After Santorini, I was a little skeptical about the other Greek stop, in Katakolon. But it didn’t require us to wake up at 6 a.m., and the schedule was pretty comprehensive from departure to return, so that meant transportation was taken care of. Katakolon was the destination in name only, since ultimately we were immediately shuttled to Olympia, to visit the site of the very first Olympic games.
As a whole, Olympia was pretty cool to see, and learn about how the first Olympics came to be; there were no trials or any of the niggling politics that corrupt, mire and consume modern day Olympic games, but rather a process of knowing some of the Greek language, and simply thinking you’re better than others at particular events. Like imagine if some nobody walks into the next Olympics, says he can beat Usain Bolt, and then actually does it? That would be pretty mind-blowing, but that’s kind of what the first Olympics was like. It’s a little surreal to stand on the marble starting blocks that have stood for hundreds of years, and a hundred more of tourists all pretending like they’re going to sprint, and knowing that at some point in ancient time, were men sprinting for basically nothing more than bragging rights.
Also, while in Olympia, we ate some actual Greek gyros. They were pretty damn good, coming from the source. After a brief tour of one of the oldest wineries in Greece, we were back on the bus and then back to the ship; unlike Santorini, there was almost no time for independent exploration, much to my dismay.
I would never have predicted it as such, but if it were up to me, I think the shore excursion experience would have been better had they gone in the reverse order. Greece is undoubtedly a cool country rich in history, culture and probably way better food than I was privy to experience, but there’s no denying in my opinion that the quality of the excursions went downhill from the strong start in Croatia.
Shore excursions are a great way to sample a whole lot of local flavor in short amounts of time, but as far as my preferences are concerned, I wished there was some more downtime and time for independent exploration built into these port stops. Each stop afforded enough time for dining or shopping, but rarely both. Meals in Dubrovnik and Olympia were great, but having to scramble for souvenirs and sights in the remnant minutes prior to having to get on a bus was not enjoyable, and I don’t think my words suffice at describing the enraging experience of wanting to get from point A to point B in Santorini.
Moving onto the cruise itself, I will say that I enjoyed the new experience, but it wasn’t without flaws either. Overall, it’s great to know that your room will be meticulously service twice a day unless instructed to not do so, and there’s a decent variety of things to do or indulge in at almost any point of the day. I took a lot of enjoyment of knowing that I could roll out of bed, head upstairs and indulge in a heaping plate of bacon, waffles, corned beef hash and potatoes, with as much coffee as I wanted to drink. It was nice knowing that if I wanted a soft serve cone, or if the gambling itch hit me, there were both ice cream machines as well as blackjack tables available.
The general availability of things to accommodate relaxation is pretty abundant, and sometimes it’s hard for me to fathom that these massive resorts that float pretty much ferry to and from and to and from on a regular basis, one cruise after another for months.
Additionally, I’m delighted to know that in spite of my susceptibility for motion sickness in first/third-person games, actually being on a cruise didn’t make me seasick. Now I’m stuck with two containers of Dramamine that didn’t go used, but perhaps I can use them for when I delve back into future console games.
But as I said, the cruise experience also wasn’t perfect, but I’m glad to have experienced everything first-hand, so I know for the future where to set my expectations.
The food, despite its abundance in availability, I would have to say was probably at a 6, tops on a scale of 1 to 10. The breakfast buffet variety never changed, and despite the fact that I could’ve eaten three plates at a time if I wanted to, I just didn’t, and simply ate to make sure I had energy to burn for shore excursions, or to stave off the morning hunger. The fancier meals that we had to schedule, were a slight uptick in quality, but apparently patrons are more or less pigeon-holed into the same section for the duration of their cruise, and we were seated in a section where we had this waiter from India who kept calling me “boy,” which I get is probably a cultural thing, but really began pissing me off after the fifth or sixth time.
The best meal of the cruise, was to no real surprise, the one that I paid for, which was a four-course experience with wine, that was leaps and bounds better than anything else had on the cruise. It wasn’t cheap, but for anyone doing a Royal Caribbean cruise, I would highly recommend Chef’s Table, but not on your final night, since you might get drunk, and being addled the following morning might not be a great feeling.
