Windstar-Athens to Barcelona 10/15 -10/29

We booked our first full out cruise on the Windstar from October 15 leaving Athens, traveling to Syros, Nafplion, Gythion, Sicily, Capri, port of Rome, Portoferraio, Portofino, Mont Carlo, Nice, Marseilles, Port Vendres and Barcelona.

We have the owners cabin on the first leg, but it wasn't available on the second leg. I understand laundry service is available on board from other posters.

I would like some tips on the clothing we'll need on board and in port to be comfortable at this time of year. I understand it can get nippy on board or in the evenings. I assume it can also rain. I plan to take mix and match, microfiber, non wrinkling tees, pants, jackets, raincoat, some longer dresses for dinner since I like to dress up a bit. From what I saw on weather information, temperatures can range from the 70's during the day to 40's at night. Anyone else's thoughts on clothing options at this time of year and in this area would be welcome. We try not to stick out from the Europeans to the best of our ability.

Also any tips on the shore excursions offered or other tour guide options at the ports would be welcome.I read the excursion descriptions and know some are not worth the money. We would like to take the trip to Aix en Provence, perhaps the Scenic Riviera, perhaps Mystras in Gythion, Taormina in Sicily and Taste of Capri. If anyone has taken any of these excursions, or others, your feedback would be welcome.

Last, any fellow shipmates out there? I just retired at age 55 and my spouse still works at the Harley Davidson R&D center in Milwaukee. We have a grown daughter, and like to travel to Europe at least once a year. My husband needs a break from his very stressful job, but likes to travel independently, and gets seasick out on the open water. He knows this is a dream trip for me so he's going along with being on a boat for two weeks. I'm hoping he'll get some relaxation. We wanted a small ship with luxury accomodations and food, adult passengers and no nightlife, casinos or shows. Our travel agent, a cruise specialist, who has travelled with us before and knows our tastes, thought Windstar would be just right. I'm anxious to hear about the experiences of others on this particular itinerary and at this time of the year in the Mediterranean. Thank you!

Glad to hear from someone else who will be on board the Windstar with us! We're first time cruisers(in our 50's with two sons in their 20s) so I'm sorry we can't offer a "been there-done that" point of view. We chose this cruise as an alternative to the mega liners and are hoping to enjoy the cuisine, ports, and the company of other like-minded people. After doing some research, we've decided to do only two of the tours offered: Taormina and Mystras. The other places are supposed to be very easy to get around and see on your own. When are you flying into Athens? We will be arriving there early in the afternoon on Thursday the 13th. We'll be staying at the Hilton because my husband was able to get us two free nights stay there. Maybe we can get together in Athens! Also, if you and your husband were planning to tour Rome on your own for the day, would you be interested in sharing our transfer from the port? It's 110 euros for two, but I think it's just 130 euros for four people. Anyway, we're really excited about our trip and look forward to meeting you.

We don't have our airline schedule yet, Windstar and my travel agent is taking care of that. We are flying from Milwaukee to Atlanta to Paris to Athens starting on the 13th. Windstar is making the airline arrangements and the flight schedule has changed since they initially booked the flight, so they are rebooking the flights. We will be in Athens at whatever hotel they use for layovers. What we decide to do there depends on when we get there. Based on other trips I've taken to Europe the past few years, I don't want to schedule anything until I'm there since I've been subjected to cancelled flights and delays quite often.

We are leaving from the port of Rome at 5 pm for the second leg of our cruise on 10/22, so we'll be in that port from 6 am to 5 pm. I'm not sure how much time we'll have to visit Rome, since that's about a couple hours away from what I've heard with the traffic. I will go on the advice of the cruise line and my travel agent about how much touring time we will have that day.

I'll reply again once we know more about the final schedule.

