3redheads

Thank you for the update. Sounds like a wonderful time.

Too bad we aren't stopping in Turkey. Maybe next time!

I imagine that not adjusting your watch to the ship time might account for a number of people missing the ship.

It is one of my biggest fears.

For those who suggested the OP waited too long to use the money, unless you are booking another cruise, you cannot use them for OBC. I'm currently holding on to a few cards for my October trip. I obtained them from Verizon. Before that, I was able to apply $2000+ in gift cards in order to pay for my cruise.

If you google sites to check your gift card balance, you come up with many sketchy sites. Be careful where you plug in the card # and PIN. The OFFICIAL site can be accessed through a link on the Carnival site:

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/564/~/credit-card-gift-cards-and-carnival-gift-card-payments

It was one of our highlights on the Vista. One of my nephews (20 yr old) was most impressed with Ephesus. He thought that was one of his highlights, he enjoyed it more than Pompeii. But we also had an amazing Tour Guide. If you do plan on going into Kursadasi, my suggestion is to contact: Suzan - Ephesus Shuttle <suzan@ephesusshuttle.com>. We did the "relax tour on your own" and we got to do exactly what we wanted at a great price. Ask for Emmeri as your tour guide, you won't be disappointed.

That's who we're booked through. I will send an email asking for Emmeri. Thanks for the recommendation.

Other cruise lines are stopping there. It will be interesting to see if we stop there on our sailing, minikiss.

I checked google images for a picture of the spider, but the photos of the wounds is SCARY!

Hope your husband's appointment goes well today.

I think as long as the number and name match it will be fine. I've head of troubles but I have had my middle initial on and off and it hasn't mattered.

Thanks for the reply!

bphman-glad to hear everything is ok with your health. Must have been very scary.

We are flying to Barcelona in Sept.

Our reservations and profiles at United just show our middle initials, but our GOES and passports show our full middle names.

I sent a request to United to change our profile from middle initials to full middle names, but I'm not sure if that would change our existing reservation.

If it doesn't, will this create a problem using TSA PRecheck and Global Entry for our next trip?

Here is another report from a passenger that visited Ephesus last Sunday:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=50718131&postcount=2

 

 

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Thanks so much for your posts. :)

Thanks for the updates and information!

My cruise on the HAL Prinsendam for Sept/Oct had stops scheduled for Trabzon, Sinop, Kusadasi, and Istanbul that were canceled on the last part of the cruise and replaced with stops in the Adriatic Sea. However, the stop in Kusadasi scheduled for the first part of the cruise has not changed.

Wow! Your cruise has really been impacted by the changes.

Thanks for the responses. I guess we'll wait and see what happens in October.

I read somewhere that an RCCL ship stopped there a few days after the failed coup, but have not heard of any other ships/cruise lines stopping in Turkey.

Has anyone heard of any ships still visiting Turkey?

TIA

This is prime season at the Vatican. If you went in say....November on a weekday, there would be a fraction of the people....

We will be there in October.

Thanks for the wonderful review. I'm thoroughly enjoying it!

There sure are a lot of people packed in!

Love the last photo, with the sunbeam.:D

Excellent question. I know several of us are also wondering. Looking forward to reading the responses.

We shouldn't be bashing each other. Each person has their own comfort zone. There are a lot of good points in the thread, but it all comes down to how safe someone feels.

eta bashing is a strong word, but I couldn't think of another way to phrase it :)

Why's the font so tiny on this review??

It looks ok on my screen. You can simultaneously hold down cntrl and the + symbol to make it bigger. To make it smaller again, hold down cntrl and the - symbol.

I sent a request on April 23, have not heard back so sent another one May 23, and still nothing....I just emailed the above email and hopefully that works. Our cruise is October 1.

I sent an email to another address and have heard back from the steakhouse, but not the other two restaurants. Ugh. Frustrating. We are on the same sailing.

Thanks for letting us know.

 

I got one prevously from AARP that I am using on our Aug. 9 Alaska Legend and just two $500 for our upcoming Premier Cruise tbd.

 

And I am ALL Verizon users know this but just in case you can use your Verizon points to book a discounted cruise (more than all of the websites) on Carnival & RCL.

 

We booked a Spa deck balcony for a New Years Cruise on the Magic out of Galveston last year for less than the cost of a Cove Balcony.

I had no idea there were cruise discounts with Verizon rewards! My type of stateroom isn't listed because it's sold out,but I will remember next time. Thanks so much!

I'd like to buy a few more to add to my S & S account before the cruise. How do I do that on the Carnival website? In essence, I'd like to have a credit balance before i sail.

Can I add money before, if so, how?

TIA

I'm in that boat. I have a cruise booked 18 months out but I'm unsure if I want to wrap $1000 into gift cards so soon.

My final payment is due in a month. Heck, I wouldn't buy them if I was 18 months out. I already had the money set aside since it's only 4 months away. I wonder how often they offer the gift cards?

Thanks for the update on the available cards. I got some last time and bought enough today to payoff my cruise. Loving that 10% discount!

I'm going on the Vista out of Barcelona, Spain in July. We upgraded to a cabin with a balcony for only $200. more. We are trying to connect with others which is why I joined, soI'm exporing this site.

 

Have a great time

Ellie

There's a forum on here for roll calls. I'm sure there's one for your July sailing.

You can look for it here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1000

You will make new friends, get information and have the possibility of sharing tours. It's a great resource!

Kim

Just off the ship may 24 on this itinerary. All excursions were booked through carnival.

 

Marseilles: did Aix en Provence. It was ok, kinda boring... Nice to get out of Marseilles, but nothing to write home about. There were a couple outdoor markets in town so that was good.

 

Livorno: did the climb to the top of leaning tower. That was cool! It was a very strange perspective to be climbing in a leaning building.

 

Chivettechia- did the 12 hour excursion to the drive by sites of Rome plus the Sistine chapel and the rest of the Vatican. That was exhausting and crowded and exhausting. 12 hour tour, first off the ship, last on. (Well, not the last on, apparently 6 people missed the ship on this day.)

 

Naples- this was by far the best excursion. Did the amalfi coast boat ride plus Pompeii. 10ish hours instead of 12, so still pretty exhausting. The boat cruise was great and Amalfi was nice to visit. Pompeii was packed with people.

 

The rest of the ports we did on our own, wandered into Rhodes and Kusadasi (stayed on the ship in Crete). Did a hop on hop off bus in both Rhodes and Athens. Choose grey line HOHO in Athens, seems you get the most bang for your buck with multiple lines/yours available.

 

 

 

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Was the Rome tour the Carnival excursion "Inside the Vatican Museum & St. Peter's Basilica"?