For those planning a 2013 Eastern Med Cruise - yet another trip report!

[lovestx]

I love how you color coordinated your outfits on formal night! Don't know if that was intentional but it is great, I hope you display that photo in your house somewhere.

 

And I appreciate the review, we are going in June of next year and all the information I can get is much appreciated so thanks very much.

 

We didn't work on color coordinating but it naturally happens for us. Kate and I have blue ideas so we both favor blue outfits :) Glad you liked it. Second formal night we don't match. My blue dress was from Kohl's for something under $40. Pretty good deal.

[SilverDollarDoll]

We didn't work on color coordinating but it naturally happens for us. Kate and I have blue ideas so we both favor blue outfits :) Glad you liked it. Second formal night we don't match. My blue dress was from Kohl's for something under $40. Pretty good deal.

 

This board seems to end here with this post on page 3. How do we get to read the rest of your cruise review? It's so good I don't want to miss anything.

 

Question about the photo of the cruise stateroom. It looks like the corner to the bed hits the side of the vanity/desk. Can you actually walk through there and maybe the picture is just a photo depth problem?

[lovestx]

This board seems to end here with this post on page 3. How do we get to read the rest of your cruise review? It's so good I don't want to miss anything.

 

Question about the photo of the cruise stateroom. It looks like the corner to the bed hits the side of the vanity/desk. Can you actually walk through there and maybe the picture is just a photo depth problem?

 

I haven't finished posting the entire trip yet....still working on writing it.

 

I didn't post a picture of a room so can't answer the second question. Am I confused?

[SilverDollarDoll]

I haven't finished posting the entire trip yet....still working on writing it.

 

I didn't post a picture of a room so can't answer the second question. Am I confused?

 

 

Well I'm happy to tell you that I'm the confused one. Having computer problems all over the place today.

Someone else had the picture probably...so sorry.

[CruisingGatorGirl]

We didn't work on color coordinating but it naturally happens for us. Kate and I have blue ideas so we both favor blue outfits :) Glad you liked it. Second formal night we don't match. My blue dress was from Kohl's for something under $40. Pretty good deal.

 

Great review! Love that the men in your family wore their tuxedos! :D I could not convince the men in my family, oh well. Keep it coming, we are hoping to do the east med cruise for our honeymoon.

[hansolosmom]

You guys are so cute on formal night!

 

So I have to ask if your kids get along like that normally or did they do this because of the trip ;). Mine are usually pretty good together, but they're funny on cruises, the older one likes to hang with us, the younger one in the teen room.

[lovestx]

You guys are so cute on formal night!

 

So I have to ask if your kids get along like that normally or did they do this because of the trip ;). Mine are usually pretty good together, but they're funny on cruises, the older one likes to hang with us, the younger one in the teen room.

 

They actually do like to hang together when on vacation. And they also like to be with us. Go figure.

 

But I have been surprised that our daughter hasn't missed her brother as much as I would have expected now that he's off at college. Somehow having her own bathroom and full control of the favorite t.v. in the house has trumped missing him!

[hansolosmom]

They actually do like to hang together when on vacation. And they also like to be with us. Go figure.

 

But I have been surprised that our daughter hasn't missed her brother as much as I would have expected now that he's off at college. Somehow having her own bathroom and full control of the favorite t.v. in the house has trumped missing him!

 

Mine keep talking about what it'll be like when the oldest goes to college, but somehow I think it might be more like your situation. :)

[dforeigner]

Awesome review so far! Thanks.

[alliebrandy]

I am so loving your review your trip. Please continue. I have been reading them to my DH and now he is wanting to go on a mediterranian cruise :D (yeah for meeeee!!!) Just have to knock him out for the flight. By the way, how long was your flight?

[lovestx]

I am so loving your review your trip. Please continue. I have been reading them to my DH and now he is wanting to go on a mediterranian cruise :D (yeah for meeeee!!!) Just have to knock him out for the flight. By the way, how long was your flight?

 

Just sat down to write the next chapter in my trip report and see your message. Glad I've gotten your husband to think about a Med cruise :) I think the flight from JFK to FCO was about 7 1/2 hours. And it's longer coming back.

