NCL Jade 9-day Greece and Turkey cruise
Categories:EuropeGreeceSouthern Europe
by Yaoho |
on March 30, 2023

Highlight of trip

Countries/cities

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Seven Wonders of the ancient world

Click here for picture book

Itinerary change

This has been a cruise trip long in the planning with lots of twist and turns.

We initially booked a cruise in Feb 2020 (right before the world shut down) for November 2020 from Athens to Turkey, Iseral and Greek Islands that got cancelled due to the pandemic. We had planned to take the grandparents with us as none of them have been to Greece before.

Then in early 2022 we booked this cruise for March of 2023 which was supposed to be a Black sea cruise from Athens going to Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, with hope that the cruise is during the kids’ 2023 spring break before the school calendar was published.

Original Cruise itinerary

When the school calendar for 2023 was published and spring break is confirmed for the week of 4/3 it felt like all the stars were aligned and we moved ahead with planning this trip. Then in May2022, NCL announced the replacement of Odessa port with an overnight in Istanbul due to the Ukraine war, but still a black sea cruise going to Romania and Bulgaria.

Port change for Ukraine

Then end of January 2023, NCL announced additional port change and instead of going to the Black sea the Romania/Bulgaria ports are replaced with other Greece ports (Volos, Rhodes, Heraklion). With disappointment as we have been to some most of the Greece ports we decided to still go ahead as it was too late to change/cancel.

NCL announced port change

That is one of the downsides of cruise vacation as the port can be changed by the cruise company due to any number of reasons. However, the final itinerary is still a great one and to our surprise we all enjoyed it a lot more than we expected even with ports that we have visited before.

Final Itinerary

Shore Excursion

We generally like to tour by ourselves instead of joining cruise line’s shore excursions or group shore excursions. Here’s the list of services we used during this trip.

Volos – Volos Taxi Serice – day trip to Meteora

Kusadasi – Kusadasi Ephesus Taxi Service – day trip to Ephesus

Athens – George’s taxi service – day trip to Delphi and Hosios Loukas

Rhodes – Port Rent a car – car rental for a day

Itinerary

DateItineraryArrivalDeparture
3/29/2023Fly to Athens
3/30/2023Start of Cruise – Athens—07:00 PM
3/31/2023Volos, Greece08:00 AM05:00 PM
4/1/2023Istanbul, Turkey12:00 PM—
4/2/2023Istanbul, Turkey—05:00 PM
4/3/2023Kusadasi, Turkey12:30 PM08:00 PM
4/4/2023Rhodes, Greece08:00 AM06:00 PM
4/5/2023Heraklion, Greece08:00 AM06:00 PM
4/6/2023Mykonos, Greece08:00 AM08:00 PM
4/7/2023Santorini, Greece08:00 AM09:30 PM
4/8/2023End of Cruise – Athens7:00 AM
4/9/2023Fly back to US

Day0/1 – Athens

overnight flight to Athens
5:00pm-7:00pmAirport, Bus to Athens, Check in to hotel
7:00pm – 9:00pmDinner, walk around Plaka, Monastiraki
Day1
9:00am – 9:30amBreakfast
9:45am – 10:00amWalk to Acropolis
10:00am – 11:30amAcropolis
11:30am – 12:00pmWalk to flea Market, back to Hotel
12:30pm – 1:00pmTaxi to Cruise Terminal
1:00pmCheck in for Cruise

Day2 – Volos/Meteora

8:00amMeet our taxi/tour guide
8:00am – 10:30amDrive to Meteora
10:30am – 1:00pmMeteora Monastery
St. Stephen’s Monastery
Agios Nikolaos Anapafsas Monastery
Great Meteoron Monastery
1:00pm – 3:30pmDrive back to Volos

Day3-4 – Istanbul

Day3
12:30pm – 1:00pmWalk to Istanbul old town
1:00pm – 1:30pmSpice Bazaar
1:30pm – 2:30pmHagia Sophia
2:30pm – 3:10pmHippodrome of Constantinople
3:10pm – 3:30pmGrand Bazaar
3:30pm – 5:00pmBasilica Cistern
5:00pm – 7:00pmSpice market and Walk back to cruise port
Day4
10:00am – 11:00amWalk to Istanbul old town
11:00am – 12:30pmTopkapi Palace
12:30pm – 1:30pmSpice Market
1:30pm – 3:00pmGalata Tower and Istiklal street
3:00pm – 3:30pmBack to Cruise

Day5 – Kusadasi/Ephesus

12:30pmMeet taxi/tour guide
12:30pm – 1:00pmDrive to Ephesus
1:00pm – 2:00pmHouse of Mary
2:00pm – 4:00pmEphesus Ancient City
4:00pm – 5:00pmTurky Delight and Ceramic shop
5:0pm – 5:30pmSt. John Basilica
5:30pm – 5:45pmTemple of Artemis
5:45pm – 6:00pm Turkish Carpet Demonstration
6:00pm – 6:30pmDrive to viewpoint
6:30pm – 7:00pmview point and back to cruise

Day6 – Rhodes

10:00am – 10:15amPick up rental car
10:15am – 11:20amDrive to Lindos
11:20am – 12:30pmLindos Acropolis
12:30pm – 1:15pmDrive to Seven Springs
1:15pm – 2:45pmSeven Springs
2:45pm – 3:30pmDrive to Rhodes port/return car
3:30pm – 4:30pmRhodes old town

Day7 – Heraklion

8:00am – 8:30amHeraklion port/get bus ticket
8:30am – 9:00amBus to Knossos Palace
9:00am – 10:30amKnossos Palace
10:30am – 10:45amBus to Heraklion city center
10:45am – 11:45amHeraklion Archaeological Museum
11:45pm – 2:00pmHeraklion city old town

Day8 – Mykonos/Delos

8:00am – 8:30amShuttle bus from new port to old port
8:30am – 10:00amBuy ferry ticket to Delos
Walk around Mykonos old port
10:00am – 10:30am Ferry to Delos
10:30am – 1:30pmDelos
1:30pm – 2:00pmFerry to Mykonos
2:00pm – 5:00pmMykonos

Day9 – Santorini

9:30am – 10:00amTender to Fira, cable car and walk to bus station
10:00am – 10:30amBus to Akritoni
10:30am – 11:30amAkritoni Archaelogical site
11:30am – 11:45amWalk to Red Beach
11:45am – 12:30pmRed Beach
12:30pm – 2:00pmWait for bus and bus back to Fira
2:00pm – 2:30pmBus to Imerovigli
2:30pm – 3:30pmSkaros Rock
3:30pm – 4:30pmwalk to Fira
4:30pm – 5:30pmshopping in Fira, Cable car and tender back to cruise

Day10/11 – Delphi/Rafina

8:00amDisembark cruise and meet tour driver
8:00am – 10:15amDrive to Hosios Loukas
10:15am – 11:15amHosios Loukas
11:15am – 12:00pmDrive to Delphi
12:00pm – 2:30pmDelphi Archaelogical site and Museum
2:30pm – 3:30pmDelphi town
3:30pm – 4:00pmTholos of Athena Pronaia
4:00pm – 6:00pmDrive to Rafina
6:00pm – 8:00pmRafina dinner
Day11
8:00am – 9:00ambreakfast
9:00am – 9:30amShuttle to airport

Highlight

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