COSTA CLASSICA 12th April 2013 Izmir, Turkey

Friday 12th April 2013

We arrived in bright hot sunlight in the vast bay that is Izmir, Turkey. We berthed alongside, saw local ferries all around, anchored container ships, a vessel in the far dry dock, and tugs in the nearby cut. The mountainsides are densely covered in tall flats and other buildings, all around, as far as the eye can see.

More ferries

Tug Poyraz

Dry-dock

Round part of the bay

After disembarkation I went for a walk along the pavement near the sea side,

Sculpture on the water front

Expo 2020 in Izmir

Yellows

and then turned into the town area, which was interesting. At one point I heard shouting and saw flags being waved amongst a crowd of people, so made a sharp turn away from whatever might be happening there. A man was pulling a large chest freezer along the pedestrian roadway at the time, and he just carried on with his task, passing easily through the crowd as it parted to let him through.

Street disturbance

A local ferry

Up above

My friend had been invited to visit a ship-breaker at Aliaga, further north up the coast, but I declined that invitation for myself. As a maritime journalist he found it fascinating; (he saw ANTIC ex ATLANTIC STAR, FAIRSKY etc., and VENUS ex PERLA, SOUTHWARD etc. as well as others) and we have all read about the ship breaking yards there and seen internet pictures of favourite ships. Indeed, COSTA ALLEGRA had recently been broken up there, and souvenir items were made from some of her metal. One of these small items was brought back to me, on the ship, as a gift from the ship breaker, as I had sailed on her with friends in November 2011. (See my blog pieces for Costa Allegra January 2012) Life certainly takes unexpected turns.

We sailed from Izmir mid-afternoon, this time with hundreds more passengers who had embarked here, in place of those who had disembarked.

Part of the built-up area of the bay

Yalova 1

Another ferry

Dense building

Costa is unusual in that they offer several ports of embarkation on their cruises, but they back this up with coaches to and from local airports if required, at a reasonable extra cost to their passengers.

Ships seen: Poyraz the tug, Nl 125, MSC Sabrina cargo ship, container ship Green Fast, Orkun Kalkavan container ship of Turkon Line, ferry Venus 1, Yalova 1, Efendi Baba

Saturday 13th April 2013
This is a day at sea, so calm and lovely. I started the day by joining the Cruise Director Daniela beside the Central Pool on Deck 11, just below the Disco, to do a Healthy Walk which included stretching exercises for arms and legs. It was fun to do, and I thoroughly enjoyed my breakfast afterwards.

A comfy corner

Various things available to do on board today included seeing the ubiquitous Inch of Gold on sale, making costumes for the evening’s Carnival Party, a Talent Show, a Fashion Show, a Costa Cruises quiz, Salsa dance lessons and a Free Footprint Clinic. That clinic sounded intriguing so I went along to the Caracalla Spa up on Deck 11, and was taken into a small consulting room. I removed my sandals and then had to walk over sheets of paper on top of inked boxes below the paper. The imprint of each foot was shown on the paper, and I was able to keep these. The young consultant of course wanted to try and sell me some products but I was happy with the footprints, and my feet were still as clean as when I started.


To be continued....

Island Escape 3rd April 2012, Part 6

Sunday 8th April 2012
Today we are due into Toulon, France. What a rough night! I felt very lucky to have slept well, as it seems many passengers were sick with the ship’s motion, and I heard one lady in a 4-berth cabin saying that two of her companions on top bunks slept in their life-jackets during the night. The rest of us were happy to spy land at 7.45 a.m. although the outside decks had been closed off and we could only view life through the salt-laden windows. The wind was cold under a clear blue sky and we hoped the overnight weather system was blowing itself out.

Thanks to the wonders of someone’s iPhone, news was beginning to come in of ships’ late arrivals, non-arrivals and diversions due to the extremely high winds overnight. We could see no ferries as we started to enter the harbour, but just one port tug and one naval tug that had arrived to help us to berth. That took nearly an hour, as ISLAND ESCAPE is not the most manoeuvrable vessel, but eventually we came alongside and could disembark. We were an hour later than scheduled but the Captain had advised us of this in advance, and that we would leave an hour later, so no excursions would be inconvenienced.

