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Can’t say I was too keen when I got taken on a boat so the Captain could learn how to row like a proper gondolier. He didn’t have a straw hat or a striped sweater and he couldn’t sing ‘Just One Cornetto’ but he sure worked up a sweat getting that boat around the Lagoon.


The Captain just said he was lucky not to be in the other boat with Disney Cruise boss Tom Wolber. Proper slave driver he was; apparently, his crew were exhausted by the time they got back to the boathouse. Pah! They don’t even know what real work is.


VENICE REDUX


He was more at home in a workshop where they got him painting a Venetian Carnival mask. Talk about being proud of his black and white effort! I never heard the last of it. Me? I discovered they had a different name for me in Italy – Brontolo! Sounds good. And I met a couple of my pals, although Pinocchio was looking a bit pale.


It wasn’t long after my visit to Venice with Disney that I was back again after a wonderfully relaxing cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean. Crystal Serenity arrived just after lunch on our first day and my wife and I took a free shuttle boat to San Marco while passengers on Celebrity Silhouette and Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth queued to pay up to $25 for the privilege.


But what a week we had. I can’t wait to come back next year with Disney Cruise passengers. It will be Magic!


After a final night on the ship and with our flight home not leaving until early evening, we had almost a full day to make the most of La Serenissima. This time we bought €8 tickets for the Alilaguna boat from the cruise terminal to St Mark’s. Carefully avoiding the designer shops, I steered Mrs Greybeard towards the terrace of the HOTEL MONACO, looking across the Grand Canal towards the magnificent dome of Santa Maria della Salute.


The adventures Grumpy and I took part in are among those offered on Disney Magic’s 4, 7 and 12-night cruises from Barcelona in June and July 2013. Cruise- only fares are from about £500 per person (excursion prices have yet to be released). The Magic, which launched in 1998 and carries 1,750 passengers, was last in European waters in 2011. Two four-night


itineraries will visit Villefranche (for Nice and Monaco) and Palma de Mallorca. The six week-long cruises call at


Villefranche, La Spezia (for Florence), Civitavecchia (Rome), and Naples. Two 12-night cruises take in additional visits to Athens, Kusadasi (for Ephesus), Mykonos and Malta, and another two include Venice and Dubrovnik. 


Be sure to read the Captain’s regular Blog online at http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/ captain-greybeard/ and don’t forget the World of Cruising blog, http://timespentatsea.blogspot.com.


Almost two weeks of unabashed, all-inclusive Crystal luxury led me to think I could make a grand gesture of my own and splash out on a special lunch. Special it was – a humble cheese and ham toastie, washed down with Bellini for her, a bowl of pasta and bean soup, with a Campari and orange for me. Plus a bottle of San Pellegrino sparkling water to share. The bill: a heart-stopping €75.80 – more than £60. Grazie! Fast forward a week to a cafe in the town square of AVILES, northern Spain, where we arrived on Fred Olsen’s Balmoral – only the second cruise ship ever to visit the port. A coffee, which came with a complimentary churro, and a diet Coke, plus free sausage and potato tapas were the order of the day. The bill: €2.70 (or £2). Muchas gracias!


Winter 2012-13 I WORLD OF CRUISING


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