Today was the day I was most looking forward to, excepting Santorini. I was going to travel to Mt Etna, an active volcano, on the island of Sicily. We drove about about 2 hours to get to the “top” of the volcano but actually the volcano starts much lower and there are towns and people living on the habitable parts of the volcano. The bottom section of the volcano is green and lush and covers over 459 square miles. Mt. Etna is the world’s most active volcano and is almost in a constant state of activity. The most recent eruption was June, 2025.

Then you travel higher and the landscape becomes other worldly. First you take a cable car…

The you take a Unimog, a big 4 wheel drive vehicle, to go the rest of the way up the volcano. The ground looks so much like a lunar landscape with bits of foliage thrown in until you get to the highest point then the vegetation ends. We got out and hiked up the hill. The hike itself wasn’t so bad ( but I am used to hiking at high altitudes) but the wind made it pretty cold and you had to kind of “hold” onto the ground because the wind threatened to blow you over!

Lunch was at a restaurant near the cable car: good pasta. I also got some shopping done, including buying earrings made of volcanic rock and Pistachio Butter (like peanut butter but so much richer!)

Back on the ship, I had reservations at Teppanyaki, their version of a Japanese Steakhouse. The room I was in had 4 Hibachi tables of 8. The table next to me filled up and the chef came out and began cooking. Soon she started singing. Thought that was kind of weird but didn’t think too much about it until the whole table started singing with her! Some pop song! Then my chef came out and the same thing happened. Within minutes, there were 3 tables of 8 singing pop songs along with their chef….all singing different songs at the same time. It was the weirdest and most obnoxious thing I have seen in a long while. It was so loud and chaotic! The chef asked me if I would like to sample a shrimp and he gave me one. I reminded him that I ordered the shrimp and he gave me one more!!! Well, I had enough. I got my check and left halfway through dinner. I went in looking forward to a delicious meal and a relaxing atmosphere. Instead It was like 3 different karaoke songs being played at the same time. I went out into the lobby and sat for a minute and the manager came out and asked me what the problem was. So I told him in no uncertain terms. He said that for whatever reason, this is what the management had decided to do with that restaurant. He took down my room number and I really thought I might hear something from NCL…but not a word.