ecnirp

Thanks for the replies, I will go ahead and see if I can book a balcony cabin, will take lots of warm clothes to wrap up so I can sit and read later in the evenings ! 

I am currently looking at a P&O Britannia Cruise from Southampton at the end of June, which has quite small balconys (no need for a stretch out sunbed!!!).

Hi

I am looking for a cruise of the FJords in July/August 2024 for 7 nights from SOuthampton, we have a cruised a few times, Caribbean/Transatlantic & the Med with RCCI & MSC, we usually get a cabin with a balcony as we like to sit on the balcony in the evening and watch the world pass by and read, which is nice in warmer cimbs, I am just windering if the balcony will be worth having for the Fjords, would it be warm enough at night to sit on the balcony?

Thanks for any advice.

Athens is particularly walkable, so once you get there via taxi and see the Acropolis, it's pretty easy to get to other sites of interest on foot including the Greek and Roman Agoras, the Acropolis Museum, Temple of Olympian Zeus, and more.

Thanks, sounds like we can get to the major sites we would like to see on foot after the taxi, so that makes life easier.

I've found taxis to be readily available, particularly if you are early off the ship.

 

It's probably best to agree in advance on the cost. By meter it has been in the range of 20-25 euro for the one way trip. depending on traffic, exact route, etc.

Thanks Cruisemom42, I like the idea of the taxi as it gives us allot of freedom, someone recommended 'The Beat' app, which sounds abit like Uber in Athens, so that looks like a good way to arrange a taxi. We have 12 hours in port, so not as stressful to get back to the ship as some of our stops where we are in port 4-5 hours.

We were in Athens at Easter and daughter, son in law and granddaughter went ashore on their own (I have been to Athens twice before so stayed on board and had a lovely Spa session). They took the Hop On Hop Off bus and managed to get around easily stopping off at the places of interest

 

This might be another option for you to consider

 

Suron

Thanks Suron, been put off the HOHO buses as we did a previous cruise and stopped at Lisbon, we used the HOHO from the port, but every stop was absolutely jammed with people waiting to get on the buses (some very heated arguments with people pushing in the queues!), but people were not getting off as they were worried that they would not be able to get back on a bus to the ship (there were a few big cruise ships in that day), so we just did a loop of the route on the bus, then got off in the city and walked down back to the port.

So after that I was put off, it's ok if you are in a hotel and staying, so no real deadline, but when you need transport back to the ship for a certain time, it could be a problem.

Spa session sounds good !!!

My recommendation is to jump in a taxi as soon as you can get off the ship and head straight to the Acropolis to beat the crowds. Taxis are not that expensive for the 20-or-so minute ride.

 

The historic area of Athens isn't that large. On foot (after the Acropolis) you can visit the Greek Agora, Roman Agora, Acropolis Museum, Plaka area, Temple of Zeus, Theater of Dionysus & more.

 

Syntagma Square is just a couple of metro stops away, as is the larger Archaeological Museum of Athens.

Hi Cruisemom42

How much are the Taxis from PIRAEUS to the Acropolis area? are they metered or agreed prices? I've read a few horror stories on here about the traffic and delays.

We Arrive Wed29 August 2018 at 07:30

Depart: Wed 29 August 2018 at 19:30

I have priced up a private tour and they are abit expensive (around E$250), so fancy the idea of a taxi straight to the Acropolis to avoid the crowds, buy the museum pass and explore. Are the taxi's readily available at the Piraeus?

Hi

I am booked on the MSC Poesia for the end of August for 7 nights around the Greek Islands, just been looking on the website for excursions and I noticed you can book the Specialty Dining Sushi restaurant, do you need to book this before the cruise or can you easily get availability during the cruise?

I've only cruised with RCI before and they usually have a few specialty restaurants like a Steak, Italian & Burger Restaurant which we reserved while on board, does the Poesia just have Sushi?

Also, I believe there is a Gelato shop, is this part of the standard restaurants, or paid for extra?

Thanks for any advice.

How much are the Taxis from PIRAEUS to the Acropolis area? are they metered or agreed prices? I've read a few horror stories on here about the traffic and delays.

