Live From The 10-24-2013 Ruby Princess to Florida (51 Days)

[Eileen G]

Thanks so much for doing the live thread. We have done three Princess Med cruises and I am looking forward to your adventures. We always love popping into the local food stores. There are several in Venice but the one in Pl. Roma is the most convenient. It is so much fun to wander around Venice. There are so many off the beaten track places. One of our favorite adventures was trying to find the Church of Saints Peter and Paul. It is one of Venice's largest churches. You will really get lost finding that one.

[GRADY WHITE]

If you need a cool one after hiking the wall, I suggest Buzza Cafe at the "Hole in the Wall."

It's magical but you made need some help finding it. It was a highlight of our day in Dubrovnik.

[Pamster]

Charles,

Thank you so much for taking us along.

My mouth was drooling as you described your food experiences.

 

Charles, I had to laugh as you described navigating through Venice. We too, although we cruise often, are usually afraid to venture out in foreign ports by ourselves. We also managed to do it in Venice. They say, if you haven't gotten lost in Venice, you haven't seen Venice. And I agree.

I am really enjoying your posts and look forward to hopefully daily updates.

Loved your wife's poem to you.

:D

 

Rick Steve says - walk the back streets of Venice, and keep telling yourself "I can't get lost, it's an island". The time we did that, and felt lost, I kept telling myself that. All of a sudden we were by the Rialto bridge and found the very best little breakfast shop, with little Venetian breakfast sandwiches, wine and beer. All the locals were stopping in for a bite and small glass of wine on their way to work. It was delightful - and SO Italian.

 

We went to Venice on our European vacation, before we started cruising. We took the train, walked out of the train station to the classic view of the Great Canal. It was great. The Venetians are so helpful. I tried to overpay the cab driver the first day (still trying to figure out the conversion rate) and he insisted that I take the extra money back. Ah - the Italian men. The stories I could tell.

 

Kudos to you for getting out and about by yourselves.

 

And thanks for the report - I am really enjoying traveling with you.

[lovevacadays]

Looking forward to reading about your day in Dubrovnik. My cousins, friend and I are planning on being there for a couple of days next fall.

[ccrain]

If you need a cool one after hiking the wall, I suggest Buzza Cafe at the "Hole in the Wall."

It's magical but you made need some help finding it. It was a highlight of our day in Dubrovnik.

 

I've heard about it in Rick Steves book. I think I have it marked in Tripadvisor, but not sure. I will definitely try and find it.

 

Ahh, A mission to find something. That makes me very happy!

[ccrain]

10-27-2013 Dubrovnik

 

Ahh what a good night’s sleep does for the mind and body. Finally, 8+ solid hours of blissful unconsciousness. Ready and raring to go this morning, up at 0530 and time for the daily infusion of 5 hour energy, latte and an egg mcmuffin. Looking out the windows of the IC I see the rugged coastline with houses and roads clinging to the steep hillsides. Always amazes me where people will build things. It’s a bit overcast, but the forecast is sunny with a high of 70F. Perfect day. I think we are the only ship in port today. Yeah!

 

We dock at 0700. There is to be a shuttle service from the ship to the town for 10E or $15USD per person – not sure if that is one way or round trip but we will find out. All aboard is 4PM. Looks like we’ll be taking Euros and Kunas ashore just to cover everything. The plan for the day is to walk the walls, stroll down the Strada, get lots of pictures and work up an appetite for a Croatian lunch somewhere in the backstreets of town. I have several places saved on TripAdvisor to visit, although tripadvisor has the wrong location for the Strada (hint, its not 5 miles up the coast!). Might have to resort to Google maps if the other addresses turn out to be bogus as well.

