Oceania Nautica Eastern Mediterranean October 13 - 25

SYNOPSIS

We have taken the twelve-day voyage from Venice to Athens aboard the Nautica on October 13 to 25, with pre- and post-cruise on our own. This journey was pleasurable and interesting. The ship was like new and well maintained. The food was good in quality and variety. The service was pleasant and efficient. The itinerary, the main reason for our voyage, was better than expected, as one could choose to walk as much or as little as wanted, and still made the journey well worthwhile. Overall, it was as good as four and a half years ago on board the Regatta.

We only missed Delos (an uninhabited archeological island) due to weather, and the captain managed to tender to Mykonos with great effort. Many ports were of scenic beauty and the cable car ride up Santorini was fascinating. Dubrovnik and Kotor had easily accessible and interesting “old towns”. It was very windy in Crete, and the sailing was rough the night crossing from the Adriatic to the Aegean Seas. Nonetheless, it was the kind of voyage that one should take at least once in a lifetime. We hope, however, that Oceania would be more flexible in its pricing and restrain its fare increases in the future, especially in view of the bad economic situation.

INTRODUCTION

We were quite impressed with our previous Barcelona to Venice voyage aboard the Regatta in April, 2004. We wished to continue from western Mediterranean to the eastern half. The fare increased from $2,700 (excluding air fare) for 14 days ($193 per diem) to $3,700 (excluding air allowance) for 12 days ($308 per diem) for the same basic balconied cabin, an increase of 12.4% per year compounded, twice the average rate of increase for the cruise industry from 2004 to 2008. We understood that as a new cruise line in 2004, the initial low price might be a “price leader”, but it should have more than “caught up” by now.

In fact, after the 2004 Regatta voyage, we took a land trip (by air) to Japan and Hong Kong in 2006, and a Panama Canal voyage aboard the Silver Shadow at the end of 2007 (see our report http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=680435 ). Then in May of this year, we suddenly had the exceptional deal on Celebrity Century to the British Isles which was simply too good to give up (see our report http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=785601&highlight=meow%21 ). Having gone on these trips made it economically difficult for us to entertain this eastern Mediterranean voyage.

However, since we had already booked this cruise in Summer, 2007, and had been looking forward to it for more than a year, besides doing substantial research on it (including asking many questions on this board), we decided that it would be too sad to forego this opportunity on price considerations alone. We stretched our paws and went on as planned.

PRE-CRUISE

While many people can afford to pay (or use points to upgrade) for business class trans-oceanic flights, 80+% of the seats on commercial airliners are economy class. As only ordinary cats, unless it was more or less a free upgrade (as in the case of the Celebrity British Isles cruise), we were simply not able to afford anything but the cheapest economy ticket (booked through Oceania’s included air, which overall saved us several hundred dollars from the West coast). As we remembered that “an economy seat is what gets you from point A to point B, safely and hopefully on time, it is not to be enjoyed”, we endured our lot with the vast majority of the people. We took KLM on our way to Venice. The service was good, the food was better than North American airlines, and golf-carts/wheelchairs were provided (no problems as experienced by some other posters on this board). However, there were two mishaps.

One flight attendant overturned a teapot and poured the (fortunately not hot) tea onto the female cat’s clothes. Appalled, she didn’t say anything and only gave the female cat paper towels to blot up on her own. Not wanting to make a scene, we kept quiet. A passenger sitting right beside us was coughing with dripping nose all the way. When people spend thousands of dollars to go on a trip, they are not going to cancel just because they caught the flu/cold. So they spread germs to those around them, who in turn will spread on. It is already quite a miracle that the world hasn’t seen a lot more pandemics than it does. Thank God that we did not develop any symptoms.

When we finally arrived at Venice airport, we didn’t have the ability (especially with luggage) to walk long distances to take public transportation. So we took the water taxi to our hotel, which charged us 95 euros for perhaps a twenty minutes ride, no discounts. So we tried to save by only eating the hotel included breakfast, spaghetti meat sauce and take out sandwiches (which were good enough) while in Venice.

