Live From The 10-24-2013 Ruby Princess to Florida (51 Days)

[yankee1chic]

We have a group sailing on the Ruby in Dec 2014. I was home sick today and read your entire post. I want to thank you for such a great review. I feel like I am with you. We have only sailed once before with Princess. We did the Eastern Caribbean on the Grand in Dec 2012. We love the Princess product and can't wait to sail the Ruby!! Only 395 days...lol. Looking forward to being with you for the rest of your trip. :D

[ccrain]

11-14-2013 Dubrovnik

 

This will be our second trip to Dubrovnik and we plan on exploring the town a little more than last time. We hear of a couple of good pizza places that make pizza different from Italian pizza. Sort of a Croatian version we may have to try out. We are going to try and find that farmer’s market and get some more candied orange peel. Yummy stuff.

 

Docking is at 0800 and all aboard is 1730. Ballroom music in Fusion till 2000, so we will probably start the evening there. Showtime tonight is vocalist Nik Page. Liar’s club is on tonight, name that tune, a texas holdem tournament and a blackjack tournament, heat 3 of Princess Pop Star, a rat pack tribute by Atomic and the great Gatsby on MUTS.

 

11-14-2013 Dubrovnik Evening Update – or How to Get Rid Of All Your Kunas

 

The weather started out partly cloudy with a slight breeze. For us just about perfect. For most of the locals, it was cold. Judy wore her hoody and I just had a short sleeve shirt. The high was probably 65F for the day. A perfect day for walking and having pizza.

 

We really like Dubrovnik. The old town has a lot of character and the walls are really historically interesting. The streets are narrow, but the old town is very clean and orderly – almost like a piece of Disneyworld. Our goal today was to get in some walking, find the market, eat some Croatian pizza, pick up a few bobbles and get rid of all of our Kunas. We succeeded on all counts. Wandering around the old town looking for a place to have lunch was kind of fun. We didn’t have that many Kunas, so a sit down lunch would have involved a lot of math – besides we had a great sitdown lunch the last time we were here.

 

We did find the market, got some candied orange peel and some fig salami – yep, fig salami. Tasted pretty good and should go good with coffee in the morning. As we were walking around in the town, hungry for lunch, we came across this little shop with Pizza in the window. It was actually a chain store, but one that had pretty good reviews in TripAdvisor. The lady had three different pizzas out, a salami/mushroom and Feta cheese pizza, a four cheese pizza and a ham/mushroom Feta cheese pizza. She also had one of those round about kabob things. So we tried the ham and salami pizzas, and a chicken kabob. Really tasted good. Hmmm, still have some Kunas left. Off to the Gelato shop for a couple of scoops of gelato. All the change goes in the tip jar. Still have 60K left. Hey a sign that says t-shirts for 50K. Now we find a t-shirt for Judy’s sister. Still have 10K left. Let’s try the candy store. Sure enough, they have a bag of hard candies for 10K. That’s it. No more Kunas and all missions accomplished. Back to ship for some afternoon Ginger Twist tea.

 

Like I said, we really liked Dubrovnik. It’s a great place to visit and no need to take a tour. You can walk to the old town from the port, but it is almost 2 miles up and down hill. The shuttle bus is 10E or $15 roundtrip. The tickets to the wall is 90K each and they only accept Kunas, but it is a great view and well worth it. The place has charm, great food, great views, really photogenic and just a pleasure to wander around in.

[san diego sue]

The balloons prior to the Crew show have been happening for years,

Lots of fun, glad you enjoyed it.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

11-14-2013 Dubrovnik

 

Like I said, we really liked Dubrovnik. It’s a great place to visit and no need to take a tour. You can walk to the old town from the port, but it is almost 2 miles up and down hill. The shuttle bus is 10E or $15 roundtrip. The tickets to the wall is 90K each and they only accept Kunas, but it is a great view and well worth it. The place has charm, great food, great views, really photogenic and just a pleasure to wander around in.

 

I loved Dubrovnik when I was there earlier in summer, we walked the wall and used our credit card for that so we didn't have to exchange for Kunas, everywhere else was taking Euro's since they are now part of the EU.

I saw the fig salami at the market but didn't try or buy any :)

We were on the Royal TA and the 7 sea days to FLL were very smooth - wish the same for your crossing.

 

Love your review - looking forward to the rest.

Thanks

[ccrain]

11-15-2013 At Sea To Venice

 

A nice day at sea. Time to catch up on some exercise. The weather was great, the sea state almost flat and the temperatures were around 65F. Nice weather. Its formal night and Captain’s Circle, but no formal wear for us, so we will not be going.

