pdmlynek

Well, yeah, if you are going to the Caribbean or some tropical destination, that's fine. But for cruises in colder climes it is tougher, because you will need bulky clothes as well. We typically solve this by wearing an underlayer, so that bulky shirts (flannel, rugby, etc.) do not absorb the sweat, and we can wear the midlayer several times before needing to launder it. We just launder the underlayer all the time.

Me too. I find the shampoo, or hand soap to be better than a typical laundry soap bar. The advantage is that it is already in a liquid state; using a laundry soap bar is just an additional unnecessary step. And a liquid soap, or liquid shampoo is readily available wherever I travel, so I do not need to lug around laundry soap bar.

I am surprised that anyone would pay for something that one can get for free. 🙂

Not everyone is an American. Why would non-Americans know about Oscars? How many Swiss, Japanese, or Argentinian movie star's wives and their antics do you keep track of?

I think that these are correct lessons. Schedule a day ahead arrival if traveling on the same continent, and 2 days ahead if traveling to another continent. You'll enjoy another day or two at a far away location. Travel light, have everything printed out, and have fun.

Wow, I had no idea that concierge services existed on board. 😲

My key card had "Assembly Station B1". Should an average cruiser know that an assembly station is a muster station, or will the average cruiser think that an assembly station is a meeting point for excursions? And where on the ship is "B1"? Why not just tell us which deck and room?

You will likely not be able to board with a machine that draws a significant current like a dryer. It is just like curling irons, clothes irons, and like. It is a fire safety issue. I don't think that not having a dryer is going to be much of a problem anyway. On a cruise I do laundry in the sink every night (I travel light, and don't pack more than a single change of clothes), and find that there is sufficient airflow in the cabin, so that hanging well-wrung wet laundry in the room in the evening is dried by morning time. Good luck with your washing machine, and when you get back, let us know how it turned out!

I put them high up so no little kids could mess with them, and placed them there carefully, centered, so it looked like that they were there officially. Nobody messed with them.

That is what we did. I bought a university magnet for each of the people in our party, a few state flags and international flags of our respective country of origin, and posted on our doors. Each magnet was pretty small, about A6 (i.e., 4"x6") or smaller. And yes, it was much easier to tell which cabins are ours. Especially after coming back from bar hopping.

I agree. The cruise lines seem to actively discourage people from walking by parroting this line. I suppose that there are several reasons for this. Firstly, it is likely that the cruise lines do not to be held liable if someone falls and seriously hurts self. Secondly, it is likely that advertising the gondola brings more money to the island, making the island based companies happy, and in turn making the cruise lines happy. Thirdly, the cruise lines do not want passengers tracking poop and pee onto the ship.

Yeah, I noticed that too. (The numbers are a little different from mine, since we likely had a different end points of the path). I do not trust Google Map's time estimates. Here or other places. They are just too optimistic. Or maybe I am getting too slow in my old age. Secondly, 20 min down and only 26 min up? No way. Given the terrain, i.e., steep smooth grade with low profile stair steps, a person should be able to skedaddle down at about twice the speed as walking up. I'd say, if you can do 26 min up, then 13 min down, or 40 min up and 20 min down.

The taxis will be there early. They know when the ships come in, and they want to make money. There won't be as many that early, but if you are one of the first ones off, you'll be OK. Also, are you checking luggage? If you are, it may be pretty tight. The problem is that this is Greece -- things go wrong. There may be a delay on the highway, or a strike, or the taxi running out of gas, of power lines are down, of whatever. You can't play it cool as you could back home, sliding into the gate area 30 seconds before the gate closes.

Thank you for the review. This will likely be very helpful to people visiting Thera (Santorini) by cruise ships. A couple of comments. (a) The path is not "very long". It is only 1 km long, with 600 stair steps, and 210 m elevation gain. Google maps says that the walk up is 20 min, but for us, in late 50s and in no great shape, during 30 C hot weather, it took about 35 minutes. Yes, it was almost twice as long, but really, no big deal. (b) The walk down in the evening is a pleasure. A pleasurable evening stroll. It took us 20 minutes because we kept stopping every turn to take pictures of the sunset. I am sure that it could be easily done under 15 minutes. (c) Regarding footwear: wear your light hiking boots. Yes, sneakers might be fine, but it is much easier and safer to wear proper footwear with good traction instead of sneakers. (d) If you are going to be on Santorini in the evening, consult your charts for the time of the sunset, civil twilight, nautical twilight, and astronomical twilight. Because the path is western facing, you should not have much problem during the civil twilight. But if you get any later than that, you'll need to use your headlamps. (e) Yes, you are going to be stepping into donkey poop and pee, when walking on the path. That's nature. Don't sweat it. That is another reason why you need hiking boots; mere sneakers will more likely slip on pee. (f) If you are walking down, please take some time to clean your shoes. Please do not track donkey feces onto the tender, then onto the ship, into your room, etc. Good luck!

I am pretty sure that he was trolling you. 🙂

Yes, pretty much. I also have to watch a video, and go visit the muster station once on board. I am not sure if this is really a good idea. I know that I was much more aware on a cruise many years ago when we had to assemble, rather than this relatively passive interaction. I hope that the cruise lines have evaluated the efficacy of this type of mustering. 😞

You may want to write something about what you prefer, so that experienced cruisers will be able to provide guidance. Beaches? Mayan ruins? Local culture? Independent excursion? Guided excursions?

This is the correct take. Similarly, I too do not know what a "foodie" is. One of my friends calls himself a foodie because he likes his steak done a certain way, while another friend calls himself a foodie because he writes restaurant reviews. If a person is a connoisseur in anything (food, cars, clothing, computers, etc.), expecting connoisseur-worthy experience in a venue serving the general public is foolish. Cruise ships serve the general public. Their food has to be just good enough for the general public. Spending the extra effort needed to provide gourmand-like experience would be wasteful and unrealistic.

What time does the ship get into port? 6:00? 12:00, 17:00?

I am sorry that this is happening to you. I hope that you'll be able to resolve it successfully. Follow up with them, be persistent, and it will most likely be resolved in your favor. Things get better and better each year, but still, many things just don't work in Greece as smoothly as they do in Canada or other parts of Europe. You cannot always expect that once you send money to Greece that you'll get what you paid for. Not because Greeks are somehow dishonest, but because of things just not always working. I'd very hesitant sending money to Greece (like to most of the world) except for airline tickets, unless there is a really huge advantage to buying your services up front over when you are there. The headache wondering if you'll lose your money is not worth it.

Yeah, that is about twice as much as is normal.

50 USD? Wow, from where? We paid 17 EUR or less than 20 USD from northern Plaka. It was cheaper than public transport. Aside from taking the subway, you can also take a bus from Syntagma Square.

In Rhodes port, several rental companies have their counters set up in several permanent structures (36.4440N 28.2323E, but there may be others). If the company that you are renting from is there, you just have to walk there and follow their instructions. If the car rental company is not there, like was our case, they will meet with you someplace along the waterfront. You'll need to be in touch with them by e-mail, Whatsap, or by telephone. Meeting them curbside seems typical in Rhodes. Just make sure that you are not renting from the airport.

That should be fine. In June, passengers were able to get off Jade starting before 7:00. Because the traffic on Sunday morning is quiet, you'll have no problem with a taxi, or with a bus, or even with a metro combination.

No, I don't think so. I've never heard of that happening, and it would make no sense to do so, but suppose it is not impossible. The tenders drop passengers off at the Old Port, either on the north side by the bus station, or the south side at the pier from which boats to Delos go from.