The Majestic Princess First stop

The main piazza of the Majestic Princess

The Majestic Princess is the largest cruise ship we have experienced yet, with a capacity of 3560 passengers and 1346 crew members.  First impressions have been good, with the exception of the pokey dining room staff who made a marathon of our first dinner.  Fortunately, we won’t be seated at the same table each night.  It seemed everyone around us was being served way quicker than us.  We’re going to have a hard time achieving our beverage package’s limit of 15 drinks a day if we don’t find faster servers. 🤪

Our first port of call was Naples, at one end of the Amalfi Coast.  There, we had a bus excursion that filled most of our day.  First we traveled to Pompeii, where we were able to view the desecrated remains of people who had taken the same tour at some previous time.  We found that Pompeii is a very hot place even without any volcanic interference, and we learned the hard way that Italian locals are allowed on one day each month to visit the site for free.  Our wait to get in was a long, sticky, excruciating experience, but once we got in we were amazed at the extent of the excavation, and humbled by the realization of the level of devastation that Mother Nature is capable of.

Once we finished our Pompeii visit, our tour took us to the seaside city of Sorrento, which seemed a great idea until there was a traffic accident in front of us on a road from which there was no escape.  This led to a lot of folks in our group regretting that they didn’t take advantage of the bathroom break offered back at Pompei.  We sat in one place for about an hour, but eventually this obstacle, too, was overcome.  We made it to Sorrento and found it to be picturesque and very charming.

The lemons in Sorrento were as big as grapefruit and fortunately much sweeter! Debbie enjoyed a frozen lemon shell filled with lemon sorbet which is apparently a signature delicacy of the region, and was delighted. Chris sampled multiple flavours of gelato, which has turned into something of a compulsion.

The pictures attached are of the good parts of our day, and not when we were hot and cranky.

Glass floor that is extended out from the ship over the sea

Pompei, the scale is massive

Yep, still Pompei

Our tour guide Andreas demonstrating fast food production in about 75 A.D. Pompeii

The streets of Pompei are better than many at home!

Mt. Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii and 

several other cities in 79 A.D.

Sadly, we are experiencing some technical difficulties with the photos of beautiful Sorrento but will try to post a few soon!