Richard's Page

Bermuda, BM

2026-11-10T14:28:00.000-09:00

Tuesday - Today’s stop is Bermuda at the Royal Naval Dockyard across the bay from Hamilton, the capital. There is space for two ships and a Celebrity cruise ship was waiting right behind us.

It should be a beautiful day. After a leisurely breakfast, we got off the ship and wandered through the port area.

The destination was Sea Glass Beach located about a mile from the cruise terminal. This view was along the walk just after leaving the port.

The views of the ocean were wonderful along the walk. It was a very pleasant 73°F with a very light breeze. We did have to watch for traffic, one, because the drive on the opposite side of the street and the sidewalks were narrow.

The sea glass was abundant along this small section of beach. Local law prohibits taking any glass from the beach.

Near sea glass beach, there was this gate and it had the Bahamas flag, the British flag, and an American flag. I’m not sure why they had an American flag.

We did a little shopping on the way back and noticed that the price of everything was through the roof. I purchased a locally made popsicle for $7.50. Seems a bit exorbitant to me. So we waited until we got back on the ship to have lunch.

And Another

2026-11-09T09:17:07.250-09:00

Monday - Another sea day that is. Tomorrow is, hopefully, a port day then only two more sea days (and another time zone change) and we will be in FL. I say hopefully as there is a slight chance that it might be too windy to dock. The time has passed quickly. Nothing unique in the picture. Just showing the weather and the calm seas.

What had become the daily routine is breakfast in the main dining room followed by the hot tub. Not really a jacuzzi as there is just bubbles not water jets. But it’s fine. At 10, they begin some sort of exercise program in the pool area so I relocate to somewhere else. The exercise program includes loud music and someone way to cheerful about exercise. The solarium is quiet but is much more crowded than last week.

The ocean is calm with not much wind but the forecast is for it it increase as the day progresses. The high and low temperature in today’s forecast is 75°F. Can’t complain about that.

Around 2, I picked up a chai latte (part of the routine) and went to the observation deck at the very front of the ship on deck 5. I found a very chill area on the ship. Deck 4, starboard. Under the lifeboats. It’s a long outdoor walkway connecting stairs to the observation deck on both sides of the ship and wraps around the stern. I now know where the auxiliary generators are.

This was taken from the stern, deck 4.

Yet Another Sea Day

2026-11-08T15:36:00.000-09:00

Sunday - My initial reaction (besides laughing) was we must’ve made a wrong turn. Or this isn’t what we signed up for.

This is closer to what I was expecting. Being at the tail end of the season in the northern Atlantic, warm, sunny days were not expected. It looks colder that it actually is (75°F). The water really is a dark blue as in blue water sailing.

After breakfast, I relaxed a bit on deck 12 then did a four and a half laps which, according to Apple, was a mile. I guess I could’ve added deck 13 which would’ve added flight of stairs. But this is vacation.

It is possible to have a vacation even though one is retired. What changed is the definition of “work”.

I’m enjoying the quiet on this cruise. Especially the sea days. It doesn’t feel crowded unless you venture into the buffet during mealtime or the promenade when there is a give-away going on. On days like today, it’s nice enough outside to lie around and just relax. And have a Coke Zero. This is bottled in Italy. If I ordered a Diet Coke, it would be from the U.S. Interesting. The bartender said that Diet Coke is sold as Coke Light in Europe and the formula is different. Most passengers from the U.S. don’t like the change. And Coke Zero is much more popular.

On this cruise, no excursions are planned, which, for me, is nice. Granted, it’s nice to visit new places but after three weeks of that in Italy, Greece, and Spain, I need a vacation from our vacation…

Another Sea Day

2026-11-07T14:54:00.000-09:00

Saturday - A beautiful morning with wind from the northwest. There is more movement as in rocking. Especially if you go higher up.

We have a “behind the scenes” tour later this morning. I’ve been looking forward to that. It’s labeled as “Behind the Waves” and includes the bridge, the engine control room, galley, and waste management. And, the infamous I95 corridor that runs the full length of the ship down the center.

The tour started out in one of the galleys. This is the seafood preparation area as well as some of the appetizers. The bakery is also in this smaller kitchen on deck 4.

The next stop was deck 2 where all of the food is stored. Currently, there are around 5,000 to feed between passengers and crew. Their last major fresh produce stop was Cartagena and they need to stock and keep fresh for almost two weeks including several days contingency.

This is also the location of “I95” the corridor that runs the length of the ship. In one of the side passages is the engine control room. Pictures weren’t allowed but they controlled the engines, power generation, & water production. Pretty interesting.

The bridge was the next stop. It was lightly staffed as it was a “green” day. No heavy weather or really rough seas.

This is one of three sets of controls on the ship depending on which side they are docking. The captain stopped by to answer questions and take pictures.

Other stops included garbage processing and the ship’s laundry. It was really hot in the laundry and was the one time we were below the waterline.

It was a good tour!

Finished the day off in the hot tub next to the pool and the solarium (better shelter from the wind).

Sea Day

2026-11-06T13:25:00.000-09:00

Friday - Today is the first of a string of four sea days. On Tuesday, we arrive in Bermuda. It’s cool a windy resulting in the pool sloshing water with the waves. Walking through the area felt like walking in the surf. Only the water is warm.

The hot tubs were still open without too many waves. Not surprisingly, I was the only one enjoying the experience. It was also raining but the hot tubs had covers. So not too wet. It was 64°F with a 15 knot wind. And, the ship was at ~90° to the wind. So we rocked a little side to side. So far, I’m enjoying the repositioning cruise.

My almost daily mid-afternoon drink, a tall dirty chai tea latte. “Dirty” means a shot of espresso added. On this cruise, no extra charge. Just a little extra caffeine for the afternoon. RC has a coffee punch card that you can purchase pre-cruise for a decent savings. I’ve used them for the last several cruises.

There was a time change last night and another one tonight. We are already GMT+2 s quite a change already from Italy, which was GMT-2. Only a few more to go. EST is GMT+5 so only 3 more to go.

Ponta Delgado, PT

2026-11-05T13:40:00.000-09:00

Thursday - We arrived in the Azores this morning at Ponta Delgado, Portugal cruise terminal. Actually, we are at the commercial terminal as the cruise terminal only has room for one ship and it is currently occupied. That means that we needed to take a shuttle to the street as the public is not allowed to walk within the commercial terminal.

We backed into the dock at 9:30 so we have about 8 hours at this port. We have no excursions planned and, if the shuttle process is quick and easy, we may wander around the town around the port.

First, I went to the completely deserted jacuzzi. Most people must’ve headed off the ship. It’s 72°F with a light breeze. Just about perfect weather. Scattered clouds so the sunshine comes and goes.

After a light lunch, we headed out to the shuttle buses. It turned out that there wasn’t much around the port area. Some restaurants and souvenir shops. One small grocery store and a drug store. And for some reason, a lot of banks.

There were a few monuments in the area but I wasn’t sure what they were commemorating. Many black and white buildings and black walkways. The black walkways and building material being basalt (I think). A volcanic rock.

After about a hour or so of wandering, we headed back to the ship for a couple more hours of relaxation.

Sea Day

2026-11-04T12:48:00.000-09:00

Wednesday - We changed time zones again to Azores time. When traveling west, you have the benefit of gaining an hour every time. And, when traveling on a ship, the change is slow so no jet lag, obviously. So far, the seas have been pretty calm. You can tell that you are moving with some rocking.

This morning, I went up to a lounge on deck 14. Actually, I think it’s about the only thing on deck 14. They had an introductory Spanish lesson for 30 minutes. Introductory is still beyond me these days.

This afternoon, I went to the gym and tried the exercise bikes. In the past, I’ve always gravitated to the treadmills but with my sore ankle, I thought I’d try something else. The gym is at the front of the ship and there is a lot more movement. Up and down being added to the side to side roll. It didn’t feel comfortable while riding the stationary bike. I ended up lying around in the solarium. It still wasn’t sunny but it wasn’t as windy as on the open deck.

Sea Day & Gibraltar

2026-11-03T11:13:00.000-09:00

Tuesday - This morning, around 5:00, we were passing through the Strait of Gibraltar. Unfortunately, sunrise was around 6:15am so visibility wasn’t going to be great.

