I lost a partially composed blog post yesterday, annoying, and will now not post this until at least tomorrow. Internet in board is exorbitantly priced and I have already used a fifth of my US$100 package, so I'm going to try and be patient about posting things until on shore and in free wifi areas. And I have to curb my social media habit for the next three weeks :P
Mum and I are well into cruise mode... I absolutely love it! When I first mentioned to at particular person that I was going on a cruise, they said "isn't that just for old people?" Well yes, there are some well seasoned folk in board, but the age range is very diverse. The Noordam is beautiful, quite modern and new, and quite glamorous. The food is awesome, and of course all prepaid; just drinks to pay for on board. I'm not thinking about what is being charged to my account, you only live once and I am not going to scrimp on this experience.
Our room is better than I had anticipated, and I'm so glad we upgraded to have a small verandah. It was amazing sitting out there in my PJs this morning watching the sun rise over the Italian coast, cruising past Mt Stromboli complete with its plume of smoke, and sailing through the Straights of Messina at midday. It was calm sailing till late aftn, when we got a definite roll on in the more open sea, but it seems to have settled again now we are in bed.
Because today has been an 'At Sea' day, we spent some time familiarising ourselves with the ship. There's a lot of it too explore! We've also taken time to look at the onshore excursions and decide which stops we will book tours for and which we will explore by ourselves. We have booked our Athens and Ephesus experiences, and will confirm more as the cruise progresses. Tomorrow we have our first docking at Katakolon, and instead of booking with the cruise, we've arranged our own transport to the ancient site of Olympia through an ebook I purchased prior to leaving; 'Rick Steve's Mediterranean Cruise Ports'. It's awesome because you can link right through to websites, it is full of specific local knowledge and tips, and has excellent, current maps. A quick email to a recommended taxi company this morning and all organised by 2pm. And at a fraction of the cost of a similar tour via the company.
Aside from the joys of the cruise experience, I've loved meeting heaps of new people. I had 'met' Jan on Facebook (this cruise had its own page) prior to the cruise, and have loved getting to know her and her husband Tom over the last couple of days. We have organised our trip into Olympia tomorrow in conjunction with an Australian couple we met this morning, and tonight we dined with another Kiwi couple we met earlier today. All wonderful people. I'm loving collecting new friends 😊.