… to be continued

Thanks for this posting Meow. We got off the Nautica on Oct 13 in Venice, the day you embarqued from there.

Had much the same experience - very pleasant memorable cruise with exceptional service. We got into Delos no problem but it was Santorini we missed due to high winds.

We took the Vaporetto to our hotel in Venice due to the high cost of a water taxi!! Agree with you that the price of the "O" cruise makes it financially difficult. We certainly enjoyed our balcony though!

Looking forward to part II of your post.

Dave

Thank you kindly for your comments. We will post part by part over the next week to ten days. Please stay tuned .. meow!

Thank you kindly for your comments. We will post part by part over the next week to ten days. Please stay tuned .. meow!

Keep it coming meow (at your own pace) - it's always fun to read a report and travel vicariously.

continued from above …

THE SHIP

Oceania’s literature showed the Nautica had been dry docked and refurbished last year. In any case, it looked like new and very clean. It was presumably nearly identical to the Regatta we were on in 2004. The Nautica Show Lounge, however, seemed to have a better sound and more elaborate lighting system (perhaps someone can tell us whether those systems have been redesigned?)

Just like the Regatta, the public areas were nice and elegant. There were numerous automatic hand sanitizer dispensers throughout the ship. This was much appreciated. However, these dispensers did not always work properly, and might need more maintenance. The ship sailed quite well, without much resonance/vibration, and since Oceania itineraries were mostly port intensive, there would not be much need for higher sailing speeds.

THE CABIN

Those interested in a detailed description and measurements of the standard balconied cabin please read our previous report http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=16812 There were some minor changes though.

While the balcony flooring of the Regatta in 2004 was in the form of a removable teak mat which could be “rolled up”, the new Nautica one was a one-piece solid teak board placed on the metal floor. This should be considered an improvement. The Nautica’s furnishings felt a bit darker in colour than what we remembered from the Regatta. This looked a bit more elegant. The cabin television set, while still somewhat awkwardly placed in the old cabinet slot, had been changed to a 23 inch LCD set. There was still no minibar for our lowly white-carded category B cabin. The only telephone in the cabin had been moved from the wall (outside the washing closet on the Regatta) to the desk on the Nautica.

We all knew that the shower stall was miniscule, and the plastic curtain kept hugging us, drawn inward by the draught created by the running water. However, we should appreciate that the entire interior of the washing closet was barely the size of an ordinary whirlpool tub at 3ft x 5ft, and with cut corners. Within this tiny space contained the shower stall, the counter and sink, a small storage beside a mirror, and a very efficient toilet bowl. This toilet bowl was actually more comfortable than the one on the Silver Shadow, and it flushed much more completely. We were thinking how nice it would have been to have an efficiency private washroom like this in those student dormitory rooms ages ago in our young days!

THE WEATHER

The weather was very nice during the first week. The temperature stayed close to 70*F throughout. The sea was so calm that first week that we were counting our blessings. However, it changed as the ship sailed from the Adriatic Sea to the Aegean Sea. The day we docked at Crete was very windy and rather annoying, taking the fun out of walking those otherwise nice seaside tourist streets. It was so strong especially by the side of the ship that we could hardly stand there for any length of time.

We were lucky to have a day’s reprieve when we anchored and tendered at Santorini. It would have been a great loss if we missed this island. The wind was moderate enough that we could enjoy our cable car ride to the hill top (cable cars would have to stop running in strong wind). However, by that night, the waves were high and the female cat vomited several times before she took her Bonamine (meclazine hydrochloride), while the male cat made do with Dramamine (dimenhydrinate). It would have been better if the staff could have forewarned passengers (over the television or public address system) to be prepared to take medication ahead of time.

