Empires of the Mediterranean

Has anyone done the Empires of the Mediterranean - Venice to Athens 10 day cruise? I’m wondering if the ports on this cruise are places where you can walk off the ship right into the destination. Tendering would be acceptable if it was still directly into the port. We are trying to avoid a lot of long bus rides in order to get to the destination.

Also, overall, how did you like the cruise?

Thank you!

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Our first ever ocean cruise was Empires of the Mediterranean in April 2017. We absolutely loved this cruise. Only a few ports were walk off the ship right in to the town: Kotor, Montenegro, Zadar, Croatia, and Koper, Slovenia.

As a novice cruiser, I am not certain of this, but I think that is relatively rare on ocean cruises. Some popular stops for ocean cruises have long bus rides of an hour or two, like Civitavecchia for Rome and LeHavre for Paris. All of the bus rides on Empires of the Mediterranean were much shorter, maybe 20 to 30 minutes.

Venice - the ship will dock at the cruise terminal. Last time we were in Venice the ship had water shuttles down to St Marks Sq

Dubrovnik - The ships dock in an adjacent bay, which requires a bus to the walled city

Santorini - Tender port, which requires a cable car or donkey up the hill to reach town

Athens - Ships dock in Pireaus, which is the port for Athens. Requires a bus into Athens.

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=620462

Hi, we did this in May and loved every minute of it. I hope the link above to my review works.

Venice - the ship will dock at the cruise terminal. Last time we were in Venice the ship had water shuttles down to St Marks Sq

 

 

 

Dubrovnik - The ships dock in an adjacent bay, which requires a bus to the walled city

 

 

 

Santorini - Tender port, which requires a cable car or donkey up the hill to reach town

 

 

 

Athens - Ships dock in Pireaus, which is the port for Athens. Requires a bus into Athens.

Thank you! I’m still thinking about what riding a donkey up the hill would be like [emoji23] One would just HAVE to do it.

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https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=620462

 

 

 

Hi, we did this in May and loved every minute of it. I hope the link above to my review works.

What a great review! Thank you!

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Our first ever ocean cruise was Empires of the Mediterranean in April 2017. We absolutely loved this cruise. Only a few ports were walk off the ship right in to the town: Kotor, Montenegro, Zadar, Croatia, and Koper, Slovenia.

 

As a novice cruiser, I am not certain of this, but I think that is relatively rare on ocean cruises. Some popular stops for ocean cruises have long bus rides of an hour or two, like Civitavecchia for Rome and LeHavre for Paris. All of the bus rides on Empires of the Mediterranean were much shorter, maybe 20 to 30 minutes.

That’s more than I would have expected. Thank you!

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We did this cruise in December of '16 in reverse (Athens to Venice).

Athens, docked at Piraeus, about 20 minute shuttle ride to Athens. Walking tour in AM ended near Parthenon and shuttles ran hourly back to the ship.

Katakolon, docked at pier and AM tour to Olympia for about 40 min bus ride, I think. After the tour returned to the city and could walk around the town until departure.

Corfu, docked at pier with AM tour, 10 minute bus ride to old town. Could walk around town with shuttles running back to the ship every hour.

Kotor, docked right next to old town walls and gate.

Dubrovnik, fifteen minute ride to old town and shuttles returned every hour.

Zadar and Koper dock in old town area at the piers.

At Koper friends did optional tour of caves and castles and said it was wonderful. At Zadar did optional tour to Krka park and it was also good. Both highly recommended.

For the other stops, just did included tours and explored on our own after finding out where the shuttle pick up spots were.

Sturmin,

We also took the Predjama Castle and Postojna Caves excursion from Koper. I admit to loving castles, cathedrals, museums and Old Towns of all sorts, but this excursion was unique. We have never seen anything like either place.

Our two favorite stops were just included excursions, in Dubrovnik and Santorini. We added time on our own after both tours. Viking's provision of free shuttle service makes that very easy to do in many ports.

Thank you! I’m still thinking about what riding a donkey up the hill would be like [emoji23] One would just HAVE to do it.

 

 

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Before you make your decision, google Donkeys in Santorini and you will find lots of links from Animal Welfare Organisations urging tourists not to do this as they are badly treated.

Thank you! I’m still thinking about what riding a donkey up the hill would be like [emoji23] One would just HAVE to do it.

 

 

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Can't help with the experience, as have only ever used the cable car or walked (many, many years ago when much younger)

We did this cruise in May, from Athens to Venice and loved it. The only problem was that were no sea days and we could have used a rest day! I think Kotor, Montenegro was my favorite area--unbelievably beautiful. We did a private tour here and it was well worth the 70 Euros each for the four of us. The scenic drive of the area is just breath-taking. We also did the optional tour to Krka Falls in Zadar and highly recommend it. In Koper, we did the optional tour to Ljubljana and enjoyed that too. Santorini was unbelievably crowded and we stood in line for over an hour to take the cable car back downhill to catch the tender to the Star. Beautiful free bus tour along the coast but not one of my favorite stops. We did the included tour in Dubrovnik but left the tour to "walk the walls" on our own--enjoyed that. You will love this cruise!

