First SBN cruise, Athens to Istanbul or reverse?

[CruiseCruiseCruise13]

My husband and I are looking to take our first Seabourn sailing next summer. We’ve narrowed it down to Athens to Istanbul, or the reverse as we’d like to visit both Athens and Istanbul.
We’re not really familiar with any of the ports in between. 
Do you have a preference? Is there a port we cannot miss?

[DaveA]

It is hard to advise without knowing which ports the two cruises you are choosing between will be visiting.

[CruiseCruiseCruise13]

That’s a very good point. 
I’m not sure how to edit my original post (if it’s posisble)

the two itineraries are;

 

Athens

Spetsai, 

Agios Nikolaos, Crete

Kusadsi

Mykonos

Skopelos

Bozcaada

Istanbul
 

or 

 

Istanbul

Myrina

Cesme

Bodrum

Symi

Thira

Ermoupolis

Athens

Edited October 22, 2022 by CruiseCruiseCruise13

[DaveA]

If you haven’t been to this area before then the combination of Kusadasi (for Ephesus) and Mykonos would be my suggestion. One of the most fascinating Ancient Greek cities plus a picture postcard Greek island.

[florisdekort]

Kusadasi (for Ephesus) and Mykonos definitely - if you haven’t been yet. 

[MJN1]

Assuming that you have not yet been to this region, Athen to Istanbul wins hands down!

On this routing, Bozcaada is the only one we have not been too. You won't regret vising any of the other ports on this cruise. 

Except for Bodrum, rather big sea side town, I would have to google all the other ports on the Istanbul-Athen leg.

But maybe others have personal experience and can advise better.

[marazul]

Athens to Istanbul.  No question. 

It includes Ephesus.

 

A lot of people want to visit Santorini (Thira), but it is a miserable port stop.  If you want to see it, fly there for a couple of days before the cruise.  But, depending on how much time you have, do not sacrifice 2 or 3 days in Athens to go to Santorini.

[SLSD]

3 hours ago, marazul said:

Athens to Istanbul.  No question. 

It includes Ephesus.

 

A lot of people want to visit Santorini (Thira), but it is a miserable port stop.  If you want to see it, fly there for a couple of days before the cruise.  But, depending on how much time you have, do not sacrifice 2 or 3 days in Athens to go to Santorini.

Would you suggest staying onboard the ship at the port of Santorini--and looking at photos of the island?  I have heard how miserable it can be--crowds, the poor overworked donkieys, etc.  

[marazul]

Find out how many ships are in port first. If only one or two, do go to the island. 

I would take a ship excursion that tenders to the ferry port, but find out first if it returns from there. I believe they are the ones catering to  those with walking difficulties. Ask at SB Square.

An excellent option is to take a boat excursion of the caldera, then you don't have to deal with cable cars or donkeys at all. 

Best of all is to go before or after the cruise. It is only a 30 minute flight.

 

 

Edited October 23, 2022 by marazul

[SLSD]

34 minutes ago, marazul said:

Find out how many ships are in port first. If only one or two, do go to the island. 

I would take a ship excursion that tenders to the ferry port, but find out first if it returns from there. I believe they are the ones catering to  those with walking difficulties. Ask at SB Square.

An excellent option is to take a boat excursion of the caldera, then you don't have to deal with cable cars or donkeys at all. 

Best of all is to go before or after the cruise. It is only a 30 minute flight.

 

 

We have never been to this particular island and don't have walking difficulties.  If you don't have walking difficulties, is there an issue getting back to the tender?  I've never really understood the logistics as they have been described. 

 

[jenidallas]

The ports on Athens/Istanbul are more appealing, but I do love the sail away out of Istanbul.  If the ports were the same, I’d pick Istanbul/Athens hands-down just for that experience.

[lincslady]

If there are other ships in and yours departs a bit later, go up on the cable car after lunch; we have noticed that the big ship passengers all seem to go in the morning and return to their ships before 2 p.m. And in the height of summer there are awful queues (except they don't believe in queueing, not being British) to get back down.  IMO it is worth going up and down in the cable car, if hopefully it is not too crowded up there.  Or do the excursion.  Don't event think about the poor donkeys, or walking down their route.