 

We decided not to go excursioning after reading up on this port in Rick Steves book as well as several other on-line resources. The old town and walls are the highlight of this stop and are all reachable and tourable on your own rather than expensive excursions. It also saves enough to get have some lunch on shore rather than the buffet. It’s funny, when I first started cruising I was going to eat my money’s worth no matter what and never understood why people would eat on shore when perfectly good, and “free” food was available on the ship. Between Travel Channel and Food Network, I guess we’ve bought into the foodie culture hook, line and sinker. Won’t bore you with platitudes and superfluous talk of how to get to know a culture through its food. We just want to try something new, different and above all – tasty! Heck we’re still talking about that squid ink pasta Judy had in Venice the other day, and the cuttlefish risotto she had at the hotel.

 

For those staying on board, or staying late/arriving back early, MUTS has a destination in depth showing for Athens and Mykonos, the tv is running the port talk on Dubrovnik, a beyonce concert on MUTS in the afternoon, White House Down in the theatre, a late morning and later afternoon trivia.

 

Tonight the MUTS movie is The Way, Way Back, we have recorded ballroom music in fusion for a couple of hours, Ziggy is on the piano in Crooners, the comedian tonight is Slobham Phillips (no one I know), a Skyview challenge in explorers – something new as well, Jean Mac and George Gallus in wheelhouse at various times, Sunday night football (American style) in fusion at 22:25.

 

The specialty show tonight at 2100 is Rock and Roll night in Explorers. We will try and make that, but no promises since we plan to walk a lot today and tomorrow is Corfu. Lots of port days on this cruise, which makes the B2B way we scheduled it all that more appealing. We will be in Dubrovnik twice on this trip. Today is the walls and the strada, scouting out what to do the next time…

 

Talk to you all later…

[macusr]

Watching this one with great interest as we are sailing Ruby for 1st time next year - though completely different itinerary (Canada/NE).

 

I loved Judy's poem to you by the way!

 

Sounds like its already been quite an adventure and I look forward to the pages & pages of posts to come!

[sweet carol]

I may never make it to Europe but I am so enjoying traveling with the 2 of you on this cruise. Sort of feel like Flat Stanley, traveling with your eyes, legs and descriptions of the of the tantalizing taste and smells of the food. Thank you for the great travel blog.

Sweet Regards

Carol

[jkocpa]

I am enjoying your live from very much, as I spent 38 days on the Ruby this summer doing this itinerary. I loved doing the ports more than once, as it allowed me lots of "strolling" time, got to meet and talk to locals, eat in small cafes, check out street vendors, etc. You are doing it the right way!

 

I would advise you to go to the various production shows. The two males singers, Kwame Remy and Michael Carrasco, are outstanding! I was fortunate enough to travel on two cruises with them when they came into Crooners regularly to informally sing with the pianist on that cruise (Arny G). What fabulous voices they all have, and what wonderful, personable, friendly people. Be sure to meet them!

 

And, you are right.....Dan Styne is one of my favorite cruise directors. Very funny and also very friendly.

 

Have a great time!!

 

Judy

[ccrain]

10-27-2013 – Dubrovnik Evening Update

 

Dubrovnik was absolutely stunning. The walls, the food, the people. The shuttle bus from the ship to the town was quick and painless. You could actually walk it. About 1.5 to 2 miles to the Pile gate. We were not the only ships in port as Costa Magica pulled in front of us and left before we did. There were also a couple of smaller ships anchored in the harbor and tendering people directly into the old town marina.

 

The wall pass is only Kuna’s and credit cards, so with Kunas at the ready, we went up on the walls. (Note that there are a lot of steps both up and down along the wall, so its not for the walking impaired at all.) Really incredible views and the water was crystal clear. We could easily see 10-15 meters down in the water, from the small fish on top to the larger fish on the bottom. Too bad it was too cold to swim in.

 

The old town itself, enclosed in the walls, in actually very small by modern standards. But the streets are worn smooth by foot traffic and the roofs are a mix of old and new as the repairs from the war show up as brighter newer roof tiles. So we walked the walls, taking about an hour or two to do the entire walk and ended up on the Strada, or Placa, but essentially the main drag through the center of town from the Pile gate to the marina.

 

We found a farmers market or whatever the local equivalent was in part of the town and purchased a bag of candied orange peel, figs, nuts and other local goodies for 20 Kuna. The samples were delicious and we can’t wait to dig in during a MUTS event.

