I had my alarm set for 6am but was awake taking pictures of the sunrise over Salerno before then. I don't think I slept at all last night. I kept dreaming of Jim Cantore and I think I've developed a bit of a cold or a sinus infection. I tried to fall asleep without taking Sudafed, but breathing through my mouth was painful on my throat. So up I got and Sudafed I took it and as I feared...awake I stayed. It happens.
Our goal today was to be out the door by 7:30 and we did manage to sneak a quick breakfast in the dining room. I ordered waffles with bananas (I could handle the rejection today) and I did manage to snag my favorite mini doughnut. It tasted so good with my cappuccino and we were off to a good morning. However, my waffles were pancakes and they had bananas, but there were only four little slices. I suppose that counts. Today I had plenty of sauce over the top as the bananas were cooked. Guy however, craving waffles, didn't order fruit on his and his pancakes came naked and boring. Instead of asking for syrup he nibbled on them and had a doughnut and scrambled eggs. Sometimes things get lost in translation, which is cool, but they have a waffle station at the buffet, so they do actually have them.
We were out the door by the time we had hoped and stopped outside the ship and spoke to the local girls at the info area about what to do in town. This one fabulous young lady told us we could take a side trip to a small nearby town by local bus for under 2 euros each. Or she gave us a map of Salerno and told us each street to walk down and what there was to see. So that is what we chose to do...a walk around Salerno. Keeping in mind it is still before 8am, nothing is open, so we walked around looking at empty dirty streets. We decided to hop in a cab and take a ride up to the castle til the shops opened. It didn't take too long to find one and we got in. We told him where we wanted to go and he was nice enough to tell us the price. 20 euros each way. Hmmmm....Guy tried to negotiate the price a bit, but he said "MSC fixed price". How on earth did he know we had just come off the ship? Guy thought it was stamped on our foreheads, but I guess it makes sense. Why else would two lost looking Americans be walking the streets before most people in town are awake. Anyhoo...we told him that was too much and before we could get out of the cab he was offering options such as Pompeii! Um...no. Cab Dude, we appreciate the offer. but we have like 4 hours. So we got out and thanked him for the half a block ride he gave us. He was nice.
A few shops were open and we got post cards, but we went into every tobacco stand but no stamps were to be found. We went to the post office and the line was so long and people were sitting all around - Guy thought it looked like a medical clinic. Ha Ha. So post cards but no stamps. As the shops slowly began to open, we had made our way all the way across town and found restrooms at the train station. It's a good thing as it was mission critical for me! So as we walked all the way back through the town, it really began to come to life around 10am. I went in lots of shops and even tried a few dresses on. A couple were quite fantastic, but they were a no. And speaking of shopping. I didn't buy much the first part of the trip because I had been to all the places before and I waned to take goodies home to my loved ones from the new places. But shopping in the ports was not good at all and I will definitely not need to buy a bag to bring home goodies in. There aren't any. Sigh. So I hope everyone reads this before I get home. There is minimal swag making it back to the USA. The big winner is usually my mom for taking care of the cat every day. She gets extra. But I'm going to have to take her out for dinner when I get home instead. Shopping? Fail.
As we made our way back to the ship we checked our steps and we had walked over five miles. No wonder our feet were hurting. So we boarded the ship, cooled off with a soda, had a snack and parked it on our balcony to watch the scenery go by as we were leaving the port and floating up the beautiful coast of Italy. Note to those who might be taking this ship and itinerary, we are on the right side (the starboard side - to talk in official boat lingo) and that is the side to be on. We had more good views than not. Especially the ride up the Italian coast line. Sadly, it is so terribly hazy, the Amalfi coast was less than its beautiful self today. We sat out on our balcony until the Isle of Capri went by and we had finished our room service lunch. I was first in the shower as a big ole nap was a necessity and with a long hot shower and my pjs on, I slept for a couple of hours. It was awesome.
