Photo review | MSC Fantasia June 1st 2014 Venice

[AmoMondo]

Hopefully not!

 

You're welcome. We were very lucky in Santorini, as for the most part of the morning the MSC Fantasia was the only ship there. The stylish Celebrity Reflection arrived past midday I believe. It was actually one of the days we found less crowds.

 

That must have made a huge difference. When I was there we had 4 other ships sitting at anchor and it was unbelievably crowded. I was off the ship on a early tender but still had a 45 minute wait for the cable car as some of the other ships had started offloading passengers before us.

[Elmartellama]

We could clearly see the path to the port of Oia, and its Castle.

 

 

We were assigned to the second seating at 21:00, the first seating was at 18:30. About 18:00 the lido decks started to empty. It was still windy and we dare not swimming in the pool, but we enjoyed the Jacuzzi during half an hour all by ourselves. It was one of the moments of the trip that we will remember dearly.

 

 

Navigation was specially beautiful that evening

 

 

We then got ready for the night. The show tonight was Pirates, very good and entertaining! They have such a great entertaining / theatre team. The night before we enjoyed a remarkable Opera show, outstanding ovations on both occasions.

 

I loved it when they played the Radetzky March and all the public started to clap along. That might be a very European thing, since every new year's day the Vienna Opera House concert is broadcasted in the different national European networks, along with those ski-jumps of the Alps. So everyone knew when to clap!

 

On our last cruise with the Liberty of the Seas we had amazing shows, so we were prepared to something not as good this time. We were wrong! MSC Shows are shorter: all of them last 45 minutes, but all of them were good in our opinion, very visual and smart. And most importantly, there's a lot of variety so that you see different things every night and it doesn't get repetitive.

 

Before dinner time there was always something going on at the Atrium or at some other venue halfway from the Theatre to the restaurants. The animation team made good use of that space, little jokes and performances to entertain for some minutes.

 

We liked that unpretentious, informal and spontaneous touch. It boosted people moods. Another night they made an acrobatic cocktail exhibition with three talented bartenders, a DJ and a man playing Saxo, quite cool.

 

Edited June 25, 2014 by Elmartellama

[Elmartellama]

That must have made a huge difference. When I was there we had 4 other ships sitting at anchor and it was unbelievably crowded. I was off the ship on a early tender but still had a 45 minute wait for the cable car as some of the other ships had started offloading passengers before us.

 

I totally understand. We got lucky in Santorini, but found terrible crowds in Dubrovnik. More on that to come!

[AmoMondo]

I totally understand. We got lucky in Santorini, but found terrible crowds in Dubrovnik. More on that to come!

 

I really cant say this enough, this is one of the most enjoyable and informative reviews I've ever read on here and I so look forward to your next instalment.

 

Coming across people like you and your partner and your take on life, is one of the reasons I'm so hooked on travelling around this amazing world of ours. I'd have loved to have met you in person but I'm getting to know you through this amazing review.

[Irishcruiser46]

Fantastic review so far. We are going on this cruise in a few weeks (13/7/14) and this is helping our planning greatly. Thank you very much

[Kiwiaus]

I echo Irishcruisers comments. Great review and photos. We are doing the same cruise in October and your review has certainly got us excited. Thank you for taking the time and effort to do this, :)

Edited June 26, 2014 by Kiwiaus

[ann2201]

I echo Irishcruisers comments. Great review and photos. We are doing the same cruise in October and your review has certainly got us excited. Thank you for taking the time and effort to do this, :)

 

 

Brilliant review and such great photos. We are also going onthis cruise in October:)

Thanks for taking the time to share this

[Elmartellama]

Thank you!!! I'm glad you like this

 

Day 7 (cruise day 4) - Athens

 

Athens was the highlight of the trip to me. Some weeks before departing I had watched several videos on Youtube about the golden age of Greek civilization and I was very willing to visit the Acropolis and the Agora. My partner was more neutral at first, but he got very excited once we were there. We just had a perfect day, it was radiant, sunny and the sky was intensely blue.

