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Musicus

By Musicus,
in Solo Cruisers

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yellowbird23

yellowbird23

Posted
Posted
Pat...I am hoping for you that the lab report will send back the all clear message, and I am sorry for all the anxiety you have to go through while waiting.

 

 

 

On Royal Caribbean ships the vacuums they used were the round cansiter type in blue with a happy face painted on them. They were named Henry, so a lot of the frequent RC cruises started the "Friend of Henry Club." The past few years RC has changed their vacuums and Henry has been replaced, but we still miss him.

 

I get e mails from Egon, and after reading his last post I wrote him and urged him to switch to either RC, Celebrity, Holland America, or Princess if he decides to spend next year on board ships. Those lines recognize frequent cruises and treat them like royalty. If Egon had spent $90,000.00 on those lines he would be treated like a King when on board with the free laundry, wifi and drinks every night. I can't get over how MSC treats him so cheaply.:eek:

I agree...let alone at least an ocean view!

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PartyOfOne

PartyOfOne

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Posted

# 29: May 10-20, 2011

Piraeus is a big and very important city with a huge port populated by many ships from all over the world. It's proximity to Athens makes it of course also a major tourist destination. I would however have needed to book an excursion to see the city, surroundings and even Athens, because only going with the scooter would only be driving through a busy and modern city, So I opted to stay in the Terminal Building with free WiFi. After I had written the German translation of Report # 28 and transferred it onto email, I somehow lost it and spent a long time to no avail trying to recover it . So then, with several mild oaths, I set out to do the translation again, a long and pretty frustrating task, particularly since my position with the laptop on top of the scooter seat was not the most comfortable.

 

May 10 in Corfu

I tried for a long time to connect with Prrincess by Skype, because I must give them my credit card information and cannot find a secure page on their website. Not only was the sound level very low and with the ambient noise in the Terminal Building high, but they also had me on hold for such a long time that I gave up in frustration. I have until the 18th May to make final payment on my bookings with them. To get to them by phone is complicated by the fact that their office is in the Pacific Timezone and open for me only in the late afternoon. And I did not go into Dubrovnik again on May 11 but instead did 12 laps in the pool, despite splashing and screeching kids with their doting mothers and the occational testerone laden young studs jumping in and churning up the water. enorm

 

May 13:

The port of Venice is closed this morning because of sustained winds of

76 km/hr gusting to 97 km/hr. Musica is in a holding pattern outside the port, waiting for the weather to abate. I feel sorry for many passengers who have flights for home booked and may well miss them. While the sea around us is pretty wild, as you can imagine, Musica is facing into the wind and does not rock too much. Every once in a while warnings are given throughout the ship to be sure to hold on securely if venturing onto an outside deck. However, all these annoucements are hardly intelligible in any language through the loudspeakers because of the poor diction by the woman announcer , and especially in German, which she reads phonetically, it is absolutely attrocious. They sure could do better, because in a real emergency, this would be a catastrophy. Now, at 2.50 pm, we have just moored at Venice harbour. Winds are still +/- 40 Km.hr. I'll have to wait until I can get ashore, thts is at least into the Terminal Building to see if perchance I could find WiFi. And I just see on the list I have of all MSC ship movements during the year , that "Magnifica" is also in port today and I wonder why I decided to take it only on May 22 after staying two days in Venice, which I now know will be quite a hussle and expensive. Probably I thought it nice to see the city. Oh well ... we win a few ... we lose some too.

 

I am not often lost for words, but to describe the chaos today because of the weather delay I just don't find the words for (the Italians would call it a "Casino"). I did manage to go out and went all around to the various port buildings in a futile search for WiFi, but at least I got a lot of fresh air! And I also found out that a Water taxi to near the hotel would be four times as expensive as a regular one to the piazza Roma, from where, according to the hotel, it is only a 2 minutes walk. But getting back onto the ship was a major undertaking and only with the aid of a MSC employee was I able to circumvent the hordes of people in line for the agonizingly slow process of embarking, once I had wormed myself into posiiton to be near an escape route. Of course I do have a certain amount of experience in this. But going up the serpentine ramps to the ship's entrance, I was flooded with more people who were still disembarking. What a relief, though, to get to the peaceful amosphere of my cabin! Now it's 5pm, I'm having a scotch and soda (no ice) and some potato chips and will now call to get the champagne which is due today to be delivered to the dinner table. Wish you were here.

 

What a surprise! All at my table in the restaurant are Canadians: two ladies from Montreal, one from Toronto and a couple from Niagara Falls. Old home week! And the champagne came and everyone swooned over the strawberries.Very cold and rainy in Bari on May 14 and after driving around to the Terminl Building, taking the elevator to the second floor (and getting dinged by the rapidly closing doors in the process - now another big blue spot on my elbow), only to discover the the cafe with WiFi is actually out of business. Back to the ship, cold, miserable, disgusted.

