Greek Gal

Just got a great deal of obstructed view balcony Syd to Hawaii next April, flights and accomodation. Check out the site that advertises in the Sunday paper, we like to cruise 1st with them.

 

Am curious what deal you got if you are willing to share. We have a group of friends and relatives on that same cruise and are paying a little less than $115/pp/night (not including taxes, airfare or hotels) for an unobstructed view balcony on deck 12, a few bucks less a night still for a deck 6 unobstructed view balcony, and less than $93/pp/night for an inside on deck 10. Our onboard ship credit is only $75 per cabin, though, and on our last group cruise (UK a few months ago), we got perks like unlimited beverage package (including even the tips, which their UBP doesn't usually include; only groups got it included, and on NCL, the drink package is crazy expensive normally at $89/day plus 20% gratuity for over $100/pp/day!) and all gratuities ($14.50/pp/day normally, same as RC currently) included and those were huge perks.

 

On RC, the Deluxe Beverage Package is currently $55/pp/day (and RC does include tips in that, unlike NCL) and so people know, from what I am reading on RC's site today, you don't have to buy the drink package for the entire cruise, like some cruise ships insist, but must buy it with at least four days left in the cruise. I am suggesting to my group that they wait until after leaving Bora Bora to get the unlimited drink package if they even think it is worth the money then.

Good morning ( here on Australia, anyway)

We have already booked the skip the line tour at the Guiness Storehouse. Open ticket, so can go anytime.

 

How did you get an open ticket for the Guinness Storehouse? I only see a way to buy tickets with a very specific time of entry on their website.

When in February are you cruising? I just started a Roll Call (under "Other Cruise Ships", I think it was, as for some reason, they don't seem to allow them to be here) for the Feb. 9th, 2018 sailing. Let me know if you are on that cruise.

Thanks so much for posting your videos! I am tempted to try the kaleidoscope slide after watching your video from inside that slide!

That's odd. They didn't mention that everything you now buy on board will have a 20% surcharge and all drinks (even if you pre bought cheers) will be hit with s 10% surcharge for the cost of every drink you had plus 10% in speciality restaurants.

 

Must have slipped their minds!!! :eek:

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the taxes you are quoting are for cruises starting in Barcelona, I believe. Our Sept. 13 cruise leaves from Athens, which has a much higher tax, raised six times recently (most recently in June and who knows if it will happen again before our trip ends in Sept).

http://www.vatlive.com/vat-rates/european-vat-rates/eu-vat-rates/

Look at the rates for Greece:

6% for theatre admission, hotel accommodation, some pharmaceutical products, books, and newspapers

13% on basic foodstuffs, water supplies, some pharmaceutical products, medical equipment for disabled persons, undertaker and cremation services (let's hope we don't have that), and domestic care services

24% on all other taxable goods (which drinks fallen into as they aren't food) *and services* (so I think even massages will be taxed)

I don't even drink alcohol and feel like I need a drink now! :O

What makes you say the Kusadasi is canceled for all upcoming Carnival sailings? I just checked our 9/13 sailing and Carnival's itinerary is still listing Kusadasi.

I know Carnival has canceled Kusadasi for upcoming sailings.. but I will include this entry anyway for your reading pleasure.

 

Our first port of call was the sunny and hot, but windy resort port of Kusadasi. We were in no hurry to get on land, so we grabbed lunch on the Lido Deck first. Our first stop was the convenience store. Unfortunately, the tartinis were not at the store. I swallowed my disappointment, it was okay. We headed down the street to do a little shopping for some souvenirs and Turkish delight.

 

Outside the fish market, an older gentleman was sitting at his produce stand, with a small, adorable puppy sleeping in a gourd labelled "VOTKA" - we later found out that it did indeed translate to vodka. Stray cats roamed the area freely. As we explored the area, we found a small grocery store. We walked around more shops, but nothing else interested us. Most of the merchants in Kusadasi either sold fake brand name bags, clothes and shoes, or leather jackets. We headed towards the ship, and found a nice path along the sea. It was very windy, but it gave us a beautiful view of the ship, and the other side of the shoreline of Kusadasi, where the resorts were.

