Kat goes on holiday - MSC Preziosa Eastern Med (5th July 2014)

[Katgoesonholiday]

That big funny bit out the back of the Disney Magic is called, funnily enough, a duck's beak/bill. Its been added since the dry dock last year to compensate for the extra weight of the waterslides etc

[Got2Cruise]

Two OMG moments reading:D OMG Olympic Stadium!! OMG we're lost!!

Props to the renting of the car and getting back! Wherever DH and I go, we end up lost, when we walk. Name the city, we've been lost.:D But. Olympic Stadium that is simply incredible.

[Katgoesonholiday]

 

Lunch was okay - I wasn’t terribly impressed with the veal. It wasn’t tender and just tasted deep fried. I enjoyed the cheese fritters though and managed to polish them off quite nicely!

 

 

 

My husband was amused by the bread selection and wanted to know what an oddly shaped bun was called. Our Indonesian server told him “I don’t know. I just call it a chicken’s foot.” Every meal after that, my husband specifically requested the chickens foot when the bread server came round - probably just because he liked the sound of it!

 

[Katgoesonholiday]

After lunch we returned to our cabin for a snooze and then I played teatime roulette again. This became one of my favorite games during the cruise. It is played by calling room service and asking for tea for two and then guessing what fascinating variation of the traditional pot of tea they will come up with next. It seems their favourite was to put the milk in the tea pot and the water in the milk jug but we did once get the milk in a small milk jug - albeit it hot and frothed. It was a fun game and enlivened the afternoons. I must say though - I never once got a cappuccino that was anything short of perfection. When I commented one night to our waiter, Ivan, about how good the coffee he made us was, he simply shrugged nonchalantly and said “But of course. I’m Italian.”

 

 

Edited July 29, 2014 by Katgoesonholiday

[Katgoesonholiday]

That night was the first gala night and as we approached La Palmeraie we could smell the rich fragrance of the crepe suzettes in the chaffing dish by the entrance. Yummy! The menu this evening was very good and everything was super yummy.

 

 

 

 

 

[Katgoesonholiday]

 

Edited July 29, 2014 by Katgoesonholiday

[Katgoesonholiday]

Afterwards we went to the show - I can't for the life of me remember what it was about but it was very good and we both enjoyed it very much. On the way back to our cabin we stopped off in the uncrowded One Lounge for a lemoncillo and to check out the snack options. Nothing appealed but thats not unusual for me as I’m not a huge fan of sweets and they had a lot of those out. I did find some spicy snails which I photographed for my eldest. They must be an acquired taste because there was nothing about them that called out to me - "Eat me! I'm tasty!" They looked slimy and horrid.

 

 

 

 

And another perfect sunset to compliment a pretty darned perfect day!

 

Edited July 29, 2014 by Katgoesonholiday

[Katgoesonholiday]

Now that were spoiled in the yacht club where is your next cruise? yacht Club maybe??:)

 

I've just booked us onto the Disney Magic. :D

 

I do have a future cruise credit and we looked at using it for the Divina, but this holiday is really for our boys and they are perfect ages for Disney - 6, 8, and 13. If we leave it much later then 13 year old is going to be too 'cool' for Disney. :rolleyes:

[Katgoesonholiday]

Two OMG moments reading:D OMG Olympic Stadium!! OMG we're lost!!

Props to the renting of the car and getting back! Wherever DH and I go, we end up lost, when we walk. Name the city, we've been lost.:D But. Olympic Stadium that is simply incredible.

 

We got lost a LOT this trip. My husband is the target demographic that TomTom had in mind when they invented their navigation system. He has absolutely NO sense of direction but what he lacks in this he makes up in boundless confidence of his ability to find the right way - despite all evidence to the contrary.

 

And for some baffling reason, he just doesn't get that he has no sense of direction, never has had, and by all indications never will.

 

He gets most put out when I (after studying maps for six months before, carefully working out routes, printing off directions and cross referencing it with Maps on my iPhone) dare hint that he may be going the wrong way! I am not just casting doubt on his sense of direction, I am exhibiting a lamentable lack of trust in him personally not to mention questioning his masculinity, intelligence and his capability!!! *rolls eyes*

 

Its a good thing I love him anyway. :D

[riclop]

I've just booked us onto the Disney Magic. :D

 

I do have a future cruise credit and we looked at using it for the Divina, but this holiday is really for our boys and they are perfect ages for Disney - 6, 8, and 13. If we leave it much later then 13 year old is going to be too 'cool' for Disney. :rolleyes:

Your 2 younger boys are really going to enjoy Disney. Enjoy!!!

[Katgoesonholiday]

Your 2 younger boys are really going to enjoy Disney. Enjoy!!!