 

I was in search of restaurant Dubrovnik, which was listed #10 in TripAdvisor, but the deep alleys prevented my cell phone GPS from working properly and we ended up at a corner looking lost deep in the bowels of the town. A very nice Croatian lady came over to help and we ended up having lunch at her place – Pupo. (BTW if I haven’t mentioned it yet, Paul and Elizabeth, friends from a cruise in 2009 are with us on this cruise as well.)

 

Judy and I were hungry having only had a light breakfast. So we ordered the cheese plate and the Prosciutto ham plate as starters. Paul and Elizabeth had the seafood soup, which was actually a broth, while Judy had the grilled seafood plate and I had the octopus stew. Judy and I also had to try the local brew. It was a great lunch sitting there talking, chatting, in a quiet corner of Dubrovnik, away from the crowds, away from the Strada. The cheese was all sheep’s cheese. With a balsamic reduction, walnuts and cranberries. Combined with the ham, it was very tasty. Locals kept coming in to the restaurant taking away food, so this must have been a pretty good place.

 

Judy’s grilled fish, shrimp, mussels and octopus were nicely grilled and barely seasoned, which let the natural flavor of the seafood come through. For our tastes, it should have had a little more salt, but since this was their way of cooking, not ours, it was fine from our point of view. We want to experience food the way they cook it, not the way we would cook it because then it’s our food, not theirs. Not sure what type the fish was, but it was served whole, grilled, with a crispy skin, and it was scrumptious. My octopus were stewed in a tomato and wine broth with potatoes, carrots, garlic and lots and lots of octopus. They were cooked perfectly, not chewy at all, but still with a nice texture. Of course after dropping the first octopi into the bowl and spraying sauce all over myself, Judy and the table in general, the nice lady put a bib on me. So we all got a laugh out of that one.

 

With lunch over with and a stroll down the Strada and out the Pile gate, we got back to the shuttle busses and made our way to the port. In the port they had a series of booths set up and we found the cutest little souvenir hoodie sweatshirt as a gift to one of Judy’s best friend’s new grandchild.

 

Back on board we did the necessary power nap prior to the evening’s events. Tonight was sushi night at the Elite lounge, so we had one of our lighter fare dinners. Judy had the sushi and pickled ginger and I had some of the green and red seaweed, the red was much better, and the pickled ginger, all washed down by a couple of Japanese slipper cocktails that were on special ($5) and about 8 glasses of water. Nope we have not had a meal in the dining room since coming on board. No real need to. These lighter dinners are just perfect for not rolling into bed stuffed.

 

Club fusion had canned dance music playing again and we took advantage of an empty dance floor to dance for a while before heading to the wheelhouse to dance to Jean and George. Then we went to see Slobhan Phillips, a lady entertainer who has an incredible voice, but also does comedy. Apparently a lot of the audience liked her as they gave her a standing ovation. Sorry, but we were not that impressed. Yes, she has an incredible voice, but she just wasn’t firing on the comedy part of the act.

 

Since tonight we lose the hour we got back last night, we decided to call it a night and have a drink from our bar setup before retiring. Oh, but a big surprise was awaiting us upon our return to the room. We have been invited to a most traveled party! Finally, tens of thousands of dollars and months at sea have finally paid off! We have arrived! (Good thing I picked a cruise with a light elite load, that’s for sure!)

 

So today was a very successful day for us. Yes, I know, doing Dubrovnik on our own isn’t the most adventurous thing to do. Heck if you get wet or walk in to a wall, you’ve gone too far. But for us, it is baby steps out on our own and this was a great port to do completely on our own. Highly recommended and an absolutely stunning port.

 

Night all…

[lovevacadays]

10-27-2013 – Dubrovnik Evening Update

 

Dubrovnik was absolutely stunning. The walls, the food, the people. The shuttle bus from the ship to the town was quick and painless. You could actually walk it. About 1.5 to 2 miles to the Pile gate. We were not the only ships in port as Costa Magica pulled in front of us and left before we did. There were also a couple of smaller ships anchored in the harbor and tendering people directly into the old town marina.

 

The wall pass is only Kuna’s and credit cards, so with Kunas at the ready, we went up on the walls. (Note that there are a lot of steps both up and down along the wall, so its not for the walking impaired at all.) Really incredible views and the water was crystal clear. We could easily see 10-15 meters down in the water, from the small fish on top to the larger fish on the bottom. Too bad it was too cold to swim in.

 

The old town itself, enclosed in the walls, in actually very small by modern standards. But the streets are worn smooth by foot traffic and the roofs are a mix of old and new as the repairs from the war show up as brighter newer roof tiles. So we walked the walls, taking about an hour or two to do the entire walk and ended up on the Strada, or Placa, but essentially the main drag through the center of town from the Pile gate to the marina.

 

We found a farmers market or whatever the local equivalent was in part of the town and purchased a bag of candied orange peel, figs, nuts and other local goodies for 20 Kuna. The samples were delicious and we can’t wait to dig in during a MUTS event.

 

I was in search of restaurant Dubrovnik, which was listed #10 in TripAdvisor, but the deep alleys prevented my cell phone GPS from working properly and we ended up at a corner looking lost deep in the bowels of the town. A very nice Croatian lady came over to help and we ended up having lunch at her place – Pupo. (BTW if I haven’t mentioned it yet, Paul and Elizabeth, friends from a cruise in 2009 are with us on this cruise as well.)

 

Judy and I were hungry having only had a light breakfast. So we ordered the cheese plate and the Prosciutto ham plate as starters. Paul and Elizabeth had the seafood soup, which was actually a broth, while Judy had the grilled seafood plate and I had the octopus stew. Judy and I also had to try the local brew. It was a great lunch sitting there talking, chatting, in a quiet corner of Dubrovnik, away from the crowds, away from the Strada. The cheese was all sheep’s cheese. With a balsamic reduction, walnuts and cranberries. Combined with the ham, it was very tasty. Locals kept coming in to the restaurant taking away food, so this must have been a pretty good place.

 

Judy’s grilled fish, shrimp, mussels and octopus were nicely grilled and barely seasoned, which let the natural flavor of the seafood come through. For our tastes, it should have had a little more salt, but since this was their way of cooking, not ours, it was fine from our point of view. We want to experience food the way they cook it, not the way we would cook it because then it’s our food, not theirs. Not sure what type the fish was, but it was served whole, grilled, with a crispy skin, and it was scrumptious. My octopus were stewed in a tomato and wine broth with potatoes, carrots, garlic and lots and lots of octopus. They were cooked perfectly, not chewy at all, but still with a nice texture. Of course after dropping the first octopi into the bowl and spraying sauce all over myself, Judy and the table in general, the nice lady put a bib on me. So we all got a laugh out of that one.

 

With lunch over with and a stroll down the Strada and out the Pile gate, we got back to the shuttle busses and made our way to the port. In the port they had a series of booths set up and we found the cutest little souvenir hoodie sweatshirt as a gift to one of Judy’s best friend’s new grandchild.

 

Back on board we did the necessary power nap prior to the evening’s events. Tonight was sushi night at the Elite lounge, so we had one of our lighter fare dinners. Judy had the sushi and pickled ginger and I had some of the green and red seaweed, the red was much better, and the pickled ginger, all washed down by a couple of Japanese slipper cocktails that were on special ($5) and about 8 glasses of water. Nope we have not had a meal in the dining room since coming on board. No real need to. These lighter dinners are just perfect for not rolling into bed stuffed.

 

Club fusion had canned dance music playing again and we took advantage of an empty dance floor to dance for a while before heading to the wheelhouse to dance to Jean and George. Then we went to see Slobhan Phillips, a lady entertainer who has an incredible voice, but also does comedy. Apparently a lot of the audience liked her as they gave her a standing ovation. Sorry, but we were not that impressed. Yes, she has an incredible voice, but she just wasn’t firing on the comedy part of the act.

