John Bull

Much more sensible JB 🙂

As others have said, normally there's no need to travel down from London before cruise morning. Southampton International Boat Show (this year it's 13 - 22 September) puts a big strain on accommodation in Southampton, but there are alternatives a bus ride away. I can think of no other time that there's big pressure on accommodation in Southampton JB 🙂

@mahasamatman You'll get more response from sites such as TripAdvisor and hotel consolidators. Click on Guest Reviews at https://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/the-white-star-tavern-dining-and-rooms.en-gb.html for over 1.000 reviews. Only those who've booked the place thro booking.com can post a review there, which prevents a major problem with public reviews - that of fake reviews either lauding or denigrating a place or a product. (that website also gives a wealth of information & photos) As its name suggests, the White Star Tavern is a pub with rooms above - which doesn't sound glamourous but is highly rated. We've not stayed there or even eaten there, but the location is a little off the centre of the city, so most sights and facilities are in one direction. But a good number of bars & restaurants in the area and handy for Ocean Cruise Terminal JB 🙂 .

So where you live is unlikely too make any difference. You mentioned £1000 more for a balcony on Marella. Have your figures included this? If not, it's poor value And actually, I quite rate Virgin's itinerary.🙂 But, apart from too much time in Dom. Rep., Marella's is good too. 🙂 Times for both in port are fine for both. Both ships visit Road Town B.V.I. (mebbe minibus {van in American-speak} to Cane Garden Beach or ferry to Virgin Gorda) and St John's Antigua (van to Shirley Heights & Nelson's dockyard, a beach stop on the way back). Virgin - St Kitts is small, but a round-the-island van tour is cheap & interesting, and most drivers allow an hour or two on a beach like Frigate Bay. The Sugar Train can only be booked as a ship's excursion. - Martinique.is a Departement of France. Probably the most upmarket island visited by cruise ships. Twice we rented a car in Fort-de-France to tour the island including the original capital Saint Pierre partly destroyed by a volcano & the hills behind. Currency is the Euro. USD are accepted close to the port but it's worth taking some euros just for this island. St Lucia. A favourite of ours. Take a van tour up into the rain forest, past the Pitons, to Soufriere in the south. I haven't seen the "drive-in volcano" mentioned in recent years, perhaps it's now off-limits. Or pre-book a tour by van outward then a catamaran back to the port - available independently or as an over-priced ship's tour. Or for a lazy day, a short taxi ride to idyllic Choc Beach & not a longer drive to seriously over-packed Reduit Beach / Rodney Bay Barbados There's so much you can do there. Snorkelling with turtles off the beach or off a catamaran, or visit a rum distillery or rent a car or jeep & visit the wild & woolly east coast or a dozen other options. St Vincent. IMHO the least interesting island on this itinerary. Mebbe rent a boat & visit Mustique. Marella First three known as the ABC islands Oranjestad on Aruba. forget the Dutch-sounding name, you'd think it's in Florida. Every third shop is a jewellery store. Best bet is a beach-day - buses from the bus-station opposite to Eagle Beach or Palm Beach. Willemstad on Curacao. A favourite of ours, bery Dutch architecture. Bonaire. Small & limited, but brilliant snorkelling on Klein Bonaire (little ferry across to it from the cruise ship quay) or quad-biking. La Romana. Not on anyone;s bucket list, some won't venture off the ship. Cueva de las Maravillas is interesting. Iguanas there too. About 4 miles out of town Santo Domingo. Don't know it. But it's also in Dom. Rep. Phillipsburg, Sint Maarten. A favourite of ours. Frequent vans to Maho Beach (google big jets Maho Beach) or over to the French side of the island to the French capital Marigot (some places accept only euros or plastic) or to Orient Beach. Or waterbus from cruise quay across to Phillipsburg - great beach, town behind. Dominica (not to be confused with Dom Rep) Van up into the rainforest, or (best to pre-book) river-tubing. If it weren't for the travel to & from I'd probably go for the Virgin cruise. But bear in mind we've not sailed Virgin. And I'm not you. 😉 JB 🙂

