LIVE Italy Land trip then 10 days on Pride, Oct 18-29 to Greece, Turkey, Sicily and more Italy with ninjacat123!

[ninjacat123]

1 hour ago, kleibo said:

Winery looked great!!

The Vine is a restaurant in Fira. The winery tour is to come….

[ninjacat123]

1 hour ago, Imgma23 said:

You guys are good ! You look happy!

I said “fake smile” because it was so stressful and all we could do was pose for the camera. We are always having a great time, this just required our super powers🤣

[ninjacat123]

2 hours ago, Imgma23 said:

It looks like they are tired of waiting!

Yup🤣

[ninjacat123]

2 hours ago, Imgma23 said:

Glad it wasnt raining

Now you would have seen a wet and mad ninjacat123😹

[ninjacat123]

1 hour ago, Imgma23 said:

Finally! People are smiling! (Usually you guys were the only ones smiling).

I think the wine tasting helped🤣

[ninjacat123]

2 hours ago, Imgma23 said:

The town looks pretty, and so do you. Would waiting to leave the ship until the last group be less irritating? 

No because I didn’t want to miss my excursion. Then my excursion was late so made me getting on the first tender a moot point. It is what it is

Edited October 23, 2023 by ninjacat123

[ninjacat123]

53 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

I tipped our guide and driver. Not their fault they work for a company that utilizes organization.

And yes, we are in Greece❣️

I meant disorganization 🤣

[Imgma23]

32 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

Now you would have seen a wet and mad ninjacat123😹

🌧️😼😂

[Imgma23]

38 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

I said “fake smile” because it was so stressful and all we could do was pose for the camera. We are always having a great time, this just required our super powers🤣

👍🏻

[erby2283]

So overall, was the frustration worth the not having to deal with the cable cars? That is the question - and that is what tour operators like Sandra should understand - people are willing to spend the money for her tour knowing that it allows them to bypass the cable car mess but they have to get their act together.  They should at this point.

 

Overall did you feel you had enough time in port? How long did you get to spend in Oia and Fira? And what time did you get back to the ship in relation to when you leave port?

[Jeafl]

21 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

What I thought was funny is that the footprint was used as an age guide. If the male’s footprint was smaller than the footprint on the “billboard”, they were not allowed to go to the brothel since they were too young.😬

I guess old men with small feet would never be able to visit!

[ninjacat123]

34 minutes ago, erby2283 said:

So overall, was the frustration worth the not having to deal with the cable cars? That is the question - and that is what tour operators like Sandra should understand - people are willing to spend the money for her tour knowing that it allows them to bypass the cable car mess but they have to get their act together.  They should at this point.

 

Overall did you feel you had enough time in port? How long did you get to spend in Oia and Fira? And what time did you get back to the ship in relation to when you leave port?

Good questions! We arrived at the Old Port at 9:15. The representative from Sandra didn’t arrive till 10:10. Mob mentality was evident and we all tried to do our best without any information. That was the worst, besides told to wait in the most congested area. Oia was 90 minutes of trying to find the picture areas. I think the guide (new person, not the name taker at the port) should have walked us up. Instead we were told where to go. Yeah, no.

Fira was 60 minutes. The guide walked us up to the church for a photo op, said if you need something else let me know. And disappeared.

Santo Winery was beautiful. 30 minutes there.

Then the driver got us back down to the New Port where we got a shuttle direct to the ship, which wasn’t part of the itinerary.

Is it worth it to bypass the cable car or donkey path. Probably, but it could be run so much more efficiently. 

 

[ninjacat123]

3 minutes ago, Jeafl said:

I guess old men with small feet would never be able to visit!

That would be a problem 🤣

[SkipsMom]

Same questions I was about to ask.  Was hoping you had a better experience.   I was considering the similar ships excursion but dreading the cable car back down.  The one recent review on the Carnival website isn't very good.  At least I have a little time to decide which stress level I want to have that day 😀

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[saharadweller]

I just read through this entire post, thank you so much for sharing.  The information is invaluable.

 

 

[erby2283]

1 hour ago, erby2283 said:

So overall, was the frustration worth the not having to deal with the cable cars? That is the question - and that is what tour operators like Sandra should understand - people are willing to spend the money for her tour knowing that it allows them to bypass the cable car mess but they have to get their act together.  They should at this point.

 

Overall did you feel you had enough time in port? How long did you get to spend in Oia and Fira? And what time did you get back to the ship in relation to when you leave port?

