Sheila here, Alipoo is worn out dragging me from country to country so I am leaping into the breach and reprising our last 3 days in Rome.  We stayed at the Hotel Cesari, a 1787 building around the corner from the Pantheon and close to the Trevi fountain.  Not as luxurious as the Ship but … Continue reading Rome

Ha ha! Can't resist a classic Tower photo op! Today was sightseeing by public transportation. We trekked out of the huge port and right into the heart of Livorno where we caught a bus for the train station. The bus pulled up just as I was buying the tickets at the Tabacchi, which set the … Continue reading Riviera Day 12: Pisa & Lucca

We are docked in Livorno for 2 nights so there are no restrictions as to how long we stay out and play today. Not that we have any real concrete plan.... We have a car rented, delivery is dockside, and away we'll go.Okay, just kidding. Of course I have a semblance of a plan: we'll … Continue reading Day 11: Livorno & Tuscany

Anyone ever hear of Olbia? Us neither and apparently there's good reason for that. I couldn't find anything of interest to do here when researching this trip so we scheduled this to be our "sea day", a day relaxing on the ship: reading, sunning, and of course, eating. Wonderful! Tomorrow: Livorno and Tuscany

Coming back to Amalfi was the day I was looking forward to most on this cruise. I visited here back in 1997 and thought then that it was one of the most gorgeous places I'd seen and I hoped it would still be the same for my Mom. We dropped anchor around 7am but we … Continue reading Riviera Day 9: Amalfi

Taormina is a beautiful little town perched above the resort-y beach town of Giardini Naxos. We had to tender in to the port (using our life rafts) then we hopped on a local bus to transit up to Taormina.  First up was a quick visit to the Greco-Roman theatre which was interestingly located at the … Continue reading Riviera Day 8: Taormina

We had a wonderful leisurely morning at sea this morning as we weren't due into Kefalonia until 12pm. I wandered up to the Horizons Lounge (top floor, forward-most, full-width lounge with tiny bar, medium dance floor and 100's of seats. Used for morning coffee, afternoon teas, happy hours, etc. etc.) to fill up my travel … Continue reading Riviera Day 7: Argostoli

We were already sailing alongside Crete when I awoke this morning (we leave our drapes open at night and so I only had to crack an eyelid to see what was happening outside our balcony) and so I had a ringside seat(?) from my treadmill to watch our 7am docking in the port. I'm not … Continue reading Riviera Day 6: Aghios Nikolas

Whitewash, views, donkeys, tourists, hot. Say 'Santorini' to us now and these are the impressions that will come to mind.  Brilliantly whitewashed buildings piled hodgepodge on top of each other, crowding the precarious edge of a cliff that plummets to the sea below.   Stark white barrel-shaped roofs intermixed with the gorgeous "Grecian" blue church … Continue reading Riviera Day 5: Santorini

We approached the town of Rhodes just as we were heading to the gym so we were able to watch the harbor and its myriad of anchored and docked boats slink past from the big picture windows in front of our treadmills. We were off the ship by 9:30am but the heat had already started. … Continue reading Riviera Day 4: Rhodes