Back to Black and the Med too.... Live from the Prinsendam

[rafinmd]

Jacqui, I was reading another live thread, this one from QM2. What is probably the most seaworthy cruise ship ever built had to cancel a call to Saint John today due to high winds. Perhaps you should consider extending your stay for another cruise or 2. I promise we can find a way to handle the future cruiser threads.

 

Roy

[royal65]

Wow a lot of questions;). Happy to help if I can.

 

I will do the highlights and low lights later once I get things summed up.

 

Our original ports that were cancelled were Odessa, Ukraine and an overnight in Sevestapol (two days in that port). If memory serves correctly, these ports were replaced by Batumi, Georgia, Sinop and Trabzon, Turkey. In HAL's defence, they did give us a lot of notice when they changed the itinerary. I think it was 8 months notice. It was definitely more than six months notice. No ports were changed after final payment

 

I found the Prinsendam in good condition. She's not new of course, but I heard of no plumbing issues. There was a mild air conditioning issue for a few on the first day, but they brought on a technician on the first port and that was rectified very quickly.

 

I do NOt Recommended the HAL tour " an evening at La Plaka, crowded, uncomfortable and not worth the money. I also do not recommend travel coaches. The tour was ok in itself but they were late and as a result, we returned later than we would have liked. I would not book Thessaloniki Day Tours. That was Georgina's and they tried to pull a fast one so we cancelled.

 

All of our other tours were really good. I will try to do a summation later

 

Several thought that the food had declined from the first segment to the secon. Just the main entree. We were fine but I tend to ask the waiter if I am choosing wisely.

 

If you look at my signature, the spreadsheet is still there for the cruuise and you can see the different operators we used.

 

I hope this helps for now, I will do a summation later, but right now I am still behind!

 

 

Live from the Prinsendam in Kusadasi

 

Thanks for answering my questions. Really happy that HAL canceled/substituted ports in time to bail on the cruise if we don't like the replacements. Looking forward to your summation. Thanks again.

[kazu]

Jacqui, I was reading another live thread, this one from QM2. What is probably the most seaworthy cruise ship ever built had to cancel a call to Saint John today due to high winds. Perhaps you should consider extending your stay for another cruise or 2. I promise we can find a way to handle the future cruiser threads.

 

Roy

 

Ha!n ha!

 

Would love to stay but duty calls.

 

We are overnighting in Athens and fly out tomorrow.

 

Sorry to hear that the QM2 missed Saint John. Hope we didn't get one of those infamous tropical storms:eek:

[kazu]

Kazu,

You alluded to there being a bit of an update on your camera and card. Anything you can share?

 

Still missing and we are off the ship so it will never be see again.

 

I will post an update shortly, probably at the Sofitel hotel.

 

A tad behind, apologies:o

[kazu]

When we were in Cesme we were the biggest ship in port! Quite a change:). Next to us was the Windstar

 

The next day we were in Thessaloniki and I saw a giant HAL ship come up beside us. LOL, it was the Ryndam. Just looked big :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great reporting!!

[kazu]

Well, well, well. Another delightful surprise.

 

Along with not tendering, we had good weather and a lovely town. We walked quite a distance , saw the magnificent catle there and meandered catching the market and doing the odd stop to savour the flavour and find a vit of free wifi without testing DH's patience;)

 

DH was enchanted with the music of the belly dancer from our night out in Istanbul, so luckily we found a couple of cd's for him to take home.

 

We saw a lot of yachts and boats with Delaware license plates. Turns out that Delaware for the Turkish is like Switzerland for the well to do in our part of the world. They save tax if there boats are registered in Delaware. Go figure!

 

The ship is here until 11 pm so I plan to tackle some clothes later to try to keep from rushing in our Kusadasi port. I plan to spend as much time there as possible.

 

International dinner is not on the last night on this segment. Instead it is tonight so I was able to get our Pinnacle Grill reservations changed and we will dine there instead.