 

Since tonight we lose the hour we got back last night, we decided to call it a night and have a drink from our bar setup before retiring. Oh, but a big surprise was awaiting us upon our return to the room. We have been invited to a most traveled party! Finally, tens of thousands of dollars and months at sea have finally paid off! We have arrived! (Good thing I picked a cruise with a light elite load, that’s for sure!)

 

So today was a very successful day for us. Yes, I know, doing Dubrovnik on our own isn’t the most adventurous thing to do. Heck if you get wet or walk in to a wall, you’ve gone too far. But for us, it is baby steps out on our own and this was a great port to do completely on our own. Highly recommended and an absolutely stunning port.

 

Night all…

 

Loved reading this. I can't wait to be there on a land vacation next year. Your post made me that much more excited.

[ccrain]

Loved reading this. I can't wait to be there on a land vacation next year. Your post made me that much more excited.

 

The people are very friendly. You will have a great time!

[ccrain]

10-28-2013 – Corfu

 

That was kind of a rough night. To bed late and losing an hour to boot. Alarm went off at 0600 and was immediately snoozed to silence. The Adriatic is absolutely flat calm with barely a ripple. No ocean sounds at night though with all this low speed and calm seas. Probably should not even mention it as the crossing might have 60’ seas just to make up for it!

 

Latte in the morning in the IC. So nice. Our room is being made up as we speak, did laundry this morning, consisting of stuffing a bag full of clothes, no dishes to do, no room to clean, no cooking to do – what’s not to like!

 

So we are now heading into Corfu for docking. We will probably take the public bus into Corfu, the #16 I believe is the right number for 1.60E, or according to Rick Steve’s book, a 10E taxi. We are planning to stroll around the town, probably going up to the old fort and one or two museums.

 

Dan Styne just came by on his way to a game of golf. He’s really good. We‘ve talked to him several times now, he’s genuine and very funny in his opening monologues for the shows. He will be getting off in Barcelona for vacation. Can’t remember his replacement right off the top of my head, but it’ll come to me later. His morning shows are hilarious.

 

Patter highlights for the day. We dock at 0800 and all aboard is 1730. There is recorded ballroom music from 1700 to 1800 which actually works out quite well for us. Let’s us get in a few dances before dinner. There is a champagne and chocolate Stammtisch at Vines tonight – for those into wine. MUTS is Star Trek into Darkness. (Not quite as good as the first but better than I thought it would be when I heard it was a remake of Wrath of Khan. It is a total remake with a different time line completely so worth seeing.) We haven’t thought that far ahead yet to see what we’re doing tonight.

 

Port Tees and Caps sale tonight after sailing. Its Christmas present time and guess what the grandkids are getting for Christmas! Gene and George are in the wheelhouse, Atomic is in Explorers. The show tonight is a mentalist show – Alex Crow. (We typically don’t do those types of shows.) Dancing sounds like much more fun! Atomic is doing a Beatles tribute in Explorers and the Band is doing a set in the wheelhouse so there is a lot of dancing opportunity.

 

The Ruby, IMHO, represents the best of the super grand designs. We’ve been on the Emerald and the Caribbean, not the Crown yet. It’s the little things that make the difference. For example, the aft elevators, all four, go up to 18 and down to 6, substantially reducing the crowding going up to Skywalkers, or more importantly, the dinner crowding in the deck 7 lobby. In the theater, the deck 6 entry stairs have been eliminated and there is now simple corridor directly from the deck 6 hallway into the theater rather than walking up stairs, then down stairs. The Piazza stairways I really like. It really opens up the space without that little fountain in the way. Both Vines and the IC have a bit different layout than the other ships as the entire Piazza seems much larger.

 

Now off to Corfu...

[ccrain]

10-28-2013 Corfu Evening Update

 

Corfu was a breeze, very interesting and extremely crowded between locals and 3 or 4 ships, including one of HAL’s “dam” ships. The police presence was very heavy, probably close to 50 or 60 cops clustered around the two park areas. I had the feeling that there was a celebration about to take place as the Greek flag was in evidence everywhere.

