A big thank you to everyone who joined us for our Sunday night live stream, we would like to wish you all a very happy new year, hope to see you in 2025. xx
Happy New Year, guys! When we went to Santorini there were two in - us on Discovery and Explorer so not ridiculously busy you’d think but it was. We went to the Aegean Pompeii, Akrotiri, on a Marella excursion and *loved* it. We ended up in Thira at lunchtime and were pointed at a small museum dedicated Akrotiri. It was really good. The queues to go down the cable car were immense and there was next to no shade so it was no fun at all. I vlogged our experience.
Happy new year to you too, interesting that you mention that despite only 2 smaller cruise ships in port the day you visited was still very busy. It is such a shame, we found the same when we went on our first visit to Dubrovnik, totally spoilt by masses of people within the city walls. Our second visit was a little quieter so i guess you can get lucky but unlikely. Will look forward to seeing your vlog, interested to see info about that cruise in detail. Take care and catch you real soon. 🚢😎
@ enjoy! The two were Ottoman Odyssey and Aegean Jewels. It was the first time Marella had home-ported in Marmaris for (IIRC) 12 years and it looks as if it didn’t work well because this year similar cruises are going from Limassol. The problem may have started with flights going through Dalaman which was 90 minutes from Marmaris and could be a bit ‘third world’ - as was Gran Canaria’s airport this time it has to be said! We liked Marmaris itself and the two cruises worked very well *except* for the trip to the Gallipoli WW1 battlefields. That was simply too ambitious and Marella refunded it. We won’t sail with Marella again until 11th August 2026 when we go from Palma on Discovery 2. The attraction is the eclipse on 12th. In the meantime we’re slumming it on Princess, Cunard (three times) and P&O! I think we’re addicted. BTW, you were talking about organising a group cruise. We’re going on Paul and Carole Love to Travel’s group cruise on Sky Princess in May next year. It’s their first and they went on one of Gary Bembridge’s to get an idea of what was involved. They came back with a lot of info on the fine details. Perhaps you might do the same rather than dive in at the deep end?
We booked a cruise on Explorer and mentioned loyalty to the lass serving us. She sighed and said “Everyone asks that and we keep feeding it back to HQ but there’s no sign of it coming.” We came to the conclusion that it was a choice between cheap prices and a loyalty scheme.
Hi Kieth, i do think you are right that the introduction of a loyalty scheme would of course increase prices so maybe not as good as we would hope it would be. I think they have made this decision and nothing looks like it is going to change. Still think the ships know who there repeat customers are and could mark it by giving them upgrades available for that cruise but then i guess there will be shouts of inconsistency of who gets it. Won't hold my breath waiting for any announcement. ☹
Hi. We worked out what we were likely to need on each island. Most of the islands take US Dollars but if you are visiting a french island like Guadaloupe you are also going to need some Euro. We took just $160 dollars and £60 Euro for our 2 week Caribbean cruise. We were able to use our Starling bank card everywhere, this card is great because there are zero charges for transactions and also free withdrawals from ATM's. There are other online banks such as MONZA which are similar. We just use it for holidays and pre load money into the account. If you spend money on the islands ensure you receive change in the currency you use, they will try and give you change in local currency which will be impossible to change back. Also ensure that any US bank notes are not ripped, defaced or damaged in any way. They are not likely to be accepted anywhere. Hope this helps. 😎
A big thank you to everyone who joined us for our Sunday night live stream, we would like to wish you all a very happy new year, hope to see you in 2025. xx
Happy New Year, guys! When we went to Santorini there were two in - us on Discovery and Explorer so not ridiculously busy you’d think but it was. We went to the Aegean Pompeii, Akrotiri, on a Marella excursion and *loved* it. We ended up in Thira at lunchtime and were pointed at a small museum dedicated Akrotiri. It was really good. The queues to go down the cable car were immense and there was next to no shade so it was no fun at all. I vlogged our experience.
Happy new year to you too, interesting that you mention that despite only 2 smaller cruise ships in port the day you visited was still very busy. It is such a shame, we found the same when we went on our first visit to Dubrovnik, totally spoilt by masses of people within the city walls. Our second visit was a little quieter so i guess you can get lucky but unlikely. Will look forward to seeing your vlog, interested to see info about that cruise in detail. Take care and catch you real soon. 🚢😎
@@midatravel there is a playlist of the two week cruise on my channel.
@@Rockdoc2174 Cheers Kieth, just watched day 14 and 15 and will watch them all when i can. Can you remember the name of the cruises you did?
@ enjoy! The two were Ottoman Odyssey and Aegean Jewels. It was the first time Marella had home-ported in Marmaris for (IIRC) 12 years and it looks as if it didn’t work well because this year similar cruises are going from Limassol. The problem may have started with flights going through Dalaman which was 90 minutes from Marmaris and could be a bit ‘third world’ - as was Gran Canaria’s airport this time it has to be said! We liked Marmaris itself and the two cruises worked very well *except* for the trip to the Gallipoli WW1 battlefields. That was simply too ambitious and Marella refunded it. We won’t sail with Marella again until 11th August 2026 when we go from Palma on Discovery 2. The attraction is the eclipse on 12th. In the meantime we’re slumming it on Princess, Cunard (three times) and P&O! I think we’re addicted.
BTW, you were talking about organising a group cruise. We’re going on Paul and Carole Love to Travel’s group cruise on Sky Princess in May next year. It’s their first and they went on one of Gary Bembridge’s to get an idea of what was involved. They came back with a lot of info on the fine details. Perhaps you might do the same rather than dive in at the deep end?
We booked a cruise on Explorer and mentioned loyalty to the lass serving us. She sighed and said “Everyone asks that and we keep feeding it back to HQ but there’s no sign of it coming.” We came to the conclusion that it was a choice between cheap prices and a loyalty scheme.
Hi Kieth, i do think you are right that the introduction of a loyalty scheme would of course increase prices so maybe not as good as we would hope it would be. I think they have made this decision and nothing looks like it is going to change. Still think the ships know who there repeat customers are and could mark it by giving them upgrades available for that cruise but then i guess there will be shouts of inconsistency of who gets it. Won't hold my breath waiting for any announcement. ☹
Hi Guys, we’re both great admirers of your videos. Can I ask your advice on currencies to use in the Caribbean for small scale purchases please?
Hi. We worked out what we were likely to need on each island. Most of the islands take US Dollars but if you are visiting a french island like Guadaloupe you are also going to need some Euro. We took just $160 dollars and £60 Euro for our 2 week Caribbean cruise. We were able to use our Starling bank card everywhere, this card is great because there are zero charges for transactions and also free withdrawals from ATM's. There are other online banks such as MONZA which are similar. We just use it for holidays and pre load money into the account. If you spend money on the islands ensure you receive change in the currency you use, they will try and give you change in local currency which will be impossible to change back. Also ensure that any US bank notes are not ripped, defaced or damaged in any way. They are not likely to be accepted anywhere. Hope this helps. 😎
Sorry, forgot to say thanks for watching and for your lovely comments. 😀