For those planning a 2013 Eastern Med Cruise - yet another trip report!

[lovestx]

Thank you for your comments on my son review and for let me know about this wonderful review.

 

You have done an excellent work.

 

You are welcome! Still need to finish my last two days of this trip--but our last day in Naples was so full that I am procrastinating!!!

[mommamd]

Carol, Thanks for awesome review! We are on the Reflection with 2 slightly younger teens next summer on similar itinerary.

questions-

1. Did you have adjoining/connecting cabins?

2. Did you feel safe walking to Metro in Piraus (sp?) and in Athens

3. Are you glad you were on your own in Athens after all, and would you just advise Acropolis/Agora/Plaka to future tourists?

4. Would you rec that we watch the sunset in Santorini from the top of the cable car afterall? What time was that, would we miss the last tender?

5. Lucky you with 4 Free tix to FCO on AA miles. One of you must travel on business!! Is it hard to get 4 tickets on the same flights with FF miles?

 

Thanks for all the good info, I am looking forward to the Martini Bar for sure.....

 

Michelle

[lovestx]

Carol, Thanks for awesome review! We are on the Reflection with 2 slightly younger teens next summer on similar itinerary.

questions-

1. Did you have adjoining/connecting cabins?

2. Did you feel safe walking to Metro in Piraus (sp?) and in Athens

3. Are you glad you were on your own in Athens after all, and would you just advise Acropolis/Agora/Plaka to future tourists?

4. Would you rec that we watch the sunset in Santorini from the top of the cable car afterall? What time was that, would we miss the last tender?

5. Lucky you with 4 Free tix to FCO on AA miles. One of you must travel on business!! Is it hard to get 4 tickets on the same flights with FF miles?

 

Thanks for all the good info, I am looking forward to the Martini Bar for sure.....

 

Michelle

 

Lucky you, Michelle! My family would take this trip again in a heartbeat and it will be a highlight of our family travels (and there have been many trips for us) for years to come.

 

And I still hope to finish this review with only two days left to do!

 

To your questions:

 

1. We had connecting AQ cabins (1521 and 1523). They removed the balcony dividers for us so that we could connect that way and it worked great. If I did it again, I would have put my two kids on one reservation and us on the other so that we each had Seapasses that worked for our own rooms. The way I did it (with daughter and I booked in one room and son and hubby in another--because I thought Celebrity required that) meant that my seapass worked only in my kids' room lock and my son's seapass only worked in our lock. Not a big deal but I have done it the other way for our cruise this month.

2. I felt totally safe walking to the Metro in Piraeus and also felt safe at the Monastaraki stop in Athens which is completely surrounded by the Plaka.

 

3. Being on our own in Athens worked fine except for the long line at the Acropolis. If I could find a good guide for the Acropolis, I might do that. Or I would have gotten to the Acropolis before 10 a.m. or after 1 p.m. I think I would do Acropolis/Agoura/Plaka instead of the Syntagma Square/shopping street if I had it to do again. But, to be honest, we were a bit 'ruined' out by then so a walk through the Agoura probably would have seemed like the forced march. And the new Archaeological museum (sorry, can't remember the exact name) wasn't open on Mondays, our day in Athens, so I can't comment on that.

 

4. I think I would recommend watching the sunset from a bar/restaurant with a view in Fira. I am pretty sure that we were back on board by about 9:15 so would have had time to make the last tender. But the time of the sunset will be dependent on when you are going. We were there in mid-June. If I were you, I would keep monitoring CC in May and June and read reviews from others (I did that a lot) who go earlier than you and you will get more good suggestions that will be updated.

 

5. Yes, my husband used to travel a great deal on American but we also have their credit card and charge EVERYTHING on it to get the miles. So they add up. Amazingly, it wasn't that hard to get the FF tix this time. Think I must have reserved them in November '11. But we had to fly back through Chicago which was a pain but it was free :)

[mommamd]

Thank you!, so helpful!!

[citruscruiser]

This was a terrific post, and I am advising my travel mates to read it prior (now!) to our similar trip next year.

One question: was there any "unrest" at the various ports, and/or did it affect your planning? Thanks

[PatriciaF]

I too thought that this was a great review and used advice in it for our 5 Nov Eastern Med cruise.

 

When we were in Athens, our tour guide took us to the House of Parliament and pointed out the TV news trucks that were parked across the street. She said that they were there all the time to catch any protests that go on. She said most last only a short time and usually disperse once the TV cameras turned off. We saw no unrest in Athens and wouldn't have known of any issues if we weren't aware of the coverage in the news.

Edited December 7, 2012 by PatriciaF

[lovestx]

This was a terrific post, and I am advising my travel mates to read it prior (now!) to our similar trip next year.

