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JEWEL b2b (Greece/W Med) semi-live Aug24 - Sept14 REVIEW w/lots of photos


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I had researched that sunset on this evening would be at 7:52pm, and had booked a table on-line at a restaurant called Volcano Blue which is on the cliff and close to the Donkey Path. Two reasons I booked here: (1) view from rooftop (2) reviews for the food.... I wanted both. I had to ask a shop keeper as we could not immediately find it, but sure enough only a few steps from where we were we found where we were going

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I consider experiences like this, a sunset dinner in Santorini, like an excursion. So what I don't get my free MDR dinner. I feel this Santorini memory has no price. I suspect most everyone on this cruise can't tell me what they ate (or where) on board that night in the MDR or WJ for example only 3 weeks after. I'll remember this meal and experience for a lifetime... get out there folks and enjoy life! I have plenty of pics so I'll keep this short....

 

Greek wine is just superb, and 2017 was a bumper crop year for grapes as it turns out. We ordered a bottle of local Greek white (phenominal btw) to go with our seafood platter for 2.... this picture was on their website and I thought "ya right, as if the platter will come as good as this picture".... well, as advertised they brought it out!

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Fresh, fresh, fresh!! YUUUUUM! Waiter deboned the fresh fish.... sooooo soooo good. Grilled veggies on the side.

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And the ambiance you ask? I ask with the utmost sincerity I can muster, You think I missed sitting in the MDR (yet again)? You be the judge

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With sunset upon us, I did not even have to look at the menu... I had already decided I was going to try some home-made baklava. The waiter did mention that it was home-made and oh so good... he did not have to convince me! They also brought out a wonderful port for us on the house... I did not ask why (and I did not see other tables get it).

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The baklava was as totally awesome as our dinner. Foodgasmic!

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Gf and I still talk about this dinner as we go through pictures and reminisce... a hilight of this cruise. simply a great dinner, great food, great service, totally memorable experince that I will alwyas attach to Santorini as I reminisce past vacays in the future.

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We payed our bill, thank the staff profusely as they were awesome, and I took a few parting pictures. This will give you a good idea of the style and look of the venue.

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This was the entry to the restaurant (right on the path, can't miss it) as we headed up

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On the pathway a very short distance from Volcano Blue is a long stretch of concrete railing, a famous spot where many tourists take unobstructed pictures from... and of course it's very full right at sunset. I suspect this area was packed a short 15-20 minutes ago while we watched sunset from the restaurant. Here are some last views from this spot as we continue to head for the cable car.

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Turns out we were farther from the cable car than we thought. During our "meandering" pre dinner, we had passed by the cable car area, but I guess didn't realize how far away we were by the time we reached Volcano Blue. No worries, as mentioned previously, the streets are clearly marked as we zig zagged up the various streets.... turning left, turning right, up one path, down another, etc

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We left Volcano Blue at about 8:15pm and certainly didn't want to get stuck in any huge lines at the Cable car station as is often reported. I had hoped with only one ship being left in the bay that it wouldn't be an issue, but I didn't want to chance the final 9pm tender. There were very few people entering the cable car station so it was a breeze. As we approached the cable car station, many donkeys were being brought up the path to go home

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Zero waiting line-up at the cable car, I figure more than 90% of the ship probably wanted to get back on board early (why? We're in Santorini for God sakes, not Nassau!). We boarded the cable car that had just come up and was right there in front of us with a few others

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We had the final cable car to ourselves with beautiful views as we descended

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Down at the Old Pier it looked to be strictly fellow cruisers getting on the tenders, and while there weren't many people left to tender over, it looked like there were fewer tenders out on the water (see prev pic), and thus they held this one back until full... we waited about 10 minutes for a few more people to get in here and there (likely those coming off of the cable car in spurts) and we were off.... back to the Jewel with plenty of time before sailing away from Santorini.

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With an early day planned for Mykonos, we still wanted to experience what Jewel had to offer this evening but not stay up too late. Hot and sticky from the long day ashore, we cleaned up while Capt. Dustin began sailing away. We enjoyed sail-away from our cabin hanging out on the balcony for a little bit. Taking a night picture with the ship moving is brutally difficult and they don't turn out very well unfortunately... here's an example

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The night events on board were limited due to the later port time of 1pm-10pm.... no Headliner or Theatre show this evening at all, strictly live music around the ship until 10:30pm whereby the Love & Marriage game show was held. Simona did a great job of this even though everything had to be repeated in Italian, it could've dragged on but turned out to be very good. Also this evening was scheduled the White Party up on pool deck...

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Not only were we tired, but the party itself was basically over-run by the throng of teenagers on board. We immediately decided to bail in preparation for tomorrow's arrival in Mykonos. Time for a good night's rest.

 

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It was definitely a scorcher out there that day! :eek:

 

We definitely missed that little short cut and took the super long way back to the ship. Sure wish we knew that little tip before we changed directions. I actually looked for someone to ask for directions, but didn't see anyone so we just followed everyone else. We never saw any of those signs for the cable car or donkey trails - just lots of narrow paths between stores. At least they were in the shade! I would have loved to have seen that view and been above the cable car instead of walking up to get to it! :o

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Day 4 - Mykonos: Platis Gialos Beach in the morning, walk around Old Town afternoon

 

The plan for today was to hit the beach for at least the morning. Mykonos is well known for it's beaches.... as well as it's party atmosphere in the evenings which we would not experience having to be back on the ship in the late afternoon. The word was that we may end up docking at the new pier, however it was confirmed the evening before by Simona that we would tender and go through the same tendering process as the day before in Santorini. They did not bother with tender tickets as they felt many cruisers would be staggered getting off, and I never heard any complaints after so I assume all went well.

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We arrived early, and up in the CL we watched Capt. Dustin maneuver Jewel into position, we prepared for our day and came back up into the CL in order to wait for Diego to escort us down. We waited.... and waited.... and waited.... the delay seemed long. Diego called down and reported that tenders are going to be an issue (waves) so there would be a delay. Uh-oh! Diego ended up calling down a few times, one report came back that the gangway was damaged somehow so further delay. Capt. Dustin had also reported about the delays and asked cruisers for patience. We hung out, chilled out & chatted. Soon I noted that tenders were starting to get into position.

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The Capt (or was it CD Simona??) announced prior to clearing the ship that the port time would be extended due to this delay. Instead of final tender at 5pm, it would extended for 2 hours to 7pm. Nice. Very soon after Diego received the call that tenders were ready and down we went.

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In port with us were two Costa ships, one docked at the pier on the left (I think that was the Favolosa) and then the smaller NeoClassica there on anchor to the right

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Approaching the Old Town dock.... we're here at last!

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At the Old Town pier there are no taxis, buses, nothing.... pedestrian only. We were prepared, and knew we needed to walk across the Old Town to get the bus over to the beach that we had selected. There are many all over the island to choose from depending on transportation. We chose Psarou & PLatis Gialos, plus Paranga beach which has a pretty 15-20 min walk via cliff/shore-side that we wished to explore.

 

Dismounting the tender and looking back

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Looking forward... been here before so it was easy for me to understand we had to enter one of the small streets (basically pathways) into the city on the right and make our way through the town

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The Old Town is beautiful to meander through. We ended up strolling, taking our time, taking pictures and noticing shops/places we may want to come back to upon our return from the beach.

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It was certainly nice being ahead of the crowd somewhat as it was not overly packed. Both Costa ships were over-night so I had thought perhaps the town would be super busy.

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To fit into the streets, the locals used mini trucks/falt decks to get around and transport material. In the photo below take note of Beachcruzers DH standing there... either that cargho van is a mini-version of what we see here at home or he's a giant!

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Without meandering/stopping/photos/etc I figure getting to the bus "station" (not really a station, but that's what they called it) would've been an easy 15 minutes. However, with our slower pace it was more like 40-45min. Nonetheless, coming out of a less densely populated Old Town pedestrian pathways, we emerged into a a flurry of activity on a very busy street.... the first street where vehicles are allowed to get close to the Old Town.

 

Here is the "Bus Station" lol! Note the sign that says "Bus Stop" with the ticket booth under it.

