It is uncertain whether we will go on another cruise, because somehow the trip got off to a hectic start. The shipping company had brought forward the departure date so that arriving on the same day was out of the question, because who wants a 6:00 a.m. departure? So we had to arrive a day earlier, at a reasonable time.
First we had to queue. By the time we arrived at the hotel in Ravenna, we were surrounded by lots of people: starting with the overcrowded train to the airport, the train only runs every hour due to construction work and we now had to stand for the first time. Then we had to queue at security and check-in for the flight. It was as if the whole of Cologne wanted to go to Bologna. Thank goodness we only had hand luggage, so we didn’t have to queue to drop off our bags. When we landed in Bologna there was a ray of hope, the fully automatic monorail took us to the main station in 7 minutes. Bologna Centrale is a bit like Gare de l’Est in Paris, you walk through the hustle and bustle, only each time you take the elevator, up and down to the ticket counter. Finally found, you buy your ticket for a small price and find out on which track the train to Rimini departs and when. Then get off in Ravenna and find the hotel near the pedestrian zone. So, dragging suitcases behind you through the crowds of tourists, no queuing, but also no getting anywhere. I want to add something positive to all this. On the journey on the modern regional express, I remembered the Don Camillo and Peppone story when I stopped at the small-town stations. They looked just like in the films from back then, really provincial, typical Emilia Romagna.
I still don’t know why I checked in online. In any case, our details were thoroughly checked again by the young hotel lady. Once this was done, we asked for a transfer option to the ship. The fact that cruise ships now depart from Ravenna instead of Venice seems to be new to the local transport companies, no bus, too few cabs for that. So it was difficult to get the half-hour ride to the ship. However, it was possible to book a private transfer using a credit card. We were unable to do this because of the double identification. That was the end of my patience. With an uncertain future, we rested for a while until the phone rang. The receptionist told us to try the tourist office, where we could buy transportation vouchers. That worked and raised our hopes of getting to the ship after all. And on the day of departure, the minibus was parked just 100 meters away at the agreed time; fellow passengers had spotted it there. We were so happy when the ship came into sight. A bit of queuing, past the safety briefing and we moved into our cabin.
In Ravenna, after the disaster with the transfer, we still had a highlight in the evening. Right next to our hotel was a fish snack bar with seating, fresh fish on a paper plate and a good frizzante wine to go with it. Delicious. On Sunday we still had the morning to ourselves. After an enjoyable breakfast in the hotel garden, we set off. Ravenna is famous for its 5th century basilicas, mausoleums and baptisteries. We were already familiar with the tomb of Theodoric. It’s a good thing we set off early, as later on it got very crowded with art lovers.
Ravenna is the city of mosaics and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it would be a shame not to visit them. The Opera di Religione della Diocesi di Ravenna offered a tour of the most important buildings. We grabbed it and set off, following a clearly laid out plan. Here is the illustrated tour. I won’t comment on the photos, you can read all about it in an art guide. You simply have to see these magnificent mosaics in the magnificent buildings.
Full of artistic enjoyment, we are now on the ship, the Explorer of the Seas, which is one of the shipping company’s “larger” ships. With a length of 311 m, over 3,000 passengers go on board, and there were just as many. Particularly striking were the many families, in packs, with the little cuties. This is probably the trend now and Royal Caribbian has come up with some ideas. The 2020 refurbishment included the addition of a giant slide. Older people, like us, were in the minority. That was different years ago, but it also depends on the route.
We had a balcony cabin, an inexpensive one through the shipping company and a bonus because of our status, but all the way aft. Not a bad cabin, very spacious, but you could see the age of the ship, worn spots on the furniture, the balcony railing had been painted over several times. I have to admit, we were spoiled from previous cruises. First the upgraded cabin with lowerable window on the Edge, a luxury ship from Celebrity, and then the beautiful cabin on the Symphony of the Seas, the fanciest and largest ship sailing around the Mediterranean.
We have given up hope of better food, the sequence of barely changing dishes is still the same, and the huge breakfast café called Windjammer is always packed at certain times, which again fits in with the queuing theme. However, the newly introduced hand-washing facilities at the entrance are a real achievement. No entry without washing your hands, so be careful. The nice bar staff in the Schooner Bar, the good shows in the theater and, of course, the ice revue on the ice rink in Studio B have remained the same.
