CANARIES TO THE CARIBBEAN

SANTA CRUZ AND SANTA CRUZ:  Our final two days on the European side were spent at Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Santa Cruz de la Palma.  Both turned out to be quite beautiful cities set on the waterfront with huge rocky cliffs in the background.  On Tenerife we did a hop-on-hop-off whereas on La Palma we mostly shopped.  There were lots of bargains; for example, I bought a pair of leather walking shoes for 16 Euros (tossed my old ones to save weight).

CROSSING THE ATLANTIC:  We were somewhat concerned about crossing in late November.  However, our route was well south of the normal sea lanes and the weather was warm and sunny and the seas calm all the way across.

Five days at sea went by surprisingly quickly.  We attended cooking demonstrations, enrichment and other lectures, and spent time  reading on our balcony, by the pool, or in the library.  We did another Captain's cocktail party

Count Champagne glasses on the table--only Betty was drinking champagne.

One nice thing about crossing East to West is that the clock goes back almost every night.  Twenty-five hour days really suit one's biological clock.

We continue to enjoy ourselves, making friends with the staff, particularly the sommeliers.  Yesterday we met a woman from Korea who is the first female Korean sommelier.  After a career as a airline steward she studied for four years in France in order to get her qualifications.  At meals the sommelier simultaneously brings us a white wine (or sparkling) and a red wine to breathe while we drink the white.  Our glass is never allowed to get completely empty.

MEDICAL EMERGENCIES:  So far there have been three passengers taken off the ship.  The most recent incident was a woman falling and breaking her pelvis while in the casino.  As we were several hundred miles to sea, she was evacuated by a hovering helicopter lowering a basket-type device.  The closest land was Mauritania so it is hard to say where she went.  I hope her medical insurance is up-to-date. 

One of the evacutated passengers died after being flown back to the U.S.  I guess some of this is to be expected given the average age of those of us who cruise.

MARTINIQUE:  Our first stop in the Caribbean was at Fort le France.  Hot!  At least too hot for these cold weather Nova Scotians.

ANTIGUA:  Because of the terrible hurricanes this past fall, several ports in the Caribbean are no longer available to cruiseships.  Thus, the other ports are extremely busy.  We were only one of five large cruiseships that simultaneously docked at St. John's Antigua.  St. John's is a small place, which seems to be little more than an extended slum with a collection of jewellry stores at the cruise dock.

It was mildly entertaining to participate in a quasi dance where tourists fall all over one another.  With any luck I shall not have to return to this particular island.

ST. KITTS:  Our last stop prior to getting off in Miami was St. Kitts.  This lovely island is very different than Antigua; lovely buildings, beautiful scenery, etc.  We did a 6 hour tour along with 11 other people.  Our guide was great, reciting poetry, etc.  After touring the island we had lunch at a beach club.

Perhaps, however, the most exciting part of the day was getting off the ship.  Like Antigua there were too many cruise ships in port and our ship did not have a reservation for a berth at the pier.  Thus, we were tendered to shore.  As we had a tour to catch we got on the first tender boat which when approaching the pier hit an uncharted rock.  No one was hurt but we were tossed around a bit.  Perhaps we will be one life-boat short crossing to Miami.  At least the ship is not completely full.

PICTURES:  I am showing a few pictures of eating places are from around the ship.  The first two are of breakfast in the Grand Dining Room.  Then I am showing pictures of Reg Ginger, Polo Grill and Toscana (all specialty restaurants).  These last three pictures were taken during the day when the restaurants were closed.

                                          TOULON TO GIBRALTER

FRIENDS:  On Wednesday our long-time friends Gerard and Marie-Claude Gleize drove from their home in Aix-en-Provence to meet out ship when it docked in Toulon.  From there we drove to Saint Tropez, a town we had not previously visited.  Saint Tropez is the home of Bridget Bardot, and in the summer it is jammed with tourists hoping to catch sight of the former movie star and other famous people who are found there.  However, in November the town is quiet and very pleasant.

