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2019 Mediterranean cruise
  • Betty Rempel
  • Vic Rempel

2019 Mediterranean cruise

April - May 2019 Read more
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  • Trip start
    April 13, 2019
    2019 Mediterranean cruise
    Flying along the St. Lawrence Seaway
    Our hotelOldest structure along Ft. Lauderdale Beach 1929. Now a restaurant where we had dinnerGardenias outside our hotelMy feet in this side of the AtlanticVic in his element

    Montreal and Ft. Lauderdale

    April 13, 2019 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Arrived early after Dad generously drove us all to the airport. The plane boarded late and then we were told that we would be late leaving as they had to replace a part, power down the plane then restart it. Finally left around 2:20. They must have put on the jets because we arrived only half an hour late. Got to our little hotel by 6:30 and quickly changed to summer clothes and walked down the block to Casablanca for dinner. Mussels are becoming a favourite. Walked to the local CVS for snacks and wine for the ship. Unfortunately , the sidewalks are not lit and I missed a curb, right after I had the thought that I really should be careful. Sore knees and left hand but that’s all, except for the broken wine bottle. Had a good sleep and went down to the beach first thing Sunday morning to put my feet in the water.Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise

    At sea for eight days

    April 15, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Had a very smooth embarkation experience, taking our luggage with us directly to our room. Attended a 3-5 star Mariner reception in the afternoon and made our reservations for dinner, a wine tasting and the Cellar Master’s Dinner later in the week. Slept so well and woke up in time to shower before we met for breakfast at 9. Attended the shore excursion talk before walking the promenade for 1.5 miles. Averaging 15,000 steps per day on the ship. Great way to get exercise without realizing it. Enjoying a fully refurbished ship, new carpets and drapes and upholstery. They’ve eliminated the librarian position so borrowing books is on the honour system. Entertainment on the second night was a comedian. Enjoying America’s Test Kitchen demos and new evening entertainment.
    Good Friday, day 6, has brought blue skies, a sprinkling of rain and a fleeting rainbow. Attended the florist tour, not much to see as they have cut back on such luxuries. The florist however has done a great job making do with less. Premiere wine tasting this afternoon and then the Good Friday service. No piano and but there are hymn books and a pastor.

    Saturday I attended the Bible study and connected with the Interdenominational group planing the Easter sunrise service. Have also been going to the America’s test kitchen demonstrations. Great tips for great meals in a short time.

    Gala night today and a production show in the theatre. We met a two people from Hamburg who are friends and travel together because Karin’s husband is in a nursing home. She and Ekhardt met more than 10 years ago when she and her husband were still able to travel together. It’s nice that people can come to an understanding like that.

    Garry and I sang in the choir for the Easter Sunday service . Really enjoyed breakfast after the brief but meaningful service.

    Enjoyed a Wines of the world tasting where Vic won a bottle of wine. Beautiful.    Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise

    Ponta Delgada

    April 22, 2019 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Started out drizzly and with a rainbow but didn’t take long to open the clouds to the beautiful sunshine. Wonderfully warm 19C and a breeze. Walked to the fruit and vegetable market and bought clementines the through a garden and back to the old town for lunch where Vic and I shared mussels and rustic bread and cheese and Carolynne and I shared white wine. More walking in the city in the sunshine.

    Rob, the cans of sardines are for you.    Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise

    Ponta Delgada and onward

    April 22, 2019 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    The day ended beautifully with encouraging conversation and back on board by 4:30.

    As we were headed toward a high pressure weather system, our 37-year-old captain said he’d urge all five engines to try to get us around the bad weather by going south. Experienced 13 foot swells during the night but nothing terrible.

    Because of the possibility of rocky seas, they showed the movie The Green Book morning n place of live entertainment. Excellent story based on actual events in the 1960s.

    Clocks ahead again and slept til 9 as a result.

    Attended the Collectors’ Voyage lunch with the traditional Indonesian menu of nasi goreng, pork skewer, tender chicken and Asian beef. Followed by the traditional rice pudding. One of the tastiest meals of the voyage.

    Listened to the members of Shades of Buble talk about their careers and shopped in the jewelry shops. We never buy anything but it’s fun to look.

    Entertainment tonight was a BBC film with live music accompaniment called Planet Earth II. Amazing photography and original music.    Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise

    Malaga and Caminito del Rey

    April 25, 2019 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Woke up early as we arrived at Malaga at 6 am. I slept through watching the lights of Gibraltar as I had seen them before.

    It seems the rain has stayed in Malaga as the farther west we travel, the lighter the skies become.

