Mediterranean Cruise Part 5: Naples, Pisa and Departures

Waking up after our sea day, we opened the blinds to find ourselves docked in Naples, along with three other cruise ships. Our plan for the day was to get off the ship and just have a wander, as most of the excursions were to Sorrento (we've been there a couple of times) Capri, Pompeii and Herculaneum, all of which we've "done" but we've never really seen any of Naples. The first part of our wander was pretty disappointing. Main roads, the Piazza del Plebiscito that is on all the tourist guides but which was largely out of bounds as it was being set up for a 3 night concert, and the Galleria Umberto I, an architecturally impressive but retail disappointing "mall". 

Galleria Umberto I
Impressive building, but a bit scabby

We moved to Via Toledo which is the main shopping drag in Naples. It was a Saturday and the street was heaving, but interesting nonetheless with loads of side streets, cafes, shops, locals, but somewhere to keep you wits about you. We stopped towards the end for a coffee in a very low key street side cafe. The first thing they put on the table was an ashtray (neither of us smoke)! The coffee was great though.

There was a wedding going on in the church with the green roof!

We then moved  into the Spanish Quarter down side streets mainly filled with tourist tat shop and FC Napoli flags, with flags, pictures, miniatures and everything else you can think of with the footballer Maradonna plastered everywhere (he played for Napoli).

We went in a couple of churches, including one where there was a wedding in full swing, oblivious to the tourists flocking in and out of the church.

Typical Napoli street with Napoli and Maradonna flags everywhere

After about three hours, we'd had enough and returned to the relative calm of the ship, for a chilled afternoon before the usual evening routine kicked in. Whilst we enjoyed the vibe of the narrow side streets, I think our collective view of the bit of Naples that we saw was "it's scabby"!

Silent Disco in the Main Plaza

After dinner and the obligatory show we stopped in the main ship Plaza by the martini bar where a silent disco was in full swing, although with everyone belting out the songs they were hearing in their headphones, it wasn't very silent!

Tomorrow beckons, and out last stop of the trip, Livorno.

As we woke we were pulling into the port of Livorno. Although got old part of the town is supposed to be quite pretty, it's not that big, although it's a massive shipping port. The main purpose of the stop was that it's the closest port to Pisa and Florence, and our excursion for the day was a trip to Pisa

It was about a 40 minute bus ride to Pisa. Our excursion was "Pisa by Trolley". This trend out to be one of those tractor pulled "land trains"! But first we had about an hour to ourselves for the main attraction, the leaning tower of Pisa.

The leaning tower of Pisa

It's a fabulously impressive building (for a bell tower). We didn't have enough time to get tickets to climb up in (20 Euros), but took the obligatory photo of trying to hold it up as were the zillion other tourists in the square. Similarly the huge cathedral adjacent to the tower had a long queue so we didn't make it in there either.

The photo below shows the Baptistry next to the Cathedral, allegedly the biggest baptistry there is - a massive building just to baptise people!

After our time was up we boarded the "trolley" for our tour of Pisa, which was pretty underwhelming I'd say. Several people had said the only thing worth seeing in Pisa is the tower, cathedral and baptistry, and whilst that may be a bit harsh, I'd opine that a land train really isn't the best way to see the city.

Back on board the ship it was time to think about packing and our departure the following morning, but before then it was one last dinner, show and nightcap.

We'd booked a coach transfer to the airport direct with Celebrity - it seemed the sensible option, and we were off the ship just after 9am, and at the airport by not long after 10.30. Unfortunately our flight wasn't scheduled until almost 4pm, so we had some time to kill, so found somewhere to sit for a coffee and a bite to eat.

We met up with my golf buddy and his party in the airport, where they'd found their BA flight to Heathrow  cancelled! They'd been told they'd be taken to a hotel overnight, then get a flight to Madrid at 6am the following morning before catching a second flight to Heathrow.

As it tuned out, our easyJet flight to Bristol was delayed by 90 minutes as well, but at least it went that night. Apparently it was all due to air traffic control issues.

