Wanderings and Ramblings : Fall cruising in the med on Splendour--part 1 (sail out from Venice and Sail in to Kotor, Monte Negro)

We can nearly always get a great deal on a med. cruise during Rio's fall break from school and this year was no exception--which is why we drove down to Venice last Saturday and embarked on 7 days of relaxation and warmer weather on board the Splendour of the Seas.

One of the great things for us about cruising out of Venice is that it is a short and easy drive down and so convenient to park right at the dock by the ship. If you happen to be driving there yourself, here is the link to the passenger terminal website to reserve your onsite parking (googling pulls up several more expensive and less convenient private sites above the "real" deal). http://www.vtp.it/terminal/prenotazione.jsp

See how close we were to the ship? We could have parked closer, but wanted to be away from other cars which might ding ours (though, on disembarkation we were in the closest section).

We traveled with a friend, and timed things beautifully. We drove most of the way on Friday after Rio got out of school, staying about 2 hour outside of Venice in a hotel right on the highway for much less than Venice pricing. We finished the drive and were parking about 10:30 a.m. Just as we walked into the terminal the announcement was made that check in could start--it was literally less than 15 minutes from when we pulled into the parking lot and when we walked onto the Splendour. Once on board, the relaxation beings! Here are the guys relaxing with hotdogs at the Boardwalk cafe:

The other great part of sailing out of Venice is the view for sail out! It is just gorgeous. This was the first sail out we had from Venice with clear skies--the sunset was so pretty:

Our first port of call was new to all of us and my favourite of the cruise: Kotor, Monte Negro. Kotor is reached by sailing in through a long narrow bay--which translated to more stunning views from on board:

Kotor is a tender port. While we were waiting for our tender ticket number to be called, we enjoyed some mini golf on deck with a view:

Kotor was worth the wait for a tender; it's a lovely Venetian city and everything is right there waiting to be explored as soon as you step off of the tender. Get ready for picture overload!