Sea Dream 2 Log:  Small Size luxury cruising in the Medetterian  8/8 to 8/17/03

                     Monaco, Cannes, Corsica, Sorrento (Pompeii), Capri & Rome

By Tab Hauser

Below is our trip log that started in Monaco and ended in Rome.  In between we were on a the luxury yacht Sea Dream 2.   Sea Dream Yacht Club (www.seadreamyacht.com) is a company that owns 2 small ships.  These were originally owned by Cunard and were badged the Sea Goddess 1 and Sea Goddess 2.  It was Cunards introduction in the 1980’s to enter a different class of cruising where everything is intimate all included and top shelf for up to 110 people.

 I first read about these ships when they came out and immediately thought they were out of our league and that they were for  an older crowd.  I do not know all the details of the ownership details changing from Cunard to Seaborne and then bought and refurbished by Sea Dream Company but it does not really matter. Moving the clock up now 15 years Maureen & I fell into this ship and got a great deal.  I guess you can say through luck and good fortunes this ship was in our league.  As far as that older crowd on board I mentioned earlier, well, it has been 15 years since I first saw this pretty ship anchored in Virgin Gorda Sound so perhaps the time now was right anyway.

Sea Dream is a class act.

Just about everything is included on your trip while you are aboard. This means top shelf liquor and fresh frozen fruit drinks, gourmet dinners, exceptional breakfasts and lunches.  At cocktail hour before dinner the Champaign flows. (in fact the Champaign can flow anytime you want it) . Room service was included 24 hours.  Several of our ship mates ordered Osteria caviar delivered to their room many nights. In fact a few people ordered it delivered to the cocktail hour if they were not serving it.  Maureen & I ordered room service of popcorn and pizza while we were watching a DVD on our flat screen TV late at night.  Another night while watching the people in NY go through the black out we ordered a cheese platter and their “signature” chocolate mouse. Sea Dream Yachts (they do not call the ships) also come equipped with their own mini-pull down marina.  Wave-runners, skiing, wakeboarding, banana boat rides, laser sailing are included in the price.  On our trip they pulled down the marina and took out the water toys 3 times.  (the downside here was that after the first day one of wave-runners broke so we were limited to about 5 minutes a ride when taking turns.  The good thing was that only a few people had an interested going on them so the line was never long.  Also, after the water toys went in the crew threw out a long line and people simply swam off the stern. This was a nice change from cooling off in the small pool.  The only thing not included were bottles of wine ordered off the list in case as well as premium  cognacs and ports. ( The only disappointment in the beverage service was a poor choice of house wines. I do not think Sutter Home Merlot of the cheap Beaujolais  matched well with their 4 star cuisine and you can sense their sommelier was not happy about it.)

Nighttime entertainment was low key. They had a very talented piano player named Jordon.  He played during cocktail hour as well as at the piano bar opposite there petite casino.  This was fun and usually only several of us would hang out and listen to him. The high level on service even extended to Jordon.  When I requested him to play “Just The Two Of Us” which was our wedding song in 1981 he said he did not know it. (he knew only 700  other songs.)  However on the last night and the last song of the trip Maureen & I were at the bar and he said he had a song for us and played it while we danced.  We shut the last night of the  cruise down with the our wedding song. The next day Jordon told me he went into his computer and took about 20 minutes to get the back up notes just right and another 15 minutes to know the words.  That was impressive. He said he was going to make it a regular part of his playing. 

A high level of service:

The crew of 90 (for us 102 passengers) were suburb.  You would think they were on your direct payroll or working directly for tips.  (tipping is included nor is it expected)

If you were at the pool in the afternoon there was always the bartender or waiter doing the rounds asking you for a drink.  They would come around with cold refreshing fruit sticks or what was impressive was that  they would hold a custom made plastic tray with pre-made ice cream cones. The staff seemed to know what you wanted before you did. This is what I call service!

Things to note:

Eating soufflés more than 3 times during the week is rough on the digestion system. (special note on this: go easier on the melted Godiva chocolate sauce next time)  Besides there special menu of the day, there daily ala carte menu was great.  One night I ordered the special Mediterranean fish of the day and their ala carte sage rubbed lamb chops. The fish was good but the chops were as fine as they would get at a top rate restaurant.    Dinner was in the dining salon 5 of the days. 2 of them they served dinner on the deck area. You can reserve one of three tables outside for dining if you would like. 

The ship had a modern work out room. The treadmills had TV’s to keep you busy. Doing laps on the deck would be a little more tedious I think because it was either 16 or 20 laps to a mile.  (I am typing this part of my log from the ship Celebrity ship Horizon and 7 laps is a mile on top.) There is a full spa and staff to match. The spa menu reads like any exotic European or Asian type. There are packages and ala carte prices for these.

Cabins were a spacious 192 sq feet. There was a sleeping area with king beds  that can be separated into twins. All suites had a fancy shower system. It had a normal removable shower head as well as 2 lower body shower heads.  Maureen wanted to take the shower home with us. The bathroom was stocked with very fine Bvlgari shampoos, bath gels, body lotions and hair conditioners. Next to bedroom was a living area with a  stereo, DVD player and flat screen TV.  When we checked in we requested their complimentary MP3 player with 170 hours of music.  Maureen used this with head phones by the pool. We also had the ships communication officer bring hook up some speaker wires to play in the room.  The ship also had many CD’s and DVD’s you can borrow as well as good library. Also if you wanted to sleep on the deck you could reserve king size bed made up for you on the bow complete with awning if you wish.  There was a note on some of the nights saying reserved for Mr & Mrs xxxx. It was complete with pillows comforter and blanket.  You were not completely private but you were removed from other parts of the ship.

There was internet connection available in the room for $25 per day as well as in the library. You paid on the honor system in the library  of $5 for the first 10 minutes and then $3 for the second 10 minutes.  I believe most people exaggerated their time verse cost as ship’s personal didn’t seem to have an issue with this.  In fact, I am even surprised there was a charge for this. On my cruise on the Horizon listed on this web site I found the internet charge ridiculous and did not use it.

Back to the trip. 

August 7^th:

We departed  at 4PM from JFK on Luftunsa  to Franfort switching to Nice after a 2 hour layover.  We are on an airbus 330 with seats configured 2 -4 – 2.  Sitting on the two side with someone you know is not horrible.  The accommodations are basic. The leg room was not good. Flying to London on American’s  777 last year was much better.  I took an ambient pill and had a series of 30 minute naps for the few hours dozing off here and there  Dinner and the snack on board were passable and over all we would give our flight a rating of below average because of the seating size and the fact one can not open a screen on a notebook computer and keep it up all the way when the seat in front of you was reclined..   I would like to note we had to fly Lufthansa because we had been ticketed on United to Moab Utah. United had us eat $100 per ticket but allowed us to book this flight on their system when we switched trip plans.  I am not a fan of taking the late day or evening  flights to Europe because one can feel out of it on arrival verse the day flights offered.  The rest of the trip was routine. A 2 hour layover before Nice then  a 25 minute taxi ride to Monaco. (I had a helicopter reservation for the 7 minute trip to Monaco  but the chopper just took off and it did not pay to wait 20 minutes for the next one when the taxi would get us there in 25 minutes. So much for our classy entrance to the glamorous municipality. 

Monaco  Morning arrival 8/8 our 22 anniversary.

After check in we took a taxi to the Oceanographic center.  There we walked around the aquarium in the basement and then saw the exhibits about it.  The building in my opinion is more impressive than what it has to offer. The fish tanks were nice to see but equal to any basic aquarium. The exhibits were mostly jarred specimens from many years ago. One exhibit I found interested was a copy of the first wooden sub used in the American Revolution war. This was a manual powered one man device. (during the war it met its objection and blew up a British ship. Unfortunately it sank as well.)  We had a bad lunch on the top floor and strolled a few blocks until we got a cab  back to the Hotel Columbus for about 4 hours of sleep before our extravagant dinner.

A First Class Evening in Monte Carlo

Monaco is posh and a little over the edge so it made sense to listen to a recommendation for dinner at the Louis XV. A 3 star Michelin rated place. Louis XV is run by the famous Chef  DuCasse. He also has a place in Paris as well as in NYC at the Essex House. 

We were recommended to have drinks at the bar /lobby first.  This turned into a real experience.  The bar / lobby was mobbed with famous people, models, Dukes, etc..We were elbow to elbow with Monaco’s and Europe’s "beautiful people".

We thought something was different when over a 100 people were behinds barricades opposite the hotel and our hotel driver was stopped before we went through the narrow street near the circle there to make sure we were the not rift - raft.  Anyway it was face to face in fancy Champaign, bellini's, and very expensive wines.  The ladies in the lobby were dripping with more jewels than one can see at an academy awards ceremony. The gowns Maureen said were amazing.  Some were cut as low as you can get, some gowns flowed around them keeping their man of the day busy from not getting the dress stepped on.  There were also more nips and tucks of every type on both men and women (Sort of made the Hampton set look like poor group)  The men looked fabulous. Tuxedos that were of all types. There faces and hair had as much  polish as their shoes. There were even a few guys with red, white and blue medals their tuxes.  As the book said about Monaco, ladies were with their gigolos and the men were with their younger mistresses. People inside were shooting pictures of various people and then at 8:45 the placed cleared out to the crowds and some TV cameras.  Maureen & I took our Bellinis and went outside with them just to see the scene. 