 

There were tourist binoculars along the path, and we had some liras to get rid of, so what the heck! We decided to take a closer look. Across the bay was resort town indeed, with beaches along the coast. Liras well spent. It was about time to make our way back to the ship. On our way, we stopped for a cappuccino. There was also a Starbucks at the port, but when in Europe... We love their cappuccinos, and we very much prefer it over Starbucks. Most, if not all, cafes in Europe offer complimentary wifi when you make a purchase. We did purchase an internet package on the Vista, but we found that it had been quite spotty, so whenever we had the chance, we would purchase a cappuccino and enjoy some wifi off the ship. Nothing like sitting by the sea in Turkey, enjoying a cappuccino without a care in the world!

 

It was good timing. All aboard time was at 6 PM - so once we were on board, we grabbed a pizza to share at Pizzeria del Capitano (which is opened 24 hours, and yes, we needed an appetizer before our appetizer!) and we got ready for dinner, which was the late seating at 8:15 PM. Dinner was a doozy (I honestly cannot remember what we ate but it was much better than the first night).

 

We returned to our cabin to change, and found a towel animal, the good dinosaur, made by our stateroom attendant. We found that our turn-down service was often done before dinner, which we didn't mind. Less work for the guy, I guess! He would clean it after we left in the morning, and come back to turn down a completely clean room. On the program for us that night was the comedy club. J.R Mccollom, and Tom Foss were the comedians of the night. We enjoyed both their shows. We were lucky enough to have six different comedians throughout the cruise. And yes, we did have a favourite - but more on that later!

 

I hope you enjoyed reading about our relaxed "on-your-own" day at the port day in Kusadasi. If you're ever in Turkey, I highly recommend visiting Ephesus. It's a beautiful piece of history, and it is one of the most well preserved archaeological sites. It can definitely get crowded and hot as most sites do, but it is not to be missed. Another amazing adventure is the House of the Virgin Mary, which is believed to have been the last home of Mary. We were lucky enough to have visited both during a previous cruise, and though it was tempting, once was enough. If you're interested, you can read about our visit to Ephesus here. Unfortunately, for brevity, I left out our stop at the House of the Virgin Mary.

 

Our next port of call is Rhodes, Greece. It was another "on-your-own" day for us, but after that, it's all Carnival excursions! Stay tuned!

 

Visit my blog for pictures!

CRUISE T-SHIRTS

 

We usually make a T-shirt that commemorates "special" cruise events such as anniversaries, birthdays and such and this one was no exception.

 

The only problem was that Izmir, Turkey was scrapped a few weeks before we sailed for another FD@S until it was announced that we would call on Kotor, Montenegro just a few days before we sailed.

 

Oh well.

 

 

 

Do you make "Special" Cruise T-shirts?

 

CIAO FOR NOW....

Was there an issue with using the Carnival logos on that shirt? Usually, places like Cafepress won't allow anything that has a copyright to be printed. What site did you use to create and order your shirts?

The facilities are shared by all spa cabins and guests aren't allowed so not sure what you are thinking. Also if there are more than 2 booked in a spa cabin, only the first 2 have spa privileges. Under 18 is also excluded.

Sorry I wasn't clear. I meant about half of our total group booked spa cabins to be able to use the spa rooms together (the other half aren't expecting to join us in the spa), and none of us have our children traveling with us. We are all older (I think I might be the youngest and am over 50) and empty nesters and/or single.

I am just hoping that the 23 of us (or however many keep their spa cabin) can all use the spa facilities at the same time...we surely won't be able to all fit in the whirlpool together, like we might have had this ship had one of the large T-pools like the Dream and some other ships.

Ha, it is only appropriate that Golf4Food responded to my question on golf! Thanks! I didn't know the ships ever had tournaments with ships on a stick as trophies. Maybe we will just use that as our mini-golf tournament.

