June 11-12, 2011 – days 16 and 17 (Two Sea Days)

               We were scheduled for Kotor, Montenegro on Saturday, June 11.  Our ship’s anchor was dragging because of the heavy winds, so we could not stop there.  I was disappointed because I wanted to see many cats roaming freely there.  People feed them and they are tame. We saw a few in Croatia, but I was looking forward to seeing a lot of them.  I am a cat lady, it appears.  We went back to bed after the announcement that the ship could not anchor, and I can’t even remember the rest of the day!  I think I went to the casino later, but don’t tell Joseph.

That evening, we had a reservation for dinner in the Pinnacle Grill, a fancy restaurant that costs more, but in our case was part of “the package.”  For some reason, this day did not even make an entry into the journal.  I remember that the food was good, but that’s about it.  We met up with Brian and Janine and played Mexican Train most of the evening.

On Sunday, June 12, (our scheduled Sea Day) Our friends, Brian and Janine, had booked a cabana at the very top front of the ship.  There was a private butler, comfortable chairs, and sunbathing lounges.  The only problem was – remember the ship could not anchor because of the wind yesterday?  Well, that wind was still with us that day!  Everything was flying everywhere, coke cans and napkins and, especially the travel size dominoes that we used to play Mexican Train!  They blew down to the point that we could not play at all.  We stayed up there and had our catered lunch, enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and blue ocean, then we all went down to the somewhat shielded smoking deck and began to play!  We played until about 3:30 PM, then parted ways to begin the arduous task of packing two hundred pounds of stuff into three 50-pound suitcases.  Every expando zipper was expanded and every carry-on and backpack was loaded past the point of no return! 

We had to go down and pick up our picture package!  There must be 3,467,392 glossy eight-by-ten color photographs in that pile!  In addition, they gave us a flash drive with all the pictures made of us AND a huge photo album with Holland America emblazoned on the front.  This was another at least twenty pounds to stuff in – somewhere.  I also had to pick up the certification for my 75^th birthday present that I had bought myself and for the bracelet I purchased for my friend.  She was supposed to go on the cruise with us, but her husband was ill, and they could not make it.  She asked me to pick her out something special to remember the “almost trip” by.  They were having a drawing for a diamond necklace that evening and the salesperson who sold me my ring gave me about thirty tickets, but, alas, I did not win.

               We went back to our room with our newly acquired loot and pile-drove it into suitcases.  We went to dinner to say bye to our dinner tablemates.  Our server made me another napkin flower – a rose.   We found out that one couple who had not been joining us for the past 5 days were part of the COVID crowd and were in quarantine.  What a bummer!!!   (But we did get notification that evening, that we did not have to have COVID test to return to the USA!)  We then went back up to the favorite smoking deck to say bye to our new friends, Brian and Janine.  That part was sad.  We had had such fun with them.

               We returned to our stuffed room to put all our luggage outside our door before midnight.  Magical fairies will pick it up (if they can) and fly it away to the awaiting dock in Trieste, Italy.

That part was a bummer, too.  We were originally to dock in Venice on Sunday, June 12, be allowed in Venice all day, go back to the ship, and disembark on Monday, June 13.  That would have given us two whole days more in Venice.  Luckily, we had reserved a hotel for the 13^th and 14^th, so at least we get half of the 13^th, and all day the 14^th to see Venice.  Venice changed their rules and are not allowing cruise ships in their port any longer.  Cruise ships must dock in Trieste, about 2 hours from Venice. 

June 13, 2022 through June 16, 2022 Days 18-21

            June 13 was disembarkation day. At some time during the night, we had landed in Trieste, Italy. We woke up early, had breakfast and sat in our room awaiting the alert to leave the ship. We badged out for the last time and went to the dock where piles and piles of luggage sat – most of it ours. We each had our backpacks, and I had a bag of fragile things that I trusted to no one.

We found our stack and after a few minutes of “typical Joseph” marching around the place looking for a cart, trying to carry it all (because he always wants to be in control) – a nice young man with a huge cart came over and loaded up all our luggage, our backpacks and even my fragiles. We walked a good piece to the bus that the cruise line had arranged to take us to the city center. The cruise line had originally arranged to take everyone to the airport, but many of us were not going to the airport – we were staying in Venice. Venice was our original destination! After many requests to Holland America, they acquiesced and arranged for a city center bus, as well. Off we went. The drive is beautiful, much of it is along the shore and through some beautiful farm country with vineyards looking like postcards.

            We got to Venice and the bus took us to a huge bus lot and let us all off, along with the 500 pieces of luggage all of we old, fat people require. The driver left after having unloaded us – he did not understand the English we were all asking him about our location. And there we were. In the middle of a bus lot – no one knew where, except in Venice City Center- near a marina that has yachts, not water taxis. Everyone was frantic. No one could manage their own luggage (except Joseph, of course.) He went off trying to find a luggage cart, I tried to call Uber. There is no Uber in Venice.

