Talk about a spectacular cruise itinerary: a baklava tour with a touch of Turkish delight? They say people gain an average of 10 pounds on a cruise and based on the local food magic, I was going to be disappointed if I didn’t. My goal was to eat it all. Little did I realize that this itinerary would be so physically demanding that at the end of the day, we used up our extra food fuel. Baklava = survival.

Whether you need a little nudge to book this trip or you just want to know what to expect, read through our full adventure on the Norwegian Jade and see it through our eyes on Youtube.

(A note about my cruise style: I book all excursions myself ahead of time and do not use the ship excursion people. This is undoubtedly a ton of time and research on my end, but we end up paying about 1/2 of the price of a cruise excursion and end up in significantly smaller or private groups. There are two things to be cautious of when booking on your own: print all documents before getting on the cruise in case you don’t have internet access and make sure you get back to the ship on time.)

Starting Port: Athens

For any cruise, depending on where you are arriving from, you need to allow ample time for airline issues. Since we were coming from the USA rather than a closer European country, I booked a flight two full days ahead of the cruise departure. This works out great in a city like Athens with plenty to explore.  Check out my two-day itinerary for easy Athens planning.

Port: Ephesus, Turkey

As amazing as the Acropolis is, I think I liked the Ephesus ruins better. The whole ancient city is fairly intact- picture the market in Hercules- and they allow visitors to walk all over it. You can touch it and walk the exact same stones that people did thousands of years ago. It feels like you are walking through their daily lives. Typically these tours also visit the last known home of the Virgin Mary and the Temple of Artemis, one of the ancient wonders of the world.

I booked our tour with Samyeli Travel through Viator for just $48 per person, which included transportation from the ship to the ruins. There’s not a lot of ‘walking around on your own and exploring.’ This is one of the few port stops where you need to have transportation lined up ahead of time. We ended up being the only two people on our excursion through with a sweet guide who used to be an archeologist on the site. It was less than half the cost pf booking through the ship and the cruise groups going by us were 20 people deep.

Port: Istanbul, Turkey

I could write an entire post on Istanbul alone. The worst part of this port is that it takes about 15 minutes of walking through port hallways and garages to even get to the street from the ship. Miserable walk. The best part is that once you get to the main square, everything is very walkable. This is a great place for a walking tour. It almost doesn’t make sense to go by tour bus or other accommodations. Once you exit the port, take a taxi- careful of the fare at the start (anything over 10 euro is overpaying as of June 2023), and get to the Blue Mosque area. The taxi drivers can’t always understand our English, so have any addresses written down or visible on your phone for them to see.

In Istanbul, we also lucked out by having our tour guide all to ourselves. I paid $65 per person for a day walking tour while the cruises are charging a minimum $100 per person. Money isn’t the biggest reason to opt for booking yourself- it is the best way to avoid being in these huge cruise tour groups.

Top things to do:

• Blue Mosque- This is  probably the most iconic mosque of the THOUSANDS of mosques in Istanbul. Like any mosque, you need to cover your shoulder, legs, and hair. Head scarves are for sale all around the city if you are in need. Be prepared to take off your shoes as they do not allow them on the carpeted floors. There are shelves for your shoes but you may want to carry a backpack large enough to fit them if you have concerns someone may take them.
• Hagia Sophia- Compared to the Blue Mosque, I found the Hagia Sophia to be much more interesting on the inside. The recent history is also fascinating. Be alert with any of the mosques to avoid going in during prayer. There is not much room for tourists to look around during this time.
• Basilica Cistern- Across from the Hagia Sophia is this phenomenal treasure under the city. You may have seen it in a decent handful of Hollywood movies. The price fluctuates week to week which is kind of funny. The line can get quite long but a tour guide can bypass it for you which is the HOOKUP. Once inside it really only takes 30 minutes to walk through.
• Hammam- I tried all day to find a Turkish bath house to relax at and they were booked up. This was high on my to-do list and it just didn’t happen. Look ahead of time at the variety of hammams around the city and go experience a bath house! Pro tip: you will know a building is a hammam by it’s rounded dome with very small windows dotting the top of it.

Port: Mykonos, Greece

Mykonos, the Instagram influencer’s paradise. Take your pics and leave! Just kidding- it is beautiful and the windmills are worth walking to. Let this be your carefree, no need for tours, go at your leisure, day. You don’t need a lot of time in this little port and based on the prices, you might even want on have lunch on the boat.

Some honest thoughts on Mykonos: the cruise industry has killed this cute little town. When we were there, so were three other cruise ships. Roughly 12,000 trying to walk around and take photos down every alley of this small port. Unreal. If you want to enjoy Mykonos nightlife, don’t go with a cruise based on the day-time port schedules.

Pro tip: there are a few hidden pockets of beaches that are beautiful. One of them is just past the windmills called “Tender Beach.”

Port: Rhodes, Greece

Rhodes was a very refreshing stop after Mykonos as we were the only ship in port. This old city gives off some very medieval vibes. The local castle could almost pass for a Game of Thrones location. Other than that, my recommendations here are limited as we spent most of our day on a fishing boat. This seemed to be the only port in Greece that offered fishing options.

This is one of the best fishing trips I have ever been on- maybe not for the actual fishing, but for everything else. For only $98 per person, we went out with Captain Manolis and his 10-year-old first mate. The boat was a very easy 10 minute walk from the cruise. While we mostly only caught dinky puffer fish and a few other tiny things I didn’t recognize, Captain Manolis came prepared with large fish for lunch. He popped up the charcoal grill off the back of the boat and made a full spread. Then a few of the other people on the boat jumped in with their snorkel gear. All of this was just off of the cruise part in beautiful, clear water.

Port: Santorini, Greece

I really thought I would go to a beach in Santorini but you will quickly find it is on a STEEP cliff. Getting here by boat can’t be beat. Some of the best views of our whole trip were sitting on the back deck of our cruise having dinner while looking up at the sun setting on Santorini.

Comparable to Mykonos, this city on a cliff gets packed. Be the first one off the boat here. Unless you have an excursion booked from the bottom, all tourists must take a funicular to the top. It moves surprisingly fast, but when there’s thousands of people waiting to get on from the cruises, it can take a while.

We did not do a tour here- and I’m still not sure that is necessary- but if we went again I would take transportation to Oia. That seems to be the more iconic spot for photos, although you can get plenty of great shots not far from the funicular (go to the Three Bells of Fira viewpoint). Being the last day of the cruise, we were a little burnt out from making plans and decided to make the most of enjoying the Santorini views and cafes.

Overall..

This was a fabulous itinerary and a great escape from the standard Caribbean cruises that most Americans have the most convenience of going on. It is worth traveling to a better starting port. The best benefit is that you get to visit a bunch of Greek islands without having to carry luggage all around these little stone cities.

Book the trip 🙂