We were through our front door by 9.30pm after another long day, but with some fabulous memories from a wonderful trip.

A few thoughts from our cruise:

Good things

• The crew. To a man and woman, they were superb. Friendly, helpful always smiling and nothing was ever too much trouble. We paid for gratuities up front, and believe me, the crew are worth it. We gave an extra tip to out stateroom attendant Putu, who was absolutely bloody brilliant.
• The quality of the food. Whilst I heard some moans over our 10 nights (there's always one or two people who are never satisfied) the choice and quality of what we ate was superb. There were plenty of options for drinks too, and plenty of different venues on board to try them in
• Our meal in the exclusive "Le Voyage" was excellent
• A special shout out to the Cruise Director Alejandro Tortorelli, who was so funny and made us laugh every time he was on stage, or giving a talk or on screen on the videos and live streams he did

I was underwhelmed by

• Having to pay an additional 20% gratuity charge whoever I got a drink about the "Classic" beverage tier having already paid for gratuities up front
• Having to pay $5 for a packet of crisps from your stateroom mini-bar. It just seems bizarre to do that when you can walk into a restaurant and stuff your face any time of the day
• Classic drinks package topping out at $10 per serving with (typically) a 330ml bottle of beer at $9 and a box standard wine at $10. To up to the "Premium" package would cost an extra $80 per person per day and everyone in the stateroom has to have the same package. I might get through some premium spirits (but whether an extra $80 worth a day is doubtful), but Mrs H is not a big drinker. Still, they have you by the short and curlies.
• Same with Wi-Fi. We got basic Wi-Fi in our base cost, but that's so limited you can't send or receive images etc so I paid an extra $96 for the 10 night cruise for the Premium package (for ONE device only. I tested the speed of this Premium service, and the best I could muster at any time was 4.6MBps. That's black to dial up speeds, so they must be raking in the profit on that
• Not having a "proper" balcony. That's our own fault. Should have check the various room types when booking
• Having electronic top to bottom blinds instead of curtains in our stateroom. Useless if you just want a quick peek - you have to open the blinds which are slow and noisier than curtains

Don't forget you can see all our trip photos here 

Twitter: @Statto1927 

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Mediterranean Cruise - Part 4: Kotor and Taormina

Kotor from the cliff path
Our ship is the little white dot in the far distance!

From Dubrovnik, it's a relatively short hop to Kotor in Montenegro, so we left Dubrovnik late (10pm) and were due to arrive in Kotor early (around 6am). Kotor is set quite a way inland from open sea through a series of fjord like waters, and many people (including me) were up early to see us navigate through, including a couple of very narrow stretches. As the dock is relatively small, and there was already another cruise ship in, we had to anchor and use tenders to get in to Kotor - we actually anchored a good mile or so from the mail dock, but as usual the transition was easy and well organised.

Looking back towards our ship just peeking our over that green penninsula

How's you language skills?

Today we were on a relatively short, two hour walking tour around the old city. In many ways Kotor is much like Dubrovnik, but smaller, and much more intimate. But it is just as crowded! Our local guide Milos was (as all our guides on the tours were) excellent, knowledgable and humorous. There are just three gates to the old City, and it's easy enough to walk round.  As with all these places, there were several churches, lots of tourists shops, cafes and restaurants keeping the tourists happy. 

Main gate to old Kotor

The Church of St Nicholas

It was soon evident that the old city is home to a large number of cats. Unlike many places where there's a cat population that often look scrawny and malnourished, these cats were clearly well fed and in good health. Milos told us that cats were brought in during the plague years (bubonic not Covid!) to keep the rat population down, and did such a good job that the city now looks after them making sure they're fed and that if they need veterinary help they get it.

Following our tour, we decided to make the climb up a steep and stony path for a more panoramic view of Kotor. This leads to a chapel where there's a viewpoint for the popular views you often see of Kotor. The path does go higher to an old fort, but that's about twice the distance, and you need to be fit - whilst the path does have steps in most places, they're narrow - generally wide enough for one, with the rest of the path rock or sometimes loose stone. (not it also costs eight euros per person to climb the path). You'll need sturdy shoes. A slow and steady 20-3- minutes later we'd reached the chapel.