Finally, three young women in high heels and Holland America White shirts came running across the parking lot. They were very apologetic and told us that the driver left us in the wrong place. The got another big bus, the driver loaded all our luggage, and we hopped on the bus! He drove about 15 minutes – it seemed like it was in circles-  and got to another parking lot the other side of the Marina. That is where the water taxis are! Then Joseph was huffing and puffing, again, trying to find a cart. He spied one and grabbed it and started pulling it toward me. A man came out and started yelling and asked if he could help. Joseph told him that he sure could, and the man went off and got a muscle-bound guy to come get all out stuff. The poor guy must pull the cart up hill to the boardwalk and then uphill again to get to the water taxi spot.

It appeared that all the water taxis were extremely busy. All these people had reservations! Our hauler told us that he has a friend that may be able to help us. After waiting about half an hour, the buddy came, and our hauler hauled all the luggage down the long ramp to the water taxi. They loaded us up first, then they loaded up all the luggage and off we went. It took about 30 minutes, but we could drive right up the sidewalk at our hotel. The hotel gentlemen came out immediately and help us out of the boat and get out luggage. They don’t blink an eye, but I am sure they were astounded by the amount of luggage we had. We paid the water taximan 80 Euros (about $95) for out little ride.

            The hotel people were so kind, they asked if there was some of it that they could store for us so that our room would not be so crowed.  A very polite way of saying, “Y’ALL GOT TOO MUCH STUFF!”  And,  I am sure that they don’t want to lug it all up two flights of stairs. The hotel is lovely, it is about six hundred years old and is decorated beautifully. Originally, it was the home to a very rich family. The public areas are so pretty. They must have had a professional decorator! I am adopting many of their ideas on my new screened in porch!

The only problem with the hotel was the bathroom. It was pink tile with a toilet and a bidet. The problem came in when you were taking a shower. It was about 20” x 20”. It was a hoot trying to “color within the lines,” especially since I had just had a new 7’ rain shower installed!   The ceilings were 12’ feet tall and the wallpaper was silk fabric and padded! I had never stayed in a padded room before!

The following day – June 14, was our only full day in Venice. We visited the St Mark’s Basilica, Marco Polo Square, the Rialto Bridge. I’m telling you; Venice is not a city for old people. You must climb every bridge and then go down the bridge to get from one place to another. We stayed in the main part of the city, but we must have climbed 500 bridges (some more than once). We learned quickly that Joseph really had the brunt of it all – carrying my rollator up and down the bridges! We got our Gondola ride one afternoon when I had just HAD IT! I could not climb another bridge; Joseph found a Gondolier and he took us back to our hotel. We had to pay the full fee (80 Euros) for half a ride, but it was worth it.

Before the point of exhaustion, we had been walking around and decided that we needed to get some more cash. Joseph put his debit card into an ATM and it ATE his card! Immediately, the fraud department called us and questioned him about the transaction and asked if he was under duress while trying to make the transaction. After assuring them he was just trying to get money, they said they would re-activate his card. Problemo! His card was inside the machine all shredded up! Joseph asked them to get on a plane and bring him another card – as the people at the bank did not have his debit card flagged that he would be in Italy – although it worked in Spain!!! It’s a good thing I also had a card!!! After that, Joseph thought he had lost his wallet, but after a few minutes, realized that it was in a different pocket of the many pockets his travel vest and his cargo pants have!!! It was an exciting hour or two!  Then, it was time to say goodbye to Venice.

            We quickly learned that we could not carry all our stuff in the three large suitcases that we had. Joseph had become friends with the owner of the hotel, Raimi, and told him of our dilemma. The only suitcase stores we had found had 200 Euro ones! We weren’t interested in that, we had 5 more suitcases at home for when we weren’t traveling light!  Raimi sent one of his guys to some place and got us a 45 Euro one! Granted, its wheels fell off, but it got our stuff home. We had 4 49.5-pound suitcases, two stuffed carry-ons and backpacks that made us slump.

Raimi told us that we needed to leave for the airport about 8 AM in order to make our 11:20 flight. It’s a good thing we took his advice. Our 130 Euro ride to the airport was nice and in a beautiful boat. Once we got to the airport, we had to have a luggage cart – it came with a handler – who loaded all the luggage and put it into a Mercedes-Benz van. This took us all the way to the check in desks. They unloaded our loot, loaded it onto a large cart and a handler took it all the way up to the counter where we were to check in. This was another 50 Euros. We got our baggage checked, she felt it was better for me to use my rollator to get to the gate and I was so glad I did. We were put to the head of several lines because of my rollator. Because of that, we got to the gate 20 minutes before we were to board. I had about 300 Euros left, and I wanted to shop at the airport duty-free shop. NO TIME. Barely was I able to get Joseph a cup of coffee. He had reached his duty saturation point.

            We got on our Delta airplane, settled back, and flew 9 hours non-stop back to Atlanta. Next time, our flight will be to Dothan. I thought I was saving money by driving to Atlanta and flying from there, but considering gas and hotel bills, – it would have been about the same and much less hassle.

            Day 21 was a drive to Chancellor AL from Atlanta GA. So happy to be home. Then came the cucumbers.