Odyssey - Europe 9/19/24-10/5/24 - LIVE 🚞🚌🚢 ✈️🚐

[Denversail]

Cruise director is Ana and Captain is Per. We only have 228 kids onboard.

[Sea Dog]

8 hours ago, Denversail said:

It happens because I accidentally took it upside down. I did the crop rotate but in my buzzed state couldn’t seem to get it to stick. I’ve done it successfully before. 🤷‍♀️

I have been guilty of that. 

[Denversail]

Athens photo dump…

[Denversail]

We arrived in Turkey early this morning. We didn’t have any plans. We all agreed we were a little worn out. They slept in while I enjoyed my morning in the Solarium. We decided to get off about noon and just grab lunch. They place we went was good but a little pricey. I think we all enjoyed it and then headed back to the ship.

 

We have Santorini tomorrow which is an early day. It is a little after 7 and I’m already in my room for the night. I can’t believe how fast this trip is going by. 

[kahluatoo]

Been following your live thread for recs! I'll be on the Odyssey on 10/22 for 12 days. 

[RobInMN]

1 hour ago, kahluatoo said:

Been following your live thread for recs! I'll be on the Odyssey on 10/22 for 12 days. 

We're on that with you.

[Denversail]

We bought the village of Oia on your own excursion for yesterday in Santorini. Yes I’m lagging on my post. We were obviously aware we were going to be herded around with a bunch of sheep. I hated the entire experience. 
 

We waited the typical hour in the Royal theater. Our meeting time was 6:45 am (so much for vacation).  We were then herded to a bus and I think the ride was maybe 35 minutes. They gave us a little less than 1.30 minutes in the town. The place was mobbed. You could barely move in the walkways. I would guess the cruise passenger total was a little over 10K. Our guide said that their highest visitor count was pre-Covid at 200k. The greed is just astonishing. How miserable would that be?

 

We decided to sit in a restaurant for about 45 minutes. The prices were the highest we have experienced on this trip. We then rushed back to the bus for another 35 minute ride to Fira. This was still crowded but not as bad. When we originally booked the excursion our only option was to return by cable car. We later got a notice that we could return with the bus. If we had chosen this option we would have had 15 minutes in Fira. We took our cable car tickets and decided to get more expensive food and drinks. We ended up taking the cable car back around 1. We had no line and it was easy enough. The line to go up around that time was very long. We guessed about a 2 hour wait. 
 

I will do a photo dump of this port later. I hated this port and will never return. I guess at some point it was a cute place to visit but they’ve over done it.

 

tip: this place has zero free public restrooms. If you want to use the water closet it will cost you 1 euro.

[Sea Dog]

That’s really sad. Our first cruise to Santorini was back in 1997 and we were the only ship in port. I have read where the locals want to limit cruise ships visiting Santorini and I can say I don’t blame them. Sorry your experience was bad for such a beautiful place.

[Denversail]

Santorini photo dump

[Denversail]

The last 24 hours have been interesting. I really enjoyed our time in Mykonos. I would visit again. We got off the ship and went directly over to the water taxi. The tickets were 4 euro per person round trip. We took the water taxi to the first stop and grabbed a taxi. We paid $25 to go to the other side. I think it was about a 10 minute drive. 
 

I don’t recall the name of the beach but it was very nice. Most places were offering a set of chairs for 40 euro. We went to the one with most shade. The entire area was still pretty empty. It was only about 9 am. The place we stopped at said chairs are free if we just buy drinks. Now we aren’t dumb and realized they were going to get us in some way. The catch was the drinks were equivalent to 5 drinks and we were charged 58 euro each. We were fine with it and shrugged it off and enjoyed the rest of our morning there.

 

We quickly realized that we were at the place that tries to rip people off. We had read about it and had we seen the name prior to sitting we wouldn’t have. By the time we realized it the damage had been done. Sure enough I checked my cc this morning and the 184 euro that was on my receipt did not match the 600 euro they put through. I think the place is called Ozarks. @julies5280 will know the details better than me.
 

We headed back to the port around noon. We picked a restaurant and very much enjoyed our lunch. It wasn’t cheap but good. I’ve found all our Greece stops after Athens to be very pricey.

[Denversail]

Overall yesterday was a very nice day and I enjoyed our time. I think @julies5280 took some pics of where we ate.

 

Mykonos photo dump. I just have pics of the scammer place. Very much recommend this beach just not that one place on it.

[Denversail]

We are in Crete today and I’ve had a rough start. We did have a private boat reserved for the day but unfortunately they cancelled on us yesterday due to high winds. It doesn’t seem windy but whatever. 🤷‍♀️

 

I think @julies5280 is still trying to figure out how we get the money back. Knowing my sister I have no doubt she will be successful. 
 