 

A simple day at sea for us. A long workout in the gym followed by a vigorous mile walk up on deck 19 – great views from up there – followed by a well earned burger and pizza lunch. Zumba with Eve followed by another vigorous mile around the promenade deck. Snacks at the Elite lounge, dancing with Jean and George in the wheelhouse, followed by a new George Casey show in Explorers and then the Marriage Game show.

 

Not much to report, just another great day, preparing for Venice. We arrive tomorrow morning in full daylight and will be able to see all the sights on the way in, then a sailaway on Monday morning in full daylight as well. Can’t wait, up early, lots of pictures.

 

See ya…

[ccrain]

11-16-2013 Venice Re-Visited

 

A lot of lessons learned today. Some the hard way. The arrival and entry was spectacular with sunshine and clear enough skies to barely make out the snow capped mountains to the west of Venice. The MOSI construction project was very evident and will eventually be very impressive. It’s an awful lot of time and effort to save a city from an inevitable fate. Aqua Alta was upon us as we entered. Water was up in Piazza San Marcos with the portable walkways in the square itself.

 

The plan A was to get off the ship, use the people mover, purchase a 36 hour Vaporetto pass, catch the 4.1, 4.2, 5.1 or 5.2 from Piazzale Roma to Moreno, have lunch at the B restaurant, buy a glass chicken thingy for my mother, catch the 3 back to Piazzale Roma, stop by the co-op, pick up the Pinot Grigiot, some water, some wipes and get back to the ship in time for a UBD with Paul and Elizabeth on their mini suite balcony.

 

Unknown to me, the plan would fall apart right away due to Acqua Alta. None of the 4.1, 4.2, 5.1 or 5.2 vaporettos run from Pizzale Roma to Moreno during Aqua Alta. And the machine would not accept my Amex card for the tickets. And there was people trying out alternative routes all over the place. There were only 3 ships in port! Splendor of the Seas, a smaller ship from a line I’m not familiar with, and the Ruby. How can this place be so crowded in November with only 3 ships in port!

 

Cash fixed the ticket issue. But I had to rethink our routing. We hopped on a #2 vaporetto to the Rialto Market stop, then cut across Venice to the Fundamente Nuevo station. My reasoning was that the 4.1, 4.2, 5.1 or 5.2 should be working from that point. The cutting across Venice was really cool. I finally gave up on the map or the cell phone GPS and just dead reckoned. Ended up just about right when we got to the water’s edge on the north side. No more than 100 yards from the Fundamente Nuevo station.

 

The vaporettos were stuffed to capacity going to Moreno. We finally got on the third 4.1 vaporetto at Fundamente Nuevo. Unfortunately a local lady’s husband got left behind in the crunch. (Judy and I got separated, but managed to get on the same boat.) And we were treated to a 10 minute haranguing, in Italian, as the lady chewed out the driver. It wasn’t as if he would have fit on the boat as we were literally stuffed in and could not move.

 

Suffice it to say that it took us 3 hours to get from the ship to the restaurant in Moreno. That’s a long time and I just can’t imagine how long it would take in August. To me it fundamentally questions the efficacy of using the Vaporettos during a one day cruise stop. Personally, for a one day stop, use the Princess shuttle tickets. Much less hassle. For multi-day stops, get together with 3 other couples and split water taxi fares. You will save time and probably save money as 8 36 hour passes would be 200E total. We could have been in Moreno in about an hour using water taxis.

 

Lunch at B was just ok. For the #1 rated restaurant in TripAdvisor for Moreno, I expected more. We had the Venetian antipasti – sardines, scallops (the best of them), octopus salad and a couple of other things. Judy had her squid ink spaghetti and I had spaghetti vongole – clams and mussels. I actually liked her spaghetti serpia better than the last one, but my vongole was better last time in Venice.

 

We shopped for glass chickens but the prices were expensive – sorry mom.

 

We caught the 3 vaporetto back to Piazzale Roma, it was also packed to the gills, and shopped in the co-op. They were completely out of water in small bottle six packs, but the price of our wine had dropped to 6.4E per bottle. We found the wipes we needed, then headed back to the ship in time for a shower and change of clothes.

 

We had the UBD with Paul and Elizabeth. It was a great time with excellent food, service and company. The steaks were perfectly cooked with great tasting lobster. A great cap to the midpoint of our cruise. No dancing tonight as we are all stuffed to the gills and trying to digest a little before bed.