 

The MSC Fantasia arrived at Pireus at 07:30, so we woke up very early. Once again we were the first ones to get off the ship. I had read horror stories about the crowds and long queues at the Acropolis, so we had a goal in mind: arrive there soon, and avoid the tourist hords.

 

We got super lucky that day, since it was June the 5th and all important monument areas were free. Most importantly, there was no queue at all in any of the monuments. They gave you a free ticket to enter at the ticket booth and that was it.

 

We took a bus from the ship to Pireaus station. Initially we were looking for the express X80 bus, which takes you the Acropolis area directly. We started walking toward the port doors. After exiting the port area we make the mistake to cross the street and go where the other buses were, at the right sidewalk of the street. In the way back we saw that the X80 bus stop was just by the port doors, at the left sidewalk of the street, without crossing.

 

We asked several bus drivers about the famous X80 bus stop, and they had no idea what we were talking about.

 

In the end we just took one of the buses going to Piraeus metro station that was just leaving, to make a change to the subway there. We had no ticket, asked the driver about it and he said ok, we travelled free since no one checks anything. I take it you have to buy them before getting on board (in the X80 you can buy them on board).

 

I must admit we made another mistake by getting off much before the metro station! We had to walk about 5-10 minutes more through the not very beautiful Piraeus area. At the train station we bought the all-day 4€ pass, since maybe we would be coming back with the X80 to the port. We took the green line and got of at Thisio. The subway is actually overground, fast and clean.

 

Getting off at Thisio, you just have to walk up towards the acropolis along a very wide pedestrian avenue. After a while you reach the ticket area and entry. It's very easy and the path is quiet and peaceful compared to other parts of the city.

 

At that point we were beyond excitement, we felt like we were winning a race, reaching the Acropolis before anyone else. It's idiotic now that I think about it, but that very moment life was at its best.

 

 

We were finally there. The most magnificent and influential building of humankind history was simply breathtaking. No matter we had seen thousands of pictures of it, we felt transported to a different era.

 

 

The clear day and the endless city visible below made it even better

 

 

It's hard to believe that the most important achievements of Greek golden era happened in just a generation during Pericles time.

 

 

Theatre and democracy were born at that same time. Acting was not just a form of entertainment. Theatre was a tool used to strengthen democracy and educate the citizens. They were faced by moral dilemmas, they learned the difficulty to take right decisions, to tell good leaders from bad leaders, or to empathize with other people.

 

 

What can I say, we loved Greece

 

Edited June 26, 2014 by Elmartellama

[Elmartellama]

Athens looks endless from above

 

 

The Erechteion, actually the religious temple of the Acropolis, dedicated to Athena and Poseidon.

 

"There once came a time in Ancient Greece when the first king of Athens, Cecrops, who was half person and half snake, had to find a patron deity for the city state of Athens.

 

The two Olympian gods who were particularly interested in the patronage were Poseidon, the god of the Seas and Athena, the goddess of Wisdom and Skill. They presented themselves in front of Cecrops and Cecrops asked from them to offer a gift truly valuable for Athens.

 

Poseidon came first: he struck the earth powerfully and created a well with his trident. Immediately, streaming water shot forth, but the water turned out to be salty and not very useful for the population.

 

 

Next, it was the turn of goddess Athena. Athena stepped forward, struck her spear into the ground and then she kneeled and planted an olive branch in it. This way she created an olive tree, as a symbolization of peace and prosperity on earth.

 

Cecrops was very impressed by Athena’s gift. So he chose Athena to lay claim of the city of Athens and the city was named after her. God Poseidon, however, was not pleased with the decision of Cecrops and cursed the city of Athens to never have enough water from then on"

 

http://www.greek-gods.info/greek-gods/poseidon/stories/poseidon-athena-contest/

 

 

It was then time to descend towards the Agora

 

 

We visited the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos. This was a place were Athenians met to make business, to meet, and discuss matters. There's a very interesting exposition inside, it even has a Spartan shield.

 

 

You can access the building with the Agora area ticket. The combined ticket for the Acropolis, Agora and the other areas we visited costs 12€. It was free to us, but still I find 12€ to be worth every cent.