There was a crescent moon so there would be some light. To complicate viewing, we went through a time zone change at 3:00am but the phone didn’t change as it’s not on a cellular network. And, the ship-time didn’t update until around 6am. This is up on deck 13 at the front of the ship. I thought I might get a better view as it faces forward, but the glass panels were covered with dew. I went back to deck 12 and just watched from the railing on the starboard side.

My older iPhone doesn’t take very good night photos especially when zoomed in, but this is the Rock of Gibraltar. Not as imposing as I was expecting but my expectations were based on movies and cartoons.

This was taken from our balcony. We probably didn’t even need to go to deck 12. This was taken at 5:03 Western European Standard Time. And time to get a little more sleep before our 7:30 room service (coffee!).

The temperature prediction for today seems pretty boring. Only a 2°F variation from low to high.

I sat in the jacuzzi for a while this morning and my ankle is much better. Almost “normal”. I got rained on a bit and it was deserted. No sun, overcast, rain. I wonder why.

The solarium is not crowded but not as empty as it has been. But it’s quiet. Most people are just reading or playing on their phone (like me). For us, having Internet on this cruise is a splurge. But it works for streaming. There are 12 Starlink dishes mounted to the rail on deck 12. And the speed is ~12Mbps down and 4Mbps up. Not bad at all for out on the ocean.

Cartagena, ES

2026-11-02T11:35:00.000-09:00

Monday - We arrived in Cartagena this morning. For some reason, I thought that this city was somewhere in South America. So much for my geography knowledge.

After breakfast, we wandered into the area around the port. We found a long, scenic street with a number of shops and museums. We strolled a bit until my ankle started to bother me. I stopped for a milk-coffee (I hadn’t heard of that before) before making my way back to the ship.

The walkway looked like it was marble. It looked very slippery when wet. Fortunately, today was dry.

This is a very small harbor. Barely enough room for one medium sized cruise ship such as this one. Yesterday, I had left my hat, that I had picked up in Italy, at a seating area on the ship where we were resting. Today, I checked lost-and-found and it was there! It’s a small thing but getting my hat back made my day…

I found a nice, high deck on the ship. I guess it would be deck 13. It’s just a nice lounging area overlooking both the pool and the solarium.

Palma de Mallorca, ES

2026-11-01T11:59:00.000-09:00

Sunday - We pulled into Palma de Mallorca, an island about half way between Spain and Africa. We have no excursions planned though I may get off and look around a bit.

The actual town is about 4km to 6km away, according to the cruise app, so we won’t be going into town. There are usually shops set up in the port area. We did no research on any of the stops on this cruise. We figured, correctly, that we would be sort of burned out on “touristing”.

We are around the same latitude as Washington DC. Which did surprise me. I thought the Mediterranean was closer to the equator. Today’s high is 70°F which is hard to beat.

After breakfast, we did wander off the ship into the port area. Not very touristy especially when compared to other ports. All I picked up was an hdmi cable to connect the phone to the TV. Hopefully it works as some apps look for some sort of circuit embedded in the cable before they allow their content to be sent out on the cable.

This is our cruise ship. It looks small compared to most of the others in port. It’s over 25 years old and feels more classic in both decor and artwork. And, it has much more carpet.

We were back on the ship by 10:30. There were long lines of people waiting for their excursions and shuttles. I don’t think there is anything planned for rest of the day. My kind of day…

The solarium is partially open to the sky so on days like today, it’s wonderful.

I’m not sure of the reason, but there is an old Harley with a sidecar in the shopping district. It looks to be in great shape.

We are also able to access the bow of the ship, at least while it’s in port. This is the view from the heliport towards the bridge. It was nice and calm this morning.

Transatlantic Cruise - Day 1

2026-10-31T13:02:00.000-08:00

Saturday - Step 1, taxi to the cruise terminal. It took quite a bit of searching to determine which terminal Royal Caribbean used in Barcelona. The RC app gave just a general address for the cruise terminal location which has at least five terminals. I ended up looking at a live map provided by the port which showed what ship was where.

