ddaley822

On 3/12/2024 at 4:37 AM, bbfgator said:

Thank you all for the responses - AMA solved my problem, well sort of.  I tried to book online and for some reason the website would not accept my credit card so I put a 7 day hold on the cruise.  In my confirmation email they are referring me to a travel advisor.  They did not give me a name but a telephone number, which I googled and is a TA in South Carolina (I'm in Florida).  I thought I'd share this info as I found interesting.  Be well and happy travels.

Funny, I booked my AMA Rhine cruise last September and they didn’t yet have the functionality to book online so I was forced to “request a quote.” The TA that AMA set me up with happens to be located in my city of San Diego! Purely coincidental. I am happy to have her as she has garnered me a room upgrade, included tips and $75 OBC for each of us which I certainly wouldn’t have been able to do on my own. She also researched and found a travel insurance plan that was better than the one I’d Googled myself. 

Which direction did you end up booking? I am doing A to B in August on AmaLucia and plan on writing a live (more likely semi-live) review. 

Does any of this nice Viking-specific information change for AMAWaterways sailings? 

We’re hoping to drop our luggage and continue roaming Amsterdam before a true check-in in the afternoon. Does AMA serve lunch on embarkation day as well? 

On 1/19/2024 at 5:13 PM, Silent Penguin said:

Reluctant to drive in a country where we have no language fluency whatsoever. What's your opinion on that?

We found it easy but I did learn Greek before we went. My husband didn’t, and as our driver, he was still able to read the signage when I told him what exits we were looking for. They use the same road symbols, and the signage that lists exits should be easy to parse even without knowing the language. 

If you’re looking for an exit at Πλοκαμιανά you should be able to discern by way of matching the letter forms, that you shouldn’t turn instead at Κεφάλι, you know what I mean? 

I will say that when I learned Greek, it was all in sentence case. However, when we got there and I was reading all the signage, EVERYTHING is in all caps. I did learn my capital letters back in my sorority days but trying to actually read a sign in all caps when you’re used to sentence case was tricky for me. Again, if you’re just trying to determine exits and street names, you should have no problem matching up the letters on signs to what’s on your map. 

I will suggest making note of Greek for please (phonetically - parakalo), thanks (efcharisto) and sorry (signomi) before you go! People loved when I spoke just a bit in their language. 

On 12/16/2023 at 1:49 PM, notamermaid said:

A short video (as always, ignore the German commentary if you wish), just to show you the appealing village of Leutesdorf in flooding.

This video was awesome, much more flooding than I was picturing. I am learning German for my Rhine cruise this summer so I listened to the audio and could pick out about every 10th word! haha Sehr gut! 

On 12/3/2023 at 5:25 PM, jsn55 said:

I'll be in San Diego walking the beach, looking for Santa.

I always hope for rain on Christmas, it’s the closest to snow we can get! Perhaps I will settle for overcast so you can still get your beach walking in. 😆 The worst are the blissfully sunny 79º Christmasses, I dislike having to change out of my flannel pajamas! 

My Viva cruise from SJ in 2025 went up $100pp since booking, but I signed up for tracking on Cruiseplum, happy to have that resource! Thanks! 

@notamermaid Not sure where, but somewhere on this River Cruising forum you suggested this map! As a map lover, I had to order it and it finally came (from Australia) almost 2 months later. I love it so much! This Koblenz section immediately stood out since I recognized the Moselle/Rhine meeting point from the pictures you’ve posted above. 

Excited to bring it along and refer back to it on my AMA cruise this summer. Thanks so much! 

16 hours ago, cruisin from florida said:

Why Ama over Viking?

The main reason I chose AMA over Viking (and that has yet to be mentioned) is that the final payment schedule is absolutely wild. Yes, they had a super low deposit of $25pp instead of $400pp but the ENTIRE cruise needed to be paid off around 30 days after deposit. At least with AMA I have till 3 months before the cruise to scrape together my $10k. Viking wants all that money 12+ months before sailing! What!! 

I do prefer the clean Viking (Scandinavian) interior design to AMA but the all-included excursions and normal cruise payment schedule were the main draws for me. 

20 hours ago, cruisin from florida said:

For our first trip I'm leaning towards Ama or Viking for the balcony. If we don't use it, we'll try the French balcony on our next river cruise.

