Escorting Tours!

So this cruise, three different cast members have family cruising.. So, since all my friends are busy, I decided to sign up to escort a bunch of the passenger tours for free.. See what happens!! (When we "escort" we simply go along the tour.. it's the ship's way of providing staff with the opportunity to accompany these tours when there's an empty seat on the bus! ha. In return, we just fill out a short survey evaluating the tour so they can improve them for future guests).

I've been incredibly lucky and had a great time! Here's what I've done so far:

In Livorno, Italy I escorted a tour to the beautiful region of Cinque Terre. So we boarded the bus and drove for about an hour and a half to the small coastal town of Manarola. From there, we walked along La Via dell'Amore (a cliffside path along the Italian Riviera) to the next town Riomaggiore. After a few minutes to walk around, we boarded a small boat ferry to head to the next town.. Now.. these towns are literally cut off from the rest of the world.. the train system that goes there is only about 20 years old.. before that it was only the ferries.. but the cliffs are so steep, there aren't even docks!! the boat just pulls up against a rock and you hop on and off. HA! So we hop on the ferry and travel to Vernazza. Here we had about a half hour to wander around before boarding the ferry again and traveling to the last (and largest) of the 5 villages: Monterosso al Mare. Here we had two hours of free time where I found an amazing family-owned restaurant for lunch. An extremely generous couple on the tour even paid for my lunch! It was such a cool day. Now, there was really nothing to "do" in any of these towns, per se.. but the scenery was beautiful. I'd love the opportunity to go back and stay there for a few days and really see all the towns. it was beautiful. here's a few pictures:

The next day I went along for a tour into Rome. Now, by this time I have seen PLENTY of Rome.. ha! This tour, however, went inside the Colosseum - something I hadn't done yet - and spent more time in St. Peter's Basilica - where I really wanted to spend more time.. It's just so beautiful! So that was a fun day. It also included a delicious lunch!!

Yesterday, I was able to take a really cool tour to Mount Etna in Sicily - one of Europe's largest active volcanos! It was my first volcano - it was so weird. ha! They pretty much just took us to the volcano and gave us free time to wander around the craters. It was so cool! Overall, a nice day that would've been hard to get to without being on a tour.

Today I'm in Mykonos, Greece. A group of us got off this morning and rented some ATV's (4-wheelers) to get to the other side of the island for Paradise Beach! It was BEAUTIFUL!!! Such a great day.. I just sat in a lounge chair.. had some good Greek beer and Gyros.. also - Megan (in my cast).. her dad brought some goggles so I was able to do my first semi-snorkeling! I say semi because we didn't have a breathing thing.. so i just had to dive up and down all the time.. There was a huge rock under the water that had tons of plant life on it and, therefore, tons of fish! It was so beautiful!! The rock dove down about 15 feet on the far side of it, so you could see right down to the bottom of the water there too. It was beautiful!! I had such a great time chasing the fish under water.. And - to be honest - they did some chasing of me too. ha! it was really fun..

Now i'm in an internet cafe with some good fast internet that I'm using to call family and upload some pictures.. Not to mention to update all of you!!

Hope things are good back in the States!! I can't wait to come home in just over 3 months. Woo-hoo!!

The cruise after the family

WELL! As amazing as it was to have my family on board, it was definitely exhausting!! Getting up early everyday and running around these amazing cities.. then having to come back and do shows and stuff at night.. I had a blast and wouldn't change a second of it! But, after they left, I was ready to sleep in and take it easy for a few days!! So I did that (mostly) for this past cruise. Here are some highlights though from the past 12 days:

Our overnight in Venice.. First off, it was INCREDIBLY hot and humid.. I felt like I was back in Georgia or New York all over again.. the first day, though, I actually went to the top of the famous bell tower in St. Mark's Square!! The view was beautiful from up there.. The only reason we did it then was because there was no line.. It was so cool though. That night, they threw a Wine & Cheese Night party for the crew out on our crew pool deck.. I had a really nice night that night, overall. It was really great.

My other highlight was our last port day.. The Crew Welfare office often organizes "Crew Tours" at discounted rates for us to have something to do at the ports.. For Salerno, this cruise, they offered a trip by boat to a private beach.. They provided sandwiches, fruit, sodas, and beer for all of us.. Our entire cast (almost) ended up going.. So did a lot of the officers - including the Captain of the ship!!! We had a BLAST at the beach!! We all had our own beach chair.. The water was beautiful.. we rented a paddle boat for just 1 euro each and went around the rocks to an even more private beach that you can only get to by boat.. It was such an amazing relaxing and beautiful day!! I loved it.

Now, another cruise starts today.. with 1800 new passengers. It's crazy to think I have just under 4 months left of this contract.. and yet, our cruises are so long, that I only have 9 cruises left! It seems way shorter to think about it that way..

I miss everyone back home SOOO much. I can't wait to see you all again..

Thanks for all your love and support to those who read!! I miss you..

