We were pleasantly surprised to see Demetrius - our driver from Thursday - waiting for us in the lobby to drive us to the port.
The drive was only 35 minutes. We handed over our luggage and proceeded through vaccine card check, COVID testing, metal detector, and a stop at Greek immigration. It's the first time we've had to appear before a foreign immigration official to board a cruise. I think he was checking that we entered Greece legally.
Then, we walked to the ship and boarded. It took about an hour and 45 minutes because there was only one immigration officer and he disappeared for a while.
On board, we went straight to Raw on 5 - our embarkation day tradition. It was closed. :( So we headed to the buffet and what a delight it was. So many incredible options. What a happy accident. Jorge was greeting everyone with "Welcome aboard! This is the best day of my life." We had a great meal. Then, we headed down to the cabin. Our luggage was there so we unpacked.
Off to Eden to see if Santos was there.
We met Welder and he made us a couple great cocktails and a great orientation about what events are not to miss. Plus he let is know that this week has low occupancy and next week will be triple the amount of people. Because of social distancing requirements, it will feel crowded and we can expect longer waits.
After Eden, we went to Magic Carpet and met Ivan.
We love Ivan. We headed to dinner around 6 pm and had a great meal at the Cosmopolitan restaurant. My trout was fantastic. After dinner, we went back up to the Magic Carpet. We had the place to ourselves. It was us, Ivan, and the guitar player. We watched sailaway and enjoyed the evening breeze until around 9 pm and then headed to bed.
9/12/21 Sea Day
It was a lovely rainy sea day. We had breakfast and then headed up on deck until it started to rain. We had lunch at Eden Cafe - delicious soup and salad. We hung out in the Grand Plaza. At 3 pm, we went to Create and Pour - a sketching class with the artist onboard and some wine tasting. '
At 5 pm, we had the Elite members' Captain toast with a band, appetizers, and an acrobat. For dinner, we had Chef's Table. It was delicious and fun. After dinner, it was time for Silent Disco in Eden. Lots of fun.
9/13/21 Dubrovnick, Croatia
The alarm came a little early after dancing until midnight, but we powered through. Since we are Elite members, we have access to a continental breakfast of meats, cheese, smoked salmon and fruits in The Grand Bistro. It also means includes espresso. Yay!
Today, we docked just outside Dubrovnik, Croatia. We took the Scenic Konavle Valley Wineries by Road Train excursion. It was about a 35 minute drive south almost to the border of Montenegro. Ruth, our guide, gave us the history of Croatia including the war during the break up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The old town of Dubrovnik was under siege for 7 months. The wine valley we were visiting was destroyed.
In total, we visited four wineries and a mill.
The local grape varietal - Maraština - produces a dry white wine. At the fourth winery, Karaman, the owner's daughter told us how her father was studying agriculture during the war.
He became very interested into the grape and returned to the region after the war sturdy it further. All the fields were destroyed in the war. He searched the entire region for a year and found 3 plants. He brought those back to the University and began cloning them. When he had around 300, he returned the region and planted. He also gave plants to other wine makers so they could start over. Karaman now makes an award winning dessert wine by drying grapes on a mountain side, creating a paste, fermenting that and then aging in oak barrels and in the bottle.
We moved from winery to winery in a little train. It added a lot of fun and whimsy to the tour.
For lunch, we had bread, bacon, onion, tomato, cucumber, and hard boiled eggs - traditional worker's lunch. We had a sweet moment with some other guests. Tami said the lunch reminder her of lunch at her Grandma's. Her grandma recently died so we had a nice toast to Mim.
At two of the wineries we also tried a Zin and two Merlots. They were also very dry. Three of the wineries also had a cherry Brandy that tasted like a mix between a sweet tart and cough syrup.
We headed back to the ship. We enjoyed a little time on the Magic Carpet. Then watched sail away from just outside Eden. Dinner at Cosmopolitan was pretty good, but not as good as the first night.
After dinner, we went to The Club to play the guessing game. Glenn and I were the only people there so we played each other. They gave you a category and you had to guess the 15 answers. Things like NFL teams or state capitals. Glenn won, but we both got hats. Impulse, the house band, played. They are pretty good. Then, we went to the show at Eden. It had singers and three sets of acrobats. It had a love theme. The music was good. Glenn wasn't a fan since the shows don't really have a storyline.
