Aegeon/Egypt Excursions ??/Formal Nights

[Chesie]

Hi everyone,

 

Things have settled down now that the holidays have gone. I know several members took this cruise last November and would appreciate the wealth of knowledge regarding excursions. We have a private overnight already with members for Cairo.

 

Which ports can we "do on our own" vs booking an excursion? What are the "you can't possibly not miss this" for the ports of call? We can only be in so many places at once but don't want to miss the must do's and would rather opt out of some things if need be.

 

Any information/contacts would be appreciated. I have been on the Star rollcall prior to their cruise but thought now since everyone is back and can reflect on what they would/would not do if they did this cruise again.

 

What nights were the formal dining nights? We want to do the ultimate dining and speciality dining and are trying to determine which are the better nights.

 

Thanks in advance everyone! Have a great day!1

 

Chesie

[Spikesgirl]

You might also want to post this over on the Ports of Call - Egypt forum if you haven't already done that! Lots of info there.

 

Charlie

[Toto2Kansas]

Hi everyone,

 

Things have settled down now that the holidays have gone. I know several members took this cruise last November and would appreciate the wealth of knowledge regarding excursions. We have a private overnight already with members for Cairo.

 

Which ports can we "do on our own" vs booking an excursion? What are the "you can't possibly not miss this" for the ports of call? We can only be in so many places at once but don't want to miss the must do's and would rather opt out of some things if need be.

 

Any information/contacts would be appreciated. I have been on the Star rollcall prior to their cruise but thought now since everyone is back and can reflect on what they would/would not do if they did this cruise again.

 

What nights were the formal dining nights? We want to do the ultimate dining and speciality dining and are trying to determine which are the better nights.

 

Thanks in advance everyone! Have a great day!1

 

Chesie

 

Chesie, Drug out my Princess Patters (hadn't disposed of them but was getting ready to). The first formal night for us was the third evening, November 23, the last formal night was December 1, of coarse both were on sea days, we left the ship on December 3rd.

 

All of the ports can be done with private tours, no need to book any with the ship on this itineary.

 

We took one tour I can HIGHLY recommend and it was with Dionisis Kokkotos in Athens (d.limo@yahoo.cm). Private limousine met us at the pier and it was a delightful day. Not rushed as much as other tours we took and we visited the Acropolis, Temple of Athena Nike, Parthenon, Temple of Zeus, Panathinaiko Stadium and had the best view of Athens possible. The tour was 167 Euros pp (lunch extra) and there were 6 of us on the tour.

What a great way to see Athens and Dionisis knew the perfect times to arrive at different sites where things weren't over crowded.

 

In Naples we toured with Marcello (184 Euros pp), 11 longgggggggggg hours. Although we did see a lot of different places, I can not recommend him highly at all. He talked non-stop for most of the 11 hours and his english was not the best. Most could not hear what he was saying or understand him when they could hear. He liked to blow about what a great tour guide he was over and over again, which got kind of old for that long of a tour. For Athens, if we were to go again, we would pick and choose more wisely and see a few things really well instead of running through them to get a quick look. Pompeii deserves at least half a day to see completely.

 

In Kusadasi we took a ships tour, although there would have been plenty of time to arrange this privately. We were a bit uncomfortable with the short port stop and doing this on our own, but it would not have been a problem at all finding a private tour for this port either.

On the ships tour we visited Ephesus which was wonderful, but the highlight was the terrace houses. Whatever you do, do not miss the terrace houses, they were the best part of the entire tour and outshined Ephesus.

 

Of coarse the greatest port of the entire cruise was the overnite to Cairo with Hazem and Nile Blue Tours. WOW! (yep, still saying that word). So impressive. Only wish we would have had a couple extra days in Egypt as it goes by so quickly with so much to see. The two days are just a glimpse of Egypt and our only regret is that we did not have more time at each stop.

 

All of our tours were pre-arranged with roll call members and were very full days. Just make sure if you have others join you to fill up the tour that interests are all in sync. We ended up with a couple that wanted to shop until they dropped while the rest of us wanted to see the sites. We ended up standing outside of shops waiting for up to an hour for the power shoppers to finish, which really cut down on our site seeing time and rushed the rest of us through things we would have loved to spend more time seeing. On most of the tours the guides did not want you to leave the group at all, so waiting was the only thing we could do. Or if shopping is on the menu for the day, set some limits. It is a long way to go to watch someone shop, and then have to run through the highlights of the tour as fast as possible so they can get to the next store.

