Atlantis Med 2010 Venice - Athens; August 16 2010 (Celebrity Equinox)

[relo]

We (me, my boyfriend and a very good friend) are going on this cruise. The revised itinerary for this 8 day cruise is:

 

August 16 - Venice, Italy; depart 6 PM

August 17 - Dubrovnik, Croatia; 11 AM - 7 PM

August 18 - Corfu, Greece; 8 AM - 6 PM

August 19 - At Sea

August 20 - Istanbul, Turkey; arrive 7 AM - overnight

August 21 - Istanbul, Turkey; depart 1 PM

August 22 - Mykonos, Greece; 9 AM - overnight (depart 5AM)

August 23 - Santorini, Greece; 10 AM - 9 PM

August 24 - Athens, Greece; arrive 7 AM

 

After this cruise there is also the Atlantis Athens - Barcelona cruise.

 

Looking forward to our very first cruise :)

[BostonBud]

Thanks for starting this. My husband and I are booked on this cruise and we have two other friends who also joining us. This is going to be our first Med. cruise so we're really looking forward to the ports.

 

We're trying to figure out flights now since they are incredibly expensive. We'd like to use our miles but even with lots of miles there isn't too much available. And now that the cruise is shorter we're thinking of extending the vacation by traveling in Europe. I was thinking Paris but I believe it's dead in August. Anyone have any suggestions?

[relo]

I have been in Paris in the last weekend of August about 10 years ago and I don't remember it being dead. I don't know about the nightlife because we went with my mother and sister in law :rolleyes:

 

Now we canceled the Athens-Barcelona cruise we decided that we are going to stay a little longer in Athens (2 nights) but I find it very difficult to find a hotel with reasonable prices in a good neighborhood. Can anybody recommend a (gay friendly) hotel with preferably a triple room.

[BostonBud]

Well, we decided not to do Paris but Rome instead since I've never been. I think we're going to spend the night in Athens then head to Rome till the weekend. We've been checking out prices for airfare and I've been really surprised how expensive it is. We decided to just book our fares to Europe and back now and worry about the connecting flights a bit later.

 

A TA friend of ours expects the flights to Europe to go up by the end of the year.

[itsandreas]

We're just about all booked here.

 

We're doing a transiberian train trip from China to Russia (St Petersburg) before the cruise and plan to head off to London immediately after.

 

Prior to the cruise we still have 8 days to get from St Petersburg to Venice with no plans though. Any suggestions?

[relo]

That looks like a great trip.

 

I'm sorry but I don't have any real suggestions for the days between St. Petersburg and the cruise. We have so many great cities in Europe to visit; I think it depends on whether you want to fly between cities, drive or take a train and what kind of city you like to visit.

[Danielo]

I'd reserve olso my first crise with my husband, we have to decide whitch one: the Venice to Athens or Athens to Barcelona...

I think that the first one is better.....

 

 

for athens to rome see this travel company http://www.volagratis.com to find the fly and air line company.. but then it's cheaper to book directly into the airline web site

[nsdfw68]

We are booked for the cruise. We will be staying at the Westin Europa & Regina in Venice for a couple days prior to the cruise. In Athens we are staying a couple days after at the Marriott. Looking forward to meeting everyone on board.

[ddmontreal]

Hi, I'm booking for the Venice to Athens Cruise in August and have heard some amazing things both about Atlantis and about the Equinox so am really looking forward to it. Just hoping to make a couple contacts in advance as I'll probably be travelling alone so always nice to see a friendly face in the crowd, and I may have a question or two between now and August. Do you know anyone that has tried the roommate matching service? I may have to go that route as most of my friends can't travel when this cruise is on. Looking forward to chatting with you, David

[ddmontreal]

This will also be my first cruise and I'll be travelling alone. Would be great to correspond with you guys and look forward to meeting you when I finally get to Venice. In fact I'm hoping to arrive a couple days early to tour Venice, and stay perhaps a week in Greece after the cruise to tour Athens and some of the smaller islands.