We Arrive Wed29 August 2018 at 07:30

Depart: Wed 29 August 2018 at 19:30

So have plenty of time in the port, have an 11 year old child so I am looking at a private taxis or a group tour.

Thanks to everyone for the advice.

I booked the holiday independently, 7 day MSC cruise with the Fantastica experience so we get the larger Balcony Cabin, booked flights directly to suit us and booked 4 nights on the Lido di Venezia at a nice hotel, so it's within easy reach of the centre or we can stay in the Lido area.

It worked out allot cheaper than booking as a tailor made package through a travel agent.

My only concern is our ship arrives back in Venice at 09:00, our flight back home is 21:30 from Treviso, what time do you have to disembark the ship for? is there anywhere to store cases at baggage collection or near the port? as we will have the day in Venice before we head to the airport after dinner.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

I booked the Riviera on the Lido di Venezia for 4 days before the cruise, sounds like a nice hotel close to the water transport, so easy to get ton the Centre and sounds peaceful if we just fancy a quiet day on the beach.

Has anyone got any advice on good places to visit apart from the obvious tourist attractions like Saint Marks/Grand canal, we are there for 4 days , so would like to explore abit, so any recommendations are welcome.

Check my answer on your other thread about staying at the Lido di Venezia (not Lido di Jesolo). No worries about cars, trains or luggage. There are reasonably priced hotels even in August, but book as soon as possible.

Thanks, Lido di Venezia looks good, we can stay there and jojn the cruise with ease, the logistics of Lake Gardia with the cruise is abit difficult when I have looked into it,

I was concerned to stay in Venice too long due to the costs for transport/dining out etc, but I've found a few nice apartments/B&B type accommodation when we can stay for 4 nights before the cruise, we we can come and go, which really suits us.

A few posts have mentioned buying passes for the boats to get around Venice, how much is transport generally in Venice?

I looked at hiring a car, it was very expensive, around £600 per week for a family car, there are also lots of restrictions around Venice, so I don't know how we would cope leaving/returning to venice, as there are very few hotels with parking etc.

I am looking at Lake Garda, by train looks the best options, around 90 mins, just concerned with cases etc, so looking at 4 or 5 nights Lake garda, then come back to Venice the day before the cruise leaves (paranoid we will miss it!!!), so we can explore Venice.

Sounds like Lake Garda is a good option, car hire is very expensive when I checked a few companies, also driving around Venice area doesn't sound easy as there are so many car restrictions, is it an easy journey by train from Venice? just concerned as we will have cases due to the cruise.

Thanks for all thre replies, looks like I will go down the DIY path, I have found a good cruise from Venice with MSC, visiting some Italian & Greek ports, I can find cheap flights if I vary my travel dates, much cheaper than booking with the cruise companies, so now I am just looking for accomodation, ideally with a beach area near Venice, or maybe I will hire a car for the week and stay abit farther away from Venice.

Hi

I have found a cruise from/return Venice for 7 days with MSC in August, we (2 adults + 1 child (age 11)), I am looking for a 2 week holiday, I have found good flights from UK to Venice/return, so we are planning to stay in near Venice (easy travel by train etc) for a week before the cruise, is there anywhere within easy travel from Venice where we could stay with a beach/Lake suitable for children? a week in Venice would be abit much, I am looking to travel to Venice the day before cruise departure and stay overnight to easily join the cruise, so we can explore Venice then.

Thanks for any advice.

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I mean like a week near a beach in a hotel and then a week/10 days on a cruise. We like to explore, so we will leave the ship at ports and visit the sights, we did this on the Western Med cruise.

We really liked RCCL, but not many cruises are on the routes I want, and what there is, is very expensive, so just wondering if anyone can recommend any other cruise line and areas to stay.

Hi

I am looking for Cruise & Stay holiday, with a few stops in Italy & Greek Islands. We are 2 adults and an 11 year old, so need 1 cabin, outside cabin or balcony as that's what he normally have (good for sitting on when child is asleep at night) travelling late July or August for School summer holidays, but flexible in that 6 week break, we will be travelling from Manchester, UK.