I went to the dining room for breakfast. I’m not one to really complain about these types of things but I got pissed. I and other tables near me had to resort to begging for water. They were not busy and the service was horrific. They only brought me about 50% of what I ordered. As I was about to leave they had the nerve to ask me if they could get me anything else. I was like nope….I’ve been disappointed enough and I’m not about to give you another opportunity. I give up. I gave the woman an earful at the exit. You know the one that asks you if you enjoyed your breakfast. Again I normally blow these things off but it was extreme.

[Denversail]

When you get off the ship in Crete there is nothing near the port. You pay 12 euros per person round trip to go into the town via bus. I opted to just stay on the ship. My travel companions ventured out so we will see what they think. I’m enjoying my day in my favorite spot.. the Solarium.

[Denversail]

I have spent a lot of time in the Solarium this trip. As you all know at this point I’m easily grossed out. I dipped in the pool a few hours ago and even the lifeguard made fun of me. He asked me if I’ve suddenly confused the pool with the showers. 🤣🤣

[Denversail]

The only report of Crete that I’ve gotten so far is they got nice views and my sister is nearing heat stroke. The temperature in the air conditioned Solarium is perfect. 

[Denversail]

I’ve impacted my sisters future on this trip in one way. I’m pretty convinced that she will never travel without one of these in the future. I’ve had this thing for months and it is still more than half full. These are easy to use and carry. I can not recommend enough. I’m pretty sure @julies5280 has stopped carrying sunscreen herself and just resorted to using mine. Thousand times recommend this for travel. It’s a roller and works very well.

[Sea Dog]

5 hours ago, Denversail said:

disappointed enough and I’m not about to give you another opportunity. I give up. I gave the woman an earful at the exit. You know the one that asks you if you enjoyed your breakfast. Again I normally blow these things off but it was extreme.

i would follow up with the dining room manager. That should never happen.

[julies5280]

5 hours ago, Denversail said:

. I think the place is called Ozarks. @julies5280 will know the details better than me.

It was DK Oysters. Which I had unfortunately heard about when researching. BUT never looked to see what beach and figured there was a no way we would end up there. There was no signage. Figured it out when my sister asked me to check if there was WiFi. Checked to see what wifi was around and the top one was DK Oysters. 
 

I was like OH *****. Made my sister and husband agree we weren’t eating anything there or doing anything that would give them a card again. And then we crossed our fingers one the one charge. Unfortunately they were as horrible as their reputation. We will dispute and it will all be good in the end. 
 

We would have been 1000% fine for the huge cost of the drinks if they had just charged what they said they were going to. The drinks were expensive but they were good and full of alcohol. 

[Thisguylikestocruise]

9 hours ago, Denversail said:

The last 24 hours have been interesting. I really enjoyed our time in Mykonos. I would visit again. We got off the ship and went directly over to the water taxi. The tickets were 4 euro per person round trip. We took the water taxi to the first stop and grabbed a taxi. We paid $25 to go to the other side. I think it was about a 10 minute drive. 
 

I don’t recall the name of the beach but it was very nice. Most places were offering a set of chairs for 40 euro. We went to the one with most shade. The entire area was still pretty empty. It was only about 9 am. The place we stopped at said chairs are free if we just buy drinks. Now we aren’t dumb and realized they were going to get us in some way. The catch was the drinks were equivalent to 5 drinks and we were charged 58 euro each. We were fine with it and shrugged it off and enjoyed the rest of our morning there.

 

We quickly realized that we were at the place that tries to rip people off. We had read about it and had we seen the name prior to sitting we wouldn’t have. By the time we realized it the damage had been done. Sure enough I checked my cc this morning and the 184 euro that was on my receipt did not match the 600 euro they put through. I think the place is called Ozarks. @julies5280 will know the details better than me.
 

We headed back to the port around noon. We picked a restaurant and very much enjoyed our lunch. It wasn’t cheap but good. I’ve found all our Greece stops after Athens to be very pricey.

I would do a credit card dispute. DK Oysters is a well known scam and what they’re doing should be criminal, major credit card companies need to become aware so they can stop all transactions. These type of places are deceptive with their menus and bully or intimidate guests into paying insane prices if the guests resist payment. I would call 112 and let the police figure it out. 

 

I’ve had a great time on this cruise, it’s been 95% amazing. I could go on and on about how much we like this cruise. Two fairly minor things similar to your experience, we haven’t enjoyed the dining room. Actually stopped going, our first night food was small and flavorless. Not sure how they screwed up Italian night but it was bad. Service was slow, felt like we were being ignored. No water refills. Got to the point we got up and walked out. Other than that time, food had been good for us personally at all other venues. 
 

For our Santorini excursion we sat in the royal theater for an hour. By the time we got to Oia it was 2 hours. View was incredible, but not sure I’d want to do this again. 
 

For us Athens and Santorini are our least favorite. Ephesus, Mykonos, Crete, Pompeii were all great. 

Edited 6 hours ago by Thisguylikestocruise