Allure OTS - 28-Jun, Western Med. Trip Report (photo-heavy)

[hamacting]

Thank you - just winding myself up to post Day Three - flickr is so slow at processing a single, solitary video!

[hamacting]

Day Three - Marseilles

 

Cruise Compass

 

Day three, the port of Marseilles!

20150630-WesternMedCruise-1517-Pano by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150630-WesternMedCruise-1528 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

Marseilles didn't really appeal to us as a destination, so we stayed on board ship today.

 

There was a huge queue for the Windjammer, so instead we went to the Park Café where we had beautiful bagels for breakfast. Onion bagels, with apricot cream cheese and ham - quite delicious!

 

After giving breakfast a bit of time to settle, Cameron and I went for a run round the running track.

20150630-WesternMedCruise-0333 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

He's a bit of a sprinter, I'm more of a long-distance man. So he raced away, from me.

20150630-WesternMedCruise-0341 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

Cameron had said from the start that he only wanted to do two laps, which he did really quickly. I was in it for more than that, managing eight laps (just over 5km) before deciding that this was just too warm for me.

20150630-WesternMedCruise-0346 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

 

20150630-WesternMedCruise-0370 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

[hamacting]

The rest of the day was just relaxing around the ship, enjoying the pool and the sunshine, reading and watching the world go by.

 

There appeared to be a military ship parked nearby, and it provided lots of interest

 

20150630-WesternMedCruise-0413 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150630-WesternMedCruise-1534 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

But much of the time was spent at the poolside:

20150630-WesternMedCruise-0395 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150630-WesternMedCruise-0399 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

[hamacting]

Another activity was the Crazy Golf:

20150630-WesternMedCruise-0407 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150630-WesternMedCruise-0408 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150630-WesternMedCruise-0412 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

There were a couple of kids running amok and trying full-blown golf shots there, but I found that a gutteral Glasgow "Oi!" got them staying well away from us.

 

Curiously the metal surrounds for the holes, and the metal pavilion in the middle of the Crazy Golf course seemed to be live - we all got noticeable electric shocks every time we touched anything metal!

 

I went on the Zip slide too, which I really enjoyed. Although you were so well harnessed, so secure that there really wasn't any great feeling of risk or challenge there. But it was still fun.

20150630-WesternMedCruise-0453 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

[sarlin]

Great pics! Thanks so much-Keep em coming!

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Thank you for the review! We enjoy the Oasis Class of ship. We are also planning a Med cruise in spring/summer of 2017, but will probably go on a smaller ship for that. I am enjoying the pictures of both the ship and the port, though. Looking forward to more!:)

[JACH77]

Great Review and beautiful pictures. We will be on her mid September and have already booked our private excursions and made our entertainment reservations.

[California kitty]

On her September 13th and your pictures are getting me so excited! Can't wait!

[russianmom]

Your pictures are spectacular!!

 

We're looking at Harmony for June and my son is glued to my computer screen studying your pictures.

[JamesEM]

Enjoying your photos.

[hamacting]

Thank you for your kind comments - on to day four now, over half way through already!

[hamacting]

Day Four - La Spezia

 

Cruise Compass

 

20150701-WesternMedCruise-0485-Pano by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

We were rudely awoken around 8am this morning by an announcement from the Captain saying that we were docking. I guess someone had pressed the wrong button; normally that announcement didn't go into the cabins. "Oh well," I thought. "I'll lie in bed for another few mintues then get up".

 

Aye, right. Next time I looked at the clock it was 0940. I woke Cameron, he went for his shower and when he came out I went for my shower.

 

That's when a sounder in the room gave seven short blasts and one long one. Just when I was bollock naked and covered in soap!

 

Wrapping a towel round myself I went out to the corridor, only to be told that this was just an activity for the crew. Now okay, I get it. The crew needs to train. I like that. But maybe that announcement could have been piped into the cabins, rather than have me risking indecent exposure in the corridor?

 

20150701-WesternMedCruise-1575 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150701-WesternMedCruise-1574 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

Oh, never mind. The big thing from today was that we had managed to book some private ice time and a skating lesson for my daughter, who is a keen figure skater. The tutor turned out to have competed in two European championships and one World Figure Skating Championship - wow! I don't have any pictures from the session, but it was great to watch and was a real highlight of the holiday!