[marazul]

1 hour ago, SLSD said:

We have never been to this particular island and don't have walking difficulties.  If you don't have walking difficulties, is there an issue getting back to the tender?  I've never really understood the logistics as they have been described. 

 

The tender port is at the bottom of a cliff. The town on top is Fira.  To get up there you either take the cable car or go up a path on a donkey or by foot. Ship excursions tender to the ferry port where there is road (cars, buses) access to the island.  Because of local authority deals with merchants,  cable car, etc., most ship excursions have to return to the ship by dropping off the pax and then going down to the tender port by cable car or down the donkey path.  Some ship excursions are allowed to drive back to the ferry port and tender back from there. 

My advice is going to SB Square as soon as you board and ask about the options. Also ask about the tender for independent excursions and to which of the two ports it will take you. 

Santorini is lovely - nice towns, beaches, views, Akrotiri ruins, etc.  

[SLSD]

2 hours ago, marazul said:

The tender port is at the bottom of a cliff. The town on top is Fira.  To get up there you either take the cable car or go up a path on a donkey or by foot. Ship excursions tender to the ferry port where there is road (cars, buses) access to the island.  Because of local authority deals with merchants,  cable car, etc., most ship excursions have to return to the ship by dropping off the pax and then going down to the tender port by cable car or down the donkey path.  Some ship excursions are allowed to drive back to the ferry port and tender back from there. 

My advice is going to SB Square as soon as you board and ask about the options. Also ask about the tender for independent excursions and to which of the two ports it will take you. 

Santorini is lovely - nice towns, beaches, views, Akrotiri ruins, etc.  

Thank you.  I think I understand now.----We don't want to ride the donkeys of course and don't want to walk down the donkey path for sanitary reasons.  IF the island is overwhelmed with cruisers, there could be a long time consuming line at the cable car.  SO---it would be best to take an excursion that comes back to the tender.  OR, if there are not many ships at the island, the cable car would be an ok choice.  

[Asquare]

We did this as a two week Athens-Istanbul-Athens with an extra day in Athens on the end.  I wish we had an extra day in Istanbul, the city was had so much to see and one day was not enough, especially if it is a Sunday, when the Grand Bazaar is closed.  I agree that Athens to Istanbul is a better route if you only have one week.  Ephesus was my favorite stop after Istanbul.

[CruiseCruiseCruise13]

Thank you everyone, it’s sounds like Athens to Istanbul is the way to go!
We’re making plans to add days on either end, so we’ll get to spend a couple of days in Athens and a couple days in Istanbul.  
We’re really excited to take our first Seabourn cruise! 

[Mr Luxury]

23 hours ago, SLSD said:

Would you suggest staying onboard the ship at the port of Santorini--and looking at photos of the island?  I have heard how miserable it can be--crowds, the poor overworked donkieys, etc.  

I always take the first tender and then get on the cable car

I have breakfast at my favourite place and go back to the ship as the island starts to get busy if there are a few ships in 

[cruisr]

Athens to Istanbul.

 I think Santorini is beautiful.  I have never been in July or August and do not intend to.  Off season it is not overrun.  There was one other ship in port that day and I took the bus over to Oia.  It was spectacular.

 

 

[Catlover54]

10 hours ago, CruiseCruiseCruise13 said:

Thank you everyone, it’s sounds like Athens to Istanbul is the way to go!
We’re making plans to add days on either end, so we’ll get to spend a couple of days in Athens and a couple days in Istanbul.  
We’re really excited to take our first Seabourn cruise! 

 

I wish you a wonderful cruise!  It will almost certainly be a step-up from your prior Holland America cruises ( to partially match the step-up in price).   

The most significant improvement will be the increased amount of public space available per passenger that you will see, and the general ease of getting off and on in ports, compared with HAL.

