Good cruise, good value, excellent staff - Eastern Mediterranean "Ports" Review by trmiller21

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Home > Member Reviews > trmiller21's Port Reviews of Taormina, Santorini, Mykonos, Izmir, Istanbul, Volos

trmiller21's Port Reviews of Taormina, Santorini, Mykonos, Izmir, Istanbul, Volos
Costa Romantica cruise in April 2011

Member Name:	trmiller21
Cruise Date:	April 2011
Embarkation:	Civitavecchia
Destination:	Eastern Mediterranean
Member Review:	trmiller21's Costa Romantica Review

	Taormina Port Rating: The town in beautiful and highly recommend this ship excursion from the cruise port in Messina. There is very limited transportation on Sunday from Messina to Taormina so I would recommend taking the ship excursion. We left the tour 1/2 way through since she had told us where we were meeting and when, and we went and had pizza and wine at a local restaurant which was fantastic. The town is very crowed but beautiful and you can get pictures of Mt. Etna from the amphitheater.
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	Santorini Port Rating: Take the Oia Village tour! Oia is the best town in Santorini by far. The views are spectacular and the people are extremely friendly. There are shops with little eclectic treasures if you keep your eye out between the tourist shops; we bought a hand painted Christmas ornament. Also, be sure to buy a bag of the sesame covered nuts, they're delicious and everybody is trying to sell you a bag. We paid 1 euro and it was so worth it.
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	Mykonos Port Rating: The one excursion I would not recommend is in Mykonos. Mykonos is a tiny little island with nothing to do expect the shopping immediately around the port. We took the Jeep 4x4 excursion thinking we would get a more exciting adventure in Mykonos and we were wrong. The cost is around $500 per couple and it's not a Jeep, it's a Suzuki and it's tiny. You drive for 2.5 hours over the island and don't see anything it describes in the ad: no sunsets, no windmills, nothing. You see farm animals and local houses and it's boring. When paying $500, I expect a lot more and this is definitely the excursion to avoid. We definitely wished the ship spent the whole day at Santorini and skipped Mykonos altogether.
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	Izmir Port Rating: Take the Ephesus tour; it was amazing. Now, I'm a history major, but my family with me, who is not, still was really impressed with the ruins. Ephesus is one of the best preserved antiquities sites I've been to and I've been to Rome and Pompeii. The 2 story library will take your breath away. Our tour guide was excellent and gave such a very thorough history lesson on Ephesus.
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	Istanbul Port Rating: Istanbul is the 3rd largest city in the world and it felt like it. All of the major tourist destinations are in one spot and you really don't need a ship excursion. We opted for the hop on hop off bus tour and despite the freezing weather, it was the best deal since it allowed you to see a lot of the city from the open air top. Buy your tickets in advance and you should be able to get on at the unofficial stop at the cruise port. You cannot buy tickets at this stop and must take a cab to the square at the Haga Sophia. The Sultanemet (Blue Mosque) and the Haga Sophia are right next to each other along with Topkapi Palace. Definitely go to Topkapi Palace, the sultan's jewels are there and they put the Hope Diamond to shame they're that big! The food in Istanbul is excellent and definitely try the kabobs, wow.
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	Volos Port Rating: Volos is a fishing village and is a vacation destination for Greeks, not tourists. The shopping is mainstream, not touristy and the food is very authentic. Pick a cafe, sit down and have a wonderful lunch. Then afterwards, go to the bakery directly next to Sugar and have baklava with cream ice cream; simply amazing!!! You will not regret this :)
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	Athens Port Rating: I love Athens on Sunday! Athens from what I understand is a very hectic city, but we lucked out and arrived on Sunday morning. There was no traffic and very few people out since it's a church day. The historical sites are free and very few people crowding them that early. We booked a private tour with Nikos of Private Greece Tours and Emmanuel was our driver. Could not have been more pleased. I highly recommend them for a tour. The cost was 150 euro for 4 people and he drove us around in a Mercedes taxi. Emmanuel is an English speaking guide from NJ but born in Athens, so he's a very good driver having lived in NJ :) The cost was very comparable to what was offered on the ship but we had the luxury of decided where we wanted to go, how much time to spend there, and when we wanted to return to the ship. Excellent tour!
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	Rome (Civitavecchia) Port Rating: Civitavecchia is a very easy port to navigate and to get back to Rome. Take the train, you do not need to book a car service or a ship transfer. The cost is around 9,50 euro for the high speed train and it takes you to the end of the Termini station in Rome. The town itself was very nice.
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