Greek Isle Review Royal Princess Sept. 17 - Sept. 24

[spiceyxi]

Below is a quick summary of thoughts based on my recent experience traveling to Greece for a week of sightseeing in Greece followed up with the Royal Princess cruise and finished with a few days in Rome. I will try to elaborate later, but here is the recap of the Princess experience of my trip which was only about a third of the vacation.

 

Ship: Royal Princess

Cabin: R607 (Penthouse Suite)

Itenerary: 7 Day Greek Isle and Italy

Ports: Santorini, Kotor, Corfu, Messina & Elba

Embarkation: Athens

Disembarkation: Rome

 

This was not the itenerary we originally booked and 50% of the ports we originally had were changed. Never book a cruise with the hope of visiting a specific port. Ironically that is what made me decide on this cruise over the new carnival ship though. However, that port, Santorini, ended up staying.

 

The embarkation process was really easy and straightforward and priority check in probably saved me at most 5 minutes. The biggest plus was no one was checking wine when boarding. That worked out for us as we did some wine tasting in Greece and were bringing on a few bottles we wanted to save to bring home, but didn't want locked up away for us nor pay for corkage as we were not going to drink them.

 

The cabin, R607, was a great location with plenty of space for me and my wife. The balcony of course is really narrow, but long. They cram way too much furniture on it though and we arranged this by placing the big table to one side and having the two chairs to the other. This allowed us to be able to use all of the balcony without having to use both doors from going to one side or the other. The best feature for this room is the proximity to the Concierge lounge. It worked out great for us in the morning to get a quick breakfast and tea whenever we needed it. Plus the hostess in here was great for making arrangements or switching disembarkation tags.

 

Ports: I will get to these later.

 

Suite Perks:. In room MDR dining whenever we wanted it was the best. The Concierge lounge came second due to the proximity.

 

This is just a few quick notes as I am off to work.

 

Thank you.

[Gladysgoing]

Thanks for starting your review. I'm looking forward to reading more.

[spiceyxi]

Dining: One of the biggest reasons we like to cruise. My wife can not eat lactose, gluten or strawberries and every cruise has been able to handle that with very little issue. Princess was no different and our head waiter, Tudor, made sure we ordered the night before and that a special dessert was available. Chefs at the buffett were always willing to help and walk through each stand and explain what she could or couldn't eat.

 

We ate at Crown Grill twice and both times had great food. Definitely worth the $29/pp cover charge. It isn't the best steak in the world, but very enjoyable and a great value. Again, no issues getting food Gluten and Lactose free. It was odd that the butter was filled out by the server, but you could ask for as much as you would like.

 

The Buffett had a very good selection and plenty of choices for my wife with dietary restrictions.

 

Casino: We gambled a decent amount most nights and ended with about 1,800 points and got a bounce back offer of $150 in gambling credits to be used in a narrow time frame. Smoke never seemed to be an issue and it felt like they had no smoking on most nights. We definitely lost more than we won. The layout is fairly poor and it is difficult to navigate around many of the slot machines.

 

BOGO: When ordering bottled drinks (beer) they had to open the product. Be sure to order something with a screw top or a Golsh (sp?) which has a resealable cap if you order a beer. Please note that using BOGO at Crooners with cocktails can be very dangerous as they were making some strong drinks. The program really makes the drinks a great value.

 

Spa: Annoying that the workers were all over the place trying to get you to buy packages and the ads everyday were really annoying. The scavenger hunt with the spa was annoying as they took you on a 5 min tour to get the stamp. Looked nice I guess though...

 

Wine Tasting: On the first day they were selling a $25/pp wine tasting for the Sea Day. Their was an okay selection of wine and some apps, but overall we didn't enjoy it. Way too crowded for our liking and the pours were relatively small. I would skip it next time.

[dickinson]

I'm enjoying reading your review. Looking forward to your ports and what you did in Rome.

[riclop]

Thanks for starting.

[spiceyxi]

Before I get into the Ports and Pre and Post cruise activities I want to make sure I can upload some photos.

 

Due to all of the tenders we had a few chances to take some photos of the ship in the water.

 

Some Crown Grill Selections:

 

 

 

 

Here is what the concierge lounge looks like. I did this panorama specifically because I had a hard time finding any on Cruise critic.

 

 

And here is some proof that they are working on the center stairs. https://plus.google.com/104169263978096110178/posts/FR5MssM17Vn

 

Looks like I can post photos, but need to work on my video posting abilities...I should have DSLR photos available this weekend.

[easyboy]

Nice start on your review. Will be following.

[TracieABD]

Love the Royal! Love the pictures! Love those penthouse suites! Keep it coming...

[jennybenny]

Fabulous!! Looking forward to hearing more!! Looks great so far!!

