Day Six (Ashdod, Israel)

Day Six (Ashdod, Israel): Wow I dont even know where to start. Today was a LONG day. We woke up around 5:30 as we were pulling into the port in Israel. Went and had a buffet breakfast as usual and then departed on our excursion. They for some reason turned the schedule around so we ended up doing everything in reverse. We started by heading to Bethlehem. On the way there we past by the valley where David slayed Goliath (bare with my spelling I dont have internet as Im typing this). We then got to the boarder of Israel and Palistine. Wow was that a weird situation. We had to switch out tour guides since our Israeli guide wasn't allowed to enter onto Palistinian land. After a good 20 minutes of customs and another 30 minutes in traffic we finally arrived at the Church of Nativity. We were able to see the actual manger that Jesus was layed in and the ground where the spot that he was born on. It was all under this beautiful church that ever 24th of December they have a midnight mass in this church with thousands in attendance. We then spent another hour trying to get out of Palestine. I am so grateful that we had a good bus driver, I was amazed at how easily he got out of tight spots without hitting anything.
Then we made our way to Jerusalem. We ate a good lunch at one of the local hotels and then headed off to the Old city. We made our way to the West Wall (Wailing Wall) and were unable to enter the secure location it was in due to a massive praying setion for rain that the Muslims were putting on. We were able to see it from afar though. Then right behind it in the distance was the Mount of Olives containing over 100,000 Jewish grave stones. What a sight that was. The Jews believe that the Mount of Olives is where Jesus ascended to heaven and where he will return some day so they want front row seats for their graves. Next we went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which made this whole trip worth it. When you walk in you go up these stairs to the right and they lead you to this room where the rocks that Christ was crusified on. You then go back down the stairs and see a huge slab of rock that Christ was washed on. It is believed that anything you lay on this rock it will be blessed. So of coursed I layed my ring on it to bless marriage:). Also because I didn't have anything else to put on there. Alot of people bring crosses or roserys to lay on it. Then you walk through this dark hallway that leads you to this massive circular room that contains the tomb that Jesus was put in. People are actually able to go in there but we didn't have the time to stand in the line. I then lit a candle and send a little prayer for my family because I know they would love to go there some day.
So since the traffic was so bad and we were running behind anyways we ended up arriving back at the ship an hour after the all abourd time. We weren't the only group late thought. Its 8:30 now and we were supposed to be outta here by 6pm. As long as we make it to Egypt on time all will be good.
I will post our pics at our next day at sea since we had such a long day today and another long long day tomorrow. After tomorrow we have two day's at sea so I will have plenty of time to get them ready...because I have many!

Day Five (At Sea)

Day Five (At Sea): Today was a sleep in day!!! We are around 200 miles away from Israel right now and Im getting really excited for the next two days (Israel and Egypt). Today was very uneventful and we have another "Gala night" tonight for dinner. So we get to play dress up again...Yah!!!
Tomorrow, during the excursion, we are first going to the Mount of Olives where everything can be related to the last moments of Jesus' life. We then pass by the Garden of Gethsemane, on the mountain slope, the place where Judas betrayed Christ. We then enter the old City and walk past the Wailing Wall. We then walk along the "Via Dolorosa", considered to be the holiest road in the world, as Jesus was led to his death. Finally we head towards Bethlehem to visit the Church of Nativit, the birthplace of Christ. So all in all tomorrow should be a very spiritual and exhausting.

Day Four (Heraklion, Crete)

Day Four (Heraklion, Crete): We woke up early again and got off the ship around 8:30AM. People say they cry twice when they get to Crete, once when they see the beauty of the island and once when they leave the island. I would say I cried once in happiness that we got off the ship and once when we left to the rough waters in the Med. Once we got off the ship we went and rented a Peugot that barely fit five people in it. We drove up to ruin's of Knossos Palace which was the seat of the Minoan Empire dating back 1900BC. Evan's, the archialogist who uncovered the palace, reconstructed a few rooms to show how it used to look. There were a total of 1500 rooms and the royal apartments consisted of 700 of those rooms.

We then headed back to the city of Heraklion for lunch and somemore site seeing. We ate at a fabulous restaurant for lunch called "Veneto". The food was to die for. It was very fresh and cheesy!! The view was breath taking, we were seated looking over the Venetian Fort Koules. We then went on a walking tour of the city. Some of the historical sites were paved over to make room for Commerce, which was very disappointing to say the least. We are now back on the ship and about to set sail for Israel!! We have a sea day tomorrow so we will be staying up late
tonight for the midnight pasta bar with cheap Sangrias. Oh and please pray to Poseien tonight for some smooth sailing.

I want to give a quick shout out to Max, Maia, Hades, and Cora. We miss you!!! As you can see we posted a picture that was sent to us from our frineds, the Beach's, who are watching Max. He sure is fitting in well or not at

all:).