We just got back on Monday- did Rome to Athens, with stops in Capri, Messina, Gythion, Napflion, and Syros. We did the Blue Grotto excursion in Messina and it was great. The small boat that took us to the grotto had a great Scottish guide with a very droll sense of humor. His commentary on tourist from various parts of the world was hysterical, if not politically correct. The Blue Grotto itself was quite beautiful. We did Taormina in Messina, and it was really good. We had a fabulous local guide who was a school teacher. She was very informative and her style was entertaining. We went to Sparta/Mystras from Gythion and felt that was well worth the trip. In Napflion we also took the trip to Mycenae and the Palamidi Palace. It was a good trip as well, though it was raining very hard. The Mycenae site was particulary worthwhile; the walking is quite rugged, though downhill. For both Mystras and Mycenae, Windstar had tour buses and guides come from Athens. The groups were small- 20-25, and the guides for both were excellent. Syros is a small island, and we just spent the day wandering there. In Athens, we had Paul's son, Nick, pick us up at the ship at 7:30. We were at the Acropolis by 8 a.,m., and missed all the crowds. The Grand Princess docked right next to us- luckily we got off before the 2600 passengers from there did. Anyway, Nick took us from one site to the next, parked, told us how to access the monument (i.e., Temple of Zeus, Archaeological Museum, etc.). We were able to see most of the historical sites fairly easily. Paul took us down to Cape Sounion the next day; we wandered the monument till sunset. By the way, the subway is quite easy to use in Athens, too.

Someone mentioned laundry. Laundry services were excellent on the ship- we put clothes out at night and they were back in the morning- washed, dried, and pressed. Prices were surprisingly reasonable. Actually, very reasonable for us as we were without luggage for most of the cruise and Windstar kindly gave us free laundry service as well as prioritized our laundry.

As for clothing, sounds like you're on track. With not having our luggage for so long, I realized we really don't need a whole lot. Make sure you take some kind of rain jacket with a hood/poncho. It rained for 27 hours straight on our cruise. Take shoes with rubber soles; the deck is quite slippery when wet. One gentleman fell and broke a couple ribs. (The doctor was great).

Anyway, I would be happy to answer any questions while things are still fresh in my mind.

Jan

We were on the Windsurf 11-day Venice-Rome cruise in August & visited many of the same ports. As far as excursions go, you can do everything included in ship's Taste of Capri excursion on your own. I'm sure a guide book will have everything you need to know. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. We absolutely loved our cruise!

Freshwater and River Road, thanks so much for all that helpful information! For one thing, knowing that it can rain buckets on this cruise is something we never considered, so now we'll be prepared. Did either of you hear any feedback from others on the cruise regarding the Mt Etna tour? My husband would actually prefer that outing to Taormina if there are other guys along. I'm not budging on Taormina! Did either of you get seasick? I'm a little concerned about that aspect of cruising on a relatively small ship. Any remarks on the food?

Wine girl, I totally agree with you that it's better not to plan anything until you've arrived. It can get very hectic in Athens especially. Have a good, safe flight and we'll meet you on board!

Sandy

Riverroad,

We leave Friday for Malta to Venice and will stop in the ports of Cephalonia, Corfu, Dubrovnick, Hvar, and Venice. Do you have any recommendations on what to do in these ports or what to skip? Thanks for your info.

Sandy,

The Etna tour was canceled due to lack of sign-ups. I have a friend who had done the cruise and gone to Mt. Etna a couple years ago and she had told me it was very boring. The scenery was dry and barren. I loved Taormina, and so did my husband (who is a mountains and volcano kind of guy in general).

As for seasick, I was a little queasy the first day, and during the 27 hour downpour that we had. There is a bin outside the ship's infirmary that holds SeaCalm- the ship's alternative to dramamine. I thought it worked much better than dramamine.

Food was quite good at dinner- a nice selection of appetizers, entrees, etc. Breakfast was adequate, but we're not big breakfast people. We generally just hit the continental buffet that was on deck. There was a full breakfast with omelettes, waffles, etc. inside. We had lunch just a couple times and it was good. Great bread pudding.

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Thanks, Freshwater. That info helps a lot! We're in countdown mode now. We'll keep our ears open for the weather report too. Apparently Europe has been very rainy lately.

Thanks to everyone who replied so far. The tips on shore excursions/clothing were very helpful. I found a tour guide in Civitavecchia offering a tour to Rome on the day we are in port:

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October 22nd, 2005 Pick up at 07:30am Our english speaking driver/guide

will meet you at the Windstar dock in Civitavecchia and drive you to Rome downtown (90 minutes aprox.)

where you can visit some famouse sites like: Via Veneto, Quirinale Hill, Capitoline Hill & Roman Forum,

Colosseum, Circus Maximus, Vatican City, Pantheon, Spanish Steps & Trevi Fountain.

