ISLABONITA

Depending on the shore excursion you can buy tickets where the boats dock for an excursion to Ancient Delos.

I stayed at Holiday Inn Express Amsterdam - City Hall for 2 nights before our cruise and it was easy to get around in the city to restaurants , centraal station and other sights. Previous 2 days we stayed at Waldorf Astoria on Hilton Honor points close to museums and other sights.

I think you sre too early to book, some hotels only open up up to 6 mos. Search earlier to prove my point.

Guess you're right.. I checked the gov't site. https://www.government.nl/topics/coronavirus-covid-19/documents/publications/2021/07/01/vaccine-declaration-covid-19

I believe this is from last year.. CHECK this site https://www.government.nl/topics/coronavirus-covid-19/visiting-the-netherlands-from-abroad/exemptions-to-the-entry-ban

Thanks for sharing this info, even though I am on NCL I had booked with them unaware of the length of time on the bus.. making other plans now.

I have found public bus routes which are a fraction of the cost... see this article https://www.visitbritainshop.com/gb/en/articles/top-3-bus-routes

I have been looking at youtube videos of packing and it's helped. I and husband will be gone for 28 days and will be taking a big backpack and a carry on and husband a med size suitcase to check in and a backpack. With all the crazy stories of luggage missing connections and getting lost he is getting a chip for his checked bag. I use packing cubes and make lists of what I will be wearing hypothetically depending on our excursion and port. We will start with a land trip in Portugal for 9 days which will still be warm in Sept. then 4 days pre cruise in Amsterdam. So our clothes for that part of the trip will be in our backpack. My carry on case will have items for the cruise as the temps will be anywhere from 50's to high 60's for British Isles and extra days post cruise in the UK. I have already begun packing and repacking and deciding to cut back even more, looking for 4-5 outfits to mix and match, plus yoga shorts, 2 capris, 3 long sleeve tops, nice casual wear for evening dinners, 2 shoes, a jacket and 2-3 scarves to change up the look of some outfits.

I just did a google search of where to find Christmas ornaments in ( city name) and many showed up. Such as this one in Dublin M50 CHRISTMAS SHOP outside Finglas, EXIT 5, M50, Coldwinters, Dublin, D11 X6PV, Ireland +353 1 834 2953 https://g.co/kgs/wgYU9d Here's one in Bruges https://www.minube.net/place/kathe-wohlfahrt-shop--a684591

Actually the British Isles cruise from NCL that I am on this Sept stops at both ports. Even for next year. 10 PORTS OF CALL Amsterdam,Netherlands Brussels / Bruges (Zeebrugge),Belgium Edinburgh (Newhaven),Scotland Inverness (Invergordon),Scotland Kirkwall,Orkney Isles Belfast,Northern Ireland Dublin (Dun Laoghaire),Ireland Cork (Cobh),Ireland Portland,England London (Southampton),England

I was staying in Athens at a hotel asking for $35 for the test, I found a local lab for $10 , just do a google search near your hotel for labs and pharmacies giving Covid tests. Also NCL didn't accept it because I had not registered online at check in for their Diagnostics lab test, have no idea what that cost would have been, so then we were tested at the terminal for free.

Bookbabe thanks for the photos ,but I missed seeing the links you mention in different threads? What excursion did you go on? private or ship? thanks

We walked off on April 24 th and the tavis and vans were all in line waiting. Expensive at 250 Euros, our taxi was 25 Euros for the 2 of us going to a nearby town on the water , next day to airport it was another 25 Euros.

thanks, was it called Stagecoach? ( bus )

Did you get the bus tickets ahead of time or while there? and where did you get them if there? thanks

I did a lot of research for each port and almost booked with this one, cannot vouch for it.. you'll need to search for reviews https://www.tourhq.com/greece/rhodes-tours-guide?tab=instant_tours Here is another source https://www.greecetravel.com/rhodes/privatetours/

Which ship are you on? The only shore excursion that was worthwhile from NCL is that one Rhodes... Traditions of Rhodes & Home Visit , excellent tour , we stopped at the beach and had complimentary coffee and snack, family pottery business where the potters are carving and show you exactly how their art form makes beautiful pottery . 3-1/2 hours... we had a $50 shore excursion and 10% off being platinum... had extra time afterwards to explore the walled city. We had a small group of around 25 people.. this was in April https://www.ncl.com/shore-excursions/RHO_08/Traditions-of-Rhodes-Home-Visit?destination=Greek+Isles+Cruises&port=RHO&priceRange=0+3000&sort=searchWeight&sortOrder=asc&perPage=12

I went to a lab and the cost was 10 Euros, this was in mid April. Not sure about a pharmacy but I have read many posts about it.

I had my eye on an NCL Greek Isles cruise in the summer of 2021 was ideal all Greek islands then they changed the itinerary for when I wanted to go in October but ended up going April 2022 and added Kusadasi for 1/2 a day ( well worth it to see Ephesus and explore the town, and then Istanbul for a day ( didn't care for it and the weather was rainy and glitched most of my sightseeing plans ( mid April) the other ports were Volos ( harbour and monastery) Rhodes ( my favorite wall city and harbour , beach and hand made ceramic family business) Mykonos,( side trip to Delos) and Santorini ( get ready for tons of walking uphill) we had 3 pre days in Athens staying at Intercontinental Athens and was enough to see Acropolis and 4 other historical sites, the museum, Plaka, changing of the guard. Then post cruise we spent a night in their seaside port of Glyfada ( Easter Sunday) for a very relaxing and beautiful stop ( only 8 miles from Piraeus port.) Also from here you can take a bus to Poseidon ( or the city) much quicker taxi to airport from this destination. Stayed at Hotel London with a balcony room with a view of the harbour. Hopefully you will find a cruise with only all Greek isles or ports. Other option is to take ferry rides from Athens and stay 3 nites in two islands of your choice.

Yes, very easy to do it on your own, you should ask your concierge at the hotel for directions, we stayed a few blocks down from the GH at Intercontinental and walked to the Acropolis , museum and Plaka. You can also use the subway system for part of it to get you to Changing of the guards and Plaka. We did our own thing over a 2 day period, very tiring but worth it.. We were there in April. In our late 60's.

Take a look on google map it will show you around 40 min walk.

Only thing I can share is that I have friends that were on a land tour and day before their flight from Edinburgh 5 of them tested positive so they could not get on the plane and remained in the city for 5 days till they tested negative. I do not know the specifics about their flight home if they had to buy new tickets or the tour operator covered their flights. It was very loose quarantine as they went outside and wore masks and were able to sightsee for 5 more days. They did have to pay for the hotel though. Do you have trip interruption insurance? If you contact the airline and change your flight after testing positive it could be for a number of reasons, so I do not think you would have to tell anyone if you did a self test but if you use a lab the test results will be recorded ( they ask for your passport number)

One additional question what if both of us have Gold Status, do we each get an hour at the spa?

Yes, exactly that !