Blogging from Ventura, N114 to Venice

[jocap]

Hi, Caber- glad you're home safely....

I didn't realise you were a Border Collie fan- greetings to your two from our farmyard runt, Sally!

Tom has done all the hard work for us about this trip, which was a real pleasure, even with the last day....and now for the ironing....:(

Jo.

[caber]

Hi Jo,

 

Don`t mention ironing.:eek:

 

We finally got home about 8 pm. We sat on the Eavesway coach for an hour before it started off, waiting for a couple who had forgotten a case. That was a bad start.

 

Our two collies are getting old now. Rosie is the small one, and a collie cross. She will be 17 in August and Caber is 12.

 

Nice to have met you all.

[tom_uk]

Hi Tom,

I didn`t go online while I was on the cruise so did not realise you had a blog going. It was very interesting to hear someone else`s point of view on the cruise.

I met you at the cruise dot meet. Hi Jo and the rest.

 

We had a lovely cruise. I found the ports a lot more expensive than previously. We sat down in a bar on the main pedestrian street in Malaga and ordered two Bacardis and coke. The measures were good but when the bill arrived it was 18.40 euros. Serves us right for not asking the prices.

 

We took a taxi tour in Kefalonia. It went round the island to all the points of interest. The driver sounded like Tom Conti in "Shirley Valentine" and was very helpful and friendly. We then had a light lunch overlooking the bay.

 

Venice was the highlight. We also took the 36 hour vaporetto ticket. We took nearly 3 hours to get to Burano, waiting to pick up our tickets and the various changes we had to make, but it was worth it. Burano is lovely. We popped back into Venice in the evening to soak up the atmosphere.

 

The wine that we were drinking also ran out a few days before the end of the cruise.

 

We enjoyed our time in Vigo. We jumped on the open topped bus for only 7.50 euros for one and a half hours then wandered around. Sitting down for a drink was much more affordable there. It was a lovely last stop.

 

In all the weather was very good. It was a pity about the last day. I did not get a chance to play shuffle board for the last time.

 

Well, I didn't play shuffle board at all! It all looked very serious....

 

We were very stingy ashore. Venice was the only place we really spent any money; we had a couple of meals, the vaporetti passes, and bought some souvenirs. Apart from that we didn't spend much ahore. We made up for it on the ship, however...

 

On which subject I have to report a slight glitch. When we booked the cruise we were given £100 OBC each, being £50 each for an early booking incentive (we booked the cruise the day it came on sale) and another £50 for being Portunus Club members, and all our documentation listed this. We also made sure that we both spent more than £100, so that both accounts were active. However, our closing statement only shows £100 OBC; each of our accounts has been carefully reduced by £50. Unfortunately I didn't have the booking documents with me, so I wasn' able to take it up with Reception before we disembarked. I've spoken to our TA about it, however, and I'm about to send them a letter.

[caber]

It pays to check. Because we booked late we did not get any OBC.

 

One thing I found was that when you checked your account on the television it did not show that the Portunus discount coming off, although it had, but on the print out it did.

[tom_uk]

I've now done my 'summary & review' page. You can find it here.

[u2cruiser]

Thank you for your final summary of what appeared to be a very nice cruise Tom. It is very generous of you to spend your precious time and internet minutes blogging from your cruise and great for us to cyber-sail along with you.

 

Very helpful for people looking to take the same itinerary too. Thank you :)

[tom_uk]

Thank you for your final summary of what appeared to be a very nice cruise Tom. It is very generous of you to spend your precious time and internet minutes blogging from your cruise and great for us to cyber-sail along with you.

 

Very helpful for people looking to take the same itinerary too. Thank you :)

 

I sense a strong hint in that first sentence!

 

As to why I do it, at one level it's today's analogy to keeping a diary, and that has a worthy history. As for other reasons, part of it is because I got so much help from so many people in different places when we first started cruising that I decided to try to respond in kind. That's why I try to add as much 'hard' information, e.g. about tickets, locations, etc, as I can, as well as the gushy "wow! we had a wonderful time!".

 

I've got a load of photos that I'm slowly working my way through, and I'll add some to relevant blog posts as time permits - I won't bother announcing them, however.

 

Finally, here's a picture of Ventura at Argostoli, Cephalonia:

[u2cruiser]

No hint at all. I love Ventura and all she has to offer, plus I thought the itinerary was great and one we would enjoy very much. :)

[caber]

Great picture Tom. We loved Kephalonia.

 

I would say that the entertainment on Ventura on that cruise was the best we have come across for a long time, apart from Leon`s corny jokes. Saying that, I suppose Leon`s jokes were part of the experience.