They all took off in there various vehicles; some had chauffeured stretch Mercedes Benz’s, some Rolls and Bentley’s.    I appreciate European exotic cars more the average person but it gets a little old when the front was getting clogged with one $150K Ferraris after another. It was like Chevy’s in a K-Mart.  It was the brand new $250K plus Lamborghini’s that got some eyes along with the Ferrari F-50. We thought we saw a rare F-100.    If you are into cars I actually saw my first Mayfair on the street.  This is the new $500K Rolls Royce style car made by Mercedes. We later from our business acquaintance that recommended the place that tonight was the annual Red Cross gala and it is “the” event in Monte Carlo and perhaps Europe.

Once the commotion died down we headed back inside to dine.  The Louis XV has a nice room.  The food was great.  I had a hot seafood appetizer. I have never had a variation of seafood so tender and tasty that melted in your mouth.   The bread cart also made its rounds by us a few times because there was so many things to choose from.  Maureen had a warm vegetable appetizer in the sauce that she could have licked the plate for. My main course was a spit roast turbot. ( two flaky pieces of white fish on a bed of crab meat with heated greens over it). Maureen had a veal and truffle sauce dish.  Maureen loved the cheese cart.  She picked out several cheeses with the help of the waiter.  Deserts were wonderful.  I had their rum cake. What I liked about this is that I got to pick and taste the 15 year aged rum before they poured it over the individual piece baked for me. Maureen had a combination of sorbets, ice-cream and apricots.   The gave us 2 glasses of vintage sauterne with desert that was smooth, sweet and refreshing because when the captain checked on our meal Maureen noted the veal was a bit tuff (The only down side to the evening).  The service was first class all the way.  It seemed they fussed over us just enough to make us very happy, but not too much in our face. Maureen made some observations that when you took a glass or silverware off your table they would put  in on a piece of furniture to the side. Then they would go get a silver tray, put that one piece on and bring it into the kitchen.  The other thing Maureen liked was the matching mini hassock that was for her purse. (one does not put their pocket books or purses on the floor in 3 star Michelin place)

After dinner we headed for the old grand casino across the circle.  They charge you 10E (about $11.30)  to get in for the right to play.  Inside we were disappointed. I had this grand fantasy to play baccarat just like James Bond did in the movie against Goldfinger.  While the building is very stately and old the gaming is boring. Some slot and poker machines, Euro roulette and some black jack with high stakes.  Drats, Goldfinger will have another day as there was no baccarat in this place that I can see!  We took a long mile walk at midnight down the hill to the main seaport and checked out a couple of clubs full of young people. From there a taxi back to the room.

Saturday August 8th

Breakfast at the Columbus was excellent. Good bread, pastries, fruit and juices.  Afterwards we got a taxi to take us to the palace area where we walked around for about a 1/2 day.  We saw the local version of the changing of the guard which was very regal and then went into the palace for a tour.  This was a nice tour using audio machines.   Afterwards we went into the  Napoleon Museum owned by the Prince.  If you are into this type of history then the 20 or 30 minutes spent here are OK.  From here walked across the square and into the old town getting some trinkets and a snack.  The old town  has the church where you can see all the past kings and princes interned. You also see Princess Grace cement slap with fresh flowers on them. We then headed down hill to the lower part of town searching for a taxi. After walking several blocks we headed for the train station and called one.  From here we went back the hotel to get our luggage and then on to the ship.   The  

Sea Dream Boarding 3:30 and first day:

We boarded Sea Dream 2 and were greeted with Champaign, drinks and hor’doerves. After unpacking we headed to 7PM cocktail reception where the cruise director came out on a segway telling us about the upcoming week. A segway is a neat way to get someone’s attention when you speak.  Dinner on the ship was excellent. We had lots of attention and very good food and drinks.  Maureen & I sat by ourselves for 4 of the nights. Other nights we shared dinner with fellow shipmates.  After dinner we learned that the ship was not going to Cannes until 6AM so Maureen & I left the ship at 11:30 PM and made our way to the Sun Casino where we heard there is baccarat.  Goldfinger I thought would not get another day away from me!  We also heard like the first place to make sure you wear a jacket and take your passport to get in.  Anyway, there were no taxis to be called on our part of the dock so we walked about 1 1/2 miles in the warm air until we found the casino.  There I was naively thinking I would be the underdressed guy in the simple sports jacket (with tie in the pocket just in case I need to dress up) When we got there the guards were letting in everyone wearing just about anything.  Plenty of T-shirts and jeans.  No white jacketed gentlemen here going "caard or no caard" like in the big scene in the movie.  Worse; there was no even baccarat to be played!  Drats again as Goldfinger slips away another day.  The good news was that at least we did not have to pay to get in.  I thought of playing a little craps with the “commoners” but the odds were horrible compared to the way they play it in Vegas.  With wallet no richer or poorer we made our way to the front door this time getting in a taxi and back to the yacht. As we were about to head call it a night  we passed the piano bar with 2 couples singing along. One of the them talked us into staying for a few tunes while Maureen had a couple of glasses of Champaign & I had a Kettle One raspberry martini.  Sleep came at 2 AM.

