Our (almost completely DIY) 12-night Med Cruise on Vision of the Seas - Aug 2015

[markoCR]

After leaving the Acropolis, I think we may have taken a wrong turning somewhere, as we ended up by the Roman Agora (we were planning to see that later in the day). As we were there though we decided to enter, as it was quite small.

 

 

 

 

Very near that you have the Ancient Agora and Hadrian's Library, both included in the combined ticket price. So we decided to go there after.

 

 

 

 

After that we decided to head to Monastiraki where they have a flea market, and then continued down Ermou which is a lovely little street with lots of shops. We also came across this church:

 

 

[markoCR]

When you get to the end of Ermou Street, you arrive at Syntagma Square, and can see the Greek Parliament building with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier straight ahead of you.

 

 

 

 

Behind and to the right of the Parliament building you have the National Gardens which are nice to walk through, although again it was really hot while we were there so we walked through them quite quickly. If you follow the main road down, you will get to the Olympieion, where you can find Hadrian's Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus - both very impressive!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were getting hungry by this point so decided to head back towards the centre. We headed down Lisikratous Street and found the Monument of Lysicrates. This is a great little area with lots of shops and restaurants/cafés, so we decided to have a bit of lunch. We found a place that did a decent Moussaka and had Alfa beer (lovely!) for a decent price. After that we had a stroll around some of the shops and bought some presents for our daughters back in Spain. That kept us going for a couple of hours before heading back to Thissio station and getting the metro to Piraeus. It was very easy getting back and after a nice walk we were back at the ship! The good thing is that when you're at the harbour you can see the ship in the distance, so you can't really get lost.

 

We loved Athens and definitely recommend it. Although we weren't able to see all the sites we think we did quite well with the time we had there and would love to go back and explore it some more in the future.

[StlGal]

Fantastic review! Thank you for sharing!

[markoCR]

Kusadasi/Ephesus (Turkey)

 

We were woken up at 5.30 by a call over the loudspeaker “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar, Port side”. Having read reviews on this website I knew that meant a man overboard, and I realised it was probably a migrant boat (obviously there had been many cases at that time and I had wondered if we would come across one). We sat and chatted for a while before the captain came on the loudspeaker and confirmed our suspicions, saying that they were going to send rescue boats. So at 6.45 we decided to get up and go and have breakfast. While eating we watched the rescue operation out of the window, although I did feel a little guilty that I was warm and cosy on a cruise ship while those poor people were probably cold and hungry. It turned out there were 45 migrants on the boat.

 

After breakfast we went back to the room. I actually went back to sleep for 45 minutes before being woken by the captain saying that all the migrants had been rescued (hooray!), we were leaving again and due to arrive at 11.00. As that was 3 hours later than planned, we were informed that the return time would be 20:00 instead of 18:00, which we thought was good of them. So I had a shower and then headed up to the Windjammer for a cup of tea and a couple of cakes. And then we were ready to go!

 

 

[markoCR]

As I said at the beginning of the review, this was the one place where we decided not to DIY it. There were a few reasons for this: firstly, Ephesus is quite difficult to get to on public transport. I found people saying that they had done it, and how to do it, but there was conflicting information on where to catch buses from and which one to get. Plus from what I understood, you have to walk a way from where the bus leaves you. On top of that, it's very difficult to get to the House of the Virgin Mary, the only option is basically a taxi, which can be quite expensive.

 

So we went to our Roll Call on CruiseCritic and found that Raj007 and family were organising a tour. They had managed to get a great deal: 290 euros for 11 people, which worked out at about 30 euros each with a tip. After calculating how much it would cost using public transport, it actually worked out more or less the same as the tour. So it was a no-brainer really, especially somewhere which we didn't know very well, didn't speak the language and knew it was going to be very hot!

 

 

As we had arrived much later than scheduled, we were worried that the tour was going to be cancelled. In fact a lot of the excursions organised through Royal Caribbean were cancelled. But as we got off the ship we saw a lot of tour guides waiting for people, which made us feel more optimistic, and eventually we found ours. The others in our group all arrived really quickly as well, and then we were off to Ephesus!

 

 

TIP: If you're going to Ephesus, you might find that it works out a lot easier to get a guided tour as they are quite cheap.