 

It’s a much more lived in city than Dubrovnik, much more intense. A lot more graffiti, a grittier atmosphere and a lot less restrooms! While the shops do cater to the cruise tourists, there were a lot of locals shopping in the area as well. Some of the miniature bronze and copper statues were simply incredible in detail and beauty. I could have spent hours talking Greek mythology to one of the shop keepers.

 

The bus to town was 1.50E, but it is easily walked. Car rentals, scooter rentals and ATV rentals abound all around the port. Taxis are waiting in a long que for that day long guided tour. Almost all the taxis are modern, clean and look relatively comfortable.

 

So what’s with the fish spas on almost every block, some only two doors down from another? So what’s the deal with dipping your feet in a tank of fish?

 

The weather was absolutely beautiful with just a slight mist in the morning, but a nice breeze and sunshine later on. Probably got up to 75-77F, but it was cool in the shade, especially with the breeze through the alleyways.

 

We got dropped off the #16 bus in the park area on the north side of old town, between the two fortresses. We wound our way through the shopping areas, checking out stores and goods as we went, towards the cricket pitch area and the old fortress. I wanted to save the new fortress for the next trip so we concentrated on the old fortress this time. An incredible piece of fortification engineering aided by a great strategic and tactical location. I love this castle stuff, and this one was definitely built during the cannon age with very thick walls of concrete and earth. Old mortars and cannon were on display around the grounds. The church was also interesting, more so from the outside as the inside was rather sparse.

 

We climbed to the top of the fortress to the old lighthouse which offered the best views in town, down across the parks and all the way to the port. The path up is steep with many steps and is very slick when wet, so it pays to be careful going up and down, but they view and scenery is definitely worth the effort. Best of all, it was free!

 

We decided to walk back to the ship to get our walking in for the day. A short shuttle ride from the terminal to the ship and we’re back and starving for lunch. As Judy said, the southern end of a north bound horse would have tasted good, but we settled for burgers, hot dogs, pizza and beer – you know, the essential food groups of a Princess cruise.

 

Tonight we are taking it easy with very little dancing and no shows. Tomorrow will be an early day in Katakalon as we are scheduled to be in the Wheelhouse at 0715 for our first excursion of the trip to Olympia. It will not be a late night for sure – we have to have our coffee in the morning before we get going!

 

Probably won’t update tomorrow morning as time will be short, but will try and give a full account tomorrow night.

 

In summary, Rick Steves has been spot on with his recommendations that you DIY Corfu and Dubrovnik. These are easy ports to get out on your own in, with lots to see and do very close to the ship and at a very reasonable price.

 

So we’ll update you all from Katakalon tomorrow night!

[Kenswing]

Thanks for the continued reports.. Can't wait to get on this ship next year..

[ccrain]

10-29-2013 Katakolon and Olympia

 

Early morning and cruise ships just do not mix, but oh well, we must cowboy up and get er done!. Up at 0600 to meet in the wheelhouse at 0715 for our Olympia excursion. Ruins dating to 700BC, now that was a long time ago. Grab a cup of coffee and a quick bite on the way out the door and we’re off. We had an excellent tour guide. Very well spoken English, but still very Greek and very proud of everything she was to show us. The bus ride was only 30 or 40 minutes and it was an absolutely beautiful October morning. Crisp cool air, no breeze, ground fog in the fields, not a cloud in the sky. Wonderful. The tour was only about 4 hours total and you really don’t get to see everything, but we did hit the high points. The temple of Zeus, temple of Hera, the gymnasium, the Olympic stadium, the museum.

 

Learned the differences between the Doric, Ionian and Corinthian periods, how to tell a greek wall from a roman wall and see the statuary of the guy who inspired Micheangelo and Da Vinci. Wow. Lot of history to absorb and see, very interesting tour – highly recommended.

