Monday 19 August 2024. Our first cruise for five years. First one with the Norwegian Cruise Line and therefore our first on the Norwegian Pearl cruise ship. First one since I had had to start using a walking stick and the first one since being diagnosed with cancer two and a half years ago. But enough with the grotty side of things - it's our first meeting since 2019 with Tomas and Maris, the entertainers we first met fourteen years ago on Marella ships (they were still Thomson then!) and with whom I've shared a stage so many times in the past.
But let's not jump ahead too soon. It's also our first flights for five years and they come first. We are joining the ship at Trieste in Italy and to get there we have to fly from Manchester UK to Munich in Germany, transfer to a flight from Munich to Venice and then a bus ride to Trieste.
At Munich and with no-one to ask we followed the signs, passed through passport control and found ourselves surrounded by opaque white glass walls with a staircase leading down and a lift with an aircrew member getting into it. He stepped into the lift before we could ask any questions so we followed him in which turned out to be the wrong move... It took us to the Departures section meaning we had to go once more through security - long queue and flight leaving in just 20 minutes.
In retrospect I reckon that some of the panels in the white glass may have been sliding doors but there were no signs to help. Luckily the aircraft from Munich to Venice was delayed and we made it, though not without a few stressful moments! Once at Venice our luggage turned up eventually and we found people to direct us to the busses for a bus ride to Trieste.
Onto the ship with relief and ready and raring for a coffee. We had a nice cabin (9522 on Deck 9) with a balcony and a bed made up of two generously-sized singles pushed together. We unpacked, shoved stuff quickly into drawers and wardrobes and went in search of a drink.
We found the Rose Garden buffet restaurant on Deck 12 which was the pool deck. Staff at the entrances stand by ready to squirt you with hand gel - "Washee washee!" came a regular cry as people walked in.
Later we found Tom and Maris already playing in Magnums bar. It was an emotional reunion, Maris had started dabbing at her eyes from first seeing us and we all exchanged hugs and kisses. You form deep attachments to fellow musicians you work with. It was disappointing that I couldn't join them on stage. My voice just won't stand up to it after years of inaction, and probably neither would my back...
Tuesday 20 August 2024. Overnight we have sailed from Trieste to Ravenna. From here trips are going to Venice, but having done it so many times and being on a new ship, we decide not to join the inevitable crowds and instead take ourselves for a tour of the ship. As you can see there is a bit of rain coming. It ends up being very light and only lasts a couple of minutes before the sun comes out again.
This is the Pool Deck on Deck 12 as seen from Deck 13. There's a jogging track on Deck 13 running around the top of the ship. The joggers must be as tired as we are though... Through the doors at the far end are the spa on the right and through the doors on the left the fitness centre, which we didn't trouble at all during our cruise. I did treat myself to a head, neck and back massage one day though as I developed a sore neck, probably because in all the bars the seating was at right angles to the stage, meaning you had to sit with your head turned all the time to watch the artists.
The red stripe is the jogging track with a one-way system that most people seemed to ignore completely. Fran had run out of black counters so stood hopefully on the corner spot waiting to be crowned...
The Ievoli Shine is an oil/chemical tanker built in 1998 in Livorno, Italy for Marnavi Spa of Naples. Ravenna may have had a beach on one side of us, but the other side looked quite industrial as are so many ports used by the larger cruise ships. The smaller cruise ships are fast disappearing I'm afraid.
The Summer Palace restaurant at the rear of Deck 6. We never actually ate in there, but had a couple of meals in the adjacent Indigo Dining restaurant which shared the same menu.
Another view of the Summer Palace restaurant. Both this and Indigo were waiter service restaurants.
Back on Deck 12 where we spent quite a bit of time during afternoons either when we had stayed onboard or after we had returned from an outing. I did several sketches from there which got quite a bit of interest from both crew and fellow passengers.
The now ancient and decrepit old soul that encloses the young vibrant witless (sorry..."witty", I meant "witty") inner being still trying desperately to break out every now and then.
Walking with a stick is very limiting too. In a buffet restaurant not only can you only carry one plate at a time but you can only hold one side of it so that any tremor of the hand sets it wobbling and threatening to flick food over anyone passing. Well, yes... it has its lighter sides too! It also means I leave the camera at home these days and make do with my phone. Which is subject to much the same wobble potential. Hence there won't be the hundreds of photos that I was accustomed to take during the course of a cruise. But it's a nine-day cruise so sit back and wait for the next episodes to come.