The day we docked in Kusadasi was also windy, but not as bad as in Crete. On the last day, the ship failed to anchor at Delos, but since this was an uninhabited island with only archeological significance, most passengers didn’t seem to mind. Then the captain really made a great effort to anchor at Mykonos, he tried once and failed, he tried a second time and barely succeeded. To be sure, he sent two tenders out to explore (without passengers) and then finally concluded that it was safe enough for passengers to go ashore. We cordially appreciated his effort and cautiousness in making the decision (perhaps that earlier very lengthy thread on this board complaining about the cancellations of tendering ports might have been a heavy psychological burden on him). Everyone left Mykonos a couple of hours early as the waves got worse closer to dusk.

Somehow, on the cabin television, they did not show the local real-time temperature and wind speed, as Silversea ships did. Oceania ships must also have such data and could easily add them on the cabin television information channel. We believe that this will be useful to passengers on deciding what to wear, and what kind of “ride” to expect (sea swell data will also be appreciated).

… to be continued

Meow

Thank you so much for your very well thought out and written as well as detailed review. I await the next '.4installment!

Paulchili and PaulaJK: Thank you kindly for your encouragement.

Continued from above …

THE FOOD

We were pleased that there were plenty of tables for two, and there had been no problem finding one in any of the restaurants. We sat by ourselves all the time, occasionally at a table for four in the Terrace/Tapas buffet restaurant or the Poolside Grill when a two-top was not available. As cats, we liked to eat quietly. Though we did meow with fellow passengers from time to time on board the ship, we avoided having to put up a smile and find interesting topics for polite conversations for hours at a time as required if you sat with others at a large table.

The quality and variety of the buffet breakfasts and lunches were comparable to included buffet breakfasts at five-star hotels on land. We particularly appreciated the fact that while passengers chose what to eat, the attendants, not passengers, would pick up the chosen food and put it on the plate. This substantially cut down on potential cross contamination among passengers. Oceania should be praised for that.

We preferred the freedom in Tapas for dinner, its menu was often similar though not identical to the main restaurant for that night. One night, they actually had several barbequed suckling pigs and sliced them for passengers as requested right in front of you. They also cooked pasta individually as per your order and your choice of ingredients. Such flexibility was really desirable.

With only the basic white card, we had only one sitting each at the Polo Grill and Toscana. Both were very good. We had lobster tail once, and surf and turf the other time. The quality in these specialty restaurants was a step above the others.

We ate dinner only twice in the main restaurant, deliberately choosing the two nights with free caviar and foie gras. The caviar looked nice and typical, however, in the month, it felt somewhat “mushy” rather than the feeling of granules like other caviar we had tried before. For curiosity, perhaps someone can tell us which species of sturgeon the caviar came from? The foie gras was good as expected.

Overall, the food was very good and refined, and we were well satisfied. In all restaurants, the waiters and waitresses were eager and efficient, collecting and replacing used plates and utensils quickly. In the case of course by course dinners, the courses came rapidly as we wished and there was no prolonged waiting, which was nice.

Room service was so-so, delivered on a plastic tray. Perhaps people in suites would get fine dining in their rooms with table cloth, etc. (as would be the case for everybody on Silversea ships, for example).

THE CREW / SERVICE

Crew members were from various backgrounds, many from Eastern Europe, some from South America and from the Philippines. They were all courteous and cheerful, and they treated us well all through the entire voyage, including the morning we were disembarking. One by one, they came to say goodbye and wished us a happy journey home. As we did not ask for any service beyond the usual, we just paid the tips automatically included in our bill (and besides, we couldn’t tip individually all who helped us).

Our cabin was kept clean, and they worked well around our comings and goings, so we seldom had to wait for our cabin to be cleaned. They were polite and friendly enough. However, they only left us the one set of soap (one oval and one cubic “house brand”) plus the bottled lotions for the entire voyage of twelve days, not changing them even when they were so small as to be difficult to hold on to or nearly empty towards the end. We did not say anything as it didn’t really matter to us.

