Voyager Vacation: Musings from a Mediterranean Masterpiece

[flossie009]

It is good to be back on board a Regent ship; Mariner would have helped the alliteration but Seven Seas Voyager it is. The first segment of our cruise is from Athens (Piraeus) to Barcelona.

 

We set off from home very early yesterday morning and took a BA flight from London Heathrow to Athens.

On approach to Athens airport

 

It was an uneventful flight, on time and with good service on board. Our driver from George’s Taxis was there to meet us for our transfer to Piraeus, where we spent a pleasant afternoon, evening and overnight.

 

After a leisurely breakfast we took a short cab ride to the ship. A slight glitch when the non-English speaking driver tried to drop us at an NCL  ship (😱). We insisted that he return to the port road and take us to the correct cruise terminal. All ended well and the efficient porters took our baggage leaving us to enter the terminal shortly before check-in, which commenced early at 11:45.

............. but which way? left or right?

 

 

 

Lunch on the sunny Pool Deck; all suites ready early by 1:45 and by the time we arrived at our room all our luggage had been delivered.

 

 

Dinner in Chartreuse this evening. More musings tomorrow 

[HonTri]

Sound's like everything is going Great. Do know Gwen & John from Wales? If yes say hi from Gail & Ron!

[Hambagahle]

I rather like the title --  please continue to "muse..."  

[Belfast Taxman]

Bon voyage Flossie , hope you enjoy the lesbians tomorrow ( that is natives of the island of Lesbos, just in case anyone was concerned at that phrase)  and in particular Istanbul in a few days, one of my favourite cities in the Med.

Really loving the photos

[Zqueeze1]

Flossie:  We wish you happy sailings and a great time.  You mentioned that this is your first segment. Where do you disembark?  Love the pic of your approach to Athens. 

Z and TB

[UUNetBill]

Flossie...you guys better have a fantastic cruise, or else.   😄

 

Seriously, have a great time.  You guys all have me jealous, being out cruising and having fun....

[ronrick1943]

Looks like you are off to a great start of a wonderful cruise.  Photos are good and I'm looking forward to reading what you think about the cruise.  Thanks for taking the time, it's enjoyable for us.

[RachelG]

Have a great cruise!

[boblerm]

Flossie, it seems like just yesterday that you and I were "sailing together " in Norway, (albeit on different ships😁.)  I am so glad that you are back on board again so soon, I have to wait until March😉.

Have a wonderful cruise, no doubt that you will.  Looking forward to your always interesting posts and great photos!

Bob

[flossie009]

Firstly, thank you all for the good wishes for our cruise. It has certainly started well and we intend to thoroughly enjoy our time on Voyager.

 

17 hours ago, Zqueeze1 said:

You mentioned that this is your first segment. Where do you disembark? 

We are booked through to Dubai. So the two segments, Athens-Barcelona then Barcelona-Dubai.

I thought it best to split the blog into two to keep it digestible. I suspect the two segments will have a different vibe.

Also you may have heard that the U.K. is due to take a leap into the dark on October 31, so who knows what may happen then. If it all goes pear shaped maybe we will just carry on sailing the seven seas 😮

 

 

19 hours ago, HonTri said:

Do know Gwen & John from Wales? If yes say hi from Gail & Ron!

Not sure that we have had the pleasure of meeting them. We will keep our ears open for Welsh accents.

 

 

A beautiful sunset as we left the port of Piraeus yesterday evening.

 

[flossie009]

This is our itinerary for this segment:

 

As you can see, this is a very port intensive cruise. We do not intend to give a detailed account of each day but rather will concentrate on the ship and perhaps mention any memorable excursions.

 

 

........ and these are the senior officers & staff looking after us on Voyager:

 

Yesterday, it was good to meet up with some friendly staff members who we have sailed with before. Anatoli (GM), the social hostess, Marla, Oksana (recently promoted) and other bar staff. Then we bumped into Charlie, the excellent Butler, who we have not seen for a few years.

 

[flossie009]

A few answers to some questions that have been posed on this Board recently:

 

• Yes, background music (Muzak) is played on the Pool Deck throughout the day
• The trio Nature’s Rhythm are performing on board Voyager at present - usually in the Voyager Lounge in the evening
• The BBQ grill for the Pool Grill is electric (if we have a deck BBQ during the voyage I will report on the supplementary grills in use) 

Here is the full list of services offered by the CanyonRanch Spa on Voyager:

Prices include an 18% service charge

 

If anyone has any other questions about the ship & ship’s services please ask away.

                 
                     ***************************************************************

 

Last tenders have been recovered after our stop in Lesbos today and we are setting sail for Istanbul.

Tonight is Meet & Mingle at 5pm, Captain’s welcome reception at 6pm then off to Dinner in Compass Rose.  A packed social calendar  🙂  

We also hope to attend the show tonight - guest entertainer Greta Salome, a singer & violinist who twice represented her native Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest; intriguing and should be a good performance.

[forgap]

Very interested in your take on Istanbul and Turkey in general considering the recent incursion into Syria.   We are scheduled for a Middle East Cruise in May and we are anxious that our itinerary will change substantially.  

[Gilly]

Flossie, we too are enjoying your cruise, thank you 😉  We are currently staying in a beautiful converted canalside property (formerly 20-odd houses and warehouses) in Amsterdam and it has been bliss until this afternoon when the music industry seems to have descended on the city for a conference or whatever the hip people call such an event now.  Right now, we'd give our eye teeth to be there on board with you!

