fpsphil
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Mykonos and Athens (Turnaround day) Woke up with Mykonos visible off the bow. Beautiful sail in despite the wind. We anchored extremely close to the new port which made the tender ride extremely short which was a blessing. Went down at 11:50 to Take 5 for Elite tendering and sat down for less than 5 minutes before we were taken down. We were on the dock by 12:15 and in our shuttle to Saint John resort by 12:30. Absolutely fantastic resort and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a relaxing day in Mykonos. I’ll put some photos down below as well. Took an early ride back to Old Port to see the windmills and walk through town for a bit. Was pretty crowded and wish Princess found a way to stay later than 8 PM last tender (they totally could due to the snails pace we went overnight but I think they leave early due to it being the night before disembarkation). Ended up having pizza and hot dogs on deck for dinner since we had such a massive lunch at the resort. Woke up in Athens to a feeling I haven’t had in about 10 years… getting to stay onboard on turnaround day. At least 2/3 of the ship disembarked and when we returned from our tour it was all different faces out and about. We did the acropolis, ancient Agora, and Temple of Zeus tour and we were treated to an absolutely amazing lunch. Left our souvenir bag and umbrella on the bus but the shore excursion team onboard is already in contact trying to get that stuff either shipped to meet the ship or home. Had a beautiful balcony dinner for sail out. Michael our server was absolutely fantastic and made the evening extra special for us. We are considering doing another balcony dining now later in the cruise as he said he does have availability. Here are some random photos and the patters for Athens and Santorini tomorrow. Will be up bright and early at 5:30 to watch the sail in.
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Kusadasi Day and Istanbul Been a busy couple days and haven’t had a chance to post. Everything onboard continues to be excellent. We’ve been having the specials in club class dining almost every night that we go down and have been very impressed. Have a couple pictures I will be posting down below. Kusadasi was hot as always. Went to Ephesus, St John’s and Virgin Mary shrine. Luckily there was only our ship, a Seabourn ship and a World Cruise ship that looked liked dinghy’s docked next to the Enchanted. Played Bingo after departure and Fortuna’s jokes on this cruise are not as infuriating as they’ve been onboard the Discovery before. Will prob do the jackpot session each segment of the cruise. Istanbul today started rainy and cold but the weather cleared out by sailing time. We were delayed an hour due to 2 busses being stuck in traffic but that gave us another hour to enjoy the beautiful harbor. With the spice market closed today came back over an hour earlier which gave us time to walk around the area above the ship terminal. This area mainly has higher end merchandise so don’t expect to get any Souviners here. Speaking of the terminal while beautiful and brand new the amount of walking they make you do to get anywhere is insane. From walking down from the upstairs area, through the line and security and onto the ship took almost 25 minutes, of which half of that time was simply walking. We’re off to Saint John’s Resort tomorrow for a day of relaxation. Going to try to grab dinner somewhere ashore as well before we have to get back to the boat. Even though it was not listed on the Captain Circle welcome aboard letter I went down to confirm that there is elite tendering tomorrow. Will post up patters later this evening when we are back in the room.
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Heraklion and Day 4 Woke up this morning to a beautiful day in Crete. Despite my many Med cruises I have done over the years none have ever gone to Crete so was excited to see what the island offered. We did the Ultimate Crete tour which included Knossos, wine tasting, a visit to a model village and a full lunch. Tour was very well done and we are happy we ended up choosing this one as it gave us a good feel for everything on the island. Back on the ship we were pretty tired and didn’t feel like dressing up for the dining room so ended up having dinner at O’Malleys. We both were impressed with the food quality and atmosphere with the band Full Tilt having everyone clapping and singing. What a great transformation of a previously boring and dull corner of the Piazza. I will post pictures of the food we had below. I posted on the Starlink thread in regards to the Wi-Fi as we have yet to see a moment of Starlink connection this entire cruise. There were periods tonight where the Wi-Fi was almost completely unusable. Maybe someone forgot to pay the Starlink bill but it’s definitely hitting laggy SES satellites still and pushing me to use shoreside cellular until the last possible moment as we leave port. Also of note the Incredible Quinn is onboard! He boarded the other day in Rome and has a show tonight. We saw him in the Piazza on the Sapphire back in Oct and truly loved his act. Met him on the way into the theater and he was happy we were to see him now performing a full prime time show in the theater. Also the Inspired Silliness show in the Vista Lounge was extremely well done and we thought it was hilarious. Will say the overall “product” this far on this cruise blows recent Discovery cruises way way way out of the water. Here are a few pics from today, pictures of dinner and tomorrow’s Patters
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Day 3 - At Sea and The Catch Review Beautiful and relaxing day at sea today. Ended up sleeping in until almost noon as we were exhausted from our long day in Pompeii and Sorento. Had a late lunch at Oceanview sushi bar and thought the quality was far better than the Discovery. That’s been an over whelming theme thus far as the entertainment and food have outpaced our recent cruises on the Discovery by quite a lot. Did have one issue that came up today as my fiancé went to the spa to get her hair done and despite being clear she wanted the basic package they charged her for a full max package without receiving it. Will be speaking to the spa manager tomorrow as I know how pushy they can get with upsells on the staff so it might have been by accident they charged it. That is the reason we rarely use any spa service onboard anymore. Had dinner at The Catch and wow we were impressed. The entire space was refreshed and the second we sat down we felt like we were at a high end restaurant instead of the normal speciality we are used to on Princess. My fiancé ordered the Crabcakes and Surf and Turf for her main and I ordered the Grilled Prawns and Shrimp, Scallops, and Salmon dish. the quality of the food was fantastic and we already booked another evening there on our last leg of the cruise. We are off on the Ultimate Crete tour tomorrow for a full day off the ship! Attached are the Patters for tomorrow as well as pictures of our food at The Catch
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Naples: Arrived in Naples bright and early and I was up to watch us dock. Plenty hot today but had some relief while walking around Pompeii as a little thunder cell was developing which shaded us for the 2 hours we were there. I would highly recommend the Cheese tasting, Sorento and Pompeii tour. I initially booked this as it was only $10 per person more than a regular Sorrento/Pompeii combo but the farm they took us to up in the hills above Sorento was beautiful. It does include wine and Lemoncello tasting even though it is not in the description. Surprised we were able to leave on time as there were at least 10 Princess busses still at Pompeii when we left at 4:45 for an all aboard of 5:30. Beautiful sail out of Naples followed and now we have a nice tail wind as we head south and then east. Should have a fully useable balcony tomorrow for our day at sea. Here are some pics and Day 3 patters. Sorry if they are out of order
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Civitavecchia and Welcome Aboard! After another fun day in Rome and pleasant evening in Civitavecchia we have just stepped onboard the Enchanted Princess. Checking at 11:30 was walk straight on and didn’t need to use the elite/platinum lounge even though we were directed through it after checking in. Our room was ready as soon as we got to deck 15 and we are getting all settled in. Will likely go down for embarkation lunch as we haven’t had a chance to get any food yet this morning. Town was quite hectic with multiple ships in port today. Here is the first day patter as well as information on the holiday in Istanbul and tour changes in regards to that. Also some other pics of the room!
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Booking a 21 Day Europe Cruise (3-7 day Segments) Suite Benefits
fpsphil replied to shirazcruiser's topic in Princess Cruises