Cruising the Mediterranean

Just cruising.. Digby Lawley revels in the cruise of a lifetime.

Step on board the P&O Grand Princess for an awe inspiring 12-night Eastern Mediterranean cruise.

Its 12 noon on 20 August 2006 in Italys Venice on a hot and sunny summers day, and we are checking out of our hotel after two days exploring this awe-inspiring city we had only read, heard and dreamt so much about. Venice, where waters rich with historical importance carve out a unique culture.

This is my first visit to Italy and after two weeks visiting Rome, Umbria and Tuscany we are now getting used to the unique Italian culture, climate and fl air for all things creative, historic and passionate. My group started with four of us in Rome and has now grown to a total of eight in Venice, and being mostly first time Kiwis in Italy, we’re soaking up the diff erences that are so enjoyable and interesting when travelling away from our much loved, small and distant home country.

Making that right choice is vital.

The history, art, religion, food and lifestyle of this country has captured us and two weeks is only just enough time to get to some of the must-see spots such as Pisa, Le Cinque Terre and Florence as well as Rome and Venice. My strong daily passion for the traditional NZ fl at white coff ee has been replaced by the weaker Italian cappuccino or rich and strong short black espresso, often taken while standing at a café bar eating small but tasty pastry treats.

Italian service is mostly good but being so steeped in tradition, it often struggles to cope with the fl exibility and finesse we are used to at home and in many other countries.

It is advisable to go along with their slightly archaic ways, as upsetting the waiter can sometimes mean rather harsh treatment and a very long wait for any attention or service.

There was a story like this in every town, Viva Italia! Today is the start of a long awaited 12-night Eastern love affair Mediterranean cruise onboard the P&O Grand Princess and we are all very, very excited about what lies ahead. Planning for this trip started on the back of a 50ft charter yacht in the Caribbeans British Virgin Islands some two years ago. It was just before I boarded a 7-night Royal Caribbean cruise onboard the Explorer of the Seas, one of the larger cruise ships afl oat at that time. Since then two more even larger cruise ships have been launched and there are more to come.

Cruise holidays are becoming very popular and its not surprising given the plethora of wonderful ships and destinations to choose from. Making that right choice is vital and thats where your travel agent comes in. I consulted with my cruise specialist about where I wanted to travel to, what time of the year and which ships would suit my particular likes in style, activities and size. To secure the right cabin on the right ship means you have to book a year or more ahead as global demand is now very high.

I also needed to think about the group of friends that were joining me as many had not experienced a holiday afl oat and, like many others, were concerned about the usual myths such as boredom, sea sickness and excessive costs. These concerns were quickly replaced with their fi rst reactions of wow! And when can we do it again?

Stepping out of the pleasantly air-conditioned Rialto Hotel on Venices infamous Grand Canal right beside the Rialto Bridge, is about as close to the action you can get in this bustling water city. It's the height of their summer season and tourists from all around the worldpour past the restaurants, shops and famous landmarks, exploring the canals on gondolas, water taxis and anything else that fl oats in this bewitching place.

Holiday Shoppe clients use this hotel a lot because of its superb central location, only a short walk from St Marks Square and right by the regular water taxi service that takes you just about anywhere for minimal cost and wait time.

We purchase our water taxi tickets, the same service that quickly brought us from the railway station steps, and in no time arrive at Palazza Roma, the major bus terminal area where the cruise lines have provided complimentary coach shuttles to the cruise terminal.

The fi rst impression of the Venetian port area is Gosh, look at all these huge ships towering above the city, which one is mine and where do I go to get on? But do not despair, as this is a well-oiled operation servicing up to six or more cruise ships at any one time. We are quickly directed to the baggage drop area and then into the main terminal for fast effi cient check in and security checks.

We are issued with our own personal cruise card that doubles as our onboard charge card and door key and relieved of our passport that is given back to us at the end of the cruise. I found this practice a little disconcerting first time round but now welcome the easy one card system and passport angst free holiday.

As we are a little distance from our ship, a waiting modern coach takes us right to the gangplank and into this huge, pristine white 110,000 ton grand lady of the seas.

One of the reasons I chose Princess Cruises was the four-star plus standards focusing on customer luxury and complete holiday escape satisfaction. I also wanted big ship variety with a mixed age group and the most civilized way to see Eastern Europe. I also find that the larger and more modern the ship, the more stable it will be and less likely to aggravate my limited ability to cope with motion.

This particular itinerary takes us to Dubrovnik in Croatia, Corfu, Katakolon, Athens, Rhodes, Santorini and Mykonos in Greece, Kusadasi in Turkey, Naples and fi nishes back in Rome. I must admit to being a little concerned that we had too many stops with only one day at sea but found each destination so wonderfully interesting and of course you dont have to get off , let alone book any of the many and varied half and full day tours if you don't want to.

