Sea This!

Time for another port wrap-up, finally! In my last post we did a couple oddball “one week” cruises, and now we’re back to doing our regular Mediterranean season. All of these ports I have been to at least once, but for most of them I still found some neat stuff to do. Remember the number in brackets (or as the British call them – square brackets) represents how many times I have been to this port, including that day.  Going to skip Malaga, Spain. Nothing too exciting happened in either place. Basically I sought out internet and a random protest was going on.

Barcelona, Spain (June 10) [3] – I decided it was time to explore Barcelona with someone who actually knew the place, so I tagged along with the Port Lecturer on the ship. It started off raining (boo!) but it turned out to be sunny later in the day (yay!). We went to La Pedrera (the Gaudi house) and poked our head in the Cathedral. Around the corner was a really awesome Comic Book shop called “Continuara”, which means “To be Continued”. Isn’t that an awesome name? We also just walked around the city. It was nice to be with someone who actually studied Barcelona. The guy would point out things I would never notice, like the Gaudi inspired lampposts.

Monte Carlo/Monaco (June 11) – This is the only place I hadn’t been to yet. We were supposed to go a couple cruises ago, but we went to Cannes instead. I went out with a purser buddy of mine and we explored. We went all around the town. Went to a random mall (which turned out to be nothing special), found a random Japanese garden, and eventually made our way into the Casino. It was a bit pricey to get in, and he was happy looking at it from the outside, so we split off and I went inside. Everyone would be so disappointed if I went all the way to Monte Carlo but didn’t go to the casino.

The casino was nice, but small. I was worried they would kick me out because I was wearing a tank top and shorts, but they didn’t. The table games had way too high of a minimum for me to play, but the slots weren’t bad. I put five euros in a machine and wasted a half an hour playing it. There was another part of the casino I wanted to go into, but it didn’t open until 4 (the Casino itself didn’t open until 2). Even though it was cutting it close, I decided to wait until 4 to go in. It was a nice tall room with stained glass windows and even higher table limits. And then beyond that room was another room with even higher table limits that you had to pay another 10 euros to get into – so that I just admired from the outside. It was a nice place and I’m glad I can say that I went. Too bad I couldn’t take pictures (but I got plenty from outside).

Nothing too exciting happened in Civitavecchia/Rome, Italy. I was going to take the train but was worried about protests, so I just stayed nearby. It was my 3rd time going, and I would be back plenty more.

Naples, Italy (June 13) – This was actually my first time docking in Naples; we were scheduled to go a month ago, but because of rough waters never docked. I was debating whether I should just stay in Naples or do an excursion, but I decided to spring for a tour. I went to Sorrento and drove along the Amalfi Coast, which was absolutely gorgeous. I posted a picture in an earlier entry. We passed by the town of Positano but couldn’t stop because our bus was too big. Still debating whether it’s worth it or not to try and go. We did stop at the town of Amalfi though, which was also quite picturesque. I definitely want to go back to this area and spend a few more days, sometime.

Nothing exciting happened in Corsica, France, either. I think I just used the Internet and went around the market.

Gibraltar (June 16) [3] – Didn’t do a whole lot here, either, but I did walk a whole lot. I also saw monkeys somewhere else other than the top of the rock. Tried to get a picture with them, but I’m still too scared to get too close to them.

Skipping Southampton, as well, since nothing exciting ever happens there. I wish I had more time to do something, but it’s tough since I have to get back to my boat pretty quickly and I also have to fight against incoming cruise traffic. Boo.

Photos amalfi coast, barcelona, gibraltar, italy, monaco, monte carlo, naples, sorrento, spain

Wow, I’ve fallen even more behind on my port wrap-ups than the last entry, so here’s an attempt to catch myself up again. Keep in mind I’ve been to a few of these ports more than once, so some of the stuff starts blending together. I will do my best, though. Note that all of these ports were all new to me so I hadn’t been to any of these places yet. Yay for new places. After these two cruises, all my places are repeats.