I have cruised before with Royal Caribbean, we did a 14 night cruise around the Western Med from Southampton and 13 nights transatlantic via the Caribbean. Looking at the RCI cruises for Italy & Greece, there are not many and what there is, is quite expensive. I have seen a few good cruises for MSC, I was just wondering where people tend to stay for a Cruise & Stay, most cruises seem to leave Venice, I would be looking be for a beach/lake type area, do people tend to book packages generally through the cruise companies or book flights/hotels/cruise independently? Any cruise lines people can recommend for families that go on the Eastern Med?

Thanks for any Advice.

Paul.

Can you recall the name of the bar/restaurant where you received this offer?

 

I think that is the cheapest that I have heard of.

 

gary

I don't remember the name of the bar, I think it was a deal Bernards tour have, as our guide David told us about it on the way, when we stopped at the Orient Beach he took us onto the beach past the beach huts and the guy on the beach gave us our beach chairs and setup the shades (we never did the drinks as we had drinks from the people carrier).

It was right in front of the water sports area where you hire the jet ski's etc, next to the bars and changing rooms.

I am still debating on the one with Orient and the one without. We will have 2 teens with us - topless is fine, full on nudity not so much. I just want to make sure we will have time to enjoy Maho. I tried booking on his site but didn't pay the deposit part, just asked questions on the form page. Haven't heart anything. Do I need to pay the deposit to get a response?

I went 2 weeks ago today (review above in this post), with my 9 year old son, we did the private tour, we were also travelling with older grand parents, so we wanted a beach with good facilities, so they recommended Orient. We went to the beach and had no problems, we went to where the hotels and water sports were on the beach and hired 2 sun beds, 2 shades and 2 drinks for $10, there were a few topless ladies there (older ladies), but there were no nude bathers, I did not see any signs warning, so I presumed we were not near the nude part of the beach. Maho is also great fun, most of the big planes fly over early afternoon, its a very busy narrow beach , so not for relaxing.

I did ask a question before I booked the private tour about the beach options and I did get a reply, so I would recommend you try again. When I booked I paid a $50 deposit ($10 pp), we paid the $310 balance at the start of the tour.

Some pics from Bernards Tour.

Please let me know what you think. We go after you. I really am curious about the beach. We went to the one right across from the cruise port last time. We liked it but it was crowded.

Hi

Back from our holiday now, had a great time.

The trip was really good, we did the 5 person private tour as booked.

Our driver was 'Dave', he was really good, very passionate and knowledgable on St Maarten and the people, we joined our driver at around 08:45, Bernards tours is in a large white tent just over the road from the port, we checked in, paid the balance and then got in the people carrier.

He drove us around the island in our own air conditioned people carrier, this seated around 8, so we had plenty of space (the standard tour were more like buses for 20-30 people). We stopped several times for photo's, the amount of time we stopped was upto us, we just returned when ready to move on as it was the private tour. He had a cooler with soft drinks and the rum punch, all included in the price, so that was really good in the heat (was in the 90's)

The first stop was to see in a small bay where there was a guy giving a talk on sea urchins and molesques, I didn't really like the way he was handling them for the tourists, so we just had a walk in the bay where it was very shallow water and you could see the crabs/starfish/urchins in the rocks etc, so was a nice chilling stop.

The next stop was the Iguana's, I was abit concerned from some of the reviews I read, but I was surprised it was much better, its basically a bay, with a small mangrove of branches, so Iguana's/Lizards of various sizes come and go out of the mangrove, as the guides/tourists offer them food, so they are free to come and go, which is good, the Iguana's know the deal, so they happily come out for the food and disappear when the tourists leave !!! once again we waited till the big tour had left, then we had the iguana's too ourselves, which was cool.

We then went to Orient Beach, we asked Dave the best beach and he recommended Orient Beach as it had plenty of facilities, we had a 9 year old boy and his grand parents with us, so we wanted decent facilities. We really enjoyed the beach, we paid $10 for 2 deck chairs, sun shades, table and 2 drinks for about 2.5 hours. The beach was busy buy not packed, quite a few hotels, so plenty of facilities to get changed/showered after the sea and get food drinks. There are also plenty of water sports if you wanted, but we just wanted to chill for a few hours, so it suited us, the 9 year old loved the beach and sea. The beach is large enough you could move up and down to find a more quiet space if you wanted.