Does anyone who has been on the Vista have photos of the four spa thermal rooms, showers, and/or whirlpool that spa cabins get to use?

Is there a thalassatherapy pool, like some claim, or not (as Carnival people on the phone told me months ago)?

How many people does the "large" (according again to someone I spoke with at Carnival) spa whirlpool hold? We have around 50 people in our anniversary group currently booked and over half are in spa cabins so that we can use the spa areas together between tours and dinner, so I hope these areas aren't as disappointing as some early posts suggest.

Does anyone know how many holes the mini-golf course is?

What is meant by it being two levels (is there a ramp to another deck with more golfing?)?

How long does it take for a group of four to play the course (obviously an approximation)?

What are the hours that the mini-golf course is open?

My husband runs a mini-golf tournament for our ski club and we are taking a 30th anniversary cruise on the Vista with many mini-golfers from that group, so I am hoping to have a mini-golf event on the ship if time allows (which is might not given that there is only one sea day scheduled for our cruise).

There are a subset of fears called phobias, and that is what fear of dying in a terrorist attack would fall into, though I haven't heard of a psychologist naming such a phobia and perhaps I should do it and make a name for myself in psychology. ;)

Seriously, go to this link:

http://www.techjuice.pk/a-data-scientist-explains-odds-of-dying-in-a-terrorist-attack/

Note the statistics regarding the odds of dying by various causes:

Drowning in a Bathtub: 1 in 685,000

Fatally Slipping during a Shower: 1 in 812,232

Being Struck by Lightning: 1 in 576,000

Being Murdered: 1 in 18,000

Dying from any kind of Injury: 1 in 1,820

Dying from intentional Self-harm: 1 in 9,380

Dying from an Assault: 1 in 16,421

Dying from a Car Accident: 1 in 18,585

Dying from any kind of Fall: 1 in 20,666

Dying from Accidental Drowning: 1 in 79,065

Dying from Exposure to Smoke, Fire, and Flames: 1 in 81,524

Dying from Forces of Nature (earthquake, heat, cold, lightning, flood): 1 in 225,107

Dying from Choking on Food: 1 in 370,035

Dying in a Fireworks Accident: 1 in 1,000,000

Dying from a Dog Bite: 1 in 700,000

Dying from Falling off a Ladder: 1 in 2,300,000

Dying form unintentional Alcohol Poisoning: 1 in 820,217

Dying from a Heart Disease: 1 in 5

Dying from a Cancer: 1 in 7

Dying from a Stroke: 1 in 23

Dying from Electrocution: 1 in 5,000

Bee, Snake Venomous Sting: 1 in 100,000

Scalded by Hot Tap Water: 1 in 5,000,000

By Falling Coconut: 1 in 250,000,000

By a Shark Attack: 1 in 300,000,000

Dying of a Snake Bite: 1 in 3,500,000

Dying from Food Poisoning: 1 in 3,000,000

Dying from Accident at Work: 1 in 43,500

Dying in a Road Accident: 1 in 8,000

And odds of dying in a terrorist attack while on-board (a plane) is 1 in 25,000,000 (25 million) and the overall average of dying in any kind of terrorist attack worldwide is 1 in 9,300,000 (9.3 million).

In sum, you should be more concerned about dying of food poisoning on the ship than getting off in Turkey, though you shouldn't be concerned about death period as the odds are greatly against your number being up during this one vacation, and vacations are much more enjoyable if the fear is left back home. :)

I am not only getting off the ship in Turkey...I have my husband and around two dozen friends taking a tour to Ephesus with me that I have arranged. I am hopeful that I am not taking people to their death. That said, I have given all my cousins copies of our trusts and other important legal documents so if we die in any way at any time, we have our affairs in order. If you haven't created at least a will yet, I urge you to do so quickly as any of us could die at any moment and it is better for survivors if we make things easy as we can for them.

Check the board thread "Isn't she pretty?" as there are tons of photos there.