Just some ifs and buts from me, cos Virgin seems to come down as significantly better value. Have you factored-in the flight fare with Virgin (Miami and, if you choose, San Juan) ? And, for what they're worth, the cost of transfers and the minimal cost & grief getting US ESTA "visa-waivers"? Would one of Marella's UK airports be significantly more convenient than Heathrow or Gatwick (or Manchester if there are flights to Miami or connections to San Juan.) Bear in mind that from Miami there will be extra sea-days. Part of your calculations will have to be the purchase of Virgin drinks - how many you'll drink on port days & sea day, I guess that's how many you can survive on vs how many you'd prefer. Vague prices on the link I posted - they may seem heavy, most-especially since there's no alcohol duty or VAT, but they're par for most US & Italian cruise lines. Virgin almost certainly offer free coffee (caff and decaf) & DIY tea at drinks stations, & possibly tea & coffee makings in your cabin - and free fruit juices during the breakfast period. Ship's water is perfectly potable. But you're comparing a balcony cabin with an ocean-view (windows don't open). No contest, especially in the Caribbean. I'm not sure that a premium package would make any odds with the cocktails on the standard ticket - you'd be more likely to succeed if you built up a rapport with a barman Marella is a very British experience, passengers will be almost-exclusively Brits, food predominantly Brit, currency is sterling altho all done by card. Looking between the lines, Virgin is very American. Passengers on that itinerary will be mainly American, their language is fairly similar to our own but food is likely geared to American tastes (oh no - streaky bacon frazzled to a crisp and limp pizza 😮 😉), currency on this cruise is USD (decline any offer to convert the end charge to sterling "for your convenience" 🙄 cos your card issuer will convert at a far far better rate than any cruise line). (Same applies to any outlet in foreign lands). Normally I'd recommend a UK ship for a Brit's first cruise, but Virgin will, surely be much better experience and - subject to your financial calculations - better value for money than Marella's current pricing. But assuming this is for next winter Marella's balcony prices will surely fall. And you haven't mentioned the ports-of-call. My views might change, cos most sailings from the US seem to concentrate on the western Caribbean & mainland central America, whereas we Brits prefer the eastern Caribbean - more variety, more Brit-orientated & colonial history. JB 🙂

@Howard and Nancy The RollCall for your cruise is at https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2913289-ns-september-7-2024-amsterdam-to-athens/page/11/#comments I've linked you to the latest page Bovington is the world's biggest & best tank museum, but because interest in tanks is quite limited you could offer the excursion as either https://tankmuseum.org/ or https://monkeyworld.org/ The two places are just a couple of miles apart - I used to drive coaches with passengers for either. Shouldn't cost the tour operator any more. If that's not broad enough, add the third option of Corfe Castle. it's 9 miles (15 minutes e/w) further so won't add more than a few pounds to the operator's costs https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/dorset/corfe-castle JB 🙂

OK, strike Lee-on-the-Solent - developed from a strip of waterfront houses started around 1900. Then, being close to Portsmouth, the home of the infant Royal Navy Air Service and much later the RN hovercraft arm. Now just a pleasant place to live or visit and watch ships arriving & departing Southampton.al JB 🙂

That's a shame, more for missing the archipelago of islands than the hour's travel. Sounds like Nyneshamn is very much like my home-town of Lee-on-the-Solent - a place where folk in the region go to enjoy a pleasant day by the sea, but not on the tourist trail. JB 🙂.

