No rush to either wake up or get up – not that we would have rushed at a 6am arrival anyway, but as expected, the buffet was quite busy. The Horizon Court hot water/coffee system has been out of action for about a week now, so they fill large pump pots instead. It is easier to go to the starboard side, particularly if you are making a cup of tea no doubt.
That tiny Imodium pill that Paula gave me yesterday was still working, maybe a bit too well, if you know what I mean. Certainly a highly recommended product if you are one to suffer in that department.
With a 12 noon arrival, we had time for trivia and Jill was the lucky person to take it. As mentioned before, as bright as a button (personality wise), and such a shame that all bar Sarah are not in the same league. No, of course we didn't win, and there was time for an Atrium (proper) coffee before we docked.
There was a Vodafone signal; we berthed on the starboard side and yes, there were HoHo buses – three different companies.
We had to wait a couple of minutes in the queue to get off, but no big deal. Then it was onto large coaches (optional) to the terminal building. I say optional, as it is only about a five minute walk and unlike the container ports, you do get the choice.
Straight through the building and 100m along the road (after the taxi rank), all three HoHo buses plus a little motorised train (€5 for the day) were waiting in a car park on the left.
We never bother checking the prices of the other companies, sticking to the red 'City Sightseeing' buses, mainly as we know that they generally have more buses in the system. I think the blue company were charging €13, but we paid €20 each. Apparently, they also had free WiFi on board as did our bus. This first double decker bus had the canvas roof, so we rode upstairs.
It is a very pleasant run along the cost to the city with several bays and marinas. Not quite the splendour of Monaco, but very attractive – other than the graffiti, which is a real blight in this part of Europe. Greece may be struggling financially, but the purveyors of spray paints are either making a small fortune or losing a horrendous amount of stock.
This route was the GREEN route and the changeover point to the RED route, was at the foot of the Acropolis. Well organised, with a staff member making sure that people were in the correct queue. Having done the Acropolis before, we transferred, but this time, no canvas roof on the bus. We stayed on top, suitably covered though it wasn't too hot. Mind you, overhanging branches were an ever present danger and sadly, the bus never stopped alongside any of the plentiful orange trees.
As we had an abbreviated port stop, we opted to stay on the bus, though we did briefly debate getting off at the Plaka. A secondhand market area also looked very interesting as I spied a couple of trombones for sale and although Paula hates fish markets, that too looked interesting!
A good tour anyway and it wasn't too hot at any stage, probably about mid 20's.
We stood up at the Acropolis, all ready to transfer back to the green route (Paula was already half way downstairs) when they announced that this bus would be going back to the port. No problem – until we arrived back at the port entrance. The driver stopped and said quite clearly, only for passengers on the Norwegian Jade, which was berthed just a little closer. So we, along with all other Sea Princess passengers, stayed on. He didn't go into the port area, but then went past the Sea Princess, to a distant entrance – for the 'Mein Schiff 3', cruise ship passengers! No problem. Once he'd dropped them off, he returned to where he'd stopped the first time.
There are one or two shops in the terminal building and it cost me €3 for a small, single serve carton of cherry juice from the café outlet and it was just €5.50 for six cans of Heineken beer. (I missed out on getting to a supermarket or grocery shop to stock up with sour cherry juice and peach nectar - €2 a carton last time.) Lots of naughty, really naughty cruisers, were spied buying bottles of spirits in the Duty Free shop, and as this was after the shore based scanner, they weren't scanned again on the ship. Being the honest lot that they are, I am sure they would all have declared their booty to the totally disinterested staff member sitting as his little table with a notice on it, saying it was where you could hand it over for safe keeping.
Straight up to the buffet of course, for the late lunch, then out to the rear of deck 11 for the sail-away, where there were few smug, smiling faces of people who may not have had their glasses on earlier and possibly couldn't have read that notice on the little table.
As the early production show last night had been cancelled due to technical difficulties, we were determined to catch it, but that meant having to miss eating in the dining room – again.
Great choice as this show was titled "Rock at the Opera". Once again, the singers were just fantastic with great harmony and a couple of fantastic solos, this time by lead singer Martin. The pic shows Laura and the other singer, Daniel. Hard to believe that originally, Martin was in the British Navy, but then switched to entertainment. He has a massive mop of unruly, dark curly hair, but when performing, it is tied right back. A very nice guy to talk to.
All six dancers (3 of each) dance well and for the first time, they actually had a (little) bit of scenery. Two sets of steps which were backlit and a bit of railing. Wow, what a show.
Afterwards, (about 8:45pm) straight up to the buffet yet again, and a very enjoyable meal. Creamy pasta, rabbit stew(!), Moussaka, okra and ratatouille on my plate. I'm sure that downstairs in the dining room, I wouldn't have managed such an interesting plateful.
On then to a half and half show in the Vista lounge. The first half was singer Lisa Lawton then Craig Richard. Now we know that the Princess orchestra always has excellent musicians, some of them being real stars, but I have noticed that when our favourite, the half pint sized Sarah Dyer is in charge, or maybe a different sound engineer, the trumpet and trombone are often behind reflective screens, to effectively lower the backing volume. Several people have commented that on this cruise, the backing is little too loud and we tend to agree.
When Craig Richard started his set, after just one number, we slid away and the other reason was that the orchestra's sax player is actually better! A 6am start tomorrow may also have affected that decision.
Out of Greece and into Turkey tomorrow, for Kusadasi. Sadly, we had to cancel our tour last time as Paula was unwell, so for her, a first time visit, though I did wander ashore for an hour last time.
Neither of us is really into history, but we have heard that of all the ruins, Ephesus is probably one of the best sites to visit, so that is where we are going on a Princess tour. Only a half day stop, as it is then a bit of a stretch to Istanbul.
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