Just back from the Adriatic Explorer

[Flopsy]

My third time on this itinerary but I loved it just as much!

 

Friday.We flew fom East Mid and were on the ship by 2pm.As you walk on board the staff are lined up ready to take you to your cabin- I recognised Yana our cabin girl from the cruise in May and she leapt forward to take us to the same cabin I had in May.It was good to chat to her and Nika- two great girls from the Ukraine.

 

Soon we were in the Lido for a welcome lunch- followed by one too many glasses of wine in the sun on the Lido deck.The secenery all around is amazing.

 

Our cases were in the cabin when we returned- but somewhere on the journey my case had been rained on and a lot of my clothes were wet through.No problem-Nika just took them to the laundry and got them dried free of charge.

 

We went to the Elvis tribute welcome show at 9.30 in the Showbar.The weather took a turn for the worse and thunder n lightening forced the sailaway deck party indoors to High Spirits.It was dark in there so my red flower on a black top wasn't noticed by any of the fellow cruisers we intended to say hello to lol.

 

It was a rough night as the storm rocked the ship all night!

 

Saturday.The next morning we were glad when the ship turned into the inland sea on the approach to Kotor, Montenegro, and calm waters at last.The deck drill was soon accomplished and we could sit and watch the stunning approach to Kotor where the ship anchored in the bay by 1pm.The trips took priority on the tenders then tickets were issued for those wishing to go ashore independently- they were called 80 at a time and we were soon on shore wandering round the old walled town of Kotor.There was a long queue for the tenders back to the ship but it didn't take too long to dwindle down.

 

Sunday was the day at sea with lots of choices on where to spend the time.In the afternoon the peace on deck was shattered by a terrific storm-hailstones empied the lido deck and formed a white carpet of ice- the Phillipino staff looked on in amazement and some ventured out to pick up handfuls of what they thought was 'snow'! However, half an hour later the sun was out again!

 

Monday was my friends birthday so whilst she went to the library at 9am I decorated the cabin door and the cabin with tinsel and 'happy 61 today' notices for maximum emarassment lol.She was delighted, and when later that day when we returned we found that our cabin girls had put up lots of silver balloons and had printed out a 'happy birthday dear mrs lawton' notice on a computer.A nice touch.

 

That afternoon we went on a trip to see the salt pans in Slovenia- interesting to see how whole families lived in tiny houses for the summer whilst gathering the salt.Then we went to a winery and sampled a few wines, with bread and local cheese.The tour guide, having been told by me that it was my friends birthday,led a rousing 'happy birthday dear dorothy' sing song- and she was presented with a complementary bottle of wine!

 

That evening we ate in the Compass Rose waiter service restaurant and I slipped a note to the waiter-soon the waiters gathered round our table to sing Happy Birthday.So my friend had a birthday to remember! She loved it!

 

Tuesday

We arrived in Venice- we were up on deck for the sail in at 6.30 am- not many people had crawled out of bed though.We saw a beautiful sunrise as a backdrop to the amazing skyline of the Venetian buildings.

 

We booked on th haf day 'Venice on your own'-we saw St Marks Sq and Rialto bridge and enjoyed a leisurely coffee before returning to the ship to enjoy the hot sun on deck.

 

At 4.30 4 passengers were missing- 2 came dashing up at 4.40 but it was two minutes to sailing time before the final two missing passengers came speeding up in a car and rushed on board.What a close shave! I later encountered the last minute lady in the shop- she told me that they had got on the vaporetto but it was going in the wrong direction! They panicked, got off, knew they were lost, so phoned the ship.Amazingly the ship sent a car to pick them up- the lost lady said that when the car arrived to rescue them and the girl got out 'I kissed and kissed and kissed her-I was so relieved'! So the moral of this story is 'always take the port help sheet with you as emergency phone numbers are printed on the back'.

 

Wednesday.

We docked in Split.It's an easy walk into town- turn left as you leave the berth.We decide to find the beach- turn right- but not immediate right as we did and found ourselves at the ferry terminal-dopey us.No it's right but follow the road uphill and you soon come to a delightful beach with shallow waters for yards and yards- ideal for me to paddle.It was scorching so we returned to the dock and walked on to the market, and then to the promenade for a welcome beer at a pavement cafe.