[Dijays]

Hi, this will also be our first cruise. We're both looking forward to it and looking forward to getting to know a few guys before hand. We've started a facebook group if anyone is interested in joining. We've only just opened it, but is a good way to get to know a few people before the cruise. Here is the link

 

Atlantis Summer 2010 - Venice to Athens Cruise

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=photos&ref=mf&gid=249450301244#/group.php?gid=249450301244&ref=search&sid=100000623262359.1955884695..1

[ddmontreal]

Facebook is a great idea. I'll sign up right away. I knwo there are always lots of guys from Montreal going on the Caribbean cruises, but not so sure about how many travel to eth Mediterranean so it will eb great to know a few names in faces in advance! Looking forward to meeting you!

[relo]

Nice to see some new responses. Haven't been very active on the forum lately due the holidays and starting at a new job.

 

It's our first cruise also. We have booked an aft concierge stateroom, which we will share with a friend. We will arrive one day before departure in Venice and stay 2 extra days in Athens.

 

Will post an update soon with the hotels I booked and our first shore plans.

 

Joined the facebook page, great idea!

[greenwichguy]

Well it will be our first cruise too. We're both from London, UK and have no idea what to expect. We've been to Venice a few times so know the city quite well but haven't been to any of the other destinations. It would be really good to get to know some of you guys prior to the cruise and if anyone has any tips for an Atlantis cruise in particular... would be much appreciated.

 

Facebook's a good idea too - will look up that group.

 

Cheers

Gav

[PutneySW15]

Hi Gav, We are also from London and have been on a couple of previous Atlantis cruises and will also be on the Venice to Athens 2010 trip, happy to answer any general questions you may have and look forward to hearing from you, Paul

[JonAlone]

I have been in Paris in the last weekend of August about 10 years ago and I don't remember it being dead. I don't know about the nightlife because we went with my mother and sister in law :rolleyes:

 

Now we canceled the Athens-Barcelona cruise we decided that we are going to stay a little longer in Athens (2 nights) but I find it very difficult to find a hotel with reasonable prices in a good neighborhood. Can anybody recommend a (gay friendly) hotel with preferably a triple room.

 

A day in Athens is really enough... very run down... see the sites and get a ferry to one of the islands... see the real Greece..

[relo]

Just booked our flights (KLM), hotels and a private tour in Istanbul.

 

We have a morning flight to Venice. Departure in Amsterdam 9:25am and arrive in Venice 11:15am on sunday 15 August, so that we have some time to see Venice (sunday afternoon and monday morning).

The hotel I have booked at the moment is the Hotel Rialto (triple classic room).

 

In Istanbul I have booked a 'Byzantine & Ottoman Relics - full day private tour'. This tour is organized by a Turkish gay travel agency.

 

We will stay 2 nights in Athene. I have booked hotel Herodion (triple room). As we have around 2.5 full days in Athene I'm thinking about to do a tour to Delphi or a tour to the Peloponnesian Peninsula.

 

The flight back will be on thursday 26 August. Departure from Athene at 16:55pm and arrival back in Amsterdam at 19:25pm.

[sfgoguy]

 

In Istanbul I have booked a 'Byzantine & Ottoman Relics - full day private tour'. This tour is organized by a Turkish gay travel agency.

 

 

This tour sounds exciting. Can you provide the website/contact info? I'm sure the Equinox will have some good excursions for Istanbul, but this one might be just special enough to choose instead of one of Celebrity's standard ones.

 

BTW, I'm on the Atlantis Auckland/Sydney cruise in a couple of weeks and Holland America's Volendam has offered a few "special excursions" for our crowd. On their excurison website, the references to "Only offered for the February 17, 2010 Departure" are the ones for "us." I wouldn't be surprised if Rich Campbell hasn't made the same arrangement with Celebrity for the Equinox sailing.

 

See you onboard the Equinox in August, guys. :)

[relo]

This tour sounds exciting. Can you provide the website/contact info? I'm sure the Equinox will have some good excursions for Istanbul, but this one might be just special enough to choose instead of one of Celebrity's standard ones.