We are contemplating what to do tomorrow. We can get off the ship around 10:30am, but we are missing the train to Rome by about 30 minutes. The next one isn't until about 1pm. So what are we going to do til then? We thought about having the boat hold our bags and do an excursion, but we've seen Pisa, Pompeii and Cinque Terre. So we are tossing around renting a car and driving it. It would be a nice drive along the coast to the Rome airport but it will be over 4 hours of driving. The train is going to take the same amount of time. So we are pondering and we were going to check with the desk just to make sure we weren't missing any ideas, but finally decided to go by train and we booked the tickets online. Done.
Tonight at dinner neither one of us were too hungry, but we nibbled on several courses since it was our last night. We started with them bringing us smoked salmon on a crouton. It was a bit strong. Then we moved on to our appetizer. Guy had fried salted cod (which was much better than his fish and chips the other day) and I had cauliflower soup - very good. Our second plate was a pasta. Guy had cannelloni and I had veggie risotto. We didn't care for any of the entrees tonight, so we both had grilled veal (sliced thin) and vegetables. This was an option available any night. Our sever brought us out fries as well because he was afraid we didn't have enough food. We did. For dessert we had previously seen some cannolis go by and they looked GREAT, but I couldn't eat a whole one. So we just asked for one and two spoons. The server brought out pistachio ice cream, too. I guess he thought we weren't ordering enough and knowing it was our last night he wanted to make sure we ended on a good note. The cannoli wasn't as good as it looked, so I actually polished off most of the ice cream. It was a pleasant surprise. We thanked our server and shook his hand. Depending on where we sat depended on who our server was. But we kind of found our favorite spot against a wall and it was always open. Probably because most people want by the windows. However, the window table server wasn't as nice as this other guy, so we kept going back to the same spot. It was a pleasure meeting him. His English wasn't super, but good enough that he knew how much we appreciated him. That was all that mattered.
Back in the room we got all our things packed up and have plenty of room. Like I said earlier...not much shopping or purchases were made. So I guess that is a good thing, at least when it comes to packing up! I filled out my questionnaire and these are our final thoughts on the MSC Armonia. The ship is clean and small. It has no bells or whistles, so if you were coming to be wowed by a magnificent ship, this one is not the one for you. However, the price was right and our big cabin with the balcony was excellent. We were in cabin 1064. The itinerary was good, but really we have no desire to hit any of the stops again. Maybe Ibiza and other areas of Sardinia, but the other places - not really. This isn't a good cruise if you haven't seen the biggies of Italy yet. Do all that first, then like us, add this on as a "sure while we are over here let's hit a few new places" cruise. But not really one I'd fly over just to do. The Amalfi Coast is amazing, but this stop didn't show you Capri, Positano or Sorrento. Those are nicer and need to be visited on a land trip, not a cruise because you aren't in the port long enough to enjoy and explore - and the port stop in Salerno (and the town itself) are just ok. The food was better than the last time we were on this ship, but again, the hot food could be hotter and the cold food could be colder. The restaurant is a much better choice than the buffet, but that might be a personal thing. The excursions were pretty good considering the short times at the ports and were easy enough to book on the ship and the price seemed fair enough. The entertainment onboard was again, just ok...but we are a captive audience and it beats watching TV in the room (not many channels were in English). We bought 5 hours of internet and I have exactly 5 minutes and 30 seconds left. I hope it is enough to get the blog posted tonight. It was worth the money but I don't know if you'd need that much if you weren't wanting to upload pictures and trying to post a blog every day.
So I think that just about wraps it up. I'll add more to the above paragraph if I think of anything else, but its nearly midnight and tomorrow is an early day. We have to be out of the cabin by 8:30 and can get off the ship just after 10am. Tomorrow is a travel day to the Rome airport and a night at the Hilton. Looking forward to conditioner and a wash cloth. :) But this is the point in the trip when you are ready to just snap your fingers or be like Dorothy and click your heels together and instantly be back in Kansas. Ha Ha.
No comments:
Post a Comment