pdmlynek

To me, the point of a cruise is to be able to see a large amounts of sights easily, even if superficially.  Staying in an all inclusive has zero appeal to me.  Athough I heard and read about it from friends and aquitances, I've never stayed at one and I never will.

To me, the alternative to a cruise is an RV trip, or a car camping trip, or a backpacking trip, or car trip staying in hotels, etc.  

7 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

If you travel a lot - particularly by air (which is known for tough baggage handling), the above advice is ill-advised. 
Spending $$$ on the right luggage will get you a lifetime guarantee of durability. So, one outlay of cash vs the multiple purchases of often poorly made and not very sturdy stuff you buy at a discount store is far more economical.
And then there’s the difference is materials (lightweight/strong), design (the new compressible hard sides), size/shape (that will be easier to do transfers),  etc.

 

Don’t be “penny wise and pound foolish.”

There is a trend going on, that equates durable with expensive, and cheap = flimsy.  In my view, there is little, if any, correlation between the two. 

I think that we should advise people to buy "durable" luggage when we mean that they should get a durable luggage, and not advise them to spend $$$.  It is the durability that we care about, not the amount of money.

To me, a hard sided luggage is foolish.  It just won't last rough handling, because there is no way for the kinetic energy of a dropped luggage to be dissapated.  Get a duffle bag for 30 USD/EUR.

7 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

This may not be a popular opinion, but -- if you're thinking of cruises -- I wouldn't spend big on luggage.  I'd suggest buying from a place like Marshall's or Home Goods, where you can find mismatched low-level luggage for low prices.  

 

Why I feel this way:  On a cruise years ago, Day 1, we were walking down the long hallway to our room, and we heard THUMP, THUMP, THUMP!  A crew-only room was standing open, and we could see into a staircase room ... someone at the top was literally THROWING suitcases down the stairs into a big heap. 

It is normal for luggage to be thrown by luggage handlers.  That is their job.  Whether it is on a ship, a plane, a train, a bus, or wherever.  You should count on your luggage to be dropped off a plane onto a tarmac, or from a 2nd story window onto a pavement, etc.  It happens.

Buying suitcases that have held together by zippers, or by flimsy locks, etc. will break.  

To me, it is foolish to have hard-sided suitcases: They will be banged up, wheels will fly off, etc.  

I generally do not check luggage when I travel, especially when I go on a cruise.  On a cruise you have pretty much everything provided for you -- no need for you to bring a sleeping bag, a tent, sleeping pad, water, food,  stove, fuel, cooking equipment, silverware, ice chest, etc. -- you just need a few changes of underwear and shirts, and you are set.  So whatever I take on a cruise goes with me, and no luggage 

But when I do check luggage, I just use a duffle bag.  Typically, like a military type, top loading canvas bag, something like https://www.amazon.com/Rothco-Heavyweight-Canvas-Duffle-Olive/dp/B07PFXSJRM/ .  You can throw that off a plane and it will survive, because it distributes the kinetic energy but a hard-sided case does not.

Why people use hard-sided luggage as a checked luggage is a mystery to me.

My wife says that I snore, I say that she is a light sleeeper, but she is not able to sleep in the same room as me.  She is not able to sleep at all when I sleep.  This is not a problem when we are at home: we sleep on the opposite sides of the house.  Yes, she tried the obvious remedies, such as her sleeping with ear plugs, or with headphones on with white noise turned up, but that does not help; the snoring cuts through it.

I am sure that we are not the only couple with this problem.  

Before I book two separate cabins, I have to ask: do you have any recommendations on what can be done on a cruise? 

Any help is appreciated it!

I am trying to find a ship tracker, more specifically, cruise ship tracker. 

