Sailing, Athens and Rhodes.

After Naples we had a day at sea before Athens. There were lots of activities such as the Sexy Legs competition by the pool which makes this a kind of floating Butlins holiday camp in my opinion. It was, needless to say, avoided by the Laings. The prize in the bingo was tempting to say the least - an upgrade to the Royal Suite - but at 32 dollars a ticket I figured some other sucker could win it.
Sea Days are also the formal evenings in the dining room. As the luggage was still being held hostage by Alitalia, Royal Caribbean had provided free tux hire for Sean. It was smart, of course, but wasn't the kilt! The food on board is really good and the escargots, duck and cheesecake didn't disappoint.
Athens, when we arrived was hot. A humid 33 degrees. We had been too late to book a tour so we did it ourselves and I'm really glad we did. Of course the Acropolis was heaving with humanity but we didn't have to stand around in a group listening to a tour guide and were able to stop when we wanted, eat when we wanted and generally please ourselves what we did. It was a fantastic day and I was able to add another Hard Rock Pilsner glass to my growing collection. I also bought myself a leather handbag.
We got a taxi back to the ship and the driver asked where we were from. When we said Scotland he said his son had been at Strathclyde University and they were over recently for his graduation! We were instantly his new best friends!
Back on board we were able to do the happy dance of the prodigal luggage! Sean can now change his clothes! As I mentioned earlier, missing luggage is a fairly common part of our travels but this time has really taken the proverbial biscuit!
Sean had booked the Portofino restaurant, one of the two speciality restaurants on board. As we sailed out of Piraeus we were seated beside the window and watched the sun go down over the Greek Islands as we dined. The food was fantastic and Ratko, our waiter from Serbia was very attentive and ready for a joke.
Today was a late start and we were able to sit on the balcony of our stateroom as we docked in Rhodes. We hadn't booked a tour as we thought we would just take it easy around the old town of Rhodes and do our own thing. It was very hot again but we weren't in a hurry and were able to sit in the shade when it got too hot to wander around.
Back on board it was cocktail time and on that note I will sign off. Sailing for Turkey as I type for a busy tour entitled 'Best of Antiquity'. Watch this space...