SLOTheta

We were on the Eurodam out of Barcelona 2 weeks ago. We brought wine from home and also picked up wine from a shop in town. There are plenty of good wine shops in Barcelona with great prices. We had 7 bottles, paid for 5 corkage fees. For the people who bought liquor from duty free shops, they were taken and stored until the end of the cruise. For the wine, they paid corkage. The only free corkage fees were if you went on a HAL excursion. You can't bring liquor in the ship and drink it anywhere, only wine. They gave you back your liquor when your cruise was done.

Our group of 50 tried all sorts of ways to get wine and liquor on the ship! Unless you are willing to smuggle, I didn't see a way to do it. Every time we got back from port, there was a pile of liquor and wine being confiscated.

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Our final night on the ship has arrived. We weren't sure if we were going to stay in Venice for the evening, but our group wanted to have one final dinner together in the MDR. We all couldn't believe our cruise was over. The 1st few days moved slowly, but the last 8 have zipped by. I can see why many people on the ship are staying for the next leg. We totally could have stayed for another 12 days!

We had our last bottle of Prisoner which we brought from home and shared with the group. There were several people who had bottles left from their navigator package, so we all shared. For a few, they had too many bottles to drink, so they took their bottles with them.

Dinner was good. It wasn't as fabulous as the gala night, but my quail was large and tasty. I asked for additional reduction sauce, the tart sauce really accentuated the dish. The shrimp salad was also very good.

Service has been excellent in the MDR. Our group hasn't been easy to accommodate with our late arrivals and many requests for extra entrees.

We once again asked for 1 of every dessert. After the first round, we asked for the crisp again. The key is to remind people to wipe their spoons in their napkins after each rotated dessert.

Our last night on the ship was capped off perfectly by an hour long fireworks display celebrating the end of the plague - Fest Del Redentore. I've seen a lot of fireworks, this is by far the best. We went up to the top and watched with awe.

The pictures don't do the fireworks display justice.

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I'm still trying to sift through all my photos and notes. I missed covering our dinner at Canaletto.

We were given a dinner to Canaletto by the our fabulous Casino host - Sinead. I had been gambling every night for about 2 hours, and also playing the Lotto game on a regular basis. I've never hit more than 2 numbers on a 5 line card, but I had a feeling I was getting closer. One night, I had given my lotto ticket about 15 minutes before the drawing, but because the Internet had been on the fritz, Sinead couldn't get my numbers selected and printed. 3/5 of my numbers hit, Sinead felt so bad, she gave us a dinner to Canaletto. We weren't planning on going, since we spending 3 weeks in Italy eating lots of pasta, but our group went to Le Cirque one night, and most of our group were not eating in the MDR.

We had heard mixed reviews on CC regarding Canaletto, we weren't sure what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised. The food and service were very good.

Be warned, the portions are enormous! Even when sharing 1/2 sizes, we couldn't finish our sampling.

We were running out of our wine that we brought on the ship, so we ordered a bottle off the menu. We were happy to see that the wine menu was different than what is offered in the MDR. The wines were limited, but much less expensive. Most of the bottles are Canaletto branded. We ordered the Montepulciano, $22 and it was quite good for the price point.

For our starters, I ordered Chicken and duck pate, which was surprisingly very good. If had a good consistency and nice flavor. We also shared a plate with prosciutto and cheese. The quality of the meat was similar to what we found in Spain. My husband had the salad which came with a large piece of blue cheese. He loved it even more when he sprinkled the reduced balsamic vinegar poured on it. It was already dressed with a raspberry vinaigrette. We used the balsamic that was on the table. The blue cheese was really good. We've requested the crumbled blue cheese previously to add to salads, it's always been an excellent add.

We then ordered 3 pastas to share, we asked for small, 1/2 sizes: shrimp pappardelle, ravioli and gnocchi. The gnocchi usually comes with braised short ribs, but we opted not to have it. All 3 were very good. The sauce on pappardelle and ravioli was a thick Alfredo that was quite tasty. Since w didn't get the ribs on our gnocchi, it only had a light olive oil dressing, which was perfect. We added a bit of Parmesan cheese which added a nice flavor.

