Hello is anyone ready for a chat. i am still getting over the travel home. had a wonderful trip on the CRISTAL

Hello Paulettes, we are doing Med Dreams 24th Sept, interested in your experience. We do not know what ship we are travelling on maybe Perla or Orient Queen. Did you stay at the Metropolitan Hotel?

[yes we stayed at the Met. very nice 5k from athens but great free shuttle to and from. we arrived on sat. so we had an extra day/ the staff was espcially attentive. when you arrive and are hungry go to BARBA LASSOROS (they have a fixed price menu ask for that. all you can eat and drink for 22 E per person. which is a steal esp. if you have a drink or two it is 3 blocks from hotel very safe --ARSENIS RESTAURANT was ok not much fun. we were on the CRISTAL (the fasted ship in the fleet) which you will be glad because you will arrive 1st. i think that should be your trip. small room, we paid extra for a large window. which i am glad. of course you are not in your room that much so i didnt mind the coziness as some did.the entertainment was amaturish at best but soemthign to do after dinner. our insight cruise director was wonderful ANNE or DEMITRICE will direct you correctly and save you money. when you go to TURKEY try to skip out of the carpet tour which if you are quick you can duck into a side shop. unless you are interested in a turkish rug. starting at $2000.USA be forewarned that the TURKS in the shops are very pushy. we just kept walking away. anne will tell you the best shops to go to and trust. we did all the excursions suggested be ready to move because we were the 1st to arrive at location and headed back as everyone was coming towards us. what a mad house at times. in athens on sunday the changing of the guards is more formal at 11am with military band which was no big deal to me. you can see the same 15mins before the hour with out the band and it is just fine. you cant see over the people heads anyway. we did the arch museum on our own on sun. you will do the acropolis on friday return from the ship. if you have time yu could do the arch. museum that day also. you will get a strip of tickets for 4 entries through Insight for other venues if you have the time to visit afterwards. we did the farewell dinner at the PLAKA (we made some really nice friends so we wanted to exchange email etc with them. sat we went to DELPHI. i wished we would have done the trip around teh islands maybe next time. dont bother getting off the ship in CRETE unless you just want to go someplace specific. same stuff as everywhere. SANTORINI-if you need the toilet there is one inside the little city that is free and clean. i am telling you this because there is one outside the area that is 80cents and is a hole in the floor and not very clean i heard some ladies talking about it and they were disgusted. we took the cable car down. not interested in riding a donkey. also in some areas there are a lot of steps you will be able to rest along the way so do not miss out on the scenery in RHODES/LINDOS. santorini was where the ship sank you will be able to see the ropes where it sank. we had no problems. jsut be careful crossing the streets. fast drivers who do not pay attention to the laws. my friend from AUS was not used to the right side drivers and almost stepped out a few times. the weather was low 80F high 70F low humidity never needed a jacket even at night. of course we packed too much. the ship calls for 1 night dressup ANNE told the men to wear their least wrinkled shirt.after all who wants to tote a suit 1/2 way aroudn the world for 1 night. i wore a black knit dress with an over blouse and my husband wore his runnign shoes as he didnt pack dress shoes for 1 night. you will see some dress up but i bet they wished they had not packed them either. i will ck back periodically to this site if you have specific ?? i will try to answer them. you will meet the nicest people and you will have a wonderful time. BONVOYAGE P

Paulettes, when where you on the Cristal? We probably just missed you with our Grecian Delights tour--boarded the ship Mon, 9/17, and disembarked last Friday, 9/21.

Dennis