[spiceyxi]

I decided to go over the ports of call prior to my pre and post cruise details as it seems like it is probably more relevant. However, I will be sure to discuss my week in Greece and 4 nights in Rome at the end. Plus, I am available to speak to any specific questions.

 

Our first stop on the ship was Santorini and this port is the main reason I chose this specific cruise. We did the big Ira, Fira & Winery excursion offered by Princess. This was the most costly Princess excursion we did and got to see a lot of the island. I will say that for us the Santo winery was not worth it. The wine we tried was just terrible and it was an overly commercialized feeling winery and not what we have grown to expect from cruise winery visits. It did have a great view though. However, the lunch was a nice break and visiting the black sand beach was a very nice surprise. After this trip I feel no need to head back to Santorini as it felt just way to crowded in the afternoon. We much preferred the island of Hydra.

 

 

Our first stop was Oia and we were lucky to get there before the crowds. A little foggy, but great views and an absolutely gorgeous place.

 

After about 45 minutes in Oia we went out to the black sand beach for about 15min of free time. A very refershing break and interesting to see the volcano sand like in Hawaii.

 

After this we headed up to the Santo winery. It felt very commercial and not intimate like we had experienced with previous wine tasting experiences with Carnival. This almost made us cancel our other wine tastings, but I am very glad we didn't. The wine we tasted seemed cheap or just so sugary to make it seem like it is good. Did I say I was disappointed about this winery? Great view though! Had like 45min - 60min of free time

 

After the winery we went up the mountain and enjoyed the view and then it was to lunch. It was a buffet style lunch with a good selection of Greek food and plenty of wine included. It helped make up for the winery.

 

After lunch we made our last stop to Fira to go through the local museum. Very interesting little museum and the guide explained things perfectly. Enjoyed the museum and after that we were given our tram tickets to head back to the ship when we saw fit.

 

Fira was too busy for us and after the long day of touring (8am - 3pm) we decided to head back to the ship and enjoy the sunset from the balcony. With a couple of bottles of champagne we were rewarded with this great sunset.

 

Overall the tour was a great way to see the island and we are glad we did it. However, a different winery would have been preferred. It was great that our motor coach was about half full which helped make the entire tour experience more relaxing. Much better than the filled to the max Carnival tours we have been on in the past.

[Lucky TGO]

Thanks for sharing. Great pictures. Looking forward to see more. Nice review.

Tony

[mamaw58]

Following

 

 

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[Woobstr112G]

Love the review and pictures.....:):):)

 

Bob

[spiceyxi]

This was our second port after the one and only sea day. Originally Kotor was not a port we booked, but it was used as a replacement for Kusadasi and Malta.

 

For Kotor we booked the excursion which went up the many hairpin turns to the town of Njegusi for some local wine, ham and cheese. Along the way we did a couple of brief stops for photo shoots and at the town of Njegusi we had just over an hour stop. As you will see the photo stops were gorgeous. The wine in the city was good and across the street from the local restaurant were a few stalls selling sovereigns. The stop in this town did feel a little long as we had about an hour and change there. However, we found out later we stayed extra as they are working on the road and do not open sections of it until 10am.

 

After the visit to that town we took another scenic drive to Cetinje for a tour of a historic museum which use to serve as the palace. Great little museum with a lot of interesting artifacts from the region. The main highlights were definitely the scenic drive portions. The bathroom at the museum was very busy and not very nice. I would recommend using the bathroom near the motor-coach drop off as it is a bit nicer and the women's had toilet paper, but it will cost you 0.50 Euro.

 

The tour finished in the old town with a guided tour to the church and a visit to the maritime museum. Both were very nice little spots to see and it was nice to spend some time walking around the city. I wish I had some cat food to give all of the strays.

 

Now for Photos!

 

After all the hairpin turns you are rewarded with this view. If you experience motion-sickness this is a tour you would want to skip due to all of the hairpin turns involved. I wasn't feeling great when we reached the town and skipped tasting the ham and cheese.

 

This is a shot of the World War memorial at the first town we stopped at. You can see the shopping stalls in the background. I thought it looked like the Wu Tang logo.

 

Another view from the motor-coach tour up around Kotor.

 

This is the great little church in the old town.

 

A little out of focus, but one of the many kittens roaming the streets.

 

This is one of the great views you get as you leave.

[PiperHolliday]

Really loving the pictures!

 

May I ask why they decided to change so many of your ports?

 

We will be cruising the Med for 21 days in April and are really looking forward to Malta and Turkey.

[spiceyxi]

Really loving the pictures!

 

May I ask why they decided to change so many of your ports?

 

We will be cruising the Med for 21 days in April and are really looking forward to Malta and Turkey.