By the time our entrees came, we were extremely full. We made our best effort, but couldn't eat all the chicken or bass!! My husband tried his best on the chicken and really enjoyed the dish. I picked at the bass, but it was a bit fishy for me.

Our sever surprised us with a cake for our Anniversary, what a nice touch. Even though I was completely full, I realized I had been in Italy, but haven't had any gelato. I ordered the Pistachio gelato, a tiny scoop was all I needed. I was glad I ordered it, it was quite tasty.

Our towel animal that night was one of the cutest so far. An adorable monkey.

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We made it to Venice after a very rough night at sea. I don't know if it was because we were moving fast or if the weather was bad. I didn't sleep a wink since I had a hard time dealing with motion. I prepared myself by bringing ginger chews, dramamine, queasy drops and seabands. I used all, and even slept in seabands. It was just to hard to sleep. Luckily, besides the 1st night, we didn't have much of a motion issue.

I had a late start to Venice, but my husband got up early to explore the People Mover and Waterbus situation. We brought 2 huge suitcases, rollerbag, backpack and a computer bag. We had to try to bring one of the large suit cases a day early. We were going to dock in Venice for a night and then check out tomorrow. There was no way we were going to be able to haul it all.

The People Mover was about 2€ but didn't move you all that far. The Water Bus was pretty easy to use. The pickup was about a 10 minute easy walk from the port. It was 7€ per person and 3€ for our suitcase. Much better than the 100€ they wanted to charge for a private water taxi from the port to our Hotel, the Westin Europa. Anytime we mentioned our hotel, people would jack up the prices. I guess when the minimum room is 475€ a night, they figure you can afford anything. I paid with points and wasn't going to be fleeced.

The drop off from the water bus is conveniently located right near St Mark's Square (San Marcos). From the port, I would recommend taking the bus into Venice, then walking back. It's about 30-40mins to walk.

Waterbus coming into the dock. It's a great little ride

Our first day in Venice was amazing, but uber crowded since there was about 200,000 people I town to celebrate the Festa Del Redentore. The end of the plague. Boats and people like up all over Venice to see a magnificent display of fireworks. Lucky for us, the best views will be on the ship.

Waterbus drops you off a few minutes from St Marks:

Everyone has to have a Bellini in Venice. We stumbled across a wonderful little spot called Osteria Antico Dolo. Harry's Bar charges 20€, here, it's 6€!

The best rated pizza in Venice, and #18 on tech Trip Advisor list is Antico Forna. We picked up the thick pizza (slow rising) it was the best we've ever had and 3.90€ a slice with free wifi.

Stumbled across the most amazing gentlemen playing classical pieces on water glasses. It stopped me in my tracks

Gondola rides are a set price at 80€ and it was a mad house trying to queue to get one

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Next March, I will be on a b2b. shipboard accounts, casino winnings and chips--and no doubt lots of other things I can't think of since I have never done it before. What has been your experience?

On the Eurodam, all money stored on your room card bank - slots and poker had to be cashed out 2 nights before our cruise ended. The casino wasn't open when we docked for our overnight in Venice. You could keep your chips since they don't change the chips. But, anything electronic needed to be physically cashed out.

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Thanks everyone! I am going to try a pinnacle lunch. It's on my bucket

 

Unfortunately, in DD's words, breakfast disappointed. It came at the late end of our requested time. The coffee and tea were good and hot. DD ordered eggs Benedict which came for both of us, were hard and were not hot. The bacon was nice and crispy but my milk for my cereal was warm from being on the delivery cart so long. She got her orange juice (warm) but my grapefruit juice was replaced with a grapefruit. Now I wouldn't have minded that except the fruit wasn't well cut. I don't care for being sprayed in the face, chest and hair by recalcitrant fruit just because I don't have the right tools to extract its flesh! Never mind, as DD also said, at least we are not starving children from anywhere.

