Itinerary: A cruise is probably one of the best ways to visit mediterranean countries, specially the countries on the eastern side. In the span of a few days you can visit many places with very different cultures and catch a glimpse of many ancient civilizations. Time travel on a cruise ship. We chose this cruise because of the itinerary, which took us to Turkey, the Greek isles, Egypt and the Greek mainland. It was a fascinating experience.
Getting there: We booked our own flights to Istanbul and arrived the day before embarkation. This would give us time to go on a tour to the Spice Market followed by a cruise on the Bosphorus. We stayed at Hotel Poem in the Sultanahmet area, within easy walking distance of the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. The staff was very helpful: they booked the tour for us, directed us to a nice "local" restaurant -as opposed to a tourist trap- where the clientele was indeed mostly turkish and the food simple but very tasty. They also arranged our transfer to the ship.
Embarkation: We were expecting line-ups to board the ship in Istanbul. There were none. Check-in was very efficient and we were on board about ten minutes after arriving at the terminal.