Norwaylady

The officers are out and about tonight. I had a chat by Troy, It-manager. He said that the WiFi will improve during the year. They are working on it and upgrading the system onboard. So it will be more functional. Just please be patient until it’s upgraded in hardware🙃 Dinner was good. We had the Waldorf salad, it’s a BIG portion for starter. For main it was the mahi mahi and ragout-gnocchi (from the starters menus) I know how big the salad is and the gnocchi is perfect in size as a main course for me🙃 Coffee came perfectly made and delivered from Alex in Blu💙 We had lava cake and panna Cotta (I don’t know whose decision it was but I can definitely say, it’s not a ship thing…. It’s definitely fleet wide. Before covid the lava cake was a lava. It was a small cake, around same size as the coconut macarons tops, served hot and had a small lava stream inside. YES a LAVA CAKE🔥 On all cruises after 2019 the cake has been cold, the cake is growing bigger and it’s definitely not a lava cake….. I miss the real lava cake, that’s a winner dessert)

After some work emails taken care of, it was time to freshen up and call Mr🥰 He is on technical duty 24/7 this week. (To make sure all prisons, hospitals, elderly homes etc are working and functional) It’s been a rather long week for him. (Sometimes he can solve the problem remotely from home/office. Other times he needs to physically visit the location) This week the phone has been calling a lot🤪🤪🤪 So it hasn’t been easy to reach him by phone. Just a text💙 So it was nice to have a talk live on FaceTime🥰 Tonight’s show is stand-up by Phil Melbourne. The man is funny 😆 not everyone’s cup of tea🙃

Elia beach is ranked as a very posh beach. It’s lovely there. The beach break is a decent tour. Good beds and good quality umbrella. Toilet facilities are good, clean, paper, soap etc. Upscale restaurant on site and a store selling quality beach wear and sunglasses (brand’s only, no el cheapo products). The service from the crew was good. Drinks looked very tempting 🍹 (I didn’t try them) We had sparkling water in the sun😎 I think food from the restaurant menu was good/more tempting than our plate of club sandwich. It was no choice for us. It just arrived on our table😅 The club sandwich was very tasty and fresh, but the fries was not my cup of tea😝 If you want to be el-cheapo (just like I do from time to time🤣🤣🤣) There is a beautiful beach at Megali Ammos Beach. You can see it from the windmills. (If you are sporty, it’s a good walk)

So we left 09.00 from the ship. It’s 35.minutes drive from port to Elia beach. The excursion includes a sun bed, umbrella, a drink and a sandwich. ( choice of beer, wine, water and soft drink) They have toilets and a larger restaurant area on top of the beach. They also have a swimwear shop. Hats, sunscreen, bathing attire, flip flops etc. IMG_7468.mov Pick up time from the beach club is 12.40. At this time of the year, the ocean is not super warm. (It’s Norwegian summer temperature🏖️😆) So some 🥶😱😵‍💫 face’s when people entered the water😂😂😂😂😂🤣 Temperature around 21c and a light breeze. It was a nice beach and club. The bus took us back to the ship. We jumped straight onto the shuttle bus to Mykonos town. So we had a little walk in town on a sunny day😎👌🏻 Had a coffee and some ice cream. The wind 💨 has starting to get stronger. It’s small white tops on the ocean. According to Windy (app) this was as scheduled. At 16.00 we decided to go back onboard. The Queen is safely parked in Al Bacio for some coffee🥰 I stopped by guests service to pick up our cruise cards from last week…. (It was stated in the b2b paperwork that WE needed to pick them up) They could find it🤪 So hopefully they will end up on my door during the cruise🙃 We collect the cruise card’s. It’s something that goes into the picture scrap book of the year. (I make a new for each year) So it’s like a year book. I headed upstairs to fix a work thing🤓 Today’s canapés had arrived: Speaking off the devil….. When I’m sitting on my computer writing email and this, guess what knocked on our door? A reprint of last week’s cruise card… (they smell brand new and haven’t the wear and tear after use) Thank you Sunny!

Yep, we arrived back 15.45. so after lunch hour…..