 

That worked fine as we had an MDR reservation for 6:00. There were lots of very well dressed children and many women in sparkles both long and short. But I would have to say most people just dressed nicely but not fancy. It wasn't until we were getting ready to clear out that we saw more gowns, some tuxes and some very fancy suits. Even later, we slipped out for cookies and cheese at the Lido which was supposed to be open til 10. By 9:00 only cookies and cheese as well as the coffee station were still open. However, there were many very nicely dressed people in the Canaletto, even a couple of tuxes, and some gowned people swept by on their way to somewhere else. So it looks like the fanciest crowd comes out later.

 

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Sad to hear they haven't fixed the breakfast issue. My husband picked up breakfast every morning in the Lido, but I preferred ordering room service. It was hit and miss. My grapefruit also attacked me one day! Most of the time, the food came cold or the order was wrong. [emoji107]🏼

We weren't on the ship early enough to catch the 6pm MDR diners, so I never saw what people were wearing. I would say our 8:15am seating was a pretty well dressed group. Many long gowns, dark suits and tuxes. After dinner, many would go to dance at BB King to dance it up. Hope you get to dance a bit, they are a great band!

Looking forward to reading more. I'm still behind on sifting through my notes!

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Man this thread sure is making our six week wait seem like forever. Can't wait to roll into Venice and board the Eurodam. Kotor is beautiful can't wait to see it. Thanks again for all the great pictures and info.

Kotor was my husband's favorite stop. We will definitely be back. Be ready to leave the ship as soon as it socks so you can squeeze every bit of the city.

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I have the United Club Visa - it's $450 a year, but well worth it. It covers almost everything traditional travel insurance would cover. I've used it several times when I've had cancelled, delayed flights or lost baggage. Along with excellent travel insurance, I get two free bags (50lbs) checked free and complimentary Club Lounge access all around the world.

Here are some highlights taken from a site I use to compare cards and FF programs: milecards.com

Emergency medical evacuation. If you travel more than 100 miles from home and for more than 5 but less than 60 days, and charge the transportation there with the card, you will be eligible for reimbursement for emergency evacuation due to illness or injury not covered by your personal medical insurance. This includes you, your spouse, and children under 18 (25 if they are full time students) whose are traveling with you and whose tickets are purchased using the card. If you are hospitalized more than 8 days, you can get airfare in economy class reimbursed for a friend or loved one to be at your bedside. Repatriation of remains is also covered up to $1,000.

Lost luggage reimbursement. $3,000 in reimbursement for lost luggage and contents when checked with a carrier. You must purchase the ticket with the card. Limited coverage for jewelry, fur, and other items.

Lost luggage reimbursement. $3,000 in reimbursement for lost luggage and contents when checked with a carrier. You must purchase the ticket with the card. Limited coverage for jewelry, fur, and other items.

Roadside assistance. Up to $50 per event, up to 4 times per year, including battery boost, flat tire service, fuel delivery, towing, and lockout assistance. Call 1-866-359-5402 for assistance.

Travel accident insurance. $500,000 in coverage for accidents during travel that involve loss of life, limb, sight, speech, or hearing while traveling on a common carrier ticket purchased with the card. This is not coverage for accidents that occur beyond the transportation portion of the trip.

Baggage delay benefit. $100 per day up to $300 for essential items that need purchasing in the event of a delay in baggage arrival. This excludes item like contact lenses, dentures, jewelry, cameras, and others.

Trip cancellation / interruption. Up to $10,000 reimbursement if you must cancel or cut short a trip due to death, illness, or injury of the cardholder or an immediate family member which a physician declares will prevent the cardholder from traveling on a trip purchased with the card. This is for the non refundable portion of a ticket only. Inability to make a trip due to hazardous weather also qualifies.

Trip delay coverage. $500 toward expenses like food and lodging if the ticket you purchase with the card incurs a delay of m0re than 12 hours or requires an overnight stay. This includes yourself, spouse, and children under 22 years old as long as the ticket was purchased using the card.