After about 2.5 hours we decided to leave the beach and head to Maigot, which is a town on a harbour, lots of shops etc, it was a public holiday the day we visited, so most of the shops were shut, that suited us as we did not want to shoo really, so we just bought some of the local pastries which were really nice and had them for lunch with a walk around the harbour.

Next we went to Maho beach, which was fun, we saw 2 large Airbus planes land and 1 take off around 1:30pm (the large planes land in the afternoon), we had a sit on the sand and went in the sea, the beach is really small and is very busy with everyone waiting for planes, there is a busy road between the runway and beach with a large bar next to it, was great to see the planes fly over.

We then headed back to the port at around 2:30pm, had a few stops along the way for photo's as you go through some amazing valleys which were hit by the Hurricane about 6 years ago.

We arrived back at the port at around 3pm. We just had a look around the port shops then boarded our ship, as we set sail at 5pm.

The trip was excellent, we really enjoyed the private bus, well worth the extra compared to what we saw on the standard tour buses, we left places early or stayed longer dependant on how we were enjoing the stop, which really suited us, we never felt pushed to move on, Dave just said he would make sure we make it back to the port intime for our ship to leave. Daves knowledge and passion for his Island was excellent, we have a very inquisitive 9 year old boy asking lots of questions about life on the Island and he was always very happy to chat and share his knowledge, we got a real feel for how it was to live on St Maarten, with their interesting laws from the French side compared to the Dutch side.

I will try and post some pictures later.

Thanks for the responses, I booked the private tour for 5 of us, I prefer the flexibility the private tour gives us, Bernard said there are 37 beaches in his email, so they will recommend one for us.

We return middle of May, so I will return and let you know which beach we did.

Great pics, the Iguana looks well fed :)

I like private tours myself. We travel a lot and always book them.

 

I mentioned that we wanted a beautiful beach with white sand. I thought maybe they could give me a suggestion. I've been reading about all the different ones. We do want to go to Maho after our regular beach stop to see the planes land. We have our teenage granddaughter and her BFF with us. I know they will love it.

 

We also want to go to Marigot to eat at the French bakery and shop.

 

Thanks for the email suggestion, I'll try it.

We have a 9 year old boy in our party, so Maho is a must, but wouldn't want to stay too long as it looks very crowded and noisy on videos, I just hope the visit coincides with a landing, I guess the tour driver would know the arrival times.

That's also why I like the private tour idea, you can stay more/less time where you fancy, I have emailed Bernard asking when the tour can start, as we arrive in Philipsburg at 07:00, so would like to do the tour then spend the rest of the day in Philipsburg before we have to board the ship at 17:00. I have also asked for a nice quiet sandy beach.

I heard Marigot was a market, bakery sounds interesting, the Iguana farm is shut at the moment, but Bernard said there is another place we can go to visit and feed the Iguanas, so the 9 year old is very excited by that !!!

Thanks for the reply ozarkmama.

Sounds like there is abit to do, I would still like to visit a beach (after San Juan we are on the cruise ship for 7 days transatlantic back to the UK), are there any beaches near Old San Juan we could go on for a few hours after visiting the old town and forts before we rejoin the ship?

I have done abit of reading up on the RCI rainforest trip and have been put off, as its a long journey and the rain forest feels abit touristy with cement paths and not much time to visit (I visited the Amazon for a day when in Margarita, so I have visited an amazing rain forest already).

Thanks for the response.

I am considering booking a private tour myself, there are 5 of us, 2 abit older, so I like the idea of going on our own route and staying some places longer than others. Most of the bad reviews I have read have been because other people on the tour have been a problem, returning late, noisy etc.

Out of interest, which beach did you book? seems on the private tour you have a choice on the beach to visit, if you book the group tour its the Orient beach.

I did email Bernard from his website and got a fast response, he said its $5 deposit and balance payable on tour in cash or CC.