Not Quite 'Live From' Rhapsody, 12th June

WARNING : THIS IS A LONG READ!

First a little explanation. I love reading the blogs and 'Live from' reports that many people contribute to the RCCL board. Whilst I do not have the writing skills to make my posts witty and amusing, I hope that as it is still early in the Mediterranean cruising season, my observations may help to inform those who are following in our footsteps on Rhapsody and other ships. Others may just like to cruise vicariously with us to satisfy that desire to steep themselves in shipboard stories.

This cannot be a proper Live report as RCCL have changed the C&A Diamond internet perk to one 24 hour period of continuous use, rather than 90 minutes per person which can be spread out over the whole cruise. As a result I am writing offline and will post when in port with free Wifi or on the two days that we have the Diamond package. For this reason also it will be words only I'm afraid, not pictures. Please forgive me if the posts are a little disjointed too, due to the sporadic times I will be writing.

BACKGROUND

We are an English couple, 63 and 70 years old. This is our 35th cruise and yes, we are addicted to cruising. We flew from London Heathrow on Wednesday and stayed 2 nights in Istanbul. On Thursday we did a 9 hour independent tour of the city, organised by our hotel Concierge, which covered all the main sites. I am not going to cover the pre-cruise experience much other than to say that Istanbul Immigration lines can be very long at Ataturk airport and the crowds in the city to see the main sites are also huge. Plan to see as much as possible as early as you can. We started at 9.15 in the Hippodrome. By 11.30 it seemed that the world and his wife were looking round the Blue Mosque. Ladies, have a scarf with you to cover your head and/or shoulders and no very tight trousers or bare knees. Otherwise you will have to wear the rather smelly cover-ups provided. Men in shorts well above the knee were also required to wear them.

EMBARKATION

After a fairly short taxi ride from our hotel we arrived at the port at 11.10 am. It was total chaos. People who had recently disembarked were still waiting for their transfers and the taxi queue was horrendous for them. There is far too little space for the number of vehicles that need to enter and leave an Embarkation port. There were also 2 other ships docked, Crystal Serenity and Celebrity Reflection. All those going ashore from these ships and staff returning to them had to push their way through the same small 'hut' through which we had to bring our luggage.

We waited for the initial passport check and went across a tarmac lot (with traffic) to the luggage drop off area. Back across that lot to the terminal building where we had a very short wait. Our passports were checked here too of course and the usual other formalities to receive our key cards.

(We learnt later that the chaos got a lot worse. Taxis could not get near the port entrance and people had to manhandle their luggage much further. Also, the line for security checks and X-Ray screening was outside in hot sunshine and for some they were queuing for over half an hour with no shelter.)

We proceeded to Immigration for our third Passport check by a local Officer. There was a short walk to board when our passports were taken off us with a promise for them to be returned to us on the penultimate day.

All in all the process took around 40 minutes and then we relaxed in the Diamond lounge for a while. We researched the Specialty Dining offers and splashed out on the new Ultimate Dining Package. This was only introduced on this ship 2 cruises ago and only one was sold on the previous cruise. For $20 p.p.p.day you can eat every evening in Chops, Giovanni's or Izumi. We plan to try the latter once only as we are not big fans of Japanese food.

SETTLING IN

By now it was 1.00 pm and we went down to our cabin, an Oceanview on deck 3. We usually cruise with a balcony but on this older ship with only 2 balcony decks the price for them was too high for us.

We had a sandwich lunch in the Park Cafe, which was very quiet, with most people heading to the WJ. There we met several of the wait staff who work in the Specialty restaurants.

At this point I should mention that we had the Ultimate Dining Package on Celebrity Eclipse last year, an 8 night cruise to Norway. Of course, she has more Specialty restaurants to choose from so we thought long and hard whether to repeat this experience as I had not heard of it being available on RCCL, despite being an avid CC reader and poster.

As we have been to all these ports before, albeit some of them on land holidays many years ago (38 and 39!) we will not be taking any tours but doing our own thing ashore. We don't drink heavily and the 5.00-8.30 pm Diamond drinks are more than enough for us, so we spend very little on other drinks. Spending extra on the food and special service is what suits us.

Each to their own.