Yes the Quantum class has their issues. So much so that when I was faced with the decision of Anthem of the Seas (a brand spanking new ship) vs Carnival Sunshine (a ship I said I'd never sail), I chose the Sunshine.

 

I haven't cruises on the Anthem yet (or a sister ship of it) and really wanted to as bummer cars and such sound like a blast, and indoor cabins that have walls showing the outdoors in live time also seem pretty neat. What are the issues that had you choose the Sunshine over it?

 

For those saying the shows on RCCL aren't anything to write home about, I will agree for smaller, older ships, but certainly disagree for the Oasis as each of the show there (comedy, ice, aquatheatre, full length broadway, etc.) was as good as I see on Broadway or in Vegas (the aquatheatre show was so similar to Cirque shows that I suspect it was designed by them and they dropped the name for some reason), and I would have paid what I paid for our cruise ((around $899 for seven nights in a balcony closest to the back of the ship that wasn't a suite and it was overlooking the aquatheatre, zipline, carousel, sea, etc.) just for the shows, rock climbing, ziplining, Central Park botany tour, mini-golf, carousel ride (even as an adult, I love to ride!), and other non-transportation and food and hotel aspects considering I believe we have paid over $200 for a single Cirque ticket in Vegas. But the Oasis is one of the only ships where I have felt the shows to be truly worth the time taken. Disney cruises might be the same as far as worth the time, but not on the same level as Oasis, surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly, as Oasis can have 6,000 guests paying for their entertainment staff and sets and so on and Disney ships are about half the size.

Nicole,

 

I just followed you on Facebook and Instagram!! I love to follow travel writers and yours looks to be fun! I am on deck 7 in a Havana interior cabin #7448. I am a little nervous about the band at night in the bar as I think my cabin is right above the bar and there are no cabins on deck 6 below mine. I would LOVE if you would check out the hallway of deck 7 near my cabin of 7448 at night when the band is playing and see if you can hear it? I know crazy request but you asked :):)

 

That was the very cabin my husband and I had booked March 2015 for our Sept. 2016 sailing, but the rate for the Cloud 9 Spa cabins dropped by so much, we switched to one of those and moved our group to spa cabins (though one in our group remained in a deck 5 Havana cabin). I feared the noise from our cabin from the bar below, too, and wish you the best and hope those fears are unfounded, though I heard rumor that on this inaugural cruise, some Havana cabin passengers were moved due to noise (to where, I don't know, as I thought they were sold out, unless some people got sick or died or something and missed going).

I just received the same request from Greece Private Tours lst night, and I was very happy to find this thread. It still makes me very uncomfortable, but it's good to know that it is not totally out of the norm and that I am not the only one.

 

What troubles me is that Private Greece Tours (which I am guessing is the same as Greece Private Tours?) is the *only* tour company I am seeing asking for passport information. Surely they can't be the only company who is obeying the law, right?

Here is a link to the review I wrote. You will find not everyone shared my opinion, and I think that is helpful to know.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1857483

You know I thought highly of that review/blog as I am up past 3 AM due to having taken copious notes from it! THANKS SO MUCH for such a detailed account of your trip and the great photos! You must have liked the ports as I see you are doing a very similar cruise on the Vista in 2016. I am booked for the Vista in September and hope I see you post another review comparing the trips and with new details and prices for things.

I've never been to Lisbon and had hoped to find a cruise that went there and to Athens, Barcelona, Sicily, Malta, etc. but the Vista cruise in September was just so inexpensive that I couldn't hold out for one that might come along with Lisbon for just as little paid for the cruise. Your idea to fly from Barcelona to Lisbon is an interesting one as a friend of mine from Sicily tonight was suggesting we tack on another city before and/or after the cruise because she said the flights within Europe are often only $80 or so, or were for her six years ago. I doubt they would be that inexpensive today, but still worth looking into. I would love to hear your details from your visit to Lisbon. Are you planning to take any trips to other cities before or after your Vista cruise?