Just booked our first river cruise with AMA and found they’re currently (or they were Oct 12) offering a cabin upgrade. I was able to put my deposit down on the price for a French Balcony but we were upgraded to a BB with the twin balconies. The AMA-assigned TA also was able to get us $75 OBC each and included gratuities. Couldn’t say no after all that! 

We are huge balcony sitters on ocean cruises so we will see how much we actually get to use it on the Rhine. Like you, I figured go big for this first one and I can always come down to a cheaper cabin category next time! 

My husband always has every major sporting event available in his pocket! How do you get your TV provided at home? He just logs in to our provider and can watch any channel right on his phone or laptop. Even RedZone! When we sail in the fall we always need a 2-device internet plan because he commandeers it on Sundays. 😂

I have a Rhine river cruise booked on AmaLucia in August and the gratuities were pre-paid as part of the deal the AMA-assigned TA was able to get for me. Does anyone know if having prepaid gratuities includes the additional tip for the Cruise Manager? I will plan on having extra cash for the room attendant on the last day as well. 

I really liked our cruise on the Celestyal Crystal in August 2022. We sailed the 7 day Idyllic itinerary as a section of our Greek honeymoon.

We had a full suite and I wouldn’t recommend one. The junior suites have a much better room layout if you don’t need the extra space! In the full suite, the bedroom is completely walled off from the living area and balcony (read: no view at all from bed). The bedroom also has no secondary tv. 

It says included drinks but you’ll need the package if you want bottled water or brands of liquor you’ve heard of before. Fortunately it’s super cheap if you’re used to big brand causing! I believe we each got a drink package for ~$350 total, which is a far cry from the $1050 I spent recently for a 7-night on Royal. 

We did a ship-sponsored excursion in each port (you can see my review of each excursion here) and really loved all of them. Best would be swimming in the pirate caves in Kleftiko, Milos. 

The ship was small and dated but was perfectly fine if you’re going for the amazing ports. They have a dedicated restaurant for suite guests which was almost always empty. The food in the main dining room was perfectly fine, I don’t remember being overly impressed but it certainly wasn’t bad! The staff were all very friendly, bartenders especially. 

I didn’t like that the best bar on the ship (on the top deck, center) only opened after 11pm!! We certainly were never up late enough to experience it, but the daytime view from there was great. The Thalassa bar at the aft of the ship (Greek for ‘sea') was the best spot for sail aways but gets packed quickly at the end of a port day and after dinner. 

Overall we would go with Celestyal again, simply for their jam-packed itineraries! We were originally slated to go on the Experience before they had to sell it and were swapped to the Crystal. I would love to try the Journey and get a slightly newer ship next time. 

On 8/12/2023 at 11:21 AM, allegrocontadino said:

Hello Justin. One question i am having difficulties in finding an answer. Do you know wether water dispenser are available 24/7 or only at meal times? Thanks

The only place I saw water dispensers was in the buffet. We ended up having to up our included drinks package to the premium version simply for the ease of getting water! It had better liquors included as well and at $300 or so each was way easier to stomach than 7-day beverage packages on other major cruise lines. 

20 hours ago, CruisinKikster said:

How long was the Spectacular Oia tour? Do you happen to remember how early you had to catch the tender back to the ship? We are on the 4-night cruise, so we will be there from 4:30 to 9:30 pm. 

This tour started (after tendering) at about 5pm, it first went to Megalochori for a quick stop, then back on the bus about 5:30. Made it all the way around the back side of the island and were set free in Oia by 6:20pm. We were told to be back at the bus by 8:30pm. I am not sure how much this will vary for you since your ship leaves so early! Crystal was in port for us till 2am so we had no worries about getting back. 

Our bus actually broke down before we re-boarded so we stood in the parking lot in Oia for about 30 min while they brought us a new one and we were back in Fira (town with the cable car back to the tender) by 9:45pm. We were set to anchor at 4:30pm too, but according to photo time stamps, I was already seated on the tender for our excursion by 4:39pm! 

On 4/29/2023 at 2:28 PM, CoPil0t said:

The detailed recounting of your travel experiences has me a really looking forward to our July cruise with Celestyal! Thanks for sharing. Are your gorgeous photos taken by a camera phone or something else?

Hi! These were all taken on my old iPhone 11 Pro. Hope you have an amazing time! 

Oh also! We rented a car soooo easily in Chaniá, Crete. 

