Emerald June 27th

[Billym1507]

Hi.

8 of us will be doing a 2 week cruise from Corfu starting on the 27th of June. The Emerald was my 1st cruise and I can,t wait to get back on board. I have sailed on the QM2 from New York doing the Carribbean, it was a beautiful ship and I had a great time but for me Thomson are far better. I have also been on the Celibration and Destiny. Is there anyone else out there on the same cruise? and what is your favourite Thomson ship?

Regards.

Billy.

[taylaboo]

Hi Billy we are doing the same cruise starting 13th June. Did the Red Sea cruise on the Celebration last November and totally agree. You can't beat Thomsons for value for money and service.

Regards

Taylaboo

[wato1963]

i'm going on the Emerald on the 6th june

can't wait :)

[sagalout1954]

Hope you 3 'report back' after your trip. We're cruise virgins and are doing this on 3 October, I want you all to tell me how fantastic it was.

 

If you get bored check out deck 7, cabin 720 for me - that's where we're going to be.

 

Have a good trip.

[wato1963]

will do sagalout,i will do a review for the board when i

get back

[Billym1507]

I will also do a report. You have picked a great cruise for your 1st time. Santorini is probably my fovourite port even though my wife spent a few Bob on jewelry. Croatia was amazing. I could go on and on but wll wait till I come back.

Billy.

[taylaboo]

Hi Billy We are doing the same cruise on 13th June. See you have been on the Emerald before. What is she like? We did the Celebration in November and loved it. Our first cruise and now we are dedicated cruisers.

Regards

Taylaboo

[Billym1507]

Hi Taylaboo.

You will love the Emerald. It is smaller that the Celibration but I think even more friendly and the ports are a lot nicer. Dont miss Santorini. You get a chair lift up the mountain to a beautiful little place with great views so take your camera. There is a nice bar next door to the casino. I dont remember the name of it, but anyway you can go out the back door and stand there watching the sun go down with a gin n tonic, and not have a worry in the world. That was my best time of the day.

You will also find although the ship is smaller the rooms are bigger than the Celibration.

Are you doing the 2 weeks? If you are I will be boarding as you are leaving.

Anyway have a great time I am sure you will enjoy it.

I only went on my 1st cruise to stop my wife nagging, and now I am hooked.

Billy.

[taylaboo]

Hi Billy Thanks for the info. Only doing one week. Pearls of the Aegean from 13th June. Have friend in Corfu so she is picking us up at port at end of cruise and we are staying with her for a week. Will do a post of the cruise when we get to hers for you to read. 8 weeks tomorrow (not that I'm counting!!)

Regards

Taylaboo

[taylaboo]

Hi all just read the Cruise News on this site and Thomsons are getting rid of the Emerald in October. Any views?

Regards

Taylaboo

[welsh cruiser]

We are doing the emerald 6th Jun - first time cruisers so complete beginners. If we don't want to go on the excursions organised by the ship how do we go about organisng our own?

[kate52]

If you want to hire private drivers there is a lot of info and recommendations on the med ports of call board on this site. If you just want to get off and explore places by yourselves, that can be easily done in most of the ports. We did this trip on the Emerald a few years ago, and one or two of the ports are different, so I hope this info is up to date.

Venice- about 10-15 minutes walk from Piazza Roma, the last place cars are allowed. Take a number 1 vaporetto right down the grand canal, you can then explore San Marco and walk back through Rialto.

Dubrovnik- we docked a few miles away and there was no shuttle bus. This isn't always the case. There was also a shortage of taxis as other big ships in. It was easy to get a local bus into town, (a couple of miles) but the traffic coming back was horrendous. The taxi queue was very long so it was the bus again, crowded and hot!

Trieste was a pleasant surprise- docked in town, lovely buildings and squares, nothing momentous but very nice to explore.

Corfu- the new port is a couple of miles from town, and again traffic is the issue here. We managed to get a taxi there and walked back. We also went on a half day trip to Paleokastritsa- it was a very reasonable and enjoyable way to see a bit more of the island.

Wherever you are, you will spot a lot of your fellow cruisers around, which is reassuring! Just follow them, they are bound to know where they are going!

This was a real delight for us, hope you enjoy it.

[welsh cruiser]

Thanks, we are both looking forward to our trip if nervous but reading through the forums there will be lots of fellow cruisers with more experience to ask.

[jenny wren]

Try not to be nervous!!! We found that the Thomson staff were very helpful to people doing their own thing....They give you maps of each port and sometimes there are port talks a day or two before you arrive so keep a look out in the daily paper. Venice we just got the ships excursion which dropped us off and left us to our own devices for a few hours. dubrovnik was a taxi ride to the city gates. Corfu we walked to the old town and back again which was about half an hour each way...we also did a half day to the northwest of the island on the middle Saturday of our fortnight. santorini we got the tender ashore and then wandered on our own ... up in the cable car to the top and walked down the steps which took three quarters of an hour!!! Trieste we just wandered and enjoyed the architecture. Kusadasi in Turkey was another of our stops where we just walked along the seafront and explored on our own.

 

We usually pick one ships excursion per week and the rest of the time do our own thing....we even went to Rome on the train last year and neither of us speak Italian but it was really easy!!