Sunday Cannes:

Sunday we awoke to the with in a small cannon shot of Cannes.  After a nice breakfast we boarded the tender and strolled the town.  I previously copied the Formers book on Cannes so we had an idea on what to do for a few hours.  We got off the tender and headed to the farmers market in the middle of town. Maureen & I like to see how local people do their shopping for things and in Europe people head to markets like these for the freshest fish, cheese, meat, poultry and flowers. (the pictures of the market can speak of freshness)  After the market we walked down the main shopping street and strolled around to the other side of the town on the beach. This street had all the designer boutiques.  (most stores were closed)  After  3 hours of being here and getting baked by the hot sun we asked one of the ski boats on the beach to take us direct to the boat. I figured a taxi from one end of the town to the dock would be about the same price.  It seems they never brought anyone to a ship before and price was just a tip to the driver.  When we got back the Sea Dream they had not seen anyone get off a private boat as we took the watchmen by surprise.  Not a big deal over all but the ski boat did save us time in the 95+ degrees.   Lunch was shrimp cocktail that I cut up in to a salad and mussels in a yellow garlic wine sauce with a couple of fork fulls of a mango pudding  cake. I could have ate  3 of these deserts but I would rather save the calories for a  mixed drinks drink or two while I start to type  this log.  Even yesterday at dinner I showed restraint by only eating 2/3 of my soufflé with half the vanilla bean sauce.  (Hey, sometimes you have to not give in to everything.

After getting back from Cannes we floated in the bay for the afternoon as this was a "water toy" afternoon.  For 2 hours they let you play on banana boats, kayaks. peddle kayaks and wave runners (jet skis). You can use their laser sail boat and even water ski if you wish.   I went on the wave runner twice and Maureen & I peddled on the kayak for a bit also. After 2 hours when all the toys were out of the water they threw out a 50 foot line with floats for anyone that wanted to swim off the stern.  The water temp was about 80's and felt great. The weather here was very hot so it was a good soak. 

Guests  on board  seemed to be laid back.  Many people were happy to sit and get served at the pool while others were napping and reading.  There is one family get together to celebrate a grandma's birthday.  We are told that there are 44 Americans with the rest Brits, some French a few Italians and some people from one of the Norwegian countries. 

At 11:30 PM we weigh anchor (I have no clue why they call it weigh anchor other than the dam things weighs a lot) for the 6 hour cruise to Calvi in Corsica.   

Dinner was a wonderful Cesear’s salad and perfectly broiled lobster tail.

Monday:  Calvi, Corsica

We approached Calvi around breakfast time.  It is a very commanding town from the see from the water approach.  The original section dates back to the 1200’s and it was here that Christopher Columbus was allegedly born. (there is a plaque with his bust and dates he lived.

Today we decided to take the typical bus tour. It was about 4 hours and it gave us a good flavor of what the NW section of Corsica is like. Calvi has 5000 people living here. It swells to 50K  in the summer.  The bus turned inland almost immediately after leaving town and drove through a few mid evil villages. Of the 3 stops the first one was at the town where we saw a church from the 1700’s.  We had several minutes to look around, take a picture and move on.  The tour guide mentioned a little used church across the street that was from around 1600.  When everyone got back on the bus I noticed the door opened at this Church and went in for  quick peak and a picture. .  This was less restored and simpler overall. Not being Catholic I did not understand the differences but felt this was more worthy to see of the two.  We headed back on the bus driving by villages built on the tops of hills or higher points on the landscape. We passed Zima which bottles waters for sale all over the world were told Israel is a big customer.  We  stopped at small family owned an olive oil company. It was complete with “George” the donkey who is used for turning the mill that crushes the olives. We are told he only does one pressing of olives in the room where the retail store is during the non pressing season.  In olive oil language this means “cold pressed virgin olive oil”.  We are also told most places use electric presses. To be honest with you, the only reason we stopped here is either because the bus was able to make a stop because the road allowed him or the guide gets a cut of what people buy or most likely both. I was a little frustrated because there were a few villages we drove by I would have liked to have stopped but it was “not on the plan” or there was no place big enough to put our 30 passenger bus of which there was about 15 on board.

