I just read Denise's updates, so I will try to add some new news...

First, some updates on the status of the Diamond and the Paul Gauguin.

Paul Gauguin...RSSC never owned the ship and it went back and forth ever year or so from new owner to new owner. This time, the new owner decided it wanted to run the ship itself and to not renew RSSC's charter, so that's why RSSC will not be running the PG after 2005. They are now trying to figure out what to do with the situation that has been handed to them.

The Diamond...the charter is up for renewel in 2006. Until that time, RSSC and the leasor will be in negotiations and no decision will be made. The Diamond is very profitable and is often at full occupancy. No decision has been made and none will be made in the short term. Negotiations have just begun. tendered kind of. We were not anchored. We were supposed to hook up to a buoy but the ship which was supposed to guide us there wasn't on time, so we just drifted. At one point, the Captain told us, another ship this afternoon, went off course and almost hit us, so he had to rev the motor and move us quickly out of the way!

Athens...We took Luftansa through Munich...very efficient airline and lovely airport..very modern and comfortable. Once in Athens, we found ourselves in a very modern airport and found taxis very easily at the central taxi stand. Taxi to the Hilton was $27 Euros and took about 15-20 minutes.

The Hilton property is a modern, glamorous one and I recommend asking for a high room facing the Acropolis. The views are great. If you can get an executive floor, the breakfasts are great. I would definitely recommend this property. We had sushi at the dining room on the roof overlooking the Acropolis and it was romantic and the food was very good.

If you are doing Athens, I would recommend doing it differently than we did. The first SUnday of every month, museums are free, so take advantage if you can. Also, the Acropolis is wonderful and I would just head over there by taxi and then take a guided tour (arranged at the Acropolis) once there. Allow at least 2-3 hours. Then you could do a 4 hour city tour with a driver and have one pick you up at the Acropolis, since it is impossible to get a taxi to pick you up. If you can get a taxi, they are very cheap..that is, if they don't try to cheat you. We went to the Cape and it was very nice, but expensive with a driver...so you have to consider if it is worth it to you.

The next morning, you could walk around the Platka or go to the Archeology Museum before heading to the ship.

Boarding the Diamond...

The trip to the port is short..about 10 euros and 15 minutes. Once at the main terminal, you are met by a Radisson agent and you are taken to a bus which shuttles you a very short distance to the ship.

The Diamond feels like a small boutique hotel and boarding was very simple. We arrived around 1:30 and went up to the lovely buffet lunch on the 10th floor. Our rooms were ready around 2:30.

One thing I must mention that noone else ever has...the front of the Diamond is where the anchors are located. They make a BIG noise early in the morning. You can hear them on the 8th floor and you are jolted awake on the 7th floor. Our room is 712. I will NEVER take this room again. It noise bothers you, opt for a higher floor on this ship. There are all sorts of rumblings in my room that are ever so irritating. There are also all sorts of pipe problems on the 7th floor with drain problems and backups. When I emptied my tub, the water came up the drain holes under the sink and flooded the bathroom. This is my only complaint with the ship.

I kiddingly asked the Captain to please stop lowering the anchor as my sleep was being disturbed and he came over later and asked if I wanted my room changed. It was so kind of him, but we declined as we HATE packing and unpacking and it's only a few horrible minutes each morning. I just have a new wake up call!

Day 1..Naphalion was just wonderful. We took the all day tour with Denise and Alan and it was one of the best tours we have ever taken. The sites and guide were excellent. tendered

Day 2..Mykonos was windy and cold and we were disappointed to not see Delos. It's a pretty island, but just stores and restaurants. We went over to a beach in the PM and had a nice time. tendered

Day 3..Thera and Oia were beautiful towns..especially Oia...I wished we had rented a car. Lots of folks did (about 60 euros) and they had a great time seeing the island at their own pace. Several said the winery tour was great.

The Diamond has a person at a desk to give you island advice each am in the ship's lobby.


Food...Excellent!!!! Nary a complaint. We have found some wonderful servers at table 23 and they are just wonderful. Tonight, we ate dinner with the Captain and he is a total delight. Very warm and gracious.

Rooms...Very pretty. Bigger than the PG and nicer. The rooms without balcony are similar in size to the Mariner without the walkin closet and with a smaller bathroom. The tub is very tiny (I am only 5 feet tall). The rooms with a balcony do not have the curtain that separates the living and bedroom areas. It's been so cold, that I only used the balcony 2 times. So, on this cruise, it's really a crap shoot what type of room you take.

