Italy/Greek Islands cruise

[dahliaclone]

Going on an Italy/Greek Island cruise in early September and while the cruise offers a bunch of excursions for each stop, we kind of want to look at options to do on our own.

Our stops are: Rome > Santorini > Rhodes > Mykonos > Naples

Curious who has been to any of these places and any suggestions on 'must do' while there? Any thoughts much appreciated!

NOTE: All of the stops are around 10 hours total each day

 

[NWICY]

Well no help from me but have fun! Didn't @Angie do a Italy trip a few years ago.

 

[dahliaclone]

Well no help from me but have fun! Didn't @Angie do a Italy trip a few years ago.

She did and she gave great info for our few days we are going to be in Italy before the cruise departs.

 

[cyfanbr]

I’m currently in a Mediterranean cruise, which wraps up tomorrow. Our route was Athens > Santorini > Kotor (Monte Negro) > Messina (Italy) > Naples > Barcelona.

This was my first cruise ever and my general recommendations are to book tours at each stop, and arrive a few days early to enjoin your starting destination. We spent 2.5 days in Athens. Regarding the excursions you get a lot more information with a tour guide, and don’t have to stress out about how to get places and back to the ship in time etc. We did it both ways and the stops where we booked excursions were much more enjoyable. Now to specifics.

Santorini: A bit overrated for me, but was still fun. Going from tip to tip on the island is probably a 30-40 min ride. We had an excursion booked this day. First a bus took us to the south tip of the island where we visited Akrotiri, which is an archeological site. I highly recommend a stop there if you enjoy history. After that the bud took us all the way north to Oia, which is the famous place with the blue domes that you probably see everywhere. Bud dropped us off and we had 3 hrs to walk around. We got lunch first, which was a good thing since it took 1.5 hrs to eat. We picked a restaurant on a parallel road to the main road. Food was amazing, but they were a bit understaffed. Also, drank a local beer called yellow donkey, which was a good light beer and refreshing given the hot weather. After eating we cruised around the shops, and then took our pictures by the famous blue domes. After that the bud drove us back to the center part of the island and dropped us off. The middle island is the larger portion and more city like. Here we could explore it on our own or get back to the boat. At this point we were kind of tired, so went to a roof top bar and enjoyed some wine before taking the cable car back down to the water shuttles to the ship.

Naples: Highly recommend going an a guided tour of Pompeii. This is what we had planned and what I was looking the most forward to during our cruise. My wife is currently on her first trimester of our first pregnancy, and unfortunately we had a bit of a scare as we were porting in Naples. Ended up spending all day in a local clinic for a ultrasound and some check-up. Thankfully baby and wife are fine, but as you can guess we were not able to make it to our excursion.


Ultimately have fun and relax! Almost forgot, but on port days try to wake up early to see the ship porting. Usually stunning views during sun rise!

 

[Mr.G.Spot]

All of the locations are fabulous.

Naples - spend the time going to Pompeii. I have been there twice and fascinating tour.

Santorini - I wouldn't spend time on a special tour. Go be a tourist there and enjoy the crowds and the special architecture of that island. As stated above, spend time in Oia.

Rome and other stops - do the recommended tours.

 

[2122]

Santorini is stunning. Enjoy a dinner at a restaurant with a view of the sun setting across the chasm of the volcano. Wander the village, hear the church bells, try to soak up what it must have been like to live there before the tourists found the place.

 

[jsb]

I think with only 10 hours, I’d book their tours if you really want to see something.

If you just want to wander around, then don’t do that.

 

[dahliaclone]

Question for anyone that has been on a cruise. We are going with a huge group for a friend's birthday. I logged into the cruise website tonight and saw they are offering new passengers 60% off the second person (obviously traveling in two).

What's to stop us from canceling the cruise and getting a full refund (our contract states we have until 30 days prior to cancel) and just re-booking? Or if we emailed the group travel agent and asked to be comped the difference and we'd put that $ towards excursions or ship upgrades would they go for that? Or are we stuck.

Just curious thanks

 

[DSMCy]

I’m following this thread!

10 year anniversary is in a couple years and we were just discussing a European cruise.

Are you all going through a travel agent or did you book yourself? Recommendations?

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

Question for anyone that has been on a cruise. We are going with a huge group for a friend's birthday. I logged into the cruise website tonight and saw they are offering new passengers 60% off the second person (obviously traveling in two).

What's to stop us from canceling the cruise and getting a full refund (our contract states we have until 30 days prior to cancel) and just re-booking? Or if we emailed the group travel agent and asked to be comped the difference and we'd put that $ towards excursions or ship upgrades would they go for that? Or are we stuck.

Just curious thanks

Call the CruiseLine and see if you can get the matching deal, or have your travel agent look into it. Most of the time they will either match the deal, or give you credit to use on the ship or excursions.