Although I am successful in finding many trackers that tell me where ships are currently (e.g., https://www.marinetraffic.com/ , https://www.vesselfinder.com/ ,  https://www.myshiptracking.com/ , https://www.shiplocation.com/ , etc.), and there are plenty of sites that will tell you where cruise ships are scheduled to be, I am having difficulty finding out where ship (particularly cruise ships) were a month, a year or a decade ago.  There are several paid websites where you can get that info, or services that will search this, but I'd like to see if there are free, easily accessible historical data sites.  Surely, that data should be readily accessible, no?

Thank you in advance!

On 2/8/2023 at 4:23 PM, Louand66 said:

How does it work that when you go through Dublin pre clears US customs.

 

Many thanks

 

 

The preclearance simply means that the passangers go through the immigration atDublin, instead of in the US.  The flight is considered a domestic flight, and the passangers will disembark in the US at a domestic terminal instead of the international terminal.  

It gives the airlines the freedom to fly to more places in the US.  

I am not sure if it makes that much of a difference.  A passenger still has to go through the hassle of going through immigration; whether it is in Dublin or in the US does not seem to me to be drastically different.

10 hours ago, Billy Butlin said:

My tour is with an independent operator so I may not be first off the ship.

 

I was not planning on walking from the port area but getting the cable car. My concern is if Im not first off our ship and another larger ship started tendering before us then I could be at the back of a queue that may not get me up into Fira 90 minutes from us starting to dis embark.

 

Thanks

If you know that there will be a larger ship that will arive before you, and you know that you won't be one of the first ones off your ship, and you know that the rate of gandolas is only 600/hr, it may mean that you won't make the 9:30.

To us, people in their late 50s, not in any athletic shape, had no problem walking up the stairs in about 40 minutes. It was a pleasant walk.  If you can walk a few miles on a flat surface, you should not have a problem walking this up.  The fear that this discussion group puts into cruisers' hearts about the feat of climbing the stairs is unwarranted.  

Thanks, @Visitors4.  A few comments.

Mykonos is famous for Mykonos Town, the beaches for the wealthy, and Delos.  Unfortunately, aside from those three destinations, there is not much else in Mykonos.  It seems, compared to other, much more excellent Greek Islands, aside from these three destinations, a pretty bland island.  

But I think that's fine.  Mykonos is overrun by ten thousand visitors every day.  Mykonos is popular enough.

As far as Chora, i.e., Mykonos Town does, it is very picturesque, and is not very big.  It is about a km across.  You can't get lost.  

To me, the most important part of Mykos is Delos.  Delos is a small island off Mykonos, which in the Ancient times used to be the political, economic, and religious, center of the Aegian, and is now the single biggest archeological site in Greece.  I really enjoyed it, and it was the highlight of my trip, but I am fully aware that many people are not into archeology as much.

1 hour ago, JCJR said:

...

I'm interested to know how warm (at what temp) is the inside of the ship as a lot of people have stated "the cruise line keeps the inside of the ship warm". Warm can be a lot of different temps to different people. My upper body gets cold so I always like to check temperatures to places that might get cold for me.

 

I think I might just might ask in a separate thread what temp. I wear shorts 95% of the time (> 55F) but take a light sweater when temps go below 70F (I can hear people laughing as they read this).

I am not sure what the issue is.  If it is going to be seem warm inside the ship to you, you'll wear shorts or short sleeves. If it going to be colder, then you switch to long sleeves.  If it will be even cooler, then you put on a light sweater.  

To me, it was fine.  I've never noticed what the temperature inside of the ship was.  It is akin to asking what is the temperature of a grocery store, or an office building, or an airport.  You just don't notice it.  It is just fine.

6 hours ago, Billy Butlin said:

Hi - if I can hijack this thread with a similar question.

 

I have a tentative booking with a tour operator where I need to be up top in Fira for 9.30 ( though I guess 9.45 at a push).

 

My issue is our ship gets into port at 8am and whilst only small in passengers 650 max a Celebrity ship arrives at 7am with up to 1900 passengers.