We are boarding Explorer of the Sea, an older (smaller) Royal Caribbean ship heading for Port Canaveral in Florida. This is a repositioning cruise which means a one way trip to move the ship from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean for the winter. These are usually cheaper and there are a lot of sea days. I believe there are four stops. Two in Spain, the Azores, and Bermuda.

The Royal Promenade shopping area is in the first picture and it is much narrower than the other Royal Caribbean ships we’ve been on recently. Nowhere near as many shops, which is fine. On this cruise, we did spring for the Internet package as we will be on for 13 days.

We have a balcony on the starboard side, which for most of the trip, will not be in direct sunshine. That makes the balcony more usable if it’s mostly sunny. The fancy building in the picture is a fancy hotel right on the beach. This is the view from the front of the ship.

In the background, you can see that cathedral we went to yesterday. It really does tower over the rest of the city. It’s 3:15 and we are supposed to be getting underway soon.

We had lunch at the buffet and, I must admit, the best item I had was the hot dog w/sauerkraut. Kind of pathetic. Bridget pointed out the made-to-order station that I missed. Those are usually pretty good.

Dinner in the main dining room was delicious, as usual. We share a table with David and Marilyn, complete strangers. This is the first time we are on a cruise without knowing anyone in a long time. The last time was a Carnival cruise to Ensenada in 2015.

Barcelona, ES - Day 2

2026-10-30T11:02:00.000-08:00

Friday - We decided to try out a new to us tourist option. The hop-on-hop-off bus. It was €28 (senior fare) and we ca use it for 24 hours. And there is an English audio to plug into. The only negative is that not many people get off.

I’m not sure what to think of our first stop. Pretty weird in a Dr Seuss way. It is the Basílica de la Sagrada Família and it looks like it’s still under construction.

We got back on the bus on the upper level and stayed there for the remainder of the loop. It was a nice tour of the city.

Lunch today was a burger w/sweet potato fries. I know, not from the area but for us, an occasional burger is a nice change. My burger had goat cheese. Not feta but something with a stronger flavor. It was good as have all three of the burgers I’ve had in Europe (Florence, Rome, and Barcelona).

Last night we tried a couple of tapas. One was olives stuffed with anchovies. I already knew I’d like that one. The other was a waiter recommendation. Patatas Bravas. Basically fried potatoes with a sauce made from mayo and spicy tomatoes. Not a favorite even though it is supposedly the most ordered tapas according to the internet.

Leaving Rome to Barcelona

2026-10-29T12:30:00.000-08:00

Thursday - We took the hotel recommended car to the airport this morning. It was €10 more than a cab, which was close enough. It was a very pleasant ride though the ridiculous traffic that is Rome. Everyone cutting in front of everyone else with scooters cutting in front of and around everyone. We arrived with plenty of time, which was fortunate, as the check-in line was over an hour long. Security was trivial though you weren’t even allowed to carry your passport through. And like everywhere else, lots of pushing as the trays of stuff didn’t necessarily go through in the same order as people.

We had lunch while waiting for the gate assignment. I guess the airline we picked, Vueling Airlines, must not have permanent gate assigned. The Rome airport is huge with tons of shopping. I keep wondering who buys all this high-end stuff. The flight itself was fine, no issues. We initially had concerns about Bridget’s carryon being slightly oversized for under the seat but it turns out that our ticket included a bag in the overhead compartment.

Arriving in Barcelona was a new experience. It took a long time for our checked bags to show up. Then trying to negotiate the taxi system. Yelp has a fixed rate to/from the airport but we just joined the regular taxi queue. The price ended up being about the same. And the cars are the same.

For dinner, I had one of the classic dishes of Barcelona. Seafood paella. I must admit that I was a little disappointed. No socarrat, the scorched rice on the bottom. Both DaveS version as well as my own attempts have more vegetables and more flavor. But then again, this is a tourist version made in single serving.