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We needed to figure out the logistics on how to effectively get off the ship and get to our hotel in Venice, we knew Tom would show us the way. He did a Venice overview for about 45 minutes to a packed audience. He explained that we could take the water bus (7.5€) or water taxis (90€+). He also covered some great history and exposed us to places we didn't previously read about. Always informative!

It was the staff's goodbye to us and Venice mask night in the MDR. I dropped by our table to tip our servers and say goodbye, since we weren't sure if we were going to eat dinner when we are docked in Venice. The staff passed out Venice carnival masks, a nice touch.

We headed to dinner at the Tamarind. The food was plentiful and extremely tasty. The service wasn't what we were used to, including having to bus our own tables and having a plate of food dropped on me. But, the excellent food made up for it. We shared all of our plates, which made it easy to indulge and try things we normally wouldn't choose. For appetizers, we had the satay, duck crepes, and tempura shrimp. To round out the starters, they gave us fish crackers. I loved them! Just like how my mom makes them.

For our intermezzo, we shared a smorgasbord of sashimi, nigiri and a lobster roll. We usually eat sushi twice a week at home, this was just as good as some of the restaurants we frequent.

For our entrees, we shared the lobster, shrimp and duck dishes. There were 4 of us, but we originally orders 3 entrees. After tasting the lobster, we had to have another! I didn't like how our waitress told me there would be a charge for an "extra entree" I had to remind her we ordered only 3.

We were stuffed beyond stuffed by time the dessert menu came, but we had heard about the giant fortune cookie and chocolate desserts. We also ordered the lychee green tea ice cream to share. The fortune cookie didn't disappoint!

Enjoyable dinner with one of my favorite Veuve bubblies with a lovely couple.

Even though we were experiencing the roughest night on the boat, the rocking didn't stop our group from trying to win some of our money back in the casino. We were losing our shirts and the ship was rocking and rolling hard. We had to call it a night

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Great photos of Kotor - I take it from your photos that you docked instead of tendered? Was that what your itinerary originally said you'd be doing? Just wondering as we have a quick turn around in Kotor in September to get on a private excursion and it's looking like Eurodam is increasingly docking there even if the itinerary says tender which is great.

Thanks! We docked. It was the closest dock we had during the cruise. It was like we stepped off the gangway and until the city. Super convenient. This was helpful since we only had a few short hours in Montenegro. We were told we had a short day because Venice was going to close its waterways for the Festa Redentore and we couldn't get Venice if we didn't hey before 8am the next day.

Here's how close we were:

I was glad we didn't tender. We have several tenders during the trip and they were very uncomfortable. Super hot and rocked quite a bit. The worst part of the cruise was the tenders. One time, we waited almost 30 minutes on the pier. Horrible

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Homework? What homework? We knew nothing about cruise ships and the art of selecting the right cabin on our first cruise. We were happy to be able to get on the ship.

 

 

 

Just not sure why posters are so quick to criticize these folks over their choice of cabins or how much they spent to get on the ship. Just think back to those years when you may have been commencing your married life with not much in terms of assets/income but with a lot of anticipation of a whole future ahead of you.

Well said. I don't understand why people on this board are so quick to justify bad service or poor communication. We just finished our first cruise and I am so thankful for finding CC, but I can say out of the 50 people in my group, no one had ever heard of CC and really had only the word of our part time TA to help us. I was much more prepared than anyone else on our cruise. Anytime we called or emailed HAL, the answers were all different.

Something similar like his happened to me at the Le Meridian in Chiang Mai. They decided to remodel the room next door to us. After a long day out, coming back to the smell of paint and the sounds of drilling were not good. I called the front desk and and within minutes they moved our room and upgraded us. I don't understand why people who cruise think it's ok to have bad rooms or unfortunate things happen to them, just because they got a deal or were upgraded. We paid $450 a night for our cruise, much more than hotels we stay in. No matter what the price I've paid at a nice hotel, with or without an upgrade, when there's issues, I've always received prompt help. I've received the same service at a hotel where I scored a deal at $150 a night vs times where I've paid $250+ a night, or when I've used points.

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Thank you for your reply.