Out of the control of any cruise, is the monumental numbers of people who ride them, and when you have large numbers of people, no one of them is as dumb as all of them. Whether they were a bunch of idiot Brits splashing and doing cannonballs into a 5’1 pool, ornery old Italian women with no spatial awareness, or just parents who had the foolish decision to bring their children and don’t actually parent them. There were times when the massive numbers of people made sure that there would be no tables in the dining room, no chairs on the deck, or no place to set your stuff at poolside.
However, under the control of any cruise is the guest services, which for whatever reason, at no point during the entire cruise, the line for, was always packed. Maybe more wiley passengers just kept going up to argue charges, or make demands, but whether you wanted to settle bills, or ask for a pen to use, it was the same line, and at the one time in which I needed to get something from them, they were naturally packed, and it agitated the shit out of me, especially while I was kind of drunk already.
Also, as I was warned ahead of time by those who have cruised before, cruises are notorious for being vague and ambiguous when it comes to what is actually complimentary, and what costs money. Especially in the dining experiences is this prevalent, when a server asks if you would like coffee or a cappuccino; a coffee is free, and a cappuccino is not. Answering to any of these inquiries results in a “SeaPass (charge card) please,” and the internal struggle to not want to look cheap and renege on the spot, and ultimately pay an exorbitant cost for something never worth it.
Needless to say, it became a game for us to guess what our final incidentals bill was going to be; I mean, we’d been paying for the cruise over the span of a calendar year, why wouldn’t they be trying to bilk more money out of us while actually on it?
Overall, cruising was still a pretty good experience. I can’t say that I ‘d do every single shore excursion again, knowing just how much they pack into them, and make them these frantic rush tours, but alternatively, get off the boat on my own accord and do some independent exploration, perhaps. I would like to probably capitalize on stuff like drink plans to negate some of the extraneous drink charges for a cocktail or three, maybe bring my running shoes, because running laps around a sea-breezy deck seemed like a fun idea, and just simply take more time to relax on the ship.
**
Back on land, mythical gf and I decided to spend a few extra days in Italy to explore a little bit. She being an art history buff, and me being a glutton that loves food, Florence seemed like a great place to satiate both agendas.
To cut to the chase, Florence was easily the best city seen in Italy. It’s a beautiful city that exudes its history, has an old fashioned charm about it, and there’s pretty much art history at every corner. It’s full of narrow cramped buildings and streets, and is overloaded with tourists, but I still have nothing but good things to say about the place overall. I genuinely felt like I was in a foreign country, enjoyed walking around everywhere we went, and ate tons of great food while there.
So with that being said, now that I’ve had pasta, in Italy, supposedly the way it’s supposed to be, I kind of realize the differences of all the pasta I’ve eaten in my life prior. Mostly revolving around overcooked pasta, but eating it from the source was pretty great.
Pizza in Italy was good, but it wasn’t so different eating it there than artisans in America have crafted to anoint it as such a mecca of food or anything. After eating pizza in Italy, it was decided that pasta was probably a better idea in the end.
A day trip to Rome saw such historical institutions like the Coliseum, the Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, and Vatican City, but outside of those landmarks, it too, feels like just another large metropolis. Don’t get me wrong, Rome was a cool place to visit, and it’s nice to be able to say that I’ve been to Rome, but give me a choice of where I’d rather stay, and Florence wins out every time.
As far as this vacation is concerned, as an entire body, I’ll easily declare it a success. When I was single, I never had any aspirations to really travel internationally or anything, and mythical gf has kind of been the coaxing I’ve always needed to get out of my comfort zone a little bit, and explore the big world we live in a little more comprehensively. Together, we visited ten cities/towns in six countries, ate lots of food, drank lots of wine, saw some art, history, and put countless miles on our feet.
I feel a little bit more worldly, and justified that I’m getting out in the world and living my life, unlike those who have been lamenting their envy of my trip, citing that they don’t feel capable of doing such on account of settling down and having kids and such. I’m not saying I don’t want any of that in the future, but I’d like to continue seeing the world while it’s still realistically possible.
