Aegean Adventure

[vwgolf]

Just got back from our fourth cruise on the Celebration. Once again we had a great time. I'll write a full review when a get some spare minutes but suffice to say everything was superb: food, entertainment, crew etc etc. If I had one complaint it was that the milk provided for tea and coffee tasted a bit funny - long life, probably. But this was hardly something to spoil a very enjoyable holiday!

[CRUISIN LINDA]

Just got back from our fourth cruise on the Celebration. Once again we had a great time. I'll write a full review when a get some spare minutes but suffice to say everything was superb: food, entertainment, crew etc etc. If I had one complaint it was that the milk provided for tea and coffee tasted a bit funny - long life, probably. But this was hardly something to spoil a very enjoyable holiday!

Glad you had a good time, we are going on her next year - 3rd time and having the cabin we had on our very first cruise - cabin 21:)

[Julessmiles]

Just got back from our fourth cruise on the Celebration. Once again we had a great time. I'll write a full review when a get some spare minutes but suffice to say everything was superb: food, entertainment, crew etc etc. If I had one complaint it was that the milk provided for tea and coffee tasted a bit funny - long life, probably. But this was hardly something to spoil a very enjoyable holiday!

 

Great to hear - we are going on her very soon! One thing I have forgotten - are the electric sockets in the cabin European plugs or UK please?!!!

 

What was the coffee in the Lido like & were the teabags Liptons??!!! I can drink most coffees but wondering whether to take some teabags if it's really dodgy!!!

[mtt]

Great to hear - we are going on her very soon! One thing I have forgotten - are the electric sockets in the cabin European plugs or UK please?!!!

 

What was the coffee in the Lido like & were the teabags Liptons??!!! I can drink most coffees but wondering whether to take some teabags if it's really dodgy!!!

 

 

there are both eu and us sockets in the cabin, we found the coffee ok if you did half coffe and half water, not too keen on the tea

[vwgolf]

Great to hear - we are going on her very soon! One thing I have forgotten - are the electric sockets in the cabin European plugs or UK please?!!!

 

What was the coffee in the Lido like & were the teabags Liptons??!!! I can drink most coffees but wondering whether to take some teabags if it's really dodgy!!!

 

Our cabin had US and European sockets - two US and one European, I think.

 

I don't think the problem was with the tea or coffee, rather the long life milk that was provided. Not sure what brand the teabags were, though.

[Ponciau]

Just got back from our fourth cruise on the Celebration. Once again we had a great time. I'll write a full review when a get some spare minutes but suffice to say everything was superb: food, entertainment, crew etc etc. If I had one complaint it was that the milk provided for tea and coffee tasted a bit funny - long life, probably. But this was hardly something to spoil a very enjoyable holiday!

 

Very glad to see that someone enjoyed it:cool:

[deepsix]

I even enjoyed the milk Ponci:D

[cloverfields]

Hi - glad you enjoyed the cruise, am doing same next week. Have only booked one trip in Instanbul - any ideas on any others or can I easily walk around Izmir, Rhodes, Mykonos? Is a tender used for any of the ports? Any advice/tips that may be useful would be much appreciated. Thank you

[vwgolf]

Hi - glad you enjoyed the cruise, am doing same next week. Have only booked one trip in Instanbul - any ideas on any others or can I easily walk around Izmir, Rhodes, Mykonos? Is a tender used for any of the ports? Any advice/tips that may be useful would be much appreciated. Thank you

 

We only did one trip - Taste of Istanbul which took us to the Blue Mosque, the hagia Sophia Museum and the Cistern. On the second day at Istanbul we wandered across the bridge to the spice market and did a bit of shopping. Izmir is a bit boring and is probably used as a stopping off point for Ephesus which we'd already done. Both Mykonos and Rhodes are easy to walk around. There was a free shuttle provided to take you form the port to the centre of Mykonos and the ship stops right next to Rhodes old town.

 

There was no tender for any of our stops but one is sometimes used at Mykonos, depending which other ships may be in town.

[kruzseeka]

Hi - glad you enjoyed the cruise, am doing same next week. Have only booked one trip in Instanbul - any ideas on any others or can I easily walk around Izmir, Rhodes, Mykonos? Is a tender used for any of the ports? Any advice/tips that may be useful would be much appreciated. Thank you

 

 

As VW has already said, Mykonos and Rhodes are great destinations - both for interest, things to see and ease of just walking off the ship (or tender/shuttle bus in the case of Mykonos) and wandering around and exploring independently. Great places! Absolutely no need to go on an excursion here.

 

Izmir has less to offer imo - yes you can walk off -it's about a 20/30 minute level walk along the waterfront which has a well developed promenade so is quite convenient and pleasant. It is a city though - there is a market, shops, open squares and plenty of cafes but if you haven't been to Ephesus I would say that would be worth considering doing an excursion to there. It's very impressive and for me would make for a more interesting day than Izmir.

 

And have you considered doing Istanbul as a Diy? (You can cancel any excursions you have already booked uo to 24 hours before departure - would perhaps pay for Ephesus instead?). It really is an easy port to do independently. The main sites, the Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque are in the same area and the Spice Market, The Cisterns are Grand Bazaar are all close by too. You can get the tram from the road parallel to the port into the centre but it's walkable too. From across the water in the main tourist area you will actually be able to see your ship so it's reassuring to know despite being in a city it's very easy to get from port to the main attractions - all on foot if you have the energy! If you need any more information about DiY I will look for some old threads with quite a bit of info.

 

Enjoy your trip.:)

[Julessmiles]

there are both eu and us sockets in the cabin, we found the coffee ok if you did half coffe and half water, not too keen on the tea

 

 

Thanks!

 

Did you do the week with Istanbul, Izmir, Mykonos etc? If so, which day was the Gala Night (I had heard it wasn't the day at Sea on this trip). We are also doing our second week including Athens, Kalamata etc so would be handy to know which day is Gala Night then too!

[Ponciau]

I even enjoyed the milk Ponci:D

 

Ponciau:cool:

[cloverfields]

Thanks for all that information - much appreciated. Now looking forward to the trip - down to days now. yipee

[vwgolf]

Thanks!

 

Did you do the week with Istanbul, Izmir, Mykonos etc? If so, which day was the Gala Night (I had heard it wasn't the day at Sea on this trip). We are also doing our second week including Athens, Kalamata etc so would be handy to know which day is Gala Night then too!

 

The gala night was on the Friday night which was the fifth night. This is because the captain is needed on the bridge when the ship passes through the Dardenelles on nights two and four (and night three is overnight at Istanbul).

[Julessmiles]

The gala night was on the Friday night which was the fifth night. This is because the captain is needed on the bridge when the ship passes through the Dardenelles on nights two and four (and night three is overnight at Istanbul).

 

 

Excellent - thanks! Gives us a few days to get a tan first then!

[Nuthouse]

Hi did the Istanbul cruise in June and I would agree entirely with what Kruzeeka says.

 

We did only the one excursion which was to Ephesus and was very good. We checked how much the taxis were charging at the dock, think it was 150 euro, so it was slightly cheaper but there were no guides and then you have to pay an entrance charge, sorry not sure how much that was.

 

The only thing I would say about the trip to Ephesus is that even in June it was so so hot, with absolutely no shade whatsoever so be prepared for that. Also under foot was very uneven every where and was slippy in some areas so wear comfortable and closed in shoes. i saw some ladies wearing high heels and some in flip flops and I could see the grimaces as they teetered along. The tour bus takes you to the top of the gorge and you make your way to the bottom with the guide so it's downhill all the way. I did see someone with a wheelchair but I would say it's not very disability friendly !

 

Istanbul is very easy to do on your own as all the highlights are very close together. The cisterns are fantastic so try not to miss them. The only thing we found a bit confusing was which side of the platform we should be on to get the tram at the port. We ended up on the wrong side at first but we just crossed the track to the other side. Once you have bought your token(2 euro) you can't get off the tram stop without putting the token in the turnstyle to exit. If you take a few minutes to study the tram map it's quite easy. We felt very safe there but watch out for the carpet sellers, at the Blue Mosque one pretended he was a guide but then we realised in time and said we were happy doing our own thing.

 

Again the same for Mykonos and Rhodes, very easy to diy.

 

I'm sure you will love it.:D