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Very easy to figure out. Posted in a couple of spots is the bus schedule. Not rocket science at all... pick where you want to go and it shows the times that bus departs from this spot. Our bus to Platis Gialos = 1.80 euro each way... return tickets needed to be purchased as well.

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In researching travel methods, I noted that Mykonos has very few taxis. I understood that the taxis there are few and far in between (I read somewhere there's only 30 or so taxis on the island??). Anyhow beside this bus station there's also a taxi stop... room for only 2 taxis. The Mercedes here was in perfect shape and luxurious. I understand taxis here are also expensive so take note, likely taxis are not the way to go on Mykonos

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The bus ride as uneventful. The countryside as we continued is nothing to write home about, and thus I only have a pic or two out of the window which really doesn't show much. We arrived to the beach area... like the bus station at Old Town, really easy to understand. It was up the hill by about a block from the beach and there was a group there waiting to take the bus back to Old Town... very easy to find.

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The bus stop was clearly visible as well as a schedule.

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Walking down from the bus stop, we emerge to the entrance of the Platis Gialos beach... awesome!

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In hindsite, this was the very best place to hang out all day...immediately at the very start of the beach. These loungers/blue umbrellas were the least expensive, I don't know why (20 euro I believe). Of course we wanted to explore the beach and not stop right away so we continued on. I noted also at this very spot there is a water taxi to various other beaches along the coastline

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Examples of the loungers/beach as we made are way across the beach to the other side. Some of these areas were private (hotel) and others were public. I did ask several along the way out of curiosity. One of the areas we moved along was 30euro, another was 40 euro with free drink for two.

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We decided that if we set up shop, we may not want to get up and move along to explore, so we decided to continue on to the path/cliff walk on to Paranga Beach and enjoy the scenery first. Here's the end of the Beach looking back from where we had just come

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Beautiful scenery and views. The pathway was super easy, not a "hike" per se. Looking back

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Looking forward... the stone outcropping you see ahead is approximately where we'll end up eventually

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Tons of room on the path. Many people on it back and forth including workers pushing dollys with boxes on them, so well used.

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Within 20 min we approached the beginning of the beach area.... this first section is not Paranga, but a smaller beach with not very much there at all, so we made a pass, of course with Paranga being the destination we wanted to reach

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Hoopster, awesome review! Pictures are spectacular!

 

Right now, the Med is not at the top of our trip wish list, but I think after reading just this much of your review, it has worked it's way up quite a way. :D

 

I am bookmarking this to have as a resource when we do decide to take the plunge and head for the Med. I just hope my replacement knees are handling stairs, especially going down them, a bit better than they are now! :eek: Maybe I could ride one of those cute - and far more sure footed than I am - donkeys.....

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Right now, the Med is not at the top of our trip wish list,... it has worked it's way up quite a way. :D

Yes!!

 

Maybe I could ride one of those cute - and far more sure footed than I am - donkeys.....

cute, sure footed.... and stinky! ;p Bad knees are no, I hope there's enough ideas here for you to see if you can do without as much stairs and climbing :D. Just go!... none of us are getting any younger

 

We will be on the Jewel in two weeks. We have reserved ATV's in Mykonos and the owners said we can drive them from beach to beach. Did you cross paths with any ATV's? Are there specific trails for them?

 

Yep, seen quite a few. You drive on the roads with the cars so just be sure to follow road rules.

I feel this is an excellent idea btw!... once you've seen Old Town Mykonos once, it's all you need. Next time I would definitely do an ATV and head out to the further beaches.... after Psarou/Platis Gialos/Parang, are the very famous Paradise and Super Paradise beaches.... and further than that Elia Beach. You may have googled these already:)

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So having arrives at Paranga, we were a little tired, hot and just wanted to get some beach time.

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As mentioned in previous posts, turned out that this beach was a rip off ... more expensive than Platis Gialos and not as nice imho. We were quoted 50 euro and 40 euro from two lounger boys... no thanks. Albeit this place was somuch quieter and exclusive, so perhaps that is why

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At the end of the beach there was quite a bit of public space so we rolled out our towels and made our home there. Unfortunately the sand here was not sandy at all, but small pebbles... unlike the area where the loungers were. Ah well... we weren't moving!

