Day Eight - Porto Santo Stefano, Italy

Jun 11

Written By Chris Dikmen & Rickee Richardson

June 11 - This morning, Crystal Symphony is anchored off the coast of Porto Santo Stefano, Italy. This is the first time we have visited this port. So, of course, we will have to seek out a refrigerator magnet to add to our collection.

Porto Santo Stefano, Italy, from our veranda

Before disembarkation, we visit Reception where we pick up one of the port information guides. These guide sheets describe the port, points of interest and other valuable information. On the inside there is a map of the area. These are great for those of us who like to explore a port on our own.

This was our first tender port requiring a 10-minute tender ride to the port. The ship’s tender boats are definitely showing their age and were surprisingly small. However, the tender ride was smooth. When the ship goes into dry dock, the tenders could use a little “tender loving care”. Get it?

The tender drops us off at a dock where the crew has already set up a “comfort station” with ice water and juice. This shaded area is great for guests waiting for a tender to arrive and take them back to Crystal Symphony.

Comfort station for guests waiting for tender

The view of Porto Santo Stefano is that of an iconic Italian seaside fishing village. There is a very long and wide waterfront walkway that goes for miles. There is not really a lot to see or do here and this port is mainly a starting/ending point for shore excursions to the Tuscan region. But, we still find these less touristy places quite interesting and worth a visit.

We get our walking in today as we navigate the waterfront. We discover a rock beach that you often see in Europe.

We actually did find some small souvenir shops open and were able to find a magnet for our collection.

Across the street from the souvenir shop, we visit a small oceanfront cafe where we enjoy a local beer and a delicious antipasti platter.

We spend about 2 hours in Porto Santo Stefano, trying to get to our 10,000 steps per day goal for exercise. When we return to Symphony, we spend even more time walking around Deck 7 (Promenade) to build up our step count for the day. The weather is beautiful, so time is best spent outdoors.

At 3:45, our Butler, Milind, delivers today’s Canapés to our suite. They just seem to get better every day. Crystal does the best canapés of any cruise line, in our opinion.

At 4:15, I head down to Computer University at Sea and sit in on a class where instructor, Wes Malkin, is showing guests how to use the Photos app on an iPhone to edit photos. The classroom was packed with guests anxious to learn photo editing. Wes Malkin is an Emmy award-winning Director, Director of Photography, and editor with over 30 years experience.

This evening we were honored to have Cruise Director, Vicki Van Tassel, join us for dinner at Beefbar. During our meal together, we learned even more about Vicki and her career as a cruise director. After dinner, the three of us had to rush down to Starlite Lounge where Vicki was hosting Name That Tune contest.

After Name That Tune, it was time for tonight’s production show, Icons in Concert in the Galaxy Lounge.