 

BTW, I'm on the Atlantis Auckland/Sydney cruise in a couple of weeks and Holland America's Volendam has offered a few "special excursions" for our crowd. On their excurison website, the references to "Only offered for the February 17, 2010 Departure" are the ones for "us." I wouldn't be surprised if Rich Campbell hasn't made the same arrangement with Celebrity for the Equinox sailing.

 

See you onboard the Equinox in August, guys. :)

 

Hi,

 

The link is: http://www.turkey-gay-travel.com

 

I looked at the excursions brochure from the Med cruise last year and didn't see any special tours from Celebrity in it (only the regular ones).

 

For the other ports I just wait to see what kind of tours they will offer and then decide if we will do a tour.

[sfgoguy]

Thanks for the website. A quick glance indicates that the price pp is dependent upon the number of passengers. You may want to try to get enough guys from the cruise to make it really reasonable pp.

 

Rich Campbell is a wheeler/dealer and he might use his/Atlantis's purchasing clout to get Celebrity to match Holland America. I've seen him play them against each other in his favor before. Anyway, we'll see - and have a great time whatever the excursions are. :)

 

Enjoy, guys.

[ddmontreal]

I'd really like to join that 'Byzantine & Ottoman Relics - full day private tour' or something as close to it that Atlantis might also organise. How many people do they need for a group? I'm sure there will be some excursions arranged from the ship so I"d like to compare both options

[relo]

I'd really like to join that 'Byzantine & Ottoman Relics - full day private tour' or something as close to it that Atlantis might also organise. How many people do they need for a group? I'm sure there will be some excursions arranged from the ship so I"d like to compare both options

 

I don't know how many people they need for a group, we only looked at the private version. We are with 3, so it will be €70 pp which we find reasonable priced. The standard Celebrity tours in Istanbul are a lot more money.

[ddmontreal]

Keep me on your short list as well as I'd really like to make the most of the stop in Istanbul and this tour sounds like it hits a lot more than the standard tourist fare.

[greenwichguy]

Hi Gav, We are also from London and have been on a couple of previous Atlantis cruises and will also be on the Venice to Athens 2010 trip, happy to answer any general questions you may have and look forward to hearing from you, Paul

 

Hi Paul, would be great to ask you some questions - pretty new to this board stuff too so not sure how to email you... Would be great to know a couple of other Londoners on board too :)

[stevespryte]

if anyone has any tips for an Atlantis cruise in particular... would be much appreciated.

 

My husband and I have done 3 atlantis cruises, our first being the '06 Barcelona-Athens cruise. The Equinox Venice-Athens will be our 4th. Needless to say, Atlantis trips really suit us. There's a ritual to the week-- a balance between the parade of theme parties and t-dances alternating with a succession of beautiful ports. The trick is to not let one overwhelm the other. We've always said everyone can make their own kind of vacation aboard an Atlantis cruise. Some folks make it all about cocktails and cabaret shows. Some live at the gyms, the pools, and the dance floors. We ourselves pack an extra suitcase to carry all the costumes, door decor, and battery packs for twinkle lights. But we're also up for breakfast every morning ready to explore the knockout ports. Customize the party to suit your style.

 

For any Atlantis virgins out there, 2 notes: Door Decor and Theme parties.

Door Decor sets Atlantis apart from most other gay cruises. People go crazy personalizing their doors: photos, maps, flags, grass skirts, twinkle lights (last October we covered ours with playbills). Anything but porno is allowed. Doors are metal, so magnets work great. Include a small dry-erase board so your friends (or hookups) can leave notes.

 

The theme parties usually repeat from cruise to cruise. You've got: Dog-Tag T-dance (Military wear), Venetian Carnival, Classic 70's Disco T-dance, Empire Party (Roman-Greek toga party), 80's Divas (and sometimes 90's Divas), and always always a White Party. Do as little or as much as your heart desires-- too much is never too much on an Atlantis cruise.