Back to Shore!

Today is also the last day of our cruise. We have really enjoyed our time on the Norwegian Jade Cruise ship. It was a great way for us to travel to Greece and Turkey without all the driving. Of course, we would have loved to stay longer in these locations…and we have not done Greece or Turkey the way we would like, but it has given the girls a taste of the cultures and incredible histories. We know we will return to these locations another time!

While on the cruise we had a great opportunity to do some things we haven’t had access to for the past 5 months:

• Musical and acrobatic shows every night!
• Sports area with equipment and pick up games
• Great gym with free weights!
• Movies! We could catch up on some of our English movies
• The food was endless…every taste and craving could be satisfied 24/7
• Towel Animals in our rooms every night!

The ports we stopped at while on this cruise were fantastic but being our first time on a cruise, we did find it somewhat difficult to navigate the shore excursions properly. We didn’t really know how the ports worked and how close they would be to some of the sights.

Of course the cruise ship tries to scare you into taking their incredibly expensive tours, but there was no way we would spend $2-300 per person to do a day tour. Instead, we asked people on the ship as well as our friends who have cruised to give us some advice and ideas. I also found a gold mine of information from Tom Sheridan who has taken a number of cruises and has created port guides for people to use. With these resources we were able to keep within our budget and get around to all the sites.

• Olympia – Used Trip Advisor to hire a driver (Christos) for the day to take us to Olympic stadium, the monastery and the beach. We did a self guided tour of the site and were able to have some fun with the kids as they did their own track and field meet. Christos brought us back to the port in plenty of time and it was great to have a car to take us where we wanted to go.
• Athens – Used Hop on Hop off bus to go from Pireaus to Athens, (we were able to negotiate a great price, (discount for the adults and the kids for free) because it’s off season and everyone was looking for business. Once in Athens, we walked to all the sights as we didn’t want to wait for the buses. We negotiated at the Acropolis for a local guide, otherwise, we were able to use a guidebook for all of the different places we went. We made it back to the port in plenty of time and even had the chance to find and enjoy some tiropitas!
• Kusadasi – We planned to use the dolmas, (local buses), but were able to get a cab driver to negotiate a good price….it was great to have a car bring us the long distances. At Ephesus, again we hired a local guide and had a great time at a very reasonable price.
• Istanbul – We were able to walk everywhere! The Galata Bridge was only a 10 minute walk from the port – very accessible! We were able to see all the sights on foot and at our own pace. We hired a guide at the Topkapi Palace, and used audio guides at Agia Sofia (not great) and in the Cisterns (pretty good). Since we were in port for the night, there was no pressure to return to the boat at a particular time and we could wander as much as we wanted.
• Naples – We had planned to take the train to Sorrento and Pompeii, but sadly there was a transit strike when we arrived. We ended up hiring a taxi for the day.  He drove us through the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, and then waited for us at Pompeii while we took a guided tour.  We made it back to the ship in plenty of time.

One of the biggest issues we had was limited access to wireless while on the cruise…it was $.40 per minute, which is pretty outrageous! We had to wait until we were onshore to connect, but we didn’t want to spend our time online instead of touring the ports, so we had to be very quick and efficient.

This has been a great learning experience for us….Next time, I would explore, negotiate and book the offshore excursions well before boarding the ship. Depending on when you go on a cruise, (works best in off season) it can also work to try and make a deal when you get off the boat. Negotiations can take some time, so it all depends on how busy your schedule might be…so plan accordingly. Lessons learned and now we are smarter for next time:)

Again, we would like to thank Jane Hart at Medallion Travel for helping us book this trip. She gave us the great idea to book 2 cabins right across from each other. We had a cabin for the two of us with a window, while the 3 girls were directly across from us with an inside cabin. It was not that much of a difference in price, but it was a huge difference in space and comfort for the 10 days – Great idea Jane! 🙂

We are now on our way to Israel to celebrate Christmas in the Holy Land!