 

Their were a couple of reasons for the port changes. The first port to change was removing Naples and adding in Elba. This also meant cutting a few hours were cut from Sicily. The reason for this change was due to port congestion in Naples. Which is funny because a few years ago on our previous Med cruise Naples was switched for the same reason.

 

We had Kusadasi and Malta switched to Kotor and Corfu due to the security concerns in Turkey. To me this was an understandable and welcomed change.

[PiperHolliday]

Their were a couple of reasons for the port changes. The first port to change was removing Naples and adding in Elba. This also meant cutting a few hours were cut from Sicily. The reason for this change was due to port congestion in Naples. Which is funny because a few years ago on our previous Med cruise Naples was switched for the same reason.

 

We had Kusadasi and Malta switched to Kotor and Corfu due to the security concerns in Turkey. To me this was an understandable and welcomed change.

 

Ah, I was mostly confused about Naples so thank you for responding so quickly! That is one port on our itinerary we don't mind having changed. We have spent so much time in and around Naples and Amalfi already.

 

We are supposed to be in port for 24 hours in Istanbul, so am getting curious what they would change it to, as we are already visiting so many Greek ports and Athens twice - I simply cannot handle anymore Greece! LOL

 

Thanks again for sharing your trip! Can't wait for the rest! You are getting me very excited!

[spiceyxi]

Our third port of call and last stop in Greece was Corfu. I was apprehensive originally about Corfu and my expectations were low, but it ended up surprising me. We again did another excursion through Princess and it again included a winery as well as a monastery. We finished the excursion in the old town with some free time.

 

The monastery and surrounding area was very idealistic and gorgeous. I am very glad we got to visit this area and see the cats roaming around and the beautiful ocean views. The winery was an absolutely great stop with a nice spread of food and a couple of wines to try. The wines were limited production and a very reasonable price. Hopefully all of the wine tours go there. The old town of Corfu was great for a few photo ops, but a bit busy for our liking.

 

As you can see we got into port very early and had a friend.

 

This was the view right next to the monastery. There was also a small cafe nearby.

 

This was a normal scene at the monastery with a cat sleeping in a random spot.

 

Just below the monastery was a couple of pretty little beaches that were very nice to look at and spend some free time.

 

This was a sampling of the spread from the wine tasting.

 

The great view of Corfu from the docked ship.

[AdoraBelle]

Thank you! Will be on the Royal in just a few weeks, in a Penthouse just a few doors down from yours. This is a short "do nothing" cruise, hence us booking the suite close to the lounge. Thank you for the pics of the lounge. They are very hard to find, yes. Do you happen to remember any of the snack offerings there? Any beverages besides the coffee maker?

 

How did in room dining work out for you? Did you have to request a menu?

 

Thanks!

[Lucky TGO]

Wow I love the pictures keep them coming.

Tony

[spiceyxi]

Thank you! Will be on the Royal in just a few weeks, in a Penthouse just a few doors down from yours. This is a short "do nothing" cruise, hence us booking the suite close to the lounge. Thank you for the pics of the lounge. They are very hard to find, yes. Do you happen to remember any of the snack offerings there? Any beverages besides the coffee maker?

 

How did in room dining work out for you? Did you have to request a menu?

 

Thanks!

 

Snacks for the morning in the lounge were various pastries and some fruit. The afternoon/evening was cold cuts, small sandwiches and cookies.

 

The other beverages were lemonade, orange juice, cranberry juice and their were tea bags available.

[spiceyxi]

...

How did in room dining work out for you? Did you have to request a menu?

 

Thanks!

 

Sorry, forgot the last question. Due to my wife's allergies I ended up ordering the night before with the menu preview. One night I forgot to order something for myself so I took a photo of the menu at one of the dining rooms during the day when it is posted. Then when I called room service to have my wife's food delivered I placed my order in.

 

It does take 30 - 40min to have the MDR food to be delivered.

[spiceyxi]

Next up was a very short day in Sicily (Messina) which was also the second formal night. This day was cut by a few hours from what was originally planned due to the Naples port change. We essentially had from 8am - 1:30pm to spend in Sicily. All of this time for us was taken up from our princess excursion which headed to a winery. As you have probably noticed by now we have a bias towards winery excursions. This short time frame caused a lot of congestion getting back on-board the ship.

 

For the excursion we all boarded a motor-coach and started the drive which included many tunnels and some enjoyable scenery. The first bus stop was the part of excursions my wife detests the most; the obligatory bathroom stop at a gas station with 5 other tour buses. My wife went straight to the bathroom line and was the last on the boat and did not get to take in any view. The women were using the men's stalls to try and cut down the line. I am not sure why tour groups decide to use the same bathroom stop, but it would be great if they stopped.