One question: was there any "unrest" at the various ports, and/or did it affect your planning? Thanks

 

The only 'unrest' on our trip was the potential for some in Athens. Here's what I wrote about that:

 

 

We had low expectations of our day in Athens as we had heard so much about it being “dirty”. We were also concerned since the Greek elections were held the day before we arrived in port. Thought there might be demonstrations or violence so we had inquired at the Shore Excursions desk about our ship-sponsored touring options. I have to say that the folks at the excursions desk were uniformly unhelpful both times we tried to get info (later we booked a Pompeii tour for the kids and it was the same). You would never know that these folks are selling . When we inquired about our options for excursions in Athens, the staff person simply looked at us blankly and handed us the printed list! We were so put off by that, we decided to take our chances and go it on our own. And it worked out fine.

So glad that my long-winded review has been helpful to you and others. The resurrection of the thread may motivate me to finish our last two days (Naples/Pompeii/Amalfi Coast and trip home). :)

[PatriciaF]

 

So glad that my long-winded review has been helpful to you and others. The resurrection of the thread may motivate me to finish our last two days (Naples/Pompeii/Amalfi Coast and trip home). :)

 

Thought I had missed it and didn't take time to scroll back. Yes, it would be nice to see your review of your last two day.

 

Pat

[Waihekean]

Yes Lovestix, there are still a few of us out there wondering if we missed the end of your review;) Glad to hear that the review will be completed, as we have been enjoing it!

[lovestx]

With thanks to all for your patience...here we go with the rest of the trip...

 

 

As sad as I was to be nearing the end of our fabulous trip, this was a day I had looked forward to for months as I had always wanted to see the Amalfi Coast. But there was a great deal of thought and worry about planning this day due to our daughter’s propensity for motion sickness. I spent many hours on CruiseCritic trying to determine if there was anyway the four of us could do the Amalfi Coast drive without risking Kate being uncomfortable. I finally concluded that making her go on that drive would be like child abuse but I selfishly did not want to give up on my own tour along the coast.

 

So we decided to try to figure out a way that the kids could either stay on board while we toured the Amalfi Coast or that they could tour Pompeii (which Kate desperately wanted to do). Trust me, this was not easy to do given how poorly-informed and pretty unhelpful the Celebrity excursions desk was (remember they weren’t too helpful with our Athens planning either). We started by asking if the kids could take the tour without us and got differing answers. Finally ended up talking to the Guest Relations staff (which was consistently helpful and thorough) and they said that Kate could go with David as he was 18. We decided that they would go on a half-day excursion with Celebrity to Pompeii so that we would have the peace of mind that they would make it back to the ship with no trouble. The cost of their tour was

 

For my husband and I, I booked a private driver to take us around the Amalfi Coast for the full day. We booked with Johnny Maresca of johnnystourservice dot com at a cost of 290Euros for eight hours.

 

We all departed the ship at 8 a.m. to be sure that Kate could indeed get off with David. They then went off to their bus and Steve and I met up with Johnny after walking through the Naples cruise terminal. We warmed up to Johnny immediately and felt we were going to have a great day.

 

Our tour: Amalfi Coast

 

We drove out from the port about an hour to reach Sorrento, Johnny’s hometown of which he is rightfully proud. Some of our sea views during the drive were limited due to early morning fog but it eventually cleared. Johnny drove us around Sorrento a bit and then dropped us off in the center of town and gave us an hour to walk around this charming spot. Lemons EVERYWHERE as I expected and some nice stores to do souvenir shopping.

Two views down from Sorrento to the beach cabanas below:

 

 

 

There were fruit stands all along the narrow streets:

 

 

We probably left Sorrento around 10:30 a.m. and headed over the mountain to Positano. The views over the cliffs were are dramatic and spectacular as I had anticipated and the roads as windy. But my fear of heights did not kick in (although I had worried about this in advance) as Johnny was clearly a safe and cautious driver. We did find it funny, though, that his car was equipped with side sensors that beeped when he got too close to other cars or walls! And they beeped often during our trip as the roads are very narrow.

We finally made it to Positano and got out to walk around for about an hour. It wasn’t quite what I expected after years of hearing all about it, hard to explain why, but we enjoyed seeing it. It was VERY crowded and very warm but we made our way down through the narrow streets to the beach. No question about it, Positano is gorgeous but I think if I went back for a land stay, I would stay in a less crowded spot and just visit Positano.

 

First view of Positano

 

There were many shops along the walk down to the beach with many selling lots of white, cotton outfits due to the heat:

 

[lovestx]

More shops along the walk down to the beach:

 

 

Here’s a photo that gives you a sense of the beautiful flowers along the walk but also the size of the crowds:

 

 

A lovely hotel off the church piazza at the bottom of the Positano hill:

 

 

A not-so-flattering picture of me with a view from the beach looking back up at Positano. Notice that I have a seaband on my left wrist to help keep car sickness away. It worked!

