I am looking for someone that has gone on the Greek Isle 9 Cruise on odyssey? Wanting to know what your thoughts are on it?

[joyhannah]

I am looking for someone that has gone on the Greek Isle 9 day Cruise on odyssey? Wanting to know what your thoughts are on it?

I thinking of booking but need to know what others did. How was Rome? did you book a hotel? what was the pricing? how was getting to and from cruise to airport?

How was the ports? anything I should know before booking? was anyone place a waste of time?

Wanting to know what your thoughts are on it?

Thank you!

[FionaMG]

15 minutes ago, joyhannah said:

I am looking for someone that has gone on the Greek Isle 9 day Cruise on odyssey? Wanting to know what your thoughts are on it?

I thinking of booking but need to know what others did. How was Rome? did you book a hotel? what was the pricing? how was getting to and from cruise to airport?

How was the ports? anything I should know before booking? was anyone place a waste of time?

Wanting to know what your thoughts are on it?

Thank you!

 

Here's the link to my live trip report from May 2022. Hope it helps.

 

[newxmascruiser]

 

I did the 6 night in 2022. Did a quick run down here with a bit about pre cruise hotel, transport and the 3 ports we did.

We have cruised from “Rome” in the past on different itineraries and stayed in Rome itself and headed to port on sail away day.

We’ve always taken a cab but you can get the train. The train station is around a 20 min walk to port.

If there is anything specific I can try and answer for you would be happy to help

[emeraldcity]

I often have people ask me what was my favorite cruise, and I can't give them an answer. How do you compare Alaska to The Baltic or New England to the Panama Canal? But then someone asked me "If there was only one cruise that you could ever repeat, which one would it be?" And I shot back "Greek Isles!" I didn't even have to think about it. I had done that cruise on the Radiance in 2017 and it exceeded my expectations.

 

And then my daughter called saying her hubbie didn't want to go on her Odyssey cruise to the Greek Isles and did I want to take his place. I leaped at it.  We went last October and I treasure the memories of that cruise. 

 

Rome is one of the best places to book a BNB instead of a hotel. Look for something near the Campo di Fiori, as it is very centrally located. We walked everywhere. I'm headed back to Rome shortly and I've scored another great BNB cheaper than the hotels. Many of your BNB hosts will arrange transportation from the airport to the apartment.

 

And I've done a shared van to the port once, but I used the train last time. Very easy and a much nicer experience.

 

As for the ports, we did Athens (once in their lifetime everyone should have the experience of standing on the Acropolis and marveling at the Parthenon), Santorini (it is every bit as beautiful as the pictures), Mykonos (so incredibly charming, you would swear Disney manufactured it to match some movie), Ephesus (do the tour that included the terrace houses ... you won't regret it).

 

I loved the Odyssey. A bit bigger version of the Quantum class. The 270 lounge is really unique. I enjoyed the shows there. And it was --hands down-- the best place for breakfast. The 270 cafe was never crowded. You collected your food, then went to the lounge to find a nice table with that incredible aft view. Enjoying breakfast while sailing into the caldera as we made our way to our Santorini anchorage was an incredibly picturesque way to start that day.

 

The only negative experience was the trip home. Virtually everyone I interacted with at the Rome airport made it clear that I was just a package that needed to be processed and that processing would take place when they were damn good and ready.

[skiorcruise]

Thank you for the responses. We are a 70+ couple whose cruise experience is primarily Carnival.  

 

We are taking a September 2024 trip that includes 9 days land in Italy and this cruise.  Any and all info is welcome.

[airbus_guy]

I have had the pleasure of cruising many times in the Caribbean, and once before on the Eastern Med.  My FAVOURITE cruise hands down was on the Odyssey of the Seas from Rome, 8 nights visiting Santorini, Kusadasi (Ephesus), Mykonos, Messina (Sicily), Naples and then back to Rome.

 

Arrive a day or two early into Rome and make sure you see all of the sites.  Stay "inside the wall" (I agree that BNBs or AirBNBs are a good option, but be careful of the stairs that you may have to take especially with large bags!) and make sure you book tickets to the Pantheon (museiitaliani.it) in advance, as well as the Vatican Museums.  I recommend a tour guide for the Vatican Museums, but book it directly from them and not a third party reseller.  If you can get reservations before hand, try out Sora Lella and La Gattabuia for authentic local cuisine!