 

After that, and after lunch, it was back to the pool.

 

20150701-WesternMedCruise-0503 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

We tried non-alcoholic cocktails, and we tried the flow rider. I came perilously close to being publicly naked for the second time within the day - I wonder if the staff deliberately rush over to stand you up if they know that your swimwear has moved a little south of where it's supposed to be?

 

I even ended up with a few scratches on my back that I could boast of!

20150701-WesternMedCruise-0517 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

Then dinner!

20150701-WesternMedCruise-0519 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

[hamacting]

This evening's show was "How To Train Your Dragon - On Ice!" which I thoroughly enjoyed, then a wee wander aroudn the ship before bed time.

 

20150701-WesternMedCruise-0526 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150701-WesternMedCruise-0527 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150701-WesternMedCruise-0548 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150701-WesternMedCruise-0551 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150701-WesternMedCruise-0566 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150701-WesternMedCruise-0571 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

[Cupcrazy]

Great pictures! Thanks for posting! Seeing your pictures brings back some great memories from when I was on Allure last year. Looking forward to more

[hamacting]

Thank you again - it's lovely to get all this feedback :-)

 

Day Five - Civitavecchia

 

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20150702-WesternMedCruise-0608 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

Civitavecchia. Or, as Royal Caribbean calls it, "Rome". Oh well, what's eighty kilometres between friends?

 

It was clear that for many, this was the highlight of the cruise and a "must do" trip day. The ship seemed deserted - the pool area was really quiet.

20150702-WesternMedCruise-0603 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

 

No, I mean really quiet,

20150702-WesternMedCruise-0605 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

We sat around the pool for a while, enjoying the tranquility

20150702-WesternMedCruise-0613 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

[hamacting]

I wandered around taking pictures of the passing ships:

 

20150702-WesternMedCruise-0620 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150702-WesternMedCruise-0599 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150702-WesternMedCruise-0602 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150702-WesternMedCruise-0667 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

I was also fascinated by the number of new cars (mostly Fiats) sitting in the car park.

20150702-WesternMedCruise-0609 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

I wonder whether they are just off a ship, or waiting to be loaded onto one. Somehow that proximity to salt water doesn't seem like a great idea.

[hamacting]

After a while, however, I started getting itchy feet. "Does anyone fancy going for a walk around the town?" I asked. The response was, I think, best summed up as "Really?"

 

So I went anyway.

 

There really wasn't much to see. A shuttle bus took you to the central car park, from there a street with restaurants and tourist tat shops led to a couple of rather impressive pedestrian thoroughfares. But the shops were all closed for siesta, so instead I walked to the beach. This was stony, and not overly attractive.

20150702-WesternMedCruise-0627 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

There was a promenade too, but it ended in this jumble of huge concrete... things. Tank traps?

20150702-WesternMedCruise-0629 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

Back to the ship, where I went to a stretch class while Marie went to the Ladies' Pamper Session. I reckon I got abetter deal than she did; the class was really good and it was just unfortunate that the timings didn't work to let me go to any other sessions

 

We wandered around the ship a little more, then after dinner we discovered "Jazz On Four" - a lovely little lounge with live jazz performances.

20150702-WesternMedCruise-0643 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150702-WesternMedCruise-0684 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

 

We sat there for a while and let the kids watch a movie at the "Cinema Under The Stars". A most relaxing day, and an early rise planned for tomorrow.

20150702-WesternMedCruise-0686 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

[hamacting]

Day 6 - Naples

 

20150703-WesternMedCruise-0696 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

Cruise Compass

 

This was the day I had really been looking forward to as we had booked a trip to the ruins of Pompeii.

20150703-WesternMedCruise-0699 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

An early rise, a very well organised system to get us onto the correct bus, and we were on the road to Pompeii. The tour guide gave us what he called "whispers", little radio receivers that we hung around our neck and which had an earpiece to let us listen to him,

 

We got to Pompeii and had a little time to kill at a cameo factory shop (which also offered free trips to the bathroom). Then we were taken round the city itself - a city that was destroyed when the nearby volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD79.

