7/14/2014 - 12-Night Mediterranean Cruise (with Greece) Venice to Barcelona

[Lynn G]

Scott is really excited about this trip, mostly because we are going over early and trying to catch a few stages of the Tour de France.

 

[denise]

Scott is really excited about this trip, mostly because we are going over early and trying to catch a few stages of the Tour de France.

who made the cute with the Mickey and Greek is the word graphic? I would love to make a magnet with this...

 

[Lynn G]

who made the cute with the Mickey and Greek is the word graphic? I would love to make a magnet with this...

It came from TDC Nala from the last Greece cruise. As it still seems appropriate, I left it. If you want, I can contact here and see if she has any objections to it being used.

 

[MPS516]

Scott is really excited about this trip, mostly because we are going over early and trying to catch a few stages of the Tour de France.

Oh Ow, had not considered this we are planning an early arrival as well and traveling the Alps, better see where we can get rooms would love to come across the Tour judging from the crowds would really need to calculate where we could see it pass

 

[SailingSeas]

Lynn, can I ask who you used for your Athens tour? I think that's the only port i want to get something structured in. I'm traveling with someone who used to live in Greece, so that is helpful.

 

[denise]

we want to go somewhere before the cruise for awhile too but just can't decide...trying to find a trade in interval...nothing yet....

 

[Lynn G]

Oh Ow, had not considered this we are planning an early arrival as well and traveling the Alps, better see where we can get rooms would love to come across the Tour judging from the crowds would really need to calculate where we could see it pass

It looks like we can catch the stages in England, and then rumor has it the next stages will be in Belgium, or we figured, they might be in Normandy or Brittany, I think we will be on the ship before the mountain stages, but we will not know for sure until October.

Lynn, can I ask who you used for your Athens tour? I think that's the only port i want to get something structured in. I'm traveling with someone who used to live in Greece, so that is helpful.

It was set up by friends of ours, I will have to check with them to see who it was.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

On board the July 13th 2013 cruise(last day) and just booked for this cruise in 2014.

Nine in all next year - Mom, Brother, Sister in law, niece, nephew, me Sean(46), wife Crystal(36), Daugher Daytona(11) and Son Geoffrey(8).

 

[keenercam]

Welcome Sean & family! Can't wait to hear about your trip!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Just got off the most recent cruise to Greece. We fly out of Barcelona tomorrow. In my post cruise depression, I was envious of the families at our hotel (Renaissance) getting ready to start their cruise to Venice. The eastern med was so great. Athens, Mykonos and Kusadasi were all terrific ports. We took private tours in Athens and Kusadasi and ran into a number of Disney groups. The Acropolis and Ephesus are amazing but very hot. Our guide took us by a Turkish rug store. They were nice but I had no interest and will be sure to skip that next yr. In Mykonos we just wandered around and had a wonderful relaxing lunch. As great as this trip was, I think the Venice-Barcelona itinerary is going to be even better. Can't wait.

 

[keenercam]

Kevin - So glad you will be joining us. Will look forward to hearing more about your tours and tour guides. Safe travels!

 

[SailingSeas]

I think that we need to make it a rule for those coming off the boat and onto this itinerary, that they have to spill the beans on how each day went. No more teases about how wonderful it is, i can't stand the wait! lol!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Arrived back home with jet lagged kids in full swing.
While it's fresh on my mind, I figured I'd share my thoughts on flights out of Barcelona. We previously had booked an 11am flight the day of disembarkation. Months before the cruise the flight time changed to 10:30am. I got nervous and asked for it to be changed to the following day. Well, I won't worry about that again. They mentioned on board that if you have an early flight before 10:30am then you should speak to guest relations. So I take that to mean anything after 10:30 is fine by DCL and before you may have to make special arrangements, but it's still doable. We were docked by the time I woke up at 5:30am. As much as I love being on vacation and in Barcelona and I love pre cruise days, the moment my cruise is done I'm ready to go home.

BTW, once we disembarked back into the Barcelona port I noticed to the left in the area where they store luggage was a spot for Delta. In the mass chaos of finding bags and juggling 3 young kids, I did not stop to ask. Does DCL have special arrangements with Delta to check in you bags at the Barcelona port so you don't have to lug them over to the airport? If so, that's a nice perk.

 

[Scraptographer]

Just back from the 13 July Med cruise with Greece and booked this cruise for next year, although we are not 100% sure we can make it yet from a work perspective.

On this trip we did the Athens on your own excursion through Disney and it was truly one of the best excursions we did. I need to clarify up front that in preparation for our trip we had purchased/downloaded a video course by Dr John Hale from The Great Courses company about travelling through Greece and Turkey. NOTE: do not pay full price for this course if you check it out, they put their courses on sale every couple of weeks. The course covers most of the ports we will visit on this next trip and is an excellent source of research. We also copied the relevant episodes related to Athens, Mykonos and Ephesus to my iPad. The course also includes material on Rhodes, Crete and Santorini among other Greek and Turkish archaeological sites.

When we checked out the Disney excursions available they did not have an excursion that covered all of the sites that we wanted to see. Based on the two 30 minute videos on Athens by Prof Hale, we felt very comfortable checking out the sites in Athens that we wanted to see on our own.

The bus dropped us off at the Arch of Hadrian in Athens around 9:30 am, and we had to return there by 2:30 pm. We quickly walked the short distance to the Acropolis and bought our tickets to get in. Tickets for adults cost 12€ each, and tickets for kids cost 6€ each, but we had to show their student IDs, not just the kids in order to get the reduced price! These tickets then gave you access to the majority of the sites around the 'rock'.

The queue for tickets was long but moved fast (and was a separate line to the left of the entrance queue). We also chose to divide and conquer, and while DH and DS bought the tickets, DD and I lined up in the entrance queue. And the entrance queue was a massive choke point of people, mostly tour groups, as Rick Steve's describes in his guidebook. We amused ourselves during our wait by watching the stray dogs and cats that are everywhere!

We managed to actually make it through the line up and through the main entrance gate by 10 am (roughly) and then we viewed (when i say viewed i usually mean took pictures of) the Odeon of Herodes Atticus on our way up the hill. Once finally through the Propylaea (another choke point), the view you get of the Parthenon is actually the back of it, and right now it is under heavy scaffolding and re-construction, the 'postcard' view that you probably want is around the other side, near the base on the left as you look at it (which is probably where Mickey was standing in Disney's Greece publicity photos).

After viewing the Parthenon from the entry, we headed left towards the temple of Athena, I.e. the small building with the Erectheion and the Porch of the Caryatids. We wandered around the buildings and checked out the view of Athens, including the long distance views of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Arch of Hadrian and the Temple of Hephaestus from high above, from near the huge flag of Greece, took our postcard family pictures of the Parthenon and then headed back down off the 'rock'. Two things to note, up on the Acropolis it is extremely windy and dusty, and leaving the Acropolis takes about as long as climbing up, again due to the choke point at the Propylaia.

Once we broke free of the crowds, we turned right at the bottom of the hill and headed for the Agora. Our tickets from the Acropolis also got us in here as well as at the rest of the sites i will mention. Our main goal was the Temple of Hephaestus, but we also saw the rebuilt Stoa of Attalos and the remaining statues that are all that is left of the Odeum of Agrippa. Note, at the entrance to the Agora there is a water fountain where you can refill your water bottles that you emptied out at the Acropolis, so don't throw the bottles away. Also, when you are required to show your tickets to gain entrance at the sites, pick up a brochure, because although the brochures look alike from a distance, they are each site specific.

Most of the rest of the Agora is pretty much rubble, very ancient rubble that the 'pillar police' will yell at you if you sit on etc (we saw a couple of girls who were using the broken columns for a seat get informed that the columns were history, not props for a photo shoot .

Next it was on to the Roman Forum to view the Temple of the Winds, a very cool structure with a water clock in it. At that point we took a pass on the Kerameikos and the Acropolis museum as we headed through the Plaka, a long street that headed us diagonally toward the monument of Lysicrates.

We really enjoyed the Plaka, and the shop keepers were friendly and helpful. A couple even showed me other stores to shop at when they didn't have a 'cheesy' enough 'touristic' picture frame for me to buy .

Once we hit the end of that long street ( and the Lysicrates monument) we headed for the nearby Theatre of Dyonisos, where we could actually sit on the seats etc. Next we headed to the Odeon of Herodes Atticus to see it from a closer vantage point, although if you are short on time you can skip this as you can't actually get in to the odeon as it is still a working theatre.

Heading back toward the main pedestrian street we bought a few bags of nuts that the street vendors sell and then headed to check out the Arch of Hadrian and the Temple of Olympian Zeus up close and personal. The nuts by the way always get special mention from our kids when we ask what they liked about Athens, something about the peanuts with sesame seeds and honey must have really appealed to them, even more than the spicy nuts . The kids also enjoyed the freedom to roam around , and yes to goof around a little, more than on an official excursion.

Overall, we did not spend anytime inside museums because we were having too much fun just feasting our eyes on everything there was to see and experience on our 'walk around the rock'. And this worked very well for us because my DH and I had watched the John Hale videos a couple of times. As well, my kids are big Percy Jackson/Rick Riordan fans, and therefore they had a point of reference for most of the Greek gods related to the sites we saw. And although Athens around the Acropolis was very easy to navigate, my DH does have an amazing sense of direction , unlike his DW .

Another family we spoke to on this excursion had done the Acropolis and the Plaka, including a relaxing lunch in Athens. Overall, everyone made their timings and the bus did not have to wait for anyone. By mid-afternoon we were back on the ship, cooling off in the pool and relaxing on deck.

