RafaellaCG

I think your best bet for finding them would be to look here and on facebook for your sailing and see if you can track them down. Maybe you can get it swapped before the sailing lf both parties are willing?

Keep in mind this is a really port intensive itinerary (if it's the Greek Isles cruise I'm thinking of) and you're off the ship a good portion of the cruise (despite budgeting for 2 drinks a day, I ended up drinking 4 drinks all cruise long- a terrible cappuccino, 2 delicious milkshakes and an amazing cocktail. All because there was simply no time to drink much).

The issue isn't so much the tender as the cable car, the lines can get very long. I'm assuming by arrive at 8 that's the expected start tendering time. The first couple tenders are usually priority, but 9:30 at port should be fine (the city center at the top can take forever to get to, though).

That's a bit tight, but doable if everything goes right.

Pretty sure Chops is only for those who have the key. I've never done it though, so grain of salt.

You can't continue if they cancel you unilaterally (happened on my August cruise).

I really liked the hop on hop off bus. We payed 10 euro pp and got fare on the bus (with wifi, earphones, explanations in multiple languages. As a bonus we got coupons for free beer at a local restaurant). First stop is the acropolis, when you're done there take the bus to the market and pick a restaurant. It takes 30-60 minutes to get from the Acropolis to port, so factor that in.

Same with Haifa and Limassol.

You really don't need an excursion- Athens is very easy to explore on your own or with a 3rd party excursion. What are you interested in doing? We were there last August.

I'm mistaken in that case. In another thread someone mentioned them being cheaper and got a chorus of "this must be an error" so I misunderstood. Thank you clarifying exactly how it works! I'll leave my original post for context.

Whoops! Sounds like I'm pretty wrong here. Leaving this so twangsters comment has context. For anyone saying it isn't air2sea's fault, of course it is. They charge a premium for their service of getting you to your cruise. You are an air2sea customer not a delta/american airline/whatever customer. If a flight is cancelled they have an obligation to get you there anyway, if at all possible (and losing money is possible, I'm talking about a storm or something that prevents anyone from flying).

That really sucks. Basic customer service in this case is to honor the price you bought at, I'm sorry.

I wouldn't bother with the ship excursions. The Athens on your own excursion cost 70$ pp, my whole family took the hop on hop off bus for less than it would cost for one person and that came with wifi (so did the excursion, iirc) commentary and a free beer each. The excursions where you actually did stuff were even more expensive.

The one exception that I haven't seen mentioned is tender ports, where you have to wait for a small boat to ferry you back. They'll announce the frequency before you leave the ship (on my cruise the tenders left every half hour).

Late dislike

They'll be strict. It's often insurance issues and they have her age on the Seapass.

That's really not OK, though, if they cancel anyone not voluntarily. I would be livid if I were canceled like that, even with FCC plus a refund.

Could you list which ports exactly? I don't have any experience with Norway, but that will help those who do know if their experience is relevant.

It's prone to change- we were supposed to tender but changed at the last minute for the new port. Edit: ship was Rhapsody.

Same happened on Rhapsody last summer. I wonder if it's a glitch or if they intentionally oversold assuming some would cancel.

If it's on your own why not just take the cable car to Fira?

I don't live in the US so I don't follow their crazy tipping culture but 18% is already way more than I normally tip so I never felt the need to leave anything extra.

Way too close. A. Docking at 5 doesn't mean the ship is cleared by then, even if there are no delays. B. Israeli security is intense, both at the port and at the airport. Sorry, you need a different flight. We are Israeli citizens, no special delays and I only made it to work in Jerusalem on disembarkation day at 11.

Yes, there was one rotating hot dish at the breakfast (I tried hash browns for the first time!). Otherwise the same every morning (only went to 2 lunches and stayed out of the windjammer, though).

They switched suppliers. The old company (Rabbi Webberman's) now supervises the fresh kosher food but it's only available on a few sailings.