Labanos

yes we bought with visa. amex was not accepted. debit cards are also accepted.

We liked it very much. Als we arrived at 12.00 so external tours was difficult so we took the Princess tour.

On to the Godfather! - Sicily, Italy We arrived in Savoca. We were first given real granita "al limone" with a kind of crunchy soup stick. The origin of granita is said to be in Messina. Snow from Mount Etna was mixed with sugar and rose water by the Arabs, creating the first granita. Now it comes in several flavors, we got lemon because these are widely grown in Sicily. In Savoca was the indoor filming location for the wedding between Apollonia and Michael and of course bar Vitelli where Michael first saw Apollonia the daughter of the owner. Inside the bar a small museum corner was set up with photos and remembrances of the movie shoots. Because I unexpectedly developed car sickness on the bus, I was allowed to sit in the front seat for the rest of the trip! That's a windfall, although when you see the mountain roads we had to travel by bus..... 😬. After Savoca I was allowed to sit in the front, that didn't really help and I asked for a plastic bag. After 3 quarters of an hour we stopped in Forza d'Agro. The village is 420 meters above sea level, so we went over many, many narrow winding mountain roads where the bus occasionally had to cross to get around a corner or honk just in case a car came around a corner... . In Forza d'Agro we did the exterior shots of Michael and Apollonia's wedding. It was indeed a beautiful church! During the trip, the guide told us about the eruption of Mount Etna last week and she thought it was all very funny because she laughed at the fact that her balcony was covered with ash. They were used to it she said...unfortunately we couldn't see Etna because the top was in the clouds.... We had a short time in Forza d'Agro and the little restaurant was not calculated for the amount of people who had arrived. We ordered a panini that we barely got in time. It was very tasty though. This did help a little on the way down. All in all it was a wonderful day excursion with very nice views.

Last summer we went to Napels and Capri with the Enchanted Princess. Napoli we did on out own but for Capri we did an excursion with somebody we found on GetYourGuide. Recommended! https://www.getyourguide.com/naples-l162/capri-and-blue-grotto-day-tour-from-naples-or-sorrento-t63911/

Not recommended, the distance is to far. A day trip from Napels to Positano is needed let alone from Rome.

No, just focus on 1 or 2. The lines and waiting times are long. Visit Brandi because the margherita was invented there. And Da Michelle is an icon and you should visit them once in your life for real Napolitean pizza.

You must visit Pizzeria Brandi where the margherita pizza was born. Another must visit, for the best pizza, is L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele.

Made some notes while traveling this summer on some of the ports you will be visiting. Perhaps it's helpful.

I might be mistalken but isn't it that you have 2 casual dining meals per guest with the Plus package. Not 2 speciality restaurants like Sabatini's and Crown Grill?

Catch by Rudy Well let’s start with my most controversial comment. Did it live up to the hype? Partially in my opinion. Catch by Rudy is a bit of a special restaurant within the specialty restaurants. First the staff and waiter. We stood alone for quite some time at the entrance desk before anyone welcomed us. I personally found that a bit awkward. We took a good look at the restaurant and it's beautiful, nice colors, good atmosphere, and nice plates on the table. After being seated the waiter gave a short introduction. We got the menu and made our choices for the 3-course dinner. I expected 4 or 5, but what counts is the quality and not the number of courses. I did have an issue with the waiter. I try to explain as best as I can why. I'm not a foody nor do I eat in fancy restaurants all the time. I don't care for traditional waiting services like in high class restaurants. I do have enough experience with those kind of restaurants in my lifetime. The waiter acted a bit like he worked in a Michelin star restaurant but only showed/expressed some learned tricks. If you act in a certain way you have to follow through, and he didn't. So, for me that created an imbalance. A small example, if you want to play the waiter in a fancy restaurant you (also) must give some explanation about the dishes when served and not just put it on the table and walk away. Mind you I rather have a relaxed smiling waiter who is conversional and just friendly instead of doing things according to some rules. But anyway, that’s minor. The most important part is the food. The starters and desserts we ordered were very good. Good portions, very good taste, excellent. The main dishes were not on quite on par in my humble opinion. Let me explain why I say this. For an extra charge of $39 you want the main dish to shine. No holding back, no reservations. I ordered the surf 'n turf. The lobster was very good, but the filet was not so good. My wife had King prawns but had a feeling of "is that all" after scraping off the flesh. Our end conclusion is that it is a very nice addition to the speciality restaurants. I would book Catch by Rudy again and even recommend it. But I can’t deny I have some reservations.

Went a few weeks back and the same as you wanted to see Napels itself.