    We had a perfect day for this walk. Partly cloudy and around 16C.

    This Caminito was originally built for workers to build the hydro-electric system for Malaga.    Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise

    Cellar Master's Dinner and onward to Car

    April 25, 2019, Alboran Sea ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    What a great experience we had on the Caminito del Rey. So much so that we welcomed a nap before our 6 pm Cellar Master’s Dinner. This time it was held in the Canaletto, the Italian restaurant onboard. Five courses with appropriate wine pairings, the main course being a slice of tenderloin and a lobster tail with accompaniments. We caught the end of the nightly entertainment, a couple of opera singers who play guitars. Nicely done but not enough to stay up for the 10 o’clock show. We walked another 1.5 miles before hitting the sheets at 10 in order to help speed up digesting all that food. Hope it helped.Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise

    Last day on the Atlantic

    April 25, 2019, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Today was our last day on the Atlantic Ocean. We will pass through the Strait is Gibraltar at approximately 11:30 pm tonight. Enjoyed our walk on the deck this morning in warm weather and attested the port talk about Malaga and Cartagena. Looking forward to Spain again. Tom who was our port expert the first time we crossed the Atlantic was brought out of retirement and gives lots of good tips for seeing the ports on your own.

    Attended the cooking class this afternoon before we met Vic and Garry at the jewelry auction. Not many people bought at auction but three items were purchased, two at minimum bid. HAL is getting out of selling jewellery and will rent the space to a third party. I expect they will make more money that way.

    The florist was changing his arrangements this afternoon and we stopped to chat with him. As a result he shared three anthurium each with us since they would go to compost anyway. we appreciate his generosity.

    Dinner this evening was wonderful and the seas gave calmed as we look forward to entering the Mediterranean. Shades of Buble will sing this evening, their last concert on our ship as they are joining the Rotterdam in Malaga tomorrow.    Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise
    1

    Cartagena

    April 26, 2019 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Had a very short visit to Cartagena today, all aboard was to have been 12:30. We walked through the streets of old town and enjoyed a pastry and cafe and wifi before returning to the ship on time.

    Visited the City Hall where there were a couple of galleries we could visit for free.

    As we were leaving the pier the captain reversed his direction to go back to pick up a member of the housekeeping staff who had not made it back in time. Apparently he works the night shift and so had not taken note of the all aboard time. He was delivered by a police car to the Pier.

    Tonight was Gala night so it was nice to see people dressed up. We enjoyed steak and lobster tail for dinner with shrimp cocktail and a lovely dessert. Also a chocolate event at 9:30 tonight with Irish coffee in honour of King’s Day Eve.    Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise
    Vic and his Chocolate Easter bunnySunset on the coast of Sardinia

    On the Med and onward to Rome

    April 27, 2019, Tyrrhenian Sea ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Had such a good sleep, napped yesterday afternoon and woke up at 6:15, just before Vic’s alarm went off. Once turned off, we slept again until 8:30. Had a lovely relaxing day, attended the Captain’s talk. We have had confidence in his abilities during the voyage. Though he is only 37 yrs old he is very competent and has piloted the Prinsendam through the Amazon.

    After lunch we listened to the EXC presentation on Rome. Got some good tips.

    Today is King’s Day in the Netherlands so people are wearing orange.

    Discussed our plans for Rome and attended the show. A juggler and international entertainer.    Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise
    For you, Rob
    Basilica of Sana Maria in TrastevereLunch!Fom thesteps of the church beside Victor Manuel Monument

    Roma

    April 28, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Today is Carolynne’s birthday so we’re glad you’re be able to celebrate with her in Rome. Up by 5:30 and at breakfast shortly after 6. Carolynne was the first one off the ship in honour of her special day. We four were the only ones plus Rod from Florida on the first shuttle bus so ended up sharing a taxi to the train station. Caught the 7:59 train and arrived in Rome around 9:22. Partly sunny and a high of 18 predicted.Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise

    On the way to Corfu

    April 30, 2019, Ionian Sea ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Our clocks went ahead again by one hour in preparation for our day in Corfu. Had a wonderful sleep and enjoyed a relaxing day at sea, with a tour of the galley , an invitation to the Mariners’ lunch and watching our ship sail past Stromboli, an island with an active volcano, through the Strait of Messina with the help of a local pilot. We watched the beautiful scenery until it was time to attend the EXC location guide Tom talk about Corfu, Kotor and Dubrovnik.

    Our dinner reservation is now at 5:45 and so dressed for gala night and met for a glass of wine before dinner. Rack of lamb and chocolate souffle certainly hit the spot.

