"Live from" Queen Elizabeth to the Mediterannean! My First Cunard Experience

[lovely_serenity]

(ooo wow, beautiful)

 

 

.. wait a minute ..!!!

 

 

;___; T-that dome … it’s w-W-WHITE !!! *collapses on floor in despair* *rainstartsfallingdramaticallybutnotreallybecausetheweatherwasgreat*

 

Oh well, we decided not to waste it and explore a bit more. We walked up onto higher grounds to see if we would be able to spot the blue domed churches from a higher place.

 

 

*climbs for quite some time*

 

//Heaven’s door opens and choirs sing// LOL

 

 

But seriously, it felt like we had climbed to the top of the city. LOL LOOK:

 

 

Just as we were starting to feel like giving up, a different feeling came over us. A feeling that just said .. “I don’t care anymore. I’m just going to keep climbing until I can climb no more. Then, and ONLY then … will I admit defeat.”

 

So Mom led the pack and we kept climbing:

 

Edited April 11, 2014 by lovely_serenity

[lovely_serenity]

As the amount of people lessened, as well as the appearance of civilization, we found something. We probably climbed into an area that we weren’t supposed to (LOL), but we did it anyways, as we morally had to. //determined face//

 

And as sure as the sky was blue, there was a blue dome.

 

 

…. Okay … most of a blue dome anyways >_> … WHATEVER LOL, WE FOUND IT, AND THAT’S ALL THAT MATTERS.

 

I took a few more pictures before we headed back down.

 

 

As we descended the hill, the view really made me feel like we were at the highest point of the city!

 

 

(butnotreallybecausethebluedomeswerestilltallerthanus//cries//)

 

We walked back to the church and rested for a little while before checking it out and heading back. In the meantime, I took another random sunglasses shot, but this time from my Dad’s face :D :

 

 

After resting up and rehydrating ourselves, we took a look at the church’s interior:

 

 

It was actually quite interesting! They had speakers hidden in the corners of the room with religious/holy sounding choirs singing ^^ It really made the atmosphere!

 

[lovely_serenity]

After a little while, we were on our way back to the cable car terminal:

 

 

I was actually really shocked, because I had had no idea that the church we were at (that took us hours upon hours to find), WAS ONE FLIGHT OF STAIRS AWAY FROM THE GREEK YOGHURT SHOP I MENTIONED IN THE BEGINNING.

 

 

 

Sis and I wound up sharing one, and might I say, it was absolutely delicious.

 

 

We chose strawberry frozen yoghurt with Orea cookie crumbs and frozen strawberries. (The style was kind of like Qoola (If you know what that is). The type was the “get as much yoghurt/toppings as you want and get charged by how much it weighed”. Needless to say that Sis & I really enjoyed sitting on a ledge, eating the delicious, pink goodness.

 

After we finished our little cup of joy, we all headed back to the cable car terminal (apparently kids 12 and under have a cheaper fare, just FYI).

 

 

We shared our cable car with a very nice, older Caucasian couple. (Each car can hold 6 people). We chatted about what we did in Santorini and if we had been here before. The older couple told us that the last time they had been here before; they had taken the zigzagged trail up to the city, and had thoroughly regretted it. It had apparently been covered, top to bottom, by donkey droppings. We agreed that we had seen some remnants of said donkey droppings in the market area by the path.

 

[lovely_serenity]

 

As we passed by the trail, they actually said that it was now, MUCH cleaner than it had been last time. We were quite surprised.

 

 

I found these doors connected to the mountains absolutely adorable. They reminded me of the various films I had watched that contained such elements of magic!

 

 

 

After arriving at the pier, we took our last few looks at the place before getting ready to return back to the ship:

 

 

[melody hounddog]

Your review is so detailed and interesting that I feel as though I am there!

[lovely_serenity]

We approached the Cunard tent where guests lined up to board the tenders.

 

 

After the tender arrived, we saw that there was a hold up. It turned out to be an older lady in a scooter that had to be carried into the tender by Cunard staff members. We found this quite odd, as the Daily Programme specifically told passengers that those who were not able-bodied enough to climb into the tender and climb out, would need to stay on board.

 

 

After about a good 5-10 minutes of struggle to get the lady on board, all was well. The rest of us passengers proceeded to board the little boat. I wound up sitting across from this lady and her able-bodied husband, and while I was day dreaming, I noticed something peculiar. I noticed that the crew members had also loaded several pieces of baggage onto the tender for them as well. After assessing the possible scenarios, my best guess was that they had missed the ship in Civitavecchia, so they were boarding the ship now. Wait .. but doesn't that mean they went all the way to Katakalon first and when couldn't dock? o_o That would mean they flew to Katakolon, and watched up leave without picking them up and then they had to fly to Santiorini! Wow, what a hassle LOL.

