Departure and embarkation in Athens/Piraeus

Thursday 25th August

Our flight was at 7am so I had ordered a 3am pickup by taxi. I knew it was important to get some sleep the night before and had tried and tried. I took half a sleeping tablet and slept from about 8pm to 10.30, when David came home from work. I took another half tablet but did not manage to sleep at all. At least I had a rest.

On arrival at the airport (by 3.45 – a faster run than I have ever had to the airport) we discovered that we could not drop our bags until 5am. I should have arranged a later pickup! The time passed relatively quickly. In the airport I bought some new makeup with David’s advice and then we sat in the Fortnum and Mason’s champagne bar and drank cocktails.

The flight to Athens was about 40 minutes late leaving and an hour late arriving. David and I were sitting in window seats with me in front of him. David managed to sleep throughout the whole flight. I had arranged a transfer to the port of Piraeus so a taxi was waiting just for the two of us. It seemed quite a long trip to the port and it was a relief to get on board.

We checked out our room and then went to the Sunset Bar for a drink. After a few drinks the bartender pointed out that our card was not printed with the details of our drinks package so I had to line up at Reception to get stickers put on our cards so that the bartenders could give us our free drinks. (The next day someone arrived at our door with a free bottle of Merlot as an apology for our trouble. Such a shame that neither of us likes red wine and that we have a drinks package so that we can drink as much as we like anyway, and don’t need another bottle. We gave it away to someone without a drinks package.)

Eventually we unpacked and got ready for dinner. We sat with 2 other couples but conversation was a bit slow. In the evening we tried out the Sky Lounge and we managed to do one Ceroc, but in general the music was wrong.

We both fell asleep quite quickly and slept well throughout the night.

Athens

Friday 26th August

We were up by about 9 and found that our balcony had lovely sunshine. We sat there for a while before breakfast. We did not want to go into Athens as we had both seen it before and were rather tired. Instead we put on sunscreen and swimming costumes and went out to the pool area where we were able to find a couple of sun beds. We lay in the sun and went in the pool when we were too hot.

Of course in the afternoon we had to visit Café al Bacio just for me. The cakes there were as delicious as always and the hot chocolate was lovely.

We relaxed and could not get ourselves motivated to get ready for dinner. We were quite late. Once again we shared a table, as we would have had to wait for some time for a table for 2. We sat with a Greek- and Cypriot-Australian couple (to whom we later gave our complimentary bottle of Merlot) and a Welsh woman.

There was no opportunity for dancing when we were around. In the evening there was a rock and roll trivia evening but that bored us so we did not stay to see if there was any decent dancing afterwards. Instead we sat on our balcony enjoying the stars and the sound of the sea.

We planned to watch a film on TV (or read if I didn’t like whatever David chose). David was in bed all ready and I had only just taken off my jewellery and was in the bathroom taking off makeup when suddenly the lights went out. I checked in our room and then walked towards the front door and walked straight into the open bathroom door. Ouch! There were lights on in the passage. I found my wind-up torch and phoned Reception. They sent up someone who told us that 2 or 3 other rooms had the same problem so an electrician would be called. I got undressed and took all my medicines by the light of a frequently-wound torch. David had gone to sleep in the dark so I took half a sleeping tablet and tried to sleep too. I was still awake nearly 2 hours later. I kept expecting the lights to come on and wake me up. Also, David was snoring and did not respond to any of my kicks or prods. Eventually he woke up and stopped snoring. In the morning he could not remember me suggesting to him that he sleep on his side instead of his back. The change of sleeping position certainly worked and eventually I slept.

At sea

Saturday 27th August

We woke this morning at 10am. However, as the clocks had gone back during the night it was the equivalent of 11am. The lights were still not working. It was okay in the room because of the sun streaming through the balcony window, but pitch black in the bathroom. David enjoyed the sun on the balcony while I got ready. We both put on our swimming costumes with other clothes over the top. After breakfast we went out to the pool. We were too late to find a sun bed in the sun, but I spotted a couple of empty sun beds in the shade, and an empty spot by the bar, and got permission to move the beds into that position. It was a wonderful spot. We stayed there for 4-5 hours, sunbathing and swimming when we got too hot. Halfway through David had to apply sunscreen to his chest, as he hadn’t done so earlier when he had his shirt on. It was too late. He ended up quite burnt. I too had patches of red in places. However, it soon went down.

When I had had enough sun, we sat in Café al Bacio and then showered in order to attend a band session downstairs at 5.30. The band was late starting due to technical difficulties, and most songs were undanceable, being the wrong tempo. We managed one Ceroc dance.

The lights in our room finally came on around 6pm. When chatting to someone in Guest Relations, I discovered that we should have had emergency lighting in our room the whole time. She took a note of our room number to rectify the problem. Since then I have noticed that there is a permanent dim light in the bathroom. That would have been a big help in the previous 18 hours without lights.