After a walk around deck 10 in the sunshine, viewing the Istanbul skyline and very busy shipping, we returned to our cabin around 3.00 pm to find our luggage awaiting us. We unpacked, watched some sports news on BBC World then returned to the DL for a cuppa. 5.00 pm was Muster drill. Not DH's favourite experience, especially as we both struggle somewhat with back pain when having to stand for any time. As RCCL do this outside on the Promenade, Deck 5, we waited until just before 5.00 to go down there. No Lifejackets are required to be worn but your key card must be scanned. We found that the whole thing was treated rather jokily by the staff which may not be good preparation for any real emergency. The captains's announcement was brief and we later discovered that he had just boarded too. His name is Robert Hempstead and hails from Rhode Island USA.

FIRST EVENING

As we left the drill, the queue for MTD was already building up. I later heard that the line was still quite long at 9.00 pm. I believe it is very important to pre-book your first night dining time online before boarding. The Sailaway poolside party was due to start at 5.45 but we were actually due to depart at 7.00. We headed straight to the DL again which became very busy quite quickly. There are many different nationalities onboard, so far we have come across lots of Brits, some Canadians, Americans, quite a lot of Germans and even passengers from Uruguay. After a good chat with a couple from Alabama we washed and changed for dinner then went up to the Viking Crown to watch us depart. It was a beautiful evening and there were great views of the Bosphorus and the crazy shipping movements. Here we were able to take advantage of having a Diamond 'free' drink in bars other than the DL. The Welcome Aboard show was due at 7.45, one show for all, but we didn't want to miss the views and much of a good sunset, due at around 8.30. We didn't quite see the full setting as our table was booked in Giovanni's for 8.30.

FIRST DINNER

Now at this point I am struggling to decide whether to blog about our menu choices. Do any readers who have got this far want to know what we ate? If not, please skip to the next paragraph. Once we get to port days my chat is bound to be shorter.

So, our waiter was Oswin from India whom we had met at lunch in the Park Cafe. He was very attentive and friendly. DH had the Scallop appetiser which he said was superb. I had Mozzarella and Prosciutto on Bruschetta which was a little too salty. He had Lentil soup and I had a small portion of Crab Ravioli which was delicious. For Main DH ate the Lamb, which I will definitely choose another night, I had Baked Jumbo Shrimp which was superb! Dessert was chocolate cake for him, Tiramisu for me. We were very full but certainly enjoyed our first dinner.

END OF DAY 1

We had hoped to listen to the piano man but we was on a break when we walked out into the Schooner Bar and all the seats were full anyway. So we tried the Shall We Dance Lounge where the 'Party Band', One Love, were just finishing their set and then there was a break while they set up for karaoke. Mmm. Still interested on finding some music to listen to we headed to the Centrum. The band Rockport were playing there for those who wanted to dance. Their music was mostly to our taste and we sat for a while on deck 6 to enjoy watching and listening before retiring to our cabin for the night.

When we met our Cabin Steward earlier we had requested the beds to be separated so as to make more room and be able to stand by the window. We are on deck 3, right by the aft elevators. Very convenient but found sleep difficult initially and occasionally later in the night with lots of banging noises. Huh. Should have picked deck 2. I will double check what is above us tomorrow. (Later discovered it to be storage area, mostly used for 'Art' works.)

DAY 2 AT SEA.

We had a simple breakfast in the DL and at 10.00 went up to the Viking Crown for the M&M. 32 of us had finally registered and around 24 showed up. It was run by the Activities Manager, Margo, from the Netherlands. She has just recently been promoted to this role and was excellent. There were lots of raffle prizes and most couples went away with something. Ours was a water bottle. The best gifts were 2 envelopes containing a free 24 hour internet package. What a great idea at a CC gathering!

We all had a chance to introduce ourselves which cannot happen with a big group. On our RC I had 'met' and exchanged emails with a couple from Canada who had agreed to share a taxi to Oia on Santorini. We finalised meeting times for that day.

The other couple we mostly spoke to live only 12 miles or so from us. We stayed on chatting with them for quite a while then went up to view their Owners Suite. Very nice indeed. How the other half live eh? We chatted about the various ports and I MAY go to a Hammam with Mrs D when we are in Kusadasi. DH doesn't fancy it so I would love to have company and she has been before. Watch this space. :)

Lunch at the Park Cafe again, which was very busy today. The roof was open too. Lots of people are sunning themselves on all the open decks and I expect there will be some very burnt skin on display this evening.

