Star Flyer July 9,2011 Athens to Istanbul

Hi! It's time for an outing!!! We will be on the July 9th Tour from Athens with the Star Flyer. We will be staying in Athens for 3 days before the tour.

We're Germans so we will be coming in from Frankfurt am Main on Wednesday.

Anyone out there going on this tour? Or anyone doing the 2 week tour of "Istanbul - Athens - Istanbul" ???

Some named Meldreth could be on the ship, I think.

See you!!

Yes, we are doing Istanbul-Athens-Istanbul so will be on board when you arrive in Athens.

Hi, again. After doing 2 Caribbean Cruises with the Royal and the Star Clipper, and then Tahiti with the Star Flyer, we decided to do this tour. We're looking forward to seeing friends from the crew. We know many of them.

We're so excited!!! Love sailing with the Clippers

Meldreth - How exciting that you have a fellow passenger!:-)

Muskatnuss - I'm on cruises the same time as Meldreth - but on the Star Clipper. Glad you to hear that you have enjoyed your cruises so much! This will be our first time on a Clippers cruise and am so excited! We leave for Athens in 10 days now!

Pam

Yes Pam, I was beginning to think the ship would be empty!! lol Shame you haven't found any passengers on your ship!!

Not long now ..... i'm sure that I will leave something really important from my case and not realise till we get on board... I often do that on holiday so I have vowed not to pack too early!:cool:

Hi guys,

The only problem we have is finding a place for our luggage from 10 until we check in at 4 p.m. The metro is soooooo far! We'd need a taxi from there again. Pam! Wish you a great trip!!!

I actually have most of my clothes in the suitcase:-) Not my husband though - he waits until the night we leave. But I wanted to see how close I would be to the 44 pounds I can have for the Santorini flight. I was pleasantly surprised, but did not have the heavier stuff in yet (shampoo, contact solution, etc.) It was so nice when we could carry that stuff on. I've got to go to a conference for 3 days next week, so when I get back, it will be a rush to get everything done, so I thought I would try to get the worst of it done this week. Or maybe I'm just excited:-)

Pam

Enjoy, Darling!!! When you travel without excitement, you're dead! We were in the Seychells in May (2 Weeks).. We had.....70 pounds(together)!!! With Snorkeling gear!!! I was amazed!!! But....I always buy my cosmetics and sunlotion in dutyfree in the airport or on the plane. That way I save pounds in my suitcase. And the only heavy clothing we had, we had on the airplane.

The time should go quickly now...... especially as there is so much to do in preparation. It will be nice to see some sunshine - it has been raining here ever since they declared we are in a drought area!!:o

LTCOP are you exploring Athens on your own on the 9th or are you taking the Star Clippers trip?

Are both ships in Piräus on the 9th of July??? Wow!!!

Yes!

Hi Muskatnuss and Meldreth!

Oh the Seychelles!!! I've had my eye on them for a long time!!! It is such a long trip from the U.S. though and as I'm a teacher, I'm so limited in my vacation time - but it just looks gorgeous. I bet the snorkeling was terrific! Did you stay at a resort? I would have a lot of questions about your experience:-) I suppose you were there before William and Kate:-)

As far as July 9 - we definitely are not going into Athens that day. We have been there for several days on a previous trip and will be there for a day pre and post cruise this year. So on July 9, we are kind of keeping our options open:-) One idea is to get brave and take a ferry on our own out to Aegina. However, I do think it'd be fun if we all could somehow meet sometime that day. I guess I don't know if our ship's will be docked close together, but it'd be fun to put faces to the chats:-)

Meldreth - are you taking the Athens ship tour?

Muskatnuss - what are your plans pre and post cruise? I appreciate your comment about traveling. I've definitely got the excited part of it down pat:-)

Pam

Pam

We are not taking the ship tour - we have been to Athens before and so we thought we might seek out some of the less touristy things to do.... I'm looking on Trip Advisor and reading up on some tips there. We took the boat from Piraeus to Agaena, Hydra and Poros when we were there last and that was good.

I'm back. Yes we stayed at Constance Ephelia for 2 weeks. Fantabulous!!! We will be doing Athens for 3 days prior to boarding the Flyer. It's a deal from Star Clippers. Staying at Electra Palace. Then down to Piraeus. Want to go down early. Don't know what to do with the bags before boarding. In St. Martin and Tahiti we coul leave the bags at the Tent in front of the ship. We'll try that, and if not, we'll go to the Metro Station. 3 Euros per locker for the day. We'll need a taxi, though, to get back to the ship. Mel! Are you the one who asked about less touristy tipps?? Ha Ha - got cha!!!

OK, gotta go. Back later or tomorrow.

Going to Gymnastics now. See you tomorrow!

Don't mean to butt in since I'm not on your cruise, but we did the Star Clipper Athens to Venice in 2009 and stayed several days pre-cruise in Athens. Our last day, we booked a tour through George's Taxi Service (http://www.taxigreece.com/). His son picked our group up at our hotel, drove us down the coast to Cape Sounion to the Temple of Poseidon. We stopped at a Greek taverna for lunch on the way back, and then he dropped us off at the dock. This way, we didn't have to worry about our luggage or how to get to the ship. It was a nice way to spend the day before we could board the Star Clipper.

We did Cape Sounion on our last trip and I agree - it is a great trip!

Muskatnuss: I'm going to look up where you stayed!!!

Meldreth: What did you do while in Aegina? Just walk around? Get a taxi to see the ruins and drive around the island? We get Hydra on our cruise, so won't worry about getting out there that day:-)

Pam

Muskatnuss: Just checked it out. Oh my - it looks beautiful!!! And to spend 2 weeks there must have been great!!!

Pam

We just wandered around, had a bite to eat and a drink ......

Yes Pam, it was really luxury. And the all of the people we so nice and helpful. They just read every wish from your eyes!!!

OK, back to the Star Flyer. Barb! I'm in contact with George anyway. It's possible he will make such a suggestion. We will be picked up by them at the aiarpor....airport on Wednesday. Thanks for the tip!

We've booked Georges Taxi and will be going to Sounion. We want to do the scenic route down from Athens and then take lunch in a taverna down there.

Finally found the times in port for each port of call.

Muskatnuss,

How did you get the times? I had to have my travel agent contact them. Otherwise, I never did receive that info. And they told my travel agent the times are not solid. But I appreciated having at least a general idea of when we would be at port. I like that we have several evenings where we should be in port until later. But then I will have to decide whether to eat dinner in port or on the ship:-) Oh the problems:-)

I'll try to get the link in here. No, it can be that the times vary to about a half to 1 hour, not including a route change - haven't experienced that. But I agree with you - you want to have an idea. Just a bit, please.

Try this

http://www.cruisetour.ch/Kreuzfahrt/Y107-1104.html

and then this.

http://www.cruisetour.ch/Kreuzfahrt/Y106-1105.html

Let me know if you need help