Fly back to London

Up before sunrise, 2 hours before in fact, to have breakfast and be thrown of the ship at 7:15. Well compared to the way we have been pampered for the last 11 days it feels like we are being thrown off.
Its quite a quick journey to the airport and then the tedious waiting around for the flight home. Everyone seemed to agree that the Reflection is a super ship and we have had a great cruise. It's a fine sunny day in Rome today, what a difference to Naples yesterday.
We have had warm sun on nine out of the eleven days, so for the end of October that's about average. We avoided some very wet and stormy weather in the south of France, north of Italy and Croatia that has caused flash flooding and fatalities.

We were queuing to check in for ages as the baggage conveyor broke. We took off at 12:20 local time on a BA 767 and hopefully Mark will be waiting to meet us at Heathrow at about 2:00. No idea why the raspberry jam iced bun from the in-flight snack contained apple, blackberry and radish! Perhaps Katie will understand.

Mark was waiting, quickly out of the terminal and on the M40 where we stopped for a KFC. Home sweet home! 

Soggy Napoli

It's raining quite hard and 15deg cooler today in Naples, so a disappointing way to end the cruise. We took the early tour to Pompei and spent a soggy 2 hours walking round the wet ruins with an Italian tour guide who never stopped talking. Back to the ship for lunch and dry off, and if it clears up a bit later will pop back on shore for a pizza.

Grey Sea day

It has been overcast all day as we make our way back towards Italy. Great pity because it is the only cruise day when our balcony is on the south side of the ship for the whole day.
Que sera sera.
We saw some more dolphins this morning.
It's been mayhem on the shopping mall as Celebrity gets rid of all the Mediterranean tack before its next trip, which is back to the Caribbean for the winter. Rosemary bought another handbag, but it's not a tacky one she says. I bought a watch for our van travels, at $10 it is tack.

It's a formal dinner this evening and we are up early tomorrow to go to Pompei. Fortunately the clocks go back an hour tonight. Transiting the narrow, 2 miles, straights of Messina at about 8pm which should be pretty with all the lights on both shores. Its apparently know as the Mediterranean triangle because of the the ferocious currents, unpredictable winds and whirlpools. Its been pretty calm for us both ways. 

Entertainment

The entertainment has been mostly UK speciality artists from magicians to ventriloquist, with an international house ensemble doing just 2 shows during the cruise. We have only seen a few acts but they have been good and the Americans seem to like the English bias. Music has been good too, the house band plays in the atrium a lot which is annoying as it spreads from top to bottom of the ship including supposedly quite areas like the library. Small jazz quartet, Capricorn  and guitar vocalist Rafiti have been good, but no classical music. English cruise director Rich Stacey was entertaining without going over the top.

Chania and Greek Mezes

We took the shuttle bus into Chania to check out the market and the Venetian port. There is a nice old harbour area lined with restaurants and bars where we chose to have a coffe and then a platter of Mezes for two. It would have fed 4 but we managed the fishy bits, which were excellent, helped by a very hungry cat that demolished the sausages..
It's very hot today 28+ but there is a pleasant refreshing breeze. Rosemary bought two angels from an artist in the old mosque, now only used for exhibitions. I bought a belt in the old market and we caught the shuttle back to the boat by 4pm. Chania is actually quite a large town and being away from most of the historical sites is not too touristy.

So that's the end of the Greek Island hopping part of the cruise.

Gran Marnier and Orange zest crepe

We had lunch at the Bistro on Five which specialises in crepes and salads. It is usually very quiet as there is a surcharge but we like the nice friendly staff and relaxed atmosphere and the crepes are delicious.

Rhodes Old Town

Another fine sunrise to greet our arrival in Rhodes. The ship moors just outside the old city walks so it's  a short stoll into the medieval town. Stumbled upon a taverna with panoramic views of the town, can't resist those can we! Then we wandered around the maze of quaint streets before coming back on board for a late bistro lunch of crepes.
Picked up a gelato from the ice cream bar to take back to the balcony to see the departure at 6pm, then it's time for molecular cocktails and dinner again!

Kusadasi bazaars

Decided not to bother with the ruins at Ephesus. We have seen plenty of old rocks and crocks in our time and it's too hot today. Just wandered off the ship which is moored right in the middle of town and did the Turkish bazaar. Genuine fake Rolex watches and any designer bag you like for 10€. Can you believe Rosemary did not buy anything! We were warned about pickpockets and high pressure sales in the bazaar, but it was all very laid back and friendly. Must be the end of season malaise or something.

Nice afternoon sun on the balcony for the sail-away. All the UK teams were knocked out of the Rugby world cup today.

Mykonos and Windmills

Spent a really nice day in Mykonos wandering the narrow streets and sea front and taking lots of photos. We had a coffee and and a nice fishy lunch on shore and came back onboard for afternoon tea, scones with jam and cream, before our departure at 6pm. Its been sunny and warm all day. We spent more time on shore than expected trying to take photos of the iconic windmills without people. Almost impossible even though we were the only ship in port. 