Apparently, although the US has the largest number of passengers this sailing there are over 800 Brits! We have certainly seen and heard lots of our fellow countrymen, mostly in the bars! For a more peaceful time this afternoon than being near the pool deck we took a little sun on the Promenade deck. Tonight is a Formal night and we have a table booked in Chops Grille for 8.00 pm.

EVENING

The show tonight is Livewire at 9.00 and 10.45 pm. In order to be able to manage the second performance a Siesta was necessary. However it meant that the 5.00 o'clock Trivia I had planned to attend was missed. Ah well. The Captain's Welcome Aboard is from 7.30-8.30, so it was time to get togged up. DH on the other hand found live European soccer on ESPN2.

We started the evening with drinks in the DL then dinner at Chops. Afterwards we had a seat in the Centrum and I landed up being 1 of 8 contestants in the Finish that Lyric game show. It was a lot of fun, especially as by some fluke I managed to win and am the proud owner of a little Oscar like statue named Star of the Show.

We headed to the theatre for the charity auction in aid of Make a Wish which preceded the show. Unfortunately the music was not to our taste and I'm afraid we snuck out after 10 minutes and headed to bed.

DAY 3 RHODES

We are already docked when we wake to blue skies, sunshine and golden buildings in view

Following along:).

We have friends onboard, Cyril and Sharon travelling with Dean and Angela, at least I think it is your sailing and not the next one, hard to keep up with everyone:D

Have a fantastic time.

DAY 3 RHODES

We were already docked when we woke to blue skies, sunshine and golden buildings in view. After MDR breakfast ( Eggs Benedict) and DL coffee we headed ashore around 9.45. There is a bit of a walk to the town walls, turn right for a short walk to where the queue was for the HOHO. €12.00 for the trip. The dock is stop number 8.

http://www.captains-tours.gr This may help in advance.

The line was quite long and we couldn't get on the first bus to arrive at about 10.05 and there was little shade. The next bus was about a 20 minute wait. Officially they start from there at 9.35. However, if you are able to continue walking around the outside of the Old Town walls back to stop No 7, you could avoid the queue by joining the bus before the cruise crowds. Zuiderdam was also in port so there were a lot of passengers using the buses.

We rode the bus all the way round to stop 7 for the Old Town. We were lucky enough to sit on the top deck to see the views. However it was getting really warm up there, so sunscreen and a cover-up are a good idea. I enjoyed seeing around the outside of town and it was a reminisce for DH who spent 2 weeks here 45 years ago! There are far more hotels now including a very nice looking 5 star Grand Hotel.

After the bus we walked through to the old town. What a wonderful place. Old, mostly pedestrian streets, full of small shops, cafés and museums. We stopped at a cafe that offered Wifi and accomplished our aim of the day. A FaceTime call to our son and his family to wish our youngest grandson Happy 1st Birthday. We were also able to see his older sisters who are 5 and nearly 3. As they live on a different continent to us we were truly blessed to manage to see and talk to them.

Of course, having that Wifi enabled me to start and post the first chunk of this blog.

We did a little shopping, a new sun hat, some deodorant - I had brought a near empty one by mistake :( - and some Oregano. I am not a big shopper but really struggled seeing all the lovely things which I could have bought our grandchildren if we were seeing them anytime soon. (Our other grandchild also lives on another but different continent to us). Our final purchase was a 2016 calendar for our kitchen, which will bring good memories of Greek sunshine next winter.

Our second cafe stop was actually at a small boutique hotel. The Avalon. What a quiet and calm oasis away from the crowds. Beautiful Bougainvillea and a tinkling fountain in a shady courtyard. We slowly made our way back down to the ship, about a 25 minute walk at our slow pace. It was getting very hot and we were glad to return to the Aircon on Rhapsody. After a brief wash and brush up we headed up for our first visit this cruise to the WJ for lunch. Hot dog and fries for DH, Veggie curry and rice for me. A quick cuppa in the DL then Siesta time.

Sailaway was at 4.00. It was quite windy and we needed a tug working quite hard to assist us away from the dock and turning round to head out to sea. We have, I think, 225 miles to Crete tomorrow where we are due at 8.00 am. Capt. Rob's announcement said we needed to travel at around 14 knots, as we have been doing so far.

