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| Vegas style abounds all around and a little glitz never hurt anyone. |
I am really enjoying this trip. It's my first cruise experience, and I
didn’t know what to expect.
According MSC (an Italian cruise company), most of the their cruises in Europe have
only about 5-10 percent from the USA. I’ve come in contact with a few. I met two ladies from Chicago (a
speech-language pathologist and her friend who is the wife of a pediatrician. I was also on a tour with one other American
couple from New Hampshire.
I ate with an Italian family the first few nights (friendly but tough communicating). I’m now assigned to a table with a couple
(Spanish and English) with a 10 year old who live in London. It has been great talking with them … one is a party planner for major international
events and the other is employed by EMI records. I also bonded a little with a family from
Norway (dad is a math teacher, mom is a special education teacher, and their
two kids are in their 20s with perfect English). The Norwegian dad wanted to share lots of
history with me when he learned of my interest.
The ship operates in an amazing fashion. You leave your room and it is instantly cleaned. This seems to happen two or
three times each day. Everyone is
working hard on the staff, and they like to engage you in conversation (I guess
they’re practicing their language skills).
The restaurants are great.
There are multiple ones, but I’ve eaten dinner in my assigned room each
night. I think I will skip it tonight
because I don’t want to dress again for the gala event. I might just eat in the cafeteria that has an
ocean view (where most folks eat breakfast and lunch).
I would say the décor of the ship is Las Vegas chic: lots of
bold colors, plenty of lights, razzle/dazzle shows and themed locations. I’ve really enjoyed going to the bars. Bars seem to be family affairs during the
early part of the evening with kids dancing to the music. Of course, bars open at 7AM (kind of like New
Orleans) and have entertainment with live bands beginning around 4 PM.
So, I am enjoying this vacation. There is only one more excursion day in
Croatia tomorrow and then it is back to Venice.