 

What lucky ducks, you are!

[flossie009]

On 10/16/2019 at 7:04 PM, HonTri said:

Sound's like everything is going Great. Do know Gwen & John from Wales? If yes say hi from Gail & Ron!

 

16 hours ago, flossie009 said:

Not sure that we have had the pleasure of meeting them. We will keep our ears open for Welsh accents.

Update for @HonTri,

We opted for a sharing table in Compass Rose last night and by chance one of the couples we were seated with was your friends Gwen & John.

They return your good wishes & we understand from them that you will be joining Voyager in Barcelona as they depart.

It was lively conversation on our table last night, such that we missed the theatre entertainment.

Not sure about the “Grasshopper” cocktails that Gwen ordered for everyone - a drink just shouldn’t be that colour!

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

Flossie

It was so nice of you to deal with the CC questions and taking the time out of your cruise to answer. 
Enjoy your journey. I will be reading your posts, whetting my appetite for our cruise in December. 
Sheila

[HonTri]

9 hours ago, flossie009 said:

 

Update for @HonTri,

We opted for a sharing table in Compass Rose last night and by chance one of the couples we were seated with was your friends Gwen & John.

They return your good wishes & we understand from them that you will be joining Voyager in Barcelona as they depart.

It was lively conversation on our table last night, such that we missed the theatre entertainment.

Not sure about the “Grasshopper” cocktails that Gwen ordered for everyone - a drink just shouldn’t be that colour!

We will be at the M&m hope to meet you then.😼

[RachelG]

Flossie, I share your thoughts about “grasshoppers”. Looks like some sort of industrial fluid to me, not to be swallowed.

 

i will be interested to here how things go in Turkey given the current mess.

[Cardinal Gal]

We are also on the cruise. Istanbul was fabulous. Only complaints are the traffic and the ongoing restoration of some of the main sights, such as the blue mosque and the underground cistern. Never felt unsafe. The shore excursions were strenuous with more walking than we had expected. We hired a driver for the afternoon and evening. Had lunch at the House Cafe and dinner at Antiochia. Prices are very reasonable and the food at both were excellent. 

[flossie009]

On 10/19/2019 at 12:18 AM, RachelG said:

i will be interested to here how things go in Turkey given the current mess

No security issues for us in Istanbul. As one of our guides said “most people in Turkey are just trying to get on with their normal lives”

Traffic and traffic jams are the biggest challenges facing locals & tourists in Istanbul.

[forgap]

Thank you for the updates on Istanbul.  The Turkish ports are one of the main reasons we booked our cruise in May.   We have our fingers crossed that the Middle East will remain calm.  If traffic is the worst thing with which we have to contend, it will just feel like we are home in Atlanta!  

[flossie009]

Today (Sunday) is an extra sea day; issues with engine maintenance have resulted in reduced speeds hence the port of Mykonos has been dropped to ensure we arrive in Naples on time on Tuesday.

 

The cruise is going well with two interesting days in Istanbul (photos later if the Wi-Fi behaves).

 

Food on board has been superb. 
We were surprised to find that the Exec Chef is originally from Milton Keynes/Bletchley which is very close to us in the U.K. He now lives in Bulgaria close to Anatoli, the GM.

John, the Exec Chef, trained under the Queen’s personal Chef and he is certainly leading an excellent galley team on Voyager.

Last night we dined in Prime 7; the night before we were in Chartreuse with Anatoli (GM) and Lacinda (singer from the production cast)

Entertainment is good.

During our overnight in Istanbul a group of local musicians and dancers came on board and gave a very spirited and professional performance. Hope that the energetic belly dancer didn’t lead to additional attendance at the medical centre for heart palpitations 😉

Last night was the turn of the production cast in “Dance to the Beat” (Dancing Fool). An entertaining performance by the singers, dancers & band.

Other resident performers this cruise are the trio Nature’s Rhythm and pianist Kathy.

Tonight we hope to make the second performance by the visiting Icelandic violinist/vocalist.

 

[Belfast Taxman]

Whilst, of course, you need to be sensitive to security issues anywhere in the world these days, Istanbul and other fairly common Turkish cruise ports such as Kusadasi are a very long way from the current problem areas along the border with Syria. 

Israel is another well known cruise destination with ongoing security issues, but the security is so tight there, especially in Jerusalem, that you may well feel quite safe there.

Interestingly, in part two of their cruise, Flossie & Co. will be passing the Yemen coastline and stopping in southern Oman, not far from the border and if Regent are happy going there now, it would take something very dramatic to endanger a Cruise in the Eastern Med. 

[flossie009]

For those that need it Voyager has a large computer room, Club.com, on deck 5.

15 work stations and a printer.
The internet manager is in attendance for about 3 hours in the morning and again in the afternoon.

 

[Belfast Taxman]

Flossie

happy to hear that you have enjoyed Istanbul and the food/entertainment so far. 

I hope that missing Mykonos has not been too much of an issue for you. When we have cruised there before we have stayed on board that day as Wonderwifey does not like tenders much and it has usually been after several days of heavy shore excursions elsewhere. You do need a rest day now and again. No doubt Regent have laid on yet another buffet cocktail party to make up for it!

one quick question, which if too personal please do not bother to answer. You now appear to have been to Chartreuse twice. Do you have priority access to the speciality restaurants or have you got lucky?