The ship decision was quickly validated as I was welcomed onboard and shown to my ninth floor mini suite complete with its own private lounge and balcony. Holiday Shoppe strongly advises its cruise customers to enjoy the luxury of balcony staterooms as a minimum and, whilst a little more expensive, it is very sound advice. To watch the sea passing by from the privacy and comfort of your own room is a must.

On entering what was to be my home for the next twelve nights, I was delighted to see the well-furnished surroundings opening out to the glass fronted deck, my own dressing room, two TV's for each room, a very luxurious queen bed with top line pillows and good sized bathroom complete with shower, WC and bath.

Oh the relief that I need not repack or move my bags again for another twelve nights! It's only two o'clock and my bags are still to be delivered so I take the opportunity to familiarise myself as much as I can with this huge fl oating palace, which I liken to a smaller version of Las Vegas afl oat. Unbelievable as it is, the ship contains a full casino, 500-seat theatre, four swimming pools (two of which no children are allowed in), spa, gym, library, internet café, shopping arcade, art gallery, night club and multiple bars and restaurants. It usually takes around two to three days to get your bearings so I relaxed, read the information in my stateroom and just got out and explored. This cruise itinerary gave us the first night docked in Venice so we could enjoy at leisure the 16 fl oor high views over Venice which is a six to eight storey max low-rise city of tiled and historic buildings, canals, squares and churches.

The 24/7 (yes, it never closes) 14th floor Lido buffet was already in full swing and after my special Princess Pina Colada – I always celebrate my holiday start with one of these tropical delicious cocktails I head for the food and my fi rst onboard lunch meal.

Now, food is one of the many cruising luxuries that sorely stretch my limited powers of self restraint. I have learnt that the best way to manage this extremely pleasurable pastime is to quickly give in and enjoy it all.

This is my holiday; I have planned, saved and dreamt about it for a long time and am not about to restrict such a natural pleasure that is going to be constantly in front of me at every one of the nine restaurants, cafés, food stations, 24-hour buff et and room service.

You can pre-select what type of dining plan you want from early or late seated formal dining to the exclusive anytime dining that allows you to choose your time and restaurant on the day.

This is a new innovation giving you complete freedom to dine when and where you want, releasing you from another of the old cruise myths that you are too restricted onboard.

Being a typical Kiwi boy, with increasingly juvenile tendencies as I mature like a good wine, I’m increasingly fascinated by the logistics of managing this incredible high-tech holiday machine for its 2,600 customers. Everywhere you go, there are sound, lighting and entertainment systems that are second to none and onboard the Grand Princess I find my ultimate dream.

On the 14th floor, outside and angled down over one of the four swimming pools, there is a 20 metre, full colour video screen with a sound system and resolution that blows my 42 inch plasma surround system at home clean out of the water (excuse the pun).

Imagine the pleasure of sitting in the pool, jacuzzi or cocktail bar or lying on a lounger watching fantastic movies, video clips, music shows, documentaries and famous city landscapes with the big full base assisted sound system. Late that night in the warm outdoor air, looking over a romantically lit Venetian city, I lie with my friends on a lounger sipping my favourite cocktail while enjoying a fabulous Pavarotti concert with guest performers. This is simply magic!

iIt's now a warm, sunny Monday afternoon and we are gliding out through the canals of Venice right past St Marks Square with Botticelli singing time to say goodbye over the entire ship's sound system as we sadly leave this magnifi cent city. The views from the 16th floor decks are the best you l get from any building ashore and we re treated to another great visual and audio experience before heading south overnight to our fi rst destination, Dubrovnik in Croatia. What a way to travel.

Croatia is attracting many of the world’s rich and famous

Dubrovnik is fast becoming the new Riviera of the Med, and waking up to the beautiful landscape under a cloudless sky explains why. Beneath the frowning limestone mass of Mount Sergio, the brilliant white marble of the city's walls contrasts with the clear blue waters of the Adriatic Sea. You can tell there is a story here and what a story it is!

I Don't have time here to tell it all but our generation will well remember the most recent civil war of independence in 1991 where the Yugoslavian states fell apart giving Croatia its freedom. Today, whilst signs of previous wars are embedded everywhere in the historic landscape, we are treated with a visit to the old walled city, starting with an amazing walk along the walls, looking out over the blue seas on one side and the orange tiled houses of the inner streets and hillside on the other.

There is an air of a relaxed but house-proud people, and after nosing around the many museums, cafés, restaurants, shops and inner city streets, we hop on a small locally owned launch for an inexpensive and delightful 40 minute chug around the small inner harbour island. This gives you another perspective, with contrasts of historic and often lavish hillside architecture, nudists on the island foreshore, moored super yachts and even the fi ve mast Club Med 2 luxury yacht to amuse the digital camera enthusiasts amongst us.