We drove back to Toulon along a beautiful coastline.  Because of traffic this took longer than expected. Nonetheless Marie-Claude's driving skills got us back to the ship with a few minutes to spare.

On Thursday we docked in Barcelona and then met up with our friends Teresa Ferreiro and Josep Casas.  After a walking tour we had lunch in a magnificent restaurant,then visited in their condo until Pol got home from school.  Barcelona is a beautiful city and it is unfortunate that we had such little time there.

In any event we had two wonderful days catching up with these four very good friends.

CARTEGENA: We had a 1/2 day stop in this small city in Muria.  The city has a magnificent waterfront as well as a lovely pedestrian shopping area.  Again it would have been nice to have had more time in such a pretty place.

MALAGA:  We had booked (and paid in advance) for an all-day tour to visit Granada and Alhambra.  The Alhambra was a Moslem fort/palace/town built in the 13th and 14th centuries just before the final defeat of the Moors in 1492.  However, after much discussion Betty decided to stay on the ship because of warnings that the walking would be difficult.  This was a good decision as the walk through the Alhambra is about 3 kilometers, much of it involving rough stones walkways and steep stairs, some without rails.

LUNCH:  After the Alhambra tour and before the 2-hour ride back to the ship our tour stopped for a short lunch on one's own in downtown Granada.  Because of the time I sat at a sidewalk cafe and ordered a beer.  In Granada the custom is that if one orders a beer or a glass of wine one gets free food (but not of one's choosing).  Order coffee and you go hungry.  My free food was a plate of paella.  The total cost was just over 5 Euros including tip.

GIBRALTER:  We decided on a late dinner and Betty managed to score reservations at Jacques, the best restaurant on the ship.  We were very fortunate to
get a table by the window on the starboard side which allowed us to see the lights of Gibralter as we dallied over several glasses of wine following our delicious meal.  Less fortunate was a passenger who was evacuated from the ship due to a medical emergency.  The procedure is that the ship stops and a pilot boat picks up the passenger for transfer to a hospital in Gibralter.

                                                            CORFU TO NAPOLI

CORFU, GREECE:  We had a very pleasant day on Thursday but unfortunately our stop in Corfu lasted only until early afternoon,  as the ship had a long sail for the next port.  We spent a sunny and warm morning walking through the beautiful old town with Betty doing some shopping (I have given up monitoring her spending, but I do try to get her to buy only things that are small and light in weight).

At lunch they had, to our surprise, some lovely aglianico (not on the wine list) but Betty and I seemed to be the only ones drinking it.  In the afternoon there were lectures on Malta (so so) and Sicily (excellent).  Unfortunately I had to leave this lecture partway through as the Captain was having a cocktail party for Oceania Club (repeaters) members.  We were then invited to the General Manager's table for dinner.  Again, the small world phenomenon showed itself as one of the others at the table attended Mt A with my sister.

After dinner we went to a main stage show where the energy level of the performers was somewhat beyond what I can only imagine having.

MALTA:  Along with two other couples we took a 5-hour tour of the small island country of Malta.  We visited the capital of Valletta along with the villages of Balzan, Rabat and Mdina.  Malta has a very long history with many, many invasions and conquerors.  Thus, the buildings all seem to look alike in that they have plain, largely windowless walls with everything focused on interior gardens.  In other words, everything was built with defense in mind.  Although we enjoyed the driving and walking tour this is not an island that particularly appeals and we are not anxious to return.

COMPLAINTS:  We received a questionnaire asking for suggestions for improvement in service, etc.  I have given this quite a bit of thought and and best I can come up with is that the bar of soap in the shower is a little too large and keeps slipping out of one's hand.

AGLIANICO WINE:  While this wine is not on any wine list, nor available any longer as a special, we have found one wine steward who seems to be able to come up with a bottle for us whenever we are spotted.

CATANIA, SICILY:  If we are not anxious to return to Malta, we are always anxious to return to Sicily.  Although we docked in Catania a couple of years ago, we didn't spend any time in the city as we had a tour to Mount Etna.  Today we got off the ship and took a hop-on-hop-off bus through the city and up the coast.  We stopped at Piazza Duomo and after visiting the cathedral walked up the beautiful Via Etnea.  When we got back to the spot to take the hop-on back to the ship, the bus was full and there were several others waiting.  However, the attendant spotted Betty's cane and we were taken to the head of the line and got the only two remaining seats on the bus.

