Live: Dubrovnik to Athens, 25th August 2024 Encore

[fudge]

Day 1

We left our lovely home in Cyprus yesterday 24^th October, we live in the med anyway so the trip to Dubrovnik is quite short.

So, where to start? Mr. Fudge is a young 73 yrs. old, (well he thinks he is!) Mrs Fudge is a very sprightly 61yrs old. We emigrated from the UK about 20yrs ago to a small Island called Cyprus in the Mediterranean, a lovely sunny climate all year round.

 

We stayed at a lovely apartment in Dubrovnik overnight right next to the airport, we had a lovely stay, we went back to the airport the following morning, took the shuttle bus to the cruise terminal, about an hours drive through some lovely country side, 10 Euros each, took us straight to within 100 metrs of the ship.

 

We arrived at the cruise terminal about 11.30 am, checked in but waited about 30 mins for the Police and immigration checks, then on board for 12.10pm straight to the Colonnade for our first champagne and a lovely lunch.

 

At 12.40pm the announcement came that our suits were free, we finished lunch and went to the suite 827. Our first time on the Encore, lovely suite.

Met by our suite attendant, offered a drink and free soaps for Mrs. Fudge. The baggage arrived at 14.30, Mrs Fudge toddled off to the only laundry on board on deck 5! to do some ironing, after which Mr. Fudge toddled off and ironed some!

 

At 5pm we attended the sail away party, plenty of drinks flowing, Croatia is a lovely country to explore, leaving the country at a slow pace. Mrs Fudge was off like a shot to the spa to enter a free competition for 500 dollars of spa treatment.

Tonight we are eating at the Solice restaurant, formally the Thomas Keller Grill, we are going for the 32 oz rib eye steak, good luck with that.

[nancygp]

Looking forward to following your cruise. I so enjoy your posts and writing style.

 

enjoy,

 

Nancy

Edited August 25 by nancygp

[galeforce9]

1 hour ago, fudge said:

Day 1

We left our lovely home in Cyprus yesterday 24^th October, we live in the med anyway so the trip to Dubrovnik is quite short.

So, where to start? Mr. Fudge is a young 73 yrs. old, (well he thinks he is!) Mrs Fudge is a very sprightly 61yrs old. We emigrated from the UK about 20yrs ago to a small Island called Cyprus in the Mediterranean, a lovely sunny climate all year round.

 

We stayed at a lovely apartment in Dubrovnik overnight right next to the airport, we had a lovely stay, we went back to the airport the following morning, took the shuttle bus to the cruise terminal, about an hours drive through some lovely country side, 10 Euros each, took us straight to within 100 metrs of the ship.

 

We arrived at the cruise terminal about 11.30 am, checked in but waited about 30 mins for the Police and immigration checks, then on board for 12.10pm straight to the Colonnade for our first champagne and a lovely lunch.

 

At 12.40pm the announcement came that our suits were free, we finished lunch and went to the suite 827. Our first time on the Encore, lovely suite.

Met by our suite attendant, offered a drink and free soaps for Mrs. Fudge. The baggage arrived at 14.30, Mrs Fudge toddled off to the only laundry on board on deck 5! to do some ironing, after which Mr. Fudge toddled off and ironed some!

 

At 5pm we attended the sail away party, plenty of drinks flowing, Croatia is a lovely country to explore, leaving the country at a slow pace. Mrs Fudge was off like a shot to the spa to enter a free competition for 500 dollars of spa treatment.

Tonight we are eating at the Solice restaurant, formally the Thomas Keller Grill, we are going for the 32 oz rib eye steak, good luck with that.

Do you mean August?   Following along as we are Dubrovnik to Athens sept.  Have a fantastic cruise. Always enjoy your reports 

Edited August 25 by galeforce9

[fudge]

Sorry, its an age thing, obviously its August thank you.

[theopup]

Looking forward to your posts. Enjoy your cruise.You are on a lovely ship.

[fudge]

Well, what a way to finish day 1. Mr Fudge is in the doghouse and quite rightly too. He decides to have a “cat nap” before dinner, this turned out to be a snoozefest, he wakes up at 20.30 hrs. well after our dinner date.

Mrs Fudge is sat on the sofa, arms folded, big bottom lip, Red face, oh dear, not sure even the on board credit will get me out of this mess. We ordered room service and sat through a deaf and dumb dinner. Any advise from you guys would help thank you.

After a very smooth crossing we are into day 2 of the cruise.

For those who have read my “live” reports you will know the morning routine in the suite. Mrs Fudge gives Mr. Fudge a dig in the ribs, this is her way of saying coffee please from Seabourn square which opens at 06.15, this of course was a bigger dig than normal, so Mr. Fudge heads off with his tail between his legs and returns with the coffee as instructed.

At 07.00 we docked in Vis, OTOK Vis, Croatia.

