NayaSantaFe

On 10/19/2018 at 5:58 AM, JohninDC said:

Lots of posts on this board about doing Santorini on your own.  There are two competing companies just down form where your tender will drop you off that, for 15 Euros each, will transport you via boat to the other end of the island and shuttle you to Fira.  Tour Fira on your own (great views! ) then catch the included bus from Fira to Oia - tour Oia on your own and then either walk down the steps (takes about 30 min), ride the donkeys (yuck!) or pay another 6 Euros for the cable car. All three options will get you back to where you catch your tender boat to your ship.

 

Have a great cruise!

Do you happen to remember the name of those 2 companies? 

I would like to see if we are still on time to make a reservation for our upcoming June cruise.

On 4/15/2019 at 11:02 AM, suzanneyoung said:

We travel reasonably light and will be able to move our luggage across bridges if that makes sense. Since we are going to the airport and not the train station I want to make it convenient to drop our bags after cruise and pick them up on the way to the airport. With the extra time we will likely take public transportation to the airport instead of a private water taxi.

 

Here is the response I received from Transbagagli: 

 

Hello! For this kind of service you have to contact the porters into the cruise terminal. You have to leave your bags to their luggage storage and then they'll deliver the bags at airport.  They can help you. Their contacts are: +39 41 5334734

e.mail: info@portabagaglidelporto.it

 

 

Have you had any luck getting a hold of them?

I received the same response from them and sent an email to the email address they provided and haven't received a response yet.

On 3/21/2019 at 9:32 PM, Baletrina said:

That bag is perfect! Time to order it and start the Spreadsheet packing list. Lol. 

I just received the bag and loved it! Perfect size!

Any good packing lists you have used for your Europe trips?

14 hours ago, Baletrina said:

Backpacks are great!  Would just bring the backpack because:

A. They alleviate annoying straps and free up your hands

B. The many compartments are amazing

C. They are on trend right now and everyone in Europe is selling them/wearing them

 

Last trip(kids were 4 and 1) I had a tote bag and ended up buying a mini backpack in Italy. Love it. Pickpocketing is not as prevalent as people state. Just use extra precaution like you would in most big cities/crowded areas. Be aware of your surroundings. Don’t do dumb things like put your wallet in an outside pocket, etc.  In crowded areas I would stuff my bag under the stroller or you can wear it backwards. 

 

One thing we we were not prepared for were the mosquitos. DD got bit up bad(she has horrible reactions to bites anyways). Met other American kids on the cruise with the same bites. Who knew? So bug repellent, anti itch cream are added to our bag full of Benadryl, Motrin, etc in the future. 

 

And I second dressing up slightly. 

I was looking at buying a little crossbody backpack:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07CBNQC5Y/ref=sspa_mw_detail_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&th=1

Like you said I think it will be alot more practical than a little purse...I don't carry diapers or anything anymore, but I do carry baby wioes, hand santizer, etc, so I need a little extra space.

Also, thanks for the repellent idea. I usually take one to our trips but for some reason I wasn't thinking I would need it on this trip.

On 2/17/2019 at 12:11 PM, TupeloHoney said:

We took our then 6 and 10 year olds to Europe last spring.  I bought a pillow like this for my 6 year old for on the plane, and it worked pretty well.  https://www.amazon.com/Height-Adjustable-Inflatable-Airplane-Accessories-Footrest/dp/B07B7J1HQW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1550430563&sr=8-4&keywords=kids+plane+foot+rest 

I also brought along a couple of my cheap pashminas and some clips to make her a little sleeping tent.  She didn't sleep great, but she got a few hours.  My 10 year old didn't sleep at all, but he was too big for the pillow thing.

I am really considering buying this leg pillow. But, not sure how we would blow it up, did you bring along something to inflate it or did you just blow it up yourself?

16 hours ago, bennybear said:

We had twelve,  it would have taken more but it was  a perfect number.

I sent them an email to get pricing and they haven't replied yet. But, my husband loved the idea of being able to fish. Plus, their reviews on TripAdvisor are great!

1 hour ago, bennybear said:

We chartered the Nautilus, a private boat in Corfu that would easily take 12!  We toured the island by sea stopping to swim in many spots with an excellent bbq lunch cooked on board including wine. Probably the best tour we have ever done!  

This is an option the men would love since they absoultley love fishing and don't have any fishing planned for the rest of the trip. I just found their info on google, so I will send them an email and get a quote.

Do you remember how many passengers were on board when you took the tour?

1 hour ago, fabnfortysomething said:

Corfu is a beautiful island

we booked with Corfu taxi tours and were driven up and over to opposite coast

absolutely fantastic scenery

I will look into them...we will be in port from 10am to 4pm, so I think that would give us more than enough time to see the island!

Do you remember about how much you paid for the tour?

