Leaving Venice - Sunday 22 September

We woke around 8:00 am and were at the breakfast buffet by 9:00 am, sitting with a lovely family from Melbourne. It's great at these buffets, you get your food and just grab a seat at any table, with anyone - so you're always meeting new people. Strangely enough, they are the second lot of people who commented that they thought our accents placed us as American but from the southern states - do we have a drawl...?

We spent a couple of hours out on the deck by the pool. In sun loungers, and David read his book while I studied up on our next port - Dubrovnik.

Our emergency drill was at 12:30 pm (obviously a lesson has been learnt from the Costa Concordia disaster, when they were at sea for a day or so, but hadn't yet had their life boat drill). On our last cruise with Princess, we had also left port, but the safety drill was not long after. The tug boat started pulling us out of the dock at 1:17 pm. We sat in deck chairs down on Deck 7, knowing most people would crowd around the upper decks, soaring above the city of Venice. Deck 7 is still higher than most of the buildings. The view was great and the ship seemed to move quite quickly past St Mark's Square. The atmosphere didn't compare with our arrival on the Crown Princess in 2009 at Sunset -  that had been unbeatable.

We had a quick lunch and then headed to the Skywalker Disco to get ready for the Cruise Critic 'Meet and Greet'. About 84 people managed to get along, out of the 119 who had signed up to attend, so it was still a good number, and it was great to meet people face to face after connecting with them online - they're certainly a very friendly bunch!

Straight after that we had a meeting for Captain's Circle Members (people who have cruised before with Princess). They had some lucky draws and handed out a free drink voucher each, plus had some entertainment.

Finally the laundries were open (weren't allowed to open in Venice because of water restrictions), and David, along with many others, headed down to catch up on all our washing. I got ready early for our first formal night, when everyone has to get dressed up and there is a big welcome and free champagne. We went to the Production in the big Princess Theatre first, and it was enjoyable with good singing and dancing, and fantastic backdrops. Then we headed to the Captain's welcome.

And then next stop was dinner. The company is great but with some people having multiple courses, the meal takes a bit too long, still going well after 10:30 pm - a bit too late for us. On our last cruise we were all done by 10-10:15pm and were able to go to the late Show Production if we wanted (or at least I did, it's still way past David's bedtime). Another complication is that the other lady who is gluten-free and I are having trouble understanding the Head Waiter's English and he doesn't seem to know much about what is in the courses. He's trying to be obliging but it's tricky to understand him. I guess that will settle down, and certainly there is plenty to eat!

David has fallen asleep the moment his head hit the pillow, totally knackered, and I'm writing the blog with the boat rocking gently. Then I'll dash online quickly to check email, post this message, and check what's happened with the America's Cup in the past hour...

Venice Day 3 - Cruise Day 1 - 21 September

Today, as with each morning in Venice, we were awoken at 7:20 am by the nearby church bell doing its 65 chimes (Steve and I have both confirmed the number)! We did some packing and had breakfast.

We did a quick FaceTime with Michelle, then we headed out for some last minute shopping. With the number of cruise ships in port, the number of passengers would have doubled, with the same number getting off as were about to board. So, the streets were shockingly busy. I guess it would be like trying to squeeze onto a Tokyo train - well, not quite that bad.... We were back at the hotel in time to check out at 11:30 am, enjoyed relaxing in the hotel's peaceful garden courtyard, and then managed to FaceTime Andrew for about half an hour - a last fling with the hotel's free wifi. Then we met Jan and Steve, gathered up our suitcases (thank goodness mine can be pushed along on four wheels) and headed towards the Cruise Terminal. We managed to get over the one bridge with our bags, and then headed around the edge of Piazza Roma towards the People Mover train system that carried us half the rest of the way to the port. Then we trundled our bags the rest of the way (thank goodness it wasn't raining, but it WAS hot)!

