Cruise on the Crown Princess
After an early morning flight into Venice, we were quickly transferred and shown to our cabin on the Crown Princess. A quick exploration of the ship was followed by the shuttle waterbus into the wonder that is Venice. I adore Venice, it is lovely, quirky and you cannot fail to get lost! When you leave St Mark’s square, just enjoy the exploring and look around you. Somehow we managed to find our way to the Rialto Bridge to see the sun going down – magical! The ship spent the night in Venice allowing us to spend plenty of time exploring before we set sail the following day at 1pm. A Venice sail away is an amazing experience as the ship makes its way towards St Mark’s Square before turning and leaving the city on the Canale di San Marco, offering magnificent views of the city.
We had taken the anytime dining option on the Crown Princess and this was great as you can turn up at either of the anytime restaurants and be allocated a table. Most nights we opted to share a table; not only do you get a table quicker but you meet lots of fellow cruisers. Every evening meal was a gastronomic delight (including breakfast and lunch which we tended to take in the buffet). There was also a burger bar and pizza parlour on deck during the day. I am convinced that everyone on our ship left heavier than when they started the cruise as the quality of food was just so good.
Our next port of call was Dubrovnik. It was super just exploring the city walls before joining everyone in the main street. There was a special food festival and the city was celebrating with lots of local food and drink and a real bustling atmosphere. The following day we were in Corfu and it was great to explore Corfu Town, stopping for a coffee and ouzo overlooking the cricket pitches. Our next port of call was Katakolon, a small village of only 650 people, but where there were three cruise ships in town. The reason for so many ships in this small village is its proximity to Olympia where the original Olympic Games were held and a site of one the original Seven Wonders of the World. We took a local coach out to this amazing site and explored the ruins which date back thousands of years. It was a fascinating trip.
Our next visit was to Athens where we hired taxi for a few hours and our driver took us everywhere that we wanted to visit including the Acropolis, the Agora and the Placa. He looked after us extremely well and was great value for four of us. The Greek people as always, made us feel very welcome. The following day we were supposed to go to Mykonos but due to high winds our Captain decided that it would be safer sailing away from the storm – another huge advantage of cruising over other types of holidays – you can avoid bad weather. When this change was made, the cruise director’s team quickly updated their entertainment guide to ensure that there were plenty of activities for this extra sea day. Not only did we avoid the storm but we had a lovely relaxing day sunbathing (in November!) whilst cruising through the Greek Islands.
There was so much entertainment on board it was impossible to go to everything. All the details are in the daily newspaper “Princess Patter”. One of my favourites was the “Movies Under The Stars” where they showed movies on deck on the big screen and you were given a blanket, popcorn and even milk and cookies!
Our next port of call was Kusadasi in Turkey. We used an organised excursion to visit the ancient city of Ephesus, the home of the Virgin Mary and the church of St John. It was a marvellous experience. We then spent a few hours haggling in the many bazaars of Kusadasi. The following day it was on to Santorini. We took a speedboat to Oia (the most picturesque village overlooking the caldera) and later returned by cable car. This is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful islands and looking down on your cruise ship is just amazing. We were lucky and ours was the only ship in Santorini that day, as it can be very busy.
After a couple of days at sea we reached our final port of call before the cruise finished at Civitavecchia – Naples. This is a brilliant start place to explore Sorrento, Capri or the Amalfi Coast; we chose to visit another of the many attractions nearby and took the train to Pompeii. A guide here is a must as they can explain about the absolute wonder that is Pompeii.
Overall I had a fantastic experience with Crown Princess and I would thoroughly recommend this ship to everyone! Every member of the crew was a credit to Princess Cruises, not only in their professionalism but they did everything with a genuine smile on their face as well. This was an ideal time for visiting many of the antiquities that we saw, not only were the crowds smaller but also if you were visiting in the height of the summer months there is no shade at these sights and the heat could be unbearable.