Norwegian ENCORE

Tom@Acescruising

January 07, 2025

Silversea cruises

Silver moon luxury cruising

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Tom@Acescruising

June 22, 2024

Pulpit Rock

Norwegian Fjords

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Tom@Acescruising

May 19, 2024

Enchanted princess video

A quick video of a cabin on Enchated Princess

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Tom@Acescruising

3 hours ago

Greece activities

Fun times in athens and around

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Tom@Acescruising

May 21, 2025

Greek dining

On a nice food tour now!

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Tom@Acescruising

May 22, 2025

Athens biking

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Tom@Acescruising

May 11, 2025

A journey through Greece to Turkey

May 2025 trip itinerary

Acescruising

On May 19, I will start to make my way to Greece from Florida. Many have been asking me about my day to day, so, Here is a nice layout.

The trip will be a working vacation as I am hosting an Explora Journeys cruise for Signature travel network.

Flying from Orlando saved me about $1000 on the flight, so, I will take Amtrak from Jacksonville (about $40) to the train station near MCO. Ill stay at an airport hotel and just relax before my flight on the 20th.

I have a dual layover flight on Condor air (german operated airplane) with stops in Toronto and Frankfurt before arrival in Athens on the 21st at around 3pm.

I decided it was best to get a private car from ATH to the city center, the ride is about 45 minutes or so. That cost around $85. You can also take a regular taxi for around $70 or the train starts at $15.

From the 21st to the 24th I will stay at a hotel in Athens called The Stanley, which I have booked for guests in the past with good review and feedback. I will have a full review of the hotel upon my return.

I decided to book a night tour dining and walking tour, which should be a great way to refresh my my memory of Athens, as I have not been since 2017.

Lets rundown a quick day by day pre cruise schedule:

May 21 - Transport to Hotel, Evening food tour.

May 22 - City bike ride in the early afternoon and a food and wine tour at 5:30p.

May 23 - Yacht Tour. This is a 10 hour yachting tour with lunch and drinks with stops at Agstri and Moni (swimming and relaxing)

May 24 - Boarding day. In the morning I will do a walking tour with the Acropolis and museums. Around 3pm, I will board the ship and prepare for my welcome party that evening abord the beautiful Explora I.

This cruise is a seven night Greek Isles cruise that will end in Turkey. Below will be a quick overview.

May 25 - mykonos. In the Day I will do a Catamaran with Project Expedition excursion providers. That evening, I will visit a Greek farm.

May 26 - Patmos. Im doing an excursion with Explora called "The Spirit of Patmos" (Cave of St. John, Monastery and a Greek show.

May 27 - Volos. Hiking and photography with Explora.

May 28 - Thessaloniki - Tombs and Relic tour with Explora

May 29 - Kavala- Historical tour with Explora

May 30 - Much needed at Sea rest day.

May 31 - Disembark in Istanbul.

Istantbul -

May 31- June 3. - Check into the Ritus hotel in central Istanbul.

May 31 - I have a full day. after dropping my bags off, I will do a tour with Viator that will include lunch and a ferry ride to the asian side of the country. That evening, I have a small group walking tour with Viator that includes rooftop dining and views.

June 1 - Im doing a full day tour of all the main sights in Istanbul (Blue Mosque ect) that will last around 8 hours with viator. After that, I am visiting a Turkish traditional spa with Viator.

June 2 - Bosphorus Yacht Cruise with Asian Side that I booked with Shore excursions Group and then a traditional dinner show that I booked with Viator.

on June 3, I fly back to Jacksonville and 7am.

Feel free to post or ask any questions!

acescruising.com

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Tom@Acescruising

April 28, 2025

Europe Travels 2024

Touring Europe

Acescruising

Europe Travel 2024

The Norwegian Fjords trip came to an end and I disembarked the ship in Rotterdam. I decided to take a taxi to my hotel in Amsterdam. The Grand, which is a luxury historical property near the "red light" district. Let me take you through the next few days as I make my way to Prague.

Day one in Amsterdam

After dropping my bags off at the hotel, I used the spa facilities for a bit, using the early afternoon to catch up on some rest and relaxation. The Sofitel Grand was an amazing hotel, I highly recommend it.

After getting rested and cleaned up, I walked around the city a bit and just enjoyed the sights and sounds of Amsterdam. The Leidseplein had plenty of music, food & bars and sights to fill the day.

The following day I did a bike ride around the city with VIator. We had about 8 people in our group and explored the city sights via bike. We rode through the Vondelpark and some of the "hidden" neighborhoods of Amsterdam. I enjoyed seeing the city. Of course you will see the Vangogh museum and the Anne Frank house. In the evening, I had a private walking tour though the red light district with an expat from Iowa. He had been living in Amsterdam since college and had good knowledge of the area. After a short walk around the red light district with some historical points, We ended up just grabbing a few beers and talking about Amsterdam and how things around the city function. The city of canals did not disappoint.

The next day, I hopped on a train to Brussels.