Boarding was efficient and we were soon in our cabin, with our suitcases already waiting for us. I was relieved to see that they hadn't confiscated my bottles of Limoncello (they have strict rules about what alcohol is allowed to be brought on board).

We headed straight to lunch because by now it was close to 3 pm. This was a buffet in the Horizon Court, and was amazing. Most things were gluten free (the chef showed me) and they even cooked some salmon for me with no sauce. There was a stand with gluten free dessert, and it was a lovely tapioca pudding. David and Steve enjoyed some, too. I bought a coffee card so that I can get 15 cheap cappuccinos if I want, any time during the cruise.

I then went to the Information Desk to check that everything was in order for the Cruise Critic Roll Call 'Meet and Greet' I'd organised for 119 people at 3 pm tomorrow. Next, we headed back to our cabins to do some unpacking, then caught up with Jan and Steve to suss out where the different areas of the ship were. We returned to our cabin exhausted and pleased to get off our feet.

We signed up for a very expensive Internet package, then sat in the piazza (David with a beer) and listened to some wonderful piano-playing, followed by a short ballroom dancing demonstration by Igor and Anastasia from Belaruse (I've videoed a little to show Jake and Emily).

Dinner tonight was smart casual dress, and we have chosen a fixed dining time of 8:30 pm (very late), but this gives us a chance to see sail-away at each port, and to freshen up after a long day on shore.

We are at a table for eight, with the Barrows and two Canadian couples from near Vancouver (no, the Canucks are not their favourite team, Andrew). The lady I sat next to is a Coeliac, so that was handy. They were great company. Dinner was lovely, but I forgot to take photos, sorry. I had a shrimp cocktail, a prime rib beef main course, and splashed out on calories with a flourless chocolate cake with 'seeped' berries - delicious. We gluten free people order our meal tonight, for tomorrow night.

We headed to bed at 10:40 pm, way past David's bedtime, and wondering how the America's Cup was going...

Day 2 in Venice - 20 September

We were up a little earlier this morning and it was good to see the Barrows at breakfast, albeit briefly as they rushed to catch a vaporetto.

We caught a vaporetto to Murano, hoping to get there before the crowds. It was probably a 50 minute ride because there were lots of stops along the way, and we stood all the way because the boat was very crowded. Nevertheless, it was an interesting journey, seeing Venice along a different route, starting out through the Canale Canaregio and going around the north side of Venice.

We pottered around in Murano for a couple of hours. It was very picturesque and not at all crowded. I bought some new earrings, and we had a good look in the Murano Glass Museum.

We left around 12:10 pm, deciding not to go to Burano as originally planned, and heading instead to the San Zaccaria stop east of Piazza San Marco. It was a lovely journey back across the lagoon, and we even got seats outside on the back of the boat. We immediately hopped on a number 2 vaporetto and headed across to the San Giorgio stop for a better view back over the city. We stayed on the boat as it went up the Canale della Giudecca (instead of the route we normally take up the Grand Canal), and got another different view of the city. This was a longer route, probably another 50 minutes, but very enjoyable.

We were interested to see all the cruise ships as we went past the port, counting eight (two of them were smaller ones, but the other six were big). And we were excited to see the Ruby Princess was one of them.

We carried on, all the way around to our stop, outside the railway station. By then it was about 2 pm so we hunted out somewhere nearby for lunch. We both ended up having pizza, seeing one place advertising gluten free bases. We got the typical Italian surly service (the same anywhere the service charge is automatic) but the food arrived quickly. Gosh, the GF pizzas are enormous, and really are enough to feed two people. So, I got the leftovers wrapped to take away.

We took a 45 minute break back at our hotel (nearby), and then headed out around 4 pm to find the Jewish Ghetto area and nearby museum. Alas, everything seemed to be closed for a Jewish Holiday. It was sad to think that the Jewish population of Venice had been confined to living crowded on this small island, that was also locked up at night and policed to check that they couldn't get out. And it was heartbreaking to realise that only eight former inhabitants made it back to the area after World War 2.

