Greece Day 9

6/10/16

We woke up this morning, ate breakfast and headed for our cruise. The next bit was frustrating; I’m going to tell you about it here, but you better believe Globas will be getting a letter from me. First and foremost Globas is a trusted company, I’ve traveled with them on multiple occasions and pretty much just trust now that if I travel with them it will be great. The land tour of Greece up to this point met those expectations. Vivian our tour guide was phenomenal, however since she left it has gone down hill.

The dinner last night was awesome, but I didn’t really care for the lady who “hosted” us and took us to the restaurant. I figured it was a personality clash and let it go. Well, this morning we meet our tour guide for the cruise portion of the trip and she is not up to Globus standards either. She is spouting facts to us a mile a minute on the way to the port, she is hard to understand and she is just … well not good. Then we have to handle our own bag from the coach to the ship porter vs. it being handled…

We were fast tracked on board which was good, but I quickly realized this boat is not what I expected. It ranks right up there with Carnival. Globus is a top of the line touring company and they partnered with a cruise line, Celestyal Cruises that ranks right up with Carnival. Cheap – Cheap – Cheap. We had purchased an “upgraded window room” which was equal to a closet with a window. No, No, No! They had our rooms messed up with Mama being with Jack and Beth with me, again.

The Globus tour person told us to go to reception to handle it. I thought that is what we paid them for. Then we go down and Jack or Beth had the forethought to ask for an upgrade so we paid 140 extra per person to get a suite. This room is much better with room to move around, but is no comparison to the Celebrity cruise we took to Alaska. I hated that cruise because I felt the excursions were too short and the disembarkation was too disorganized, but I have a brand new appreciation for them now. Please give me a Celebrity cruise.

The dining room here is cramped, the buffet lacking, the entertainment good but not top quality, the food ok, but not great and the wait staff is understaffed. I will never cruise with them again and Globus will get a piece of my mind for partnering and therefore giving their stamp of approval to this company. Globus better believe I’ll be triple checking everything from now on.
Now that being said they had a very organized exit and because we were with Globus we got off rather quickly. We made it to the island of Mykonos today and had a good 3 or 4 hours to wonder around. We took part of the guided tour with Vasilica our Globus guide and then went off on our own. I love the shops and the atmosphere. Reminds me of Venice – the feel of the city, but it looks nothing like it. Gorgeous white buildings against the blue Aegean sea. Sunsets that are out of this world and well just a great little town. The island itself is large and we only saw a small piece of it.

We bought several souvenirs, wondered around, stopped for a drink and a snack, watched the sunset and then headed back to the ship. You catch another boat to get on and off which is cool.

Once back on the ship we went to the buffet. A waiter could not be found to bring us our drinks so Beth went to get them. The food was ok, not a lot of choices, but it was ok. Mama and Jack headed up to the rooms, but Beth and I went to the show. It was a mixture of all kinds of music from different countries and eras. They were dancing and singing. Overall it was enjoyable; some costume malfunctions, some humorous moments, but mostly they did really well. There was a lady dancing on silk ribbons that was great and until they tried to do country I thought it was all good, but Lord they can’t sing country music.

I’m now up in my room which is apparently over a bar… I can hear the music like I was in the room with them. You would think there would be soundproofing or something. Cheap Ass Cruise Line, never again -- never! But alas, I’m going to try to go to sleep to the Cuban melody. See you tomorrow. Well actually this won’t get posted til I get back to Athens, but ah well.