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We hung out for maybe an hour, swam a little, tanned... Beachcruzer and DH took a walk around and told about a great place immediately behind us called "Scorpio". There's a direct path up there... we went to check it out... gorgeous. If I had known, we would've parked in their beach area for whatever fee and enjoyed drinks and grub, beautiful spot and gorgeous view

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We walked back down to our towels, a little hot, a little hangry, a little disappointed with beach "pebble" time, so we grabbed our stuff and headed back alon g the same path we originally walked back to Platis Gialos. in order to get the bus back to Old Town. At the exact same spot which I noted the 20eeuro loungers when we first arrived at the veruy start of the beach, we we approached by one of the restaurant employees along the way for lunch. We said "no" obviously in order to get back to Old Town, however he explained the restaurant and property.... unbeknownst to us, it was a hotel in behind with a private area above on the roof with an infinity pool! He invited us up... I regret it now but I wish we took up the offer for a drink and rest with a view iovertop of the beach, would've been cool.

 

So a few tips here, especially for those who have been to Mykonos Old Town before... the same windmills, little white buildings and Pelicans are still there! No need to see them again imho. If ytou've never been there, the Old Town is super small.... the three things ZI mentioned above you can see in about 1/2 hour as everything is only a couple of blocks apart here. My biggest regret is settling for the "pebbles" at Paranga vs. sand at Platis Gialos....I regret not going back to Platris Gialos to get loungers, I regret not spending more time at the beach, and I regret not checking out that hotel rooftop where I'm sure we'd end up with lunch and a drink.... Instead we waitied for the bus for 20-25min in 90+ degree heat.

 

Live and learn.

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The bus ride back was uneventful... in about 10-12min we were back at that same busy bus stop where cars can get no further into Old Town Mykonos. Hangry, I wished to take my gf to Little Venice and possibly have a bite to eat somewhere at that area. Coming off the bus, the sign across the street told us where we needed to go

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You'll find maps at most tourist spots within Old Town so you can at least have an idea of where you are in relation to the tender pier

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And there in front of us Little Venice came into view

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with the famous Windmills to our left

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Little Venice is quite obviously a tourist trap of sorts... the prices are higher than most others places and like most eateries in tourist trap areas, We checked out a couple of menus and continues onward into the side street where within a block or so we came across this place. "Souvlaki Story"

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This place reminded me of any one of many local chain restaurants such as Olive Garden, Applebies, Red Robin.... but Greek style. Teenager waiters in logo uniform colours, bench seating, etc.

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We took a seat whereever we wanted and opened the menu... oh boy! Looks like a great menu.

Like the pre-mentioned chain restaurants... how often do you look at a menu, and specifically a picture of am advertised dish, and when it comes to you it does not look anything like advertised? Let alone taste as good as it looked on the menu?

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Well, look at the bottom left picture of the gyros platter (I was hangry, remember!)

Now look at what they served me.... Ka-ching!!!! And yes, totally as good as it looks!!

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Meals in Europe are for the most part not cheap, especially for us Canadians with the exchange, let alone the cost of living in most European countries force higher food prices anyways. This meal was a great value for what we got, 2 beers, 2 lunches = 28 euros. Hangry gone! ;p

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We spent the next hour or so meandering through Old Town, in fact ending up the tender pier area way too soon (keep in mind Little Venice is only a 3-4 minute walk from the tender pier), so we turned back into the small streets to shops and look around a little more.

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More Little Venice

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Plenty of cool storefronts and buildings to explore for those into finding one of a kind things. Gf is very much a "one-of-a-kind" world shopper and wishes she had more time here in Mykonos... in fact preferred Mykonos over Santorini. Personally, my preference for views, ambiance, etc is Santorini... so it's perspective and expectation of what you like to do personally.

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I took this picture as we approached the tender pier... tickets to Delos are super easy to get. The Delos ferry docks right beside the RCL tenders. I did Delos the last time I was here and was one of my very best days in the Med, better than this day I'm documenting now. Not only that, the last Delos ferry comes back early (around 2pm) leaving you more than enough time to walk around Old Town for a couple of hours befiore heading to the ship.

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Another map on the wall for anyone to reference for help

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Even though port time was extended a couple of hours due to our delayed tendering, we were done and just wanted to head back to the ship rather than stay ashore the extra time. Good bye Mykonos!

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Like our morning tendering process, the seas were not calm... the chop was not making things easy for the tender pilots

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We got up to our cabin and had a bit of time to chill out prior to dinner (our first appearance at MTD).

I was very surprised to see this advertisement on my bed.... Is RCL telling me something???`

I've never seen X being promoted on RCL before.

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Taking a look outside, both Costa ships were still in town

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Final view of Old Town before heading down to 6:30 dinner

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You know, Royal just can't get dining right unless it's MDR traditional. They totally screwed up what should've been the coolest thing to happen to cruise dining in years: Dynamic on Quantum... and it seems they just can;t do MTD right whatsoever, whether it's long lines, missed reservations, whathaveyou.

 

Having booked the BOGO 1st 2 nioghts, and then having dinner in Santorini night #3, I had booked on our cruise planner pre-cruise nights 4-7 as MTD at 6:30pm. Easy right? Right?? It was prebooked, so they knew we were coming. Not for RCL. We show up at MTD dining desk... utter confusion as to who we were, why we were there, and having a real problem getting us a table. Why bother pre-booking on-line? The Maitre-D says we're fortunate to get the table we did get that evening as that table ws at specialty themselves that night, but the next 3 nights we would have to come at 6:15 in order to be seated. Whatever.... ok, no problem. Sigh (this also occurred to us on Harmony & Explorer)

 

I found it interesting that the tables had olive oil and balsamic vinegar on them, with a very nice selections of breads (albeit no savory bites).

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I had been really looking forward to the Indian Menus that was first posted by little britain back in May, but truthfully the items on this evenings menu were... well... ho hum! Surprised me, as I was really looking forward to it. We had the Italian menu this evening and opted for the Aranchini, minestrone and lasagna. Yep, that made me happy... along with some tiramisu. Btw, this tiramisu was not the same as in Giovanni's.

 

There were several things going on this evening including Production Show "City of Dreams" and a "Dancing with the Officers" in the Centrum. I participated... but was second out. They had pre warned a couple of cruisers to be "outlandish".... ie wear their bathing suits, do a strip tease, etc. I've seen this event on X anbd it was actually some pretty darned good talented dancing along with some fun.... here on Jewel it was more like the Quest, getting naked, bump and grind.... you know. Ah well, it was fun to watch nonetheless and the Centrum was alive with laughter and fun. Next time I'm wearing my speedo under my slacks.... I'll show them!!!! lol

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We had an early morning planned for Athens, so we knew after this show Vortex was not in the cards for this evening. It was bed time.

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Great pictures as always!!

 

Thank you for the warning that the worst show ever to be on a cruise ship (City of Dreams) is also on Jewel. Having been stuck sitting through that nightmare on Radiance (fully my fault...when the cruise director said “It might make sense if you’ve been drinking...”!i should have bolted), I have no desire to repeat that horror.

 

 

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Great pictures as always!!

 

Thank you for the warning that the worst show ever to be on a cruise ship (City of Dreams) is also on Jewel. Having been stuck sitting through that nightmare on Radiance (fully my fault...when the cruise director said “It might make sense if you’ve been drinking...”!i should have bolted), I have no desire to repeat that horror.

 

 

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Lol!!! Was that CD Steve Davis? He's funny :D

Yep, City of Dreams is close to the bottom of my list of Production Shows I've seen.

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Lol!!! Was that CD Steve Davis? He's funny :D

 

Yep, City of Dreams is close to the bottom of my list of Production Shows I've seen.

 

 

 

No. It was Amy Something-Or-Other.

 

But yeah. I had a minor freak out on Brilliance last summer when ANOTHER show started with Sailing Away, but it was a much better show. (Granted, that is relative. Haha!)