We heard that MEGA EXPRESS was due in at 7 a.m., and had left on time at 8 a.m., although we didn’t see her. MEGA SMERALDA had been due in at 8 a.m. here in Toulon, but was now not expected until 3 p.m. CRUISE ROMA and CRUISE BARCELONA had avoided the route through the Straits of Bonifacio and went north round the top of Corsica instead. The cruise ship VENTURA had abandoned her call at Livorno today and was heading straight to Monte Carlo for a 7 p.m. arrival time today, instead of arriving there tomorrow.

It was a relief to disembark and stroll along the quayside past the fishing boats and their nets, drying quickly in the sunshine of this Easter Sunday morning. We then walked up the main street amongst the market stalls. The fresh vegetables and fruit on sale were of perfect and fresh quality, and the colours alone were eye catching and luscious. I live in the south of England, where my local butcher sells meats produced from his own farm, and there are regular weekly farmers markets selling beautiful and fresh produce, but I have never seen anything like the profusion and appeal of these stalls, with the stallholders all selling their produce very quickly. Further along fish was on sale, flowers, herbs, olives, and then fabrics to make clothes or items for the home.

Soon the stallholders were selling out or packing up for lunch, so it was time to get back to the waterside for a coffee stop in sheltered sunshine, and to discuss the fascinating sights we had seen. MEGA SMERALDA actually arrived then, so we had a good view of the golden girl turning in the harbour to get to her berth near ISLAND ESCAPE.

Island Escape in Toulon

Mega Smeralda arriving

Back on board the Chef had catered particularly for his English guests with roast beef and huge Yorkshire puddings for lunch, which justified a horizontal rest for some of us.

Champions Bar

Ocean Theatre

Free Drinks Package

Down on deck

Builders Plate

That afternoon too I had gone back to my cabin to collect a jacket when I realised I could smell something burning, possibly rubber. I grabbed my bag, locked the cabin door and walked fast to the nearby Reception to report the burning smell. The lady there rang the Bridge and asked me to return to the cabin as someone would be along to see. I preferred to wait where I was until the ‘someone’ appeared, and soon an overalled engineer arrived and we went to my cabin. He checked the ventilation cover in the ceiling and said that the heating had been turned on and the cabin temperature could now be controlled. He said the smell was the dust ‘burning’ in the pipes as the heat came through, and he hoped everything would soon be fine; he smiled and left. I left the cabin door open for a while to let the smell out, and discovered other passengers nearby doing the same. Having been on COSTA ALLEGRA not many months ago, and knowing about her recent problems in the Indian Ocean with loss of power, I felt justified in reporting the smell of burning in my cabin. I found it odd though that this cabin ventilation facility was only now being turned on and available to passengers.

Later we noticed that the outside decks were being roped off and the access doors barred, as preparations were being made for our departure. The Captain announced that there would be very strong seas and wind, so it would be rough after we leave Toulon and head for Barcelona, and we would take a slightly more northerly route along the coast to get a little protection.

Leaving Toulon and Mega Smeralda

UN Akdeniz

Turning out of the harbour

Easter eggs for the children

Wind gusts were blowing the sea surface around even in the sheltered harbour, and when two tugs arrived to get us off our berth and on our way we knew it was not going to be easy. We expected to head out on one particular course, but instead one of the tugs stayed with us beyond the harbour entrance, and helped as the ship was turned so that the Pilot could disembark into his Pilot boat in the shelter of the lee of our hull. We had tremendous admiration for the man as he finally leapt for his Pilot boat – we cheered, he waved, and set off in rather mountainous seas for the shelter of his harbour. Meanwhile, the tug finally left us, we turned onto our course and set off with a great list caused by the wind, rolling our way towards Barcelona overnight.

Ships seen: UN RORO the UN Akdeniz which sails under the Turkish flag, Mega Smeralda, and local craft and ferries


To be concluded...

COSTA ALLEGRA 27th November 2011 Part 2 (the final one)

Costa Allegra 27th November 2011
Part 2 (the final one)

Monday 28th November 2011
Today we arrived at 8 a.m. in Ajaccio, Corsica, having sailed 171 nautical miles overnight in a calm sea.

Costa Allegra



Jean Nicoli

We sail again at 1 p.m. so had time only to walk ashore and enjoy the sights of this town in the warm winter sunshine. We went to the train station and were lucky enough to see the new railway carriages which are now in use on the island, although the mosaic artwork on the station booking office floor was still in a rather sad state.

Ajaccio station mosaic

The new island train carriages

Layers of posters

Costa Allegra stern

Once on board again we could see snow on the top of the distant mountains, as we prepared to sail.

This evening all passengers have been invited by Captain Nicolo Alba to a Welcome Gala Cocktail in the Theatre, and this was followed by Gala Night Dinner. The liqueur drinks trolley came round the Restaurant and I was treated to something I had never seen before: a little dark chocolate ‘funnel’, just a few inches high, but filled with Amaretto – a fun-filled funnel! What a delicious end to a meal.

Ships seen: Jean Nicoli, in Ajaccio

Tuesday 29th November 2011
In the middle of the night I was woken by voices out in the corridor, one of which was speaking to the Bridge on a walkie-talkie. I put my bedside light on when their voices had moved away, and went towards the cabin door – only to realise I was paddling. My camera was to hand so I took a photograph, timed at 4.18 a.m., and peered out into the alleyway to see lots of the blue ship-towels on the carpet.

The leak in my cabin at 4.18 a.m.

There must have been a leak somewhere and water had started to come in to my cabin. It wasn’t coming in from my bathroom; I hadn’t been woken officially so presumed I was safe, dried my feet and went back to bed and sleep.

My alarm clock woke me because I wanted to see our arrival in Palma de Mallorca, although it was before sunrise.

Floodlit mega yacht 'A'

I have so many happy memories of visits to the island many years ago. It is the largest of the Balearic Islands and Mallorca is one of Spain’s provinces.

I reported my cabin water problem to Reception and then went on deck for breakfast and photographs.

I could see the Philippe Starck-designed mega yacht ‘A’, which looks a most unusual sight. I subsequently found out that she is owned by a Russian billionaire, and that the name ‘A’ is the first letter of both his and his wife’s first names. Apparently she was built by the same German company that constructed the battleship BISMARCK.

The four of us arranged to meet at the gangway so we could get to the Palma/Soller railway station, which was built in 1912.

The 1912-built train to Soller



The Palma-Soller train ticket

The vintage train carriages are a big tourist attraction and travel through valleys and long tunnels north to the small town of Soller. That journey takes an hour, and from there one can take the delightful electric tram down to the port.

Trams to the sea

These trams are equally vintage and we enjoyed seeing the English Electric driving mechanisms in one carriage.

The driving mechanisms

English Electric

The sight of the local boats on calm blue water sparkling in the winter sunshine was a pretty scene in this little bay as we arrived.



Tram at the port

Rapido del Puerto

Torrent de Pareis

We had lunch back in Soller because we had to watch the time for getting back to the ship for sailing at 5 p.m.,

Banco Soller

The Church

The Office!

but there were enough minutes to buy some local delicacies in a little shop before setting off again through the valleys heading south to Palma. I liked seeing the oranges and lemons growing in the gardens beside the track as we left Soller.

Back on board I was relieved to find out that I was to change cabins. My 7015 still had soggy and slightly smelly carpet and my Bedroom Steward told me that the pipework in my section was new last week; he then paused, and said ‘it needs some improvement’. He is absolutely correct!

Dockwise Yacht Transport's Super Servant 4 with 1 yacht on board

'A' in daylight

My kind friends helped me move all my possessions to my new cabin 5072, a 4 berth mid-ships cross-cabin, which seemed unprepared for an occupant. The bed was made but the bathroom supplies were inadequate – soon rectified by a visit to Reception, as there was no sign of a cabin steward. Not a life-threatening situation, but time-consuming because I was trying to prepare for dinner in the specialist Restaurant Amalfi this evening.

