Back to Rome

It has been 3 months that I have been in the Med so far, and I have only done 1 tour to Rome so far.

The reason for this was that it is a long was to town, and it has been very hot during the summer, add to that all the large crowds and I was happy to stay away during the peak months.

But now that its into September, I have started doing tours to the big cities again.

The tour I did was a good one for me, as it was only a partially guided tour, and then the rest of the time was free time.

The day started near the Colosseum, first stopping at a church called St. Peter in Chains. Which is home to a marble statue of Moses, as well as a church relic of the chains that imprisoned St. Peter in Jerusalem.

After that we went to the Colosseum, but just around the outside, we didn't go in like I did last time.

After that we went to The Vatican City to tour St. Peters Basilica. There was a very long line to get in that day, it stretched all the way around the side columns and ended near the front of the square where the street is. That shows one of the good parts about being on a tour, as we were able to skip all the line. The Pope was going to be doing a sermon in the Basilica the next day, so most of the central parts were blocked off and filled with chairs. So only a path around the outside was open to the tourists. But this gave us a closer look at some parts of the Church that would normally be blocked off.

After the tour, we had 3 hours of time to do whatever we wanted.

I planned to see a lot of things so I started walking. The first place I stopped was Piazza Navona which has a marble fountain carved by Bernini called the Fountain of the Four Rivers. I had myself a paninni while sitting in the shadow of the obelisk on the top of the Fountain.

After that I went to the Pantheon, a temple dedicated to all of the gods. Built by the Romans around 30BC, and rebuilt in the second century AD. The dome was the largest in the world for over a thousand years, and remains the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world today at 142 feet tall.

After the Pantheon I got myself a gelato, and started walking towards the Trevi Fountain. Stopping along the way to view Trajan's Column. Which is a column built to commemorate the victory of the Romans in wars around 100AD. The column has a relief that depicts various scenes of Roman military battles.

After that I went to the Trevi Fountain, where its said that if you toss a coin into the fountain then you will return to Rome. Although since I'm going to be on the ship for another 2 months it seems fairly certain. I did get a good seat directly in front of the pool and took a video of myself throwing a coin in.

The last stop was the Spanish steps, which is a popular gathering place in Rome, and the streets around them are where the really expensive shops are.

Then I had to walk back to the meeting place at St. Peters Basilica, making it back just at the designated time. Good thing I didn't get lost along the way.

I liked this tour because of the free time it gives, and I will probably do this tour again, so I can do some of the other things that I want to do in Rome.

The Duff Brewery exists and it's in Europe

The last time I was in Florence I saw something right out of a Simpson's episode.

Yes it's the famous Duff beer.

Well a few of us went to Pisa the other day, and in one of the food stands just outside the leaning tower, there it was again, calling to us.



There was nothing else for it but to each buy a beer.
It turns out that Duff beer is not made in Springfield USA, but in Germany. At least according the the label on the bottle.

Thinking back on it I'm surprised that nobody else had come up with the idea before. Walking back towards the leaning tower we were stopped by a few excited people asking where we got the beer from.

Homer: "To alcohol, the cause of - and solution to - all of life's problems."

"Gimme one of those giant beer's I've heard so much about."


Here is me doing the classic leaning tower pose, with beer added.

Half way home

Today is my 3 month day. Just another 3 then I will be home.

Bus Tour, Barcelona

Barcelona is one of the ports that we debark/embark guests, and so we only go there once a month unlike other ports that we go to more often.

Because of that it is hard to see all of the things in the city, as we sail early in the afternoon.

So the last time we were there, a few of us bought tickets to the Hop-on/Hop-off bus tours that are popular in many cities.

The tour has a few different lines that intersect in the central part of the city, so you can do all of the city in a few hours.

The main things we wanted to see were Sagrada Familia, and Gaudi Parc. But there are many interesting stops along the way. But unfortunately we don't have much time in Barcelona before we need to be back on the ship. Its one of the earliest sailing times we have.

