KBrote

I absolutely loved your post! We are doing a 10 day cruise from Istanbul to Athens on October. 24. We booked this over a year ago and I have done all the planning for the four of us...pre cruise hotel, post cruise stay on Santorini, all private tours, all Oceania tours, all specialty restaurant reservations, walking tours, car rentals, etc. I can relate to everything you shared and enjoyed laughing through the post...the best part was reading it aloud to my husband who also makes jokes about my over planning! Thank you for taking the time to bring a little laughter to my morning.

OK. So it seems the second night during the Captain's Party won't be the best time. Maybe I will email the whole group and ask if they would prefer 9:00pm the first night in Horizons, or see if anyone in the group has a better idea.

Thank you all. I like the idea of the second night at the Captain's Party. perhaps in Horizons since it is larger. And since most people would probably be planning to attend we wouldn't have to meet on another night. Maybe I could arrange for a sign or just hold something myself. And specify a certain area, like mid room, starboard side. All suggestions are appreciated! Can't wait...just over a month away now!

We are sailing on Sirena Oct. 24 - Nov. 3, Istanbul to Athens. We have met about 20 fellow passengers on our Roll Call and would like to plan a brief meet and mingle. We are sharing tour with a few of them and we would like to meet up before our port dates so we can plan and get to know each other a bit. We have never sailed on Oceania or Sirena so I am not sure of the best spot to suggest...Martini's? Horizon Bar? I am thinking of suggesting 6:00pm the second evening when the ship leaves port at 6:00pm. The first evening will be too hectic I am sure. If you have sailed on Sirena could you please suggest a good place for 20 or so people to gather for a half hour or so? Not sure everyone will show up so it could be more like 10 -15. Thanks!

I just made our specialty dining reservations for our upcoming cruise, Istanbul to Athens on Sirena, Oct. 24 - Nov. 3. As I expected, the earliest time available, except for one night, was 8:00pm. Our category is B1. We only have Tuscan Grill and Red Ginger on the Sirena. I did manage to get a 7:00pm in Red Ginger on the final night of the cruise when we leave Mykonos at 7:00pm. Is there a reason there were early time slots available on the final night? Is there something special about dining in the MDR the final night of the cruise? I know we can try to change our times when we get onboard. I will try to do that as we prefer 7:00pm. We are traveling with another couple and made the reservations for the 4 of us since I had their booking number.

We rarely use Ship's excursions. I don't like riding on busses and I don't like being in a group over about 10. Plus you have no chance to customize to your personal wishes at all. Not to mention they are usually about twice the price of independently booked tours. For our upcoming 10 day Greece/Turkey cruise we have booked two tours with Tours by Locals. Both guides have contacted me and we have customized the day. We will just have the four of us that are traveling together and the cost is about 275 Euros for all four of us for full day tours. The guides communication has been great. On Crete I booked and all day tour with a private company I found while searching the web. The owner/guide has been extremely responsive and I know we will have a great day at a fraction of the cost Oceania would charge for the same 7 hour tour. We have all contact info for the guides and very specific directions for meeting right off the ship. We will do a few ports on our own and are doing 3 Oceania excursions only because we did the O Life option of 3 excursions each for $300. We only chose tours between $150 - $199 so per person the cost was almost $600 and we paid $300 each. Not too excited about the ship's tours but at least we can compare. I was also careful to pick ship's excursions in tendered ports so we know we will get off quickly. I have only used Viator once while staying in Mexico City for a week a few years ago, We had a positive experience with a great guide but we were just meeting outside a museum, not getting off a cruise ship. I will tell you that reputable guides will be very used to meeting passengers at the ship. They keep track of the schedulers and the docking locations. Their business depends on it. I would not hesitate to book independently, or use Viator, instead of Ship's excursions.

I started a new thread with this question (about traveling with another couple), as I didn't want to highjack this thread about dining times. But so far I am getting some advice so Cozycz look for that thread.

Thank you! I just did a search and finally found the site that is from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You are right...it is $50. Oceania says they will take care of it for $99 a person...no think you!

It said &70 when I checked but I am happy if it $50. I am the first to admit it when I make a mistake so...in any case it is cheaper than having O do it for you and seems very straightforward.

Thank you. Both couples are in B1 cabins so we have the same date to reserve. We will try at 9:01pm since we are in California. We are not too concerned as I know the food in the main dining room is great and we might opt for the Terrace Grill occasionally. We have some of the best restaurants in the world where we live here in the Napa Valley so we are not cruising for the food but instead for the ports on our Greece and Turkey cruise. We'll give it our best try. Just wasn't sure how to book for 4 at once. Thanks.

Regarding the reservation process...we will be making our reservations for the specialty restaurants 45 days out since we are in a B1 cabin. We are traveling with friends. I will be making the reservations for the 4 of us. I have their names, cabin number, and booking number and was told I can make the reservation for the 4 of us. My question is do I pick "sharing" and then make the res for 4 of us or is there an option for picking a table for 4? I am wondering if all "sharing" tables are for 6 -8. We prefer a table for 4 if possible. Thanks for any advice.

Seems simple but I know it can be confusing. If you are flying into Turkey and boarding the ship there you need the Visa. We are flying in and spending a night in Istanbul before the cruise. We are stopping at many Turkish ports. If we were only stopping in ports and not embarking in Turkey we wouldn't need the visa. But flying into Turkey, embarking in Turkey, disembarking in Turkey and staying over night, you need it. On the Evisa website the current price for U.S. citizens in $70. You can get it starting at about 3 months in advance. Oceania will take care of it for us for $99 each so we plan to do it ourselves online in advance.

