Two Day Recap: Ionian Sea and Crete

The trip is winding down, but the fun is not! 🫖🏞️🍝

A day at sea

After our day in Argostoli, we had a day at sea, sailing to our next destination. It was a lovely break from the busy days we’ve had and gave us a chance to explore more experiences on board.

First, we enjoyed a lovely breakfast on the deck near the pool. I tried an acai bowl from the smoothie bar that was so refreshing and we watched the waves roll by. We also noticed that they had hung up our Mizzou Touring Tigers flag by the pool, so we had to stop for a picture with it.

While the ship offered so many great activities like bingo, art classes, crafts, wine tastings and workout classes, we opted to focus on rest and relaxation. We started with the sauna and steam room that are available for all guests to use. There are separate facilities for men and women, and I had the women’s area all to myself while I was there. After that we spent time reading by the pool until lunch.

In the afternoon, we changed and went to the daily afternoon tea that Oceania is known for. We selected our teas and then got to choose from a large cart full of fresh pastries. I tried a lemon one and had some of James’ scone as well and both were great.

We ended the day with dinner at our second of the four specialty dining locations on board: Toscana. Toscana is the Italian restaurant and has been my favorite so far. After ordering, an olive oil expert came by and gave us our choice of 10 olive oils and 3 balsamic vinegars to choose from to dip our bread in. I selected a black pepper olive oil and he paired it with an 80-year aged balsamic vinegar (80 YEARS!). It was all so incredible, I could have skipped dinner and instead just kept trying different combinations.

However, I am glad we did not skip dinner, because everything was wonderful. I started with the jumbo shrimp in tomato sauce with parmesan and James had the calamari.

We both had the tableside Caesar salad and then moved on to the pasta course. I had lobster risotto which was to die for, and James had linguine cioppino filled with clams, mussels, calamari, shrimp, lobster and monkfish (if you can’t tell by now, we both really love seafood).

For entrees, I decided on the Branzino, a pan-seared seabass with crispy skin, macadamia nuts and a white wine sauce. James had the lobster tagliolini that had a bit of heat from chili flakes and fresh garlic in a tomato sauce.

We were pretty full at this point, but I could not pass up the molten chocolate cake with orange sauce. Orange and chocolate is one of my favorite flavor combinations, so James agreed to share it with me to finish our meal.

Heraklion and Knossos

As for today, we were back on land for another day of adventures. Several members of our group decided on the Palace of Knossos excursion which took us to see the remains Knossos, a bronze age archeological site in Crete. Knossos is considered to be the oldest city in Europe, and the cite of the Palace was thought to be the city center of the Minoan civilization.

We learned from our tour guide that the oldest parts of the palace were built around 1900 BC and was first excavated in 1877.

The rooms we saw were thought to be throne rooms, theaters, and places where people traded goods from voyages across the sea.

This was such a unique and wonderful experience, made more so by our tour guide. She was the best and most informative tour guide I had on any excursion and really brought the history to life with her storytelling.

After leaving Knossos, we made our way to the city center of Heraklion where we had an hour to explore. We opted to grab a bite to eat at a nearby restaurant overlooking the busy city center with a few travelers from our group. We had to get a souvlaki plate with the fresh pita and tzatziki sauce. The chicken came out fresh from the grill and was so juicy and fresh, not tough at all. This was a wonderful way to wrap up the afternoon.

We had a late dinner reservation so we used time on the ship after we got back to enjoy the sauna and pool then caught up on reading from our veranda as the ship set sail again.

For dinner tonight, we tried specialty restaurant number 3 of 4: Polo Grill. Polo Grill is the classic steak house on Riviera. I started with a lump crab cake that came with a super flavorful mustard sauce and James went with the pork belly with honey soy sauce.

I wont show you another Caesar salad because they all look the same and they are all very good. I decided to treat myself for dinner and go with the Surf and Turf, filet mignon with lobster tail and a side of garlic mashed potatoes. James went with the New York Strip. We shared green beans and a stack of crispy onion rings as well. Everything was so well done, even though I am the first to admit I am not a huge steak person.

For dessert, we opted for the brownie with raspberry sauce and vanilla bean ice cream. I love any warm dessert with ice cream and this was a real winner. We did notice some other diners got the “sampler dessert” which included miniature servings of five of the desserts, which seems like a great option.

Today was a great start back to our adventures on shore, and now it is time to get ready for our last day! Tomorrow we land in Mykonos for a beach day.

M-I-Z!

Morgan