Next we headed for a 3 minute photo stop of  Calvi Bay. We were about 15 miles southeast and about 1000 feet up Calvi and the view was great.  The highlight of the bus tour was a stop at the old village on a the peak of a small mountain.  . The bus had to climb the thin road where we parked by the church and were brought into a family place for local finger foods and tastes of the wine the family made. There was a sampling of sheep cheese (there are 150,000 sheep on the island), sausage, bread and cured ham. Then there was their wine. The red and white reminded me of something made in Canada. The red was pretty retched. The white was generic.  Where they excelled I thought was the fresh pressed grape juice that the son made that morning. It was unfiltered and not pasteurized with lots of flavor.  Grapes grow all year here so they press them all the time.  The other wine worth mentioning that they make here is the Muscat. This was not a bad desert wine for the price.  We were given about 40 minutes to climb up into this small town.  There are no streets as the paths are only 4 to 6 feet wide. In some cases to climb up to the top you had to go through 10 or 15 foot tunnels which were under peoples apartments.  Occasional you would see an open door of someone’s residence and take a fast peak at their simple furnishings and pictures. There was no air conditioning so people had to rely on the Mediterranean breezes.  On odd device I noticed on the side of a house was what I would call an all terrain wheel barrow.  I guess it is used to get your heavier things or even bags of groceries up though the steep narrow ways. It was about the size of the wheel barrow but had the traction of an army tank. Leaving the village it  was all down hill. It is amazing to Americans that people still live (with exception of flush toilets and electric) the same way in this village as they did perhaps 700 years ago. 

After our return, lunch was topside as usual.  What was really nice was the view of the walled city as well as the yachts that you can see.  One highlight during lunch was us watching a 140 foot 3 masted American style schooner with all the sails up including her top sails pass with in 100 feet of our bow and execute a perfect 180 turn and reverse course smoothly while passing our bow again.  You can see the captain maneuver this yacht like it was a small sunfish sail boat.  The captains sailing skills impressed everyone who saw it and the picture I took of it crossing in front us with the walled village behind it will be a new addition to my screen savers. (copies can be emailed at no charge to anyone that wants it.) After a nap it was water toys at 2PM. Today there was a small wait on the wave runner because one of them was broken. The wait was not too bad as there were the German guests who like myself could not wait to get there hands on it.  In the bay at Cannes I practiced my 180 degree in place turn on the wave runner and was not able to get it. Today I came pretty close to that type of spin with a near miss in getting throw off.   We will back at water toys in two day in Sardinia.  At 4PM when the water skiing is over and people had their fill of banana boat rides and wake boarding they threw out the line to swim off the stern again.  There was a slight current that changed directions so we were able to only stay for about 45 minutes. The Sea Dream water sports crew always keep a large Zodiac out there to keep other boats away and help people that got to far from the boat or too tired to swim back. The water sports crew can also be the ships doctor, piano player, guest service person or casino manager.

After water sports and our swim, Maureen & I headed to the shopping street of Calvi to get trinkets for us and the kids. I usually refer to this section of a trip as “helping the local economy”. Dinner was excellent as usual but we rushed desert so Maureen & I could get back to our cabin to change into shorts  as it was another hot night.  This time we had less than an hour to climb to the top of the village and get back for the last tender at 11PM.   We did not want to go during the day when the sun beat down at 95 degrees.  Also  we wanted a different perspective of what the place looks like dimly lit at night.  We hiked up the steep streets along the fortified wall passing the Columbus memorial plaque. The hike up the top took us on spiral road with a view of the harbor where we got a night picture of the Sea Dream 2.  At the top there was a Church and a few simple places to eat. From there we took pictures of the narrow and low lighted alley ways, narrow streets and tunnels under people’s residences.  We made our way down via the other side from where we got a view of all night life of the harbor and the people shopping on the main street.  This path met the original path at the walled gate.  It was another 2 minute walk to where the tender was waiting for us as we were the only ones off the ship.   All in all this was a pleasant after dinner trek.  We were back at the piano bar having a drink and sharing stories of the day and evening with a few other passengers. 

Tuesday: Bonifiasco:

Because James the cruise director told us the morning entrance to old city was spectacular we set the watch to be up and out by 8AM.  On the front deck we met another couple as the Sea Dream 2 passed up the main entrance to the harbor in order to give us an impressive look at the back side of Bonifascio.  From the approach the captain took we passed a large cave called Napolean’s Grotto.  This is cave about 50 feet high, 80 feet deep and probably 50 feet wide.  From here we headed to the base of the cliff where we can see the mostly 2 story buildings literally hanging on to the cliffs..  (later we would go into a couple of these that were shops).  We learned one building actually fell off the cliff killing 2 people between 10 and 20 years ago.  It was easy to see how this little city was protected from the various invading forces of the past1500 years ago. After viewing the back of town the ship turned around to enter the narrow harbor entrance and eventually docked next to the walled side of the city by the ferry dock.  The Sea Dream also locked  in a beautiful 85 foot ocean going sailing yacht.  Once docked Maureen & I headed into town via a small staircase not far from the ship.  This staircase was buried in the middle of  town and cut out the time needed to walk up on the road that spiraled up the hill and around.  The staircase and narrow passage was almost always shaded and gave us the feeling we were sneaking into town. The nice thing is that it leaves you by the tourist office where we were able to get a good map with descriptions and brief history on some of the places we either stopped by of went into.  This town is well laid out, very scenic and dates back to over 1600 years.   After finding Napoleon Bonaparte Square (he was born here) we headed to a very old unused Church for a look.  We then weaved up and down the streets sticking our noses in the various shops or churches.  Eventually we made our way to the corner of the town where the original fortification is.  From here you cross the now secured draw bridge to make your way to the harbor, marina and shops.