On 3/12/2019 at 2:11 PM, dronnygirl said:

Corfu is about half hour walk into town or there are taxis waiting at the dock gates. Its pleasant to walk round the town and you can sometimes sit and watch a game of cricket while enjoying a ginger beer!!   There are plenty of shops and a market.

Argostoli we hired a car and drove to Myrtos as well as other lovely places. We had a full day and then returned to Argostoli where we had a walk and a meal.

Dubrovnik you can get a taxi at the port to the town and walk around the walls. You will need good shoes as the cobbles are shiny and a little slippery in places. You would also need sunscreen and a hat as it can get very hot. There is also a cable car up the mountain for beautiful views. There are also taxis at the port who will take you for an hour tour and they include the mountain where the cable car goes so you can get the views that way.

 

I just booked a tour with Kefalonia Taxi Service in Argostoli for Myrtos Beach and Melissani Lake.

So I am down to Corfu and Dubvronik...

Corfu is looking like a relaxing day of shopping and walking around town...any places to get nice views or any beaches near port?

In Dubrovnik I would love to do the cable car! I will goggle it and try to get more info!

I am guessing that finding a taxi at port is pretty simple at both ports? We are a group of 12 so that complicates things sometimes...

10 minutes ago, WallyNDiane said:

Many times the ship shore excursion to Delos leaves earlier and returns earlier. You just pay more for the ship tour but you then can spend all your post Delos time seeing Mykonos.

Looks like the ship excursion is 3 times what we would pay if we book it on our own 😕

5 minutes ago, WallyNDiane said:

 

The windmills are a short walk from the Delos dock. You could get off the ship ASAP which would allow some town walking before your trip to Delos. That coupled with a few hours after the Delos tour would allow sufficient time to see Mykonos.

 

Many times the ship shore excursion to Delos leaves earlier and returns earlier. You just pay more for the ship tour but you then can spend all your post Delos time seeing Mykonos.

 

Take a look at your other ports as Santorini, Rhodes and Malta provide plenty of shopping time. Mykonos has beautiful white washed buildings and cobble stone grout. But all this beauty is in the shopping district.

 

Use Google earth to investigate Mykonos city. Great way to get a plan established.

I was looking at google maps and it says it is about a 40 minute walk from port to the Delos dock, is there a shuttle provided by the ship into town or would we have to grab a taxi if we don't want to make that long walk?

Also, I will check with the cruise and see what the cost for that Delos excursion would cost and see if there is a big difference in price.

We will be in these ports in June on the NCL Star and are  wanting to DIY at least one or all if possible! 

At Argostoli I am thinking of grabbing a taxi to Myrtos Beach which I have researched is about 45 min away, is this a good idea? Also anyone have an idea of how much a taxi to Myrtos would cost?

Besides that I have not figured out what we want to do at the other 2 ports, but would like to know if they are easy to DIY or is it beter to arrange private tour.

2 hours ago, WallyNDiane said:

 

 

If you do do your own Delos tour, you can either prebook or buy your tickets on the dock. If there are many ships in Mykonos that day, I work purchase tickets to Delos before your cruise. The Delos dock is right at the foot of town allowing you to tour both Delos and Mykonos. The town is nice, but remember the windmills and Little Venice are quite small. So Mykonos is mostly a shopping destination.

I was able to find the Delos boat and it seems like it leaves at 10am and returns at 1:30pm. We are in town from 8am to 3:30pm, so that would leave us with 2 hours upon return to explore Mykonos. But, this might be enough then considering their is not much to do, right?

Are the mills withing walking distance from the dock?

On 2/18/2019 at 12:45 PM, ollienbertsmum said:

I like to learn the history of the places I visit but I think with Mykonos, for a bit of pre arrival research Google will suffice.  

How about getting from Mykonos to Delos? 

Obviously would need transportation there, so would a tour company be our best option or is there a boat/ferry that would be able to takw us if we DIY?

On 2/28/2019 at 5:19 PM, WallyNDiane said:

We saw everything in Mykonos in about 5 hours including Little Venice and the windmills. I wanted to go to Delos at 10 am and be back for 1 pm to spend 3 hours walking around the town. The town is very nice but is a big shopping port outside of a few churches, Little Venice which is really little and the windmills.

 

I was recovering from a health event so we bypassed Delos. If I were going again, I would split the day between Delos and the town.

Do you have to arrange transportation to Delos? 

Just started researching Mykonos and Delos is something I would love to do...

5 hours ago, dogs4fun said:

Have you checked out M Tours? Highly recommend - if nothing else, a look at their tours might give you an idea of what there is to see:

http://mtours.me/

There is also a HOHO (open top bus) if you are interested: 

https://www.montenegropulse.com/kotor-open-tour.html

Don't miss the sail away - the bay is beautiful.

Thanks for your suggestions!