Hi, and welcome to Cruise Critic, Since you have a predilection for mal-de-mer, you should aim for a cabin that's amidships (ie not near the blunt end & especially not near the sharp end - think of a see-saw), and on as low a deck as your self-respect permits (the higher the deck the more you pay, but also the more you sway). Unless Marella have changed, altho you'll have a cabin class that you've booked & paid for, the location will be assigned by the ship - you can select a specific cabin by paying a fairly nominal sum (last I heard it was about £45 - that's for a cabin, not per person). Unless you know the ship well, the big value in doing that is more to avoid a godawful location than choosing a prime one. All that said, the Caribbean is almost-always very well-behaved in the winter & when you wake up, until you look out of the window you probably won't know if you're in port or still at sea. Other things to consider - choose a cabin that's in a cabin sandwich - the deck above and the deck below are also cabins. You don't want to be immediately under an open deck (keep-fit types running round the deck at daft o'clock in the morning, followed by sunbeds being dragged into position) or a theatre (rehearsals), or a kitchen. - on deck plans, be wary of an un-named space by your cabin - might just be a linen cupboard but might be aircon machinery or pumps or somesuch - make it a cabin handy to a bank of lifts to avoid trudging down a long corridor. Unless immediately adjacent to a lift, the lift motors aren't noisy, and on most ships lift lobbies are screened from corridors. - on older ships, which have hull cabins forward of the bridge, make sure you're not next to an anchor - at moored ports (where the ship lies off-shore instead of tied to the quay) you'll get a VERY NOISY EARLY WAKE-UP CALL (happened to us once in our early days). If in doubt, choose a cabin shortly after some cabins have been chosen by others & follow their lead. ....................................................... P&O and Marella offer fly-cruises direct from regional airports (Bristol ? Cardiff ?) with chartered aircraft. This means the holiday starts at your UK airport, easy transfers to your ship, etc. Not quite so seamless as P&O (their passengers go direct from the aircraft to their transfer bus without going into the airport terminal, & they don't see their luggage between UK airport & cabin door) but Marella flights are shared with TUI passengers bound for hotel vacations - but still simpler than most. At the end of other cruises, passengers are thrown off the ship by about 9am to make way for the next lot - but on chartered fly-cruises you have the run of the ship (restaurants, bars, pool, etc but not cabin) until your airport transfer is called. All very civilised. Where flights & cruise are separate bookings (even booked thro the same agent & at the same time and in one payment) they are separate contracts - if the cruise or flight is cancelled you'll only be refunded for the part that's cancelled - with a fly-cruise you'll be refunded in full. And no worries about a late flight arrival - the ship will wait. .................................................. Cruise prices are fluid. If a cruise is under-sold prices will drop - sometimes dramatically. Conversely popular cruises will sell out early or the prices of the few remaining cabins will increase. This is more extreme with Caribbean cruises. Whereas the savings on a late-booked cruise can be lost by the higher cost of late-booked flights, seats on those those chartered aircraft are tied to berths on the ship and committed hotel bookings, so those fly-cruise prices are lower. We only booked Marella early for one cruise because it was a popular itinerary including Cuba & Panama. For other cruises we've held off til quite late for big reductions. If we held off too long & it sold out, no worries - we'll choose another for another date. We can do that because we're retired. Downsides of late-booking are - if you're tied to dates or specific about what itinerary you want - little value in paying extra to choose a particular cabin - and whilst there may be plenty of capacity on the ship, flights from your most-convenient airport may be sold-out. A few little BTWs - Yes, Marella is all-inclusive but the selection of drinks is poor - beer is John Smiths or an indeterminate lager, many spirits are un-branded, and cocktails are weak. But prices on most ships are high. - No gratuities charged (can be as much as $18 per person per day on some cruise ships), altho many of us give a token $20 to $30 to our cabin steward. - Atmosphere & friendliness (both crew & fellow-passengers) is great on all Marella ships - with one or two exceptions, don't waste your budget on ship's excursions. The Caribbean is the easiest place in the world to DIY using minibuses (Americans call them vans) at the ports. They can replicate most ship's excursions, or suggest alternatives or do what the passengers want. Agree an itinerary, timescale & price before you board, pay (US dollars) at the end, it's the norm. Payment doesn't include food or drink or the occasional small admission charge, but the cost is around 25% of ships' excursion prices. Those at the port are known to the authorities & to each-other, they're friendly & helpful, they know their island & they know the importance of being back at the ship in good time. Many excursions allow time at a beach, or they can drop you at a beach or shop close to the ship - so take beach gear with you (no need for beach towels, ships provide them) JB 🙂

