12 Day Grand Mediterranean Review on the Norwegian Spirit

Still enjoying your great review, especially your Ephesus tour. We will be on the Spirit next June and I'm disappointed that our time in port is scheduled for 7-2, I hope we can visit what you did in that time frame.

Looking forward to your next installment!

That is a really good port time frame. You can get to Ephesus before it gets too crowded and you will be there in a cool part of the day which will both increase your comfort and enjoyment. It can be brutal there in an afternoon.

Still enjoying your great review, especially your Ephesus tour. We will be on the Spirit next June and I'm disappointed that our time in port is scheduled for 7-2, I hope we can visit what you did in that time frame.

Looking forward to your next installment!

Ephesus is HOT and there isn't a lot of shade. It looks like Ephesus opens at 8am so by the time you make your way off the ship, meet your guide and drive to the entrance you will be right on time. I think it would be great to be there in the cooler morning hours and if you do it with a private guide likely beat the majority of the crowds. You will need to get up early but this is one place I would not hesitate to get up early.

Mykonos in the morning was nice but I would have preferred to sleep in that morning then have an afternoon strolling with a casual seaside lunch/dinner.

Nolatravelgirl, thanks so much for you review and pictures. We went on this cruise and your review brings back wonderful memories.

We chose the Venice to Barcelona itinerary. I liked going to Ephesus in the morning as well we did the same tour as you, without lunch. Back in plenty of time. I also like Mykonos in the afternoon. Another benefit was the sea days at the front end of the cruise. Although we had flown over the week before, we welcomed the 2 sea days after a week in London and Venice. Others appreciated it after long flights.

It may not be that Important to those with short flights to either city. And others like an overnight in Venice while still on the Spirit, offered on the Barcelona to Venice route. Either way, it is a fabulous cruise. Thanks again.

Thank you for your great review and guidance.

I could not find good information for breakfast options. What time do they start serving, as an early breakfast is necessary to get ready for the 8:00am departures. The Main Dining Rooms seem to be scheduled to open around 7:30, is that correct?

Thank you for your great review and guidance.

 

I could not find good information for breakfast options. What time do they start serving, as an early breakfast is necessary to get ready for the 8:00am departures. The Main Dining Rooms seem to be scheduled to open around 7:30, is that correct?

The start of breakfast service in the varied venues depends on port times. I can't say with a 100% certainty when breakfast will be served in Ephesus when the port time is 7am but I can say that when we docked at Mykonos at 7am there was breakfast starting at 5:30am in the buffet and 6:30am in the main dining room.

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I would plan on a protein packed breakfast that will fill you up but not weigh you down such as boiled eggs, yogurt and cheese but stay away from the carb centric waffles with syrup and pancakes. Only you can decide what is right for you. My main thing I would remind you for Ephesus is hydrate, hydrate, hydrate and use the bathroom when it is offered!

Thank you for your quick reply.

We are on the October 12th cruise from Barcelona. Temperature will be high 60's to low 70's, so we will not have the same issues as you did. Learned my lesson when we did Rome in August many years ago. First thing I check is when to visit. Some places have a very small window, ie: Myanmar Dec thru Feb.

Patiently - or not so patiently :-) - waiting for the next installment! I'm enjoying this review so much and can't wait to hear about Venice. I especially enjoy your perspective because I'm also traveling with a friend and we will also go in seperate directions at some of the ports. We have a tour lined up for Istanbul and I'm glad because I do like to hear about what I'm seeing, but you made me realize that it's pretty easy to just get off the ship and wander around. Unfortunately our tour doesn't include the cistern, which looks amazing.

You're also helping me to rethink how I want to do some of the ports. I hate the "drive around, hop out and take a photo, drive around some more" tours. There's no other way to do Rome if you want to see everything, but I've already been to Rome so I don't need to, and will look for something a little more relaxing.

