DeeTO

13 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

We used Julia Tours.  Yes, it was around 9 hrs.  It was a long day, but it was worth it to see both locations.  We slept well last night!

Thanks for info

Great pics of your day trip to Avila and Segovia? What tour company did you use and was it 9hrs. Did it seem too long? It’s something I have also looked at from Madrid.

In August, on first day we asked our cabin steward to tape it so wouldn’t shine brightly. Easy for him to do and he said we were the 5th cabin to request it!

I can confirm it’s no problem buying plus once on board. Any waiter will do it for you, no need to go to guest services. Used gift cards and OBC and given $10 credit as medallion not shipped.

On 8/16/2023 at 2:41 PM, CanuckCurlers said:

We are boarding with you. From what I've read boarding seems to be going well in other ports but you never know 'til you get there.

We boarded Sat 19 in Barcelona. Dropped off luggage around 12.15, lines moved fairly quickly to check in , pick up medallion and get on board. Probably about 25mins, no hassles. Announced around 1.00 that rooms were available for entry. I found it was quite fine.

On 8/16/2023 at 6:34 PM, cruisequeen4ever said:

I can answer that because we did that last month. If you choose to do this, absolutely buy your tickets online before you go! The line to buy tickets to get in was reallllly long, UNLESS you already had tickets. Once inside, try to avoid the tour groups to speed up your visit; they clog the walkways and sites sometimes. There are signs in Greek and English. We read them, but it was soooo hot and crowded that we really just focused on seeing the sites and getting  out of there. We actually said on the way out how glad we were that we hadn’t done a tour because we couldn’t take the heat any longer. Skip the bathroom there; it was the longest bathroom line I’ve ever encountered. Allot an hour for the visit; the local driver said that’s the typical amount of time. We finished in 50 min. 

Tks for the advice. I do want to see the site but wary of long time in heat.

Thanks, that’s what I had read about Knossos.

On 8/14/2023 at 5:50 AM, Labanos said:

Heraklion

Bus 2 stop just before leaving the gate so you don’t have to walk to the bus station for the bus to Knossos

 

2.50 one way.

Knossos has almost no shadow so wear a hat and use sun lotion. It’s hot out there

 

Take water with you. There are some shops and restaurants in the area

 

Toilets are available just after the entrance

 

The bus back can be challenging. It leaves every 15-20 min but in real life it might be longer. Sometimes it’s crowded and people are pushing to get in. But if you don’t get in you have to wait even longer for the next bus

 

Walking from Heraklion (old town) to the ship takes a good walk in the burning sun when you are tired already. So be prepared

 

Exit the bus at the end of the city and not at the port side. This way you can walk in a straight line through Heraklion seeing mosts of the want to see stops.

Did you visit Knossos on your own without a guide. If so, did you think the signage was good enough for explanation. Thanks

Just received the notice about benefits to upgrading from my standard package to plus/premier before my Sat Aug 19 cruise!

At least not a surprise after boarding, although reading CC gives you a heads up!

Tks gor heads up for next week! Also for good DIY travel info at ports.

1 hour ago, dickinson said:

New booster is not yet approved in US.  Don't know about Canada. We just got the old booster.

Correct. New booster not approved yet but even old booster wasn’t available near me.

6 hours ago, trinitygirl said:

We are the only ship in Santorini tomorrow, until 4pm.  I suspect the chances are that just like Mykonos, I won’t see anything at all.  I am port side but when you are tendered, that does not seem to matter and if you are confined to cabin you can’t just move to the other side of the ship for a view.  Fingers crossed….    
 

re the vax issue: I got the bivalant booster at the end of June, leaving it a couple of months after my Doctor advised me too, because I wanted it to be nice and strong for the cruise.  I am crediting that with the fact that my experience was basically a medium case of the flu. There is so much going around the ship that I am not sure how you could avoid it - even in the safety of my cabin, the family to my left and the family above me cough up a storm on their balconies.  So vax up before you travel is my motto.

Oh dear, leave Tuesday for EP cruise and  was waiting for newest Fall booster. AFAIK Never had Covid (5shots) although travelled internationally past 2years. Called around and locally no vaccines available immediately. Bringing masks, tests and crossed fingers!!

Joining you in Barcelona on the 19th so interested in your comments on the ship, food, wine, entertainment. Thanks for doing a live report. Enjoy yourself.

On 7/30/2023 at 9:37 AM, dickinson said:

We will be staying in Barcelona one night after our cruise.  Our hotel, Hotel Colon, suggested a taxi or a service (whom I emailed and got an extremely high price).  Our flight is on a Sunday at 6:05 am so probably no traffic issues.  Should we just have the hotel call a taxi?  For Athens our hotel suggested Welcome Pickups.  I tried them for Barcelona and got a rate of 45 Euros (the service hotel suggested was 88 Euros!).  

 

What have you used?

I haven’t used any taxi but the Rome to Rio app suggests taxi price from centre to airport, approx 15km, $35-45 so Welcome Pickups sounds reasonable.

7 hours ago, JLC0912 said:

I think they are going to go up really soon.  Can you use the OBC now with Princess, prior to the cruise?

Unfortunately not. I think OBC can only be used prior for booking excursions. I guess it’s a chance I take.

Would anyone like to guess when Plus package prices might increase? I am still hoping to purchase it at $60 on Aug 19 cruise onboard using my OBC. Hoping that won’t be a new change as well.

3 hours ago, sunviking90 said:

I’m currently in green lane for my August 21 cruise (still green today) Being in Canada we also can’t get medallions shipped and get them at the port.

