about 45 degrees F in that restaurant. To our surprise, all the other food stands were closed. At that time, it was about 9-9:15, but still! Anyhow, we ate dinner, and ate a lot of dinner! Then we sat down at our gate to San Diego, and fell asleep. We woke up 20 minutes after our flight left, and asked Delta where our bags were. They weren’t supposed to have gotten on the flight without us. They sent us to talk to the “lost luggage†people at baggage claim. We showed them our tags, and they said our bags were in DALLAS! Apparently they didn’t get switched with us. Then the flight from JFK to Dallas was late, and missed the connecting flight to San Diego (which was our original flight), so in Dallas they sat, overnight, in the rain! The Delta lady said that they would be arriving on the first flight in the morning, which would land in San Diego at 10:30 am. So, stuck in LA, and it now being 11pm, we were tired, and so we missed our San Diego flight. We just rented a car from Hertz ($46), and drove home. Naren drove, and Jen slept. We arrived home at 1:30am, and both INSTANTLY fell asleep.

The next morning when we woke up we had to return the rental car, and pick up our bags. They were waiting for us, and didn’t show any water damage. Our clothing inside which was washed when we left the ship, was still dry and wrinkle free. (Amen for 1800 denier polyester luggage). We unpacked, logged onto CC and said hello to our new friends.

I promised those friends I’d write a review. Here it is! If you have any questions, please email me at LepHysteria@yahoo.com.

Happy Sails,

Mrs. Tulpule

Naren, "But I can't help falling in love with you."

Click here to see wedding and Honeymoon pictures

CCL Paradise 9/23/2000 #U161 - CCL Holiday 3/5/2001 #M32 - RCCL Explorer 9/1/2001 #7298 - CCL Ecstasy 12/7/2001 #R171 - CCL Pride 3/2/2002 #6194 - RCCL Vision 10/11/02 #4521 - CCL Ecstasy 12/27/2002 #E135 - CCL Ecstasy 1/20/2003 #U197 - RCCL Monarch 12/19/03 #9580 - CCL Ecstasy 2/6/04 #M209 - Star Princess 5/16/2004 #B258

... Since I've been Mrs. Tulpule

Thank you for taking the time to share! What a wonderful job you did.

We now have some idea of what to expect but only hope our "Best of Athens" guide is not the same one you had.

How many Euros would you recommend to do the things included in your review?

Future cruises:

9/04 Star Princess-Med.x2 Venice to Barcelona/ Barcelona to Rome

11/04 Dawn Princess-Southern Caribbean

Jan. 05 Diamond Princess-Mexican Riviera

July 05 Star Princess-Baltics

Aug. 05 Star Princess-Baltics

Past cruises:

04 HAL-Amsterdam-Alaska

04 Dawn Princess- Southern Caribbean x2

03 Grand Princess-W.Caribbean

03 Sun Princess -Mexico

03-Tahitian Princess-Tahiti/ Cook Islands

03 Royal Princess-x2 British Isles & Norwegian Fjords/ Iceland

03 Island Princess-Panama Canal

01 HAL Ryndam x 2-S. America San Diego to Valpariso/ & around Cape Horn to Rio

00 Sky Princess-China/Orient

79 Sitmar's Fairwind- Caribbean/Panama Canal

Hi There,

We took about 500 Euro, and this seemed to be enough. Of course, we used mostly credit cards because Visa gets a much better rate!

Happy Sails,

Mrs. Tulpule

Naren, "But I can't help falling in love with you."

Click here to see wedding and Honeymoon pictures

CCL Paradise 9/23/2000 #U161 - CCL Holiday 3/5/2001 #M32 - RCCL Explorer 9/1/2001 #7298 - CCL Ecstasy 12/7/2001 #R171 - CCL Pride 3/2/2002 #6194 - RCCL Vision 10/11/02 #4521 - CCL Ecstasy 12/27/2002 #E135 - CCL Ecstasy 1/20/2003 #U197 - RCCL Monarch 12/19/03 #9580 - CCL Ecstasy 2/6/04 #M209 - Star Princess 5/16/2004 #B258

... Since I've been Mrs. Tulpule

That is the longest review I've ever seen. Thanks for taking the time to do this. I am sure people will find it helpful.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dawn Princess 04/11/2004 ~ Southern Caribbean

Caribbean Princess 08/14/2004 ~ Eastern Caribbean

What an excellent review! We're doing the same itinerary in July. I noticed the first formal night is the sail-away night from Barcelona. When was the second? Sorry if I missed it, but I did read through twice trying to find it!!!

Also, I'm not sure if I read you correctly. You say it takes an hour to order room-service breakfast, so it won't come until after 8am. But can you order it the night before for an earlier time, if you're going on a tour? Like you, I expect we'll have quite a few early-starts.

Thanks for all the excellent info.

Vivienne

PS I liked your comment that "topless sunbathing is a 'rule' in France" - more an accepted option, I think - you don't HAVE to sunbathe topless if you don't want to, in case any future cruisers are getting nervous!!

27 July 04 - Princess Star - Mediterranean

Jen,

Thanks for the review. I especially enjoyed it as I first did a similar itinerary on the Golden with my mother in 2001. We too did almost all full day shore excursions and I really related to the exhaustion! I have since done the Med with my husband a couple of times (and we're scheduled for the Star Med/transatlantic in October) but we now know to take it at our own pace. We do most of the ports on our own, getting off the ship at a more reasonable hour and returning when we want. I have found that we get just as much out of it, since we can pick and choose to our interests and also aren't waiting for all the people on the bus! But, the first time in the Med, you don't know what you don't know!

I'm glad you and Naren enjoyed your cruise. Many more to you!

Denise

Hi Great review, but I am dying to know, did you tip your crappy tour guide in Athens,and if you did, then why?

Also if stuck sitting next to a wiggly man why didn't you trade seats with your husband so that you didn't need to sit next to someone who wasn't very happy sitting next to you? Just a thought.

I do think your reveiw was very thourough and I bet that those who will be going on the same cruise will really be able to use some of your tips and info.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by gopher's girl:

Thanks for taking the time to do this. I am sure people will find it helpful.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thank you so much for your kind words!

Jen

Happy Sails,

Mrs. Tulpule

Naren, "But I can't help falling in love with you."

Click here to see wedding and Honeymoon pictures

CCL Paradise 9/23/2000 #U161 - CCL Holiday 3/5/2001 #M32 - RCCL Explorer 9/1/2001 #7298 - CCL Ecstasy 12/7/2001 #R171 - CCL Pride 3/2/2002 #6194 - RCCL Vision 10/11/02 #4521 - CCL Ecstasy 12/27/2002 #E135 - CCL Ecstasy 1/20/2003 #U197 - RCCL Monarch 12/19/03 #9580 - CCL Ecstasy 2/6/04 #M209 - Star Princess 5/16/2004 #B258

... Since I've been Mrs. Tulpule

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by vivienne-j:

What an excellent review! We're doing the same itinerary in July. I noticed the first formal night is the sail-away night from Barcelona. When was the second? Sorry if I missed it, but I did read through twice trying to find it!!!

Also, I'm not sure if I read you correctly. You say it takes an hour to order room-service breakfast, so it won't come until after 8am. But can you order it the night before for an earlier time, if you're going on a tour? Like you, I expect we'll have quite a few early-starts.

Thanks for all the excellent info.

Vivienne

PS I liked your comment that "topless sunbathing is a 'rule' in France" - more an accepted option, I think - you don't HAVE to sunbathe topless if you don't want to, in case any future cruisers are getting nervous!!

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi there,

The second formal night is the first sea day before we arrived in Venice. So it was on the 25th.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I hope I can explain. It doesn't take an hour to order room service, actually from ordering to the food's arrival it takes about 25 minutes. I don't remember from the card what the earliest time room service can arrive. Perhaps someone here knows.

It takes an hour for us to get ready to go and eat breakfast, and then it takes about 45 mintues to an hour to eat breakfast in the dining room. So therefore, if our tours met in the 7 o'clock hour, we couldn't get breakfast in the dining room, because it doesn't open until 7:00. Most of our tours, however, started in the 7 o clock hour, and so we had to go to the horizon court most mornings. We like being waited on.

I hope the cruisers could hear my sarcasm in the writing when I said that topless sunbathing was a rule in France. It just seems that every woman chooses to exercise this option. I noticed it because of a posting I read many moons ago on the Carnival board when her family went to a carribbean beach, and a woman was floating on an air mattress topless. She was appalled and was about to call John Ashcroft.

Anyhow, its not a rule, but it is very common. The billboards, which are not within the cruisers control, do show some nudity (women's torso and backside), and some may be offended by this.

Hope this helps,

Jen

Happy Sails,

Mrs. Tulpule

Naren, "But I can't help falling in love with you."

Click here to see wedding and Honeymoon pictures

CCL Paradise 9/23/2000 #U161 - CCL Holiday 3/5/2001 #M32 - RCCL Explorer 9/1/2001 #7298 - CCL Ecstasy 12/7/2001 #R171 - CCL Pride 3/2/2002 #6194 - RCCL Vision 10/11/02 #4521 - CCL Ecstasy 12/27/2002 #E135 - CCL Ecstasy 1/20/2003 #U197 - RCCL Monarch 12/19/03 #9580 - CCL Ecstasy 2/6/04 #M209 - Star Princess 5/16/2004 #B258

... Since I've been Mrs. Tulpule

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by cruisinD:

Jen,

Thanks for the review. I especially enjoyed it as I first did a similar itinerary on the Golden with my mother in 2001. We too did almost all full day shore excursions and I really related to the exhaustion! I have since done the Med with my husband a couple of times (and we're scheduled for the Star Med/transatlantic in October) but we now know to take it at our own pace. We do most of the ports on our own, getting off the ship at a more reasonable hour and returning when we want. I have found that we get just as much out of it, since we can pick and choose to our interests and also aren't waiting for all the people on the bus! But, the first time in the Med, you don't know what you don't know!

I'm glad you and Naren enjoyed your cruise. Many more to you!

Denise<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on future mediterranean cruises. I think that we'll see the caribbean before we see Europe again. I definitely am happy that we saw Europe before the little ones arrive in our family! I saw parents pushing strollers down the cobble stone streets and can't imagine how they did it!

Thanks for reading. Happy Cruising to you!

Happy Sails,

Mrs. Tulpule

Naren, "But I can't help falling in love with you."

Click here to see wedding and Honeymoon pictures

CCL Paradise 9/23/2000 #U161 - CCL Holiday 3/5/2001 #M32 - RCCL Explorer 9/1/2001 #7298 - CCL Ecstasy 12/7/2001 #R171 - CCL Pride 3/2/2002 #6194 - RCCL Vision 10/11/02 #4521 - CCL Ecstasy 12/27/2002 #E135 - CCL Ecstasy 1/20/2003 #U197 - RCCL Monarch 12/19/03 #9580 - CCL Ecstasy 2/6/04 #M209 - Star Princess 5/16/2004 #B258

... Since I've been Mrs. Tulpule

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by pg.:

Hi Great review, but I am dying to know, did you tip your crappy tour guide in Athens,and if you did, then why?

Also if stuck sitting next to a wiggly man why didn't you trade seats with your husband so that you didn't need to sit next to someone who wasn't very happy sitting next to you? Just a thought.

I do think your reveiw was very thourough and I bet that those who will be going on the same cruise will really be able to use some of your tips and info.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Oh my lanta! We did NOT tip our Athens tour guide, but I did give some dollars and euro change as a tip (all I had ... travelers check issue) to the helper tour guide - who was actually just a kid counseler with nothing to do.

I did make Naren sit next to the guy, and it helped, but didn't solve the problem of my not having room on the plane, but there's no quick solution for that. The aisle was helpful, but the drink cart takes up lots of space!