THE PASSENGERS

As far as we know, our voyage was nearly full (unlike Silversea, for example, they did not distribute the “passengers manifest”). The vast majority of passengers looked in their sixties and seventies. Some were in their fifties and some in their eighties. Few were outside those age brackets. There were hardly any children at all.

At the Oceania Club meeting (for past passengers), the Nautica lounge was only half filled (likely substantially less than a half were repeat customers. By Oceania’s rules, passengers would get a bronze pin by their fifth voyage (say 70 days on average), and a silver pin by their tenth voyage. Of the 340 couples on the ship, only one was awarded their silver pin and half a dozen either already had or (one) was given their bronze pin on this voyage. As Oceania had been in existence for five years, so only 2% on average sailed on this line once (average two weeks) a year, and 0.3% sailed twice (average four weeks) a year. The ceremony was relatively low keyed with short speeches and nods or smiles (no parading of the recipients and entire ship staff as on some other cruise lines)

Compared to Silversea, for example, on our Panama Canal voyage, with only some 150 couples present, taking into account its much longer 14 years of existence, by statistical average of the numbers we got in their Venetian Society meeting on board the Shadow, some 8% cruised on that line two weeks per year (200 days) while three couples (2%) four weeks per year (400 days), including one couple with more than six weeks per year (600+ days). So relatively, the repeat-frequency rate of Oceania was not as high as one might expect, given the apparent loyalty of many posters on this Oceania column. Perhaps some of you might like to comment on this.

P.S. A cruise line which has been in existence longer can have more chance to draw loyal passengers, but at the same time, it will have more difficulty to keep them repeating all those years!

… to be continued

I'm enjoying your installments.

Keep them coming.

Michael

 

At the Oceania Club meeting (for past passengers), the Nautica lounge was only half filled (likely substantially less than a half were repeat customers. By Oceania’s rules, passengers would get a bronze pin by their fifth voyage (say 70 days on average), and a silver pin by their tenth voyage. Of the 340 couples on the ship, only one was awarded their silver pin and half a dozen either already had or (one) was given their bronze pin on this voyage. As Oceania had been in existence for five years, so only 2% on average sailed on this line once (average two weeks) a year, and 0.3% sailed twice (average four weeks) a year. The ceremony was relatively low keyed with short speeches and nods or smiles (no parading of the recipients and entire ship staff as on some other cruise lines)

 

Perhaps it was just your cruise that they did not have many repeat cruisers attaining a pin level.

We have seen as few as 5 couples receive Bronze pin on a sailing with 450 repeat cruisers.

It is just the luck of the draw I would not read too much into it

You also have the option of not being presented with your pin at the party... you can receive it discretely by having it sent to your cabin.

People receiving their pins also get to met the Captain & other officers before hand so no need to Parade them around

Continued from above …

VENICE

We spent a few days post-cruise in Venice in 2004, so we had an idea on what it was like. This time we again stayed at the Duodo Palace Hotel, a local four-star which was good enough for us, and recommended by posters on this board back then. This hotel had no restaurant of its own, other than the included buffet breakfast, but there were lots of restaurants in the vicinity. We ate take-out sandwiches as well as lots of spaghetti meat sauce as it was cheap and tasted good. Italian spaghetti had more texture than North American, which tended to be softer. The sauce also tasted a bit different, which was quite interesting. One of the restaurants, the Piccolo Martini, was both good and relatively cheap.

The hotel was a short walk from the main shopping streets and the famous San Marco Square. We went there several times. There were restaurants with small orchestras playing outside close to their doors, and people could sit at nearby (provided) tables to eat while listening to the music. A cup of ice cream sitting down would be 8.5 euros, while if you bought it take-out from the same counter, it would only be 2.5 euros. We naturally chose the latter and stood there to eat. When we got tired, we would sit on those marble steps instead of pay “cover charge” -- you got to listen to the same music and feel the same atmosphere for a lot less! We bought a couple of postcards to send back home to ourselves, and a couple of magnets which couldn’t be purchased outside of Venice, those being the best and cheapest souvenirs.

