Vista Vacation: Rendezvous in Rhodes

With its breathtaking coastlines and scenic villages, Rhodes is distinctively Greece. The quiet harbour, surrounded by stunning beaches, is right outside Old Town.

We set off in the early afternoon to explore Old Town. It was yet, another windy day, but hot when we were behind the walls of Old Town. There are many gates to enter Old Town through, and inside the walls is a maze of shops and restaurants. It was definitely easy to get lost. In the distance of the second image, you can see the Mosque of Suleiman, the first mosque of Rhodes. We continued to walk along the path until we reached the town walls. Along the walls were lookouts into the ocean.

I wish we had done more research before this port. We missed the Palace of the Grand Master, which is a medieval castle with Gothic architecture. We had also walked past the Streets of the Knights, but did not walk down the road either.

Here are the ruins of the Church of Sainte Marie du Bourg. The Romanic Basilica was hit during World War II, and the only thing left standing were the three apses of the the sanctuary.

Did I mention how difficult it was to walk on the roads in Old Town? Many streets were covered in pebbles! It was very slippery. Cobblestone in Rome is a piece of cake compared to the pebbled paths in Rhodes. Definitely something to remember if you are planning on visiting Old Town. As we made our way back to the ship, we walked along a long breakwater, lined by three old windmills, and Fort St. Nicholas.

The path gave us a beautiful view of the Vista. It was a lovely waterfront stroll, but we never made it to the end of the breakwater. It seemed the Fort was closed, as many passengers walk to the end, and turned right around, so we decided not to head down there.

If you're planning for a relaxing day, Rhodes is perfect for exploring on your own. We knew we had a heavy itinerary after our sea day, so we decided to take it slow at the start of the cruise. Alternatively, Rhodes is also a gateway to Lindos, a picturesque, modern village with one of the best-preserved Acropolis in Europe. Lindos is about an hour drive away from the harbour, and our Cruise Director, Matt, had raved about it. If we ever have the opportunity to revisit Rhodes, we'll visit Lindos. But I'm very glad we had the chance to explore on our own this time around as not many ports in Europe offers the opportunity to do so.

Dinnertime! I had the soup of the day, the seafood penne pasta and the passion fruit cheesecake. The boyfriend had escargots, steak with mac 'n' cheese (which is delicious, by the way) and popcorn creme dessert. No complaints here! I very much enjoyed my meal, especially the soup, and the sweet chilli compote with my dessert.

After dinner, we headed to the casino to try our luck. I'm not a big gambler (the boyfriend is though!), but I'm a sucker for the quarter machine. Well, Lady Luck was on my side! After roughly $50 on the machine (which really translates in about 25 minutes), we ended up with three chips! The casino ran out of t-shirts (disappointing since it was only day 3), so I got a drink instead, a Miami Vice.

With the complimentary drink in my hand, I headed towards the Atrium. A small crowd had already formed to listen to the trio of extremely talented violinists from Spain. Known as Essencia, they play a range of music from classical to top 40s. The trio usually played for about an hour. I really enjoyed listening to them (and watching them!) play during the cruise. It was also the first time I'd seen an electronic violin.

Our next day will be a sea day. It was a short day for us, so I should have the post up during the weekend! Hope you enjoyed this post about Rhodes. Stay tuned!

Want to start from the beginning? Navigate through our trip here: 

Pre-Cruise (I) - Pre-Cruise (II) - Embarkation (1) - Kusadasi (2) - Rhodes (3) - Sea Day (4)

Vista Vacation: Embarkation Day

Embarkation Day!

Alex, our driver from George's Taxi, arrived promptly at 11:30 like he said, and we were soon on our way to the port. Alex told us the cruise port was a short twenty minute drive from our hotel in the Acropolis area - but it seemed much quicker for us to get there. I'm sure it was because we had such a great time chatting with him! Upon our arrival at the port, we unloaded and waited for a Carnival representative to grab a porter to take our luggage. In the Caribbean, the porters are everywhere, and you basically left your luggage at the curb. This time, it was much more organized - and safer. A Carnival representative was present to greet you, and appoint a porter to your luggage. It always gives me a peace of mind to see someone take my luggage.

It was starting to get crowded so we said goodbye to Alex and headed into the tent for check-in. We made it in line just before the rush. The passengers after us were seated, and given a number to be called for check in. Unfortunately, the tent was a furnace. It was a white tent - a green house essentially with four air conditioning unit, one in each corner - not enough! Thankfully, our check-in was quick, and our Carnival customer rep was also very friendly. Immediately after we were given our Sail & Sign cards, we were headed straight to the ship for boarding. I practically ran through the terminal. I was sad to say goodbye to Athens, but I was stoked for the ship!

The Vista is a gorgeous ship. She was shiny, new, and ours for the 10 days! I'll have more pictures of her as we visit each port. As we boarded the Vista, we heard an announcement letting us know that our cabins were ready. Perfect timing! We were booked on a category 6M Oceanview at the end of the hall on Deck 3 (more on this later). These cabins had two bathrooms - one with a shower, and one with a bath. Only one toilet though, so we had to play nice.

