Hello! I’ve just returned home from my 9-Night Greek Isles Cruise onboard Norwegian Viva with Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) and now that the post-holiday blues have officially kicked in, I wanted to gather my content, thoughts, and produce a few blogs that runs through the good, the bad, and the unbelievable!
I want to cover absolutely everything about the holiday – how we booked, how much we paid, the itinerary, the ship, the service – everything. But that might take me a while, so this blog may start off as small snippets of information, but as I write additional ones, I can cross link them to this main one.
Our NCL Norwegian Viva Greek Isles Cruise Itinerary
- Venice (Trieste), Italy
- Venice (Ravenna), Italy
- Split, Croatia
- Dubrovnik, Croatia
- Corfu, Greece
- Santorini, Greece
- Kusadasi, Turkey
- Istanbul, Turkey
- Mykonos, Greece
- Athens, Greece
Flights, Airports & Transfers
We flew direct from Edinburgh Airport to Venice, a journey that took just over two hours. Our flight was at 6:30 AM, which we didn’t mind, but it meant we had to arrive at the airport by 4:30 AM. Upon landing at Venice Airport, we had transfers to the Port of Trieste courtesy of NCL. The wait for the transfer was just over an hour, and the transfer itself took another two hours. In hindsight, we think it would have been quicker to fly from Edinburgh to London, London to Trieste, and then take a taxi to the port.
We had a return transfer booked from the Athens port to Athens Airport, but since our flight home wasn’t until 11:50 PM (more on this later), we skipped the transfer and used a taxi service to Athens city instead.
Overall, I would say NCL did an okay job with the transfers. At Venice Airport, it felt like organized chaos. For a cruise line that handles this every day, you’d think they would have a more efficient system in place.
For example, when we asked how long we would be waiting for the transfer to the port, the staff member told us 10-15 minutes, but it actually took an hour. This was frustrating because we could have used the time to freshen up in the bathroom, decompress outside for a bit, or even grab a quick bite to eat. However, fearing we might miss the transfer, we just waited.
How much we paid for our Greek Isles cruise
We booked our Norwegian Viva Greek Isles cruise on 28th August 2022, with the sailing date being 16th May 2024 – this gave us almost two years until our departure. Given the long wait, we wanted to splurge a little.
I want to create a dedicated blog post which breaks down how much we paid down to the penny — including additional onboard spend, in-port spending, and any hidden charges we faced. But that is going to take a while! So below is the breakdown of the cruise itself, flights, pre-cruise add-ons, and onboard spending.
The cruise cost:
The total price of the cruise itself was £4,762.40 for two people. This was for a Balcony stateroom, and with the NCL Free at Sea promotion.
The flights and transfer cost:
We booked our flights and transfers with NCL as soon as they were released. The flights were with EastJet and included a 23kg checked bag, and one small personal bag each. These cost: £641.78
Pre-paid gratuities:
To avoid any stress onboard, we wanted to pre-pay our gratuities and service charges. These cost: £216.00
Onboard spending
Even though we had NCL’s Free at Sea package which included drinks, some speciality dining, internet, and shore excursion credit, we still paid for additional things onboard. This included an up-charge for espresso martinis, Starbucks, mini gold (shocking that you pay $10 per person), spa, and service charges for room service. In total this came to: £268.08
So, all in all… We paid a total of: £5,888.26 for our 9-night Greek Isles cruise.
Do I think we got our money’s worth? And do I think it was worth it? Well… Yes and no. But you’re going to wait until the next blog for that!
Do you have a Greek Isles cruise coming up? Check out my packing list for all your essentials.