Outside San Marco Square, on the side close to the water, there was a long street with stalls on the shore side selling everything from food to souvenirs. On a Sunday (our stay included one Sunday), there were lots of people and street music. As there were no cars in this district, the only form of transportation was our own two feet. We walked what we could, pausing to rest from time to time, and it was very interesting.

For folks with more means, we would recommend the Hotel Bauer or the Hotel Luna Baglioni, which appeared very nice and were at the centre of everything. Gondola rides were 80 euros for half an hour, with a standard 11 metre long gondola which could sit four passengers. It would take you from the Hotel Bauer around the main canal, branching into some side canals and finally back to the original landing.

Despite its being a beautiful, interesting and romantic city, Venice had one drawback – there were mosquitoes which probably bred in the still waters of the side canals. Both cats got stung in the paws and the face. Some of the resulting red “pimples” got itchy, and it could take weeks to completely heal. So bring some insect repellant with you, and perhaps Oceania should warn their passengers of this.

ROVINJ

The ship did not leave till late afternoon the next day. So we considered this first day a sea day. It arrived at Rovinj, Croatia in the morning of the third day and we tendered ashore. It was a small town with hotels, banks, supermarkets and no sign left of the civil war more than a decade ago. There were just several streets and shops around the sea shore. The local currency was the kuna, and would you believe it, many shops refused to take euros, with some of them actually displaying a no euro sign (like a no stopping sign with the euro symbol in the middle). This was the only town on this voyage to do so. Luckily, ATM machines were readily available, so we could use our cards to withdraw a small amount of kunas for our “mandatory” postcards and magnets!

With perfect weather, we enjoyed roaming around for a couple of hours. We found things here to be unexpectedly expensive, probably with deliberately inflated prices for tourists. A small piece of hand knitting would cost 30 kunas, and even a magnet cost 25 to 50 kunas (1 kuna = 20 cents). Many fellow passengers did not wander far nor stay long, and we went back to the ship.

ANCONA

The next day, we docked at Ancona, an Italian port. We asked the port representative on deck 4 to get us a taxi, she called us one with her mobile phone and one came punctually in half an hour, at a pre-agreed rate of 100 euros for three hours. The elderly driver was a very nice man, but unfortunately he could hardly speak English, so we did the best we could. He took us to a hill top church, and back down closer to shore, where we could see the famous Fincantieri shipyard (where many cruise ships were built) from afar.

He then took us to two pebble / grainy sand beaches, one was pure white while the other rusty in colour. Both looked very nice, with local people angling, and there were some mussels close to the water line. Moreover, at one look-out point atop a hill, we met an Oceania bus excursion group. They paid around $100 per person for four hours, and we felt our private three hours at 100 euros for two people could be a better and more efficient deal had the driver been able to speak workable English (which often depended on luck). Then we went back to the ship.

… to be continued

Meow,

Excellent reading - did not want it to finish.:) So looking forward to the next installments.

 

It's fun to read your reports. I am very opinionated, and I appreciate that you are also. But at the grave risk of offending you, sometimes what you believe Oceania should do for you or provide for you or warn you of simply cracks me up! Oceania should warn you that Venice may have mosquitos? Or that you may get mosquito bites? Or that you should bring insect repellant with you? Or that it could take weeks for a mosquito bite to completely heal? (Guess there are no pharmacies in Venice, Italy:))

When we went for the Panama Canal voyage on the Silver Shadow, they did warn all of us to take with us sun screen and insect repellant! At the end, there weren't many mosquitoes, and we were not bitten.