Vis is the largest island in the Vis archipelago, a designated UNESCO global geopark and biodiverse haven for bottle nose dolphins, giant devil rays and Blue fin tuna. The Greeks first settled here in the 4^th century followed by the Romans.

A lovely sunny day 32 degrees forecast today.

Please excuse any typos, its difficult to type with a Black eye.

[fudge]

15 hours ago, galeforce9 said:

Do you mean August?   Following along as we are Dubrovnik to Athens sept.  Have a fantastic cruise. Always enjoy your reports 

Maybe admin can change the heading to read August?

[fudge]

Thank you admin, very much appreciated.

[highplanesdrifters]

Jewelry, good Champagne, chocolate, flowers, alarm clock.*

 

Love your style, thanks for taking us along.

 

*BTW, this is not a pick one, all should suffice.

[fudge]

Day 2

After a leisurely breakfast we decided to go ashore, we took the first tender, its only a 5 minute ride. Vis is a sleepy island with not much to see or do however, if you want to stretch your legs and get some fresh air then its worth going.

It only took 20 minutes to see the harbour, we got the next tender back. There are tours to churches and monasteries if that is what you like.

We returned to our suite and went by the pool,  time for a first champagne of the day. Really hot today, not a cloud in the sky.

Make that 3 champagnes before midday, we have a serious drinking problem!

We decided to eat lunch at the pool today, a good selection of Pizzas, minute steaks Etc.

At 4pm its off to trivia, Mrs Fudge is very good on music, fingers crossed we get with a good team. We ended up with a team of 10, a mixture of Americans, 1 French, and UK, great effort but came third, no Seabourn caps today!

[galeforce9]

Fudge, sounds like you had a great day.  When on Seabourn…. Hope you managed afternoon tea.   Were there any boat trips for sale in the harbour?  

[fudge]

Hi,

Afternoon tea are you kidding? No way, we are totally stuffed. A family we met on board went on a pre arranged boat trip, no further details sorry.

[fudge]

At 6.30 pm we went to the observation bar for the Captains introduction of his senior staff. A great atmosphere the Captain is from Yorkshire UK, spoke very well.

Coincidently it was described as a “formal “night.

We went to the Earth and Ocean to eat, very disappointing. The tempura prawns were nice as a starter but the main meal was a vegetable curry, not nice at all. Curried chick peas with vegetables thrown on top.  Oh well onto another night. Even worse there was no bartender all evening, so it was wine or nothing, strange??

Day 2 cont….

We left Earth and Ocean and went to the club bar for a nightcap, still no top cognac!

We went to the show featuring Lauren Drew  a Welsh west end star, performed in Les Miserables and Six. She had a lovely voice and performed well.

We turned in fairly early, woke early, went to Seabourn square, it was packed at 06.30 12 people in the queue for coffee only one lady serving.

07.00 Tuesday, just docking in Kotor, Montenegro. Initially it was a tender however, the captain has managed to secure a berth happy days. We have been here before on another cruise, as I recall there is lots to see in town, Mrs Fudge will be pleased I can feel the credit card taking a hit.

[fudge]

In other news, it would appear Seabourn have curtailed the daily on board activities, no more shuffle-board or baggo for points towards a baseball cap or bottle opener. Never mind, we have more merchandise than you can throw a stick at, Mrs Fudge is very competitive though, another big lip day.

A bit of local knowledge:

The walk from the ship into town is less than 3 minutes, lots and lots and lots of tourist shops, cafes, restaurants, and lots of cats in every doorway. This pleases Mrs. Fudge, we have thirteen cats. There is a cat museum in the main square.

Take the escalator under the busy main road, you can walk from one end of the city in under 15 minutes. Very clean, very safe, lovely friendly people.

There is a Kotor fortress climb for you energetic folks. There is also Kotor old city walls which stretch all around the town.

Its 11am and the ship is sooo quiet, looks like they have hit the excursions, hardly anyone on the pool deck and no “chair hogs” so far which is a pleasant change. You guessed it, champagne time.

We gave breakfast a miss today but couldn't resist a custard doughnut from Seabourn square, very yummy.

[nancygp]

On my sojourn sailing a few weeks ago, Baggo was one of the on-board activities.  Not sure if it was offered on port days, definitely on the sea days.

 

N

[sfvoyage]

6 hours ago, fudge said:

In other news, it would appear Seabourn have curtailed the daily on board activities, no more shuffle-board or baggo for points towards a baseball cap or bottle opener.

 

In the last 2 segments, there were baggo games with prizes.  Don't remember about shuffleboard.  (I don't do either.)

 

These are port-heavy segments, with only 1 sea day per week:  just be patient, there will be baggo and/or shuffleboard on the upcoming (only) sea day for this segment.

[fudge]

The weather is still very hot and humid. The pool is cool though, nice to have a dip to cool down. We ate lunch in the colonnade today, a wide selection including pork ribs, lasagne, pork fillet, great choice.

