Celebrity is Listening!

A SHORT time back, I suggested here that one of the things I would like to see is for cruise lines to add more overnight itineraries to their sailings! After our last couple Celebity cruises, when given the opportunity to make suggestions in their surveys, I have seconded this suggestion. I have always lamented that the only real negative I see in our cruises is the lack of time to get to know our ports and spend time there during evening and in some of our cases (we photographers) during the early morning hours. Setting up cruises with more overnight stays in ports (and maybe even multiple nights) seemed to be a winning proposition to me.

WELL, IT appears that they listened! LOL, I am not naive enough to believe they read this blog, or take my personal recommendations into account. What I do think happened is that I was not the only one making this observation. Happily, there must have been many more with the same thinking - and perhaps some in management to boot.

CELEBRITY RELEASED its 2027-2028 sailings and there appears to be an emphasis on more overnight ports and longer port stays (12 hours) in general. Hooray! According to Cruise Critic, Celebrity offerings in 2027-28 will include 60 overnight port stays, and 115 12-hour or longer port calls. This is great news to me, though how it personally effects each of us will no doubt vary. One heartening example was the suggestion that there would be multiple overnight stays during a single cruise in Japan. Will we see others? We will have to check the itineraries to see.

CHECKING MY own booked cruises, I was very pleased to see that a planned Greek Isle Tour (with Turkey and Greece in the mix) has some seemingly very long port stops at almost every port, and includes what I see as a extra long overnight in Istanbul. This is one of the most favorable cruises I have seen in a very long time.

WILL OTHER cruise lines come aboard with this new trend? Time will tell, as it will no doubt be governed by their own market research and how well received the Celebrity program is.

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THE PREVIOUS post concluded our pretty eventful 1013 cruising year. We would ultimately get home after some continuing adventures, and regroup. Princess did everything they promised, and we certainly didn't leave that experience with any kind of bad taste in our mouth. Indeed, in spite of our work commitments and being somewhat new to cruising, we jumped right back in, with cruises - this time with a group of long-time friends in Saginaw, where we lived, for winter "getaway" cruises in 2014 and 2015, and then with "both proverbial feet" in 2015 (back again on Princess for our "makeup" cruise) in the Mediterranean in 2015. Those stories are coming up in future posts, so stay tuned. In the meantime, I am leaving yet again for 10 days in Vermont to shoot the fall foliage. When I return in mid-October, I promise to get things back on track. Until then . . . . .

"Disaster" At Sea

[We are back from on of our longer trips to Europe, including a weeklong pre-cruise stay in London, and then a 12-day cruise up to the fjords of Norway. All in all, a great week, with much new "fodder" for blog posts! I am busy "curating" photographs and consolidating notes from the cruise. Here, I left off way back in 2013, with a post about the beautiful island of Mykonos, Greece. And a foreshadowing of some bad luck in the near future]

Strait of Messina - Mediterranean Sea - Sicily/Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

THE FOLLOWING day was another planned day at sea. We had to sail all the way around "the boot" of Italy, and up through the narrow, Strait of Messina, between mainland Italy (to the east) and Sicily (to the west). At its narrowest point, it is just over 2 miles between shores. Once through the Strait of Messina, it was another nearly 200 miles to Naples. The word: "disaster" in the title is, of course, hyperbole. In the overall scheme of things it is hard to describe any of our cruises using terms like "disaster" seriously. Our fortune has been good and these things are what I have come to call: "First World Problems." 😊 The day was sunny. The weather was pleasant. We were cruising along at the accustomed 14 knots of the Royal Princess. We were actually lounging in the cabin, but thinking about going upstairs to the buffet to grab some lunch and sit out on deck. Suddenly: silence! Everything came to a full stop. No lights, no TV, no engine noise. It was eerie. There was flickering, and a blip and then things came back on again. Whew! Back to normal. Not. A few seconds later, it happened again. The pattern continued for a bit and then things went quiet again.