Hopefully the review I wrote can help some who are cruising in the future! Thanks so much for reading all 3000 pages!

Happy Sails,

Mrs. Tulpule

Naren, "But I can't help falling in love with you."

Click here to see wedding and Honeymoon pictures

CCL Paradise 9/23/2000 #U161 - CCL Holiday 3/5/2001 #M32 - RCCL Explorer 9/1/2001 #7298 - CCL Ecstasy 12/7/2001 #R171 - CCL Pride 3/2/2002 #6194 - RCCL Vision 10/11/02 #4521 - CCL Ecstasy 12/27/2002 #E135 - CCL Ecstasy 1/20/2003 #U197 - RCCL Monarch 12/19/03 #9580 - CCL Ecstasy 2/6/04 #M209 - Star Princess 5/16/2004 #B258

... Since I've been Mrs. Tulpule

Great review!!!

We saw your ship as we were docked next to it in Barcelona.( Splendour of the Seas). Princess looked gorgeous.

We also loved our Med Cruise...but I am not sure if we could take more than 7 days + Barcelona. We were sooooo tired!!!

------------------------------

<UL TYPE=SQUARE>

<LI>Zuiderdam 8/21/04 FLL - Key West - Cozumel - Grand Caymans - Half Moon Cay - FLL

<LI>Splendour of the Seas 05/15/04 Barcelona - Marseilles - Villefranche - Livorno - Chivitavecchia - Naples - Barcelona

<LI>Century 07/12/03 Eastern Caribbean FFL-San Juan - St. Thomas - St.Maarten- Nassau -FFL

<LI>Komarno(Volga)07/91 Moscow - Astrahan' - Moscow (honeymoon)

<LI>Komarno(Volga)07/90 Moscow - Astrahan'- Moscow

<LI>Admiral Nachimov(or Nakhimov) (Black Sea)04/1986 Odessa - Batum

GO BRUINS!!!!

Great review. Thank you.

Who was the CD?

Carol

Royal Princess Buenos Aires to Santiago

Hi There,

Our Cruise director was Tim Donnovan. He was an ok cruise director, but most of our cruise was spent on tours, sleeping, or doing something that didn't involve him directly. He did cut into Billy Vader's 2nd show, which we thought wa interesting, because Billy wasn't "dying on stage". They got into an arguement (all in fun, of course) about how bad each other was dressed.

Happy Sails,

Mrs. Tulpule

Naren, "But I can't help falling in love with you."

Click here to see wedding and Honeymoon pictures

CCL Paradise 9/23/2000 #U161 - CCL Holiday 3/5/2001 #M32 - RCCL Explorer 9/1/2001 #7298 - CCL Ecstasy 12/7/2001 #R171 - CCL Pride 3/2/2002 #6194 - RCCL Vision 10/11/02 #4521 - CCL Ecstasy 12/27/2002 #E135 - CCL Ecstasy 1/20/2003 #U197 - RCCL Monarch 12/19/03 #9580 - CCL Ecstasy 2/6/04 #M209 - Star Princess 5/16/2004 #B258

... Since I've been Mrs. Tulpule

Jen,

Great review! I'm sure it will be very helpful to future cruisers, especially those interested in doing the Princess tours (or wanting to know about them). I KNOW how long it takes to write a review that long. :-) Good job and thanks for helping me relive my 2003 Med cruise memories (sigh).

jody :-)

PS For anyone considering a Med cruise, prepare yourself by taking long walks in the months before your cruise (unless you are already in great shape). It definitely helps as you WILL walk (and walk a lot) in the Med.

NEXT UP: Tahitian Princess October 2004 (Tahiti)

Golden Princess May 2003 (Mediterranean)

Golden Princess January 2002 (Eastern Caribbean)

Sea Princess March 2001 (Western Caribbean)

Carnival Inspiration March 1997 (Southern Caribbean)

We call Med cruises "working" cruises: you're up early, taking long tours, and back late to the ship only to get up early the next morning. They're fabulous... but you almost need another cruise to recover from your Med cruise.

