Josie201 Posted July 2 #126 Share Posted July 2 Fabulous photos, bringing back great memories. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare NBliving Posted July 2 #127 Share Posted July 2 @Norwaylady As usual, your review is entertaining and informative! What company did you tour with in Kusadasi? It looked like a perfect mix of what I would want to see. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare WrittenOnYourHeart Posted July 2 #128 Share Posted July 2 (edited) 1 hour ago, Norwaylady said: We had breakfast in mdr. Our private tour had meeting time 8.30 on the pier. It was pancake day today🥓 for the boys😋 We arrived a little after 07.30 and it worked out well. Food arrived quickly and we had good service. At 08.15 we walked off and meet our guide , Cem, pronounced Gem 💎. Today’s tour was a private tour to Virgin Mary’s house, Ephesus and Artemis. Tour included lunch and a carpet demonstration. We had already notified the guide when we booked the tour, that we would skip the leather centre😝 We left port before the majority of tours were ready for departure. So the guide said that we are going first to Virgin Mary’s house. It was empty when we arrived, so several rounds in the house and plenty of space🙂 Next stop was Ephesus. More people but still not too crowded. Our guide did an excellent job to explain to M. (We have visited before😅) We picked up the mini show and left for lunch. It’s a Turkish 🇹🇷 lunch at the carpet place. It’s a cultural centre of carpets😆 After the lunch, it was time for a carpet demonstration. We said that we don’t want to buy, but please show M how to be a good salesman and the difference in carpets quality. Silk, wools etc. They run up a full carpet show for M😂😛 He found it funny and learned a new thing today 😁 After the carpet shop it was time to go to Artemis temple (or the ruins) Again, our guide Cem did a fantastic service for M. To show and explain how the temple was constructed and how it looked. After Artemis, our tour for today was finished. We drove back to Kusadasi/port. We asked to be dropped off in the middle of the city centre and an option for buying real electronics. M wireless headphones are not working 😞 it won’t work on his new iPhone… So Mr Norwaylady has tried all the tricks and tips in google…. NO So M has used Mr’s on ear headset from Bose the last days. So M wanted to shop an in ear pair… We found the electric shop our guide recommended. It was a large variety of items to choose from. So M was happy and the price was very reasonable. (We found the same JbL pair in the duty free store at the port, 30$ more. That duty free store and the one in Istanbul are definitely not duty free😂😂 it’s really expensive, so buyers be warned) We had a little stroll in the shopping streets and Grand Bazar. M and Mr was joking about getting matching Dolche Gabbana silk shorts and shirt 👕 M was really laughing when saw the stores and everything you could buy fake. We had a stop at the optical store, M needed a new pair of sunglasses 🕶️ The pair he had home is living on the edge of survival🤪😆🕶️😅 He found a new pair and it was very good price. The optical store sells real brands. prices for real sunglasses 🕶️ are very reasonable compared to home in Norway 🇳🇴. It’s Atasun Optical in the Main Street. Service was good. The electronic store is just next door🙂 After our walk, M was ready for return to the ship. He was ready to get the new headset to work🎵🎵🎵 I love all the pics! Especially the pics of the furry sights! 🙂 Edited July 2 by WrittenOnYourHeart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Norwaylady Posted July 3 Author #129 Share Posted July 3 Auntie was more than willing and ready for a pedicure😂😅 So I had booked fire & ice pedicure onboard at 17.00. Yes it’s pricey…. But it was so worth it now😛 House renovation and all the carrying on heavy equipment and stuff is making its signature on my feet 👣🫣 My therapist was friendly and very good at process making my nails look good again🥰 It was a quick change of clothes and down to the show. Tonight’s show is music 🎵 Sempra 🎵 The orchestra is backing. Sempra is rock meeting country. They picked from the exclusive catalog of big hits from Dolly, Queen etc. So everyone was happy 😃 M run off to X Club before the show, he has linked up with some boys🥰 So they were together before dinner🫶🏻 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Norwaylady Posted July 3 Author #130 Share Posted July 3 Dinner tonight was more quiet, yesterday it was a full house and extra busy. Tonight everyone was toured out😂😂😂 Many empty tables😅 and probably lots of buffet eaters….. Tonight’s menu We had consume, salad, onion soup, Orzo, salmon and chicken rigatoni. Dessert Lava cake and crème brûlée M run off to X Club after dessert, they had karaoke 🎤 night🎶🎶🎶 We went to our stateroom, so auntie could go to sleep 💤😝 Mr needs to do the evening shift😜 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Norwaylady Posted July 3 Author #131 Share Posted July 3 Cruise Compass Day 5 Rhodes 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Norwaylady Posted July 3 Author #132 Share Posted July 3 13 hours ago, NBliving said: @Norwaylady As usual, your review is entertaining and informative! What company did you tour with in Kusadasi? It looked like a perfect mix of what I would want to see. I checked out several different companies. Pricing is all over the place. From decent to expensive for the same tour. It was at a point of hilarious, the driver+guide, but then tickets etc was extra. And the tickets to Ephesus have really skyrocketed…. 