Who's in for GREECE and TURKEY, June 15 2003????

[MichaelH]

Well still no Greece or Turkey shore excursions posted. That is all we r waiting on. Flight booked, hotel booked, posted excursions picked. Just waiting on the new ones. I am soooooi ready to go.

 

[mindelmouse]

Well still no Greece or Turkey shore excursions posted. That is all we r waiting on. Flight booked, hotel booked, posted excursions picked. Just waiting on the new ones. I am soooooi ready to go.

I'm having my DH call today. They told me on Friday to call Monday before 5:30 when port adventure staff was there. I'll let you know what I find out

 

[DL1957]

Well still no Greece or Turkey shore excursions posted. That is all we r waiting on. Flight booked, hotel booked, posted excursions picked. Just waiting on the new ones. I am soooooi ready to go.

We are right there with you. Met with DSIS and DBIL last night and plan the excursions we could now it is sit and wait! They are silver so they do not book until March. Hopefully we have a few weeks to decide before our 2/15 booking date.

 

[mindelmouse]

So all we could get out to the port excursion people was that, the excursions for those two ports have not yet been finalized and what ever they have will be up before 120 day mark.

 

[MoonDaughter23]

So all we could get out to the port excursion people was that, the excursions for those two ports have not yet been finalized and what ever they have will be up before 120 day mark.

Hopefully "before the 120 day mark" means next week and not the week after. I'm Silver anyway so I'm only after the info for right now, but I would be pretty annoyed if I were Platinum and the excursion choices didn't come out until the day before I was allowed to make my reservations. I guess DCL is figuring they can get it down to the wire because it will be another 15 days before Gold can check in so Platinum will have enough time to pick what they want. They forgot about the cruisers who plan with a capital P.

 

[mindelmouse]

Hopefully "before the 120 day mark" means next week and not the week after. I'm Silver anyway so I'm only after the info for right now, but I would be pretty annoyed if I were Platinum and the excursion choices didn't come out until the day before I was allowed to make my reservations. I guess DCL is figuring they can get it down to the wire because it will be another 15 days before Gold can check in so Platinum will have enough time to pick what they want. They forgot about the cruisers who plan with a capital P.

I think the issue is that these are two brand new ports for DCL and they are two countries with pretty volatile economies right now. I think they want to make sure all vendors they use are reliable and reasonable. I personally would rather they take the time to check them out. Also they could have had things set up and certain vendors went out of business.

 

[MoonDaughter23]

I think the issue is that these are two brand new ports for DCL and they are two countries with pretty volatile economies right now. I think they want to make sure all vendors they use are reliable and reasonable. I personally would rather they take the time to check them out. Also they could have had things set up and certain vendors went out of business.

VERY good point. I retract my previous post. The "volatile economies" part left my brain. I guess because we are intending to tour on our own, I didn't think about vendors possibly no longer being available. I've just been waiting to see what excursions DCL offers in case there is something we would like to switch our intended plans for. Got a bit anxious to see something new soon and did not take the time to let all the factors sink in.

 

[nzdisneymom]

VERY good point. I retract my previous post. The "volatile economies" part left my brain. I guess because we are intending to tour on our own, I didn't think about vendors possibly no longer being available. I've just been waiting to see what excursions DCL offers in case there is something we would like to switch our intended plans for. Got a bit anxious to see something new soon and did not take the time to let all the factors sink in.

This is part of why we will likely do DCL excursions for Athens and Ephesus - there are things we want to see and do and don't want to risk booking something privately and then being "out of luck" - where we know with DCL, it will be DCL scrambling to find something suitable / comparable for us.

Here's a fun movie for touring Athens: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0865559/ It's called "My Life in Ruins" and stars Nia Vardolas (she was in My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and in this one, she's a tour guide.

 

[DL1957]

This is part of why we will likely do DCL excursions for Athens and Ephesus - there are things we want to see and do and don't want to risk booking something privately and then being "out of luck" - where we know with DCL, it will be DCL scrambling to find something suitable / comparable for us.

I agree with this and that is why in foreign countries we choose to go with DCL even though they are more $$. When we went to Sardinia on the 1st Med cruise the tour guide we had on the jeep tour was sharing with us what they went through in order to get a DCL contract. There were 4 visits from DCL staff before senior management came and met them and also did all the tours their company was offering. They also had to provide background checks. They said they never have had such an extensive check but appriecated why they did it. So we will see???

 

[MoonDaughter23]

I agree with this and that is why in foreign countries we choose to go with DCL even though they are more $$. When we went to Sardinia on the 1st Med cruise the tour guide we had on the jeep tour was sharing with us what they went through in order to get a DCL contract. There were 4 visits from DCL staff before senior management came and met them and also did all the tours their company was offering. They also had to provide background checks. They said they never have had such an extensive check but appriecated why they did it. So we will see???

That is very comforting to know how thorough DCL is about this. It just gave me reason # I-lost-count of why I like cruising with them.

We never do outside excursions either. Or buy 3rd party tickets for popular sites. It works well for some people, but I'm usually not one of them. Only twice have I broken my "book direct or not at all" motto. The first turned out to be a wonderful experience, but the second taught me not to do it again. And with DCL I like feeling secure knowing if something goes wrong with an excursion booked through them, they will help us get back to the ship. However on this trip we are going sans excursion with the exception of 2 ports (if our choices are still available when it's our turn to check in). We just can't afford to do one at every port so we are going to do as much as we can through public transportation and/or on foot. We did this a couple of years ago on our last trip to Europe and had SO much fun.