Welcome to Kotor, Montenegro
The announcement in the Cuise Compass, the ship’s daily newspaper, translates as follows: Kotor is a tiny port in a tiny country called Montenegro (Black Mountains). But from the moment you dock, you’ll experience a larger-than-life world of castles and sea cliffs. Discover the attractions of the old fortified town, one of the best preserved from the Middle Ages. Don’t miss Saint Tryphon’s Cathedral. For the best view of the city and the harbor, climb to the top of St. John’s Fortress.
The most beautiful part is the entrance to the bay, the blue sea and the black mountains in the background, as seen from the balcony cabin. Due to the strong winds in the bay, the ship could not go into the roadstead, as it would be too dangerous for the tender boats. So we waited and eventually went for a walk off the ship. The town has done a lot for the tourists, new harbor building, tunneling under the main street, along with escalators, the town gate sandblasted. Now they are considering limiting the number of visitors, i.e. cruisers. There are simply too many for such a small town. We took a tour of the fortification walls, looking for the cat museum. But we didn’t find it, instead there were lots of cats with their dens. The automatic feeder is new.
Then we took a look inside the cathedral and stopped for a beer afterwards. That was all we needed, as we had already been here twice. So we took a leisurely stroll to the ship, made ourselves comfortable on the balcony and watched the excursion boats dock.
Welcome to Corfu, Greece
The ship docks, it’s still quite early, the early sun still low behind the clouds. We can see the town at the other end of the bay. To get there, we use the shipping company’s shuttle service – we could have walked. From the bus we could see how boring it would have been to walk along the coastal road for three quarters of an hour.
We read about Corfu in the travel guide: Corfu belongs to the Ionian Islands, which also include Ithaca, the home of Odysseus and Homer’s epic poem. Here it is pleasantly green for Greece. Corfu once occupied a strategic position in the maritime trade of the eastern Mediterranean. It was part of the Venetian empire for a long time, then the French held it for a while before Corfu became a British colony.
The bus dropped us off in front of the old Venetian and British fort, which can be entered via a small bridge. In the extensive grounds we reached the sea side, with the beautiful view and the Doric temple, not built by the ancient Greeks, but by the British as a church. And the view goes up to the lighthouse.
If you walk into town from the fort, you come to the Spianada, the promenade, a typical French-British invention. We took a break in one of the cafés and ordered two Greek coffees and an ouzo. The waiter found our order too small and kept us waiting. We were so happy when we were able to pay. We did better with the special pastries that are only available here, called bugatsa, which are pastries filled with vanilla cream. We got ourselves one.
After devouring them, we searched the maze of streets for the Cathedral of Agios Spiridon and finally found it. Inside, there was great reverence for the assigned saint. We walked back to the Old Harbour, where the Explorer of the Seas was moored at the very back of the bay.
Oh, what else we could have seen, there is so much more in the travel guide. We may have missed something. But it started to rain heavily and we only just managed to catch the shuttle bus to the ship.
Sights of Athens, Greece
At the exit of Cruise Terminal B in Pireus, we were handed a leaflet from a hop-on hop-off tour bus company, which read in German: “Our blue buses are here to offer you a unique ride through Athens, one of the oldest cities in the modern world. With our brand new tickets, you can explore all corners of the capital, from the emblematic monuments of the Acropolis and the Greek Parliament, to the picturesque winding alleys of Anafiotika and Plaka, from the traditional suburb of Pireus to the white beaches….
Well, we didn’t take the bus and looked for public transportation, which we found just a few steps from the terminal. The A80 bus runs to Syntagma Square for €4.10 all day. You can also use all public transport. We got off one stop earlier to visit the Acropolis Museum, while most people queued at the ticket office for the Acropolis.
The modern museum is well worth a visit. The history of the Acropolis (upper city) is presented using artifacts. The museum is glazed so that you have a complete view of the Acropolis.
The story of the ancient poet Aristophanes‘ saying “Carrying owls to old men” is interesting, meaning “doing useless things” “or throwing money out the window”. The coins of the time depicted an owl, or rather a little owl.
After the museum visit, we watched the changing of the guard in front of the castle. The Evzones are soldiers of the former royal bodyguard and guard the tomb of the unknown soldier in front of the Greek parliament. With sweeping parade steps, the replacements move synchronously to their post, while the old bodyguards walk to the guard post.
After the spectacle, we looked for the bus stop and finally found it, but unfortunately the A80 did not arrive for another 40 minutes. The bus took 30 minutes to take us to the ship, where we had a drink and looked out over the port of Pireus again. At 20:00 there was a beautiful ice show in the ship’s ice ring.