We got a bit disorientated as we returned from the Ghetto, and ended up walking in a big loop around. Never mind, it was a different area than we'd seen before.

After dark, we headed out again. The atmosphere in Venice is lovely on these mild evenings - everyone is out walking or dining. We thought we'd catch the vaporetto down the Grand Canal and back, and enjoy seeing everything lit up. Unfortunately, we got on one going up the canal the wrong way, but stuck with it, right around the cruise ships again (just four now, and all lit up), and down the canal we'd been on earlier. We were lucky to get seats in the bow for a good view. Once we got to St Mark's Square, we waited about 15 minutes for a boat going the correct way back up the canal, and were able to get seats in the bow of that too. The sights were great - many buildings (former palaces) were all lit up and you could see into some of the rooms. Some had huge chandeliers, or tapestries or paintings. We were glad we'd gone out again for the evening.

Day 1 in Venice - 19 September

We had a good lie-in and a slow start to the day, with breakfast at almost 10 am and lingering over that for an hour. There was no hurry as we'd seen the most important sights before.

We headed out, thinking we'd wander down through the Santa Croce area, heading towards the Campo di San Polo vicinity (I'd read a great review of a cafe/bar with a great gluten free menu in that area). It should have taken maybe half an hour, but we got lost on the way, as you do in Venice. It took two hours, but it was a very pleasant walk that took us past the Rialto Bridge (frantically busy with tourists) and the Rialto fish and produce markets (fascinating).

I saw a nice black mask in a shop along the way, and purchased that to share with Michelle. We did find the Risto Bar and stopped for lunch. David had a pizza, and I had cannelloni (I suspect a frozen mass-produced product and not nearly as good as what I can get at the Portstone Garden Cafe at home). But I did try the profiteroles with chocolate sauce, and they were a nice change. We found the house wine (white) to be particularly nice, and cheap as well. It was enjoyable just sitting, relaxing, and people-watching.

After that nice interlude, we continued in the direction of the Accademia, but I got side-tracked by a leather handbag shop, and ended up spending some money in there, too. After that, we decided we needed to get a vaporetto to take our purchases back to the hotel. We purchased a 36 hour pass, and squeezed onto a very crowded boat.

After dropping off the goods, we headed back out and caught another, equally crowded vaporetto, this time to Piazza San Marco, where we joined a queue to go up the Campanile for the views over Venice. The queue took about half an hour, and then we took the one minute ride up in the lift. I found it interesting that the first tower (originally a lighthouse) had collapsed in 1902 when it was 1000 years old. They're trying to prop up this tower too!

The views from the top were absolutely stunning. It was well worth the queuing and the 8 Euros each. We had to join the queue to get back down again, and while we were waiting ran into another Kiwi, a girl from Christchurch! She was equally pleased to hear another Kiwi accent!

We decided to splash out (in monetary terms, not with gumboots, luckily) in the Piazza, and had a one-off experience of sitting in one of the cafes which are ridiculously expensive. David had a beer, and I ordered a coffee with cherry brandy and whipped cream. We also got hit by the 6 Euros each cover charge because there was a music group playing. The receipt shows the story! But we did enjoy sitting there and people-watching!

By now people were starting to leave at the end of the day, and we decided to walk back to the hotel, following a route we hadn't taken in 2009. It took us along a main route back towards the station, lined with lots of shops. Everyone seemed to be heading in the same direction. It was a very interesting walk, and David bought a yummy looking "rolled pizza" (we actually thought it was a wrap, until it was heated up...). David was happy to find and pop into a supermarket along the way (I forgot to mention that he'd had a look in a small one in Sorrento, too). These are totally different to anything in New Zealand, and are very cluttered with all sorts of goods. It was flat out.

Onwards we went, and finally collapsed back into our room just after 7 pm.