 

They are VERY excited! It will be their first cruise. We are going to do a week in the parks before then afterwards we will go up to New York for Christmas. We might even get snow which will be a huge novelty for my lot as our Christmas is in summer and is generally hot.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Hi Kat,

 

:)What a wonderful, thorough and entertaining review! Thank you so much for writing it! I haven't found something as great for another MSC cruise. So far we did 2 Royal Caribbean cruises and we're off to our first MSC cruise in 14 days from now:D (MSC Magnifica) and your review is driving the anticipation into unbelievable heights. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!

 

Stef

[Katgoesonholiday]

I'm so glad you are enjoying it Stef! I'm enjoying writing it and its bringing back many wonderful memories.

 

I'm envious about your upcoming Magnifica cruise - Scotland and Ireland sounds amazing. I hope you have at least one whiskey tour booked!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

 

I'm envious about your upcoming Magnifica cruise - Scotland and Ireland sounds amazing. I hope you have at least one whiskey tour booked!

 

:oLol -- nope, no whisky and or whiskey tour for us...My stomach equals yours a lot...besides raw onions it doesn't go well with pure hard liquor either -- lol-- maybe we're related (far,far in the past, who knows?)

 

But we do plan on endulging on wine, cocktails and those wonderful cappuccinos you've described since we'll be proud owners of the Allegrissimo drink package:D. And our kid will probably almost burst from all the free ice cream (which is good, since he needs to gain weight:))

 

I'll write a (hopefully as thorough) picture review afterwards, and would be honoured to have you enjoy our cruise as I am enjoying yours right now.

 

Stef

[AmoMondo]

:oLol -- nope, no whisky and or whiskey tour for us...My stomach equals yours a lot...besides raw onions it doesn't go well with pure hard liquor either -- lol-- maybe we're related (far,far in the past, who knows?)

 

But we do plan on endulging on wine, cocktails and those wonderful cappuccinos you've described since we'll be proud owners of the Allegrissimo drink package:D. And our kid will probably almost burst from all the free ice cream (which is good, since he needs to gain weight:))

 

I'll write a (hopefully as thorough) picture review afterwards, and would be honoured to have you enjoy our cruise as I am enjoying yours right now.

 

Stef

 

Are you going to manage to get to the Edinburgh tattoo or do anything in the Festival or Fringe Stef?

[Grankm21]

Hi Kat,

 

We're going on our first MSC cruise in October in the Yacht Club. Do you remember what drinks were MIT included? We're the mimosas included? How about ice cream drinks? Was there a decent selection of wine included?

[Katgoesonholiday]

Mimosas were definitely included and we were able to get them at all Yacht Club venues.

 

I didn't take note of ice cream drinks as they are too rich for me so I wasn't looking out for them.

 

Finally, we just drank whatever wine they were offering - and we were well satisfied with it. Here at home we belong to a wine club so we do tend to be a bit fussy about our wines - but we didn't have a mediocre one on the ship the whole week.

[Katgoesonholiday]

No update today - I elected to clean out my pantry and fridge instead! :P

[riclop]

Looking foward to tomorrows installment.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Are you going to manage to get to the Edinburgh tattoo or do anything in the Festival or Fringe Stef?

 

Hi AmoMondo,

 

no, the ship leaves too early to go to the Tattoo and since we've never been to your beautiful city before we're just gonna go see a portion of the "normal" sights....of course while walking down the royal mile we'll enjoy the fringe stuff going on in the street as well. Our plans are Mary Kings Close, Thistle Chapel, Greyfriar's Kirkyard and the National Museum of Scotland...I 've heard it's stunning after it's makeup in 2011. I'm still debating wether or not there might be time for a quick visit to the castle first thing in the morning before the crowds get there...we'll see. Don't want to stuff the day too badly...that's why we had to abandon Holyrood house and Fringe performances, not to forget the book festival on Charlotte square --- sigh, how can 1 city have sooo much to see? For any welcome local insights please visit our roll call for Msc Magnifica August 13th. Thank you!

 

... sorry Kat....back to you......

 

Stef

[Balaton.Sailing]

Fascinating review Kat!

Congrats!

If you consider changing a career, you should consider photography as you have great talent and very good composition of pictures

[Katgoesonholiday]

Fascinating review Kat!

Congrats!

If you consider changing a career, you should consider photography as you have great talent and very good composition of pictures

 

Thank you! That is very kind of you to say so. :)

[Katgoesonholiday]

Day 5 - Izmir/Ephesus (8:30-3pm)

 

I can’t remember what time I woke this morning - probably early again. I am a very light sleeper and the deck chairs being put out each morning on the deck above us usually woke me up.