A cat (one of many) in Kotor on the path up the cliff

Panorama of Kotor

They even have a cat shop
(not selling cats though!)

A tender returning to the ship

Small town near Kotor

In the screenshot above, wer'e the rightmost blue ship following another cruise ship, the Marella Explore out of Kotor. We turn left down that narrow channel, leaving less than 50 yards either side of the ship. Even then we're not in open sea

The iconic Lady of the Rocks Church near Kotor

One of the iconic landmarks near the narrow passage I mentioned above, is the Our Lady of the Rocks Church on a small island in the middle of the fjord.

The "sail away" from Kotor is truly spectacular, and the upper deck was lined with passengers looking and taking photos. It's truly fabulous.

We really enjoyed our time in Kotor, and I'd love to go back one day.

Passengers enjoying the "sail away"

One of the events we attended on the ship on our sea day passage to Messina was a Q&A session with Captain Kate McCue, hosted by the irrepressible Cruise Director Alejandro Tortorelli It was a real insight into Capt Kate's time at sea, the inner workings of being on a cruise ship and plenty of humorous anecdotes to boot.

Captain Kate McCue and Cruise Director Alejandro Tortorelli

The Captain's cat, "Bug Naked"

Got a photo with the skipper!

Passengers vs Officers Pool Volleyball
(Officers won)

An overnight sail from Kotor saw us docking in Messina, Sicily early the next morning. After a slightly later breakfast than of late, we were off on another excursion, this time a 45 minute coach trip down the coast to the pretty town of Taormina.

Messina

Taormina with Etna brooding in the background

Here we were left to our one devices for about three hours. Having researched beforehand, I knew we wanted to visit the roman amphitheatre, so we queued for our tickets. From Taormina the volcano of Mount Etna is clearly visible on the hills to the west, so we managed some decent photos as we explored the amphitheatre. 

Following this, we wandered the main street of Taormina, Corso Umberto I. Lined with shops, restaurants, side alleys, cafes it's got a real happening vibe to it, but like all our stops on the cruise, was pretty busy. We stooped in a cafe to sample the local granita a sort of cross between a sorbet and gelato. Anne had a pistachio flavoured one, and mine was a zingy lemon. Fabulous to cool us down on another very warm day. 

Amphitheatre and Etna

On Corso Umberto I

Taormina side street

Taormina piazza

Granita

Twitter: @Statto1927 

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Mediterranean Cruise - Part 3: Corfu and Dubrovnik

A former palace, now a museum in Corfu Town

Those of you that know us, will know that Corfu is one of our favourite holiday spots, and we've visited several times over the last few years. We therefore decided to give the excursions a miss and just wander around old Corfu town on our own for a couple hours. Of course, me being me, I decided it's an easy walk. Well, actually it's the best part of a mile to get from our pier dock to the port entrance, and then another mile or so into the old town! And yes, it was another hot day. Another death stare from Mrs H (not really).

Anyway, we wandered around the old town, up and down the narrow streets filled with tourist shops, cafes and so on. We stopped for a very nice coffee and watched the world go by for half an hour, before making our way around by the old fort, along the coast road and back to the ship. By the time we got back, it was very hot, and we'd walked the best part of five miles, but to be honest, I don't mind, because you see parts of the place you'd miss if you were on a bus or in a taxi. And a cold beer on return always hits the spot!  The rest of the day was spent relaxing on a sun bed, with a quick dip on the pool before getting ready for dinner, a show and a nightcap.

