May 4 – Katakolon, GreeceWe awoke to breakfast being delivered in our suite just after the sun came up. As the fog burned off, we watched as the Nieuw Amsterdam docked in the port of Katakolon, Greece. This town is a small fishing village that serves as the hopping off port for Olympia – the site of the ancient Olympic Games. Though several tours were offered through the ship, we opted to head to Olympia on our own. We bought a round-trip train ticket from Katakolon to Olympia for €10 each and arrived in Olympia 40 minutes later. Olympia itself is a cute, clean Greek town with a number of sidewalk cafes, restaurants, and shops. We walked through the town in the middle of a light drizzle to the entrance of the Olympia archaeological site where entrance was €6 apiece. Here, we viewed the excavated ruins of the ancient Olympic Games. The highlight of this site was the original Olympic Stadium where my girlfriend and I ran a lap on the original 440 meter “track” which more resembles a couple dirt football fields back to back.We were done viewing the ruins after about an hour. Unfortunately, we still had about two and a half hours before our scheduled train was to leave. So, we did the only logical thing – we hopped a bus that we thought may go in the right direction.The driver spoke pretty much no English, but the only thing he could say was “Pyrgos.” We knew Pyrgos was a city a little more than halfway between Olympia and Katakolon, so we hopped the bus to see how that would work out – the price was right, at about €1.20 each. About 35 minutes later, we disembarked at the bus station in Pyrgos – a large, somewhat dirty town about 10 kilometers from Katakolon. There was another bus to Katakolon an hour later, but we opted for a taxi, who thought he was Sabastian Vettel. This guy was flying down the road at over 140kph, and had us in Katakolon in no time. This was a great adventure to get us back to the ship, and was much more fun than the standard bus tour shore excursion offered by Holland America.Upon arrival back into Katakolon, we found a nice restaurant called “Arhipelagos Fish Tavern” (this is directly from their business card, which may or may not have had a typo) right on the harbor where we enjoyed a lunch of gyros, fried cheese, greek salad, and a few beers (as well as free wifi). This made for a great early afternoon before we headed back to the ship. We enjoyed champagne and beer in our private hot tub on the balcony as the ship set sail from Katakolon — not a bad way to spend an afternoon!

Katakolon (Olympia)

May 5 – Piraeus (Athens), GreeceI awoke to the hustle and bustle of a very industrial port swarming with ferry activity. This port – Piraeus is the port neighborhood of Athens. Athens is a seemingly never-ending metropolis, and Piraeus is where the sea of white rooftops ends at the Aegean Sea. We again opted against taking a ship-arranged tour, and set out on our own. A cab driver approached us and offered a €20 ride to the Acropolis, which we thought was more than reasonable for the three of us. After about a 20 minute ride through the lightly congested highways and streets of Athens, we arrived at the south entrance to the Acropolis. We ascended the stairs to overlook the amphitheater, and eventually made it up to the famed Parthenon. We walked all around the Parthenon and Temple of Athena, taking dozens of pictures of the recovered ruins and stunning vistas of Athens that were aided by picture perfect weather and blue skies.Once we deemed that we’d seen enough, we walked down the north side of the Acropolis, stopping at a café for a few beers in the Anafiotika neighborhood on one of the steep, narrow streets lined with cafes and restaurants. This shady and picturesque street (Mnisikleous Str.) made for a great place to rest the legs, relax with a drink, and check up on e-mail with wifi. We really enjoyed ourselves at Anafiotika over these couple hours. After this, we headed down to the main shopping area in Athens before stopping for a quick gyro lunch. We decided to take the metro back to Piraeus since it was a straight shot (about 4-5 stops) and only a couple euros a person. The train station is about a twenty minute walk from the ship, but that wasn’t a problem at all. Upon arriving back in the room, we all crashed for an hour nap before enjoying the sail out of Piraeus into the deep blue Aegean Sea from the comfort of our balcony.

