Day 9:
Today we docked in Santorini! As soon as we woke up, we disembarked and caught a boat to Fira port. From there, we took a speedboat to Oia – the famous village that everyone associates with the beautiful island!
It has the white bell towers, the blue roofs and absolutely mesmerising views. We dawdled dreamily around the place – stopping at every possible moment to admire the skyline and take photos. If you think the island looks amazing on pictures, seeing it in real life is something else. I can definitely say that the views were the most breathtaking I’ve ever seen. After Oia, we caught a boat to Fira town centre where we grabbed lunch in a Greek tavern, walked the cobbled streets and did a spot of souvenir shopping before walking back down to the port. Until that point, Santorini had been everything that we’d dreamed of and more. It was gorgeous, picturesque, romantic, perfect and completely dreamlike. But things took a turn for the worst walking back to the port! We decided against the cable cars as the queues were awful, so we set off walking – holding hands in the sunshine together, about to walk the 600 steps to the shore. It started off so well… but then we saw over one hundred donkeys trotting our way. As if trying to dodge them on the steps wasn’t stressful enough, they were all depositing waste as they went and giving off the most horrendous smell! The heat didn’t help matters and soon I was holding my stomach and trying with all my might to prevent throwing up. It seemed to go on forever – more steps, more donkeys, more nausea! Eventually, we got to the bottom and we could see our cruise ship. It had taken us the best part of an hour! We approached what we hoped would be the last donkey of the day (and what I hoped would be the last donkey of my entire life, to be fair). Unfortunately, with terrible timing, the final donkey decided it needed to go to the toilet. Can you guess what happened next? In case you can’t… my wonderful husband dived out of the way to save himself, and he let the diarrhoea-ridden mule shit all over my legs! I was absolutely horrified!!!! My evil Mister however, was absolutely doubled up with laughter so hard that I thought he’d peed his pants. As soon as we boarded the ship, we went to our stateroom so I could shower (much, much needed!!!), then we had a quick nap before tea. There was a Greek theme with a white and blue dress code so I wore my favourite white summer dress (I’d bought it especially for my hen weekend!) and as a nod to the blue theme, I wore my bridal knickers underneath – with ‘Mrs Phillipson’ embellished on in blue diamanté. We went to Windjammer again for tea and as we walked out onto the deck, a huge gust of wind hit us and I managed to flash my new name to the entire ship! I was sooo embarrassed but yet again Darren laughed away and loved every second!!!! After, we headed to ‘R Bar’ for cocktails. I had ‘Coco Nuts’, my new favourite – consisting of Malibu, Disaronno and pineapple juice. We watched the entertainment, which was a hilarious dance show where guests had to team up with Royal Caribbean staff and crew to dance in competition with each other. Finally, we attended the Greek themed pool party on the top deck. We had amazing fun – dancing around like absolute lunatics until the next morning! The music was excellent with the ship DJ Ruby Yoo playing fun classics like the Cha Cha Slide and the Cupid Shuffle, and sing along hits like Despacito and Titanium. The pool side was mobbed with loads of different nationalities dancing together. It was so much fun and such a laugh with one guy deciding to whack a warning cone on his head and another swinging a handful of lanyards around. We laughed like crazy and watched a dance off before deciding to head to bed ready for Katakolon!
Day 10:
Today was all about Katakolon: the final stop of our honeymoon cruise! We couldn’t believe how fast it had come around, but we were looking forward to exploring a completely different part of Greece all the same. When we docked, we caught a taxi to Ancient Olympia and spent the first part of our day looking at the ruins from the first ever Olympic Games of 8th century BC. The archelogical site was amazing, with an incredible wealth of history being explained to us. It may have been incredibly hot but we absolutely loved it! Afterwards, we got a taxi to the Katakolon markets and went shopping. Then we had drinks on the front and chose a pretty restaurant to have lunch in. We decided to be traditional and ordered chicken souvlaki and moussaka between us. Both of our meals were awesome! Then we got back on the ship and enjoyed a chilled afternoon on Deck 9. I went in the pool for the first time – we’d barely had the time to enjoy it until then! Next we had a couples Swedish massage in the spa together which was just amazing and a great experience to share! Then we got ready for our last formal night on the ship, which meant that I got to admire Darren in his tuxedo again! We agreed to spend our evening having chilled drinks from there, in all of the bars throughout the ship; as it was our last opportunity to go cut loose before having to worry about flying home. I felt a little sad that our holiday was coming to an end, but also excited for the next few breaks that we had agreed to plan after arriving home.
bex the blogger 