We stumbled upon a christening service in one of the little whitewashed churches. Some of the Americans thought it was put on especially for the tourists !
Mykonos has a pelican that wanders around the streets. We found it just sitting outside a fish restaurant in the middle of town. Trying to avoid the tourists or waiting for lunch - who knows. 

Piraeus fishing harbourside

Hopped on, but hopped off again after one stop and walked a little way round Piraeus from the yacht harbour to the fishing harbour. We had a beer and a toasty for lunch in a waterside bar then hopped on the bus to return via the Acropolis again. Departing at 6pm this evening, we are dining in the Tuscan restaurant this evening. It's been overcast today. 

The meal in the Tuscan grill was good, although Rosemary's calamari starter was a bit tough the rib eye steak was excellent.

There has been an American navy destroyer, the Winston S Churchill along side all day. I guess it may have been on immigrant patrol duty and paying a courtesy call in Athens! There's a lot of security presence and crew have changed into their best uniforms so must be expecting important visitors. A  trumpeter was sounding 'lights out' as we departed out to sea and a convoy of top brass arrived at the destroyer.

Ships Birthday

The Reflection was 3 years old yesterday so there was a big party around the pool in the evening with Greek dancing lead by the Captain Apostolos Bouzakis. Cake and champagne were available in abundance. 

HoHo Athens

Went into Athens on hop on bus from the port of Piraeus. Horrendous traffic getting to the hop off at the Acropolis. Transferred to the sightseeing bus and did most of the circuit. Hopped off at Saint Agnes square by the parliament building. No austerity demos today! Vat is 23% on many goods now.
Had a sandwich and glass of wine on the 5 floor of Cafe Club overlooking the square. Watched the ceremonial guards performing their funny march then walked around the pedestrianised Plaka district.  Stopped for coffee before hopping on the return bus at the Acropolis. Supported local artist by buying a small painting for the bathroom back home.

Santorini day

A very rushed day on a ships tour did not allow us to do this Island justice. We spent just an hour at the iconic village of Ioa before being dropped off for half an hour wine tasting experience and then on to the capital Thira. 

The rest of the day was spent waiting for tenders or the cable car. There were too many cruise ships for a small island landing about 8,000 visitors by tender and with only a cable car to get back on board. That's not quite true but the alternative is 800 steps shared with donkeys and their dropping. 

Must be great out of season and a spectacular location on the rim of a massive extinct volcano. There was a nice sunset but not spectacular.

Its definitely a bucket list experience and well worth the physical effort. 

Straits of Messina

Sailing through the straits between Sicily and the toe of Italy this morning. Up in time to see the sunrise.
Really nice scenic sail through the narrow straits on a beautiful warm and sunny morning. Dolphins along side the ship briefly while we were having breakfast. Now heading to Santorini with fine weather forecast for the rest of the day at sea. Pity we are on the wrong side of the boat to catch the sun on our balcony. Eating too much already, need to walk round the decks a few times.

Boarding the Reflection in Rome

We were met at arrivals by Celebrity staff at Rome Fumiacio airport and boarded the coach for the 45 minute drive to the port of Cittavehechio. Embarkation was smooth and we quickly got our bearings as Reflection is very similar to Eclipse. Our cabin 7245 is on deck near the Retreat, a quite area off the antrium, which has a handy coffee machine. We have a nice big balcony to the rear of the midships bulge.    

Heathrow

Woke up nice and early and caught the Pod from just outside the hotel. Only 10 minutes later and we are in terminal 5 and checked in. Wow, first experience of driverless transport. Bring it on!
Downside is we now have 2 hours to spend shopping.

Ready to go

Booked lunch at local restaurant before we leave.

Countdown to Cruise

Packing well under way for Mark to take us down to Heathrow on Sunday after noon. We stay overnight at Thistle hotel and expect to fly at 8:30 Monday morning to Rome. Terrorist situation in Turkey seems to be escalating so I would not be surprised if Kusadisi (for Ephesus ruins) is taken off the itinerary.

I am pre-blogging the expected itinerary to make it easier to do updates from my phone blogger.

Istanbul is no go

The US and Canadian authorities have issued a warning to their citizens about the terrorist threat in Turkey so Celebrity Cruises have cancelled all overnight stops in Istanbul. As a result we will not go there at all and will have an overnight stop in Athens instead. Rhodes and Crete have been added to a revised itinerary and there is one less sea day, so quite a few changes!  Its now more like a Greek Islands cruise with one night in Ephesus (Turkey) and one in Naples (Italy).

We have decided to go to Heathrow on the Sunday afternoon before the flight to Rome and do a 'stay and park' at an on-site hotel.

Eastern Med in October

Booked an 11 day cruise from Rome to Istanbul, with stops in between, on Celebrity Reflection flying from Heathrow on 12th October.