hellenic treasures/aegean wonders on the calypso

[clem28]

hi,

doing this back to back cruise on 13th july.

could anyone out there give me any information on the ports of call .

we are beach goers and would like to how close the beaches are.

at santorini when do the tenders start to get up the hill.

does anyone know of the bus time table from thira to oia on santorini.

anythind else to recommend.

cheers clem

[Alsacienne]

Sadly I haven't cruised these two itineraries, but have done Crimean Discoveries B last September. All I would say is that I had a really wonderful time on board, and Paula and Debbie, who last year were responsible for the 'excursions' desk, were really helpful to anyone who wanted to go off and do their own things, and did not give priority to those who booked excursions. I am sure that they - or the ladies who are running this side of Thomson's operations this year - will give you all the help and information you require, and with a smile and genuine good will too.

 

You may also find that the reception staff can be very helpful, and they were able to book me a taxi to go ashore at Thessaloniki one evening when we had had to head there as it was too stormy at Limnos, speaking Greek and also making sure that it was a legit taxi and no clever tourist fares asked for either!

 

You will have a lovely time, and I hope that you will soon have loads of replies from members who have been to the destinations that you are asking about.

[kate52]

Hi Clem, it's getting very close now isn't it? Was pleased to get the tickets last week!

There is loads of information on the Europe ports forum about the ports we are going to, my head is a jumble of information that I haven't organised yet!

I found this thread about Santorini to Oia taxis

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1003643&highlight=oia+bus

 

and elsewhere found this timetable that seems up to date

 

http://www.ktel-santorini.gr/

 

They usually take off excursion passengers first at tender ports, but with Calypso being such a small ship it shouldn't take too long. I think there is also another big ship in port, so might be a queue for the cable car and bus. Maybe you could share a taxi with others to make it more reasonable? Maybe even us if we meet up on board!

kate

[Cymro1953]

Hi all,

We're just back from Aegean and eastern med with Royal caribbean.

We went to Athens, Rhodes and Kusadasi same as you.

In Athens we did a ship's tour to Acropolis etc. It was like a rugby scrum up therethe number of people trying to get up and down with all the tour coaches arriving.

If you can do it either by private taxi or on the metro as I've seen advised on here.

We understand why now. You'll be up, seen it and down by the time the coaches arrive.

 

Kusadasi we did the ships tour to Ephesus. It was fantastic and make sure you get one that includes the Terraced Houses. It's not for the people with walking problems though as you go up lots of steps up the terraces while in there. (in our opinion it was the best one we did in the 2 week cruise and that included seeing the Pyramids and Sphinx).

 

Rhodes, We spent the day wandering the old town, it's beautiful. Really old walls and houses and museums if you want them.

We had a really relaxing day wandering, stopping for coffee, wandering stopping for lunch. You get the idea.

For the ladies, DW did all our souvenier shopping there.

 

A tip on money. I don't know about your other Turkish stops but in Kusadasi and Ephesus all they wanted were Euros. Everything was priced in Euros even down to the price tags on the items in the shops. And guess who'd taken Turkish Lira?

 

Have a great time.

 

Berwyn