We chose a waterfront, high ceiling, medieval-like restaurant with heavy dark furniture for lunch and thoroughly enjoyed their local beer, wine, cheese and meat platter to start, followed by shared roasted veges, pastas, fish and more meats. Our large male waiter, whilst first appearing a little stern, completely dupes us with his party trick of the reversed camera for the group shot and commentary about wines being good from anywhere except the East, Serbia!

He has a sense of humour which we immediately pick up on and return in true Kiwi style. We pay the reasonably priced bill and head for the bathrooms where we literally run into the very famous and incognito Nick Nolte. He is friendly and looks just like the drunken bum character he plays so often in the movies. We are told that Croatia is attracting many of the world's rich and famous, pushing real estate prices sky high in recent years since the war.

The birthplace of Apollo, Mykonos shines like a diamond in sapphire sea

A close friend holidaying with his family onboard a charter yacht in Northern Croatia at the same time, calls on my mobile and confirms that it just gets better and better along the coast. Back on ship, under a warm late afternoon sun, we gather to sip our cocktails on the pool deck and marvel at the ease with which this huge ship turns in the harbour and gently slides out to sea toward Corfu.

I have Croatia high on my list of most desirable holiday spots, and without doubt will be coming back just as soon as I can. I enjoyed the stops in Corfu, Katakolon and Athens (the Acropolis is a must see) but Mykonos was the next destination to really grab me.

We arrived at seven in the morning to another stunning Mediterranean day of warm cloudless skies, fl at clear seas and right in front of my balcony, Mykonos.

Belonging to the Cyclades group of islands which forms a rough circle around Delos, one of the religious centres of ancient Greece, today it is the party island for the Greeks. Being the juvenile again, I avoided the group tour and opted for another group tour and opted for another love, being motorbikes, and immediately hired a scooter for a mere 15 Euro for the day.

This was very easy as the cruise shuttle dropped us almost in town and right by a number of vehicle rental places, surrounded by lovely white and blue hotels and on the glistening seaside. One of our group did the same and four of us were off exploring this infamous holiday island on two wheels.

For those that haven't been there, you will have seen pictures of the cube-shaped white plaster homes and buildings with blue doors dotting the sparse rocky landscape against a dazzling blue sky and sea. I asked the question about how they got everyone to paint their houses the same colour and it is law that they do this, they must use a certain paint and are allowed a couple of variations on the blue with further limited flexibility for doors and pergolas. I surmised that the paint supplier in town was very prosperous and probably didn't need a paint colour mixer!

Little Venice is the most popular tourist area in Mykonos. Built on a simply gorgeous piece of coastline, it provides all of the visitor pleasures with a charm and ambience that is unique to this island. At the top of the bay there are fi ve old windmills once used to mill grain but now stationary and providing wonderful icons against a beautiful sea backdrop as the cameras click away.

We ate at a lovely seafood restaurant perched over the water, shopped in the little white and blue alleyways and then rode around a beautiful and winding coast road to Paradise Beach which is only fi fteen minutes from the main centre. There we enjoyed a cold beer while watching the sunbathers under their rented beach umbrellas right on the clear warm water's edge.

What I didn't count on was the fact that little 50cc scooters don't always produce enough grunt to power my not insignifi cant weight up some of the steep slopes, particularly out of little Venice. It was comforting though to receive applause from the bronzed holiday onlookers as I took a longer run up after failing fi rst time and then jumped up and down to get to the top. Where was my trusty Harley? Another NZ friend, also holidaying in the Mediterranean with his wife, was at the ferry terminal waiting to go up to Athens, so on the bike and round we went spending a good 45 minutes catching up with them before they left. You could feel the youthful summer holiday energy in this place and really didn’t want to re-board the ship as this is an island I could spend a good week on.

We were starting to get into the full cruise holiday swing now and as we get back onboard each day we look forward to the welcoming cool breeze of the air conditioning as we clear security. Security is tight on boarding with metal detectors, X-ray machines and automated cruise ID card checks but it's always polite, easy and very reassuring in this troubled world.

Where art seems vibrant with life and a culture lies frozen in time

So it's back to the suite, a quick siesta and up to the pool decks for a swim, some sun and cocktails whilst meeting up with friends and hearing about everyone's adventures ashore that day.

The days and nights are flashing by now and every evening we dress for dinner before taking cocktails and heading for one of the restaurants always only three minutes away from our stateroom in case we forget something.

The dress onboard at night is mainly smart casual with two formal nights. These formal nights can be fun, but I found the hassle of carrying a dinner
suit around for a month just for two evenings was too much and elected to dress as formally as I could with a white shirt and dress pants and shoes. I wasn't stared at or refused entry anywhere so I suppose I got away with that okay.