😱😳 First visit here and it was around 4/5€ now the tickets are 40€ each person. Last year tickets was 25€….. Then you need to add Virgin Mary’s house. So I was not happy about the prices when I contacted companies directly. They all quoted me prices around 250-300€ + entry tickets. for 3 people, 5h tour. So I went to my “friend” Viator…. Well, bingo. Here the price included tickets and it could be private🙂 and it all landed in on around 300€. Company is called Kusadasi Private Tour. guide/driver was good and it’s a tour you can customise from the start to end. Guide contacted me after booking and I told him our preference and who’s going to be touring with him. Cem did an excellent service to explain and show M details of Ephesus and how it was built. We have visited before, and it is a art to explain to a teenager😅 Have absolutely nothing to say bad about this tour. 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Norwaylady Posted July 3 Author #133 Share Posted July 3 We went down to mdr breakfast 08.00. A little later after our plans… M was slowly getting ready😜 M had the express breakfast and I had my usual Greek 🇬🇷 yogurt and berries. Mr ordered cottage cheese and fruit. Well, hello 👋🏻 our server came back to Mr, I’m sorry sir, we are out of cottage cheese😜😂 So he got Greek yogurt instead. At 08.35 we left the ship. Meeting time/departure in the harbour 09.00. It’s a 5-10 minutes walk from the ship. Today’s plan is a fishing 🎣 trip Yes, the Norwegians goes fishing 🎣 Lunch will be catch of the day. Who gets the biggest fish 🐠???? 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Norwaylady Posted July 3 Author #134 Share Posted July 3 We are fishing 🎣 today. I booked a tour on Skevos Fishing 🎣 It’s maximum 10 guests onboard. And they have all equipment and gear for the day. Trip includes catch of the day and drinks. Tour was supposed to start 09.00. It’s a 5.minute walk from the ship. They are located in the harbour. We arrived 08.50. A party of 3 and single person had arrived just before us. We missed 2 persons. Our captain said that we waited for 2 persons. They had ordered pick-up service but they were not at the hotel…. At 09.10 they called and said that they had changed hotel and was waiting in the reception😳😑😬🙄 Captain was not happy….. So we waited until 09.30 before they arrived….. Then the lady said I’m not going fishing, I will go shopping in town🫥 So then we started our engine and left the port. As soon as we left the harbour area we started to fish 🎣 It was 2 fishing stations, so it was 5.minutes turns between the guests. We had luck 🍀 After arriving at the bottom fishing area, we all got a fishing 🎣 and started fishing….. You could feel the fish eating our bate….🤭 Our luck 🍀 was maybe not the best this time. We had some tiny fishes 🐟 After 1,5h we fired up the bbq on our aft area. Yesterday they had much better luck 🍀 They had 6-8kg tunas and some others in large size. We only had the aquarium size🤣🤣🤣 IMG_5442.mov Mr & M was happy and had fun😎🎣 When it was time to prepare for lunchtime, it was bathing time for the guests. We jumped into the clear water and had a great time😎 Captain had some fish “on storage” for days like this😝 It was sea bass from the local fishermen. They were bbq and served with Greek 🇬🇷 salad 🥗 and toasted bread. Really nice 👌🏻 After lunchtime it was time to make our way back to port😎 We arrived back 13.40. M was kinda keen on going back onboard… (so he could game on his phone 📱) We said that we were going to have a look inside the old town. It’s a unesco town, so he should have a look 👀 M was really surprised when we passed the walls and he discovered that this was a very special place. We had an ice cream while we looked around town. At 15.15 we said that it was okay for us to go back onboard⚓️ 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trixsea Posted July 3 #135 Share Posted July 3 I always love your reviews!! Thank you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare NBliving Posted July 3 #136 Share Posted July 3 10 hours ago, Norwaylady said: I checked out several different companies. Pricing is all over the place. From decent to expensive for the same tour. It was at a point of hilarious, the driver+guide, but then tickets etc was extra. And the tickets to Ephesus have really skyrocketed…. 