 

We went to breakfast again and this time I opted for a nice healthy bircher muesli with yogurt whilst my husband decided on eggs benedict. This was the one misfire as far as food went - the toasted bread and the hollandaise sauce were both served cold which he found very off-putting, and my bircher was a lot runnier than I am used to. Superb cappuccino though so that made up for a lot! We also go a glorious photo of the infinity pool outside La Palmeraie and one of the deck staff setting up the naughty corner for that days chair hoggers.

 

 

 

It was fun sailing into Izmir. It seems to be a relatively busy port with plenty of passenger ferries beetling around with scant consideration to the Leviathan majestically sailing between them.

 

 

 

[Katgoesonholiday]

I dithered for ages over what to do for this port. It was a given that we would visit Ephesus. But in what manner? Ship tour, self tour, private tour? I didn’t want to be part of a much larger group - 12-15 is generally my limit with organised tours. In the end I decided that since it was such a major site and because it was so far away from the port, the best thing to do would be to book a private guide. We were very fortunate to have another member on our roll call who was interested in joining us on the tour, together with his spouse, so we could do a private tour and split costs. It ended up being around US$80 per person (x4) for the full day which we felt was very reasonable.

 

Ephesus Tours by Otti Travel

 

So we arranged to meet H&M at the TopSail Lounge and whilst we waited for the ship to dock we had another cappuccino - nom nom!

 

 

Once the ship docked and our friends joined us, we were guided down to the gangway by one of the butlers. From there we walked along the pier and then through a port building. Sitting right outside was our guide with my name on a sign. It couldn’t have been easier or more convenient! Already the sun was high and the day was hot, and I couldn’t restrain a sign of huge relief when he took us to a new looking minibus/van with excellent air-conditioning!

 

 

[Katgoesonholiday]

Our guide’s name was Atilla and he was a trained and licensed guide with a huge passion for his job! Along with the van came a driver so Atilla spent the hour long drive chatting and telling us all kinds of interesting things about Turkey, Ephesus and so on. He was also very interested to hear we were from New Zealand and waxed lyrical about the special bond between the Turkish and Kiwi people.

 

The NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs states: “The friendly and positive political relations that exist between Turkey and New Zealand are based on shared fundamental values and the common historical encounter in Çanakkale in 1915.”

 

This is a piece of evasive political speak (my underlining) that only serves to highlight how generous and forgiving the Turkish people have been.

 

Basically, our lot (together with Australia, Britain and France) tried to push through the Dardenelles to capture Constantinople (Now Istanbul) so as to secure a route to Russia. Naturally the Turks objected to a bunch of Frogs, Poms, Kiwis and Aussies trying to take their land by force and they defended it very successfully - leading to the Gallipoli campaign where both sides suffered heavy casualties and we got thoroughly trounced.

 

Wikipedia states:

The campaign was one of the greatest Ottoman victories during the war and a major Allied failure. In Turkey, it is regarded as a defining moment in the nation's history: a final surge in the defence of the motherland as the Ottoman Empire crumbled. The struggle formed the basis for the Turkish War of Independence and the founding of the Republic of Turkey eight years later under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who first rose to prominence as a commander at Gallipoli. The campaign is often considered as marking the birth of national consciousness in Australia and New Zealand and the date of the landing, 25 April, is known as "Anzac Day". It remains the most significant commemoration of military casualties and veterans in those two countries, surpassing Remembrance Day (Armistice Day)

 

Even for my generation, Gallipoli is still a very poignant subject. The exhibit at the Auckland War Memorial Museum is called “Scars on the Heart” and it was very much that on a national scale - it was a HUGE scar on our national psyche.

 

It baffles me that Atilla could talk emotionally about the special relationship between our two countries when WE INVADED THEM!!! We tried to take their land from them. We came from the other side of the world and shot at their young men, and threw our young men in front of their bullets, and killed and died by the thousands. I don’t know that our country could have been so generous and forgiving if roles had been reversed.

 

In 1934, Ataturk, now known as the Father of Turkey, wrote:

 

"Those heroes who shed their blood and lost their lives, you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.

Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side in this country of ours.

You, the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears, your sons are now lying in our bosoms and are in peace.

After having lost their lives on this land they become our sons as well."

 

These words are inscribed on a memorial to Ataturk commemorating Gallipoli in our capital city of Wellington and they are read every year at our ANZAC day commemorations.

 

(from the NZ Ministry for Culture and Heritage)

 

Atilla surprised us by showing us a picture of this memorial on his cellphone and asking me to read out the words. It was a unexpected and touching moment. As a Turk, he obviously had deep feeling and great admiration for the man they consider the Father of Turkey.

Edited July 31, 2014 by Katgoesonholiday