Hmmmm, chalk & cheese. But cheese is usually much more expensive than chalk. Marella are OK, we've sailed with them a significant number of times. Ships are second-hand, they lack the glitz, the finesse, and the whistles-and-bells of modern ships. We've found the food decent to good, most passengers dress in their finery on formal evenings (one or two per week). "Snacks" (pizza, burgers, etc) are pretty basic on every ship of every cruise line that we've sailed Plenty of live music to different tastes in different bars, and they have hosts who will dance with ladies who want to dance but who are solo or whose partners suffer from two left feet and no sense of rhythm . Theatre shows (sometimes not even in a theatre) are well-performed by a committed & enthusiastic troupe, but music for shows is canned. Comedians are flown in to give early & late shows a couple of times a week. Yes, alcoholic drinks included, though the quality is basic and we're not the only ones who think the cocktails watered-down. On one particularly hot afternoon we each got thro' at least a dozen Pina Coladas but felt totally sober. Outside space varies from ship to ship. Clientele is overwhelmingly British, from all parts of the UK and all corners of society, and the atmosphere aboard has always been very friendly & convivial on every Marella (and Thomson, the previous name) ship we've sailed. Not only are their cruises more port-intensive than the average, their Itineraries are way more adventurous than most. There are no gratuities payable, tho' at the end of the cruise many folk give something to their cabin steward and sometimes restaurant staff. For their Caribbean & Med cruises Marella charter aircraft for direct flights from regional UK airports to the destination airport in order to offer "fly-cruises". Way simpler and cheaper than booking flights separately, your holiday genuinely starts at your UK airport, and with the security that if a flight is late the ship will wait, or if for any reason (mechanical, political, weather, etc) the cruise is cancelled you will be refunded for both flights & cruise whereas with separately-booked flights (even thro the same agent at the same time) they are two separate transactions and you're recompensed only for the cancelled portion Marella prices are very fluid. If you can sail wherever and whenever you want, there are some great late bargains (about 8 to 4 weeks out) with Marella You've not mentioned price. We've not been tempted by Virgin, even though they sail from Portsmouth - just 10 miles from home -, mainly because of price. Are they not significantly more expensive ? Especially if the price-gap is smaller than I've seen, do check out the extras. I found their website confusing about what's included & what isn't, figure it for yourself https://www.virginvoyages.com/whats-included I also get the impression that Virgin is more for the "young set" In the unlikely event that your total spend will be vaguely similar for either, I'd suggest you jump for Virgin. If the price difference is significant, then it's a matter of personal preference. But don't just rely on us, choose a couple of likely cruises, then phone a few cruise specialist travel agents for their experience and views. We're not permitted to name agents on Cruise Critic so google - there are a dozen or so specialists, (TUI will be very knowledgeable about Marella because they own the line, but their advice is very likely to be slanted) JB 🙂

Unexpected or excessive on-board charges, eg (some time ago) welcome "champagne" handed to everyone when boarding, followed by "can I see your card please?" (yes, it was so they could charge the drink to us !) And NCL have always been the industry leader in increasing "gratuities" and pushing pay-restaurants JB 🙂

Two things to be aware of.......... The hurricane season in the Caribbean runs from June to November, though you'd be very unlucky to catch one outside the peak period of mid-August to mid-October. No fun if you're caught in one in a Caribbean hotel, but they're usually well-forecasted, and ships can divert - usually to another port. Can mess with your itinerary, especially during the peak period. We cruise the Caribbean sometime Dec to March, partly for that reason, partly because there's a much broader choice of ships, but mainly to get a break from the UK winter. You mentioned Half-Moon Cay and Amber Cove. They're amongst a dozen or so resorts owned by cruise lines. Good for a lazy beach day - no walking, no paying for beach loungers, use your cruise card to charge drinks & shop purchases - but more like Florida than the Caribbean, no history or sights or island culture, little or no contact with the locals. Can be a welcome break on a busy port-intensive cruise, but you wouldn't want to waste more than one day at a private cruiseline-owned property. BTW Carnival Corporation owns a large proportion of them, but Carnival Corporation means a lot more than just Carnival ships - they include Princess, P&O, Holland-America, and a bunch of others https://thepointsguy.com/guide/which-cruise-lines-does-carnival-own/ JB 🙂

Mom's flight from Gatwick. You're likely to be able to disembark unassisted (haul your own bags from your cabin) from around 7am, or the first tranche of standard disembarkation is usually 7.30 (if you're allocated a later disembarkation, ask at Guest Relations for the earliest tranche, citing mom's onward travel.) Immigration at Southampton is usually quick, Customs is a walk-thru unless your collar is felt, especially with an early disembarkation expect to be at the Cruise Terminal entrance within 20 minutes. Easiest & cheapest is to buy an Advance train ticket from Southampton Central to Gatwick airport, advance tickets are available from 12 weeks out, but are valid only for the train booked. But tickets bought at the station cost only £21. Trains approx every half-hour. Southampton Central station is a 5 - 10 minute taxi ride from the cruise terminal, Gatwick Airport station is in the airport's South Terminal, needs internal transportation if flying from the North Terminal. On the National Rail website https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ select your start & finish stations, date and earliest time. Importantly click on Route via / avoid, and enter Stopping at HAVANT. This gives the times of all trains going via a simple same-platform change of train at Havant. (the alternative is via a much more difficult change of train at big & busy Clapham Junction) Best train time to give a decent time window at both ends is the 08.50, Mom will arrive at Gatwick at 11.05. If alternatively you want to aim for the 08.20 that one arrives at 10.39. If you've bought an Advance ticket for it but miss it, hand over your advance ticket at the station booking office & pay the balance of the standard anytime fare of £21. Or Princess' first transfer coach to Gatwick will depart about 8am. I think they recommend that folk don't use it if their flight is before 1pm. Ask about that & the cost on the Princess forum. If alternatively you want to drive Mom to Gatwick you'll need to book a car for early collection. Expect the drive to take up to 2 1/2 hrs at that time of day. If you have a sat-nav you might prefer to take the cross-country route via Storrington, preferred by many taxi drivers to avoid the M3 / M25 / M23 loop, which can get really screwed-up by an accident or even a broken-down lorry. Bearing in mind you have to collect a car (& the paperwork) it's no quicker than the train or Princess coach. Then to head north (M1 ?) the M25 clockwise is 20 miles shorter, generally a half-hour or more quicker & no Dartford Crossing fee or delay. But if Mom's on the train you won't have to go near London or the M25 and you'll save hours Kinda depends how you think Mom will cope with the train or Princess coach JB 🙂