 

Tomorrow the plan is/was Lido. We will see how the Vaporetto schedules looks in the morning as tonight is the full moon.

 

Night all…

[ccrain]

11-17-2013 Venice, For The Last Time

 

After today, Venice may be our favorite city for it was a wonderful day. Good night’s sleep, turn around was smooth, we walked our rear ends off, found some non-tourist areas, had a fantastic Italian lunch/dinner, bought some more wine, water and other stuff, and in general had a great day together exploring and experiencing.

 

One of Costa’s larger ships came in during the night or morning for their turn around day. Lots of people in the parking lot, but thankfully not in the Vaporettos. Today they paid off. We had a great ride down the Grand Canal in the #2 boat all the way to Piazza San Marcos on the front in seats. Nice. Transferred to the #1 boat for a short jaunt to Lido, actually got seats, then wandered around Lido. It was wonderful. No crowds, beautiful day, blue sky, blue water, not too hot – although all the locals are bundled in parkas – light wind.

 

I actually wanted to find a restaurant in Lido that was highly rated on Tripadvisor, but they were closed as today was a Sunday. Stopped by a couple of other ones, but nothing struck our fancy. So we hopped on the 5.2 boat around the northern end of Venice. Almost no one on the boat. It was comfortable and not crowded at all the whole trip. We got off just north of the train station and I had marked three potential restaurants in the area. Ai Tre Archi was where we ended up. A very friendly restaurant. We ordered fried calamari and polenta, along with the house recommended pizza and a bottle of their Pinot Grigio. WOW! This made up for the restaurant in Morano. The pizza was better than the one we had in Naples. It was really, really good, not greasy, thin crust, tasty crust. The calamari was even better. No marinara, lemon, ranch or anything to spoil the freshness of this stuff. It was everything calamari should be, it was fantastico. The service was great and the price was really good. The total, with tip, for us, was 60E. Not bad for Venice.

 

After eating we walked down through the hotel row to the train station. We found all the tourists we’d been missing all day as the streets were packed with tourists, locals and the aqua alta platforms. Once we got back the Piazzale Roma, we went straight to our favorite, and only that we know of, grocery store, the co-op. Judy wanted some decent hair conditioner as the stuff in the cabin sucks according to her. We also needed to snag some more water and I got the last bottle of Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio in the store – although the price had gone back up to 8.4E per bottle.

 

A quick jaunt back to the ship via the people mover and it was shower time. The elite lounge is now packed with people at 5. Oh well. On the first cruise we might have 10 couples in the lounge, on the second, maybe 20, tonight it was packed and I expect it to be packed until we get back to Florida as the number of elites on board has been steadily increasing.

 

We did manage to stay up long enough to dance in fusion and explorer’s, but that was about it as we did put about 8 miles on the shoes today.

 

But all in all, a really great day in Venice, great sights, fantastic weather and fabulous food.

[ccrain]

11-18-2013 Venice in the Morning –

 

We sail at 0915 this morning. Muster is at 0845. All aboard is 0800. We have a long run to Athens, but it would have been nice to spend another day in Venice. For those people who joined yesterday, they won’t get the true advantage of an overnight. So when you book for next year, check the sailaway times. Although they will have the sight of sailing past San Marcos whereas we sailed out in the dark when we left. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

 

Venice is VERY expensive. I don’t know how people can afford to live in the city. The prices in the co-op are triple and quadruple what Wal-Mart prices are like in the states. I can’t imagine what the housing prices are. You can easily spend 200 to 300E a day on food alone if you splurge, less if you do the little shops and take aways. (I didn’t get a chance to price the local Micky D’s.) In just two days of walking around we spent 50E on transportation and 130E on food – for just two meals! But you’re only in Venice once in a lifetime and we’ve been lucky to be here twice, so what the heck. You can’t get Italian food like this anywhere in Colorado.

 

The Vaporetto trips yesterday were all very nice, especially the front row seat down the grand canal. The Vaporetto is a viable alternative, but if you’re on a limited time budget, I really recommend you get another two or three couples to share a water taxi. You save so much time – which is important. The trip for us from the airport to the hotel was like that when we used the shared water taxi. Lots of sights for a reasonable price.

 

So what’s up in the patter for this partial day at sea. Four trivias today (International, Brain Buster, General and Movie Icons), line dancing with Eve, Zumba with Eve, port lectures, bingo, Iron Man 3 on MUTS tonight, Atomic in the Piazza, concerts in Fusion, Jean and George in the wheelhouse, Motown night in explorer’s with Atomic, port lectures, the usual stuff.