Back to your Ship by 04:30pm Total duration of the tour 9 hours

The rate for the sedan vehicle is €: 400,00 (1 to 3 Passengers + english speaking driver/guide)

The rate for the Minivan is €: 500,00 (4 to 7 Passengers + english speaking driver/guide)

All the above rates include all the vehicle expence + english speaking driver/guide

Entrance fees for Museums or monuments are not included.

*Vatican museum, Sistine chapel €: 12,00 p/p.

*Colosseum €: 10,00 p/p.

We accept all major credit cards, Traveller checks & Personal checks for the final balance.

About the Vatican museum, Sistine chapel & St. Peter's Basilica we highly recommend

to use a private guided tour with an authorize english speaking guide from the Vatican.

That will help to avoid the long lines of people (usually on Saturday is very crowded)

The rate for the private Vatican tour is €: 135,00 for 3 hours touring.

Notes:

Please dress respectfully for visiting religious monuments; local custom requires

covering knees and shoulder. Comfortable walking shoes recommended.

In case you are interested to make a reservation, a credit card number to guarantee

all the above is highly recommend.

Gilberto Stanzioni

www.discoveryguidedtours.com/shorexcursions.asp?lgg=_US

www.discoveryguidedtours.com

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If anyone is interested in this tour for the day of 10/22 and if it fits into our available time, we could share the guide. Let me know of any interest or if you have found other resources. I'm not sure how far in advance of sailing we need to be back on the boat. If anyone can guide me on this it would be most useful to know.

My travel documents should be on the way according to my travel agent, so will know if we can hook up with other cruisers once I know when we'll arrive in Athens.

Also, upon advice of other cruisers I know, we purchased a motion sickness OTC medication called Bonine. Everyone who's used this swears by it. I've got enough to choke a horse. Hope we don't sleep through the cruise!

Sailing on Windstar, with a stop for a day in Civitavecchia on 10/22. We are trying to get to Rome for a sightseeing tour. Need to be back at the ship by 4:30 pm. Have some bids on tours from private guides but are very expensive. Windstar is not offering a shore excursion that day. I've had bids from $ 380 euro to over $ 1200 euro for a day tour. Windstar passenger relations tells me that Rome is so very much more expensive than any other city on earth that these are the prices we'd incur. Apparently Windstar hasn't been to Tokyo or Hong Kong, etc. but regardless, we are looking for other passengers with possible interest in sharing a shore excursion to Rome on 10/22. Would be nice if they were offering their usual shore excursion to Rome that day.

Anyone been on the Windstar recently? What can we expect?

Winegirl,

My husband and I will be on the second part of your cruise! We fly into Rome on Saturday and stay there for the evening before arriving to the ship Sunday afternoon.

My husband is from Milwaukee and still has lots of family there. We own three Harleys, and we were at the Harley 100th two years ago!

I'm really looking forward to this cruise. My husband surprised me for our fifteenth aniversary.

Looking forward from hearing back from you!

Jennifer

Sammybee, see you on the first leg. We will be in cabin 107-Mike and Barb from Milwaukee, WI.

Jennifer, will see you on the second leg of the cruise. Will be in cabin 138 for that leg.

Perhaps we can get together for dinner with both of you one one evening?

My husband works in the Product Development Center of Harley in Milwaukee. He is always interested in meeting other Harley owners. I have just retired from a 32 yr career at a well known insurance company--I was an underwriter for all those years. We have only one grown daughter, so are free to travel (subject to Mike's tight vacation schedule.) This has been a much wished for trip for years. We just celebrated our 16th anniversary (my second marriage.) We would love to get to know you both, and trade travel tips and stories. We love to travel, love good wine and food, and a bit of adventure!

Jennifer, I understand you are from Scottsdale, which is a lovely area. Sammybee, I'm not sure where you hail from, but we will surely get in touch on the cruise. What cabins will you be in?

Winegirl, dinner would be great.

We are really looking forward to this cruise, it will be our first time in Europe. However, I have been worrying myself with all the lost luggage stories. We are flying AirFrance from Phoenix to Houston, Houston to Paris and Paris to Rome. We arrive on Saturday at 1:00. If we have a problem, do you think this is enough time for our bags to reach us? I hear AirFrance is known for losing bags and I am stressing about it! Having been to Europe, have you had any bad experiences? Am I worring for nothing?

Thank you and am looking forward to meeting you. Jim and Jennifer 45yrs and 38 yrs old.

I forgot to mention we are in cabin 310. Jennifer