 

After the logistical bathroom stop we continued the scenic drive to view a lava flow from 1992. It was a quiet little town where a stand was setup to buy some honey and an odd statue dedicated to the virgin marry. Very similar to other old lava flows and it was fun hunting for critters living in the rocks and the guide told people they could take some rocks if they wanted.

 

Eventually we arrived at the winery. It was a bigger operation than Kotor, but still a very idealistic winery and had a great small producer vibe. We got a brief tour of where the wine is actually made and stored which included the turning robots for the sparkling wine varieties. We enjoyed all of the wine here and the majority of it was based on unique local grapes. A couple of noble grape varieties did exist. I ended up buying 4 bottles at the total cost of 50 Euro. This included a reserve bottle at ~18 Euro. Very reasonable prices for wine. Also, we had no issue bringing these wines onto the ship nor any of the other wines we bought at other ports. They had the typical wine tasting snacks available here too which were very tasty.

 

After the winery we rushed back into town to get to the ship on time. We arrived back at the dock at ~1:15pm and were greeted with lines and waiting to get back on the ship. Once on board we saw the lines for the elevators and walked up a few stories and headed to the aft elevators. Also, as you would expect the buffet was packed at this point. The timing for this port was very awkward and was one of the few times you realized how many people were actually on-board.

 

I only dress up for weddings and funerals and we skipped the MDR dinner and opted for eating at Crown Grill again over our room. The food was great again and I ended up heading to the casino after to gamble a bit. Lots of people were dressed up, but I am not sure how many opted for the buffet and dressing down. I was wearing pants, pumas and a polo for most of the evening. Later I switched to shorts though to finish gambling/get some drinks for the room.

 

Now for the photos!

 

This was the scene from our balcony as we arrived into Messina. Not sure what is going on in the atmosphere in Europe, but we kept seeing lots of rays of light which made for interesting pictures.

 

This was the view of Mt. Etna from the bathroom break location.

 

This was at the lava flow stop. Can you spot the critter in the first photo? The second was a nice contrast of the black lava (which is almost lifeless) and the lush green. Very similar to many spots in Hawaii.

 

 

The winery was very picturesque in a great location. Plus, the wines were packaged very nicely for transportation and the bottles that lasted for the journey home made it back unharmed.

 

 

Tip: After eating my first plate of food and tasting the first 2 glasses of wine I ran up to the store to buy the wines early. I was able to skip some of the lines and talk to the people in the wine shop to help choose which wines I wanted to buy. We focus on buying grape varieties we can not get at home (California). We enjoyed both glasses of the first wines (sparkling & rose sparkling) that I felt comfortable taking the 50 euro bet on buying wines early.

[spiceyxi]

Sadly Elba was the last stop on the cruise, but thankfully not our last day of vacation. Elba was not a port we booked, but we are very glad we got to experience the island. As the captain was very fond of saying this was the first time a Princess has stopped at this island. Overall we really liked Elba and was the only place that could rival our love of the Almalfi Coast.

 

Due to the late arrival in Elba we were able to take part of the full breakfast at Sabitinas. It was pretty good and we enjoyed having a few mimosas in the morning. However, it wouldn't be the reason we would book a suite in the future. The late opening time kept us from going any other day except for the Sea day which wasn't relevant as we had the ultimate balcony breakfast.

 

We took part of the "Elba Country Side & Wine Tasting" excursion which was a great choice, but the cost did feel more than it should have been based on the previous wine tasting ports. We ended up visiting two cities and a winery. The winery was absolutely gorgeous and the first city was a wonderful visit. The second city was nice, but I would have preferred more time at the winery instead. This winery was a very very unique experience as it literally backed up onto the ocean. Beatufil views and really nice wine. The dessert wine was the best, but all of the wines were fairly expensive when compared to the previous wine visits. I believe everything started around the 20ish Euro point. This location did have some rooms for rent along the ocean and would definitely be worth looking at in a future extended Italian vacation.

 

On a dining note my wife ended up ordering the steak from the MDR this night and was exceptionally disappointed. Nowhere near the quality or taste of the steaks she had at the crown grill.

 

Some gorgeous views of Elba from the first town in the mountains.

Here are a couple of views from the first town:

 

 

 

The second town was had a little beach area. Very nice gelato's can be found here.

 

The best part of this day was the winery which included views of the ship.

 

 

Also, you can see the winery from the cruise ship (with some zoom).

 

My personal BHAG is to own a small villa in Almalfi, but owning a nice villa in Elba would be a great alternative.

[spiceyxi]

I will probably show my age on this one, but I enjoyed some of the art work around Elba. It would be fun to spend a day or two hunting down the various art around the island.