On our eastern Med cruise, we had several 10 - 12-hour tours, including an overnight in Cairo where we went from 7AM until past 10PM. I wouldn't have missed a thing! (OK, I take that back -- we refused to get off the bus in Athens for a "shopping" stop.) So, even if you're not in the best of shape, make sure you do some walking beforehand and you'll enjoy the tours that much more.

Song of Norway & Song of America, 1986-88; Royal Princess 2/99; Sun Princess 1/00; Ocean Princess 12/00; Royal Princess 4/01; Grand Princess 12/23/01; Sea Princess 2/9/02; Explorer of the Seas 12/21/02; Coral Princess 8/9/03; Nordic Empress 12/27/03; Regal Princess (4/20/04)

-- Caribbean Princess (12/26/04) -- Roll Call

-- Royal Princess (4/21/05) -- Roll Call

Hi Jody,

Thanks for reading my entire review. Actually, your review is one that inspired me to be as detailed as I was. It was because of your review that we photocopied our passports and took them into port with us. We didn't think we were going to miss the ship, but it came in handy to reassure us when the tour was late coming in from Naples. Thankfully we weren't the only tour that ran late.

I second your PS for anyone. I hurt my knee badly on my Bachelorette Party cruise in February. I had been on the elliptical medieval torture device for a month before the cruise. It helped to strengthen my knee for stairs, climbing and stepping down. I’m really glad I did that. I, by no means, became smaller, which I probably should work on, but nevertheless, the gym visits did help!

Happy Sails,

Mrs. Tulpule

Naren, "But I can't help falling in love with you."

Click here to see wedding and Honeymoon pictures

CCL Paradise 9/23/2000 #U161 - CCL Holiday 3/5/2001 #M32 - RCCL Explorer 9/1/2001 #7298 - CCL Ecstasy 12/7/2001 #R171 - CCL Pride 3/2/2002 #6194 - RCCL Vision 10/11/02 #4521 - CCL Ecstasy 12/27/2002 #E135 - CCL Ecstasy 1/20/2003 #U197 - RCCL Monarch 12/19/03 #9580 - CCL Ecstasy 2/6/04 #M209 - Star Princess 5/16/2004 #B258

... Since I've been Mrs. Tulpule

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Pam in MA:

We call Med cruises "working" cruises: you're up early, taking long tours, and back late to the ship only to get up early the next morning. They're fabulous... but you almost need another cruise to recover from your Med cruise.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I second that! I asked Naren that question, can we take another cruise to recover from this cruise, and I got the most unforgetable stare! He thinks I'm weird! (Ok, even more so)

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Pam in MA:

So, even if you're not in the best of shape, make sure you do some walking beforehand and you'll enjoy the tours that much more.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I second that idea! I can't imagine what I would have done had I not worked the kinks out of my knee.

Happy Sails,

Mrs. Tulpule

Naren, "But I can't help falling in love with you."

Click here to see wedding and Honeymoon pictures

CCL Paradise 9/23/2000 #U161 - CCL Holiday 3/5/2001 #M32 - RCCL Explorer 9/1/2001 #7298 - CCL Ecstasy 12/7/2001 #R171 - CCL Pride 3/2/2002 #6194 - RCCL Vision 10/11/02 #4521 - CCL Ecstasy 12/27/2002 #E135 - CCL Ecstasy 1/20/2003 #U197 - RCCL Monarch 12/19/03 #9580 - CCL Ecstasy 2/6/04 #M209 - Star Princess 5/16/2004 #B258

... Since I've been Mrs. Tulpule

Wow! What a great review!! My wife and I are going on the Barcelona to Venice cruise July 3 (yahoo - only 21 days!!!).

Thank you for taking so much time to write your review. We always vow to do this but never seem to be able to do it, so I know how much effort it takes.

There was so much useful information that we printed it so we could re-read it a few times. Once we even fell asleep before reading the whole review and had to pretend we knew what it said (see your reference to Friends episode 4.1 The One with the Jellyfish)

Thanks again for taking all of the time to write this. It has helped to answer a bunch of our questions and fan our excitement!!!