EVENING

Change of plans for tonight as DH had a migraine type headache. I cancelled our reservation at Giovanni's and ate in the WJ on my own. Before that I watched most of the production show, Piano Man, and attended the C&A party alone. If I remember correctly there are almost 800 members onboard, including 147 Platinum and 120 Diamond and above. The Future Cruise sales lady said that International guests could now book onboard and take advantage of US terms and conditions. Mmm. Will need to check that out. The captain did a gentle stand-up routine. He obviously likes to be a bit of a comedian. I went along on my own to the Rock Britannia dance party in the Centrum. Very few people got up to dance despite the crew doing a great show and working their socks off. Mercifully the 2 ladies I had met in the Lyric Game show the night before started to dance. I joined them and we had a really good bop and singalong. By the time I crept quietly into bed so as not to disturb DH, my pedometer showed 11,333 steps!

ANY TIME DINING UPDATE

At breakfast we sat with a British couple who have MTD. on the second night they turned up at 7.45 and were not seated till 8.50 pm! I have been hearing other bad reports of the queues and waiting times but this sounds dreadful. They also said that the line for those who had pre-booked didn't seem to move much faster.

DAY 4 CHANIA, CRETE

A gentle sail in with land on both sides of the ship into a deep bay. Another beautiful morning with a cloudless sky. We actually dock in Soudha, across the promontory from Chania itself.

DH recovered enough to go ashore so we are now at a cafe in Chania. The Town Bus shuttle costs €1.50 pp each way. There is no need to worry about exact change as just outside the terminal building is a booth selling bus tickets. It is possible to buy the return tickets too. The ride was about 15 minutes and it drops you in a square.

Chania harbour.

Thank you so much for taking the time to post your experience. Our family of 4 will be on the June 22 cruise. I look forward to reading more posts.

Greetings from Sydney.

Enjoying your blog from Rhapsody - our favourite ship as we have spent 60N on her, including 35 consecutive last year :)

Captain Rob is one of our favourites, and yes he is abit of a comedian :D.

Not sure if she is still on-board, but if you meet Rina from the activities team, please say hello to her from Tracey & Neil from Sydney.

Will be following your trip.

DAY 4 CONTINUED

What a lovely harbour there is in Chania, just how we remembered it from 1976. Yes, of course it is now a much bigger town but the old streets, like Rhodes Old Town, haven't changed. There were boat trips being offered, both 1 hour for €10.00 I think and 2.5 hour trips. They were on glass bottom boats and offered the opportunity to swim and snorkel. We considered just going out to enjoy the scenery but DH wanted to pace himself after being unwell yesterday so we decided against.

There are hundreds of restaurants and cafés all over the town many offering Wifi. I had a delicious freshly squeezed orange juice for €2.00 on the harbour but the same drink without the view was €0.90 in a back street. A small bottle of Pepsi Cola Light was €2.70 on the harbour. I did a little shopping, postcards for the grandchildren and a small day bag. By now, after noon, the temperature was getting very hot for us. Around 32C or 90F. We slowly made our way back up to the square and easily caught the return bus, No 13. The Aircon on the bus was reasonable but the cool blast on returning to the ship was very welcome. We had a sandwich lunch in the Park Cafe and retreated to our cabin to read and snooze. We did see lots of people beginning to fill up the sunbeds but even the shade temperature was more than we wanted. How annoying that age had made us less tolerant of the heat. 30-40 years ago we would have been out getting a 'tan'. Mind you, we've seen plenty of lobster skins on the cruise already. ;).

4.15 and we've taken a short walk back over to the Terminal for Wifi to post this update and recheck for emails.

Well that was a waste of time! Wifi not working over there.

EVENING

Did our first Trivia, the Quiz at 5. Didn't win but got 14/20 and had fun. Quick drink in the DL then early dinner in Giovanni's. It was pretty busy and quite noisy in there tonight. One of the waiters played Happy Birthday on a flute for a little girl then went on to play a classical piece. He was really pretty good. Watched the stunning sunset from the DL, a little bit of the Aerial show, had a brief wander on deck and retired for an early night. By the Poolside they were setting up for the Red and White party. It was much warmer this evening as Crete was the southernmost part of the itinerary and the wind has dropped completely. In fact the sea is like a Mill Pond and we only need to do 8 knots to reach Santorini, 80 miles away.

We are aiming to catch a tender around 8.30 in the morning, hence the early night.

