Just About Vacation Time

Veronica and I have had a cruise planned and booked since 06/14/2014. Our vacation and cruise is slowly approaching. On 9/23/15 we will be starting off on another adventure. We will be flying from Norfolk to Atlanta to Amsterdam to Venice. Our return will be just the opposite route. We will be staying at the same hotel in Venice as we did when we went there in 2013.... Papadopoli Hotel Venezia   We will be staying there for a couple of nights prior to boarding our ship to start our cruise. We will be on the Norwegian Cruise Line Jade in an aft balcony cabin like this one:
                                                                                   

We are really looking forward to having a balcony cabin on this cruise. Below is our itinerary for the cruise. Besides taking 2 days to visit Venice before the cruise starts we will be stopping in Venice as one of our port of calls about half way through our cruise.

Sat	Venice, Italy	----	6:00 pm	0
Sun	Dubrovnik, Croatia	2:00 pm	9:00 pm	0
Mon	At Sea	----	----	0
Tue	Athens (Piraeus), Greece	7:00 am	5:00 pm	0
Wed	Ephesus (Kusadasi), Turkey	8:00 am	5:00 pm	0
Thu	At Sea	----	----	0
Fri	Split, Croatia	11:00 am	6:00 pm	0
Sat	Venice, Italy	8:00 am	6:00 pm	0
Sun	At Sea	----	----	0
Mon	Corfu, Greece	8:00 am	3:30 pm	0
Tue	Santorini, Greece	1:30 pm	10:00 pm	1
Wed	Mykonos, Greece	8:00 am	4:00 pm	0
Thu	Olympia (Katakolon), Greece	9:00 am	6:00 pm	0
Fri	At Sea	----	----	0
Sat	Venice, Italy	8:00 am	----	0

As I usually do on our adventures I will be writing a daily journal of each days worth of activities along with our usual ton of photos.

We still have a little packing to do but for the most part we are ready to hit the road for another adventure.

A Change In 2015 Vacation Plans

Veronica and I were talking about how much we enjoyed last years vacation to Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and the Greek Isles that we would like to go back again.
I checked the various itineraries that Norwegian Cruise Line offered for 2015 and I could not find the same itinerary that we had last year.
The offered the same itinerary for this year but we weren't about to give up our 2 week vacation in Paris for this October.
I did find a similar itinerary and we decided to cancel our previously booked cruise for the following cruise which departs and returns at Venice. We also decided to fore go our aft balcony for a ocean view cabin that is in the aft portion of the ship, which will be same ship as last year...the NCL Jade. We enjoy being in the aft because of the engine and propeller noise helps us sleep and drowns out my once in a great while snoring.
Below is our itinerary for this new cruise:

Day	Land Tours And Cruise Ports	Arrive	Depart	Booked
Sat	Venice, Italy	----	6:00 pm	0
Sun	Dubrovnik, Croatia	2:00 pm	9:00 pm	0
Mon	At Sea	----	----	0
Tue	Athens (Piraeus), Greece	7:00 am	5:00 pm	0
Wed	Kusadasi, Turkey	8:00 am	5:00 pm	0
Thu	At Sea	----	----	0
Fri	Split, Croatia	11:00 am	6:00 pm	0
Sat	Venice, Italy	8:00 am	6:00 pm	0
Sun	At Sea	----	----	0
Mon	Corfu, Greece	8:00 am	3:30 pm	0
Tue	Santorini, Greece	1:30 pm	10:00 pm	0
Wed	Mykonos, Greece	8:00 am	6:00 pm	0
Thu	Olympia (Katakolon), Greece	9:00 am	6:00 pm	0
Fri	At Sea	----	----	0
Sat	Venice, Italy	8:00 am	----	0

We plan on spending a couple of nights in Venice prior to our cruise starting and we are planning on staying at the same hotel that we did last year. Along with the 2 days and nights prior to departure, our ship stops in Venice at the halfway point of the 2 week cruise. 

We plan on going into some building that we did not get to go into during our last visit along with plans on spending a whole day on the island of Burano. 

Last year we went on a ship excursion that included stops at both of the islands of Murano and Burano but unfortunately we were only on Murano for about 1 1/4 hours and Burano for about 35 minutes. We were really disappointed with the lack of time we had to spend on Burano. This time we plan on arranging or locating transportation services that would allow us to spend the whole day there prior to our cruise starting. This way we don't have to worry about getting back to the ship on time before it departs Venice. If for some reason we get back real late, we will only be late getting back to our hotel. 

We plan on trying to do the same excursion on the Greek Isle of Santorini as we did last year. That excursion was a trip to the town of Oia and then to Fira, when we enjoyed an evening meal as the sun was setting ...a really beautiful and photogenic sight. 

Like the last cruise we were on, this one should be equally as enjoyable. 

Another Change In Travel Adventure Plans

First off....our verification process through Airbnb has been completed and we have been accepted by our host in Paris. Information about the place we will be renting was discussed in the previous blog post that was written yesterday.
Last night I was goofing off on the internet just checking some things out.
I just happened to go the Norwegian Cruise Line web site. I stumbled upon a cruise that I had missed previously, when I had booked our reservations for our upcoming Ireland & Scotland cruise in September of 2015.
I found a 10 day cruise leaving and returning to Rome in March of 2015. Veronica and I had flown out of Rome last year while returning from our great Venice and other cities in Italy adventure. Veronica has wanted to see Rome. The price for this 10 Rome to Rome cruise was a lot cheaper than the one   that we had already booked for Ireland and Scotland. So I ended up changing our cruise to the Rome to Rome cruise and one really nice thing is that I was able to get the very last Aft facing balcony that was available on this cruise. Veronica and I fell in love with our very first cruise and the cabin that we had. It was an Alaska cruise and we had balcony cabin that was all the way in the back of the boat. It was great at night listening to the ships engines and the sounds of the ships  wake and the ocean. Plus we could go out and sit on the balcony and see all kinds of sites that we would have missed had we done an inside room.
So for this upcoming cruise we will be on the deck 8 in a balcony cabin in the back of the ship. I will be checking into the possibilities of going to Rome a day or two early so that Veronica and I will have some time to see Rome itself.
The itinerary for this cruise is a little different and for the most part, the ports of call are ones we have never been to. We will be on the Jade for this cruise...the same ship that we were on for last years Venice and Italy cruise. Below is our itinerary for this upcoming cruise: