Looking for any type of feedback/reviews of a Holy Land Cruise.

[MagentaandRiffRaff]

Thanks.

Wendy

[tottenhamfc]

Absolutely the best cruise we have done. Tips, traffic is horrendous to get to Old Jerusalem so ideally if you have an overnight it would be better. We found the ship excursions too overloaded and would have preferred a more tailor made tour. Highlights and must see are Old Jerusalem and Western Wall, Temple Mount and Holocaust museum. Dead Sea is a bucket list, it is a long ride and very overrated IMHO. 

[akke29]

I did a Holyland cruise with my parents last fall on Odyssey.  It was fantastic and a dream come true for my Mom as she's always dreamed of visiting Israel.  Yes, a cruise doesn't give much time for an in depth visit, but it worked for us at the time. 

 

Some tips...

 

Spend the money and hire a private driver/guide.  We had one for the 3 days in Israel and it was really nice to have flexibility and the ability to customize a bit.  It also allowed us to take full advantage of his connections at the sites and often get what seemed like VIP treatment.  

 

The ship overnighted in Ashod, so we had two days in the area.  We spent the night in Jerusalem and while we arrived at the hotel at dinner time and were exhausted from a long day, it was well worth it.  We were talking at dinner about how miserable a drive back to the ship would be at that moment.  In the morning, our driver picked us up and we carried on.  So definitely consider this option. 

 

The whole cruise was amazing, but Israel was the highlight.  Just be flexible with traffic, security issues and crowds.  

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by akke29

[karebare22]

We did this cruise last Aug on Odyssey (family of 4 with 2 young adults). We’ve done many cruises, and I would say this was one of the best overall. We started out planning to do the Greek Isles/Croatia, but wanted to do a longer cruise on a bigger ship (with a flowrider), and said “why not?” do this one  - so glad we did!

My tips:

1.Choose a date in the spring/fall. We sailed end of Aug/beginning of Sept and it was HOT and crowded everywhere!  

2. We used independent tour operators for 4 of the 7 ports to save some money as a family of 4. They were all fabulous. We did small group tours in Jerusalem (+ Dead Sea but wouldn’t do the Dead Sea again), Haifa (Biblical Galilee tour), Limassol (Kourion archaeological site, winery, etc), and Kusadasi (Ephesus - a must see!). Santorini was beautiful but crazy busy, we did it on our own but taking a ship tour here is commonly recommended. Bodrum was a nice surprise, we just walked around. Souda, Crete - unfortunately this was the last port and we were just too tired to leave the ship 😂.

3. Be prepared for the port intensive itinerary, and mix up the days with long full day tours and shorter/easier tours or just explore on your own.

4. Spend a few days in Rome either before the cruise to adjust to the time change etc.

 

It’s a great and unique itinerary, so interesting!

Edited September 19, 2023 by karebare22
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[rberns6171]

We did Odyssy in the fall and akke29 is absolutely correct , the traffic was horrible to and from old Jerusalem and ship.  Staying overnight would be a great idea. We did not do this and we still had time both days to explore but it was 2 very long days.  Also because of the traffic situation we decided to book excursions through the ship so if we got stuck in traffic the ship would have to wait for us 

[barb in ga]

We've looked at doing one of these Holy Land itineraries also . Celebrity has a few that include Israel, Alexandria, Egypt, and Athens, Greece. A couple of them also have a Kusadasi, Turkey stop to see Ephesus. Following to see additional comments.

Barb

[MagentaandRiffRaff]

Thank you all!