Tue, 04/01/25    Heraklion

Day 86 - Tuesday, April, 1st, 2025 – Heraklion, Crete

If you've been paying attention to the itinerary, Heraklion, Crete does not show up at all. That is because while we were on shore yesterday the captain made an announcement that we would not be stopping in Patmos Greece. Again, this was due to weather. Instead, we would be stopping in Heraklion. Patmos was a tender spot so I would not be able to get off the ship. As it turns out, Heraklion was a docked spot so I could get off the ship. As soon as they heard that this would be a dock stop, I contacted Sage travel to see if they could get us a tour on Crete for today. While we were at dinner, Angela, at Sage, found one. We talked about it at dinner and decided that we would skip the tour for this stop. It was a bit pricey. It stopped at a couple of places that didn't really interest us. Plus, more importantly, I am behind in my log so I needed to spend a day to catch up or at least try to catch up. I sent a note back to Angela saying no but thank you.

We decided that Mary would go on shore, and I would stay on the ship. We got up a little later than normal but not too late. We were to breakfast on 14 by about 10:00. I found a couple of pieces of Italian sausage, a scoop of corned beef hash and some baked beans. There just is nothing up there that really piques my interest. Even Mary settled with some fruit and a bagel. A little later, after I had my coffee, I found sticky buns which were good. They reminded me of cinnamon rolls.

After breakfast, we headed back to the cabin. I sat in the room while Mary went to shore. I worked on the log for the next almost 4 hours. Mary got off the ship. They have a shuttle that took you from the ship to the gate which was about a 5 minute ride. Mary explained it as this is a working port so no one can be walking around near the ship. Once she got to the gate, she decided to get on a hop on - hop off bus. The boss runs around and goes in a great big circle around the town. Mary got off on the fourth or fifth stop of the circle and walked away into the center of the town. She spent the next hour looking for - I shouldn't even have to tell you this - T-shirts, refrigerator magnets, postcards and stamps. She was semi successful. She was told that there was a post office nearby so she walked over that way. She stood in line for the next 45 minutes to try to get stamps and send the postcards. The ship was set to leave at 3:00 and this was already 1:00 so time was becoming a concern. She decided to get out of line and head back to the ship. I don't remember the exact sequence of steps but she ended up taking a taxi back to where the shuttle bus was. She still had plenty of time, but she made it back to the ship by 2:30 or so. (While we were waiting for the ship to leave, we saw a hop on-hop off bus pull up to the ship almost 45 minutes after the ship was supposed to leave. There were three people that got off the bus and ran to the ship. That's what I call cutting it close. Technically, the ship didn't have to wait for them I guess but thankfully it did.)

I was still working on the log when Mary came through the door. She showed me everything that she obtained on her journey. She even showed me the picture of the guy trying to kiss her in the town square. Yes, I damn near lost Mary in the Town Center of Heraklion Crete. For some reason, she decided to stick it out with me. Silly girl. 😊

We hung around until we decided to go to dinner. We did my timelapse of the ship leaving. After that, we headed downstairs. For my appetizer I had a crab based souffle of some sort. I would try to explain it but it wasn't worth it. It was not that good. I had the salad which was bib lettuce and scallions. They had a vinaigrette dressing which was pretty good. For my entree I decided to have beef tips. As it turns out, I had had these previously. They were as good this time as they were last. Mary had two times the salad. There was no cold soup option so she decided on a strawberry sorbet. She commented that it was not as sweet as the dessert version. I didn't realize there could be a appetizer version and a dessert version of sorbet. If true, lesson learned. She had fried chicken for dinner. We both had an orange pineapple sorbet for dessert. It was refreshing.

Tonight was the last night for one of our waiters. He goes back to India tomorrow. His contract is up. He's going to be home for three or four months before he will be placed on a different ship. I believe his contract was nine months. These guys work a lot of hours. For example, the guys we see on 7 are there at 7:00 AM and they work till about 11:00. We will see them again before dinner service at 3:00 and then they will work till 11:00 at night. They do this seven days a week. Even when they are not on the floor, they still have other duties they need to do behind the scenes like training. In a given week they work at least 90 hours a week. I cannot even begin to imagine working 90 hour weeks for nine months. Somehow, they all do it. Mary says they like it because they are working for the American dollar. For example, one American dollar is ₹85. I did a quick Internet search and 100 American dollars is about half a month's rent for in average apartment in in Indian city. I have no idea what kind of money they make on the ship but, for grins, let's say it's $500 a week. That works out to be $18,000 for the year. (They work for nine months and then are off for three months before getting back on another ship.) Of course, these are all speculative numbers but $18,000 back home has to be pretty significant. They found a website that said that $18,000 in India would classify them as middle income group 2 – “comfortable lifestyle with better financial stability and probably has investment in properties.” (https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/webstories/are-you-lower-middle-or-upper-class-in-india/slidelist/112080767.cms).

With that discussion aside, these guys have become like friends over the last 80-some days. Because we eat in the same area every night, we run into them four to seven nights a week. They are all very friendly. And of course, Mary asks them countless questions every time she sees the. We have a complete history of them by now. To have one or two of them go home is like losing friends. Well, maybe not like friends but acquaintances. So, when tonight was Subha’s last night we spent time with them saying goodbye, etcetera. There are three or four other waiters that we have spent a fair amount of time with. We will know them even longer. That does not mean that Mary has run out of questions for them. 😊

After dinner, we came back upstairs. I continued to work on the log. I fought back the desire to take a nap for the next 6 hours. It has been another successful day. Tomorrow we are back on schedule, and we'll make our first and only visit to the Asian continent on this world cruise. We are in Turkey tomorrow.