 

I would do this itineary again in a moment, it was great from start to finish.

Oh BTW-We ended up missing Mykonos, but we had no plans for that day. No tour of any kind booked, it was just going to be our own little unescorted walking tour if we would have stopped.

[cruisemom42]

I did this itinerary in Nov. 2006 on the Golden. Here are my thoughts regarding the ports we visited. (Keep in mind that I'm more interested in historical sites than local ambience, and you may be different!)

 

Also, I traveled with my mom who insisted on going with ship excursions -- but in several ports it would be easy to do on your own or use a private guide. Having said that, if you are a "ship sponsored excursion" person, these were for the most part excellent -- well organized, great guides, etc.

 

Naples: Pompeii was the must see for me. While it can be done easily on your own via the Circumvesuviana train, we took an excursion that included several hours in Pompeii and also several hours in the National Archeological Museum, where they have many of the best treasures from Pompeii and Herculaneum in addition to some of the best large-scale ancient Roman and Greek statuary. We also had lunch in a Neopolitan pizza restaurant. The Europe/Mediterranean board has lots of info on how to do Pompeii on your own, and also on a number of private guides that can customize an itinerary that could also include some of the Amalfi coast.

 

Athens: The Acropolis and the Athens museum were the must sees here for us. Similar day to Naples (e.g., short drive through Athens, the Acropolis, lunch at a restaurant literally facing the Acropolis, then to the museum). We ended the day with a short amount of free/shopping time on the Plaka. If the Acropolis and the surrounding area is your main point of interest for the day, it seems pretty easy to use the subway system on your own.

 

Kusadasi: Clearly the biggest must-see here is Ephesus. On a trip of fabulous sites, this is one of the best, hands down. Do not miss the Terrace Houses, which are in Ephesus but require a separate ticket. Our tour also included about a 1/2 hour stop to see the Basilica of St. John, well worth the time. We did not see the Virgin Mary's house. We only had a half-day in Kusadasi and there was very little time for shopping -- just a quick run-through of the shops nearest the ship before boarding to sail. Too bad, because the prices there seemed very good relative to other ports on this trip. Kusadasi would be harder to do on your own due to few transportation options available. However, there are a number of good and not-too-expensive private guides that have been used by CCers.

 

Istanbul: There is so much to see here that it is a little boggling. Our full (long!) day tour included the following: Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Topkapi Palace (including the Harem and the fabulous jewels), lunch at a resort (formerly a palace) on the Bosphorus, the Grand Bazaar, and last (but far from least) Haghia Sophia. It was a lot to fit in to a day but I don't think I would've left anything out other than perhaps the Museum stop. Would have liked to see the Cistern, but there just wasn't enough time!!

 

Mykonos: Again we were only here for about half a day. I opted to do Delos (again a major archeological and historical site) and still had enough time to walk around Mykonos town, take pics of the windmills and other nice scenery, shop for jewelry, and buy a couple of bottles of wine to bring back onboard. A lot of folks chose to make it a leisurely day and just enjoy a drink at one of the taverns in town after sightseeing on their own. You can walk to Mykonos town from the ship or take a shuttle for the brief ride.

 

Port Said/Alexandria: We did the ship's overnight excursion to Cairo. It was excellent -- run by Abercrombie & Kent. Only problem was trying to navigate around the sites in a tight time frame with too many people. For this reason, I'd recommend one of the private operators that the group this November used. Our tour included the Egyptian museum, the Citadel and Mohamed Ali mosque, a brief walk through the Khan el-Khalili bazaar (one of the best photo ops of the whole trip), and the sound-and-light show at the pyramids on day 1. Day 2 included a breakfast cruise on the Nile, the step pyramid at Saqqara then back to Giza to see the pyramids and sphynx in the daylight. Our hotel was the Conrad Hilton -- one of the nicer hotels in Cairo from what I've read; it wasn't really near the "action" but considering that we didn't even check in until around 10:30 at night, and left the next morning around 7am, it was all you could ask for!

