Live from the Regal - July 2-23 - Med Cruise - R/T Barcelona

[Billish]

17 minutes ago, boone2 said:

We go to the uk alot(pre covid) to visit family. It always amazes us to see the amount of booze being consumed in airport bars at 0600  not just in the North but at LGW and LHR

 

Terry

The people in the bar have probably been up since 2 a.m., so really they are just having the equivalent of a lunchtime pint ! And a full "English" washed down with a pint is a great way to start your holiday !

[Ken the cruiser]

Went to another lecture by Angela Kelly today. This one was an informative one about Charles Darwin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Steelers36]

5 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

No worries. I have to admit on the variety of cruise lines we’ve sailed, Princess always seems to have the funniest CDs! But Dan just seems to go that extra mile. Whether it’s singing a Phantom song with a guest opera singer and nailing it, being so interactive at the game shows with quick comebacks that make you laugh, cracking quality jokes both before and after an evening theater show, or just being a normal person when you stop and ask him a question. We have just been so impressed with him and will always look forward to him being the CD on any future cruise we go on.

I hope he gets good feedback on cruise survey so maybe PCL will steal him from RCL.

[Ken the cruiser]

After Formal Night, which once again included Lobster Thermidor as the specialty on the CC menu, we passed on the production show, Bravo, but had a blast at the Marriage Match Game Show!! I’d have to say this was the best one so far and there was a packed audience with an overwhelming amount of adults rather than a mixture of kids, teenagers and adults! It was great!!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 18, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 18 - July 19 - Kotor, Montenegro

 

 

 

[vickykay]

Thanks Ken for the links.

[NIkkiGR]

On 7/9/2022 at 9:34 AM, Ken the cruiser said:

We’re back from our Behind the Scenes tour of the Vatican, which was well worth the extra expensive. One other nice thing was that there were only 14 passengers on our excursion. 

 

 

After the 90 minute bus ride, we first toured the gardens. 
 

 

 

 

Of course, we had to take a picture of the wildlife! 😁

 

 

Then we went into the Vatican museum before going into the Sistine Chapel. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After going through the Sistine Chapel where we weren’t allowed to take pictures, we exited back outside to head over to the St Peter’s Basilica. 
 

 

 

Then we toured the Basilica. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful pictures. We will be touring the Vatican prior to our 21 day cruise on the Regal staring from Rome on September 10th. Our ticket does not include the Basilica. Did you stand in line for a long time to get into the Basilica? 

[NoWhiners]

34 minutes ago, NIkkiGR said:

Beautiful pictures. We will be touring the Vatican prior to our 21 day cruise on the Regal staring from Rome on September 10th. Our ticket does not include the Basilica. Did you stand in line for a long time to get into the Basilica? 

 

Nlkki

 

Could you share where you got your tickets and if they are  skip-the-line? We will be going in November and I am trying to identify tours we might use.

 

Thanks.

[NIkkiGR]

On 7/13/2022 at 3:48 AM, Ken the cruiser said:

Had a great excursion to Ephesus!! To start off with, our tour bus was not crowded at all. As your can see there were 4 empty rows between us the the rest of of the tour. 
 

 

Then on our drive there we learned about two big crops they produce in the area, Olive and Mulberry trees. We understood the olives, but why mulberry trees? Then our guide told us about the silk worms. I guess once the Chinese secret got out about the value of silk worms, the folks in the Ottoman Empire started growing mulberry trees! According to Ms Google:

 

”In early spring, thousands of families in rural China are trekking into fields to strip the last mulberry leaves from the trees. Mulberry leaves are the only leaves that silkworms will eat.”

 

 

 

Then we arrived at Ephesus and I’ll just let the pictures tell the story. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part of the tour was going into the protected covered area to see the Terrace Houses. 
 

 

 

 

They even had central heating back then via those pipe-looking things. 
 

 

 

Then it was back outside to take in the view before heading to the library and the amphitheater. 
 

 

 

Of course, I had to take a picture of the local wildlife. 
 

