First family cruise - Eastern Med and Holy Land - Eastern Mediterranean "Ports" Review by Suedonim

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Suedonim's Port Reviews of Athens, Haifa, Crete, Naples
Mariner of the Seas cruise in April 2011

Member Name:	Suedonim
Cruise Date:	April 2011
Embarkation:	Civitavecchia
Destination:	Eastern Mediterranean
Member Review:	Suedonim's Mariner of the Seas Review

	Athens Port Rating: We DIYed this port. Firstly we had to get through the taxi drivers who were both numerous and very persistant - we had to walk for about 5 minutes before we got rid of the last of them. We walked to the Metro (wishing we had caught the 843 bus!) and took the metro to Syntagma and then caught the Happy Train which stops beside McDonalds for a tour around Athens. The commentary was very brief, but it helped us to find everywhere and we could then use the train as hop on/hop off transport. We then toured the Panatheniac Stadium and the Acropolis, and there were plenty of English-speaking guides available for the latter. The audio guide for the former is also to be recommended. Grabbed a taxi back to the port - 29 Euros though probably higher than expected given eldest son threw up out of the window... Free wifi throughout Athens was a nice bonus!
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	Haifa Port Rating: We booked a private tour with Guided Tours Israel covering the main Christian sites in Northern Israel. Good clean vehicle, and our guide was very informative. Topped for a "St Peter's fish" lunch near Capernaum. He also took us to see the view from the top of Mount Carmel over the Baha'i shrine
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	Crete Port Rating: Got the general impression that there wasn't much special to see nearby, so we treated this as an at sea day and enjoyed the ship being relatively quiet. The local bus company was doing shuttles to the town for 1.50 Euro each way from just outside the ship. The journey took about 30 minutes.
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	Naples Port Rating: We walked to the train station - not the prettiest of walks, and Naples seems to have a refuse problem. i was going to buy bus tickets from the newsagent across fromt he port entrance, but theere was a queue and i assumed that I would pass another one, which turned out to be a mistake! Again all the taxi drivers at the port were only interested in taking us all the way to Pompeii, but the far fromt he station ont he way back was 8.50 for 4 of us. Train ticket was 4:50 return and we were pleased to find that entrance to Pompeii, Herculaneum and the museum was free all day! We used the audio guides at Pompeii (5 Euro adult, 3:50 Euro child) and these were very good - note that you do have to produce ID as a deposit.
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