 

Not sure if we might not catch a cab back to Olympia on the next stop. Just so much to see and not a lot of time to see it in, but a good sampler.

 

Got back to the port and decided to wander the streets, in and out of shops, along the waterfront cafes. It’s a very small town and very touristy, and very, very crowded with 5 other ships in port. This must be a madhouse in the summer time when you add heat to the equation.

 

Back on board we enjoyed the IC for lunch. A couple of bowls of soup, that absolutely delicious grilled vegetable salad, with a little shrimp salad on the side, a prosciutto ham and cheese Panini, a blueberry mini-pie and coconut roulade, all washed down with some Miller Genuine Draft. Perfect for lunch. Service was superb.

 

Back to the room for charging of the electronics – the dressing table/desk looks like a spider web of charger cords – in preparation for Athens tomorrow. (Tomorrow will be a full day tour and starts at 0730 in the morning.) Since the wall is metal we usually place all of our paperwork and tickets on the wall with various magnets of different shapes and sizes as well as those refrigerator magnets we collect along the way.

 

Since tomorrow will be an early day again, this will be the only update for today. We sail for Athens at 1530 this afternoon, but they are having a Zumba class at 1600, so we are going to try and make that. Tonight there is the movie – Now You See Me – on MUTS at 0730 we want to see along with cocktails, French fries and popcorn.

 

Stardust is the theater show, Princess pop start heat 2, that 70’s night, which we will miss as we have to get to bed and get some sleep prior to tomorrow, Jean and George in the wheelhouse and Atomic in Explorer’s for dancing.

 

A sign of a good cruise is not enough time to do it all and we certainly don’t have enough time on this leg to do it all, but might have more time when we come back around. Another reason for selecting these B2B cruises.

 

So we will update again after Athens. Here’s hoping the weather holds, but even if it doesn’t we are prepped and ready.

 

Later…

[bcnvcanada]

Loving your report. We have taken the train that runs between the port and the town. Not sure that it is running at this time. Also have done

the taxi thing. Bargin hard for a fix price and it can be quite reasonable. Enjoy your day in Athens, we will be threre is a couple of weeks.

[ccrain]

10-30-2013 Athens Evening Update

 

Wow! What a great couple of days of cruising, excursioning and vacationing in general. So yesterday we ended up having dinner at the elite lounge. Beef tartare (with all kinds of goodies in it), Rob Roys and veggies. Dessert was a plate of fries during the movie “Now You See Me”. Not a bad movie at all. Interesting premise, interesting twist at the end, pretty formula, but not bad at all to cap a great day of cruising.

 

Went to bed rather early to prep for Athens and our first full excursion day. Started off with , of course, lattes in the IC. But when we got to the bus we had a very pleasant surprise. Red 7 on the 100A Best of Athens tour would be guided by Constantina, our tour guide from Olympia. A very pleasant surprise and the start of another absolutely great day of excursioning.

 

The 100A tour visits the national museum, the Acropolis, the stadium and drives by several sights in the downtown area. Lunch in the Plaka is included, a real greek lunch, no mashed potatoes in this one, and shopping for one hour in the Plaka as well. With Constantina as our guide, we had an absolutely fantastic day. She is an archeologist and they make some of the best tour guides. We stopped at the stadium, where she explained the Roman influence on stadium design – all in the seating. She gave us an overview of the museum and hit the top 3 or 4 things (the prehistoric clay tablets of Linear B language, the bronze of Zeus/Poseidon and the surreal naturalness of Pericles sculptures. Then off to the Acropolis where we learned that the Parthenon doesn’t have a plum or level line in it (the walls tilt inward to adjust for the perspective desired), the difference between the Odeon (music) and the theater (voice), the builder of the temples on the acropolis, the source of the marble, the Ionic vs. Doric vs. the lady’s acting as columns- no where else in ancient Greece.

 

A short walk down the hill, after an absolutely stunning frozen lemonade from the little cantina, brought us to the restaurant in the plaka where we had a simple salad of onions, tomatoes and cucumbers; a simple spaghetti, lamb meatball, pork steak, a savory turnover, some musaki and gelato to finish it all off. All served with a really good white wine. Very good meal and not Americanized, at a family restaurant, with great company.