 

Our singer is back tonight in the show as well.

[shrimpboat123]

Ha!n ha!

 

Would love to stay but duty calls.

 

We are overnighting in Athens and fly out tomorrow.

 

Sorry to hear that the QM2 missed Saint John. Hope we didn't get one of those infamous tropical storms:eek:

 

All we got from the storm was some winds and quite a bit of rain. Most of the leaves fell from the trees and now I have a huge job ahead of me. The temperatures are dropping. Getting down to low single digit over night and low double digits during the day. Fall is definitely here.

 

The only good thing that came from the storm, was warm weather for a few days, that it brought up from the south.

 

Have a safe trip home.

Edited October 21, 2014 by shrimpboat123
minor correction

[kazu]

All we got from the storm was some winds and quite a bit of rain. Most of the leaves fell from the trees and now I have a huge job ahead of me. The temperatures are dropping. Getting down to low single digit over night and low double digits during the day. Fall is definitely here.

 

The only good thing that came from the storm, was warm weather for a few days, that it brought up from the south.

 

Have a safe trip home.

 

Uggher. Sounds like my work is cut out for me when I get home.

 

Thought I would get a bit done today but the tour took time and was fantastic.

 

I will do more shortly, but right now we are at the Sofitel hotel at the Athens airport. Amazing. You can literally walk to the airport and not a sound of planes in the hotel.

 

Great spot by the way. No rush and a very nice hotel.

 

 

Need to change flights so DH can go to work. Can't do it until we get to Munich....the joys of frequent flyer miles.:p

 

Off to check the possibilities for when we get to Munich.

 

As usual with the Prinsendam, the crew was lined up to bid us adieu. Same thing last segment. Only last time we got to say, "we're not leaving, we will be back:D. This time we had to say thank you and good bye:(

 

Off to check the air canada schedule.

 

Ciao for now

[chrispb]

Thanks for sharing. Have a safe trip:)

[NMLady]

Thank you so much for sharing your cruise days with us. I really enjoyed the journey.

[kazu]

Our day before we arrived at Kusadasi. On the word of a very trusted previous roll all member I booked a private tour with Denizhan.

 

All I can say is that I am glad I did it. He was absolutely fantastic.

 

Did you know that the ancients cut the marble with silk? It is so strong that is what they used. On our way back from Ephesus, we saw how silk is done, still done by hand and saw looming of the carpets.

 

On the way to Ephesus we did a washroom stop at a lovely ceramic place and watched them make and paint their wares.

 

Ephesus...what can I say? Fabulous. Denizhan is a wonderful guide and gave fascinating history.

 

 

Above is the house of Mary, where it is thought that Mary spent the last 9 years of her life. There is no scientific proof, but the Apostle John was buried here and it is known he accompanied Mary. There was also a Church named after her and in those days they only named a church after someone who lived in the area. A nun had a vision of the house in the 1800's and they found it exactly where she said it was. It is maintained by priests and nuns assigned by the Vatican.

 

 

The library at Ephesus...wonderful!

 

 

 

Ephesus is magnificent and well worth a visit if not two. There were plenty of people but Denizhan said it was not crowded!

 

 

 

And the public toilet at Ephesus. Only the well to do had washrooms. Otherwise you went to the public one where there were 36 of these lined up!

 

[kazu]

All of the walk ways at Ephesus are marble but they have wooden walk ways over them to try to preserve them. In ancient days there were grooves in the marble stone pathways so people did not slip, but with the millions of visitors that Ephesus has each year, the grooves are being worn away.

 

There is much more of Ephesus still to be discovered but they fear they will damage other buildings if they dig.

 

 

This is where they dug and discovered coffins going back centuries more. Since it is a cemetery, they did not want to continue digging and feared for the buildings around

[kazu]

Before I forget, the tulip is the national flower of Turkey. Yes, the tulip originates in Turkey. It grew here as a wild flower. A man from the Netherlands brought one home and the rest is history. The Dutch are now famous for their tulips.