    Captain’s welcome toast before the production show Dhroom.    Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise

    Corfu

    April 30, 2019 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    The day began with a rain shower during breakfast and quickly changed to beautiful blue skies for the rest of the day. 20C and another 8 miles exploring the city on foot allowed us to see lots of the Old Town and part of the residential are of the city. Lots of bedraggled cats here, and in old dog who waited patiently at the cross walk until the light turned green before slowly making his way across the very busy street to lie in the sun in front of the Welcome to Corfu sign all day. He was still there when we came back to our ship.

    The souvenirs are a bit different from the last time we were here. The island produces 3% of the world’s olive oil, or so they say.

    Lunch of gyros and Greek salad and house made Greek wine was wonderful outside at Prosilio, complete with white tablecloths and a red rose on each table. Good wifi also helps.

    Of course no exploration day is complete without gelato, which we enjoyed on the steps of the church where we had attended Easter services a few years ago.

    It’s a bit comical to walk through Marks and Spencer’s in Greece and to find the temperature hotter inside than out.

    Managed to fit in a nap before dinner and enjoyed a coconut shrimp salad and ricotta raspberry torte for dessert before watching David Copperfield. No not that David Copperfield. This one is an aging Scot who does ventriloquism, sings, tells bad jokes and plays a mean guitar. Good entertainment all in all, so much so that Vic went back for the 10 o’clock show.    Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise

    Dubrovnik

    May 1, 2019 in Croatia ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    We are fortunate again to come to this beautiful city. The walk to the city was lovely, blue skies with a little bit of cloud. They told us that it would rain or perhaps thunder showers this afternoon, and Just as the bills began to peal at noon, the rain began. We are enjoying lunch at Barracuda. They have great wifi and the pizza smells fantastic.Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise
    Kotor from aboveLake SkodorLake Skodor

    Kotor, Montenegro

    May 2, 2019 in Montenegro ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Made it to our private tour only 5 minutes late. Had to tender at this port. Montenegro has two types of land — coastal and mountains. They pride themselves on being a ‘green’ country. The road up the mountain has 25 switchbacks. Photo is from #16. We drove on the same roads that Vic took in 1973.

    The main agriculture is grapes and olives, though they produce all manner of Mediterranean fruits and vegetables.

    There are five national parks.

    Our tour guide is a cyclist and filmed a Skoda commercial yesterday for the Tour de France. We will have to watch for him in June.

    We stopped near Lake Skodar and had to wait for some cows to move off the road. There are beautiful Views and the green on the lake is lily pads.

    3E — Enjoy, experience, explore! The name of the tour company Carolynne booked through. So excellent! Arrived at our hosts’ farm. They are a former mechanical engineer and economist whose jobs ended due to the political conflict in the 1990s. They returned to the family farm and now host tours for lunch and brief tours of their organic farm. Their grapes are organic and they also have bees from which they make honey.

    Our driver and guide Zoran helped translate and had lunch with us. They also make schnapps infused with various herbs like rosemary, mint, lavender, oregano and sage.

    You can buy a two bedroom house for approx. 40,000 - 70,000€ in the mountains and about three times that along the coast.

    This has been a most wonderful day. Personal contact with people makes the experience so much better.

    Sailed past Our Lady of the Rock just before dinner. No three honks of the horn today. Maybe they don’t do that anymore.

    Attended the port talk on Split and Ravenna before watching the comedian from Britain.    Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise

    Split, Croatia

    May 3, 2019 in Croatia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Beautiful day in Split, started out cloudy but 16C. Had a good sleep so we’re ready to start the day. The wind blew all day so got a bit of a wind burn. Enjoyed listening to the Klappa group in the rotunda and purchased a CD for 15€. Also toured the cathedral, crypt and baptistery for 3,5€. They have a brand new organ with lots of shiny pipes. Had a doughnut like dessert with Nutella before lunch and walked up the hill and back through the park and had lunch at Feral Pizzeria. Kind of a weird name for a restaurant since there are so many cats around. Walked through the fish market and the vegetable market.

    Very difficult to get wifi today as the Split hotspot was not working well and the restaurant said they he no wifi for four days.

    Back on the ship by 3:30 and had a nap before our last Gala night. Lovely lobster tail and tiramisu for dessert. Got our disembarkation instructions straightened out so that we can leave with our luggage before 8 am. Gratuities are organized for tomorrow and will write the notes this evening.    Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise
    Basilicaof San Francesco

    Ravenna

    May 4, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Today is our last cruise day. In order to get to Ravenna, we have to take a 30-minute shuttle ride from the port ($19 US round trip). This is the home of Byzantine mosaics and was the capital of this region 7 times in its history.

