Next stop Athens. To refresh you a bit the boss :D said this yr. WE ARE NOT WALKING! Last yr. we walked. And walked and walked, all over Istanbul, the holyland, Ephesus, and so on so this yr. we(she :S-) decided we would take it easy. Allrighty then. :-)

We took a cab from the port to the plaka, just like last yr, and decided to stroll and shop. Percy you asked about the economy so a reflection of that actually began with the taxi driver. He really was pushing to have us buy a tour. Despite numerous times being told we just wanted to relax he was a bit insistent so finally I said we are meeting friends in the plaka so he would just leave us alone. Of note the weather this yr. was much warmer. Last yr. we were in Athens at practically the same time but it was very chilly then. In the plaka I stopped to buy a hoodie just because it was so chilly. We stopped in the same store this yr. too BTW and bought a few more things. Of note is how the shopkeepers seemed to be and that was grim. There seemd to be a quiet sense of impending doom. No smiles, no laughs, just serious faces.

We stopped for lunch and noticed more of the same from the restaurant staff. Just a resolute going about their business but no joy at all. Its very sad.

We decided to head back to the ship and this time the cab stand manager was charging about 5 euros over what we paid to go to the plaka so when I mentioned this he sort of said to the effect of its a good tip for the driver. I could have gone elsewhere but decided that it wasn't worth it and off we went back to the ship. Actually until this economic crisis is settled in Athens I've had enough of it though it seems people in the Greek islands are more upbeat.

Interestingly I also noted that the euro exchange rate in Greece was substantially less than what we got on Italy and what we got later on in Madrid. I always thought that the exchange should be the same. After all its the same currency. However in Italy and Spain I was getting about 140.00-145.00 euros for 200 USD. In Greece that same $200.00 would return well less. Once as low as 128.00 euros was offered. I refused it as I did not need it right then anyway.

Recently I heard that Greece had to administer sharp cuts in order to get another bail out and that included cuts in the pensions and reductions in salaries. I heard that MD's had to take cuts of 300.00-400.00 euros per month.

One of the nice things about having satellite radio is listening to the BBC. I luv their no nonsense, to the heart of the matter approach. Recently I heard an interview with two average retirees in Greece to see just how the austerity measures are affecting them. It was noted that one person could not afford electricity, had barely enough to feed himself and during the interview one could hear the sound of creatures (rats?) scurrying in the walls. The other said his pension was just around 400.00 euros per month, 300.00 of which went for rent. Its a very grim situation for many, some far worse than others it seems.

So now its on to Mykonos. Lovely Mykonos. Though we were supposed to tender in it seems that from the outset of the cruise they knew they were going to dock. I went to to Purser desk to inquite about tender tickets and was told we would be docking. It seems there is only one dock available and somehow the capt. managed to reserve it for us. Nice.

I had read that once you dock there all you do is simply walk into the town so given that assumption we walked off the ship and found basically nothing. I did see a few places open to rent a scooter or car so I got the idea that this was not going to be a short walk. We decided to follow some other folks and finally asked them if this was the way to town and of course they did not know either. Hmmm. Then we got to a fork in the road so now what to do. Well I saw a cleaners so I asked the ladies in there where the town was. I must say these two were easy to look at, lets put it that way. :D.

So we decided to follow their advice and walk the way they told us. Then we found some other folks who were coming back so we asked them where the town was and fortunately it was just ahead of us. All in all the town was at least a mile from the dock.

Well it was worth the walk. Mykonos is just as you see it pictures, narrow, shaded and gently winding roads with bluish hues, flowers, very clean and neat. We decided to stop at a seside cafe to some coffee and pastry. My wife had perhaps the best glass of OJ ever. We had a nice talk with the waiter who had lived in Chicago of all places but moved back to Greece some yrs. ago. Though I did not bring it up the topic of the economy arose. I suppose if your future is so in doubt and full of uncertainty one can't help but talk about it if that helps to ease the anxiety. I thought he was putting up a brave face but you could tell there was at least a fair amount or an undercurrent of worry.

We strolled along some more and ducked into several shops and got a few souvenirs. I was a bit surprised that the shopkeeper cut such a steep discount on our purchases. Well it was towards the end of the season so thats at least part of it. The other part I think has to do with the need to make a sale. We also saw the windmills that one associates with Mykonos, sort of a landmark really.

