Aug 2011
It’s been a few days since I updated…we’ve been quite busy since we got on the ship on Tuesday. 3 stops so far Dubrovnik in Croatia and 2 stops in Greece. Argostoli and Corfu.
Dubrovnik was absolutely stunning. It’s a city that is built around the old fortress from early days. The walls of the fortress are spectacular. Nearly 80 feet high and 20 feet thick. It took hundreds of years to build and was used in the early days to fend off attackers. Today it is the primary tourist attraction in Dubrovnik, although many people still live inside. Most of the city is built on a hillside and there are literally thousands of stairs that need to be climbed in order to get anywhere. Everyone we saw was in pretty good shape in that town and for good reason. Which is more than I can say for about 85% of the people on this cruise.
We took a cable car ride to the top of the local mountain (I am really conquering my fear of heights on this trip) and sat high above the fortress admiring the absolutely breathtaking sights below. We sat for at least an hour in a little cafe built on the side of a cliff….drinking wine…eating local cheese and olives and soaking up the 100 degree temperature. From there we walked down to the local beach and soaked up some more sun, swan in the crystal clear waters and lied around lazily. To me, it was the perfect way to experience Croatia. After 2 weeks of walking and walking we needed a couple of days of something a little less strenuous. I have pictures of Brody’s feet and the skin is literally peeling off of them from all the hoofing around we’ve done.
Greece has so far also been a lot of the same. We found a little cafe on a beach in Corfu and sat there for hours soaking in the sun, using the free wifi and eating loads of Greek salad and feta cheese. One thing I have noticed over here in almost all of the countries we’ve visited is how fresh and amazing the food tastes. Everything is made from scratch as you order it. All the tomato sauces are made daily and you see produce markets everywhere in the morning hours packed with locals buying only what they need for their meals that day.
Very different than what we do at home, and I imagine the food here is grown very different than the way we do it. I haven’t seen much that is imported in from anywhere and I haven’t seen a sign once stating that anything was grown via hydroponic lights in a “hot house.” I haven’t ever in my life eaten a tomato that tastes so juicy and fresh. (except from my moms garden) It kinda left me feeling sick about the ones we consume at home injected with fish oils and god only knows what else.
Speaking of food, there sure is a lot of it on this ship, and it’s hard to watch all of the consumption and wasting going on. We chose this cruise primarily for the ports of call and we are by any means disappointed in Holland America (In fact the ship is the newest Nieuw Amserdam) it but for us it is not the cruise line we’d choose again. The first time we took a cruise was back in 2009 on Royal Caribbean.
I remember a guy coming up to us and asking how many times we’d been on one,it was his 20th something time. When we told him it was our first, he assured us it would all be downhill from there. We had been sailing on the Independence of the Sea which was Royal’s premier ship at the time. It had surf machines, an ice rink, rock climbing walls and we were blown away with the excitement of being on board.
This time we are finding that we are just mainly …. bored on board. This is fancy- and old fogy.
The day we got on the ship we were confused on where we could find the kids activities, so we asked the manager in charge where the video arcade was for Brody. He’d been going through withdrawals the last couple of weeks, and Jared and I were looking forward to a bit of a break from the kids. Unfortunately, we were basically told that Holland America isn’t targeted towards us,but rather an older crowd and because of the demographic on the ship, there wasn’t going to be a lot of activities for the kids over the next 12 days. She then went on to say that in the future if we wanted a family cruise it might be in our best interest to book on another cruise line….WTF!!!
I am sure you can imagine how well that went over….we’ve travelled nearly 3000 miles and spent thousands of dollars to be here and that is what she so kindly told us?
Jared handled it quite well….me….I am still giving the women a dirty look every time she walks by and one time, in the dining hall, I tried to trip her….(it was Brody’s idea)
Oh well, at least the kids make the old folks smile. They almost immediately all approach us, ask the kids names,and start talking about their own grandchildren. I could tell you anything you want to know about Martha from Pennsylvania and her 3 sons and 10 grandkids (that’s a pretty good average you know)
Jared joked that he thinks the average age of the clientele on this ship is somewhere in the ballpark of the average daily temperatures ….about 103.
There are more walkers and wheelchairs on this ship than in most care homes and they seem to play each song twice…I am sure it so the old bitties have an opportunity to sing along (which I have to add is pretty painful). I am not trying to be mean or anything but really? Today’s daily schedule comprised of bridge, afternoon tea, and a history trivia challenge, and we had to laugh when they announced that they were having a dance party for the younger crowd in the evening. The theme was the fabulous 50’s…
Hmmmm…I wonder if we should skip the dance party….it’s also karaoke night with the hell cats band on deck 3 and apparently Martha’s husband and a few of his buddies can do a mean rendition of the “rat pack”
Good god, but all said, the food on the ship far out weighs any other ship we’ve been on and in a way I guess it’s good that we are in bed every night by 10 pm so we are fresh and ready to explore the next port each day. We have to get up early and beat the rush…it’s hell if you get stuck with someone with a bad hip or even worse if someone is trying to get their walker on the tender boat.
Yep we are fully rested, the only thing that kinda sucks is getting woke up each night at midnight when Loggie comes crawling in from teen club….apparently she’s the only one who’s found some fun people to party with.
Jared and I are seriously considering asking if we can hangout in there…it’s definately the hippest place on the ship!
But I guess it’s not all bad…..today at 4pm bingo with DJ Jazzy, Jared won the 500 dollar jackpot! Perfect!
The only thing though, I almost wonder if it was rigged….can you rig bingo?
You see DJ Jazzy has an obvious and instant crush on Jared. Poor guy, he always gets hit on by the wrong gender. Every time I’d looked up from my bingo card DJ was making googlie eyes at my husband and Jared was telling me to shut up.I have to chuckle because it happens to him so often. Luckily he’s such a sport and has learned to take it as a compliment because shortly after we sat down to play, DJ was quick to ask Jared to stand up and do a little demonstration on what an excited bingo winner looks like. He wanted him to dance and shake his bootie…so with one quick glance and eye roll in my direction Jared got up and did it. DJ Jazzy was happy, the old bitties were happy and now I’m happy too…at least my booze bill will be paid for on this trip!
As for Jared….well I am pretty sure he was mortified and feels a bit like he’s just been pimped out at a grannies bingo game….but it’s all part of taking one for the team I guess…even if it might be the wrong one sometimes.