Rome, IT - Day 4

2026-10-28T12:10:50.386-08:00

Wednesday - Today was a rest & relaxation day plus some chores. We dropped off laundry a couple of blocks away and it was €12/load. Much cheaper than on the ship. We then walked to a shop that Bridget wanted to see. While she shopped, I had a cappuccino and ricotta cornetto (pastry). We then walked around a bit more ending up back at the hotel around 12:30. Our laundry still wasn’t done nor was the room cleaned so we just waited in the lobby.

At a tourist shop down the street, I picked up a MagSafe charger as my phone charge usually runs out by mid-afternoon on this trip. A lot of gps use and taking pictures.

While walking, we passed a 2-door Jeep Wrangler and it looked huge compared to the other vehicles. In Italy, even a Smart car is not as small as they get. Numerous two passenger and a few one passenger cars are much smaller. Scooters too numerous to count. We’ve seen a couple Harleys and BMW GS bikes and they seem huge compared to the majority of the local bikes. We’ve even seen a couple of sidecars all attached to scooters.

We think that Italy may be a one-and-done for us. There are still many places in the world to see and, at least for me, walking isn’t as easy as it used to be. Travel with suitcases is a lot of work.

Rome, IT - Day 3

2026-10-27T10:02:26.548-08:00

Tuesday - A city bus ride through Rome traffic, followed by a never ending queue. Bridget purchased a timed-entry ticket for the basilica but the line was still over an hour.

Multiple ticket checks and a metal detector before entering. Pushy tour guides cutting in front of others seems to be the Italian way.

Swiss guards are a real thing not just something I’ve read about in school.

The over-the-top grandeur of these places is somewhat upsetting to me given the conditions most of the commoners lived in. This is our tour of St Peter’s Basilica.

The first marble statue of many. I remember having a plastic replica of this that I won in some sort of school contest. I think I was in 3rd grade.

After a while, all the pictures start to look alike. I’m not really a historic church or cathedral person.

I did find this bit of technology interesting. Instead of votive candles that you light, after making a donation, you use Apple Pay and switch on a led candle.

After lunch, we went into the Vatican museum. Room after room with these painted domes. And lots of typical museum stuff but housed in these ornate domed rooms.

We finally ended in the Sistine Chapel but no photos allowed in that room.

We finally headed back to the hotel exhausted. Enough that we took a taxi instead of a standing room only public transit bus. I think that I have reached my fill of cathedrals and museums. All of these locations have so many people.

Rome, IT - Day 2

2026-10-26T11:22:00.000-08:00

Monday - This morning, we walked to one of the most iconic locations in Rome, the Coloseum. Like everything around here, it’s all pay to visit. If they figured out a way to charge for seeing the outside, they would.

Adjacent to the Coloseum is the Temple of Venus and Rome. Yet another €20 to visit. You can spend a lot to see, imho, more of the same.

I’m more than happy to visit and just enjoy the views.

In the afternoon, we took a two hour golf cart tour of some of the more popular locations around the city. On this trip, I’m feeling tired more often. Before, 20k step days didn’t phase me. Most of the days in Italy have been 12k steps and I would be wiped out.

Our first stop was the most photographed fountain in Rome, the Trevi Fountain. The tour would drop us off on one side then meet us after we wade through the crowds at the attraction. During peak season, you need reservations to see the fountain.

The next stop was the Spanish Steps. I guess it was popularized by movies such as Roman Holiday back in the 50s. Now, it’s a popular selfie location. The tour dropped us off at the top and picked us off near the bottom so we didn’t need to climb the 135 steps.

The next stop was Piazza Navona which had the fountain of Neptune depicting four continents Europe, Asia, Americas, and Africa.

There was another obelisk there that has a history. The original Roman obelisk was blank, no carvings. A later person hired an artist who made a replacement with Egyptian hieroglyphics carved on all four sides. The artist had no knowledge of hieroglyphics and just picked ones that he thought looked good. It took 300 years before they declared it all gibberish.

The last stop was an overlook of Trajan’s Market. It is a group of ruins at the opposite end of the Roman Forum from the Coloseum.

I would recommend the golf cart tours. They actually fit in the small alleys and ridiculously crowded streets. The driver and guide were fantastic.

