Recommendations for Italy and Greece

[sunflowr15]

We recently returned from a cruise on Celebrity's Millenium and I wanted to give some details from our trip. First, in Livorno we used a private guide named Paola Migliorni who gave us a private tour of Florence and stopped in Pisa so we could climb the Leaning Tower. Paola was a terrific guide and she really knew tons about history and art. We learned a lot and had a fabulous day. You can contact Paola at http://www.florencetour.com and info@florencetour.com. In Rome we met our guide named Frederica and saw so much of Rome in just one day. Prior to the trip she asked us about our interests, and we spent most of the day learning about ancient Rome and seeing all the sights. Later we spent about two hours at the Vatican. Frederica can tailor the tour to whatever you want to see though. You can reach her at info@guidaturisticaroma.it

 

While you are in Mykonos, Greece, we strongly recommend a restaurant called Ta Kioynia. The cruise line recommends Niko's, which is right near Ta Kioynia, but Niko's is very crowded, busy, and noisy. Just walk one more block up and you will see Ta Kioynia at Square Agias Monis-Kastro. Everyone there is extremely friendly and they speak English. We had a lovely experience there, dining outside in the fresh air and taking in the atmosphere. The food was also delicious and they offered wonderful traditional Greek food with an easy to read English translation also. If you eat on shore while in Mykonos, definately check this restaurant out.

[missyal]

Sunflowr15--Thank you so much for your post. You left us wanting more!! Can you tell us anything about some of your other stops like Athens, Dubrovnik, Barcelona, etc? Anthing about the ship we should know? Good food, easy tendering, things to do on sea days? We are doing this trip on 9/18 and can't wait!!

 

Thank you--hope you had a great time!

Missyal

[sunflowr15]

Missyal,

 

Sorry it took me a while to write back to you. I hadn't checked the site in a while. I will give you a brief description of each port and what we did. We were on a budget and tried to do a lot for less money.

 

Villefranche - we decided to take it easy since we had spent four days in Barcelona and were a bit tired. We took the tender (which was very easy and smooth) to Villefranche and then walked uphill for about 5-10 min. to catch the bus to Nice. Once in Nice we wandered around, window shopped, and sat on the beach. We didn't do anything fancy or book a tour or anything.

 

Naples - In Naples we had a very busy day with a lot of walking. We walked off the ship and turned right and went to a building in the parking lot that sold what I think are called Arte Cards. There were green buses around the building. The Arte Card lets you into two attractions (we chose Pompeii and Hurculaneum) for free and free transportation all day on any kind of transport. We took the bus to Pompeii (about 20 min) and toured there on our own. Then we took the Circumvesuvia (train) to Hurculaneum and visited there on our own. Finally we took the Circumvesuvia back to Naples. I definately recommend taking a taxi from the Naples train station to the ship. We did not and it was a long long walk in a very not nice neighborhood.

 

Mykonos - our best day on the cruise! We loved it. We rented a scooter (motorized) for fifteen euros each and went all over the island. We visited three beaches, castle ruins, and saw so much of the beautiful scenery. Then we returned to the ship on our scooter, showered for dinner, went back to town on the scooter. We had a fabulous dinner in the restaurant I mentioned in my first posting.

 

Santorini - we got off the ship at about 10:30 and bought tickets for the volcano and hot springs tour. The volcano was awesome, but tiring and hot. The hot springs were cool in my opinion although my husband was a bit disappointed. You need to swim in the ocean for about 5 min to the hot springs and then you are floating in muddy volcanic hot springs, but when would I ever be able to do that? So I liked it. Then we returned to the port and rode a donkey to the top to town. We walked around for a while, shopped, etc. and then went down on the cable car.

 

Athens - a very interesting day. We refused to pay the sky high prices for a cab to the Acropolis so we took the bus with help from a kind local. Bus 049 takes you about 15 min walk from the Acropolis but it was pretty confusing. We enjoyed the Acropolis, walked the Plaka and then went back to the ship by metro. I think we could have gotten more out of the Acropolis had we had a tour guide. Even though I don't regularly like to take ship tours, I might recommend some kind of tour guide at the Acropolis or taking a ship tour if you don't want to walk a lot and worry about the bus.

 

Dubrovnik - We took the shuttle to the old town. First we walked the walls to get an overview of the city. Breathtaking views and definately something to do. Then we walked the towns' streets and explored, shopped, ate gelatto. The place is very small so you can't get lost, but I enjoyed it very much.

 

Venice - didn't do much here. We were too tired. We should have taken a tour even if it was with the ship. We did see St. Mark's square and walk around a while. A cool thing to do if you don't mind birds is buy a handfull of corn kernels for one euro and feed the pigeons. My husband did it and we got some cool pictures.

 

Overall we had a fantastic cruise with excellent service. The food is great. Just as a tip, if they don't have something you like on the menu, just ask and they will try their best to get it for you. My husband and I are not fans of salad and we had shrimp coctail nearly every night in place of a salad just because we asked. Don't be afraid to ask if it's not on the menu. We loved the sit-down restaurant and only missed dinner there one night - when we were in Mykonos.

 

Well I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

Happy Cruising!

Sunflowr15

[missyal]

Sunflower--thanks so much for getting back to me. I know it's no fun looking at the posts after your cruise, but maybe you will plan another one soon. I'm glad you had a great trip.

 

Missyal

[Putz]

We're booked on Millie for 8/26/05 (only 365 days to go) and I'm definitely printing off your itinerary to use as a guide. Glad to hear you can do a lot of touring on your own. Thanks for your great review!

[Putz]

Sunflowr15 - Forgot to ask...can you remember what you paid for the Arte Card in Naples.

 

Thanks.

[Judith02]

Please describe your four days in Barcelona. We are looking for suggestions for sights and restaurants.

[grabbit97]

ARTE CARD, where did you buy this .. in relation to where you got off the ship, and did you take the BUS, it was GREEN, correct? Please tell me exactly how you did this .. we are gong on SATURDAY 8/30 to MEDD.... will be in NAPLES on a Thursday.

THANKS MUCH

Nat