Nautica/ Mumbai to Rome/ April 29-May 27, 2018 with Taj Mahal pre extension...Live

Mike and I seem to have the same opinion of the guides we had in Jerusalem.

Dave did not appreciate being told that he had to stay with the group when he walked ahead to take pictures without tourists in them. He had his "whisper Vox" on--he stayed within hearing.

Geez, I'm an old history teacher and even I could have shortened the lessons! Plus I knew the stuff he was telling us as did most everybody who was raised as Jewish or Christian in our group.

I also did not want to be directed to where I should shop, hence my decision to go off and find the excellent shop of Mr Yasser Barakat on Afternos Square.

Now in Rhodes, which I love love love. Definitely a "I could live here" place for me. Nautica arrived early so we were able to leave the ship and go to a jewelry store I have visited twice before. Yes more earrings!

This afternoon is Free #4 shorex to Lindos. Looking forward to it......

The second day we spent in Haifa and walked to the German quarter. From there we met another couple we had toured with and decided to go to the top of Baha'i Gardens as there was a free English speaking tour coming up. The view from the base of the Gardens is below. Note the golden domed Baha'i Temple halfway up...

We hailed a cab, agreed on a price, went a block and the price changed, so we got out and tried again with better success. Arriving at the top gave us a nice view of our home the last three weeks...

The Baha'i faith was founded in the 1800's with 19 members, and has now grown to over 5 million. It is the only faith in the last 100 years that has grown faster than the general population. They have no churches and only require a quiet, clean place to pray, and to face Acre, the holiest of their sites. They preach a faith based on peace and equality, with no drugs, alcohol or swearing. If you count my Saturday morning golf and an occasional Vicodin for back pain, I am pretty much screwed from joining. They also view symmetry as a basis for their faith and the gardens below, show that concept as well...

Dkbustr,

Thank you so much for your reply. I just want to be sure i have this straight. You were the only one who gave the company a copy of your passport and you did not give them any credit card information? The others on your tour did not give the company any passport or credit card information? We are dealing with the same company so i want to have the information straight.

Again, thanks to you and Cynthia for giving such detailed information. When one knows what to expect, it helps with the mindset. I am understanding that the heat has been brutal. We are from the South but the humidity gets the better of us. Then, we just stay in the AC. Hard to do treking at Petra!

Patty

back on board....Happy Hour was celebrated and tonight was Greek Night in Terrace.

Everybody seems quite celebratory tonight...not sure if it is surviving their various excursions in the heat or just that it was a lovely night and many were at Happy Hour before dinner!!!

There were 30 of us that went to Lindos today and a 2nd bus arrived later. We left many minutes early because it seems that nobody is waiting in the Lounge for their bus # to be called but upon receiving their # are going outside and locating the bus and climbing aboard....works for me!

Even our guide remarked on our promptness!

Off to Lindos, which was once the most important town on the island of Rhodes and today is a government protected historical site.

It is an ancient town of white buildings that spills down a hill to the gorgeous deep blue sea and it is said that here St Paul landed in 58AD. Overlooking the ancient town is a huge acropolis with temples dedicated to the goddess Athena and built in 300BC.

Because of its sea views and strategic location, it was also a fortress used by the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Knights of St John and the Ottoman Turks so it is difficult for archaeologists to excavate and draw conclusions.

Upon arrival, after you leave the bus parking lot, you hike down a steep hill to a round square (yes I typed that correctly) to the town of Lindos and from there you begin your hike up to the top to the Acropolis.

We climbed up, rather than take a donkey part way up, and it was about a 116M climb. Our guide told us that we would be climbing a steep path and then 200 steps.

Seriously, it wasn't that bad and we were rewarded with amazing views and beautiful white columns against a blue sky....the color of the Greek flag. Resting periodically helped.

It was hot today so I recommend a hat, water, and very good walking shoes if you attempt this walk. The guide told us that it was much hotter today than she expected and we were walking in temps that are usually in the summer months.