 

[shark b8]

I'm pretty late to this particular party, but for what it's worth, I'd absolutely agree with the majority of posters here...Athens to Istanbul.  Now....that's IF you're fascinated by ancient history - during our last Med cruise I met a few folks who were completely unimpressed with such things, and it goes without saying that's their right and their opinions should be respected, if not shared.  However, if you are intrigued with ancient history and ruins, Ephesus and Knossos in Crete just should not be missed, imho.  And, the new-ish airport in Istanbul is quite impressive as a departure-point, we spent a couple of very enjoyable hours before our flight out.  Yes, we lucked into an upgrade, and the First Class lounge there was delightfully modern, decadent (and uncrowded), but that was a one-time luck-thing of course, ymmv.  They even drove us from the lounge to the gate, on one of those motorized cart things - hey, I'm old but I'm not *that* old.  😱😎

[SLSD]

If you choose the Athens to Istanbul, ending your cruise in that city could be one of the best things ever.  We did this route some years ago and hired a private guide in Istanbul and stayed an extra two full days  days at the end of the cruise (or was it three days). .  We enjoyed seeing all the famous sites in the city  (the  Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi, the Grand Bazaar--as well as some lesser known sites that our guide knew about.)  We even crossed the Bosporus via a very small boat one evening to dine at a memorable  waterside restaurant.  There were lunches overlooking the Bosporus as well as time spent in a wonderful hotel.  Seeing Istanbul is one of our most memorable vacation experiences.   

[highplanesdrifters]

4 hours ago, shark b8 said:

First Class lounge there was delightfully modern, decadent

We'll be there next year. Which lounge delighted you? Thanks.

 

4 hours ago, SLSD said:

hired a private guide in Istanbul

Any chance you have the guides name and contact info.  Thanks!

[SLSD]

11 minutes ago, highplanesdrifters said:

We'll be there next year. Which lounge delighted you? Thanks.

 

Any chance you have the guides name and contact info.  Thanks!

It's been some years, but I think my husband kept in contact with her --at least some years ago---.  I'll ask him and come back with an answer.  She was actually our guide at two different ports.  I hope Mr. SLSD has current contact info.  i know that people can see the sights in Instanbul without a guide, but her knowledge of restaurants (and ability to get a good table there) and familiarity with the city was instrumental for our wonderful time there.  She was even a tea leaf reader! The ONLY sight we saw there that I would skip is the NEW palace (whatever it is called).  It is a very large wood frame building and it felt like a fire trap to me and could not hold a candle to Topkapi.  

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by SLSD

[SLSD]

2 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

We'll be there next year. Which lounge delighted you? Thanks.

 

Any chance you have the guides name and contact info.  Thanks!

Highplanesdrifters,  Mr. SLSD says he has maintained contact with our guide through Linked in.  Her name is Sebnem Altin and she has been with several agencies.   She was our guide in Istanbul and another Turkish port a little over 10 years ago!  Sebnem was a very young woman at the time. We were a group of four (two couples) and she was our guide over a number of days.  She was an excellent guide.  I'm not a member of Linked in--so I couldn't see much there about her, but I googled her and I think you would be able to contact her, even if you are not a Linked in member.  I just remember that she enabled us to have such a rich experience.  We asked her to order for us in restaurants so that we could be sure to have dishes that were local specialties.  I remember most fondly a lunch in restaurant overlooking the Bosporus--what a view.  We were able to go places that we would have known nothing about but for our guide.    There is a photo of Sebnem in this BBC article:  https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60262964

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by SLSD

[highplanesdrifters]

46 minutes ago, SLSD said:

Highplanesdrifters,  Mr. SLSD says he has maintained contact with our guide through Linked in.  Her name is Sebnem Altin and she has been with several agencies.   She was our guide in Istanbul and another Turkish port a little over 10 years ago!  Sebnem was a very young woman at the time. We were a group of four (two couples) and she was our guide over a number of days.  She was an excellent guide.  I'm not a member of Linked in--so I couldn't see much there about her, but I googled her and I think you would be able to contact her, even if you are not a Linked in member.  I just remember that she enabled us to have such a rich experience.  We asked her to order for us in restaurants so that we could be sure to have dishes that were local specialties.  I remember most fondly a lunch in restaurant overlooking the Bosporus--what a view.  We were able to go places that we would have known nothing about but for our guide.    There is a photo of Sebnem in this BBC article:  https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60262964

 

Wow, fantastic. Thanks so much.  These types of experiences are the ones we always treasure.