We are not going to make it over to Monte Carlo, Monaco, but we will go ashore here in Villefranche. The schedule shows arriving at 0800 and departing at 2300 tonight. Once the people going on tours are off loaded, they should start open tendering with tenders running every 30 minutes or so. A little before 0900, the Cruise Director came over the intercom to announce that those planning to take the train to Monte Carlo (the mode of transportation recommended to us by Nick last night) will find that there is a train employee strike going on today and the trains are not running. Now they are recommending the bus. Glad we decided not to go to Monte Carlo (of course Nick's attitude last night helped persuade us).
On the way to breakfast, we stopped by the spa and T scheduled a manicure and pedicure for 1600 this afternoon.
We arrived for breakfast at the Terrace cafe around 0900. It was the usual buffet style but you could not serve yourself, a staff member had to dish it for you and then began the negotiations of just exactly what you wanted and how much you wanted while trying to overcome the normal language barriers. I don't get it!
We went down to the tender and boarded at 0945. It took about 15 minutes to reach shore. Once on shore, we started climbing. Villefranche is built into the side of a steep hill rising from the coast. According to T's Fitbit, during the course of the day, we ascended over 800 feet in total. We visited the Chapelle Chapel and the St. Elme Citadel. I got a lot of great pics,
Once back on board, we changed our shoes and headed for the bar and lunch. We opted not to purchase the beverage package this cruise so we are experiencing the sticker shock of buying our drinks a la cart. My gin and tonic for example is $13 and T's glass of wine is $11. Ridiculous! Almost makes you want to stop drinking all together...well, almost! It is easy to see where our $1,000 of ship board credits will be going. No matter, with only one sea day this cruise, there will not be much opportunity to ponder over any gift shop potential purchases. Oh yes, on top of the ridiculous prices, they add 18% tax (turns out this is a gratuity and not a tax) to everything.
During lunch on deck at the Waves (we both had their Ruben and they were very good), the Captain announced that they were suspending tendering so that they could reposition the ship. He said they had anticipated winds of 20 knots and it actually was twice that. Looks like we were luck getting back on board when we did. It was almost 1700 hours before they restarted tendering transfers.
After lunch we sat in the forward Horizons lounge for a bit before T suggested retiring to the room so she could soak for awhile before her appointment. A little before 1600, I escorted her to the Solon and I adjourned to the pool side bar for another $30 double gin and tonic. T decided to only get a pedicure, but she said it was excellent!!
After her pedicure, T joined me and we attended happy hour at the Martinis bar. During this one hour of the day, the prices of drinks are reasonable, but not a bargain.
Tonight, we had reservations at one of their specialty restaurants, Jacques. It was very good and the service from the wait staff was definitely several steps above what we have experienced on this ship up to now. We had a total of three glasses of Pinot Noir which totaled $45....and no, T had two and I had only one!
Tomorrow, we should be docking in Livorno, Italy. We have opted not to sign up for any shore excursions. Florence and Pisa were appealing sites to visit through this port, but it meant spending the majority of the time on the bus getting to and from these cities and very little time actually in the cities. We will visit these another day. We believe we will journey into the port city itself, similar to what we did today in Villefranche. There supposedly will be a free shuttle running from the port to the city center throughout the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment