Greek Odyssey w/ 7-day cruise extension: Part III

[einstein2]

The reason most of us booked the cruise on the Louis Cristal: the ports! I found this very different from other cruises in that almost 100% booked ship tours instead of private tours. Our Cosmos tour guide was concerned about what we had done (I think mostly because he had not heard of it), but I am very glad that we booked private tours and did some things on our own. Not only did we save money, but we had more time at the sites. I will mention that we are 32-year-old females, which might make a difference on some of the things we did.

Istanbul: The Cristal did get into port around 3pm on Saturday. Since we wanted to see the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market (closed Sunday), we did it on our own. We walked out of the terminal, got some Turkish Lira, and boarded the metro (which was very nice & clean). For Sunday, we booked with Ekol and saw the Blue Mosque, Aya Sophia, Topkapi Palace, Hippodrome, and Underground Cistern for $95. We had extra time, so he took us to the Aqueduct of Valens. One of the best things I saw was the Christian mosaics on the second floor of the Aya Sophia. If you booked the ship’s excursion, there was not time to go up there or take very many pictures. And, the ship’s tour was forced to go to a carpet sales pitch for over an hour – this was very upsetting to many people.

Mykonos: We paid the 7E for the bus ride into town. We wandered through the area, we took pictures of Little Venice & the windmills, and we boarded a local bus (around 2E) to Paradise Beach. We got beach chairs under the palapa, which was around 6E.

Patmos: We got up early and hiked up to the monastery. There is a cobblestone path. It’s hard to give directions, but you will just find it. On our way up, we saw all the tour buses stopping and figured that was where the cave was, so we went there on our way down. The museum at St. John’s Monastery was around 6E, and it is filled with some wonderful donations - several from Catherine the Great. I would say the hike took between 30-45 minutes. It’s not hard to do if you’re in pretty good shape.

Kusadasi: We booked the House of Virgin Mary, Ephesus with the Terrace Houses, and the Temple of Artemis for $75 with Ekol. I know there is not much left at the Temple of Artemis, but I really wanted to go there. The Terrace Houses were worth the extra money. We got some great pictures of the surviving mosaics and paintings on the walls. Ephesus was spectacular – the NYC of its day.

Rhodes: Once again, we did this on our own. We wandered around the Old City and toured the Palace of the Grand Masters (I think 6E) – too crowded but some great mosaics. We wanted to experience the Turkish Baths, so we went to the Yeni Hammam. It was 5E to enter and 10E for a massage – it was worth it! Then, we headed to Mandraki Harbor to see where the Colossus of Rhodes once stood – no one is sure exactly where it was. And, we ended our day relaxing at Ellis Beach for a couple of hours. It was 4E for a chair.

Crete: This was our first ship excursion – we went to Knossos. It was a long drive from our port, Agios Nicolaos, and it was very crowded.

Santorini: This was the other ship excursion we took. If you want to see Oia, you have to take the ship’s excursion. We got there early, but only about 30 minutes. You have to tender and take a bus. You only have an hour. It was short, but it was enough time to get the famous white building with blue roof pictures and have a glass of local wine. Then, the nightmare begins – the cable car line. It is overwhelming how many people are in this line. If I had it to do over again, I would have walked down the donkey path.

I saved all the Cristal ship excursion prices, so if anyone is interested in how much they cost, let me know, and I will post those.

[jody]

Einstein,

How long was your stay in Patmos? I'll be taking a 4 day Louis Cruise on the Aquamarine in July and would like to see the monastery and grotto and am not sure if I have time to do if walking or if I should take a taxi or break down and do the ship tour (which I can get for $53).

 

For Santorini (we are scheduled for 4:30 - 9:00), do you think it would be possible to take the bus to Oia or due to the tight time schedule is the ship tour the safest thing to do? I'd like to avoid the ship tours but we only have a few hours in some of the ports.

 

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

[einstein2]

We were only in Patmos from 7am-10:30am. It sounds short, but with the hike taking from around an hour and a half (both directions), we had plenty of time at the Monastery and the Cave. I was worried about the time as well, but we were fine. It helped that we got off the ship as early as we could and went to the Monastery first - avoided the crowd. If you're going in July, you might want to consider the heat as well. There were plenty of taxis willing to pick us up.

 

We only had four hours in Santorini - way too short! You only have a little more time, but I don't think you would have enough to take the local bus on your own, especially since we tendered in at this port, and those who took the ship tours were first off the ship. We wanted to avoid the ship tours as well. You are paying so much money for "a bus ride to Oia," but it is beautiful, and it was worth it for us.

[jody]

Thanks for your insight. It looks like I'll book the Santorini excursion and plan to hike in Patmos. I don't mind the heat and I could use the exercise anyway! :)

 

Did you think the shore excursion on Crete was worth it? I'd like to see Knossos and can't find a good alternative to the ships tour and am not sure I want to brave a taxi alone.

[einstein2]

We docked in Agios Nicolaos instead of Heraklion, and it was a very long bus ride to Knossos. In fact, I'm not sure it would be worth it to take a taxi. If you want to see Knossos, I recommend taking the ship's tour. Our tour was late getting back to the ship, but the ship waited for us because we were on a ship tour.

 

But, if you dock in Heraklion, you'd be a lot closer. Someone who docked at that port would have to fill you in on whether it was worth it to take a taxi.

[jody]

Thanks Einstein2,

I booked the cruise line's excursion in Crete, just to be safe. I appreciate your insight.

[Livestotravel]

Thanks einstein2, lot's of good info. I see your title is Part III - is there a I and II hiding out on the boards somewhere? How did you like the Cristal?

 

Jody, how do you book ahead on a Louis Cruise?

[einstein2]

Part I is on the sister site: tripadvisor - it is the land portion of our tour. I posted Part II, mainly my experiences on the Cristal, in the "Other Cruise Lines" area on a thread already started about the Cristal.

[jody]

Livestotravel,

My Louis Cruise trip is part of package deal booked through a tour company TA for a group of traveling adults. They are allowing us to 'pre-book' some shore excursions (a few at a discounted cost and others at a pre-determined and pre-paid Euro rate converted to US$.

 

I'm not used to traveling with a cruise company that you can't deal with directly, so I'm hoping it all works out as planned. I'd like to do more excursions on my own, but with the short times in port, I'm having to defer to some ship tours to be safe.

jody