Thursday 19th July 2018
I was up and about at 6 a.m. this morning, still at sea on PRINCE. My first call was to the bar for a cappuccino and croissant, and all was well with my world.
We went to Reception and had a pleasant chat with the Chief Steward about the ship. He says the bell is from PRINCE but we are not so sure it is, as different letters seem to be engraved on what we photographed this morning in daylight. We told him about our trip two years ago on the previous PRINCE, when we met the Captain. He said that the captain had retired (which we knew) but that he had brought PRINCE down from Denmark. I said we had met him and he had told us about that and invited us onto the Bridge. The Chief Steward said if and when we came on the ship again we could visit the Bridge. We thanked him very much.
I asked how they had managed to move the lorry that was stuck on the ramp last night and his first reply with a smile was the one word 'Magic'. He then said they had other means, which worked. It was a shame about such a long delay on the first trip of the new ship.
We all shook hands and thanked the Chief Steward and said our goodbyes to him.
The hot sun was blazing down out on deck as we started to head into the narrow channel that would take us into the Greek port of Igoumenitsa. I can still recall one of my first visits there many years ago: that was when we arrived at the unearthly hour of 3.30 a.m. because we needed to connect with another ship sailing from the port early that morning. I put my turquoise-coloured pashmina down on a concrete bench in the terminal, put my head on it and stretched out my body and was instructed to 'go back to sleep for a few more hours'. I did that very easily, as I fell asleep wondering just what on earth I was doing with these new ferry friends...
Today however we sailed into Igoumenitsa about 7.30 a.m. and disembarked, and walked to sit in the shade of the terminal building facing the harbour. We wanted to wait and see the next arrivals and if we had entered the terminal we could only exit on the far side and not get back onto the quaysides. As usual it was very hot, but the swifts were flying gracefully and tweeting gently over our heads.
Whilst we waited for the BARI to arrive, we watched vehicles disembarking from PRINCE; most of them struggled and we realised that, like last night, the ship's stern ramp is far too short.
Ships seen: Prince, Bari, Kerkyra Express, Cruise Europa, Superfast XI
To be continued...