LIVE from Celebrity Reflection - 4/27/18 - 10 nt Italy & Greek Isles Cruise

[Esprit]

Reflection can currently be seen live via this link

 

http://villailias.gr/webcam/

 

My DD has managed to get some time off ashore to buy essentials, including Haribo sweets!

[Sammy1]

Hi Adam,

Hope you're having a wonderful day in Santorini! We're anxious to read your report.

From the webcam that Esprit just provided, we see there's another ship anchored in the harbour with the Reflection.

We're interested to hear how long the wait is for the cable car, especially on the return trip down to the tender dock.

 

Sam

[WonderMan3]

Hello all. I am struggling a bit to keep this a truly LIVE blog as we have just been so busy having fun! So we are LIVE with a one day delay. [emoji1]

 

Anyway, on Wednesday morning we woke up early at 6:15am as we had to meet our guide for the day at 8:30 and we wanted to eat breakfast first. We went up to Oceanview since Luminae didn’t open until 7:30. On our way to breakfast we ran into the Suites Manager Sylvia just outside our cabin. We caught her eye and asked her if she remembered us from our Eclipse cruise with her last year when she was Michael’s Club concierge. She said she remembered our names when she saw them on the Suites passenger list but she couldn’t place our faces (understandable with all the guests she has met since January 2017). She told us she is only on Reflection as a fill in while the normal Suites Manager is on vacation. She got on for the Transatlantic so this was her second Reflection cruise. Her normal ship is Solstice where she is also Suites Manager. We gave her positive feedback on our butler which she appreciated and she asked if we would be attending the helipad sailaway that afternoon (This was our second helipad sailaway invite for this cruise). We told her we would see how we felt after our day of touring.

 

At Oceanview, I enjoyed my favorite Eggs Benedict with some bacon, corned beef hash, potatoes and hash browns. Mike had his standard scrambled eggs and bacon.

 

After breakfast we went back to the cabin to gather our stuff for the day and were off the ship by 8:20. The tour guides are allowed to enter into the dock at this port so it was just a short walk from the gangway to meet our driver guide. I booked through Rhodes Taxi and Limo Service. I had arranged everything through the owner?manager? Nicholas who was on the pier along with his guides. He introduced himself and our driver guide for the day Dominic. Will share our activities for the day in my next post.

 

 

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[Esprit]

Hi Adam,

Hope you're having a wonderful day in Santorini! We're anxious to read your report.

From the webcam that Esprit just provided, we see there's another ship anchored in the harbour with the Reflection.

We're interested to hear how long the wait is for the cable car, especially on the return trip down to the tender dock.

 

Sam

 

Hi Sam

There were actually two other ships (one out of view on the webcam) A Silverseas and a Crystal ship. The cable car queue was quite light going up apparently but I don't know about the return as DD got back on Reflection lunchtime.

The last time we were there the queue back down seemed long but the actual wait time wasn't bad. There's plenty of shade provided by the buildings too.

 

We're looking forward to our 5th Santorini visit this July.

[Sammy1]

Hi Sam

There were actually two other ships (one out of view on the webcam) A Silverseas and a Crystal ship. The cable car queue was quite light going up apparently but I don't know about the return as DD got back on Reflection lunchtime.

The last time we were there the queue back down seemed long but the actual wait time wasn't bad. There's plenty of shade provided by the buildings too.

 

We're looking forward to our 5th Santorini visit this July.

 

Thanks, Peter,

We're on the June 8 Reflection sailing, same itinerary. It'll be only our 2nd visit to Santorini, and we also can't wait.

Adam will be in Athens tomorrow, so won't really have much time to catch up on his live blog. I'm guessing on the sea day after Athens, he'll be very busy!

[WonderMan3]

Hello all! I am still here. A bit weary from early days and lots of sightseeing but having a wonderful time. Catching up with our Wednesday adventures...