9/14/21 - Sea Day
We had great weather for a Sea Day. We had breakfast at the Elite Coffee Lounge at The Grand Bistro. We went to the Captain's Club wine tasting. Antonio did a great job making a little bit of fun of wine culture.
We tried 4 nice wines. Two ladies sat with is and we laughed when we noticed we were the only table who finished all their wine. We enjoyed some time on the Magic Carpet.
The buffet was having a Mediterranean extravaganza. It was so good. Lots of Greek foods to try. I liked the chicken kebab best. We relaxed most of the afternoon. We went to a Captain's Club event in Eden to see a preview of the evening show. Dinner was at Cosmopolitan and pretty good. The escargot are excellent. After dinner, we stopped by the Martini Bar and met Putra who is very good friends with Kirshna who was our bartender on the Edge.
I played the Yes/No game where I had to go 2 minutes without saying yes or no. I won another hat. We headed back to the Martini Bar and had a lot of fun with the bartenders.
9/15/21 - Rhodes, Greece
We took a ship's shore excursion to Tsambika beach. It was about a 35 minute drive from the port. It's a nice bay. Tsambika means flame. It's named because people said they saw a flame on top of one of the hills. They saw it as a sign from God and built a small monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
The water so cool and clear. We got free soft drinks. We also tried the grilled octopus and local beer.
When we got back, we had lunch at the Aqua Cafe in the Solarium. We had the whole place to ourselves.
We listened to the band we really like - The Badness - in the Grand Plaza. Then, we went to Eden to hang out with Santos, our favorite bartender. Dinner was a very good Beef Wellington. We called it an early night.
9/16/21 Santorini, Greece
We had a private tour in Santorini. We took the tender boat over and then the cable car io the cliff. Our guide Theodore met us at the exit. He drove us all around the island. I think we saw 80% of the island.
Oia is the fancy village with all the white buildings and blue down churches. Then, we went to the tallest point on the island to the Black sand beach and to the Santo winery for a wine tasting. We tried 12 of their wines.
They were all very good. I was surprised the vineyards are unlike anything I've ever seen. The grapes grow close to the ground. The vines form a circle and the grapes are protected inside. The soil is volcanic and pumice. The only water is the morning dew. It's pretty incredible.
After the tour, we did a little shopping in Fira - the village the cable car takes you to. We found a small cafe with beer from the Santorini Brewing Company - Red Donkey and Yellow Donkey.
We tendered back to the ship around 3 pm. Mast Grill was the only thing open so hamburgers and hot dogs it was.
At 5 pm, we headed to the Grand Plaza for the trio we've been really enjoying. We got to chat with Paris - the artist on board and Glove - the band leader and bass player. Paris even drew a little sketch of me.
After that, we headed to Eden to yuck it up with the bartenders and our new friends Tim and Tami. Dinner was by the window at sunset in Cosmopolitan. The waiter brought us salads from Cyprus since we wanted to try it. After dinner, we went to the Club to play Jeopardy. Glenn was the team leader and did a terrific job. Our team won. Back to martini bar and then back to The Club for live band karaoke. Glenn got to sing two songs - Fly Me to the Moon and Mr. Brightside - so it was really fun.
9/17/21 - Mykonos, Greece
Today started very early. We had to be at our antigen test at 7 am since our tour meeting time was 7:30 am. The testing was simple and fast. We were negative. We got the official letters in our room in the afternoon, but we figured they wouldn't let us go on the excursion if we were positive. The Captain announced later in the day that one guest did test positive.
For the tour, we went to Delios - an island off the coast of Mykonos. It was a huge trading city in the first century BC that was destroyed by pirates. It's remarkable how much is still there. We had a great tour guide and explored a lot of the island.
They had a very sophisticated sewage system that included bathrooms inside the house and underground cisterns to capture and store the rain water. It was hot and a lot of walking, but worth it.
We can back around 11:45 am and had lunch at the buffet. Then, we took a nap. At 5 pm we headed to the Martini Bar. We had happy hour with them in Eden. Dinner at Cosmopolitan again. It was good. We went to the Caravan show in the The Club. The acrobats were terrific.
Then, we danced and enjoyed the band at the Martini bar. The bartenders were so fun. Putra handed out napkin rings.
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