 

We have the connoisseur tour scheduled in Istanbul on this cruise and a Florence on your own via bus, but other than that, we are on our own. We plan to do the Acropolis museum on our own in Athens, walk the town in Mykonos, have lunch in Kusadasi, have not decided on Naples yet, do Rome via the cheap train ticket, Toulon on our own and walk the Ramblas in Barcelona.

[bcnvcanada]

Hi did I read you right that when you sailed out this morning at 9:00am

it was dark outside? We arrive next week at 08:00.in Venice. What time

does it get dark? Athens was crazy

yesterday with riot police out everywhere. It was the yearly march to the U.S embsay. The march was to remember the university students

killed in a protest many years ago. Most metro stations were closed downtown. Today, everything is back to normal and should be so all this week.

[ccrain]

Hi did I read you right that when you sailed out this morning at 9:00am

it was dark outside? We arrive next week at 08:00.in Venice. What time

does it get dark? Athens was crazy

yesterday with riot police out everywhere. It was the yearly march to the U.S embsay. The march was to remember the university students

killed in a protest many years ago. Most metro stations were closed downtown. Today, everything is back to normal and should be so all this week.

 

It was light about 0630 in Venice and got dark about 1730. It was cloudy in the morning.

 

Hope all that stuff is done when we get there tomorrow.

[ccrain]

11-18-2013 – At Sea To Athens

 

Sailaway from Venice was fun. Our starboard side balcony was in a good position to see Piazza San Marco and all the little canals and waterways as we sailed out of the port. We used room service this morning, which was a nice way to start the day, and the coffee was actually very good. Not having to attend muster was great as well. Since it was only a partial day at sea, Zumba was at 1430, so I went to the gym for a while before lunch. Tonight we were invited to Paul and Elizabeth’s table in Botticelli to sample the lamb shank, one of mine and Judy’s favorite lamb dinners on the ship. It was excellent as was the accompanying potatoes, eggplant and brussell sprouts. We also had the split pea soup, which was very good after some fresh cracked black pepper, and ice cream with the special coffee liquor we bought in Sorrento. One of the bottles of wine from Venice were donated to the cause as well.

 

We had a great big surprise when we danced in Fusion tonight. Ken and Merrily, a dance instructor couple from a B2B on the Emerald in November of 2010 are on this ship. They are not instructing, but are just sailing to Florida like us. It was great to see them again and they actually remembered us. We got to introduce Paul and Elizabeth to them. There are probably a couple of dozen crew and passengers we’ve sailed with before – so when they tell you you’ll never see these people again – don’t believe it.

 

We ran into Dan at lunch and he informed us that the opening number for the welcome aboard show would be different, having only been performed on the Royal so far. That, plus George Casey, who is still one of the funniest comedians on this cruise, and Dan interacting with various passengers was worth it. Dan, who is going home in Barcelona, is what we call “short”, or FIGMO, so he has a very big smile on his face wherever he goes.

 

The opening number was different and good, but I still miss the “we cruise” opening number. I know it’s corny and cheesy, but it’s a fun catchy tune.

 

Lots of dancers on this ship. There were at least 7 couples in Fusion, Jean and George was packed, as was explorer’s. So we headed on up to bed. Lost an hour last night anyway.

[ccrain]

11-19-2013 At Sea to Athens

 

Stormy weather has caught up with up. The ship started rock and rolling about 0200 this morning. Still relatively warm and warmer than it was on the way up to Venice. Rain and lightning started showing up about 0400 this morning. We actually didn’t get up till 0730. Late for us. But it’s an at-sea day, so not much happening that forces you up early. The IC is quiet this morning, even this late, while there are lines into the dining room and all the aft elevators were up on 15 when I got up this morning – so someone is awake.

 

Judy will probably spend her day right here in the IC. Not a lot of rock and roll here, but still pretty stormy outside. That will limit outside activities and force everyone inside. Zumba is on twice today. We will make the early one for sure, or at least I will, and try and make the afternoon one as well.

 

Tonight is formal night. We have dancing in Fusion, Jean and George in the wheelhouse, the marriage game show, big band ballroom with the Ruby Princess Orchestra in explorers, the champagne waterfall, no smoking night in the casino, and atomic late night in explorers. George Casey is headlining in the theater.

[bcnvcanada]

The prostest is over, is was only for an afternoon and was an yearly

event. We have been island hopping and seeing Greece and now

look forward to boarding our cruise this weekend. To bad we don't speak Greek or can't read any of the sign out of the tourist areas. Most of the Greek people have been very helpful to us. We will be behind you

as we cross in three weeks. Hope that the weather in the Med improves in the next over the next few days. Have so enjoyed your thread. Thanks again for your time and efforts.

