Crystal 0324 Monaco-Athens October 2010

[CharleMarg]

Hi everyone. We're brand new to Cruise Critic, and like what we've seen thus far on the Crystal forums.

We booked and paid deposit two weeks ago for 0324 in October 2010. This will be our first cruise on Crystal, and we're so much looking forward to it...only wish that it could be this October!

It's probably way too early to start a Roll Call for this cruise, but please put us on when able.

Looking forward to getting to know some of you forum posters over the coming months.

All the best,
Charles & Margaret

[Keith1010]

Charles and Margaret, welcome to Cruise Critic and to the Crystal Cruise Critic Board.

Congratulations on your upcoming first Crytsal Cruise.

Be sure to go to the following three threads at the top of this board;

- Future Bookings On Crystal to list your cruise. This will also show you others from Cruise Critic booked on your cruise

-Share The Experience. As a first time Crystal Cruiser if someone who is on your cruise sponsors you, you will each receive some on board credit for the cruise.

-Read the thread about Meet & Mingle which provides information on this program and how to sign up. If 10 cruise critic cruisers on your cruise sign up then there will be a party sponsored by Crystal for all of you.

- Finally, please be sure to read the thread titled Some Thoughts For First Time Crystal Cruisers which provides a lot of useful information for those sailing with Crystal for the very first time.

If you have more questions, please be sure to ask.

Keith

[Judith02]

Welcome to Crystal and the Crystal board of cruise critic. If you are like many of us and love to do pre-vacation planning, the months will go by quickly as you plan for your Crystal cruise. Please post any questions you like have and we'll all respond. Don't forget to post to the future bookings and share the experience threads and register for the meet and mingle party. Again, welcome!!

[KaraokeQueen]

Charles and Margaret,
We are also booked on this cruise. I will leave you a message on the Stex thread at the top of this post.
Christie

[jshavitz]

This forum looks great! Thanks to my brother Charles (CharleMarg) for turning me on to Cruise Critic & the Crystal section.

My wife dona & I are also booked on 0324 & always have a fantastic time with Charles & Margaret- they are truly 'good people'!

We look forward to meeting those of you who have taken the time to share on the forums. These amazing endorsements & posts from those who have sailed with Crystal previously are much appreciated!

Now my only concern is whether or not we will like actually it- unlike Charles & Marg, Dona & I are pretty mean & grumpy. And we HATE to have a good time.... Right bro?

Looking fwd to Oct 2010!

[Judith02]

Welcome. We love new people joining those of us who love cruising in general and Crystal in particular. Please post to our future cruises thread and to the share the experience if this is your first Crystal cruise. Also, please register for the meet and mingle.

[CharleMarg]

Judith, Christie, and Keith,

Thank you for your responses to my posts on the Crystal board.

Margaret & I are just amazed at the friendliness of the people that we've "met" thus far here, and both agree that the passion everyone shares for Crystal is quite readily evident.

We just wish that we were sailing this year, and didn't have to wait until October 2010.

Cheers.

[Keith1010]

Charles in Margaret, anytime you have any quesions be sure to post them and all of us will do our best to answer them for you.

Keith

[Oceans&Rivers]

Originally Posted by Keith1010

Charles in Margaret, anytime you have any quesions be sure to post them and all of us will do our best to answer them for you.

Keith

Oh, my. Springtime friskiness, fellows?

First Charles mentions passion and then Keith follows up with a novel way of addressing Charles and his "other half."

[Keith1010]

Originally Posted by Oceans&Rivers

Oh, my. Springtime friskiness, fellows?

First Charles mentions passion and then Keith follows up with a novel way of addressing Charles and his "other half."

Oops!!!

Let me try one more time.

Charles and Margaret, anytime you have any quesions be sure to post them and all of us will do our best to answer them for you.

Thanks to Ocean & Rivers for catching my "little" typo.

Good night!

Keith

[Oceans&Rivers]

Originally Posted by Keith1010

Oops!!!

Let me try one more time.

Charles and Margaret, anytime you have any quesions be sure to post them and all of us will do our best to answer them for you.

Thanks to Ocean & Rivers for catching my "little" typo.

Good night!

Keith

He he he. Nitey-nite!

[CharleMarg]

While our cruise from Monte Carlo is still over fifteen months away, we're wondering if there are any Cruise Critic members and wine lovers who would be interested in being part of a wine dinner one evening in the Vintage Room?

