Temperature: 16C 58F (RAIN!!)

Distance travelled: 4538 nautical miles

Today it is the final day at sea. From Heraklion we headed across the Ionian Sea and through the Strait of Messina. This is a narrow stretch of water between the Eastern tip of Sicily and the tip of the toe of Italy. The strait is only 3.1km (1.9 miles) at its narrowest so for this reason a pilot is required to guide the vessel safety through to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is then a straight run up the west coast of Italy to our final port of call, Naples. From there it is a short hop to Genoa, our port of disembarkation, arriving on the following morning. We attended a presentation on disembarkation procedures. This is the first sign that our adventure is nearly at an end.

As the World Champions quiz could only be won by a handful of teams, we all thought that only a few of them would turn up at the prize giving. How wrong we were. 21 teams took part in this mammoth quizathon and all 21 teams were present in the Broadway Theatre at 4:30 for the start of the proceedings. The scores were shown on the big screen in reverse order. All teams got a deserving round of applause. Regardless of nationality - there were teams made up from Germans, Italians, French, Spanish and the English speaking colonies - a lot of respect was shown for each team. The team in 3rd place, China were invited on to the stage. Their prize? A MSC bandana and a key ring. Without announcing the runner up or winner, both ourselves (Team Ecuador) and Team Malta were now asked to take our places on to the stage. Some more tension and another drum roll but we all really knew who had won. Team Malta took that prize beating us by 2 points. Our prize? An MSC Blanket and a key ring!! Malta received the same prize plus a ball cap. One interesting fact about all teams on the podium was that we were all from English speaking countries. China with the Australian team members, Malta was more of a pot pourri for team members consisting of Aussies, 2 Canadians and a few Scots. Ecuador had a mix of Aussies and Brits. There is a moral there somewhere!! The Europeans may have beaten us to the sunbeds with their 'get up at 6:30am and put a towel on the sunbed' antics, but the English speaking nations can tell the difference between the SS Andrea Doria and the silhouette of Burkina Faso!!!
This evening was the final of 4 gala evenings. Not only was it the traditional March of the Baked Alaska where all the assistant and junior waiters parade through the restaurant holding aloft the evenings dessert followed by the Executive Chef and his team, it was also Alyson and Joanne's last evening on board, we all arranged to meet after dinner for one final drink and to say our goodbyes.

Roisin and I have visited Naples on 3 occasions. We have visited Pompeii and Herculaneum. We have wandered around the city centre taking in such iconic landmarks as Castel San Angelo, Castel d’Uovo and ridden a funicular to Castel Nuevo. You could say that Naples has its fair share of castles!! We have even nipped across to the Isles of Capri and Ischia that both lie in the Bay of Naples. It’s not every day you get to climb a volcano. Especially the only volcano on mainland Europe to have erupted in the past 100 years. Naples lies in the shadow of the infamous Mt. Vesuvius, 9km (5.6 miles) inland. The weather for Naples was predicted as overcast with a 100% chance of showers, and a cool 16C (58F). Why, for once, did the Meteorological Office have to be 'spot on’ with their forecast? I drew the curtains back to be greeted with low cloud and spots of rain in the air. At breakfast we went up on deck and looked across the city of Naples toward where Mount Vesuvius should have been!!! With my optimist’s head on, it was only 7:45am so still quite early. Plenty of time for the cloud to lift.

After checking in for our excursion and a short wait we made our way to bus number 5. We met Ashleigh and her Uncle Kevin who had also decided on this tour. Her aunty and other uncle had chosen to visit the ruins of Pompeii but unfortunately her aunty had come down with a nasty bug and after visiting the infirmary, had been confined to bed therefore her uncle was visiting Pompeii on his own. As Ashleigh said: ‘it shouldn’t bother him as he’ll talk to anyone!!!’

We boarded the bus to learn MSC had merged the English speakers with the French speakers. This didn’t seem to bother our guide, Abdullah, who seemed very comfortable switching between English and French. All nations respected each other’s language when Abdullah was talking. Except for coughing and the odd splutter, the coach was silent when our guide was talking.