After you walk down from the Acropolis there are little stores in white buildings and tiny alley ways and streets selling a wide variety of tourist items and artisan products in Lindos.

Your guide will give you free time and suggest that everybody meet at the 'round square' at a designated time.

There are bathrooms at the 'round square' and it is here that you catch the shuttle back up the hill to the excursion bus. Among the best services one can purchase for 50 Euro cents! Otherwise it is a steep climb up a hill with oncoming traffic aimed at you!

On the way back to Rhodes we stopped at a ceramics shop where a potter showed us how he used local clay, the potters wheel, and his lifetime of experience to make the pottery displayed. A painter described the process of painting and firing to get the final product.

Yes, I bought a tiny dish painted aqua, orange, yellow, red, white to float my gardenia blossoms. 7Euros=a great memory of my day in Lindos.

Cbb and dkbustr,

Thank you for all the information you provided about this cruise. We are on the Nautica's sailing from Athens to Dubai later this year and after reading your blogs and seeing your pictures, we're eagerly looking forward to our cruise. Hopefully the temperatures will be more moderate in late November - early December. Once again, thanks for your time and effort in describing the cruise. Cheers!

 

Now in Rhodes, which I love love love. Definitely a "I could live here" place for me. Nautica arrived early so we were able to leave the ship and go to a jewelry store I have visited twice before. Yes more earrings.

I felt the same about Rhodes. We rode through many back alleys on Segways.....

Thanks for the posts that allow me to remember our incredible journey on Nautica last year...

Joe

Joe--

you are definitely a better man than I (uh.....duh) because I don't think i'd try to ride a segway in Rhodes--lots of bumps??

How is the apt reno going? If i ever decide to rent a place in France....i'll contact you!!!

you 2 doing any ATW2020 segments?

\

great email exchange JoePDX!

Since we've been to Kusadasi, Turkey more than once and have seen Ephesus we took a 4 hour shorex yesterday "Two Ancient Cities: Miletus & Didyma." If you are not sure-footed this is not the shorex for you.

Our guide was Abraham and he was quite good. We first stopped at Miletus which was a major power in the 500sBC due to four harbors.

Today when you visit the area you will see that the aptly named Meander River has indeed meandered and over the centuries has filled in the famous ports with silt and fertile soil.

This is an active agricultural area so that fields of vegetables, cotton, and hay for the animals can be seen.

At Miletus we saw a very well preserved and maintained Greco-Roman ampitheater, tombs, a stadium built by Greeks, and enlarged by Romans, a mosque built in the 1400sAD still being used, and amazing baths.

As we have seen throughout these shore tours, the Romans were masters at capturing and manipulating water to locations where it was needed--and even temperature controlled. Need a warm bath, go to this building....cool one? No problem, they had those too.

At Didyma we saw the wonderful Temple of Apollo and, according to the shorex description it is "one of the great monuments of antiquity." It is huge and services here continued for more than 6 centuries and the description is very accurate...it is great.

At the end of the tour we came back to Ephesus and as before, all tours end at the carpet and art houses. We told our guide we were returning to the ship and several others followed us. Abraham was cool with that.

If you have been to Ephesus and want to get out into the countryside around Kusadasi I do recommend this tour. It was in a part of Turkey I had never seen before and I found it quite interesting to see homes and gardens along the way.

pictures up at drdavebradley.blogspot.com

Today we are in the caldera of Santorini and it is not quite the blue skies we have come to expect on this cruise. Instead the sun is peering through hazy clouds but it is much cooler than other places we have visited. (I still managed to sit in the sun for 1 hr!---spf50 steve)

This is our 5th visit here and we decided to stay on board for 2 big reasons;

1. I twisted my knee climbing to the Acropolis in Lindos but didn't feel the pain until last night. Not the best night I've spent but am grateful it is not worse...time, ice, and ibpro will do the trick

2. There are 3 other big ships here at the same time and the thought of standing in line with thousands of hot and cranky tourists waiting for the cable cars didn't sound like fun.

