We knew posting on the ship would be tricky, but we expected better connectivity on land. In hopes of getting a wifi connection sometime soon, here’s a summary of our trip so far.

Boarding the ship was a breeze. There was no line, and we walked right on and into our stateroom. We did arrive relatively late – 3:30 for a boarding no later than 4:45. But I have a feeling it wasn’t bad at any time.

Our room is fine. Given the information on cruise critic, I thought it would be tiny, but I think it was about the size of standard cabin on the Carnival cruise we took.

We started the night off with a complimentary cocktail hour for cruise critic members – a really nice touch and a great way to meet other travelers. That was lucky for us because we ended up having dinner with two women we met at the event. They had an 8:00 pm reservation at one of the premium restaurants, which beat our 9 pm rez at the regular dining room. Aside from the bartender spilling my drink, it was a great dinner. (Luckily, the drink mostly missed jim and me, but of course our other drink was comped. Our extra dining fee was comped too, but I think that might have been because it was the first night.)

We were wound up and ready to party, but thankfully the nightclub was pretty dead so we settled for some white wine sitting on our balcony and watching the ocean go by.

Today’s port is Santorini. As always, we have to compare it to Puerto Vallarta, which compares very favorably. It’s also very similar to Positano and Taormina -we obviously like cliffside mountain views. But this time we were the ‘boat people.’ Thankfully we’re here outside of peak season. Although there are plenty of people, we managed to escape the hordes. We were eve the only people in our restaurant having lunch at noon!

We’re currently sitting on the beach (black stone – ouch) chilling out. We never go to the jersey shore, but we fly 10 hours for the beach! Oh well, it’s the Aegean- just had to do it.

We heard the wait for the cable car back is deadly – but it was a breeze. Guess it was just good timing.

Greetings From Captain Steubing

Our captain isn’t really like the iconic TV captain but he is enthusiastic. Sold hard on a gorge tour in Crete. If it wasn’t for the three hour round trip bus ride we would have done the 12 mile hike, but the commute sounded like work so we passed. One of the agents that handles shore excursions was honest enough to admit that she wouldn’t do it. Got to meet a veteran cruiser that tipped us off that the cruise lines often comp the specialty restaurants the first night. Good to know.

Athens Day Two

Checked out the Greek tomb of the unknown soldier that features a changing of the guard with soldiers in some traditional uniforms. We did not go to the Acropolis Museum; sounds like we should have. We did check out a museum dedicated to the history of the Byzantine church that was more interesting than it sounds. It was quite large and well done. All in all we liked Athens better than we thought we would, though can’t say we would rush back.