It was okay, but I WILL NEVER book another cruise excursion through United. I will stick to Virgin I think from here on out.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
Not great. We needed to have a negative COVID test to board and I had one scheduled the day before embarkation. I later got an email stating that testing was available at the terminal. I canceled my test appt and went with the one at the terminal. Nowhere did it state a price for this service, I mistakenly assumed it would be somewhere around the going rate in EU (Euros). We were shuttled from tent to tent with no information about what we were doing or why we were in a particular spot. We finally did get tested, but I had already registered so all the time we spent waiting to register could have been avoided if anyone had told us what we were doing. In the end we were charged $65/pp for the test. Shame on them. A) for not disclosing the cost of the test beforehand and B) for charging an exorbitant amount. Truly price gouging.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
Specialty restaurants were great, but we have taken a couple Virgin cruises where all restaurants are free, so it is disappointing to have to pay for food. The buffet was crowded and sad. The food was largely the same every morning and lunch and not very good, honestly.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Nothing was that appealing to me so I didn't take part in any. Pools looked okay, but we were pretty busy with each day in port, so no time for the pool
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Only went to one show-the illusionist and he was good.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Very good for the most part. I did spend a considerable amount of time looking for a way to print something off the internet. No one was manning the internet cafe (evidently they were sick so there wasn't help there the whole cruise). When I went to guest services they said they would be unable to print anything and sent me to the library which didn't have a printer. I was sent back to guest services. Never did get the thing printed.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Ship tip
NEVER book an excursion through United. Just stick with the ship's offerings.
I did book an excursion through United. A tour of the acropolis and trikke tour. It started later than it was supposed to and ended later as well. This caused us to miss some of the acropolis tour because we had appointments to take the expensive COVID test at the terminal. The tour guide was very upset and made us feel bad.
I very much liked the tour, but we ended at a carpet shop. The deomonstration was interesting until they applied some very aggressive sales tactics to make us buy a rug. I was able to escape, but it was very uncomfortable. I was waiting for the time share presentation to begin. It was awful. The United excursion was not able to be rebooked, so I went on one with the ship.
The ship changed the entire itinerary before we left. Every. Single Stop. They did not go to Patmos at all. This caused quite a bit of stress, as I had booked all my excursions through United and so I was left trying to make phone calls (internationally) trying to figure out if we had excursions and when and where they would be. I followed the instructions I was given to call the operators, but that was difficult and I couldn't reach many of them. When I did finally call United, they said they had been keeping track of this and would reschedule for me. This was on the third day. If they were keeping track of it, they certainly didn't let me know! Thethey were to email me the new confirmations, but it was VERY difficult to get internet service on the ship. I had a limited number of minutes and I was burning them quickly trying to load the response form United. When I did finally get the email it was incorrect having some excursions scheduled on days that we were not at that port or times when we were not in port. VERY frustrating. The first four days of the cruise were not so enjoyable for me as I was quite stressed about how these excursions were going to happen, looking for internet service and making endless phone calls when I do not have international coverage on my plan. Boo United.
The excursion (through United) was okay, but it seemed as though the guide was trying to think of things to do as we went along. It was supposed to include a wine tasting which I was looking forward to, but it didn't happen and wasn't mentioned. He asked us if we wanted to see yet another beach, but we all opted to go back to the ship. Thank God, because the cable car to take us to the tender had a 2 hour line. Hundreds if not thousands of people winding through the streets of Santorini in this line (4 cruise ships in port at the same time). There were fights in the line as tempers were short and people were stressed. Our ship did go out 1.5 hours later than stated and we were the last 2 people on the last tender. We almost got left. It really left a bad taste in my mouth about Santorini.
Mostly easy. I was very careful to resolve my bill a couple days before as I know the lines are long at disembarkation. I had a credit and they stated that it would be put back onto my card. When I tried to disembark, they pulled me aside and insisted upon resolving the bill by giving me cash.
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