Wrote some personal comments here:

With Princess, and i think with the video as well, it worked like this: - tender from ship to the new port - from the new port take the water taxi to the old port (or a bus shuttle) - the old port is in Mykonos town

Mykonos Mykonos town is very special imho. The narrow streets, white house’s and relaxed atmosphere with a lot of shops and restaurants gives it a special feel. Mykonos is WINDY and sunny. Be prepared Tenders is always a bit of a hassle. When arriving at 12:00 and the first tender is at 12:30 the earliest if everything goes right. First get a ticket. Then wait when your number is called. The groups go first so don’t expect to get off just after 12.30 Next you are in the new port. There’s nothing to see there and you can’t walk to Mykonos town ( it’s technically possible but not advised) Options are: A Water taxi was 2 euro one way. We really enjoy this kind of transportation Princess shuttle was 10 dollar per person roundtrip Taxi’s, well there are around 30 on the whole island I’ve read somewhere. So when it’s busy in the port it gets difficult I guess. So when you are finally in the old town you’re quite some time underway Now to get a a specific beach the next step is to find the right bus station to take a bus from. Walking from Mykonos town to Fabrika bus station for example is is an extra step that takes some walking time. Watch the timetables and be prepared for a delay in the bus service and missing a bus because it’s already full The last tender leaves an hour before departure time. So be on time and prepare for some extra delays so you can be back in time More information and some nice videos on another cruisecritic forum:

There isn't much to do, but indeed there are some souvenir shops and restaurants/bars. From the restaurant you can watch the quai and the people on- and off boarding and waiting inline for the cable car.

Restaurants In general, we were very pleased with the taste of the food on board Enchanted Princess. I'm not talking quality, however that can be defined, but just if we liked the taste of it. Catch by Rudy Well let’s start with my most controversial comment. Did it live up to the hype? Partially in my opinion. Catch by Rudy is a bit of a special restaurant within the specialty restaurants. First the staff and waiter. We stood alone for quite some time at the entrance desk before anyone welcomed us. I personally found that a bit awkward. We took a good look at the restaurant and it's beautiful, nice colors, good atmosphere, and nice plates on the table. After being seated the waiter gave a short introduction. We got the menu and made our choices for the 3-course dinner. I expected 4 or 5, but what counts is the quality and not the number of courses. I did have an issue with the waiter. I try to explain as best as I can why. I'm not a foody nor do I eat in fancy restaurants all the time. I don't care for traditional waiting services like in high class restaurants. I do have enough experience with those kind of restaurants in my lifetime. The waiter acted a bit like he worked in a Michelin star restaurant but only showed/expressed some learned tricks. If you act in a certain way you have to follow through, and he didn't. So, for me that created an imbalance. A small example, if you want to play the waiter in a fancy restaurant you (also) must give some explanation about the dishes when served and not just put it on the table and walk away. Mind you I rather have a relaxed smiling waiter who is conversional and just friendly instead of doing things according to some rules. But anyway, that’s minor. The most important part is the food. The starters and desserts we ordered were very good. Good portions, very good taste, excellent. The main dishes were not on quite on par in my humble opinion. Let me explain why I say this. For an extra charge of $39 you want the main dish to shine. No holding back, no reservations. I ordered the surf 'n turf. The lobster was very good, but the filet was not so good. My wife had King prawns but had a feeling of "is that all" after scraping off the flesh. Our end conclusion is that it is a very nice addition to the speciality restaurants. I would book Catch by Rudy again and even recommend it. But I can’t deny I have some reservations. Salty Dog Grill Nice burgers, fries, and hot dogs. Really liked it. Slice Picked up a slice 2 times later in the evening while sitting on deck, nice! It's perhaps a strange remark but the taste of the crust/dough is a bit addictive. Best pizza at sea, dunno but I like it. Swirls I'm a real soft ice addict and pictured me eating soft ice every day while onboard. I just ordered 2 times. The ice is not bad! But for me it's a bit to sugary and icy. The McDonalds soft ice for example is smoother. Sabatini's A solid 9, I really enjoyed it. Last year on Caribbean Princess, I gave it a 7. The new place on deck 7 is beautiful and has a nice atmosphere. Your taste can vary due to your mood, the company you’re with or Crown Grill With the new Grown Grill bar, it's a very nice location. It's the other way around with Sabatini. Last year I was very pleased with my steak. This year the New York Strip steak wasn't super. It might be that I ordered it Medium instead of Medium Rare, but it wasn't as juicy and soft as I hoped for. On our next Princess Cruise I again will go to Crown Grill if only it was to spend my onboard credit. My wife is more hesitant and probably wants to skip a next visit. Gigi's I really liked the pizzas over there. The menu is nice and the location on deck 7 is perfect. We ate for free, and I would pay for it under the new rules. It's a nice break from the buffet or the MDR. Main Dining Room This trip we've been there quite a few times. The everyday changing menu, the quality of the food and the luxury of being served instead of harvesting your food from the buffet, gave it a relaxing feel. The taste of most things was (very) good. I did notice the second week the same items as in the first week reappearing. This is my only negative comment. We had a 7:20 seating in the Medallion app. Every time there was a small waiting line, but we were seated pretty quickly most times at nice locations. Service is quick. Maybe to quick so sometimes we had to put the pace down by taking a longer time for our serving. Buffet The taste of most things I tried was ok to good. But for some reason we got tired from the buffet quickly. A Mediterranean cruise in the middle of the summer is busy especially on a ship like Enchanted Princess. While I know and accept this, I still was a bit surprised with the duration of the busyness. It looked like it was always busy and getting a nice table is difficult. International Cafe. As a sandwich person i really like the concept of the International Cafe. Good coffee, enough sandwiches to choose from and open 24/7. I really enjoy getting some coffee and food and then enjoy it on my balcony.

