Cargill Travel Blog

So on day 3 we stayed on the ship, so don’t expect too much from this blog. And sorry to disappoint the quesadilla appreciation society (Stu) but none were consumed.

We got into Marseille about 08:30. The crew were doing balcony maintenance so we had to draw the curtains to prevent them seeing an arse, or worse. They had warned us in advance to be fair.

We got out of cabin about 10:30, with a plan to find a nice spot by one of the pools. We do, and headed for Wind Jammer for breakfast. The place is huge and busy. Not many seats available but we found a table for two before long and attacked the buffet. I added something called Sheera to my plate, no idea what it was but went down ok with bacon, eggs, etc.

After we went to the pool and thought we’d try the curvy chairs which are part submerged in the pool. I started to move one around to angle to the sun. This was a big mistake. In doing so the end of the chair shifted over and caught Lisa’s little toe. Uh oh, she was hurt. With a fair bit of walking ahead this was a concern. Decided the best medicine was rest, sunshine and Pina Colada. This really will be a dull blog post, we’re now carrying an injury.

So we chill for a bit. Lisa gets hungry, and still craving chips we go back to Wind Jammer for lunch. Lisa is hobbling. I respond to my fat body’s needs and give it a salad. After lunch we grab some ice to make a pack and go back to room.

A seaplane lands twice, collecting and discharging water – possibly a practice run in case of forest fire. The band on Deck 15 play a reggae version of Knocking on Heaven’s Door. This is as good as it gets…

So after about 2-3 hours rest, we call home and have a lovely convo with our nearest and dearest. It was great to speak ❤️. We deliberately didn’t talk about the injury because we wanted to catch up and tbh didn’t know if it was much of an issue right then anyway. After a while we start to ruminate over possibly abandoning plans for going to Pisa tomorrow ☹️

We put on our whitest finery and head off for a pre-dinner drink (it’s some sort of Latin white party tonight).

Lisa’s walking speed is tortoise. This does not bode well for Pisa, and possibly even Rome or Pompeii. We’re a bit pissed off but Lisa, ever the optimist, says there’s worse places to be stuck. She’s right, as usual. So what does one do in these predicaments? Go to the special bar that travels between floors and drink your blues away.

The moving bar is a popular place, but today we are the only patrons. We order beer and chat to the bar man about stuff on the boat. He tells us that there is a slide on deck 16 called Abyss. Not much use to Lisa right now but good to know. He takes some great pictures and we then head to dinner.

We tell dinner reservation guy that we cannot walk fast. They said no probs, take the shortcut. We follow through a side door and get to the our table that we had on day 1.

Dinner, with a bottle of Pinot. Food was ok but not 5⭐. Lisa had cheese again, then chicken korma. I had shrimp cerviche and pork chop. Service was friendly and fun, as always. The staff are really nice and only too willing to help. We have the same servers as day 1. I ask Bastian to arrange for the dolphins to jump out of the sea again. He says he will sort it.

We make a brief visit to Excursions to chat about injury and options, but too many people with too few staff on hand to discuss our particular issue. So we decide to leave and defer until tomorrow. Pisa is now very unlikely so we have a day now to take stock, maybe see the ships medic, see if we can wrangle a cortisone injection or something.

We watch the band for a bit in the Royal Promenade, then go to the Karaoke Bar where there is a game show about dancing starting. We have to vote for best dancing by 2 teams (most energetic dance, most choreographed, etc). It’s a bit of fun, I end up conga-ing up to the stage along with pretty much everyone in the place, except Limping Lisa.

We go to Studio B and check out the ice rink. Funny how we said we’d avoid this as it’s too dangerous and yet get injured by a bloody chair in the swimming pool. People fall over, and we laugh. Particularly at a big guy dressed all in pink, who goes down hard.

Then we go to the casino, still at tortoise speed. But we’re still all smiles, it’s been a good night. We ask cashier how to start gambling, we want to bet the house. She shakes her head and with a wry smile says “don’t”, several times, hinting that there’s others here that probably have done just that. We get instructions on how to add credit and then load up $20 on a poker machine at the bar – familiar territory for Lis and me, just like Vegas. The smell of second hand smoke permeates the air. We go big – ordering 2 diet cokes and placing 25 cent bets one after the other. Lisa wants to start smoking again. People crowd around roulette tables. After a while we cash out the $12.50 that’s left, and leave.

We get back to Royal Promenade, see some Latin white party going on, and go get a slice of pizza each. Then hobble back to our room. Tomorrow is La Spezia, which we hope to visit, toe willing.