Julie Matthews

Age: 56
Occupation: retired
Number of Cruises: 5
Cruise Line: Princess Cruises
Ship: Golden Princess
Sailing Date: June 9th, 2001
Itinerary: Grand Mediterranean

The 06/09/01 Grand Mediterranean Cruise aboard the new Golden Princess was everything we expected it to be and more. WOW! We have been home two days and are still in sensory overload. I am hoping here to sort out all the places we have been and all the things we have seen.

We flew to Istanbul one day early and decided that was a great way to help prepare for a long port intensive cruise in a time zone seven hours ahead of ours. We had paid for air deviation to use Continental for mileage credits. As it turned out Princess would not book us with them. They must not have a contract with Continental for European flights, so we went on KLM and returned on Delta. We played around with flights and times a little and ended with what we thought would be OK and were happy enough with our final arrangements.

We arrived about 2:30 p.m. and whisked right up to purchase our Visas ($45.00 USD each). We had the exact change counted out which seemed to make it run smoother, after watching others. Then we went right through Immigration where they stamped our Passports. This was the only stamp we got for the whole trip. Others said they asked in Greece, Italy, Monaco and Spain and were not able to get their passports stamped anywhere else. We were met by Princess representatives at the baggage claim area. This was a little confusing as they did not speak English - just enough to rush us out to the busses. It was a short ride to the Conrad International. This was a very nice hotel!

We are in our mid fifties and were accompanied by my mother who is 83 and a friend who is in her late 60's. We knew we would all be tired that first evening so we arranged to experience a Turkish bath. We were all glad we did - but once was enough. I would still recommend it to anyone who has never had one! We went to one that has quite a history (300 years old) so that made it even more interesting. If you are interested, email me and I will give you more info about this. We had eaten enough on the plane and had a few snacks with us so we did not eat dinner. After the bath experience we returned to the hotel and went to bed early.

We had arranged for a tour guide for our one full day, that night and the next morning in Istanbul. He was really wonderful and I would be happy to give his name and email address to anyone interested in contacting him for Istanbul and/or Ephesus. We started with The Chora Museum. This is a beautiful 14th century church, not much visited by tourists - so glad we got to see it! Then we went to see Topkapi Palace and had a good lunch in a restaurant at the Palace - with a great table overlooking the sea. There is lots of walking at Topkapi, as the palace is actually a small self-contained city. After lunch we visited Hagia Sophia and The Blue Mosque. We shopped here and there along the way. Our guide is not a fan of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul but would have taken us. We were getting tired and were anxious to get to the Golden, check in and prepare for our night on the town. He dropped us off about 5:00 and planned to pick us up again at 8:30.

I am not going to go into any details about the ship as they can be discovered so many other places. We love to cruise and it would take something really bad for us to have any complaints. This was our 5th cruise, 3rd on Princess. The service, entertainment, cabin, public rooms, food were all good. The Princess staff on each of our cruises with them has been especially friendly. We used personal choice dining and it was wonderful to go when we were ready, instead of at a pre-ordained time. We had the opportunity to chat with several waiters and assistant waiters - who all did a fine job!

Pre-cruise, we had met another group on the cruise bulletin boards. We arranged to meet them at the Wheelhouse Bar at 8:00 and they joined us for dinner and a Turkish show at The Orient House. We were glad that our guide joined us for dinner and it was a really fun night of food and entertainment!

The next day our guide met us and our new friends for a last look at Istanbul before sailing in the afternoon. We saw Dolmabahce Palace, took a short drive along the Bosphorus and then saw The Suleymaniye Mosque. All of these were magnificent. Istanbul was just the beginning of our great adventure and we were surely not disappointed. We saw many beautiful places, the people are friendly and the city is clean. Some of the street vendors will bug you to buy but our guide helped with that. Walk on by and don't give them any encouragement.

