THE CRUISE IS UNDERWAY

One of the first activities onboard was to take part in a safety meeting. We were to bring our life jackets to muster station G where we were given instructions on the proper way to put them on in case of an emergency.

At five o'clock the Fantasia left the port of Genoa, Italy. We had taken pills to prevent seasickness but I don't think we would have needed them. We could hardly tell that we were moving. It was exciting to view the city as we slowly made our way out to sea.

Supper was served at 6:45 in our designated dining-room - Il Cerchio d'Oro. There were three dining-rooms, each seating over 500 people. We were glad that we didn't get the second sitting at 9:15. We found table 869, a seating for four. Our waiter from Croatia would be with us for the five days. We enjoyed him very much and he spoke English! The cruise was all inclusive so we could order whatever we wanted from the menu. Drinks, even water, were extra and were paid for with our little plastic card. The menu had pages in five languages. We could choose from appetizers, soups, salads, pasta, main dishes and side dishes. There was a separate menu for desserts. The featured menu of the day was from a certain region in Italy, since this was an Italian cruise ship. We enjoyed trying many different items over the five days - marlin, octopus, stewed fish, salmon steaks to name a few. We weren't really impressed with the Italian desserts but loved the ice cream of the day! The meals were served in courses with different cutlery for each one. (no disposable plates and plastic cutlery here!) We usually spent an hour and a half over the evening meal. The room grew quite noisy as Italians seem to speak loudly. There were many children on board as under 16 travel free with their parents and it was Easter holidays here.

At 9:15 we went to the theatre for an evening program entitled "Frank Forever". I was pleased when it featured the music of Frank Sinatra sung by a black man with a very pleasant voice. There were dancers too, but we weren't impressed with them. The evening ended with "I Did it My Way". On our way back to our room we stopped to listen to a quartette of young women playing piano, cello and violin in one of the many lounges. The music was lovely - many Strauss waltzes. The crowd was noisy though as many were coming and going and not doing much listening.

We had a good night's sleep in our new bedroom. We joined T & K in the Red Velvet dining-room where we again ordered off the menu. I had juice, an omlette, half a roasted tomato, toast with apricot jam. I enjoyed my first cup of Italian coffee - quite strong but delicious when hot milk was added! I might have to try that at home.

After breakfast we explored the ship a bit and went up on the top deck (#18) for some sunshine. There were rows of deck lounge chairs with shades that you could pull down over your face. There were also large egg shaped basket chairs with a few holes on the sides to let the sun shine in. They were large enough for two people to stretch out on the comfortable mattress. All the chairs were occupied this morning. K and I did some reading on the lounge chairs, then it was time for lunch and we chose a buffet this time. There were all kinds of pizza, pasta salads, hot foods, and of course the usual hamburgers, hot dogs and so on, along with fresh fruits and other desserts.

After lunch we gathered our water bottles and sunglasses and left the ship to explore the port of Naples or Napoli. A taxi driver did his best to get our business, following us and insisting that he could give us a two hour ride cheaper than the bus we were heading for. We encountered many vendors with purses, sunglasses etc. spread out on blankets right on the sidewalks. We stopped at a bank machine to take out 200 euros. We needed 23 euros each for the bus ride in a double decker red "Hop on. Hop off" tour of the city. The bus was equipped with ear phones so we could plug in to channel 2 and hear a guided tour in English.

We took the red route first, quite a drive through narrow, winding streets between large apartment buildings. All had metal balconies and many had clothes drying on them. We went up and down hills with lots of horn honking and motor bikes weaving in and out between the buses and other vehicles. There weren't many traffic lights and we were amazed not to see any accidents, and thankful that we weren't in a taxi in all this crazy traffic!!

The blue route was much more relaxing as it took us to a newer area of the city along the waterfront with wider streets and more modern buildings. There were about 12 stops along the route. You could hop off if you wanted to explore a site further, then hop on the next bus. But we chose to stay put and spent about four hours touring Napoli before getting off at a stop close to the ship.

T, K and I decided to order the complete Italian menu for supper but that was a mistake.We got too much food with appetiser, soup, salad, a generous portion of pasta plus an entree of stewed fish with vegetables. Howard stuck to minestrone soup, ham and pineapple with sliced potatoes and chocolate ice cream for dessert! He had the best meal this time.

We stopped to listen to the string quartette again. They were followed by another quartette but when it turned out to be jazz, we didn't stay long! We browsed in the shopping area but weren't really in the mood to shop so went back to our room. T & H stopped by a smoking lounge to enjoy a cigar but K and I chose to end the day with a book instead of a smoke!