Sail-Away From Corfu

Friday 12 June 2015. After dinner it is almost dark and we head down to the Promenade Deck of Thomson Majesty to have a good viewpoint as we sail away from Corfu to start our cruise.

The very last tint of blue colour remains in the sky as we emerge onto the deck. The Old Fortress is floodlit and lights of various hues light up the town houses and coast road. On the end of piers red lights wink out at regular intervals, keeping ships and boats safe.

Most of the large shipping seems to be safely moored up. Only Thomson Majesty shows signs of impending departure. Some small private boats are criss-crossing the harbour without a single light showing. Whether they stop, or whether it just gets too dark to see them any more, I'm not sure!

Looking up the coast road the pier lights cast a reflected pathway of light back to the ship.

I swap to my long lens and set for a four-second exposure to try to get trails of light from car lights on the road. Even with the camera firmly clamped with my hand to the ship's rail I can't help the vibrations that jiggle the light trails a little.

We are standing on the very top deck of the ship - Deck 11. This is the forecastle area around the radar equipment and at the rear of the ship allows access to the funnel stack. A gangway runs along each side of the ship and there is a central hole providing light and a viewpoint to the Pool Deck below.

At the rear is the blue smoke stack. Even in the days of large multi-funnel ocean liners, the exhaust fumes and smoke came out of smaller pipes encased by the visible funnel. Now they are generally run in rows together with a single decorative encasement towards the back of a ship. "Stern!" said David. Oh... er... ok...

There are lots of funnels channelled into a single stack - can you at least try to get that into your brain, you... what? You didn't mean that sort of stern...? There's no pleasing him sometimes...

Down on Deck 10 there's a party going on around here! Traditionally the Sail-Away Party is a chance to stay up, have a drink and dance to the ship's resident party band. On Thomson Majesty they were called Muzzik Unlimited and are well worth a listen. And they have a fine array of hats too...

Moving from the blunt bit to the pointy end, Miss Fran and Miss Jeannie chat next to the ship's radar tower.

The radar equipment is twizzing round nicely, pinging out microwaves and bouncing them off nearby structures, ships and inquisitive Moby Dicks, ready for our departure.

I couldn't resist trying a long exposure to turn the ship into a helicopter but again I can't hold a camera that steady for several seconds. Neat though, huh?

We watched as the last flight came in and the final passengers were processed in the Cruise Terminal. Then the embarkation crew started to walk to and fro between the ship and the terminal, bringing the equipment and paraphernalia back with them. On the dock the blue flashing lights of a police car came and officers stood around an unmarked car on the dock. We weren't sure whether it had committed some misdemeanour or was just a mate they were chatting to. The police car did several journeys up and down the dock with its blue lights flashing and one headlamp out... After half an hour both cars left the dock area one after the other. A mystery it remains...

Anyway, what the heck am I thinking? This is it! We're off! Time for another Bon Voyage cocktail! The Hellenic Classics cruise is under way!

Hellenic Classics Index

Afternoon in Alanya

Sunday 6 October 2013. We arrive back at Alanya, Turkey from the excursion which has taken us to Manavgat Waterfall and Side (a town, not the side of the waterfall...)

The Thomson Celebration is parked (nautical term) at the end of a long jetty. We leave the coach and go through the terminal building and out onto the jetty.

Looking back at the Red Tower or Kizil Kule of Alanya. This octagonal tower was finished in 1226 and is 33m high, which I make to be around 107 feet in old money. Obviously they got their bricks from Accrington...

It protects the harbour and shipyard which has been in use since 1221. From it a high wall links to the City Wall, which heads off up the hill. The history of the place is not dissimilar to that of Side which I described in the previous entry. Pirates, Ptolemaics, Seleucids, Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans have all had a piece of it at some time or other.

Ah yes, you remember a couple of entries ago, when we had just landed here (another nautical term...) I mentioned that there seemed to be a load of old galleons lined up in the harbour?

Well I don't think they are all that old somehow but they are of that sort of design, if not exactly reliant on wind power... The customer base is not that old either, so I gather from the incredible din coming from it as it passed and the obviously frenzied goading of a DJ. Over the boom-boom-boom of house music (I have no idea what house music really sounds like, but I expect it to be as bad as the sound coming from this boat) he was shouting into the mic incessantly. By gad, in the old days we'd have sent the Navy...

Wood seems to be the material of choice for pleasure craft in Alanya and I do have to say I approve of this. Far nicer to look at than whitewashed metal.

The tug boats were, however, a little more practical in their design. And this winds up our last day of the holiday. We'll make the most of things tonight and we'll have a look at the Thomson Celebration herself in the next entry, together with a few of the staff and entertainers onboard, some of whom we count as good friends of several years standing (and a few years sitting or keeled over...)

Tonight the ship heads along the Turkish coast back to Marmaris and we will be heading back to the UK and slightly cooler weather!

Holy Land Cruise Index Page

Night Time in Kotor

Saturday, 13 August 2011. We are still in Kotor, Montenegro, 28 kilometres from the Adriatic Sea up the deepest fjord in southern Europe.

We are standing on the Promenade Deck of the Thomson Spirit cruise ship, waiting to sail out of Montenegro and back down the fjord to the sea.

As darkness falls the ancient city of Kotor comes alive - so much so that the full car park below us on the wharf has a long stream of cars queueing to get in. They each must wait until another car leaves.

Many of the cars are bringing people who have come to watch us sail. There's a sizeable number of people ready to wave at every slightest movement. It's still a very warm night and we wave back as the ship's crew continue their preparations to leave.

It's already quite dark, just a hint of a glow in the sky. There won't be much to see on our way down the fjord once we pass the lights of the last town.