Meow,

I think it is fruitless for you to keep comparing Oceania with Silversea. I know you were able to find great bargains on Silversea because of discounts but the fact is Silversea is a luxury line no matter what you pay and Oceania is not no matter what you pay. You can shop at Neiman Marcus at Last Call and find big bargains paying no more than you might at Macy's but these are aberrations, not the normal price structure. Neiman's is still Neiman's and Silversea is Silversea. Therefore Oceania will never be the same or provide you with the little differences that make up a luxury product.

Even though Oceania is different from Silversea, it can still warn people of mosquitoes (I was answering the previous poster's comments). Oceania is special in its own ways. Not yet on this thread, I have made comparisons with Celebrity too in the past, since those are the three lines we are familiar with. There are people who may consider moving between a minisuite on Celebrity and a regular cabin on Oceania, or between a minisuite on Oceania and a basic one on Silversea. For these people, such comparisons will be informative. Many people cruise on different segments of the market on different occasions, and cross-segment comparisons will be of interest to them.

I have sailed over 100 days on silversea and over 160 days on Seabourn, several times in and out of Venice. No one has ever warned me about mosquitoes. I really believe this comes under the heading of personal research on ports.

We have not cruised in or out of Venice with any line other than Oceania, so we don't know what other lines do for this particular port. However, mosquitoes is a known problem for Venice: http://www.italyheaven.co.uk/veneto/venice/practicalities.html (which is a Venice tourist information site) and it won't hurt if ANY cruise line warns passengers of this, it saves the passengers from researching so much on their own.

-----------------

Mosquitoes

Venice's lagoon is infamous for its dreaded mosquitoes, zanzare. If you're prone to bites and visiting in summer take some insect repellent or a repelling device with you, or buy them in a local supermarket.

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This time it happened in October! As this board is read by everyone, postings are for new as well as experienced cruisers. So it covers different angles, to be informative to different people.

continued from above …

DUBROVNIK

In 2004, we visited Dubrovnik on our Regatta voyage from Barcelona to Venice. Then we took a taxi tour which took us out of town for a couple of hours, and did not bring us to the old town. This time, we made sure we took a taxi directly from the pier to the old town, for ten euros. This old town was very nice and organized, all inside a surrounding wall. It was not big, but had many restaurants, shops lining one main street, which branched into quite a few side streets.

We walked from the entrance to the end of the main street, and took a look at some of the side streets. We bought some post cards, bookmarks and stamps from the stores, and mailed one back to ourselves at one of those small yellow postal boxes hanging on a wall. We also sat down at one of the street side cafes, had some tea and ice cream and watched people (mostly tourists) walking by. Among them were Oceania excursion groups, with their guides holding up their group identification numbers (there were quite a few groups).

The place was clean and looked well off. We were told that ninety percent of the locals spoke English. There were no signs left of the bitter civil war barely fifteen years ago. Unlike Rovinj, euros were happily accepted by most stores, which apparently depended on the tourist business.

KOTOR

The next day we docked at Kotor, Montenegro. From our cabin balcony on the ship, we could see the spectacular scenery around the old town right in front of us. It was a place of natural beauty. There were several taxis waiting close to the ship, and they wanted 40 euros per hour. As the old town was just steps away from the ship, we did forego the taxis and simply walked into the old town.

The atmosphere was similar but the town was not quite as well laid out as Dubrovnik. The local people were also quite nice, though their English was not as fluent as in Dubrovnik. They insisted on using euros here. (We didn’t know if the euro was their official currency and whether they had been granted European Union membership).

We again sat at a street side café, had a cup of coffee and a bottle of water, which came to 2.66 euros. We gave the waiter 3 euros, and he gave us 50 euro cents back! We went to the local post office close to the town entrance, bought some postcards and stamps and mailed them at the large standing yellow postal box outside. Again, there was no sign of the civil war fought not that long ago. So when people stop fighting and start redevelopment peacefully, there can be good future for everybody.

CORFU

We finally got to Greece. We had been in Corfu in 2004. At the time, the female cat wanted a Greek styled ring but didn’t buy it on the spot, regretting this after she got back to the ship. This time, we tried to make up the loss. However, it was a Sunday, and many shops were closed. We finally settled for a small 18K Byzantine styled gold ring for 150 euros as her consolation prize.