 

 

The Positano beach with dark sand:

 

 

And a note for those who need to know about bathrooms…there were public bathrooms down at the beach.

 

After a stop there, Steve and I walked back up through Positano to meet Johnny. He had given us a cell phone to use and we just called him when we reached a particular spot and then he pulled the car around. He warned us that we need to be ready to jump in the car when he pulled up as there is no parking available (God only knows where he hung out while we wandered around!).

[lovestx]

There were gorgeous vistas all along the drive from Sorrento to our next stop, Amalfi, so I will let the pictures tell the story. Some are not as clear as I would like but there was still a bit of haze in the late morning.

 

 

 

This is the famous San Pietro hotel which is on the outskirts of Positano. Definitely where I would love to stay someday but I think the cheapest rooms are $1000!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lovestx]

We arrived in Amalfi and Johnny suggested that this would be a good stop for lunch. He dropped us off at sea level and we walked into the town which is much smaller than Positano but quaint. He gave us a recommendation for a spot with the best pizza so we had a nice lunch of caprese salad, pizza and wine. Not the most scenic spot but we felt like we were definitely in Italy. And while there were many options to eat outdoors, it was a very warm day and we preferred some air conditioning.

 

This is the piazza in Amalfi:

 

 

And this is the gorgeous mosaic in the pediment of the main church in Amalfi:

 

 

Main street of Amalfi:

 

 

Small little shrine embedded in a wall of Amalfi. You saw these small figurines all over the Amalfi coast including along the drive.

 

 

 

[lovestx]

After meeting up with Johnny again, he took us up to Ravello which was our favorite stop. The views are gorgeous, there are few people around and the village was charming. We both felt this is where we would base ourselves if we ever returned for a longer visit. We just wandered around a bit and enjoyed the views.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The main piazza in Ravello:

 

 

This was a shop in Ravello….I thought the concept was interesting!”

 

 

 

As we were walking around Ravello and started to walk into a little shop, I saw someone who looked familiar. It certainly looked like the mother of kids in our children’s high school but I figured there was no way it was she. Then she turned around and it was!!! Total small world to run into someone from your kids’ high school in Massachusetts in a tiny hilltop town on the Amalfi Coast! And it turned out that the rest of the family, including all of their children, were just up the street. While our kids are not good friends, we are all friendly and were sorry that our kids weren’t with us for this small world occurrence. This family was spending two weeks in Italy and was probably staying at the San Pietro for a gazillion dollars!

 

We wished we had had more time in Ravello to wander and get lost but I was eager to get back to the ship on time to see the kids. But Johnny convinced me that we should do a short detour to at least see the outside of Pompeii before driving back to the ship so we did that.

 

The ride from Ravello to Pompeii was very windy and would have been the end of Kate’s stomach (had she even managed to keep it together through the coast drive). And I was really disappointed to see an incredible amount of trash all along the highway. The litter made me realize how fortunate we in the US are that Lady Bird Johnson started the “Keep America Beautiful” campaign back in the 60s. While you still see litter in the U.S., it pales in comparison to all of the bottles and paper and just junk that you see along some of the roads in Italy.

 

We did a drive by of Pompeii and then returned to the port. As we got out of the car at about 4:30, Johnny presented us with a nice bottle of wine. We did not expect this at all and thought it was incredibly thoughtful. He had given us a great day without being obtrusive and I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for a similar experience

[lovestx]

My mother gene was now in overdrive as I just wanted to see my kids and know they were back on the ship. We had asked them to leave us a note in the cabin letting us know they were o.k. as we knew they would be back on the ship by lunchtime and would probably be at the pool or somewhere other than their cabin. We found this note from David on our bed:

 

“Hello,

We were kidnapped, as dad said.

We were kidnapped to the pool or somewhere else. Funny stories to tell you.

Love, The Young Ones”

 

 

I have kept it as I thought it was a perfect example of David’s great sense of humor and his ability to poke fun at his mother!

 

They certainly did have stories to share of their excursion (though no pictures to add). They found themselves in a group with a tour guide who had a very thick Italian accent so they could not understand much of what he said. Add to that that the headphones did not work well and were cutting in and out. At some point during their hour and a half tour, they found they had become separated from their group (probably because they found it hard to pay attention). Thankfully, there was a grandmother and her granddaughter who also got separated so they connected (through their excursion tour number badges) and found their way back to the meeting point. And here’s another small world story: the granddaughter lives close to us in Massachusetts and had her heart set on being accepted to Kate and David’s high school this past year. She was admitted but had been on their campus several times.