Athens (Piraeus)

May 6 – Istanbul, TurkeyAfter spending the majority of the day at sea cruising through the Dardanelles, we approached Istanbul from the west at about 3pm. The approach into Istanbul was beautiful, and I enjoyed pointing our parts of Istanbul to my girlfriend, Aunt, and Uncle. I previously spent time in Istanbul about a year ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Because of this, I really looked forward to returning on this trip.We ultimately didn’t dock until around 5pm due to high winds, but when we did my girlfriend and I disembarked and walked into town directly to the Galata Bridge. We had the fortune at docking at the cruise ship birth closest to the Galata Tower and Bridge, so the location was extremely convenient. After viewing the fishermen from the Galata Bridge, we proceeded to the Egyptian Bizzare – or Spice Bizzare to see the sights, sounds, and smells of the place. Overrun with spice merchants, vibrant colors and smells filled the air making for a pretty intense setting. Ater this, we walked back across the bridge, and up the hill to Galata Tower for a panoramic view of Istanbul. As the timing worked out, we were up on Galata Tower right around sunset, which made for some amazing pictures.We then continued up the hill to the Galata area. We explored the side streets full of bars and cafes, and came upon a few of the bars that I’d been to last year on my trip to Istanbul with friends. We started back towards the ship before stopping for a Turkish dinner of kebab and Turkish pizza. It was tasty as always. We returned to the ship around 9:30pm where the ship was putting on a Turkish Bazaar dinner up on board – they really did a nice job with it though we did not partake.May 7 – Istanbul, TurkeyThis was a unique port of call for a cruise since we were docked in Istanbul overnight. The overnight call aspect of the cruise was one of the most attractive features of the trip for us. Having been to Istanbul before, I had a pretty good idea of a proper tour itinerary for my girlfriend, aunt, and uncle that next morning. We decided to take the tram to the Sultanahmet stop – a short, ten minute trip (for €3 per person, each way). Here, we toured the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, and Sistern Basilica. Entrance to the Blue Mosque is free, but we did have to wait in line for about a half an hour before being allowed to enter and take pictures. The view inside was amazing as usual, and reminds me of the cover of my high school World History textbook. Next, we walked over to the Hagia Sofia, but decided not to enter due to the massive line to get in. Entrance would have been €10 per person had we decided to brave the line. I did go inside the Hagia Sofia on my last trip to Istanbul, and in my opinion, it would have been worth the wait.Alas, the rest of the group didn’t want to wait, so we headed across the street to the Sistern Basilica. Entrance to the Sistern was also ten euros per person. I quite enjoyed this last time, and I did on this trip as well. It’s a dimly lit cavern full of water and yellow and red lighting. We then proceeded to the Grand Bazaar, which was only about a ten minute walk from the Sultanahmet area. As usual, the Grand Bazaar was utter chaos – not quite my cup of tea, but the ladies wanted to get some shopping in. We took a quick break for a lunch of doner kebap before taking the tram back to the ship in time for our scheduled 5pm departure. The sail away from Istanbul was simply beautiful as we passed Istanbul landmarks like the Galata Bridge, Topapki Palace, Hagia Sofia, and Blue Mosque. That evening, we enjoyed appetizers in the room before our dinner at Tamarind — the specialty Asian Fusion restaurant onboard.

Istanbul

May 9 – Kusadasi (Ephesus), TurkeyKusadasi is one of two port cities used by cruise lines to access the ancient city of Ephesus. It is the much closer of the two ports (Ismir), and it is only about a twenty minute cab ride from the pier in Kusadasi to Ephesus. We arranged a cab at the pier as transportation to Ephesus for a total of €60, round-trip. The drive from Kusadasi to Ephesus is very scenic, as you hug the rugged coastline for most of the 15km trip. Upon arriving in Ephesus, we paid an entrance fee to the ruins. The ruins themselves were spectacular. The pictures below speak for themselves. Highlights of the ruins included the Terrace Houses (extra entrance fee), and the Great Arena, which held up to 25,000 spectators.After spending about an hour and a half at the ruins, our cab driver drove us back to Kusadasi, where we briefly walked through the town bizarre before having a Turkish lunch at Toros, right on the harbor. The kebab lunch was fresh and delicious.Kusadasi itself functions as a major beach resort town on the Turkish coast. The coastline, the beaches, and water are beautiful in Kusadasi. The Turkish coast as a whole is renowned for some of the finest beachest anywhere on the Mediterranean, and this is certainly a region to which I’d love to return.