My brother Jay and his wife Dona will do so, but I think that it would be nice if we were able to book the room out one evening exclusively with members/contributors here on Cruise Critic.

I'm more than happy to be the "organiser", but will gladly defer to someone who has sailed Crystal previously (this will be our first Crystal cruise).

Cheers,
CHARLES (and Margaret)

[jshavitz]

How many seat in the Vintage Room?

[CharleMarg]

Exactly one year from now, we'll be enjoying our first night aboard Crystal Serenity...CAN'T WAIT!!!

[CorgiGuy]

G'day mates,

Our first Crystal cruise was also Monte Carlo-Athens on the Serenity. We went last fall 9/24-10/06/08. I guess great minds think alike.

Although your itinerary is a little different, the following posts of call are common to both cruises: Monte Carlo, Civitavecchia, Sorrento, Kusadasi, Mykonos & Athens.

If you have any questions or would like any feedback from our experiences, feel free to contact me at: Apep33 at ptd dot net.

Stay well,

Anthony

[CharleMarg]

Originally Posted by CorgiGuy

G'day mates,

Our first Crystal cruise was also Monte Carlo-Athens on the Serenity. We went last fall 9/24-10/06/08. I guess great minds think alike.

Although your itinerary is a little different, the following posts of call are common to both cruises: Monte Carlo, Civitavecchia, Sorrento, Kusadasi, Mykonos & Athens.

If you have any questions or would like any feedback from our experiences, feel free to contact me at: Apep33 at ptd dot net.

Stay well,

Anthony

Thanks very much Anthony.

We were in Italy for two weeks in October 2007, staying in Rome, Positano, Florence, and Venice, so have an idea as to what we'll do during our shore days in at least three ports in Italy.

We've been getting quite a lot of useful information from people here on the Crystal Board on Cruise Critic, and just wish that we were able to sail on Crystal Serenity this year...!

Our pre-cruise accommodation in London, Paris, and Nice is booked and confirmed already, now we're just waiting for when the window opens for us to be able to book our flights using frequent flyer points.

Cheers,
C&M

[CharleMarg]

It would be helpful if someone could please let us know the normal disembarkation time and length of time it takes to disembark from Serenity in Athens, as well as how much time we should allow from Serenity to ATH airport to board a flight to Rome.

Is it reasonable to expect to make a 12:25PM departure from ATH?

Thanks for any advice or assistance that you're able to provide.

[Keith1010]

Originally Posted by CharleMarg

It would be helpful if someone could please let us know the normal disembarkation time and length of time it takes to disembark from Serenity in Athens, as well as how much time we should allow from Serenity to ATH airport to board a flight to Rome.

Is it reasonable to expect to make a 12:25PM departure from ATH?

Thanks for any advice or assistance that you're able to provide.

I am sure that you will get some excellent feedback from those who were on the recent cruise. In addition to that feedback, I would also call Crystal Cruises at 1-866-446-6625 to ask the earliest time for flights that they show for this specific cruise. The reason I say this is because sometimes you'll find that the specific disembarkation times vary by cruise so getting with Crystal would be beneficial.

I would give yourself one hour to get to the airport (the good news is that a good portion of the cruise is on highway that was constructed around the time of the Olympics) and I would also be sure that you check in at least two hours before your flight.

Keith

[digtexas]

I think that it is reasonable to book a 12:25 PM flight. When we disembarked in Athens in 2007, we took the Crystal provided transfer and they put us right on a bus to the airport at 8:30 AM and we were there, as best I can recall, in no more than 45 minutes.

[Exec Libra]

Originally Posted by digtexas

I think that it is reasonable to book a 12:25 PM flight. When we disembarked in Athens in 2007, we took the Crystal provided transfer and they put us right on a bus to the airport at 8:30 AM and we were there, as best I can recall, in no more than 45 minutes.

I agree. The Athens disembarkation was the smoothest and most hassle-free of our voyages to-date, and the highways to the airport are in excellent condition.

All that said, once at Athens airport the check-in procedure can be a tad cumbersome if: you have a ton of luggage; you are caught in a line with a lot of others going on the same flight; you don't have any sort of boarding priority such as mileage or cabin status. Athens utilizes non-airline controlled check-in desks, i.e., their location varies from flight to flight so be sure to check the departures monitor just inside the main hallway of your airline's terminal to determine what range of check-in desks is handling your flight.

Chuck-