July 2 and/or July 9, 2011 - Star Clipper

[meldreth]

Yes we live in the country - a small rural hamlet - about 25 houses and a shop/post office and a church.

 

It is called an 'estate village' i.e. most of the village belongs to the 'big house' (mansion)as does the farm and surrounding land, all except five properties including ours. Estate is Owned by the 'Astor' Family who I am sure you will have heard of.

 

Our house was constructed in 1850, so it could tell a tale or two.

[LTCOP]

Hi Meldreth!

 

Your description sounds like a scene from a novel. I recently read some novels from an author who writes historical fiction that takes place in England, so I have this great romantic picture in my head now of what it is like where you live:-) Could the big house be Cliveden?

 

Are you able to trace the history of the people who ave lived in your house? It must be so lovely!

 

We live in a much newer house:-) - although our daughter lives in a farmhouse built around 1900. That is quite old for a house around here:-)

 

I printed out some papers from Star Clippers tonight regarding passport info that I must fill out and FAX in. Makes me feel as though the cruises are getting closer now!

Pam

[LTCOP]

Meldreth,

 

Have you done much planning for your ports? Are you planning on doing ship excursions or just going on your own? Or setting up some private tours?

 

Pam

[meldreth]

No Its not Clivedon, that belonged to another member of the family.

 

We have'nt thought about tours and excursions yet and I don't know what Star Clippers will be offering - do you?

 

We are off to South of France next week to open up our house and then two weeks after that we are going to Portugal, so I am not yet concentrating on the cruise!! When we are back from Portugal I shall start to research some of these islands we will be stopping at!

[LTCOP]

Hi Meldreth!

 

At the bottom of the Star Clippers home page, there is a link for Shore Excursions. That page has PDFs for the different routes. I printed out the one for our cruises. However, I have no idea if they are for this year or last. But I figure out they will most likely be quite similar. However, from what I have read, it sounds like you don't know for sure what will actually be offered for a particular cruise until you get on board.

 

We have gotten in the habit of setting up private tours with others on our roll calls the past couple of years, but with many of the these smaller ports, that really won't be necessary, as I think a it will be easy to get around and see them on our own.

 

It will be wonderful to see the sun and get that house up and running! I bet it is lovely in the spring there! Are you touring around Portugal or staying and relaxing somewhere?

 

I am trying to figure out how I will adjust my packing to meet the weight limits for our Athens/Santorini flights. We get 50 pounds for suitcases here and for international flights, but as I understand it, we will only be able to have 44 pounds for that flight. Of course, not having to pack formal wear will be a help:-) At least, I will have room to add to the suitcase, once we get on the ship:-)

 

Pam

[meldreth]

I think they must be old because it only lists Star Flyer as going to Costa Rica! Unless I am doing it wrong!!

[LTCOP]

Meldreth,

 

No, you are not doing it wrong:-) You know, now that I think about it, the packet I printed out was sent from a woman from Star Clippers and not from the website. And it is just for Star Clipper (the specific ship). We had some diffculties with our reservations due to a problem with our travel agent (which is a very long story:-), and so I do have the packet for our cruises. But not for yours. Hopefully, they will post them soon! But my packet does have prices and all that! I have not been able to put much time in it either, until your post, and I started perusing it.

 

Pam

[LTCOP]

Meldreth,

 

Upon further inspection of the packet, it is missing one port, so perhaps it is also from the previous year too. But at least, it gives me some idea of what most likely will be options.

 

Pam

[LTCOP]

Hi Meldreth!

 

Just wondering if you are back from your summer house? It's been quiet here without you:-) We did final payment this week for the cruises, that makes it seem like it's getting close:-)

 

Pam

[meldreth]

Hi Pam

 

Yes, we've just got back from Portugal where we have just bought an apartment on the Algarve! (aren't we naughty!!)

 

We just paid our final balance - must mean the cruise is drawing near!! :D

[LTCOP]

Welcome home Meldreth!

 

As you can see, it has been lonely on the roll call:-) How exciting about the apartment! You will have have a wonderful place now to spend your winters!!! So you must have had a wonderful time in Portugal! Did your dog make these trips with you?

 

I am home for one more day for our school Easter break. Unfortunately, it is dark, cool, and dreary still here. We could use a little Algarve sunshine:-) Spring planting is all behind with this yucky weather we keep having. The sunny Aegean will look so wonderful to us this summer!

 

We did get our flights booked for Santorini, so that is all taken care of. I have been reading up on our ports and can't wait for our documents to arrive and hopefully some info on shore excursions!

 

Pam

[meldreth]

No the dog stayed home - its about 23 hours of driving via France and Spain and then to Portugal. 2.5 hours flight, so we took the plane!!

 

My travel agent said we will get the cruise documents 2 weeks before departure, which doesn't give much time for planning trips does it!

