The port of Mykonos was the only one that we had to take a tender. NCL really needed to get its act together related to how they disburse their tender tickets. If you are booked in a suite, you get front of the line privileges. If you are taking an NCL excursion, you don’t need tender tickets. All of this is fine, IF they had a good way of handing out the remaining tickets. Actually, I have cruised extensively, and never had to have a ticket to get on a tender. On a previous sea day, there was a notification in the daily bulletin that tender tickets would be handed out at 11 am in one of the bars onboard. We are definitely early birds, so were there way ahead of time so that we could get on one of the earliest tenders. We assumed there would be some way of lining up, and intended to be at the front of the line (or close to it). There was absolutely no organization whatsoever. By the time the crew member showed up with the tickets, the entire room was wall to wall people. No line, no nothing. She put the box of tender tickets on the piano and everyone literally swarmed in a mob trying to get to her to get their tickets. People were pushing and shoving. There also seemed to be no reason or rhyme to the order of the tickets. We ended up in group 4; the person behind us got a group 1 ticket. Crazy! I think the cruise line needs to employ a teacher, or former teacher, to instruct them on how to organize this type of event. It was awful!

When the announcement came over the intercom that tender group 2 could board the tenders, we went to hang out in the atrium until our group was called, as did probably half the people on board. . .lots and lots of people waiting. When group 3 was called, we walked to the tender area so that we would be ready when group 4 was called. In between group 3 and group 4, they let all of the NCL excursion people on the tenders, so we ended up waiting a half an hour in the hot, crowded hallway waiting for our group to finally be called. By the time we finally got on the tender, we were feeling a bit grouchy! The ride in to shore was a bit choppy, but not too bad.

We did not have an excursion planned today. There really isn’t too much to see or do in Mykonos. We had read Rick Steve’s Mediterranean Cruise Port book, and it seemed to us that Pete the Pelican was the main attraction! Mykonos is very picturesque, but once you’ve seen the pristine white buildings on the hillside, there really isn’t much more to see. Clayton decided pretty quickly that he wanted to go back to the ship, so I wandered around on my own. I hiked up the hills, down the narrow streets. The streets are so narrow that no regular cars can fit; many people use motorcycles to get around, as well as skinny carts. I wandered back to the harbor area and browsed the gift shops.

One of the things I wanted to do today was avail myself of the internet while in port, so I could get caught up on bill paying, as well as updating software. Since the internet on board is so slow, I only used it sparingly. My iPad wanted to update apps constantly (I am sure there is a setting that I could’ve changed, but did not do so), so when I had access to wi-fi, it tried to get caught up on all of the updates. Many restaurants offer free internet if you are a customer, so I was going to find a place to order some spanakopita, and do some work. I ran into Amin and Zahra, and they were kind enough to ask me to join them. They had lunch, I had spanakopita, and I think we split dessert. We had a lovely time talking, and I was able to get some of my computer work done before heading back to the ship.