Roemin Aboat

The Corvid-19 pandemic has caused chaos in the travel industry and our first cruise in April from Dubai to Rome was cancelled by Celebrity. We have a full refund and a 25% discount voucher for a future cruise if we get the chance. Although we still have the Caribean booking I suspect that we will not be able to meet the requirements either to fly long haul, or cruise, or both by the August deadline to pay the balance.

While we were on board the Constellation we booked two more cruises for the following year. So first of all we are flying out to Dubai on 30th March and doing a 15 day repositioning cruise back to Rome via the Suez Canal. One of the highlights will be a trip to the ancient city Petra in Jordan. Later in the year we will be off to the Caribean at the tail end of the hurricane season on 8th October for a 10 night Southern Caribean highlights and a short stay in Florida.

After a good breakfast in the hotel we checked out, put our bags in storage, then caught the water bus to the Rialto bridge. We had a cappuccino in the canal side cafe and walked to the nearby market. We bought some Porccini mushrooms and olives to bring home and we walked back to the hotel stopping for a snack lunch on the way where Mark finally got to try an authentic Spaghetti Carbonara. We took a private water taxi to the airport, it's an  exilorating 20min speedboat  trip across the lagoon directly to the end of the travelator to the terminal. We had a good flight back and landed in the rain at about 6:00pm.

The cruise finished in Venice but our holiday is not quite over. Mark booked an overnight hotel for 4 of us on the Grande Canal but Katie had to go home to go to work on Friday. We dropped the bags off early and bought 24 hour water bus tickets to take us on a circular tour to St Marks Square. We had a snacky lunch in the back streets and then a stroll round the square before taking the water bus back again via the Rialto Bridge. We had dinner in the cheaper student district not far from our hotel after having drinks on the hotel roof top terrace.

I booked a Viator tour in Slovenia for us to visit the two most popular places in this beautiful little country. It did not get off to a good start as the bus broke down, fortunately by a service station, on the way to Lake Bled. After a 30min delay we arrived in Bled with the sun breaking through so it was a blessing in disguise. We spent just over an hour walking along the picture perfect  lake shore, taking photos and having a coffee and Bled cream cake before the coach collected us. Then another hour stop in the capital Ljubljana for more photos and local sausage before being delivered back on Celebrity. It's just as we remembered it from 12 years ago when we drove here in our first little motor home. It's our last night so just packing and dinner before bed and a day in Venice.

Spent a sunny day wandering around Croatia 3rd largest city. We were berthed alongside the container terminal which was not a pretty spot. The shuttle bus dropped us near old town so that we could spend a few hours looking round markets both fish and farmers. Rosemary bought a bag of walnuts and a few funny wooden spoons, while Mark bought a typical cheese and potato pie. Then we walked under the actual 300m air raid tunnel built during WW2 before stopping for coffee. We took the bus up to Tsrat Castle for the views over the town and a glass of beer or in my case a spritz, then we walked back down via the 536 steps back to the shuttle. We arrived back on board in time for afternoon tea and then it's the last of the smart dinner nights. The surf and turf, lobster and beef wellington, was outstanding. In fact the food and service in the main restaurant has been excellent all week. 

We are heading into Zadar for a late arrival sailing between some of the offshore islands. Another sunny day is forecast and we plan a more relaxing day with some time spent chilling on board. Katie did 10 lengths of the pool and I did 3 widths of the jacuzzi in the morning before we all caught the shuttle bus into Zadar for the afternoon. We wandered around the old roman/venicien town for a couple of hours and experienced the sea organ, a rather erie sound produced by sea water powered pipes under the sea front promenade. The sunset was amazing and afterwards we went to Qsine for dinner, ordered too many dishes again and were completely stuffed. A cruising day without to much exertion for a change.

It was a perfect warm and sunny day to visit Dubrovnik. We had a delayed start so took a taxi to town. Mark and Christina did the walk on the wall and the Hole in the Wall bar while we went with Katie to the small Island of Lokrum on the ferry.  We took peacock and rabbit photos, dipped our feet in the Dead Sea and had some Rosemary Gin cocktails, before taking the 15min ferry back to meet Mark. We had a late fishy lunch in a restaurant by the Shame steps (Game of Thrones). We had been here before and the owner remembered us from Leicester City winning premiership. He is a big football suporter. We caught a local bus back to port just in time for the 5:30pm sail away into the sunset.

We cruised in before sunrise and dropped anchor in the bay for tendering to the town pier. After a lazy breakfast we went ashore and walked around the quaint little walled town known for looking after it's cats, which are everywhere. Katie set us the challenge of taking the best cat photo and we all bought some locally made cat related momentos. We found a nice restaurant that did a very good fish dish of sea bream, mussels and prawns. We had a quiet table on the roof terrace with 3 cats for company and enjoyed our lunch. Unusual finger cloths that expanded from a lozenge size when wetted. The waitress gave us a hand full for the motor home. We had some ice creams on the way back to the tender and were back on board by about 4 o'clock. We went down to the trivia quiz and we were joint 1st, before going up to the top deck for the scenic sail away. A day of sunny periods was only spoilt by a cloudy end.

It's our only sea day as we are on our way round the boot of Italy across the Adriatic to Montenegro. We visited the Future Cruises desk and booked two cruises for next year apart from that we just chilled out for the day. The cocktail bar was the setting for the barmen to do their cocktail tricks.  One feat was to fill about a dozen glasses from a stack of cocktail shakers. 

Day dawned warm and sunny after the storms so Mark, Katie and Christina went on a 7hr tour to Mt Etna and Taormina, while we did a short panoramic tour of Catania and the original Cyclops volcano which collapsed into the sea 700,000 years ago. Mt Etna is a baby volcano just 70,000 years old. We all took lots of photos and sampled the authentic canolli and arenchini. We took in the theatre and dined in main restaurant again.

This was our first day so we planned to just take the shuttle bus and then walk to a piazza where we could have a pizza. I found Piazza del Plebiscuto much to everyone surprise and we had a nice lunch overlooking the bay with Vesuvius in the background. We returned mid afternoon and found a quiet table near the pool bar to play Tridominos. It wasn't long long before the forecast thunder storms arrived and we were quickly surrounded by rain water. The ship left in a massive storm with lightening all around which seemed to follow us to Sicily, must have been almost 12 hours before it eased. Dinner in the San Marco main dining room on 8:30 sitting was very good and was  accompanied by flashes of lightening.

Nice overnight sleep and woke to a sunny morning. Having quick coffee and breakfast in shopping centre before our taxi transfer to port to board the Celebrity Constellation at 1:00pm. The taxi was waiting when we returned so we arrived at the port quite early and we were on board and having welcome drink by 1:00pm. Settled in and watched the sunset with a g&t cruising south to Naples before dinner. We are on 8:30pm sitting so time for 40 winks first.

We had all morning at Marks before taking a taxi to Luton Airport to catch an easyJet to Rome. Had a meal at Frankie and Benny's while we waited. After a smooth flight we landed on time at 9:15pm and met Katie on baggage claim, she was a bit early. Managed to find the shuttle bus to our overnight hotel B&B Roma Fiumicino, a basic but friendly place close to Leonardo shopping centre.

Mark arranged for an executive taxi to whisk us off to Luton on Sunday afternoon. This gave us a nice relaxing way to start out cruise. The driver came from Aspley estate in Nottingham so we lots to chat about on the journey. We arrived at 5:30 and had a kebab for dinner.

We are back now after another pre 6:00am start and a slightly delayed flight. The taxi was waiting to whisk us back to Croft on a cold and rainy day. Its 20 Deg cooler here than Majorca and certainly feels like it. However it was overcast this morning when we left Palma and was expected to turn wet and cooler this weekend.

Its our last day so we went down to the beach for a quick paddle, we had to dodge a lot of small children. Then a frappe-latte in a beach bar before setting off to find a small hotel near the marina that we stayed in  a few years ago when we hired a car for few days to see this part of the coast. It is still there, Fowlers Hotel and owned by the same British family. We met the current owner this time, he has been there for 29 years and the business is still doing well with regular guests booking every year. It has not changed, Harrods bar towels and all, a little bit of old England in Majorca. We decided to have a nice lunch for our last day and Rosemary found a good 3 course lunch menu at Port Petite restaurant over looking the marina. It was really good, only €20 without drinks and very photogenic plates. We were back in time for some last rays of the sun and a sangria by the pool.

Just wandering down to the Marina today, then maybe get the sightseeing train that goes between the various Cala. It will save the effort of walking back up the hill when it warms up later (it's 22 already.) The Sunseekers in the marina seemed even bigger than last time, one even had a sparkling new Ferrari sports car, UK registered, parked in front of it. We did catch the last little tourist train before siesta and stopped at La Bodega again for a lazy lunch of 6 montaditos, the tapas on a slice of toast, with a small jug of sangria. In the afternoon, we chilled out by the outdoor pool again and I spent a few minutes in the jacuzzi until Rosemary messed around with settings. We have a complimentary dinner in the 'a la carte' restaurant tonite. Its been almost empty every other night so expectations are not high! The meal was authentic Mallorca, so not to everyone's taste. The starter was a plate of small cold 'cheffy' tapas, very nice. The second cours...

We were up fairly early to catch the local bus to the street market at Santanyi about 30 mins away on the road to Palma. It was the usual mix of imported tac and better local artisan stuff. The town itself is a maze of streets around an imposing central church with some nice permanent bars, restaurants and craft shops. We had a coffee and an excellent apple cake in one of them. As for the busy market Rosemary found a nice necklace she liked and I bought a leather belt, knocked down from 25€ (best price) to 10€ (even better price). We caught the 12:30 bus back thanks to Rosemary navigational skills finding the bus stop. Back in Cala d'Or we tried the tapas bar recommended by Michael on reception and enjoyed a much better lunch experience. We may even go again before it closes for the season like everything else in this corner of the Island. After lunch we got in a few rays around the outside pool until the sun went down behind the buildings at 5 o'clock. Another busy day!!...

We are up early this morning and leaving the Dream later to go to Cala d'Or on the east coast to extend our holiday until the weekend. Not so much to unwind as to carry on! We have a room with small balcony at TUI Blue Rocador looking east over the sandy beach at Cala Gran about 100ft below. The hotel self service restaurant has an extensive range of Mediterranean hot and cold options from suckling pig to vegan salads. We also have one night in the 'a la carte' on our package, so will be spoilt for choice. Downloaded the bus timetable for the market in Santanyl tomorrow. Very friendly staff, perhaps because they finish for the season on 31st. The area is typical Majorca resort with high level of German holiday makers and mix of shops to suit. We have established best Tapas bar from reception staff and hope to make up for Barcelona disappointment.