 

[cyclone13]

With 10 hours, do excursions.
Santorini you can do it yourself but IIRC cruises disembark in Fira.l so if you go to Oia by yourself, make sure you have plenty of time to get back to Fira. Bus is limited and taxi is expensive.

 

[dahliaclone]

Call the CruiseLine and see if you can get the matching deal, or have your travel agent look into it. Most of the time they will either match the deal, or give you credit to use on the ship or excursions.

Thanks!

 

[Frak]

Personally, I wouldn’t do a cruise at all. It’s just so hard to escape the crowd and being a tourist. I just want to go experience the culture and not fall in to the same old tourist traps a million cruise passengers have before.

 

[BCClone]

Remember, when in Greek, do as the Greek would. Same for Rome

 

[NWICY]

Question for anyone that has been on a cruise. We are going with a huge group for a friend's birthday. I logged into the cruise website tonight and saw they are offering new passengers 60% off the second person (obviously traveling in two).

What's to stop us from canceling the cruise and getting a full refund (our contract states we have until 30 days prior to cancel) and just re-booking? Or if we emailed the group travel agent and asked to be comped the difference and we'd put that $ towards excursions or ship upgrades would they go for that? Or are we stuck.

Just curious thanks

I would check with your travel agent, I believe they will get you the best deal in hope that you will do future business with them. I would imagine you could get some sweet upgrades. Hopefully roomier rooms, I've heard some of them are smaller (full disclosure never have cruised)

 

[cyfanbr]

I’m following this thread!

10 year anniversary is in a couple years and we were just discussing a European cruise.

Are you all going through a travel agent or did you book yourself? Recommendations?

We booked it ourselves. It was my first cruise, so don’t have much input on using an agent or not. Booking it ourselves felt pretty easy though.

 

[cyfanbr]

Going on an Italy/Greek Island cruise in early September and while the cruise offers a bunch of excursions for each stop, we kind of want to look at options to do on our own.

Our stops are: Rome > Santorini > Rhodes > Mykonos > Naples

Curious who has been to any of these places and any suggestions on 'must do' while there? Any thoughts much appreciated!

NOTE: All of the stops are around 10 hours total each day

I’m following this thread!

10 year anniversary is in a couple years and we were just discussing a European cruise.

Are you all going through a travel agent or did you book yourself? Recommendations?

One more thing I thought of this morning. Flights were a lot cheaper if booked with the cruise company versus independently by us. Do your own research of course, but for our cruise it was a big price difference. For our flight there we ended up choosing one with a 12-h layover in Paris, which allowed to us to go out and see most of the city highlights.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

Personally, I wouldn’t do a cruise at all. It’s just so hard to escape the crowd and being a tourist. I just want to go experience the culture and not fall in to the same old tourist traps a million cruise passengers have before.

To each his own, but a cruise is an easy way for a person unfamiliar with region or area to get a great idea what the area is like and see something different every day. They could easily fly in a couple of days early or stay a couple of day late to see Rome and the area.

By booking through the cruise line, they will hold the boat for you if your flight is delayed, most cruise lines also have a service to pick you up at the airport and then take you back after the cruise. They charge for the service, but once you check in, they again, hold the boat.

A good rule of thumb to follow while cruising is always be back on ship an hour before you sail, unless you are on one of their excursions. Keep your watch on ship time, if you are changing time zones while sailing, because the ship will sail without you if the local time is later than ship time.

 

[cyfanbr]

To each his own, but a cruise is an easy way for a person unfamiliar with region or area to get a great idea what the area is like and see something different every day. They could easily fly in a couple of days early or stay a couple of day late to see Rome and the area.

By booking through the cruise line, they will hold the boat for you if your flight is delayed, most cruise lines also have a service to pick you up at the airport and then take you back after the cruise. They charge for the service, but once you check in, they again, hold the boat.

A good rule of thumb to follow while cruising is always be back on ship an hour before you sail, unless you are on one of their excursions. Keep your watch on ship time, if you are changing time zones while sailing, because the ship will sail without you if the local time is later than ship time.

Agreed with all of your statements. Cruising is just a different type of travel and I like both. Cruise to see a lot in short period of time. Travel to a specific place and spend 3-5 days to immerse yourself in a area/culture. In my opinion the second one is really good if you know someone local as well.

 

[dahliaclone]

FYI the cruise was great overall. But pretty disappointed overall with Greece. Santorini was sooooo gross and dirty. Never will go back there. Rhodes was amazing and by far the best stop of the Greek islands. Mykonos was meh. Both santorini and Mykonos were such tourist traps. Bummed.

However. We first went to Cinque Terre in northern Italy ahead of the cruise. Our new favorite spot we’ve ever visited. We will be going back quite often. Just amazing and stunning and not overrun with people.