 

Edited June 26, 2014 by Elmartellama

[Elmartellama]

I liked the models of the ancient Acropolis

 

 

And the Agora, the craddle of the Western culture and civilization

 

 

From Stoa of Attalos there's a good view of the Thision temple, the best preserved ancient building in Athens.

 

 

So beautiful

 

 

After crossing the Plaka district, it was time to have lunch at Monasteraki. Here you have some more food porn. It was quite good!

 

 

We then visited the Syntagma square, made pictures with the soldiers and headed for the Panathenaic Stadium, that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.

 

[Alex71]

Thank you again for this absolutely fantastic report. We are following along an reliving our trip two months ago.

Edited June 26, 2014 by Alex71

[Elmartellama]

Athens city centre is much more pleasant than what we expected, many parks and open areas.

 

 

We also visited the temple of Zeus (included with the combined ticket). The height of their columns and their chapters was truly impressive.

 

 

After reaching the New Acropolis Museum we took the metro back to Piraeus. Unfortunately we did not enter the museum because we didn't want to risk it, but it's something we long to see someday. I'm glad we did it this way, because we prefered seeing fewer things well, without rushing it. It's also an excuse for another visit in the future.

 

 

One fun fact about the subway line is that it runs where one of the walls connecting Athens and its port was located. There were two parallel walls in ancient times, and then a third one was added.

 

Athenian military strength, rule and power over its colonies and other city states depended on its navy. This is shown it the second part of the 300 movie, by the way. After the Persian wars, Sparta, that had a better land army, tried conquering Athens. The city resisted for a long time thanks to this parallel walls and defences, but it eventually fell due to illness and isolation. This was the end of the golden Athenian era, yet its influence is and will allways be alive in our culture.

 

We hope to be back someday!

 

 

The city seemed to never end

 

 

I relaxed from the many emotions of the day in the very hot Jacuzzis of Deck 15. Trust me, they are not warm but hot! and quite big also.

 

Edited June 26, 2014 by Elmartellama

[Elmartellama]

Thank you again for this absolutely fantastic report. We are following along an reliving our trip two months ago.

 

Thank you, the happy memories are the best we can keep from our journeys :)

 

We're also reliving it since I'm doing each day review the same day of the week it took place, only three weeks later!

[Elmartellama]

We were happy enough in an interior cabin, since you could enjoy the views in many lounge and bar areas. However, we think that having a balcony for this itinerary is a good idea if you can afford it. It's much more worth it than a balcony in our last western mediterranean cruise.

 

 

And yet another Greek island!

 

 

The show went on with the 60s 70s 80s party night. The main performance was Parfum d'Orient, some parts of it were so funny and well thought

 

Of course they played the classic YMCA song. Why every cruise line plays this song on their cruises, we don't know!

 

 

People were clearly having a good time!

 

Edited June 26, 2014 by Elmartellama

[Waihekean]

Your photo's are beautiful! Really enjoying your report.

 

Surprised to see how crowded it was in Venice considering it is so early in the season.

[Katgoesonholiday]

Amazing photos! Awesome review! It's giving me such a flavor of these places I have never yet seen. Thank you!

[Elmartellama]

Day 8 Corfu (Cruise day 6)

 

Corfu was another relaxed port to us. We were arriving at 12:30 and departing at 18:00, we had nothing planned except visiting Corfu town.

 

The itinerary combines early wake up days with late arrivals, it's really good since you have the chance to sleep-in a little. I woke up early anyway, ships have a buzz vibration that always wake me up in the middle of the night, my partner slept tight so I guess it was just me.

 

At night the ship had sailed full steam ahead, so we did very slow navigation for several hours. That, and the bright day, finally meant no wind on decks, something everyone was happy about. That was the Albanian coast in the distance, not the greek coast anymore!

 

 

Corfu was already close. The southern part of the island was flat, whereas the northern part was mountainous. We would like to spend a holiday week there, it looked quite nice.

 

 

The sea was surprisingly calm, and the upper decks were full as usual. Most people actually used the chairs, not reserving them and disappearing for the whole day.

 

 

Corfu sail-in did not disappoint either. We saw the castle that we would be visiting later on the day.

