We had handed in our list of what was missing from the suitcases, and yesterday asked if anything had been discarded or whether it would be returned to us in Southampton. Hopefully it can all be returned to us, especially my little bag of cruise essentials.

Also my red suitcase was sent down to the workshop to see if they can repair it. Apparently this is not an uncommon problem, so maybe it will be returned to me like new.

So we had a good sea day yesterday, and I was happy to have my red dress and gold shawl to wear to the red and gold gala. The highlight of the day was having pre dinner drinks with Paul from Cunard Fanzine Facebook Group in the Commodore Club. I felt quite honored!

Today we are in La Spezia. We don’t usually do organized tours, but I really wanted to see the Cinque Terre. It would have been ideal to walk between the towns, but as time was of the essence, and I am sure they look the most beautiful from the sea, we decided to take the Cunard tour which would enable us to see them from the ferry, without the fear that if we missed a ferry we would not be able to get back to the ship on time.

The tour seemed to be a bit disorganized at first, but we were eventually able to sit on the top deck of the ferry and sail past the Italian Navy ships towards our first destination, Portovenere.

Portovenere is not actually one of the Cinque Terre as it turned out. However, it was certainly worth a visit.

Portovenere dates back to Roman times, when a Temple was built to Venus, the goddess of beauty, because the area was so beautiful according to our guide.

It certainly is absolutely beautiful with its tall colored houses perched along the waterfront and medieval castle at the top of the hill.

We wandered up the tiny main street to explore the town and the church, resisting the urge to stop in one of the many souvenir shops which actually had some very nice things in them.

Byron apparently also liked the town, and there is a swimming area with the bluest of blue water called Byron’s Grotto.

The visit was a bit short, but we had lots to see today, so we went back to another ferry and headed to our next stop, the most northerly of the Cinque Terre, Monterosso.

I got chatting to the couple seated behind me on the ferry, and it turned out they had just got married on the ship. As there are no photographers on board at the moment, Cunard had flown one in from Canada to take their wedding photos, as photos as part of the package. They were very pleased with everything about the ceremony, and described the captain as being “a lovely man”. He certainly came through for them in a big way, they are one very happy couple.

The coastline is amazing. The steep cliffs have houses perched high on them, and terraces with vineyards looking like they might plummet into the blue Mediterranean Sea at any moment.

We stopped at 2 of the villages before finally reaching our destination. It was nearly 2:00, and definitely time for lunch. Our guide recommended some restaurants, and we decided to follow his advice and settled on a time to meet up, and headed for an establishment off the beaten path.

The area is known for its mussels, so Brian and I decided to try them out, and they were delicious. Unfortunately, we had to return to the ferry by 3:00 so we really didn’t have much time to explore the town.

That’s where the confusion started. I had thought we were going directly back to La Spezia, but one of the members of our group said we were going to stop at Portovenere again, and then take a later ferry to La Spezia. They had decided to go straight back to La Spezia instead. I thought that it would actually be quite nice to return to the ship. It was very hot, and the swimming pool was beckoning, so we decided to follow their example.

As we were boarding the ferry I checked with our guide that this ferry would be going to La Spezia, and let him know that we would be going straight there. I said that I would be returning the audio guides to him.

At the first stop, in Vernazza, a lot of passengers disembarked, but I thought nothing of it. When we were underway again I went to find our guide to give him the audio guides, but he was nowhere to be found. However, I also noticed that most of our group had also disappeared. So it was not Portovenere that we were stopping at after all, but Vernazza. I was a bit disappointed about missing it, and concerned about how to get the audio guides back to our guide.

Still, it was a beautiful afternoon, and we sat out on the top deck enjoying the amazing passing scenery.

When we returned to the Cruise Terminal I asked what we should do with the audio guides, and was told that someone would collect them at the ship.

It is a short bus ride from the terminal to the ship, and sure enough when we arrived there, there was someone ready to take the audio guides.

What I hadn’t realized was that we were in BIG trouble.

Apparently I had not been clear enough when I had told our guide that we were going straight to La Spezia, so he thought he had lost us. This of course delayed everyone on the tour I imagine, and seemed to have set off some kind of panic.

Laura from the Shore Excursion office just seemed relieved to see us. Strangely enough she remembered us from an overland tour we did independently in Brazil on Queen Victoria in 2017. I have no idea why we should have been so memorable, but I fear it may not have been in a good way.

However, there was another woman there who was very annoyed with us. When I tried to explain that I had planned to give the audio guides to our guide so he would know for sure that we were staying on the ferry, but didn’t know he and our group were getting off in Vernazza, she told me that I should have listened to what he said, as obviously 150 other people were able to do so. I tried to explain, but it didn’t work.

I know that we must have caused a lot of worry for a lot of people, but I really thought our guide understood what our plan was. It must have been really awful for him to think he had lost us. Feeling somewhat deflated we went back on board.

I suppose some people just shouldn’t go on organized tours.

Once in our cabin the phone rang. It was the purser’s office. I was hoping that it was an update on our missing items, but no, it was not.

Apparently because we had left the group, they had decided that we were going to miss the ship. They had gone into our safe to remove our passports, and now wanted to see if it was convenient to bring the passports back to our cabin.

So I suppose all’s well that ends well, it had been a wonderful day apart from the panic. Hopefully things will go better in Rome tomorrow.

During dinner the captain gave us an update on our passage to Civitavecchia and the weather tomorrow. I still wish he would do the noon announcements, but it is still good to hear his voice, even in the middle of dinner.

After dinner we relaxed in the Commodore Club. We do miss Carlo our favorite pianist. We reminisced about all the nights spent listening to him on the Queen Victoria world voyage in 2017, and how the world was a different place back then somehow. We also drank to the fact that we are so lucky to be back on this wonderful ship again, and will be visiting the Eternal City tomorrow. Rome is called the Eternal City because ancient Romans believed that no matter what happened to the world, or how many empires rose or fell, that Rome would go on forever.

Yay!