| Hanging around until 5.20pm was a waste of life no one will ever get back! Why is it you spend ages at the boring places on a tour and hardly any time at the interesting ones? Many of us (and from Pullmantur) just walked back to the garage we had been dropped off to wait. There may have been nowhere to sit and the toilets revolting but it was WARM and away from sea spray from the wind which was all important. Then we took the drive back to the tender. This time it was a boat but they had swapped our and Pullmantur's entrances around. It was confusing for both sets of passengers. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| I was sooooooooooo glad to get back onto the ship to defrost and detangle my hair. According to our guide it wasn't usually this windy, although it could be cold. We were due to up anchor at 8pm so I went up twenty minutes before and caught Princess Daphne sailing by. We began to move earlier than expected and gave three blasts but Sovereign was mute. She was leaving an hour later. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| After dinner it was the Captain's Welcome and the show. It was actually good for a Broadway-style. They actually had songs many had heard of instead of the occasional one and then obscure for the rest, from the likes of Andrew Lloyd-Webber to old stuff like Give My Regards To Broadway and 76 Trombones. Then it was bed. An early start the next day as we were in Genova and I had an excursion to Portofino. I'd ordered a room service breakfast for what turned out to be the only time this trip. I had wonderful breakfasts on Royal Caribbean and even Equinox and Eclipse and yet this was horrible. There was very little choice. I ordered two omelettes and received one omelette and one scrambled egg. When I went to the theatre to collect my sticker, I spotted MSC Lirica docking to popped out to the Prom deck afterwards since I had a bit of a wait. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Due to the weather we took the trip to Santa Margherita by bus instead of boat. A shame really, considering it wasn't as windy as it had been in Villefranche but at least it was warm. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Silver Spirit was anchored off Portofino. Lovely! I had no idea she'd be there, although I expected to see her in Barcelona the day we returned. Santa Magherita was a lovely little place and we were given twenty minutes free time while we waited for other groups, which included Portofino in it's excursion, to arrive. Then we boarded the boat and sailed around to the pretty little town. Unfortunately were were given two hours free time once we'd seen a little and some went off to the church. Why oh why do these excursions ALWAYS include a bloody church or cathedral??? As for the two hours, to do what??? Shops started to open around 10am, the time we were there. But everything was expensive. There's a lovely little bakery I bought breakfast from for two euros. The toilets were nice, even though you had to put a chain across the door because the lock was broken. Highlight of my day (besides leaving) was watching the tenders from Silver Spirit come and go as we were invaded by rich bastards in scruffy clothes. At least that relieved the boredom! Shame really none collided with the jetty but you can't have everything. Yes, that's just how bored I was. I suppose it's different if you're with someone but when you're on your own it's hell in gorgeous surroundings, time dragging. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| It was good getting back to the ship. Portofino is really nice but with all the tour groups became suffocating. As we drove through the port I spotted another MSC which hadn't been on the list. I texted Amy to ask and she said it was Sinfonia. Pam told me she was in dry dock. After a room service lunch of a grilled chicken sandwich with French fries and awful Nestle hot choclate, I went on deck for the 4pm sailings of Melody and MSC Lirica. I saw the top of something hidden away which I didn't realise at the time was Pacific, the first Pacific Princess, who was laid up having been arrested for an unpaid repair bill in July 2009. Melody left around 4:10pm. |
 |
 |
 |
| The outside door on Deck 11 had a broken hinge. They would put them together again but thanks to the wind, the door would be flung open so it was a pointless attempt at making things look fine. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Because of a dose of food poisoning from the room service lunch, I missed Lirica sailing. I went to the Captain's Club party in the Reflections Lounge. It was a shame really they're all the same, right down to the type of entertainment. I had no qualms about leaving after the speeches due to feeling so unwell. |
 |
 |
 |
| Guest Relations were very good sending a plumber to unblock the sink. At least they could see it was just food and not norovirus. I had a little rest then went on deck to get our departure at 7pm. Doris spotted me leaving and asked how I was. The warship Giuseppe Garibaldi was docking in place of Lirica and we left as she was almost tied up. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Then it was the show. Christopher Caress taught Paul McKenna and while this show was funny, you couldn't help shake the feeling it was fake. There ended up with four people on stage, supposedly under, two men and two women. Yet one of the men was clearly pretending. I mentioned it to him outside afterwards and he claimed the bloke was in 'alpha trance'. That must be gobbledegook speak for wide awake. Then dinner when only I turned up but at least was done in forty-five minutes. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
I'd finished the antibiotics the night before so I could finally hit the Martini Bar! One of the barmen was Larry, who was brilliant. There was a woman from New Jersey called Sandy who, despite saying her ex-husband and brother were called Larry, kept calling him Orlando! It was a fun night. |
 |
 |
 |
Morning was Livorno. Still windy and flipping cold. We followed Crystal Serenity in with Le Diamant, Ocean Princess, Norwegian Jade and Thomson Destiny bringing up the rear. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
I had chosen to do a canal tour of Livorno rather than the usual Pisa and Florence. We had to meet on the dockside and it was absolutely freezing cold with a bitter wind. Anyone would think it was the height of winter on this cruise! There were only thirty-three of us, but I don't know if that included Viola, our fantastic, hilarious guide who kept calling us siblings. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |