Nautica Review

5.0 / 5.0
399 reviews

Nautica - Eastern Mediterranean

Review for the Eastern Mediterranean Cruise on Nautica
User Avatar
Napi's Mom
First Time Cruiser • Age 80s

Rating by category

Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Service
Cabin

Additional details

Sail Date: Nov 2006
Cabin: Concierge Level Veranda Stateroom

Wonders Rare and Familiar Nov. 15-28th 2006 Our excellent adventure started with reading a brochure from Oceania Cruise Lines, about Mediterranean cruises available in 2006. One immediately drew my attention, as it included Alexandria Egypt, which is a gateway to Cairo and the pyramids. Since I was a child I wanted to travel , a song was Far Away Places...With strange sounding names... calling to me, and they did.. Over the last few years Mike & I have visited many of those places. But this one was all places I have always wanted to see and none we've been to. The cruise was rather pricey so we debated, and Mike finally said Go for it.. So I signed up for the cheapest room available, and was on a wait list for an inside room, cheaper still...more money for tours we felt. Then I decided after reading posts on a Chat room..dedicated to Oceania cruises, to do extra days stays before and after, so refused their Free Air and got a credit, did my own air arrangements and 2 days in Rome at the beginning, and 1 day in Istanbul at the end for pretty much our air credit. Thus began my adventure into being my own, and ultimately others, travel agent for the trip.

The Cruise Itinerary was : Rome (2 days before there), and Naples Italy (for trip to Pompeii), Tunisia , Malta, Crete (for the Minoan Palace of the Minotaur), Alexandria Egypt, Athens Greece, and Kusadasi, Turkey and ending in Istanbul Turkey, with an extra day there. Prices for the ships tours we very high I felt we must do tours there, so started my quest to get cheaper tours. It's amazing what you can do online! By feeling my way, and advice from the Chat room I decided to go with some ships tours, as some places port times were very short, and felt safer getting back in time to sail, and were not quite as pricey. In some ports though I found several alternatives , private guides, taxis etc. Using again chat room information, over the months arranged several tours, and advertised them on this Chat room, and soon had a whole group, going with us. Then someone else set up one when I'd finally said Enough, but asked if we'd like to be included. Finally we had some 16 of us sharing various tours, never more than 12 on any one. We made up a family in the long run. All done online through Cruise Critic message board for Oceania.

Our air flight left O'Hare airport, Chicago 11/12/06 on British Air. Seats are fairly far apart, food was decent and you have your own Entertainment Screen with multi choices for movies etc. in back of seat ahead. nice flight, next one from Heathrow to Rome..very tight seating etc. But short thankfully. Our time in Rome was NOT the best, with tours from Viator, Greenline Bus Co. Bored guides, and the Trolley we chose to ride breaking down and leaving us standing for 2 hrs after their pick-up time, then they went to lunch. All in all we only saw the Coliseum (Italian Sp.) close up, drove by many other spots . Our transfer to the ship was 1 ½ hrs. and got a better tour from the driver , who was a tour guide also. Our Cabin was as remembered from the cruises we took with the Renaissance Cruise line that ran these same small ships (680 passengers). BUT a big difference was that we had a BALCONY!!. How this came about was another great story. We received our downgrade to inside at some point, as we had requested, to save money(400$ each), but then received a free upgrade to an outside room. Well, our travel agent called 3 wks before sail date, said he had a great deal, for us..for 200$ PP. We could go into ,not only a balcony, but the Concierge Class, (special perks for them over reg. Balcony). WOW we said yes naturally. In the long run we paid less than our original amount for the porthole cabin! (We paid 1200 pp under the price normally paid) We were really spoiled by that balcony!! Room service coffee (with warm milk! Daily), viewing these wonderful ports (well some of them were just shipping ports) Sunrises and Sunsets off our own rooms deck, small as it was (app.10x5). Not room for a party but didn't need it for that.

Cabin Review

Concierge Level Veranda Stateroom

Cabin A2
previous reviewnext review

Find a Nautica Cruise from $1,804

Any Month

Get special cruise deals, expert advice, insider tips and more.By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

© 1995—2024, The Independent Traveler, Inc.