Black Sea Cruise

[Marie-Claude]

I would be interested in hearing about anyone who have cruised to the Black Sea - I posted on Oceania and already received great comments - but I know that other cruise lines cruise to the Black Sea and I'm trying to see the pros and cons of each line, and as usual, get CCers usuful comments and advice!!

 

I have searched the board, but always get a blank screen so if you've done a review on such a cruise, I would love to read it!

 

Thanks in advance!

MC

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I did this cruise on the Radisson Diamond in 2004. It was really nice, and I did write reviews at the time, on another board. Let me know and I can get it to you, either by email or by posting here.

 

Ask any questions about individual ports--I won't be able to answer them all, of course, but some.

[fmax]

You might do better searching for individual Ports as the ports may be included in other itineraries under something other than Black Sea.

 

Oceania's Eastern Med has some of the Same Ports as Holland America's Western Med and also Crystal's Black Sea cruise.

 

So although some people may not have cruised the Black Sea specifically their itineraries may have taken them to some of the same ports so would be able to provide feedback on the specific port.

 

 

Frances

[Rascal Rider Ruth]

Wendy,

 

Can you furnish the URL for your review? I would love to read it, too, as I am planning on going there in October on HAL Rotterdam. Will be my first time on that ship. I am more interested in port conditions and what mgiht be handicap friendly or darn near impossible. Ship conditions not of much concern.

 

Thanks,

Ruth

[Marie-Claude]

Wendy:

Thanks for your feedback - I would also love to receive your review.

If you can't post it here, please email me at: mcdessureault@vanhoutte.com

 

Thanks again!

[whyme]

Wendy could you forward your review of the black sea cruise.. We are taking the Nautica to the area

 

whyme71842@aol.com david Hoffman

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I'm happy to email you all the review (I've done this twice), but the URL would be removed if I posted it, since it's on another board. I got lazy and didn't post it on CC, suppose I should have.

 

Oh, and our ports were Athens, Nessebur, Yalta, Sevastopol, Odessa, Constanta, Istanbul. The ports tend to be the same for most cruises, at least they were when I researched my trip.

[pvmkmyer]

I have not done this cruise, but my mother and sister just got back last October. They went on Swan Hellenic, which is a specialty cruise line out of the UK that specializes in cruises to more exotic places. They have special lecturers and guides on board who give talks on board and lead excursions ashore. All shore excursions are included in the price, as are, I believe, all drinks.

[Marie-Claude]

I'm happy to email you all the review

Wendy:

 

Thank you so much for emailing me your review!! Wow! Great review! Thanks so much for sharing! :D

[mjmiller]

If you see this post, I would LOVE to get an email of your review also!!

thanks

marcia

gmill1@hotmail.com

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Hi, I actually found it still online here at CC, and posted the link somewhere else. I'll do a search and post it here.....look at this thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=46270&highlight=black+sea

 

And have a great cruise. These are very interesting ports, a little different from the norm. Oh, and if you have any questions, please ask. And if you're interested in looking at pictures, I can tell you where they are as well.

[ldog]

Thanks for bringing this review forward.

 

We are going on the Rotterdam in October as well. I'm just starting to decide on what to do in each port. We don't like large group tours so all of this info is important.

 

What do you think about doing Constanta on your own? We were thinking of getting a taxi at the port.

 

jan

[Wendy The Wanderer]

We did a ship's tour out to the Greek ruins of Histria, out on the Danube delta. That was a really great trip.

 

We had just about an hour or so back in Constanta to wander and window shop. My memory of it was a pretty bare-bones kind of place. Romania is quite poverty-stricken. There was signs of hope, lots of shoes and dresses for sale in the shops. But as far as I remember, there was nothing very interesting to see in the town. But I'm sure there is always something interesting, if you just want to wander.

 

Now Odessa, absolutely. Beautiful city, a bit crumbling, yes, but architecturally interesting, bustling. I also did a tour there, and it included entrances to two palaces in the city, which were very interesting, since Odessa was culturally significant in the 18th century (?? I think.) But I would certainly go back there, and next time I would just wander (with a map.)

 

Note that we were on the Radisson Diamond, a small ship, and all the excursions were fairly small. The biggest might have had 30 people, but the two I mention was more like 20.