Live Oosterdam before/during/after 4/18 cruise

[FloridaTourist]

Spent today in Crete. Rented a car with another couple and drive the island stopping at 2 winery. Lots of fun. The island is actually pretty big if you haven't been here. Lots of olive trees and vineyards. The new smart tv on the room is blue tooth a led for those that care. No more DVDs. Not all the channels are programmed just yet. But overall a nice addition to the room. Tonight dinner in the main Dining room but tomorrow is pinnacle grill night and next night is Le Cirque. Ok. DW is ready to go down. I'll write more later :)

 

 

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[Cindy]

Spent today in Crete. Rented a car with another couple and drive the island stopping at 2 winery. Lots of fun. The island is actually pretty big if you haven't been here. Lots of olive trees and vineyards. The new smart tv on the room is blue tooth a led for those that care. No more DVDs. Not all the channels are programmed just yet. But overall a nice addition to the room. Tonight dinner in the main Dining room but tomorrow is pinnacle grill night and next night is Le Cirque. Ok. DW is ready to go down. I'll write more later :)

 

 

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Thanks again for doing this...I'm really enjoying your live reports!

 

I hope you have calm seas the rest of the way!

[Cruiser Bruiser]

Spent today in Crete. Rented a car with another couple and drive the island stopping at 2 winery. Lots of fun. The island is actually pretty big if you haven't been here. Lots of olive trees and vineyards. The new smart tv on the room is blue tooth a led for those that care. No more DVDs. Not all the channels are programmed just yet. But overall a nice addition to the room. Tonight dinner in the main Dining room but tomorrow is pinnacle grill night and next night is Le Cirque. Ok. DW is ready to go down. I'll write more later :)

 

 

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Sounds sublime. Bon appetite!

[FloridaTourist]

Had room service for breakfast. Came 5 minutes early but we got to enjoy the sunrise over Santorini . My poached eggs were hot and runny just like I like them. Currently we are waiting in the Queens Lounge for our tender number. Process is a little slow for me as I have no patience.

 

 

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[wurmine]

Thank you so much for this report! It is my highlight of the day, to check your newest posts :) We will board the Osterdam in October for 12 days and I am really looking forward to that cruise.

[hickmald]

Thanks so much for sharing your journey! We'll be on Oosterdam for an 11 day itinerary very similar to yours in July, so it is wonderful to hear the tips and tricks. The more I hear about the ship and the ports, the more excited I am for the trip to come! Safe travels!

[FloridaTourist]

Wow! Love Santorini. Chose this ship because of the stop here. Did the speedboat to Fia thanks to CC. Then the bus to Thira and cable car back down. The weather amazing. The people very nice. The views to die for. Left the ship at 945 and back 345. The DW helped the local economy. We had a snack at a pizza place in Fira with a roof top deck on the water side in Fira. Very reasonable. No charge for the view as I heard would happen. Came back on board and sat out by the pool for the sail away party. Both pools open. Dinner was in the Pinnacle grill. Oh my gosh. Now I see what everyone is talking about. My rib eye was awesome. The grill is all new and redone. Very classy looking. Way to much food. Mimi a great waitress. Interesting that today our room steward gets off to go back to Bali. Not sure who we get. But Putu has been very good to us. Trying not to overwhelm with lots of details so if there is anything particular anyone wants to know you will have to ask. Found out last night that any extra OBC will be refunded to my credit card not lost like I have read. Today we have a private guide for Ephesus. Hope your all have a great day!!! I know we will. sunrise over Santorini. dinner viewit is late enough for this someplace in the world.

 

Also last night the ship was very quiet after 1030. By 1130 it was dead. All live music stopped by 1130. That part has been disappointing. Could be that the public rooms are so cold that no one can sit in them.

 

 

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Edited April 23, 2016 by FloridaTourist

[FloridaTourist]

Oh and by the way. We are doing Le Cirque tonight.

 

 

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[bob.jackins]

We are on the Oosterdam June 29th out of Rome and really appreciate you taking the time to inform us about your experiences, will definitely help us do more planning. Thank you!

Edited April 23, 2016 by bob.jackins

[tassietravellers]

Loving this, thank you :-)

 

we are onboard June 17th..cant wait!! Oh so looking forward to Santorini, we are going to do the boat...bus..cable car, after loads of recommendations, including yours, on CC

 

hope you keep enjoying your cruise, Deb

[Krazy Kruizers]

Love the report and great pictures.

Hope you enjoyed Le Cirque as much as we have.

[travelingator]

Enjoying your trip with you, please continue to communicate. Thanks.

[FloridaTourist]

Great day today. Beautiful weather while at Ephesus. Only one other ship on port and they left at noon. The crowds were not bad. We had a private tour with Ephesus Shuttle which I found on tripadvisor. Emory was a great guide. He really knew his stuff. He grew up in the area right near the site and his dad is the local high school history teacher. The company used a beautiful new van with very comfortable seats etc not a mini van. After visiting the site and the terrace houses we went to a rug coop at our choosing. Think it's called the Turkman coop. No pressure but we did buy a small rug. Now on the ship just chilling out. Sunday we dock in Athens and have another private tour there.

