Kusadasi (Turkey) - Tuesday 1 October

Last night I finished the book I've been reading on my Kindle app on the iPad - Dan Brown's 'Inferno'. I mention this because it was great timing to be reading this book which is set in Florence (places we visited in 2009), Venice (still very fresh in our mind from a week ago) and the key sites we have only just visited in Istanbul - fantastic! Others on our tour in Istanbul had finished the book recently, and were careful not to give any spoilers.

The forecast for our day in Kusadasi, Turkey, was for it to be cloudy with rain and a high of 24C. This was accurate, with the rain starting around 1 pm. We headed off the ship at around 9:45 am, and it was very pleasant with the light overcast sky.

We went to a Princess-recommended shop, and looked at some leather bags, eventually Skyping directly with Michelle to determine her preferred colours. That was cool! With purchases in hand, we wandered around the other shops in the bazaar area for a couple of hours. In the end it's just a repetition of identical shops, one after the other. But it was pleasant walking around before it got any more crowded.

We got back on board at 11:50 am, and took the opportunity to have a swim before the crowds returned. Everyone else would have been touring and seeing the sights at the wonderful Ephesus (that we saw in 2009) and so the ship was very quiet. The water in the pool that we tried by the Sanctuary was a bit cool (as I'd found the other day in the Terrace Pool), so we had a nice spa pool to ourselves for 45 minutes instead. This was the most relaxed I've felt all year - very peaceful, and soothing on the aching joints. We noticed the weather was deteriorating as we soaked, getting quite windy, then drizzling lightly, and we could also hear thunder and lightning as the sky darkened.

At 1 pm we had just sat down at the Horizon Court buffet and we noticed the boat had tipped a fair bit to one side - very odd. Next thing, the Captain came over the speaker system, shouting for the staff down in the boarding area to close and secure all exit doors immediately! Then he repeated the instruction moments later. The ship slowly levelled up again, and shortly after that he announced what had actually happened. A strong gust of wind had caught the ship and blown away from the dock, snapping the mooring ropes, causing the ship to drift right away from the dock! One of the large gang-planks that we use to step on or off the ship had been lost, another was ok. And the miracle was, no one was on either at that moment! We were then anchored securely in the harbour until the snapped ropes were repaired(!!) and then we carefully docked again. This all took almost 2 hours, and in that time a lot of passengers were stuck on shore, sheltering from the weather in the nearby shops.

Some coming back on board reported that the downpour of rain had been so sudden and torrential in the bazaar that drains had flooded, with raw sewerage ending up on the streets. Rain was pouring off stall roofs and onto scarves and leather bags on display. It sounded like quite a mess. Apparently, some people had also panicked when they saw the Ruby Princess had left the dock, thinking it had left early, without them.

We settled ourselves in an inside lounge area for the next 3+ hours, and David read his book, and I typed up yesterday's and today's blog and downloaded photos. Sail-away was nearly two hours late, because of the problems earlier in the afternoon.

We had dinner at 6 pm with a table for two, enjoying conversations with the couples on either side - one couple from Australia, the other from Florida. Jerry, our favourite waiter, looked after us well, and sold me a glass of Lemoncello, then snuck me a second glass later to convince me to buy the glass with it. Murat, our Head Waiter, was able to organise a copy of the recipe for the gorgeous gluten-free coconut layer cake we'd both enjoyed at lunchtime.

After dinner we headed for the 8:30 pm Princess international Crew production show in the Princess Theatre. We're finding you need to get there early to get a seat. This time, while we were waiting for the show to start, there was great hilarity, people letting their hair down batting balloons up in the air and around the theatre - amazing what simple fun can entertain us for 20 minutes! The last 5 minutes was also hilarious, with a 'Kiss Cam' zooming in on members of the audience and projecting their image up on the big screen. If your image was projected, you had to kiss your partner in front of everyone. David and I escaped that bit of fun. Then the show started, and Dan, the Cruise Entertainment Director, had us all in stitches of laughter. I can't remember when I've laughed so much - he is such a wit. He came on stage with a roll of thin rope, reckoned it was as thin as the toilet paper on the ship, and said they weren't worrying about tying up to the dock with ropes the next day, the Captain was just going to run the ship up onto the beach for us and we could walk off that way!

We headed straight for bed after the show, with an early start coming up for a Princess tour the next morning. The alarm was set for 5:45 am, for the meeting at 7:15am. Nevertheless, we had quite a disturbed night as the sea was reasonably rough - I was grateful that we were right in the middle of the boat. Others said they were listening to it smashing against the sides of the ship. I was lying awake wondering if I would start to feel sea-sick, but it was ok.