Up until this point I had been doing two-week cruises, but now I am going to wrap up my first two ONE WEEK cruises. They are both good and bad. The week cruises are nice in that there are more ports with less sea days, so I don’t have to teach as much. BUT the week cruises can be hectic because we have twice as many embarkation days which means I have to do all the end-of-cruise and pre-cruise prep twice as much. Also, if I like the passengers, I only get a week with them instead of two weeks.

Brussels/Bruges (Zeebruge), Belgium (May 23) – I hung out with some fellow crew members. The original plan was to take the train into Bruges, but that was a little more time consuming than we thought. So luckily, a group of us hooked up with another group and we got a taxi straight into Bruge and back for 50 euros each way (around 6 euros a person). We got door to door service and we didn’t have to bother with trains. Not bad! Once in Belgium I got myself a take-away waffle (with ice cream) which I enjoyed eating on the street. I also got myself some fries with some weird sauce. And of course chocolate. No beer, although I almost bought myself a Frambois (or however you spell it).

Copenhagen, Denmark (May 25/May 26) – This port we were in for a long time – almost overnight and over the span of two days. We were here until 3 AM so I planned to enjoy myself. It would be one of the few times we would actually be on land during the night .. how strange. Some fellow crew members and I went everywhere. We went to Tivoli Gardens, the Danish Disneyland. Since it was early in the day there weren’t a whole lot of people, so we walked around a bit and planned to come back at night, but never did.   We also went to the canal streets where we had different types of herring (a Danish speciality). Then we went to the King’s Library (which was difficult to find the entrance for), the secret garden (which was kinda secret), and the Royal Palace in which I got to see where the Prince and his wife are going to live (they have way too many rooms). I had myself a Danish pastry (of course) and then I went back to the ship for dinner, because Denmark is expensive – yo! The walk back to the ship though was much longer than I thought, and it was raining. Blech.

Normally, that would be it for the day and it was time to set sale. But we had the whole night in Denmark, so I decided to go out again. This time I hung out with a new group of people to see the nightlife. We took a city bus and stopped at a Scottish pub first, but a group of them were interested in a Jazz Club so we set off to find that. On the way we ate a hot dog (another Danish specialty). After a bit of stumbling around, we made it to the jazz club and I had myself an apple cider alcoholic beverage. I know – can you believe it?? I don’t think my friends realized what a rarity this was for me. After the Jazz club we decided to walk back to the ship. We didn’t think it was that far, but it was. The mean part is you can see your ship for a good 30 minutes of the walk, but you’re still not there. Either way, we made it back just in time for the ship to set sail around 3 in the morning!

Helsingboro, Sweden (May 26) – I already wrote a little bit about Sweden with my earlier picture post, but I’ll write some more. This was a tender port (blech) but I was looking forward to seeing what Sweden had to offer. Much to my surprise, it wasn’t very Swedish at all, especially since I was on the hunt for Swedish meatballs. They just happened to have an international food festival which had every country but Sweden, which was still neat. I met up with some fellow passengers and we stopped by city hall. We also climbed this large tour called “The Keep” that I think was once a military fortress or something. It had a very nice view of the city and I could clearly see Denmark from the top across the water – it was amazing how close we were. After much searching, we did find a restaurant that had Swedish meatballs, although I would later learn that too was lucky since they didn’t offer them everyday. If anyone’s wondering, they tasted like regular meatballs to me, but at least I can say that I’ve had them.

** We didn’t go to Norway because of possible protests, which I was very upset about. I had a tour planned and it was a very nice day. Protestors seem to be a common theme throughout this cruise. Boo. Don’t worry, I do eventually get to go, but it’s only one other time this cruise. I’m also going to skip detailing the next port, Southampton, too since nothing interesting happened there (or I can’t remember). I probably just shopped and/or went online. How exciting, I know. **

Vigo (Santiago de Compostela), Spain (May 31) – Well, it’s the start of a new cruise already, can you believe it? And I get to go somewhere new in Spain. I found it interesting the area was called “Galicia” because the now defunct county my ancestors are from is named “Galitzia”. Pure coincidence, but still kinda neat. I actually went into Santiago de Compostela. I went to the St. James cathedral, and since 2010 was a holy year, they also let us into his tomb… ooooh. During this time I hooked up with some other American passengers and we had ourselves a grand time around the city. I also found another pressed penny machine. Woohoo.  The city was very holy – they had crosses on everything including baked goods. And it was weird to be in a place where everyone spoke Spanish and people didn’t know too much English.

Lisbon, Portugal (June 1) – Another new county – woohoo! Went up yet another tower, had myself some Cod, and went into an abandoned church. I was interested in going to Portugal and it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t as cool (or clean) as the other Med countries I visited. I heard that taking the cable car up to the older part of the city is better, so maybe next time I’ll do that. Also, it was really hot in Portugal (not as hot as Florida, but still..) What was kinda cool, though, is that as we were leaving, the ship actually went under this huge bridge that looked a lot like the Golden Gate. Not sure why I was so amused by this, but I was. I went up to the top deck and looked up as we went under. Not too many times you get to see the underside of a bridge.

La Rochelle, France (June 3) – This is the first port that I forgot either of my cameras – D’oh! But I did remember my laptop (and my iPhone). We had to take a shuttle into town, though, so it wasn’t worth it to go back.This port wasn’t bad. It was nice and quaint with old castles and streets and buildings. I didn’t go into any of them, but they looked nice from the outside. I also remember buying a particular food item that I really wanted, but now that it’s been over a month I can’t remember what is was. Sorry. It was a sandwich of some sort with cooked meat. I ordered it with a side of fries and they actually put it on the sandwich. I’ll think of it eventually.

Guernsey (St. Peter Port), England (June 4) – Yes, I’m going to England to a different place other than Southampton, woohoo! I had one goal and one goal only in this port – to stock up on some clotted cream fudge. I was really hoping to find a fudge shop that makes them right there, similar to what I found in St. Ives, but no dice. I just found a lot of tourist shops that sold clotted cream things. At least they had it, but I was really hoping for a homemade fudge shop. I went exploring a little more and also found a candy store that was going out of business, so I bought some other kinds of candy. I also learned that not only is there clotted cream, but there is Guernsey cream as well – so even more combinations of candies to be made. At the end of the day I bought too much clotted cream and Guernsey cream treats; not just fudge – caramel, toffee, and shortbreads. But, I can justify it by saying a lot of it were gifts for friends

Southampton, England (June 5) [5] – Yes, this was my fifth time (on the fifth of June) going to Southampton.  This is usually my “errand” port because there isn’t always enough time to really do anything since we have to be back early. This time, instead of going to the mall like I usually do, I decided to be adventurous and go to Ikea (which was 4 floors – huuuuge) and another shopping strip on the edge of town that had stores you’d recognize (like Staples) and stores you might not (like Tesco Extra). One of these days I plan to explore a little bit out of Southampton, but we’ll see…

Ports belgium, bruges, cophenhagen, denmark, england, france, Guernsey, helsingboro, La Rochelle, lisbon, portugal, Santiago de Compostela, southampton, spain, sweden

I’m way behind on my port wrap-ups, so I thought I would catch up on some more ports so I don’t fall too behind! This list covers both the second half of my second cruise, and all of my third cruise. The number in brackets [] denotes how many times I’ve been there (if more than once).

Cannes, France (May 2) – Went to both Nice and St. Paul de Vence. I think I liked Nice better, because in St. Paul de Vence there was a huge hill to get up to the city! But both were very cool ports. I did a tram ride through Nice, and I think next time when I’ll go I’ll just explore on my own. There was a big market there and I think the president of France (?) just happened to be there making a speech. In St. Paul de Vence, I went to the Museum of Death Penalty AND the Museum of Torture. They were as gruesome as they sounded, but I had to go just because it was so bizarre. I really like Cannes in general and it’s one of my favorite ports that we go to.