 

 

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USEFUL INFORMATION:

 

Admission Prices (August 2015):

 

Ephesus: 60 Lira

Terrace House: 30 Lira

House of Virgin Mary: 40 Lira

St. John's Basilica: 20 Lira

Edited July 22, 2016 by markoCR

[markoCR]

We walked straight into Ephesus without a problem, the tour guide having got all our tickets ready. The only problem was that as we had arrived late, we got to Ephesus at about midday, so it was really really hot!

 

We loved Ephesus, apparently they have only excavated a small percentage of the area so I can only imagine what it's going to be like in the future. I have to admit it was nice having a tour guide explaining the history, which obviously is the downside of travelling by yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

[Coolcruise02]

Great review and photos!

[markoCR]

After a while we got to the Terraced Houses. Here we were offered the choice of going in or not, so the majority of our group entered and a couple of others stayed outside and looked for some shade (there are quite a few steps which can be a problem for elderly people). We thought the houses were fascinating and again we appreciated having the guide who pointed out what each thing was and when it dated from.

 

After about half an hour we were back outside and down to what for many is the main attraction: the Celsus Library.

 

 

 

 

We also saw the theatre which is by the exit (or entrance depending which way you do it!):

 

 

 

 

Then it was back to the minibus and off to the House of the Virgin Mary!

[markoCR]

The House of the Virgin Mary is just up the road from Ephesus so it doesn't take long to get there. It's quite a popular place, you basically walk through the house in a line, it's quite small so you're in and out in no time. Outside there is a wishing wall where you can leave something.

 

 

 

 

On our way back to Kusadasi we stopped at a leather factory, which we weren't too keen on but we had time and as the others were interested we decided to go too. It was actually quite fun, we were treated to a fashion show (they got a couple of us to participate in it too), and then we were shown around the shop. There was no pressure on us whatsoever to buy anything, so we just chatted to our tour guide, while a couple of people in our group tried things on.

 

We then went back to Kusadasi. We had plenty of time before the ship was due to leave, so we had a look around the shops, bought some souvenirs and treated ourselves to a Turkish coffee. Then it was back on the ship. We really enjoyed Turkey, it's a pity that they are having so many problems at the moment, but Kusadasi is far away from where the majority of the trouble is, so I would definitely recommend going there.

 

Next stop, Santorini!

 

 

[SpainAlien]

Thank you for taking the time to post. We are doing a very similar cruise next June and I am very interested in your DIY experiences and advice.

 

Do you happen to know which company your Kusadasi/Ephesus tour was through?

[markoCR]

Thank you for taking the time to post. We are doing a very similar cruise next June and I am very interested in your DIY experiences and advice.

 

Do you happen to know which company your Kusadasi/Ephesus tour was through?

 

Hi! Well it's a bit strange actually, I was looking at that myself. The email that I was sent before the cruise came from bestofkusadasi.com, but I've noticed that after the cruise the people who contacted them and reserved everything wrote a review on TripAdvisor for http://www.ephesusporttours.com. So I'm a bit confused, I don't know if they are the same company, or two different ones. There are three other reviews of ephesusporttours who mention the same guide (Pinar) so they can't have made a mistake. Also both websites quote the exact same prices.

 

Sorry I can't be of more help!

Edited July 23, 2016 by markoCR

[markoCR]

Thank you for taking the time to post. We are doing a very similar cruise next June and I am very interested in your DIY experiences and advice.

 

Do you happen to know which company your Kusadasi/Ephesus tour was through?

 

Hi! Well it's a bit strange actually, I was looking at that myself. The email that I was sent before the cruise came from http://www.bestofkusadasi.com, but I've noticed that after the cruise the people who contacted them and reserved everything wrote a review on TripAdvisor for http://www.ephesusporttours.com. So I'm a bit confused, I don't know if they are the same company, or two different ones. There are three other reviews of ephesusporttours who mention the same guide (Pinar) so they can't have made a mistake. Also both websites quote the exact same prices.

 

Sorry I can't be of more help!

Edited July 23, 2016 by markoCR

[markoCR]

How weird, I clicked to edit my last post and it appears to have just re-posted it. Sorry about that.

