Live info from the Breakaway (Rome round trip - Greece and Italy)

[gatorchinsky]

5 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Are you on the Roll Call? We're on this same cruise, too. 🙂

I’ve posted on the roll call but we usually never make it to any meet and greets or things like that for some reason or another. I am very excited for this cruise!

[KeithJenner]

8 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Thanks for this review, @KeithJenner! I really appreciate it, particularly seeing the Freestyle Daily. Very interested to hear about the experience with the tenders in Santorini and Mykonos. I also note that the sale of duty free items is curtailed while in and around Greece. Do they mean alcohol bought in the duty free shops or served at bars, too? (I see that those who've pre-purchased beverage packages aren't affected, so that's a relief.) Thanks again for this and have a lovely time!

We took the Oia excursion in Santorini (on the bus back to Thira now). With so many ships in port there was always going to be a long queue for the cable cars, and it looked like the queue was indeed very long as we went past the old port. It is the cable car that is the issue here rather than the tenders.

 

They use local boats for tendering rather than lifeboats so they are more comfortable.

 

They seemed to be getting through the tender groups fairly quickly.

 

As for the bar service etc, there were no restrictions that I saw in Rome, including for people without the packages. I will check for restrictions here later. We don’t sail away until 10pm so it’s the one that would potentially be a problem if anyone can’t get a drink onboard.

[DCGuy64]

11 minutes ago, gatorchinsky said:

I’ve posted on the roll call but we usually never make it to any meet and greets or things like that for some reason or another. I am very excited for this cruise!

No worries, just thought I'd ask. Hope to see you on board!

[DCGuy64]

Just now, KeithJenner said:

We took the Oia excursion in Santorini (on the bus back to Thira now). With so many ships in port there was always going to be a long queue for the cable cars, and it looked like the queue was indeed very long as we went past the old port. It is the cable car that is the issue here rather than the tenders.

Thanks for this! It's so nice to get a "man on the street" perspective with these things. Yes, the cable car issue was actually what I am worried about. A good friend of mine did this cruise about a month ago and it was disastrous: 1 1/2 hour queue for the cable cars so he and his companions took the slow and stinky donkey way up the hill. We're trying to avoid that. Did taking the Oia excursion spare you the agony of that? I've read online that some excursions avoid that particular ascent and pick passengers up elsewhere. Thank you so much!

 

3 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

As for the bar service etc, there were no restrictions that I saw in Rome, including for people without the packages. I will check for restrictions here later. We don’t sail away until 10pm so it’s the one that would potentially be a problem if anyone can’t get a drink onboard.

Good to know, I was thinking of Greece, actually, but I'm glad to know Rome was OK. Enjoy your afternoon/evening!

[KeithJenner]

35 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Thanks for this! It's so nice to get a "man on the street" perspective with these things. Yes, the cable car issue was actually what I am worried about. A good friend of mine did this cruise about a month ago and it was disastrous: 1 1/2 hour queue for the cable cars so he and his companions took the slow and stinky donkey way up the hill. We're trying to avoid that. Did taking the Oia excursion spare you the agony of that? I've read online that some excursions avoid that particular ascent and pick passengers up elsewhere. Thank you so much!

 

Taking an NCL excursion avoids the cable car at the start as they tender you to the other port where the buses are. That is the reason why we took the excursion to be honest.

 

Coming back they leave you in Thira with a cable car ticket. Because of the cable car situation we aren’t hanging around and have gone straight to the queue. I was expecting the worst, after hearing stories of 2 hour queues but it doesn’t look too bad. 10 minutes now and we are at the entrance to the building. I’ll report back on how long it takes later.

Edited September 5, 2023 by KeithJenner

[KeithJenner]

32 minutes from joining the queue to reaching the bottom. Not too bad at all.

[schmoopie17]

1 hour ago, DCGuy64 said:

Yes, the cable car issue was actually what I am worried about. A good friend of mine did this cruise about a month ago and it was disastrous: 1 1/2 hour queue for the cable cars so he and his companions took the slow and stinky donkey way up the hill. We're trying to avoid that.

Same with us. We actually had a Greek cruise scheduled for next September but after hearing about the fiasco in Santorini with the cable car and donkey path, we ended up canceling. (There were other issues, as well, but that was one factor). We may still end up rescheduling again at some point.

[DCGuy64]

43 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

Taking an NCL excursion avoids the cable car at the start as they tender you to the other port where the buses are. That is the reason why we took the excursion to be honest.

Thanks, I really appreciate this on-the-ground reporting. I'm leaning towards doing an NCL excursion now because of this. I'd always wanted to visit Santorini, and we considered it as part of our honeymoon cruise. The pictures I've seen in the past are just stunning. I hope you had a nice visit, and I'm grateful to you for taking time out of your holiday to keep us all informed.

[gatorchinsky]

1 hour ago, KeithJenner said:

Taking an NCL excursion avoids the cable car at the start as they tender you to the other port where the buses are. That is the reason why we took the excursion to be honest.

 

Coming back they leave you in Thira with a cable car ticket. Because of the cable car situation we aren’t hanging around and have gone straight to the queue. I was expecting the worst, after hearing stories of 2 hour queues but it doesn’t look too bad. 10 minutes now and we are at the entrance to the building. I’ll report back on how long it takes later.

This is exactly why we booked an NCL excursion for this port. Only have to deal with the cable car going back to the ship. 
 

How has the weather been?

[gatorchinsky]

2 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

No worries, just thought I'd ask. Hope to see you on board!