Vesuvius is 1,281m above sea level. The coach drove to a car park approximately 1000m above sea level. The final 281m is climbed via a wide cinder path 900m long and takes about 30 minutes to ascend.

Mt. Vesuvius is probably the best known volcano on earth with its characteristic cone. The volcano is a distinctive "humpbacked" mountain, consisting of a large cone (Gran Cono) partially encircled by a steep rim caused by the collapse of an earlier and originally much higher structure called Monte Somma. This volcano originally towered 3000m above sea level with a crater circumference of 11,000m. The Gran Cono was formed during the Pompeii eruption of AD 79 due to Monte Somma exploding in a similar fashion to the fate of Mt. St. Helens in Washington State. The Gran Cono now measures in at 1,600m circumference. For this reason, it is quite accurate to say that Vesuvius wasn’t responsible for the catastrophe that destroyed the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum and the lesser known towns of Oplonti and Stabiae.

When we arrived at the car park, the cloud hadn’t threatened to lift. It seemed to be as thick and as low as ever. Not having ever walked in to a cloud maybe they’re hollow and once we get above the cloud line, everything inside will be crystal clear! Ever the optimist!! Nephology was never my strong point! (Unless it came up in a trivia quiz: What is Nephology the study of??)

As we prepared for the 30 minute hike to the crater rim, a French lady reached in to her bag and pulled out a telescopic ski pole. Where did that come from? She has just spent the last 17 days cruising the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea. Why would she have packed something like that? Perhaps the climax of this trip for her is this climb and the beautiful mosques and fantastic weather was just the support act!

Most of us huffed and puffed our way to the top. One person I have the upmost respect for is Ashleigh’s Uncle Kevin. He is nearly 80 years old and was suffering from a cold yet he handled the steep incline like Mo Farrah out for an early morning jog!! I was the only person in the group who was wearing a t-shirt. The rest of the tour had come prepared with jackets, cagoules, and ski poles. This was obviously the optimist in me!! Despite the noticeable drop in temperature it didn’t feel that chilly due to my mind being on the tight pounding in my chest during the climb to worry about the cold!!

We walked into the cloud and as I suspected clouds aren’t hollow!! It felt more like I had entered a Charles Dickens novel and was walking through a foggy old Victorian London town. However, at the summit there was no barrow boy or flower seller just someone selling a pile of old rocks from a shack!! Visibility was a few metres. The crater is marked by a fence that runs along the rim. The guide was good enough to point out in to the abyss: ‘And this is where you would have seen Pompeii in the distance if it was not so cloudy…and over there is where the crater should be!!’ As I was unable to take any photos of the summit of Mt. Vesuvius, I have nicked some ‘royalty free’ photos to show you what we should have seen!!!

On our way back to Naples we stopped at a factory that make cameos from sea shells and coral. We were given a demonstration as to how the ‘master’ carves the design then creates the brooch or pendant after which we were shown in to a store. This coincided with another coach load of people entering the store. My excuse for not buying Roisin that €2,300 bracelet is that I couldn’t get near to the counter and then, what do you know, time to get back on our coach!!

We set sail at 2pm. Next time we get off the ship it will be for the last time. It seems a long time since the football match in Dubai or the haircut in the Virgin Upper class Cow Shed. We have received our coloured labels that indicate our time of disembarkation. Depending on your circumstances dictates n your slot for disembarkation. This is to provide a staggered disembarkation to ensure a smooth operation in offloading 2,300 passengers and their luggage. All luggage is to be left outside the state room between 10pm-2am. These will then be collected by the cabin stewards and when offloaded, they will be stored in the arrivals hall in colour order making it easier to be located by the owner. Our time slot is 09:30. This should give us plenty of time to get to the airport in time for our 1:05pm flight.

Now it’s time to collect all the crap we’ve amassed on this trip and what we haven’t managed to palm off on other people as well as all the crap other people have palmed off on us!! I’m sure we’ll find room somewhere!!