Greek Islands and Turkey Cruise

[saxman1]

My wife and I are considering a Greek Island cruise on the Ocean Princess. It is a 7 day cruise leaving on September 8 from Athens to Rome, stopping at several Greek islands and in Ephesus, Turkey. I did a CC search, but can't find anyone who has been (or is even talking about) this cruise. Looks like the ship used to be called the Tahitian Princess. Anyone been on this ship or thinking about this cruise?

[spyder1]

We cruised the Med. in May 2007 with two other couples. We went on RC (7 day cruise). We started and ended in Venice, Italy. We went to Dubrovnik, Croatia, Santorinni, Greece, Corfu, Greece and Kudasai, Turkey. We really enjoyed the ports and cruiseline. After returning to Venice we rented a car and drove through Tuscany and stayed 3 days in Rome. Look and see what ports you want to visit and see what lines go there. It is usually more expensive for airfare when you start at one port and end at another. We went in May - any later and it will be pretty warm for touring. We did all of the ports on our own except we wanted to tour Ephesus in Turkey and went with the cruiseline.

 

 

we did the same cruise as above in May of 2009. We were attending a wedding in Venice so decided to make the most of it. We did all of our Excursions on our own.

 

Venice - show up a few days early or stay after the cruise to see the city. We stayed at the Ca Dei Dogi www.cadeidogi.it

It was relatively cheap and close to everything. Ask the hotel for local not tourist restaurants to eat at. You will get better food, service and more bang for your buck. American liquor is expensive there. One beam and coke cost me $15. So after that I drank the local beer and wine.

Dubrovnik - we did a Kayak trip around the wall of the city and back around. I think it was about 7-10 miles. Very pretty except for the little Island we went around with the nude beach. Nothing like a bunch of fat hairy european men doing the captain morgan pose showing off something that should never be seen. LOL. We booked directly with the Kayak people and that saved us money.

Kusadasi - We booked our own tour with Ekol Travel http://ekoltravel.com/turkey/tours/shore_kus.html

We saw the Virgin Mary's house, the ruins at Ephesus, and the Terrace Houses (xtra cost, but worth it!!). We had a blast and paid a little extra for the private tour so it was just my wife and I. I am a huge history buff and I ask a lot of technical questions and want to see the things that I like and skip the others. The private tour was great! You move faster through the crowd and they cater to what you want. After the tour they dropped us off back at the Port. We walked through the grand bazaar and got some lunch...well a lot of lunch. My wife and I are foodies so we tried as much of everything that we could. It was great, plus the Turks make a good beer, Efes. Yum. I can't remember the name of the little place we ate, but the staff was entertaining and very funny. The food was top notch. My wife went back to the ship to rest and I walked down to an old castle that was built by the Crusaders. it was about a 10-20 minute walk, not bad at all. There were 2 bars at the entrance, so there I was sitting on the steps of this old castle drinking Efes....I was in heaven.

Santorini - the whole reason for this trip. We hired a taxi to take use to Oia where all of the blue domes are. Did some site seeing and shoping. Hired a taxi to bring us back and went to Santo Wines for some wine tasting and then back to Fira (the port) for some delicious lunch with a view. This Island is just amazing!

Corfu - Not much here really except olive field tours and shopping. We wandered around on our own and again I had to see the old forts, then some lunch...A REALLY GOOD LUNCH!!!! And back to the ship to relax at the pool. Since most of the taxi's are privately owned you can haggle and that is what we did our whole tour. Walk all the way out of all of the ports and you will find cheaper taxi's, or prebook someone ahead of time. You can find recommendations all over these boards.