 

 

TIP: Before I continue with Santorini, there was something I wanted to say about Turkey. We took Turkish Lira with us, but most places actually allow you to pay in Euros. And the exchange rate was decent, they don't try and rip you off if you pay in Euros. So if you're doing a Mediterranean cruise and going to Kusadasi, don't worry about getting any Turkish Lira.

[markoCR]

It was another early start for us, with us due to arrive at 7am. Like in Cannes, there's a tender that takes you to shore, but this time they didn't hand out tickets. Instead they had what they called an 'Early Bird Special,' where tender tickets weren't required between 7.30 and 8.30. Anyone wanting to go after 8.30 would need a ticket (from Chop's Grille on Deck 6).

 

We thought this was actually a good idea, especially after the ridiculously long queues for the tender to Cannes. So we had breakfast and at 7.15 we were ready to go. Again, we managed to get on the first tender! As you're approaching you can see the white buildings on top of the mountain, which makes you very eager to get there and explore. We headed straight for the cable car, got our tickets (4 euros each if I remember correctly) and then joined the queue to go up. It wasn't long before we were on our way! It's quite a bumpy ride and we were quite glad when we got to the top (it's perfectly safe though).

 

 

Again, Santorini is quite easy to DIY, but it does require a bit of research beforehand. A lot of people hire cars which is probably the best way to see the island, but we weren't sure and so decided to use their bus service, which isn't bad at all, but obviously you're limited as to where you can go. In the end we decided we would go to Oia and the Red Beach near Akrotiri.

 

 

So the first thing we did was head to the bus station in Fira. It's a bit chaotic there, as there are often lots of people and it is hard to know which bus you need to get! After a short wait though we saw a bus that said was going to Oia, and jumped on. We got our tickets which I think cost 1.80 each, and in 25 minutes we were there.

 

Oia is famous for its sunsets (unfortunately something you probably won't see while you're there on a cruise in summer!), but the views are incredible. We stopped for a coffee there and spent a couple of hours wandering around and taking photos.

 

 

 

 

[markoCR]

We then headed back to the bus station and got the bus to Fira. All buses run through Fira, so you have to go there and change. After a 15-minute wait we then got another bus to Akrotiri, in the South-West of the island. I think it cost 1.80 euros each again. There are two stops there, one for the archaeological site, and the other for the beach. As we were going to go to Pompeii a couple of days later, we decided to check out the famous Red Beach. It was a 10-15 minute walk along the seafront to get there. It's a popular place as the beach was quite crowded! We stayed there for about half an hour, having a lovely swim in the sea (neither of us are big fans of sunbathing, but we couldn't say no to a quick dip!).

 

 

 

 

Then it was back to the bus stop, and back to Fira. We got there a couple of hours before the last tender at 16.15, which gave us plenty of time to wander around the town and grab something to eat.

 

Instead of taking the cable car back down, we decided to walk. Looking back, that probably wasn't the best decision! It was really hot, and the smell of donkey poo was almost unbearable. We had to hold our breath most of the way down, and were sweating by the time we got down to the bottom. Still, there were some lovely views on the way down!

 

We got the tender back to the ship, and had another day at sea to look forward to before our final stop in Salerno!

[markoCR]

Salerno / Pompeii (Italy)

 

 

Our final port day! It had started to sink in that the end of our cruise was approaching, but we were determined to have a great last day back in Italy. We got up at our usual 6.30 to have a shower and then headed up for breakfast. The view that greeted us when we walked into the Windjammer was amazing (the photo doesn't really do it much justice, sorry). So we definitely enjoyed our breakfast.

 

 

 

 

 

Now I have to admit that this was the one port we didn't really research properly before we left. The main reason was that we couldn't decide whether to go to Naples or Pompeii. So I simply wrote down train timetables for both and that was it. About 4 days into the cruise we decided to go to Pompeii, and I think that was definitely a good choice.

 

I have to apologise here because getting from the ship to Salerno train station is a bit of a blur, and I'm annoyed with myself because I wrote pretty much everything down except this. If I remember rightly, the ship was docked quite a way away from the centre, so we got a free shuttle bus which left us closer to the centre, but still a considerable distance from the train station. In the end we decided to walk off our breakfasts and see what Salerno had to offer. The walk is quite an easy one, you can just walk along the sea front until you get to Piazza Concordia, where you take a left onto Via Mauro Clemente, and the station is straight ahead of you. I think it took us about 25 minutes to get there.