Barcelona, Spain (May 3) – This day wasn’t the best. I got locked in the bathroom (see earlier entry), it was raining really badly, and I lost my group. Just when I was about to leave, though, I ran into a couple passengers I knew. Together we walked around to the good part of the city (Las Ramblas). It’s just one long giant street that sells everything you can imagine – including pets! Also, they have 20 different variations of everything in Barcelona. For instance, want your portrait done? They have 20 different artists ready to do it.

Gibraltar (May 5) – At the last minute I got a tour – woohoo! I got to ride the cable car up and see monkeys. They’re like pigeons. They’ve everywhere and just come up right next to you! Afterwards, we went to the WWII tunnels which were neat but involved lots of climbing. After the tour, they dropped us off in the city where I proceeded to find a decent internet signal near the Cobacabana Restaurant.

** Nothing too exciting happened in Southampton or Malaga, Spain so I’m going to skip those **

Barcelona, Spain [2] (May 13) – Yes, we came back to Barcelona relatively quickly. We go there a lot, so I’ll get to know it well. This time it was nice and sunny. Ahh.. what a difference the weather makes. This time the market was even more crowded than before. Found more internet and just wandered the city. I found really fast internet in this giant market square, but it kept on cutting out – how frustrating. So eventually I just gave up and went to McDonald’s for internet. I don’t like to, but reliable internet is best.

Cannes, France [2] (May 14) – Originally this was supposed to be Monte Carlo, but I think because of the Grand Prix they changed it. Today it was the film festival and I knew I had to get out and see what I could see.  Unfortunately, I didn’t see any big BIG stars, but I did get to see a lot of red carpet and security. I also met up with a paparazzi photographer and friends and hung out with them for a couple hours hoping they might know the best spots to go. I did see as couple of French stars, but since I don’t know French movies, it wasn’t that impressive. I also saw a couple behind hounded by the paparazzi with cameras down the street. That’s something you don’t see everyday.

Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy [2] (May 15) – This was the second time we went to Civitavecchia but the first time I went to Rome. The roommate and I took the train into the city even though it was raining. We went to St. Peter’s Basilica, which has officially spoiled me as far as churches go – everything else just can’t compare. We also waited an hour and a half to get into the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine Chapel. Even when you’re in, it’s still a long walk to get through! But, it’s a very cool sight and it’s amazing how much depth everything has.

We didn’t go to Naples because of rough seas, which stinks – but it happens. Also, when a port day turns into a sea day, I have to teach. So, it’s a double whammy. But the nice thing is, classes are busy, which makes things more fun.

Corsica (Ajaccio), France (May 17) – I really like France, and this was no exception. It was another quaint port town with lots of little shops to walk around in.  Also, it had amazingly fast (and free) internet. The only downside was that you could only go on for twenty minute increments, but it was still amazingly fast. I found a nice little café, had myself a weird flavor of Nestea I had never heard of before, and enjoyed myself. I also stopped in the casino, but since everything was in French, it was hard to play.

Gibraltar [2] (May 19) – I had my heart set on finding a pillow. Not just any pillow, but a pillow that allows you to lean against it for support and has “arms” on the side to rest your elbows. I found every other variation I possibly could, but none quite like the one I had in mind. I even went to a pillow specialty store. But, I guess it wasn’t meant to be. So, I gave up and went back to the Copacabana for some internet.

Southampton, England [3] (May 22) – This was the day everyone gets off and the day new people get on, so I thought I would try to find a pillow one more time. I had a huge mall just waiting and I figured it might just be here. I found something very close to what I had in mind, but it just wasn’t exactly what I wanted. Plus, it was kinda pricey, so I didn’t get it afterall. I figured that IKEA might have what I’m looking for, but that’s not close, and by this time I wasn’t sure if the large pillow I was searching for was really worth it.

So woohoo – glad I’ve caught up a little bit on my ports. I’d love to write more, but they just come up so fast. I still have two more cruises I still have to talk about, but I’ll do that sometime later.