 

Given I cant guarantee to be first off our ship (Ive read they may tender those on organized tours first) and the Celebrity passengers have an hour head start .... what are the chances of getting off the ship, across on a tender and up and of the cable car in 90 mins ..... it feels tight !!

 

Regards

You should not have problem if you booked the excursion through the cruiselie.  They'll put you on an early tender.

Once you get to the port, then it is about a 40 minute walk to Fira.  

I love Amsterdam. There are so many things to do and see there. We've spent many days dats several times there. 

What to see? There is so much! One could write a book about it. And, as a matter of fact, several people have. Pick up a guidebook on Amsterdam firm Moon, LP, Fodor, RG, or IG that suits your travel style.

You have already received a very good reply from Hank @Hlitner who always gives excellent advices. None the less, let me chime in.

(1) You should find out what other ships will be in Santorini that day, and if any will be there that late. I would not be surprised if all other ships would have not left before your ship.

(2) Fira is not very large, so you'll be at the top of the stair in 10 minutes. From there, it is just a pleasant 20 minute stroll to the ship. You should have no problem making it with plenty of time to spare.

There are plenty of options for you. I would think that some search engine would be able to give you an open jaw LON>FAI, YVR>LON ticket.

If nothing is coming up, I'd search for a rt LON<>YVR, and a ow YVR>FAI. 

On 2/6/2023 at 11:07 AM, islandchick said:

No need to go looking for eagles, they are everywhere. 

...

This is correct. Most of us over 40 have grown up at a time when seeing eagles was a rarity. It took several decades after the DDT ban for the eagle population to recover. Now, bald eagles are no longer a uncommon. 

Go Eagles!

I experienced the same. I thought that it was MSC raising their prices on potential passengers who look up cruises too much, tracked either by my cookies or by my IP address. 

37 minutes ago, Tomtruck said:

Hi Zekekelso, 

Please could you let me know if you managed to board in time from Barcelona in the end? We are due to board with MSC cruises with a 11pm departure time and expect we can get to the port around 9pm given our flight times. I am wondering if MSC would still let us on at that time or if you had any issues? Any insight on your experience would be appreciated (or anyone else on this forum). Thank you 

I agree. I know that cruisers who asked questioners tend to go away after the cruise, but it would be nice for them to return and give the rest of us some feed back. I, for example, have a similar issue. 

How did it work out for you, @zekekelso?

2 hours ago, TSUmom said:

As a Texan I understand those from Florida and Arizona....anything below 70 is cold to me.  We will be cruising Alaska in late August and I plan on dressing for winter 😂

😄😄

Actually, it is not the cold that is the problem. It is the rain. You need to be prepared for the rain. It rains most the days, but generally not very hard. 

Most of my family just had rain jackets, and laughed at me packing also rain pants. They stopped laughing when I was comfortable in my rain pants, while they wore wet pants. 

Bring rainchaps.

On 2/5/2023 at 4:33 PM, Talisker2023 said:

We are traveling on the Celebrity Constellation, leaving Ravenna on May 25, 2023 and finishing up in Athens on June 3.

 

We will be in Santorini on May 30 and I have a couple of questions:

...

2. We would like to book a private tour that finishes up in Oia for sunset. Sunset on May 30 is 8:29 p.m. With sunset being so late, do we realistically have time to see the sunset and get from Oia to the top of the cable car, etc. and then down to a tender in time to get on our ship before it leaves?

 

...

Regarding your second question, I believe that it would be foolish to try to view the sunset from Oia.  

But to really answer your query, you need to let us know when you typically terminate your sunset watching.  How many degrees below horizon is the sun when you say, "that was great, let's turn in"? 

As you likely know, on Sanorini at that time of the year, the sun at the time of sunset moves almost exactly 5m00 per degree with respect to the horizon.  If you want to experience the sunset until -3 degrees, then you'll wrap it up at 20:44.  If you move from civil to nautical twilight, you'll be there until 20:59.  Personal choice.