The Smiths Take Europe! (part 2)

So I know this is WAY delayed! But we were just too busy with the whole family here to update.. and then the cruise after them ended up being pretty busy too. So here we go!

Before we get started, let me say this: this is a really long post.. And to upload it with all the pictures I usually do would just take WAY too long! So I've only uploaded a very minimal number of photos.. Really, we took a TON of pictures.. and most (if not all) are amazing.. SO I've uploaded them all onto a gallery that everyone can visit. Here's the link: gallery.me.com/cameron_smith

The second sea day we spent in a pretty lazy way.. Nothing too eventful happened. My family spent a lot of the time by the pool.. I spent it reading on their balcony mostly. That evening we did our 60's Theme Night: Groove.. We sing a couple 60's songs.. it's pretty fun. Mom & Dad really enjoyed it. We had fun.

Day #4 was probably one of our best days of the whole cruise! We were in Mykonos, Greece!! We got off in the morning and just wandered around the small town.. We took in the sites, walked to the windmills, visited "Little Venice", saw a ton of shops and galleries, and played in the water and on the rocks.. The day was beautiful!! After a lot of wandering around, we returned to a restaurant favorite from the last time I was there.. Elizabeth got the Greek Humus she was craving so badly.. we all got traditional greek food.. and boy was it amazing!! The waiter was an absolute character.. It was a really great meal. After that, we decided to be real adventurous and rent mopeds!! Now - this got dangerous. I'm no expert.. I definitely ended up running up against a wall at one point (at a very slow speed!! no worries) which was really just more scary than anything. Mopeds are hard!! But we had such a great time driving through all the amazing streets full of beautiful hotels and houses and even more gorgeous views. The four of us had a GREAT day. The picture I just to post was one of a restaurant that we saw on our way back to the ship.. They were advertising "Sun Dried Octopus!" and sure enough, they were drying those octopi right outside... So hysterical.

Day #5 we did our first of two escorted private tours in Kusadasi, Turkey. We had such a great day - all with a private guide and driver for the four of us.. First off, we visited the site where the Virgin Mary was supposed to have spent her final years.. It was so peaceful and beautiful at the top of this mountain.. So gorgeous. Next, we ventured downhill to the historic city of Ephesus filled with some of the world's best-preserved Roman ruins. It was so surreal to walk the streets where the apostles once wandered.. It was a really amazing experience. And our guide (Fatih) knew everything and provided some really interesting perspective on it all. After Ephesus, we went to the tiny village of Sirince - famous for its homemade wines. Here we sat outside at this beautiful hilltop restaurant and had a wine tasting! We tried homemade wines of Peach, Blackberry, Cherry, Strawberry, Traditional Red, and White. They were so interesting!! The peach was everyone's favorite (except dad) so they gave us a bottle of it. Homemade Turkish Peach Wine!! It was definitely interesting.. They also provided an appetizer taster of homemade local cheese that were all incredible with fresh tomato and cucumber. The view was gorgeous. We had a great time there. We also walked through the village. On the way back to the ship, we stopped at Hotel Kusadasi - one of the oldest 5-star hotels in the city. The view from the hilltop was stunning.. It overlooked Kusadasi on one side of the point, and out to the ocean on the other. Lunch was so pretty up there. Turkey was such a great day - definitely all made possible by our guide.

That night we had our show Liverpool Knights. Fortunately - by this time I was feeling MUCH better. Both shows went great.

The next morning (Day #6) we awoke in Piraeus, Greece - just a 20 minute train ride into Athens. So we got up very early, prepared for the heat, and set out! Unfortunately, we had some train trouble due to construction.. So it took us a bit longer to get into Athens than we expected, but we made it. Once there, we had a great (very hot) time! We climbed to the top of the Acropolis to see the Parthenon and all that jazz. On our way down the mountain we wandered the the Ancient City of Agora.. Then we went to this amazing lunch place I knew about. Lunch was great! With me, we got a discount on the whole meal.. They also gave us these free shots of some traditional greek drink (not ouzo).. It was pretty bad - tasted like Pine Sol.  But it was free.. and definitely worth the memory. ha! After lots of window-shopping around the La Plaka district, we took the adventure back to the ship to relax in some much-needed air conditioning.

Day #7 was our final sea day. Again, the family spent it poolside (where I'm not allowed), so I hung out in their room reading on their amazing balcony. That night we had our final show: Dance Around The World. I don't do much in it.. just a couple arias.. Both performances went well, but we were down one dancer due to injury. So that was interesting.. But we made it through without a problem.

Day #8 was the not-so-lovely port of Salerno, Italy. We opted to get up early to take the ferry over to the beautiful island of Capri! The ferry ride took just about 2 hours to get all the way there, but the ride was beautiful. We just rode up along the Amalfi Coast.. the views of the cliffs are just beautiful. Once there we took the (really awesome) funicular up the mountainside to the actual town of Capri.. It was beautiful!! We just wandered around.. walked into all these amazing couture shops.. every restaurant had pictures of so many different celebrities eating their in the windows.. it was just so beautiful. i'd never been here before.. We ended up finding a quiet restaurant off the beaten path.. The Caprese pizza I got was probably one of the best pizzas I've ever had.. the view down the mountainside was beautiful out the window.. it was such a great day!!! I definitely fell asleep on the ferry ride back to the ship.. oops!

