This Cruise Packs a Punch! - Eastern Mediterranean "Ports" Review by faith4keep

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Home > Member Reviews > faith4keep's Port Reviews of Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos, Katakolon

faith4keep's Port Reviews of Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos, Katakolon
Norwegian Jade cruise in September 2012

Member Name:	faith4keep
Cruise Date:	September 2012
Embarkation:	Venice
Destination:	Eastern Mediterranean
Member Review:	faith4keep's Norwegian Jade Review

	Corfu Port Rating: In Corfu we rented a car (they had car rentals right off the port, we paid ~110Euro for a 7 passenger vehicle) and drove to some lookouts, drove to Paleokastrita, visited the monatery and beach, then rented a boat out there and swam in the sea near caves. We got off the boat as early as we could (#7 tender got us off at 9:15ish) and returned with literally 10 minutes to spare, one of the last tenders back.
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	Santorini Port Rating: In Santorini we explored Fira and took buses out to Oia, while the men in our group rented ATVs and visited the red beach, Oia, and Fira among other places. I got up early to get us all tender tickets, and the line wrapped ALL THE WAY AROUND the pool deck. I showed up about 3 minutes before 9am (when they started distributing tickets) and ended up on Tender #7. Around 12pm they were still distributing tickets for tender #13. We got off the ship around 2:15pm. The last tender to the ship was 9pm, and the buses from Oia to Fira took about 25 minutes. That along with the cable car meant we didn't have time to watch the sun set in Oia, which is the #1 thing to do there. That was my biggest disappointment of the cruise; I wish the itinerary developers would leave us more time in Santorini to do that. On the plus side, our entire group has decided to take a trip to Santorini anyway because there was just too much to do in the short time provided.
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	Mykonos Port Rating: Mykonos was our group's least favorite island, we were there 8am-6pm. NCL provided free buses (yay!) but exploring the town took less than an hour. We took pictures in front of the Windmills and Little Venice, but much of the area appeared run down. We spent most of the day at Paradise Beach (took a bus from the bus station for around 1.5 euros). The last bus back to the ship was at 5pm, so we had to leave Paradise before the big party started there (at 4pm). If I did Mykonos again, I would absolutely do St John's Resort.
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	Katakolon Port Rating: In Olympia, we organized a private taxi ahead of time, and they were waiting with a sign right at the port. Katakolon looked boring (and is barely populated, pure tourist area), so I'm glad we did this. We arrived to Olympia before the hoards of buses from ships did, which was nice. We spent about 2 hours there exploring and in the museum. Then, we went to Olympia Land winery which was excellent and one of the best wine tours/tasting I've had. We bought lots of wine and olive oil there to bring home. Then we went back to Olympia town for shopping, and finally stopped at a restaurant and later a beach bar for drinks and ice cream. It was nice to a have a personal tour guide and not be stuck in Katakolon.
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