If you're looking at those two being back-to-back cruises, or combining one with a week or so in Orlando, they may make sense. But like @john watson ,we wouldn't fly that far for just a week, especially starting from County Durham. As @mom says you should talk to a cruise specialist travel agent. We can't name names on Cruise Critic, but dial "cruise specialists UK" into google. See what their websites offer, but then talk to them on the phone, you'll get an idea of which is most knowledgeable and helpful. When you've settled on a cruise, if that wasn't through the most customer-friendly agent phone that agent, tell them what you've settled on and the best price you've been offered and ask them to match it. I leave it up to you whether you bluff them a little, but even if they're marginally more-expensive they'll be the best choice for a first-time cruiser - they can help with things like cabin location, choice of meal sittings, etc ad infinitum. Because you're in the UK and a long way from Heathrow or Gatwick & you're aiming to cruise the Caribbean, if you're merely looking at Port Canaveral as a departure port rather than combining cruising with a land stay in Florida, any cruise specialist should suggest a P&O or Marella fly-cruise, which we consider to be a no-brainer. Direct flights chartered by the cruiseline (everyone on -board is on your cruise) from a choice of regional airports, smooth & hassle-free transfers from airport to ship - you check in your luggage at your UK airport and you won't see it again until it arrives at your cabin door. On your last day most ships want their passengers & their luggage off the ship by about 9am to make way for those on the next cruise. On those fly-cruises you have the run of the ship, including restaurants, bars, pool etc (but not your cabin) until your transfers are called. Flights & cruise on separate bookings (even booked at the same time & thro the same TA) mean that if your flight is delayed & you miss the sailing that's your problem. Or if the cruise is cancelled (not uncommon esp on US ships) you'll be refunded for the cruise but not for your flights. On a fly-cruise the ship will wait if an aircraft is delayed, or if for whatever reason one element is cancelled you'll be refunded for both elements. P&O offer 15-night cruises with flights out on a friday or saturday and return overnight on saturday or sunday. So you'll have a full day in your departure port (usually Barbados, sometimes St Lucia) on your first or last full day. Marella offer a choice of 7-night or 14-night cruises or a 7-night cruise plus a 7-night stay (usually Jamaica). JB 🙂

@Flatbush Flyer mentioned "nickel & diming". NCL is probably the worst for this, @zqvol's mention of gratuities being payable on their included "Free at Sea" package is an example. And NCL concentrate on their speciality pay restaurants, so the standard in their main dining rooms suffers. The former can be taken into account in the cruise pricing, the latter will probably disappoint. The Flyer is an advocate for Oceania (we've not sailed Oceania). By all accounts the food is a cut above. They also include extras such as excursions - obviously that keeps costs down when cruising, but you're paying for those things in your cruise ticket price. So when comparing prices take into account the money you'd otherwise spend, but you'll get no benefit from inclusions which don't interest you. Celebrity are a favourite of ours and a cut above their stable-mate Royal Caribbean. If both appeal consider whether you want to pay the higher Celebrity prices. MSC are a bit of an acquired choice - we enjoy them, they have the youngest and most-stylish fleet in the world, but they get more than their fair share of poor reviews from Americans ( & Brits) who are surprised that this Italian line doesn't provide an American experience 🙄. Food is very acceptable, but not outstanding - probably different for those who choose the Yacht Club experience but we wouldn't know because the Yacht Club prices are in a different league. No-one's yet mentioned Princess - more refined and laid-back than the other mass-market lines. Another favourite of ours. And we've always found the food good in both Main Dining Rooms & buffets. We've only experienced Carnival once. OK, especially for the money, but with the greatest respect for Carnival I think you'll find the other cruise lines mentioned are better. BTW we always loved to share tables, we've made many good friends and shared many trips ashore with table-mates. But when cruising re-started post-Covid understandably no tables could be shared with strangers. Sadly for us, but fortunate for you, the cruise lines we've sailed have since been reluctant to offer shared tables. On both MSC and NCL the only large tables seem to be for shared cruise bookings. But because so many tables are now two-tops they're crammed in. Certainly on MSC and NCL you are likely to be less than a foot from the tables either side of you - and that's probably true of most lines. JB 🙂