With Athens, Mykonos and Kusadasi we have been getting advice from a family member and a couple of close friends who have done those ports before without excursions. And then we like Rick Steves so we'll be bringing him along with us for backup. If DCL has something reasonable for Greece and Turkey we are interested in we will definitely see if we can reserve our spots, but if not we will enjoy ourselves the best we can, as safely as we can and get back to the ship well before the guest onboard time.

 

[seaulater]

Hopefully "before the 120 day mark" means next week and not the week after. I'm Silver anyway so I'm only after the info for right now, but I would be pretty annoyed if I were Platinum and the excursion choices didn't come out until the day before I was allowed to make my reservations. I guess DCL is figuring they can get it down to the wire because it will be another 15 days before Gold can check in so Platinum will have enough time to pick what they want. They forgot about the cruisers who plan with a capital P.

It is kinda like when they open up the new dates for crusing. Platinums get to book first. However, we never know the price before the opening bell......so we are booking blindly and having to get prices for different categories and make our decision right then. It is frustrating that they can't give opening prices out before we are allowed to book. I know that pricing threads then start, however, I am the start and there is nothing for me to go on when booking.

 

[NanNan]

Well, now. Have not posted in a while but am happy to report that we have PIF, flights purchased for Calgary, London, Barcelona. And I cannot wait! Have a friend in Nottingham and plan a few days there then London for a couple. Will be in Barcelona 13th of June and now looking for accomodation. So excited!

 

[DL1957]

Well, now. Have not posted in a while but am happy to report that we have PIF, flights purchased for Calgary, London, Barcelona. And I cannot wait! Have a friend in Nottingham and plan a few days there then London for a couple. Will be in Barcelona 13th of June and now looking for accomodation. So excited!

There are serveral of us who are arriving in Barcelona on the 13th! It is a great feeling to have most of the plans before/after the cruise taken care of. Ours are complete now we just sit and wait until the Greece/Turkey excursions appear! Happy Wednesday fellow cruisers. Sue

 

[CJCPixieDust]

Hi All- Just posted this on Facebook, but wanted to share here as well. What's everyone planning to do in Villefranche? Any expert advice from those who have been there? We're thinking something that involves Monaco (DH/DS are Formula 1 fans) and going through Disney for that port.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Hi All- Just posted this on Facebook, but wanted to share here as well. What's everyone planning to do in Villefranche? Any expert advice from those who have been there? We're thinking something that involves Monaco (DH/DS are Formula 1 fans) and going through Disney for that port.

We are doing the Monaco, Monte Carlo and Eze tour through DCL.

 

[rossjen2]

Hi All- Just posted this on Facebook, but wanted to share here as well. What's everyone planning to do in Villefranche? Any expert advice from those who have been there? We're thinking something that involves Monaco (DH/DS are Formula 1 fans) and going through Disney for that port.

In Villefranche, our plan is to walk along the harbor/beach to the train station, take the train to Monaco. Then our plan is to take the tourist train (http://www.monacotours.mc/?lg=en) for a easy tour of all of the highlights. Then head back to Villefranche and spend the afternoon on the beach or strolling around town. I also read somewhere that there is a small market in town on Sundays. I think our plan is to take our first port kind of easy with La Spezia and Rome following. The only thing I have left to figure out is how to get to and from the train station in Monaco to the tourist train (which is down by the waterfront). For us, the Rick Steve's med port book was really useful for this port.

 

[Meum]

oh boy, i really need to focus, and look through the DCL shore excursions! i'm a nervous nellie and love doing the DCL tours just so i don't have to worry about missing the boat

see ya, marianne

 

[NAG]

... We're thinking something that involves Monaco (DH/DS are Formula 1 fans) and going through Disney for that port.

We spent some time on our 2007 cruise looking for the track in Monaco. It was a couple weeks after the race and some the stands along the waterfront were still up. Beware the pool down there as the kids will definitely get an eyeful! You can see some of the curbing and can easily find the starting grid. But a lot of the roads look like they COULD be what you see on TV, but without a map, it’s tough to tell. Not sure if Disney excursions are going to cross the track much or not.

They had a great excursion in 2007 that was an evening of gambling in the Grand Casino. Minimum bets were outrageously high (100 euro for blackjack and 10 for slots – and the craps guys didn’t want to be there), but it was a great experience.

Be careful because Disney excursions are not always a sure thing. Having a plan B is never a bad idea. A couple of my family members were just on a cruise a couple weeks ago and their scuba trip was cancelled the night before because of lack of interest. They really had to scramble to find a dive shop willing to take them. Again on our 2007 cruise we were excited to pay the extra money for the “VIP Exclusive Vatican Tour”. Turns out there were 3 buses full of VIP’s herding their way around Rome on the same tour. In 2011, the ship couldn’t even make the Monaco stop because of high winds.

 

[DL1957]

I guess we have been lucky in our 10 cruises booking all shore excursions through DCL we have never had one cancelled.
In VilleFrance we are going on the Eze, Nice and Wine tour. We like tasting local wines.

 

[MJGirl]

Hey Sue ...They have Mykonos excursions up!!! Start planning