 

 

 

 

Then they finished off with a little outdoor entertainment before we headed back to the bus by way of the gift shops, of course. 😁

 

 

Then, here are some views on the way to the carpet weaving demonstration and subsequently back to the ship. 
 

Even saw some wind turbines along the way. 
 

Huge olive tree orchard off in the distance. 

 

 

The huge Odyssey of the Seas pulled in along side of us.
 

 

A lady weaving a silk rug which in all will take about 3 years to complete. Definitely a work of love!
 

 

 

But they offered us some great deals. They had a 4’ x 6’ silk rug for $25,000. But we could buy it today for only $8,300, including all customs and delivery charges! Such a deal. But they did have some beautiful rugs!!

Thanks for all  your valuable information. I booked this excursion. Did you find that 90 minutes was long

enough to tour Ephesus

[Steelers36]

12 minutes ago, NIkkiGR said:

Thanks for all  your valuable information. I booked this excursion. Did you find that 90 minutes was long

enough to tour Ephesus

There are very good private tours that will give you more time.

[NIkkiGR]

On 7/14/2022 at 9:23 AM, LACruiser88 said:

A great city, we have always enjoyed our visits to Istanbul!

Were you still able to go into the Blue Mosque?

[NIkkiGR]

1 hour ago, NoWhiners said:

 

Nlkki

 

Could you share where you got your tickets and if they are  skip-the-line? We will be going in November and I am trying to identify tours we might use.

 

Thanks.

https://www.expedia.ca/things-to-do/faster-than-skip-the-line-vatican-sistine-chapel-and-st-peters-tour.a166597.activity-details?&rid=179899&location=Rome+(and+vicinity)%2C+Lazio%2C+Italy&startDate=2022-09-05&endDate=2022-09-06&sort=RECOMMENDED&swp=on

This is the Canadian site that I booked this excursion with. It is by City Wonders which you can book directly online with also. Hope this helps

[NIkkiGR]

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Day 18 - July 19 - Kotor, Montenegro

 

 

 

Thanks Ken. I am looking into taking a bus to Perast during our stop there in September. Do you know if the bus still stops at the Cruise Pier and what the schedule might be. 

[NoWhiners]

2 hours ago, NIkkiGR said:

https://www.expedia.ca/things-to-do/faster-than-skip-the-line-vatican-sistine-chapel-and-st-peters-tour.a166597.activity-details?&rid=179899&location=Rome+(and+vicinity)%2C+Lazio%2C+Italy&startDate=2022-09-05&endDate=2022-09-06&sort=RECOMMENDED&swp=on

This is the Canadian site that I booked this excursion with. It is by City Wonders which you can book directly online with also. Hope this helps

 

Thank you, it looks great. I wonder if they care that we're Americans??

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, NoWhiners said:

 

Thank you, it looks great. I wonder if they care that we're Americans??

No doubt you can find the same thing on Expedia.com.  I'd book directly with the provider, however.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived in Kotor! But just like the last time we were here on the Oceania Riviera and were docked at the pier, the Nautica is taking that spot this time. 😂

 

 

Costa is here as well using their tenders, but are farther up the channel than we are.

 

 

 

 

When we went for breakfast and looked off the starboard side, we also saw they were using both sides of the ship to tender guests ashore as 3200+ passengers is a lot to tender ashore and back in a 7 hour period.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

10 hours ago, NIkkiGR said:

Beautiful pictures. We will be touring the Vatican prior to our 21 day cruise on the Regal staring from Rome on September 10th. Our ticket does not include the Basilica. Did you stand in line for a long time to get into the Basilica? 

No. Since we were on a Behind the Scenes tour with a licensed Vatican guide, we got to go through the “tours only” entrance where we got right in. My guess is if you show up early, the general admission line shouldn’t be too long. But if you wait until after 11 am r so, I would say be prepared to stand in the queue for awhile. But that’s only a guess.

[Ken the cruiser]

9 hours ago, NIkkiGR said:

Thanks for all  your valuable information. I booked this excursion. Did you find that 90 minutes was long

enough to tour Ephesus

Our PCL Ephesus and Terrace Houses excursion was 4.5 hours with a 30 minute drive each way and a 30 minute stop at the end to watch the Turkish rug demonstration. After that we walked back across the street to the ship.
 

