BlackhawkPilot Posted July 8 #1 Share Posted July 8 Hey all, seeking advice on best luxury line for the Greece coastline? We are currently looking at a recommended cruise ship for $10k per person (10 day cruise) but seeing other options and wondering. If you have tried a few lines and have a strong preference that would be helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTtravelers Posted July 13 #2 Share Posted July 13 Hi BlackhawkPilot: There is A LOT of Greek coast to see... We spent 28 days there last October/November on Seabourn Encore and loved it. I swam 4 times in the Med in November and the water was warmer than our lakes near Seattle in the summer. Less crowds too. Oceania had very similar itineraries but when I compared apples to apples it was a wash, so the smaller Encore was the best choice for us. We did 5 shore excursions with the ship over the month, and thought every one was a good value. The rest of the time we did ports on our own, and shuttle busses were always provided when appropriate. If you could stretch it out a few more days, then you could head west for a week, return to Athens, then east. Plus, if you have a long day in Piraeus in the middle, you can grab the fast ferry to Hydra and be back before departure. It's a couple hours each way, but was totally worth it. They do have "weather" there so you might miss a port or two. But in one case we really lucked out: instead of one day in Istanbul we got "stuck" there for two days. So we got to see all of the major highlights. One thing is that with the 7 day itineraries strung together, we would sadly loose some new friends after weeks 1, 2 and 3. But then again, we made new ones as we went We met some great folks from New Zealand and got to stop by and visit with them this spring! They added so much fun and joy to our cruise. Too much to see. If you go 10 days, you will end up wanting to go back. But then again, we went for a month, and we are wanting to go back. 🙂 Our evening in Ephesus was very special, so adding a bit of Turkey is interesting too. These two pictures of Ephesus at night don't really do it justice: it was magical for us... accompanied by a concert, wine and snacks. Not all cruise lines offer this, and it was free (included). Hope this is helpful. D 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English Voyager Posted July 13 #3 Share Posted July 13 @DTtravelers Istanbul is well worth an extended stay. While you were there did you visit, what is for me one of the city's highlights, the Basilica Cistern? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTtravelers Posted July 13 #4 Share Posted July 13 54 minutes ago, English Voyager said: @DTtravelers Istanbul is well worth an extended stay. While you were there did you visit, what is for me one of the city's highlights, the Basilica Cistern? Yup we did. Agreed! On our "bonus" day we walked from the port across the "fishing" bridge. I'm told there are people out fishing from the bridge 24 hours a day. They were all happy to show us their catches. Then we went to the Cistern. After that we went through the Grand Bazaar. Fortunately our phones showed us where we were so that we did not get lost. For those who think I'm kidding, I am not! It's nearly endless, and you can get turned around easily. The next day we did the ships tour with Hagia Sophia mosque, the Blue Mosque, and the Tokapi palace (the jewels in the treasury were pretty amazing) and had a really nice lunch at a hotel restaurant near the mosques. Then we did the spice market. We had a very good guide, and being with the tour, we got into everything quickly without having to wait forever in line. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English Voyager Posted July 14 #5 Share Posted July 14 7 hours ago, DTtravelers said: Yup we did. Agreed! On our "bonus" day we walked from the port across the "fishing" bridge. I'm told there are people out fishing from the bridge 24 hours a day. They were all happy to show us their catches. Then we went to the Cistern. After that we went through the Grand Bazaar. Fortunately our phones showed us where we were so that we did not get lost. For those who think I'm kidding, I am not! It's nearly endless, and you can get turned around easily. The next day we did the ships tour with Hagia Sophia mosque, the Blue Mosque, and the Tokapi palace (the jewels in the treasury were pretty amazing) and had a really nice lunch at a hotel restaurant near the mosques. Then we did the spice market. We had a very good guide, and being with the tour, we got into everything quickly without having to wait forever in line. It is very easy to get lost in the Grand Bazaar---- 4,000 shops spread over 60 streets. I still remember the vivid colours in the specialist spice shops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackhawkPilot Posted July 15 Author #6 Share Posted July 15 Thanks DTTravelers for the very thorough answer!! We have friends that have used Seabourn before and were very happy too. Beautiful pictures too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calliopecruiser Posted July 15 #7 Share Posted July 15 Seabourn was good, though I found the food left a lot to be desired for a luxury line. SilverSea had much better food and I personally would put it a titch above Seabourn for that reason alone, though I found a lot of the furniture in public spaces to be less than luxurious. I'm waiting on my next 2 luxury line trials - Crystal and Explora. I loved Crystal pre-Covid, so I'm hoping I'll love it under its new ownership post-Covid even more. My Crystal cruise is in 6 months, and my Explora cruise is next spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BETTY2K4 Posted July 21 #8 Share Posted July 21 On 7/13/2024 at 9:26 PM, DTtravelers said: Hi BlackhawkPilot: There is A LOT of Greek coast to see... We spent 28 days there last October/November on Seabourn Encore and loved it. I swam 4 times in the Med in November and the water was warmer than our lakes near Seattle in the summer. Less crowds too. Oceania had very similar itineraries but when I compared apples to apples it was a wash, so the smaller Encore was the best choice for us. We did 5 shore excursions with the ship over the month, and thought every one was a good value. The rest of the time we did ports on our own, and shuttle busses were always provided when appropriate. If you could stretch it out a few more days, then you could head west for a week, return to Athens, then east. Plus, if you have a long day in Piraeus in the middle, you can grab the fast ferry to Hydra and be back before departure. It's a couple hours each way, but was totally worth it. They do have "weather" there so you might miss a port or two. But in one case we really lucked out: instead of one day in Istanbul we got "stuck" there for two days. So we got to see all of the major highlights. One thing is that with the 7 day itineraries strung together, we would sadly loose some new friends after weeks 1, 2 and 3. But then again, we made new ones as we went We met some great folks from New Zealand and got to stop by and visit with them this spring! They added so much fun and joy to our cruise. Too much to see. If you go 10 days, you will end up wanting to go back. But then again, we went for a month, and we are wanting to go back. 🙂 Our evening in Ephesus was very special, so adding a bit of Turkey is interesting too. These two pictures of Ephesus at night don't really do it justice: it was magical for us... accompanied by a concert, wine and snacks. Not all cruise lines offer this, and it was free (included). Hope this is helpful. D The Celsus Library should have been among these amazing pics ❤ https://www.bestephesustours.com/blog/discover-ephesus-after-dark.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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