 

We used a private van service (rometransferservices.com) as we had a lot of baggage. They were excellent drivers and very friendly, and always punctual!!

 

If you are going to Naples, and want to see the Veiled Christ, book online at museosansevero.it beforehand.  Tickets sell out!!  And try out 50 Kali for authentic pizza.  

 

Mykonos, we went to a quiet beach called Agrari.  It is a bit more secluded, and quiet.  But excellent services.  There is a hotel there with a beach club that sells 2 chairs and an umbrella.  Well worth it!  Use the local app called iMove Taxi app...download it on your phone and use it like Uber.  Uber doesnt really work on Mykonos.

 

Santorini, I recommend that when you tender, dont wait in line for the cable car.  Instead take a water taxi to Oia, and spend the day there.  At night, book the restaurant Oia Gefsis for sunset (google the time for your date of arrival and make sure that you book online to catch wonderful views of the famous sunset).

 

Ephesus - I recommend that you take a tour organized by Royal Caribbean.

 

Sicily (Messina) - I recommend a day at the beach at a place called Giardini Naxos. You can grab a private car on the street outside of the cruise terminal, and negotiate a 4-5 hour transfer.  They will drive you there, stay with you and bring you back.  It's a lovely town where the locals relax.  The beach club we visited had a restaurant and nice chairs.  

 

Make sure you taste the Gelato and Turkish Ice Cream at each step of the way!

 

Enjoy!

[MrsHFQ]

We did a 9 night from Rome on the Odyssey last month. 

We stayed a few days pre cruise in Rome - the hotel was very central (2 minutes from the Trevi Fountain) which was ideal for sightseeing. The hotel was very quirky but a perfect base.

We had private transfers booked from airport to hotel, hotel to port and port back to airport. They weren't cheap for the 3 of us but worked out well.

 

We booked our tickets and timings ahead for the Colosseum, Vatican Museums, Hop on Hop off bus and a river trip. Planning each day and timings definitely helped. We left plenty of time to 'go with the flow' and didn't jam too much in.

 

In Naples we opted to do our own thing but didn't quite manage to navigate to where we wanted to. Not over impressed with Naples but that may well have been my fault for not planning well enough!

 

In Santorini we took an early RC excursion which meant we could get off on a tender easily and then on a coach  to Oia. We had plenty of free time in Fira and could then take the cable car down at our own time (we avoided queues that way).

 

In Mykonos we opted to do our own thing - easy to walk off the ship and explore. We had thought about doing a beach transfer but were glad that we didn't as the day was incredibly windy!

 

In Kusadasi we did a brilliant walking tour  (RC) which included Pigeon Island and then some shopping. Easy port to do on your own if you want to explore the port of Kusadasi.

 

Piraeus - we just used the Hop on Hop off buses - one from Piraeus to Athens and the other around Athens. We had pre purchased tickets to the Acropolis but then discovered they had introduced a timed ticket which would have meant presenting our tickets at the Acropolis and then being given a timed entry ( we heard from others that they then had a wait of over 2 hours) so we cancelled. The HOHO bus was very slow around Athens as the traffic was very busy.

 

Chania - RC provides a shuttle bus to the centre and then we walked through the shops and down to the beautiful harbour - lovely just to sit and enjoy or walk around to the lighthouse.

 

Lovely ports!

[RobInMN]

4 hours ago, airbus_guy said:

Arrive a day or two early into Rome and make sure you see all of the sites.

 

18 minutes ago, MrsHFQ said:

We stayed a few days pre cruise in Rome

There is no way to "see all of the sites" in a day or two. We spent a week in Rome before a Western Mediterranean cruise, and there's still things we'd like to do "next time".

 

I'm linking to a post I made in another thread back in '21. The thread in general has some good info, but I attached a detailed recommendations document.

 

This is another thread specifically discussing hotels, Abnb.

 

[skiorcruise]

Thanks to all for the information.  Very helpful for making my early plans.