 

 

 

 

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Edited April 23, 2016 by FloridaTourist

[FloridaTourist]

Currently sitting still 15 minutes outside of kasadusi turkey. Have engine thruster problem. Ugh!

 

 

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[FloridaTourist]

Sat for an hour while they fixed it. All good now.

 

 

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[chefestelle]

Phew!

 

 

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[6travelers]

Loving your report! Thank you for taking the time. Hoping you know, if the new cabins (deck 10 I think?) and the Retreat finished or are they still working on them?

[FloridaTourist]

The deck 10 cabins are welded in place but not occupied. I believe the retreat is done.

 

Just back onboard after spending a great day touring Athens with Pavos from HP Hellenic tours which I found on tripadvisor. Pavos met us right on time. Had bottled water in the car for us. He used some very nice drone videos to show us the areas we were to visit before we actually got out of the car. This let us get a good preview of what to look for first. He was a very nice guide and gave us lots of info without overwhelming us. We told him what we like and he planned accordingly. He was easy to engage in conversation and helped us learn about greek like. He was happy to help us. Poor guy has 3 boys including twins under the age of 4. It was nice to get out of the house. Would definitely use this company and Pavos again.

 

 

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Edited April 24, 2016 by FloridaTourist

[FloridaTourist]

Athens was a very large city. Very spread out. Not many big buildings. Little to much graffiti. The govt has no money to clean it up as explained by Pavos. So it gets worse. Pavlos knowing what we like, only had us buy tickets at the Acropolis. We are not museum people so we skipped that. He beat the crowd so we walked right up to buy them. By the time we left the line wait was over 1 hr. The area has great views. Pavlos also took us to the highest point in the city for more great views as well as the highest point in the harbor. We opted to skip lunch out since we had bfst on the ship and we're still feeling the effects of Le Cirque the night before and Pinnacle Grill the night before that. We saw Zeus temple and several other sites. Today at 11 was a special ceremony of the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Very cool to see. Probably a must do if you can. But overall we wanted to get a feel of the city and we got just that and good conversation with a local to understand how life works here. Saw no signs of immigrates. He said they moved them to hide them. Over 2k in the old airport which only has 4 functional bathrooms. Not a good situation.

 

Fyi. Met a very nice couple in Athens that are on the Crystal Symphony. They had both Kasadusi and Istanbul canceled. When we told them we got to go they were very sad because they really wanted to see Ephesus. Never felt scared or threatened there. Glad we got to go. .

 

 

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Edited April 24, 2016 by FloridaTourist

[Cruiser Bruiser]

Looks like you had a gorgeous day in Greece. Thanks for the continuing updates. :)

[SightCRR]

Here is a great video of ship pulling in.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2347806

sightcrr

[FloridaTourist]

Last night was a nice night on the ship. We had dinner in the main Dinning room. Then to the show at main stage. It was a song and dance production number about famous duets. Was very entertaining. The most crowded we have seen at any venue. So don't get me wrong. Wasn't like you have to run from dinner to get a seat but it was about 3/4 full. It was actually nice to see. BB King was great. We went to the middle show and the late show. The last set is actually only 30 minutes and ends by 1130. We have met up with a group of 12 from North Carolina all our age. They like us stay up later than most and close the bars down. Matter of fact the first night we met them and all the bars had closed they went to the guest services and asked for a bar tender to open a bar. It was 1220am. So last night Megan and Diego had the night off so the piano bar was dark. Today we did the Walk for a Cause to raise money for cancer research. 5k around the deck. Then we got off in Kataklon in Olympia Greece. We just shopped. We are done with the ruins. Tuesday is Corfu. We currently are sitting at the lido pool which is quiet hot since the room is closed. Tried the back pool but it was to cold. Ugh! Tonight dinner will be in the main again then a comedian show and the piano bar. I think the BB King is dark tonight.

 

 

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[travelingator]

Really enjoying your commentary. We have been to many of these cities in our travels and we are reliving them with you.

[Shebba]

Thoroughly enjoying your comments and pictures. We did a Med cruise 2 years ago and absolutely loved it. Fun to "re-visit" through your posts. Oosterdam was our ship for an Alaskan cruise and South Pacific cruise. We loved that ship and the crew.

[FloridaTourist]

Just back from dinner. Very nice meal and a couple of cordials after dinner. Good comedic tonight on the main stage. BB King was not dark as I thought. But either way we missed their show tonight. But we did make it to the piano bar. Just an FYI. I have read some negative comments here about the pre made sandwiches. Well they are good. I am picky with food. My oldest son is a chef. So I know bad food. The sandwiches are just fine. Also the lido has a great salad bar and yea they make it for you. You just tell them what you want in it. My wife does it every day. In the morning we arrive in Corfu. The ship will provide transportation out of the port at no charge and you can buy A ticket to town for $14. That will probably be what we do. Ok it's 1248. Time for bed!!!

 

 

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