We are booked on a beach break, Elia Beach. Meeting 09.00 in the theatre. We had breakfast downstairs in mdr. Coffee, Greek yoghurt, berries and grapefruit. All good 👍🏻 We are ready for a beach trip😎

Cruise Compass Mykonos

So, The ladies was not ready until 19.45 to go downstairs. We were racing against Connie, she left Athens port before us🏎️🚢🏎️ IMG_7451.mov We attended the effy raffle before dinner😅 you have to be in it, to win it😆 No prizes for us😜 We went to dinner in Mdr. We have a lovely table for 2 by the window. Our waiter and assistant seemed okay. A few first-nigh bumps, but it will probably be fine. (The typical half crazy evening, run for your life waitstaff🤪😝) We had quinoa salad, goat cheese salad and the fish. For dessert ice cream and banana foster. After dinner it was bed time 🥱

After unpacking our things, the Queen needed more coffee🙃 So we went downstairs to Al Bacio. Some coffee and ice tea helped on the tour-out blues….😆 My cup of tea are definitely not Hop-on Hop-off bus rides. I’m a walker and public transport person. But for the Queen it was a perfect time. She could see the big things and be seated. Tonight’s show is the broadway show from last night. So we are taking a shower and power rest before dinner instead. We have a table on deck 5, fixed seating 20.30. Fingers crossed for a nice location and a great server team💙

Oh my…. We walked to the bus 14.17 and it was full, we got the last 2 seats upstairs. The rest was stuffed downstairs standing as herring😰😰😰 Those people were not going on a cruise, just the sightseeing tour…. We were the same people getting off as we boarded the bus this morning🙃 We arrived at the port, they drop you of at B/C cruise terminal. So you must walk from the car check point. About 650m. We arrived at 15.15 We said, we are in transit and had the transit pass in hand. -Go to the general boarding area and please be seated until we call the area😖 What is wrong by transit pass??? Again, wait in the check-in line🥵😳🤯🤬 Hello, why can’t they have this under control???? So we waited and then called, the lady upfront looked at us and sent us back to the Suite area, then our new cards arrived asap. We walked onward, passed security and re-boarded the ship🥳🥳 We went straight to our Muster station to get registered. Then it was up to our new stateroom. Suitcases waited inside and all hanging clothes was in the closet🤩 Dennis, our new housekeeper was stopping by. A little snack was delivered to our room from the hotel manager🥰😋 (But are we sailing transatlantic?🤔🤔🤔🤣🤣) We had a check of the phone in our room, it has a tone😅👍🏻 (so we will probably be easier to get in touch off😆) Time to empty the suitcases and get settled. Paperwork on arrival:

So there are a few ships in port today… It’s turnaround day on the majority😅👌🏻 It’s us-infinity, Connie, Azamara, Regent, Celestial cruises, Sea Dream, Windstar and another smaller vessel. So we picked up 4 guests from Celestial cruises and then we left into Athens (they were also b2b). Our bus was going in to the interchange point and then converted into the Athens route. So we could just stay on. This interchange point is at Akropolis. We took the full ➰ loop. Going back to Acropolis, we went off at the stop Plaka. Perfect for a little walk and shopping of souvenirs. There are a million stores selling all Greek effects and souvenirs. (Prices are cheaper then in Santorini & Mykonos, type 50% less for almost everything) We stopped for some coffee and ice cream in Plaka. The bus to Pireus runs on a scheduled time from the Acropolis stop. So check the time table. So we took the bus from the Plaka stop to Acropolis 13.45. ( don’t want to miss the connection 14.35) We could have walked up from the Plaka, but the Queen said bus please☺️ So now we are waiting on a bench in the shade. It’s the warmest day so far on the cruise.

We were ready for breakfast service around 07.15. We had a look in the hallway to look for our stateroom attended. No Angelo visible…. (Last night we had a chat about the moving process and agreed that we would notify him when we were ready for breakfast and he would take care of the rest;) So we found his card and picked up the phone……. Well, guess what? The phone was all dead. It shows the date and time in the display but it’s no connection/tone😝😂😂😂😂 So if someone tried to call or leave a message for us, good luck 😂😂 We only accept real letters😆🤪 So a new walk around and Angelo detect👌🏻 We went downstairs for breakfast in Blu. The usual menu, Greek yoghurt, avocado toast, coffee and grape fruit. Blu was rather busy today. After breakfast we walked downstairs, pinging our cards, the ping said: wrong ping/the happy ping for staying b2b🤩🥳😁 So our security officers looked surprised😅 I was ready to give him my card and said see you later😆 So off we went! Our plan for today is hop-on hop-off bus. According to the schedule online it says departure every 15.min….. (They didn’t expect b2b guests today) so they only had departure 08.30-09.30 in the morning🤥 So we arrived outside 08.37😐 So then we needed to wait…. The ticket lady said they were informed from the port that there were nobody coming b2b. It was as all changing/turnaround day today. So that’s why they didn’t run as often…. 09.05 they arrived by a bus, please step on😅 We hoped on, and off we went!

