Just Off the Enchanted Princess

[Booboochase]

1 hour ago, Torfamm said:

There are many options in some of the port cities that are walkable. The ports of call boards might be helpful, it all depends on your interests. When you say you don’t want an excursion do you mean you want to only stay in the port area? Would walking tours appeal to you?

 

As examples- Barcelona has many sights that you can see on your own but you might need a taxi unless you are up to a longer walk. Naples has the underground Naples tour that is close to the port and very interesting and there are also many restaurants and sights near the port. Kotor is a lovely place to walk around as is Mykonos, where you can easily take a bus or water taxi to Mykonos town. It’s also easy to enjoy a walk and a meal in Heraklion. Istanbul’s port is right in the city as well. 

Thank you! I truly appreciate the advice given by everyone.

[PacnGoNow]

8 hours ago, cms2001 said:

 

We are taking this cruise - Athens to Rome.  We wanted to go to Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.  If we have to go thru immigration, what time should we book our tickets for?

Depends on what tours are offered, what time the ship arrives. 
From Athens…Barcelona will just be a port stop, not a turnaround or disembarkation, so you should be quick to get through the port.  Maybe 30 mins tops. From the time you leave the ship.
 

Our arrival was very early, 5 or 6 am.  Sagrada tours probably don’t even start until 9am?  Don’t remember.  I would get off, grab a taxi and plan to be at the church at least 1/2 hour early.  
 

 

[Torfamm]

6 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Were you on a turnaround?  Were you coming from a non EU country?

 

I think it was because it was our first major EU port coming in and they wanted to stamp our passports. 
 

I bet if you’re embarking from a EU port and doing a turnaround or b2b you wouldn’t have to get

it stamped,

 

Regardless, if you were on a tour or wanted to just get off, you could get off with everyone else.  Might have to take passport and get It stamped though.  That’s what some of the b2b’s did, instead of waiting around to be escorted off and back on.

Yes, this discussion was about turnaround days on the Enchanted this summer. There are no special requirements. You carry your in-transit pass and treat it like any port day.

[gamja]

Did any of you dine in the Santorini dining room? If so, how was it?

[Grego]

On 6/1/2023 at 6:54 AM, MissP22 said:

So why do you insist on reading about them?

 

 

 

Actually, the DR dress codes are very tolerant lately. They just don't require that formal clothing be worn, that was once mandated, in order to enjoy the better meal selections. It now allows everyone to determine (within reason) what is proper for a particular evening.   

Understood.  My real objection is the allowing of anything less than "business casual" meaning slacks and collared shirt for men and slacks, dress, pant suit, blouse, etc. for women for the evening meal in the MDR.  Shorts, teeshirts, swimwear, exercise wear and the like should not be allowed.

[MissP22]

58 minutes ago, Grego said:

Understood.  My real objection is the allowing of anything less than "business casual" meaning slacks and collared shirt for men and slacks, dress, pant suit, blouse, etc. for women for the evening meal in the MDR.  Shorts, teeshirts, swimwear, exercise wear and the like should not be allowed.

On formal evenings that's pretty much as you described.

On casual nights, shorts & T shirts seem to be very common these days and other than no swim suits & workout clothing, I can't see much objection to them.

[mevs904]

14 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Depends on what tours are offered, what time the ship arrives. 
From Athens…Barcelona will just be a port stop, not a turnaround or disembarkation, so you should be quick to get through the port.  Maybe 30 mins tops. From the time you leave the ship.
 

Our arrival was very early, 5 or 6 am.  Sagrada tours probably don’t even start until 9am?  Don’t remember.  I would get off, grab a taxi and plan to be at the church at least 1/2 hour early.  
 

Interesting, we will be on this cruise later this month.  We’ll be boarding in Rome, but definitely disembarking in Barcelona.  So passengers embarking in Athens can’t disembark in Barcelona?  

[PacnGoNow]

2 minutes ago, mevs904 said:

14 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Depends on what tours are offered, what time the ship arrives. 
From Athens…Barcelona will just be a port stop, not a turnaround or disembarkation, so you should be quick to get through the port.  Maybe 30 mins tops. From the time you leave the ship.
 

Our arrival was very early, 5 or 6 am.  Sagrada tours probably don’t even start until 9am?  Don’t remember.  I would get off, grab a taxi and plan to be at the church at least 1/2 hour early.  
 

Interesting, we will be on this cruise later this month.  We’ll be boarding in Rome, but definitely disembarking in Barcelona.  So passengers embarking in Athens can’t disembark in Barcelona?  

No, nothing to do with this question.

The person asked about a port stop

in Barcelona.  
 

Of course you can disembark in Barcelona, we did many times.  

[sminkoff]

We ate in Santorini and enjoyed it very much.. Our server was Gilbert who was excellent and the maitre d' captain was great too whenever there was an issue.

 

[mevs904]

1 hour ago, PacnGoNow said:

No, nothing to do with this question.

The person asked about a port stop

in Barcelona.  
 

Of course you can disembark in Barcelona, we did many times.  

I wasn’t worried about disembarking in Barcelona.  I knew that would happen.  I was just curious about your post where you said, “Barcelona will be a port stop, not a turnaround or disembarkation.”

[PacnGoNow]

4 minutes ago, mevs904 said:

I wasn’t worried about disembarking in Barcelona.  I knew that would happen.  I was just curious about your post where you said, “Barcelona will be a port stop, not a turnaround or disembarkation.”

I was responding to this question:

This was to explain that Barcelona, for them, was just a port stop.