😱😳 First visit here and it was around 4/5€ now the tickets are 40€ each person. Last year tickets was 25€….. Then you need to add Virgin Mary’s house. So I was not happy about the prices when I contacted companies directly. They all quoted me prices around 250-300€ + entry tickets. for 3 people, 5h tour. So I went to my “friend” Viator…. Well, bingo. Here the price included tickets and it could be private🙂 and it all landed in on around 300€. Company is called Kusadasi Private Tour. guide/driver was good and it’s a tour you can customise from the start to end. Guide contacted me after booking and I told him our preference and who’s going to be touring with him. Cem did an excellent service to explain and show M details of Ephesus and how it was built. We have visited before, and it is a art to explain to a teenager😅 Have absolutely nothing to say bad about this tour. Thank you so much! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barwick Cruiser Posted July 3 #137 Share Posted July 3 Did they clean your fish at lunchtime or did you have to fillet it yourself? I love fish but…🤔 So glad you encouraged M to explore the town with you…games will always be there but the experience of a UNESCO site isn’t to be missed! Such a great TR…thank you! Oh, need to see the spruced up toes! 🥂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CardowMD Posted July 3 #138 Share Posted July 3 Rhodes is one of my favorite Greek islands! Main town is flat and easy to walk around. Great food, had grilled sardines, but didn’t go fishing to catch them like you all! Glad M is having a good time! Even happier Mr. Doesn’t have to work the entire cruise, like his last one in the Caribbean! Thanks for sharing all of these experiences! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Norwaylady Posted July 3 Author #139 Share Posted July 3 1 hour ago, Barwick Cruiser said: Did they clean your fish at lunchtime or did you have to fillet it yourself? I love fish but…🤔 So glad you encouraged M to explore the town with you…games will always be there but the experience of a UNESCO site isn’t to be missed! Such a great TR…thank you! Oh, need to see the spruced up toes! 🥂 It was empty inside. So you needed to take it apart by your self. im very sure that the crew would help you if needed😉 We are black belt in making the fish fillet😁😋😋😋 5 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Norwaylady Posted July 3 Author #140 Share Posted July 3 We returned back to the ship⚓️ M went into the shower and off to the teens friends. We went upstairs to relax a bit on a sunny lounger. At 16.30 they had a Greek 🇬🇷 folklore dance show on pool deck. At 17.15 mr & I decided it was time to go downstairs to get ready for evening chic🥰 Looking okay 👌🏻 for evening chic😅 Tonight’s show is production show Star Factory. 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare hcat Posted July 3 #141 Share Posted July 3 4 hours ago, Norwaylady said: We are fishing 🎣 today. I booked a tour on Skevos Fishing 🎣 It’s maximum 10 guests onboard. And they have all equipment and gear for the day. Trip includes catch of the day and drinks. Tour was supposed to start 09.00. It’s a 5.minute walk from the ship. They are located in the harbour. We arrived 08.50. A party of 3 and single person had arrived just before us. We missed 2 persons. Our captain said that we waited for 2 persons. They had ordered pick-up service but they were not at the hotel…. At 09.10 they called and said that they had changed hotel and was waiting in the reception😳😑😬🙄 Captain was not happy….. So we waited until 09.30 before they arrived….. Then the lady said I’m not going fishing, I will go shopping in town🫥 So then we started our engine and left the port. As soon as we left the harbour area we started to fish 🎣 It was 2 fishing stations, so it was 5.minutes turns between the guests. We had luck 🍀 After arriving at the bottom fishing area, we all got a fishing 🎣 and started fishing….. You could feel the fish eating our bate….🤭 Our luck 🍀 was maybe not the best this time. We had some tiny fishes 🐟 After 1,5h we fired up the bbq on our aft area. Yesterday they had much better luck 🍀 They had 6-8kg tunas and some others in large size. We only had the aquarium size🤣🤣🤣 IMG_5442.mov 18.06 MB · 0 downloads Mr & M was happy and had fun😎🎣 When it was time to prepare for lunchtime, it was bathing time for the guests. We jumped into the clear water and had a great time😎 Captain had some fish “on storage” for days like this😝 It was sea bass from the local fishermen. They were bbq and served with Greek 🇬🇷 salad 🥗 and toasted bread. Really nice 👌🏻 After lunchtime it was time to make our way back to port😎 We arrived back 13.40. M was kinda keen on going back onboard… (so he could game on his phone 📱) We said that we were going to have a look inside the old town. It’s a unesco town, so he should have a look 👀 M was really surprised when we passed the walls and he discovered that this was a very special place. We had an ice cream while we looked around town. At 15.15 we said that it was okay for us to go back onboard⚓️ Fishing looked fun! But if you go back again... The old town is amazing..history, good food, authentic shops! Involves alot of walking so maybe not good for when u bring the Queen! One of our fav places! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arzeena Posted July 3 #142 Share Posted July 3 @Norwaylady You and Mr are looking very chic for chic night. Wonderful pictures! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lastdance Posted July 3 #143 Share Posted July 3 @Norwaylady Thanks so much for the photos of Mary’s House; those brought back lots of fascinating memories...also for Ephesus, as I love Turkey. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Norwaylady Posted July 4 Author #144 Share Posted July 4 Show was great, StarFactory is a good show🤩 After the show in grand foyer it was officers picture. We went up to Al bacio to have a pre dinner cocktail and enjoy the live music 🎵 It was the good house band. M was a teens club😅 Tonight’s dinner was evening chic/lobster night. Today’s menu M had plans in X Club. So he ran in to our table and said, lobster 🦞 please and rapid rapid😂🤪🤪🤪 Andy fixed him a lobster 🦞 dinner and he left on time for his X Club event. We had the salmon roulette, lobster and beef wellington. Dessert The pear and apple 🍎 pie Dinner tasted excellent. Everything has tasted great every night as of now. knock ✊ on wood 🪵 Then it was bedtime🙃 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Norwaylady Posted July 4 Author #145 Share Posted July 4 When we returned to our stateroom…. The view you don’t want was there….😩🫣🫠 Come on! It’s only Wednesday🥺 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Norwaylady Posted July 4 Author #146 Share Posted July 4 🇺🇸🇺🇸🥳🇺🇸🇺🇸 Happy 4. Of July to all Americans Have a wonderful day! 9 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Norwaylady Posted July 4 Author #147 Share Posted July 4 Cruise Compass Day 6 Mykonos 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Norwaylady Posted July 4 Author #148 Share Posted July 4 Mykonos 🇬🇷⚓️🇬🇷 Today’s plan was city walk, windmills and a beach 🏖️ break. M and Mr was not quick this morning🤪😂 I was up and jumping 06.30😆 So at 08.00 I said it’s time for breakfast. It was buffet day🤪👌🏻😂 M & Mr was happy happy🥰 It was not crowded at all and the terrace was very quiet👌🏻 After breakfast it was time to get ready for a day outside😎 When we left our stateroom they declared free tenders. That was a 10.00. We went straight to the windmill’s via Little Venice. Behind the windmills it’s a walking path that will take you to the beach you see behind them. It’s a sandy beach 🏖️ it has a lifeguard on duty in season. It’s a part that belongs to the beach club, rest is public. At the beach club you can rent umbrella and loungers. We went the el’cheapo style🤣🤣 Sand and towel😂 We spent 2,5h swimming and enjoying the sun🌞 Then we decided it was time to go into town and have a stroll around. We stopped for an ice cream on our way and a local beer 🍺 YES, you know… It’s beer time😝 We walked around in the narrow streets of Mykonos. M was really 🤔 how to fit a car??? He did understand why all cars are miniature or a Vespa😅🛵🛵🛵 Meet some of the 🐈⬛, went inside a church or two along the way. And M did some shopping 🛍️ He wanted to pick up a travel gift for his mother and stepfather. (This is a “sport” to find the most crazy and hilarious thing😆) For the stepfather/ the “father” (the biological father is dead, he past away 7years ago) He found a “Greek” shot glass of a lady, a Greek good deck of cards “🍍🍍🍍” themed. And a miniature bottle of Ouzo that matches the deck of cards to fill into the shot glass😅🤪😜 For the mother, we found a lovely bracelet made of natural stones from Greece 🇬🇷 He wanted something nice for her🥰 So I said where we should go😊 He picked it by himself😌 And for his younger brother he bought a bottle opener of “Greek” fun😅😆 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Norwaylady Posted July 4 Author #149 Share Posted July 4 We returned to the ship a little after 15.00. No lines for tenders and straight back onboard in 10.minutes from our arrival at the pier to ship. We picked up something to drink in Al Bacio ( cleaning would killed us we sat down😅 full of sand and salt) todays canapés We went upstairs and dropped off the dirty beach towels and continued upstairs. M & Mr had decided it was a burger 🍔 day for lunch😎 I picked up some salad 🥗 and joined the team at Mast Grill😎 M went off to X Club, some of the new friends were also back onboard😅🥰😎 Mr went for a swim and I was the “guard” of stuff😂😂 11 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare countess5 Posted July 4 #150 Share Posted July 4 Well I just caught up on your adventures! We did the same cruise a few years ago on Silhouette and loved all the ports. The weather looks great! It’s great that you have treated your nephew with the cruise and the bonus is he loves it and has been bitten by the cruise bug! We have treated our youngest nephew to travel. 21 years old we took him to Vegas and for his 30th a cruise around the Caribbean. Not having children it’s great to have him join us on our travels at times. Enjoy the rest of your cruise and time together! Cheers! P S Thanks for the wishes of a Happy 4th of July! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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