 

We proceeded to return back to the ship

 

 

As we were approaching the gangway, I turned back around to take one last look at the beautiful island of Santorini

 

 

After getting back on board, we headed to the Britannia for lunch. When we arrived, we saw all of the staff members lined up in front of us, as well as the maître’d. O_o? We walked up to him and he gave us a big smile. He told us that we were literally the first people in the dining room LOL. We, as well as the staff members, had a good laugh. My dad asked him, “Nobody else is here?” to which the maître’d responded, “Nobody !! ” ^^

 

 

And as you could imagine, I was thrilled :D MORE EMPTY SHIP PHOTOS FOR ME!

 

[lovely_serenity]

 

Boy, did we feel VIP LOL. It was so relaxed too, as the staff had literally nobody else to serve! We got our menus and proceeded to have our much needed meal. (We hadn’t eaten in hours, and we had been sweating buckets out on the island):

 

 

 

The server came around and offered us bread,

 

 

You could imagine me, right? :P

 

Server: “Would you like some bread?” *brings it in front of me*

Me: *whips out ginormous camera* //snap// *looks back up* “No thank you!” :-D

Server: o_o (LOL) okay

 

While waiting for our food, I took some random pictures

 

 

[lovely_serenity]

 

 

Finally, our food started to arrive. First was Sis & my Fresh Fruit Plate:

 

 

Which was very good to the extremely dehydrated individual.

 

Mom & I also got the Chilled Pineapple Pina Colada Soup:

 

 

Which Mom & Dad quite like. I on the other hand, thought it was okay, but not viscous enough. It had the viscosity of water/milk.

 

Dad had his Cream of Parsnip Soup which he though was not bad:

 

 

As well as his Tartare of York Ham with Quail Egg Mimosa and Sun Dried Tomato:

 

 

which he thought was okay, but tasted like sandwich filling LOL.

[lovely_serenity]

Your review is so detailed and interesting that I feel as though I am there!

 

Yay! Thank you! ^^ that was what I was aiming for!

[az4ship]

Love this review. It is best.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[lovely_serenity]

Love this review. It is best.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

Thanks! :) You're so nice! ^^

[vada_9]

Hi Sarah,

 

have been reading your review over the last few weeks and enjoying it and was so glad to see your photos of Santorini today. We leave tomorrow for Turkey and a Med cruise and Santorini is one of our ports of call - we are hoping to walk from Fira to Oia during our time ashore and it is great to see what other people do. Keep up the great blog.

 

Jan

[Jules.]

I spent part of my honeymoon on Santorini. Your photos are bringing back lovely memories :)

[Host Hattie]

Hi Sarah,

 

have been reading your review over the last few weeks and enjoying it and was so glad to see your photos of Santorini today. We leave tomorrow for Turkey and a Med cruise and Santorini is one of our ports of call - we are hoping to walk from Fira to Oia during our time ashore and it is great to see what other people do. Keep up the great blog.

 

Jan

 

It's definitely worth the trip to Oia - we went by boat rather than walking though !

 

I spent part of my honeymoon on Santorini. Your photos are bringing back lovely memories :)

 

Lucky you !

Edited April 13, 2014 by hattie the cattie

[lovely_serenity]

Hi Sarah,

 

have been reading your review over the last few weeks and enjoying it and was so glad to see your photos of Santorini today. We leave tomorrow for Turkey and a Med cruise and Santorini is one of our ports of call - we are hoping to walk from Fira to Oia during our time ashore and it is great to see what other people do. Keep up the great blog.

 

Jan

 

Hi Jan,

 

First of all, I'd like to thank you for reading my review if I have not done so previously (: Wow! That sounds wonderful! I hope you have a marvelous time & love Santorini as much as we did. && bring your walking shoes, as it's going to be quite a journey ^^ Please tell me about it afterwards!

[lovely_serenity]

I spent part of my honeymoon on Santorini. Your photos are bringing back lovely memories :)

 

Haha, must have been nice (: && it is my pleasure!

[Zqueeze1]

Sarah:

 

I found your thread three days ago and finally caught up. You and your family seem like very lovely people and you certainly are very mature and astute. It is a joy to read your posts and I will be getting my wife hooked on them also.