[ccrain]

11-20-2013 Athens

 

Judy was pretty much horizontal the whole day yesterday due to the ship’s motion. No need to push things on an at sea day. So I pretty much did nothing by a couple of Zumba classes (one for her and one for me) and taking her to lunch and dinner. A very light dinner of soup for her, some of those wonderful roasted vegetable salad for me and a pot of ginger twist tea for the both of us.

 

The ship quit moving around 0200 this morning but the storm intensified with lightning and heavy rain up until the time we docked. The plan was the acropolis museum and lunch. The ship was parked in Terminal B, the farthest from the subway you can get, but we walked it anyway. (6.8 total miles today so far - We left the ship about 0900 and got back to the ship about 1600.) I actually prefer walking all the way on the sea side of the highway to the pedestrian bridge. There are only 2 or 3 secondary roads to cross, nothing major, but there are several major street crossings on the other side. While not as bad as Italy, the traffic is still pretty hectic. A few drops of rain on the way to the station, but we were prepared with raincoats and umbrellas, so of course, no significant rain at all.

 

This time I decided to test the subway system by riding all the way to Omonia, switching to the red line and then riding to the Akropolis station. No problems. Pretty simple, well marked exits and directions. We exited and went right to the museum with no problems.

 

One important note though – when it rains and the marble in streets and the sidewalks and the building entrances get wet, they get extremely slippery. I almost went down once outside the museum.

 

The national museum is a much, much better museum. The Akropolis museum focuses on the acropolis, and little else. See the film on the second floor before you go through the museum. The film is in English, with Greek subtitles, then Greek, with English subtitles. Once you see the film, then the museum makes much more sense. The reconstruction miniatures in the lobby are also critical to understanding the history of the acropolis itself. Filming is not allowed in much of the museum and backpacks must be checked into the cloakroom.

 

The surprise to me of Athens is the small scale of the area in and around the acropolis. All of the major sites, except for the national museum, can easily be done in one extended day on your own using taxi’s. If you are going to use the subway, you will be running from site to site. I really liked being able to extend our visit over three port calls – although in hindsight it could easily be done in two. Taxis can save you an hour each way and I would start at the temple of Zeus, Hadrian’s arch, the Acropolis museum, go to the acropolis, down into the Agora, the Roman forum, have lunch in the plaka. You could skip lunch and hit the national museum, cabbing back to the ship in time to leave. That would be a very fast visit for sure, but it could be done.

 

Everything was very close for walking as well. It’s really not that far from the Acropolis museum to the Plaka and then to the Monastariki metro station. We left the museum and went looking for lunch. As we walked along the upper plaka, Schololarhio (on Tripodon) caught our eye. Its in Rick’s book and its in trip advisor as a 4 star. The food is good, although not as good as the food we had in the upper plaka during our excursion the first time around, but certainly not as expensive. Judy and I had musaka, meatballs, sausage and peppers, greek salad and fried calamari (the star!), along with a liter bottle of water, two shots of ouzo, a glass of wine and a bottle of beer for 28E. Basically, with tip, transportation and entry fees, we spent about 40E for the two of us to get into Athens and have a great day and a good lunch. That’s not bad!

 

 

So Athens was a great success.

[ccrain]

11-21-2013 Kusadasi

 

We crashed last night at almost 9 miles of walking and dancing. We had a nice relaxing pot of ginger twist tea in the IC and just relaxed for a while before turning in.

 

Today is a half day in Kusadasi. No time for the crew to enjoy a fish lunch and really no time to go out for lunch as all aboard is 1230. We’ve been through most of the shopping malls and there is nothing of interest, but sales pitches will be frantic today as we are one of the last few ships of the season. For those shopping for bargains, it should be a good port stop.

 

Tomorrow is Istanbul and we are looking forward to the connoisseur tour we have scheduled for all day. It will be an early rise and an late return, but it should be interesting.

 

This morning we will sip our coffee in leisure and watch the world go by. This afternoon Eve has a line dance class, then a Zumba class. Looks like dancing opportunities are good tonight as Atomic does not have a theme night. Theme nights lean towards one style of dance – swing, foxtrot – whereas general nights have a better variety. If we are up, we need to see the “Where in the World” gameshow. We haven’t seen that yet. Nik Page is on tap for the spotlight entertainment tonight. Jean and George are in the wheelhouse.