Nautica is virtually empty now with people either tendering into Athinios on the 6 shorex offered or on private tours. Some DIY-ers waited until mid-morning and took the tender to the cable cars at Fira when they thought it would be less crowded.

I think many are going to wait for the departure of the other ships --scheduled for 4-5pm--before they have to return to the Nautica by 10:30pm.

Good for them and I'd do the same. Now I will have quiet time at Horizons and on the back patio of Terrace!

My knee is already much better and we have caught up on our pictures, blogging, ccritic thread, emails to others and did some hand laundry which is already dry.

Tomorrow is our last day at sea and I think everybody is ready for a rest. It's hard being a tourist!!!

pictures up at drdavebradley.blogspot.com

Appreciate these continued great visuals, details and follow-ups from Cynthia and Mike. Really loved the details on Rhodes and Cyprus. Wish that our Nov. 16 Nautica cruise stopped at Santorini, but unfortunately that is not on our schedule.

Hope that Cynthia and Dave don't mind, but I wanted to post here a few of his pictures. They are very, very good. Well worth going to his blogspot site and checking out the wonderful visual samples.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 202,188 views for this posting.

Here is one of my personal favorites from Dave's excellent visuals posting on the above website. Check out this pictures from Rhodes.:

(Open your screen/viewer wider to see these pictures larger/better!)

For Petra in Jordan, below are two samples for this star and famed attraction from Dave's postings. Looks wonderfully interesting and historic!:

From Luxor and the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, etc., here are two of Dave's top photo samples. Looks amazing!!:

I believe the Meander River is not so much ‘aptly named’, but is the original source of the word ‘meander’.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

This part of the voyage covers areas we have previously visited, so most areas we do not take a tour but prefer to visit areas of the towns we had liked from other trips.

In Limassol, Cyprus, we traveled to the trendy harbor area of Pafos, where we enjoyed people watching and had an excellent lunch with friends from the ship.

In Rhodes, we also walked the town on our own, had lunch and as Cynthia did, visited some shops to pick up some items for ourselves and friends back home, who watch the house and take care of our cats while we are away.

Although we have been to Ephesus from Kusadasi before, we did join a private tour, and had an excellent guide that made the visit almost like a new experience. Previously we had been in Ephesus in October and had the place mostly to ourselves, but not the case now. A view from near the entrance shows the crowds below...

Next the view of the Library of Celsus, which is completed with more original pieces than any other in the Ephesus area. Ephesus itself is still only 15% uncovered and waits for funds to continue the progress..

Finally a view of the Theatre, which seated 25,000 in it's day...

Today we visited Santorini, and ran into the first roadblock of the trip. When we arrived, three others vessels were already anchored in the caldera, and including our minimally invasive 684 passengers, made for a total of 7072 ship passengers for the day. Oceania first anchors and tenders those ashore on O tours, as the buses can only get to sea level in one area of the volcanic crater. After two tenders, the anchor is hoisted and the ship repositioned nearer the cable car/donkey ride/steps area. We went on the first tender and upon arrival below Fira, noted that the line for the cable car was 90 minutes long. Instead we took a boat to the bay below Oia, our desired destination anyway, figuring that even if we waited for the cable car, the local bus would be swamped to get to Oia. Again after arrival below Oia, the best laid plans can go awry, as there were only a couple taxis for the 100 on the boat to go up to Oia. So being the stupid adventurous type, we hooved it up the steep steps to the town. There are a total of 227 steps, as the locals are happy to mark every 10 steps for you on the lip of the corresponding step. As they obviously know your stamina is fading as you approach the top, they are nice enough to mark every step for you. But with actually a minimum of breaktime, we made it to Oia. We spent the next 4 hours visiting a café we had been to previously, and walking from one end of Oia to the other. It is a beautiful spot, and should be on everyone's list of spots to visit. Some views of the town, and one of the local musicians follow...