Day 3 in Sorrento & Train to Venice - 18 September

Today was our last day in Sorrento. We enjoyed our last breakfast at the Hotel Regina, from the restaurant on the 4th floor, sitting on the balcony and looking across at Mount Vesuvius. I don't think I've mentioned the great service at breakfast, the Maitre having Princess cruise experience around New Zealand and Australia. He remembered me every morning and there was always gluten free bread and a small cake for me. The breakfasts have been included at all our hotels, and consist of fruit salad and fresh fruit, yoghurt, cereal, bacon, scrambled egg, sometimes baked beans or sliced sausage or grilled tomato, toast, a variety of hams and sliced cheese, sometimes hard-boiled eggs, cakes and pastries of many different kinds (good job I'm gluten free!), coffee, tea, a variety of juices. There's not much need for lunch after this.

After breakfast we strolled around the old part of Sorrento, filling in time until our transfer with Drive Amalfi at 2:30 pm. Everything was really close to our hotel. We walked down to the old port, which was very picturesque, then up and down the narrow alleyways which had shops beginning to open. Before long it was starting to get crowded with tourists.

We popped into an optician's shop and I asked if they could tighten the screw on one side of my glasses (it was getting a bit loose and I was scared it would come apart). Sure enough, it needed lots of tightening - phew! I bought a couple of scarves, and we had a light lunch, followed by a gelato. This was a special treat for me that David had discovered - a sign advertised Coeliac products, including a cone which they assured me was crisp. We each chose three different flavours, including Limoncello. Very nice!

We headed back to the hotel, and not long after, Raphael arrived to pick us up, half an hour early. There was a bit of a scramble as Jan and Steve weren't back yet, but it all worked out and we were soon on our way to Naples to catch the train to Venice.

The drive was pleasant until we were within a kilometre of the Station, and then we found ourselves stuck in the worst traffic jam I'd ever seen. Buses and cars trying to get into, out of, or around the station. Our driver kept calm, and we did arrive in plenty of time for our train. He helped us in with our bags and checked the correct platform for us.

David and Steve heaved our bags up on the racks above our seats(!!!), and we settled in for the five hour journey, with brief stops along the way in Rome, Florence, Bologne, Padua, and finally Venice at 9:40 pm.

It was an easy 5 minute walk out of the station, and to the Hotel Abbazia (a restored monastery). Our room is tiny and could do with updating, but it's much better than the last Venice hotel we stayed in during our 2009 trip. There is a proper bathroom (not down the hallway) and we can fit both suitcases in, although one is in the relatively spacious bathroom. We are on the second floor and there is no lift, but the stairway is good and there was a porter to help with luggage. There is a lovely courtyard outside our window. Very pleasant!

We're Home!

Home to a sunny, 'warm' 9 degrees. We got our bags quickly, picked up some duty free goods, and went straight through customs (even with me declaring some gluten free food and them scanning our bags), grabbed a taxi, and were home in 15 minutes. Amazing! Just driving home reminds us of what a fabulous city this is to live in. Home Sweet Home!

I have now added photos to the Venice and Dubai albums, and created a new Food album and added photos to it too. I'd like to point out that I LOST WEIGHT on this holiday! All that walking and the heat.... and David stayed about the same (in spite of his big, bready lunches that he wouldn't let me photograph, and occasional four courses at night). I'll add more photos to the Crown Princess album tomorrow.

Thanks for reading this blog, and sharing the journey with us!

Dubai

Firstly, an update on Venice: After a quick beer and a wine, during our long walk we did indeed get our ride down the Grand Canal in a vaporetto. We initially caught one going the wrong way and quickly hopped off, and onto the next one going down the canal. It was the 40 minute ride, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

We had dinner in a cafe beside the canal - it was a pleasant spot to sit, but the meal was awful (or at least my one was). Veges were grossly over cooked (looked like they'd been prepared a week ago!), and I did indeed get the whole fish, literally, on my plate, with nothing else done to it to make it look attractive or taste nice. Oh well!