There was no noticeable change in Corfu in the intervening years, it still cost 10 euros by taxi from the pier to the old town. The pier duty free building, newly completed in 2004, was the same as then, and a trolley still took us between the ship and this building. As the ship only docked here for several hours in the morning, and sailing on to Sarande in the afternoon, we found the total of only several hours in Corfu inadequate. We didn’t even have the opportunity to sit down and watch the people in town. Hopefully, Oceania will allot a full day to Corfu for future passengers.

… to be continued

DUBROVNIK

 

In 2004, we visited Dubrovnik on our Regatta voyage from Barcelona to Venice. Then we took a taxi tour which took us out of town for a couple of hours, and did not bring us to the old town. This time, we made sure we took a taxi directly from the pier to the old town, for ten euros. This old town was very nice and organized, all inside a surrounding wall. It was not big, but had many restaurants, shops lining one main street, which branched into quite a few side streets.

 

We walked from the entrance to the end of the main street, and took a look at some of the side streets. We bought some post cards, bookmarks and stamps from the stores, and mailed one back to ourselves at one of those small yellow postal boxes hanging on a wall. We also sat down at one of the street side cafes, had some tea and ice cream and watched people (mostly tourists) walking by. Among them were Oceania excursion groups, with their guides holding up their group identification numbers (there were quite a few groups).

 

The place was clean and looked well off. We were told that ninety percent of the locals spoke English. There were no signs left of the bitter civil war barely fifteen years ago. Unlike Rovinj, euros were happily accepted by most stores, which apparently depended on the tourist business.

meow, thanks for another installment.

BTW, do you have some mobility issues? If not, it seems odd that you now have been to Dubrovnik twice, yet have not yet walked the walls there. The views are incredible. When you do, you also will see the new bright orange-tiled roofs outnumber the old roofs by a lot, a legacy of the civil war. Also, right on the wall at the Pile Gate entrance through which you must have walked, there is an extremely large map of the Old Town indicating the places in the Old Town where shells hit.

I agree that 1/2 day is not enough for Corfu. Although we greatly enjoyed our expedition to Butrint from Sarande, I really wanted at least a full day to drive around the countryside, visit the Achillion Palace, etc. I see that my Aegean Adventures itinerary for next year now provides a full day in Corfu and skips Sarande.

One cat is not able to walk long distances or climb too many steps. Walking around the block or up a storey or two will require a rest before going on. The other cat is more capable, but still no athlete by any imagination .. meow!

Hi Meow!

Really enjoying your review.

Just wanted to mention that the only way we managed to get more soap, lotions, etc. in our A2 cabin was to mention it to our room steward. O no longer automatically provides refills as they did when we went on our first cruise. (If memory serves, on our first cruise the toiletries were refreshed every third day. On our second cruise, we were down to the dregs in soap, shampoo, etc. We saw our room stewardess and asked for refills on day 5 and day 10. The only things that were refreshed were those that we specifically requested.)

Keep up the review. Can't wait for the next installment.

Thank you kindly for your informative reply!

Continued from above ,,,

SARANDE

After perhaps an hour and a half sailing, the ship anchored at Sarande, Albania, and we tendered ashore. This port was noticeably poorer than the others we visited on this voyage. The most obvious was that a substantial fraction of the buildings was half finished, either several storeys high with incomplete walls, or just concrete pillars with no walls and abandoned. Later on, we talked to one ship officer and were told that due to the local economic situation, many buildings were started, but abandoned afterwards due to lack of funds. And as the government allowed up to ten years for a building to be completed, people would start building one floor, rent it out to collect money until they could afford a second floor, and so on. It was something we had not seen elsewhere before. Most new buildings appeared to be in concrete though. After coming back home, we asked an Eastern European neighbour, and were told that in that part of the world, it was not uncommon for people to ask emigrated relatives for money to start building a new home, but due to local “hindrances”, it could not be finished for a long, long time and might end up being abandoned.

