LIVE! Oosterdam 12-Day Greek Odyssey

[*Miss G*]

Greetings!  I am hoping this will be a live review of Oosterdam’s Greek Odyssey cruise.  We are currently in our Airbnb close to the cruise port.  Embarkation day is Monday, October 10th.

 

Here is where it will be taking us:

 

 

 

My sister and I started our odyssey, early, with a Rhine River cruise.  

 

 

[VMax1700]

Arrivederci Roma!  (or close by 😉)

Hope you have a great cruise.  That is a nice itinerary.

[*Miss G*]

Out of curiousity, I decided to keep a count of the flights, countries, and airports I will be/have been visiting.  Two of the airlines are new to me:  Lufthansa and Vueling.  I will add Air France at the end of the trip.  All have been nice but some have been better than others.  If I were to rate them from best to worst, in terms of seat comfort, I would say Delta, Lufthansa, Vueling, Virgin.

 

Random Stats

Flight Count (4):  Delta Republic, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, Vueling

Airport Count (7):  IAD, JFK, MAN, MAN, FRA, AMS, FCO 

Country Count (5):  US, UK, DE, NL, IT

Time Travel (2):  -5, -1

 

We arrived in Civitavecchia yesterday afternoon.  Today we are going to take a walk to where the free port shuttle picks up so we can see if it is doable with luggage.  If not, the Airbnb owner has volunteered her father.  😂  

 

Edited October 7, 2022 by *Miss G*

[ski ww]

Looks like a great itinerary. Bon Voyage, fair winds & smooth seas. 

[calebandjess]

We’ll be joining you Monday! So looking forward to it!

[kazu]

Looking forward to following along with you.  

Thanks for doing this - keep the ship in good shape for us please 🙂 

 

I’ve been behind and thank you for your link to your river cruise - I’m going to catch up reading on that one as well 🙂 

[*Miss G*]

Thank you, @VMax1700, @ski ww, @kazu, @calebandjess!

 

We are definitely having an adventure at the airbnb.  Italian apartments are certainly different than North American!  But we wanted to be able to relax, do some laundry, and catch up on some much needed sleep.  Three more sleeps until we embark on our cruise.  See you onboard @calebandjess!

[puppycanducruise]

Looks like a great itinerary.

Thanks for taking us along.  Enjoy!

[VMax1700]

2 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

Time Travel 

🤣

 

[cat shepard]

Have a wonderful adventure. Love your itinerary. 
Thank you for sharing it with us. 
 

The most uncomfortable seat/leg room I have ever experienced was on Air France. But that was in 2006, and I was in Economy. 

Edited October 7, 2022 by cat shepard

[Ine]

1 hour ago, calebandjess said:

We’ll be joining you Monday! So looking forward to it!

So are we!

[canadianbear]

Loved following along on your river cruise.  Glad you have a couple days now to catch up on well earned sleep. 
 

Having never been to Italy myself, what is different at your air bnb? My husband, son & daughter all have been and I do remember them saying “very small” and feet hung over the beds.
 

Rest up for your cruise.  Thanks again for taking us along on your adventures!

[*Miss G*]

DAY 11 (continued from start of adventure)

CIVITAVECCHIA

 

Yesterday’s walk to the port shuttle proved we will be able to do it with luggage.  It is a 10 minute walk from our location.

 

We walked for hours to familiarize ourselves with the immediate area.  There are a lot of ships in port.

 

 

 

A cannabis vending machine.  When we were in Amsterdam, the Avalon Cruise Director told us if we were going to partake of the “coffee” houses we would be asked to spell Czechoslovakia upon our return.  😂

 

 

There is also a still and sparkling vending machine on the street should you run out.

 

 

The Sailor’s Kiss at the seafront.

 

 

[*Miss G*]

A fountain taken over by plants.

 

 

Almost sunset.  Time to eat!

 

 

We had supper at the restaurant to the left:  Pyper

 

Today’s special was intestines.  We said no thank you but the server insisted we try it because it was a fantastic local delicacy.  She would not leave until we tasted it.  😂

 

 

We ordered shrimp and rocket ravioli and a carbonara.  Intestines aside, the food was delicious and the server was lovely.  She would not let us leave until we had an after dinner drink of a really nice grappa concoction, on the house.

 

 

 

[*Miss G*]

23 hours ago, cat shepard said:

 

The most uncomfortable seat/leg room I have ever experienced was on Air France. But that was in 2006, and I was in Economy. 

 

Oh oh.  Now you have me worried.  😂  I am in Economy because I cannot figure out how to upgrade.  I sure hope Virgin remains in last place!

 

23 hours ago, Ine said:

So are we!

 

Yay!  See you onboard!!