No, in the UK only major stations in London have left-luggage. But you could store luggage at the Railway Tavern in SALISBURY - it's at the end of the station approach. https://www.facebook.com/LeighandJulie/?locale=en_GB Or there are facilities in Southampton, but if your Southampton hotel is tolerably convenient you could drop your luggage there (hotels in the UK readily take in luggage before check-in time). JB 🙂

Hi, We've never cruised that far north in Norway. But you'll get a good response if you post on https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/116-northern-europe-baltic-sea/ JB 🙂

Yes, by train and ho-ho bus is the way to do it. Direct half-hourly trains from Southampton Central to Salisbury (return tickets about £10), ho-ho bus from Salisbury station forecourt to Stonehenge (buy your Stonehenge tickets on the bus, they admit at any time), ho-ho back to Salisbury, mebbe stopping off at Old Sarum if time & weather permit (its even more exposed than Stonehenge), then explore this laid-back historic city & its magnificent cathedral before taking the train back to Southampton. See post # 2 of this thread https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2959530-southampton-looking-for-local-inputvalidation-of-short-visit-plan/#comment-66034812 JB 🙂

Interestingly it's the same with my local pub - it's been moving further away every time I go there. Apparently it's a symptom of old age 😉 JB 🙂

Sorry, been away & no wifi. The OP will hopefully be bedded-down by now, either here or there. JB 🙂

At 963ft & 88,000 tonnes Carnival Miracle is significantly smaller than the maximum size ship for negotiating the archipelago altho at about 2000 pax she's my preferred size of ship. But she's quite old (built 2004), so may be inadequately-equipped for the job. Or Stadsgarden & Frihamnen may be booked-out on your date. JB 🙂

Several NCL ships accommodate just 2.000 pax., so it's possible. In Split I think that tenders use the same or adjacent pier as berthed cruise ships. That's at the seaward end of the berths, beyond the ferries - about a 15 minute waterside walk to town. In Dubrovnik tendering is a positive bonus - your ship lies off the walled old city and you are tendered into the little local ferry piers the harbour in the heart of the walled city - very much the best way to arrive. In Mykonos, again you are tendered into the harbour. That too used to be an advantage compared to a hot & dusty walk or bus from the cruise berths - starting a few years ago the cruise berths are now serviced by a water bus. But hey, you save the few euros water-bus fare. Can't remember ever being able to give a positive slant on two tender ports out of three. 🙂 JB 🙂

The daily rate applies to cars which are at West Quay for four hours or more The blogger's website below is accurate but out-of-date, the daily rate is now £7, not £5. You take a ticket, you pay (card only) when you leave https://emmacruises.com/cruise-port-parking-southampton-west-quay-multi-storey-car-park-prices-review/ JB 🙂

Sorry, my only experience in the area was sailing thru the canal many years ago. I see you've asked in the obvious forums, I can't think of anywhere else. Mebbe Rick Steeves? JB 🙂

You need to check, because on Santorini " comfortable ride back to the port" and "depart at your convenience " don't sit well in the same sentence. All cruise excursions take you to the ferry harbour at Athinios, where a bus awaits you on the quayside. At the end of the excursion most drop their passengers in the town of Fira, and they decide for themselves when "at their convenience" they want to take the cablecar or the zig-zag donkey path down to the old Fira harbour for a regular tender back to the ship. But a couple of cruise lines (Celebrity and I think NCL) take their passengers for "their comfortable ride back to to the port" ( Athinios) where ship's excursion tender/s take them back to the ship. Clearly the bus/buses depart (probably from Fira) at a set time, so that can't be described as "at their convenience" If indeed Fira is the last stop on that excursion, I can think of no reason why those on the excursion can't choose for themselves whether to get back to the bus in time for the drive back to Athinios, or to spend longer in Fira and go down to Fira old harbour But they'd have to choose to either "depart at their convenience" or "comfortable ride back to the port" cos they can't do both. Sadly the phraseology is ambiguous.🙄 JB 🙂