 

There are tulip motifs everywhere. And you will see many drinking their tea out of tulip shaped glasses.

 

One of the statues in Ephesus shows an emperor with his foot on the world (symbolic as the Romans had all of the known world. Interesting enough, the world is round. So in the second century AD they believed the world was round, had running water, sewage system ,etc. centuries later A scientist would declare the world was round and be laughed at. Shows how far ahead these ancient civilizations were!

 

Denizhan was a fabulous guide and I would highly recommend him. After our fabulous tour, we stopped for lunch at his recommended spot. Beautiful setting. We ate outside and the meal was fantastico. I was originally told that lunch was extra (it normally is on private tours) but surprise, surprise, it was included in the cost of our tour. Based on what was charged to our latecomers that joined us at the last minute it was only 8 euros! Tons of appetizers, all delicious then potatoes and eggplant. I don't know how they did the eggplant but it was really delicious.

 

Then kebabs of lamb, chicken and beef. Yum! Followed by fresh fruit. Really good. Denizhan chose wisely.

 

A fantastic day. Once back at the ship, we had a bit of time to shop. Ok, ok, Kazu finally caved. Found a red leather jacket for 100 euros. End of the season sale. Couldn't resist

[kazu]

So we come to disembarkation day. We weren't flying out until the next day, so thanks to gigianne, we had another private tour to Corinth to see the Canal and Ancient Corinth with a transfer to our hotel at the end.

 

We used the same guide we did for our Athens tour and he was fabulous.

 

The Corinth Canal, not as wide as I thought it would be but its a long way down and the freighters go through!

 

Then we were off to Ancient Corinth and the museum there is wonderful. It was actually broken into and many artifacts stolen in the 1900's. Fortunately they were found (in San Fransisco if I recall correctly) in thelate'60's or early 70's

 

[kazu]

Once we were through the museum, we explored Ancient Corinthia. The statue of Apollo is the centrepiece

 

 

 

A very interesting place and one I would have not thought of going to

 

 

 

[ger_77]

Denizhan was a fabulous guide and I would highly recommend him. After our fabulous tour, we stopped for lunch at his recommended spot. Beautiful setting. We ate outside and the meal was fantastico. I was originally told that lunch was extra (it normally is on private tours) but surprise, surprise, it was included in the cost of our tour. Based on what was charged to our latecomers that joined us at the last minute it was only 8 euros! Tons of appetizers, all delicious then potatoes and eggplant. I don't know how they did the eggplant but it was really delicious.

 

. Ok, ok, Kazu finally caved. Found a red leather jacket for 100 euros. End of the season sale. Couldn't resist

 

Did you stop for lunch in the town of Selcuk? Our guide (Levent Solmaz) took us there and we, too, had a delightful lunch with so many choices.

 

I'm proud of you, girl, you shopped - the leathers in Turkey are absolutely beautiful. Last time we were there, my daughter and I both bought lambskin jackets for a ridiculous price and when we got home we saw some similar ones(but not nearly as soft) at a leather shop for nearly $800. Every time I put it on, I am reminded of our wonderful holiday.

 

Thanks again for taking us along with you on this Mediterranean adventure. Feel bad about your camera . . . :(

 

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

Gerry

[kazu]

After our visit here, Frank took us to a great Greek place for lunch. Best calamari I have ever tasted and the Greek salad was to die for.

 

Then we were in for a surprise, to the top of the mountain we went and here was a place we didn't know about. I can't remember the right word but I think it was agropolis - I took a pic of the sign LOL

 

 

 

And the view from up there was magnificent

 

[kazu]

Did you stop for lunch in the town of Selcuk? Our guide (Levent Solmaz) took us there and we, too, had a delightful lunch with so many choices.

 

I'm proud of you, girl, you shopped - the leathers in Turkey are absolutely beautiful. Last time we were there, my daughter and I both bought lambskin jackets for a ridiculous price and when we got home we saw some similar ones(but not nearly as soft) at a leather shop for nearly $800. Every time I put it on, I am reminded of our wonderful holiday.

 

Thanks again for taking us along with you on this Mediterranean adventure. Feel bad about your camera . . . :(

 

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

Gerry

 

 

We stopped just a bit outside the Ancient Corinth site. Beautiful view, fabulous food and really cheap.

 

I did do a tad of shopping, but mostly for others . I did get a beautiful woven runner for our family room table. Hope it fits.

 

Congrats on your upsell.

 

Taking advantage of the wifi while I am in The Munich airport lounge. More to come unless I am getting boring.

[ger_77]

I did do a tad of shopping, but mostly for others . I did get a beautiful woven runner for our family room table. Hope it fits.

 

Congrats on your upsell.

 

More to come unless I am getting boring.

 

I find that I usually shop more for others on our cruises than for myself. I have a penchant for shoes and purses, so I've usually managed to find something to remind me of my vacation. Lately though, I've taken to purchasing a piece of jewellery - something that will never go out of style and can bring back great memories long after the cruise is over.

 

Thanks, will truly enjoy the new real estate - with complimentary laundry and dry cleaning, says hubby with a smile!

 

Boring - absolutely not, I've enjoyed all of your posts and thank you again for the time and effort you've taken to keep us abreast of your travels on the Elegant Explorer. Have a safe trip home.

 

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

Gerry

[shrimp56]

Thank you so much Kazu. The pictures bring back many happy memories of my Greek cruise many moons ago. We were on a small enough ship that we went THROUGH the Corinth Canal. It IS a long way up!

[chrispb]

 

 

And the public toilet at Ephesus. Only the well to do had washrooms. Otherwise you went to the public one where there were 36 of these lined up!

 

 

I see the toilets have now been cordoned off. When I went many years ago, we were able to sit on the toilets and have our photos taken. Brings back happy memories, thanks.

[October55]

I see the toilets have now been cordoned off. When I went many years ago, we were able to sit on the toilets and have our photos taken. Brings back happy memories, thanks.

Have enjoyed your reporting of the second half of your journey. Appreciated your expertise in organizing tours for the Barcelona to Athens segment. Many good memories....this public facility in Durres, Albania falls into the "can you believe it" category!

[sail7seas]

One of the best reviews/photo reviews we've enjoyed here in ages.

 

Thanks so much for sharing with us.

Your photos are fabulous and I could leap into that Greek Salad it looks so good. :)

[kazu]

Before I forget, the tulip is the national flower of Turkey. Yes, the tulip originates in Turkey. It grew here as a wild flower. A man from the Netherlands brought one home and the rest is history. The Dutch are now famous for their tulips.

 

There are tulip motifs everywhere. And you will see many drinking their tea out of tulip shaped glasses.

 

One of the statues in Ephesus shows an emperor with his foot on the world (symbolic as the Romans had all of the known world. Interesting enough, the world is round. So in the second century AD they believed the world was round, had running water, sewage system ,etc. centuries later A scientist would declare the world was round and be laughed at. Shows how far ahead these ancient civilizations were!

 

Denizhan was a fabulous guide and I would highly recommend him. After our fabulous tour, we stopped for lunch at his recommended spot. Beautiful setting. We ate outside and the meal was fantastico. I was originally told that lunch was extra (it normally is on private tours) but surprise, surprise, it was included in the cost of our tour. Based on what was charged to our latecomers that joined us at the last minute it was only 8 euros! Tons of appetizers, all delicious then potatoes and eggplant. I don't know how they did the eggplant but it was really delicious.

 

Then kebabs of lamb, chicken and beef. Yum! Followed by fresh fruit. Really good. Denizhan chose wisely.

 

A fantastic day. Once back at the ship, we had a bit of time to shop. Ok, ok, Kazu finally caved. Found a red leather jacket for 100 euros. End of the season sale. Couldn't resist