Greece Itinerary change

[RobLWD]

I have noticed on the Seabourn website that the itinerary for my October 2012 cruise seems to have been altered.Spetsai has been dropped and Monemvasia put in its place on the Friday 8th October.Does anyone know why?

I have had no communication from Seabourn or my travel agent.

[cruiseej]

In this era, port changes are not infrequent. Based on our upcoming Seabourn cruise in the Caribbean, it seems you get a notification if you've booked an excursion, but otherwise not.

[hoosier74]

Got an email yesterday from Seabourn and one this morning from my TA regarding this change.  Maybe being in the UK has delayed your notification.  Actually Monemvasia looks slightly more interesting than Spetsai.  I still think Seabourn was hoping to do Caviar in the Surf at Spetsai and could never get Greek approval for the event.  They assured that any Seabourn excursion (s  I think there was only one?) would be refunded.

[CRUISER94044]

We are on the Sept 11 sailing and we also 

[CRUISER94044]

Sorry for the partial post.  We are on Sept 11 voyage and also received notice of the port change. I would also be curious as to why the change but I can’t wait to sail away!

[HRPro]

We are on our way for the September 4 sailing and were notified by email of the port change beginning this cruise.  I’m pleased because there seemed to be very little to see or do in Spetsis, so we were basically treating it as another sea day.  Montemvasia seems to have much more to see and do.

 

 

[hoosier74]

2 hours ago, HRPro said:

We are on our way for the September 4 sailing and were notified by email of the port change beginning this cruise.  I’m pleased because there seemed to be very little to see or do in Spetsis, so we were basically treating it as another sea day.  Montemvasia seems to have much more to see and do.

 

 

Hey HRPro/aka Susan!  Have a great trip! Margaret

[marazul]

You are very lucky. Spetses is not that interesting. Monemvassia is a jewel.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that the place where  you disembark is Monemvassia. There is a causeway leading from the port to an island with a castle on top. Monemvassia is at the end of the causeway and out of sight of the port. It is a beautiful walled city. Enjoy! 

The town runs a little green bus across the causeway for a couple of euros. There is also a good beach just behind the bus stop at the port. 

Edited September 4, 2021 by marazul

[HRPro]

On 9/3/2021 at 10:57 PM, hoosier74 said:

Hey HRPro/aka Susan!  Have a great trip! Margaret

It’s been fabulous so far.  Weather perfect and food is delicious.  You were right about the bread sticks and the Dover sole—both fantastic!  Hoping to snare another reservation for the TK Grill.

[HRPro]

On 9/4/2021 at 10:17 AM, marazul said:

You are very lucky. Spetses is not that interesting. Monemvassia is a jewel.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that the place where  you disembark is Monemvassia. There is a causeway leading from the port to an island with a castle on top. Monemvassia is at the end of the causeway and out of sight of the port. It is a beautiful walled city. Enjoy! 

The town runs a little green bus across the causeway for a couple of euros. There is also a good beach just behind the bus stop at the port. 

Thanks for the tips on Monemvassia.  I actually went to the port talk today to get some tips.  We will explore the medieval walled city, and very glad to know about the beach too.

 

 

[marazul]

38 minutes ago, HRPro said:

Thanks for the tips on Monemvassia.  I actually went to the port talk today to get some tips.  We will explore the medieval walled city, and very glad to know about the beach too.

You are quite welcome.  

One more tip.  Make sure you are on deck as soon as the ship sails away.  You will get the full view of the city in about 5 minutes after sailing away.

I wish we were there too!

 

(I will be near your neighborhood this weekend)

Edited September 6, 2021 by marazul

[HRPro]

On 9/6/2021 at 5:31 PM, marazul said:

You are quite welcome.  

One more tip.  Make sure you are on deck as soon as the ship sails away.  You will get the full view of the city in about 5 minutes after sailing away.

I wish we were there too!

 

(I will be near your neighborhood this weekend)

We loved Monemvasia and followed your tip  to be on deck to get pictures at sail away.  We also had a Marina day in Monemvasia, so toured the medieval village in the morning and enjoyed water sports in the afternoon.  It was a fun way to spend our final day onboard.  Sad we had to leave this morning and will definitely plan a two week itinerary next time.

[marazul]

1 hour ago, HRPro said:

We loved Monemvasia and followed your tip  to be on deck to get pictures at sail away.  We also had a Marina day in Monemvasia, so toured the medieval village in the morning and enjoyed water sports in the afternoon.  It was a fun way to spend our final day onboard.  Sad we had to leave this morning and will definitely plan a two week itinerary next time.

Glad you enjoyed it. 

And I agree that one week only leaves you waiting for more.

[AnnieO2019]

I agree that one week is never enough! 
Our first Seabourn cruise was also our first ever cruise so we only booked one week “in case we didn’t like it” 😳 - it makes me laugh every time I think of that - of course now we are hooked 😂

[medroots]

One reason for the port change is to have a marina day.  It’s my understanding Spetsai would not grant permission.  I’ve been to both - Monemvassia is much nicer.  

[marazul]

It's a good thing they had to change the marina day. Monemvassia is a big improvement to the itinerary. 

[HRPro]

A few pictures from our day in Monemvasia.

[frantic36]

 

Just curious, did you climb to the building at the top of the hill in this picture? We did and the view was amazing. The next two days our leg muscles reminded us we aren't as young or as fit as we thought we were 😅. 

 

 

Really loved Monemvasia and would love to go back. When our State Premier lets us get out of our State again, sigh.

[marazul]

We were there when it was miserably hot. We skipped the climb and went to the beach.

[HRPro]

22 hours ago, frantic36 said:

 

Just curious, did you climb to the building at the top of the hill in this picture? We did and the view was amazing. The next two days our leg muscles reminded us we aren't as young or as fit as we thought we were 😅. 

 

 

Really loved Monemvasia and would love to go back. When our State Premier lets us get out of our State again, sigh.

We did not climb to the top.  It was hot and we wanted to get back to the ship for marina day, which just operated from 11:00-2:00 and you did have to sign up beginning at 10:30 until 1:30 if you wanted to participate.  We walked to the medieval village and back although there is a local shuttle bus that runs on the half hour if you don’t want to walk.

[frantic36]

37 minutes ago, HRPro said:

We did not climb to the top.  It was hot and we wanted to get back to the ship for marina day, which just operated from 11:00-2:00 and you did have to sign up beginning at 10:30 until 1:30 if you wanted to participate.  We walked to the medieval village and back although there is a local shuttle bus that runs on the half hour if you don’t want to walk.

 

I can't remember if we had marina day on our July, 2019 cruise but it would be a wonderful place for it. You're so right the town is an amazing place.  We initially hiked up to the Byzantine church Agios Sofia and just kept going after looking at the amazing alfresco inside.

 

https://www.greeka.com/peloponnese/monemvasia/sightseeing/agia-sofia-church/

 

I will warn people to wear good shoes with grip as the steps leading up to the church are well worn after many centuries.

Edited September 17, 2021 by frantic36

[HRPro]

Gorgeous pictures—now I am sorry we didn’t climb at least to the church.  All the churches in the lower town were not open when we were there.