Ocean Princess October 8, 2011 Questions

[ksav8r]

My wife and I are looking into booking this Mediterranean cruise and wanted to get some insight on the ship and cruising the Mediterranean in October. The cruise is Athens to Rome, ports Aghios Nikolaos (Crete), Kusadasi, Santorini, Argostoli, Itea. I do prefer warm weather (not hot) and assume it will still be comfortable this time of year? The only other European cruise we have done is a Baltic cruise in 2009.

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Thank you

 

Paul

[Bob++]

October is a good time to go - not too hot, and the weather is mostly good. Sudden storms can sometimes get up over the Med but they are usually soon over.

[caribill]

My wife and I are looking into booking this Mediterranean cruise and wanted to get some insight on the ship

 

You can see pictures of the ship (when it was called the Tahitian Princess, but it looks the same after the renaming) at http://fp.caribill.com/

[ksav8r]

Thank you Bob, I was hoping October would be a good time to go.

 

Caribill, I didn't know the Ocean Princess used to be the Tahitian Princess.

We did a Tahitian cruise on it in 2008. Really liked it.

 

Thank you

 

Paul

[DrivesLikeMario]

While I can't help with your specific itinerary, I can tell you we were on the OP last year at about the same time. We arrived in Rome on Sept. 26 and finished up our OP cruise on Oct. 6.

 

During that time, we had fantastic weather! It only rained in Nice in the afternoon and once during the day in Rome for about 2 hrs. while we were unpacking. Other than that, it was wonderful - warm, sunny and about 70-78 degrees the entire time. I would not want to go to some of the places like Pompeii or Positano when it was any hotter than 78 because it felt like it was almost 90 degrees. If I ever go back to the Med., the last week in Sept. and the first week in October will be my first choice of time periods to go there. Where you'll be, it will most likely be a little warmer than where we were.

[coo359a2]

We're on this sailing and the one right before so hoping that we have good weather.

[ksav8r]

We went ahead and booked this cruise today. Looking forward to finally cruising the Mediterranean. Thanks everybody who responded for your help!

 

Paul

[mytime53]

I'm envious--I want to go, too. We've been to Rome in Nov. (a little on the chilly side, but not bad), and 3 of the others in July (WAY TOO HOT). I'd love to go back to all those places, and I've thought that October would be perfect!

[ksav8r]

We have decided we will spend 2 days in Rome at the end of this cruise before heading home. The ship gets in at 5:00am. I doubt we will be able to check into our hotel until the afternoon so we're looking at excursions offered by Princess. We saw one that looks interesting but states:

 

This tour will end at Princess Cruise Plus Hotel (if you are a Cruise Plus Package member or only if you are booked independently at a Cruise Plus Hotel) or Rome Central Location (Ostiense Station), in case you are booked at other hotels than Princess Cruise Plus.

 

We are booking our hotel independently so does anyone know how our luggage is retrieved once the tour done? Is it waiting at Ostiense Station or is it loaded on the tour bus?

 

Thank you

[Aussie Gal]

I can't help you with the luggage but I wanted to tell you that we did a Greek Island cruise years ago (1995) and it was extremly hot in early October. Saying that back in 2009, we left from Athens on a Transatlantic at the same time and it wasn't very warm whilst we were in Athens for 3 days precruise. I was wearing long sleeve T.shirts with a rain jacket as the wind was quite cold.

 

Jennie

[caribill]

Your luggage should be on the tour bus with you. Just claim it when you reach the place your tour ends.