I saw it stated that only people with medallions in hand will be in green lane- that means only people living in the USA. Like you I am in Canada and in green lane for my Aug 19 cruise but perhaps it will change over as of Aug 2, who knows.

I bought our tickets online through the official sagrada familia website for Aug 17 and seems like plenty available. Yes, we have a15 min entry time before guided tour start time. 

5 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I agree, it did seem odd based on prior experiences. But as they say, talk is cheap. When we start our second leg on July 19, we will check our “new” account to see if our outstanding debt from the first leg was transferred over to the second leg or zeroed out and subsequently charged to our CC.

 

Unfortunately, we won’t have any nonrefundable (or refundable) OBC left over to see how that is handled on transition day when a B2B has separate booking numbers.

 

I am interested to hear what happens to you on transition day as we have 2, 7 day Med Btb different booking #  cruises in Aug on Enchanted P.

29 minutes ago, mevs904 said:

Yes, our Istanbul tour included Hagia Sophia, The Blue Mosque, and Topkapi Palace.  We went to the Palace first and spent quite a bit of time there.  After that we went to Hagia Sophia so it was probably close to noon.  Unfortunately, it was during the Sacrificial Feast holiday so it was very busy since schools and many offices were closed.  There was a line, but our guide told us that it would move fairly quickly and it did.  There was no line at the Palace and Blue Mosque, but again, it was very busy.  Because of the holiday the Grand Bazaar was closed.  Ephesus Shuttle Tours had advised us of this in advance, but some of the people on the Princess excursions weren’t aware.  This turned out to be an advantage for us because our guide asked us if we wanted to go the Basilica Cistern instead we were very excited about that.  We did have to pay for that admission since it wasn’t included in the tour we booked.  There was a long line there, but our guide told us not to worry as he had “Magic” and sure enough we were able to go right to the ticket office, purchase our tickets and enter.

     Again, this was an unusually busy day in the city, but all of the attractions were within walking distance from each other and there were only 6 people in our tour.  I should also note that we took the tram from the ship to the mosques and back again.  We could have booked the tour using a van, but the reviews from previous travelers strongly suggested using the tram because auto traffic in the city was very slow and would use up some of our precious time.

Thanks for this useful, current info. 

6 hours ago, mevs904 said:

We were on the Enchanted Mediterranean cruise from June 24 (Rome) to July 8 (Barcelona).  It was an excellent cruise with beautiful weather and a wonderful itinerary.  This was our first post-Covid cruise and the experience was completely positive.  There were no indications of illness on board, very little coughing, and fewer than 1% of the passengers wore masks.  
     Both embarkation and disembarkation were flawless.  We did not have our medallions mailed to us and it took us less than 2 minutes to get them at check-in.  They worked quite well for us, but we are not inclined to order food or drinks with them.  We prefer to do it ourselves.  We did order drinks once or twice, but decided it was quicker to do it ourselves.  (Besides, it was better for us to get up and burn a few of the calories that we were consuming.

     We can’t say enough for the wonderful crew on this ship.  They were a delight to interact with.    Here are a few random thoughts about the cruise.

—Wonderful ports, Istanbul was the highlight for us and we had an outstanding excursion through Ephesus Shuttle who also gave us our Kusadasi excursion.  Excellent guides, maximum of 10 passengers in a modern comfortable van.  We highly recommend them

—Brilliant destination talks by Johanna Grove who unfortunately had to leave mid-cruise due to family illness, but are pre-recorded her talks for each port before she left.

 

 I can see that this is getting very long, so I’ll just stop and will be happy to answer any questions.  Bottom line:  best cruise ever and we would love to do it again!

Also doing Enchanted 14 days in August. Did your Istanbul tour include Hagia Sophia and if so, what time did you enter? I had read there were long lines/wait. Tks

10 hours ago, Coral said:

Thank you. This is exactly what I was looking for.

 

Did you book your air through Princess?

No I didn’t. Directly through another airline and received credit voucher.

In my case, I used Princess insurance in Jan 2023 to cancel my Feb 2023 cruise. Lost money because of penalties and given FCC for remainder of fare. FCC valid until end December 2024, not 1 year from cancellation or cruise date. None of this applied to my airfare.

10 hours ago, nimiq said:

Yes same here would love ton here on how you’ve done on your Gibraltar anyone ? On you own or hiring a taxi or private company. 

I just inquired June 7 and was quoted standard tour 1 3/4 hr, min 6people per car Pounds 55 pp. tickets included 4sites.

Extended tour 2 1/2 hr, min 5 people Pounds 85 pp tickets included 8sites.

Not sure if  you have to organize own group beforehand.

On 5/14/2023 at 5:20 AM, Torfamm said:

Does anyone have any experience with using US Dollar gift cards to pay for onboard charges, shore excursions, or the purchase of onboard credit for cruises with charges in Australian Dollars? I’m curious about how they handle the currency conversion.  One poster on a roll call said they think that USD gift cards are accepted at an even exchange rate but a representative from customer service said they are certain the exchange rate would be closer to actual value.
 

An even exchange rate would be shockingly bad but if that’s true, I’d like to know before I consider a transaction that may lose me as much as 1/3 of the value of a gift card.

I don’t know how USD gift cards work on Aus D cruises but only discovered today that I can’t use my USD gift cards to pay for my cruise fare booked in CAD$. I thought they would just convert amount using their exchange posted in personalizer for buying OBC but no go!!! 
I will have to add it onboard to my account in order to use it.