The kids did get to see a bit of Pompeii but it wasn’t a great day.

 

We called the excursions desk to let them know that the headphones

didn’t work and that the accent caused problems (so that they would know to fix the problem for future guests). They offered to give us a 20% refund which I thought was very fair and unexpected.

 

So all in all, our plans worked out with a glitch or two.

More on our last evening aboard later…but for now here is our expense list:

 

Amalfi Coast expenses:

Guide/Driver 320 Euros (including tip)

Lunch 30 Euros

Pompeii expenses:

Celebrity Excursion $112 (with 20% discount)

Pompeii drinks 40 Euros

[hansolosmom]

Hey glad to see you're back. I was actually going to post a question to you about this stop since I'm trying to finish up our plans.

 

Now that you've done it, do you think your daughter would have been motion sick on the drive? I've also been trying to get answer to the motion question, as I get woozy on drives. Because I would let the boys loose and go to Pompeii myself.

[lovestx]

Hey glad to see you're back. I was actually going to post a question to you about this stop since I'm trying to finish up our plans.

 

Now that you've done it, do you think your daughter would have been motion sick on the drive? I've also been trying to get answer to the motion question, as I get woozy on drives. Because I would let the boys loose and go to Pompeii myself.

 

I do think Kate would have been motion sick on the drive. Maybe not incredibly but definitely would not have felt well--especially the part from Ravello back to Pompeii. The latter is up over a hill and down so lots of turns.

 

I used to be prone to carsickness (really just nausea but not fun) so decided to wear that seaband you saw in one picture just in case. I did fine.

[hansolosmom]

Thanks for the info

[paremata2]

Thank you for a wonderful read. Great to see that your favourite wine on the cruise was Kim Crawford Chardonnay. It is from New Zealand the same as we are.

We are booked to do an almost identical cruise (10 days) on the Reflection, 30 August 2013 Rome to Rome.

Edited December 13, 2012 by paremata2

[lovestx]

Thank you for a wonderful read. Great to see that your favourite wine on the cruise was Kim Crawford Chardonnay. It is from New Zealand the same as we are.

We are booked to do an almost identical cruise (10 days) on the Reflection, 30 August 2013 Rome to Rome.

 

Thanks for the compliment paremata2! Actually, my favorite wine is Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc (also from New Zealand). Please be in touch if you have any questions before your cruise. We just loved ours!

[Paqs94]

Hey, myself (guy 19) and three other 18 year old guy buddies are sailing on the Celebrity Silhouette July 9th 2013.. 10 night eastern med. We really want there to be lots of others OUR age to hang out with!? Should we expect a good 'younger' crowd in July?

 

Thanks! Phil

Edited December 23, 2012 by Paqs94

[lovestx]

Hey, myself (guy 19) and three other 18 year old guy buddies are sailing on the Celebrity Silhouette July 9th 2013.. 10 night eastern med. We really want there to be lots of others OUR age to hang out with!? Should we expect a good 'younger' crowd in July?

 

Thanks! Phil

 

Sorry for the delayed response....we just got back from a cruise last night!

 

I am surprised that Celebrity will let the four of you book this cruise without someone in the party being 21. Maybe I have misunderstood their policies but you might want to check before you go too much further in your planning.

 

There will definitely kids your age to hang out with but most will be with their families. It's a very port-intensive cruise so it's not hopping as say a Caribbean cruise would be. People tend to go to bed early as most people want to get off the ship early to see the ports each day.

 

Hope this is helpful.

[Paqs94]

 

I am surprised that Celebrity will let the four of you book this cruise without someone in the party being 21. Maybe I have misunderstood their policies but you might want to check before you go too much further in your planning.

 

.

 

Hey I saw a couple of your pictures! Looks awesome, sorry I didn't mention that our parents along with my friends parents will be there to :D This is a trip my mom has wanted to do for her whole life!

[susietb]

We were on that cruise last JUlY. There are plenty of young people that you will meet from all over the world. On our cruise there was a whole group of young adults from South America. Everytime we saw them after midnight they were having a blast. By the way, we're not kids and I don't remember anyone going to be early!!!

[lovestx]

Hey I saw a couple of your pictures! Looks awesome, sorry I didn't mention that our parents along with my friends parents will be there to :D This is a trip my mom has wanted to do for her whole life!

 

That makes more sense. You will have a great time. My kids (who had never cruised before) LOVED it. Son could get beer or whatever other liquor he wanted and there was plenty to do. And the ports are unbelievable. Just have the right expectations....that you will be seeing awesome places, will need to get up on the early side to get a chance to see everything and enjoy all that the ship has to offer.

 

And glad you liked our pictures.