Princess immediately stepped to the line and made things right

Royal Princess - Mediterranean
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

WE HAD visions in our mind of the recent "stranded ships" by Carnival out in the Caribbean during the past year or so. A nightmare. We thought maybe we should head up and get some food before everything went to hell. Upstairs, there was a lot of murmuring and chatter. Eventually, the captain came on and explained that they were having electronics problems. With the main propulsion unit. They were working to get things fixed. An hour or so later, he came back on with the proverbial "good news and bad news." Good news: the ship had an emergency propulsion system (a little research later revealed that this was relatively new maritime law in the aftermath of the broken down ship horror stories - all new ships and refurbished ships now have this facility). The bad news, though, was that it could only move the ship along at about 6 knots. We weren't going to make it to Naples by our scheduled time. That would - of course, wreak havoc with everyone's shore schedules. We would continue to Naples and all the ships amenities, air conditioning, food storage and preparation, the bars, shows and shops would continue to operate as normal. In the meantime, have a free drink on the ship and continue to enjoy the facilities.

Tug - Port of Naples, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

I WAS crestfallen. I had been gunning for the Amalfi Coast for the entire trip. Now it appeared as if we would miss it. But as we sat there, letting the Captain's words sink in, we realized how fortunate we were in many ways. Not stranded at sea with no sanitary facilities or food. On a beautiful cruise ship in beautiful weather in the Mediterranean. Alive, safe and healthy. This was just a blip on the screen (although one that would soon get larger). By the next day, the decision had been made to cancel the balance of the cruise. It was pretty understandable. Safety is always going to be the primary driver in these situations. I am not going to re-hash the whole story again here. I gave a detailed account of it back in the early days of this blog, in: Expanding Our Travel Horizons - Murphy's Law. I will re-iterate the positives of this adventure. Princess immediately stepped to the line and made things right. A full refund of the entire cruise. Full responsibility for getting everyone home (not just to the final cruise destination. Home). I won't say there wasn't a certain amount of chaos, but ultimately it all came together. We looked at it from a "glass is half full" standpoint. We had just gotten 3/4 of a long Mediterranean Cruise - essentially free. It was a nice vacation which had only cost us our flight over, our extra days in Venice, and incidentals. Not by any means a terrible deal. And it wasn't over yet.

Port of Naples Tug - Assisting The Royal Princess - Naples, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

WE ULTIMATELY limped into Naples at about midnight after our scheduled day. The activity woke me up and I stood out on our balcony, fascinated, watching the harbor tugs turn us around and get us situated on the docks.

Amalfi Coast (overlooking Positano) - Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

IT TURNED out that our re-scheduled flight home to Michigan wasn't until two days later. In the meantime, we were given full use and access of the ship, our stateroom, and amenities, including maintaining the buffet and dining room. We contacted Rome-in-limo to see if there was any way they could accomodate us for the Amalfi Coast. Unfortunately, they were all booked out, but what they were able to do was provide us with a driver to get us to Rome the next day for our flight out of the airport in Rome. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, they are a great company.

Looking back on Amalfi from the pier - Amalfi, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

WITH OUR new friends, Scott and Pam, we did the next best thing we could. We walked down onto the pier and hired a taxi driver for the day to take us up the Amalfi Coast. Though his English was virtually non-exsitent, we managed to negotiate a price for the day and get through to him that we wanted to see the highlights of the coast. To him, we later learned, that meant only to Amalfi and back. But we made a few stops for views, and then were on our own for about 90 minutes in Amalfi. Obviously, he wasn't a guide, but still I got to see it and make some pictures! All in all, a good day.

Amalfi Cathedral - Amalfi, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

WE WALKED around Amalfi for a few minutes and then back out through the arched entrance to the city and down to the beach and pier area, where we would meet our driver.

Amalfi Cathedral - Amalfi, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

WE WERE pleasantly surprised at the lack of crowds and ease of getting around the coast and in Amalfi. When we returned in 2017 with our friends, Paul and Linda, the staircase up to the Amalfi Cathedral was completely packed with people - and the street below, as well. I was able to walk right up to the bottom of the stairs to make this photograph. In 2017 I had to hold my camera up above the crowd in the street.

