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| Port of Katakolon, Greece |
We have now reached the last port before reaching the final
destination of the 57 day Grand Africa and Mediterranean Cruise. On May
10, the vast majority of our small “community” of the last two months will
disembark and return to their homes in the US, Canada, and elsewhere.
When we were on the World Cruise in 2013, the Future Cruise Consultant, Char,
told us that we could book either the first or the first one or two two-week
cruises and still be eligible for the shipping back home, so we decided to book
the first one which ends on May 24. It goes from Rome with a few more
ports in Spain and around the Iberian Peninsula to Portugal, northern Spain,
and up the coast of France to Belgium and finally Amsterdam.
Since it’s our third visit to Katakolon, we decided not to
do any shore excursions here. It’s the port used to visit the ancient
Olympic site at Olympia which we saw the first time we were here in 2008.
We did take a short stroll into the village and along the shopping street
filled with all kinds of Greek memorabilia. Our Location Guide, Brett,
had told us that Katakolon served the primary purpose of being the gateway to
Olympia and that most merchants don’t live in Katakolon. They only come
in to open their stores and restaurants when a cruise ship is in port. We
happened to be the only ship today with fewer guests than on the much bigger
ships and it’s the 5th Greek port and the 38th of 38 ports on the itinerary and
most people had finished their shopping. When we had been here before,
the stores were bustling with business but today, people were mostly just
strolling. Merchants were standing in front of their shops chatting with each
other, politely greeting us, and occasionally encouraging people to come in for
a look. I felt rather sorry for them to spend a day without making many
sales.
Barb went into two shops and decided to return to the ship
and Alice joined her. I continued all the way down to the end of where
the tourist shops stopped before returning. For us, it was a pleasant
day but we began to get things gathered to move to our new stateroom for the
next part of the cruise. We had taken an upsell to the current room but
felt what they were asking to be more than we were willing to commit for two
weeks. The room we will be in has been empty during the cruise once we
took the upsell but we were given a key to the new room and will plan to get
most things moved there before it becomes hectic when our friends on the Grand
Med return home and the new people move in on Saturday. Part of the
amenity package is the shipment of luggage to Ft. Lauderdale for the cruise and
shipping it home at the end. But because
it is an international port there are a zillion hoops we must jump through,
including the shipment of only clothing and a few other approved items. That means nearly everything has to be
brought with us on the plane. The
details are too numerous to mention, but Holland America has sent two people to
process the shipment of luggage for guests.
People have constant questions and the paperwork is pretty
overwhelming. Since they will not be on
board when we depart in Amsterdam, we have had to begin our paperwork and have
questions answered while they are here.
It’s a frustrating process but the bureaucracy of international shipping
reminds us that reality faces all of us when we get back home.
It has been a great cruise and we look forward to some new
ports and one new country (Portugal) as we continue on.
CT
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