Dinner was spaghetti cacio e pepe. A simple dish of pasta, Pecorino Romano, and black pepper. With pasta cooking water to finish the sauce. Simple but delicious. All of the food we’ve had has been fabulous. I didn’t mention the hot, pressed sandwich with mozzarella and prosciutto.

Rome, IT - Day 1

2026-10-25T12:36:00.000-08:00

Sunday - Departure day from the ship. We had an early breakfast at the buffet. Made-to-order omelet was good as were a few other items. Some items were were barely mediocre. We were off by 7:45 and took off on foot to the train station about 3.2 km away.

All of the ticket machines at the station were down because of a computer issue. The customer service agent told us to get on the train and purchase the ticket from the agent on board.

We arrived in Rome about 9:45am, and started walking to our hotel, a Best Western kind of near the train station. We stopped for coffee (and more importantly, a bathroom) at a sidewalk cafe about ¼ mile from the hotel as we assumed that the room wouldn’t be ready for several more hours. We checked in and, surprise, the room was ready.

Mid-afternoon, we went in search of a grocery store. Not the ones in the tourist areas labeled as “supermarket” but one of the ones off the beaten path where you can find bananas or bread, and other normal grocery items.

We just wandered out of the hotel and looked at menus of the many small restaurants we passed. We picked one almost at random as the menus seemed pretty similar. As a side dish, I had Roma artichokes, considered a must-try if you are in Rome.

The other dish was spaghetti all’amatriciana. The sauce was not the typical marinara that it resembles. And there was a lot of Pecorino Romano melted in. Delicious dinner. All this delicious food we’ve been having in Italy made the cruise fare seemed average.

Naples, IT - Sorrento & Pompei

2026-10-24T06:40:08.239-08:00

Saturday - We tried to get an early start this morning to try and beat the morning traffic. But tour bus delays got in the way. Our first stop was Sorrento, about an hour south of Naples.

It was hectic at the cruise terminal trying to find our bus tour. I don’t know what the old, castle-like building is, but it looked cool.

Sorrento is well known for lemons and everything there had lemons as an ingredient or decoration. We spent about an hour there then headed for Pompeii.

Mt Vesuvius is just north of Pompeii and when it erupted, the ash and lava covered the city. I have a lot of pictures to look through.

Another Sea Day

2026-10-23T10:27:00.000-08:00

Friday - Today is a sea day. Our next stop is Naples, IT. Today’s event is a get together with our group of mostly RVers for hors d’oeuvres and give aways. This trip was put together by three RV YouTube brands. Finding our Someday (FOS), Less Junk More Journey (LJMJ), and Driven to Venture. And, they got some donations to give away as door prizes.

After a morning, informal meetup for coffee and a light breakfast, I headed to the solarium. It was much more crowded than before but, then again, yesterday’s numbers was a pretty low bar. While there, we went through the edge of a rain storm. The rain on the glass roof was a relaxing sound. And the unlimited Coke Zero is a nice perk, at least to me.

Around 11, the solarium was getting warm so we headed indoors and sat at Giovanni’s Wine Bar. These locations are very comfortable and even though we weren’t purchasing anything, we were more than welcome to enjoy the quiet,comfy seats.

After lunch/brunch in the main dining room, we went to the theater in the stern for a technical demonstration of the different technologies used for their shows.

The group had a get together before dinner where there was a Q&A session, hors d’oeuvres, and door prizes. They also mentioned that they were thinking of next year doing a repositioning cruise from Vancouver, BC, to Hawaii. But it’s just in the thinking phase.

Over the PA system, the cruise director mentioned that around 10pm, we would be passing an active volcano on the port side. Our room is on the port side so we should be looking around for something.

We passed San Vincenzo right at 10:00pm and it is an active volcano. Google has images from just four days ago showing lava spurting out on the northern slope. Once we were north of the island, we were able to see the orange lava spurts. And that the clouds that looked like they were from the top was also from the vent. The pictures are just from the iPhone camera in night mode. I had to manually set it to do a 10 second exposure. I didn’t even realize that it was an option.

Mykonos, Greece

2026-10-22T09:50:00.000-08:00

Thursday - After yesterday’s long “excursion-ing” day, I’m all for some quiet time. I met with a small number from our group at 6:30 for coffee at the nice shop in the stern where we’ve been meeting most mornings. Some coffee, light breakfast, and good conversation.