I looked into M Tours website and found a really nice Blue Cave tour that interested us. I contacted them to get a quote since we are a group of 12 people.

But, if we decide to do Kotor on our own, what would our options be, pretty much just walking to the fort and beach?

My bad, we won't be on Oasis, that is the first leg of our trip, this port will be on NCL. Also, forgot to mention we will be in port from 2pm-8pm which might be a problem when booking tours.

We will be in Kotor in June on the Oasis and I am not sure if this is anport we can DIY or if there is so much to see that we should book a tour. I liked the idea of doing the Tuk Tuk tour, but unfortunately they are booked for our day in port. The reason we liked this tour was the idea of being in an open air vehicle, not a van.

Are there any other open air vehiclentours besides this one?

Also, any insight on how easy it is to do Kotor on your own, maybe the fort and beach time?

Thank you all for your replies!

Since we are a big group of 12 people I don't get to call all thr shots and saving money over location was a big deal for the rest of the group, so we ended up in Antony Palace Hotel in Marcon. I know this is far from Venice and not where I wanted to end up, but at $110 a night I had to take one for the team.

Looks like they have a shuttle service to Venice that runs during the day, otherwise I am thinking we will have to use the train/bus to get around. 

24 minutes ago, mapleleaves said:

you could stay in a hotel by the Mestre train station.  It's about 10 minute train ride to Venice and costs about 1.5 E.

Same with the local bus.  The bus will drop you in Piazzale Roma ; the train station is across the Grand Canal from P Roma.

https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/mestre/mestre-hotels-train-station.htm

 

(Also, coming from the airport, you could use the ATVO express bus which drops off by the Mestre Train Station, 15 minute ride for about 8E. )

 

Did you look at apts in Venice?  I've stayed at apts in Venice and really enjoyed having a small kitchen for coffee/bfast, snacks,  drinks, (wine/cheese) . I've never paid more than 200E.

 

 

Thanks so much for your reply!

It seems like the Best Western is right across from the train station, so that might be a good candidate. The commite isn't bad at all, so I will deffinitly consider hotels in that area now.

We will be in Venice in June for 3 nights pre-cruise and I have been looking through our hotel options and they are very expensive. The least expensive one I found in Venice was $270 a night! That is ove our budget of $200 to $240 a night at the most...so I have been looking at other options outside of Venice, for example the Best Western Hotel Tritone or the Four Points Venice Mestre which are more in our budget, but seem to be a little far...

My question is, if we decide to stay in a hotel that is not in the main area, how easy and expensive is it to find transportation to Venice? We are trying to figure out if the cost of transportation and convinence is worth staying outside of Venice and saving on hotel stay.

9 hours ago, a123gator said:

We (family of 5) are on the same cruise in June and are wanting to head on a boat to see the Calanques (preferably with some swimming, too). I have found Blue Evasion, but it looks like their timing is off for our cruise schedule (9:30 departure or 6:30 return). I do have an email out to them, but have you found anything else? 

Thanks,

Ali

We decided not to swim because the water will be a little to cold for us. So we decided to only take the boat tour with: https://www.calanques-if.com

We will be in port feom 9am to 6pm, so their schedule worked good for us.

4 hours ago, lamchops said:

Your kids may dictate where you have lunch but I would carry some snacks if possible. There’s a McDonald’s in Pisa if you need to use a washroom, WiFi, or kids snack. I personally would prefer to be back in La Spezia or Cinque Terre before going to a sit down restaurant. I have no problems with buying market, street, or local take out when we are off the ship.

I usually like to have a good breakfast before leaving the ship and take snacks for the kids. They aren't picky eaters at all, so they will eat whatever the adults decide they want to eat. 

Hopefully breakfast will last until at least 2pm and that would mean we would probably eat lunch in Cinque Terre. Looks like Monterosso has a beach according to what I have been reading, so this might be a good option for the kids. 

4 hours ago, Brantjudith said:

I'd recommend that you don't go far from the kids on the flight. Always be around to calm them in cases of agitation. If it isn't their first time flying, it would be easier. However if it is, they'd need timely checks to ensure they are fine as they might not be able to precisely describe how they're feeling. And of course, follow recommended safety procedures.

They have both been flying since they were 6 months, but this is the first long (more than 6 hours) flight. Do any of you use Milatonin or things of that sort to help them relax and sleep better during the flight?

Also, I had been reading that some parents use natural sleep aids once they have arrived in Europe to help the little ones with jetlag and adjusting to new time zone, any of you done this?

22 minutes ago, lamchops said:

You would buy a ticket from Pisa to monterosso or Vernazza . When you’re done, head back to La Spezia by train.

La Spezia is between Pisa and Cinque Terre.

Thanks for so much great information!

Would you suggest we have lunch in Posa before heading to Cinque Terre or are there some nice places to have lunch in the villages you mentioned?