 

Thursday

We arrived at Dubrovnik where we docked.We met Jane & Brian (N'west) and shared a taxi to the cable car terminus close to the Old Town.It was 80kuna for the return trip on tha cable car- they don't take euro but you could use a credit card.The views from the cable car are amazing- and the mountains to the rear of the cable car station are spectacular.After the cable car we found our way into the Old Town and wandered round, drank coffee etc before catching another taxi back to the ship 10euro.

 

The sailaway from Dubrovnik was dreadful- tremendous thunder n lightening and the heaviest rain I have ever seen-visibility was nil so we didn't see the Old Town walls from the ship- which was amazing last time.The storm continued unabated all evening and through the night!

 

Friday.

We docked at Corfu and passengers began to leave for home.We were not due to leave til 7.30 so we walked from the ship to the port building,through customs and out into the coach park where we found the shuttle bus to the Old Town 1.5 euro each way.They cram as many on the bus as is humanly possible!

We spent a couple of hours wandering round the shops, stopped for coffee, and as an ominous clap of thunder rattled all around we made our way back to the ship before the heavens opened!

 

The elecric storms produced fork lightening all around.Flights were delayed.We were lucky- but Luton had a 3hour delay.

 

A great cruise- tiring as it's early mornings and late (very late) nights but a wonderful experience.

 

Flopsy

[glittergal1]

sounds an amazing trip Im doing the adriatic next june but on the Destiny it will be my 40th birthday but dont expect my boyfriend will think to decorate the cabin for me like you did for your friend :( this will be only our 2nd cruise and we havnt cruised with thompson before

[topsey130]

Thanks for the great review Flopsy, I really can't wait till Friday!

[jaceyar]

Great review -thanks. We're off on Friday on the same cruise. I've been checking the forecast -looks mixed so will pack an anorak just in case. Looking forward to a week of fabby days out and fabby evenings out too -love the shows!

[mrsh2006]

What a wonderful review! Cant wait for Friday now. See you onboard Topsey and jaceyar! :)

[kruzseeka]

Great review Flopsy. :) Sounds as though not only was this another fab cruise in the Adriatic - it came with it's own share of excitement too. Good advice about making sure you have the ship's details with you when ashore too.

 

The last time we flew back from Corfu only two planes got in to land - we had the kind of fireworks you obviously encountered at various places on your trip. As it happened the two flights were the one our friends were flying out on and ours! Other than that all the flights were diverted to Athens and Corfu airport (not the bigest as you know) was filling up to bursting point with Thomson passengers hoping to get home. We left about 5pm and all the flights from 10 am onwards were still there.

 

In the end they were all put up in hotels in Corfu overnight and the ship sailed. All the stranded passengers in Athens were accommodated in good hotels in Athens for two days. The ship sailed, had a day at sea (with two plane loads of passengers on board) then picked up all the other passengers in Athens the following day. Actually I'd have been very happy with that - a nice little break in Athens then join the ship for the rest of the cruise - with no ports lost! Just goes to show how dramatic the weather can be out there though! :eek:

[welsh-girl]

Hi Flopsy

 

Yes it was a brill cruise wasn't it. Being 1st timer's on Thomson We didn't know what to expect. Everyone was so friendly and chatty. it was great and we will certainly book with them again.

Our main cabin attendant was lovely Maria from Romania, with Alla(who we saw very little of)

Sounds like we were lucky with our flight, departed on time and landed in Cardiff nearly 1/2 hour early.

All the ports were great but I must admit that I thought that Koper was lovely and we had an easy and pretty bus trip to Piran, after an interesting ride on the "wally trolly" train such a lovely journey past Aldi and Liddle :D

We also got ourselves to St Marks Sq. in Venice, using the People Mover(1E each way) to Pz Roma then the Vap. line 1 (6.50E each way) to St Marks. It was a lovely trip but allow lots of time, about 1 1/2 hr to get back to the ship.

 

Good to meet everyone, esp Flopsy and Dot

Time to start planning the next one..............;)

[CRUISIN LINDA]

We had Maria too, she was wonderful and her towel animals were so clever. I bought the book on how to make them but haven't tried yet;);)

 

You must have been near us, we probably spoke to you and didn't know it was you!!

 

We loved the Spirit. We were really impressed by it. We have just booked the Dream for my birthday next February. :)

[welsh-girl]

My third time on this itinerary but I loved it just as much!