[LTCOP]

I would have picked the plane also:-)

 

I agree about the short notice on excursions:-) I have been having a great time reading my books though, so at least I know what to look for in the excursions - when we get them. So far all the ports seem wonderful! I did have my TA send me a list of port times, but they were prefaced with the idea that the times are not set in stone. But we have several ports where we are there until 10 or 11 at night, so it might be fun to eat dinner in port! We always enjoy eating local and tasting the wine!

 

Pam

[meldreth]

Hi LTCOP

 

We are back off to Portugal tomorrow where we complete on our purchase :D. Got to do lots of shopping to personalise the apartment and then some painting and decorating :rolleyes:

 

Our trips are fast approaching - not long now!!

[LTCOP]

How wonderful! It sounds like you will be quite busy until the cruise! But what a great place to be busy in!!! We only have 6 more student days left to our school year, so the end is in sight for me, although there is much to be done:-) And then I start working on things for next year. But we leave on June 26 for Athens, and now that I can say "next month", it seems so much closer. I'll be looking forward to getting our mail with our Clippers info!

Have a great time working on your apartment and check in here when you have time! Otherwise, it is a lonely roll call:-)

 

Pam

[meldreth]

I know Pam - we can't be the only two passengers :confused:

[LTCOP]

Have a great time putting that apartment together:-) Hopefully, we can run into each other in Piraeus on July 9. It will so neat to see our ships both in port like that:-) And it'd be fun to put a face to the name after our year of chatting:-)

 

Pam

[LTCOP]

Meldreth!

 

I received our cruise documents from Star Clippers today!!! So nice to still get a mailing with real luggage tags:-) It must be getting close! Hope your apartment is coming together for you!

 

Pam

[meldreth]

Hi Pam

 

Yes, it looks great now! Not happy to be back in chilly England though.... :rolleyes: Lucky you to have your documents, our Travel Agent says we will get them 2 weeks before departure......

 

You will now be able to plan your excursions! Yes, maybe see you on the 9th July :D

[LTCOP]

Hi Meldreth!

 

I'm sure it's nice to have the apartment taken care of! Our weather has bounced from ridiculously hot and humid to downright cold all spring. And we are currently riding out a severe thunderstorm. This has been a very dangerous spring here in the midwest. I certainly hope for some calm and warm weather in the Aegean:-)

 

The excursions for our cruises do not appear to have changed from what was offered last year, and some ports do not have any excursions. Of course, those are the wonderful small places where it will be best to just walk on your own anyway:-) We fly on June 26, so it is under a month now!!! Not that I'm excited or anything:-)

 

Pam

[meldreth]

I know what you mean, I have started to think about what clothes to take.... it is our first ever cruise so I'm not very confident about what I need to pack :rolleyes: I keep looking at my wardrobe and deciding I need to go shopping!! If you have any tips I will be glad to hear them.

[LTCOP]

Hi Meldreth!

 

Packing is so hard!!! I always overpack!!! But I can't do that this time! Since we are flying out to Santorini from Athens the day after we arrive in Athens, I understand we can only have around 44 pounds in my suitcase for that flight. Is that how it is for all inter-European flights? We are used to having 50 pounds in the States and for international flights:-) At least I will have room to add stuff for the flight home!

 

In my experience, you should bring whatever is comfortable for you to wear during the day. You will see shorts, crops, pants, and skirts. Whatever you like and whatever is coolest, it what you should pack! I am so glad we don't have to drag the formal wear, like we usually do. For the non-formal nights on the other ships, you see a wide array: nice pants, skirts, and dresses. I love skirts and dresses, so always wear those. I'm assuming our cruise will be similar to the non-formal nights. I'm hoping most people are getting off after our first 7 days, since I will forced to repeat my dinner clothes the second week:-)

 

Pam

[meldreth]

We are allowed 20kg hold baggage and 10 kg for hand baggage usually in Europe, some airlines have no limit for the hand baggage but the bag has to be a certain size and you have to be able to lift it unaided. I too will be duplicating outfits, but i'm sure no one will really care or remember!!

[LTCOP]

Hi Meldreth,

 

I started organizing my papers today: hotel reservations, transfers, etc. The Star Clippers stuff comes with a paper form to fill out and take for check-in, but I have not got that done yet. We leave June 26, so are well under a month!!! I'm trying to decide when to go to the bank and order some Euros. I like landing with some in my pocket. Unfortunately, the exchange rate is not as good as last year, and I probably should have gone ahead and done this about 2 weeks ago:-) But that is something I never time right:-) What day do you fly out?

 

Pam

[meldreth]

We fly on 2 July! We will be staying at Heathrow the night before. We don't need to worry about Euros because with both a French and Portugese Bank Accounts these are in Euros.....

 

I wish we had our documents already like you do! It would make it seem nearer.... lol.