Some of the sites we just had to be content with seeing it as we passed by like the apartments designed by Gaudi.

The biggest attraction in Barcelona the Sagrada Familia, I had been to before, but I was happy to see it again, as it is a amazing church, totally unique to any other in the world.

Because everyone gets off the bus to see the church, the lines to get back on the buses were fairly long, but it goes fast as each bus will have many seats freeing up.

After the church we stopped at the Gaudi Parc, see the post below for that.

Not a great picture but, this is the Barcelona soccer stadium, the largest in all of Europe, seating over 100,000 people.

Unfortunately we had to skip part of the last section of the tour, as we had to be back on the ship, and we had to get off and get a taxi back to the port. Making it back just at the time of the crew all aboard time.

Parc Gaudi

As part of the Hop-on Hop-off Barcelona tour we did the other day, one of the main stops we went to was Gaudi Parc Guell.

The park was originally supposed to be a housing development but never found many buyers, it was later bought by Gaudi.

There are many works of art designed by Antonio Gaudi, who also designed the Sagrada Familia, and other works around the city.

The dragon is at the entrance to the park and is the best known symbol of the park.

The style is based around themes of nature, with arches designed like trees and birds nests.

The park is located at the top of a hill, and overlooks most of the city, and we could see our ship far in the distance to the right.

Specialty Restaurant

On one of the last days before my sister left the ship to go back home, we ate at the Normandy, the specialty restaurant of the ship.

Each of the Celebrity ships have one of these, and the names vary for each ship. They get their names based after old ocean liners.

The restaurant has a surcharge to eat there, but the food, and service is of very high quality.

I have eaten at the one on the Millennium before but not on the Summit.

While the menu was similar there are things that have changed slightly, which is nice as it makes it so things are not repetitive, even if I order the same things.

I couldn't resist getting the Surf and Turf, always a favorite.


Kelly with a after dinner latte.

My dessert being prepared.

The meal was very good as always, and we got to watch our ship sail away from Cannes as we dined.

Dinner at the Normandy, Specialty Restaurant

Here is a selection of the food we ordered for dinner.

Foie Gras

Goat Cheese Souffle

Escargot Ravioli

Surf and Turf: Fillet Mignon, and Lobster Tail


Duck Brest

Family Reunion: Part 2

Long time readers will remember a post of my sister and I on my ship in Sydney.

And more recently I posted about my sister going to work on a celebrity ship the Equinox.

Well that didn't happen, but what did happen is my sister was sent to a different ship. Also known to me as my ship.

Yes my sister is now my crew mate, but only for a limited time, as she is a seasonal youth staff, and leaves at the end of this cruise.

So we have been able to get a few pictures of us together in the port we go to, and around the ship.

Here we are as the ship leaves Venice. Kelly was working at the time so we had to take the picture from her workplace. But in the background you can see the bell tower of Venice

Here we are in Santorini

And going down the cable car with the ship in between us.

Tour in Santorini

This was my second last time in Santorini, and I did a tour that went to other towns on the island.

The tour first went to the highest point on the island. At 600 meters. There is a monastery at the top that only has one person living there. The views from the top were very good, and I remember the first time I was on the island and looking at the top of the mountain and wondering what the was at the top, so I'm glad that I got to go up there.

After we got back on the bus we went to a town called Pyrgos which has the remains of a Venetian castle. Pyrgos is a very small town of only around 750 people, and is built on a hill giving a good view of the rest of Santorini, and is the reason the castle was built there.

After the stop in the main town we went to a nearby tavern to have lunch. The meal was made of typical things grown on the island. And included lots of local wine from Santorini.

After lunch we were returned to the town of Fira, where the cable car is located to take us back to the ship. I stayed in town for a while, and its never a complete trip to Santorini without a gyro from my favorite place, Lucky's.