 

So a relaxing day on tap and then on to Istanbul.

[Justprettynpink]

Could you please see if the Riesling:Chateau Ste Michelle is still $26 as listed on wine lists from Cruise Critic?

 

I an trying to see if it better to: a) bring my own bottle ($8) and pay $15 corking fee or b) pre-order bottles ($28) or c) just get it in the dinning room.

 

Thank you very much!

[ccrain]

Could you please see if the Riesling:Chateau Ste Michelle is still $26 as listed on wine lists from Cruise Critic?

 

I an trying to see if it better to: a) bring my own bottle ($8) and pay $15 corking fee or b) pre-order bottles ($28) or c) just get it in the dinning room.

 

Thank you very much!

 

But I have not been charged a corking fee and I've had two bottles opened so far with one to go!

[ccrain]

11-22-2013 Istanbul

 

It was awake early this morning, or at least the last time we woke up. We had the most perfect lightning, thunder and rain storm last night. It was great with intense lightning bolts, cloud to cloud lightning, rain, just really cool to snuggle up under the covers and watch. But when 0400 came around, my eyes came open and that was it for the night. We started, as usual, with coffee and breakfast in the IC, then we watched as we docked in Istanbul. A cloudy rainy day, but we didn’t get rained on hardly at all.

 

We had the connoisseur tour, with only 16 other people, of St. Sophia, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, Carpets, St Irene Church and Topkapi Palace with a great view of the bridge over the Bosporus that spans two continents. Pretty cool. Not a lot of piles of rocks on these tours. Most of the stuff was built in just the last millennium. Mainly Roman and Byzantine stuff. The Blue Mosque is one of the most impressive religious structures I’ve seen, rivaled only by St Peters Basilica. St Irene’s church is now a concert hall, but the architecture and structure look exactly like St Paul’s Basilica in Ephesus. Topkapi Palace is one impressive place, with mosaics and gilt everywhere. The jewelry in the treasury is stunning.

 

Lunch was in the palace grounds and was ok. Not as good as the lunch in Ephesus, but better than others we’ve had. We had a spinach filled crepe for an appetizer and a skewer of chicken and lamb with vegetables for the main course and a chocolate mousse with raspberry coulie for dessert.

 

If I had to pick one thing as the weirdest highlight, it would be the grand bazaar. That place was crazy!. Nothing I’ve ever seen rivals the madhouse, congestion, noise, lights and ‘stuff’ that that place has. We couldn’t, didn’t and wasn’t going to try and go through the whole thing. No way. It would be so easy to get lost and turned around in those narrow alleyways. But on the other hand, there really wasn’t a lot of stuff to actually buy. No way was I buying gold, or silver or any kind of jewelry. No carpets, no leather jackets, no genuine fake watches, no fake fake watches, no Chanel No 5, no books, no postcards, no fez hats – I’m just a real party pooper.

 

We did get back to the ship a little late, did dinner in the HC, went to see Stardust, which is a really good song and dance show, did a little dancing in explorers lounge, but after 7 miles today, we crashed and burned back to bed.

 

After reflecting on the day, this is one port wherein you could do a lot of this on your own with some taxi rides. St Sopia, Topkapi, Blue Mosque and St Irenes are all in the same basic location. These are all easy to access on your own and in just a few hours, say half a day if you time the visit right to the mosque – they don’t allow access just before and just after prayers. A quick ride away and you can be in the grand bazaar for the afternoon – if that strikes your fancy.

 

The Princess Shuttle dropped people off right near the grand bazaar and it looked really convenient.

 

About the only thing we did today that was not too enjoyable was the carpet demo. Having gone through one in Kusadasi just a few weeks ago, it was not interesting and we were not buying a carpet anyway.

 

Well we are now at the 30 day point. We’ve been on the ship 30 days with 21 to go. Wow how times flies. Just don’t know if we can make the transition back to real life after this one….

 

Night all…

[Oahucruiser]

Outstanding daily review. We look forward to it and appreciate your taking the time to write it. Enjoy the rest of your days!

[ccrain]

11-23-2013 Mykonos

 

A great night’s sleep. Finally. No wake up at O dark thirty. We are at sea on the way to Mykonos. The weather is perfect, cool, sun is shining, sea is almost flat calm. Life is good. Time for coffee, a quick breakfast and then Zumba with Eve to start off the morning right. We plan to go ashore and do some exploring in Mykonos, it’s a great little town for that, and possibly have some late lunch or early dinner. Depends on how we feel when we get there. All aboard is 1830, so that gives us some time after dark in port to see the lights come on.