Good morning from Athens /Pireus Port We have docked but are not cleared by local authorities yet. Estimated time for clearance is around 07.15.

So tonight’s dinner in Blu is the last😔 Let me just start to say, the food has tasted excellent and our crew has done an outstanding job🫶🏻❤️💙🙌🏻 They have worked hard and delivered every night💙 Alex has worked his socks off and Marco has never let us down. The Queen has really got blown away by the level of service and taste of the menu. Tonight’s menu was blue cheese soufflé, mozzarella tomato salad and filet mignon. For dessert we had the apple pie👌🏻 It tasted delicious and nothing was left on the plates👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Service has been superb from everyone in Blu. Irwin has guaranteed that we will have a nice table for dinner in MDR. (I truly trust that he has fixed us a good team💙)

there were only 2 swans yesterday in Mykonos town beach. But tomorrow we will be back, and fingers crossed it’s sun and perfect weather for Ellia Beach 🏖️

After arrival back onboard we have prepared for turnaround day, changing hangers to the dry cleaning hanger, packing the rest in the suitcase 🧳 Had some coffee in Al Bacio and a jacuzzi session outside ☔️👌🏻 The indoor pool was packed😝 We went down to the Martini Bar area at 18.05. It was kinda busy…. Tonight’s show is a broadway style show. Hollywood Cabaret by the vocal cast. Show was great! Cast did really show off🥳🤩⭐️ Captain Kirk did come on stage before the show. He had the executive comity up on the stage. He’s a funny guy😂👍🏻 After the show, it was a new pop-up by Lorraine in the grand foyer💙⭐️👌🏻

We went to the tender around 09.30. No line, straight to the tender. It’s local tenders from the port. 10.minutes. You are being dropped off in the old port. There are some tours available for purchase on the dock. Beaches, Delos etc. We walked into the town. It’s around 10.mins walk in slow pace before you are in the shopping/pedestrian area. Since the weather is not perfect🤔 I said to the Queen, we need to go to the Windmills first, if the weather gets worse. It will be very windy and wet there💨💦 So we arrived before the crowd of tours🙌🏻 So easy to get pictures alone📸 After the windmills it was time for walking in the city centre and some shopping👌🏻 The Queen found a new purse and I found some windmill socks in blue🧦 for Mr❤️ (he has Typ 2 black pair of socks😝 the rest are funny socks, Super Mario, Superman, Pink Panther etc… it’s he’s brand of statement) So everyone at work finds this very funny 😆 After walking and window shopping for a while, the Queen wanted coffee. We found a nice spot under roofing. The weather was starting to get darker and some drizzle 🌧️ When we finished coffee it was raining ☔️ The Queen was finished for today. She said it was okay to go back to the ship. It’s very slippery on the ground when it rains. We arrived by the tender dock 13.30 and we arrived back onboard 13.45.

So, we started slowly this morning🫶🏻 Breakfast in Blu💙 We had the usual😝 And today we went out of “normal” ordered a porch egg😅 It’s like a fine dining build-your-own-breakfast😂👌🏻💙 (my favourite breakfast)

Rise & Shine💙🇬🇷 Welcome to Mykonos Ship was cleared 07.15 and the tenders were running. It’s a little gray outside, so they ask everyone to bring the umbrellas from the staterooms ashore. Our plan is nothing big. A city tour and the famous windmills⭐️🇬🇷💙 I have visited Delos before. (The Queen was not keen on this tour) Strongly recommend to visit in you are into history and Greek mythology🤓👌🏻 😱🤪😅 What a surprise to have a look around the side of the ship! We are in Mykonos by Conni💙🫶🏻 (But also Regent, Virgin, MSC) So it will be a crowded day in port! 5 ships in total😅 (virgin is hidden in the picture)

B2B Envelope ✉️ on the bed last night Transit pass and information about leaving the ship and re-boarding.

