lovestx

We DIY'ed in Athens last week and had similar experiences so I can answer a few questions.

First, the '20 minute walk' from Terminal B to the Metro station which Rick Steve's describes is closer to a 30 minute walk (and we don't dawdle!). We were fortunate to run into fellow cruisers who were doing the same thing so we didn't bail early thinking we were lost. I would do it again but just would have liked to have known that it's about a mile and a half walk in my estimation.

Time from Piraeus to Monastariki by Metro is 20 to 25 minutes.

If you plan to buy tickets at the main Acropolis gate, get there early. We arrived at 10:30 and the line was about 45 minutes long. We heard from others on our cruise that there was no line by 12:30 p.m. so maybe we should have gone in the afternoon.

Rick Steve's audioguides worked great. We did the Acropolis one and the walking tour of the Plaka/Syntagma Square.

We were in Athens the day after their elections last week and you would have never known it (except for the media camped out at the hotels lining Syntagma Square).

We liked Athens much better than we had expected to. Acropolis is amazing (couldn't believe we were there!) and the Plaka is a lovely area. The graffiti is ubiquitous and many on our cruise thought Athens was 'dirty' because of it. It's definitely too bad but some of it is quite artistic so it didn't bother us.

When returning to the Port on the metro, we opted for a 8Euro cab ride back to Terminal B.

By the time you pay, at the least, $50 for admission to a Specialty restaurant...you might as well pay for one extra suitcase!

Personally, I don't know how we could have gone on Equinox for 11 nights with just a carryon. We packed more than we needed but you will definitely need lots of shirts and shorts/pants/skirts for your port days. It gets REALLY hot and you will sweat A LOT! And washing things out in the sink works but at some point I'd rather have clean clothes.

And, BTW, my hubby and son took tuxes for formal nights even though we were in Blu. Hubby hates to dress up and told me on the second formal night that he was so glad that I made him bring the tux as he thought it really added to the experience.

We are the June 28 Enchantment of the Seas

Bermuda, Boston, Newport cruise:) out of Baltimore.

So when do you plan on going to Cape Cod? It's at least 1 1/2 hours from Newport and Boston.....

I bought a red and white striped t shirt for Cape Cod not sure of bottoms yet. Will check for blue capris I guess. We are doing a tour first and walking about after going into the Breakers mansion. In Boston we are doing our own walking tour perhaps The Freedom Trail.

Picked out dining outfits now to do daily ones:)

What cruise are you and Lois on? Newport, somewhere on Cape Cod and Boston? Where do you dock on the Cape???? Just curious.

Hi Indiana,

I've enjoyed watching your fashion show and think you have nice taste and a lovely figure!

We live in Boston (though spend the 4th on Cape Cod) and I think your outfit for Newport is perfect for the celebration and your batik shorts are great for Boston. Just wanted to warn you that Boston, even in the summertime, can be quite cool thanks to sea breezes. So if it is at all overcast or seems a bit cool when you are leaving the boat, please do take at least a sweater and maybe change into capris if it's that cool. Two summers ago, July 5th was the hottest day of the year so my advice could be off base as well!

The Duck tours are a kick, if not always historically accurate, and a great way to see Boston. What are your plans for that day? Let me know if I can be helpful at all.

Has anyone gotten an email about this discount? Does it have to be booked before we sail on June 11?

Can I get some non cruising advice? I am going to be wearing this wedding dress on my wedding http://www.maggiesottero.com/dress.aspx?style=A3531LU and I just ordered these shoes: http://www.zappos.com/j-renee-accent-white-satin

 

Anyone think it will be overkill? I got the shoes on sale, and I really don't want to wear high heels all day, I prefer a more sensible shoe so I won't trip down the aisle. I wasn't sure about the big flower on the shoe with all the ruffles on the dress. Then again, I doubt anyone will even see them.

What a gorgeous wedding gown--very on trend and elegant! And I think the shoes are fine. You are right that few will even see them. Wear what's comfortable and they look like the right heel height for comfort.

Best wishes!

I think I too will just fax it back but I will use a card that I do not intend to use for the trip and just put this item on it..just in case.

 

also, does the UPS center offer fax services as DH recently retired so there is no more office to use and quite frankly we have no need, except for this one time, to actually ever fax anything anyway from home!LOL that like we even know how to use the fax capability of our printer but maybe the kids can figure it out.

 

also an FYI, a poster on the train tix to Venice thread just posted that after she bought tix on the trenitalia site she started getting bogus charges from Bulgaria on her card. Just an FYI. It may actually be smarter for all of us to go for the 7 cents a minute and actually call the resort!LOL

I may reconsider my plan to fax my credit card back....

And I think Staples and Office Max and probably the UPS store have fax machines.

luvships,

I have the form on my desk now and am wondering the same thing. Think I'll just fax it back in the next couple of weeks and hope for the best.

Would anyone suggest doing our walk around town first (in the morning) and then going on to the resort? Anyone know when the stores open?

I think we will just walk back from town.

Thanks to everyone for the detailed and helpful responses. I am going to book the St. John package and will look forward to a relaxing day at a beautiful resort. Glad to know that we can be dropped off in town for a little wandering before going back to the ship (or maybe we'll go to the town first).

I am resurrecting this thread as our family is seriously considering a day at Saint John during our stop there in June. We have a full day on Mykonos.

Does anyone know if we could walk back to the ship from the town? I read somewhere that the shuttle is a rip off given how close the port is to the town?

And do you think we could 'tour/shop' in the town in the morning and then go to the resort?

This was very helpful. Thank you Sarah! We had decided to go with the Classic Package (and purchased one of the two we plan to buy during the sale on packages in January). But looking at the wines by the glass now, I'm realizing that we may wish to upgrade to Premium as many of the wines that we might prefer are in the $8.50 range....and I don't want to have to pay for them twice.

Will probably wait until we are onboard to decide and upgrade. But this info helps a great deal.

We had the Premium package on our last Solstice cruise W. Carib for 7 days and it was great. Now doing the 12 day from Barcelona and trying to decide with such a port intensive itinerary is it worth it, my head says no, but my liver says "bring it", any thoughts ?

I feared the same thing as I planned for our Eastern Med cruise this summer. I laid out all of the days and guesstimated what we might drink on each day (port vs. non port). And we are AQ so we get free water bottles. Seemed to me that the Classic Package made the most sense for us so that's what I reserved. It was a close call but I figured I would actually drink a bit more than I predicted. And, yes, we enjoy our alcohol.:)

Thanks for the info, Boxman. Do you think that if we are the Classic package that we'll get the same wine bottle treatment in Blu?

I have just read all the posts since May 2011 and have learned a great deal! And there are definitely a lot of details to learn before picking (or not picking) a package.

I had planned to get the Premium package for DH and I and premium non-alcohol for kids (those son will be 18 at the time of the cruise.....don't want to give him carte blanche to buy beer!).

But now I'm wondering if we should wait and see. We are in Aqua Class so get free bottled water. And generally we are not premium coffee types (think Dunkin Donuts coffee not Starbucks!). So if the coffee in Blu is quite good, we might not use the non-alcoholic portion of the premium package.

But we will definitely drink quite a bit of alcohol (pre and post dinner cocktails and 2 glasses of wine at dinner).

Does the addition of the Aqua wrinkle cause anyone to pause about buying a package?

This was an incredibly helpful posting. Thanks! We will be there in June with our two teens. And I don't think that we'll want to do Pompeii as Naples is our final stop on the cruise. By then, I'm guessing that the kids will be 'ruined' out! So just want to see the Amalfi Coast. This sounds perfect and I appreciate your comments on restaurants as well as where to buy less expensive ceramics.