boingy300

Kudasi to Ephesus and we added the Terrace house. Don't miss that. ...as you can tell we both thought it was well worth it. Even the rug sales was treated more as an art. I didn't feel pressure to buy....but honestly I wanted one and kind of regret not getting it.

K aren

Glad you did not miss this special place; really fascinating.

 

We live in Evendale, where we have wonderful recreation and other facilities because of all that earnings tax money from the GE Aircraft Engines plant employees.

I love Evendale. Karen

I omitted the Terrace houses initially in the post because I thought "This is so unique and well worth a few extra dollars- I don't want people to miss it. So I'll give it a special section"....then I missed it. What part of Cincinnati are you from?

Karen

The arrival in and the sail away at night was gorgeous, wasn't it? I felt like I really didn't get much history about it (but the segways were great, especially if you had teens. ) I'm looking forward to a return visit as well!

Karen

Oh my! I did! Let me update it! THANK YOU NEIGHBOR!!

Karen

We did a ship tour of the segway along Dingli Cliffs and I blogged about it. Not sure if you will find this information helpful, but here is how that tour went. Hope it helps! Karen

http://oslertravel.blogspot.com/2014/08/day-5-malta.html

I have been blogging our trip and thought it may help others who are planning to go. Here is what we did in Ephesus. Hope it is helpful~Karen

http://oslertravel.blogspot.com/2014/08/day-8-ephesus-turkey.html

We did the wine tour offered by the ship. We didn't care for it. Wine at 930am was bizarre. The walking tour was interesting. We found a little cafe along the strip and had a nice thick cup of Greek coffee. For $80 I do not think the ship excursion was worth it (for us).

You are welcome! I just Googled St .John's resort and emailed them. It took about a week for response. Karen

Good points! We docked but there was a slight delay in the pick up. Maybe 15 minutes or so. I didn't have a phone. The van has the name of the resort on it. I forgot to say that. Wasn't it gorgeous?

Karen

We had a great time on our recent Med. cruise. Mykonos- It was cooler than we'd hoped for early May but it was still one of our better days. I am blogging each day but since this one was so "visual" I thought I'd post. I didn't find many 2014 Mykonos/St. John's posts so here is mine.

Hope this is helpful. Karen

http://oslertravel.blogspot.com/2014/08/day-7-mykonos-greece.html

Not Tracy Arm/Alaska but we experienced it on Silhouette this May going into Venice. It was my first Celebrity but I never encountered loud (opera) music sailing anywhere else on any other cruise line. I did not care for it at all and couldn't talk to the person next to me (on an outside deck). Bringing earplugs for the next (possibly final) Celebrity cruise, though. If the music is that loud again- I'll just refuse to buy anything while it's playing. I can control my behavior as well. Lots of competition for my dollars out there.

Karen

I have sailed mostly RCCL but this past cruise on Celebrity was the 1st time I had something on my door. Our roll call made up signs for our doors. Staples has magnetic paper (4 sheets / ~$8) and we made a cute cruise critic sign, our picture and name. The doors are magnetic. It helped people find your room for excursions, etc.

Karen

It was so loud we couldn't talk to each other, standing next to each other (and I don't care for opera. Sounded like a woman was being hurt) I felt like we were competing to speak to each other with the speakers. Maybe if it was quieter or even classical music? I am hoping they don't play it as we sail through the New Zealand Sounds.(Bringing ear plugs just in case now) and hoping on our balcony it won't be as loud.

We enjoyed the ping pong tables on Oasis on the sports deck in the morning. In the middle of what would be considered the RCCL promenade? Awkward. They are fun though!

Karen

We are NOT smokers, ergo... He went to the casino. Very pleasant. Karen

I agree. It was awkward walking through . It seems there were other places it could be. It seemed right in the midst of the traffic pattern.Next to the casino....strange. Higher deck would feel more active/ appropriate.

Karen

We just did our 1st cruise on Celebrity Silhouette after sailing RCCL since 1991! We sailed Oasis in 2013. Celebrity was a bit quieter. My DH went in the casino for the 1st time! He usually avoids because he doesn't like smoke. The martini and molecular bars were wonderful. The ship was quieter EXCEPT when we went into Venice , then the loud opera music was inappropriate as we sailed into Venice-forced and fake....stop it! We thought Celebrity fit where we were in life.. Either is a great ship. No rock wall, but there is cooking on a grill at Lawn Grill. We booked again with Celebrity.

Karen

Our arrival to Venice was ruined (imho) by loud opera music. It sounded like a lady was being hurt on the decks above me. It felt fake and had me looking up at the speaker, not at Venice. Settle down Celebrity. Venice or Alaska was enough. You can't "enhance it". Was the goal to force inside to "buy" something? It forced me to my room for tylenol! Cruises are noisy enough. Be quiet!

Karen

We were early June. We went with Ephesus shuttle. It was 1 of our favorite days. We saw where Paul preached to the Ephesians, house of Mary and our favorite- the tomb of St. John. Herbs and purple flowers grew wild in the walls, cats lounged around and huge storks flew overhead. They had nests at the tops of the columns around his grave. It was so peaceful. Ephesus shuttle was a great company and p u r guide Melissa was great.

Karen

On our Oz to South Pacific cruise there were only 23 Americans on board. My husband was asked twice "You're from America? How many guns do you own?" And once "Are you in a gang?" (We are in our early 50s and no.) BUT we just took it in stride, acknowledged that's how we must appear to the world and proceeded to make up our gang name."The Sevos", because we were on attending an anesthesia seminar. We had a lot of fun with it- mostly because we got over ourselves and love Australians to the moon and back.....well....at least to the South Pacific and back. In the words of Sargent Hulka from the movie Stripes: "Lighten up Frances".

Karen

Even the Captain and senior officers standing in line for Tracy's....it is that good! And a bit amusing....

Karen

We did the 1st climb of the morning. It was a great way see the city. There are plus and minuses to when you climb. The downside of a night climb is less you can see below and the city view can almost equal what you see from the ship. The downside of morning is that you have to get up. I would avoid the heat of the day. No matter what you do you'll have a blast. Very fun time!

Karen

I will say Celebrity's breakfast and lunch on sea days was very good. I didn't mind paying extra for Bistro on five and the porch for better quality on sea days.

We cruised RCCL in Nov. And Celebrity in May. We did not care for Celebrity. To each his own. We can say, since cruising in 1991, there is has been a huge decline. I heard they have to budget for each passenger about $15/ day. I could tell. Could we up that? I'm willing to pay more!

Karen