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!