The next morning we were at the port in Kusadasi. We had committed to a different tour guide here before contacting the one we used for Istanbul. As it turned out the guide at Istanbul also does Ephesus and it is his specialty. Our new friends used him in Ephesus and we used the tour we had already committed to. We were not unhappy with our guide but would recommend using Nejat in both Istanbul and Ephesus. What a day of history! Ephesus is incredible! We also went to the House of the Virgin Mary, had lunch at a great Turkish buffet where we sampled more good Turkish food, went to the museum, and saw what little is left of the Temple of Artemis and St. John's Basilica. We declined the offered stop at a carpet factory, as we knew none of us wanted to purchase one. We did go to ceramic place and shopped for jewelry - where we had apple tea (very good). We found one of our best bargains of the trip outside the entrance to Mary's house where we purchased wool & silk Pashmina scarves for $15.00 each.

For the following day in Athens, we had arranged for a private taxi to meet us at the pier. Our driver was very informative about the history of his city, spoke excellent English and we were very happy using him as a guide. The pollution was so bad that day our eyes burned and watered as we walked through the Acropolis. This was a little disappointing, but at least we can say we were there. We drove by several more Athens sights - watched the changing of the guard at the palace and then returned to the ship for the afternoon. We were ready for a day at sea before arriving in Venice.

We toured Venice on our own, which is very easy to do. Venice is a magical place! We walked the streets, shopped a little - had ice cream and watched people and pigeons. The next morning we went ashore early to get in line & see St. Mark's Basilica - WOW! Admission to the Basilica is free but you must pay approximately $1.50 per person at each location to see the treasury, the precious Pala d'Oro and the famous Horses of the Basilica. A total of $4.50 well spent! Even with an overnight at Venice, there was not enough time to see everything. I'd rather leave a place wanting to see more than feeling like I had to stay too long. Cruising does dictate the amount of time you have at each port - but that's OK by us! One tip here - the Basilica closes at 5:00 p.m. They let people in right up until then and there were no lines at about 4:50 p.m. We had arranged to meet mom & her friend at 5:00 by the center flagpole outside and they arrived 5:03 so could not take advantage of popping in when there was no line.

Venice was followed by another day at sea - which again was welcome. If I were forced to find something wrong with this itinerary, it would be that it's such a busy one.

Naples was our next port. We went on the Amalfi Drive and Pompeii tour offered by Princess and were happy with our choice here. Pompeii is amazing and the Amalfi Coast is breathtaking. We enjoyed a short stop in Amalfi where we visited the Cathedral of St. Andrea, and purchased some Limon liquor - an area specialty. They advise keeping it in the freezer to make it very cold and drinking a small amount on ice after dinner. We have not tried it yet. The stop for the cameo shop was brief and painless - no pressure.

After docking in Livorno, we took another Princess shore excursion, the Florence Sampler. This was simply a walk through the Piazza Del Duomo and the Piazza Della Signoria where the guide pointed out some of the most interesting features. We then had a nice guided tour through the Church of Santa Croce, followed by time on our own. There is NO WAY to see Florence in this little bit of time - what an amazing city - filled with art and history. We found a real bargain spot here for souvenirs. Standing with your back to the Church of Santa Croce, it is about half way down on the right side of the square. It says souvenir shop and is filled with lots of "stuff". It is a shop, not a stand on the street. On the right hand side as you enter, they have small pieces of Murano glass. The discs that are sold on the ship for $12.00 are $6.00 here. They also had small Murano hearts to put on a necklace or bracelet for $3.00 each. We also found pretty leather bookmarks for $1.00 and little marble hinged boxes for $2.50. This was a real bonanza for those little things it's fun to bring to lots of people.

