June 5, 2014 - Counting Down
In just 3 weeks we will be off to Istanbul. We will arrive 2 days before we board the ship so we can do some additional sightseeing in Istanbul. The Rick Steves video of the city and the DK guide to the 10 Top Things are real motivators. They provide useful insights for getting around and prioritizing the use of time. Our hotel is booked, and we will have a private guide and car for touring on our first full day. The next day we board the ship after having the day to roam on our own.
The cruise line is Oceania, and this is our first cruise with them. We have heard great things about them. We will be able to board at 3:00 PM on June 30, and the ship will not sail until 4:00 PM on July 1. This will be a 12 day voyage from Istanbul to Venice. We have opted to book the next cruise from Venice to Rome for an additional 10 days. The ship is Insignia. It carries 650 passengers, and it is small enough to go into ports not often visited by cruise ships. The drawback, if you can call it that, is that there are no sea days in this itinerary. We will be on the go all the time. The beds had better be good. We have been told the meals will be more than satisfying. Energy should not be a problem. If our legs hold out we will be fine. I am recovering from the surgery required by the ligament tear I suffered on the last cruise. My physical therapy should wrap up just before we leave. Alice is planning on having her left knee replaced when we return. Her doctor has always said she would tell him when it needs to be done. We meet with him next week to set the wheels in motion.
We have not had to fly out of the country to join a ship since 2010. This journey starts with an eleven hour flight from Chicago to Istanbul. We return on a nine hour flight from Rome. We are not looking forward to that, but the ports of call will more than make up for it.
My plan is to keep up with this blog as the cruise progresses.
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