 

 

Getting tickets to Pompeii was easy and only cost 4.40 euros each for a return (bargain!). The train took about 45 minutes to get there, and the station is really close to the ruins. When you come out of the station, go straight ahead towards an impressive-looking church. Keep walking down that street (Via Sacra) and you'll come to a square. Go across the square and you'll have the church right in front of you.

 

 

 

 

From there turn left, and walk down that street. The entrance to the ruins is about 5 minutes away, you'll see it on your right. It cost us 11 euros each to get in, and we were surprised to find there wasn't a queue! So we strolled right in.

 

 

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USEFUL INFORMATION:

 

Salerno Train Station Coordinates: N40 40.500 E14 46.300

Pompeii Train Station Coordinates: N40 44.770 E14 30.075

Return Train Ticket to Pompeii: 4.40 Euros

Entrance to Pompeii Ruins: 11 Euros

Edited July 23, 2016 by markoCR

[markoCR]

When you enter you are given a map and a little booklet to help you find your way around, it was a lot bigger than I was expecting. It took us a good few hours to work our way around the site, so I recommend trying to get there as early as possible, especially in the summer months, as it can get pretty toasty. We really enjoyed our walk around, although by the end the heat was getting to us, so we headed out in search of some lunch and shade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to have lunch in Pompeii, so we found a restaurant on the street back towards the church and had a pizza and a beer. It was then back to the station, and back to Salerno. We arrived with a couple of hours to spare, so decided to find somewhere with WiFi and talk to our families back home. We then walked back towards the ship and got the shuttle back. Our last day of exploring was over, but we still had a day at sea left to go!

[markoCR]

Our last day at sea mainly involved packing, but we managed to do a few things as well, and walked around the ship taking photos and making a few last-minute purchases. By this point it had really started sinking in that we were going home.

 

The final morning we got up, and as we had left pretty much everything packed we had time to go up to the Windjammer for one final breakfast. We had been given a time to go to the Schooner Bar, so headed there with our cases, and within 15 minutes we were off the ship. A very smooth debarkation process.

 

And there we have the worst part of the trip.... the feeling when you leave is horrible! We realised at that moment that cruising was indeed for us, we'd had a great time and we would definitely do it all over again.

 

 

I hope the information I've posted is useful for anyone who's going on a similar cruise and wants to DIY the ports. If anyone has any questions or wants any more information please feel free to ask! I'm going to discuss other aspects of the cruise/ship now to continue the review.

Edited July 24, 2016 by markoCR

[markoCR]

Food/Drinks

 

During the cruise we didn't eat in any specialty restaurants, we had considered it but to be honest.... we loved the food in the MDR!

 

So the only places we ate were in the Windjammer (breakfast and sometimes lunch), the Main Dining Room (dinner) and Park Café in the Solarium (snacks). We had My-Time Dining as well.

 

 

Let's start with the Windjammer. Now obviously with a buffet-style restaurant we weren't expecting amazing food like in the MDR, but we were very impressed with what it had to offer. Funnily enough, when we had disembarked the ship and were waiting for the bus to take us away from the port, we overheard some people complaining that there wasn't enough variety. We couldn't believe that. For breakfast, you have a section with typical American breakfasts, a section for typical British breakfasts, a section with typical European Continental breakfasts, plus an egg station, cereal, fruit, cakes.... what else could you want?! Perhaps the fact that they offer so much does technically mean that it's the same on offer every day, but hey, if you go and pick up a croissant every single morning that's your choice, but don't complain about it afterwards!

 

It was similar for lunch, they had loads of different dishes on offer, and I was able to have some British dishes that I hadn't had in years! And on top of that they were really tasty.