The 15E boat ride also included a private coach back to Fira, and we caught the last bus at 2pm. We figured we would walk a bit through Fira and then head back to the ship for a late lunch. Considering that one of the other ships was leaving at 3pm, and the other two at 5pm, we quickly adjusted our plans. We passed by the queue waiting for the cable car back down, and followed it to its terminus after 20 minutes of walking. Some in the line near the cable car station said they had been waiting almost two hours, so a word to the wise. Don't be like those people at the end of the queue who had two hours to wait to get the cable car, and who's ship was leaving in 90 minutes. Those individuals got to enjoy the steep 700 steps down the donkey poop covered trail so they could make their ship on time. We on the other hand, found an excellent restaurant with a view of the ships in the caldera and had a perfect late lunch. After finishing a leisurely meal, we went to the cable car with no wait at all since we were after 5pm when the other ships were leaving.

Tonight an 11pm departure for a day at sea and Valletta, Malta on the schedule. We have been there once and turned away twice because it has a narrow channel approach, and if there are onshore winds, the ship cannot be guaranteed of not being blown against the rocks on its approach. We will see how things go for our arrival.

Cbb and dkbustr..thanks for the interesting blogs about your adventures. Although it sounds like your cruise has been hot, the beautiful blue skies are spectacular! Dave's wonderful photos (probably yours too, Cynthia) really bring back lots of memories of the recent ports. Am curious about Malta as it's a place we've never been to as yet.

palakika--

we LOVE malta. It is stunningly beautiful and so easy to DIY here. Just walk around and be happy! we are taking a HOHO bus so that we can hopefully get to Mdina & Mosta--day to do DIY!

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

I can't believe this cruise is almost over. This is one of my fave itineraries I think. So much to see and it is SOOOO different from other places, although if you don't like ancient Greek and Roman ruins this might not be the place for you.

It is a good itinerary for those of you who are interested in crossing off bucket list items as there are so many great sights to see.

it has been hot, but then we're not out in it for very long and all of the buses are a/c. Still this is an itinerary to do if you are fit and agile--some have slipped and fallen just because of the slippery rocks.

I highly recommend this itinerary

Today we are at sea-- our last one

Hassan Eltaher is speaking on the "English Patient- German Military Intelligence and President Anwar Sadat," bridge, putting, Nautica's Country Fair" Final Jackpot Bingo, wine tasting, blackjack tournament, vodka tasting, early team trivia since today at 4 is the Gala Tea Time, Happy Hour at 5:30, and Luca Lattanzio sings at 9:30.

That plus a steady stream of people into the Laundry room with some standing in line before 7 to do their wash. In all my years on board O ships I've never seen more people do more laundry. Bags of it!

One guy bragged he had done 3 bags of laundry for $6 instead of the $75 the ship wanted....and I thought..."how many thousands did you spend to come on board." Oh well, priorities I guess.

Hey, that's all from Nautica....have a great day....and as I remind the Munchkin--be kind to others.

Good story about the laundry frenzy:) Is the ship still doing the 3 bags of laundry free for A1's and above? A hot climate produces lots of dirty clothes! Thanks for info about Malta. Looking for a cruise that goes there..doesn't happen too frequently.

Enjoyed Dave's photos of Santorini. Good job identifying the world landmarks on 15th anniv cocktail napkin. Brought a smile to my face!

yep....3 freebies for the concierge and above. Evidently many didn't know about it.

One of my trivia mates saw a neighbor in the laundry room early in the cruise (trivia mate was using the iron.) and said..."you're done with your 3 bags free already?"

the response was "huh?" So explanation followed and the woman was dumbfounded---no one had told her.

Moral of the story: look for the laundry service order form in the closet (part with the drawers) and there will be 3 of them that say "complimentary" at the top along with the laundry bag.

Put it on the bed; do not put it outside your door.

Lovely day at sea....chock full of activities.

Country Fair around the pool deck. Many attended and reps from each of the depts had arranged for activities at a designated table.

Housekeeping had a contest for 2 --stuffing a pillow into a pillow case, Deck had tie knots contest, Destination Services had pictures on the wall of famous landmarks and one filled out a test sheet to identify them. Tickets were given for winning.