Just off to the trivia, lets see how we go on today? Well, what a disaster that was, no umbrella for us today we came last!!  We are named cruising and boozing, we are now cruising and loosing!!!

At 5pm we had a sail away event, well attended, Im sure on our last Seabourn cruise we had “nibbles” during these events?

Last evening we ate in the MDR, we both had the goats cheese soufflé followed by the lamb chops, both were excellent.

We skipped the entertainment and chose to have a night cap in the observation bar, we were the only folks in there.

Today (Wednesday) we are in Sarande, Albania. I used to wok in Albania a few years ago so know the place quite well.

Mrs Fudge has spent half of her on board credit, nothing for Mr Fudge and that’s OK.

This evening the food in the Colonnade is a British theme, hot pot, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, we will miss that, we decided to have in suite dining this evening, we have ordered a very hot Indian curry, really looking forward to that, we love spicy food.

[SLSD]

4 hours ago, fudge said:

 

At 5pm we had a sail away event, well attended, Im sure on our last Seabourn cruise we had “nibbles” during these events?

 

We did have appetizers at these events during the last month on Sojourn.   

[fudge]

All of the sailings have been really smooth, the only difference I have noticed is that when cruising the speed of the ship is slower than I remember? Whether that is to conserve fuel I have no idea?

We are back on this ship in seven weeks time Istanbul to Athens, it’s the last cruise before the ship moves to Asia. Istanbul is great for us only 1 hr 10 minute flight from Cyprus. If you have time it’s a great place to walk around, lots of places to see.

On a different note, all the crew have been fantastic, very warm and friendly, had a long chat with the Captain at lunch time, he works 10 weeks and then has 10 weeks vacation.

I have orders from Mrs Fudge, cut out the fatty breakfast, so instead we had a relaxed coffee on the pool deck, Mrs Fudge had a bowl of bird seed.

We left the ship for a stroll around the town. Much to Mr Fudges delight there are no shopping malls to speak of, instead there are plenty of small boutiques with sales on today, or maybe every day? Although the local currency is the Lec they do take Euro s.

It just goes to show if you are not technically minded which we are not, we have only just realised the “included” internet package is one device EACH. Mrs Fudge has been without her what's app since boarding, she is now a happy bunny back on line, Mr Fudge locked his phone away when he came on board, no interest whatsoever.

[galeforce9]

You mentioned the captain is from Yorkshire, Mr Fudge. My husband will be delighted.  He is also from god’s own county!   Do you recall his name please? 

[fudge]

Mr. Andrew Penner, he has been with Seabourn a long time.

Edited August 28 by fudge

[stan01]

Maybe when Odyssey leaves the Seabourn fleet the reported understaffing on other ships will get partially addressed.  One can hope.

 

 

[sfvoyage]

3 hours ago, fudge said:

Mr. Andrew Penner, he has been with Seabourn a long time.

Andrew Pedder

[Fortunate 2 travel]

On 7/18/2024 at 2:38 PM, marcy55 said:

Update, it is the 20 day Ovation cruise leaving 30 August 2025 that has been cancelled.

My TA thinks it must be a charter as it is the 9 to 19 September leg that is not available. Interestingly we looked at maybe doing just the first 10 days but our cabins have already gone and the price has increased considerably. The 10 day cruise is almost as much as we were paying for the 20 day cruise.

 

On 8/27/2024 at 10:29 AM, dog said:

Great location in Rome! A favourite of mine. I use RomeCabs booked online for my transfers.

Following, as well.

 

4 hours ago, fudge said:

All of the sailings have been really smooth, the only difference I have noticed is that when cruising the speed of the ship is slower than I remember? Whether that is to conserve fuel I have no idea?

We are back on this ship in seven weeks time Istanbul to Athens, it’s the last cruise before the ship moves to Asia. Istanbul is great for us only 1 hr 10 minute flight from Cyprus. If you have time it’s a great place to walk around, lots of places to see.

On a different note, all the crew have been fantastic, very warm and friendly, had a long chat with the Captain at lunch time, he works 10 weeks and then has 10 weeks vacation.

I have orders from Mrs Fudge, cut out the fatty breakfast, so instead we had a relaxed coffee on the pool deck, Mrs Fudge had a bowl of bird seed.

We left the ship for a stroll around the town. Much to Mr Fudges delight there are no shopping malls to speak of, instead there are plenty of small boutiques with sales on today, or maybe every day? Although the local currency is the Lec they do take Euro s.

It just goes to show if you are not technically minded which we are not, we have only just realised the “included” internet package is one device EACH. Mrs Fudge has been without her what's app since boarding, she is now a happy bunny back on line, Mr Fudge locked his phone away when he came on board, no interest whatsoever.

I think I would enjoy meeting Mrs Fudge 😃 (and Mr. Fudge)

[fudge]

2 hours ago, sfvoyage said:

Andrew Pedder

Thank you, as Mrs Fudge says, he cant be right all the time!