 

We left the port of Rhodes Town with our driver Dominic for a full day excursion. I had signed us up for the Rhodes Town/East and West Coast tour and then customized it a bit. We started by driving into the Old City of Rhodes Town. This you can only do before 9am as they close the city to car traffic after that time. The Old City is enclosed in magnificent stone walls and inside is one of the most well-preserved medieval cities in Europe. Dominic pointed out a few of the historical buildings and ruins while giving us some Rhodes history. He then drove us up the historic Street of the Knights and past the Palace of the Grand Masters giving some of their history as we drove. This was also to give us a visual for time on our own in this area after the tour.

 

We next drove over to the waterfront to see the site where the ancient Colossus once stood as well as some surrounding sites like the harbor windmills and a beautiful church. We drove on and up to a viewpoint that let us look out over the Mediterranean and down on Rhodes Town’s beach area plus over to Turkey (only 5 miles away!). We then visited an area of town featuring some ancient ruins including a stadium. That concluded our touring in Rhodes Town so we drove on to the coastal village of Lindos. Along the way we had lots of discussions with Dominic about life on Rhodes and Greece in general. He was very amiable. Lindos is a beautiful town of whitewashed houses set beneath an imposing acropolis fortress. As we arrived to the town we discussed the remainder of the itinerary with Dominic. He had us spending only an hour in Lindos then visiting a winery, having lunch on the coast somewhere and then visiting the old monastery at Mount Filerimos. We weren’t interested in the winery and wanted more time in Lindos so we asked him to allow us an extra hour there where we would also have lunch. That was fine with him and off we went into Lindos.

 

The town is comprised of a series of tightly winding streets packed of shops and cafes. The shops seemed to be selling mostly tacky souvenirs. The town was packed full of tourists when we arrived around 11am. We bypassed the shops and headed straight for the Acropolis. In order to get there you have to climb a steep stairway/sidewalk so it is not for anyone with walking or breathing issues. Entrance was 12 Euro per person, not included in the tour price. It took us about an hour to ascend explore and descend again. It’s basically a group of scattered ruins up top set on multiple levels. There are ruins from both its ancient days as an Acropolis and then from later times when it was a fortress. The views looking out over Lindos on one side and the Mediterranean on the other were spectacular. Definitely worth the trip up. On our way down from the fortress we spied a restaurant with a lovely roof deck called Cesar. We got a nice table up top of 360 degree views of Lindos. The staff was very friendly and the food was delicious. I ordered a burger with some local cheese and jams on top while Mike had souvlaki. They had awesome cocktails too. It was all excellent! I highly recommend this place if visiting Lindos. Great place to unwind after an energetic visit to the Acropolis. When our meal was finished we had 10 minutes to make it back to our meeting spot with Dominic at the entrance to the town.

 

We drove on making a few stops for photos at some scenic spots and then made our way to Mount Filerimos. This was a former Acropolis later turned into a monastery. There is also an observation point featuring a gigantic cross overlooking a wide expanse of Rhodes. One of the most interesting things to was the abundance of wild peacocks and pea hens roaming the site. It must have been mating season as the birds were calling to each other constantly and the males were proudly displaying their beautiful feathers which was cool to see. I have only seen peacocks in the wild one time before but never with the full feather display. If you want to enter the monastery area to see the interior and ancient ruins of the Acropolis and temples (not much to see as far as ruins go) it costs 6 Euro per person. Leaving Filerimos I asked Dominic if there was a bakery in Rhodes Town to get good baklava. He said a knee a place on the way back to Rhodes Town and stopped there for us to make some purchases. After that we headed back to Rhodes Town where he dropped us off near one of the gates to the Old City so we could explore. Dominic was a wonderful driver guide and we had a great day exploring Rhodes. Cost of the tour was 315 Euro for pick up at 8:30 and drop off at 4. (7.5 hours) You can find them at http://rhodesprivatetours.com

 

On our own now we wandered into the Old City basically taking it all in and snapping some photos. We didn’t have time to tour the Palace of the Grand Masters so just photographed it from outside. We strolled down the Street of the Knights which ended near some shopping streets. Much of the shopping was tacky souvenir stores so we exited through the city walls and headed back to the ship. It is an easy walk from the ship into the Old City, just a 5-10 minute walk to enter the walls and then another 10-15 minutes to reach the Grand Masters Palace.

