Spree75

My partner and I cruised for the first time on the Odyssey last fall from Istanbul to Athens. No kids on board and most couples in their 60s and 70s.

It didn't really matter though. Everyone was active and mobile. Considering the number of tenders we had there was never an issue with boarding and disembarking. Shows were well attended and there was a good crowd at the club and observation lounge in the evenings.

so who here is from the NY Metro area?

 

Would love to chat more.....

Central Jersey for me (North Brunswick) and my partner lives in Manhattan.

We went on my first cruise last October on Seabourn from Istanbul to Athens. What a fantastic trip! I sort of wish I waited a year to try out a cruise since Atlantis chartered one of Seabourn's ships to do a similar cruise. Advantage of the Atlantis cruise is that it stops at Santorini (I'm still bummed out that I missed the island) and the ship stays extremely late at Santorini and Mykonos. Oh well. Think I may be hooked on cruising though...

After reading most of replies I was hoping someone could clarify Crystal's dining policies. From what I've read it appears there are two sets of dining slots that are designed around the evening entertainment on the ship. There also is a reservation system that allows you to go outside of those two times. What I'm not clear on is what happens if you don't show up promptly for your dinner reservation? Are you turned away? Are you asked to wait for the next available table?

It seems like the Crystal MDR is very much like Restaurant 2 on the larger SB ships which I found to be like going out to upper scaled land based establishment. You call ahead, let them know what time and how many people, and then show up at the appropriate time. If you're late and/or add/subtract guests then you are at the mercy of availability.

I have to say it was refreshing on the Odyssey to be able to go up to the Observation Bar at 6 pm and see where the night would take you. Maybe the company isn't good and you end up going for dinner at 6:30 with your partner. Maybe you meet up with some friends and have a couple of drinks and head down to the dining room at 7:30 for a table of 4. Or maybe you have a grand ole' time and stay at the observation bar and head down very late for dinner. One time we even waited for the entertainer to finish her set, met up with another of the entertainers and went down to MDR for a table of 6. No problems EVER. Even if you ate late the dining room staff and the kitchen made every effort to get dinner to you quickly so that you still had time to catch the evening entertainment.

So Spree75...or anyone else who knows...,

 

Care to share your info on how to avoid the lines at the Acropolis, and the

best way to see the Agora???

 

I would love to hear!

 

Thanks a lot!

For the Acropolis there seems to be two ways up to the ticket area. If you have your go further down the street you'll come to a road heading up. I think this is usually used for vehicles for wheel chair access. Anyways walk up the road and you'll reach a map. To the left is the rock where Paul gave a sermon. To the right is the area with guides for hire and a ticket booth that was completely empty when we got there. Keep walking down the path and you'll reach the bathrooms and the ticket entrance for the Acropolis. At this point there is only one path so you are stuck with everyone else.

For the Agora, Dmitri suggested a couple of things due to the amount of rain. First he suggested to go to the left and visit the rebuilt Stoa of Atticus. There's a museum in there that is very well done. After that if the rain was too hard we could head back to the taxi. The other option was to walk down the central boulevard towards the Hephaestion. With that walk you end up passing most of the ruins of the Agora. The view from the temple was spectacular. Great picture point for the Acropolis.

I had been in contact with Paul several months in advance and as the time got close for my arrival in Athens I was emailing Paul every couple of days to see if there was any update on the transportaion situation in Athens. Paul was very quick to respond to every email and reassure me that even if there was a taxi strike he would work something out. This definitely put me at ease especially since Athens was to be the last destination.

As it turned out there was a mass transportation strike but not a taxi strike so Paul's son Dimitri was waiting for us at the cruise terminal. Coming from NYC the traffic didn't seem that bad but Dimitri still did his best to avoid the congestion by taking some of the side streets. We also had a lot of rain that day and I appreciated Dimitri's ability to drop us off and pick us up right at the entrance to the attractions. The running history and conversation in the cab was very informative and made for a great day. I also appreciated the guidance on how to avoid lines at the Acropolis and suggestions on the best way to see large attractions such as the Ancient Agora.

The following day there was to be early demonstrations in Symtagna Square and I was pleased to have Paul's other son Nick call the hotel and rearrange the pick up time for the airport to ensure that we made our 11:20 AM flight.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Paul's services to anyone and would book with him again if I come back to Athens.

I'm just about to board my Cruise from Istanbul to Athens. When I received my cruise information I noticed that the referal credit had not been applied. I had my TA call Seabourn and they said they had not received it and that it was possible that if it had been sent to the Miami address that they would not have gotten it.

Luckily I had a photocopy of the referral and the TA sent that to Seabourn who then said that they had applied the credit. I'll find out tomorrow...

As I'm finding out, document everything. You never know when you'll need it.

I understand some people's point that you can go to some of the best restaurants, hotels, resorts, and what nots dressed however you want. I would say that would be the case in most places since the economy isn't great and I'm sure these establishments want as much business as possible.

HOWEVER, there are certain places that have specific rules. Just because another place with a similar service profile allows you to wear jeans doesn't mean that you should expect everything to conform to your expectation.

For instance, Masa is probably the most expensive restaurant in NYC and even though I wasn't in jeans the one time I was there, I did see someone at the omakase bar dressed in nice designer jeans. Per Se which is just next door to Masa requires jackets. I've never seen an exception made there the couple of times I've eaten there. Both have 5 star service and 5 star food but expectations on dress is different. Per Se makes it clear at reservation that they have the jacket policy.

My feeling is that as long as the expectations are posted before you put down your money then you have to abide by their rules. If you don't like a certain style then you can use your money elsewhere. There's really no reason to complain. If the establishment can't make money then they will change their rules or go out of business.