If your last tender is 60 minutes prior to sailing, then in your case, the tender leaves at 21:00.  You should be there about 5 minutes prior to that, so at 20:55.  It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to walk down the stair, about 5 minutes to walk from the bus station to the top of the stairs, about 25 minute bus ride from Oia to Fira.  This means that you are looking at the bus leaving Oia bus station at 20:05 at the latest.  The last bus from Oia to Fira before 20:05 is at 19:50, and you need to be there about 5 minutes beforehand so you do miss it (like we did), and you need additional 5 minutes to get there from the place where you'll observe the sunset.  So realistically, you need to leave your observation spot in Oia at about 19:40, or about 50 minutes before the sunset happens.

Of course, I would not expect you to take the last bus.  Busses break down, or they may get delayed, or you may miss it, etc.  It makes sense to take the penultimate bus, which runs from Oia to Fira at 19:20.

If the last tender is at 21:30, and you terminate your sunset observations at sunset time, and you are OK with risking taking the last bus at 20:20, the bus still leaves Oia before the sunset. 

If you observe the sunset at Oia, you'd have to take the next bus after the sunset, which is not half a hour later but runs at 21:40.  This means that you'd get down to the port at 22:35, or about 55 minutes or 1h25 minutes after the last tender has left.

Good luck, whatever you decide!

On 2/5/2023 at 4:33 PM, Talisker2023 said:

We are traveling on the Celebrity Constellation, leaving Ravenna on May 25, 2023 and finishing up in Athens on June 3.

 

We will be in Santorini on May 30 and I have a couple of questions:

 

1. The Celebrity website does not have a lot of specifics and says that our time in Santorini is from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Does that mean that the last tender leaves Santorini at 10:00 p.m. or that we have to be back on the ship no later than 10:00 p.m.?

...

(1) Regarding your first question, 22:00 is the time that the ship leaves the dock or, in this case, its position in the caldera.  Ships tend to be very punctual about it; sometimes they leave 2 or 3 minutes early.

It is similar to airplanes.  If the departure time is at 22:00, then that is the time it pushes away from the gate.  You have to be ready to board at the gate 45 or 30 minutes earlier.

Whether the last tender leaves 30 minutes or 60 minutes prior to the departure time for your cruiseline, for that particular stop, is something that you are going to have to investigate yourself.  

2 hours ago, edinburgher said:

Agree that last tender is usually 1 hour before sailing to allow time for removing everything shoreside, returning the last tenders to the ship,  and raising them into position onboard in good time for the actual sailing time.

My experience is different. 

In our case, on NCL last summer, the last tender was leaving the dock 30 minutes before the sail time.  

But we actually left after the last tender. 

After the last tended there was a small boat that transports the ship's rep back onto the ship, about 12 minutes after the last tender.  So that was 18 minutes prior to the sail time.

Our wives did not find it funny that we were not on the last tender, and thought that we were going to have to catch a flight out of Santorini. Much to their surprise we had it arranged to come back with the last of the ship's crew.

The subject of what to wear on an Alaska cruise comes up on this forum all the time  It is really interesting that people from Florida or Arizona suggest to wear long underwear and parkas, whereas people from Minnesota or Maine state that shorts are fine.  🙂 

24 minutes ago, MochaChip23 said:

Ah, Mykonos is tops to you from the listed and it's one we really want to visit.  Just curious if you have other suggestions.....we have option to choose something different since we are not going until 2024.

Well, Mykonos is my favorite (if I am forced to chose just one) of the ports that you've listed, simply due to Delos.  If it weren't for Delos, then to me, Mykonos would rank after Santorini, Crete, and Rhodes.  (I have not visited Paros, so I can't comment on it).  Santorini, Crete and Rhodes are much richer and much better than Mykonos.  

On Mykonos, aside from Delos, there are two main things: "organized" beaches, and Mykonos town.  