 

Katakolon on May 15 was again nice and warm and I went to the internet cafe and was finally able to find the secure site on Princess.com to make final payments on my bookings. Later I drove aoround in search of a barber or hairdresser and finally stopped at a shop in a side street to ask; what a surprise to be greeted by a lady who turned out to be from Seattle, is married to a Greek and has been living in this small tourist town for some 14 years, running one of the dozens of souvenir stores. We had a nice long chat - she was obviously happy to talk with someone in English since there is only one other American, also a woman and owner of another shop, to talk to. But she loves to live there - I imagine she goes back to the States once in a while to 'recuperate'. Anyway, there was only one barber, but he was in an accident and out of commission. So no haircut and I'm pretty shaggy at this point.

 

This was the first Gala evening with the usual general cocktail (3-martini)party preceding dinner. A couple from France came up to me and asked whether I was not the one who had played the piano so beautifully on "Poesia" when they were cruising with her last year, and wanted to know when I would be playing again. Of course I had to tell them that I wouldn't. At Santorini/Mikonos next day I did not go ashore (by tender) at all but used the day to catch up on my report and preparations for Venice, repacking, relabelling luggage and planning how to get from the Piazza Roma to the hotel on foot - the only way to get there. To the Piazza by taxi after getting my luggage to the depository (hope to find a porter).

 

In Mykonos later that evening, I decided to take the bus into town (we got there at 7.30 pm and would leave only in the morning after midnight). It's quite a place, obviously also entirely tourist-oriented, but with character, very narrow one-way streets where a passing car would you leave enough space on the side for a couple of pedestrianS; lots of shops and small restaurants. And, of course, PEOPLE! While the "lively nightlife" of Mykonos had been advertised, while I was there until about 9pm, I did not encounter one single music happening, unless you would count a man playing a mouthorgan sitting on the street. I had visualized traditional Greek music and dancing somewhere, but maybe it happened only later. Just the same, it was an experience but I had to return because it was dark and I on the scooter was no longer able to discern the "pavement" well enough to avoid trouble.

 

And now, in Piraeus on May 17, I am sitting in the Terminal Building with the laptop on the Scooter seat. But I'll go out in search of a barber to have that haircut I've needed for some time and wished I could read and speak Greek! (It's all Greek to me!! :-)

 

--

http//home.cablerocket.com/~egon/index.htm

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foxglove

foxglove

Posted
Posted
Did I miss something? Does anyone know what Egon has booked with Princess?

 

 

August first he boards the Caribbean Princess for three back to back cruises which will take him to New York. From NYC he flies home to Canada, ending this particular adventure.

 

Dick Young

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burm

burm

Posted
Posted
August first he boards the Caribbean Princess for three back to back cruises which will take him to New York. From NYC he flies home to Canada, ending this particular adventure.

 

Dick Young

 

 

Thank you, Foxglove.

 

It will be interesting to see how he enjoys Princess in comparison. I do hope they treat him well and that he enjoys the change.

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foxglove

foxglove

Posted
Posted
Thanks again Doug! I think he looks might good for 94? I'm losing count.:)

 

 

We celebrated his 94th last year aboard the Poesea. His 95th he celebrated this year in Cozumel , highlighted by a visit from our friend Cheryl.

 

Dick Young

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yellowbird23

yellowbird23

Posted
Posted
We celebrated his 94th last year aboard the Poesea. His 95th he celebrated this year in Cozumel , highlighted by a visit from our friend Cheryl.

 

Dick Young

Thanks for the clarification Dick. I'm glad he's trying another line as well. Wonder where he goes next?

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Mike981

Mike981

Posted
Posted

From my experience on Princess he should have a ball.

 

Food for thought, I have been in the service industry myself and I was thinking that we are only hearing one side of the story. I am not saying he hasn't been justified in many of his complaints, just that some times things just can't be helped or appear to be something they are not.

 

Love these updates, thank you.

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CAC104

CAC104

Posted
Posted
Thanks for another update from Egon. So glad he's going to try Princess next. Hope they treat him right!

The only problem is that he is a Princess Virgin, so he doesn't qualify for all the perks he would have been getting if he already spent a year with them.

Got my final biopsy report this morning. Not cancer, thank God. It's called hyperkeratosis, which is basically a callous-like lesion from something rubbing (tooth). Thanks for the support. Now I can breath again.:)

Wonderful news. I am sure you are feeling much better now.:)

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