Public Beach at Amalifi, Italy
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THE NEXT morning, the 4 of us left The Royal Princess for the last time, meeting our car and driver down in the port area. Most of the drive to Rome (just under 2 hours) was on 4-lane highways and uneventful. Our driver was a nice guy who also was one of their guides.

Near the Rome city center - right around the corner from Scott and Pam's Hotel
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

OUR DESTINATIONS were quite different. My wife and I were staying at a hotel right next to Fiumicino, Rome's airport, about 15 miles outside of Rome's city center. Scott and Pam were staying on in Rome for a couple days and were booked in a hotel right near the city center. We had a little over 1/2 day though, and we decided we would ask our driver to drop our bags at our airport hotel, and wait while we checked in. We then rode in to the city with Scott and Pam. Our driver gave us a little drive around mini-tour of inner city Rome, before dropping us off at their motel, where he presented both of us with a bottle Limoncello.

We had neither the time, nor an appointment to see the inside of the Coloseum (though Scott and Pam would get inside later that week), I did get my chance to shoot it in nice lighting from the outside - Roman Coloseum - Rome, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

AFTER THEY checked in and we consulted a map, we realized we were within close walking distance of some of the sights, including the Coloseum, the entrance to the Agora, the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain. Amazingly, we saw most of these sites and covered a lot of Rome that afternoon.

Trevi Fountain - Rome, Italy
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WE WERE pretty lucky with our timing. Although still crowded with tourists, the famed Trevi Fountain was at least approachable. We have been back twice more and the first time it was under repair and virtually closed, which the second time (in 2022) it was such a mob scene it was really impossible to get a decent view or shot of it.

The Spanish Steps - Rome, Italy
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

HAVING SEEN the iconic sights within walking distance, we took a long, slow, walk back up toward their motel, and just looked at the sights and the incredible classic architecture.

Center City - Rome, Italy
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AS A photographer back in those days, my primary focus was on landscape images. The concept of "street photography" hadn't really ocurred to me as something I would be attracted to. I still probably wouldn't call the bulk of shooting I do when in cities on travel "street shooting," per se. I think perhaps a better description might be "cityscape." I have always like colors and quirky signs, like the pizza baker statue. But it is not often that I "see" a street scene that I think has merit as a photograph on its own. When I saw the lone young man walking on a street below me, I actually though this was one where everything would come together and make a very nice street photography photo. I think I was right.

Center City, Rome, Italy
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I REALIZE my title was a bit misleading. I needed a "hook." 😁 We could have viewed it as a disaster. It could have been handled poorly by Princess and turned out a disaster. But in the end, we walked away with a good feeling about the trip and many memories of a lifetime. And with our refunded cruise fare and a generous discount applied, we knew we would be back sometime soon. And we were definitely hooked on the Mediterranean, and cruising.

Mykonos

[We just recently returned from our most recent cruise. Good news for us - and anyone who enjoys following this - we already have several more cruises booked. For now, I will continue trying to catch us up with our prior cruises, as I work to "curate" photographs from the most recent cruise - in the fjords of Norway. Eventually I will get there on here. In the meantime, thanks for reading!]

One of my favorite photos, I have used this shot to illustrate Mykonos and the Mediterranean many times. This is the shoreline right in the small Mykonos Harbor
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

MYKONOS, GREECE was kind of our halfway point for the cruise. It had been amazing so far. And we still had Rome, and Naples and the Amalfi Coast ahead. We had booked a company for both of these last days called Rome-in-Limo, who we have used successfully since. We haven't used them recently, but if they are anything like they were in 2013 and 2017, I could not more highly recommend them.

