The Long Journey is Over

So, Dear Reader, It’s been 5 ports of call since I’ve done a blog entry.  It’s been a busy time and now that we’re on a 10 hour flight from Venice to Toronto, perhaps I can catch up. 

I’ll try to keep each day’s recap short so as not to bore you all.  Let’s get started, shall we?

Monday, May 15, Messina (Sicily, Italy):

We did our usual wander around the city.  It turned out to be a church day.  We visited 2 in the city:

And then climbed 2 hills to visit 2 others:

While we got in many steps (no pun intended) it was kind of a meh day.

After returning to the ship, we did a cooking class in the new Culinary Center - The Old Man & The Sea.  As the title indicates, it was a seafood cooking class that included several different techniques.  This is a new class and Karlis, the instructor, did a nice job.  I feel like we learned some new things and had fun doing it.

Tuesday, May 16, Argostoli (Kefalonia), Greece:

We started the day with an excursion booked through Get Your Guide, visiting the Melissani and Drogarati Caves.  The Drogarati Cave is essentially a large room which is quite beautiful.

The Melissani Cave is one whose roof has collapsed forming a lake within.  The day was partly cloudy but we were rewarded with just enough sunshine to get some sparkling blue water in the lake.

On our way back to Argostoli, we stopped at an overlook for a view of Myrtos Beach, reputed to be one of the top 10 most beautiful in the world.

It was an excellent excursion after which we explored Argostoli including a stop for a snack, a walk along the waterfront and on the pedestrian bridge, and a flock of gulls.

Wednesday, May 17, Corfu, Greece:

We did a ship’s excursion hosted by Frank Del Rio, aka FDR, and visited parts of Corfu we hadn’t been to before.  We had a very skilled bus driver who negotiated narrow roads. Unfortunately, the day was dampened (pun intended) by some rain.  We made a few stops and it seemed that whenever we stopped we’d look out of the bus and conclude that it wasn’t raining much.  Then we’d step off the bus and the downpour would begin.  Oh well.

At the end of the excursion we had some time to visit Corfu city and to have baklava.

That evening was the first of 2 Oceania Club parties held for repeat cruisers.  FDR made an appearance and gave a nice speech.  After the formalities, I had the opportunity to talk a little Yankee baseball from the old days with him.

The evening’s show was a concert by our good friend, guitarist Vincenzo Martinelli.  I don’t remember if I pointed out on the Christening Cruise that Vincenzo was specifically requested to perform by FDR.

Thursday, May 18, Dubrovnik, Croatia:

We’ve been to Dubrovnik several times and this time we did what was essentially a repeat of what we did one year ago.  We started with a walk of about 2 miles over the hill from the port to the old town.

Once in the old town, we made  a stop for a burek (which is a savory Croatian pastry) and coffee then visited a church that was apparently in the area where Game of Thrones was filmed.  Do the steps look familiar to anyone?

Eventually, we made our way to our real target - the restaurant where we had eaten lunch last year, Gradska kavana Arsenal.  It’s overlooks the harbor and has good food - what more could you ask for?  Well, you could ask for a front row table, right?  We pleaded for one, pointing out our return visit, but the host said all of those tables were reserved.  So we took a seat a few rows back which still gave good views.  Then, after we’d placed our order and gotten our drinks, the waiter came up to us and said that they had a front row table for us.  What a nice touch.  And the food was still good.  To top things off they gave us a 10 percent discount as repeat customers!

Another highlight of the day was Salute.  Oceania traditionally does this after the show on the penultimate night of the cruise.  They bring much of the crew up to the stage for recognition and thanks.  In the aftermath of Covid, they had to cease doing it, sometimes just doing a video presentation.  Now it’s back and it is always wonderful.

Friday, May 19: Zadar, Croatia:

This was our first visit to Zadar.  We took the shuttle bus in which dropped us by the waterfront and the interesting sea organ.  They constructed the waterfront so that the motion of the sea creates different tones. They have also used solar panels in a very decorative manner.

After that we walked to and through the old town with its Roman ruins and, needless to say, churches.  We stopped near a church for coffee and I noticed that you could climb the bell tower.  Linda relaxed at the coffee shop while I climbed the 180 steps.

As we walked around the old town, we concluded that we were suffering from old town fatigue.  But we soldiered on past more Roman ruins until we came to the old city walls.  Climbing up we were rewarded with a lovely park.

We ended the day with another technique oriented cooking class, Harvest Unleashed.  As the name suggests, it was very vegetable oriented and gave us some new ideas.  Hopefully, we will incorporate them when we are home.

And now for some final thoughts on our 2 weeks aboard Vista.  In general, the ship is amazing with an interior design that is beyond compare.  As for the restaurants, there are 2 great additions and one not so great addition in our opinion.  One great addition is the Aquamar Kitchen which is open for breakfast and lunch.  It has a very healthy perspective with items such as energy bowls, avocado toast, and smoothies for breakfast,  Lunch includes poke bowls and yellowfin tacos.  It is very popular and they are thinking about opening it for dinner.  The other hit is the evening pizza restaurant, located at the Waves Grill.  The big miss for us is the Ember restaurant.  It replaces the French restaurant, Jacques, that is on the other big ships.  We love dining in Jacques but Ember was conceived to be an American style casual restaurant.  It’s menu is limited, particularly for us pescatarians.  The big miss for me was the fish and chips.  On the first cruise, they were horribly soggy and greasy, which I pointed out to the staff.  So, I had to try it again this past week and, sadly, while they were a bit better, soggy and greasy still applied.  Hopefully, there will be improvements made before our return in September.

The other miss was the layout of the Horizons lounge.  For some reason, perhaps to incorporate a bigger bar, they placed the stage off to one side.  So, at events such as the Captain’s Welcome and the Oceania Club Party half of the guests attending have little or no view of the stage.  The message is to get there early.

Another interesting aspect was the contrast between the 2 one-week cruises aboard Vista. The Christening Cruise was very filled with gala events, many Oceania execs and mostly travel professionals on board. The so-called Founder's Cruise was a much more normal cruise with much less pomp and circumstance. Maybe a bit of a let down but also a bit of a relief. Another interesting thing was the make up of the guests. Many more young people than a normal Oceania cruise. And also a large contingent of guests from Hong Kong and Malaysia as a travel company booked a large block of rooms.

And finally, these seven day cruises are so packed with ports that they limit the time for relaxation and enjoying the amenities on the ship. We prefer cruises with sea days!

That about wraps it up.  Whenever we leave a cruise, we feel regret that it’s ending.  And it was  no different this time, especially when many of the staff kept asking us if we were staying on for the next cruise.  But, now that we’re on the plane and after 2 months away, we are ready to get home and back to our normal life, family and friends!

Until next time, peace and blessings,

Linda and Larry