 

I see you are about to do a back to back on Equinox...lucky you~ I am trying to figure out if we can squeeze a holiday cruise into our schedules and our budget. Would it be too disappointing to go from the Equinox to the Connie?

[lovestx]

Our first day in port was probably the most anticipated by me for a whole host of reasons. I had read endlessly on CC all I could about how to make the most of our limited time on the island, tendering times, cable car waiting times, you name it. Cruise excursion or DIY or something in between. I drove myself a bit nutty about this port but it all worked out in the end…thankfully. And I have to say that Santorini was among our Top 3 Best trip moments. I will try to provide as much detail here for those of you who might be obsessing for your own upcoming trips. With apologies to those who feel they’ve read about Santorini issues, ad infinitem!

 

 

We were scheduled to be in Santorini from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. I figured out that there would be three other ships (one large Princess and two smaller ships) from morning til about 5 p.m. My research led me to conclude that we would want to spend the bulk of our time in Oia and that the winery tour wouldn’t be for us. So I took the plunge and organized a DIY tour for a group of 23 from our Roll Call. I contracted with NST tours to meet us at the top of the cable car at 3:30, take us to Oia and then bring us back at 7:30 p.m. Cost (which I negotiated knowing what others groups on earlier Equinox cruises had negotiated with NST) was 14 Euros per person.

 

All of our mornings are a bit of a blur to me but I’m guessing my hubby and I had breakfast in Blu followed by either a jog on the outside track for me or some cardio in the gym. We were told (though I can’t remember whether that was a PA announcement or something else) that they would begin giving tender tickets out outside the Celebirty Central starting at 10 a.m. CC experts convinced me to get on the line early in order to get the best possible ticket number so I went to the line at 9:30 a.m. There were already about 20 to 30 people in front of me and the line grew quickly. We had friends from our Roll Call who actually got on the line at 7:00 a.m. but that was beyond crazy! I think I got tender ticket 7 and was quite pleased with myself. And, FYI, you didn’t need all the members of your party to be present to get the tickets. They just asked you how many tickets you needed.

 

 

We then spent the next few hours hanging out and having lunch in the buffet. And then, when we began to approach land, we went up to the Promenade Deck to enjoy the view. I highly recommend that you do this on your approach to Santorini. It is truly breathtaking and I don’t think I let myself enjoy it as much as I should have as I was so focused on having all of our pieces work together for our tour.

 

Here are shots from our approach:

 

 

Note here: when organizing the CC group for our DIY bus, I was very direct that folks should get on the tender ticket line by 9:30 so that they would be up at our meeting point in time for our 3:30 departure. I also made it clear that if they weren’t there, we would go without them. Thankfully, everyone was prompt and didn’t mind being bossed around by a newbieJ

 

 

But this newbie screwed up a bit. We did not realize that they were calling tender numbers (we anchored closer to 1:30 p.m.) and when we finally figured it out, they were calling for tender 8 when we had tender ricket number 7. Talk about panic! Having never been through the tendering process I was sure that we would now have to forfeit our spots on an early tender. I was close to freaking out and, thankfully, my family hustled down the stairs and humored me. Of course, it was all fine and we got on the next tender. Here’s the view from inside the tender:

 

 

 

 

For planning purposes, I would say that we got off the tender at 2:30 p.m. I did not take a picture of the cable car line at that point but it did seem long and I was concerned. I would say there were 100 people in front of us. But it moved pretty quickly. We were up top by about 3:05 p.m.

 

 

First of two very small world stories at this point: As we were getting off the tender, our kids ran into a boy they know from school who was on the Princess ship. How incredible is that?!?

[lovestx]

I had some fear about the whole cable car idea as I have a fear of heights. So I chose to look towards the mountain as we ascended and I didn’t freak out too much. I find that childbirth breathing classes come in handy in these situations and I just try to do the breathing to get me to focus on something besides my fear! I am including photos of the cable car as I didn’t realize pre-trip that there are actually two sets of cable cars running and that each has six cabs that hold from 4 to 6 people.

 

 

 

 

 

Once on top of Santorini, the views are incredible!! And great to see the Equinox anchored in the harbor. We wandered around the small streets of Fira for 20 minutes and couldn’t believe we were actually in Greece!