Yes, everything you said @cruisequeen4ever! Buy a ticket beforehand, it's hot and the groups are blocking the walking path.

Yes, we did buy tickets from GetYourGuide. This was a true skip the line. The line in front of the ticket office was long! We met our guide in the nearby park and he guided us quickly inside. There wasn't much guidance later on. A short talk about the Cistern and it was explore on your own. This surprised me but the skip the line was worth it. An irritating thing was that you have to pick a visiting time, so this affects your schedule for the day.

Yes, after the Galata bridge it's uphill all the way to the Blue mosque. It's doable and not very steep. From the bridge to the Egyptian spice market is not to hilly. Thats why we took the tram to the Grand Bazaar stop and then visited everything we wanted to see while walking down.

Thats exactly what we did last summer after our New England cruise. We took the bus but train is also a good way. Montréal is so nice and we are glad we did, i would even call it a highlight on our trip. We stayed in a hotel right between China town and the Old city. Almost everything is walkable and in 2 days no need for excursions, just exploring the city.

Walked around Istanbul a few days ago while on our Enchanted Princess cruise. Like @edinburgher and @MeHeartCruising already wrote you can easily discover Istanbul on foot. Made some personal notes here:

Istanbul Galataport Cruise Terminal is very big and modern. It looks more like a big airport. This vacation we wanted to spend more time walking cities like Istanbul, Athens and Napels and use the public transport. We have been to Istanbul before and then visited Sultan Ahmet Mosque (Blue mosque), Hagia Sophia, Topkapi, Grand Bazaar and the Harem. So this time we wanted to take Tram line T1 and then explore the Sulthanahmet area on foot. blue line is tram T1 You need Turkish cash to buy a tram ticket, so we used an ATM in Kusadasi to be prepared. We are a group of 3 and we bought a 10 ride card for only 110 Lira so that’s really cheap. We did not buy a Istanbul card or anything else. Just a 10 ticket card. I held the card to the metro entry and checked my family in and went last myself. So no need to buy separate tickets. The ticket machine has an English interface and is easy to use. But… you have to enter your money within a certain amount of time. If you dont do that the money entered is lost. The machine didn’t accept a certain billet and we kept on trying. Then time was up and our inserted 100 Lira was lost 😞 The second time went much better. The trams on line T1 are very modern in Istanbul. The stop closest to Galataport is Tophane. We intended to buy tickets there ( as you can do at almost all stops) but the line with Princess cruisers all trying to buy tickets was long and slow. So we walked a few 100 meters to Karakoy, no lines there. And after we lost our 100 Lira we were on our way. We went all the way to the Grand bazaar stop. Just 100 meter and your inside the bazaar. After that we walked to the Sultan Ahmet mosque en Hagia Sophia area, walked around and got lunch. After lunch we did an amazing excursion to Basilica Cistern. After our Napels underground tour this was Istanbul underground. If you see the picture you know why it’s nice to see. We didn’t want to walk down to the Galata bridge so we hopped on the tram again to Eminonu stop. Wandered around and used our 10 trip card again to go back to Galataport cruise terminal.

Yes this is a good option. I found it wonderful to go buy boat to Wall Street and Brooklyn, made it a bit more special for us. Do buy your tickets online because the lines for the ticket machines can be long. When we approached the ferry we saw a long line and were worried the Ferry would be full. I walked to the front to see what was going on. It took a long time to get a ticket from a machine for some people. As we had bought tickets through the NYC Ferry app we walked to the front and got in as one of the first leaving a lot of people on the quai behind( waiting for the next one)

2.50 per person one way. It goed back to the bus station. But we got off at the end of Heraklion so we could walk through the town.

Yes they have an app. Also the driver contacted me via WhatsApp. Very good communication and you get his license plate. One funny note, the driver said I have stellig Skoda. So I thought wel that should be easy to find. Not knowing every cab is yellow in Athens and a lot of them are Skoda.