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LIVE Italy Land trip then 10 days on Pride, Oct 18-29 to Greece, Turkey, Sicily and more Italy with ninjacat123!

ninjacat123

By ninjacat123,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Hogladyrider

Hogladyrider

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1 hour ago, ninjacat123 said:

Ok I can’t find it. I tapped on Intrepid’s pic and everything else after that. Where is his upcoming cruises? Thx!

Go to one of his posts...at the bottom is a list of previous cruises...click on expand and viola his upcoming November cruise listing the ports shows up

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ninjacat123 "Live from...." Rare

ninjacat123

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8 hours ago, Hogladyrider said:

Go to one of his posts...at the bottom is a list of previous cruises...click on expand and viola his upcoming November cruise listing the ports shows up

Thx Hogladyrider!  You and SenatorsFan got me back on track👍

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IntrepidFromDC "Live from...." Rare

IntrepidFromDC

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Ninjacat, would you be kind enough to write a summary of your cruise, and talk about your favorite ports and why?  Having done that same cruise a little over a year ago, your comments bring memories back and might make me want to do some of the activities/restaurants/etc. that you did - that itinerary is my favorite Carnival itinerary by far so I'll be doing it again sometime.  TIA and thanks again for a great live report.

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ninjacat123 "Live from...." Rare

ninjacat123

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1 hour ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

Ninjacat, would you be kind enough to write a summary of your cruise, and talk about your favorite ports and why?  Having done that same cruise a little over a year ago, your comments bring memories back and might make me want to do some of the activities/restaurants/etc. that you did - that itinerary is my favorite Carnival itinerary by far so I'll be doing it again sometime.  TIA and thanks again for a great live report.

That’s a great idea! I will put pen to paper 😁

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ninjacat123 "Live from...." Rare

ninjacat123

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Follow up:

 

I am still amazed that I am waking up at home and not travelling on our trip!  Intrepid suggested I do an overview of our stops and what stood out the most to me and Craig, which I think is an awesome idea.  I’m going to break it down by category of cities, sites and restaurants.  Kinda like David Letterman (remember that? 😊) TOP TEN!!

 

Cities:

10. Naples.  I bet if our Amalfi excursion would have happened, I would have better feelings about Naples.  Next time I would book with some company other than Carnival, like italytours.eu.  Naples felt dirty, trashy and a rip off.  There, I said it.

9. Santorini. Yes, the views are incredible but the method in which you go through to be able to see those views is a PIA.  Especially with Sandras cruise tours.  By the way, I haven’t heard back from her.  She’s probably busy counting her money.

8. Kusadasi.  Our excursion was great, the Turkish bath was great, lunch was fine, we spent $$$ on a rug.  Do we need to go do those things again?  Probably not.  Okay, maybe the Turkish bath.

7. Katakalo. The Fun Train was fun.  Made for an easy day, which we needed.  Instead of stopping at the winery, I would go directly to the beach stop and spend more time there.  The winery people were lacking in warmth and their wine was just okay.

6.Messina. Didn’t spend anytime IN Messina but if we were to spend the night in Taormina then I would be a happy camper.  So pretty, like an Italian Disneyland without Mickey.

5. Athens. Loved the Monastiraki area! I think we would find many cafes/restaurants that would keep us in Athens for more than a day.  I bet Glykeria our driver would help us find them and more!

4. Rome. I thought I had a central location for our hotel but there was a lot of walking in that hilly city! We saw so much (and I’m sure another trip is needed to kinda cover what we missed) and the food was great!  Our Italian gmama was a lovely person to come home to!

3. Venice. So magical! So beautiful! Soooo many bridges! 😉 I could see us spending more time in Venice, seeing more sites and finding more little alleys and cafes. And Murano. And Burano.

2. Florence. Beautiful architecture, a very walkable city and views!

AND NUMBER ONE…..Civitavecchia! Just kidding. Mykonos. Our day there was full of whitewashed walls, blue doors and bougainvillea. If we were returning to Mykonos in the summer, I would want beach time.  Maybe use Mykonos as a base and ferry to other small islands.

 

Sites:

10. Katakolo. I would go for the beach, not the sites.

9. Santorini. To me the only “site” is the view. And taking pictures with churches.

8. Messina. Beautiful towns but site-wise it’s ok. I’m sure there’s more we just didn’t see Messina.

7. Mykonos. Love the ambience. And the little church at the port.

6. Naples. Pompei, Amalfi, everything else Intrepid said, I wish we could have seen more outside of this city.  I wish we could have gotten out of this city.

5. Kusadesi. Awesome sites, Terrace houses are a climb, many kitties!  Would we go back, probably not but I’m glad we got to see it.

4. Florence. We got to see David and his big hands but I’m sure we could have seen more.  Need another day.

3. Venice. Definitely more sites we missed. Loved the Grand Canal vaporetto cruise and St Mark's Square.  Must go back.

2. Athens. It’s a big city with a view of history staring back at you. The Acropolis is awesome!

1. Civi- yeah, no. Rome. Site-wise, Rome takes the cake for me. Just getting to see the Vatican Museum, St Peter's Basilica, Colosseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain was great and I could probably spend 3 more days here and barely scratch the surface.