I then headed to the solarium at the front of the ship to enjoy the hot tub. I was almost the only one there. Most people were probably getting ready to go ashore as we just docked at Mykonos, Greece. After our stay on Santorini Island, I’m good to spend most of the day on board.

The classic white-painted buildings are nice but not as picturesque as Oia, our last stop on yesterday’s bus tour. This may be a lot less touristy as yesterday’s stop. So we might venture into the port area a little later. The deadline for re-boarding is 4pm, so not as much time as yesterday. One change was actually docking instead of tendering. Much more convenient.

On port days, the North Star, a spherical capsule at the end of an arm, is only allowed to go up and down. While the ship is underway, they can move it horizontally over the sides of the ship. So on port days, the attraction is free.

We got a nice view of the port area of Mykonos as well as a nice view of the ship. We would need to take a water taxi to get to the old city.

Tomorrow is a sea day as we head back towards Italy. Our next stop is Naples and Pompeii.

The afternoon was spent working on blog posts, catching up on email, and other things that need Internet. This is the seating area for that coffee place I mentioned at the beginning of this post. It is also a theater in the evening.

On this cruise, I had not picked up the Internet package but relying on Saily, an eSIM provider. Much more cost effective but it only works while we are in a port. And, is data only. No associated phone number. For voice calls or texts, I have a Google Voice number. So I can write this post while we are here but tomorrow is a sea day, so that post gets written in notepad then cut-and-paste into Blogger when we get to the next port. In this case, that will be Naples, IT. Only a couple more days…

Santorini, Greece

2026-10-21T09:13:00.000-08:00

Wednesday - An early morning today. A small group met for coffee at 6:30 when we discovered that the coffee place didn’t open until 7. At 7:30, we wandered down to deck 2 to get loaded on tenders for the short ride into Santorini. No boat docks.

This place is very photogenic. All of the buildings are painted white as electricity didn’t arrive until 1967 and the white kept the buildings cooler. The blue trim was mandated by the government for uniform appearance. And is the color of the Greek flag.

We took a cable car to the top of the cliff. The other options were walking and donkeys. The €10 for the cable car seemed like a bargain.

This picture was the start of the tour. The first stop was at a black sand beach (next picture), where we had a mid-morning snack. I had the grilled sardines just because I wanted to try something different.

We had about 1½ hours of free time at the beach.

The next stop was Megalochori or huge village in Greek. Cobblestone streets and lots of hills. We visited a historic cave dwelling.

We then went to Oia, where the stereotypical photos of Santorini are taken. It was extremely crowded and the prices were steep. Lots of people taking selfies.

Our stop here was only about an hour as the tour guides thought that the group would enjoy more free time in the reasonably priced location at the top of the tram.

We were told that real estate prices were completely out of hand here. Some hotel rooms have been known to go for over €10k per night!

We had a very late lunch back in Fira, the village at the top of the tram.

Sea Day

2026-10-20T09:27:00.000-08:00

Tuesday - Just before we returned to the ship, we stopped at a cathedral. B this time, most of the group, including me were pretty tired. The ship time changed at 2am to the time zone of our next stop. We didn’t actually change time zones at that point but more for convenience. There was a meetup this morning with pastries and coffee followed by a group photo. About half of the group showed up initially and we guessed that the other half didn’t get the time zone memo.

I had eggs Benedict and wedge salad for breakfast. The menu was both breakfast and lunch, which was nice. And the bacon was actually crispy, unlike the bacon in Italy. I guess the cruise company caters to Americans. Well, sort of. The couple at the next table complained about everything they brought out to them. Their toast wasn’t freshly toasted, the hash browns were a patty, and the eggs weren’t cooked perfectly. Almost everything was not satisfactory, to them. They were Americans.

Afterwards, I checked out the Solarium up on deck 14 at the front of the ship. Very nice and quiet. At least initially. The hot tubs were pretty empty and the view was nice.

After about an hour, it started to feel more crowded and warm. I turned in my towel and headed back to the room. Our balcony is facing north as we are headed almost due east towards the southern Greek islands. It was nice to be out of the sun for a bit.

