We board Infinity in about an hour. Let me know if you have any questions.

[ladylemondrop]

2 hours ago, hcat said:

I believe Ephesus is in Turkey.

Akotori is now open on Santorini

 

We  did a similar tour on Santorini..early tender to bus area, early arrival at Oia, lovely winery  and back to Fira. 

 

Very hot day  town was crowded  lots of women beggars.  We took the cable car down,( no lines), got some food at the  tender area and easy ride back to the ship. 

 

if we go back  we would seek out Akotiri..

Yes, Ephesus is Turkey, OP is booked to do that hence the mention. 
We have also been to Akrotiri and it was incredible, to think they just find these lost civilisations, so intact and well preserved is just amazing! 
What a great itinerary, I think its one of my favourite parts of the world. 

[Stockjock]

So, here are the photos of tonight‘s dinner. Almost shockingly, I think they got our dining room reservation situation sorted out, because there was no one else at our table, and things went smoothly, so it only took four nights to figure it out.
 

I don’t think my chicken dish was on the menu. It’s some kind of a Mediterranean thing with a light tomato is sauce that I would probably give about a seven on a 10 scale. It wasn’t bad, but it was a little bit tough and the sauce could’ve used a little bit of work maybe some extra olives in it maybe make it a little more of a robust tomato taste to it.
 

The girlfriend had the roasted pork loin, which was on the online menu, and I thought it was quite good. She gave it an eight on a 10 scale and I think I would agree. Sauce was pretty nice, but the pork was really tender, so we thought that was pretty good. 

 

For appetizers we had the escargot and shrimp cocktail, both of which were pretty good. For dessert she had the crème brûlée, which was better than last time, it was less watery, and I had some kind of a fruity olive oil thing that was surprisingly good.

[hcat]

looks like the tide has finally changed!

( fingers  crossed)

[edgee]

5 hours ago, Stockjock said:

Yes, you are correct. Maybe 20% of the tour, if that, took the cable car down, and the rest of us just stayed on the bus. I didn’t want to mess with any of that in terms of a 1.5-3 hour wait and Fira didn’t seem that exciting to me.

We did the small group tour of Oio and were dropped off for a great included lunch in Fira today. We took the bus up the hill to start the tour but were expected to take the cable car back. Got impatient with long line and did the walk down the 600 or so steps. Rather challenging for my over 70 yo. body including a recent knee replacement. Donkeys and their manure were all over the trail..not a pleasant experience, but certainly memorable. Icing knee this evening!

Edited September 5, 2023 by edgee

[Stockjock]

12 minutes ago, edgee said:

We did the small group tour of Oio and were dropped off for a great included lunch in Fira today. We took the bus up the hill to start the tour but were expected to take the cable car back. Got impatient with long line and did the walk down the 600 or so steps. Rather challenging for my over 70 yo. body including a recent knee replacement. Donkeys and their manure were all over the trail..not a pleasant experience, but certainly memorable. Icing knee this evening!

To bad you didn’t do our tour, no donkey, poo, or tram car.

[tigervixxxen]

7 hours ago, Islander500 said:

Thanks for posting your pics and commentary.  I'm so sorry that you're having so many issues with things that Celebrity used to excel in. Each of those encounters would put a damper on my evening for sure. Completely unacceptable! 

 

To say something positive about the food, your pictured dish from your excursion looks amazing!  YUM.

 

The ship's menus are beyond disappointing. I note that there are no longer real appetizers--only soup and salads. I would actually be okay with that if the entrees were not so blah, repetitive and completely uninspiring. My plan for an upcoming cruise was to order multiple appetizers instead of entrees but I guess that's not an option unless I want just soup and salad for dinner. 

 

Enjoy visiting that awesome part of the world and eat lots of great food onshore for lunch! 💗  

My plan is going to be to ask for the pasta or veggie entree as an appetizer to remedy the no appetizer situation.

 

Also, OP thanks for the pics and review. 

[Literary Lynne]

Thank you so much for taking the time to 'take us along with you'. We are on Infinity towards the end of November and have booked OV 3140, which is, I believe, in the same area as your stateroom and has the large window. When I checked on the spreadsheet on CC relating to stateroom info, several people said their rooms in that area were noisy. Have you experienced a lot of noise?

 

Love your info and photos. 🙂

[ecslady]

4 hours ago, edgee said:

We did the small group tour of Oio and were dropped off for a great included lunch in Fira today. We took the bus up the hill to start the tour but were expected to take the cable car back. Got impatient with long line and did the walk down the 600 or so steps. Rather challenging for my over 70 yo. body including a recent knee replacement. Donkeys and their manure were all over the trail..not a pleasant experience, but certainly memorable. Icing knee this evening!

 

3 hours ago, Stockjock said:

To bad you didn’t do our tour, no donkey, poo, or tram car.

