2025_0912 Volos, Greece

Friday, September 12th, we opted to stay aboard the Viva all day. Our plan this trip was to have two days of shore excursions and then a day of rest. We are aging gracefully after all! 

A little about our itinerary. It was a bit revised from when we first made the reservation. We were to have gone to Thessaloniki, Greece and that was changed to Volos. We were to have gone to Izmir, Turkey and that was changed to Kusadasi, Turkey. I was concerned about this part of the change because I wanted to see Ephesus which I could from Izmir. As it turned out, there were tours to Ephesus from Kusadasi. Yeah!!

I found a map and noted the places we were sail from. If the name of the city is not on the map, I drew a red circle. If the name of the island or city is on the map, it is has a red underline. 

The Viva would dock in Volos, Greece at 7:00am and depart at 5pm. We slept in and began Tylenol Arthritis Strength as needed. We were very happy this stateroom had a larger bathroom than we remembered from other ships. In the living area, we had two twin beds that were very close together, a sofa, a vanity with stool and a night stand. As you entered the stateroom there were three closets, Claude got one, I got one and the suitcases took up the other. There was a sliding glass door to the balcony and two very comfortable chairs on it with a little table. Very comfortable digs for our cruise. 

This shower was like the one in the Grand Hyatt. It had the overhead rain feature to show under with the ability to turn the water to come from the sides or through a show wand. We really liked the overhead rain shower feature. 

Our first views of Volos, Greece were from our balcony.

We spent a good bit of this day enjoying our balcony. I was reading Dan Brown's Origin. 

We had lunch in Surfside Cafe. This became our lunch spot. Lots of other places to eat, but there was a good selection of foods on this buffet. Then we spent some of our afternoon in the Observation Lounge. This was our view of Volos from the Observation Lounge.

We would go back to our balcony to watch the Viva leave Volos. The first picture shows the churning of the water as the ship moves away from the dock. This is always fascinating to us. Such an enormous vessel and it can turn on a dime almost. When we did our Alaska cruise, the ship went into College Fjords and found a spot in the middle of the water. The captain simply spun the ship in a complete circle so everyone could get a 360 degree circle so everyone on the ship could have a complete view of the area with all the glaciers coming down to the water. The last picture is the boat picking up the harbor pilot. Whenever a big ship leaves a port, there is always a harbor pilot. that really knows the waters there, who comes aboard and directs the big ship out of the harbor. Then the pilot boat comes along side the big ship and the pilot climbs a rope ladder down into the pilot boat so he can be taken back to shore. To me, that had to be a very dangerous moment for the harbor pilot, especially if the waters are rough. 

We opted to have dinner in the Commodore Dining Rm. We were seated by a port hole as the restaurant in on the 6th deck. Here is our view from the port hole. The Commodore and the Hudson both have the same exact menu. The difference is in the setting, port holes versus huge windows and in the size. The Commodore is about half the size of the Hudson. 

For dinner Sandi had spinach dip, honey bourbon chicken, and chocolate mint mousse. Claude enjoyed clam chowder, breaded pork chop, and apple strudel with vanilla ice cream.

After dinner, we took that walk around the 8th deck Ocean Boulevard. We stopped at the stern of the ship, found seats by the railing and enjoyed watching the sunset over the wake the ship created. This is another of our favorite spots on any cruise ship. Here is our views of the sun setting with the wake of the ship.

In the evening, I was still very achy and concerned about my ability to walk the tours we had selected. Our next day was Ephesus. It was listed as moderate but I was still concerned. I asked Claude to give me a priesthood blessing. It was a most tender moment and meant the world to him to be able to use his Priesthood to help me. I am very grateful for that!