Our Floating Hotal

We would wake up every morning to find that the daily programme had been pushed under our door. This contained all the information we needed for the day. There was an overview of the City we would be docking in, some nautical information and lots more.

The food on the ship was pretty good. One could go to your designated dining area for meals or go to the upper deck where there was a buffet meal. We used this one for lunches, as it was open from 1.00pm – 4.00pm and offered a wide varieties of foods.
You could sit and eat all afternoon staring out at the most wonderful views of islands and sea.

We did however have to pay for all our drinks on board the ship. This is where our cards came in handy, as you would hand your card to the waiter and order your drinks. We were also allowed to buy drinks in duty free shops and bring them aboard.
The mini bar in the cabin was ridiculously expensive, but at least we could keep our drinks cool in there.
There was also 24 hour room service offered but with a family of five, this just was not an option.
Our dinner’s and breakfasts we took in our allocated dining room. We had a good waiter who waited on us hand and foot.
We couldn’t believe how many waiters there were. The crew were multi nationality and a lot of them were Asian. They all made a huge fuss over our little Lara.

Our rooms were cleaned up every day, beds made etc. and at night, we would get back from dinner or a show, to find our bed linen turned down and the children’s bed made up.
This was really something I got used to!! No one seems to want to do it for me here at home.

We went to two of the shows in the theatre. They put on a different one every night. The entertainment coordinator would welcome everyone in 4 different languages.
In fact, any announcement that was made on the ship was always done in 4 different languages being: Italian, French, German and English.

We had a firedrill on the 2nd day. We all had various areas in which to assemble and we all had to wear our lifejackets. After the demonstration of how to use the lifejacket, the photographers descended on us. One could go to the photo gallery and choose photos that were being taken on a daily basis. These came at quite a hefty price.

We had a gala cocktail evening where we got to meet the captain. This was a formal evening, and we all got toffed up for the occasion. We stood in a queue for ages to have a photograph taken with the captain, who was such a small unfriendly man. If he had smiled, his face would have cracked!! (A real people’s person he was!!)
We were then treated to cocktails and snacks in the one lounge. This of course took hours and was done in two sessions.

We also had a Captain’s dinner one evening, where everyone donned their fine and fancy once again. Towards the end of dinner, the entertainment co-ordinator came in and introduced us to certain staff members, the chefs and then all the waiters. Lastly, they dimmed all the lights and the waiters came out with Baked Alaska’s with sparklers all over them. We were then given some champagne to finish off our dinner and enjoy our Baked Alaska.

That was just some of the things we were offered on board this wonderful floating hotel.

First Port of Call - Bari in Southern Italy

Our first port of call was Bari which is is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia (or, in Italian, Puglia) region, on the Adriatic sea, in Italy. After a quick breakfast, we dashed off to meet our Tour leader for our morning tour. There was only a small group of us going and we walked out of the harbour area, to find our bus which arrived about 15 minutes later. We all climbed in and set off for the town of Alberobello. We drove through Bari which is a University city and then got onto a highway which would take us to our destination. We travelled for an hour before reaching Alberobello which is a town full of Trulli houses. Our Italian tour leader was telling us all about these houses but with my limited German, could not really understand it all. We were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves in this quaint village. These gleaming houses (whitewashed each year) are curious, rounded structures with gray, stone, cone-shaped roofs. They are trulli, common in the province of Bari and Taranto, yet unknown in the rest of the world. The town's historical center is on a hilltop, amid the scent of almond and olive trees, and has been declared an International Human Resource by UNESCO. It is made up of a hundred trulli some 5 centuries old. The origin of their oddly-shaped, stone teepee design is unknown. Although some theories date the Trulli back 5000 years, the favorite story of their creation claims that such buildings were first constructed during the Middle Ages. At the time, anyone who built a dwelling on the King's land was heavily taxed. With this in mind, the Pugliesi cleverly devised the drywall stone Trulli solely for purposes of tax evasion. As the story goes, upon word of the taxman's arrival (perhaps by means of a smoke signal), the Trulli were rapidly dismantled and moved out of sight. After the visit was over and that gentleman successfully ducked, the homes were re-erected. Nowadays, Trulli are firmly planted and buttressed with stucco. A cone still comprises a single common area and the interiors, though charming, are spartan. With the exception of bathroom doors, the rooms are separated by colorful curtains in sharp contrast to the stark whiteness of the interior walls Mostly handmade furnishing of olive wood, quite beautiful by any standard, are representative of the work of the traditional peasant artisans of the area. The hearth remains the source of heat to this day. Luckily, Puglia is fairly warm and the cool stone Trulli provide relief from the hot summer sun. In spite of its rustic simplicity, the prices here are a bargain (Puglia as a whole is a bargain compared to most of Italy). Alberobello, the Trulli capital, is a fairy-tale city. Fanciful hex signs adorning each home add magic to the already bewitching setting. A wealth of history, art, food and vistas, rivaling anything in Italy, is found here.

On our way back to the ship, our tour guide decided that we had to see the Basilica of San Nicola in Bari. So, we parked on the promenade and took a quick walk to the Basilica. A beautiful building both inside and out. After some quick photo taking etc., we were then dropped off, close to the gangway onto the ship.
We then headed off to have a late lunch.