If you are ever in the Eurodam, Jeffrey is a fabulous Lido host. Our group had 4 cabanas, but we were rarely there. But, every time we were, he went out of his way to ensure we had a great time. He was quick with offering chocolate covered strawberries, fresh ice, champagne and water. He would bring us extra Evian sprays before we even asked.

It was well worth the price of the cabana.

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Short stop in Kotor, Montenegro (8-11am). My husband woke up at 5:30am to catch the sail in through the Fjords. He said it was one of the highlights of our cruise.

Our friends had been to Montenegro previously and let us know about the incredibly beautiful, and sometimes challenging hike up the Mountain. It's a long hike that can be brutal in the heat. The group decided it was best to hit the mountain early before the heat set in.

We started the day at 8am and hiked up to the Kotorsk Bedemi Cattaro Fortresse (Kotor Fortress). The hike takes you up this majestic mountain on an old mule track. We huffed and puffed along tricky hike, but it was well worth it for the incredible views. It's about an hour up and back if you stop to take photos. There's only one way up and back, so you have to negotiate with the people coming up and down the hill.

Great view of the Eurodam and Kotor

We wandered through town and hit a wine bar - Old Winery Bar on the way back. Inexpensive drinks and great location.

When we got back on the ship, we were exhausted. We had been invited to a farewell brunch, but we couldn't muster up the strength. We also wanted to catch Location Guide Tom's commentary on the sail out of the Fjord. We ordered room service. I had my trusty club sandwich and seafood chowder, my husband ordered the chicken sandwich with a side of potato salad. My sandwich and his were great. The soup was pretty horrible. Nonetheless, it was such a treat to sit out on our verdandah and listen to Tom. I wish there were speakers on the verandah. It was hard to hear I stood near the door and turned on the TV to hear better. I also wish we had the option of switching a button on and listening to the on board announcements. I think we can switch to a channel, but by time I get the tv on, the message is over.

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Am enjoying reading your review.

Thanks for sharing your photos.

You stated that Champagne is served in the Cabana, do you know which brand of Champagne is served?

It's their Bon Voyage champagne. It wasn't great, but a nice bonus. You get 2 glasses a day per cabana. We tipped our server well and didn't spend a ton of time in the cabana, so he would bend the rules now and again and give us a few more.

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Just got off the Eurodam and they had a guy and a girl that were doing a dueling piano gig. It was painful to listen. Most of the songs they had to read off iPads and they were off key. They did know a set of songs that they would play over you night. I gambled every night and had to block them out. Disappointing. I never caught their names

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It was 35 MPH winds, so the original tender directly to old town was scrapped this morning. Many excursions were cancelled. It was rough! The staff scrambled to try to rectify the situation. Some excursions were cancelled or rescheduled. The original tender was perfect for us, this change of plans was a bit of a bummer.

You had two options, you could tender and then take a bus that HAL arranged to take you into old town, or wait until 1pm. We were told we were going to swap spots with the Costa, and we would dock by 1pm. Unfortunately, we didn't act silly dock until 2. While we were on our way to the port, we saw several tenders following the ship.

We loaded up into buses around 2:10. It was a very slow and traffic filled ride to old town. Our driver said there's usually 3 or 4 ships, today, it was 8!

It was extremely crowded all through out Dubrovnik, it was also very hot. But, we decided to brave the long walk and we started on our walk around old town around the city walls. I'm glad we went - the views were well worth it.

After our long walk around the city, we had read about a wine bar and a "hole in the wall" cliff bar from Rick Steve's Mediterranean Port Guide. We found D'Vino wine bar pretty easily. Our group took over the bar and were served by a gracious Anita. Huge wine selection with good nibbles.

We then headed to the bar that was literally carved out of the city's wall called Buzo. The bar only takes cash and is a little over priced, but watching the young men try to brave the challenge of cliff diving was quite a scene.

Dubrovnik is a fairly expensive place, compared to our previous ports. They also don't take he Euro. If you go, get krona from an ATM and brace for the prices. We loved it regardless.