There were several depts represented and at the end of the Fair, Jule James drew tickets out of a container and various small awards were given to the winners. Very fun and everybody seemed happy.

The Captain was walking around enjoying himself, the GM was supervising a dept table, Food & Beverage Carlos was happy.....good day on deck!

Trivia in Horizons (we came in 1st!) and High Tea in the Lounge! One woman came around the corner, saw the highly decorated tables in Lounge, the food, etc and came to a dead stop and said "Oh Wow....I had no idea..." I think she was overwhelmed!

tomorrow is Malta, then Palermo, and finally Sorrento....it is almost over....sigh. We've loved this itinerary.

Today we docked shortly before 8am in beautiful Valletta, Malta at the perfect location. Be sure to be on a veranda or up on 10 at sail in--it is a stunning sight.

If you are standing up on 10 as the ship comes in you can see an elevator attached to the sides of rock walls on your right. Remember that location!

When you leave the ship, go through the terminal building, turn east, walk along the waterfront about 300 meters and look for the Barrakka sign on the left, which is the way to the lift up to the walls.

1Euro for round-trip but you're only really charged for going up. Otherwise it is a steep walk up into town.

At the top of the elevator-turn-and you will be afforded a gorgeous panoramic view of the harbor.

Today the Upper Barrakka garden beds were filled with geraniums of 4 different colors. These gardens and viewpoints were originally the private gardens of Italian knights and the gardens are bounded by golden walls with arches showing the sea and sky.

We left the ship as soon as the all-clear sounded so we were in the elevator shortly after 8.

Even though P&O Oceana was also in dock it felt as if we and the locals were the only ones around.

The morning light was perfect for taking pictures of cathedrals, ancient walls, and wonderful little streets. Don't forget to look at the doors and handles as you walk by.

The colors and patinas are beautiful. Many of the arched windows have lovely details around them.

I love Malta...it is one of my favorite ports and she did not disappoint today. It is so great just to say "oh look, let's go down that way" or "wow, I have to see what that steeple belongs to" and off we go.

We don't think any type of tour is needed here. Safety is not an issue and getting up into town is easy using the elevator.

The people are very helpful and English is widely spoken. There are clean public bathrooms (70 cents) so grab a map at the tourist desk set up as you leave the ship to locate those as well as the specific places you want to see.

Reconstruction and rehab is going on everywhere as is active archaeology. Little narrow streets suddenly give way to glorious squares with projects undergoing renovation, and sidewalk cafes, little markets and shops.

Since we have been here before we didn't feel like joining the crowds going into the St John's Co-Cathedral and we have seen the Malta Experience--a good history of Malta.

There is a Hop On Hop Off that you can take showing some of Valletta and, depending on the route you take, you could see Mdina and other places. Some of the routes may take more than 3 hours so do the math and leave plenty of time for All Aboard.

You will see the HOHO salespeople almost immediately upon leaving the cruise terminal, and you can take horse & carriage rides as well.

By 11:30 we were weary of the crowds and we could see another approaching cruise ship. 3 cruise lines and Nautica are scheduled here today. We were glad we had gotten an early start.

12:30 the NCL ship was berthed immediately behind us--stern to stern-- and I told the waiters in Terrace that the NCL cruisers had heard about our wonderful food and were ready to storm us. We all decided that since there were more than 2k of them, we should just run up the white flag!

By this time several O people were beginning to come into Terrace so we knew they too were ready to come home or their tours were completed.

It was a gorgeous day and cooler than we have been experiencing. Not a cloud in the beautiful sky and it and the sea are just about the same amazing color.

What a lovely day we had....leisurely, not crowded, a little shopping, and both of us feeling great. (knee is almost back to normal) Life is good.

Yesterday we arrived in Palermo--a port we had not been to before.

We considered doing a HOHO here but taking one look at the narrow streets we thought we might not see as much from the top of the bus as we would walking.

