Last evening we attended the final World Cruise Shore Side Event. This event was held at the excavations at Pompeii. As we understand, this was the first time that this venue has ever allowed this site to be used for a private event in the evening. We were taken on buses from Naples over to Pompeii. During our 45-minute drive, the tour guide provided lots of historical information regarding the areas along the route. Upon our arrival, we walked on a path approximately fifteen minutes to where the event was held. We were the only ones at the site as it was closed to the general public during the evening. When we arrived to the site there was an assortment of beverages including champagne, white and red wine along with various juices. Waiters walked around with various trays of canapés. Following the welcome cocktails along with a welcome speech, we were asked to take our seats for dinner. We sat with three other couples.
The first course was pasta with European lobster stuffed with mushrooms. This was followed with a fish course and vegetables, which included Frustrum Bream Au Gratin and Sarcinulae of Asparagus. We then were served a meat course along with vegetables which was called Pulpa in Paff-Paste with Mushrooms along with small Broiled Potatoes. We were served a pastry for dessert along with coffee. We had a choice of red and white wine throughout dinner. During the course of the dinner various actors dressed in ancient attire stopped by each of the tables.
After dinner, we moved to another area where seats were set up around what was once an enormously large outdoor pool. You could see the foundation and one could easily see the shallow and deep ends of the pool areas. Actors who were dressed in ancient gladiator attire entertained us. At the conclusion of the event, there was a fairly large fireworks display. To be taken to such an ancient historical site for an evening in ancient Pompeii was very special. We appreciate all of the planning that has gone into each of these events.
We were then transported back to the ship and when we arrived back on-board we were greeted with waiters who had champagne for us along with hot towels. We stayed for a few minutes and then went back to our stateroom.
This morning we awoke early and had breakfast in the Lido Café. We spoke with a few of our fellow passengers who were at last night event. After breakfast, we worked out in the Fitness Center with Anne Marie on the treadmill and Keith on the elliptical machine. We spoke with a couple of our fellow passengers while working out to hear what they did during the day yesterday.
Later in the morning Keith went to see the lecture given by General Nick Halley. His topic was “Terrorism, Part 2. Our World Since the 9/11 attacks.” General Halley gave his views on the war, and his prediction as to what would occur over the next several years and then he took several questions from the audience.
After the lecture, it was time for Team Trivia. This was the last game for this segment of the World Cruise. Going into today’s final round our team was tied for first place with one other team. The good news is that our team had the most correct answers for today’s game and ended up winning the contest by two points. Finally, after six segments our team finished in first place after several second place finishes. ☺
We went to lunch in the Main Dining Room with two of the three other couples from our trivia team to celebrate our victory. We each enjoyed a wonderful seafood entrée salad.
This afternoon we ran a few errands on board and Keith played table tennis for about an hour.
We had a very nice dinner in the dining room and had time to talk with both the headwaiter and our senior waiter about various ports of calls
Earlier today, we learned that due to the recent events in Casablanca that we will not be stopping at this port of call on the last segment of the World Cruise as originally planned. Based on the articles we have read, this was not a surprise to us and we had already decided that if we would have stopped at this port of call that we would stay on the ship. So, we are happy with this change in plans. In lieu of our visit to Casablanca, we will now visit the port of Cadiz in Spain. This will be our first time visiting Cadiz.
Tomorrow morning we will arrive in Civitavecchia, Italy, which is located approximately ninety minutes from Rome. This will mark the end of the sixth segment of the World Cruise. Various passengers will be disembarking the ship in the morning while new passengers will be embarking the ship in the afternoon. We have a tour planned for tomorrow afternoon so we will either publish a brief Blog sometime tomorrow before our tour or we will just wait until the next day.
Keith & Anne Marie
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