 

The tour guide was excellent and while we struggled all to fit in to some of the smaller spaces, he made sure that we all got to see what there was to be seen.

20150703-WesternMedCruise-0706-HDR by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150703-WesternMedCruise-0707 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150703-WesternMedCruise-0723 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150703-WesternMedCruise-0749-HDR by Alan Potter, on Flickr

[hamacting]

The small theatre

20150703-WesternMedCruise-0746 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

My favourite place - the theatre!

20150703-WesternMedCruise-0758 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

The well in a rich man's home

20150703-WesternMedCruise-0798 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150703-WesternMedCruise-0807 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

A Roman fast food shop

20150703-WesternMedCruise-0816 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

Lockers at the Roman Baths - really!

20150703-WesternMedCruise-0858 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

[hamacting]

If you want to know where to find the nearest brothel, just follow the signs...

 

20150703-WesternMedCruise-0926 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

Lead water piping was reponsible for the early deaths of many Romans

20150703-WesternMedCruise-0922 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

 

 

At the main square, in front of Vesuvius

20150703-WesternMedCruise-0961 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

A view of Vesuvius from the bus on its way back to the Allure

20150703-WesternMedCruise-1013 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

When we got back just after lunch, we grabbed some food and Marie and I went for a walk while the kids and Marie's parents enjoyed the ship. We just wandered, finding some good viewpoints over to Vesuvius and the places where the locals go swimming.

 

20150703-WesternMedCruise-1046 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150703-WesternMedCruise-1057 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

[hamacting]

We had a slice of Naples pizza and had an espresso in a Naples back-street cafe.

 

20150703-WesternMedCruise-1094 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150703-WesternMedCruise-1101 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

 

Marie reckoned that she saw a pickpocket at work too. I had been suspicious of an apparently blind man standing at a street corner; some time later she saw a well-dress Italian couple pass him and he "stumbled into" the couple. But the couple were wise to him and pushed him well away from them before he could get at their pockets. Of course, it could have been a genuine accident, but why would a blind man hang around the same street corner for twenty minutes or more?

[hamacting]

Back for the second formal night. This time we did get some official photos taken

as well as some unofficial ones that we took ourselves. It was great fun wandering around in the kilt, loads of people had questions and were keen to learn about it.

 

20150703-WesternMedCruise-1239 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150703-WesternMedCruise-1250 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

ProPhoto1 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

[hamacting]

Day 7 - At Sea

 

Cruise Compass

 

The final day, an at-sea day. And if the ship was quiet at Civitvecchia, it was the opposite here. For me, it was just too busy. Before coming here, I had thought that I would enjoy a transatlantic cruise, but not if it was as busy as this!

 

20150704-WesternMedCruise-1287 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

Still, we did find a really good little show at the Aqua Theatre - Let You Entertain Me. It wasn't well publicised, but we enjoyed it!

 

20150704-WesternMedCruise-1321 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150704-WesternMedCruise-1324 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150704-WesternMedCruise-1332 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

It was 4th July, and thre was a cake to celebrate it - the picture doesn't give a sense of scale; it's huge!

20150704-WesternMedCruise-1337 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

I had a shot on the climbing wall, I was quite pleased to get to the top and ring the bell

20150704-WesternMedCruise-1348 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

[hamacting]

In the evening, we watched Ice Games. This was the one time I felt that my little Canon G7X camera wasn't quite up to the job I was asking it to do.

20150704-WesternMedCruise-1407 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150704-WesternMedCruise-1427 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150704-WesternMedCruise-1442 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

20150704-WesternMedCruise-1446 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

2015-07-04 (Day 185) Ice Games by Alan Potter, on Flickr

[hamacting]

A last trip to "Jazz On Four"

20150704-WesternMedCruise-1476 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

A final character greet

20150704-WesternMedCruise-1483 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

And it was time to go...

20150704-WesternMedCruise-1486 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

I won't bore you about the two hour flight delay; these things happen.

 

I won't even rant about the washing machine failing mid-way through the first wash once we got home.

 

But I will give you an idea of the weather once we we back in the house

20150705-WesternMedCruise-1596 by Alan Potter, on Flickr

 

Goodbye, and thanks for sticking with me!