Thank you - perhaps in your review to Sandra you should let her know that there could be a good market for her with good word of mouth her on CC but after what you experienced, many are now scared to use her touring company - perhaps others are daring enough to book between now and next Sept when I cruise and we'll hear better reviews. 

 

Again, appreciate the feed back and hope you are enjoying the beautiful, yet busy, itinerary!

[kleibo]

2 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

Good questions! We arrived at the Old Port at 9:15. The representative from Sandra didn’t arrive till 10:10. Mob mentality was evident and we all tried to do our best without any information. That was the worst, besides told to wait in the most congested area. Oia was 90 minutes of trying to find the picture areas. I think the guide (new person, not the name taker at the port) should have walked us up. Instead we were told where to go. Yeah, no.

Fira was 60 minutes. The guide walked us up to the church for a photo op, said if you need something else let me know. And disappeared.

Santo Winery was beautiful. 30 minutes there.

Then the driver got us back down to the New Port where we got a shuttle direct to the ship, which wasn’t part of the itinerary.

Is it worth it to bypass the cable car or donkey path. Probably, but it could be run so much more efficiently. 

 

Have you talked to any other passengers  - Do you know how long the cable car wait was coming back.  Did anyone miss the ship - they did on our cruise, but we did have four ships in port that day.

[maluhia87]

2 hours ago, SkipsMom said:

Same questions I was about to ask.  Was hoping you had a better experience.   I was considering the similar ships excursion but dreading the cable car back down.  The one recent review on the Carnival website isn't very good.  At least I have a little time to decide which stress level I want to have that day 😀

 

We did the ship version of Oia, Winery, and Thira.  We stopped at the winery first and had as much wine to drink as we wanted, along with snacks.  In Oia, the guide walked us into the square and then let people wander, we just had to meet back at the bus by a certain time.  In Thira, we were given cable car tickets and set free for the afternoon.  The line for the cable car became quite long, and I think we waited 1 1/2-2 hours to get back to the ship.  There was an NCL ship in port with us that day and it sailed late because of the line.  I think Carnival might have sailed late also, but not as late as NCL.  

Santorini is definitely a place I would never visit again as a cruise stop because of the issues from that day. 

[kleibo]

59 minutes ago, maluhia87 said:

We did the ship version of Oia, Winery, and Thira.  We stopped at the winery first and had as much wine to drink as we wanted, along with snacks.  In Oia, the guide walked us into the square and then let people wander, we just had to meet back at the bus by a certain time.  In Thira, we were given cable car tickets and set free for the afternoon.  The line for the cable car became quite long, and I think we waited 1 1/2-2 hours to get back to the ship.  There was an NCL ship in port with us that day and it sailed late because of the line.  I think Carnival might have sailed late also, but not as late as NCL.  

Santorini is definitely a place I would never visit again as a cruise stop because of the issues from that day. 

That's the exact excursion people missed with boat with on my cruise.  They were dropped back in Thira at 2:30.  And the line was 21/2 to 3 hours then.  Many had to walk down the steps.  Over 20 people injured.  A few missed the ship.

 

Glad you made it back!!

[belkin]

Would be interesting to know what Sandra has to say about this.  There is a Facebook group dedicated to issues people have had with her tours. Apparently, she deletes any negative comments and then blocks the people from her page.  The name of the group is Sandra O'Leary Service Issues.

 

 

[ninjacat123]

9 hours ago, kleibo said:

Have you talked to any other passengers  - Do you know how long the cable car wait was coming back.  Did anyone miss the ship - they did on our cruise, but we did have four ships in port that day.

I think we eventually had 4 big ships at Santorini. I’ll try to find out about cable car time, I’m curious too. As far as I know, no one missed the ship.

[ninjacat123]

Good morning Athens!! At the Acropolis, waiting for 8:45 entry time . And of course, kitties😁👍

Edited October 24, 2023 by ninjacat123
Kitties😁

[ninjacat123]

Got into the Acropolis just as big tours were arriving. No waiting in line to walk up to the main view area. And an upside down kitty!

 

Edited October 24, 2023 by ninjacat123

[ninjacat123]

Lots of stairs and not a lot of handrails. Some of terrain was very lumpy. I walked very carefully. And another kitty.

[ninjacat123]

As we exited, I noticed the crowds were getting thicker. If you bring a backpack, you should check it at the cloak room which is free. Sorry, I don’t know why some pics today are upside down.