marazul

Do check George's also. We have used them many times in the past few years. They have always been excellent.

@Katemusical The best reviewed agencies for Athens are George's Taxi and PK Travel. They are both local Greek companies with an excellent track record going back many years. They may also provide services on some of your other ports. Since they are both local Greek companies, you deal with them directly. Italy Tours and Viator are consolidators who will contract with local operators. https://www.georgestaxi.com/ https://www.pktravelgreece.com/

Me too.

Hotels do not sell Acropolis tickets. You have to buy them online or at the ticket offices by the entrances of the Acropolis. April will not be as crowded as mid-summer. If you want to, you can buy the tickets the evening before at the ticket booths. However, if you want to make sure you get the early slot, buy them online before leaving.

If you are staying in Athens, get the earliest time slot. Get there 30 minutes early. You will be on top with hardly any people at all. You might even see the honor guard raising the flag over the Acropolis. The guard goes up just a few minutes before the tourists are admitted. This is what it looks like if you go up with the first group.

There is a shsred shuttle that cruisemom has posted about a few times that really lowers transfer costs. Search this Italy forum for the info.

Yes, you can. There is a ticket office by either entrance. You should not have any problem in November. Check for last admission time on the website.

At the Hilton closest to town. I guess we will just hire a taxi one day. Thanks.

@cruiseej We are not the zipline type, but we are good with everything else you recommend. We were in Aruba years ago, so that could also be a beach say. The ship leaves at 11 pm, so we have plenty of time to figure out how to get back. Thanks for your input. Did you take any excursions in Barbados? We will be there ahead of time and I am just beginning to look at private tours. (I guess we have always been in the northern part of the Caribbean.) Thanks again. .

We are on the previous cruise of the Ovation when the transition takes place. I will post reviews.

Venice if you want direct flights to many US airports. Bologna if you don't mind changing flights in many European airports.

Talking about lousy websites. We have two cruises booked next year. I tried to look at some info on one of the cruises. Each time I clicked on "booked guests" or "which cruise" it would make me log in again. I could not get to the next page. After trying different things, made to log in 10 times in a row and getting nowhere, I gave up. I'll call my TA next Monday and see if she can get through. The website is getting worse by the minute.

As I suspected not many people take excursions in the Caribbean. I may have to sacrifice and use up the OBC in the spa and premium wines. But if anyone has any excursion reccomendations, I am listening. 😉

It is an unforgettable evening. To me it represents the best of Seabourn. For those planning a cruise that includes access to Ephesus, the evening concert is only offered from Kusadasi, not from Izmir.

We enjoy going to the Caribbean to a resort and staying by the beach. Just chill and not much else. However, we are joining friends on a Caribbean cruise (SB, of course) and we have a lot of OBC to spend and will be taking a few excursions. Could you tell me about excursions you liked or disliked in the following ports? (Or any other suggestions for those ports.) Rodney Bay, St Lucia St Georges, Grenada Charlotteville, Tobago Curaçao Aruba Many thanks for your comments!

Hotels in Europe do not normally have their own shuttles to the airports. The rare exceptions are those located at the airports. However, you can email your hotel and ask them if they can arrange for a private transfer. Your best option is to take a taxi to/from the airport. The taxis are reliable and charge a flat rate for transport between airport and city center. There is a taxi queue at the airport. While at the hotel, the desk or doorman will call you a taxi.

You should be able to make it, but you don't have a lot of extra time. Consider booking a private transfer so you don't waste time looking for a taxi or waiting for a shuttle bus to fill up.

Please, it is "Costco Couture."

You are right, but "hope springs eternal."

I checked and the November transit through the Suez canal included a stop in Ashdod. It should be easy to skip or reschedule one port. This is a terrible situation and cruises are the least of the problems they face. Let's hope for a quick and fair resolution.

I think Seabourn was already done with the Israel stops for this season. There may be a Suez canal transit left next month. It is probably too early to know about next year.

Bonjour - bennybear said it - thanks for asking for our opinions. We do appreciate your contributions and steering of this board. Mille grazie!

They live one hour away from Valencia. They are local. Let them pick a spot that's convenient for all.

So it's long. Most people probably start with the last few pages for recent recommendations. A few may read the whole thing. But as cruisemom says, there is a lot of good information here. I don't see the need to split it up or to discard most of it.

Please, everyone, JFK is a nightmare. LHR is second worst. FCO is a walk in the park compared to those.