Seabourn Spirit 14-21 june ( Rome-Athens): some questions and a roll call

[ralf]

Hi,

 

We finished our homework ;-) regarding the things we would like to visit ! It will be a combination of private, seabourn and on-our-own excursions.

 

Katakolon ( Olympia ) on wednesday 18 june : Seabourn is offering a tour to Olympia ( 4 hours ). I did some searching on cruisecritic and read that a lot of cruise passengers found 4 hours too limited to see the site , museum and village. And it seems that the taxis waiting in the katakolon port are asking +- 100 euros for only 2,5 hours, so even less time. As we like historical ruins :-) , museums and taking our time to visit on our own pace , we decided to try for a private tour. So I found a taxi driver ( with airconditioning ) who we will have for 5 hours. So we have +- 1,5 hour extra to see the Olympia site ( a car drives faster than a bus and you don’t have to wait for the other +- 30 passengers ) , have a drive along countryroads to Olympia and have a stop on the return near the new Olympia theatre, where one has a panoramic view. The price is 150 euros in total for the car with place for 4 passengers. So if you would like to join us ( pick up time 08:30 – return 13:30 for 75 euros ( = 37,50 euros per person )) , you may contact me dhoogheralf at yahoo.com

 

Navplion on friday 20 june : we like to combine ancient Corint, Mycene and Epidaurus , a possibility Seabourn doesn’t offer as they split these 3 sites in 2 different excursions. So again after some research on cruisecritic, I found a private car with airconditioning for 7 hours, so that we actually spend +- 1,5 hours in Corinth, +- 1,5 hours in Mycene and +- 1 hour at Epidaurus ( about the same time as one spends on the sites when on the seabourn excursions ). The price is 200 euros total for the car with place for 4 passengers. So I you like to join us ( pick up time 08:30 return 15:30 for 100 euros ( = 50 euros per person )) , you can contact me ralfdhooghe at yahoo.com

 

Amalfi on sunday 15 june: an on-our-own trip ! We will be going to ravello , a small village with panoramic views of the Amalfi coast and a lovely place to walk ! A public “sita” bus goes +- once an hour in 25 ‘ to ravello ( and return ) , an all-day pass costs 5 euros. When we were there in 2006, we took a coast ferry from the quai where we were tendered from the cruise ship Insignia to Positano, where we walked and had a drink in hotel Sirenuse , after which we took back the ferry. ( don’t forget when arriving in positano to check the ferry time schedule for the return trip ! )

 

Taormina on monday 16 june: an on-our-own trip ! We were there on the Insignia in 2006. the taxis were waiting at the quai to take up to 4 passengers for a total price of +- 25 à 30 euros one way to the center to taormina ( a ride takes +- 10 ‘ )( you can’t walk to Taormina, as the ship tenders in Giardini-Naxos , too far away from taormina. Taormina is a lovely town and easily to walk. You should visit the Greek-Roman theatre, we also had lunch in San Domenico palace hotel , a must see !

 

Itea ( Delphi ) on thursday 19 june: we’ll take the Seabourn excursion to Delhi ( 4 hours ) , as we are only in port from 08:00 till 13:00 , so almost no advantage of taking a private car as you can’t spend any more time than on the Seabourn excursion.

 

So now you know our programm :-)

 

Kind regards,

 

Ralf & johan

Belgium

[hug]

Hi,

 

 

 

 

Taormina on monday 16 june: an on-our-own trip ! We were there on the Insignia in 2006. the taxis were waiting at the quai to take up to 4 passengers for a total price of +- 25 à 30 euros one way to the center to taormina ( a ride takes +- 10 ‘ )( you can’t walk to Taormina, as the ship tenders in Giardini-Naxos , too far away from taormina. Taormina is a lovely town and easily to walk. You should visit the Greek-Roman theatre, we also had lunch in San Domenico palace hotel , a must see !

 

We were in Taormina last october with the Legend. Seabourn organised a free shuttle service from the ship to the city center, running every 30'.

 

Hug

[ralf]

Hi Hug,

 

Many thanks for the information ( that Seabourn offered a shuttle to Taormina ) !

 

That 's one of the reasons why Seabourn excells in the cruise world, i.e. offering great service and beyond !

 

kind regards,

 

ralf,

BELGIUM

[JunPOA]

Hello Folks - Hope you don't mind if I join in - but we are considering a (1st time SB) SB Spirit BTB as an option for our Fall 2009 Med. Cruise and this discussion is very useful. I look forward to yur cruise reviews/ trip reports and wish you all a terrific voyage! The Spirit BTB seems to meet our itinerary objectives BUT the new Odyssey is tempting me - although not offering all the ports we desired - minimum Rome, Venice, Naple/ Sorrento/Capri Greece & Turkey.

 

FYI - Was doing a SB Spirit search on You-Tube this morning and found a significant number of You-Tube videos of cruise ships (including Spirit) passing through the Corinth Canal - as discussed earlier. Just go to the You Tube home page and do a search for SB Corinth Canal.

 

Cheers! :)

Leah, RN

[homolog]

Hi Ralf,

 

sorry for joining in late, we were out of town ( and out of reach of our computers). We've done the same cruise together with Marja last year, great itinerary!!

 

In Taormina we took the Seabourn Shuttle to Taormina and a Taxi back to the ship. Taxis are waiting at the end of the pedestrian zone and cost about 25-30 Euro.

As a plus Seabourn arranged a Marina day in Taormina which was great fun!!

 

Good idea to make a private arrangement in Katakolon, we didn't went on the Seabourn tour and Katakolon is only a taxi stand, 5 bars and some souvenir shops. What a bore!!

 

In Itea we took a taxi to Delphi. I cannot remember the price (not much), but there was no guide so we had to be prepared with our guide books. But we were free to go first to the archeological site (we were very early because it was incredible hot) and afterwards to the museum which I recommend strongly. We didn't feel in a hurry or in danger to miss the ship as the drive to Delphi was a short one.

 

If you want to see Ravello and if you are not too afraid to drive in Italy I would recommend to rent a motorscooter in Amalfi. We usually rent a scooter or bike in the ports if available, so we can do the trip as we wish to and stop whenever we want to. And the Costiera Amalfitana ( the coastal road) is one of the most impressive roads in the world with lots of incredible bellavistas and photo stops. And the bus don't stop there!!

 

I'm sure you will have a wonderful and warm time on board our favourite Seabourn ship, enjoy your cruise!!

 

Greetings from Keulen/Koeln

 

Christian & Uwe

[ralf]

Hi Leah, thanks for the tip !

 

Hi Christian & Uwe, thank you for your tips . I'll recheck if a private excursion from Itea to Delphi is possible and safe ( regarding the time as the ship docks at 08:00 and departs at 13:00 for the Corinth Canal ) - usually we allow for an extra hour to arrive back early at the ship as a precaution being on a private excursion.

And yes, we prefer to arrange private excursions ( see supra for Olympia and Mycene-Corinth-Epidaurus ) as it allows a more tailored experience ( and PS I find preparing a ( cruise ) holiday almost as pleasant as actually being on holiday :-) )

 

yesterday the seabourn pride was in our home town, Antwerp and so we both decided to stop a bit earlier at work so we could go to the Antwrep cruise terminal and see the ship departing and wave to all our seabourn friends ! it was a lot of fun, as the Antwerp tourism board also arrenged for a band playing during the ships departure. And we felt very lucky that we actually will be on another seabourn ship in june !!!

 

kind regards,

ralf & johan