 

We went to see Stardust last night. We’ve seen it before, but it’s such a great simple show with just a lot of singing and dancing. No fancy stuff, no pink Cadillac, no video projections, no smoke or pyrotechnics, just great music. We danced a set with Atomic in Explorer’s. No theme night so we had a few really good dances.

 

While Mykonos is known as the party island, Dan intended to call ahead and tell them we just weren’t a party ship after 2100 hours – with this intensive a port schedule everyone is just dog tired at night. This particular schedule is actually great with afternoons and mornings at sea for breaks with only two sea days. It does cut down on port time, but a lot of people simply skip some ports as breaks between the major ports. But upcoming is a real killer with Naples, Rome and Florence all in a row. Those three ports are definitely don’t miss.

 

Delos is the highlight of Mykonos and it’s a definite don’t miss. I wish it could be restored a bit more than it has been. It looks like it could rival Ephesus when restored.

 

Well almost time for Zumba, up and at em…

[ccrain]

Could you please see if the Riesling:Chateau Ste Michelle is still $26 as listed on wine lists from Cruise Critic?

 

I an trying to see if it better to: a) bring my own bottle ($8) and pay $15 corking fee or b) pre-order bottles ($28) or c) just get it in the dinning room.

 

Thank you very much!

Yes. They have it for 26$ per bottle plus the 15%

 

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

[Justprettynpink]

Awesome! I really appreciate you taking the time to check!

 

Looking forward to cruising on Ruby soon....

 

Continue to enjoy your cruise...and I will continue to enjoy reading your posts!

 

Thanks!

[ccrain]

11-23-2013 Mykonos Evening Update

 

Today was again one of those near perfect cruising days. Coffee and Zumba got us up and moving. A quick trip to the town to wander around, get lost and look for some supplies we are running low on. We did intend to get lunch, but most of the restaurants are closed for the season and none of the ones we looked at were that appealing in terms of menu items.

 

We did not find the supplies we were looking for either. So a bust from that point of view, but we did get a lot of walking and picture taking in, so it wasn’t a total loss. We came back and had a great burger and pizza lunch with the last of our vodka from the mini-bar. Tonight we did dancing in fusion and to atomic’s rat pack solute, and liars club, which were all new words and a real hoot. Some of these words are just totally outrageous. Ken and Merrily joined us, as well as a couple from Australia, we lost, but we had a great time. It was funnier than most of the comedians they have on board. (Dan, Eve and Chris were the celebrities and Colin was the MC.)

Tomorrow a day at sea, then a killer port schedule with Naples, Rome, Florence, Toulon and Barcelona all in a row. We will need our transatlantic days at sea just to recover from this schedule.

 

Night all…

[ccrain]

11-24-2013 At Sea To Naples

 

At sea days can be very hectic, or very relaxing, or somewhere in between. The patter is packed with a variety of stuff. There is a Q&A with the 3rd officer on ship’s navigation, the culinary demo, a pub lunch in the wheelhouse, bingo twice, the final, yeh right, art auction, line dancing, salsa class, zumba class, RED 2 in the theater, Texas hold em tournament, only two trivias, football on MUTS tonight and tonight is a formal night.

 

We will probably middle of the road it with Zumba for sure, some dancing to the band in explorers while atomic plays at the Captain circle parties. (Rumor has it that 1000+ people are B2B with the transatlantic.)

 

A couple of clean up items. Found out why Fusion was not utilized more – lack of production and cruise staff. I just looked back at a 2010 review on the Emerald. There were 9 cruise staff on board. On this cruise there are only 8. There were 7 in 2005 on the Dawn alone. It is clear that Princess is slowly drawing down on the number of staff to reduce prices. With no extra cruise staff or production staff, they simply can’t use Fusion to its full potential without production personnel to run the electronics. Thus we have recorded music or recorded videos that require minimal maintenance or involvement. They use the wheelhouse for the band because the production staff that supports the theater can double time back and forth and support wheelhouse, but Fusion is too far away, even though the band stand and the dance floor are much larger. The production shows, especially the new ones with the video backing and the moving sets require a lot of support. However, they are getting an extra production person for the crossing and this should allow Fusion to be used for more activities that are appropriate to that venue. Fusion is great for a sports bar, or multi-media trivia and has the best and largest dance floor on the ship.