Our Large Porthole!

I had just stuffed myself with a gyro during boarding so I was in no rush to visit the Lido Deck. We decided to take a quick walk first to check out the ship. I'm sad to say that we never got a chance to go on the waterslides. It looked like a lot of fun, but the weather never really warmed up enough for us Caribbean cruisers.

Here, we have the Red Frog Pub & Brewery, and some seating on Deck 5 - there is a Taste Bar to the right, and the Cafe on the left, both of which are not photographed (I know, I suck, sorry). They played Bingo here as well.

Here, we have the Skybar (sports bar) and the casino, where my boyfriend liked to spend his nights.

And here, we have the Reflections dining room, with the new American Table menu, which was still being prepped when we decided to peek in to find our table. Funnily enough, we were actually seated just around the corner by the second pillar in the photograph. We also popped by the Havana Bar, which we never used. It looked amazing though.

The Atrium Bar

We headed up to the deck to watch the sail away. It was a very windy day, once again, in Athens, so I headed back inside as the boyfriend took some pictures.

We had a late seating for dinner at 8:15 pm, so we took a quick visit for a snack on the Lido Deck before heading back to our cabin to unpack. We also decided to take a quick nap before dinner. This is our first cruise with a late dinner seating. The reason we chose it was because we were at port every day until at least 6 PM. We specifically chose this cruise, this itinerary because we were interested in each, and every port. We really didn't want to rush back for the early seating.

Because it was the first night of our cruise, we didn't expect much from the dining room. We had an unusual arrangement - two different headwaiters ended up serving us throughout the week. Imade from Bali made an impression on us. He was very friendly, and loved to joke with us. Our other headwaiter was Milo. His name tag said he was from Serbia, but he told us he was from Croatia. He was a quiet fellow, and didn't chat with us much during our time in the dining room.

Nothing jumped out at me on the menu, so I ended up ordering the chicken. The boyfriend ordered the steak. I had Vietnamese salad rolls to start (very hard, and dry - my family is from Vietnam, so my mom makes pretty awesome salad rolls. I could tell these had been made hours earlier. I understand appetizers are pre-prepped, so salad rolls were probably not a good idea, as the rice paper wrap hardens when its refrigerated), and he had the calamari (unfortunately, no batter as pictured). For dessert, he had the Carnival chocolate cake, which came in a cute arrangement of Mickey (How did they know! We absolutely love Disney!), and I had the tiramisu (very sweet!). It was really nothing to rave about, but it filled our tummies and we were content.

Embarkation day is always a little tiring for us. It takes us the day to settle into the ship. So like good boys and girls, we headed back to our cabin to unpack a bit more, and turned in early for the night. Our first port was Kusadasi, Turkey. As I had mentioned in an earlier entry, we were originally supposed to dock in Izmir, but unfortunately, because it was on the U.S. travel advisory alert list, Carnival cancelled the port. Kusadasi is great replacement. For those who still wanted to visit Ephesus, it was still an option. Since we had already been there before (see here!), we had planned to walk around the port, and do a little shopping... and of course, as some of you may know, search for my tartinis!

I hope you're enjoying my trip report. Stay tuned for my entry on Kusadasi this weekend.

Want to start from the beginning? Navigate through our trip here: 

Pre-Cruise (I) - Pre-Cruise (II) - Embarkation (1) - Kusadasi (2) - Rhodes (3) - Sea Day (4)

Pre-Cruise: Adventures in Athens (Part II)

We spent on our third day in Athens touring around the city on the Athens Open Tour (Hop-On-Hop-Off) Bus. We had purchased our tickets the day before for €15 per person for two days. It was the cheapest option, which was why we decided to go with it. We took the bus to Syntagma Square. We walked around for about five minutes when we realized the stores looked really familiar. We were just here yesterday. We were in Plaka! Then, it dawned on us: Everything is super close in Athens. Who knew? It seemed so far on the map, but Syntagma Square ended up being a brisk 15 minute walk from the Acropolis.

We had seen the Athens Public Market on the bus, but no stop in the area meant we had to walk backwards from Syntagma Square. The fruit, vegetable and meat market (Varvakios Agora) is a lively place. I love seeing how markets operate overseas, and discovering all the different types of fruits, veggies and meat available to the people. I work in the produce industry, so I especially like looking at all the fruits and vegetables. The buzz from the merchants and locals in the many halls of the agora is an exciting feeling, even if you're not buying anything.

We had dinner reservations that night at our hotel restaurant, Acropolis Secret Roof Garden Bar Restaurant. The food was delicious but our meal at Liondi was still number one in our books. We had a grilled octopus, and a Greek salad as starters. I had a chicken souvlaki, while the boyfriend had fish.

Now the big draw to having dinner at the expensive hotel restaurant was the gorgeous unobstructed view of the Parthenon at night. While we did have an amazing view of the Parthenon throughout the night, it was not easy to photograph (especially without the proper photography equipment and the many people crowding around the restaurant). You really need to be there to soak it all in.

From Athens, we board the Carnival Vista. Embarkation Day is up next! Haven't read Part I yet? You can read the post here!