The Cruise Report With Cruise Specialists Cruise Reporter Ralph Grizzle

From Eze Village, it’s a 45-minute walk back to Eze-Sur-Mer, where the train departs for Nice and Monte Carlo and points beyond.

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Be prepared for lots of steps!

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2 euros and about 90 minutes from the port to the entrance of Eze.

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Optionally, you may take bus 1 or 2 from the port to Cremaillere bus stop to transfer to bus 112 to Eze (again, only 1 euro). The latest departure from Eze back to Monte Carlo is 18:35. The train offers later return departures (more on that in a later post). Taxis between the port and Eze are approximately 40 each way.

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After rounding the corner on Rue des Iris, walk up the steps directly in front of you or turn right on Rue des Iris to get to the bus stop A La Cremaillere.

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Head in the direction of the Casino. I walked left for less than two minutes from the Baer Bus landing and took the public elevators up, exited at street level on Avenue de la Costa, walked uphill (to the left) until in front of Jardins du Casino and turned right on Rue des Iris.

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From your ship or tender landing, look for the Bataeu Bus or the “Boat Bus,” which operates between Quai Rainier and Quai des Etats-Unis from 8 a.m. until 7:50 p.m. Cost for what the company advertises as an “unforgettable moment in the harbor” is 1 euro. A day ticket is 3 euros and includes use of local the busses. Kids under 7 free. For more info: http://www.cam.mc

If there is one document that symbolizes Oceania Cruises’ commitment to its customers, it’s the Mid-Cruise Comments form. Delivered to staterooms within the first few days of the cruise, the form allows guests to put forward suggestions that can “further enhance” their cruise experiences or to voice concerns about problems that can be rectified while on board.

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Sunday afternoon, and I am strolling Rua Diogo Leite. It is here that Porto’s popular wine cellars are situated, world-renown for their ports. I’ve yet to duck into one of the cellars, Sandeman’s, for example, but I am in high spirits nonetheless. That’s because the sunny scene here on the River Douro is a happy one. A small band/choir performs traditional songs so lovely that the gathering crowd has a hard time moving on. Against the backdrop of the river and the colorful buildings on the hillside of the opposite bank, one woman in the choir sings loudly, and slightly off key, but with such spirited bravado that she engages the emotion. Once again I experience the true pleasure of travel.

In A New Earth, the writer Eckhart Tolle gives one reason that travel brings such happiness. Tolle posits that a great deal of thinking, say 80 percent if you want to quantify it, is bad for us. Why? Because thinking typically takes us to the past, where regret is prone to rear its ugly head, or to the future, which is the domain of fear and uncertainty.

During travel, much of this type of thinking is absent. Quite simply, we are content to absorb all that is new before us and live in the moment. No regrets of the past, no fears of the future. I don’t know if Tolle is right in his assumption, but I do know that I often seem to be happiest when I am in motion. How about you?

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