We got a taxi at the tender landing, and for 3 euros got to the city centre. While looking for postcards, suddenly we heard loudspeakers chanting for several minutes. However, we did not see local women with head scarves, and some women were even dressed with bare arms and legs. So presumably it was a “mixed culture” society. People there could hardly speak English. We tried three ATM machines, two of them were not working, and one rejected our cards, so a local souvenir stall exchanged $20 worth of local currency for us.

One driver offered to take us up the hill to see the panoramic view of the city and back for only 10 euros. We went, and were a bit wary of being in such a place, sitting in a 1970s Mercedes-Benz taxi going up and down those narrow winding steep lanes. (Cars in Sarande looked from 1960s to 1990s.) At the hill top we saw a couple of newly weds taking pictures with their families, some kind of a fortress with rusty machine guns and a converted restaurant. We got back to the tender landing safe and sound. On the ship, we met another couple who also took a taxi ride to the hill top, and they told us that their taxi driver even gifted them a bottle of local wine. So it appeared that the locals were quite nice, only that the surroundings were a bit worrisome.

CRETE

The close to perfect weather ended after Sarande. After crossing the Ionian Sea, from the Adriatic to the Aegean, we docked at Crete. It was ever so windy to be rather annoying and took the fun out of strolling this otherwise nice port. The wind was so strong beside the ship that we could hardly stand for any length of time. As the dock was right close to the shopping area, we walked there and again bought magnets, postcards, stamps and mailed a post card back to ourselves at the postal box close to the pier.

Due to the wind, we sat inside one of the coffee shops (we would prefer to sit outside and watch the passersby if possible). Again, one cat drank coffee while the other bottled water, the idea was to get a rest and have some interaction with the locals, and it cost only 2 euros altogether. In one of the shops, the female cat bought a leather-sterling silver bracelet for 25 euros for souvenir. We could have taken the more than half an hour trolley ride around town for only 7.5 euros each but decided not to due to the strong wind and the fact that the trolley was “open”. So we went back to the ship.

SANTORINI

Topologically this might be the most interesting port of this voyage. Santorini literally rose like a cliff from the sea. In fact, while we had to tender (to get to the landing right next to the cable car station), the ship’s bow was almost touching the cliff on land (at a different location). The water must have been very deep right next to the land, with the cliff structure extending both above and below the water line.

Unlike visitors some years ago, whose only options were to walk up 770 steps or take the donkey ride, now there was this very nice cable car, which only cost 4 euros per person to take us to the top in just several minutes. We were lucky that this day, the wind was only moderate, allowing cable car operation. It was so nice that we could manage this famous tourist attraction so easily with modern technology.

It was a bustling tourist town at the top, with one main street lined with shops up and down a not-too-steep slope and some side streets. We saw this shop with sterling silver rings looking like mushrooms, and since it cost only 30 euros each and was so unique, the female cat bought one. We also went to the restaurant next to the cable car station and ate a meal there, deliberately trying shish kebab, which surprisingly looked a bit like sausages. One cat sat on a chair on the sidewalk, one shop owner was not nice, telling us that the (obviously public) chair belonged to his shop (across the street) and was only for his customers. Not wanting to argue, we left. The more capable cat walked outside this tourist area with cobbled streets to take a glimpse of the roads beyond, where there were cars and buses. After spending perhaps two and a half hours here, for another 4 euros each, we took the cable car back down, and tendered back to the ship.

… to be continued

You are amusing!!:rolleyes:

Many homes in Greece are also not finished ..

They are not taxed until the building is finished so they leave rebar sticking up on the top level so they can build on at a later date. They never seem to finish

Santorini: not sure when you were there before but the cable car was there in the mid 90's when we were there

I believe it was installed in the late 70's

Interesting review