Ship...not as conducive to mingling as the Voyager and Mariner and it's been so cold, we haven't used the 10th floor much. The dining room is beautiful and the show room is very comfortable. The afternoon teas are lovely. I really miss having washing machines and irons!

Shows..Very good...small venue and staff, but very talented. First night and tonight, a singer from England; last night, a pianist from Turkey. Don Vitos was a hoot.

Service..excellent.

Andi, thanks for reporting in! It looks like you will have warmer weather for Turkey. It's supposed to be 77 degrees for your day in Kusadasi and near 80 for your days in Istanbul

Thank goodness. I only brought skirts and shorts and my legs are very cold. I should know that Karen would have all the answers!

I'm now trying to figure out where cruise 2005 will be. It can't be too fancy as we have to save for ROAR.

Andi-
Great report - Gordy and I will be on the Diamond 11/22 in the Caribbean and can't WAIT. We'll be in 732... are you sure you and Doug can't stowaway until 11/22 :) I know we'd both love to see you!

--Rebecca

Hi, you two! You will have a wonderful time! The crew is flawless. The captain is wonderful. Can't stow away this year, but we just booked the 2 for one on the Voyager for 11/21 (Carribean) for 2005. Rebook with us for 2005.

Today was a glorious day in Rhodes. The city is beautiful..for those of you who can relate, a bit like Visby, but more commercial. The island is large and we had rain this morning, so we hopped a tour last minute to the Acropolis and a tour of Rhodes. It was very, very well done and a great way to spend the morning. This is not a port for renting cars, but we shared a cab to a beach in the PM. It is a shame that it is the rainy season. If I were to take this cruise again, I think I would opt for September instead...not too warm, but still beach weather. These are beautiful islands and you should be able to enjoy the outdoors and their glory.

Shopping! Bought nothing today, but there were loads of pumice stones and natural sponges for sale.Also, lots of linens and some rugs...but all were imported from Persia.Lots of leather goods and furs on sale, which were made in local factories. I don't know quality, so I can't speak to this.

The Voyager was docked next to us and we were allowed on board. The folks are doing the reverse trip and many had purchased rugs (silk on silk) in Istanbul. Seems the going rate is about $2500 for a 4x6. They said to haggle down 33% and to go on your own and without a tour guide as the guides take 20% off the top, so prices are automatically higher.


Tours: I have heard only positive things about all the tours, except for the Mykonos Island tour, which I heard was just ok. Folks really liked the Rhodes Culture tour today, which took them into folks' homes and into some local factories. They also raved about the Santorini donkey ride and winery tour (more than just one or two folks and those donkeys really smelled!!)

Well, off to dinner with Denise and Alan and some other folks...raspberry souffle has been made especially for us!Looking forward to Kusadasi tomorrow.

Maybe I'll talk Doug into the Oldy weds game tonight!!

Andi, Sounds like you are having a nice time. Just wondering if you enjoyed the Baltics more. I think Turkey will be really interesting. Am anxious to hear about it since we booked for Oct. 1st next year. If you ever get the opportunity take the Moscow 4 night pre-cruise; do it!! It was absolutely wonderful. So glad we did this. Would go back tomorrow if we could. Exept, I hate cold weather so I'd wait until summer. I will be looking for your posts. Love, Judy

Andi - thanks for sharing. Great report. Keep it up!
As to the rooms - I will be in 717 with friends in 719 in January. Do you think we'll have the same noise problems? We'll be in the Caribbean. Don't know if that makes a difference.

Dear Judy, I liked the Baltics more and the Voyager more, as I found it more stimulating.

An island is an island with stores and beaches, and if the weather is iffy, you only have stores. The history of these islands is fairly interesting, so that is great, but I think you get a better experience doing this cruise during June or September, because it is warmer and dry, but not too hot to tour. This gives you many more options and makes the trip more interesting.

As far as the rooms, the farther you are from the front the better. However, I am not a person who minds the vibrations on the Voyager and I feel the 7 level rooms have a musty and "gas-type" odor around the halls and the vibration at this level is very noticible. For $200 more per couple for a 9 balcony over a 7 balcony, I would opt for a mid ship 9 balcony on the Diamond because of the vibrations. 765 has very strong vibrations like you are dragging on the ground. 746 has ceiling vibrations. Folks on my hall are with me now and are giving me this information. We have also had drainage problems on this floor.

BUT..the food and service are superb and, if the itinerary and value are right, the Diamond is an extremely well run ship. I have no other complaints. We have a wonderful Maitre d' named Mika, the cruise directors are great, the Captain is full of joy and everyone tries his/her best to give you the best of times. RSSC should be commended.