 

 

 

 

 

We met our Roll Call group back at the top of the cable car and then began to get nervous when NST didn’t show up. Not fun feeling like you have an entire group waiting on your arrangements and they aren’t working out! Just as we were about to call NST, an NST rep showed up for another group, and we had him call in and find out the situation. They told us the driver was having trouble parking and would be there in 10 minutes (which he was). We then walked a few blocks to the bus and loaded on.

 

 

I can’t say that I thought the view over the northern part of the island was that spectacular and there were definitely parts of the drive that made my fear of heights kick in, but we were in Oia in 15 or 20 minutes. And it did not disappoint. Just like the post cards.

We probably got to Oia around 4:30 p.m. and agreed to meet up at 7:30 to head back to Fira. My family then just wandered around the town taking pictures and enjoying the view. We ended up at the end of the path and there was a resort where you could buy a cold drink. It was VERY hot (though we were hotter later on in the trip) so we were glad to have a beer and some sodas.

 

 

 

 

We did some shopping on the way back to the center of town and my husband bought me a nice Greek silver necklace and matching earrings.

 

 

We had dinner at a restaurant that was recommended by Rick Steve’s. It was on a terrace down from the main walking area and looked out over people’s charming houses and private pools.

 

 

After dinner, we did some more shopping (my daughter bought a dress that we then saw EVERYWHERE we went on the trip) and met our crew back at the appointed spot at NST’s offices. We were back in Fira by around 8:00 p.m. and were surprised to find a line (about 15 minutes long) for the descent to the ship. We decided not to chance missing the last tender (9:15) in order to watch the sunset—this was probably a mistake—but we were back on the ship by 8:45 p.m. and saw the afterglow.

 

I can’t remember what we did that evening….I am sure we found somewhere to get a drink and we may have gone to see the comedian but it’s a blur. Sorry.

We definitely would like to return to Santorini one day and spend a few days there. It was as magical as I expected!

 

Expenses:

Cable Car 32 Euros (for four)

Dinner 128 Euros

Drinks 20 Euros

Private Bus 60 Euros

[jt1120]

Your review is awesome! I especially like the pictures of your famiily, you all are so cute and look to be having a great time. Can't wait to read more.

 

I also like the formal picture and am happy to see that everyone dressed accordingly. Were there two or three formal nights, and which nights were they?

[RoonilWazlib]

This is a wonderful review! I love how detailed it is! My fiance and I are taking our first ever cruise in spring, and we are doing a 12-night Med cruise!! I love hearing about the details that seasoned cruisers would probably fine mundane (like about the tender, and embarkation day, etc.), since I know NOTHING about cruising yet!

 

So this thread is very appreciated!!

[KrusII]

Fantastic review..........

[Presto2]

The one thing that stands out in all of these reports isn't the ship or the location, but your family. You have a lovely family and 2 wonderful children.

 

You should be very proud

 

:)

[lovestx]

Your review is awesome! I especially like the pictures of your famiily, you all are so cute and look to be having a great time. Can't wait to read more.

 

I also like the formal picture and am happy to see that everyone dressed accordingly. Were there two or three formal nights, and which nights were they?

 

Thanks for your nice compliments. I am very lucky to have such a great family :)

 

There were two formal nights: the first and last sea days.

[lovestx]

The one thing that stands out in all of these reports isn't the ship or the location, but your family. You have a lovely family and 2 wonderful children.

 

You should be very proud

 

:)

 

Thank you, Presto! I am VERY proud of my crew. And we are lucky that our children appreciate what they are given. Our son still talks about how 'awesome' this trip was. He is home from his first year in college this weekend and just told us that he would definitely be up for a quick holiday cruise if we could spring it. Hoping that we can because I would much prefer going on a trip than buying lots of presents that they may or may not need.

[CruiseIreland]

Great review and pics. Really enjoying it. We were unable to go ashore at Santorini due to high winds, so really enjoying your visit there! Keep up the good work. Ken

[hansolosmom]

Thanks for the info (again) :D

This is the one port I'm totally paranoid about since I am not looking forward to the cable car (also afraid of heights & enclosed spaces)

 

Plus I love the family picture - you need to enlarge it & frame it.

