Abroad in Wales!: Mama Mia, Here We Go Again

We woke up the next morning fairly early where we were already docked at the island of Crete. We were only spending a few hours there so we put on our swimsuits and headed to the beach. Once again, the water was freezing so we just laid out our towels and just soaked

up the sun. After a little while we decided to brave the water. It took a while to get into it but once your body went numb it was alright. It certainly took your breath away! The water wasn't as rough as it was at Rhodes so we got to swim out fairly far. The water was so blue and incredibly clear! We could see the bottom of the sea and I estimated that it was about 25 feet below us. It was amazing! We didn't stay too long because it was so cold and the boat was leaving soon. We did go in

to some shops before we headed on the cruise ship but what was funny was that while we were in one shop, all three of us felt like the shop was rocking like it had been on the ship! I have never had that happen to me before, it was soooo weird! We took naps that afternoon before we landed at our last destination, the island of Santorini. There was no port for cruise ship to land at so we had to go to shore by tender boats. Once we had landed, there were charter buses to take us on our tour of the island. We we

re supposed to do the tour of the volcano and actually go swimming in it but for some reason it wasn't available when we arrived so we had to do the other excursion which ended up being pretty neat. We went to the town of Oia (pronounced ee-ah) where the entire place looked like it came from a postcard. All of the buildings were white with rounded roofs and even the footpaths were painted white. The island of Santorini is actually where Mama Mia was filmed as well as The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pa

nts. We stayed there for only a little while and then got on the bus for the last time where it dropped us off at the capitol of Santorini: Thira (pronounced th-ee-ah). The sun was setting and it was getting time to head back to the boat but we had to go down to a different port for the tender boats to take us back to our ship. But we decided to take the 680 steps down to the port in style: we rode donkeys!!! It was so much fun!!! It was a little scary at first because som

etimes the donkey would slip on the pavement but after a while I got used to it and loved it. My donkey was tied to Melissa's donkey and the guy leading us kept turning around looking at me. I was video recording some of the trip when he turned around and yelled at me telling me to stop and I can take pictures at the end! My saddle felt a little more forward than usual so I think he was worried that I was going to slide off forward if I didn't hang on. We finally made it to the end and got on the tender boats to take us to our ship. We had dinner, watched half of the show at the Metropolitan Lounge, went to the disco for a bit, and then headed back to our rooms to pack our things. We had to put our suitcases out of our rooms by midnight so they could take them and get them ready to get off tomorrow. It was such a fantastic cruise! I couldn't believe I got to go to all of those places. It was amazing.

Alright, here is the layout of the cruise ship. There are ten decks total. Decks 2-7 were all made up of rooms. Deck 5 had the reception, store, and the Caruso Restuarant where we ate dinner. Deck 8 had the La Scala Restaurant, Rendez Vous Lounge, Monte Carlo Casino, Romeo & Juliet Bar, and the Metropolitan Lounge. Deck 9 was the Trivieta and Rigolleto Casual Dining, Riviera Pool and Bar, Beauty Salon, and the Wellness Center. Deck 10 was the sun deck and the Stars Lounge and Disco. Our room was on Deck 7 and each floor had a deck at the back of the ship where you could walk out on and relax.