 

Friday.We flew fom East Mid and were on the ship by 2pm.As you walk on board the staff are lined up ready to take you to your cabin- I recognised Yana our cabin girl from the cruise in May and she leapt forward to take us to the same cabin I had in May.It was good to chat to her and Nika- two great girls from the Ukraine.

 

Soon we were in the Lido for a welcome lunch- followed by one too many glasses of wine in the sun on the Lido deck.The secenery all around is amazing.

 

Our cases were in the cabin when we returned- but somewhere on the journey my case had been rained on and a lot of my clothes were wet through.No problem-Nika just took them to the laundry and got them dried free of charge.

 

We went to the Elvis tribute welcome show at 9.30 in the Showbar.The weather took a turn for the worse and thunder n lightening forced the sailaway deck party indoors to High Spirits.It was dark in there so my red flower on a black top wasn't noticed by any of the fellow cruisers we intended to say hello to lol.

 

It was a rough night as the storm rocked the ship all night!

 

Saturday.The next morning we were glad when the ship turned into the inland sea on the approach to Kotor, Montenegro, and calm waters at last.The deck drill was soon accomplished and we could sit and watch the stunning approach to Kotor where the ship anchored in the bay by 1pm.The trips took priority on the tenders then tickets were issued for those wishing to go ashore independently- they were called 80 at a time and we were soon on shore wandering round the old walled town of Kotor.There was a long queue for the tenders back to the ship but it didn't take too long to dwindle down.

 

Sunday was the day at sea with lots of choices on where to spend the time.In the afternoon the peace on deck was shattered by a terrific storm-hailstones empied the lido deck and formed a white carpet of ice- the Phillipino staff looked on in amazement and some ventured out to pick up handfuls of what they thought was 'snow'! However, half an hour later the sun was out again!

 

Monday was my friends birthday so whilst she went to the library at 9am I decorated the cabin door and the cabin with tinsel and 'happy 61 today' notices for maximum emarassment lol.She was delighted, and when later that day when we returned we found that our cabin girls had put up lots of silver balloons and had printed out a 'happy birthday dear mrs lawton' notice on a computer.A nice touch.

 

That afternoon we went on a trip to see the salt pans in Slovenia- interesting to see how whole families lived in tiny houses for the summer whilst gathering the salt.Then we went to a winery and sampled a few wines, with bread and local cheese.The tour guide, having been told by me that it was my friends birthday,led a rousing 'happy birthday dear dorothy' sing song- and she was presented with a complementary bottle of wine!

 

That evening we ate in the Compass Rose waiter service restaurant and I slipped a note to the waiter-soon the waiters gathered round our table to sing Happy Birthday.So my friend had a birthday to remember! She loved it!

 

Tuesday

We arrived in Venice- we were up on deck for the sail in at 6.30 am- not many people had crawled out of bed though.We saw a beautiful sunrise as a backdrop to the amazing skyline of the Venetian buildings.

 

We booked on th haf day 'Venice on your own'-we saw St Marks Sq and Rialto bridge and enjoyed a leisurely coffee before returning to the ship to enjoy the hot sun on deck.

 

At 4.30 4 passengers were missing- 2 came dashing up at 4.40 but it was two minutes to sailing time before the final two missing passengers came speeding up in a car and rushed on board.What a close shave! I later encountered the last minute lady in the shop- she told me that they had got on the vaporetto but it was going in the wrong direction! They panicked, got off, knew they were lost, so phoned the ship.Amazingly the ship sent a car to pick them up- the lost lady said that when the car arrived to rescue them and the girl got out 'I kissed and kissed and kissed her-I was so relieved'! So the moral of this story is 'always take the port help sheet with you as emergency phone numbers are printed on the back'.

 

Wednesday.

We docked in Split.It's an easy walk into town- turn left as you leave the berth.We decide to find the beach- turn right- but not immediate right as we did and found ourselves at the ferry terminal-dopey us.No it's right but follow the road uphill and you soon come to a delightful beach with shallow waters for yards and yards- ideal for me to paddle.It was scorching so we returned to the dock and walked on to the market, and then to the promenade for a welcome beer at a pavement cafe.

 

Thursday

We arrived at Dubrovnik where we docked.We met Jane & Brian (N'west) and shared a taxi to the cable car terminus close to the Old Town.It was 80kuna for the return trip on tha cable car- they don't take euro but you could use a credit card.The views from the cable car are amazing- and the mountains to the rear of the cable car station are spectacular.After the cable car we found our way into the Old Town and wandered round, drank coffee etc before catching another taxi back to the ship 10euro.