Am I the only one that think it stinks that Royal is taking away public spaces to add more cabins to a ship with the most passenger capacity in the world? Making bathrooms smaller to squeeze in two cabins? We sail on Oasis next year. I will truly miss the VCL, loved the views. The secret balconies are great for sailaway or to get away. And Oasis was one of the few ships to have a chapel. If the changes were open to all, but they're not. Concierge & Diamond lounges weren't enough private spaces? I'm really feeling annoyed.

 

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You are far from the only one. I sail on this ship again in a couple of weeks (my second year doing the Halloween cruise) and I find the changes "scary"! They are all about squeezing as much money out of every inch that they can, and as a stock holder in both RC and Carnival, I can see where this could be in part behind their stock doing much better than Carnival this year where even with Carnival disasters in the media in past times, they two stocks tracked about the same. More important to me than stock prices, though (perhaps because I don't own but the minimum required to get the on board ship credit perk), is to have a great cruise and I am REALLY disappointed that they made the VCL for the rich folks only (or rather those willing to blow more wad on their cabins/suites as my guess -from knowing people personally and what cabins they book- is plenty of people in inside cabins (and certainly balconies which aren't suite cabins) actually have more net worth than those in the suites (indeed, those who are multi-millionaires seem more likely to book inside suites than those who aren't and likely have under a million in assets, though there are exceptions naturally).

I loved the donut shop, too, and donuts on a tray is not the same experience. I also do believe the food in the free places is purposely going down hill just to try to get people to pay for their dinners, like they used to have top notch steaks and lobster some nights on RC cruises for free and now it seems they charge for those, at least on most nights.

And I loved the public balconies at the back and am really bummed that those have become new cabins, though I understand the financial motivation there.

Getting rid of the chapel also annoys me. We renewed our wedding vows for our 25th and purposely picked a ship with a chapel (NCL, not RC) and if we live to make it to 50 years, I guess there will be no chapels on any ship to use as I think all ships are likely going to go this route out of greed.

Okay, let me get to packing and stop sighing and griping here. I need to get back to my happy, positive place! ;)

Are there any cabanas that you need to be able to swim to get to? And if so, does the ship allow you to wear a life jacket off to get to it if you can't swim?

So Mrs. Katesakis, are you staying at the Intercontinental for April 16-18? That is when we will be staying there, so if you are, maybe we could arrange to meet there for a drink before the cruise starts (have no idea of our schedule really yet, but we're thinking of renting a car for Saturday).

Katsekis, are you Greek? Your name sounds it.

Thanks for the tips on bidding for the Intercontinental Hotel. Being that we got the Caribe Hilton for the 25th, I am thinking of maybe trying for the Intercontinental for that same weekend you got and just paying more than we likely would for the Caribe just to experience something different rather than check into the same hotel we were staying in just a week prior.

We got the Caribe Hilton (seems like the tower and not the villas) with two beds and a balcony (we were told that's what all the rooms there are, and the contact there didn't mention an extra charge for a third person when my husband called to let them know we had a third person) for $88 on our first try for the one night after the cruise, but after two nights of trying for up to $92 for the two nights before the cruise, are still striking out. Will try again tomorrow night. Also need to book for South Beach later that week and wonder how high we'll have to go there to be beachfront and where the action is (we stayed there in January 2006 after a Panana Canal cruise and felt we really ought to return another time as our one night there wasn't enough).

Oh, another thing that just hit me - being that the Caribe Hilton has timeshares, are these low prices because the fine print says you have to attend a sales presentation? I am thinking Priceline doesn't get involved in such stuff, but am not sure and there is no way I want to spend our little time in San Juan listening to a sales pitch.

Thanks again everyone for posting your rates, but another thing just hit me....is everyone here getting rooms for two people only? We have three in our party and I know many hotels charge more for a third adult in a room.

Ali, was that $88 your first bid? Another I am wondering about is if it never accepts your first bid.