 

21 hours ago, canadianbear said:

 

Having never been to Italy myself, what is different at your air bnb? My husband, son & daughter all have been and I do remember them saying “very small” and feet hung over the beds.

 

 

You know, I never thought about it until you mentioned it.  Yes, my husband’s feet would definitely hang over the end of the bed!  We have a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment a stone’s throw from the sea.  It is in an older building so the ceilings are very high and the traffic is very trafficy.  People like to honk their horns.  That is because everyone is double-parked and sometimes they get cranky about that.  

 

My sister and I are vertically-challenged so everything seems to be up really high.  The fridge and freezer are, of course, quite small but they suit our needs.  The shower stalls are small and we cannot seem to keep the shower heads in place so it’s a one-armed wash.  I keep knocking the shower handle to the cold position so that’s been fun.

 

Here is the elevator.  You open the cage and then the doors to get in and out.  Yesterday we got to the lobby when I remembered I had left my sunglasses in the apartment.  I went back up to get them but when I returned to the lobby the elevator didn’t quite reach the floor.  I saw it was a small step down so I tried to open the doors to get out but they remained locked.  Here’s me, trapped in a cage with my sister laughing at me from the other side.  😂  I managed to escape by going up a floor and then back down.

 

Edited October 8, 2022 by *Miss G*

[*Miss G*]

Today I am doing our first load of laundry.  It is scaring me because I think I’ve done something wrong.  I took pictures of the instructions to figure it out.  Thank you, Google Translate!  

 

 

I have no idea what 1000 means but I wasn’t about to push more buttons to find out.  (Although my husband would be surprised at that because I am known as the button-pusher.  😇)

 

Edited October 8, 2022 by *Miss G*

[puppycanducruise]

Intestines?  From what animal?  Or does it really matter?😁

[VMax1700]

2 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

what 1000 means

Spin speed.

[*Miss G*]

1 hour ago, puppycanducruise said:

Intestines?  From what animal?  Or does it really matter?😁

 

I think she said veal but it tasted like fish.  I don’t want to know anymore than that.  😂

 

1 hour ago, VMax1700 said:

Spin speed.

 

Ohhhh!  Thank you!  Is 1000 good?  lol

 

I tried to “Pausa” it before the end of the dry cycle but it wouldn’t unlock so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.  😳

[rafinmd]

Bon Voyage!

 

Roy

[Heartgrove]

Any other comments about Vueling? I know that the seats don't recline and everything is alacarte. We had considered flying them on our upcoming trip from Venice to Barcelona. But instead we elected to spend two days using the high-speed trains of Trenitalia and SNCF with an overnight in Lyon.

 

Enjoy your cruise on the Oosterdam. We board her Nov. 5 in Barcelona.

 

- Jack

[*Miss G*]

6 minutes ago, Heartgrove said:

Any other comments about Vueling? I know that the seats don't recline and everything is alacarte. We had considered flying them on our upcoming trip from Venice to Barcelona. But instead we elected to spend two days using the high-speed trains of Trenitalia and SNCF with an overnight in Lyon.

 

Enjoy your cruise on the Oosterdam. We board her Nov. 5 in Barcelona.

 

- Jack

 

Thank you!  Yes, these are my observations of Vueling:

 

- As you say, the seats don’t recline but I found them more comfortable than Virgin.  I found them quite comfortable for the 2.5 hour flight from AMS to FCO, and could have gone longer if I had to.

- The arm rest is actually an elbow rest because they end halfway.  🤷‍♀️

- As you say, everything is à la carte.  Not even a plastic cup of water!

- Soft music was played overhead throughout the flight, but with the noise from the engines you couldn’t really hear it.

- Fares vary to include cabin baggage (one bag, one personal item) or to not include cabin baggage (one personal item only).  The benefit to this was there was lots of overhead storage space.

- The flight left on time.

[VMax1700]

It is a veal dish ok, this is rigatoni con pajata (veal intestines),  This image shows rigatoni, and yours shows another type of pasta.

I love tripe and drisheen, a local delicacy here 😋 lining of sheep's stomach, soaked in milk and simmered with a gelatinous blood pudding.......mmmmmm!

 

This is rigatoni con pajata:

 

 

[VMax1700]

2 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

Is 1000 good?

Good enough to get rid of excess water but not enough to shred the frillies 😁

[AV8rix]

On 10/7/2022 at 2:01 AM, *Miss G* said:

 All have been nice but some have been better than others.  If I were to rate them from best to worst, in terms of seat comfort, I would say Delta, Lufthansa, Vueling, Virgin.

 

 

 

I really appreciate your comment.  I'm about to do my first Delta Business Class this week. Usually just do Delta First Class for domestic. I was really concerned 'cause it's a long flight from SeaTac to Schipol.  Your post gives me hope.

Edited October 8, 2022 by AV8rix