Ports barcelona, cannes, corsica, france, gibraltar, italy, rome, southampton, spain

It’s time for another port wrap-up. This marks the start of my second cruise (right now I’m on my third) and the voyage number was A010. This cruise was a roundtrip from Southampton, so 90% of the passengers were British. Definitely a sharp contrast from my first Transatlantic which most of the passengers were American – and from Florida. But, it was still a good time. There are a few Americans on the ship, and when I do find them, I gravitate towards them like a magnet!

Anyway, let’s talk ports:

Cadiz (Seville) – April 27 – This was my first time in Spain and it was absolutely gorgeous. I loved the architecture and the general feel of the city. – I got picked for the biggest and best tour: “Best of Seville”. Woohoo! As soon as I got off the ship we were on our way to Seville. The busses were fantastic and probably the highest quality I’ve seen. They had TV screens and nice luxurious seats! On our tour they took us to the Cathedral of Seville, the Royal Alcazar (which had a ton of rooms), and the Santa Cruz Quarter. I can’t believe how luxurious the churches were, although I hear they are quite a dime a dozen in Europe. For some reason, they put two crew members/escorts on one bus, so I got to hang out with one of the videographers. Man, even when they get to go on fun tours, they still have to work hard and film! I just take pictures with various strangers

Lunch was fantastic. They took us to what was called the “Hotel Macarena”. Yes, we did the dance of the same name by the hotel and it was on film. So somewhere, there is a Princess DVD of me doing the Macarena – albeit very poorly! During lunch, we were treated to a Flamenco show. I never realized how much stomping there is in a Flamenco show. They seem so mad! It reminded me a lot like “stepping” from high school. The only downside of this day was I didn’t get to spend any time in the port of Cadiz, so maybe if I don’t get a tour, I will go out and explore.

Alghero (Sardinia) – April 29 – Didn’t get a tour today, which was a bummer. Also, because it’s a tendering port (i.e. the ship anchors and we have to take a boat ashore), I have to wait until all the passengers get off before I can leave the ship. Because things were behind schedule, I didn’t get off the ship until close to 1, and since we had to be back at 4, it didn’t leave too much time. But, I tried to make the best of it. The town was very nice once we got off the tender. To get myself acquainted, I took this little train around the city just to see everything there was. I saw a lot people riding bikes and I think this would be a fantastic place to take a bike for the day. I will have to consider that, since the ship does rent bikes to crew.

After I took a tour of the city, I sought out Internet, even though it was mostly a bust. I couldn’t find any dedicated internet cafes, and since it was France, I didn’t really know how to ask for them. I just gave up and went to the one place I knew would have internet – McDonald’s. I really hate going to McDonald’s, but when it’s the only place that has usable wifi, you have to make do. The internet speed wasn’t great (and I’m not even sure if I was actually on the right network – I was on someone’s wifi). After sitting there for a while, I started to get hungry; because I didn’t want to move, I really had no choice but to eat at McDonald’s. With my broken French, I managed to order a salad with sliced meat and some Coke (although it took a couple tries). I really think the Coke was American (i.e. not sweetened with sugar) so that made it worse – boo.

All in all this day wasn’t so great. Wish I would have gotten a tour. Didn’t have much time out, didn’t really find that great of Internet, and I broke down and bought McD’s. Next time I think I’ll just rent a bike (unless I get a tour).

Civitavecchia – April 30 – While I really wanted to go into Rome that day, I had to do various things on the ship, and so by the time I got out, it wasn’t worth it. It’s about an hour and a half to get to Rome, and since I wasn’t familiar with the train station, I didn’t feel like chancing it. So, I just walked around the town (which took me forever to learn how to pronounce – Si va cha veck ee ah, by the way) to see what I could find. I ran into some new crew members, one of which was also from Florida. We all sat at a café, ordered pizza, and bonded over the fact we were eating a meal off the ship. Afterwards, the other Floridian and I wandered around to find Internet. We found one place, but it smelled weird, there were people everywhere, and the prices weren’t so great. We remembered there was a place closer to ship, so we went there. While there were many computers there, there was only one space for you to plug in your own laptop. The nice Floridian gave it up to me since she was going back to the ship anyway to take a nap.