Day Three (Katakolon)

Day Three (Katakolon, Greece): We had a great dress up night last night. We were able to take some good pictures and have a great dinner! We arrived in Katakolon...again...at 9AM. Since we have already been here we skipped out on the excursion to Olympia and stayed at the port for a relaxing lunch and some shopping. It was a pretty uneventful day but very relaxing. Then we got back on the ship for a very wavy ride to Crete. To help illustrate how wavy it was, the pools on board were closed because the five foot waves in a five foot pool were tossing swimmers out of the pool. One good thing was they didn't have to use the latters to get out.
We had a beautiful view of the sunset from our balcony. From not seeing the sun all day that was sure nice to see.

Internet

Sorry for the delay in posting Day one and two but we encountered difficulties in finding an ideal connection for WIFI services on the ship. But we found the hotspot so we will be posting pics and blogs daily....Enjoy!! Miss y'all....Not:)

Day Two

Day Two: Even though we got home so late we ended up waking up at 8:30am to go have breakfast. Nobody wanted to miss the buffet so we went up and had a bit to eat. We then wandered over to The Purple Jazz club for a round of BINGO, where I proceeded to WIN 160 Euro!!! It was supposed to be 320 Euro but I had to split it with someone else that also had a full card. This was the first time I've ever won BINGO so yes we will be making a daily appearance at BINGO. following BINGO we had to go stand in a hour line at the theater, which ended up being better off that we didn't it now. The Israel customs officers were aboard and we did all of the required paperwork that we need to do to enter Israel. For some reason they actually had to keep all of the USA passports and said they will give it back tomorrow. So tonight is Gala night where everybody dresses up! We are meeting at 7pm to go and see a show called "Prestige" and then off to dinner after the show. It should be a pleasant night as long as the ship stops rocking as much. We had a storm last night so I think that is why it has been swaying back and forth all day. It was pretty bad this morning but has subsided throughout the day.
I will write again tomorrow when we get back from a day in Katakolon, Greece. We went to this port the last time we came on a cruise. So we aren't doing any excursions to Olympia but we are going back to eat at a restaurant with possible the greatest calamari every.

Day One

Day One: Where to start I don't know. Well we arrived at the port at 10:30AM and boarded an hour later. It was such a short wait I couldn't believe it. It was quite a treat not to have to wait a few hours like we thought we would of. As soon as we got on the ship a stuard took us to our room. Our room is huge compared to the last one. It is great having the balcony in the room. I tried to convince Nate to let us sleep with the door open because if you close your eyes it is as if you are floating on a raft listening to the waves break. The sound is so relaxing to me. The ship departed at 5:00PM. We wondered for the next few hours....did some shopping. As soon as the ship took off all of these shops set up along the hallway to sell everything you can think of. Tammi and I got theses really nice "Ponchos" for 20 Euro a piece. They feel like casmire and are so warm. I will post a picture of us wearing them together. We then sat down for dinner at 8:30 (the second seating at dinner) and had a fabulous meal. Those I think are why we go on cruises. The food is to die for. Thank god everything that is served is in smaller portions or else we wouldn't be able to order everything that we did. Right after dinner we went up to one of the clubs and played "the friendship game". It was a dancing "musical chairs". When ever the music stopped they called a number and you then had to make a group of that many people. Whoever didn't had to go sit down. Needless to say Gary, Tammi, and I only made it through 6 or 7 levels. Talia on the other hand made it almost to the last round but was robbed. We stayed there for a little while after and then went to the disco for awhile. We had such a great day, I hope everyone else will be just as good!

Road Trip!

Today started off great and ended great! We started on the road 9am. Made it to Switzerland in an hour, which was alot quicker than I thought it would take. We stopped for lunch at none other than McDonalds. Our bills was 23 Swiss Franc. Which is around 23$ USD. I couldn't believe how expensive everything was there. We arrived in Genova around 5pm. We then went to have dinner with a few drinks prior to that at a great little bar with AWESOME apps. Dinner was fabulous. I tried Gnochii and it was great! It is a dumpling that is used as a pasta...I think. It was very filling.
Our hotel is great! For 100 Euros it is more than worth it. It is a Best Western right downtown Genova. It has a great view. To bad we aren't staying here longer.
Tomorrow we are getting up around 8, having breakfast, and then off to the ship to check in. I so can't wait. Well it is time for bed....see y'all tomorrow. Night Night.

Itinerary

Here is our route!

Mediterranean Cruise Itinerary

Embark from: Genoa (Italy) - 17.00
Day 2: At sea
Day 3: Katakolon (Greece) 09.00 - 17.00
Day 4: Heraklion (Greece) 09.00 - 17.00
Day 5: At sea
Day 6: Ashdod (Israel) 07.00 - 18.00
Day 7: Alexandria (Egypt) 09.00 - 23.30
Day 8: At sea
Day 9: At sea
Day 10: La Goulette (Tunis) (Tunisia) 07.00 - 13.00
Day 11: Naples (Italy) 08.00 - 14.00
Disembarkation: Genoa (Italy) 09.00 -