We had lunch at the Solarium Bistro. A much smaller selection than the regular buffet but a fraction of the people and no kids. I just had a hot dog, some fries, a small caprese salad, and a bit of penne with a white sauce.

We walked three laps around the running track on deck 15 but it was a zoo as people were watching the belly flop contest while drinking and smoking like there’s no tomorrow. So many more people seem to smoke in Europe. Or at least smoke where there are a lot of other people around.

Tomorrow, we will be in Santorini, one of the iconic locations in Greece. The first time I ever heard of this location was in the movie Tomb Raider. The white buildings all built along a cliff in the initial scene with the earthquake.

Messina (Sicily)

2026-10-19T10:41:00.000-08:00

Monday - This morning, we arrived in Messina located between Sicily and mainland Italy. We have an all-day bus tour scheduled with some free time in the middle for lunch.

Earlier, a subset of us met up for coffee and breakfast at Two70 located at the stern overlooking the water. A pretty nice location for breakfast.

We stopped at a roadside rest stop for a bit for a bio break. It’s a two hour ride to our first stop, Mt Etna.

It was a narrow, curvy road up to 6,100’ on the side of the volcano.

At the stop, we were able to walk up to craters with recent activity.

When we arrived, the clouds opened up a bit showing more of the surrounding landscape.

This is one of the craters that you could walk into. The ground was all packed ash and lava but walking wasn’t difficult though you did need to watch your step.

We then went to the Greek Theater in Taormina. We heard the history from when the Greeks built it and the changes when the Romans politicized it.

From the back of the theater, there was a wonderful view of the town and the beach.

Well?

2026-10-18T11:34:00.000-08:00

Sunday - Another high stress day. We filled out our Royal Caribbean “Health status” questionnaire and reported that I had two of the symptoms listed. Basically, a cold. We’ll see if that gets us dumped to the do-not-allow list. I don’t think I’ll be able to relax until we are onboard.

The included hotel breakfast was decent and included cappuccino, so no complaints. All of the breakfasts in Italy really focus on sweet offerings. The savory options seem limited to eggs and floppy bacon.

Checkout time is 11am and our overpriced shuttle to the ship is scheduled for 11:30.

Later - It turns out that the “Health check” wasn’t very stringent. They asked us a couple of questions and a supervisor came by and said no problem. We were on the ship by noon. Way less stress for me at this point. We are on Odyssey of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, on a 7 day Greek Isles and Italy cruise. This trip was organized by two RV YouTube channels, Less Junk More Journey and Finding Our Someday.

We ran into a couple of the cruise organizers and they mentioned that we could drop our stuff off at the conference room they were setting up for distribution of packets. We then had a light lunch at the buffet before going back, picking up our packets which includes tickets for all of the excursions.

Travel Day to Civitavecchia

2026-10-17T11:43:00.000-08:00

Saturday - That name is a mouthful. We took the public transit bus to the train station, with plenty of time to catch our first train to Pisa. After boarding the train, Bridget got an email saying it was cancelled. We got off the train and sought out customer service who told us to go to another platform and get on that train. The electric status board on the train wasn’t displaying the expected information. Being clueless, I asked the person I was sitting next to and found out that we were headed towards Pisa just later than planned.

We missed our connection to Civitavecchia, so we waited in line to talk to an agent and verified that we just needed to wait for the next train. The train wasn’t crowded at all compared to the one from Florence. Maybe because it’s Saturday afternoon. I’m not complaining. The train was traveling at around 160 mph between stops. Smooth and quiet. We arrived a couple of hours later than planned.

Later - We arrived at our hotel, which was only a short walk from the train station, around 5pm. It is an old building but has some real oddities. Such as, our room has two floors. The bedroom is up a flight of stairs. And the mini split made a horrendous noise when first powered on. But it was set for 16°C and dripped a lot of water initially. Maybe there was ice built up. Anyway, it’s working fine now.

We had dinner at a bistro with outdoor seating. Again, my main complaint is all the cigarette smoke. I have gotten really used to no smoking in most businesses in the U.S..