Susan2771

In August 2023, we used Corfu Taxi Tours for our day in Corfu.  It was a fantastic day and Spiros was an excellent guide and driver.  He was very funny, accommodating and flexible in what we wanted to do, and there was a lovely snack stop that was so filling.  This is the website and Spiros was very quick to reply.  Spiros Kritikos - Unique Private Taxi Tours in Corfu (corfutaxitours.com)

For our stop in Argostoli we used Kefalonia Taxi Service.  It is such a beautiful island.  You  must be sure to book a beach break, the water is out of this world.  Be sure to bring flip flops though in case you end up at the beach with stones.  Your feet will thank-you for it.  The underground lake is also amazing.  We used  Kefalonia Taxi Service | The Local Premier Taxi Firm   On the website for the premium tour which is what our group of 8 booked, it is impossible to do all those stops in 7 hours with the lunch break.  We were cutting it close to get back to the ship and were a tad nervous.  Also because it is very mountainous and lots of ups and downs driving and a lot  of curvy roads, one of the people in the group did experience motion sickness so maybe have some motion sickness pills just in case.  It is a gorgeous destination though.

Enjoy planning your adventure!

12 hours ago, bonsai3s said:

Agree. It's a safety hazard.

 

On our most recent cruise, someone placed their tray full of dirty plates, utensils, glasses, and leftover food outside the hallway, next to our cabin door. (I nearly tripped on it)

 

The second time it happened, I called guest services and asked if they can look at the ship's video and find out who's placing the tray next to our cabin door. Her response was basically "We don't have time to do that".

 

So I politely said "What if I had tripped on it and hit my head on the wall...would you then have time to look at it? I then told her I'm visually impaired.

 

* Thankfully, no more trays after that.

I did see people stepping onto food trays accidently while walking down hallways on our cruise at the end of August.  Not everyone is looking down as they walk, especially if they are speaking to a person next to them, or are examining papers or their phone.  

I'm sorry to bring up another Key question.  Our friends generously purchased this for us for our cruise next month of the Greek Islands on the Explorer of the Seas.  Our transfer leaves Venice at 11:00, so we won't arrive in time for the lunch that ends at 2:00. That is the estimated time our transfer arrives at the pier.  Do they ever extend the lunch times with these circumstances?  The ship sails at 7:00 P.M. so I am not sure if that might help extend the Key embarkation lunch?  We  had already booked our transfer and received this gift after the transfer was booked.  I am going to be calling to see if we can get an earlier transfer to try and accommodate the embarkation benefits.  Thank-you in advance.   

On 7/1/2023 at 8:37 AM, allibaba78 said:

We just did a day pass at this hotel on our recent cruise, and it was a TERRIBLE experience....like the worst experience I have ever had at a hotel and I would strongly recommend AGAINST it! First of all, cost is now 120 Euros per adult, but we decided it was worth the splurge for the peace and tranquility it would allow. This ended up being far from the case! We were 35 min late being picked up to start. Arrival started off well, hotel is beautiful and the breakfast was AMAZING! But went quickly downhill from there. Beach is terrible - tiny, rocky and not swimmable. Hotel was super crowded, and we struggled to find lounge chairs (which I understand as it is busy season - but on the flip side, if you are at capacity and cannot guarantee chairs for highly paying day guests, DO not offer the service)! We had many other issues during our time there, but my biggest complaint was when we tried to address them with the asst manager prior to departure - honestly if we had just gotten a heartfelt apology we would have just dismissed the whole experience and forgotten about it. But, he was so condescending in his obvious disgust of cruise ship passengers (trying to blame the chaos, music, swearing, etc around the pool on "those" cruise ship guests who act out when they try and "share" their beautiful hotel with "them", despite US being the cruise ship guests!) and overall just felt extremely talked down to. 

Oh no!!  I am so sorry to read this. What a stressful experience you had.   We have booked the St.John's for our cruise stop at the end of August.  Going to cross my fingers it goes a bit better for our group of 7.  I hope you made some great memories during your stop in Mykonos.

Thank-you for taking us along on your trip, and for sharing all the photos.  I have appreciated your detailed review and what the ship is like.  Enjoy and safe travels!

You need to call to book the transfer with RCI from Venice to Ravenna and back.  Unfortunately it cannot be booked online

On 4/3/2023 at 8:01 PM, cruisemom42 said:

When you say you’re “booking the mini van”, do you mean that you’re doing it through your ship? Their offerings tend to be very expensive. If you read through this forum, you might find suggestions of local operators that are less pricey and include a guide or at least an informed driver…

 

The only place where you’re likely to find a guide for hire is at the acropolis. Guides wait at the entrance and try to gather a group of about 10-12 ( the cost is pooled).

 

Most of the sites people want to see are close together and are within the mostly pedestrianized area in central Athens. It may be less $$ to just get a transfer to and from this area than have a mini van all day (unless you have someone with mobility issues).

