Need Advice from Seasoned Cruisers!!!

[curiousshelly]

My fiance and I are thinking of taking the Golden Princess for the Egypt & Aegean 12 Day cruise in Nov 2006 that is round trip from Rome for our honeymoon. Neither of us have ever been on a cruise and are looking for a European adventure.

 

Ports of Call are Rome, Naples, Athens, Istanbul, Mykonos, Port Said and Alexandria, Egypt. I feel somewhat hestitant about visiting Istanbul and Egypt.

 

Any advice for us novices?

 

Thanks for your opinions! We need to make a decision soon!

[sunprincess]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding !

 

Just typed a huge response to you & hit something by mistake.

Let's try this again.......

 

Princess Cruises will always protect the passengers safety as top priority.

If there is a problem in a port, say political unrest, they will not call on that port. I know for some time Princess was not going to Istanbul for this reason. I have never been to Egypt, but, can say that many do not feel safe to travel there now. We have had a group go from where I work & they were safe & fine. On my Black Sea cruise in 1996 I visited Istanbul as an overnight port. It was lovely.

 

In my opinion if you are hesitant about going to these places, don't worry & choose another itineary.

The Grand Mediterranean is an awesome one. I will be doing the Greek Isles cruise this summer.

Last August I did the Baltic cruise that was awesome. But, too busy for a honeymoon in my opinion.

Princess has many European cruises to choose from.

 

Good Luck.

 

Cathy

[JLC@SD]

My fiance and I are thinking of taking the Golden Princess for the Egypt & Aegean 12 Day cruise in Nov 2006 that is round trip from Rome for our honeymoon. Neither of us have ever been on a cruise and are looking for a European adventure.

 

Ports of Call are Rome, Naples, Athens, Istanbul, Mykonos, Port Said and Alexandria, Egypt. I feel somewhat hestitant about visiting Istanbul and Egypt.

 

Any advice for us novices?

 

Thanks for your opinions! We need to make a decision soon!

 

We were considering the same cruise and we think the itinerary is great. We have been to all the ports except the Egyptian posts. All are great ports with beautiful places to see.

 

Our only problem was.....the cruise returns the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. That was a problem for us...;)

[Charliesmom]

Advice from a seasoned traveler - be VERY careful about your money. Pickpockets abound in foreign places (here, too) and they are VERY clever.

 

Do not keep all of your money in one place on your person. Carry only as much as you are going to need at the time. Leave the rest in your safe.

 

Carry your passport (which is more valuable than your money) in a secure place on your person, or, leave it in the safe and carry a COPY with you on shore.

 

If somebody spills something on you - don't pay attention to their attempts to help you clean it up - pay attention to your money - you are about to be robbed.

 

If you are young and get surrounded by people getting too familiar - again, watch your money. While you are embarrassed, they are taking your wallet.

 

Better safe than sorry.

 

Roberta

[cherylandtk]

If you DO want this cruise, be advised that all suites, mini-suites and balconies have been booked already and are waitlisted. Insides are only available in the lowest 3 categories on the Plaza deck, and oceanviews are only available on the Emerald, cat ff and lower. Everything else is waitlisted only.

 

This is the first return to Egypt for Princess, and it is a wildly popular itinerary. It is almost sold out with 11 months to go.

[FredS]

Keep an eye on the news if you book this cruise. THe small print on the cruise contract says Princess can change the itineray at any time with no notice. So if it is past final payment and you have to go, realize that Princess may not go to ports originally listed if they believe there is a safety issue for passengers and the ship. Or some shore excursion may not take place due to safety issues.

[Pam in CA]

Fred is correct... the itinerary can change due to political winds and State Dept. traveler's warnings. Princess will not go to any port that is unsafe.

 

That said, we went to Cairo four years ago (just pre-9/11) and thought it was fabulous. We docked in Alexandria and only ships tours were allowed off the ship. The tour buses went in convoys with police and military escorts leading and following the convoy. Each bus had two Princess staff and two Egyptian military personnel, with guns. With all of that, at no time did we feel endangered but rather that Princess was taking every possible precaution.

 

We did the overnight in Cairo, picking up the ship in Port Said the next afternoon. It was an expensive overnight but it was absolutely fabulous. We went to the pyramids, saw the Sphinx show at night, toured the Cairo Museum, and then traveled alongside the Suez Canal on our way to Port Said. The Egyptians appeared to be friendly with many saying "Hello" as we passed. (Yes, I know that appearances can be deceiving.) At our hotel in Cairo, everyone entering had to go through a security check similar to an airport security check. Everything was examined. The hotel itself was very nice and my room had a balcony over the Nile and I could see the pyramids in the distance.

 

Going to Istanbul is quite a different experience. They've had political problems lately but every Turk we met emphasized that they are not Middle East and don't side with the Arabs. They were vehemently pro-Western.

 

Istanbul itself is another fabulous experience. It has hundreds/thousands of years of history, including Roman history so don't miss the underground Cisterns. I had no preconceived opinion about Istanbul before going and after having been there, I'd go back if given the chance and opportunity.

 

On our cruise, we also went to Athens and one thing that struck me as we went from country to country is that each of the major stops (Rome, Cairo, Istanbul and Athens) had at one time conquered the others. If you like history, you'll be fascinated.