DAY 5 SANTORINI

Another beautiful morning. Independent travellers were able to start tendering from 7.30 am. We went to the DL to be escorted down at around 8.20 and didn't therefore need tender tickets. We were joined by Audrey and Mike from Toronto with whom we had agreed to go ashore. Our plan was to share a taxi to Oia but we were very pleased to find 2 different companies selling round trip tours. Boats to Oia dock, a transfer up the hill and a bus back to Thira. One company was charging €8.00 and another €15.00. Although the wait was a little longer we chose the cheaper one. It took much longer than it should have as the boat had to wait 20 minutes to dock at Oia due to lots of other tourist boats. Anyway we were on the top deck in the open air and were fine.

We arrived in Oia about 10.20. Now this company only runs the transfers back at 11.00, 12.00 and 13.00. The one who charged more may have later transfers but 2 hours or so is fine for us as we were here in 2012.

To be continued. Xx

We loved Rhapsody. If you haven't already found it there is a lovely quiet spot aft of the solarium on either side, great for a sea day or a quiet evening drink.

Thanks, will check that out, especially tomorrow when we are not going ashore in Athens. We have been before and fairly recently. Forecast is 35C or about 93F!

thanks for this, looks like we will be packing plenty of suncream and hats. Has the MTD improved any yet, as we have booked times to suit us as my daughter is diabetic and we need to know when she will eat. Also we have cabin 3114 booked is that close to your noisy one.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise

thanks for any info

This is a great thread, thanks for sharing Cinnamon! We are having a great cruise too. Today we hiked the 10 km from Fira to Oia!

This is a great thread, thanks for sharing Cinnamon! We are having a great cruise too. Today we hiked the 10 km from Fira to Oia!

Very energetic! Well done.

thanks for this, looks like we will be packing plenty of suncream and hats. Has the MTD improved any yet, as we have booked times to suit us as my daughter is diabetic and we need to know when she will eat. Also we have cabin 3114 booked is that close to your noisy one.

 

 

 

Hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise

 

 

 

thanks for any info

From what I've heard, MTD is now working better.

I don't know where 3114 is. What is above it on the deck plans?

SANTORINI CONTINUED

The leaflet we received from the boat operators shows the company we used was NSTravel and if you want to know more, their website is

http://www.boatmensunionsantorini.com

What a beautiful place Oia is. However, it was getting busy at 11.00 and the crowds continued to increase as more and more buses arrived. Moving around the town is definitely not for those with mobility problems. There are lots of steps, inclines, uneven paths, cobblestones and narrow passageways. We saw several families trying to manhandle pushchairs (strollers) and heard quite a few small children for whom this was not an ideal place.

We had a drink at a cafe with Wifi and then wandered round town taking photos and by 11.45 were back at the bus stop. It was HOT. There was no shade and the queue to return on the 12 noon bus had already built up. With Greek inefficiency they then turned the line around, meaning the first would be last etc. we eventually boarded the third coach at 12.05. We had front seats and the Aircon worked fairly well. BUT. There was gridlocked traffic leaving the small town which has only one narrow main road in and out. After waiting 30 minutes for the traffic to clear we finally left Oia and set off for Thira. The bus drops you at the back of town where it is another 10 minute, again challenging walk, to the Cable Car station. We were keen to return to the ship by then as the heat was really too much for us. However the MSC ship was leaving at 3.00 and there were a lot of people in line, all round the square. We waited about half an hour, mostly in sunshine and bought our ticket once we reached inside the building. €5.00 pp one way.

BTW, the line behind us just got longer while we were there. For future cruisers it is worth checking which ships will be in port and their arrival and departure times. Had we waited till after 2.30 pm the line may have been shorter. By the time we reached the base the latest ship to arrive, Norwegian Jade, was disgorging passengers from tenders. We boarded ours straight away, only stopping for an iced water provided at our tender dock. Back onboard around 2.00 we headed to the WJ for a late lunch. Burger and chips for DH, salad then Veggie curry and rice for me.

Funnily enough it was Siesta time. A good deep 30 minute sleep for us both. We tried our luck at the 4.00 pm trivia, guessing the country names by their outline shapes. We had the same score as the winners, 13/16, but they were quicker than us to finish. After a coffee in the DL we retired to read our books.

For Tracey and Neil from Sydney.

We gave your message to Rina who sent big hugs back to you.

EVENING

We had a rather unusually long time (for us) in the DL tonight, 6.00-8.00 pm. First we chatted with our new friends from Alabama then the Brits who live near us, Mrs D and her DH came down to join us. They said the CL was really dull and quiet so we made quite a party. Oumersh, our wonderful waiter in there has been really looking after us well. He goes out to the Schooner bar for Tomato juice for DH and last night he was fetching strawberry 'juice' to add to the Sparkling wine for me and it was De-Licious.