 

 

The little island in front of Corfu port was identical to the one we would be anchoring next to in Dubrovnik

 

 

They made some Bavarian thing I did not fully understand. Where were the free beer, the wurst and the Pretzels? Too bad!

 

Edited June 27, 2014 by Elmartellama

[Elmartellama]

Corfu town it's not far from the port. You can take the public bus number 16 that takes you directly to the city centre, or you can pay MSC Shuttle that does the same costing more, and drops you at the Esplanade.

 

 

We joined a Thomson Cruise and the P&O Arcadia (the "Happy Arcadia" to us), they would be making the same itinerary than us for the rest of the cruise.

 

 

After the short bus ride, we started wandering around the narrow streets. Corfu town is nice, but some buildings are a bit run down.

 

 

This is the Esplanade area, where Napoleon gathered his troops.

 

 

We then headed for the Castle

 

 

Tickets cost 4€ per person, yet there is no fence or anything, some tourists before us went in without paying, and the guard said nothing ???

 

[Elmartellama]

The fortress was occupied by Venetians for nearly 3 centuries so it was greatly influenced by them. Nowadays it has an excellent viewing point and some little exhibitions. There's also an Orthodox church and an overpriced cafe with "free" Wifi

 

 

You can see the town and the port from there

 

 

The Albanian coast, not very far.

 

 

There's a Marina and a little beach by it that you can access along the Castle. If you have time and you fancy a swim I think it can be done, such a pity we did not know that!

 

 

It was time to start descending

 

 

The Cafe by the church, even if overpriced, has some fantastic views and you can linger for a while in there. We tasted the Greek coffee, which we did not like, but still was something that we wanted to do (one time was enough though!)

 

Tip: if you want good wifi go inside the Cafe, at the terrace the signal is not very strong. My mobile telephone is not the best, and we were seated next to a group of Japanese who were stealing the precious wifi from me until I discovered the solution.

 

[Elmartellama]

We had time, so we decided to walk back to the port, it takes about 30 minutes along the shore

 

 

There are so many cafes!

 

 

It has its charm

 

 

The expensive Seabourn Spirit was in port. I honestly prefer bigger ships in rough seas.

 

 

The Happy Arcadia left before us

 

 

We sailed away soon after. I know I'm getting predictable, but it was even better than the previous days!

 

[Elmartellama]

The cruise was getting closer to it's end, we went up and enjoyed another lovely evening at deck 15 rear pool and bar.

 

We counted the drink vouchers we had left and we were way under the average daily consumption to fin¡sh them before the cruise. There was no other option than to start drinking cocktails at a higher pace!

 

 

As we sailed the narrow that separates Greece and Albania, Corfu was on our left, and the Albanian coast was on our right.

 

 

That night was gala night number 2. The main show was Starwalker, a Michael Jackson tribute. It was good!

 

The funny thing that happened that night was that after the baked Alaska Parade, the group of about 30 Northern-Africa women who had been sitting next to us in the dining room joined in the centre of the dining room and started singing traditional songs ALOUD.

 

At one point they started doing that Bereber whistle / sound, very ALOUD indeed! It was truly a show I would have never though to encounter on a cruise ship. Everyone was flipping it out, waiters, crew, passengers, many people taking pictures of them, others leaving :D

 

Befor going to bed we discovered we would be tendering in Dubrovnik's Gruz port the next morning O_O Now, what? tendering at a port? We would not be the only ones in town, only 14.000 other people would be visiting along!

[Elmartellama]

Day 9 (cruise day 7) - Dubrovnik

 

Like I explained, we knew we would be tendering in Dubrovnik. The worst part of it, we would be tendering into the Gruz port area, which is 3Km away from Dubrovnik centre.

 

We were arriving in port at 08:00, and leaving at 14:00. Actually, the last tender from the port was 13:00h, and that meant you had to depart from Dubrovnik city centre at 12:30 the latest, and a bit earlier to play it safe. Time in port was way too short.

