Traveler

Sea day and the last day 

Day 6 – Argostoli

Arriving at 11 to Argostoli , I like the fact they let us sleep more although it leave us less time at port. Noting special to say about the morning it was the usual ritual of WJ, morning emails, getting organized and off to the port. The port is right near the city so we just went and started and look around, The city is more modern than some of the pervious ports with wide streets and nice lagoon.

 By the way we learned that the word lagoon came from Latin word of Lacuna as the people near Venezia were fleeing from enmities out of the main land into the Venice area as it was water surrounded and empty=Lacuna , to avoid their  enemy invasion. It was quite hot weather so perfect for whoever wanted to go to the beach and I guess many did. After a while we found some nice restaurant to eat our lunch, some variety of Greek cold palter which was good for small bytes as we had big dinner later.

 Post lunch we went back to the ship to enjoy laying in the sun and gain some color, so people back home will know we did not lie going for a vacation . Some rest and getting organized to the last official night. This time we had reservations to the Chef Table to celebrate my birthday. We reserved it online which might been a mistake as they did offer special prices on board. The Chef restaurant was very nice experience, we were joining a group of cruisers from Ireland, 3 couples which all are old time friends (over 25 years) that cruise together. It was very nice conversions and allot of loughs, we were lucky to share the table with them. The food and wine was very good , I loved the pasta with real truffles and the filet minion was the best I was eating (for sure over the RC ships), we got to taste six kind of wine , and when I say tasting I mean full glass of each wine (which added to the party ambient). The dessert was the chocolate ball from wonderland and some other small dessert that follow it (not that anyone could eat anything else). The waiter which  was also the sommelier was very funny and give excellent explanation and tips about the wine. The chef came out between each dish to explain how it was done. I do recommended to try this experience at least once, just take into consideration that it took us about 4 hours to finish the dinner although we did not feel it as time passed very fast.

We missed the quest game (yes they brought the quest to Europe, yeaaaahh , I hope it’s going to be now in all Europe routes. Post dinner , we listen to some music and went to sleep as such dinner can make you very tiered . Tomorrow we are at sea.  

19 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

OK, I recognize the scallops carpaccio, Maine lobster salad, and I think the garlic truffle tagliatelle from my own Chef's table back in April. Interesting that they keep at least parts of the menu going for so long, and it seems across the entire fleet.

What is that steak entree you have there? Filet mignon? And how awesome they gave you a special birthday dessert! Was that off-menu, or the provided menu selection with the writing added?

And the most important question -- what wines were served, and how did you like them? 

Well the wines were from Germany , France and  US  do not remember everything now will try to recall later.

The maon dish was amazing filet mignon, the dessert was the wanderland one and they addedd to that chocolate strawberry and of her small cakes , the birthday cheese cake was not on the menue

Oh and I loved all the wines 

The Chef table is Amazing

7 minutes ago, carlosalonsor said:

@Traveler Hi! Great thread, I'm loving it. I don't know if it's just me but I can't see the pics of Day 5 – Mykonos.

Greetings! 

Thanks , I think ther is some problems with the pics ,I will fix later when I am back to the cabin

Tonight , Cheff table 

Day 5 – Mykonos

7:30 am was the time we arrived to Mykonos, its not that I woke up to see its I just learn about it later. We took our time as we did not have any tour planned (Lesson learned) so we slept awhile, eat breakfast at the WJ and went down to the small city. This was the second tendering port during the cruise but since we left after 10 AM it was with zero lines , very nicely handled by RC team comparing to the previous tendering in Kotor which was more crowded. No tickets were required for the tendering boats. The boat leaves us around 50 M (150 F  for the US readers who refuse to follow the rest of the world and adapt the very logic metric system) from the city so it was very convenient to just walk around. We did not have special plans for Mykonos so we just started to walk between the narrow passages, the small city is beautiful all the building are paint white with some blue and red on top of the churches, the street are very clean and we were lucky with the weather that was very good.

We went all the way up to take some pictures of the bay and to try and balance all the calories we are eating on board the ship. The view from the heal is amazing, although the electric wires are in the way of some of the pictures, how so not thoughtful of Mykonos electric company.

We did our way down and seat in one of the coffee shops near the port, we drank the local Greek coffee (again, its exactly like Turkish coffee, but do not dare to say it in Greece) added to it some cold coffee which we saw everyone else are drinking. Word of advice, Mykonos is very expensive , almost twice than Athens.

We decide to go back to the ship and eat lunch. My spouse went to the SPA and booked some of the massage offers they had yesterday I  stayed at the room to answer some of the working related email as I needed to escalate some of the issues (work never ends), I think its better to do it like that and not to return home and have thousands of emails waiting for me to handle but this is only my opinion.