Our next goal was to find the part of the harbor I read about that gives tours of the hidden grotto.  To get there we headed down the hill and walked passed the many boats and yachts in narrow marina to the end of the harbor.  From there we found a few tour companies all anxious to take us (and usually 25 others) on a 50 minute boat ride. (the fee is listed at E12 per person but if you say something about the price it immediately goes to E10 each.)  If you do this trip just pick the next boat going out with a seat you like.    We wanted to sit on the seats on the bow looking straight out.  NOTE: Take a hat and sun block so you do not roast on the ride out and back.  The ride took us from the back of the harbor past the small private sail and motor boats  as well as some mega yachts eventually passing the Sea Dream.  We headed out about 15 minutes until we saw an opening in the rocky wall a little wider than the boat we were on. Here we slipped into a grotto with a partial collapsed ceiling. The grotto itself was not much over 300 to 350 feet around with a ceiling of about 75 feet or so. The round hole in the roof was about 30 feet across.  There were stalactites hanging on the ceiling in various places.  The boat did a round circle inside the grotto lasting only a few minutes and it was out the same entrance we came in on.  After leaving the grotto the boat headed to a very pretty place called smugglers cove. Here the water was a cross of a beautiful blue – green with visibility to the boulders and rocks on the bottom. This little cove was protected by 2 islands and had several small boats enjoying the beaches and water around it. The last leg of this voyage was to the back of Bonifacio where the Sea Dream went as well as sticking the bow in the Napoleon grotto.

We were back at the dock at 1:30 parched and hungry with a 15 minute walk back to the ship for that  “swill and grub” they serve.  That afternoon was spent lounging on the rear deck  enjoying an occasional fruity cocktail, doing some reading and then organizing my digital  pictures I took from the last few days.  The best part of our location was the parade and show of yachts.  Just when you thought you saw a beautiful $1 million dollar boat, a $2 million and  $3 million one would sail past. They were trying to jockey for a position at one of the slips to be part of the see and be seen sect here.  The harbor here is protected by cliffs on the opposite side of the high walls and cliffs of the town side. It is almost fjord like. The problem with this area is that it is narrow. You usually see rows of boats and yachts and tour boats heading down the right side getting in and then you see other boats trying to get out on the opposite side.  Once in a while a mega yacht makes the seen and is forced to just stay in place and wait for a spot by the harbor master.  At one time we had a beautiful white yacht pull to 20 feet off our port side and just float by adjusting it a little up back or left to stay out of traffic and not on top of us. This yacht was about 150 feet long with no more than 8 passengers getting off and crew of as many people answering to the whims of their needs or the maintenance of the boat.  At one point we noticed traffic back up with no one going out and boats waiting to get in.  What we found out was that another mega yacht was pulling out from its slip and with it being so tight by the marina area and having some many small maneuvers nothing could get by until it was out.

Segway:  At 3PM it was our turn to try the segway.  A segway is that new 2 wheeled device that transports you around using computers and gyros so you do not fall.  Sea Dream for $50 offers you the chance to try this in the parking lot by the pier for 45 minutes.  It is a weird sensation being on two wheels and not having to concentrate on you balance so much.  Maureen took to it immediately. I think I was looking into it a little too much. Basically, you lean on your toes and it goes forward. Lean back on your heals and it goes backward.  There is a little handle grip that you turn left or right to turn. There is no brake to stop. You just lean backwards.  Jason was running this session. He had cones set up to practice our weaving in an out.  Once you get good this thing can climb curbs.  I can see this device being a big hit once the price comes down.