I had previously downloaded a Frommers walking guide to Palermo and we followed it...somewhat. https://www.frommers.com/destinations/palermo/walking-tours

At first I thought I was not going to like Palermo; it is a city of great contrasts. Some of the buildings are stunningly beautiful Greek-Roman influenced architecture and the next block is empty with trash in it.

Then, you walk around a corner and there is Quattro Canti (Four Corners) and you see concave structures several stories high; the lower tier is one of the seasons; in the middle one of the Spanish Hapsburg kings, and on top a patron saint.

Continuing on past the Quattro you will find the Piazza Pretoria. Many churchgoers (churches abound in the area) were shocked to see nude statues and mythological creatures sculptures so it was called the "Fountain of Shame", but it is beautiful.

The Duomo of Palermo is another example of the personality of Palermo. It was built on the foundations of an early Christian church which was then turned into a mosque by the Arab rulers, today it is Catholic and its architecture reflects all of these 'owners.'

We had a very enjoyable morning wandering around Palermo, up and down broad avenues, ducking into small lanes and doing a little shopping. Had to have a little blue & yellow vase to add to my collection and bought a couple of tee shirts for a small person.

It began to get very crowded and even though we vowed to have lunch in town, there were just too many people for us and it was getting hot and noisy.

You can walk off the ship into Palermo, and from where we docked we walked down a street we couldn't find the name of since it was undergoing major repair, and turned left at the 1st major intersecting street to begin our walking tour.

Palermo is surrounded by mountains and a beautiful sea and on this day, the skies were clear of smog and were bright blue.

We were glad we had the chance to visit Palermo--the buildings, flowers, and broad avenues make it a lovely place to spend the day.

Yesterday we arrived right on time at Salerno and the first tender left at 7:30. We opted to make our final shorex to Herculaneum.

Herculaneum was destroyed ('dissolved' is the word many archaeologists use) by mud and ash from an exploding Mt Vesuvius in 79AD--the same event that dissolved Pompeii.

It is an extraordinary site filled with columns, public baths,villas with beautiful mosaic floors and artwork on the walls-- many still with their original color intact.

The town was laid out in a grid and you can still see tiles with street addresses on them. It was obviously a town filled with wealthy people--beautiful marble floors, richly-colored detail on the wall art and lovely spacious rooms.

Unlike Pompeii, wooden doors, roofs, beds, and human skeletons were preserved at Herculaneum. Everything was covered by 50-60 feet of ash and remained intact and hidden until 18th century people discovered marble pieces while digging wells.

Tourism and water have damaged some of the sites and archaeology has been discontinued until the buildings, streets, and skeletons can be better preserved.

Unfortunately there were already hundreds of people when we arrived and as we left around noon hundreds more were arriving.

It took us a little less than 2 hours to go to the Lounge, collect our tender ticket, tender, climb aboard a small mini van to go up the narrow streets from the dock to a larger parking lot with big excursion buses and then into Herculaneum.

We spent about 2 hours on site, and then coming back it took 2+hrs to reverse the process to arrive on board Nautica. Traffic was heavy, it was Saturday, and everybody was out enjoying the beautiful day.

All of Sorrento's squares and streets were filled with people drinking, eating, and smoking. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have enjoyed a stroll--it would have been more like artful dodging.

We could have stopped at an inlaid woodworking shop to see how that is done, but we were tired and several of us opted to hop on the shuttle, the tender was waiting for us, and we were back on board by 2:00.

Terrace was closed so we opted to split a burger and coke at Waves (bless them for feeding us) and went back to the room to pack....ugh!

This has been one of our very favorite itineraries that we have sailed with O. The sights, smells, people, the music, and street sounds have impressed us greatly.

The works of art and arcthitecture that ancient people accomplished is extraordinary and getting to see both the Nile River and the Suez Canal was a really big deal for me.

Our fellow cruisers were wonderful to sail with--only a few grumpy people and only 3 people tried to serve themselves at Terrace.

Nautica appears to be in excellent condition, every member of the staff and crew spoke to us in the halls, and all seemed to be trying their best to help us have an amazing cruise.