 

As I’ve previously written, Dan is leaving in Barcelona and Lee Childers will be the new CD for the Ruby crossing as well as the start of the Caribbean season. We’ve never had Lee as a CD before, but he will have a very hard time living up to Dan’s comedy which has been absolutely hilarious and, more importantly, spontaneous and interactive. Last night during the Liar’s Club several servers walked in front of him while he was “lying” and that became part of the show and was really funny. Colin and Dan went at it and as usual they play well off each other.

 

Time to go take on the day…

[ccrain]

11-25-2013 – Napoli

 

Back in Naples for the 3rd time. This B2B2B2B was a great idea. We can see a lot of stuff, visit a lot of different places and not worry about missing the ship. We can have a leisurely lunch, wander around getting lost in strange neighborhoods, go shopping at a local supermarket. Its been a great day.

 

We started the day with coffee and a light breakfast before heading out on our own. I had only one goal in mind and that was to visit Museo Capella Sansevero and see the veiled Christ statue. I had a general idea where to go, but found out quickly that in Naples, tripadvisor or google maps on a cell phone just doesn’t work well in the narrow streets and tall buildings. I ended up having to dead reckon a lot of it, which wasn’t too bad, but I forgot my hard copy map. We crossed the main street to the right of the terminal, we did dock at the main terminal, in the main crosswalk and then headed down the main drag on the shoreward side of the street. About 5 blocks down we ran into a super market and ducked inside. Wow, whole pigs, proscutto ham, cheese with prices and smells that make your eyes water, fresh breads, very, very few packaged items. Cheeses, salamis, hams, fresh seafood, oh my. Parmesan Oregiano, 30E per kg. I almost bought some, but we had a long way to go in the day and would stop back by on the way back to the ship.

 

I dead reckoned north along a main drag, turned a couple of corners and whoops, right into a bunch of narrow alleyways full of street vendors with every kind of Christmas display imaginable. Not much made in China stuff here. A lot of it looked homemade and with a bunch of locals all around. No Princess bags or maps to be seen anywhere. Where the heck was I? Street after street, alley after alley, store after store, just really interesting stuff around every corner. This was great.

 

After finding a large enough Campo to have a decent sky exposure (for GPS satellite coverage), I found out we were not far from the Museo. We found it, bought our tickets (7E each), and went inside. Now I am not an art critic, not a professional, but I do like statues and was very moved by Pieta in Saint Peters Basilica, but this beats that hands down in emotion and sheer artistry. O.M.G.!! There are three works in marble that rival anything in Rome and Florence. The Veiled Christ, Modesty and Disillusion. The material of the veil in both the Veiled Christ and Modesty looks absolutely real. It flows, it looks transparent, it is absolutely amazing. In Disillusion, the fish net is incredible. It is three dimension and so perfectly accurate down to the knots and even down to the strands that go between the figures toes. The detail is just almost too good to believe. WOW.

 

Sorry folks, but IMHO, that little chapel beats the Archaeological Museum and Pompeii. It’s just hard to believe that such a thing of beauty can be created by mortal man. Well worth the trip for sure. No photos are allowed so I purchased several from the gift shop and had a delightful discussion with the lady in mixed Italian and English. She loves the statue and has also seen Pieta, and feels this is much better as well. I agree.

 

After the museum, it was time to find some Naples pizza. As we walked down the street I saw the Antica Pizzeria Vesi – on Via Tribunali. (Note that once I got back to the ship it only had 3.5 stars on TripAdvisor) – and we had the 4 cheese pizza with a couple of glasses of white wine. For a very large pizza, a small bottle of wine and a 1E each service charge, our lunch was 14E for two. And far, far better than the prior lunch in Naples that cost a heck of a lot more. The crust, the bread was sooo tasty! Yum! This was really good pizza - 3.5 stars or not!

 

As we finished our pizza, about 50 8-10 year old kids on a school excursion showed up with about 5 or 6 chaperones. They were having a pizza party on the 2nd floor of the restaurant. It was funny how our nice quiet lunch went completely beserk as 50 little kids stormed through the place on the way to food! But how they quieted down when one of the chaperones sushed them all. It was actually quite an enjoyable experience.

 

After lunch we had shopping to do. The grocery store had water, but more importantly had chocolate in various forms and fashions. The chocolate display in the terminal the last time we were here was part of a one time event chocolate festival, so we couldn’t pick up any for the crew. But this store (Grangusto on Via Nuova Marina just east of the terminal) had everything we needed. They even had some Pringles for Judy when she gets the late night munchies or has to take some of her pills. We shopped, bought about 60E of stuff, a couple of bags and lugged it all back to the ship.

 

This little outing was great. Tomorrow is Rome and we are going to try a DIY.

 

Wish us luck!