Andi, When we were on the Diamond in January (DDD) it was so great. There were so many of us that it was more like a private charter. The ports in the Caribbea are so close together and so similar that we spent a lot more time just lounging around the pool and loved jet skiing from the sports platform. I think the Diamond may be a better ship in the Caribbean (hot weather) than in the Med....just a guess! (The fact that we took over Don Vito's one night and "The Club" every night didn't hurt either!)

Thanks for your good postings!

Hello All,

I must thank everyone for all the great information.


JPar

Oh, oh.... your comments about vibrations and gas odor in the Diamond are causing me concern. I don't recall reading about vibrations in the Diamond. To the contrary, most people said it was so stable. Is this a new thing? We are currently booked for a cruise next year in room 751( is that Denise's room?). Is the gas odor also in the rooms?

Maria we were just on the 9/27 sailing from Istanbul to Athens and stayed in one of the 7 sitting cabins. I didn't notice any gas smell but there were some vibrations. The vibrations were stronger when the ship was docking or making turning maneuvers. Although it occurred sometimes when we were sailing it wasn't very pronounced during those times.

I did notice mustiness on the seventh floor near where the elevator and stairs are. Our cabin was about 10 cabins aft from there and we never smelled anything in our cabin or in the hallway outside of it. And I have asthma and am very aware of strong odors as they can bother my breathing. In fact, almost as soon as you headed away from the elevator area in the aft direction it seemed that that the odor dissipated. From what I'm reading here, that may not be the case in the forward section. We also didn't have any plumbing issues in our cabin.

Another place I noticed a musty/mildewy smell was in the show lounge (Windows). On the entrance level it wasn't too noticeable (although it varied throughout the week) but if you went up to sit in the side balcony area it was VERY strong. We tried to sit in the right-hand balcony area once and immediately got up and went back down to the main seating area.

I'll add here that overall we enjoyed our first Radisson cruise and the Diamond. I do plan to post with some additional observations on the cruise and the ports once I get things at home back in order. We stayed the weekend precruise in Istanbul - which was fabulous - and enjoyed every stop on the itinerary.

Hi, first of all, let me correct one thing...no bad odors IN the rooms. Denise's room is 751 and she has no anchor like I do ...that's my key beef.

We spent today in Ephesus and this spot is incredible. It is truly an ancient wonder for which I was unprepared. We had an excellent tour guide who Denise arranged and we learned an incredible amount. Our favorite learning was that the library was connected to the brothel, so you can imagine what the ancient Romans told their wives..I'm at the library dear....gives a new meaning to "booking a room!"

The weather was lovely..not a cloud in the sky, but I found carpet prices high...$4K for a 4 by 6 silk high quality carpet. There are BIG differences in qualities amoung silk carpets and the $2600 price can't be accurate for anything decent. I looked today and only saw poor quality for that price.

Didn't purchase anything, so Doug is still breathing. The full day tour from the ship received RAVE reviews and is highly recommended.

Today, we had a turkish tea on board with apple, orange and lemon tea and turkish sweets. Boarding time was 3:30 and sailaway 4. We don't arrive in Istanbul until 6:30 tomorrow evening.

Again, I think this cruise could rival others I had taken if we had taken it a month earlier when we could have enjoyed the beaches and could have visited Delos. Cold and windy weather hampered our time and has kept us indoors. This is something to consider, as rainy period is October - May.

Tomorrow will be a quiet day on board before arrival in Istabul where we have 3 days of touring.

Let me share my final thoughts on this cruise and I will talk about the ports individually and compare it overall to the Baltics cruise and compare the Diamond overall to the Voyager.

I'll start easy...Diamond versus Voyager..since they both do this itinerary. If I were taking this cruise in "iffy" weather and were concerned about things to do on board, I would choose the Voyager. The Diamond is very stable and was able to tender in Mykonos and the Voyager was unable to do so, however. In good weather, either ship would be fine, it would come down to $. The Diamond is up to the RSSC calibre. The 7th floor hall has some issues that come with age and the plumbing as well. The dining room is one of the most beautiful that I have ever seen. There is not as much open space to meet and talk and the production shows are more limited. The pool is tiny and if you get rowdy teens or lots of kids it could be obnoxious. We only had 2 children (who were perfect). There are few ships that can boast basic rooms as nice as the Voyager, so we won't go there, but I had no issue with the room. I would just recommend to not take the front of the ship if you do not like the sound of an anchor waking you up.