NAPOLI:  We decided to a hop-on-hop-off tour of Naples.  However, all of the seats on the double-decker were full on the first deck so we went to the open upper deck.  The tour was fine for the first 25 minutes or so when it started to rain.  There didn't seem to be any point in trying to go down the stairs so we sat for another 40 minutes or so getting wetter and wetter.  When we got to the end of the tour there was no shuttle bus to takes us to the ship.  However, they looked at two drowned rats, one with a cane and put us back on the big bus and drove us to the ship.

Back at the ship Betty burned out her hair-dryer and in the process blew out all of the plugs in our stateroom.  I guess her drowned rat self was more than with which a small hair dryer could cope.

TUESDAY, NOV. 14:  As this is the end of the first phase of our two-phase cruise we are enjoying a quiet morning on board as most of the passengers are disembarking.  This afternoon a new set will join us.

                                                           OCEANIA RIVIERA

BACK TO PADOVA:  On Nov. 5 we had a relatively long drive from Silvi Marina to Padova, which is a short hop to the cruise terminal.  As it rained most of the way the drive seemed longer and by the time we reached our hotel in Padova we were tired.  Again we stayed in a Marriott on points.  However, as it was Sunday the restaurant was closed but we couldn't face trying to find something in the dark and wet.

About 8:00 p.m. we wandered down to the bar where for the rest of the evening it was us and the bartender.  Nonetheless, he fed us beautifully.  First we had a plate of bresaola (looks like prosciutto but is actually beef) and grana cheese (a kind of parmesan) over a rocket salad.  Then he brought plates of in Betty's words "the best lasagna I ever had".  A bottle of local rosso also helped.

EATING IN ITALY:  The food is wonderful everywhere but one quickly realizes that the cuisine is quite different from region to region.  Abruzzo is largely a seafood region wheras Basilicata is more meat based; mostly lamb, but lamb that is lighter in color and lighter in flavour than the New Zealand lamb with which we are more familiar.  Pastas are everywhere but they differ by region (no spagetti in Basilicata).  In restaurants, at least, patrons all seem to order multiple courses, yet the women at least are mostly slim.  What is especially nice in restaurants is the the mark-up on wine that is no more than 30% as opposed to our 100-140%.

BOARDING THE SHIP:  We were very happy to return our rental without a scratch after competing with Italian drivers for 10 days.   Once we had boarded we quickly went to our favorite grill and quaffed glasses of beautifully chilled Prosecco to celebrate.  Less exciting were the three loads of laundry that 10 days on the road produced.

VENICE IN THE RAIN:  We had a full day in Venice prior to setting sail.  However, it was cold, raining and very windy.  We debated staying on the ship but Betty wanted to do some specific shopping so we ventured out.  The streets were flooded and unfortunately we did not take a camera as we would have taken pictures of the 100's of abandoned and very broken umbrellas that littered the streets and jammed the garbage bins.  After returning to the ship we attended an enrichment lecture and then (small world phenomenon) ate dinner with the sister of a StFX faculty member.

ZADAR, CROATIA:  Nicer weather for our day here.  Despite having been here a couple of years ago we really enjoyed walking around the old town and listening to the unique sea organ which is a series of pipes in the water that are played more-or-less randomly by the waves and currents.

KOTOR, MONTENEGRO:  We got up early to watch the 15 mile sail-in through the "Fjord".  Although we have been to this town before we thoroughly enjoyed our walk inside the old walled city.  The setting is at the base of very steep mountain ranges.

SERVICE ON BOARD:   The level of service on our ship is really quite amazing.  For example, at dinner last evening a woman at our table excused herself to go to the loo.  As soon as she left the table a waiter came with a dome and placed it over her plate in order to retain the heat from her food.  He removed it just before she got back to her seat.