 

Restaurants:

10. Kusadasi. Our included lunch was fine but we didn’t experience any “restaurant” action.

9. Naples.  The pizza at the “number one” spot was meh.

8. Katakolo. The grilled octopus and phyllo with feta and honey were great but I felt the beach made the place.

7. Santorini. The gyro we shared was very yummy.  Worth the trouble to get up there? No. Incredible views from The Vine in Fira and Santo Winery.

6. Messina. Our pizza in Taormina was tasty and the atmosphere was great.  The cannoli was huge. I’m sure there are plenty of cute places to nosh.

5. Athens. Loved our croque madame at Sycophant and our wine at Klepsidra Café! I felt for a big city, prices were fair and service was great!

4. Mykonos. Loved Raya right on the water!! Delicious food and wine! Great service! We spent more money than we planned but it was worth it.

3. Venice. I promise Intrepid, next time I’m in Venice I will go to Nono!  Looks so charming!  We loved sitting in St Mark’s Square at a fancy restaurant, spending too much money.  Next time we will check out less touristy corners and nibble our way through Venice!

2. Florence. The dinner at Vecchio Cancello was incredible!  The steak was so delicious and the service was great! Giving us limoncello and a bottle of wine topped it off. And then there was the rooftop bar with the lovely views! La Terrazza Rooftop at the Continentale Hotel was a showstopper.  Definitely going back there when we visit Florence again. The breakfast at our hotel Antica Dimora De’Benci was very tasty and charmingly set out.

1. Rome. Our dinner at La Fata Ignorante was awesome!  I wish I would have had room for dessert. The ambience was chic, urban and welcoming with the owner/manager Gialucca telling us stories. It made for a great evening!  L’Antica Fraschetta was homey, tasty and easy being so close to our hotel. When we go back to Rome, we will make sure to have dinner at L’altra Guancia. And many other places that we need to discover.

I just read this to Craig and he approves of this message.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  Ciao!

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erby2283

erby2283

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Thanks for taking the time to write up your synopsis.  I was still weighing the Carnival excursions versus Sandra's but if a tour company can't even respond, I doubt they really care about their customer service.  There is a guy on our sailing who is a TA and selling tours that he is putting together and I'm just shocked at the prices he is charging.  He advised about a private tour in Santorini which bypasses the cable cars but the price - $179 each - and most of his tours are like 4-6 hours.  I guess I'll just stick to my Carnival Cruise excursion - even though we may have to head back way earlier than we'd want, I'm not interested in dealing with the fiasco of Sandra's Tours - unless I read more posts between now and Sept that things have improved! I can find other private tours way more affordable than what the cruise line and this guy is offering and they have great reviews!

 

On my one previous trip to the Mediterranean, we were lucky to have an overnight in Venice.  It was great to enjoy Venice in the day and night - and to just wander with no plans. I LOVED Venice and wish we were going back this time but it's not meant to be.  

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ninjacat123 "Live from...." Rare

ninjacat123

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1 hour ago, erby2283 said:

Thanks for taking the time to write up your synopsis.  I was still weighing the Carnival excursions versus Sandra's but if a tour company can't even respond, I doubt they really care about their customer service.  There is a guy on our sailing who is a TA and selling tours that he is putting together and I'm just shocked at the prices he is charging.  He advised about a private tour in Santorini which bypasses the cable cars but the price - $179 each - and most of his tours are like 4-6 hours.  I guess I'll just stick to my Carnival Cruise excursion - even though we may have to head back way earlier than we'd want, I'm not interested in dealing with the fiasco of Sandra's Tours - unless I read more posts between now and Sept that things have improved! I can find other private tours way more affordable than what the cruise line and this guy is offering and they have great reviews!

 

On my one previous trip to the Mediterranean, we were lucky to have an overnight in Venice.  It was great to enjoy Venice in the day and night - and to just wander with no plans. I LOVED Venice and wish we were going back this time but it's not meant to be.  

So, I discussed it with Craig and this is what we would do if we were on another cruise that had Santorini as a port...Wake up at least by 5:00am and if no one is coordinating the line up with post its, we would do it.  Get on the first tender to the Old Port.  There was no line for the cable cars when we got off the first tender.  Get up to Fira via the cable cars. Wander around, get some pics, eat a gyro, buy souvenirs, have a glass of wine at a restaurant with a view (The Vine was great with a wonderful view, but you had to order lunch to sit at a table, we sat at the bar) then get back to the cable cars and head back down to the Old Port by noon.  We spoke with a woman from our cruise who did this and she said she didn't wait for the cable cars. This would be the cheapest (6 euro each way) and hopefully the least stressful. Yeah, you don't see Oia but it was so crowded there it didn't feel as special as I thought it would.  My 2 cents.  Now, if we were spending the night in Santorini we could do a lot more.  But that's another trip😉

Edited by ninjacat123
more 2 cents ;)
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