Edited October 8, 2012 by hansolosmom

[lovestx]

Thanks for the info (again) :D

This is the one port I'm totally paranoid about since I am not looking forward to the cable car (also afraid of heights & enclosed spaces)

 

Plus I love the family picture - you need to enlarge it & frame it.

 

Just don't focus on it. It's too beautiful to miss. I would say that the ride itself takes about 2 to 3 minutes so just close your eyes and do those breathing exercises. And the way day it's getting dark out so won't be as scary!!!

 

And I just realized today how great that family photo is so I will order a print and get it framed. Just created our holiday card (Shutterfly had a 40% off deal this week so I rushed to do it) and I had great shots to pick from!

[hansolosmom]

Just don't focus on it. It's too beautiful to miss. I would say that the ride itself takes about 2 to 3 minutes so just close your eyes and do those breathing exercises. And the way day it's getting dark out so won't be as scary!!!

 

And I just realized today how great that family photo is so I will order a print and get it framed. Just created our holiday card (Shutterfly had a 40% off deal this week so I rushed to do it) and I had great shots to pick from!

 

I love shutterfly, I bet it's a great card since all the pictures I've seen have been beautiful.

[BrusselsGirl07]

Really enjoying your review! We went to Santorini on our very first cruise, and it was the most beautiful place, so your photos are bringing back lots of fun memories!

[lovestx]

Day 7: At Sea

We were starting to get used to the lazy sea days and were glad to have another one. Morning routine was the same: breakfast in Blu and time in the gym. I didn’t feel like we were stuffing ourselves with food but I knew that the alcohol consumption (including afternoon pool drinks) was going to add pounds. So we got exercise when we could.

Today, my husband and I took advantage of the Beyond the Scenes Galley Tour. We found the information (they serve 13,000 meals PER DAY!) to be very interesting and I was floored by how many people attended the event which started in the MDR. As Aqua Class members, we had not spent time at all in the MDR so it was nice to get a sense of the space. They kindly served champagne and mimosas as we walked in which made it easy to wait for the program to start. I would guess that over 500 people attended the event! Worth doing once, for sure.

Most of the day was spent by the pool reading some great books and wandering around to the Lawn Club and Glass Blowing show from time to time. I took advantage of the Aqua Fit program offered in the pool and was surprised at how good the workout seemed to be!

Late in the afternoon, we began to enter the Dardanelles which just seemed really cool. Hard to believe that we were looking at Asia and Europe at the same time! Don't ask me why we don't have pictures of that but we don't.

 

I think I forgot to mention that we had dinner in Murano on the first formal night (which is why I don’t think we felt out of place in the tuxes and cocktail dresses!). It was absolutely delicious and they offered wonderful service. I had the famous lobster and filet and it was to-die-for. It was worth the extra money, in my opinion.

We had dinner this night back in Blu and were really getting to know the wait staff well. Great group of friendly servers and we appreciated that the sommelier began to know our favorite wines. Here we are in Blu:

 

We enjoyed the Katy Setterfield show after dinner and then went off to the Martini Bar (again!). Our kids had gotten in the habit of watching the European Soccer Championships that were being screened in the Celebrity Central each night. There were always some kind of snacks available and they enjoyed watching the soccer together. And I think they enjoyed being about to wander about the ship without us worrying about them.

While we were enjoying the Martini Bar, we began to notice some Celebrity staff milling about dressed in 60s garb. It was then that I remembered that they were hosting an interactive Theme Party called Groove that night. At one point, the music changed and the characters began dancing and interacting with guests. It was definitely a hoot. Here are a couple of the characters.

 

 

Maybe now is a good time to comment on our cabins. We were pleased with our cabin selection and found them to be very quiet. Didn’t hear noise even from our neighbors’ closing door. The balcony size was comfortable though I can’t say that we spent a ton of time on the balcony—a bit before we started our day and maybe some time in the late afternoon. The bathroom was quite nice with the great storage that everyone talks about. I did bring a clothesline and did wash out some underwear and socks a few times. I even let some of them dry on our balcony chairs as I found the air was so dry that things would dry in an hour or so.

 

Another fun day on the Equinox...tomorrow, Istanbul!