Kusadasi

May 10 – Santorini, GreeceWe awoke early in the morning to witness the scenic entrance into the harbor near Fira, Santorini. It was beautiful, as we passed the gorgeous town of Oia before stopping in the caldera and natural harbor below the town of Fira. Since there is no pier, this is also a tender port, but we utilized the local, Santorini tenders to take us to the base of the mountain. Here, one can either walk the over 900 steep steps up to the town of Fira, or they can spend €5 each way for a donkey ride up the steps or a tram up to the top. We opted for the tram to the top of Fira, where views were spectacular.We then hired a cab to drive us to Oia. The drive to Oia was very scenic, but that was just warming us up for the town itself. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to many, many places. However, the town of Oia, and the views from the white buildings with blue roofs was probably the most beautiful, picturesque place to which I have ever been.Ever.There is one main market street in Oia with dozens of cafes and lodges that overlook the caldera and Aegean Sea. The views are simply spectacular.After a brief, 45-minute visit to Oia, our cab driver took us clear to the other side of the island to one of the black beaches, in Kamari. What we found here was a cute little beach town full of bars, restaurants, beach shops, and boutiques. The beaches themselves are black beaches – make up of volcanic rock. We ventured down to the water to dip our feet in the Aegean for the first time. Since the water was too cold to swim, we settled down at a café overlooking the beach for a beer before cabbing back to the town of Fira.By the time we returned to Fira, the shops were setup in full swing, and my girlfriend enjoyed popping into the various boutiques. We met my Aunt and Uncle at a beautiful café that was perched on the cliff overlooking the caldera and our ship. After a couple of beers, we decided on a cheap, delicious gyro lunch from one of the many street food vendors in Fira. Sadly, we departed Santorini at 3:30, so we had to get back to the ship and didn’t get to witness a sunset from the famous setting of Oia. On the return, we decided to take the stairs. It as a relatively easy, twenty-minute descent, but you did need to move a lot to avoid the donkeys…. and donkey poop. At the bottom of the hill, we were walking past a herd of donkeys, when one decided to buck, and kicked me right in the shin. Luckily, it didn’t kick much higher, but nonetheless, I was only the recipient of a nice bruise on my shin. It could have been much worse, I suppose.Overall, Santorini was by far our favorite port of the cruise. I certainly plan to return to Santorini to spend several days in the future.

Santorini

The Pinnacle SuiteThough I've been on a cruise ship for over four months of my life, I've never cruised in such style as I did on this trip. All of my cruises have been in standard inside or ocean view rooms, and on a few special occasions I had a balcony. Our accommodations on this trip would be... just a tad better.Yup, we were rocking Pinnacle Suite #7031.The Nieuw Amsterdam features two "Pinnacle Suites" that each measure a whopping 1,357 square feet -- almost 7 times the size of a standard balcony cabin - and larger than my apartment back in Virginia. Needless to say, we had plenty of room.We were escorted onboard by a personal concierge immediately upon arrival at the port in Venice, and this personalized service did not stop for the entire twelve nights. As we initially entered our suite, we walked through our foyer and were greeted by multiple bottles of champagne, a huge fruit plate, and two plates of canapés.Past the foyer, there is a dining room table for four with a desk and mini bar setup. Located forward of this dining area is the living room area, complete with a sectional sofa, a large throne-like chair, and a full entertainment center with a flat-panel television, DVD player, and Bose sound system. A king bed pulled out of the wooden cabinet beneath the television, and this is where my girlfriend and I slept.The master bedroom is located on the other side of the dining room, and is separated from the rest of the suite by double doors. Inside the suite, there is a huge king sized bed, plenty of desk space, and a full vanity. The master bath includes a double sink, jacuzzi tub with separate shower, and a very large walk-in closet that had plenty of room for the four of us. A separate half bath is located off the foyer, across from a butler pantry with sink, microwave, and full refrigerator.The highlight of the room was a massive verandah that was accessed through a pair of sliding glass doors. The verandah featured two padded chaise lounge chairs, a table for al fresco dining with seating for four including a sofa in a carved out, teak wood vestibule, two other chairs, and a hot-tub.Yes -- we had our own private hot-tub on our private verandah.It was awesome.

I consider myself pretty well-versed and experienced in cruises, but I hadn’t taken a cruise in over two years before my trip on the Nieuw Amsterdam, and I hadn’t taken a cruise as long as this one.As the main dining room on the ship, the Manhattan offered open seating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as two assigned seatings on the upper level for dinner.

Nieuw Amsterdam Review

Nieuw Amsterdam Mediterranean Empires - May 2, 2014

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