Patiently - or not so patiently :-) - waiting for the next installment! I'm enjoying this review so much and can't wait to hear about Venice. I especially enjoy your perspective because I'm also traveling with a friend and we will also go in seperate directions at some of the ports. We have a tour lined up for Istanbul and I'm glad because I do like to hear about what I'm seeing, but you made me realize that it's pretty easy to just get off the ship and wander around. Unfortunately our tour doesn't include the cistern, which looks amazing.

 

You're also helping me to rethink how I want to do some of the ports. I hate the "drive around, hop out and take a photo, drive around some more" tours. There's no other way to do Rome if you want to see everything, but I've already been to Rome so I don't need to, and will look for something a little more relaxing.

Also check out Toms port Guides for a easy do it yourself tour, of several of our ports

We are all still waiting with bated breath for the rest of your adventure:D One quick question, did you have availability to use Iconcierge on your phone? Sounds like a great feature but I can't find straight info on whether it s available for Spirit passengers. Thanks, Vicki

We are all still waiting with bated breath for the rest of your adventure:D One quick question, did you have availability to use Iconcierge on your phone? Sounds like a great feature but I can't find straight info on whether it s available for Spirit passengers. Thanks, Vicki

It wasn't available to the best of my knowledge on our sailing. The Spirit is a fairly small boat and it was easy enough to keep up with the information using our daily newsletter and the information screens around the ship.

Next part coming up now!

Part 49

For my main course I had the pork loin. It was well prepared but nothing outstanding. I really wish I had just had a double order of the cornets.

I ended my meal with the cheese plate. I am a cheese-aholic and love a good cheese plate. 2 of the 4 cheeses are found on the buffet but the other two were ones I had not seen anywhere else on the ship.

We called it a night as the next day was Athens!

The Daily

We pulled into the port but we were delayed approximately 45 minutes waiting on the authorities to clear the ship. Needless to say the folks on the ship were getting restless but NCL did a good job of keeping everyone up to date over the loud speaker.

We finally got off the boat and we had a distinct lack of a clear plan. While in Mykonos there was a lady handing out the business cards for a cheap tour bus and it seemed like a good idea

We saw the lady holding the sign and followed her over to the bus where she seemed rather disorganized and told us to wait there as another bus would be arriving and the other bus would be the bus we needed since the bus that was here was for Spanish speaking guests.

At this point I had gotten fidgety and was worried that we were headed for a day of misery. I headed over to the taxi line to negotiate a rate for a private tour. We ended up with another “Niko,” seriously does every tour/taxi person in the Med have any other name? For 140€ we would have a half day tour via taxi. Niko sped off into the city and spoke excellent English while giving us some fun facts.

Our first stop was the Temple of Zues which Niko assured us was a smart move as you buy a multi entry ticket for the major attractions. Most people head first to the Acropolis and the lines to buy tickets are always long. We of course parked illegally in front and Niko asked for I think 15€ per person and he bobbed and weaved us through a crowd and went straight ahead and got us two tickets. He stayed at the entrance and we were free to roam the site.

Of course I had to take the obligatory selfies.

I did not topple the pillar!

Part 50

Just like that we were back in the taxi speeding towards the Acropolis. We were dropped at the base and he said to meet him back at the restaurant when we were done. We had our tickets and instructions on how not to stand in the ticket line and just go straight to the entrance. Just like Niko said there was a crazy long line to buy tickets but a pretty short line to actually begin the ascent. The pathway looks a lot worse than it actually really is. There were slight windy inclines then a few steps, then another windy incline followed by steps. The crowds were thick so you can take your time making the climb.

First stop was the Odeon of Herodes Atticus on the southwest side of the Acropolis. There is a fairly steep step that you first approach. If you actually pass where everyone is making the treacherous move if you walk just a few paces past there there is a set of stairs and a handrail which are much easier.

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The crowds seemed to be getting thicker but it is because you are approaching the Propyla which is a large structure of columns that everyone needs to pass through to get to the Parthenon. It was crazy bananas as it was getting tighter and tighter with people. This big hoard of people all had to pass through those columns. I marked it here in red.

Once you shuffle through the columns the area is wide and expansive and you can finally move about again. Once again I popped in my headphones and tuned into Rick Steves for a tour of the major attractions. It was just enough information for me.