Cruise Compass and paperwork Mykonos

Shane Hampshire did a excellent show, again⭐️⭐️⭐️👌🏻 The orchestra and him is a good fit🥳 Dinner in Blu was good. Irwin the door keeper had discovered that we are b2b…..❤️ So we asked him to give us a good recommendation and a nice table at select time hostess. (Since we as of now move down to concierge class, no good news from move-up) We had the scallop, fish soup, gnocchi and the fish cobra from mdr (modified just fish filet and today’s vegetable, asparagus from Blu menu) For dessert it was ice cream 🍨

So after further walking up and down, looking into shops and souvenirs…. The Queen wanted coffee and something dessert ish….. Greek yoghurt, honey, walnuts, pear and red apple 🍎 Mmmm I went for a ice cream😁😂😋 a small one…… And off course some Greek coffee ☕️ After the dessert bonanza the Queen decided she was finished for the day. Get me back on the ship please👌🏻❤️ We walked in direction of the cable car 🚠 and the line is long… She’s having a small panic, we can walk the donkey 🫏 trail. You have done it, it will be fine🤪 I told her politely, NO. You can not walk downhill on that trail. You find it hard to walk today up and down. I will not kill you on our cruise! We are not making a new season on Fader Brown or Midsummer Murders…… So I parked her on a bench by the entrance to the cable car and went in line. It took me 50.mins to get to her location. I made it clear to my fellow passengers in line, that I have a +1 waiting in the shade by the entrance. She can’t stand in line for this long time. The cable car 🚠 went fine. The Queen survived. She’s horrified of things like this. ( I have really stretched her limits today😝😂💪🏻⭐️) So we arrived back on the ship 17.45. Just in time for a shower and tonight’s show⭐️🥂 Tonight’s show is the orchestra and Shane Hampshire.

So Santorini💙🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷 Welcome to Greece💙 This is the “postcard” from Greece. Everyone have this image on their mind when you ask. White houses, blue doors and windows…. We had meeting time in the theatre 07.15. the majority of the tours left early. Santorini is a tender port. Today they have 6 ships in port😳 So it’s a lot of people all over the island. Last visit we were the only ship in Santorini…. You can tell the difference in people and tour buses😝 Since we left on a tour by the ship, we were tendering to the industrial port. Our guide and bus was waiting for us there. The tender was 10.minutes. (This is not where you return) Unfortunately it’s a little hazy today. It’s because of the humidity. Still beautiful, but not the perf clear view. Our guide and driver took us strait to Akrotiri for the ruins. A local archaeological guide meet us at the museum. He took us around the ruins. The tour took 1h. We were first group on site. So we walked 2/3 of the ruins all by ourselves😁 Perfect! The local guide did an excellent job in explaining the ruins and what they had discovered and that the ruins still are worked on. After the ruins, we left for Oia. The bus ride took around 25.min. It’s traffic passing Fira. In Oia our guide walked the group up to the church. It’s 10.min walk uphill from the bus parking. It’s on uneven ground and stairs. You need to be a good walker all over Santorini. Lots of stairs and uneven ground. In Oia we had 1h 40.min free time. We walked to the famous blue dooms picture sites💙 They are very distinct for Greece and Santorini🇬🇷 The Queen did some shopping😁 A new 👒 hat and a t-shirt for Mr 🤴 We walked back to the bus, the guide gave out one-way tickets to the cable car and they took us to Fira. It’s around 15.minutes ride to the drop off point. The guide walked us up to the pedestrian part of Fira. It’s heavy hill up this part. (Our guide said early morning: you will climb Mt Everest twice during your stay in Santorini today😂😂She is very correct in this) When everyone had arrived uphill, the guide explained were to find the 🚠 cable car and that you need to except long lines today. 6 ships in port is heavy. And reminded everyone that last tender to the ship is 21.00 tonight. After this information, she thanked the group for being on time and tour officially finished. We walked a bit around. After some window shopping, we decided we needed something to eat. We ordered room service breakfast for 06.00-06.30. At 05.48 they knocked on the door😝😂 Lucky 🍀 me was awake💙 We had some yogurt and fruit. It’s to early for the Queen for a full breakfast🫶🏻 I went downstairs to collect coffee from Al Bacio at 06.10. It’s was still quiet down there, but I passed the buffet in the staircase on the way upstairs. It sounded full and lots of people walked around. So what to eat in Greece? Gyros😋 After a little rest and refuel off food, we were ready to walk further on. get the joke?

It will be mentioned🫶🏻 I don’t know if the team is new or if they just don’t cooperate well together.