Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Final Thoughts
We’ve travelled the Panama canal and the Suez canal, we’ve walked the Great Wall, touched the giant heads on Easter island, felt the ground shake by an active volcano, climbed the pyramids, swam in the Dead Sea, passed through the Gateway to India, walked the corridors of Angkor Wat, stood at Ground Zero of the first atomic bomb, had a face to face meeting with the great Gold Bhudda and prayed in the Great Blue Mosque. We’ve sailed the river Nile and the canals of Venice, the Great Barrier reef, the Red Sea, the Yellow Sea, the Black Sea and the White Sea, it’s hard to believe thinking back on it and those are only a few of the amazing things we’ve been lucky enough to experience……………
I have no tips for future world cruisers other than, If you can afford it ………. do it …………….. I loved every minute, I could happily have stayed on for another 3 months (if it was free) though maybe not, as I‘d miss my kids and animals. Next time I would arrange more independent tours, the Princess tours were greatly overpriced and not half as enjoyable as those we arranged ourselves.
Most memorable places would be China, Cambodia and India.
Most memorable things about the ship would be the staff almost without exception they were the best of any ship we’ve been on and the cleanliness and upkeep of the ship was without equal. The passengers went from the nicest people you could hope to meet to a few who were total pita’s, the world cruisers were 90 percent 60’s and older but there were quite a few 50’s and even a two younger couples with small kids.
I’d be happy to answer any questions via the comments capability, I get an email notification whenever anyone posts a comment.
Thanks to all who followed the blog, hope to see you all again, next world cruise :).
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I have no tips for future world cruisers other than, If you can afford it ………. do it …………….. I loved every minute, I could happily have stayed on for another 3 months (if it was free) though maybe not, as I‘d miss my kids and animals. Next time I would arrange more independent tours, the Princess tours were greatly overpriced and not half as enjoyable as those we arranged ourselves.
Most memorable places would be China, Cambodia and India.
Most memorable things about the ship would be the staff almost without exception they were the best of any ship we’ve been on and the cleanliness and upkeep of the ship was without equal. The passengers went from the nicest people you could hope to meet to a few who were total pita’s, the world cruisers were 90 percent 60’s and older but there were quite a few 50’s and even a two younger couples with small kids.
I’d be happy to answer any questions via the comments capability, I get an email notification whenever anyone posts a comment.
Thanks to all who followed the blog, hope to see you all again, next world cruise :).
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Livorno - Gateway to Tuscany
Thursday May 7 2009 - And now, the end is near, day 107, we had planned to take a tour of Cinque Terre, but cancelled last minute as we decided we would need the time for packing. We did manage to get off for a couple of hours and much as I love Italy, we were not surprised that we were ripped-off in Livorno much as we were in the other Italian ports, it’s a shame because otherwise Italy is a beautiful place. This time the port wouldn’t allow anyone to walk out and you were required to take a taxi or pay $10 each for a shuttle out of the dock area, it’s not that big a deal, just one more added to the 3 euro charge for a 2 euro map, the 80 euro snack, both in Venice and the short timed taxi in Messina. I can’t think of any other ports where we felt cheated, some ports also had shuttles which you paid for, but none were anything like as expensive as Livorno and all left you the option to walk instead. Anyway, enough complaints, I still love Italy and will undoubtedly come back. Not much to see in Livorno, we had a walk around the market and then a walk around the historical area, it’s not really a tourist town, guess that’s why everyone goes to Florence or Pisa or Lucca or other places. The other memorable thing was that the shuttle said it operated every half hour, we waited 20 minutes to return to the ship and when he arrived he wouldn’t let anyone on as he was going for his lunch, we were supposed to wait for the next one. It took some arguing from some passengers before he eventually agreed to take us back to the port before he went for lunch.
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Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Cannes - French Riviera
A beautiful big yacht in the harbour, they were loading a little colour matched smart car in the back when we passed - unfortunately I forgot the name of it.
Wednesday May 6 2009 - I looked out my cabin window this morning and, in my best William Shatner voice, shouted ‘Cannes‘, well some people may get the connection. Here we are on the French Riviera, home to movie stars, motor yachts, paparazzi and ‘2 euro‘ stores, yes we found Europe’s answer to the dollar store, strange in this city known for its’ opulence.
Pedestrian shopping street
The ship was anchored in the bay and around 10.00am we took the tender ashore, only the third time we were tendered in to the dock in the entire world cruise. After walking through the main pedestrian shopping thoroughfare, we sat down for an espresso and a cappuccino then doubled back and walked along the sea front, a pleasant walk, but we were ready to return to the ship.
A beach at Cannes
Boulevard de Croisante, along the ocean front
After lunch on board, we spent some time packing our suitcases with the junk, I mean souvenirs, accumulated over the last 3½ months, then sat for a while in the afternoon sun before getting ready for dinner.
Barcelona
Tuesday May 5 2009 - I love Barcelona, it‘s such a civilised cosmopolitan city, we were here for almost a week about a year ago so I hadn‘t planned anything other than a walk about the Gothic Quarter and a few hours people watching.
Sitting at the South end of Las Ramblas
We took the port shuttle (3 euros return) to the bottom of La Rambla, the main shopping pedestrian street, since the ship was docked about 3 or 4 miles from town (same place as we were docked last time).
Plaza Real viewed from the restaurant
Just couldn't drag myself away:)
A large beer on La Rambla could cost you 12 euros, so we sat in Plaza Real just off the main strip, I think the place was called ‘Canarias’, we had 2 cappuccinos, 2 large beers, ½ a bottle of wine and 2 plates of fried potatoes for 23.50 euros, quite reasonable.
Jim and Sue
We were due back on the ship by 03.30pm so around 02.00pm we headed back, it was a beautiful day, warm but not hot and clear blue sunny skies and once on board we watched the sail away then made our way to the casino.
The casino staff and their best customer:)
We received an invite along with about 20 other losers, I mean regular patrons, from the casino manager to come for an informal photograph with the casino staff whom we’ve gotten to know quite well over our 3½ months together. It was a fun filled event where in addition to a group picture, we got to sit behind the tables in the dealer position with lots of chips and surrounded by our favourite dealers. After dinner I watched the evening show starring Karen Grainger, Canada’s foremost female impersonator and vocalist, she was very good.
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Sitting at the South end of Las Ramblas
We took the port shuttle (3 euros return) to the bottom of La Rambla, the main shopping pedestrian street, since the ship was docked about 3 or 4 miles from town (same place as we were docked last time).
Plaza Real viewed from the restaurant
Just couldn't drag myself away:)
A large beer on La Rambla could cost you 12 euros, so we sat in Plaza Real just off the main strip, I think the place was called ‘Canarias’, we had 2 cappuccinos, 2 large beers, ½ a bottle of wine and 2 plates of fried potatoes for 23.50 euros, quite reasonable.
Jim and Sue
We were due back on the ship by 03.30pm so around 02.00pm we headed back, it was a beautiful day, warm but not hot and clear blue sunny skies and once on board we watched the sail away then made our way to the casino.
The casino staff and their best customer:)
We received an invite along with about 20 other losers, I mean regular patrons, from the casino manager to come for an informal photograph with the casino staff whom we’ve gotten to know quite well over our 3½ months together. It was a fun filled event where in addition to a group picture, we got to sit behind the tables in the dealer position with lots of chips and surrounded by our favourite dealers. After dinner I watched the evening show starring Karen Grainger, Canada’s foremost female impersonator and vocalist, she was very good.
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