Return of the $1 meals

Something that I haven't been bothering to do lately is ordering off the main dining menu in our staff mess.

I have gotten back to doing that in the last few days, and I wonder why I haven't been doing it sooner.

If you remember from my previous post a while ago, you can order from the same menu that the guests have in the main restaurant, and it only costs the tip to the staff mess attendant who gets it for you.

Today I had french onion soup, caesar salad, and herb crusted rack of lamb.

Visiting the Equinox

The new ships are not a lot larger then the one I am on, and from the outside only look a little larger, but when you get inside the difference is massive.

The one thing everyone says when describing the ship is how open it feels. All of the main guest areas are very large and many places like the shops have high ceilings.

One of the new things that the ship has is something that is new to all cruise ships, and that is the lawn club. A large field of living grass on the top deck, where you can play lawn bowling, croquet, and other games, as well as just having a drink, or lying on the grass. There is also a glass blowing show that is performed in an area on the lawn, you can see it in the background of the picture below.

One area that shows how truly large the ship is, is the central atrium, where the glass elevators are. You can see from the top deck where the pools are all the way to the main lobby many decks below. There is even a large tree suspended between the elevators.

The ship also boasts 4 separate specialty restaurants, a Asian, a french, a healthy choice restaurant, and a steakhouse. As well as many other smaller cafes.

There are also 19 different bars on the ship, from martini bar, to a wine tasting place.

Even the crew areas look very nice, and there are some really nice things like massage chairs, and a arcade area that is free to play.

The only downside to working on the ship is the very, very small cabins. A new thing that theses ships have is a single cabin with a shared bathroom. This seems good as more people get their own cabin, but the side of it quickly makes it lose its appeal. The cabin has a desk and sink that is in the main cabin, and a bed that folds down. And the bathroom is a shower and toilet. But the cabin is so small I could touch all four walls at the same time while lying in the bed. Compared to the room I have now its about half the size of my room.

I'm not sure how big the shared cabins are.

The ship is beautiful and there are many other aspects that I haven't mentioned.

But I think I would rather cruise as a guest then work on the ship. But I might have a chance to do both eventually.

Making a move

Well, I had to get up early today, after packing all my stuff and moving it.

This was because I have been able to get myself moved into a single cabin. Hurray!

I am now back at the front of the ship, which is where my office is, so its a faster commute to work.

Although a smaller cabin, its only me there so its a good deal.

This move come about because 2 of the new cast members wanted a room that had a window, and were offering their single cabins to trade.

Now i just need to unpack everything again.

I have been in 4 cabins in less then 3 months. But im pretty sure this will be the last for the contract.

Scuba Diving in Santorini

The other day a group of us went scuba diving in Santorini.

We had planned to meet our ride to the dive site at noon, but when we got off the tender boat at 11:45 the line for the cable car was going to take way to long, possibly an hour.

So there was only one option and that was taking the path up the cliff.
The last time I took the path it took me 29 minutes, but we had to meet someone so we had some motivation, and we managed to make it to the bottom of the town in 20 minutes.

We did meet our ride, a bit late, but it didnt affect the day.

There were 4 in our group that were certified divers, and another 10 that were not, but some like me had dived before.
We had to go through the basic training to give us a understanding of what to do, and then we got geared up and headed for the water.

I was diving only a few months earlier, but it was at the great barrier reef, so its unlikely that any location will ever compare to that, but this was still a cool experience, and there were some interesting things to see. And there were a lot of fish that clustered around us because we had some bread that we fed to them.

One of our group had a underwater camera, but I haven't copied the pictures yet. I will post them when i get them.

Thats 2 continents I have now scuba dived in.

Bigscreen TV for the broadcast office.

Hello all,

New samsung LCD screens have come to the ship to replace some of the old tv's in the guest cabins.

But first they need to be made compatible with the ITV system.

So I now have a nice 32" TV on my desk.

Reminds me of my old computer desk at home, and its big TV/Monitor.