In Brussels, I stayed at HOTEL DES GALERIES

A nice, but quaint hotel in the city center. I dropped my bags and then went and found my tour. This was an all day walking tour that included; chocolate, whisky and waffles. The Belgium trifecta! I wasn't really a believer until the tour where I tasted some of the best chocolate I have ever had. It was very smooth and flavorful. The beer and whisky really have an interesting history, brewed and distilled by monks, the story is really interesting. The tour was kinda long, but it covered a lot of the area and culture of Brussels.

The next day I just used as a relaxing day and walked around and enjoyed the sights. I had to leave early the next day on a flight to Berlin.

I arrived in Berlin and stayed at a Max Browne for two nights. I happened to stay in a quiet area away from the hustle and bustle, but it worked out.

My first tour was a 3 hour bike ride around Berlin, checking out the major sights; The Berlin Wall, Check point Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, TV tower and the Holocaust memorial. It was a nice ride and gave a good quick glimpse around Berlin. After the tour, I decided to join up with some other people on the bike ride and do a pub crawl. It was a bit too full, but it was pretty fun.

On my final day in Berlin, I decided to go to the UEFA Soccer match at the OlympiaStadion between Italy and the Netherlands. Quite the match which the Netherlands won 2-0. My short time in Berlin was coming to an end. I had to get up early the next morning to catch my car to Prague.

As I left Berlin, I kinda felt like I had missed out on some of the sights, and sounds, but it was nice to see Berlin. My ride picked me up from the hotel and we had about a 4 hour ride to Prague. We stopped in Dresden, which was leveled during world war two. A lot of the grounds had been rebuilt, and it was interesting to see some of the world war two history. I also stopped at Moritzburg Castle, lots of horses and locals bustling about.

Early that evening, I reached Prague, which I will discuss in the final part of this series as it connects to my river cruise and bike riding tour through the Danube river valley. Stay tuned!

Pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/raffles/albums/72177720324454980

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Tom@Acescruising

January 12, 2025

Norwegian Fjords

A Norwegian Adventure

Acescruising

Norwegian Fjords 2024

Ship: Celebrity Silhouette

In June of 2024 I ventured out for a massive 8 country European trip that started in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The first night, started by staying at an Airport hotel (NintyNine Hotel) near the airport. This was a great place to stay. The next morning, I took an UBER to Rotterdam, that was about $80USD. I dropped my bags off at the ship and just walked around the area. A few sights to see, coffee to be had and then onto the Silhouette around 1pm.

The cruise sails down the river for a while and passes by the beautiful Hoek Van Holland park and beach. Don't miss the views!

The first day of the cruise is sailing in the North Sea towards the Fjords, so, its a good chance to rest and take in some of the scenic views. Enjoy the ship, eat well.

Molde, Norway. Our first stop. I did a coastal hike with the cruise line. They drove us out to Farstad to explore the coastline and the burial mounds at Nordnest. An easy hike, beautiful scenery and some morning movement. Once we returned, I walked around the small town and explored some of the shops and pubs. Molde is a nice city to shop, eat and walk around.

Olden, Norway - Olden has to be one of my favorite places I have ever been. Deep in the Fjords, the scenes are Majestic! First, I did an excursion/hike to a glacier. This was a walk in the park but a great sight to behold. Once at the park, the hike to the glacial pool is easy because you take a trollcar up to the top!! The trip in the trollcar is short and its fun. Its hard to describe the majestic beauty of this area. You will see waterfalls, glaciers, beautiful blue waters and amazing mountains. This port and this experience is what my minds eye says "this is Norway." See my instagram or flickr to see more pictures of this area.

After I got back to town, I went up the cable car to view the fjords from high above. A beautiful clear day and you get to see both fjords converge for a wonderful sight. Stop in at the pub afterward for a local beer, an elk burger and take a look at the tables! The owner of the pub carved them by hand.

Alesund, Norway - Home of the famous Trollstigen! This is the famous switchback road you see in travel magazines and on internet pictures and videos from Norway. I took a VIATOR excursion that took us about 90 minutes from the port to see the famous road. There is a guest area, gift shop, food and a viewing area. Such a beautiful walk and view from high up the mountain. You'll probably see a few goats as well! Dont forget to look up, the mountain tops are majestic to behold.

Stavenger - I really wish the cruise line would have given us about 3-5 more hours in port. I felt like they could have. I went out to the Geysers, which was about an hour ride. It was OK. I would try and do something else if I had a second chance at it.

My favorite things to do on this itinerary were;

1. Hike to Pulpit rock - Tough, but rewarding. Please dont attempt if you have foot, leg or back issues! The views were stunning.

2. Olden. Really great views, sights, the cable car and Olden pub (Molla Guesthouse) really cool across the board. My favorite port on this itinerary.

3. the Trollcars - Briksdall glaciers and the trollcars were really fun and a sight to see.

I loved this cruise. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Id love to do it with a smaller ship, but the Celebrity experience was great. I did see a Ponant vessel in Olden, that must have been a great cruise as well. I only saw them once along our cruise. Probably had a longer itinerary and could get even deeper into the fjords because of it being a much smaller vessel. I highly recommend a Norwegian Fjords cruise!

To see pictures: Norway Pictures

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