When discussing tomorrow in Athens I told them about the guard changing at the palace. I referenced the Monty Python sketch, Ministry of Silly Walks and gave a demo of the Greek guards. Well. I did say it was a bit of a party. ;)

Dinner in Chops followed. DH had Mesclun salad, Shrimp cocktail (which was set on ice and therefore the shrimp were apparently tasteless) and NY Strip steak. I had Goats Cheese salad, Baked Scallops and Chicken with mushrooms. We both had the Liquid Centre Chocolate cakes (chocolate Fondants on Masterchef) served with caramelised bananas and vanilla ice cream. We sat for a while in the Show Lounge and watched the Family Feuds game show. Margot the AD did her best but the contestants made it a rather slow game.

DAY 6 ATHENS

We have been here before, most recently in 2012 when we had a wonderful and comprehensive private tour of the city and out to Corinth with a great CC group. As it is forecast to be very hot and sunny we've decided to stay onboard and have a restful day. Mid morning we will start one of our 24 hour free Wifi packages so will be able to answer any questions in that time.

We took part in the 10.00 am trivia, came equal first and won the tie-break, so now are owners of RCCL Pens.

I started our 24 hour package but of course everything is very slow loading.

Vision is docked nearby. There is quite a walk to the terminal building but it looks as though there is a port shuttle bus if you need it. From the WJ at breakfast at about 9.00 we were able to see some HOHO buses lined up, preparing to start. When we come back here next year we may try that.

Sitting in the Centrum to get a good signal and 2 of the aerialists are trying out equipment.

Monday in Chania

Yesterday in Santorini.

This was the view from our hotel in Istanbul at dinner.

Sorry the photos are out of order but I can only post them now with the 24 hour package.

We've had a very lazy day. Reading, catching up with the internet and watching an old movie in the theatre. The Bourne Identity which somehow we've never seen before. Quite a few people have stayed onboard, mostly Brits I think. There are roughly 850 of us, less than 200 Americans and over 500 Spanish and Portuguese speakers, many from Brazil. These numbers are according to Alex from the Activities staff, rather than the numbers I was told earlier in the cruise.

Tonight we are booked in Izumi with new friends. The show is a male 'West End' singer so we may go to see him.

Sorry double post

DAY 6 EVENING

After a restful, lazy day we had a fun evening. Drinks in the DL then the show, which is at 7.00 pm for late diners. It was a headliner singer, Roger Wright. He was billed as a West End singer which was a shame. Our new friends didn't come as that didn't appeal to them but he only sang one song from The Lion King in which he starred. The rest were Motown, Soul etc. and he was brilliant. They would have loved it. What a shame the theatre was only a quarter full. He also described the lengthy audition process for the lead role he eventually landed as Simba and then played for three and a half years.

Popped back to the cabin to check the cricket scores (England v NZ ODI) then another drink in the DL to meet up with Mrs D and her DH. They were our dining companions in Izumi and we really enjoyed the experience. DH and I shared dishes. Those who know me personally will know how rare it is for him to share meals but our companions were the same. The Beef on the Hot Rock was superb and I really enjoyed the Dessert Sampler too.

By the time we went to bed England were almost guaranteed a win, and sure enough, typing this in the morning, we won by 7 wickets with 2 Centurions in the team.

WIFI SIGNAL

Our cabin is right by the main lifts (elevators). I can really only load pages on my mini iPad by opening the door and holding the device out into the corridor. However the signal in the public rooms is fine. My 24 hour package will run out at 10.00 am today after we have gone ashore so the next instalment will hopefully be from Kusadasi on Friday.

DAY 7 MYKONOS

We started the day watching the See More TV show on channel 14. Graham Seymour the CD just does a little report highlighting the programme for the day. He is hilarious with a great sense of humour. I love that he makes fun of things like the names of the drinks of the day and just how difficult it must be to come up with a name like Mykonos Punch. It is a form if sel- deprecation which we Brits are so good at.

There is a Drop Box at Guest Services with cards to write for dedications or anniversary celebrations. He has been funnily complaining about having no viewers as there has only been a couple of cards. Today he read out mine, telling him I was writing a CC blog, looking worried about the Critic bit of the name. I've always thought what a misnomer it was as most of us LOVE cruising.

Yes Graham, I think you and your staff are doing a great job!