Mykonos - hotels, bars and restaurants along the shoreline - though this looks rocky, we did find that there was a very nice, sand beach on our return trip to the island in 2017
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

I DIDN'T really know much about Mykonos, other than that it was a small, traditional Greek, vacation island. Our stop there was a shorter than usual one as we didn't arrive until early afternoon. That suited us fine. We had been on the go since Athens. We did not have any excursion plans and we just planned to get of the ship, walk around and may get something to eat and/drink. Which is pretty much what we did.

Mykonos, Greece
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

MYKONOS IS a "tender" port, meaning for anybody who doesn't know, that there are no docks for tying up a large cruise ship. Instead, the ship anchors off shore and the passengers are "tendered" in smaller boats to the shore. The little harbor of Mykonos is beautiful, and peaceful. It is pretty much a "quintessential Greek/Mediterranean scene," with small local fishing boats all over the harbor. It is also very colorful, with all the buildings whitewashed; with bright blue, red and yellow painted trim. There are also colorful flowers everywhere. Picturesque. My camera was happy!

Mykonos, Greece
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

THE GREEK Isles are known for their iconic, whitewashed, Greek Orthodox churches - normally with bright azure blue (but sometimes red) painted domes or arches. There are 100's of them on Mykonos, including the tiny structure below which is right on the edge of the wharf in the harbor. You walk by it as you go to and from the tenders. I read somewhere that in the past, churches were allocated power and water first, and having a church nearby assured power to local residences (from Google "AI," so who knows how accurate this is).

Small, Greek Orthodox Church on the wharf - Mykonos, Greece
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

THE PERHAPS best known and most often photographed church on Mykonos, though, is Panagia Paraportiani, which has a more standard, arched roof that is painted a colorful red, and decorated with flags and pennants. It is pretty much right in the center of the town.

Panagia Paraportiani Church - Mykonos, Greece
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

ANOTHER ICONIC, "Mykonos" sight are the rustic windmills and towers up on a high point on the island near the town. I don't know why, but I struggled a bit to show them in their context here. I got a much better (I think) and more iconic shot of them when we returned in 2017. You can see they are consistent with their whitewashed, stucco walls. The blades, or turbines were curious to me though. They must work, but they don't seem to me to be as efficient as the traditional blades you see on - for example - Dutch windmills. While I spent a fair amount of time walking around the windmills, I really didn't come back with what I felt was a good "take" on them. I would have another opportunity a few years hence, with a better approach, and with a different photographic vision. Watch for a future blog on Mykonos.

Mykonos Windmills - Mykonos, Greece
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ONE OF the things we were learning to do was to seek out a cafe or establishment while on shore to fine WiFi, and download e-mails and catch up. At that time, I was still working full-time, and the nature of my practice meant I needed to check in at least every other day or so. We were using AT&T as our carrier at that time, and the cost to purchase an "across the pond" plan (even for 30 days) was pretty steep. So, before heading for the tender dock, we found a nice little coffee shop with a view down to the sea; got a cup of coffee and did our digital thing.

Sunset in Mykonos - Royal Princess
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BACK ON board The Royal Princess, we sat out on our balcony with a coctail and watched on of those splendid Mediterranean Sunsets. You may have noticed that on this cruise, I had begun to make a habit of photographing the sunsets from our balcony, normally as we sailed away from our harbor (in later years, those photographs would more likely be from the back of the ship, where we often found a bar with a nice spot to sit. In this case, our sailing was delayed, however. The captain came on an made an announcement that there was a problem with the winch system on our anchored ship, and that our departure would be delayed while the crew made repairs. He assured us that there was plenty of time for us to make our next port. We had a scheduled day at sea, on the way up to Naples, our next to last scheduled port of call. For us, no worries. We cleaned up and went down to our assigned table in the main dining room. We expected, based on the captain's comments, that the repairs would put us an hour or two behind. I was able to catch another shot after dinner, as we had still not left the harbor. In fact, we didn't pull anchor and depart until around 11:00 that evening. Again though: no worries. Plenty of time to make up our late departure and make the Port of Naples by early morning of our scheduled stop. It was all good. That was what we thought, anyway.

Moon over Mykonos, Greece
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Stay tuned . . . .