 

I got inpatient too and walked down the donkey trail.  It is definitely memorable and actually something to talk about with friends.  Part of the authentic experience! Everyone should do it once.

[hcat]

On 9/4/2023 at 5:09 PM, weregoingcruising said:

The problem maybe that you have't pay the gratuity yet on the gift. It might be a new change they haven't announced yet.

Maybe they need a gentle reminder!

[doghog]

12 hours ago, Islander500 said:

The ship's menus are beyond disappointing. I note that there are no longer real appetizers--only soup and salads.

That's not true. All the menus @Stockjock has posted show appetizers, soups, salads, entrees and desserts. 

Edited September 6, 2023 by doghog

[tigervixxxen]

There are no appetizers beyond escargot and shrimp cocktail 

[doghog]

17 minutes ago, tigervixxxen said:

There are no appetizers beyond escargot and shrimp cocktail 

Yes there is. 

[Stockjock]

2 hours ago, tigervixxxen said:

There are no appetizers beyond escargot and shrimp cocktail 

There are other appetizers, but that’s generally what we order is soup, escargot, and shrimp cocktail.  I did order salad that was pretty good.

[edgee]

5 hours ago, ecslady said:

 

 

I got inpatient too and walked down the donkey trail.  It is definitely memorable and actually something to talk about with friends.  Part of the authentic experience! Everyone should do it once.

In hindsight, I partially agree...sort of an accomplishment, I guess. The tour I took was great in that it was what Celebrity calls a small group tour...25 max. Also we got to Oia early before the crowds. Total of 3 ships totalling just under 8000 passengers in town...so lots of crowding....not unusual for Santorini.

[Stockjock]

Lunchtime. 
 

I really like Rhodes, Greece so far. It’s really beautiful and there’s nice shopping, great food, it’s definitely a place that I didn’t expect that much from, but I’m glad we visited.

 

The name of the restaurant here in Rhodes is Zizi in the old town area and it’s excellent. We did the Greek dinner for two which was €35 and included a lot of really delicious food. This food was the best we’ve had on the trip so far, in my opinion.

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Stockjock

[hcat]

We loved Rhodes..one of our fav ports as well. Very intriguing history, great shopping..Wish that could have been an overnight stop.

 

Enjoyed the great photos and big happy smiles!

[Stockjock]

And of course, after a round of gluttony comes dessert…

[aaaaa]

Looks good.  Maybe get a few "take out" dishes for dinner!

[Stockjock]

20 minutes ago, aaaaa said:

Looks good.  Maybe get a few "take out" dishes for dinner!

I think I am going to explode. I wonder if my travel insurance covers that?

[Islander500]

On 9/5/2023 at 6:11 AM, jshli said:

I hope Celebrity reconsiders because in my opinion, this will cost them customers. If they think the new young cruisers will like this menu any more than the older loyal cruisers, they are very mistaken.

 

Just thought more about this and think you are so right! The younger generation are much more experienced diners than I ever was at their age. They have grown up much more exposed to good restaurants and great meals. 

[Stockjock]

1 hour ago, Islander500 said:

Just thought more about this and think you are so right! The younger generation are much more experienced diners than I ever was at their age. They have grown up much more exposed to good restaurants and great meals. 

I was listening to an ad yesterday from Celebrity, talking about their “Michelin star chef”. And I was thinking to myself that this is not remotely approaching a Michelin starred dining experience.

[quacker5]

3 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

I was listening to an ad yesterday from Celebrity, talking about their “Michelin star chef”. And I was thinking to myself that this is not remotely approaching a Michelin starred dining experience.

@Stockjock I want to thank you for your review.  It reminded so much of our cruise 10 years ago to that part of the world.  Now I have Rhodes on my list and will look for an itinerary to visit less traveled islands. Thanx and have fun!  

[Stockjock]

4 minutes ago, quacker5 said:

@Stockjock I want to thank you for your review.  It reminded so much of our cruise 10 years ago to that part of the world.  Now I have Rhodes on my list and will look for an itinerary to visit less traveled islands. Thanx and have fun!  

My pleasure. Just for the record, the tour we took in Rhodes is called destination highlight: scenic drive, and here’s the restaurant we ate at.

 

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Stockjock

[jshli]

I always deferred to Celebrity thinking it was the best of the “mainstream lines, time to consider Princess and Holland America.

[MikeMary4449]

15 hours ago, ecslady said:

I got inpatient too and walked down the donkey trail.  It is definitely memorable and actually something to talk about with friends.  Part of the authentic experience! Everyone should do it once.

We too had this "authentic experience", but it was back in 1983 - before the cable car existed.  Once was enough for us especially as we are now in our 70's!  Those were the "good old days" when there were NO crowds and our ship, carrying ONLY 100 passengers, was the ONLY ship in port that day!

Thanks for the memories!  Mike and Mary