 

After lunch it was a short walk down into the shops and stores in the Plaka. The flea market area, the beggers, the ladies selling table cloths, the kids playing squeeze boxes for money, etc. It was very interesting and part of what we wanted to see. We will go back during our next visit for sure.

 

After all of this walking around, our feet were pretty tired on the bus trip back to the ship. Actually more than tired, almost painful. And tonight would be the deck party. Needless to say, we aren’t going to make that party. As I type this, my eye lids are drooping and we’re both getting ready to crash big time.

 

Dinner was smoked salmon in the Elite Lounge. This was pretty good and light as we really didn’t feel like eating much after that great lunch.

 

Tomorrow is Mykonos, actually arriving at 0030 in the morning, but we don’t have anything scheduled. We are planning an easy day, then celebrate Halloween. Pass out all the candy and take photos in our costumes.

 

So that’s it. Two more wonderful days of cruising and getting to see something we’d never even dreamed we’d ever see. Can’t get much better than that!

[ccrain]

Loving your report. We have taken the train that runs between the port and the town. Not sure that it is running at this time. Also have done

the taxi thing. Bargin hard for a fix price and it can be quite reasonable. Enjoy your day in Athens, we will be threre is a couple of weeks.

 

As the ship comes back through or just on your own?

 

Beautiful fall weather today. I do not know how people can do this in the summer time!

[lovevacadays]

I am really enjoying your posts.:)

[ccrain]

I am really enjoying your posts.:)

 

I am not chatting with you all during this cruise in order to conserve my minutes. Normally I have Judy's minutes to fall back on, but she has discovered on-line gaming with her IPAD, so alas my backup minutes are no longer available.

 

so I blog offline, then read the thread, then upload the latest and log off.

 

So I'm not ignoring you all, I'm being very frugal...

[ccrain]

10-31-2013 Katakalon and Halloween

 

Feet and ankles are still sore from the last two days of trekking. A white chocolate latte will fix that this morning. As predicted we did not make the deck party last night. I think it was two minutes after I shut the laptop down and I was falling asleep during the movie, but a good solid nights sleep.

 

We had planned an excursion to Delos at this port, but because of Halloween, delayed that to the next time we are here in a few weeks. This lets us get off, scout the area, pick up some water from a grocery store, wander around a bit, then get ready for tonight’s festivities.

 

Still reminiscing about that excursion yesterday in Athens. It ranks right up there with the connoisseur tour we had in Rome several years ago and was better than the connoisseur tour in Florence on the same trip. It all came down to the tour guide and we really liked Constantina. She was passionate and knowledgeable about her subject. For us it was ok for her to point out her favorite pieces and why. To have us focus on specific piece with specific stories was great rather than a once over bla-bla-bla lecture of this piece is that and this piece is this and so forth and so on. And lunch was really, really good as well…

 

So today is Halloween and we did bring costumes to wear and candy to give out. Iron Man 3 is on MUTS all day and night, a couple of trivias and a couple of Tim Burton films running in the princess theater with The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Corpse Bride, then a late showing of Ghostbusters in fusion.

 

The Ruby Princess dancers will be showcasing thriller in the Piazza twice today. Another heat of Princess Pop Star and the big Halloween party in Explorers at 2200. This ship is being filled with spiderwebs and carved pumpkins.

 

We’ll let you know how it goes!

[Oahucruiser]

I'm sure Halloween will be a fun night for you two. Wish we could see photos of the events and your costumes. Look forward to your updates each day.

[LollyMoz]

Enjoying traveling along with you. Will be aboard Ruby in December - can't wait. Your itinerary is one that is on our bucket list for sure. Have a happy Halloween! (What are your costumes, by the way?)

[Mom33]

Thanks again for sharing your cruise. You are providing us with valuable information for planning a similar itinerary on a future cruise.:)