There are currently some issues with the tv's and the ITV system, so I hope I can keep the tv for a while.

Boo to my Sister!

My sister, shown here with me in Sydney last year, unfairly, is going to work on a brand new ship, the Equinox, and will get to see a bunch of cool cities and sites before me.

Totally unfair.

She is supposed to work on cruise ships that go to cold dreary places in Alaska.

Not super awesome places like Egypt.

But seriously I am very happy for Kelly, getting a job on a great new ship, and a great itinerary in Europe.

Possibly watch for a sister site blog (haha) in the future.

Gondola in Venice

The last time I was in Venice I was a tour escort to Murano the glass blowing island, and a gondola ride.

The tour first did the gondola ride, they had us in groups of 6 on each one. I was in a group of people from Montreal. There were many of us so there was a good sized convoy of gondolas going down the canals.

The gondola ride is fun, but more of a novelty, I had been on one many years ago, but its something that is always worth doing.

After we left the gondolas we boarded the boat that took us to Murano. There are speed limits in the area around Venice and the ride was long and the boat was hot.

Once we got to Murano, we watched a glass blowing demo. The main master and his team had left, so we only had one guy doing the blowing.

After the glass blowing demo we had some time to shop in the store, but not really enough to see much of the island. I wish we had more time in Murano because I love watching glass blowing, and I wanted to look around the shops more. I will probably go back on my own next time. So I can buy some stuff.

Once we left Murano we went to San Giorgio Maggiore, a cathedral on a small island directly across from St Marc's square. The cathedral has a bright white marble facade, and a bell tower similar to the one in St Marc's square. I have always seen the island when I was on the main island of Venice and had wanted to go over and see what was there.

After that we dropped of guests that wanted to stay in Venice and then headed back to the ship.

Unwanted Hiking in Santorini

The last time I was in Santorini, there were a few other cruise ships in port. By the time I got off the ship the usual way to get up the cliff to the town, the cable car, had the longest line I have seen so far. Hundreds of people.

Not wanting to wait in line, I figured that it would be faster to walk up the trail. And it probably was, but was it worth it? I'm not sure.

The trail used to be the only way up before the cable car was built, and then it was used to get all supplies up to the town. Donkeys were used then for this task and they are still used, but only for tourists to ride.

As my friend and I started up the trail we were making good time, but it wasn't a cool day by any stretch. And it wasn't long before we were taking breaks at each shady spot we found. The total height to climb is 220 meters, and it takes the cable car a few minutes to do this. Not counting the time to wait in line and load and unload. We were able to make this climb in 29 minutes.

One in the town, we needed a long break. A cold drink and a gyro later didn't leave us with a lot of time to do much but wander around the town a bit.

When we wanted to go back down, a quick look at the line for the cable car saw that it was somewhat long, and in the past this line goes down very fast. So we went into a few souvenir shops and then upon exiting the line was past the shop and more then double the number of people.

This left us with the undesired option to walk all the way back down. But it was a much faster decent, only 15 minutes.

Walking the trail was something I wanted to do, but in my head i planned to wait for a cloudy day or something like that. Oh well, perhaps next time I will try taking a donkey.

Herculaneum, Pompeii's little brother

The most recent tour I went on was to Herculaneum.

Herculaneum is the Roman seaside town buried at the same time as Pompeii, in 79 AD.

Although smaller then Pompeii, it is in many ways much better preserved, because it was covered my a much deeper layer of mud, almost 7 meters.

Herculaneum was discovered a few years before Pompeii when a man was digging a well, and ended up digging into the theater.

The town gives you an idea of what life was like in the time of the Romans, and many of the houses are preserved including the floor mosaics, paintings, roofs of the buildings, and in some cases the original wood of the doors and shelves.

Compared to Pompeii there is almost nobody else around the entire town, only one outer tour and a few other people scattered around, so it was very easy to see all of the town without waiting for other people to clear out of an area.