We had a smooth day of travel to England. Barcelona airport is a short ride from the port, easy to navigate, and the lounge appropriately offers a lovely selection of tapas.
How did the 50 days onboard stack up?
Travel
Going from a Pinnacle Class ship to a Vista Class ship felt a little like going from a busy, modern, big city to a slower-paced, pleasant, pretty town. I still miss the contemporary decor, funky art and expanded restaurant offerings of Koningsdam. However, the Oosterdam never felt rushed, just comfortably relaxed. It’s nice to have the proper promenade deck and chairs, which have always been a favorite of mine. Music offerings were strong, crew were friendly and the ship looks pretty good for being 20 years old. There is a sweet spot between manic and sleepy, and I think we found it.
7 Countries and 23 Ports of Call:
Albania*: Sarande
Croatia: Dubrovnik, Korcula, Split
France: Toulon, Villefranche
Greece: Argostolion, Corfu, Katakolon (Olympia), Iraklion, Mykonos, Napflion, Piraeus (Athens), Rhodes, Santorini, Souda
Italy: Civitavecchia (Rome), Livorno (Florence, Pisa & Tuscany), Naples, Trieste
Spain: Barcelona
Turkey: Istanbul, Kusadasi
Missed: Montenegro, Kotor
*Albania was a new country for me!
I’ve been asked over the years how many countries I have been to, and I have never really had an answer as I have struggled with how to classify a “country.” My curiosity finally got the the better of me, and after some definition research, I have determined that my total is 104:
77 sovereign states + 27 overseas territories, dependent areas and disputed territories.
(For domestic stats: 47 states down in the USA. Idaho, Iowa and Missouri to go.)
We visit many of these same ports next Mediterranean summer, so if there is somewhere you like me to focus on in a post, please let me know!
Travel Tech Tips
Smart phones have changed the way we do many things, but I learned some cool new tricks and ideas for travel. If you are already using these, awesome!
Several sites and cities (e.g. Olympia, Chania, Dubrovnik’s Rector’s palace) offer virtual reality experiences or guided tours. The apps had some minor bugs but were worth using. And they have inspired me to search for more going forward.
Share My Phone - a couple I was chatting with decided to use the Share my Phone app so that if they lost each other in Rome, it would be easier to find each other. What a smart idea, especially for big cities.
Photos of the tour bus - another guest shared with me that he takes photos of the front bus window (with the tour bus number) and the bus’s license plate. When you are visiting places where a lot of buses park in the same place, this is super helpful - another smart idea! (Also never hurts to take a photo of the all aboard time). Back in my early days of cruising, I used to take a postcard of the ship with me so that if I needed to tell a taxi driver where to take me, I had a language-barrier-free way of communicating. Translate apps can help with this if needed, but sometimes a picture's still worth a thousand words
Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) Bus apps - I also learned from a guest that some of the HOHO companies offer apps that let you see not only the routes, but where the buses are in real time. Brilliant! If you are a fan of the HOHO, check them out.
Wellness Round Up
Movement: tons of walking has clearly been the name of the game in the Med. And with the new Starlink satellite, streaming media is fairly easy onboard, so the possibility of doing online videos is something more to explore next time round. This should help with strength training and stretching motivation.
Sleep: two factors that impacted sleep were quite a few back and forth's for time changes and quite a few early arrivals. But overall, sleep has been pretty good.
Nutrition: Mediterranean favorites aside, I was guilty of trying favorite HAL menu items to see how they stacked up on the Oosterdam. Happy to report, overall portions and flavors were great. Several favorites are not as veggie forward/nutrient dense as I would like, so now that my experiment has been conducted, next time, my goal is to have less sweets. And bacon.
Hydration & Stress: mixed throughout, but overall pretty good.
I haven’t put on any weight. I haven’t lost any weight. The clothes still fit, and some tops are actually a bit looser. So, I think I’ll call it a win for now. The unpacking is calling my name; time to put away the summer clothes and get ready for the Fall season.
See you next week. Bon Voyage & Bon Appétit!
Updated August 25, 2024
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