 

Regardless of how you do it, some research on your end will enrich the experience and help you decide what to visit. For example, I rate the pan-Athenaic stadium a big “ho hum”, while places not on your last like the Tower of the Winds in the Roman Agora, and all of the Greek Agora I would highly recommend, along with the fabulous Archaeological Museum.

No, it isn't through the cruise line.  It is a private tour company recommended by other posters on this board. .  I think we are going to wing it and use the guided tour at the sites.  Thank-you for sharing your first hand experience.  It is very helpful 🙂

Hello everyone.  We are a group of 7 that will be doing a private tour for Athens.  We are booking the mini-van but one in our group thinks we don't need a licensed tour guide to spend the day with us.  I do get the cost is getting up there for the guide, driver and mini-van.  I don't know if we will ever visit Athens again and want to do it right, but I do get that it is pricey with having to still get the entrance tickets on top of everything else for each site.  Has anyone visited sites like the Acropolis, the Temple of Zeus, The Old Palace,  The Panathenaic Stadium without a guide?  If you did, do you feel the experience would have been more enriching with a tour guide?  Does anyone know if any of these sites have a guide on premises that we can hire on the spot?  Thank-you for your help.🙂

Thank-you both for taking the time to post and share your feedback and advice 🙂

Thank-you for sharing this information

I know this is a shot in a dark, but I thought I would ask how it went for you cruisers last year, who bussed it to Platis Gialos during your stop in Mykonos?  Did you have a great time, and was it an easy adventure, or complicated adventure to bus it to the beach and back to the pier??  From my research it seems DK Oysters is the place to avoid.  Yialo Yialo doesn't sound to bad for lounge rentals and a decent meal.  Any feedback to share by chance?  Thanks in advance ☺️

28 minutes ago, roquejo said:

Someone from another forum just posted this regarding Royal Caribbean's change in protocol.

 

I am sailing in 4 days and haven't receive anything yet..

Thank-you so much for sharing this.  I really appreciate it!  Have a great cruise!

My fingers and toes are crossed that  there is good news soon that the testing requirement will be eliminated for all your upcoming cruises that visit Greece.

On 6/19/2022 at 9:53 AM, harper842 said:

We arriving via Oceania Riviera on July 13th to Mykonos, 7 of us, going to Super Paradise Beach Club.  Reading all kinds of info on the internet, trying to figure out how to get there (arranging beforehand online if at all possible) from the Port, how long it will take, and a reputable company to use for transportation once we're there to ensure we get back to the ship on time.   And any other tips we need to know for our day in Mykonos. Thank you!

Just wondering how you found this experience at the Beach Club?  Was just checking out the website and it looks pretty tempting.  Did you have an easy time getting there?  Thank-you.

3 hours ago, ChC said:

 

Don't hold your hopes high. Europe/Canada has a different mind set in dealing with public health issues. And the vaccinate rate is generally higher in Europe (Maybe Canada too?). Booster requirement or 270 days vaccinate requirement was proposed by EU not long ago, and with the anticipating winter surge and another round of booster coming in September, I will be really surprised to see Europe drop to the low level of requirement seen in the USA. My humble guess is that vaccination requirement will be in place in Europe until summer of 2023, testing may be relaxed for boosters administrated within 3 months of boarding. Beyond that, I don't see any major changes in European departures.

I could be misunderstanding the NCL website and the travel requirements, but testing requirements are no longer needed unless sailing from Greece.  Norwegian Cruise Line | Sail Safe | Health & Safety Protocols (ncl.com)

Just giving this a little bump up in case someone out there has information they can share 🤞 Thank-you  🙏

Actually we did the excursion last week as well!  It was on August 2nd and we did it with Carnival.  It was a total of 4 hours from start to finish, and did not include a stop in Mayan village.  We had a stop at a scenic look out, and there was a place to buy souvenirs and drinks.  They only accepted cash.  I wasn't aware that this stop would happen so we didn't have a lot of cash on us and they do not take credit cards. This stop was before getting to the turtle beach.  Also recommend bargaining down the price if you find something of interest

We really enjoyed the experience.  Our family was paired with another father/daughter and we found 11 baby green sea  turtles.  Another group also found 11 at there nest, one group found 8 baby turtles, a group found only 1, and one group found zero.  It was overall a fantastic experience and our girls and the other girl in our group was ecstatic each time they found one.  We dug down about 4 feet.  One important piece of advise is that it was so gosh darn hot. One person when we got to the beach fainted from the heat.  Bring lots of water and a good hat.  There is no place for shade on the beach, and they did not have enough beach umbrellas for the groups.  So do yourself the favor and have good sun protection.  There was a photographer there who took a picture of each family holding baby sea turtles, and you could purchase the framed photo when you got back to the bus.  The ecological team also sold T-shirts.  Cash again for T-Shirts and the photo.

We would highly recommend this excursion and made some great memories.

Thank-you so much for your feedback pjwtrouble!  I really appreciate it and the lovely photo

Just wondering if anyone else has any experience with this excursion in the past year?  Thank-you