The Propyla from the back side

The Temple of Erechtheum

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Yay! I've been waiting for more!!

Part 51

I then made my way over to the side of the hill with the Parthenon. OMG is this thing big! Wow! You are only allowed to walk the perimeter.

Scenic view looking down over the city

The views were amazing but there was no shade so I decided to make my way back through the Propyla and met back up with Jenidallas for the walk down the hill. Of course our taxi was parked illegally and we were off again. Next stop was Parliament for the changing of the guard.

Part 52

We were speeding away and I was getting concerned that we were rushing through the sites and that our taxi driver wasn’t going to want to wait for the changing of the guard. I don’t think he planned it because he had no idea how long we would take at the Acropolis, but we were super lucky in that they were just beginning the changing of the guard right when we screeched to the curb and our driver let us out. We had a perfect view!

It was really cool to get the great video!

We were certainly knocking out the attractions quickly. Having a taxi parked right outside waiting just for us really did make it easy, but on the flip side we were moving so swiftly from attraction to attraction that I didn’t feel like we could really enjoy the city. Next up is the Olympic Stadium!

The Changing of the Guard photos and YouTube video are fantastic. You are right, what a great vantage point you had! Kudos to your guide even if was just a fortunate stroke of timing.

Still just loving this review. Thanks so much!

Part 24

 

Just wanted to give a big thank you to everyone who has been reading along. I love that you guys are enjoying it but I am trying not to be one of those people who quotes everyone and says "thanks" just to beef their post count.

 

 

Okay, I laughed a little at this comment.

Loved reading your review. Extremely well paced and written. Just the right amount of pictures and commentary. This really moves along and can be read in a brief amount of time. Thank you for posting this and there is no need for you to respond to my comment. :D I'm good.

Thanks again. Bruce...

Please come back and finish!!! I want to hear about Venice!

Please come back and finish!!! I want to hear about Venice!

Me too!!

Part 53

So sorry for the delay. I really do plan on wrapping this up soon. I too can't wait to talk about Venice as it was my favorite port!

Again we hopped back in the taxi and we stopped at an intersection where we were told to cross the street and we would be at the entrance to the Olympic stadium from the modern Olympics

This was pretty much the end of the tour. I really wish we had done a better job of planning Athens as I felt like we were on a speeding game show that required pictures at a rapid pace. Our taxi dropped us off back at the dock and we headed up to the pool deck for some cocktails and pool time.

The atmosphere around the ship was fun and you could see that they were prepping for the evening’s White Hot Party. I loved that all the waiters wore shirts reminding you of the event.

Part 54

I was really looking forward to this party as I think it is thing that most differs from Seabourn. Yes, Seabourn has a deck party with dancing but it is very different and fairly “stiff” so it was fun to have a night party where people actually danced!

Our dinner tonight was at Cagney’s Steakhouse. I had the strip loin and a baked potato. The potato was really small and the waiter came by with a tray of toppings and added them to the potato.

It was finally time for the White Hot Party! The bar was hopping and the music was playing all around the pool deck

TIP: Be sure to pack a white dress. It can be super casual but you don't want to feel left out!

If you want to see a video of the White Hot Party check out my youtube upload here.

Still waiting on your Venice adventures.:)

I have really enjoyed your review!

Part 55

Today was a SEA DAY! This is a long cruise with lots of ports so sometimes you think you will never be able to rest. It was nice to not be overscheduled and to just be able to hang out on board. As part of our Chef’s Table dining we got a backstage tour of the MDR kitchen. We assembled in the MDR where we were met by one of the chefs. The executive chef was tied up and met us towards the end of the tour.

My day job is as consultant and I do lots of process design and workflow documentation so it was cool to see the efficiencies in the kitchen.

We ended our tour in the Garden Room MDR.

Overall it was an interesting tour and I was glad we got to take it. This is definitely something you shouldn’t skip as you rarely get to see the behind the scenes of the ship. After watching all the food being made we decided to have an early-ish lunch in the Windows MDR. I thought it was a lovely space. My pictures do not do it justice.