Monte Carlo was fun. In the morning we walked to Old Monaco and visited the Palace and the gardens. The gardens are lovely and we could have spent more time sitting there. The part of the Palace you are allowed to see is interesting but not as spectacular as others we had seen on this cruise. For the afternoon, my better half walked to the casino, and felt like it was nothing special inside, though the outside is very pretty. Mom's friend and I took the ships tour to the Medieval Village of Eze. The drive there was very picturesque and Eze is absolutely charming. We were really glad that we went there! I had read some good things about it, and had also read that it was just a shopping trip, so we were not sure what to expect. You do have to climb up quite a ways to reach the entrance and then more to get to the cactus garden. Once inside the garden we were on our own, where we climbed to the top and had a photo opportunity. Then we returned to the narrow winding streets of Eze, where we could have spent more time than we were allowed. We did do some shopping - how does a woman resist? It was a lovely afternoon.

We arrived in Barcelona at about noon the next day. We had planned to take the ships tour to Montserrat but because of a strike by tour bus drivers all tours for the afternoon were cancelled. We had mixed feelings because we really wanted to see Montserrat, but were glad to have the extra time to relax and pack up to disembark the next morning. Because we were staying over two nights in Barcelona, we did not leave the ship until 11:40 a.m. We spent the morning having a leisurely breakfast at the Horizon Court, then sat in the Explorers Lounge until they called our color. We were transferred to Le Meridien Hotel in Barcelona. This was a very nice hotel and a GREAT location. We spent the afternoon walking the length of Las Ramblas and then went to the Gothic Quarter and walked through the Cathedral. We all agreed on a combination lunch/dinner and at about 6:30 p.m. walked toward Placa Catalunya at the top of Las Ramblas to eat at a spot recommended by the Princess representative at the hotel. We found a waiter who spoke pretty good English, but still did not all make especially good selections from the menu. Restaurants do not open to serve dinner until 8:00 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. We don't like to eat late and wanted to call it a night so we could get up early to meet our private tour guide the next morning for a full day of sight seeing.

We were really happy with the tour guide we had in Barcelona. Again, I'll be glad to give you her email address if you want it. She is an American from Atlanta so we did not even have to listen carefully to understand her. Traveling at our own pace, we saw La Sagrada Familia Church, Park Guell, many of Gaudi's buildings and drove to the top of Montjuic Mountain where we watched the Golden Princess leaving port taking her new passengers for their Grand Mediterranean adventure. She took us to lunch at a restaurant favored by locals and after talking about the kinds of things we liked to eat she ordered a variety of Tapas. This meal was really enjoyable and we all felt like we had sampled some of the genuine foods of Spain. She returned with us to the Gothic Quarter and pointed out many things that we had not seen when we were there on our own the previous evening. We had a really good day experiencing Barcelona! That evening we walked some more on Las Ramblas, enjoying the mimes, music and dancers. We stopped at a little spot and shared a pizza - then had ice cream and used up the last of our pesetas.

Our trip ended with our long flight home the next day. We had no problems and our luggage got here at the same time we did. This was a wonderful way to have a first taste of Europe, and I recommend Princess and their Mediterranean itinerary!

These are a few bits of incidental information. Other than the pollution in Athens, we were fortunate to have very good weather for the 12 days. We had lots of sun so used hats, sun screen and a couple of times took our umbrellas for shade. Later cruises in the summer are sure to find higher temperatures than what we experienced. Some people carried umbrellas that looked like they were made with a silver material designed to reflect the sun - I may try to find one of those. US currency and credit cards were widely accepted in Turkey and Italy. In Monaco the only place we had to have local currency was the casino ($7.50 entrance fee and you do need to have your passport with you). In Barcelona, no one wanted US dollars, but they would accept credit cards for larger purchases. Take a copy of your passport to carry with you when you are ashore, leaving your original in the safe in your cabin. That and your ID card from the ship are all the identity you need, except for the casino at Monte Carlo. We were advised by guides in Turkey and Barcelona not to carry our original. There were 3 formal nights and 9 smart casual nights - no semi-formal.

If anyone has questions I might be able to answer, or wants the names and email addresses for private tour guides we used, just contact me at juliejoe@swbell.net

Julie

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