9/18/21 First Cruise Ends / Second Cruise Begins
This morning we got up and packed so we could change cabins. The process was very easy. We just went down to security. They took our old cards and gave us new cards. We hung out in the Solarium waiting for lunch and our cabin to be ready.
We had the place to ourselves. We went to lunch at Le Grande Bistro. I had the burger and it was delicious.
After lunch, we checked in at our muster station and then went down to the cabin to unpack. Then we headed to the Martini Bar for some live music. It was so different with so many people. This cruise people are definitely ready for fun. We stopped by Eden to see the bartenders. Then we went to Tuscan for dinner. It as very good. After dinner, we caught the end of the Rockumentary show. It was good. We played a game in The Club. It's much harder to win when we aren't the only contestants. We listened to the band and went to bed early.
9/19/21 Santorini, Greece
For our second stop in Santorini, we headed in for lunch after winning morning trivia.
We stopped at cliffside beer bar to try some local beers.
We found a great Greek cliffside restaurant and tried some local favorites:
Fava - a hummus like dip from split peas
Roasted white eggplant
Deboned grilled sardines
Mussels in tomato / feta sauce
Grilled octopus
We also tried Crazy Donkey and got a carafe of local rose wine. Both were very good.
It was very hot so we headed straight to the Solarium when we got back. We both had a nice nap. We got ready for dinner.
We listened to Impulse at the Martini then off to Eden. You know - our normal routine. Melissa, the Captain's Club Host, had sent some Greek head gear to our room for the Captain's Club event.
Captain's Club event was wonderful. Passed cocktails and appetizers. Local Greek acts including violinists, drummers, a singer, and dancer.
We had dinner at Normandie. Our morning server Citra works there for dinner. We had a nice dinner and called it an early night.
9/20/21 Rhodes Greece
Today we toured the Medieval town in Rhodes. First, we took a bus tour around most of the island. Then we enter the Medieval city where 6,000 people still live. We walked through the 3 gates each with its own moat.
We toured the Grand Palace. It was a weird palace. The original Medieval palace collapsed. When the Italians occupied the island in the 1920s, they decided to rebuild it and use it for tourism and the Governor's accomodations. So it's basically a building from the 1920s built to look like a Medieval palace filled with mosaics dating back to 3 AD from the island of Kos and Murano glass and tiles from Italy.
Then we went to lunch at a beautiful courtyard. We sat with Andrea Shay, the VP of Loyalty. She's onboard since this is a special Captain's sailing. It was a great conversation.
We napped a bit in the Solarium and then had our normal evening routine of Martini bar with The Badness band, Eden and then dinner in Cypress. After dinner we listened and danced to Impulse in Eden.
9/21/21 Mykonos, Greece
We tendered in Mykonos and met our guide for a nice walking tour of the port area including Little Venice and the windmills.
Then we took a 10 minute drive to Mykonos famers. George is a 3rd generation farmer and cheese maker. We tasted his cheese and watched him making delicious dish after dish made from his cheeses while he told stories about his life. It was a very special day.
Our dinner was at Eden. We had an incredible table with a great view of the windows and the open kitchen. We watched the bright, gold harvest moon rise over the lights of Mykonos. It was incredible. My favorite dish was the gnocchi. It was light and fluffy and stuffed with a delicious cheese. We returned to our room to a wonderful gift from the Captain's Club team.
9/22/22 Sea Day
We started at the Elite Coffee Lounge for our double espressos and fruit plates. We then lost at trivia, enjoyed some tim at the Sunset Bar, Glenn played archery and we went to the Elite Luncheon. That's where we were overjoyed to see Adrian, the sommelier we met in Blu on the Equinox and at Raw on 5 on the Edge. The luncheon was very nice. They had local Greek wines and prepared some special dishes.
After lunch, we napped and enjoyed the balcony. We had our happy hour at Martini Bar, then Eden. We went back to Cosmopolitan for dinner. Alden and Sergiu were happy to see us. We had a good dinner. We headed to the Club for the evening's game. They put a word up on the screen and you had to give clues to your partner. Glenn gave the clues and I guessed. We got 13 and won!! We gave the t-shirts to the team that got 12. The activities team was a little worries after we went first since the highest anyone else got on previous sailings was 5. But two other teams got 10 so I think we set a good example.
We went to Eden to get a seat for Night of Dreams - an Alice in Wonderland show that was very good. Then we saw Impulse and Badness.
9/23/22 Dubrovnik, Croatia
We had a terrific day in Dubrovnik. We took the cruise ship shuttle to the walled city and walked the top of the city walls. The views were awesome. I'll think you'll recognize a lot of it from Game of Thrones. It was about 2 kilometers. A lot of steps.
Then, we walked around the inside of the walled city. We found a cute cafe on one of the squares. When we asked for a table, they asked if we wanted to sit there or on the terrace by the sea. Umm... Terrace by the sea so we ended up with a great view.
As we left the restaurant, a small glass bottom boat was getting ready to leave for a panoramic tour around the bay. It was only $12.50US per person so we hopped on. It was just a boat ride. No narration with a captain of very few words. It was nice to see the city from the water.
After the boat ride, we found another restaurant to try Croatian beers, grilled octopus and oysters. The oysters surprised us because they had very thin shells.
We headed back to the shuttle.
We got ready for dinner and chatted more with the bartender crew in Eden: Santos, Arya, Mina and Welder. Welder is very dramatic and it's hilarious. I am trying to get him to eat more vegetables. So far we are up to 2 pieces of broccoli.
We went to the Veuve Cliquot dinner. It was so much fun. We were with two couples who knew each other from Tampa and a couple from Germany. Glenn will blog more about it but they brought out extra wine for all of us. We were there for 4 hours.
We ran into Andrea Shay, the VP of Loyalty and chatted with her for an hour. Then a quick nightcap at Eden and off to bed.
9/24/22 Sea Day
We took it easy on the last Sea Day. We had first breakfast, took our COVID test, and then had second breakfast sandwiches at Eden.
We went to a Greek wine tasting sponsored by the Captain's Club with Antonio. He makes wine tastings so much fun. We had lunch at Eden and then enjoyed the afternoon in the cabin enjoying the gorgeous views from the balcony.
We went to a very special Captain's Club performance. They brought in a great vocalist. We had cocktails at Eden and then went to Cosmopolitan for dinner where we ordered way too much but I had to get my favorites: Escargot, French onion soup and Caesar salad with anchovies.
After dinner, we helped lead the Blue team to victory in Jeopardy. We listened to Impulse and then headed to bed early.
9/25/22 Headed home
We were happy to see our Athens' driver Demetrius for our drive from the port to the airport. We took the long trek home.
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