We caught the aligaluna boat to the airport, after a final wander for an hour or two, and arrived at the airport around 12.00 pm. The ride was stunning, across the lagoon with a stop at the Lido island, and stopping at Murano too.

The airport was utter chaos - what a dump for checking in - all crowded and jammed up. I took a photo of a health warning (relating to the Swine Flu) about avoiding crowds, and then looked around and took a photo of the crowd around me. My gluten free meal on the flight was disgusting - severely burnt (you could smell it before you opened it) red peppers and eggplant with nothing on them - ugh!
We arrived in Dubai, the flight being late, and waited a while to be transferred by Arabian Adventures to our hotel, where we arrived at about 2 am. Wow, what a lovely room after the one in Venice (smallest we've ever encountered) - Dubai's was the biggest hotel room we ever had - even the door was big. Actually, everything in Dubai is BIG.

After breakfast, we headed out on a 4 hour tour of the city, with someone else staying at our hotel - a woman who recognised me because she used to work in the Avonhead Health 2000 (Barbara). She's on our flight home, too. The tour was a bit of a let-down because we were driven around by an Indian gentleman (probably a relation of the hotel worker who organised it) and his English was shocking - and, all he wanted to do was to take us to the Dubai Mall! And of course, we were expecting to see more than that! All in all, quite frustrating, but we did see most things, but had no information about what we saw. I'll look it up when I get home!

We did spend the afternoon at the mall though, after the tour, and were amazed by it. We got some good shoe bargains for David, had a nice salad lunch, and picked up some other bits and pieces, as well as having a good look at a lovely supermarket there. I have photos of it. It took us 50 minutes in a taxi to get back to our hotel from 6.30 pm because of terrible traffic jams. Luckily taxis are relatively cheap there. I had to show the driver a card the hotel had given me, so that he knew how to get there - he had to look at it several times...

We got back to our hotel and headed straight to the swimming pool on the roof (8th floor) for a swim. The water was almost body temperature, it was lovely, and the air temperature was still well into the 30s around 8 pm. We then had a light dinner at the cafe in our hotel, and headed to bed around 10.00 pm feeling relaxed and ready for a good night's sleep...

At about 10.30 pm there was a knock on our door from the hotel management, to tell us that all power to the building (and surrounding ones) had been cut. So, we had no power at all, and couldn't use the phone, and no lifts were working. Our torch had already been packed for our 5.00 am wake-up time to catch our flight the next morning. We just hoped it would be sorted before we had to take our luggage down from our second floor room. It gets worse, a terrible noise soon started up right below our window, and it went on till about 1.30 am - really loud! It was a truck with a power generator being used by the important building next door - aghh! It just about sent us insane. The only light we had was from my iPhone so we weren't game to try and find our way out and down the stairs (wherever they were) to ask to be moved by the management. The power came back on, but the generator noise continued. But, now I was able to phone Reception, and they immediately offered to shift us from our room. They appeared 15 minutes later and helped get our bags up to a room on the 7th floor. It was quieter there! What a relief too. The decibels would have been at a dangerous level. So, by 2 am we were in this new room. It took us an hour to get to sleep after that, and then..... at 4.10 am the moslem droning chant came booming out across the city and woke us again! I presume it was some sort of alert or call to prayer at dawn. OMG! Back to sleep for half an hour, and the alarm and wake-up call came on at 5.00 am. Need I say any more!

We had time only for a quick bowl of cereal (I had my gluten free cereal, luckily), toast for David, and a tea/coffee, and our shuttle arrived to pick us up at 6.45 am for the trip to the airport....
At the airport I managed to speak a little with Andrew, Michelle, and Gran via Skype, but the connection wasn't very good. The plane took off 45 minutes late because two passengers didn't show up to board, and their luggage (which had been first on the plane) had to be found and removed. Then the LONG flight home began. It sounds like a terrible day, but we did survive and it makes a good story.