Welcome to Mykonos, Greece
From Piraeus we went back to Mykonos, an island in the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea, the party island since the 1960s. A few years ago, a pier was built for cruise ships and from there the SeaBus takes you to the old harbor in 8 minutes. The town is manageable, the main attraction is “Little Venice” with its luxury stores and the windmills, the so-called Kato Mili. Here you have a beautiful view and can see the cruise ships in the distance. Back in the harbor, you can sit down in a café or restaurant and enjoy the hustle and bustle. But be careful, the prices are a deterrent. It’s better to go into the town, where the locals sit.
Welcome to Argostoli, Greece
We read in the Kefalonia travel guide: It doesn’t take long at the pier along the harbor promenade in Argostoli. The first turtle appears. Not without reason. They are feeding here. From the restaurant that serves its visitors right on the waterfront. The Greek plates are large and there is always something left over for cats and dogs; and also for turtles. Seeing turtles is guaranteed.
We walked along the harbor promenade from the ship, peering into the water again and again to see if we could spot a turtle. We got halfway to the De Bosset bridge, nothing, as we didn’t have any food with us. All we saw was the back of the boat.
Back through the Lithostroto pedestrian zone, all newly built, then in 1953 an earthquake destroyed the town. We stopped in one of the cafés for a nice ice-cold beer. My wife took the opportunity to buy a blouse in the clothes store opposite, it was discounted and you can always use something like that.
There are two sights worth mentioning: the monument to the sailor-poet Nikos Kavvadias and the cathedral with its beautiful iconostasis.
Return trip to Ravenna
Announcement in the Cuise Compass: Relax at sea, today is a day on Sea and we hope you have a good night’s sleep etc. Yes, we slept well on the last day of our cruise, but there was one thing we had to do first of all: organize the transfer from the ship to Ravenna station. The shipping company offered a bus at an acceptable price and time. We also had to sort out the question of tips, we paid the waiters and the steward. The bar staff were given dollar bills. In the afternoon, the Royal Pallooza Parade took place in the Royal Promenade, colorfully dressed figures with a huge fanfare.
We really enjoyed the Farewell Variety Show. Comedian Neal Austin showed off his skills as a comedian, magician and madman. He has been doing this on cruise ships since 1985. The Royal Caribbian Singers and Dancers and orchestra then took to the stage for the farewell show. Well staged as usual. Royal Caribbian Cruise Line can do that. To our astonishment, the ship docked at the quay in Ravenna in the evening.
From the ship to home
We got ready early in the morning. We only had hand luggage and there was no need to search for our suitcases later. Then the call came and we were able to disembark, safely escorted to the bus that took us to Ravenna station. We got the train to Bologna in comfort, even if it took a while to buy the tickets at the ticket counter. We could have done it quicker at the ticket machine, which was excellent to use and in German.
As we had plenty of time before our departure and the train connection is fast, we tried to find a café at Bologna Central Station. We had decided against a tour of the city. We finally found what we were looking for on the “wrong” side of the station, where the track numbers are in two digits and where the monorail to the airport is located. So we turned left out of the station and into Café La Bottega on the next corner. It offers everything, including pizza, at reasonable prices and good quality.
I still don’t understand why we had priority boarding with Ryanair, as everyone was queuing up. After an hour and a half, we were back in Cologne, having escaped the “seat cage attitude”. Well, it’s no different with other airlines. Now after what felt like a few kilometers to the airport train station, better to walk to the ticket counter, buy a friendly ticket from a stranger in English and point out the platform, and you are already at the mercy of the Deutsche Bahn machine. When it came to paying, the machine refused to accept EC cards and only accepted 10-euro bills or smaller for cash; for coins, you had to have 50 cents or less on you. After rummaging through our cash reserves, we had finally made it. By now the queue behind us was quite long. We only just made it onto the train, which was full and nothing worked without pushing and shoving. I thought longingly of the train in Italy, people at the ticket counter, fewer people on the new fast trains. We now knew for certain that we were in Germany.
Just as our cruise started, it ended just as hectic. The cruise itself was actually nice, but nothing out of the ordinary. We were familiar with the many cruises we had already been on, we were spoiled by the super ships, or perhaps we were just older and no longer used to such hustle and bustle. I remember a brief conversation with a German couple in a café in Argostoli. They were very satisfied with the ship, having had their own experiences with German cruise ships. Perhaps they were in a good mood because they had spotted the turtles.
To come back to the headline, we didn’t drink any Greek wine. And we were on the Explorer of the Seas from October 15 to 22, 2023, let’s take a furtive look at the ship.
The highs and lows of cruising, sometimes described in literary terms 