After some rest we went to the MDR for our 6 PM dinner ,the table was full again and we  were happy to see everyone , interesting discussions and  sharing experiences from the day. It was Lasagna night, we enjoyed it ,four  of the people at the table ordered the fish , all of them gave it back and ask to replace to the lasagna as they said the fish was very dry and salty. For dessert almost, everyone ordered the Tiramisu beside me that ordered the Tiramisu and the cheese plate  The tiramisu was  excellent.

after dinner we went  to the high tier event , around 60 people attend the event and almost all the officers were there. No pinnacles on this cruise, in total only 600 C&A are sailing this week.   Post the event we went to see the headliner show , it was some magic show but it all seem the same as other magic shows we saw on board of other ships so we went out at the middle (good we seated near the exit), next we went to the 70 show (I periscope part of it), visit the Casino (no jackpot this time ☹) and conclude the day at the park café eating pizza.  

Just joined the insiders group. Happy to support this wonderful site and Matt efforts

It's Lasagna night 

1 hour ago, Matt said:

Was this Statue of Zeus at Olympia? Or something else?

I think it so ,

It right across from the Acropolis 

https://whyathens.com/temple-of-olympian-zeus/

Day 4  - Athens.

We arrived Athens around 12 PM which allow us to sleep finally until 10 AM (Amazing for me) it was wonderful. We organized, took something quick at the WJ and  went to catch our tour. This time we only took a transfer to Athens nothing else , the only reason we took it is due to the endless strikes Athens known for , did not really wanted to be stuck there so paid the extra money for guarantee transfer. During the time we did our way to the meeting point I finally solved one of the cruise mysteries, when the morning show is being taped, I had some suspensions that its being taped once per route and re playing it again and again but I saw they were taping it around 11 AM and it was for the tomorrow show meaning one day ahead of time.

We arrived after around 30 minute drive which included one stop at the old Olympic stadium for photo opportunity:

 The bust dropped us later near the Acropolises and the Plaka (The old city area). We wanted to check if we can go up the Acropolises but a quick look over the lines changed are minds very quickly so we just went to tour the Palka, nice thing about Athens is the fact that were ever you go there is some old structures or other old interesting thing to watch and it all from around 2500 years ago (beside maybe the Macdonald’s)  , impressive.

After a while we decided its time to eat lunch so we tried  one of the restaurants that was far from the entrance, not before we removed our excursion number from our shirts , hey its not that people can not see we are tourists but we should not go with a big sign on our chest saying “Hey we are sucker tourists which take ship tours and are ready to pay any price for junk/bad food” . The food at the restaurant was absolutely amazing. We took Greek salad (hey we are in Greece after all) a chicken Suflaki and Moussaka which was one of the best I was ever eaten (and I was eaten few Moussakas). We took some coffee for dessert

 Continue our tour, next station was Zeus monument, the National gardens and the parliament  house 

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  Next it was time to find a nearby supermarket to buy some authentic local food to bring back home, love to watch local supermarkets to understand what people eat and what are the options they have. Tip  , if you want to buy some stuff from Greece plan to do so at Athens as the rest of the Islands are more expensive. We went back to the ship to eat dinner at the WJ (it was already too late to go to the MDR)

and went  to see the Love and Marriage show, which was fun to watch as always and to your question, here are the answer to the “PG 13 question” : 1. In the car , In the Ocean (ST Thomas if you must know) and on the deck of a cabin while it was snowing). We went to find some comfort food after touring the ship , the only think available was  some Pizza slices at the Park Caffe ,noting else. That conclude our day more and less.

Good news ,Love and Marriage game show is on although it's European cruise . Now I just wish they bring the quest also

3 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Funny you mentioned this, I just read another post on FB that the orange duck was the best thing ever!  Food is indeed subjective.

Yes, well it was not the best thing I was tasted , it was Ok , 

Most of the other people took the prime rib and were very happy include one that changed her plate from the sea food plate tot he prime rib.

Day 3 – Corfu.

We planned to come to Corfu around 9:30 AM and leave  until 2:30 PM , it was ok beside the fact that we got a message the evening before that the clock is being shifted one hour forward which means we are there at 8:30 pre morning. I have change my clock before going to sleep by canceling the network time automatic update just to wake up and figure the clock is back to the network time which means we had to rush to the WJ and get organize quickly to our tour. This time we took a tour which brought us to one of the small villages , got to a nice viewing spot  on the bay (sound familiar right …) and tour old Corfu,

again not enough time to tour it as much as we wanted since we needed to be rushed back to the ship. I only blame myself for taking tow tours which are almost the same, well I am learning.

We came back to the port were they have a nice small duty free shop that had the best prices for food product, we bought a box of Greek delight (its like Turkish delight but just saying it can start a war so lets avoid it). Quick run to WJ and some peer running watch. As we waked up at the middle of the night (7:30 pre AM) we were very tired so went to sleep for few hours before get organized to the first official night. For this night we were chosen again the MDR , again food and service was excellent (even the orange duck although maybe I had to listen to @Lovetocruise2002 and get something else). The table was full ,all the people from the first night arrived although two people came quite late the waiters successfully handled it. This time we brought a bottle of wine with us which we bought at Italy , the wine was very good and we finished it between both of us. Since everyone else also brought their own bottle (guess who told them its possible to do it) the question of should we share the wine with other did not raised , but I wonder what is the typical  ethic when you seat at a big table and bring your own wine , should you offer to share ? what do you think?

. After dinner we went to the Casino, how it went you saw yesterday but I can say we were very happy . To make sure we will stay happy we ran away from the Casino and went to see the evening production which was ball room fever, it was ok , I mean , I did not had the urge to run away at the middle of the show and my spouse liked it as she love to dance (mainly salsa).

That was a nice ending to a long day.   

Athens

from the bus

Speed test at 7 am , I have contacted 2 tests one after another (5 minutes different) as you can see it's not that stable. On the first test the connection was via Houston , the second test was through Greece were the upload speed dropped dramatically.

Actually the upload speed now is so bad I am failing to upload the first picture

7 hours ago, twangster said:

How would you estimate the dress attire on this cruise

So , at the dining room I tried to look around , the mix looked more and less the same as any Caribbean cruise , almost no Tuxidos, many with dress shirt without tie and some with T shirt .

Dress (all kind) for the women 

8 minutes ago, twangster said:

Run away from the casino!

Already did , we are now in the theater waiting for the dance show

Just now, twangster said:

WooHoo!  That's awesome!

Free cruise!

Yes , I walked away fast from the Casino and enjoy other activities that can not harm our free free cruise. Just need more vacation

Please, do not hate me for this 

So for @twangster 

491 crusier are from US around 650 from the UK , rest of the numbers I will have later. 

17 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Loving the pictures and blog, @Traveler! I've been eyeing the Adriatic and Greece as a future destination, and I agree with @Lovetocruise2002, I'm going to have to find a way to the Mediterranean before I visit Alaska, liking the cold less and less as I get older be damned!

Only tough choice now is whether to do Med or Norwegian itinerary first. Both are European but boy are they different experiences!

Until now we did only the Med from Barcelona and now this one, never the Norwegian route although it's on our list. One is all about history and culture (Med from Barcelona) the Norwegian is more sceneric views/nature. The Greece is a combination. So hard to decide , maybe you should plan back to back Med/Greece and then Norway

1 hour ago, Matt said:

Haha, I love the idea of offering this.  Not all of their creations are home runs, but A for effort!

Sure , will work on it  

1 hour ago, twangster said:

How would you estimate the dress attire on this cruise?

I've read reports that Europe based cruises tend to be somewhat more formal compared to Caribbean cruises where the dress code has slackened off quite a bit over the years.  

Does that remain a valid observation or has attire become less formal for this cruise?

Any observations on guest demographics?  Many Americans or mostly Europeans?

Great live blog!  

First of all thanks, 

Regarding the dress attire until now I could not see much different from cruises we took in the Caribbean, maybe more dress shirts at evenings , I will see today as today is the first formal night.

I do not have the exact demography numbers  but it seems to me that there are many from the US on this cruise , many from the UK and lot of Italians , maybe in the top tier event they will give the numbers again or in one of the morning shows.

Day 2 – Kotor , Montenegro

Port arrival was schedule for2 PM (original 1 PM) which allowed us to sleep as much as we want , not that we used it too much , after all it’s a new ship for us. Breakfast was in the WJ, nothing different from other ships beside the egg station which you have a person that get your order and gives you a number, once your eggs are ready he announce the number, I think it is very good approach which reduce the lines dramatically. After touring the ship and relaxing at the solarium we had quick lunch at WJ and went up deck 9 to take some pictures while arriving Kotor. Kotor bay is very impressive, surrounded by dramatic mountains. I did some attempts to periscope but I think the quality due to the speed of internet dose not done justice with this wonderful landscape. Here are some picture of the bay and Kotor.

 We booked RC excretion during one of the 30% sells so we did our way to the theater. Kotor is a tendering port so I do suggest to book something from RC to avoid the lines although the tender time is very short (around 5 minutes). We went first up on the mountains to have a very nice view of the bay (and over Rhapsody) the way up is being done on a very narrow road and can be quite scary .Another stop was at a local restaurant that served some tapas create out of something that looked and taste like Parma ham, we eat it with some local honey wine. Next stop was the old city of Kotor, due to the missing hour (which the Venetian port authority stalled from us) we had only short time to tour this lovely old small city (we got 25% off the tour price because of it) I wish we had more time has we love to get lost in the streets of such cities , something which you can not do when your last tendering leaves in 45 minutes. Next time we will just go to the city.

Back to the ship and WJ for dinner , we got back only around 8 PM while our MDR time was 6 PM , at the WJ they had Suflaki station which came with Pita bread and typical salads, to one of them they called Hummus , I am sorry but crashing some chickpea with garlic is not making Hummus  its just mashed chickpea with garlic , if anyone wants I can give a good  Hummus recipe  .

We went up to deck 10 to see the ship leaving Kotor :

We saw several activities and called it for the day as the tour to Corfu was schedule to 9:15 and the ship was changing its clock to one hour earlier.

Some observation   – no snacks on the ship (at least on day 2 ) after midnight , the park cafe was closed and beside room service no other alternative , I do miss the promenade cafe and its small sandwiches you can eat in the middle of the night,