Kotor, Montenegro

 

The first stop of the cruise was Kotor - Montenegro. It was a crap stop as we didn't get there till 3pm which meant we had time to have breakfast. Go to the gym and have some lunch before we even pulled in.

Standard breakfast I was having each morning. 

I showered and washed my hair after going to the gym so turned up late to the restaurant for lunch so only ordered the udon stir fry before orders shut.

We docked at 3pm and waited ages to get off the ship as we had to get one of the life boats to take us to shore as we basically was just stopped in the middle of the sea away from the port. The boat took 20 minutes to get to land so by the time we actually step foot in Kotor it was 4:45pm.

The weather wasn't great either. It was cloudy and cold. Was expecting it to be hot and sunny. As we had to get the boat back to the ship we barely had any time to wander around.

There was a lot of stray cats which is part of the culture.

The weather was nicer when we were leaving but was still cold.

When we got back we had to have dinner in the buffet.

It was a shame that the stop was so short as we had to be back on the ship for 8pm we just didn't have time to do anything. I guess we could have booked an excursion from the ship but still feel like you wouldn't have had enough time to see anything since we were there for such a short time. Seemed like a wasted stop. All we did was wander around the old town which is very small. The food the restaurants were offering was pretty much the same as Italy for around the same price.

As Montenegro isn't part of the EU you can't use your phone if you have roaming Europe but there was free Wi-Fi near the main square that you could pick up.

I've seen other people going to Kotor after I went and the weather was better and it actually looked really nice but don't think there's much to do there and not somewhere you would stay but a new country to tick of the list of places been.

Next stop Mykonos - Greece

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MSC Lirica

Photos seem to be uploading pixelated. Not sure if they're possibly a higher resolution that can be uploaded? But it only seem to have happened on the most recent post and this one. Very strange!

 After 2 nights in Venice we went on the cruise. It was an MSC ship which my mum and dad have been on before. Think it was the first cruise they went on as they've been on a few.

It was a Mediterranean one around Montenegro, Greece and Italy.

We didn't go to Syros, Greece as the weather was too bad to stop there so we ended up going to Katakolo instead.

 It was a process as you had get your luggage tagged then had to check in for the ship and got put into groups so not everyone was going on the ship at the same time but also the ship wasn't docked at the port we had to take a boat to take us to the ship which took 20 minutes.

Once we got on the ship we went straight to the buffet to have something to eat.

There was a pizza station which had 4 different pizzas every day. They always had margherita and marinara then the other 2 changed.

When I made this pizza didn't even realise it didn't have cheese. Also I was looking for sweetcorn to go on the pizza and couldn't find any so this is what I ended up with.

After having something to eat we went to the room to watch the safety video which I thought was quite funny and bad because I kept thinking of the Titanic after going to the museum when I went to Belfast last year. Then we had to go to the muster point and get our own key card scanned to say we had watched the video. 

The room was a lot smaller than the last one. Barely any space to put anything and the shower was tiny and a nightmare when I washed my hair as there just wasn't any room at all.

Then we had a wander around the ship.

This ship was a lot nicer than the previous one I went on back in 2019. This was newer and more modern and was refurbished in 2015.

Then it was dinner time and we went to the restaurant for out 6:30pm sitting. For dinner we had a set table each night and on the ship's app each day you could see the menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the restaurant.

Starter

Aubergines Parmigiana - Baked aubergines layers, slow-cooked tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmigiano reggiano

This was alright but was cold

Main

Over-roasted Salmon Fillet - Caramelised lemon, thinly sliced fennel bulb, sauce vierge

The salmon was nice. Just didn't like the other stuff with it. It was on the menu every single night.

Dessert

Coconut-pistachio Dacquoise - Coconut sponge cake, pistachio mousseline, raspberry coulis

This was quite nice but barely taste the pistachio was very coconut.

