Norwegian Jewel - 12 Night Egypt & Greek Isles Cruise on 9/27/06

[lifeisbeautiful]

My wife and I are on the Norwegian Jewel - 12 Night Egypt & Greek Isles Cruise departing Athens on 9/27/06. The itinerary includes Piraeus (Athens), Katakolon (Olympia), Corfu, Alexandria, Iraklion (Heraklion), Crete; Santorini, Mykonos, Izmir, Turkey and Istanbul.

 

Has anyone else been on a similar itinerary or is anyone else going on the same cruise? Any advice would be welcome especially regarding the shore excursions one should undertake and whether it would be advisable to do any of the tours privately as opposed to using the tours operated by the cruise line.

 

Tom

[Toyz711]

if you have never been there, is might be easier for you to do the tours offered by the cruise ships. the tours guide in greece and in turkey have to be trained and licensed by the country they represent. we had a great one in turkey, she was so good ...we made sure to be on her tours for 3 days straight. she stayed on the cruise ship during the ship's time in turkey..got to talked to her after dinner one night. very, very interesting.

in turkey we saw the army working security at the tourist sites, between that and knowing how protective our guide was we always felt safe. (but not naive)

still amazed at what we saw.

just remember to NOT wear shorts or short sleeves when touring the sites in turkey. even at mary's house (in turkey) the locals (and tour guides) get upset with the tourists wearing shorts to a holy site. we wore long pants and made sure the tops of our arms were covered. we were treated great by everyone we saw.

on santorini, the ship bussed us to Akroteri, there a state-licensed guide took over. (feel in love at 1st sight - both akroteri and the guide)

the towns the ships stop at are great and you can walk around them, but the actual historical sites are a drive away. in both countries...road rage and bad driving are common.:eek:

[German]

My wife and I are on the Norwegian Jewel - 12 Night Egypt & Greek Isles Cruise departing Athens on 9/27/06. The itinerary includes Piraeus (Athens), Katakolon (Olympia), Corfu, Alexandria, Iraklion (Heraklion), Crete; Santorini, Mykonos, Izmir, Turkey and Istanbul.

 

Has anyone else been on a similar itinerary or is anyone else going on the same cruise? Any advice would be welcome especially regarding the shore excursions one should undertake and whether it would be advisable to do any of the tours privately as opposed to using the tours operated by the cruise line.

 

Tom

 

Tom,

Go to the Roll Call Forum, you will see a lot of posts from folks who will be on your cruise and the one leaving before you. We are actually leaving on Monday, Sept 11 to go on the 9/15 cruise that leaves from Istanbul to Athens. I think between the 9/15 and 9/27 cruise you will find approx 800 posts. Additionally, on the Ports of Calls Forum (Europe) you will find a review of someone who did a lot of the port calls on Oceania cruise lines who gave an incredible review (the post was called "Review/Diary of Eastern Med 12-Day Istanbul to Athens"). You may not get anything else done between reading all these posts and leaving......Hey but you are prepared mentally.

 

I know they would love to add you to the 9/27 roll call.

 

Best

[lifeisbeautiful]

Toyz and German, thanks for the responses and the feedback. As a newly registered member of this forum, I did not realize there was a roll call for specific cruises. By the time the "Welcome" email from Cruise Critic reached me, I had already posted my query!

[Carey and Kerry]

I will be very interested in the reponses you get as my best friend and I (DH can't go) are booked for the same cruise in Sept, 2007. So please make sure when you get back to write a review, so we will have a better idea ourselves!

[Caroldoll]

Tom,

Go to the Roll Call Forum, you will see a lot of posts from folks who will be on your cruise and the one leaving before you. We are actually leaving on Monday, Sept 11 to go on the 9/15 cruise that leaves from Istanbul to Athens. I think between the 9/15 and 9/27 cruise you will find approx 800 posts. Additionally, on the Ports of Calls Forum (Europe) you will find a review of someone who did a lot of the port calls on Oceania cruise lines who gave an incredible review (the post was called "Review/Diary of Eastern Med 12-Day Istanbul to Athens"). You may not get anything else done between reading all these posts and leaving......Hey but you are prepared mentally.

 

I know they would love to add you to the 9/27 roll call.

 

Best

We are going too. We took partly ship tours and partly private. I don't know how to use this board too well. I don't know how to get on Roll Call. I have been trying to figure it out.

[Caroldoll]

I am trying to figure out how to get on the roll call board. I wish I could. We are going on the 9/27 sailing of the Jewel and would like to know bout anyone else who has been on there--tips, etc. We are worried about Santorini and getting up and down the hill. Heard it was horrible.

[FranKes2000]

I am trying to figure out how to get on the roll call board. I wish I could. We are going on the 9/27 sailing of the Jewel and would like to know bout anyone else who has been on there--tips, etc. We are worried about Santorini and getting up and down the hill. Heard it was horrible.

 

 

Go to ROLL CALL, choose NCL, Choose Jewel and see cruises.

Also At the top of the roll call page there is a place to enter your cruise and see who else is cruising with you.

 

Have a wonderful cruise, on a beautiful ship