A Day at Sea and Messina, Sicily

After leaving Montenegro we had a day at sea before arriving to our next destination. It was great to sleep in and not have to worry about time. John of course got up early and went to the gym. I slept in. We really spent the day lounging around and hanging in different parts of the ship. We watched the boys play ping pong. Shelley and I played a game of Bingo in the afternoon. We had dinner in the main dining room instead of the buffet. After dinner we headed for the theatre for “Sirens of Soul” It was a great show and at the end of the show Christy and Carisa went on stage and danced. After the show we (me and John) went to the Reflection Lounge to watch a “couples” game. Meanwhile, Christy sang karaoke on a stage in one of the lounges. We missed it. Heard she was pretty good.

In the morning we woke up in Messina, Sicily. The kids were going to take a train to Taormino and go to the beach. John and I opted to stay in Messina since we had been to Taormino–even though it was 20 years ago.

Messina is built on hills so everywhere we went we had to climb a ton of stairs or walk up hill. We had 3 cathedrals we wanted to see and we made it to all of them. As torturess as it was, I made it. I had to stop so many times. But the cathedrals were beautiful and I was able to light candles in 2 of them for my friends who need extra prayers.

After seeing all we set out to see we sat at a restaurant and just had a coke while I rested and prepared for the walk back to the ship. We came back and I took a nap for about 1 1/2 hours. Then we got lunch and waited for the kids to get back. Later we had dinner in the buffet and then went to one of the bars to get a drink and finally went to the show.

Karen Grainger was amazing. She is a female impressionist who sang in so many voices: Cher, Shania Twain, Reba, Dolly. . . She even did a duet but I forget which two singers voices she used. It was an amazing show.

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Kotor, Montenegro

5:00 am we came out to see our ship pull into port.

We had an early morning–not just because we got up early to witness the ship pulling into port. I went back to bed for an hour and a half. We had to meet our boat captain at 10:00am and because we could not pull up to a dock we had to drop anchor out in the bay and take a tender (small boat) in to the port. That took almost 20 minutes. We will catch another tender later to get back.

Today was our best day yet. Well, mine and I think John’s. We rented a boat with captain and crew to take us to a beach Radovici Montenegro. The ride out was awesome and it was so wonderful to have all the kids sitting up front laughing and giggling as we hit the waves. Watching them enjoy the ride was truly a highlight for me. It took almost an hour to get to the beach. I want to say it was so worth it and as far as views and the blue water, it was. However, their beach is all rocks. It is very hard to walk on and obviously you need to keep your shoes on because the rocks get very hot and they are super uncomfortable. I was going to go into the water because it was so freaking beautiful and crystal clear but I could not handle the rocks. So I just splashed myself to cool off and then went back to the umbrella and chaise.

There are so many beautiful views going out of the port so I will probably have a photo dump at the end. We left the beach after about an hour and headed to the Blue Cave. I honestly had no idea what that was about but, once we got there I sure knew. OMG! More magnificent blue waters all inside a cave. After leaving the cave we went around the bend and the kids jumped in and swam for awhile before we headed back to the port with a stop in Perast and had a snack and drinks along the water. John bought his magnet and found an ornament for me. It was a long and wonderful day. Shelley and I were ready to go back to the ship and the kids wanted to go with us so we took them while the other adults stayed in Kotor for a bit.

After John got back we headed to the buffet for dinner and then headed to the front of the boat for the sunset. Not much of one tonight but, not going to complain because we have had some amazing sunsets on this cruise. After dinner we met up with the rest of the crew to see a Rock performance. And we waited for 10:00 for the Abba sing along but when we got there there was standing room only. First time we went to the Reflection lounge that it was packed. I know John really wanted to dance but I was too tired to stand around waiting and then standing between songs. I did tell him he could stay out with the kids and I would go back myself but he refused.

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Dubrovnik, Croatia

Here we are at the old gate to the walled city. Today we took a bus to the old city as it was way too far to walk. Today’s temperature when we left was only 83. And yet the temperature continued to climb through out the day. It started out really nice. This is where the Game of Thrones was filmed but we did not take that tour. There were so many steps and once you got up above everyone you walked in the bright sun (there was no shade). It just sounded horrible to me and since I didn’t watch Game of Thrones.

It was a great day in town. We met up with Christy and Leeman and the kids and Shelley. The kids weren’t loving it and wanted to go back to the ship so we took them and Shelley back to the boat on the bus. We got real lucky because one bus was pulling away and the next one coming in so we were first on board.

We took the kids to the pool. Of course they had to check out the buffet first. The boys had ice cream and cakes and all kids of sweets. Sefina grabbed pizza, steamed dumplings and a slice of watermelon. The pool wasn’t as refreshing as the one at the vineyard but it still felt good.

The kids slowly deserted us and headed off to play with their cousins so we meandered back to our rooms. The rest of the group wanted to go to the dining room instead of the buffet but John and I opted to see what the buffet had to offer. After eating we, John and I, went up to deck 11 to watch the sunset. Another beautiful sight. The kids all came up and we sat in the lounge and then headed for the Whitney Houston impersonator. She was amazing. I didn’t think anyone could do her justice–I was wrong.

Tomorrow we have to get up at 5:00 am to see us pull into port. We have been told it is an amazing sight. Can’t wait!!

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