The first day was a sea day. It was super quick getting on the ship. We had a shared shuttle from Rome, were picked up around 10am and were at the port a little after 11. I think we were on the ship by 11:30. It really was well organized and very quick. The first thing we did was go to the Windjammer buffet for lunch. It was easy to find a table when we got there but got pretty crowded by 12. We had work our swim suits under our clothes so we went to the Solarium adult pool after lunch. This was the quietest I ever saw the pool so the first day is definitely a good option for some pool time.
First day of pool time
They made the announcement that rooms were ready a little after 1 pm. Once we were done with the pool, we headed down to our rooms to put away our carry on bags. Our suitcases arrived not too much later so we unpacked and put everything away. We were in an outside room and while it was small, it was well laid out and had plenty of room for all our stuff to be put away.
Sail away drinks
Then we had to go to the muster drill and wait around while that happened. It was hot and crowded and a little unpleasant, but I know that it's good to do for our safety just in case there was an emergency. The ship staff were all very efficient but other passengers showing up late kind of made the whole process longer. After that, we went to the pool bar, got drinks, and enjoyed the sail away party. After that, I'm sure we just explored the ship, checked out a couple bars, and went to dinner in the main dining room. I think we ended up skipping the show that night because we were tired.
The next morning we sailed through the Strait of Messina, which was pretty cool. We could see Sicily on one side and mainland Italy on the other. Sadly this was while I was trying to use the track and it was pretty crowded from everyone taking in the view. This was the first full sea day so we spent time relaxing, hanging out by the pool, doing trivia, etc. We also had dinner in the sushi restaurant instead of the main dining room and it was pretty good.
Sicily in the background
Veggie sushi
The next day was Santorini. Santorini is a small island and there were 5 cruise ships the day we were there. That made things really crowded and it felt like the number of people kind of overwhelmed the island. We had booked a cruise ship excursion that showed us around various villages on the island and included a stop at a distillery for an ouzo tasting. It left us off in Fira, which is a town at the top of the cliff where the cruise ships dock. We had an amazing dinner overlooking the sea with a view of the sunset from our table. But then we had to wait an hour in line to take the cable car down to the port area. There was a way to walk down but I had heard it can get slippery due to the donkey poo so we just waited in the line. We thankfully got back to the ship in plenty of time. And that night was the white party so we enjoyed some pool side dancing.
The next day was supposed to be Mykonos. We had booked a day pass at a local hotel on our own and had planned to make this a beach day. Sadly, the wind had really picked up and the tender boats weren't able to make it. So the Captain decided it wasn't safe and we had to skip the island. That meant this was another sea day. Thankfully the hotel we had booked us with had let us know in advance that they wouldn't charge us if the ship wasn't able to anchor. The staff hustled to get some activities set up for the day. As soon as we heard that this would be a sea day, we booked it up to the pool and got some chairs so we could spend the morning pool side. This worked out because it got super crowded by an hour later. I also took advantage of the unexpected ship time with some working out in the gym.
Pool side sunrise and drinks
Sunset as we pulled into Piraeus (near Athens) - since we skipped Mykonos we were able to overnight in Athens and some people did get off to check out the night life
The next day was Athens. We had booked a semi-private excursion with a local company (PK Travel) and this was much better than the giant cruise ship excursion. There were only 10 people and we were in a comfortable van. We really enjoyed this tour, the tour guide was great and it was so much more fun than it would have been in a giant group. It was easier to navigate and see things. We also had a chance to grab lunch at a small restaurant in Athens before heading back to the ship.
The next day was Katakalon. This port is mostly known for the proximity to the site where the ancient Olympics were held. We had booked an excursion with the cruise ship and it was a giant group on a bus. I kind of regretted this and wished we had gone with a local tour instead. The group just moved at a really slow pace and it was kind of frustrating. It was also pretty hot that day and I'm sure that played a part in my bad mood. But it was cool to see the Olympics site and the museum that held alot of the artifacts that had been excavated from the area. I think that evening we watched a movie poolside after dinner.
The next day was the last sea day and our last day on the ship. We got up early to grab some seats by the pool. We were early enough that it was fairly empty and I was even able to swim some laps before it got crowded. We had lunch booked at the steakhouse (the fancy restaurants are cheaper at lunch time) and they made my a yummy pasta dish. They actually made me TWO pasta dishes because they weren't sure which one I would like the best? It was obviously too much food but it was delicious. We skipped dinner in the main dining room since we were still not too hungry at that point and just went to the buffet to grab some small snacks. There was an interesting Beatles cover band that evening too.
And then the next morning we were back in Italy! We got off the ship bright and early. That was an easy process too. We took our bags off ourselves since we didn't have too much luggage. We waited outside for our shuttle and he showed up right on time at 8am.
So that's it for the cruise! Overall review of the ship is that it was good but definitely on the smaller side. The food was good but not great, except at the restaurants that had an extra charge. That food was worth the money but we only did it twice during the 7 days. The smaller ship definitely meant that the entertainment was a little lacking. We went to a couple shows but they all seemed mediocre. Adding in an extra sea day contributed to that feeling that there wasn't really enough to do on the ship. It's great for an itinerary with a lot of time in port but I would definitely want more to do if there were a lot of sea days. The service was great, the ship was really clean and well maintained, there was plenty of food. We didn't have the drink package and didn't feel like we needed it. We were allowed to take two bottles of wine on board and I used that for most of my alcohol needs. Mike just bought cocktails or beer whenever he wanted and this still ended up being much cheaper than the drink package would have been. The free coffee was pretty undrinkable and we did end up buying some of the Starbucks coffee, but even with that, it was still more cost effective for us to not have the package.
I'm so classy with my Yeti tumbler of wine
So that's my trip review of our time in Europe. We had a great time overall and I'm happy to answer any questions :)
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