So doing the math, we were at Ephesus for about 3 hours, which was plenty of time to see what was there, to include the original ruins at the start of the tour. I guess 90 minutes would be fine if you didn’t go to the Terrace Houses, which BTW we’re pretty cool if you haven’t seen them before. 

[Ken the cruiser]

8 hours ago, NIkkiGR said:

Thanks Ken. I am looking into taking a bus to Perast during our stop there in September. Do you know if the bus still stops at the Cruise Pier and what the schedule might be. 

Not a clue. But I’m sure Ms Google might know. Just keep in mind the Regal tenders guests to the pier, so you might want to include your queue times both going and coming back to the ship into your equation. In our case, tendering probably started around 7:30 am and the last shuttle back to the ship on our cruise is 2:15 pm.

[Billish]

9 hours ago, NIkkiGR said:

Were you still able to go into the Blue Mosque?

Blue Mosque is open, but with a great deal of scaffolding about.

[Ken the cruiser]

Before I post the pictures of our self guided Kotor excursion, I thought I’d post a Cruise Mapper screen shot showing the location of the 4 ships visiting the walled old city of Kotor which might help explain why there are so many people visiting the town.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

We took our self walking tour of the old walled city of Kotor for about 90 minutes before we headed back to the tenders.

 

Walking over from the tender to the city entrance and meeting square just inside the gate.

 

 

 

 

Then we walked through the maze looking for the steps up to the Our Lady of Health Church and onto the castle.

 

 

 

Of course we had to stop and admire the wildlife along the way! 😁

 

 

Then we found the beginning of the stairs!

 

 

You were right, @Esprit, when we got to the gate we instantly remembered there was a 3 euro charge when we were here in 2018 to walk up to the castle. As you can see the price has gone up!

 

 

Needless to say, as we have walked them before, we decided to move on to find other new vista viewpoints to take our pictures. However, if you haven’t walked the stairs before, they do offer some great views up above!

 

So back down the slippery marble path we went!

 

Our next goal was to search for the stairs that would take us up to the top of the city wall. After a few more twists and turns along the way, we found them.
 

 

More wildlife from below the the water line!

 

 

 

 

 

Along the way we found some steps that looked like they would lead us to the top of the wall. But when we got there, a 7’ privacy stone wall had been constructed to apparently keep folks from walking in that area. But curious as I was I reached high up and took a picture of what was on the other side. Who knew folks who live and work here would enjoy having a place where they could enjoy a little peace and quiet among all the tourists mingling around! 😂
 

 

Then it was back down the stairs and on with the search!

 

 

Along the way we even found some “inside” shops down one hallway.

 

 

 

And then we finally found what might be the stairs.

 

 

But when you finally see what looks like the Bob’s Big Boy chef statue, you will know you are close!

 

 

Once on top, there are all kinds of places to explore. 
 

This is the Oceania Nautica tied up to the pier.

 

 

 

If you look close you can see the Our Lady of Health Church just above the smaller dome on the church in the fore ground.

 

 

 

Then it was time to find our way back to the tender where we sat up top for our ride back to the ship.

 

 

Way off in the distance is the Costa Luminosa with the Seabourn Encore somewhere in between, but out of sight.

 

 

All in all we had a great time walking around the old city and then coming back to the ship to have lunch and then watch the world go by until sail away, probably some time around 3 pm.

 

 

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

12 hours ago, NIkkiGR said:

Thanks Ken. I am looking into taking a bus to Perast during our stop there in September. Do you know if the bus still stops at the Cruise Pier and what the schedule might be. 

Update: when we got off the tender at the pier, we saw this Hop On Hop Off bus which might be something to check out. Under the Kotor Open Tour sign, you can barely read the stops, but Perast is the third stop.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

We’re off and now headed to Messina, Italy.

 

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

when we got to the gate we instantly remembered there was a 3 euro charge when we were here in 2018 to walk up to the castle. As you can see the price has gone up!

Must be a supply chain issue with cobblestones! 🤣