Other Adventures

Today is transition day as we dock at the Tyrrhenian sea port city of Civitavecchia, Italy. The Port of Civitavecchia is one of the major cruise ports of Europe and is huge with over 3.3 million passengers passing through each year! There are 5 cruise ships in port today, each of them offloading and onboarding passengers. […]

Today we visited the absolutely gorgeous city of Valletta on the Mediterranean island country of Malta. Check another country off the list! We would have to say, without a doubt, today was one of the most beautiful harbor sail-ins so far for this trip. The city was officially listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980. The […]

After a couple of diversions due to weather, we were once again back on schedule for this portion of the world cruise. Today we visited Taranto, Italy. Located in the upper heel of boot. Taranto was founded by Spartans in the 8th century BC during the period of Greek colonisation,  Our early morning sunrise arrival was […]

For those that have actually been following along, you will remember that our stop in Bar, Montenegro was canceled due to the Bora winds causing trouble in the Adriatic Sea and we were diverting instead the predicted calmer Ionian Sea location of Argostoli, Greece. Well today we heard that Argostoli’s weather was being uncooperative as […]

We received notice on April 4th that the Bora wind was kicking up storms in the Adriatic Sea so our scheduled stops in Dubrovnik Croatia and Bar, Montenegro would not be happening. We were really disappointed with this as these stops would have checked two more countries off our list. Instead, we were staying in […]

Today we venture back to the island of Crete, this time docking at Chania. To be honest, after the full day at Rhodes yesterday, he fact that we were just in Crete on April 1st, and we are still recovering from our weeks long illness, we didn’t really do much today besides enjoy the ship. […]

As we continue the Mediterranean portion of this world cruise, we find ourselves visiting the island of Rhodes, Greece. Historically, Rhodes was famous for the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Medieval Old Town of the City of Rhodes has been declared a World Heritage Site.  Since we were docked close and both […]

Ah, the historic port of Kusadasi, Turkey. The gateway to the ancient city of Ephesus, the Temple of Artemis, the House of the Virgin Mary, and several other significant religious sites. We first visited Kusadasi in 1998 aboard the “original” Island Princess as part of a Holyland Cruise (she was scrapped in 2014), so it […]

As we were leaving Athens last night, the captain announced that our next scheduled port, the island of Patmos, Greece, was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions and we would be diverting to Herkalion on the island of Crete. Herkalion is said to have some very nice attractions worthy of exploring, such as the old […]

We are in Athens, one of the world’s oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years,[9] and its earliest human presence beginning somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia BC. The city just oozes history and culture. With such amazing sites as the Parthenon, the Acropolis, the Temple of Hephaestus, and the Temple of Zues just to name a few,

Day 68 finds us docked in Siracusa on the Italian island of Sicily. The city is notable for its rich Greek and Roman history, culture, amphitheaters, architecture, and as the birthplace and home of the pre-eminent mathematician and engineer Archimedes. We were still inflicted with the shipboard “respiratory crud” so were taking it fairly slow. We had a […]

Our next stop on this 117 day journey is the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Located in the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean Sea exits into the Atlantic Ocean, Gibraltar was established as a permanent watchtower in the year 1160. Follow the links for the fascinating history of this area. We met our pilot […]

Today we visited the city of Funchal, on the island of Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal. The island region is located in the Atlantic Ocean about 320 miles west of Morocco. You can use the links to learn more of the history of Funchal and Madeira, Our pilot and tug met us at 7AM […]

We’ve been at sea for 7 days since leaving Namibia, cruising North up the West African coast, so we were excited to be making landfall in Mindelo, on the island of São Vicente in the Republic of Cabo Verde. Check another country off our list. We were awake early and toasted the sunrise and watched as […]

Today we land at the coastal city of Walvis Bay, Namibia, the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, We picked our pilot up just before 8AM and were secured to the dock by 9AM. Today’s adventure would be a 4WD romp through Namib Naukluft Park including coastal beaches and sand dunes of Sandwich Harbour, The 4WD […]

This is our second day in Cape Town and today we embarked on the local Hop On Hop Off bus tour. We frequently use the HOHO tours to get an overview of a new city and to discover sites we may want to return to again. Today’s tour took us to though the major neighborhoods, […]

Following 5 days at sea, we were anticipating an early morning landing in Cape Town, South Africa, but the weather had other plans. The ships foghorn had been sounding most of the night and, as we approached Cape Town our singular horn was joined by a chorus of other ships also making their presence known […]

After 7 days at sea on a rocking ship, we were ready to feel dry land under our feet. Today we arrived in Mauritius, a tiny island nation located in the Indian Ocean just east of Madagascar. We picked up our pilot around 7:15AM and were secured to our berth at 8AM. Even at this […]

Our pilot tug met us at 6:30AM to guide us to our Victoria Quay berth located just beyond the maritime museum in Fremantle Harbor. It was another warm, clear Australian summer day, perfect for an e-bike ride around the city. The ships shuttle bus deposited us in the center of town, and we made the […]

It’s February 18th so it must be Melbourne! We arrived at the port of this capital city just after 10AM and secured directly across from the Viking Orion. Today was another picture-perfect weather day. Our original plan was to do an e-bike tour of the city, but it turns out the tour was oversold, and […]