Our short but sweet “Journey to Antiquities” cruise is over but will remain a special memory for a long, long time! We boarded the beautiful Star in Athens and we were able to go to our stateroom immediately. A last minute upgrade put us in a Penthouse Junior Suite which was a lovely space but the inclusion of free laundry (including dry cleaning!) was the biggest perk! Our housekeeping team was phenomenal … at every step they were eager to make sure that we were comfortable and had whatever we needed and/or wanted.

This was a somewhat abbreviated version of the cruise. We had two sea days which were the 24th and 25th. That meant that we had only four ports before disembarking in Rome. We really didn’t miss the extra stops as we truly enjoy the time we spend on the ship and we were looking for some R&R on this trip. There were two sea days (back to back the 24th and 25th). There were lots of on board activities planned but the first day we had some really rough seas and ended up hunkering down in the cabin … navigating the ship was a challenge for all but the most sure footed! Things finally settled down during the night and we enjoyed a calm and peaceful Christmas day!

Dining was, as always, a pleasure. We are not fussy eaters and although I love to cook I do enjoy occasionally having someone else do the shopping, chopping, serving and clean up! We skipped the Chef’s Table this trip as the menus were ones we have had twice before but we enjoyed two lovely dinners at Manfredi’s. We always enjoy The Restaurant and enjoyed most of our dinners there. The service was great and the food as good as we remembered! This trip we enjoyed some lunches at the Pool Grill which were very enjoyable … we often skip the grill as it can get crowded but they seem to have added some seating to the area around the grill and seating was much easier than it seemed to have been in the past. Read more