Weather - Warm & Sunny (yes this is getting boring I know) 17-27C
Our Transfer from Venice to Genoa & Embarkation on MSC Splendida
We left our cabin at 8am to meet in one of the lounges with others also continuing to Genoa for the MSC Splendida 7 night cruise around the Western Mediterranean. We disembarked at 8.30 & were directed to the luggage hall where we collected our suitcases & walked a short distance to the coach which was taking us to Genoa.
Once on the coach we had to wait for one passenger who had missed the call to disembark, so she was eventually located and we departed at 9.30am. Our coach was quite cramped and not as comfortable as the Aussie tour coaches. Leg room was minimal and our driver appeared to speak little english. Although not actually told, I had guessed the distance to be around 3.5 hrs travel time. Most passengers were Aussies, with one group of 24 travelling together.
After almost 3 hours I think everyone was ready for a comfort break, us included, however there was no indication of this from our driver. Eventually one of the passengers stood up & asked if we could stop at a toilet. The driver must have understood because he replied "yes in 20 minutes". So at just after 12MD we stopped at a service area & were told to be back in 45 mins. The race off the coach was funny as evertone rushed to find the bathrooms. Once that was sorted we found some salads & drinks for lunch & made sure we were back in time as not to get left behind.
The trip was very scenic the entire way with many kilometres of grape vines, all very green with spring grapes budding. Lot's of farms growing vegetables etc. The countryside is very lush so I assume they have had a lot of rain. We also noticed much less poverty now we are back in Italy. Some areas of Greece were extremely poor with derelict & abandoned buildings the norm.
We spent another 2 hours on the coach before arriving at Genoa at approximately 3pm. We were delivered direct to the ship & porters took our luggage whilst we proceded through the embarkation process. This was really quick & we were in our cabin 15 minutes later.
Our cabin is on the same deck (12) as on the Fantasia, in the same section, just accross the corridor, so last time we were on starboard side & this time on port side. Not that it makes any difference as some ports the reverse in & some front in.
The decor is slightly different, but still in the darker Italian colours. The 2 ships are identical in size & services etc with this one just 1 year younger, built in 2010.
After a walk around to check out our allocated dining room and getting our cruise cards hole punched, we had a drink at one of the bars, then being the wiser after last cruise, grabbed our life jackets and used to lift (last time when we waited until the alarms rang we were not allowed to use the stairs, this meant 12 sets of stairs - not fun). We were seated in the allocated area, life jackets on when the alarms went off. Much more civilised!
Sailaway at 5pm on time as usual. Genoa is the 2nd largest shipping port in Europe. Here are some photos:
Then back to our cabin to finish unpacking & get organised for dinner. This cruise we are on 1st sitting which is 7pm. 2nd sitting is 9.30pm which is far too late for us as the meal takes 2-2.5hrs to complete. We are on a table with 5 other Aussies, a couple from Perth, a lady from Melbourne & 2 men from Newcastle. All seem very nice so will be interesting to see if everyone turns up every night or if they decide to hit the buffet!
We agreed that the food seems a little better on this ship as the menu last night was the same as last week on Fantasia. Certainly the risotto & fish were better prepared.
Not as many photos this post, hopefully more as we head into Naples. Due to dock today at 1pm.
Just a quick note for all those people who have either commented on the blog, on Facebook or sent emails, I have been reading them & love hearing from everyone. If I haven't replied it's only because of the limited internet time I have had. I have been typing this & adding photos offline, then logging on to upload each post. Depending on the ships internet (usually slow) it can take up to 10 minutes for a post to upload. So then I normally just quickly download emails & check FB before logging off. Then I read everything offline. Sometimes we find free WiFi ashore, however the time we have when on tours is very limited so not much time for anything but a quick checkin. This will all change from next Sunday when we will have unlimited free WiFi in our hotels & on the River Boats.
Betty & Mike
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