Wandered around the ship some more then went to a raffle and watched the theatre show - it was great. Didn't think they could sing.

Then it was back to the room to sort out stuff out as our suitcases hadn't been delivered yet when we first went to the room.

Sea Day 1

The first of the sea day which was after the first stop Kotor Montenegro we got up and had breakfast in the buffet as we didn't get up early enough to go to the restaurant.

My breakfasts consisted of cereal of all that was on offer - corn flakes, rice snaps, muesli then looking for dried fruit and nuts. A warm waffle, maybe a pancake and some mini pan au raisins oh and usually fruit salad - melon and pineapple.

I went to the gym which was an alright size and was busy as everyone else had the same idea.

Had a good view as it was right at the front of the ship.

What it looked like later on before it shut and no-one was in there.

I went and had some lunch at the buffet and made my own Hawaiian pizza from a margherita one then mum messaged me saying to go to the restaurant.

Mum was obsessed with this cuttlefish which was nice but just like squid.

After I went sunbathing as the weather was so nice. I read a bit of a book Danielle lent me and fell asleep and did sun bun my belly quite bad as I didn't top up sun protection as I was up there for a few hours.

It was the gala dinner so you're suppose to dress up but most people weren't. Most people were just dressed in normal clothes and some people were properly dressed up in fancy clothes and suits. I just wore my graduation dress again and forget to get any photos.

Considering it was the gala dinner the menu was the same as any other night. Didn't have anything special. 

Can't remember what this soup was as I didn't take a note or save the menu

The oven roasted salmon same as the first night!

Ice cream trio

After we went to the theatre show

Sea Day 2

Day 6 was sea day number 2. Which was pretty much the same as the first sea day breakfast and the gym.

Standard breakfast from the buffet for me.

Went to sunbathe but only managed half an hour as it was too windy so was getting cold. So went for lunch in the buffet then just wandered around and chilled then dinner in the restaurant. It was Mediterranean night and the food was better than the gala night.

The paella was nice

There wasn't much to do on the ship when it was sea days. Just wandering around to see what there is. There was a few shops, outdoor pools, casino with slot machines, a few bars, a board games room, an arcade where you had to pay and spa where you also had to pay for.

Disembarkment Day

We packed the night before as we had to leave our cases outside the room before 11pm for them to be collected to be taken off the ship for us.

We got up at 7:15am and went for breakfast at the buffet. Then we just had to chill as our group slot was 10:35am to get off the ship.

When we got off the ship we claimed our suitcases then got a 15 minute coach ride to cruise terminal. Then you made your own way to where ever you were going.

We walked to Piazzele Roma to get a coach to the airport for €12 each. We were sat waiting ages on the coach waiting for it to fill up and move. It was taking a long time when I was looking at the road signs and realised we were going to the wrong airport! It was going to Traviso and not Marco Polo! We got off and spoke to the coach driver and spoke to this other driver and explained we got on the wrong coach and they let us on for free to take us back into Venice. Thought it was taking us back to the Piazzele Roma but it stopped at the cruise terminal so then we had to walk to Piazzele Roma and got €40 taxi from there to the airport. If we didn't make that mistake we would have been chilling in the airport for a few hours but we ended up having barely any time in the airport and got priority to check in as everyone on our flight had already checked in so they had to push us to the front of the queue.

It was really annoying as the weather was so nice the day we got back to Venice. The perfect weather to be wandering around and what we wanted on the 2 days we were there! Luckily we came back to Liverpool to a heat.

It was a lot better than my first experience the actual ship wise as the ship was newer and the food was better but the room and bathroom was tiny and not much to do especially when there was 2 sea days. You had a an app which you could use to message each other but you had to have your phone on flight mode and connected to the ships network before it worked which was annoying as I didn't want my phone in flight mode. It was a nice break after Japan and China definitely a lot more chill. Not sure I felt completely rested after it though.

Next post will be the first stop Kotor, Montenegro

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