I’ve seen a lot of your posts so it would be nice if we bump into each other😀

[DCGuy64]

2 minutes ago, gatorchinsky said:

I’ve seen a lot of your posts so it would be nice if we bump into each other😀

Yes, it would-I hope we get a chance to meet. Funny, as I look at your name, I see the Gator connection (since Florida). Or maybe it's just your initials are G. A. and last name Torchinsky. My wife had a college friend with that name, but I digress. LOL😊 Apologies to @KeithJenner for taking things slightly astray.... 😉

[KeithJenner]

15 minutes ago, gatorchinsky said:

This is exactly why we booked an NCL excursion for this port. Only have to deal with the cable car going back to the ship. 
 

How has the weather been?

Weather has been mixed. Quite cloudy today and not too hot. We are forecast rain tomorrow in Athens.

[KeithJenner]

View from the bar is very nice tonight.

[KeithJenner]

Just spoke to some people who came back onboard later than us. Sounds like the queue was very long. The two separate groups that I spoke to both walked down rather than queue.

[KeithJenner]

The last tender arrived at the ship at about 9.20. They have just put a call out for about a dozen people who I assume are not onboard yet.

[KeithJenner]

There are thunderstorms all around us as we sail away. Lightning all over the place.

[KeithJenner]

Another cable car report.

 

Apparently it was about a 90 minute wait this morning for the cable car. I’ve had that time quoted to me by two separate people.

 

I haven’t yet met anyone who took the cable car back. Best estimate of the wait time in the evening is 2 hours. Apparently the queue got up to about half a mile. Everyone I have spoken to walked down the path.

 

My advice. Check what ships are in port. It was nothing like this bad last year when we were here on the Jade. There was one other ship in port and I didn’t hear of any problems.

 

Next advice. Take a Tour if there are ships in port, especially if you had free at sea and even more so if you have free at sea plus. Our tours cost about $25 each (free at sea plus). Take into account the cable car cost and they were only a few dollars, a tour gets you ashore quick.

 

The next advice is more of a

compromise. Get back onboard early. I know the sunset is a real attraction, but honestly the ship is a great place to be when everyone else is queueing or dodging donkeys. I love the views of Santorini from the ship. I have just sat at Shakers on the waterfront for a few hours watching people walk through the door and see that view. I’ve enjoyed the view all

evening.

 

if the sunset from Santorini is important to you then view it from near the cable car and be prepared to queue or dodge the donkeys.

 

I don’t know if anyone missed the ship. We sailed away on time and if anyone did get left behind then I’m quite sure they weren’t near the cable car (ie they messed up).

[KeithJenner]

There were no exclusions on bar service yesterday as far as I could tell. No signs on any bars that we saw and there were sales made (upcharges on drinks over $15 and people without the beverage package.

[KeithJenner]

Day 4 dailies. We are in Athens today and the weather is terrible. There are severe thunderstorm and rain warnings today.

 

We are staying on the ship, as we have been to Athens a few times and had a weekend there last year. We were planning on getting off the ship and wandering around Piraeus, but the weather has put us off.

 

The forecast is better for the remainder of the cruise.

[KeithJenner]

One thing I forgot to mention from Santorini. They had a brunch buffet at Cagneys/Moderno.

 

We were a bit late getting up on Tuesday after a late night at Howl and losing an hour as we got to Greece, so brunch was ideal. It was fairly quiet and a much nicer place to eat than the buffet. I’d recommend it if they offer it.

[KeithJenner]

Todays freestyle daily confirms that we are tendering tomorrow.

 

We aren’t going to be in a rush to get off as we arrive at 7am, but I just reserved tickets and are in group 26. In theory we shouldn’t need a group anyway due to latitudes but I’d imagine they will probably be near enough at our group by the time we want to go ashore anyway.

[Pghcrews]

One question on tge Santorini Oia excursion.  Were you on the one that stops at a vineyard for a wine tasting?  If so which vineyard did you visit?

[KeithJenner]

5 minutes ago, Pghcrews said:

One question on tge Santorini Oia excursion.  Were you on the one that stops at a vineyard for a wine tasting?  If so which vineyard did you visit?

No, we just did the Oia one. I think the vineyard one is basically the same tour with that visit added.

 

Sorry, I don’t know which vineyard they go to.

[Pghcrews]

Wow, thanks so mych for the quick response.  Hoping the rest of your cruise has great weather.  And thanks so much for these posts, so helpful.

[DCGuy64]

2 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

One thing I forgot to mention from Santorini. They had a brunch buffet at Cagneys/Moderno.

 

We were a bit late getting up on Tuesday after a late night at Howl and losing an hour as we got to Greece, so brunch was ideal. It was fairly quiet and a much nicer place to eat than the buffet. I’d recommend it if they offer it.

You are a wealth of information, I can't thank you enough for being our eyes and ears. And yes, since we're on the same cruise in November, my wife and I have selfish reasons. 🙂 We do not have Latitudes status yet (we are lowly Bronze members so far), so I was curious whether the brunch buffet you mentioned was free for everyone, or was it just for Haven guests or maybe higher Latitudes passengers? Looking at our reservation, it seems the Oia excursion is no longer available-probably sold out. We may try for an independent tour company. You offer great advice as far as making sure to have a tour booked in order to avoid the crowds. I am sorry the weather isn't good in Athens. We have a walking/food tour booked so our fingers are crossed for that. Thanks again, @KeithJenner, especially for the Freestyle Dailies.