I sat down at the one and only internet terminal (which you also had to plug in) and I got to Interneting. Oh my gosh, the speed was so incredibly fast, I couldn’t believe it! I was getting 1 Megabit down for speed, which is really good. It’s probably nothing to all of you folks with your readily available high-speed internet, but to me and my internet misadventures it was wonderful. The chair for the internet was extremely uncomfortable, but I didn’t care. I wanted to stay there forever, and I almost did. Bless you high-speed and it was only 1.50 euros an hour – not a bad price. So far on all of my adventures, this has been the best internet I’ve found. If I could, I would always come back to this port and use this wonderful internet. But, it’s really the port to see Rome, and I can’t justify turning down Rome for internet, no matter how fast it may be. Also, there’s only one spot, so if someone sits down or hogs it (much like I did), you’re really screwed.

Florence/Pisa (Livorno) – May 1 – Okay, enough internet talk. I managed to snag a Tuscany tour this day, so I was once again excited. At first I was disappointed that I wasn’t going to either Florence or Pisa on my tour. But then, when I read the description closely, I noticed I was going to Volterra. Fans of Twilight should recognize how cool that is – it’s the home of where the vampire royalty live (and an important place in the second book). For those of you who aren’t fans, though, it’s still pretty cool. I really like Volterra and wish we could have spent more time. They gave us a tour and let us wander on our own, but there was so much to do there’s no way I could do it all. Or maybe I just thought it was so exciting because I read about in Twilight first. Either way, it was neat. At first, I didn’t see much Twilight stuff around, so I figured Volterra downplayed the whole thing – but I was dead wrong. While wandering on my own, I went into the Tourist office, and they had New Moon stuff everywhere. Then, they gave me a map of all the places they talk about in the New Moon book. It was a Twilight fan’s dream come true. I only wish I had one of my Twilight friends there to squeal with. None of the passengers seemed nearly as excited as I was.

In between our next stop, we went to a nice little farm (which really looked like a garden to me) for lunch. It actually turned to be a combination lunch and wine tasting (which surprised the passengers, too). I’m not much of a wino, and there was so much wine, and so much was wasted on me. But they also served us lots of different types of food to try with the wine, including a lasagna that was the best. It was soft, chewy, and extremely cheesy. Of course Italy would make the best lasagna, right? I also tried a sweet balsamic vinaigrette and my eyes are now open to the possibility of balsamic vinaigrette beyond what they give you at the restaurant table. I almost bought some, but it was so expensive, so I decided to leave it as a pleasant memory.

After that, we headed to San Gimignano which is on a really big hill. I had a bit of trouble walking up the hill, so I can only imagine how the passengers were struggling. If you want a workout, you should definitely go here (or San Fransisco). They let us on our own for an hour here and so I went and explored more. They had two interesting museums – Museum of Torture and Museum of the Death Penalty. It was so bizarre I just had to go. And let me just say, it was very graphic and hard on the stomach at times. I never realized there were so many different ways to kill or torture someone, but there are. It was hard being in there, but it was a part of the history, and it’s also something they would never have in America. I saw mothers take their kids in as though it was no big deal. It was an interesting experience to me how unaffected these young children were. After the museum(s), I went shopping for a bit, but the prices were high and it was just a little too touristy. I think I liked Volterra better. I tried to get gelato, but there just wasn’t enough time, so I made my way back. I’ll be in Italy plenty of times, with many opportunities to get gelato, so I wasn’t too upset. 

On our way back, I asked our Italian tour guide various Italian phrases. I’ve forgotten most of them, but I do remember a lot of them sounded like Spanish, so maybe if I just talk in Spanish, they might be able to make out what I’m saying.

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And that wraps up part one for my ports of my second cruise. Never knew I could talk so much about the internet, eh? It may seem silly to you, but remember that internet is hard to come by on the ship, so we do what we can when we’re in port. I’ll talk about the next few ports in a later entry. Hope you all enjoy these wrap-ups, even if they are a little bit delayed.

Ports alghero, Civitavecchia, florence, livorno, pisa, seville, spain, volterra