Carnival Vista Review: Day 11 – Rhodesfeatured

Well, it’s been a few weeks, hasn’t it? Time seems to be escaping me lately. It’s like one minute, I was in San Francisco for my birthday and the next, it’s October. It’s October. When did that happen?!

It’s been a crazy month, though. I got promoted at work (…again, which makes two promotions in the past six months…that’s it’s own breed of crazy, isn’t it?). I spent a week in Seattle for work, capped off by a weekend exploring the Oregon Coast (my first time in Oregon and my first true solo trip!). Somewhere in between the 12 hour work days in Seattle and the sand in my shoes in Seaside, I caught a cold that I just can’t seem to shake. I head off to New York to visit with friends on Friday (…and then back to New York again for work the following week). Oh, and I saw Hamilton the other night and it was the greatest theater experience I’ve had all year. It’s been a crazy few weeks.

((And that’s not even the full of it. I’ve got one more update on the horizon…but more on that at another time 😉 ))

So we left off in Greece, yeah? Rhodes? Lets get back to Rhodes.

We woke up to gray skies on our second day in Greece, docked on the island of Rhodes. A later tour meant we could sleep in a little, linger over an extra cup of coffee at breakfast and take our time getting ready for our day before meeting up with our tour group.

There weren’t many excursions to choose from – a handful that headed to Lindos (the marquee attraction of Rhodes – an ancient village where you can shop, grab a frappe or climb to the acropolis…no, not that acropolis…that’s in Athens), a couple that visited nearby beaches and a few tours that explored the ancient towns and medieval history of the island. We opted for the Panoramic Drive & Free Time in Lindos because, well, we just wanted the free time in Lindos.

We met up with our tour guide for the morning, Tina, and began our tour of Rhodes at the pier. Unlike many of the Mediterranean ports where the ship docks in an industrial port in a gateway city, cruise ships dock right in Old Town Rhodes, where there’s a ton of things to see and do if you don’t want to take a tour. Tina began our tour with a lesson on Greek etymology as we drove through the narrow streets and tall stone walls of Old Town.

As we exited Old Town, the landscape shifted…more modern resort town than medieval fortress. That was interesting thing about this itinerary – it seemed as though every stretch of road in every country we visited ended in a curve into something dynamically different and unexpected.

Tina gave us the run down on Rhodes. It’s the fourth most populous island in Greece, with history dating back to the 16th century BC. It didn’t unite with Greece until the late 1940s, has a large population of Turkish Muslim’s and Jews (though the prevailing religion on the island is Greek Orthodox) and is home to the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Language was a bit of a barrier with Tina, who made some proclamations about religion and politics that weren’t exactly PC. Just as Stephanie and I shot each other a “did you just hear that?” look, we made our first stop at one of the panoramic viewpoints of the island, an overlook of the bay that highlighted not only the numerous beachside resorts on Rhodes, but the mountainous topography of the island.

The rain came in as we made our way to our next stop, and I napped my way through the drive until the bus came to a stop near the road down to Lindos.

Free time in Lindos was the big draw of this tour for us, so we were disappointed to pull up and learn that we only had 45 minutes of free time, and 20 of those minutes would be used walking to and from the village (ten each way, downhill there and uphill back). If walking inclines is a challenge, there’s a shuttle service for €0.50 or you could take a cab for €4-5 each way. Or you could do it Santorini style and hitch a ride on a donkey for €5. Either way we made our way there, we only had about 25 minutes of actual free time in Lindos, which was a major downer given how much time we spent driving around on the bus getting Tina’s opinions on religion and politics.

If I sound salty about our lack of actual free time in Lindos, it’s because I absolutely am, because Lindos is fascinating. There are a ton of shops and cafes that are nestled away inside this fortress of sorts, hidden away inside this façade of white on white. And because it’s the main attraction of the island, it gets really crowded, especially when there’s a cruise ship in port. So not only did we have a miniscule window with which to explore this awesome area, we had to do it with hundreds of strangers who were packing in along with us.

I had my list of priorities for Lindos down long before we arrived, and it should come as a surprise to no one that our top priority was to find a coffee shop for a round of cappuccino freddos. Greek coffee is addicting and it’s impossible to find a good freddo at home. We found a lovely little café with some great outdoor seating and enjoyed our coffee with baklava and a beautiful view of the acropolis.

