Athens to Venice - on board

There is not much info on some of the ports on the Athens to Venice cruise. I have been to some of them before and I am on the cruise now. I will post a few practical notes on them.

MONEMVASIA

This port has been newly discovered by some cruises. Monemvasia is a walled medieval town on the side of a huge rock of an island. It faces away from the mainland and it is connected to it by a causeway. SB tenders into the beach town of Gefira.

From the tender dock you walk across the parking lot to a bus stop and take the little green (aqua?) shuttle bus across the causeway to Monemvasia. It is about 2 euros round trip. If you take the SB walking tour, the shuttle tickets are included.

The town is a jewel and well worth seeing. The other alternative is the trip to Mystras, one of the greatest ancient and medieval sites of Greece.

If you are on the return Venice to Athens cruise, you can go to Mystras from Gytheo, it is a shorter ride.

If you want to go swimming, there is a nice family beach on the other side of the causeway, just behind the bus stop. There are 3 or 4 tavernas on the beach. It is a gravel beach and it is best to wear water sandals or shoes. The best place to go in is by the Greek flag.

You might want to wear your bathing suit and stay at the beach after returning on the shuttle from the walking tour. A few people did that. And the water temperature was wonderful.

You can also stay in Monemvassia and go snorkeling from there. SB provides goggles, snorkels and flippers if you are interested. The beach towels are by the tender entrance.

KATAKOLO/OLYMPIA

This is our third time here and we tried something new. We went on the 3D tour. The guide narrates throughout and you carry an iPad that shows you reconstructions of what you are looking at. Of course the reconstructions are good guesses of the original structures. The technology isn't perfect. The GPS was off at a couple of the spots and you were at right angles of where the buildings were. Still, I thought it was really ingenious and a great help in visualizing the site.

The guide was very good. You are handed admission tickets that includes admission to the Museum. The museum is not part of the tour, but since there is free time at the end of the 3D portion you might arrange with the guide to visit the museum on your own for a few minutes.

For beach lovers, there is a little tourist road train in Katakolo that takes you to the beach. Again, gravelly and the water is warm (late August!).

Hi marazul, thanks for posting. We will be doing the Greek Isles next July and so I will be following on. Momemvasia and Katakolon are both on our itinerary so this is very helpful.

Julie

SYVOTA

Truly a beach day. The town beach, left of the port as you tender in, is the best bet. The "Palm Beach" restaurant rents two chairs and an umbrella for 5 euros of you buy a drink or some food. Again, gravel, but really nice.

There is a boat that gives you a ride around the offshore islands for 10 euros. You can also rent a boat for 60 euros.

Some people who took the excursion to Parga said said it took 6 hours instead of 4. Parga was a cute town loaded with souvenir shops. They were not really impressed with the tour.

And, yes, there was an unscheduled marina day from 1 to 3 p.m.

I am not sure this port will remain on the schedule very long. Paxos and Antipaxos would be better choices.

BRINDISI

The most scenic and unusual tour is to Alberobello. We took a private tour that added Martina Franca, Ostuni and Locorotondo. Locorotondo was lovely.

DUBROVNIK

Nothing new to say. For a first timer, go on the Cavtat and Dubrovnik tour. There are other good options for others. We took the Coastal Delicacies tour to Mali Ston for oyster tasting and a visit to an olive mill. Then we stayed in Dubrovnik for a nice walk around the town.

Thanks again Marazul for the extra information.

Would you mind giving your source for the Brindisi private tour? Also, did you do a private tour for the Coastal Delicacies? We love oysters and like to try different ones around the world.

Julie

Can you tell me about the marina days? When and do the tell you there is a marina day. How many “toys” are available? Do you sign up or reserve them? What did you mean by an “unscheduled marina day”.

We will be on Encore in October (Italy and Greece) and hoping to have a marina day.

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ZADAR

Nice town. Loved the sea organ. We took the walking tour. Haven't heard from anyone who took other excursions. Unfortunately, it was time to pack this afternoon.

BTW - there were about 8 children on board. Seldom seen and never heard. Kudos to their parents!

And now for the questions.

Julie - for the oyster tour we took SB's option. For the oysters we took a boat to a platform by the oyster beds. It was like a tiny restaurant with tables and the bar. The demonstrator pulled out the ropes with oysters and mussels and after a few explanations proceeded to shuck the oysters and lightly grill the mussels. Two each per person. The definition of freshness. The oysters were medium size and mildly briny. They served a really nice white Peljesac wine with them.

Our tour guide in Brindisi was

Alessandro Perrone

email: aperrone@ymail.com

Mobile + 39 389 7876084

skype me @ aleperrone

http://pugliaexperience.wordpress.com/

JPH - an unscheduled marina day is one not on the announced program. There was an on board announcement the previous day and it was also on that morning's Herald. It was from 1 to 3 pm. You signed up for the activities right on the spot. They had 4 toys: banana boat, donut or pulled round couch, paddle boats and kayaks. The weather was perfect. I would not hold out much hope for a marina day in October.

Over an out for a few days in Venice. I will be happy to answer any other questions later next week.

We have experienced a few marina days. The best, by far, was in Symi, Greece and it happened in late October. The weather was perfect.

The marina days are hit and miss, depends on the weather. We have had 3 scheduled days but only one was on, and it was cut short after 45mins due to the swell.

Very useful information. Joining the ship on 22nd in Athens and first time on Seabourn. If you had a moment .... my sister and I have done several Crystal cruises and I particularly love to dance - is there anywhere to dance on board Odyssey? Thank you so much.

Very useful information. Joining the ship on 22nd in Athens and first time on Seabourn. If you had a moment .... my sister and I have done several Crystal cruises and I particularly love to dance - is there anywhere to dance on board Odyssey? Thank you so much.

You are asking someone with two left feet.... But yes, there is dancing at the Club in the evening. Sometimes more sedate than others. :confused:

Appreciate the information. Putting together plans for next summer.

You are asking someone with two left feet....

Sounds like you are talking about me ... ;)

Sounds like you are talking about me ... ;)

What, there are more? :D

You are asking someone with two left feet.... But yes, there is dancing at the Club in the evening. Sometimes more sedate than others. :confused:

Many thanks - had taken my dance shoes out of the case but will pop them back in again!!

Thank you so very much for all your advice/information. Travelled with a printout of your post and just returned home. Such good info. Many thanks.

Thank you so very much for all your advice/information. Travelled with a printout of your post and just returned home. Such good info. Many thanks.

And how was your first Seabourn cruise?

Well .... just filled in my survey and I think overall probably 6/10. On re-reading other posts, I am not alone in thinking the food in MDR was not brilliant. We didn’t have a good “entry” ... checked in before we got onboard quite smoothly, but once on board there was no-one. We had no idea where to go, no plan of the ship, no champagne, nothing. Had to ask other guests what we were supposed to do. Very informal: which is fine once you are a second-time traveller! The cabin was better than any other cruise line, but we will probably go back to Crystal. Good itinerary and made some nice friends. Boards here very friendly! Great advice, so thank you.

Hmm...I did notice on our last cruise (Baltic in June) that there was no real direction once we got on board. Since it was not our first SB cruise, we DID know where to go for lunch. And since we had sailed on the Encore, we knew the Ovation deck plan was just the same.

:)

Thank you so very much for all your advice/information. Travelled with a printout of your post and just returned home. Such good info. Many thanks.

Thanks for your kind comments. :)

I hope we can get you back on Seabourn.