We chose to sit at a table for 2 at dinner, but ended up chatting with the couple at the next table, and saw them around the ship from time to time for the rest of the cruise. Afterwards we went to the show. It was the best one we have seen on Celebrity. It had good dancing and colourful costumes and an attempt at a story.

David fell asleep while watching TV. I read for a while but was probably asleep by 11.30. We both slept well.

Dubrovnik

Sunday 28th August

Although the ship was due to dock at 7pm, we did not wake until around 8. David sat on the balcony while I woke up more gradually. He did not want to disturb me to get the sunscreen so sat in the shade until I got up.

After a leisurely breakfast we went into Dubrovnik. I had read about the public bus but decided it would involve a bit more walking, looking for the bus stop, so we took the shuttle bus and paid our €13 each. There’s a time to spend money and a time to save.

We wandered around the old city and then stopped in a restaurant for a drink so we could use the wifi. We both had incredible trouble connecting. I finally managed it after I closed down all my open apps, but seeing David connected at the same time I think closing the apps had nothing to do with it. The Internet was still slow and a nuisance. We finally left and wandered some more before trying another bar for another drink and the Internet. This one was outside the city walls and more pleasant, though rather hot.

I love Dubrovnik. I like the idea of the ancient walls. I also love the old buildings and the feeling of peace in the town, despite crowds of tourists. It is hard to believe that is was bombed only 20+ years ago, bombed from the bare heights that surround the city. In the central areas there is no longer any evidence of bomb damage. Perhaps the main sign is the new tiles on the roofs, made from a different clay from the old tiles.

I bought a blue necklace in one of the shops. It looks classy though up close it is quite obviously of cheap metal. It’s something to enjoy as a souvenir.

We caught the shuttle back to the ship. David went outside in the sun while I sat in Café al Bacio and wrote up my diary until he joined me.

We were late going to dinner, and stopped on the way when we saw the orchestra playing in the foyer. Most tunes were undanceable but we tried a waltz. Unfortunately the other dancers did not understand about line of dance and we could hardly move. The next dance was a rock and roll and that was much better. As it was the last dance, we went up to dinner. We had to wait 15 minutes for a table, so sat in the martini lounge until the beeper flashed and vibrated.

Late in the evening there was a Latin dance party. Once again we had trouble with the music. We tried a very fast salsa and I managed. It was fun. I think we managed about 3 dances in the 90 minutes, the rest being too fast or no recognisable tempo.

Split

Monday 29th August

We woke about 9. Unfortunately the sun was not on the balcony so I ended up getting up early to join David. We had a leisurely breakfast and got ready for the next outing.

I had been told it was a 5-minute walk to the old town from the ship. Either the person saying that was used to running, or their ship was parked a lot closer. We were the furthest ship out and it took us a good 10 minutes to walk.

The Emperor Diocletian retired to Split in the third century. Evidently there was nothing there before his palace was built. Now it is the second-largest city in Croatia. The remains of his palace can still be seen, forming the basis of shops and restaurants. They are ruins that are lived in, not just for tourists. 

We found ourselves in the central square just before midday so waited to see the spectacle of local actors dressed up as Roman soldiers guarding the emperor and his wife, who saluted the crowd. It could have been very kitsch but they injected it with humour.

We wandered the old town and found a restaurant with very good wifi and excellent gin and tonics for David. I enjoyed the cool breeze and the view.

Back at the ship we stopped at Café al Bacio for cake and a drink (hot chocolate for me) and a chat. We sat in the sun on deck 12 until I became too hot and then retired to our balcony. Unfortunately as the ship set off, it turned around and we were in shade.

Back in our room there was a knock at the door. Once again I found a member of the crew offering me a bottle of Merlot and a note. This time it was an apology for the loss of lights for 18 hours. I really did not consider a bottle of wine to be enough of an apology for my scabby knee and the danger of being completely without lights in our room, especially as it meant no lights in the bathroom during the daytime so I had to keep the door open to shower. I decided to take the bottle back to Guest Relations while I could still laugh about it. I plonked it down on the counter with a ‘Thanks, but no thanks’ and then had to explain about it, as they did not know what we had been offered. Luckily I was talking to the same woman as before, so she knew the situation with the lack of emergency lighting in our room and she grinned sympathetically as I burst out laughing telling her how ridiculous it was to give a bottle of wine to people who already have a drinks package, especially if they don’t like red wine anyway. She said to leave it with her and she would see what she could do. At least I had had my laugh for the day.

I thought of all the things that Celebrity could have offered that would not have cost them much, like a few days of a drinks package, an upgrade to our package for a week, free shuttle buses, complimentary meals at the specialty restaurants, etc. A bottle of wine seemed too much for the first problem (not putting our drinks package on our card – so 10 minutes of my time to get it rectified) but too little for the potential danger of having no lights.

After dinner we sat in the martini bar and caught up with people we had met at dinner on previous occasions. I thought it was quite typical that one lady, who had chatted and laughed with us all through dinner one evening, did not recognise me at all until David came and stood next to me. Everyone notices David. I often feel I am famous on his coat-tails!