My husband got a $20 International Driver's Permit at a local AAA before our trip and that was all that was needed besides a passport and car rental reservation (no money down, cash on receipt). 

They dropped our car at our hotel in the morning on day 1 of our rental and we left the keys with the hotel's front desk the day we were set to return it, no travel needed! I am sure a cruise passenger could request drop off at the pier and leave the car for pickup at a nearby hotel if you wanted to pursue this option. 
 

https://cretebee.com
 

We were able to drive to Elafonisi Beach (GORGEOUS, worth it) and Falasarna on a day trip from Chaniá. 

Sailed Crystal August 13-20, 2022 and had a great time at all the ports! The ship and crew leaves a bit to be desired but I sailed her because of the itinerary, not the ship, so we certainly weren't disappointed. Below are some thoughts on all the excursions we went on, almost all booked through the ship. 

Athens
There is a 30€ package available that bundles several ruins/historical sites together and is of great value. Seeing the Acropolis alone is 20€ so for 10 extra bucks you can see 6 additional sites. We were able to see the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Acropolis and slopes, Ancient Agora and Hadrian's Library in the span of 4 hours or so. Once you are in Plaka, all of the sites are easily walkable. The Uber from the port of Piraeus to this part of Athens was around 15€ and took about 10-15 min. I recommend visiting the Acropolis right at 8am when it opens to miss the heat of the day and the majority of the crowds. As we were descending at 9am, the crush of people just entering was crazy! 
 

Headout - Acropolis + 6 Additional Sites with Audio Guide - This is basically just an easy way to skip the ticket line at the Acropolis if you're getting there right at 8am. When we got to the smaller ticket window on the south slope at 7:55am, there was already a huge line for tickets and a shorter line for entry. We jumped in the entry line saving some time. You can buy this combo ticket (no audio guide) at any of the major Athens attractions listed for only €30 instead of €36 but the convenience was worth it to me! 

For restaurants, I recommend the Anafiótika Cafe Restaurant on the stairs (has a Cycladic feeling in the big city) and Strofi Athenian Restaurant (amazing Acropolis view). Also be sure to try souvlaki (kebab style) or gyros meat (shaved) from any of the hole-in-the-wall type spots, the meat was amazingly tender and tastier than any of the major restaurants we tried it at. 

Thessaloniki
We did the Panoramic Thessaloniki tour that circles the city and hits a bunch of important sights. The White Tower, Gallerius Arch, the Rotunda, the remaining city walls to name a few. The waterfront is easily walkable from the port and leads you straight to the White Tower. Departing from under the tower are a couple floating bar cruises I definitely recommend. They cruise the harbor in 30 min intervals and the only ticket price is buying a drink! (4€ without consumption). We took the Klio cruise bar and had a great ride. 

Kusadasi (Turkey)
We toured Ephesus on the included excursion. I definitely recommend a hat and/or SPF umbrella to protect you from the unrelenting heat! There is no shade to be found at the ruins. Also, if you're planning to buy a guide book, buy it at the starting point on top of the ruins. Once you get to the bottom/exit and decide you want one, they are priced 5€ more than at the top! 

There are a couple nice seaside restaurants/bars walking distance from the port. Everything is priced pretty cheaply. Try an Efes beer, made in Turkey and my favorite above all the Greek beers we tried. 

Rhodes
In Rhodes we also took the included excursion to Lindos. The old town is easily walkable from the port and has lots of shops and restaurants. There is also a small beach right by the port and a nicer beach about a 20 min walk away. Lindos is about a 50 minute ride from port but the Acropolis view was worth it! You have to walk up about 300 steps from the town and maneuver along a winding path with no handrails. There is a crazy long line at the top of the hill and you can bypass this with the ticket pre-purchased by your guide. 

Heraklion (Crete)
We toured the city on our own since we had a short stop from 7am-12pm and skipped visiting Knossos. The city was about a 20 minute walk from port and was flat to the old port with the fortress and up a slight hill to see all the shops and the historical Bembo and Morosini Fountains. The city is heavily influenced by Venetian architecture. 