 

The sailaway from Dubrovnik was dreadful- tremendous thunder n lightening and the heaviest rain I have ever seen-visibility was nil so we didn't see the Old Town walls from the ship- which was amazing last time.The storm continued unabated all evening and through the night!

 

Friday.

We docked at Corfu and passengers began to leave for home.We were not due to leave til 7.30 so we walked from the ship to the port building,through customs and out into the coach park where we found the shuttle bus to the Old Town 1.5 euro each way.They cram as many on the bus as is humanly possible!

We spent a couple of hours wandering round the shops, stopped for coffee, and as an ominous clap of thunder rattled all around we made our way back to the ship before the heavens opened!

 

The elecric storms produced fork lightening all around.Flights were delayed.We were lucky- but Luton had a 3hour delay.

 

A great cruise- tiring as it's early mornings and late (very late) nights but a wonderful experience.

 

Flopsy

 

Hiya Flopsy

Gald to hear Bri and myself mentioned in dispatches :D

It's a great cruise for doing your own thing isn't it.

Just plan ahead then re plan then change your mind again, thats half the fun.

You got your next one booked yet-we've just booked Colourful Coasts on the Destiny for Nov-hope it's as good as the Spirit was.

[Flopsy]

Hi Jane

 

Glad you are already organised for 2012!

 

Yes, we have booked cruise n stay- Dream 22 Sept- Roman Epic- followed by three nights at Son Matias in Palma Nova to wind down!:rolleyes:

 

Flopsy

[Flopsy]

Bounced up the board for dear old Berwyn!

 

Flopsy

[Cymro1953]

Bounced up the board for dear old Berwyn!

 

Flopsy

 

Oi not so much of the old!! I'm not 60 till next March Flopsy. :D:D:D

 

Thanks for that, great review.

 

Berwyn

[Julessmiles]

Interesting to see that you say the deck drill wasn't done until the 2nd day? I thought that had all changed & it was done before leaving port? Was it due to bad weather perhaps? (but then more of a chance for the ship to be in trouble lol so would have been better to do on the first day??!!) Just noticed this is an old review - doh!!!!

 

Good to read your review - we must go back on that itinerary one day - I loved the Adriatic!

Edited July 22, 2012 by Julessmiles

[Grez]

Interesting to see that you say the deck drill wasn't done until the 2nd day? I thought that had all changed & it was done before leaving port? Was it due to bad weather perhaps? (but then more of a chance for the ship to be in trouble lol so would have been better to do on the first day??!!) Just noticed this is an old review - doh!!!!

 

Good to read your review - we must go back on that itinerary one day - I loved the Adriatic!

 

Jules, the thread started in October, hence the safety drill on day 2.

[Flopsy]

Oi not so much of the old!! I'm not 60 till next March Flopsy. :D:D:D

 

Thanks for that, great review.

 

Berwyn

 

 

Hi Berwyn

 

My apologies- I think everybody is older than me- and you definately are not lol! Nowt but a chicken!

 

Flopsy

[Julessmiles]

Jules, the thread started in October, hence the safety drill on day 2.

 

 

Yes, I realised that after I posted it - too much sun today I think:D ; didn't read the original date & only read Flopsy's first post - I was wondering why the weather had been quite so bad in July:confused: I did amend my post to say that I realised it was an old review !! ;);)

[Cymro1953]

Hi Berwyn

 

My apologies- I think everybody is older than me- and you definately are not lol! Nowt but a chicken!

 

Flopsy

 

LOL Flopsy Love it. :D:D But nobody's told the joints in my knees, hips and spine.

 

An no I'm too much of a gentleman to ask :)

 

Berwyn

[driverman]

Lol think flopsy means old friend berwyn ,, will say that anyway

 

Mrs .C

[mtt]

I remember the storm leaving dubrovnik, we wereoutside high spirits watching this in the very early morning, while people were trying to take photos, it was a great cruise:)

[Cymro1953]

Lol think flopsy means old friend berwyn ,, will say that anyway

 

Mrs .C

 

LOL, I know Mrs. C :)

 

Berwyn

[Flopsy]

Bounced for Yorkshire75.

 

Flopsy

[Flopsy]

Bouncing up the board for Biffy