The city walls that earlier had blended in with the mountainside which they climb, now stand out in floodlighting, showing just how high above the main city they reach. A crowd is now standing close to the gates to the dock area, waiting to see the ship leave the port. Young couples, older couples, entire families... they all stand or sit looking expectantly upwards. Then the startlingly loud blast on the ship's hooter. No wonder they are all out here with their kids - no one would have slept through that!

The crowd of people start to wave at the few of us who have come out to watch our own departure. "Goodbye! Don't forget to write!" Actually I don't speak Montenegrin... It could have been "You bastards! You woke the baby!" One chap looked slightly apologetic at the rail. Hmmm - maybe it had been "You bastard! You left me with a baby!!!" The ship moves away from the dock, turns slowly, then starts off down the fjord. We pass a few ferries, lots of small boats and a yacht, swinging slowly to its mooring.

As we move away from Kotor the lights dwindle until there are just a few houses here and there along the fjord's bank. There is not enough light to take photographs of the scenery by and we move towards the back of the ship.

From the rear of the Promenade Deck we stop to overlook the Lido Deck where people are enjoying a late dinner or snack and a drink.

We then climb up a few decks to Horizons Bar for a drink and to listen to the vocal harmony group, New Dimensions. We'll meet them properly later in the week.

It would be easy to drink yourself into stupefaction on a cruise ship - plenty actually do. Others set foot on the boat already pretty stupid... I'm not a good drunk. I have a short spell of feeling merry but, let's face it, most people wouldn't tell the difference anyway and then I just feel ill and fall over... Not good. I don't do it. People tell me they'd love to see me drunk but I'd just aim for them if they got me that way... So after a giddy pint, we finish our evening on the Lido Deck with a sedate coffee. The next day is our day at sea so in our next entry we will have travelled all the way up the Adriatic to call in at the top right hand corner into Koper in Slovenia.

Return to Adriatic Explorer index page

Preparations to Sail

Sunday, 3 May 2009, The Port of Venice. We have returned to the ship and spent an hour or so waiting for sailing time up on the top deck. The sun is setting and it promises to be a beautiful sunset.

Whilst there was still a while before sailing time I looked over the side of the ship towards Venice and took this photo. The buildings to the right look like a railway station and the straight strip of land, though bare of lines, suggest that it may well have been once.

The sun is starting to slide down the sky, though thankfully without any of the sound you get when fingernails slide down a blackboard...

We missed all the sights as we sailed into Venice, so we crossed to the other side of the ship - the port side would face Venice as we sailed out, so we wanted to "bag" a good spot! Parked against the opposite wharf was Costa Serena, seen above. Behind us was MSC Musica. MSC Musica was the first to move, being pulled by tugs out into the channel and turning to sail majestically away from us.

We shared a wave with a few people lining the decks of Costa Serena. This started Fran going. She waved at everything that moved on the water to make people wave back. Liners, ferries, shuttle boats, tugs, ducks... everything! As time came near to our leaving others joined us at the rail and they all started to wave as well. It was catching...

Two Filipino girls from the crew came up to take photos of each other. The first stood near me with her arms outstretched. It was too tempting. I took hold of her hand and smiled at the camera. They thought this hilarious! The second came straight in for the cuddle and they were squealing with delight at the resulting photo! "Oh, thank you, sir, thank you!" she beamed. A bit bemused I said, "No problem... I'll be here tomorrow..." By heck, wife at hand and thinking I was too bloody old to stand a chance with young girls and now it gets easy?!? I must have had my posh aftershave on... And where was Fran's camera? These things don't happen every day - I need a reminder!

Hey up! A little panel on the side of Costa Serena has dropped down and there is a perfect little platform for the Captain to come out to supervise the reversing out of the dock! Blimey, we brought my mother on a cruise last year and I couldn't get permission to bring a plank for her to walk and now, when it's too late, I find that modern liners have a built-in one ready to pop out at the push of a button!

So now we are all on our own in the dock and after a while we cast off and start to move. As Costa Serena pulls out she reveals Costa Luminosa in the next berth. The long-awaited look at Venice in the sunset is about to start.

The dock looks quite empty after we are towed out to the channel and have the room to swing around to point in the right direction. Reversing out through Venice would be so embarrassing...! We are looking forward to this and in my excitement I forget to keep an eye out for any more girl crew members coming for a photo! Settle down, you sad old fogey, it's not going to happen again!

Return to Gateways and Gondolas Cruise Index

Wi've Bin Up The 'Pool

We've had a day out. First one I think since we went up to Cumbria for Fran's birthday in March. It's been a busy year!

Anyway a bit of a pilgrimage; we went to Albert Dock in Liverpool and went to see the statue of Billy Fury on the waterfront just by Albert Dock.

It's a shame so many people seem to glance at it and say "Oh, look - a statue of Elvis..." without wondering why a place with such a great musical heritage would have a statue of an American singer. The place is not without it's musical greats. Billy was certainly one of those.

Then a trog around the Albert Dock itself. There's a few empty plots but that's usual in such places - sometimes I think the only people making money these days are councils from the Council Tax and landlords from extortionate rents.

Happily there are lots of cafes there. Unhappily we chose one staffed by two teenage girls who seemed to have no idea and who didn't care that they had no idea and who had a steady stream of customers bringing food back for one reason or another. Ours was ok, but I drank the coffee down in one go as soon as it came. I was thirsty - but had I left it any longer it would have been too cold!

A nice old sailing ship in the corner of the dock, flanked by several tugs and other boats.

Despite a stint as Registrar at Fleetwood's Nautical College in 1985/86, I'm no expert on types of ships I'm afraid - although, did you know that the word starboard for the right hand side of a ship as seen from the back, is so called because the Norsemen had their tiller or steorbord on their Viking ships on that side? Hey! Full of useless information, me!