After another fine  dinner on board Maureen & I decided to pass on the movie being showed out doors on the pool deck and head into town to see the shops, bars, ice cream places on one side of the street and the yachts and boats on the other side.  When we walked off Sea Dream 2 we were treated to a pretty scene of the old village above us lit up.  We walked past one yacht after the other and then walked into the local aquarium. This was a room about 50 feet long and 20 feet wide housing fish tanks with all of the local fish.  I would not go out my way to see this place, but with not much to do and a curiosity on the local sea life we checked it out.  Afterwards we stuck our head into the local club B-52 to see how the locals dance it up followed by a walk to the end of the harbor in search of a good place to take a night digital photo of the entire marina with the walled city in the back ground.(the photo came out great).  At 11:15 we headed were back at the ship.  We took out a DVD movie and called for room service of pizza and popcorn. We were going to have them bring up Champaign just because we can, but there are only so many glasses of the stuff you can have in an evening.  Room service was included in the deal on this ship.  The thing people were doing was ordering drinks and caviar with their movie.    Overall our two stops in Corsica were very nice  The island is very diverse and I can see why people can make a week of this place. 

Wednesday: Porto Cervo  Sardinia,

Yesterday we were told that if we were impressed with all of the yachts in Calvi and Bonifascio we hadn’t seen anything yet.  Today was going to be a short day in this affluent man made town as the next day we would have to be in Sorrento on the mainland.

We were advised last tender was 3:30 but it was also our last day for water sports and swimming off the stern marina deck.   There was not a lot to do here.  There was an expensive trip to some very fancy hotel near by and the use of their beaches.   Maureen & I opted for the tender into the town. The good news is that there was a tram that gave you a tour of the entire area that could not have been walked around due to the  size of the port.  We were told on this 1 hour tour that Porto Cervo is the hub and main settlement of the Emerald Coast. It was started by a rich man as a  hang out for other rich and rich and famous especially among the yachting set.  There were over 600 moorings in this place but many of the yachts had to anchor out because of either size or because there was no space.  The other two things this place is known for is very expensive shops and condos..

We were happy to be back at the boat before 1PM and then on the wave runner and swimming.  Our opinion on this port of call was that we could have done better. In looking at the map it seems Sardinia has what may be over 200 beaches.  We thought that it would have been better to shuttle us to a quiet beach for the day. 

Thursday:  Sorrento (Pompeii)

This was going to be a long day for us. Maureen & I were looking forward to Sorrento because we wanted to see ruins of Pompeii. To be brief, this is the Italian city that was completely covered by volcanic ash in 79AD. It is the most perfectly preserved place in the world of its type.  There are even plaster casts of people that died that were covered up.  You can almost see the expression on some of them as they probably choking to death from the ash or poisonous fumes.

To get to Pompeii we decided to pass on the $90 bus tour that was going to last about 4 hours. It meant missing  a nice ride down the coast via deluxe bus, but the tour would have been only 90 minutes.  We took the tender into town and caught the courtesy bus shuttle up the hill and was dropped off at the train station.  Jordan,  the piano player, told us the trains run about every 30 minutes and are easy to take. We got our round trip ticket for what was less than $4 each and hopped on the train. 35 minutes later we were at the front gate of the Pompeii.  Here we bypassed the tour guides hocking their service for the 90 minute tours and got the audio machine and went in our own using their map and a good book a friend lent us. The audio machine was excellent. It was a voice chip so when you got to a place of interest you would punch in the number at the front and listen along while you were there. At times they had sub categories to a place. There included talking about what the people ate, how the water and sewers worked or details on the eruption among other things.  This was a good deal with E9 for the two of us. Also, we did not have to hear someone with either bad English or perhaps was a little off in his history. To make a long story short, we spent 5 hours there and saw two thirds of the place. If you want the fast version going with a guide at the gate is fine, if you want to see it your way the audio guide is very good.   One thing to note to fellow travelers here is that we took a break after roasting almost 2 hours in the hot sun by the front gate.  Outside the front gate were vendors with seats and tables selling frozen freshly squeezed orange juice and lemonade. We are talking about a slurpee with out sugar and food coloring. Just juice and some ice. The fresh OJ was frozen and swirling around. (I can still taste it 4 weeks later while I editing this log)  The brochette pizza was not bad either.  After this we attacked the ruins for another 90 minutes until we were nearly burnt out ourselves.  Then it was back to the train, a quick stroll down from the station to the square where the shuttle took us with a quick stop for Maureen to buy a hand made inlaid wood tray.  We met other friends from the ship at the dock and waited for the tender. Once aboard we took drinking to a two handed approach. Maureen had bottled water in one had and bubbled water in the other. I had a rum fruit drink in my left hand and a water in the other.  All in all it was an interesting and long day.  Dinner that night was Italian style and all outdoors.  The upper and pool deck had tables and people were spread out all over. The waiters also dressed in stereotypical red and white striped shirts with red bandanas.  The food was good and the theme was cute.  Instead of having the house wine we splurged and bought a 99 Chianti Classico to go with dinner.  The Sea Dream 2 has over 1000 bottles for sale for those that do not want to drink their house wine.