Thankfully, the pace of dining is quicker in Greece than it is in Spain, France and Italy, and we were left with just enough time to shop and dodge the donkeys.

I really liked Lindos, but found our time to be entirely unsatisfying because we were so rushed to get back to the meeting spot at the bus. Walking back would take too long and Tina had told us earlier that she wasn’t even sure if the shuttle was running because it breaks down so often, but just as we were getting in line for a taxi, the shuttle showed up. A taxi would have been far more comfortable than the hot, crowded old bus they use as a shuttle and I probably would have paid double the taxi fare to not have to ride the shuttle, but it got us where we needed to be on time. So, pro tip, if you’re looking to visit Lindos, don’t take a ship sponsored excursion, and the uphill walk back will be entirely more pleasant than the shuttle bus if there’s a long line for a taxi.

After our group was accounted for, we headed towards one final photo stop: a viewpoint of Lindos and the acropolis.

Now, you might be thinking to yourself “You paid to go on a tour that took you to two viewpoints and gave you a whopping 25 minutes in Lindos? What in the world took up all that other time that made up this four and a half hour tour?” They took us to a ceramics factory. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t in the tour description and it was the same hole we fell into the year before in Turkey, where our day was cut short by a long visit to a carpet weaving school slash Turkish house of mirrors. We spent double the amount of time in this ceramics store than we did in Lindos. The guide was smarmy and the pieces were overpriced (something I was happy to share with our tour mates given that we’d be docking in Kusadasi the next day and I knew from last year that the same pieces were sold in Turkey for half the price).

It started raining again on our drive back to the ship, so we opted to go back to the ship instead of taking advantage of the optional drop off at the entrance to Old Town.

We dropped our bags off at the room before heading upstairs for a quick lunch. Mom and Stephanie went back to the room to take naps and I wandered around the upper decks, looking out at Old Town. I think the next time we visit Rhodes, we’ll spend the day exploring Old Town or we’ll just take a cab to Lindos. Rhodes is definitely a port you can DIY for a day.

I’ve probably mentioned it before, and I’m probably going to mention it again, but one of my favorite parts of the Vista was the way space was optimized for sea views, especially on the Lido deck, where the outdoor seating for the Marketplace faces the water. It’s a great spot to hide out with a cup of coffee and a book.

In need of a little pick me up, Stephanie and we headed next door to the Havana bar for some cortaditos and an extra afternoon energy jolt. The Cuban coffee offerings at the Havana Bar were super inexpensive and did the job in keeping us energized to explore the ship after a day in port.

We wandered around the ship for awhile, strolling along Sports Square, catching some live music along Ocean Plaza, people watching in the lobby. We decided to skip the dining room and have dinner up on the Lido deck, where they had extended the hours of Guy’s Burgers through the evening.

The evening’s entertainment was headlined by a new Playlist Production show, America Rocks!, a tribute to classic rock bands. The Liquid Lounge opened early for some pre-show fun, where the entertainment staff mingled with the crowd, a face painting booth was set up at the foot of the stage and Free Bird played in the background.

I’ve been critical of the Playlist Production shows in the past, but I think Carnival has made great strides in improving them. America Rocks! is one of the best new shows they’ve rolled out. The show was backed by a live band, something Carnival has veered away from in recent years, and it really upped the energy level of the show. The set list was fantastic and we spent the entire show dancing in our seats and singing along.

The show let out just as the sun was about to set, and we found our way to a secret little area at deck 5 forward. The deck wraps all the way around the front of the ship, affording us an amazing view of the horizon ahead, and best of all, no one else seemed aware of it and we had it to ourselves to enjoy the sunset.

We stopped back at the room to find our transfer tickets to the airport had been delivered. Suddenly, this was all coming to a close as quickly as it had began, and even though we had two more ports and almost a week in Switzerland and Paris after our cruise, the immanence of the end of this trip became a reality. And we faced it the only way we really could: by spending the rest of the night up on the Lido deck for a Mamma Mia singalong at the Dive In Movies.