The Woodyren's 2022 wanderings. Maldives Mallorca Malaga Mykonos and the Matterhorn plus many parts/ports in between.

[VPS]

Did you have to pay to visit Venice?

PS Still loving this TR

 

[Port Power]

Last day in Florence. Early train to Pisa. Another overcrowded train with luggage everywhere.


Tomorrow we have a high speed train booking to Rome and then a local train to Civitavecchia to join our cruise on Odyssey of the Seas.

Considering we had no plan initially for the two weeks we had between cruises I must say that the Eurail train pass and choice of places to visit has been a wonderful experience we will never forget. It has been hectic and it would have been great to spend more time in most of the places but we have seen so much and loved every minute.

You organised yourselves a great itinerary for those two weeks. It has been very enjoyable to ride along.

 

[woodyren]

Did you have to pay to visit Venice?

No. I have read that they are going to introduce a tourist visit charge.

 

[woodyren]

After a few busy days with limited internet it's time to check in again.

11th of Sept was the first day of our three consecutive Odyssey of the Seas Mediterranean cruises.

We caught the high speed train to Rome Termini. Another top service.



Rome to Civitavecchia was at the other end of the scale. As usual the local train was packed and there was not enough room for luggage. Train ended up 15 minutes late due to the difficulty off getting on or off at the intermediate stations.



After a 20 minute walk and a quick check in we were onboard by midday.

We have a Junior Suite on these cruises. Nice size rooms.

 

[woodyren]

The first port stop on this cruise was Santorini. We have previously visited and stayed for a few nights around 5 years ago. Mrs Woodyren stayed onboard while I walked up and down the steps dodging the Mules.

 

[woodyren]

Next port stop was Piraeus the port for Athens. We have visited Athens a few times so we stayed on board and enjoyed the almost empty ship.

The following day was Mykonos. A new destination for us. Another enjoyable day wandering the streets of the old town. We are revisiting all the ports three times so we really have 3 days to explore them if we wish.

With 5 ships in port I had expected Mykonos to be more crowded but it wasn't too bad. I guess a lot of the Europeans head off to the beaches. As an Aussie I can't ever bring myself to pay for a chair to sit on a beach.

 

[woodyren]

Kusadasi was the next port of call. The ship docks close to the centre of the town. On our first visit we spent our day in the port area. We plan to visit Ephesus on our next or subsequent port call.

I think Turkey is now the leading seller of fake designer goods. The local markets are huge and full of fakes.

Nice town though and the locals as always very friendly.

 

[andye]

Kusadasi was the future mrsandye and my first holiday together, a quarter of a century ago. The markets were going strong then with "Asda and Tesco" prices (probably "Aldi and Lidl" now) and Only Fools and Horses banter

 

[woodyren]

Chania Crete was the last stop on the current cruise. Souda port is about 7 klms out of the Old Town area so it required a €6 return local shuttle to visit the town.

Lovely harbour lined with local eateries and small hotels. Definately a place we would like to revisit and stay a while.

 

[VPS]

I'm expecting a lot more photos of Greek cats because they will be everywhere

 

[woodyren]

Our first of three Odyssey cruise ended a few days ago. We chose to stay on board and enjoy the empty ship for a few hours till the next lot off passengers started the boarding process.

Our first cruise on the ship has been a mostly positive experience.

A few ship photos of some of the things we enjoyed.

Lobster night in Coastal Kitchen.

We availed ourselves of a few portions.



The next day we dined with an officer and there was more Lobster on the menu.



Of course a highlight has been a win in the Classic Rock trivia. My partner was from Ohio. Only missed one correct answer. Quite a large participation for most trivia and I have managed to pick up a few other wins as well. Great way to meet people.




General ship photos on the turnaround day. Solarium, Seaplex the multi purpose sports area and main pool.




There are plenty of activities to keep us occupied between all the eating, drinking and port visits. We are quite casual and usually eat in the buffet as we don't really like to be tied to a schedule.

 

[Notyourbag]

Loyal to Royal!

What entertainment did you have onboard? In June they had The Book, the effectors show which was interesting and on the last night the runner up from Ukraines Got Talent!

 

[woodyren]

Loyal to Royal!

What entertainment did you have onboard? In June they had The Book, the effectors show which was interesting and on the last night the runner up from Ukraines Got Talent!

The Book is still on plus Showgirl. We have not got around to seeing the Book yet but have seen Showgirl previously and would not bother again.

There is also a decent Rock Tribute band called Rookie that do two or three shows in Music Hall.

 

[Notyourbag]

The Book is still on plus Showgirl. We have not got around to seeing the Book yet but have seen Showgirl previously and would not bother again.

There is also a decent Rock Tribute band called Rookie that do two or three shows in Music Hall.

We had a Robbie Williams tribute band In June. He was very off key so everyone vanished halfway through to the white party on the top deck!!

 

[woodyren]

First port call in Odyssey cruise number 2 was Naples. Having visited a number of times previously we took a leisurely walk to the old castle and surrounding areas.

 

[woodyren]

We remained on board the ship on our second visit to Santorini. Long lines at the cable car and an incident that I will explain in detail later contributed to us returning to the ship from the tender dock. My knees have to imposed a stairs limit of <200 so the walk up was out of the question.

Mykonos on the other hand is so easily accessible. The ship's tenders deliver you into the town centre. I think we have now covered every street and lane.

 

[woodyren]

On our return to Kusadasi we had planned to organise a visit to Ephesus with a local tour on arrival.
We ended up on a ships tour due to a bizarre incident I mentioned earlier while waiting in the chairlift line two days before in Santorini.
The line was reasonably long but Mrs Woodyren wanted to visit Fira. We were waiting patiently for around 20 minutes when a group of about 10 people just walked in front of us to join a few friends. I pointed out that it isn't polite and they should join the rear of the queue which was now quite long. A few of them said something like "but we are in a group". My reply was. If you want to ride in a group then I suggest that you wait for the whole group before joining the line. Next thing one of the men started screaming at me in Italian and waving his arms around. He then lunged toward me and kicked me lol. He was dragged away by his group. Minutes later and he was still yelling and being held back while the line slowly moved forward.
We decided to just head back to the ship as we didn't want any issue later. As we walked back another couple who witnessed the incident pointed out that the man's Sea Pass card and lanyard had been dislodged and was lying on the ground. I picked it up and handed it to the ship's security at the tender dock. I also reported the incident.

On board the security manager contacted me for a full interview and report.

The guest services manager then contacted me and offered a tour of our choice in one of the next three ports as their way of making up for our somewhat spoiled day in Santorini.

As a result we ended up on a full day ships tour. It was a very generous gesture from Royal as the incident was not due to anything they had done.

First stop on the tour was the House of the Virgin Mary. Not being religious I can only say that the lines were very long.

 

[woodyren]

Next tour stop was the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus. The city was believed to have had a population of around 250,000. Would have liked to have spent a lot more time walking all of the ruins but it was still another highlight of our trip.

 

[woodyren]

After Ephesus we visited the nearby ruins of the Basilica of St. John.

 

[Notyourbag]

Great photos of Ephesus. The crazy man sounds like the new Italian prime minister.