Port of Naples

Cruise ships are very tall. They have lots of outside decks and windows, making it easy to capture photos of the shore. Since Ron was in the Navy for twenty years, he usually manages to be on deck whenever we entered a new port.

I am not certain what kind of ship the Tirrenia is, but look how it dwarfs the two story building to the left.

Cunard Lines Queen Victoria

Although this was the first time we encountered the Queen Victoria, it would not be the last. Notice how tiny the waiting tour bus is compared to the ship. It is 965 ft long, 179 ft. high weighs 90,000 tons and has 990 cabins to accommodate 2000 passengers.

In contrast, the Costa Atlantica is 960 ft. long, weights 86,000 tons, has 1000 cabins and can accommodate 2100 passengers. The Queen Victoria was slightly larger, but she looked so much bigger than the Atlantica.

Where are my cruisers?

Captain Neil has many duties on each cruise. On this trip, one of his most important ones was to ensure that MacMania cruisers were assigned to buses with English-speaking tour guides.

The Costa Atlantica provided tours in English, Italian, French, Spanish and German. The best situation was to be on a bus with only one tour guide. If there were two, that meant the guides had to share the microphone on the bus and there was not as much opportunity to learn about the places we visited.

This photo was taken in the main theatre of the ship, one of the large areas where many could congregate.

Napoli Ahead

Ports are never pretty, but some trucks are pretty interesting. Check out the blinking eye ahead.

Our tour guide pointed out Mount Vesuvius and commented that is is called the sleeping pregnant woman. It is not difficult to see the form in the mountain.

Cameo Carver

Somehow, on most cruise ship tours, you visit a shopping area. In addition to shopping these are rest stops--a place with clean restrooms and drinks since facilities may be lacking at the next stops. While some are simply tourist traps, others are workshops or factories where an item with local significance is produced. In Naples, we visited a Cameo workshop.

I have loved cameo jewelry since I received my first ones at age 14. Although I knew they were made from a sea shell, I had never really considered how they are produced. So, I really enjoyed this tour. Pieces of the interior of sea shells, in this case, several varieties of conch shells are cut into oval or round shapes.

After the inner lip or lining of the shell has been cut and ground into a round or oval shape, resulting cabochon is attached with wax to a wooden stick. Then the artisan sketched the design on the cabochon and used very sharp gravers to cut away the white outer layer of the shell to reveal the colored inner layer.

Since most cameos are small and very intricate, the work is very delicate. After the figures are carved, the design is finished and polished.

There is great variety of colors, sizes, styles and designs.

Photo by Amerob

The finished pieces were mounted and sold in the store. While I was so tempted to buy one, I resisted! This was only the second day of the cruise and I knew treasures would be available at every stop!

Photo by Amerob