Buon Giorno Italia

We had just left the shores of Barcelona, after some gastronomic odysseys that gave us a glimpse of the languid life to be had in this lovely and lively city. We stayed on the deck to watch Barcelona disappear into the horizon, then dressed up for a late dinner.

Though there are loose schedules of activities throughout the day, one could dictate his own pace. For the big group, dinner was usually at 9 p.m., and at least for my family, breakfast was always at closing time which was around 10:30 a.m. Indeed, why wake up for breakfast when it can wait for you, still piping hot and a-plenty.

The biggest plus for cruising has got to be the abundance of good food, 24/7. For the most part, it gets repetitive, so another useful tip would be to pace yourself or the buffets would be one big cloying feast for a whole week. There is a whole hall for informal dining apart from the outdoor grill, and the whole length of it, literally, is filled with hot and cold food, salads, roasts, pastas, cold cuts, steaks, fruits, desserts. One could have his fill of ice cream (sugar-free or sugar- laden), soft ice cream, cold soya milk, warm pudding, anything at all. These all boil down to unwanted pounds if the binges go on unchecked. Another tip: all cruise ships have good gyms on board, free of charge, so check out the gym. Or if you have the guts, swim at the heated pools (outdoor and indoor) and brave the biting winds. Actually, just walking around the ship, all seven decks of it, is exercise enough.

Our first dock was Malta. We took the city tour (not the ship-sponsored one and saved our group a lot of euros) for 15 Euros each at the booth just outside of the dock. Not as popular here as its neighbors, this tiny republic is as charming as any resort town can get. It has the distinction of being the most fortified country of all time, having done so a few centuries ago to protect itself from pirates. This is also why they have peculiar narrow winding roads that constantly dip and rise, all lined by beds of multi-colored flowers, a maze to lose pirates who dare to go on shore.

The capital is Valetta, and we were amazed that all the signs were in English. Malta was colonized by the British, that’s why, and only in recent history did it earn its independence. We also went to the Medieval City where Juluis Caesar reportedly built the old site for his imperial Rome, a fortress within a fortress. The country is devoutly Catholic, and the story goes that during WW II, a bomb dropped in a church failed to go off, saving hundreds of villagers. They kept a replica of this bomb right in the church to this day to remind the villagers of the miracle, and the German Luftwaffe fighter who supposedly dropped the bomb traveled to Malta after the war to ask forgiveness from the village people.

Malta is easily one of the most beautiful ports we visited. It is poignantly picturesque, still a little quaint with many small shops lining the roads flanked by shade trees. There were flowerbeds everywhere, and it struck us that while flowers were abundant, cacti also were, and these were used as natural fences. The Maltese have their own distinct language with origin from the Egyptian language.

After more than half a day touring Malta, it was back to the ship at around 5 p.m. Another tip: Eat a full breakfast before embarking on your excursions. Making arrangements for your own tours gives you more leisurely time for a not-so-early breakfast. This way, you save on lunch which in any part of Europe can be quite expensive. Anyway, when you get back to the boat by 5 p.m., the barbecue is already a raging party on the pool deck, and you can have a late lunch, right off the grill.

Every night, they have something happening in any corner of the ship. There is a nightly show- comedy, magic, juggling, and musicales- at 8 p.m. In other outlets, there are get-to-know-you parties, Frank Sinatra hits sung by a talented Pinoy, karaoke nights. Warning: food may be abundant in the ship, but hard drinks cost a lot, and come with a 15 percent service fee anywhere. Go easy on the spirits which, by the way, you can’t smuggle aboard either as your bags go through x-ray before you are allowed to board.

The kids really had the time of their lives. As parents, you don’t really have to worry about them because, where can they go? However, I still had to keep tabs on them, so I kept calling them by cell several times a day. Another tip: text, don’t call, and save everyone, caller and called party, a lot of money. I almost fell off my chair when I saw my phone bill- over P21,000. Collectively, my wife’s and my 2 kids’ bills were P17,000, so that made our total bill P38,000, mostly during the cruise alone!

The following day, we were scheduled to dock in Naples. Though Napoli has been romanticized in songs and movies (Sophia Loren is from there), we decided to forego a guided tour and decided to stroll along the streets of Naples by ourselves. Another useful tip here: all the Pinoy staff in the boat warned us of unsavory elements in the streets of Naples. Be wary of suspicious men and women lurking in back streets, leave your valuables in your cabin’s safe, and guard your handbags and cameras.

Napoli was a disappointment. The streets were dirty, and mendicants were everywhere, begging for food or money. We couldn’t find a decent shop to enter, at least to buy something from Naples. We stopped for coffee at a roadside café, got a few slices of pizza to go, and headed back to the boat. My brother Rey and his family opted for a tour which included Sorrento and the Island of Capri. Though not both places were not exactly tourist destinations in themselves, the tour guide gave them a taste of local color to make up for it. In Sorrento, they were brought to a small farm where they still made mozzarella by hand and had home-made meals in the farm.

We did so much walking, for nothing really, in Naples because we couldn’t find decent shops to enter, not even a decent-sized grocery, so we walked the whole day. The only saving grace was the US dollar here is mightier that in Barcelona, for some strange reason which I can’t explain. In Barcelona, at that time the exchange rate for the dollar versus euro was 59.75, while in Naples, you could get 73 euros for every $100.00. It couldn’t be fluctuation because when we got back to Barcelona, the rate was still the same. Tip: your dollar goes a longer way in Italy, or even France.

That night, we all had a good sleep because of all the walking we did. The boat’s beds are really very comfortable but if you are claustrophobic like me, I’d like to share another tip: choose a cabin with at least a window for an ocean view. I wanted one with a balcony but this was not available anymore. The inside cabins in the lower decks are a little cheaper but the closed cabin can give you instant claustrophobia.

Next week, we dock in Civitavecchia port, in Rome.

By the way before I finally close, one of our readers, Mr. Juan Jose Berenguer-Testa writes to say he enjoyed reading last week’s column, “Ola Barcelona” and recommends for visitors to check-out the Hotel 1899 in Las Ramblas in Barcelona and they’ll be “pleasantly surprised”. 

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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