Santorini
We took an excursion via the cruise line to Megalochori and Oia in order to be among the first tenders from the ship (Spectacular Oia on the Caldera Rim). On excursions you get a bus ride up the hill from the new port and return via pre-paid ticket on the cable car to the old port. Sunset in Oia was nice but the crush of people was unreal! I recommend finding a spot at a restaurant to escape the crowds during the prettiest part. Restaurants will ask you at the door if you intend to eat, SAY YES! Even if you just order an appetizer.. if you say you just want drinks they'll lead you straight to the back tables with no views. We ate at Thalassia and had a gorgeous view, tasty wine and sampled the Moussaka (eggplant lasagna) and Keftedes (meatballs), all was amazing. 

Mykonos
This was my favorite port stop. The cruise line provided a free shuttle from the dock at the new port to Chora old town and it was super easy to walk around and see the alleys, Little Venice and the windmills. We also took a tour (Mykonian Countryside and Little Venice) that included a stop at Kalafatis beach and in the small central town of Ano Mera, it was worth it to get to see the countryside and all the rounded off houses/tiny trees! Wind speeds can reach 70km/h so all the buildings and landscape reflect this. 

If your cruise departs late, I absolutely hands down recommend a reservation at 180º Sunset Bar on the hill above the old port. The views are spectacular and it makes the minimum spend pricing worth it. If you want to try and walk in (no minimum $), be there right at 6:30p when it opens to access a spot at the bar. The place gets jumping and we could hear the music even after walking all the way back to town (easy 5 min downhill stroll, we took a taxi uphill - 20€). 180º Sunset Bar Reservations

Milos
You can easily walk around the port town but the best views are found in the town of Plaka (Plaka Castle) at the top of the hill. We did a boat tour to the pirate sea caves in Kleftiko from Agia Kiriaki beach (Nostalgic Milos Cruise) and it was absolutely jaw dropping! They provide masks, snorkels and noodles and you get to swim through the caves. We also had another deep blue swim at a second location. The tour provides raki shots after! We also visited Sarakiniko beach on the north side of the island, the lava flows are stark white and feel like a moonscape, definitely instagram-worthy. This excursion is only available once you board and will only go once it gets enough guests to sign up. We went straight to the excursions desk upon boarding and got this booked. Later when we walked by around dinner time the line snaked all the way through the reception area and out to the stairwells!! Go early! 

Chania (Crete)
After the cruise, we stayed in Athens another night and then hopped a 30 min flight to Chania in Crete for an additional 5 nights. We took several tours while staying at a beach resort in Kolymbari, all booked via Viator.

Viator - Gramvousa and Balos Full Day Tour - The first was a boat tour to Balos beach and Gramvousa island. We were bussed from hotels to the port at Kissimos and took the Gramvousa ship to these 2 locations. The ship had food and drinks for sale and rented beach umbrellas (5€ rental + 5€ deposit) which were absolutely necessary at both beaches since there is no available shade. At Balos, the ship docks directly onto the rocks and you wade across the lagoon to access the beach side. The lagoon is less than a foot deep all the way across and was very warm, perfect for young kids. The beach side has a very rocky coral entry so I recommend water shoes or bringing a float to cross the area "croc-style." Gramvousa is also very rocky so don't plan to lie comfortably on the sand. There is a castle on the top of the hill at Gramvousa if you crave a hot uphill hike to get a beautiful view! 

Viator - Snorkeling and Boat Tour from Marathi Beach - Our second tour was a snorkel adventure with Chania Diving. We met the tour in Marathi beach (although they offered pickup) and walked easily to the dock for our boat. The tours are very small with no more than 10 guests for snorkeling or scuba excursions, offered at the same time on separate boats. We made two stops and got to see some pretty interesting stuff at both including some debris from a sister ship to Titanic that was shipwrecked in the early 1900s. The first stop had an interesting effect in the water where 3 freshwater springs poured into the sea creating a "blurry" effect in your mask and a flipped water temperature phenomenon that had the hot water trapped below a layer of cold fresh water.  We also had goat onlookers on the cliffs surrounding us! This tour provided your equipment as well as wetsuits and the mask/snorkel was the best quality I've ever encountered on a tour. 

Viator - Quad ATV Safari from Georgioupolis Area - The third tour was from Georgioupolis Safari and had us riding automatic ATVs across the valley from the beach to the mountains and included an exhilarating amount of pouring rain on our ride back down. The tour provided rain jackets which were much appreciated, I believe it was also supposed to stop at an olive oil farm/factory but this was skipped due to the rain. I still loved this tour as the views were incredible and I liked riding through all the tiny hillside towns you'd never get to see in a car. 

