Questions about Splendour of the Seas - Greek Isles & Turkey Cruise

We wanted to make our first cruise a memorable one, and when we saw Venice and Santorini on the itinerary we were sold.

 

I did get seasick the last day, but well worth it for the beautiful places we visited. I'll just use it as a learning experience for our next cruise...:)

Glad you had a great time. Where to next?

Glad you had a great time. Where to next?

Mediterranean again maybe... But there are just so many beatiful places that are tempting...

I saw some cruises starting from harwich... So that might be an option.. :)

Hello!

Just a quick update for anyone that's interested - now that we've gone on this cruise!

We only booked tours with RCCL for Kusadasi, Santorini and Katakolon. Dubrovnik is totally do-able on your own. We took a cab to Old Town (€10) and walked around for hours - so much to see! We also survived without any Kunas. We made purchases in places that took Euros or credit card.

We loved the excursion at Kusadasi - it was sightseeing at Ephesus, lunch and the House of the Virgin Mary, and of course, a carpet presentation ($95). The food was amazing - yes it was a theme park but it was delicious! As for the carpet presentation, it really depends on your tour - we did not feel pressured at all and we all left after the presentation. However, my in-laws were not so lucky, after their presentation, they were ambushed by salesmen and could not make it to the exit. When they finally made it out the first door, they had to sit through a jewellery presentation.

At Santorini, our excursion included sightseeing at Oia, winetasting and then a ride to Fira. We felt this excursion was not worth our $80. We basically paid for a glass of wine and the bus ride. We were dropped off at each destination and given free time, our tour guide did not take us anywhere. We took the cable car down back to the cruise ship and boy, was it a nightmare. We had been told it would be a 1 hour wait but we thought they were being cautious. We started lining up at 3 pm, and did not get back onto the ship until 4:15 (after tender). They were not kidding.

We book the excursion to Olympia with shopping at Katakolon ($80). We enjoyed the tour, but our tour guides were behind, and spent way too long at Olympia talking about the history. Most of the group was getting restless, we had two intervals of 20-30 minutes of shopping in the area (all souvenirs), and was then brought back to the ship about 45 minutes before the ship left. We wanted to check out the beach at Katakolon so we felt that we missed out a little bit. Oh well, better bang for our buck, some people might say.

A side note though, we did not enjoy the boat as much. It is a smaller boat and we found that there was not much to do. I was also sad to learn there were no comedy shows. On sea days, the two sun decks were completely full. We wandered aimlessly for almost an hour before two chairs freed up. We had an oceanview cabin, but we sure wished we had a balcony. And again, its hard to compare to the Allure of the Seas. :p

Thanks to everyone for the tips again!

Hope my little review will help someone!

Hello everyone

 

I'm preparing for my cruise on the Splendour of the Seas this September

I booked this cruise a year ago and have been on the forums for the past year weekly. I may have missed it, but I haven't heard a peep about this itinerary.

 

Has anyone been on the Splendour of the Seas, 7 Night Greek Isles & Turkey Cruise?

Did you enjoy it?

I'm wondering if you can recommend any excursions?

What can I expect from this ship? I understand its an older boat that has been renovated.

 

We sail out of Venice. Our ports of call are Dubrovnik, Croatia; Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey; Santorini, Greece; and Katakolon, Greece.

 

Thanks in advance!

We're leaving Oct 17th to fly to Venice for this cruise and are looking forward to each of the ports. We've booked shore excursions for each day

Do you know if they have a Diamond Area for breakfast?

Going on the Dubrovnik/Greece version of this on Splendour later this week.

Can someone tell me please, does the ship go through the Corinth Canal?

Can't wait to hear your review on this trip...I'm doing the exact same ship/itinerary but in Sept. 2015...and so far I'm doing it solo (yikes). Would love to read how it goes? Have fun! :)

Hello CavyCat4, my husband and I are doing this cruise in Sept also. Wondering which sailing you are on. We sail Sept. 12th.

We are looking forward to being on a smaller ship, as we have only sailed twice on the Oasis of the Seas.

Deb

We used Ephesus Deluxe and I can't tell you how happy I am that we used a private guide. NO carpet demonstration for one thing. Our guide was fabulous and we would never have gotten as much out of the tour of the ruins or the House of Mary without our incredible Essa. He is from Turkey but attended school in the U.S. and his English was fabulous. We weren't interested in going to Turkey and it turned out to be a favorite and one of the best memories of any excursion.

Hello everyone

 

I'm preparing for my cruise on the Splendour of the Seas this September

I booked this cruise a year ago and have been on the forums for the past year weekly. I may have missed it, but I haven't heard a peep about this itinerary.

 

Has anyone been on the Splendour of the Seas, 7 Night Greek Isles & Turkey Cruise?

Did you enjoy it?

I'm wondering if you can recommend any excursions?

What can I expect from this ship? I understand its an older boat that has been renovated.

 

We sail out of Venice. Our ports of call are Dubrovnik, Croatia; Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey; Santorini, Greece; and Katakolon, Greece.

 

Thanks in advance!

We did this cruise in 2014 and had a wonderful time. We missed Katakolon due to weather but went to Split instead where we saw the King and Queen of Denmark.

1000's of pics in my signature.

If you have time in Venice do try the pasta in any restaurant in St. Mark's square. A water bus and gondola ride will run you around 53e but is well worth it

Akrotiri was incredible to see.

If you are in Dubrovnik any day but Sunday you can go see the world's oldest continually running pharmacy. We really wanted to see the place but they are in a church run by monks so were closed on Sunday

Turkey can be a bit crowded and the sellers are pretty aggressive-just don't buy anything from anyone's uncle or cousin... It is pretty amazing that you'll see the place where St. Paul spoke to the Ephesians...

Hello CavyCat4, my husband and I are doing this cruise in Sept also. Wondering which sailing you are on. We sail Sept. 12th.

We are looking forward to being on a smaller ship, as we have only sailed twice on the Oasis of the Seas.

Deb

Hi TinkBellaMom,

I actually had to cancel this cruise. I'm really disappointed because Santorini is on my bucket list...maybe next year!

Have a great cruise!

Cheers. :)