Amalfi Club Restaurant

We wanted to try the Restaurant and had booked a table, and certainly the room had been transformed from its daytime look. I chose fish as my main course, from a short menu, but when it arrived I would never have recognised it, as it was smothered in a sauce which covered any vegetables that might have been under it.

Disappointing dinner

The meal was a sad disappointment to all of us, and not worth the extra charge, but one can only try.

Ships seen: Sorolla, SuperServant 4 of Dockwise Yacht Transport (with one yacht on board), Costa Mediterranea, Al Mirqab, Fortuny, SF Alcuhemas, Abel Matutes, Costa Allegra, ‘A’, Harmony II, Visemar One, Rapido del Puerto, Torrent de Parais,

Wednesday 30th November 2011
Here we are in Barcelona after sailing the 138 nautical miles overnight, with a few hours to enjoy the warmth of this port and city before sailing at 1 p.m. I chose to visit the terminal building and walk along the quayside for a while, but it was more fun to be up on deck and watch the other ship movements. We could see COSTA CONCORDIA further along the quay.

Costa Concordia

Maineborg

The continuing line down the middle of the ship

The view from underneath

The same central columns, in the Flamenco Bar

Montalt

Safmarine Nokwanda and others

There seemed to be lots of activity going on, and we wondered if it was a sea-training day for various port authorities as there were rescue boats and tugs just outside the port, and many police and their vehicles on one of the harbour walls near the helicopter landing site. It was nice weather for it!

Isabel del Mar still resting

Lunch and sail away was enjoyed, and then steamer chairs with rugs on deck were the order of the day, momentarily disturbed only by a small aircraft doing a fly-past and wiggling its wings at the ship. This is what sea-days are all about: just watching the sea and world go past (if the eyes are open).

Dinner this evening was enjoyable, and so was time spent in the Murano Bar and then the Pizza Parlour Bar area. We are due back in Savona tomorrow so it was interesting to discuss our thoughts about this ship and the trip. We all loved the Grand Murano Bar and the Flamenco disco lounge and bar, and we had enjoyed our various ports of call. Many shipboard areas proved so popular with other passengers that we found the noise intolerable, but we usually located somewhere that suited us. We are all happy to be at sea however and feel very fortunate when we are.

Ships seen: Costa Concordia, Excellent, Methania, Safmarine Nokwanda, Georgia Highway, Isabel del Mar (the Iscomar ship at peace), Ramon Casas tug, Cemesa Seis, China Express, Montalt tug, Tomriz, Maineborg

Thursday 1st December 2011
We were up early for breakfast and arrival back in Savona, although it took a long time to disembark. I had arranged on board to take the Costa coach to Genoa airport, ready for my BA flight home to Gatwick.

On boarding the aircraft I was thinking of photo opportunities as we left Genoa, so asked one of the flight attendants in which direction we would be taking off – goodness me, I was ushered into the cockpit to ask the Captain for myself. Many minutes later I had the answer and had enjoyed a chat about flying generally and Heathrow landings in particular, although this time it would be to Gatwick. It’s such a shame that a few disturbed and intolerant people have spoilt air travel for pilots and passengers alike, in us not being allowed on the flight deck by invitation during some flights. I have some extraordinary memories of being on several passenger flights with British Airways heading for Heathrow and being invited to enjoy the views over the Berkshire countryside from the flight deck, just by showing interest and asking if a visit might be possible.

Ships seen: Costa Mediterranea, Costa Atlantica, Island Ranger

Ships seen from the BA flight leaving Genoa: Riviera, still in the shipyard

So here I am safely back in Gatwick Airport in pouring rain; I had enjoyed being with my friends on board COSTA ALLEGRA and was pleased with the opportunity to sail on her. I personally liked the use of glass, mirrors and the light through the ship especially in the Atrium and thought she was well named as The Crystal Ship.

Costa Allegra atrium (brochure picture)