Hope you get your relaxation cruise soon!

Grandeur of the Seas- E.Caribbean 7/1999

Voyager of the Seas W.Caribbean 7/2000

Nordic Empress - Bermuda 4/2001

Grand Princess E. Caribbean 7/2002

Norwegian Star - Hawaii 6/2003

Hi Jen,

We just returned from the Star Princess that sailed from Venice just after you got off the ship. I was surprised that they were still disembarking passengers after 2pm on the day we arrived on the ship. Although we saw it no where in the paperwork, it was announced on the TV disembarking show that passengers should be out of all staterooms by 7am. This was earlier than any other cruise line we have sailed on. We weren't ready by 7am and thought we would stay until 8am or leave our carryon until after breakfast but our room stewart was at our door at 7:30am trying to clean our room. We were forced to take our carryon luggage to breakfast with us.

We found that even ordering room service breakfast the night before does not get it to you early enough for some tours. The earliest delivery time you can request is 7-7:30am (you had to choose a range of time not an exact time). The one morning I ordered room service for the 7-7:30 time slot I received it at 6:45. My daughter ordered it several times for her room and never received breakfast until after 7:15. Also keep in mind that this is not a full breakfast. You can't get meat, eggs of any sort or any cooked items like pancakes, french toast, etc.

I did find that although you can't get hot chocolate from the Horizon Cafe without paying $1.50, you can get it for free with breakfast from room service or at breakfast in the Portofino Dining Room. You also can only get orange or grapefruit juice at the Horizon Cafe but can get apple, tomato, cranberry, or prune juice from room service or Portofino.

Star Princess-Mediterranean 5/28/04

Navigator - W Caribbean 6/03

Adventurer -S Caribbean 6/02

Explorer - E Caribbean 5/01

NCL - Caribbean 11/78

OMG, Lep, I can't believe I found this. Congratulations to you and Naren. I will try to get the Kirbi crew to read this.

What a great informative review. You sound like you had the time of your life!

Thanks so much for writing this. Moonie

Splendour of the Seas - Med

June 19, 2004 from Barcelona

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JayCruise:

There was so much useful information that we printed it so we could re-read it a few times. Once we even fell asleep before reading the whole review and had to pretend we knew what it said (see your reference to Friends episode 4.1 The One with the Jellyfish) <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You fell asleeeeep?

I'm glad I could orovide you with some useful information! If you have any questions, you can email me, or reply back on this thread.

Happy Sails,

Mrs. Tulpule

Naren, "But I can't help falling in love with you."

Click here to see wedding and Honeymoon pictures

CCL Paradise 9/23/2000 #U161 - CCL Holiday 3/5/2001 #M32 - RCCL Explorer 9/1/2001 #7298 - CCL Ecstasy 12/7/2001 #R171 - CCL Pride 3/2/2002 #6194 - RCCL Vision 10/11/02 #4521 - CCL Ecstasy 12/27/2002 #E135 - CCL Ecstasy 1/20/2003 #U197 - RCCL Monarch 12/19/03 #9580 - CCL Ecstasy 2/6/04 #M209 - Star Princess 5/16/2004 #B258

... Since I've been Mrs. Tulpule

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by star58:

I was surprised that they were still disembarking passengers after 2pm on the day we arrived on the ship. Although we saw it no where in the paperwork, it was announced on the TV disembarking show that passengers should be out of all staterooms by 7am.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi, we noticed this too. When we boarded, we still heard disembarkation notices at 11am. We didn't listen to our TV though. We got to our room and then dropped our stuff, got some iced tea, then went out again. When we were leaving the ship on the last day, we were not out of our rooms by 7am. We actually left at 9am (ish). We had breakfast then went back to the room for my purse, our bags, etc.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>

This was earlier than any other cruise line we have sailed on. We weren't ready by 7am and thought we would stay until 8am or leave our carryon until after breakfast but our room stewart was at our door at 7:30am trying to clean our room. We were forced to take our carryon luggage to breakfast with us. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wow, our stewart must have been nicer, or our room was at the end of his checklist.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>

We found that even ordering room service breakfast the night before does not get it to you early enough for some tours. The earliest delivery time you can request is 7-7:30am (you had to choose a range of time not an exact time). The one morning I ordered room service for the 7-7:30 time slot I received it at 6:45. My daughter ordered it several times for her room and never received breakfast until after 7:15. Also keep in mind that this is not a full breakfast. You can't get meat, eggs of any sort or any cooked items like pancakes, french toast, etc. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

We learned that too, but on a sea day. We found that we also tried to order normal food for breakfast, I had a craving for tuna salad sandwiches, don't ask me why, and they couldn't bring it to me. They said they were serving breakfast. I thought, what the heck, this isn't McDonalds!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>

I did find that although you can't get hot chocolate from the Horizon Cafe without paying $1.50, you can get it for free with breakfast from room service or at breakfast in the Portofino Dining Room. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That is great to know. This is the only cruise line that I have found that treats hot chocolate like liquid gold. I don't understand why its not available everywhere.

Thanks for your insight into the cruise. Did you have a good time, what would you do differently when you go next time, etc?

Happy Sails,

Mrs. Tulpule

Naren, "But I can't help falling in love with you."

Click here to see wedding and Honeymoon pictures

CCL Paradise 9/23/2000 #U161 - CCL Holiday 3/5/2001 #M32 - RCCL Explorer 9/1/2001 #7298 - CCL Ecstasy 12/7/2001 #R171 - CCL Pride 3/2/2002 #6194 - RCCL Vision 10/11/02 #4521 - CCL Ecstasy 12/27/2002 #E135 - CCL Ecstasy 1/20/2003 #U197 - RCCL Monarch 12/19/03 #9580 - CCL Ecstasy 2/6/04 #M209 - Star Princess 5/16/2004 #B258

... Since I've been Mrs. Tulpule

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Moondawgie:

OMG, Lep, I can't believe I found this. Congratulations to you and Naren. I will try to get the Kirbi crew to read this.

What a great informative review. You sound like you had the time of your life!

Thanks so much for writing this. Moonie

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks Moonie! How wonderful to see you on here again! Please let the Kirbi crew see the review, and also the posting about the Med pictures. There's a link to my every Webshots album available in my signature. It'd be great to catch up with ya'll. So when's the group's next cruise?

Happy Sails,

Mrs. Tulpule

Naren, "But I can't help falling in love with you."

Click here to see wedding and Honeymoon pictures

CCL Paradise 9/23/2000 #U161 - CCL Holiday 3/5/2001 #M32 - RCCL Explorer 9/1/2001 #7298 - CCL Ecstasy 12/7/2001 #R171 - CCL Pride 3/2/2002 #6194 - RCCL Vision 10/11/02 #4521 - CCL Ecstasy 12/27/2002 #E135 - CCL Ecstasy 1/20/2003 #U197 - RCCL Monarch 12/19/03 #9580 - CCL Ecstasy 2/6/04 #M209 - Star Princess 5/16/2004 #B258

... Since I've been Mrs. Tulpule

Hi, Jen,

Thanks for the great review! You forgot the most exciting part though...meeting me on the Amalfi Coast tour...ok, not so exciting.

I enjoyed your photos, too. It's funny to look at the pics from the lunch stop. My stepdad is right in the middle of one and my Mom is right in the middle of the next one.

We had a fabulous time on the trip as well. I can't think of anything bad except that we were in the group that left the ship at 4:15 AM on debarkation. This was probably the best trip we've ever had otherwise.

I've been looking at the Star Bridge Cam almost daily to see where the ship is. I'm looking for our next cruise now but that one will be hard to beat.

I'll try to figure out the webshot site and get my pics posted. Maybe I've got some of you and Naren.

Keep in touch!

Sunmail@tampabay.rr.com