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Have a great time on the Eurodam! We just left and sad to go. While on the ship we heard about the Istanbul cancelation. People were disappointed, but also relieved. The Internet is pretty non-existent. They did a major upgrade right before we left and it created a lot of problems. Hopefully, they will fix it soon! I'm still way behind on my posts and it's no longer a "LIVE" thread. Safe travels.

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What I did differently on our first cruise:

1) Rarely took the elevator. We maybe used it 5 times, after very long days hiking.

2) Dinners: Ordered of everything and shared. Several nights, we ordered an entree for ourself to eat, then an entree to share and pass. I would have never tried some dishes, but after a share piece, I was glad someone else did. We always ordered one of each dessert to share. We passed clockwise

3) Requested fresh ice every evening. It was really nice to have ice every day after a long day out and about

4) Used an order the door toiletry organizer. I picked up a medium sized over the door organizer. It was a great way to save space in the bathroom

5) I went out of my way to personally thank and write "Let us know" cards to recognize the exceptional staff

6) I've never used so many wipes and anti bacterial gels in my life! I'm glad I did, since I'm prone to pick up bugs. Never had a sniffle.

7) Hit happy hour - each and everyday day! I usually only drink a glass of wine with dinner. We always had a bottle at dinner and hen hit the 11pm Happy Hour. Buy 1, get 1 for $1 is too hard to pass up!

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Next Stop: Corfu, Greece. We attended Location Guide Tom's port overview the night before. Every night a 7:30pm he does a 20-30 minute presentation in the Queen's Lounge on the next port. We typically arrive at 7:30pm, but we've never been able to get a seat. It's packed! We grab a drink and stand in the back. Tom recommended that we rent a car to get to be able to explore the beach. It's 50-60€ to rent a car for the day that includes insurance. Otherwise, it's a 60-90€ one way trek to the beach on the other side of the island. He told us it was a super easy drive, so we went for it.

When we docked, you can take a bus to the terminal, or walk. I opted to walk and it was a quick 5 minute walk. The port terminal is a large pink building that houses the car rental offices. I tried to book a car the night before, but it was too close to the reservation time. There's Hertz, Royal and one other company that you can rent from. I had read about Royal from TripAvisor and it received good reviews. The Hertz line was enormous. Tom told us we needed to go super early to get a car since there weren't that many available, he was right. It was slim pickings. Luckily our group got their right at 8am and we picked up a van and 2 cars. For all 3 vehicles (including a 10 person van), it was 270€. Great deal.

We headed off to the beach. It was a 45 minute drive to the beach, a bit hairy in some spots and not exactly as easy as we were lead to believe, but we made it. We were the first to arrive at 9am to Glyfada beach. Tom had recommended this little beach to us. We rented first row beach chairs (3€ each) and umbrellas (2€). The beach area we chose was right below Glyfada Beach Restaurant which had cold drinks and free wifi that you could catch waterside.

We had a fabulous Greek lunch at the restaurant with incredible views.

They were zippy quick with our drinks and food, but when we needed the bill, they were slammed and really couldn't handle the crowd.

We left the beach around 2:30pm to explore Old Town Corfu. We zipped through the main market place and found one of the silver stores Tom had recommended - Silver Star. I picked up a Greek coin that had been fashioned into a pendant.

Photos of Old Town and its Forts

Main shopping area

Fort

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Our itinerary is jam packed with amazing stops. We will need a vacation from our vacation. I'm glad we are doing another 3 weeks in Italy after our cruise.

We out had 1 sea day, and we loved it! If we take a cruise again, we will look for an itinerary that has 2 sea days. It was luxurious to order room service (they are getting my orders right now). I've been ordering a bunch of breakfast items, but requesting only 1 piece. It's been great to have my slice of a French toast and 1/2 of an Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon in the morning.

I had great intentions of hitting all the sea day activities. They had flower arranging classes, black jack tournaments, bingo, etc. I didn't make any of them! But, my husband caught the beer tasting session and he loved it. 4 beers for $12.50. Our normal bartender at the Billboard, Carlos was instructing the class. He gave history and background on each beer. There were 9 guys taking the class and they had a great time, Paul says it was his favorite activity in the ship.