We did this cruise in May, from Athens to Venice and loved it. The only problem was that were no sea days and we could have used a rest day! I think Kotor, Montenegro was my favorite area--unbelievably beautiful. We did a private tour here and it was well worth the 70 Euros each for the four of us. The scenic drive of the area is just breath-taking. We also did the optional tour to Krka Falls in Zadar and highly recommend it. In Koper, we did the optional tour to Ljubljana and enjoyed that too. Santorini was unbelievably crowded and we stood in line for over an hour to take the cable car back downhill to catch the tender to the Star. Beautiful free bus tour along the coast but not one of my favorite stops. We did the included tour in Dubrovnik but left the tour to "walk the walls" on our own--enjoyed that. You will love this cruise!

It’s a pity you didn’t have the ‘Santorini experience’, but understand how crowded it gets when ships are in. We actually took a ship day when we docked in Santorini as we have been fortunate enough to have spent two, week long holidays there and there’s not much we haven’t seen. Should you get the chance to have a land based stay on Santorini you must choose Oia, it’s beautiful, especially when the crowds have gone !

We did this cruise (in the reverse direction) last March/April and it was a great trip. The replies above have covered the port accessibility issues you raised. On Santorini, we used local tender boats as shuttles to the pier, and then took an early Viking included tour bus to get to the top. We hung out on our own after the tour and it was easy to get back down to the pier to catch a tender back to the ship. I also heartily recommend the wall walk tour in Dubrovnik -- just incredible views of the ocean and city. Here's a link to my photographs of that trip if you want to get a feel for the various stops:

We did this cruise (in the reverse direction) last March/April and it was a great trip. The replies above have covered the port accessibility issues you raised. On Santorini, we used local tender boats as shuttles to the pier, and then took an early Viking included tour bus to get to the top. We hung out on our own after the tour and it was easy to get back down to the pier to catch a tender back to the ship. I also heartily recommend the wall walk tour in Dubrovnik -- just incredible views of the ocean and city. Here's a link to my photographs of that trip if you want to get a feel for the various stops:

We followed your same strategy in Santorini, with the great good fortune to be the only ship in port for a marvelously uncrowded day.

We also booked the included excursion in Dubrovnik. At the end of that tour we informed the guide we were staying behind and bought our own tickets to walk the walls. They take credit cards at the small ticket booth, so it was easy to do on your own. I had it plotted out using Google maps. We followed up with lunch in a local restaurant and then took the Viking shuttle back to the ship. I love that combination of a tour followed by time to explore on our own with the free shuttle for return.

Sturmin,

 

We also took the Predjama Castle and Postojna Caves excursion from Koper. I admit to loving castles, cathedrals, museums and Old Towns of all sorts, but this excursion was unique. We have never seen anything like either place.

 

Our two favorite stops were just included excursions, in Dubrovnik and Santorini. We added time on our own after both tours. Viking's provision of free shuttle service makes that very easy to do in many ports.

I enjoy the old architecture and history. I am always amazed by what was accomplished with simple tools and manual labor. The whole cruise was great from Athens, with its history and monuments, to the Krka National Park in Croatia with its natural beauty. My favorite was Kotor with walking the wall to the old fortress and then following a small trail to the opposite wall and walking halfway up again. Like someone also mentioned, it would have been nice to have one sea day to just enjoy the beautiful ship.

My wife and I, along with another couple, have just booked this cruise for April of 2020. Its never too early to start planning and have found all of the above responses to be very helpful. We have only cruised before on the QM2 doing trans-Atlantic crossings. Reading these posts makes me realize there is so much we don't know that we don't know! Getting off the ship at ports on a daily basis will be quite a change. Also looking forward to the Viking experience. We do love the formal and tradition oriented atmosphere of the QM2 but thought we might be ready to expand our experiences. This will be the fourth cruise on Viking for the couple we are traveling with and they have assure us that while the experience will be different , the quality will be at the same level. Now just 600 days to go before departure. We did purchase the Silver Spirits package so that does give us just enough time to practice making the most of it:)

Thanks again for all of the great information and the links.

cocopico---your photos are incredibly beautiful!! (makes me wonder if we toured the same places a year later). Thank you so much for sharing these!!

We did Athens to Venice in April 2017. Recommend the olive farm tour in Montenegro. It was fabulous. The ship's included walking tour in Dubrovnik was good and left time for lunch and more exploring. In Santorini, I HIGHLY recommend the tour the archeological site - it is amazing. We also had time to explore and have lunch in the iconic blue roofed Oia. Since we had never been to Greece, we did the pre-cruise extension in Athens. It is worth every penny. The metro is across the street from the hotel, so it is very easy to get around.