Nice, France – 2/16/2015 – http://fulltimetimeshare.com/blog

FEBRUARY 16, 2015 (Monday)

There was some confusion as to where and how we were going to dock in the area of Nice/Cannes/Monte Carlo. The Captain made an announcement about one port, then said something else a little later. We ended up being near the town of Nice (pronounced niece), which worked out really well.

Michael and I went to breakfast at the Grand Pacific Restaurant. They seated us near a window and the service, food, and view was fabulous. While we were waiting on our food, I went upstairs to near the internet area to get our tender tickets. When I got back down to the restaurant, the food had just arrived.

Edie had scrambled eggs and a hash brown... — Edie had scrambled eggs and a hash brown…

and French Toast, since we are in France.

I had eggs Benedict, lacking Edie's sense of style.... — I had eggs Benedict, lacking Edie’s sense of style….

After breakfast we waited for a few minutes on deck 5 and got to talking to one of the employees we like. He said he knew a lady who worked on the ship that crashed a couple of years ago in Italy (Costa Concordia). He said he had been told that the whole atmosphere of the Costa fleet was way too relaxed and unprofessional. He said NCL was so much more professional and good to work for.

The sea was a little rough but the crew did an excellent job of making sure no one got hurt getting on or off the tender. Once in Nice, we walked up some stairs and started walking to the left. In a very short distance we encountered what I had hoped we would, the statue carved in the mountain that we saw from the ship. It was beautiful but we could not make out what it was as it was all in French. We’ll Google it later and add it.

We don't need no map. — We don’t need no map.

Our new friend, Dennis, told me later that they do not drop anchor, just set the GPS to a spot and thrusters on the ship automatically hold it right there.

Multi-war memorial dedicated to the citizens of Nice that died. WWI, WWII, Indochina, and Algeria.

We walked a little bit more and discovered an old flea market/garage sale type event going on. It was fun walking through the different booths and seeing all the old (and not so old) things for sale. We continued walking and saw lots of fun things – a pet store with at least twelve cute little puppies in the window, a chocolate store with anatomy in the window. We also saw the art museum on our walk to find bus route 100 (which we were told went to Monte Carlo).

Garage sale, without the garage, so maybe a flea market, without the fleas. Pretty woman, like a moth to the flame…

A King Charles Cavalier Spaniel. — A King Charles Cavalier spaniel.

Have to pay .50 and no toilet seat! Gross.

Since we drive a plugin, we were fascinated.

When we did find bus 100, a nice lady who spoke English told us to wait for the next bus and we would get a seat. We were so glad we did as the bus was so crowded like we had never seen before (even in China or Japan). The cost was 1.50 Euro per person, per way and we paid on the bus. The drive was about an hour and made several stops. The view was spectacular and reminded me a lot of the Carmel/Big Sur area. There were so many yachts and mansions everywhere.

crowds, the bus is very popular here. — Crowds, the bus is very popular here.

The bus let us off right above the Monte Carlo Casino. In order to get to the Casino, we had to walk through a beautiful old garden path that opened up to the breathtaking view of the Casino. Loved it. It was very crowded as people were waiting to go into the casino when it opened at 2:00 PM. (I was told they charge you 10 Euro to go inside.) It was only around 12:45 PM so Michael and I decided just to walk around a little bit and then catch the bus back to Nice.

The bus ride back was so much nicer and less crowded. Such beautiful views. Michael and I also decided Nice is nice, very nice, and we’d like to come back some day to explore more in detail. We got off the bus near the port and walked around and looked in some stores, then took the tender back to the ship. Once on the ship we had a late lunch at the buffet and then rested a bit.

We had a little walk along the port when we got off the bus.

At almost 6:00 PM, we went upstairs to the Alizar Restaurant to meet up with Dennis and Helga for dinner. They had some questions they wanted to ask us about the Istanbul portion of our trip (they will be there next week on their second leg of the cruise). We had to apologize to them and cut the dinner very short because we had forgotten about the Latitudes invitation only cocktail party in the Spinnaker Lounge at 6:45 PM. We were able to visit for a short while, and get an appetizer, before we left for the party. We also made arrangements to meet for dinner tomorrow evening at the Grand Pacific.

The cocktail party was for silver members, which we just turned. We were bronze when we first started the cruise (something like 20 sailing days), but turned silver. For each level, they have a cocktail party and you get additional perks. The platinum people get free laundry (among other things). When we turned bronze to silver, we get chocolates each night. We are also going to go to the bronze cocktail party Wednesday evening as we didn’t get an invite last cruise (when we should have). Anyway, the cocktail party was quite fun – all the drinks you wanted (beer, wine, rum drinks), hor d’orves, music, raffle drawings, dancing. Fun. It ended right around 7:30 PM, just in time for the show (which was skipped as it was Yorgus, the magician, and we’ve seen him lots of times).

Michael wanted to add something the Captain said during the cocktail party. He spoke to the crowd and said we couldn’t go into Monaco because all the million dollar yachts didn’t want our thrusters disturbing the water and bouncing them into each other. And when the Captain thought he had made other arrangements, and they fell through, he said, “I won’t comment any further on that. I have learned sometimes it is not possible to be honest and diplomatic at the same time.”

After the cocktail party, we headed back to our room. That was our day. Hope yours was great!