 

 

Perhaps if they were to reduce what they offered by half, and then rotated every day, people wouldn't complain so much that it was always the same. The other thing that I noticed were that people would fill 3 or 4 plates with food for breakfast, nibble at little bits and then leave 75% of it... such a waste of food :( I also felt sorry for the staff working there, as they were always asking if you needed anything so that you didn't have to get up for more things. I thought that was a great touch, but the number of times people would ask for things and then just leave! One time I felt so sorry for one female member of staff who had gone to prepare a cup of coffee for one particular lady sitting near us. This lady then just got up and left within 60 seconds of ordering, and when the girl came back with the coffee she had such a sad look on her face that I actually offered to have it myself!

 

 

Rant over... :) Let's talk about the MDR!

Edited July 24, 2016 by markoCR

[markoCR]

For us the MDR was incredible, having read a number of reviews criticising the food I wasn't sure what to expect, but it certainly exceeded our expectations.

 

As I said in the previous post, we went for My-Time Dining, firstly because we thought it would be easier to pre-pay all the tips, and secondly because on port days we thought we would eat at different times depending on when we were due back on the ship. So that was quite an easy choice.

 

We ended up going for dinner every day between 18.45-19.30, which was a great time, because we ended up getting a table for two every night. What we tended to do was once we had the Cruise Compass every evening, we would look and see what we were interested in doing, and then choose a time to eat that would allow us to do all that. We would then go to the MDR and reserve a table for the following day. We did that every evening without a problem. There was only one night where I had completely forgotten to reserve, but we ended up having to wait for only 10 minutes before being shown to a table.

 

Also, on a Mediterranean cruise, especially one leaving from Barcelona and therefore full of Spanish people, the earlier you go for dinner the better, as Spanish people tend to have dinner from 9pm onwards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Aarrmuch]

Thanks for your. review we have just enjoyed some of our past ports and cruises again.

We are sailing on the Vision on the 10th of September it only goes to one of your ports: But we thought your review needed a big thank you

 

We only have a short day in Pireus so will be going on the hoponhop off. Having been to Athens in the past

 

Our best regards

 

Stephen and Kay

[markoCR]

Thanks for your. review we have just enjoyed some of our past ports and cruises again.

We are sailing on the Vision on the 10th of September it only goes to one of your ports: But we thought your review needed a big thank you

 

We only have a short day in Pireus so will be going on the hoponhop off. Having been to Athens in the past

 

Our best regards

 

Stephen and Kay

 

Thank you for your comments! I have to admit finishing this review has brought back a lot of happy memories from last summer.

 

Hope you have a great time on the Vision, I keep looking at cruises hoping that we'll be able to go on another one soon.

 

I have to admit those hoponhopoff buses are great when you're in a city for a short time, we used one in Granada a couple of years ago and managed to see loads of things.

[markoCR]

We thought the quality of the food in the MDR was exceptional. We didn't have any problems with any of the dishes, and there certainly wasn't anything left on any of the plates afterwards! We also liked the fact that they often served vegetables with most things, so although we put on a few kilos over the 12 days, at least we knew what we were eating was generally healthy. We were able to try something different every night, and although I am not a big fan of fish, I had it 2 or 3 nights because it was cooked so well. Big thumbs up from us!

 

Don't scroll down if you're hungry!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[markoCR]

The service in the MDR was also fantastic. We sat in the same area every night, and although we had a couple of different waiters, normally we were served by Serrao and Junior. They were brilliant, always with smiles on their faces, and their recommendations were always spot on. We were really sad on the last night when we had to say goodbye.

 

 

[markoCR]

In terms of drinks, we were more than happy with what was on offer. Living in the centre of Spain where temperatures normally hit 40 degrees in summer, we tend to just drink water, and we found the water to be absolutely fine on the ship. The juices were fine for us, and as a Brit I was happy to find they had plenty of tea as well!

 

I see a lot of posts on whether it's worth getting a drinks package or not, personally I think it depends on each person, and also how many ports there are during the cruise. It's also worth calculating how many drinks you need to drink in order to get your money's worth each day. I tend to just drink beer, and don't like things like coke, and worked out that I would need to have 5 or 6 day in order to make it worthwhile. As we were going to spend 8 out of 12 days off the ship, I decided against getting one. We were also allowed to take two bottles of wine on board which kept us going, and then I bought beers from time to time to have with dinner. I thought it was great they had some machines by the pool where you could get drinks 24/7, and therefore didn't have to rely on the opening times of the Windjammer or Park Café.