 

Usually the MSC Fantasia docks in Gruz, so you have at least one more hour. But there were 5 big ships that day in the area, a terrible coincidence for us. Three other ships were docked at Gruz and the Costa Magica tendered in Dubrovnik proper.

 

That day would be a terrible mess, we knew that before hand. We wanted to see as much as possible of Dubrovnik so we knew that getting early tickets for the tender was necessary. We got tickets for tender number 1, and then went to have breakfast. The tendering location was quite beautiful though.

 

 

After having breakfast at about 08:00 we went to the tender exit. There was already a long queue, and just at that time they were calling for tender ticket 1 so we had to push our way through.

 

We accessed the tender soon after, but then had to wait like 20 minutes inside. The problem was they had forgotten to get a little stair so that the passengers could disembark at Gruz Pier. It was a very stupid mistake and that delayed the process even more. I guess it was the first time the MSC Fantasia had to tender at Gruz, so they just did not know the pier was higher than in other ports. Also, all the process was made with the ship tenders not the port's. Still, at about 08:30 we were departing.

 

I just don't want to imagine what happened if you had the ticket number 15, 20 or so. We heard horror stories that day of the whole crazy situation.

 

 

As soon as we reached the Gruz Port we picked up our Dubrovnik Cards. These cards allow you to access the main attractions and museums, we did not have time to visit anything else than the walls, but still it also included the public bus to the centre and most importantly we did not have to change Kunas, since it was prepaid.

 

Provided time, you can walk from Gruz to Dubrovnik, it's a nice enough path. We took bus number 1A, had to wait for about 15 minutes since it was Satuday.

 

There were so many people in town that you had to queue just to enter! it was like a them park really. We just went for the walls entry of Pile and started walking, luckily it was much quiet up there and it was not so crowded.

 

 

We had an amazing time at the walls, took us over an hour since we did not want to rush it. The weather could not have been better, and everything reminded me of Game of Thrones scenes recorded there!

 

Look, that's Castely Rock!

 

 

Everything is very well kept, there are many bars along the walls if you want to relax for a while.

 

 

The waters were inviting! If only we had more time in port

 

Edited June 28, 2014 by Elmartellama

[Elmartellama]

The beautiful Dubrovnik piers, where the Costa Magica tenders dropped its passengers

 

 

It was so magical!

 

 

The walls started ascending and the views getting even better

 

 

Hard to believe they went through a war not so long ago

 

 

The truly highlight of our trip

 

 

The main street was packed and the gelato shops doing great business, they accepted euros.

 

Edited June 28, 2014 by Elmartellama

[Elmartellama]

We needed some space and shade, so we diverted a little

 

 

It's curious how they put plants in the streets, just like the do in many little Mallorca towns.

 

 

Lovely balcony

 

 

It was time to get back to the ship, but first we needed to queue to get out!

 

 

We took a bus that was just departing, the alternative we were thinking of was walking to the port.

 

Another cruise was docked under the bridge

 

 

The tender back to the ship worked well for us. However, we overheard the phone conversation of an Italian woman with another person in Dubrovnik saying the situation was bad in town. And it must have been since we departed one hour after the official scheduled time!

 

I'm very proud of how we faced the situation, and happy for the great day it turned out to be, but I understand how bad the whole morning was for other people. I'm not blaming MSC (except for the tender delay) but the time in port was too short under the circumstances, they had to depart one hour later in order not to leave hundreds of passengers behind.

 

Once on board, we went again to the rear deck 15 pools. I don't know why, but over time we gravitated towards that part of the ship. Maybe because it was less windy and it did not smell that bad? One more good thing about the area is that is has direct access to the Zanzibar buffet, just a deck bellow. This was convenient since the rear area of the buffet was much more quiet. I like that about the Fantasia class.

 

We spent another relaxing afternoon, finishing out our drink vouchers and watching life go by. People started to leave the decks and start packing. Our cruise was coming to and end, but we had still one more week of holidays. Life was still good, and again that evening, rather windy!

 

Edited June 28, 2014 by Elmartellama

[Katgoesonholiday]

Gosh! Crowds everywhere!

 

We are visiting some of the same ports as you so are loving hearing your experiences. Thank you!