Our Regatta cruise circumnavigating Australia earlier this year caused us to seriously rethink our cruising plans; our Nautica cruise this month reaffirmed our love for sailing with Oceania.

Yesterday we arrived right on time at Salerno and the first tender left at 7:30. We opted to make our final shorex to Herculaneum.

 

Herculaneum was destroyed ('dissolved' is the word many archaeologists use) by mud and ash from an exploding Mt Vesuvius in 79AD--the same event that dissolved Pompeii.

 

It is an extraordinary site filled with columns, public baths,villas with beautiful mosaic floors and artwork on the walls-- many still with their original color intact.

 

The town was laid out in a grid and you can still see tiles with street addresses on them. It was obviously a town filled with wealthy people--beautiful marble floors, richly-colored detail on the wall art and lovely spacious rooms.

 

Unlike Pompeii, wooden doors, roofs, beds, and human skeletons were preserved at Herculaneum. Everything was covered by 50-60 feet of ash and remained intact and hidden until 18th century people discovered marble pieces while digging wells.

 

Tourism and water have damaged some of the sites and archaeology has been discontinued until the buildings, streets, and skeletons can be better preserved.

 

Unfortunately there were already hundreds of people when we arrived and as we left around noon hundreds more were arriving.

 

It took us a little less than 2 hours to go to the Lounge, collect our tender ticket, tender, climb aboard a small mini van to go up the narrow streets from the dock to a larger parking lot with big excursion buses and then into Herculaneum.

 

We spent about 2 hours on site, and then coming back it took 2+hrs to reverse the process to arrive on board Nautica. Traffic was heavy, it was Saturday, and everybody was out enjoying the beautiful day.

 

All of Sorrento's squares and streets were filled with people drinking, eating, and smoking. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have enjoyed a stroll--it would have been more like artful dodging.

 

We could have stopped at an inlaid woodworking shop to see how that is done, but we were tired and several of us opted to hop on the shuttle, the tender was waiting for us, and we were back on board by 2:00.

 

Terrace was closed so we opted to split a burger and coke at Waves (bless them for feeding us) and went back to the room to pack....ugh!

 

This has been one of our very favorite itineraries that we have sailed with O. The sights, smells, people, the music, and street sounds have impressed us greatly.

 

The works of art and arcthitecture that ancient people accomplished is extraordinary and getting to see both the Nile River and the Suez Canal was a really big deal for me.

 

Our fellow cruisers were wonderful to sail with--only a few grumpy people and only 3 people tried to serve themselves at Terrace.

 

Nautica appears to be in excellent condition, every member of the staff and crew spoke to us in the halls, and all seemed to be trying their best to help us have an amazing cruise.

 

Our Regatta cruise circumnavigating Australia earlier this year caused us to seriously rethink our cruising plans; our Nautica cruise this month reaffirmed our love for sailing with Oceania.

I read both the Regatta and Nautica threads from beginning to end. I am so glad this cruise went as might be expected. This thread was a joy to read even though we have been to many of the ports visited. It brings back good memories and points to this particular itinerary being a real bucket list special. It especially brings back memories of our much shorter Nautica cruise last fall. Nautica is my favorite O ship. Thanks to all from this cruise who made such interesting posts.

So glad you had a wonderful cruise on Nautica after your grim experience on Regatta. Your posts ( and dkbustr's) made the trip come alive for the rest of us! It appeared that your weather was wonderful throughout the journey. Don't know if you've heard, but massive cyclone hit Salallah in last couple of days and 11 inches of rain fell in 24 hours, flooding everything and closing the port!

Thanks for continuing to be an entertaining and informative poster. Dave's (and yours ) photos always add a lot to the travels. Dkbustr, thanks to you too..Good blogs. Those of us who keep faithful journals on our trips know how much extra effort goes into your posts.

Ah...the packing. Always a chore tinged with sadness for leaving another wonderful cruise. I somehow always feel better about it, if have another trip planned! Safe journey home.

Francie