Day #9 was our second AMAZING private guided tour of Rome. THIS DAY WAS INSANE!!!!!!! We got up at dawn to meet our guide right off the ship at 8AM. He drove us just about an hour from the port of Civitavecchia into Rome. First things first, he took us to his own neighborhood for "the best cappuccino in Italy". It was pretty darn good! It was Mom's first cappuccino!! ha. Now that she's experienced perfection, she really can't ever have another one. it will just pale in comparison. After that, he took us to a few sites first that are well off the beaten path.. First we went to a lookout point where you could see ALL of Rome and Vatican City. The view was breath-taking. From there, we wound our way through several amazing neighborhoods to this Piazza of the Knights of Malta.. Here there's a gated Priory.. When you look through the ornate keyhole of the gate, it views a garden. through there - when it was built - you could see three sovereign states: The Priory of the Knights of Malta, Rome, and the giant dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. It was a beautiful view - and nothing any of us had ever heard of before.. Next we dove into the ruins.. We hit up the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the old Chariot Racing Arena, and lots of other random Roman sites. My favorite stop: I really can't describe it!! The Cappuchin Crypt. It's a crypt for the order of the Cappuchini Monks. Now, long story short: they had no idea what to do with all the bodies of the monks.. they'd run out of ground to bury them in. So they dug up the old bodies and decorated the entire crypt. Seriously - google it. It's SOOO unreal looking.. Skeletons all over the place.. A whole room called "The hip room" because it's all made decorated with pelvis bones.. it's so surreal. No photographs are allowed inside, however, so I don't have anything to load here. It was SOOOOO creepy and jaw-dropping!!! We also visited the Spanish Steps, we threw coins into the Trevi Fountain, wandered with our jaws open through the Pantheon.. And all before lunch!! For lunch, or guide took us back to his neighborhood to one of his family friends' restaurants. It was AMAZING!!! We had a million different appetizers, two different pasta entree dishes, tiramisu for dessert, and - of course - limoncello. Everything was so fresh and homemade. SOOO good. After lunch, our guide's sister gave us a private tour of the Vatican Museum - including the Sistine Chapel! I actually found a lot of the artwork in the museum more interesting than the actual chapel.. She knew everything there is to know. It was such an interesting trip through the museum. After the museum, our day was done! We drove back to the ship - exhausted and still in shock at how much we actually saw!

Day #10, we awake in another not-so-lovely port in Livorno, Italy. From here, you're supposed to go to either Pisa or Florence typically. We set off on an Italian train system adventure!! Our day started with a train to Pisa to see the leaning tower.. it was way more interesting and beautiful than i was expecting! It was a lot of fun.. From Pisa, we took another train to the small walled medieval city of Lucca. It was beautiful! We had lunch there and a great time walking around! Then we took the train back to Livorno to board the ship. We had a great adventure and couldn't believe we figured out all the transportation without a single hiccup!! Here was our day: shuttle bus from the port to the town, bus from town center to train station, train from Livorno to Pisa, bus from train to leaning tower, bus back to train station, train from Pisa to Lucca, train back from Lucca to Pisa, change trains to continue to Livorno, bus from train to town center, shuttle bus from town center to ship. By the end of the day, we had a million validated tickets in our pockets! HA! It was a miracle we didn't ever mess up.. We had such an amazing day though.

Day #11 (Toulon, France) was our last day on the ship.. We also sailed really early.. So we got off at a reasonable hour, had breakfast at an outdoor cafe, then wandered around this AMAZING outdoor fresh market.. Oh my goodness, I haven't missed a kitchen so much since we left.. The produce all looked amazing.. We wandered around the old town, did some shopping, had lunch, then headed back to the ship early for a few last hours to catch some sun. It was a pretty easy relaxing last day..

Day #12 was, sadly, debarkation day.. I got up early with my family to help them take their bags to their hotel. From there, we wandered around Barcelona until I had to return to the ship.. We saw Gaudi's Cathedral and some other famous buildings of his.. Then they mostly shopped. They spent the night in Barcelona before flying home to Atlanta the next morning.

Overall, we had an AMAZING trip. I feel so incredibly lucky to have had this experience with my family.. It really was a once-in-a-lifetime trip opportunity to see SO much of Europe with my family. I'm so thankful and feel incredibly blessed that everything worked out.

Thanks for reading this (very long) post. We had such a great time.

Again, you can view ALL our pictures at: gallery.me.com/cameron_smith

Happy viewing!!

I hope everyone's staying relatively cool in the heatwave back home.. We're getting our fair share of it here too.