    Walked into a church by accident in our tour of the mosaics and ended up watching this couple get married. I also got to visit with the organist. Very special.

    Lunch at Cupido, fresh pasta and a Regional sampler and wine. Life is good!    Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise

    Venice

    May 5, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    Packed our bags last night and were ready to go but had to provide Italian immigration officials with our passports before leaving the ship. This is a new thing since we were here last. They were late in arriving but were off the ship with our luggage by 8:30. Took the people mover to Piazzale Roma , now 1,50€ and also bought our vaporetto passes (3 days) for 40€ each. Because we couldn’t get wifi there we just took the #1 vaporetto to San Silvestro, same station we used in 2013 and called Cristina from the Air BnB apartment from a wine bar who let us use their wifi. Bought cappuccinos (16€ for four) while we waited. Cold and wet so at least we could warm up. Cristina’s mother Sandra met us last there and walked with us to the apartment, took our 36€ for for persons for 3 days tourist tax and took our passport information.

    After she left and we organized ourselves, we braved the rain and found an Italian fast food place and had pizza, sandwiches and wine for lunch. Walked over Rialto Bridge to Piazza San Marco then decided to go the Basilica Santa Maria. Also went to a small museum and then to Academia Museum, 15€ each plus 9€ for the audio guide after waiting 45 minutes in the rain. Amazing collection as well as a special Leonardo da Vinci exhibit. Couldn’t finish the whole place As it was already 6 pm. Went back to the apartment then out to Antico Panificio where we have eaten numerous times in the past. New owners and great service. Food also very good.

    Stopped at the grocer for milk for cappuccino for breakfast tomorrow, also wine. Too tired to drink at this evening.

    To bed before 10.    Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise

    Venice in the evening

    May 6, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    After a bit of a rest, we returned to the pavement to seek out our landlord ‘s family favourite restaurant, Antico Gatoleto. Had only one course, as we had stopped to buy cannoli on the way back to our apartment earlier. Stopped in to see the hotel where we had stayed in 2013. Now $500/night. Enjoyed a leisurely stroll back and read a bit before bed since I was awake far too early this morning.Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise

    Last day in Venice

    May 7, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Have a wonderful day in Venice. Shopped for souvenirs and took the vaporetto to Lido. Walked along the ocean and through the residential streets. They have cars and busses! Came back to Venice and walked through the area east of San Marco and through the garden area.

    Enjoyed arrancini and Aperol Spritz for lunch and of course the obligatory gelato. Bought a lovely red purse to replace my thrift shop Derek Alexander purse that was worn and sad. 8 years of use is pretty good for a second hand purse.

    Vic and I went to Piazzale Roma to buy bus tickets for tomorrow. Walked ba k through a new area we had not seen before.

    Packed our bags and the men picked up pizza to go with our wine.

    Carolynne and I went out to look for dessert but many shops were closed. Vic and Garry decided they would do one better than us and not only found dessert but also found limoncello.

    Had a good evening and an early night in preparation for a very early morning.    Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise
    Last view of Rialto Bridge

    Homeward bound

    May 8, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Up early and on the vaporetto before 7, luggage and all. Just missed the Aerobus — it was full anyway so waited for the next one that came at 7:40. After a milk run to the airport, arrived shortly after 8. Checked in and boarding passes in hand, we really appreciated coffee and sandwiches for breakfast. Our flight to Frankfurt is expected to be 7 minutes late.

    Boarding our Toronto-bound flight. Had to do the ‘hurry through the tunnel’ thing again. Parted ways with Garry and Carolynne at security. Will meet up in Toronto again for a few hours.    Read more

  • 2019 Mediterranean cruise

    Almost home

    May 8, 2019 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Even though our flight from Frankfurt left over 30 minutes late, we still arrived in Toronto on time.

    Through the Nexus line like a breeze and by the time we got to the luggage carousel, Our bags were already there.

    Stopped at the Air Canada desk and asked cert nicely if we could get an earlier flight since it had been changed twice since we booked it in September . Valerie was so helpful and because Air Canada was the one who changed the flight there was no charge for the change. Woohoo!

    So now instead of waiting 7 hours in Toronto airport, we only had 1 hour 40 minutes from the time of the flight change until boarding time.

    Very grateful to be coming home early.    Read more

    Trip end
    May 8, 2019
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