Yesterday was Rhodes, another magnificent old historic Greek island which I could write a whole chapter about but time is limited, so suffi ce to say it was diff erent but every bit as good as the others.

Today, we go ashore at the world renowned and photogenic Santorini so I will finish this update when I re-board this afternoon… Back in my suite and wow, what a place Santorini is. The camera started clicking as we ferried across on the modern tenders expertly handled by the ship's staff and only stopped again as we got back.

This tranquil and enchanting place is probably the prettiest part of the Cyclades group of Greek islands and it seems ironic that that it might have once destroyed one of Europe's earliest civilizations. Before there were civilized towns anywhere in Greece, a mysterious group called the Minoans built a very highly developed culture on the island of Crete. Santorini, which was called Thera then, was once a round shaped cone which erupted sometime before 1450 BC and sent a huge tidal wave crashing over the Minoan cities which apparently weakened them so badly their civilization never recovered.

The history of the Greek islands is enthralling but today we climbed these 2,000 feet sheer cliff s by donkey on the way up and came back down by cable car, to find an amazing whitewashed town clinging to the volcanic rock.

The photos and paintings speak for themselves but this was a place you could just sit for hours in one of the many cafés and restaurants, marvelling at the views. Looking down over the deep blue seas around us and our cruise ship right in front, was a special moment on this wonderful trip of a lifetime.

Unfortunately time is running out and we have our one and only full day at sea as we sadly leave the Greek islands and sail around the bottom of Italy up to our last stop in Naples, gateway to the south and one of Italy's most beautiful bays.

Word has got out that there are a number of Kiwis onboard and we typically arrange a get together around the back pool deck bar to discuss the rugby, the new maori king, the weather and how we are looking forward to a decent coff ee again. All of us agree that this cruise has been superb and made very special by the awesome ports of call and an excellent cruise staff that have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome and looked after.

... an amazing whitewashed town clinging to the volcanic rock

With only one day you have to choose between the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Capri or Pompei to name but a few places of signifi cant interest here. My partner chose the charming cliff top resort town of Sorrento which you can travel to by hydrofoil and we were definitely not disappointed. Great architecture, shopping and sightseeing under warm blue skies, this is another magnifi cent stopover and a fi tting end to a simply wonderful cruise. We reluctantly waken in Civitavecchia, the port of Rome and must say goodbye to our special lady friend the Grand Princess. We have utilized the efficient express check-out and deliberately ignored the total bill (why spoil a good holiday), retrieved our passports and disembarked to where our bags and transfer to Rome airport awaits us.

Well done Princess Cruises, we will be back as the saying goes. Next stop Phuket and an Evasons Spa Resort for three nights to cure the rising
depression of a return to winter and work!

HANDY TRAVEL PLANNING TIPS

• Do your own research in advance.
• Talk to Seekers New Zealand for good informed advice before
  making the final decision as there will other factors and information to
  gather and understand.
• Savour and enjoy the planning and anticipation process as time flies
  when you are on holiday.
• Cruising must be booked well in advance - 12 months is standard now
  for popular ones.
• Try and pack into only two bags that can be easily wheeled together.
• Don't try to do or see too much, you are on holiday and can come back to
  do the destination for a longer stay.
• Read and carry the handy Ashore Port Guides provided by the cruise
  lines onboard. They are great references giving you tips and information
  about the stops.
• Carry and regularly use a compact digital camera.
• Question and ask directions from the staff and locals.
• Travelling with a group of like-minded friends is great fun but make sure
  everyone understands the can do whatever you like without reprise rule
  and if not at a preset meeting point the grace time is 30 minutes. This
  lets you have personal fl exibility when you feel like it.
• Choosing bigger ships sailing close to land avoids motion sickness.

POINT OF NOTE:
Grand Princess

• Built 1998
• Gross tonnage 109,000
• Normal passenger capacity 2,600
• Normal crew fi gure 1150
• Cruising speed 22.5 knots

MAIN CRUISE DESTINATIONS

• South Pacifi c including NZ and Australia
• SE Asia
• Alaska
• Caribbean
• Mediterranean
• Scandinavia
• Numerous small cruise ship options e.g. Blue Lagoon Fiji

WORLD'S LARGEST CRUISE SHIPS

• Ist: Freedom of the Seas – Royal Caribbean, 158,000 tons
• 2nd: Queen Mary 2 – Cunard Line, 150,000 tons

GETTING TO ITALY

• We flew Thai Airways via Bangkok into Rome but they also fl y direct
  into Milan- they provide great connections over Bangkok from
  Auckland and we would recommend their business class service.

STOPOVERS

• We stopped in Phuket, Thailand on the way back for a wonderful
  relaxing 3-day spa resort stop. Thailand off ers many well priced and
  exotic stopover options.