 

You are bringing back lots of memories of our previous Med/Italy trips and I would like to thank you for the extra joy in our hearts. You remind me so much of our 19 year old daughter who is coming home from school today and will get an extra big hug from pops.

 

Don't get discouraged by the naysayers and nitpickers. This is your thread and you go with it as you wish. You are going far with your attitude and maturity and your family should be very proud. Looking forward to your future posts and to reading your other threads.:D

 

Z and TB

(Zqueeze and The Boss)

[lovely_serenity]

Sarah:

 

I found your thread three days ago and finally caught up. You and your family seem like very lovely people and you certainly are very mature and astute. It is a joy to read your posts and I will be getting my wife hooked on them also.

 

You are bringing back lots of memories of our previous Med/Italy trips and I would like to thank you for the extra joy in our hearts. You remind me so much of our 19 year old daughter who is coming home from school today and will get an extra big hug from pops.

 

Don't get discouraged by the naysayers and nitpickers. This is your thread and you go with it as you wish. You are going far with your attitude and maturity and your family should be very proud. Looking forward to your future posts and to reading your other threads.:D

 

Z and TB

(Zqueeze and The Boss)

Hi Z and TB! :)

 

First of all, thank you very much for taking the time to read my report! & I hope your wife likes it! (: You are very kind, it is certainly my pleasure to be able to bring back those memories to mind. I'm sure your daughter will be happy to receive that hug ^^

 

&& worry not, I am not so easily upset and am quite easygoing. Of course I agree that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I'd just prefer that this thread be full of more happy and positive comments, as opposed to negative ones ^^" thanksfor the concern, though!

 

I'm sorry for the ecent delay in posts, as exams were hectic recently :/ I'm going to try my best to post as frequently as my schedule permits, though!

 

Thanks again,

[bkecky]

Have just finished reading every post on here. Thank you for taking the time to post your experiences, especially as you have your school work and exams too! I'd much rather have a delayed report than no report at all. Plus I cannot imagine uploading all of this whilst on board with the dodgy internet connection! I lose my patience checking my email and social networks onboard!!!

 

Keep up the good work! :)

[lovely_serenity]

Have just finished reading every post on here. Thank you for taking the time to post your experiences, especially as you have your school work and exams too! I'd much rather have a delayed report than no report at all. Plus I cannot imagine uploading all of this whilst on board with the dodgy internet connection! I lose my patience checking my email and social networks onboard!!!

 

Keep up the good work! :)

 

Hi bkecky!

 

Thank you very much for reading my report! :) I'm really sorry (to everyone as well) for the long delay, I have just recently overcame the obstacle which is AP Exams ^^" (man, they were brutal) and now have some spare time! I will work very hard to make up for all of the time lost and post as much as I can! Again, sorry for taking so long D:

 

I actually never get Internet packages while I'm on board because my parents think it's expensive, but also that vacation should be a time in which you disconnect from the Internet and experience your vacation to the fullest instead of having your nose stuck to a screen :p We typically just check our emails whenever we come across free Wifi :D but that's basically it!

[Shallwe123]

Waiting for more Sarah ... Please bring memories back from our fabulous cruise in September 2013 ... Good luck with you exams. X

[alibabacruisers]

Hi bkecky!

 

Thank you very much for reading my report! :) I'm really sorry (to everyone as well) for the long delay, I have just recently overcame the obstacle which is AP Exams ^^" (man, they were brutal) and now have some spare time! I will work very hard to make up for all of the time lost and post as much as I can! Again, sorry for taking so long D:

 

 

Waiting for the conclusion of your trip...:(

[capnpugwash]

Waiting for the conclusion of your trip...:(

 

The last that I saw, the trip had reached day 4 with another 9 to go. The conclusion may be some time!:)

[Aussiepair]

The last that I saw, the trip had reached day 4 with another 9 to go. The conclusion may be some time!:)

 

 

Yet another negative post from the Cap'n. Didn't your mother tell you if you don't have something nice to say then say nothing.

[Salacia]

Yet another negative post from the Cap'n. Didn't your mother tell you if you don't have something nice to say then say nothing.

 

 

I didn't see it* as a negative post, but rather a factual one. I can't recall any "live from" posts that continued for so many months after the voyage ended, and which was never "live from" the start, containing such detail and large file photos that take forever to load the page. Quite unusual really.

 

*The last that I saw, the trip had reached day 4 with another 9 to go. The conclusion may be some time!:) Originally Posted by capnpugwash

Edited May 18, 2014 by Salacia