Again this was going to be a leisurely trip for us in terms of port stops so we decided to get a cab back to the ship. One mile one way was enough. :S-

All in all I really enjoyed Mykonos. There is something idyllic about it thats very picturesque and peaceful. I actually prefered it to the more well know Santorini. Now of only they could get that yellow donkey lager!

Next stop Naples. Waitill I tell you what we did they. Sue's idea too. :D

I also enjoyed Mykonos but when we disembarked , a shuttle was waiting for us ( free) to take us to a drop off area...where

you had to then walk up that incline to get into town.

The bus could go no further than the drop off area.

The walk is too long for many people and when I was there it was 84 F...not the kind of temperature you want to be walking beside the "highway " in.

Yes, I agree , a taxi back... one way walk is enough.

Okay , let hear about Naples. Did you go down the Almafi Coast ?

So finally I get back to telling our Naples story.

No we did not do the Amalfi coaast. We had seen Pompei from our very 1st cruise in 2002 so we decided to do a leisurely boat tour around Capri but a few days ahead of that we decided to just take it easy, go into town and walk a bit.

We strolled into town and as we were not sure of exactly where to go Sue said "lets follow those people" so we did for a while until we passed a few people and realized we were following a hearse. Exit stage right.

We then found a lovely sidewalk cafe and decided to have lunch. Well we are in Naples, the birthplace of pizza so of course we had that and a side order of THE best buffalo mozzarella I have ever tasted. It was so fresh and flavorful and the owner of the place, a friendly saw how much we were enjoying it so he struck up a chat with us. They actually get it from a farm nearby. I also saw several pictures of older Celebrity cruise ships on the walls of this place so as it turns out this guy used to know the Chandris family who started Celebrity cruises and had worked on their ships years ago. Even though we did not tour around we were content to meet the locals and get to know them a little. As this cruise had some intensive port stops something casual was good for us and as this was our last port we decided to take it easy.

So we walked a little more, shopped some more and strolled back to the ship. Nothing terribly exciting but for us it was enough.

Our last day on the ship was spent packing and getting ready for disembarkation. We said our goodbyes to all the folks we met from all over the world. There was a couple from Manchester via Mauritius, another couple from Orange county who had originally been in France and who families had fled from there before WW II and another couple transplanted to orange county as well who were originally from Romania. I could go on and on but for us meeting people is a huge part of the cruise experience. One good thing about cruise vacations is that practically all the passengers are there for a good time so an upbeat vibe is usually fairly to attain.

Disembarkation was a complete breeze. We were walking to our assembly point at the alloted time when we saw people from there already heading off and a crew member said they were way ahead of schedule so we turned around and got off with no waiting at all. Our luggage was where it was supposed to be and we found it immediately. The only problem was that it went so smoothly that we had to wait nearly an hour for our pick up to FCO. Problems like that are welcome!

All in all this was our best cruise experience ever. Add up all the elements of a cruise experience including service, food and the ships appearance and amenities and this one was tops for us.

Everyone is different and everyone looks for different things in a cruise. Some look for relaxation, some sight seeing, some for companionship. Others maybe for food (not quality, but quantity). :)

I don't even know what our best cruise experience was. Every cruise was unique and every one of them had its own pluses. We had not evn on any bad cruise yet although we got to admit, some are better than others. We tend to have very selective memory and only remember the pleasant stuff. No point in reliving the disappointed moments.

I remember a comment someone made to me a while back. "Best Cruise Ever! Bought a diamond ring at one of the ports for two third off." I asked her the name of the shop and she didn't remember. I asked for the name of the port and she didn't remember. As it turns out, she couldn't even remember the name of the ship but it was the "best cruise ever". To each their own ...

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My dad and i went on the celebirty Equinox last march to centeral and south america. IT was our 1st cruise so we didnt anything to comapre it too. FANTASTIC experienice. I do agree with the beginning of this thread that the coffee was not that good. It was made even worse since we went on a coffee bean tour in costa rica and then had coffee in a little coffee shop in cartegena,Colombia. Terric staff and VERY clean. Went in the same season that all the ships were having a real issue with the Norovirus.....look like it might be back.