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[Sammy1]

Adam, we're loving following along with your Rhodes adventure.

Do you happen to remember exactly where along the coastal drive this was taken...

 

[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

Adam, we're loving following along with your Rhodes adventure.

 

Do you happen to remember exactly where along the coastal drive this was taken...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glad you are enjoying! That was called Anthony Quinn Bay. There is an interesting story about this beautiful place. After Anthony Quinn was in Rhodes to film “The Guns of Navarone” the local government was so excited by his presence that when he asked to buy the huge piece of land that includes this bay they sold it to him for $1. He said if they sold him the land he would talk up Rhodes to all his Celebrity and wealthy friends. It basically put Rhodes on the map and made it a desirable travel destination. Later on Quinn restricted access to the bay and its beaches which were public before that. The locals were livid but it took some time before the government reclaimed the land. They pointed to a law that prevented foreign ownership of land that was in effect at the time it was sold to Quinn. After Quinn’s death his widow then tried to get the land back but lost in court.

 

 

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[Tomato53]

Your photos are fantastic! Thanks for sharing.

[Sammy1]

Glad you are enjoying! That was called Anthony Quinn Bay. There is an interesting story about this beautiful place. After Anthony Quinn was in Rhodes to film “The Guns of Navarone” the local government was so excited by his presence that when he asked to buy the huge piece of land that includes this bay they sold it to him for $1. He said if they sold him the land he would talk up Rhodes to all his Celebrity and wealthy friends. It basically put Rhodes on the map and made it a desirable travel destination. Later on Quinn restricted access to the bay and its beaches which were public before that. The locals were livid but it took some time before the government reclaimed the land. They pointed to a law that prevented foreign ownership of land that was in effect at the time it was sold to Quinn. After Quinn’s death his widow then tried to get the land back but lost in court.

 

 

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Wow....I had no idea The Guns of Navarone was filmed in Rhodes. Lots of famous actors from another era....David Niven, Gregory Peck, as well as Anthony Quinn. What a great story about Quinn. This beach is actually on our list of stops on the excursion I arranged. It has even more significance to me now. Thanks for all this insight. Looks like I may have met my match in doing trip research.

[WonderMan3]

After our day exploring Rhodes we relaxed for awhile in our cabin. I popped up to the Pool Bar to get a Pina Colada as I was pretty hot after our walk through the Old City back to the ship. We enjoyed some of the treats we had accumulated on the islands like baklava. Dinner was at 7:30 at Luminae again. We started with a special chef’s treat of a stuffed cucumber. We followed with the Corn Soup as an appetizer. For the entree Mike had the Roasted Pork Tenderloin which he said was excellent while I had the Bacon Wrapped Trout which was just okay; tender but could’ve used a bit more flavor. For dessert Mike chose the flaming Chocolate Sphere while I had them bring me some gelato with caramel sauce.

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[letsgo247]

Enjoy! We did Reflection last spring and it was amazing.

Did you got to Mykonos? If so, where did the tender drop you off? Trying to decide if we want to take a tour but would like to just chill in town after - wondering how we would get back to ship.

Thanks

[letsgo247]

Must have been an off sailing. The pastry basket is the one thing that has not changed in Luminae in the 5 cruises I have been there since 2016. They have things I have not seen elsewhere in the ship. And the quality is much better than the buffet pastries.

 

 

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Hi Adam. We're taking this same itinerary on the 18th of May and I would like to know where on Mykonos did the tender drop you off/pickup? We would like to stay in town and hang out after our 3-hour guided tour. Thanks