I agree with our travel agent, Roger Thomas, that the stops in Bangkok and Sydney for refuelling provide a welcome respite and opportunity to stretch our legs, even if we only get 30 minutes and have to remove all our hand luggage and do a circuit back through security to get back on again.

Venice

We arrived in Venice last evening, just as the sun was setting. We sailed in past the Grand Canal, with the music of Vivaldi playing - it was so beautiful! We had no problem disembarking this morning, and found our way easily to the aligaluna and within 20 minutes we'd arrived in St Mark's Square. We got slightly lost finding our hotel, but only for a minute. We left our bags and headed straight back to St Mark's Square and spent an hour there taking in the sights and listening to a great Rick Steves podcast about it all.

I had pre-booked entry to the amazing Basilica (we think it's the most beautiful one we've seen in our travels). We listened to Rick there, too. Then we went back to our hotel and found our room. Up on the second floor, with no lift. We've decided to leave our luggage in the bag check and live out of our carry-on luggage for the day and night. Our toilet/bathroom is way down the end of the corridor and VERY tiny, but it is a private one just for us. I'm not sure how David is going to find his way there and back in the middle of the night, with no pjs!

We grabbed some salad and cold meat for lunch in a buffet place on the Grand Canal, then headed back to tour the Doge's Palace with Rick's book, and his advice on how to avoid the queue by purchasing a ticket at the nearby Correr Museum. The Palace was amazing! And we got to cross the Bridge of Sighs, as well as to tour the prison.

Right now we're walking across towards Piazale Roma, where we'll catch a vaporetto for a tour down the Grand Canal, with Rick's help again. We've been looking at the shops - no sign of the venetian mask yet, Michelle - I'm looking for a small silver one with music notes on it.

Over and out for now. I'm not able to upload photos right now.

Day at Sea - Heading to Venice

We set our clocks back an hour last night, so it was nice to have the extra hour to sleep in. We were warned that it would be a bit windy and bumpy during the night, but we barely noticed it, and it certainly was back to very calm by midday.

This morning we attended the Galley Tour, which involved a cooking demonstration and some great humour from a couple of the top cooking/catering people on the ship, in the Princess Theatre. They cooked up some beautiful food, then we were led through the kitchens to see what they are like. It was amazing.

Following that, David went to the Casino, where he quickly lost US$30 on the slot machines. Hence, I didn't feel so bad purchasing some of the cruise photos, and the cruise DVDs. Also a book about Pompeii!

David surprised me greatly, by agreeing that it would be a good idea to sign up for future cruises - we didn't have to pay a dime, but will get better deals, lower deposits etc on any future cruises. This to me suggests that we might be going on another one some time - yeah! OK, Mark - these cruises would be right up your alley!

We had another lovely buffet lunch, with a special piece of gluten free cake and berry compote for me - yum! Then we lay out in the sun on deck for the last time (for months and months, probably) and read. It amazes us that we simply don't get sunburned here. We'd be a mess doing this at home! I caught up with Rick Steves and what he has to say in his book about Venice, and checked out the map of Venice more thoroughly. Transportation will be the issue there. Wish we'd taken your advice, Mark, about staying somewhere closer to Piazzale Roma. Oh well....

We're about to go for dinner for the final time, but I'm not sure how this will work out because we will be sailing into Venice around about that time and there's no way I want to be the last person up on deck as we do this, and miss a good spot for taking photos. Apparently it's absolutely amazing, with the sun setting over Venice, and the lights coming on, and Vivaldi's music playing.... wow! I hope I have enough room left on my camera card to get a minute or two of video of this.

Last night, as we sailed out of Corfu, we saw a spectacular lightning storm over Albania, on our left. It looked really spooky! After dinner we tried to get in to see the hypnotist, but it was full - we could hear a little of her patter, and she sounded very funny. David went to bed and I headed down to the theatre to see the last bit of the "Destination Anywhere" musical show. Very nice.

OK, Venice, here we come!

Carol's Video - Arriving in Venice