Any one from Sydney on this Tour?

Welcome to the board.
It is sometimes very hard to find other people doing the same tour as many people dont investigate this site before they go on tour.
There are many tour tales about this particular trip and a recent one on the BB that you can read through to get a feel for the tour.

Tour Tale by Dave from April/May 09

John/Sue report 08

Budd's tale

These tour tales have other travellers from the board asking specific questions as well so you might find questions about the tour that you would like answered already answered!
There are lots of other travel suggestions that you can look through. Also type into the 'find' tab topics to see what posts may have covered areas of interest.

Lismore has gone on this tour recently and then the Italian Escapade so she will have information when she returns around the beginning of July to share as well!
So looks like a lot to investigate.
Regards
Eve
ps I have read through these tales and it seems a lovely trip. I am sure you will have a terrific time.

Just back from os. Did Grecian Dreams.....amazing; and also Italian Escapade.....also amazing. Let me know what you want to know.
Don't have photos organised yet, hopefully soon though.

Hi Lismore, so glad you enjoyed the Grecean Dremas, we are doing Med. Dreams end September. Was your boat the Acquamarine and are there any hints you can give us, we have ben told we will be on the Promenade Deck as we took option for outside lux. cabins. Is there a drinks card for on board still? What optionals would you recommend on the various islands? Thanks for any tips you can give us.

Hi,
We found the Aquamarine comfortable, but not as luxurious as previous cruises we have taken out of Australian waters. Your cabin might be better than ours as we were on the Promenade deck, outside cabin, but still was ok though. The bathrooms are always small on cruise ships. Everyone has a cruise card that you register with your credit card. You use the cruise card to buy anything on board & at the end of the cruise it is conveniently charged to your credit card.
As for optional tours on the islands, listen to your Insight tour director's recommenations. Our tour director on board was Lisa and she was really helpful the whole time.
On Mykonos Lisa walked with us to the little village so we didn't have to pay for any optional there.
Kusadasi we went to Ancient Ephesus, something not to be missed, it was spectacular! Archeologists are still working on this site uncovering more ruins. Also make sure you do some shopping at the local bazaar for "genuine fakes".
Patmos we went to the Sacred Grotto where St John is said to have written the book of revelations.
Rhodes we went on shuttle buses to the acropolis, which we decided not to climb but instead wandered through the narrow laneways & did some shopping.
Crete we visited a wine distillery & did some wine tasting. Good shopping there which also included cosmetics made from olive oil.
Santorini we went on a bus to do sightseeing of the countryside then walked through the narrow cliftop streets, took more photos, then down to the ship by cablecar.
This cruise is very busy if you want to do optionals on every island.
Now we have been I would really like to actually spend time on the islands & not be so rushed.
I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as we did.

Lismore, I was interested in reading your comments on your Grecian Dreams Tour. We are considering one of the combination Greece/Greek Island tours for early next summer (early to mid-June) but have some concerns about hot it might be. Did you find the heat to be an issue?

It was very hot when we were touring on the land in Greece, but I think I heard that there was actually a heatwave happening. We made sure we always had water with us so it didn't really affect us. We did get a bit of a suntan, so if you have fair skin I'd suggest sunscreen to be worn at all times.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lismore,

John & Barbara, glad you are using this forum. I met a friend 3mths before travelling and when we met in Athens it was like we had known each other all our lives. Hope you are lucky too.

I still Grecian dreams - my tour was Classic with Cruise but the time in Athens and Delphi and Cape Sounion, Plaka and the Greek Is. of Mykonos and Rhodes with Lindos and incredible Patmos and beautiful Ephesis, well I was in heaven. We were there in May this year and there was a heatwave that followed us all through Europe. 33 plus the morning 8am we climbed the Acropolis. I would do it all again at the drop of a hat. mmmmmm.

If there is any info you would like regarding what we did, let me know. We are almost neighbours I am in Illawong. Small world hey.
DebraJ

Thanks Lismore for your reply, sorry I hadn't replied earlier. Only 3 weeks and we're off on Med Dreams, can't wait! Good to read your info, yes I think we might not take all the optionals, maybe not Rhodes, Crete, Patmos as we want to chill out a bit before the hectic pace of Romantic European. Will post tour tales when return.

Aussie Annie, I would love to read a tour tale on Med Dreams, so I hope you will have time to post one! We're waiting for October for more info to come out on the Mediterranean/Greek Isle cruises to make up our minds as to which one we'll take. Depending on price and what's offered we plan to do Mediterranean Dreams or one of the slightly longer combination land/cruise tours.

It looks like they are planning to offer the Mediterranean Odyssey in 2010 (cancelled it in 2009) which goes to Cairo and Jerusalem - that one sounds cool, but you don't see as much of the Greek Islands. It's so hard to choose a trip - if only money and time were unlimited!

There aren't too many tour tales on these