MeHeartCruising

Last summer on Royal Caribbean, I took their Delos excursion. We were docked in the new port. We left our ship and walked a short distance to a ferry boat that took us to Delos. The ferry left after dropping us off. While we did our guided tour on Delos, the ferry returned to Mykonos and picked up the regular passengers. We were the only one touring Delos at that time. The ferry returned to Delos with a full load of passengers and they got off and our excursion group hopped on. We were then taken to Mykonos Old Port and dropped off to explore the town on our own. We were also given a free ticket for the shuttle boat that runs between Old and New Port. We could go back to the ship in the New port at any time we wanted. Our ship was docked just a few feet from the shuttle boat dock.

1. Do you also plan on having it able to receive and make calls back to the states, if needed? 2. Who is your current phone service provider? 3. What brand and model phone do you have?

There are lots of shops selling various good within walking distance of the ships. You can probably find such bags in the same stores that have signs out for their "Genuine Fake Watches".

I couldn't find any now, but I have seen online pictures of the donkey path/steps lit with lights at night in the past. I would call it "dimly lit" in the pictures. Like one light on a pole at each switchback turn. But as for current conditions, I'm afraid I don't have personal experience. Maybe bring along a little LED flashlight to help out too. Edited to add: I found the pic I had seen. These lights look awfully bright. Perhaps they've updated them or it's just good photography. You can read the entire thread on the topic using the link. https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2951301-santorini-donkey-trail/?do=findComment&comment=65809584

I went to hertz.com and started a reservation for car pickup in Messina, Italy. It looks like their location is at Via G. Garibaldi 128, Messina,98122, which would appear to be very close to the port. I would try other international car rental company websites directly rather than using Google.

I would agree with cruisemom42 on this. I've never heard of a cruise ship needing to tender in Piraeus. I have to believe that listing is an error by NCL.

I would not recommend paying anyone to walk you around the town of Mykonos. It's very small. Just walk around, you'll find everything you've read about. Or Follow other people and see where they are going.

I'll agree with CruiserBruce here. In Europe, unless tendering, I have never been held back from leaving the ship while waiting for the excursions to leave the ship. In fact, I'm often one of the first 20 people off the ship. I watch from an upper deck as they set up the exit ramps and safety rails and such and then once they are just about done with that, I head down to the gangway. I'm often down there shortly before, or just after, they announce that you may go ashore. Most of the time, excursions are still gathering in the theatre at that point. In Naples in particular, I did find the walk from ship to terminal exit to be a little longer than some stops. They make you walk thru a fairly large shopping mall of sorts before you can get to the street. But still, it is no more than the 10-15 minutes advised above for the casual walker. Maybe even less.

As noted above, some ships tender directly into the center of town. If you dock, there will be a water taxi (a shuttle boat with many people on it) that goes back and forth between town and the dock for a few euros.

Great advice above from the locals. I took a departure day London Waterloo to Southampton train for a cruise with zero issues. I arrived in Southampton around 9:30am and there were taxis waiting to take me to the ship. It was a very easy and pleasant trip.

You didn't finish your second paragraph, but I assume you mean they wouldn't accept it as the full down payment amount since it wasn't a full-valued CruiseNext certificate. I'd be asking why it wasn't credited to your account as $346 if it was supposed to be worth that much. This should have been asked within days of when it was credited to your account. Given your current situation, if it is a valid CruiseNext in the eyes of NCL, then perhaps you will be able to use it when they run a special that permits 2 certificates to be used on a cabin.

I can confirm that the easiest way to access the pedestrian path is via an exit at the back of the station. Toward the water. You will then be on the path. I have done the walk twice this way. The walk is easy enough assuming you're able to walk that distance. The surface is smooth enough for rolling luggage. I see the pedestrian ramp you refer to going to the Bumhuis. I really don't recall that being there when I was there a year and half ago. But perhaps I just missed it. I cannot confirm whether it allows for hotel access or not. I use the other ramp that takes you down a little further and makes you U-turn back to the hotel. Google Maps seems to show a gate between the Bumhuis and Movenpic after crossing the ramp. It looks like you'd have to go inside the Bumhuis building and use an internal connection between the building, if that exists. Someone else will need to confirm this.

And I believe the females need to wear something on their head. Most use a lightweight scarf. And everyone removes their shoes. So you might want to be wearing socks.

Generally, the cabin steward will move your belongings. Discuss the details with them, obviously. Sometimes they will offer to move the clothing you have on hangers without you needing to take them off the hangers. Sometimes they will ask you to re-pack everything. I prefer to re-pack everything into my luggage and then just let them move the luggage. But it's your call on that, usually. I like it in the luggage and I put a new luggage tag on it with the new cabin number on it. Just so it's less likely to get lost.

@Flyinby Thank you so much for your thoughts on the topic and the specifics of the excursions I've chosen. I too am one that likes to book in advance. I like to know that the major elements of my plan are in place before I leave home. I think I'm going to go ahead and book the excursions. I'll have plenty of clothing/gear to deal with the weather, so it will be fine. On my last previous mainstream cruise in Norway, it rained quite a lot. But I went ahead with the excursions and still had a great time. Even if I couldn't always see the beauty around me due to clouds, fog, and rain. It's all part of the adventure!