Friday: Capri

This morning our port of call was the island of Capri.  We were advised that the ship is not allowed to use their tenders or water sports boats and wave runner because the harbor is “controlled”.   Anything that floats has to be used from the island.  This morning we signed on for the Green Grotto tour.  While the price seemed steep at $63, we were told there would be advantages to this.  At 8:45 AM a 25 foot tender pulled up and took 6 of us to the grotto while piloting the craft past the steep cliffs of Capri.  After 15 minutes we saw a small line of people on the steps near a very small hole. There was a similar size boat with about 25 people on it floating near it as well as 3 very small dinghies with an oarsman in the center.  What happened next was interesting and definitely something you would not see in the U.S. where litigation takes away a lot of the fun.  From our comfy boat 4 of the 6  of us transferred to wooden dinghy perhaps 8 feet long with no seats and no life jackets. I think they would not give life jackets mostly because they would not fit 4 of us  in the boat with if we put them on.   First two of our shipmates went in and were told to sit on the floor cuddled next to each other. Originally the guide wanted three of us but not wanting to go separate from Maureen he took 4 of us.  I was told to sit in tightly between our shipmates on the floor and lean into their chests. Maureen sat on the floor on the other side.  We realized that we  were going to go through the hole after we went to the floating ticket counter near it.  This guy rowed us about 20 feet to the hole and then had us all lean back into each other including himself as we pulled a chain because he could not stand and row either.  We squished into each other for about 15 seconds and came out on the inside of this dark cave that had height of about 60 feet.  In the grotto we  paddled  a few minutes. The place was about 150 yards around and 60 feet deep. There was a cave pointed out to us that went back about 1000 feet.  When we got inside he started to paddle about singing some Italian tune while we looked around.  What makes this grotto unique is its blue green color of the water that comes in from the hole we entered. The light from the entrance where the boat squeezed in is minimum.   The water is what is glows.    While he was busy getting us in and out of the place I was able to shoot off about 8 pictures using only the digital set on a speed of 1/8 and 1/15^th of a second.  Four of the pictures were amazing and actually gives you a feel of the place.  There is no way this would have worked with film.  When we came out our oars man took the other two people on our tender inside with one heavy guest from another boat.  Being that we were the first boat inside we were not actually able to see how tight the boat and people on it fit in.  I remember the top of the hole being no more than several inches from my head. What we saw from the other dinghy was the boat having perhaps 6 inches of room on either side to make it in.  Later I read that the place is obviously closed when the seas are rough and that you are allowed to swim in it but should be very cautious on changing conditions.  If the waves kick up it would get ugly not only getting out but inside as well.  If anyone wants to do the grotto with out the ship making the arrangements you can do it two ways. The easy way is go to the town dock and pay E9 for a boat with 25 other people taking you to the grotto. When you get to the grotto you then can wait a couple of hours on a crowded day to get your turn to get in. You also have to pay about another E5 to get in  If time is limited, then do the tour from the ship.

After the tour we went to town. taking one the famous topless taxis.  It seems all taxis, whether cars or minivan have there roofs cut off and a little cloth top put to keep the sun off you.  The mini van was not your typical daddy wagon and was fun a fun ride up to the town of Capri.  There we walked the main street and down to the other side of the island taking in the beautiful views and pretty walk on the narrow street.  We made our way back up the hill and back in the throngs of people. We were told that this weekend being the biggest holiday of the year can have as many as 60,000 people on this 4 mile by one mile island.  For the way down we took the vernacular, bought some gelato and headed back to the boat for lunch and then  hung out by the pool to relax.  For our last night we made a reservation for a table outside while the boat headed to Rome. After dinner Maureen packed and we headed out to say good buy to people, walk about the deck and have a last drink and dance at the piano bar.  Jordon learned how to pay “Just the Two of Us” from our wedding. It was the last song of the week and we closed down the bar around midnight.

Saturday:  Rome

We share a cab with a nice couple from Miami who are staying near the Intercontinental at the Spanish steps..  We also invited them to join us with our private guide Peter Kilby for a tour of ancient Rome. Peter met us at the Intercontinental Hotel by the Spanish Steps at 11:15 AM.  We  locked in a half day tour visiting San Clemente, walking by the Colisseum, going through the Forum and stopping by the church with the Michelangelo that is near the Forum.  From there we toured the Domus Aurea with the sights guide.

This was one great day. We pushed ourselves and learned a lot about Rome. San Clemente was with out any doubts the big surprise hit for us.  It was amazing to actually walk on streets that were 2000 years old 75 feet below the surface.   We recommend Peter. In fact he will be seen some time in the next year on 6 PBS specials talking about different places.   For Peter’s information  and how to hire him you can email me at the address on the web site.

That night after dinner Maureen and I strolled the area around the Spanish Steps and hung out on them with the other tourists before retiring.  The next day before our flight we had a quick breakfast at a corner store and walked to the famous fountains where you toss coins in.  After that it was off the airport and home.

What a great trip!