Postcards Home

[westiegonenorth]

I'm hoping to be able to send a postcard home for each port of call while in Greece (Corfu, Mykonos, and Santorini) which may be an impossible task but I'd like to try. Does anyone know what postage would be required for an international post? Can I acquire postage beforehand? Where the nearest places to post in these ports? Is this even feasible? 😅

[ski ww]

The place you buy your post card will also sell the stamps. Mail boxes will be around town or ask at the place you buy your post card.

[pdmlynek]

I too like to send postcards to friends and family back home.  I had the same questions as you do.  Couple of points:

 

(1) as @ski ww wrote, I too bought stamps from the vendor who sold me postcards.  That was only because the vendor advertised that they sell stamps. I have no idea if every seller of postcards also sells postcard stamps.

 

(2) The postcard stamps are the same regardless of which country you are sending to.  1 EUR each.

 

(3)  I am an observant person, but I had a hard time finding post offices or mailboxes.  The few post offices that I found were invariably closed.  Also, what @ski ww wrote makes sense: mailboxes should be around, and that's what I thought too, but I just did not see them. 

 

(4) In the end, I gave up on looking for mailboxes, and just dropped them off with the service desk on the ship.  This is just a part of service that they do for guests.  

[carlmm]

1 hour ago, pdmlynek said:

 

(4) In the end, I gave up on looking for mailboxes, and just dropped them off with the service desk on the ship.  This is just a part of service that they do for guests.  

Just be sure to check with your ship as the actual handling nicht be different: 

Some will take your postcards without stamps, some others require the correct postage and yet others might not offer this service at all.

[carlmm]

Oh, and grell mail boxes are follow with blue inscribtion and a "head".

[Host Bonjour]

On 7/3/2022 at 10:22 AM, pdmlynek said:

(3)  I am an observant person, but I had a hard time finding post offices or mailboxes.  The few post offices that I found were invariably closed.  Also, what @ski ww wrote makes sense: mailboxes should be around, and that's what I thought too, but I just did not see them. 

 

I send postcards from everywhere, and it's a nice time when I sit down to people watch while I write in a cafe of park, recap what I've been doing. Sometimes, for special places, I send one to myself.

 

Easiest thing to do would be to just ask someone local to send them for you once you've written them and added the postage, such as in a cafe or restaurant where you stop, or even pop into a hotel and ask the hotel clerk to add them to their outgoing mail. It takes no effort for them to do it.

 

And if you think they can't or won't, why wouldn't they? This is a small favor and hospitality is so wonderful. I've had worse glitches and encountered such wonderful assistance from total strangers while traveling abroad, I wouldn't hesitate to ask a small local business to please mail my cards for me.

 

Especially given that the post office, like lots of businesses overseas, might keep limited hours or close mid-day for lunch, so if you miss the window of opportunity while out exploring, or can't find the mailbox (hint: often they're affixed to the side of buildings, quite small) you'd miss the opportunity. 

Take advantage of the kindness and ask people. At least for little things, it's still happening. (True story: a friend brought me an A3 size photograph he took in Paris, stopped by my uncle's hotel but somehow they missed connections. The hotel mailed it on their dime to my uncle's home after he checked out, the photo, it's the underside of the Bir Hakim bridge, is on my wall now.)

 

🙂  Happy travels!

[Torquer]

My wife sends postcards all the time.  We gave up on the hassle of trying to buy foreign stamps and mail them ourselves, unless there is a very convenient post office we just happen to see when returning to the ship.  Now we just buy the postcard in the port, take it back to the ship and write it, then give it to the concierge who takes care of getting a stamp on it and mailing it, usually at the next port (unless an overnight stop).  It typically costs $1 -$2 per card to do it this way.  The only thing that is a bit weird for the recipient, is that the postcard might be of Athens, but they see it was actually mailed from a different place, like Istanbul.