Corfu town backstreet

Corfiot door

Museum and arch

Photo by an obliging chap near the old fort

Nearly back. Hot and tired

As we awoke the next day and lifted the blinds we were just coming in to dock in Dubrovnik. This was another new destination for us. We slowly moved past the Dr Franjo Tudman bridge to dock at the pier. Our plan for the day was an excursion to the old town to walk the famous city walls. They run for about 2km right around the old city, reaching a maximum height of about 25m (82ft). After a quick viewpoint stop, our guide took us into the old town and we ascended the first set of stairs onto the walls. Although we were still relatively early (about 10am ish) it was already hot, and we'd only gone about 15 mins in when our tour group had a casualty as an elderly lady fainted in the heat and with the exertion.  Medical aid given she returned to the ship and we carried on. The views are outstanding of Dubrovnik's red tiled roofs, and regular sightings of locations used in the Game of Thrones TV series (Dubrovnik was used as the location for King's Landing, home of the Lannisters in that series.

After about 2 hours we completed the walls, and then had a little free time, only about 45 mins (not enough really) to explore on our own before returning to the ship. It's a fascinating place and I'd have loved to spend more time there, but it was really busy, thanks to both it's innate beauty and history, and of course the result of it's popularity due to Game of Thrones. I think if I came again, I'd look for somewhere to stay further out from Dubrovnik, and take a day trip in to the city.

Dubrovnik old town from viewpoint

Ascending to the City Walls

Bells and Domes

Dubrovnik roofs

Dubrovnik selfie

Moored near the Dr Franjo Tudman bridge

It was a late departure from Dubrovnik and were treated to the most glorious sunset as we made our way slowly out of port and then it was on to our now routine evening schedule of dinner, drinks and a show.

Dubrovnik sunset

A cruise ship has a lot of space to fill, and so there was art everywhere - paintings, sculptures, weird passages that reminded me of scenes from Dr Who. Some was pretty standard stuff, and some was, well, plain weird.

Art on a ship stairwell

Art on the pool deck

Tomorrow we'll be in the place I'm looking forward to the most - Kotor, in Montenegro!

Twitter: @Statto1927 

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Mediterranean Cruise - Part 2: Behind the scenes and Olympia

On the bridge!

Today's a sea day. No stops until Katakolon tomorrow morning. A chance to chill out on the sun/pool deck, explore the ship have the odd drink, eat a lot...you know the score by now. First thing, as we opened our blinds to see Stromboli, an active volcano island (inhabited) passing by on our port side.

The highlight of today is a behind the scenes tour that we'd booked which included access to the engine control room, the kitchens (or some of them), the laundry and best of all the bridge. At the appointed time/place, our group of around a dozen were issued with our "Inside Access" badges and lanyards and taken into the inner workings of the Celebrity Beyond. We started with a visit to the Engine Control Room or ECR, where 2nd Engineer "Jim"for Greece (that's what his badge said) explained how the ships engines, heating, water and other systems worked. It was a relatively small space filled with big screens and one other engineer in the "live bit". The ship has five engines, of which two are the biggies driving the "Azipod" propellers, each 15m in diameter! Interestingly, the ship has no rudder. It's steered by these azipods that can rotate through 360 degrees.

Anne with 2nd Engineer Jim

Screen showing engines status 
(apologies for the reflections)
Azipods are in green at bottom of screen

After the ECR we were ushered along the corridor on deck 2 that runs the length of the ship that crew use to access wherever they're going. It's known colloquially at "I-95". Then up to deck 11 and along to the bridge, via a corridor containing awards that Capt Kate McCue has acquired over her years at sea.

The bridge was a bigger space than I'd imagined, with an arched central console housing all the systems and screens. Surprisingly other than the officer who was there to take to us, there were only three other people on the bridge. Two officers and a sailor lookout. It was a very calm and quiet environment. We were told all about the controls, including the tiny wooden steering wheel (wooden as a tradition apparently) which is rarely used as all the steering is normally done via much more sophisticated equipment. We walked out to the wing bridge used when docking and un-docking as its easier to see the side of the ship. Using the azipod steering, the ship can rotate through 360 degrees on a sixpence, so tugs are rarely needed in ports.

The working crew on the bridge.
Officers left & right, lookout centre

After the calm of the bridge we were escorted to the laundry. Far less glamorous, but just as important keeping towels, linen and clothing for over 4,000 passengers and crew clean. A massive logistical operation helped by washing machines that take 256lb loads, and machines that dry and fold towels and sheets automatically! Could do with those at home! It's a hot, humid and noisy place though, and I wouldn't want to work there!

Officer showing us how towels are fed in, and automatically folder ready for the outdoor decks

After the laundry, another trip along I-95 to see the provisions stores which are understandably huge. They take on fresh provisions (fruit etc) at every port stop. Then it was on to the recycling centre. Celebrity prides itself on it's green credentials - much of the heat and steam generated by engines is used elsewhere on the ship, it has it's own desalination plant for the vast amounts of water that are used, and whatever can be recycled is.

Our final stop was the kitchens (or at least one of the many kitchens) where top quality chefs prepare our food. Fresh bread is baked from scratch every day with basic ingredients (and I have to say all the bread we ate, and there were LOTS of different types from parmesan breadsticks to brioche, wholemeal, seeded etc was fabulous). We also got to taste freshly made gelato. The logistics involved again are staggering, but they have everything down to a tee.

In the kitchens where some bread has just been baked

It was fabulous tour, and brilliant to see how everything worked.

The rest of the day was spent chilling, with a few drinks and meals thrown in as we navigated the Strait of Messina on our way to Katakolon. In the evening after dinner, we took in a show and headed for our favourite bar,

We passed the volcano island of Stromboli early in the morning

Messina - Celebrity Reflection is docked
We were on that ship in 2018 in the Caribbean

The next morning as we lifted our stateroom blinds, we were docked in Katakolon, Greece. We were up early as we had an excursion to Olympia booked. When you have booked excursions you go to the theatre at the appointed time, collect a sticker for your group and wait to be called. It's a pretty sick process and we were off the ship, and in Olympia after a short 30minute drive by 9am.  Although early, this had two big advantages. 1) although hot, it was nowhere near as hot at it was going to get later in the day 2) we were one of the first groups there so it wasn't overly crowded.

Olympia is of course the site of the original Olympic Games, and our brilliant local guide walked and talked us through the history as we toured the site. Much of the site suffered after some earthquakes many years ago, but the archeologists are still there and still uncovering more of the area. We sayw the spot where the flam for the modern day Olympics is lit - quite a low key spot it has to be said, and the main stadium with grassy banks where the spectators (all men) sat.  The original stone start and finish lines are still in place too. 

Olympia
The site of the training hall

Olympia
The main stadium

Olympia
Anne on the stadium start line

Olympia
Our guide shows us the spot where the flame is lit for the modern Olympics

We also visited the on site archaeological museum where all the artefacts from the site are on display. It's a fascinating place and a marvellous insight to that period of time

We then went on to an olive  farm, where we tasted a variety of olive oils (and very tasty they were too), before having a lunch provided. It was great to have the opportunity to chat to some other passengers (Americans this time) over a meal, before the inevitable and obligatory bit of Greek dancing.

A bit of obligatory Greek dancing

We were back on the ship early afternoon, where we recovered from the heat with an afternoon bevvy, before the usual evening schedule of a meal, a show and some gentler late night entertainment in on of the bars.

Chilling our back on ship

This evenings dinner was a bit special, as we'd booked the posh restaurant Le Voyage by culinary ambassador Daniel Boulud. A bit extra dish but a fabulous taster menu in a small and cosy - almost exclusive restaurant.

About to tuck into dessert in Le Voyage

Captain Kate and her Exec team

The pool deck is colourful at night

When we wake up tomorrow morning, we'll be in Corfu

Intersting(ish) facts:

• Celebrity Beyond can take about 3,260 passengers and has a working crew of around 1,230
• It's maiden voyage was in April 2022
• Like the other ships in the Edge class,  Celebrity Beyond is fitted with the Magic Carpet tender dock, designed to prevent hull collisions while anchored offshore. While sailing, the Magic Carpet is equipped with a bar and can be used as a patio.

Twitter: @Statto1927 

Mastodon: @simonhiscocks@toot.wales

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