Monday, January 18, 2010

European Holiday Cruise to Remember.

We recently returned from a fantastic trip over Christmas and New Years on the NCL Jade out of Barcelona. It really was one of our favorite trips and it reignited my passion for cruising and I fell in love with Europe again.
As it was winter the weather was cooler. We booked this trip 11 months in advance. This is unheard of for us, but we knew that we wanted to do this itinerary in the cooler months (seeing the pyramids in 120 F doesn't appeal to us) and we wanted to make sure we were in a suite at a minimum. This is why we booked so early.

We loved Greece, even though we didn't think we would. We had some hiccups in Egypt, but it all worked out.

We flew to Barcelona a couple of days early to recover from Jet lag and then set sail on Sunday Dec 20.


Our Ports of Call:

  • Rome, Italy - rained the whole day but was still romantic - we went back to our favorite spots from our Honeymoon - lunch on the Piazza Navona

  • Naples, Italy - Climbed Mount Vesuvius in a cloud and then visited Pompeii - it was incredible!


  • Alexandria, Egypt - did a 2 day tour to Cairo to see the Great Pyramids - Absolutely magical!



  • Rhodes - missed port due to weather - but that was OK, because after 2 days in Egypt we needed a sea day.
  • Izmir, Turkey - Wandered around the Bazaar

  • Athens, Greece - Loved this port more than we thought we would - visited Acropolis and had lunch in the Plaka historic district



  • Heraklion, Crete, Greece - New Year's Eve, spent the morning with some new friends in a cafe in the town square, then wandered around the shops - weather was the best here so we went back to the ship and baked out on the Courtyard Sun Deck


Not only were the ports of call amazing, so were the people we met, the crew and the ship.

For more pictures check out my facebook shots:


Rome:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=185942&id=752500309&l=4d196ea639

Egypt:

'Til next time.....