The town of Mykonos (on many Greek Islands, the name of the largest town is the same as the name of the island) is nice and picturesque.  But it does not quite stack up to towns on Santorini.  There are bigger fans of Mykonos town than I am. 

There are about 40 beaches all over Mykonos, some pretty desolate on which you could find yourself at times alone, but Mykonos is famous for the aprox. nine beaches on the western half of the southern shore. 

From west to east:

Ornos Beach 37.4227°N 25.3238°E

Psarou Beach 37.4158°N 25.3384°E

Platys Gialos Beach 37.4142°N 25.3440°E

Agia Anna Beach 37.4094°N 25.3484°E

Paraga Beach 37.4079°N 25.3505°E

Paradise Beach 37.4102°N 25.3568°E

Super Paradise Beach 37.4149°N 25.3690°E

Agrari Beach 37.4215°N 25.3828°E

Elia Beach, 37.4230°N 25.3899°E.

These are the beaches that rich and famous (or wannabes) hang out at.  These are the beaches with billionaires' yachts anchor off.  These are the beaches where a night in a villa overlooking it costs 10,000 USD/EUR.  These are the beaches where a single beer costs 40 USD/EUR.

You should read about these beaches at https://santorinidave.com/best-beaches-mykonos , https://www.mykonosbeachesguide.com/beaches/ .

For a few videos comparing the beaches, see,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbxXoAwRBtg ,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNXdIfBxQzI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3aeoGjdd-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPp4l8UQT88

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxWc4r6iaU8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUwNfnLhExw

I can't give you recommendations to any of these beaches, since we spent our time on Delos and Mykonos town.

12 hours ago, MochaChip23 said:

@GreenFamily Funny I had been thinking about a land tour of Greece at first then decided on the cruise and now I am wavering and reconsidering a land trip.  The cruise is just so much easier and gives a flavor of many places but it also limits how much you can see in one place.  My younger daughter really wanted a land trip and the older one likes the cruise.  My husband is indifferent, just wants to go, lol. ...

I love to travel. Taking a cruise as a form of travel is not my favorite way to travel for several reasons, but I still enjoy it, and for certain destinations it is a great way to travel.  So I do understand what you are struggling with.  

If you are a somewhat experienced traveler, sure, do a landtrip.  We've done Greece land trip last year, as well as 33 years ago, and have enjoyed it.  If you are inexperience traveler, taking organized excursions in ports makes most sense.

Good luck!

12 hours ago, MochaChip23 said:

@pdmlynek Thanks for your reply.  What are your favorite ports in Greece?

What’s my favorite Greek island?  That’s an impossible question to answer.  That’s like asking which is my favorite child!  All of them are wonderful, and on any of them I would love to spend a month-long vacation.

But if you were to force me to choose the best one from the ones on your list, I’d probably say Mykonos.  The reason is Delos.  Delos is a small island off Mykonos which was a religious, political and commercial center of the Aegean in the ancient times.  Now the whole island is the largest archeological site in Greece.  It is an outdoor museum. 

In order to get to Delos, you need to take a ferry from the Old Harbor in Mykonos town.  The ferries usually leave in the morning or early afternoon, going back later -- you’ll have 3 hrs on Delos.  3 hrs is nowhere close to seeing it all, but it will give you a good flavor of what the island is about.

The nice thing about Delos is that compared to most touristy archeological sites, because of its large size and boat access, Delos is not crowded.  It does not feel kitchy, as some of the overcrowded tourist sites are.  There are plenty of visitors about, but if you wish, you can go off to a more remote parts of the island, and sit quietly in some plaza surrounded 360° by ancient, now partially reconstructed, buildings, breathing in the history of a long-gone era. 

On 1/31/2023 at 5:59 PM, Bostonjetset said:

Holland America Line is a leader in Alaska (along with Princess) so they would be my first choice.  

AI agree with this.  Go with HAL.