Greek Isles vs Baltic Itinerary. Doug and I feel that the Baltic Itinerary is more varied and St. Pete is so rich it leaves you aching for more. So, the Baltics itinerary is a repete for this reason.

The Athens to Istanbul itinerary is a great one. It is less varied..ancient ruins and islands, but the Acropolis in Athens, Mycenae, Corinth, Ephesus and Santorini are must sees. We haven't hit Istabul yet and are very excited about this port too.

Athens...Acroplis and a city tour are the main events. We took a drive to Cape Sounion...pretty, but not a must do.

Nafplion ...Wonderful. Didn't know what to expect. But the town itself is just honky tonk. Do a tour. All tours were reported as excellent. We did full day tour which was well paced and took us to several sites in the beautiful countryside.

Santorini..you tender and come into the base of the island. You can walk up, take a donkey up or take a cable car up. The walk is long and you have to dodge donkeys and donkey excrement. Some folks loved the donkeys; The cable car is $3.50 euro each way and there are long lines, but it is efficient. At the top, there are stores. You can take a bus for 1 euro to the beach or to Oia. Don't miss Oia..lovely. It is a shame to miss the beaches. Many folks rented cars here and went to the winery and had a great time. It is a varied island and it is great to be able to see as much as possible of the varied scenery and beautiful volcanic beaches.

Mykonos. Another touristy and pretty shopping village with the same things for sale as every other island. A pretty place that would have been fine for 1/2 day. I would have liked to have seen Delos for 1/2 and then to have gone to the beach for the other half...nice beach..Paradise Beach..(12 euros round trip). Nice Naval museum here I heard.

Rhodes. A very interesting city with lots of nice package tours. Same stuff in shops..good museums and nice Acropolis site. Culture tour was supposedly excellent. Nice beaches.

Ephesus: A place to tour all day. Everyone did..just like in St. Petersberg. Ephesus is the best preserved ancient ruin in the world today and is extraordinarily large..several hours. Earliest artifacts are from the 14th century BC and date up through the 4th century AD. So, the breadth and wealth of history and architecture is tremendous. So much is intact, that you can actually walk through the site and imagine living in these times and picture what the city looked like. It was an Ancient History class that had come alive!

I would definitely recommend this cruise on either ship. Just be careful when you book and set your expectations accordingly. Do you want just an historic trip? Will it be spoiled if it is too hot? Do you want to enjoy the beaches?Will you be disappointed if you must spend all of your time bundled in sweaters and inside? Will the Diamond's limited size bother you then? If the "GODS" are with you, this can be a very exciting trip offering everything from beach, shopping, history; the the weather gods are not with you, there are compromises that you must mentally make to ease your disappointments.

We did have perfect weather for historical touring and were only cheated out of Delos. But no sundeck and swimming weather for us. Skies were blue and days a comfortable 65.

Andi - so I take it that you and Doug didn't do the donkeys in Santorini? :D

Masaki

That's gross. Doug can be an Ass though. Just kidding!

Andi, I did the Greek Isles on the Song of Flower so I guess doing this itinerary on a small ship wouldn't bother me much! Since the trip remains my favorite of all my cruises, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Your weather woes have me a bit worried as we will be on the Voyager in October next year for a Med cruise. Bundling up in sweaters does not sound like much fun! Our trip to the Greek isles was the opposite of your, weather wise. The Isles were all warm and sunny and by the time we got to Istanbul, it was rainy and cold. That could be the reason why we liked the islands and Ephesus better than Istanbul, the weather really makes the trip!

Thanks so much for all the updates, I hope you can squeeze one from Istanbul in. :)

Have a safe journey home!!

When we were aboard Diamond a year ago the computers were very limited and they just had basic internet. I'm sure they don't have any more computers than they did, but is the internet service decent and is it worthwhile to buy a computer package? 1 hour, 5 hours? We'll be leaving for Rome in 10 days. YAHOO!!!

1 hour is $6; 5 hours $25; 10 hours $40; 20 hours 75. Doug and I needed 7 hours. 5 computers and nobody fighting over them. Have fun in Rome.

As far as weather...if you aren't planning for a beach vacation, the weather was fine in October. Last year we did Med in OCtober and had great weather for touring. It was touring weather..not beach weather.

Have arrived in Istanbul and arrival was magical and weather glorious.

Like Karen, I cruised the Greek Isles on The Song of Flower in the first half of September as few years ago. Our weather was mid to low 80s. I guess the cooler weather of October is the reason for the 2 for 1 pricing?

Sorry the weather wasn't the best for your cruise, Andi.

Beth