 

 

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Day 5 - Athens: The Acropolis, Museum, Panathenaic Stadium

 

The ship was advertised to arrive at Piraeus at 6am. When we woke, were were already docked. In fact we heard the ship cleared announcement very early (I think it was just before 7:30am). I'm only guessing that it was cleared even earlier but they waited to announce it so as not to possible wake too many cruisers. Piraeus is the name of the port area of Athens, and it's extremely industrial... not much to see. In the time we were in our room getting ready for the day I witnessed 4 large ferries departing/entering with many more ships docked. Very very busy port.

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Getting off and down to street level is an absolute breeze. We were not docked where Jewel normally docks for Athens (which is right in front Terminal 1,and a large building leading out to taxi's and the street). Instead we were down the way a bit. Shuttles (transit buses in the photo below) were provided to take us to Terminal 1, but seriously it as maybe only a 10 min walk if you wanted to.

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The large terminal building was very barren... but I can see this as an embarkation building when required. We had to walk through the entire length of the building to exit to street level. Coming back, that was the only entry point for cruisers returning to ships as well.

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I had asked one of the staff members about finding the X80 bus. The X80 is an "express" from the port to the Acropolis area and back, specifically designed for the cruising public (although anyone can use it). It has a few other stops along the way as well. We were to walk out the building and to the left through the parking lot... should find a ticket booth there once we get to the main street. So out we went... if you'd rather take a taxi, there's a ton of the here as well as closer to the bus ticket booth... more on this taxi vs. X80 situation in the next post

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As described by one of the port staff, about a 10 minute walk and we found the ticket booth with a schedule posted (approx every 35 minutes in the afternoon). Kept that in mind as all aboard was 5:30pm

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Now please allow me to save you time, money and some frustration:

 

Tip #1: DO NOT take the X80!

 

This ended up being a regretful mistake, not the end of the world but could've been a whole lot better and much easier day, that's for sure. So having paid our 4.50euro each for a return ticket for the bus, the attendant in the ticket booth pointed at the bus stop at the street in front of us... no problem, right?

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Well it is if there's already 20-25 people there, and by the time 20minutes roll by there's probably closer to 70-80. Guess what happens when the bus rolls up and the doors open? While we were waiting with the ever growing crowd at this stop, a taxi driver approaches us asking if we had already bought our bus tickets. He smirked and said "look, good luck with the bus and getting around... that's even if you get on the bus! I'll have you there in 15minutes. How many of you?". He offered his services for the entire day, waiting for us at the Acropolis and anywhere we wanted to go, for 25euro each (100euro total). We declined... and we regretted it.

 

When cruising and trying to see the sites, time is money... money is time. I knew this, I should've known better. By the time the bus came, we would've been at the Acropolis. Instead, we barely pushed ourselves onto the bus and the driver had to close the doors on many cruisers. I wonder how long those other cruisers had to wait? Happy happy on the bus for 45min, leaning on each other around corners, smelly armpits, etc. Lots of fun! Not

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One of our goals this day was to beat the crowds the best we can for the Acropolis and get there as early as possible. This didn't happen with this bus ride. I was just glad we were finally getting dropped off. I'm guessing we lost about 45min-1 hour of time waiting for the bus and then the bus route itself. Ah well... can't turn back time, let's get going!

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Walking up the street from the main street/bus stop was promising... it was after 9am and not too busy at all. I thought to myslef "alright, we're not going to get stuck in any delays" (foreshadowing)

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We turned the corner at the end of the street to minimum 1 hour line at the ticket booth for the Acropolis. Seriousluy, I don;t know what the ticket people do in there but it was a minimum of one minute per couple/group. I quickly did the math counting back possible groups to where we were standing.... I was over an hour and the line-up was growing behind us. Got to admit, that realization had me bummed.

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About 10 minutes standing in line, we were approached by a tour guide who was trying to get at least 8 people to take in, thus skipping the line. Her guided services were 35euro... the ticket itself is 20euro. We hummed and hawed, and finally said that we won't give up our line-up spot, but if you find others to join we will also.. Another 15-20 min passed and we moved half way up the line... she came back to grab us as she now had enough for her services.... ugh!!! We were closer to the front the line without her. Do we? Don;t we?? Do we??? Don't we???? Again we discussed options and finally said what the heck... we joined her, skipping the remainder about 20-30 minutes more in line to go in.

 

Yes!!!! Our first look.

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