Something else to consider is purchasing a flip book, sold at most souvenir shops in Athens, for around 10€ (I think). The book we bought at the end of our day is called, Athens The Monuments with Reconstructions, and includes pictures of the major sites as they are today with transparencies that flip over top of the pictures and show how the site looked 'back in the day', as well as a brief history/description of that site. It would have been neat to have with us at the sites, but we probably would not have had time to read it on the go.

If we manage to make the 2014 cruise and visit Athens again, we will probably consider an excursion that includes the Acropolis (because it is there and really, it makes a trip to Athens from our point of view) combined with a beach excursion, since it would be hard to duplicate the enjoyment of this trip.

 

[mum&son]

Also home and missing the magic

1st cruise made wonderful by great dining friends plus Rohan our host plus Bojan and I Nyoman our servers
Many thanks to all

 

[Cousin Orville]

Thanks for the recommendation on The Great Courses lectures. I downloaded the videos and have already watched the Acropolis. I can see this will be a great series of lectures.

We also did a private tour. Hit the Temple of Zeus, the Acropolis, the Agora, lunch in the Plaka and the Acropolis museum. It will be tough to decide what to do next year. The Acropolis is amazing, but we may try to do something a bit different next time, such as Poseiden's temple. One tip for everyone going to the Acropolis... Make sure you bring sun glasses. It's so windy, the dust and can blow in your eyes. My 3 yo had his own sun glasses and I gave my pair to my eight yr old.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

Excursion thoughts. We did four excursions and the one through Disney was the worst. In fact I ran into the head of excursions and my family met with him and the final day. He said that they had plenty of negative feedback both in terms of price and quality. They also had not as much uptake on the excursions, which probably had more to do with the demographic change to Europeans than anything.

He wanted to see all my research and it blew my away that he had never heard of Rick Steves or Disboards. He had just been hired by Disney to htsrun Excursions for their European cruises. It sounded like I had put more work into researching excursions in my spare time than he had for his job which might have been part of the problem.

Anyways my thoughts

Athens - went with Disney. Tour was very efficient but the tour guide was not passionate about what she did. We got back right at the appointed time for leaving for the bus and she was already leaving. I asked her if she thought everybody was here and to count and she just said we were leaving. Clock watchers. Hate em. Really was not worth the price but my Mother was scared of a wildcat strike in Athens that happened to somebody on a prior cruise.

Ephasus - went with Melitours. They were absolutely spectacular. Did a tour of Ephasus with them and then back to their ranch for a lunch where everythihg was grown on the ranch. Best food of the entire cruise. Definitely my favorite day of the cruise. Gratitude to Asli and Ata for the day

Malta - went with Amy Pace. She was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Everything was her way though. We had one last stop before going back to the cruise ship was a walking tour and it was hard to get her to skip it.

 

[denise]

great information about the excursions...thanks so much...

We have done Disney tours and also some on our own. We have always enjoyed the ones on our own so much better. When we did the Med in '07 I met another family on the DIS and she arranged private tours at two different stops. They were both fabulous.
On the Baltic cruise our 2 day stay in St. Petersburg was led by a private group. We gave them our list and that is what we did. It was two families, each had their own list. At the end another family of 3 joined us which was ok because then our price went down. They did not, however, get to add to the list...best tour ever...All the other ports we did our own thing...
except Berlin. We took the Disney tour that got you to Berlin and then you were on your own, you just have to catch the bus to the train at a certain time in the afternoon. We are very thankful we were on that too because the bus could not get us to the train station because everything closed down for the World Cup finals. They got us to a different train station and the train came to us. The cruise ship waited for us. We were so worried it would leave without out us. But there were 500 of us!!! We were about 3 1/2 hours late...Disney even held dinner for all of us. There where cheers when the train pulled up to the ship!!

When we toured the Greek Islands, on our own, before the MED cruise in '07, we just did everything on our own. We were in Greece almost a month. I used two books.
DK Greece..Athens & the mainland
Fodor's exploring The Greek Islands
Both very good. Almost everyone speaks English...
I really need to get my list going of what I want to do....

I certainly hope Disney learns from their mistakes....but I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with for our cruise.

 

[denise]

I have been reading, on a daily basis, the blog of

thepointsguy.com

Lots of great tips on traveling using points/airlines miles...
Today's blog has a section on fees charged while out of the US on bank cards at ATM's.
The best card with no fees is a Capitol One card. The blog has many banks listed and he has really done his homework.

Really a great blog to get the most out of your points/miles.

This is where I found out about the CITI card that we each got 40,000 miles! It pushed us over what we need for next years travel.

 

[SailingSeas]

*great* information on the tours, excursions, and islands. Thank you so much. In our party is someone who lived in Greece at the various ports for a while, so will probably also do ports on our own as well. It worked extremely well for Europe. The only two ports I am questioning are Kusadasi (would love a tour there) and maybe Athens, just to be able to navigate the major sites in one day. We did Rome on our own, which was fine, but I think we could have covered more spots had we driven, rather than used the public transportation.

Or... we could move there.