So, no worries about immigration, as it shouldn’t take very long.

 

   On 6/1/2023 at 10:23 AM,  cms2001 said: 

 

We are taking this cruise - Athens to Rome.  We wanted to go to Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.  If we have to go thru immigration, what time should we book our tickets for?

[Expat Cruise]

On 5/29/2023 at 11:54 PM, MissP22 said:

Princess has the same enforcement on European cruises as they do elsewhere.  It's just that more people chose to dress up on those trips. 

The problem with Princess is they do have the same enforcement fleet-wide. It depends upon the ship, the crew and the location. They need to have the same standards across the whole fleet. 

 

As for more being dressed up on European cruises, maybe it is not just personal choice. But that unlike many Americans who seem to think we can make and follow our own rules, many European follow the rules. 

[mevs904]

9 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

I was responding to this question:

This was to explain that Barcelona, for them, was just a port stop.

So, no worries about immigration, as it shouldn’t take very long.

 

 

   On 6/1/2023 at 10:23 AM,  cms2001 said: 

 

We are taking this cruise - Athens to Rome.  We wanted to go to Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.  If we have to go thru immigration, what time should we book our tickets for?

Ah!  Got it.  Thanks!

[trvlwrld]

Interesting to note that so many threads turn into tipping or dress code debates..hmmmm😂

[loge23]

On 5/31/2023 at 7:56 PM, Steelers36 said:

SANTORINI - A beautiful island that requires a tender and then a cable car ride to get to the top of the cliff and Fira town.  But you really ought to see the island and AT LEAST get to Oia.  We had a small group local guide and it was great.  We saw a couple of beaches and had a nice lunch, etc.  Wish I had more time for Oia.  If you just want to go there on own, then get a taxi there and back.

 

The best way to see both Oia and Thera is to take one of the water taxis from the tender dock (at the bottom of the cable car/stairs up to Thera) to Oia. Most folks will go directly up to Thera from there, which makes this suggestion even better! It's a beautiful ride in an open boat - takes about 20-30 minutes as I recall. The scenery is simply magnificent from the boat. You can buy a ticket (cheap) right there at the dock landing. Once in Oia, you can wander around and take a bus (pretty sure this was free) to Thera to explore that town. From there, you can (should) opt for the cable car down to the tender dock. On my first trip there, I decided to take a donkey down to the dock. While it remains a great memory and gets a lot a laughs when I tell the story - I don't recommend it! Enjoy your cruise!

[Janbcruiser]

On 6/1/2023 at 7:23 AM, cms2001 said:

 

We are taking this cruise - Athens to Rome.  We wanted to go to Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.  If we have to go thru immigration, what time should we book our tickets for?

Continuing passengers do not have to do anything, just walk off the ship. You can probably leave pretty early. When you do disembark the cruise, the ship’s admin takes care of everything, so you just wait in your lounge until they call your group, go pick up your luggage and leave. In any case there will be a long line of taxis ready to take you wherever you need to go!

[MissP22]

1 hour ago, Expat Cruise said:

The problem with Princess is they do have the same enforcement fleet-wide. It depends upon the ship, the crew and the location. They need to have the same standards across the whole fleet. 

 

As for more being dressed up on European cruises, maybe it is not just personal choice. But that unlike many Americans who seem to think we can make and follow our own rules, many European follow the rules. 

I believe the reason for Princess's lack of enforcement is based upon profits. They want to compete with all the other cruise lines & still make money selling themselves as an upscale cruise line by not enforcing any specific dress code.

I suppose there are some of the formalists that might be disappointed in the lack of strict enforcement, but that's the way it is right now.

The Europeans can do whatever make them selves feel right about the situation. 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, loge23 said:

 

The best way to see both Oia and Thera is to take one of the water taxis from the tender dock (at the bottom of the cable car/stairs up to Thera) to Oia. Most folks will go directly up to Thera from there, which makes this suggestion even better! It's a beautiful ride in an open boat - takes about 20-30 minutes as I recall. The scenery is simply magnificent from the boat. You can buy a ticket (cheap) right there at the dock landing. Once in Oia, you can wander around and take a bus (pretty sure this was free) to Thera to explore that town. From there, you can (should) opt for the cable car down to the tender dock. On my first trip there, I decided to take a donkey down to the dock. While it remains a great memory and gets a lot a laughs when I tell the story - I don't recommend it! Enjoy your cruise!

Yes  good idea.  If I was to go Santorini agsi, I'd just head right for Oia by water.

 

Avoid the donkeys.

[Expat Cruise]

7 hours ago, MissP22 said:

I believe the reason for Princess's lack of enforcement is based upon profits. They want to compete with all the other cruise lines & still make money selling themselves as an upscale cruise line by not enforcing any specific dress code. 

You're right, it is based upon profit. But when they make a contract and rules, they need to follow it. Princess Cruises or the guests can not and should not believe they can just change the terms of use or the contract of passage because they don't like what it says. It is a legal agreement. 

 

Many will post back here it is a cruise relax, just have fun. But once you start down this slippery slope, where does it end? If guests or the cruise line can break one rule, they can break any rule. 

 

I'm not stupid, I know one person cannot make change, but if one person does not start to make change, or if others do not follow that change, it never happens. 

[MissP22]

8 hours ago, Expat Cruise said:

Many will post back here it is a cruise relax, just have fun. But once you start down this slippery slope, where does it end? If guests or the cruise line can break one rule, they can break any rule. 

And they do.