 

Hope this helps! I'd do this cruise again in a moment.:)

[Chuck1j]

Great info Toto. I agree there is nothing worst than ME FIRST:eek: tour mates, totally ignoring the wishes of the rest of the group to fulfill their own selfish NEEDS. It is people like ME FIRST that has led me to personal private tours unless I know who I am touring with. More expensive but I don't have to put up with selfishness of inconsiderate people spoiling the tour, such as not showing up for the tour on time, must stop for unscheduled rest stop because they took diuretics before embarking on the tour, intentionally getting lost knowing the tour guide will not leave without them so they can go off on there own side excursion. Now you got me going!:mad: LMAO

Moral of the story know yor tour mates.:D

[MercedMike]

We have done a number of these ports, and had very good guides in most of them.

 

Check out our review and pics at http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/med.html

and

http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/holyland.html

for a lot of ideas and suggestions.

 

If you are a particular fan of the antiquities in Athens, you might want to forego the guided tour and concentrate on the Antiquities Promenade. It would be easy to take the Metro from the pier and walk the Promenade yourself with a good guide book.

 

Check out our review and pics at http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/athens.html

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[WeBeGone]

Chuck1j - You shouldn't assume that "ME FIRST" is what happened. I was with Toto on 3 tours that I arranged and invited others to join in Naples, Athens, and Istanbul. I love Toto, but in my own defense, I had clearly stated my shopping intentions many times on the roll call. I believe the longest she waited for me was a half hour at the Istanbul bazaar. We were in the bazaar so we could shop. It was at the end of the day. There were no other sites to see. I knew she didn't like to shop just as she knew I did. They went their own way in Athens and there was no time for shopping in Naples.

 

I absolutely loved Marcello and his day of touring. I paid handsomely for his tour and wanted to hear as much as possible. I loved him so much I booked a second day with him for the Amalfi coast and we had a wonderful day. Marcello is a perfect example of the importance of researching tour operators carefully so that you know what you're getting into.

 

It is very important to find out if your tour mates are wanting to shop, if they smoke, if they're into history or not, their level of physical ability,their interests and whether or not they will want a photo of absolutely everything they see. Other than emails, which I did with all my tour mates, I don't know how one could guarentee that everyone and everything will be perfect.

 

We only had 2 disappointing days during our 29 day cruise. Our second Naples day, we were stood up by a cruise critic couple which makes me think that in the future I'll get the money as soon as we board the ship so I'm not left holding the bag. When you book private tours, you pay for the day regardless of whether there are 2, 4 or 6 of you in the car. On another day, I wanted information about what we were seeing and the "guide" said, "I'm your driver, not a tour guide". So we rode in basic silence for a day, being dropped off here and there while he sat in the car. It was the worst "tour".

 

All in all we feel very lucky to have had wonderful tour mates. We met people who will be cruising friends forever.

[Chesie]

Thanks to all who posted. Really appreciate you sharing your experiences.

 

Toto - I was hoping you would respond. I was following your roll call and live for awhile. We are on the Cairo overnight and noticed Adiamo (Vicki) has joined us recently. I believe she set your overnight up. You can look on our roll call if you like. The formal nights. We are not doing traditional dining so I just wanted to know our options for those nights. Is it safe to say going to the speciality dining venues then would be good? Do my men need to wear jackets (sport) or just collared shirts? My husband works in construction so a suit is out of the question. Sports jacket is doable. As for me, any chance I get to "dress up" is exciting. I'm outnumbered this time with my husband and son.Thanks again for all your comments.

 

Cruisemom42 - Cynthia, WOW what a detailed accounting of each port. Thank you. We have our Cairo overnight already booked. That was my first priority and I was lucky enough to get on Bus#1. Naples, we have been to Pompei, Amalfi etc but not Naples itself. We were thinking of flying solo and going into town for a leisurly lunch and people watching. Love to people watch. Do you think where the ship docks we can walk into the center? You gave me several "top must see" spots to further look into. Thank you.

 

MercedMike - Mike. Later today I plan on looking on your sites which I'm sure would give me a wealth of information. Thank you!

 

This will be our first Princess cruise and am looking forward to it!

 

Chesie

[Chesie]

Spikesgirl - Charlie, didn't think of that! Thanks and I'll see what each port sight has to say!

 

Chesie

[Chesie]

Chuck1j - Chuck and Mary, sorry to get you going. That was not my intention. We have been very fortunate with all our traveling to have wonderful tour mates with the same likes.

 

WeBeGone - Also, not my intention to upset you either.

 

Chesie

[Toto2Kansas]

Chesie, Email me (address at 'email' link in my signature). I have an answer for you on the dining issue I think will make everyone happy. :) :)