Here are some pics because who doesn't like those?

Athens Acropolis from MS Roof Garden bar


Acropolis (Parthenon) from the site


Thessaloniki White Tower (AKA Blood Tower because they used to chop off heads at the top and let the blood rain down the walls!)


Klio Cruise bar in Thessaloniki


Library of Celsus in Ephesus, Kusadasi, Turkey (There was a brothel next door so men would tell their wives they were "heading to the library" 🤣)


Citadel of the Knights in Rhodes old town


View from the Acropolis of Lindos, Rhodes



Oia, Santorini, looking back towards Fira


Little Venice, Mykonos


180º Sunset Bar, Mykonos



Sea caves in Kleftiko, Milos



Balos Beach, Crete


Gramvousa Island, Crete


Elafonisi Beach, Crete


Snorkel stop near Marathi Beach, Crete


ATVing near Georgioupolis, Crete


PS, last minute Athens hotel recommendation for Coco-Mat BC... it has a roof pool with stunning Acropolis views!

On 9/3/2022 at 11:22 AM, travelingman said:

Do you have to pay for these bottles of water or are they included with the drink package?

The drink package that's included as part of the fare, no. The upgraded Premium drink package on board is super cheap if you're used to buying beverage packages on sailings from the US, though! I am going on a 3-night RCCL cruise and the package is $265, all 7 nights on Celestyal only cost us $325! There is a big bottle of water in the stateroom every day that you can sign for as part of the Premium package and you can ask for them at the bars.

On 9/1/2022 at 5:53 PM, travelingman said:

Had also heard the aft bar was a good place to sit and watch the ocean go by.  Thanks for the tip on the lounge at the top of the ship.

Keep in mind the port side section of the aft bar is a smoking section and it gets packed! If you want a good spot I recommend heading here early before all departures, great view of them releasing the lines.

The funniest thing about the top floor lounge is that it's by far the best bar on the ship and its not open until 11pm! Way past when I was going to bed so we never got to use it. 

Hi! While I haven't sailed yet (Aug 13 Crystal) I have been able to access a portal of sorts by first contacting the company. I messaged them on their website and they will send you a link that's active for 48 hours from which you can pay your balance and add excursions. I let it expire once without paying and called and got another one right away. 

I ended up paying 3 days before final payment not realizing how soon after that it was due! I wonder if they'll send a warning email before cancelling bookings. 🤔

As for Covid tests, I was able to schedule ours at an Affidea in Athens near Mt Lycabettus. I scheduled this through DoctorNearYou.gr and pre paid 20 Euros for our rapid tests. 

Aww! I was excited to sail it next August. I hope my suite doesnt get switched for the one with no balcony!

On 11/6/2019 at 6:52 PM, Boatdrill said:

As someone else mentioned, you can walk across the  street to the pier from the Wyndam, check your bags at the terminal, and go exploring before you board. Or, board the ship, get a bite to eat, then go ashore and go walk around. It's that easy and convenient.

Oh good, I am glad to hear you can board and then get off again before sailing. I live downtown, so it should only be a 5 minute uber to the pier but in case I forget something it won't be too late!

30 days to go!

1 minute ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I believe you have to book them onboard since there is no means available online to reserve them using your free specialty dining perk in lieu of prepaying for it with a credit card.

Thanks, Ken! Sounds like I've got a first activity all lined up for embarkation day. haha

14 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

You may want to check your Cruise Confirmation to make sure the added perks and OBC are listed there as from our experience any HAL OBC usually doesn’t show up in the cruise planner. 

 

As as far as using HAL OBC to prebook excursions, they do not offer that option unlike many other cruise lines. 

Thanks so much for your reply! I had gotten the confirmation email but missed the PDF attachment in the far far bottom left of the email. It lists everything on there so I will stop worrying! 

Now I am wondering if I would need to book those dining experiences once on board as well since they're not in the cruise planner..

Hello! I booked yesterday on a holiday sailing and definitely clicked the radio button for the 3-day sale! It said I would get the OBC and a Beverage card/dining package for having booked a suite. Once booked however, I see no indication of any of these things in the cruise planner. 

Will the OBC be exclusively available for use once on board? RCCL let me use it for pre-cruise purchases which was handy! Thought I read a lot of fine print before clicking 'complete' but clearly not enough. Thanks for any help!