Regarding the reservation process...we will be making our reservations for the specialty restaurants 45 days out since we are in a B1 cabin. We are traveling with friends. I will be making the reservations for the 4 of us. I have their names, cabin number, and booking number and was told I can make the reservation for the 4 of us. My question is do I pick "sharing" and then make the res for 4 of us or is there an option for picking a table for 4? Thanks for any advice.

Great. I am happy to hear you found it useful. I guess if you want to save steps it could be a good option. I like walking miles each day...allows me to enjoy the food on my vacation a bit more!

Sorry if my previous post came off the wrong way. I have used the Hop On Hop Off busses in many cities as well. They can be extremely useful and I would highly recommend them in many cities. But I have heard from many, many fellow travelers that they are not helpful in Athens. Only because all the main sites that are of most interest to tourists are all within walking distance to each other. And some are located on pedestrian only streets where the busses cannot go. So I am only echoing what others have recommended. Get to the city center and take a self guided walking tour or book one of the many half day walking tours with Athens Walks or Athens Walking Tours. There is also a free city tour given by www.athens-free-tour.com that is supposed to be very good.

I have read over and over not to do the Hop on Hop off bus in Athens. We have used them in other cities, like Barcelona, where they are very useful. Athens is extremely walkable with most sites within an easy walk of each other. Plus traffic is bad and many of the sites are not accessible by cars or busses. Better to look for walking tours or self walking tours in a Rick Steve's book. Or just google Athens tours. Try Trip Advisor Travel Forums for Athens and click Things to Do. They show many tours of the main sites. I would definitely skip the bus in this city. We will be there for 4 days pre cruise in October and have walking tours lined up along with many museum visits. The museums will likely take up about 3 hours each do the bus wouldn't help with that anyway! Happy planning?

Thank you! I am hearing such concern over the traffic in Istanbul. I think if we leave a full hour for the 15 min drive we should be ok.

Thank you so much. This is very helpful. I will contact my hotel about a taxi to the port terminal and hopefully they can get one that is familiar with the process. I think we will plan to leave our hotel no later than 2:30. Can't wait!

Try Tours by Locals instead. Just Google Tours by Locals. They have guides in practically every port. You can read guide's reviews and then communicate directly with your guide to customize the tour. Very reasonably priced as well. I have not worked with the Shore Excursion Group.

We are leaving for a 10 day cruise on Oceania Sirena from Istanbul on October 24, 2023. The time listed for sailing is 6:00pm. We arrive in Istanbul the previous afternoon and plan to explore as much as we can that afternoon and evening. I would also like to set up a half day walking tour the morning of sailing. Our hotel can hold our luggage. Our hotel is a 15 min drive to the cruise terminal. I know the cruise terminal is newer and some taxis and other drivers have experienced confusion at drop off. My question is would we have time to do a 4 hour walking tour from about 9:00 - 1:00pm and then get to the ship by 2:00? We have never been to Istanbul and want to maximize our time We don't care about getting on the ship early and having lunch. We'll be on the ship for 10 days so we want as much time in Istanbul as possible. Thanks!

We are leaving for a 10 day cruise on Sirena from Istanbul on October 24, 2023. The time listed for sailing is 6:00pm. We arrive in Istanbul the previous afternoon and plan to explore as much as we can that afternoon and evening. I would also like to set up a half day walking tour the morning of sailing. Our hotel can hold our luggage. Our hotel is a 15 min drive to the cruise terminal. I know the cruise terminal is newer and some taxis and other drivers have experienced confusion at drop off. My question is would we have time to do a 4 hour walking tour from about 9:00 - 1:00pm and then get to the ship by 2:00? We have never been to Istanbul and want to maximize our time We don't care about getting on the ship early and having lunch. We'll be on the ship for 10 days so we want as much time in Istanbul as possible. Thanks!

Thank you. We will absolutely find out the latest time allowed for embarkation.

I am interested in this topic as well. We embark in Istanbul in October. It says the ships leaves at 6:00pm. We want to do a full day (or almost full day) walking tour or tour on our own. We arrive in Istanbul the day before but won't have much time for sightseeing then. We would like to leave our luggage stored at the hotel and embark around 4:00-5:00pm. I guess I will have my TA check on this or wait to see what other posters have to say.

We have booked our first Oceania Cruise. It's a 10 day Greek Islands and Turkish Riviera cruise, October 24 - Nov. 3, 2023. We booked over the phone and have been speaking with Al Hernandez, one of the Oceania Reps. My husband and I will be using miles for our flights and our friends we are traveling with will be booking their air fare and plan to buy business class flights. So far we have done all the work ourselves as I am the one in charge of all travel plans in the family. I am comfortable booking trains in Italy, VRBO rentals in France, renting cars and driving all over Europe, etc. But now I am wondering if there is any advantage in transferring our booking to a travel agent? I am wondering about shipboard credit, getting good airfare for our friends, help with pre and post cruise hotels. We are spending 3 nights in Athens pre cruise and 4 nights on Santorini post cruise. I already have done research on hotels so not sure we need help there. If you use a travel agent for your cruises what are the benefits? Do you think they can add to the perks on the cruise? We are in a low category...C2, Deluxe Ocean View, so we won't qualify for much. We are not doing O Life and chose Cruise Only fare so we will be responsible for all transfers, etc. which is not a problem for us. But we have gotten nothing in the way of credits while booking directly with Oceania ourselves. Any advice is welcome!

Thank you!