I, on the other hand, spent a few hours lounging in our Cabana. Our group rented all but 2 Cabanas on the Lido, it was nice to have a large section for us to rest and spend time together. I also love that they bring you champagne, fresh chocolate covered strawberries and Evian mist.

The Final Gala night of our cruise was the best dinner of our entire cruise. It was another night of our group and the majority of the MDR dressing to the "nines" as Cruise Director Simon says. We have the late seating and I would say almost everyone (including the men) were dressed well. Most wore suits, about 15% wore tuxes, the rest wore long sleeved collared shirts. We maybe saw a handful of people in smart casual. But, no one cared really what you wore. It was nice to see all the pretty dresses and the men looking sharp.

All of our favorites were on the menu and I'm embarrassed to say I had just about everything on the menu. The escargot was cooked perfectly, I had to dip my bread into the garlic butter!

The lobster ravioli was delicious. Yet another tasty pasta dish. The lobsters were steamed perfectly. The severs took the tails out of the shell and poured drawn butter on the meat. I had first only ordered the "surf" (2) without the "turf" but as the night went on and I saw others ordering more, I had to indulge. I think I ate 2 more tails! There was also a very flavorful Asian duck over yellow noodles. I couldn't stop eating! Everything was scrumptious!

Entree and Dessert Menu

We ended the night dancing at BB Kings. Super fun, talented band. The dance floor was packed. We've had several fun nights of dancing. They play a wide variety of songs and really work hard to get the crowd going. The dance floor has been fairly full every night of the cruise.

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Whew I should be fine only 6'4". Thanks.

At 6'7", international travel has been tricky. He was actually surprised how well sized everything was on the ship. He fit comfortably in the bed, shower and bathroom. He didn't fit in the tub, but we are used to that. [emoji16]

You should be fine.

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We stopped on the waters of Giardini Naxos and took a tender into the Naxos Cruise terminal at 11:45am.

We picked up tickets for the Interbus to take us to Taormina at the dock, there's a sign telling you to go to the booth. But, you can purchase tickets on the bus. It's 3€ for a rountrip bus to Taormina and then back to the port. Our driver spoke a little English and was quite humorous. It's a large, nicely air conditioned bus. It looks like a charter bus, rather than a public bus. There are aggressive Hop-On-Off sales agents all around the port, but from what I heard from people the buses aren't that convenient and often full. It's also 20€. 3€ for a 20 minute drive to the top where Taormina

Walked through town and stopped by D'Amore which was recommended by the Eurodam's Location Guide Tom.

We have attended his nightly presentations and have found him incredibly helpful. He has great slides and a humorous delivery.

The theater is the most in tact theater in Europe. Well worth the 10€ entrance fee

We finished up at a restaurant right by the funicular with great views of the beach below.

We took the bus back and spent a little time at the beach at Giardini Naxos. We were able to access a nice part of the beach by buying a few drinks at Janetta. Reasonably priced.

Nancy

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The MDR staff went out of their way to make sure Paul's birthday dinner was a nice one. The birthday song was much more fun than the typical birthday song we are used to. The pasta was a hit again and the fish was quite good tonight. The fish in the MDR has been hit and miss.

2005 Cinq Cepages - one of our favorite wines from home.

Birthday boy gets his song

Very tasty birthday cake

Magic Show was really good. The tricks weren't complicated, but he was a great showman

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Slow day for us after Pisa. It's also Paul's birthday!

Slow day for us in Civitavecchia. Most of our group went to Rome for the day to face the gauntlet of hitting all the top spots.

Paul and I opted to rest up, went into the port town and caught up on the world back at home. Posting on-board ship photos and food pics from our glutinous nights and days on the ship.

We found a place with fast wifi, nice staff and inexpensive rose!

Resting up for Paul's birthday evening by hitting up the cabanas on deck. Our group rented 4 and we haven't taken advantage of them

Little welcome back in the room

Birthday card from the ship

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May I ask how tall is your husband ?

 

 

My husband is 6'7" [emoji16]

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