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11 Night Oceania Cruise with 3 nights pre-cruise in Athens and 2 nights post-cruise in Rome.

Flights:

We flew on United Reno-SFO and then Lufthansa SFO-Frankfurt and then to Athens.  The new EES entry system in Frankfurt was really not working.  The attendant sent us to the kiosks but then the kiosk directed us back to the line to see the immigration officers. Now when we did get to the immigration officer, we did not need to scan our fingers or scan our faces.  I don’t think the kiosk saved us any time as the line was much longer once we finished the kiosks and got back in line.   Seems they are still working things out, but the overall process was about 20 minutes, which still left us with a good 90 minutes in the Lufthansa Lounge between flights.   Bonus- we got a coveted passport stamp, something that will soon be a thing of the past. 

Overall, service on our flights was all good, nothing to complain about and I think that our seats with lay-flat Business class were one of the more comfortable overnight flights that we’ve had.  Also, we had an equipment change that also changed our seats and I did not realize that we were split up across the aisle, we did have a kind passenger who was willing to switch so that we could sit together.  It’s one thing to sit next to a stranger, but not a fan of laying down to sleep next to a stranger. 

Arrival in Athens:

Super Easy actually.  Because we had cleared our entry into the EU in Frankfurt, we were considered the equivalent of a domestic flight and our process was easy.  I was in contact with our driver and he directed us to the meeting point.  (Side note: he was supposed to meet/greet us and I did report this to my preferred supplier and received a partial refund for the lack of service)   Our drive to our hotel was easy, a little bit of traffic but overall a good experience. 

We stayed 3 nights at the King George Hotel Athens, an Autograph Collection Hotel in the Marriott family and our welcome was as expected.  Top notch service and check-in process was super easy.  When we arrived at our room we had a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries to help kick off our 20th Anniversary Trip Celebration!   We had a gorgeous room with tons of open space.  We had other friends staying at the same hotel and we did a room tour one night- every room was quirky and different, which to me is very cool and very much a European thing and also very much an Autograph Collection thing.  We were on the 7th floor, which was super convenient to the restaurant which had the best view of the Acropolis in the distance.   We thoroughly enjoyed our included breakfasts each morning with that view and ended our 3 night stay with a cocktail on our last evening.  Can’t beat the Acropolis all lit up at night! 

While in Athens, we kept ourselves busy! 

Our arrival night was low key, we had dinner in the hotel bar and met another couple who was going to be on our cruise and then our friends returned after their food walking tour and we were in bed by midnight so we could get a good night rest before a full day.

Our next day we started with breakfast on the 7th floor terrace viewing the Acropolis and then we were picked up by our driver Alexander and guide Sotiri for a  tour around Athens and a visit to the Acropolis.  The tour was just for the 6 of us and this is the way to go.  We really got to interact with Soti and Alexander and get to know them and their country that they love so much.  Visiting the Acropolis was amazing. It was crowded and getting hot, but Soti said that it would have been much more crowded early in the morning.  We were able to get some amazing photos and for me personally, it was super cool to see my dear friend Robin take a photo in the same spot that her biological sisters took a photo long before she knew them, celebrating her Greek heritage that she did not know existed until several years ago.  It was a touching moment for all of us and our guide Soti got a bit emotional when he heard the story.

After our tour, we walked around a bit, did some shopping and had lunch and then returned to our hotel, eventually meeting up again to go to dinner.  A short walk to “Ateno” was our spot for dinner and the restaurant was great.   We had a variety of dishes and most of our group likes to share so everyone can experience several items on the menu, but they all respect that I am not a good share person because I am picky!   It was a great dinner and an easy walk back to our hotel.

On our second day in Athens, we split up.  Robin and her kids went off on a private excursion to see where her biological father lived and had nothing but wonderful things to stay about the guide/driver and the experience- helping a good friend who is also a client make a dream like this come true just warms my heart and it’s why I do what I do!    Teresa, Bill & I had booked a private tour to the wine country.  Our driver/guide was Dimetrios and he picked us up at our hotel promptly and we discussed our day.  He arranged two visits to wineries, both of which we enjoyed.  The weather was beautiful, the scenery gorgeous, wines were good but not as good as California wines.  We stopped at the Corinth Canal on the way back to Athens and overall had a lovely “chill” day.   We were all ready for naps when we got back to the hotel, so that’s exactly what we did because we had reservations for a 10pm dinner at Kuzina with the most amazing views of the Acropolis, you could almost reach out and touch.  The weather was gorgeous, no heat lamps necessary.  The food was delicious and we all enjoyed our food. I think we finally got back to our hotel around midnight, Bill & I took in a nightcap at our rooftop restaurant to take in more of the beautiful views before saying goodbye to Athens. 

The next day, we all met up in the lobby for our shuttle to our cruise ship.   A seamless transfer hotel to ship but I was a bit disappointed that I had booked a vehicle that could potentially seat 12 people including luggage and we only had 6 seats and the luggage was filled to the top.  I will also be taking this up with my vendor.   We were quickly checked in for our cruise and allowed to board the ship right away.  Our cabins were not ready, so we stopped by the Terrace Cafe for a little lunch to kill some time and once our rooms were ready we dropped off our carry-on luggage and toured around the ship.  By 430pm or so everyone in our group had boarded the ship.  We had 6 people doing the Oceania pre-cruise extension options and they had a full day of touring before making it to the ship.   The Oceania Nautica is a small ship, close to 600 passengers and will be going through a dry-dock of massive proportions and returning as the Oceania Aurelia with only 400 passengers, more suites, more public space and the same number of crew for a more personalized experience.  This revised ship will be out at the end of 2027 or early 2028.   

I will not go into detail about the ship's features since this will all be changing but will go into detail about the food, service and entertainment.  Dining was fabulous most of the time.   A few dishes hit and miss here or there but overall great dining across the board.  Breakfast options were the Terrace  Cafe, the Grand Dining Room or Room Service- we did them all multiple times and have to say that the Terrace Cafe was probably the best.  Mondo made the best omelettes.  Lunch was usually at the Terrace Cafe or Waves Grill- again Mondo on the grill making the best burgers!  For dinner we visited the Grand Dining Room Several nights, Terrace Cafe several nights and two nights at both Toscana and Polo Grill; the two specialty dining restaurants.  We had a nice balance between quick lighter meals and longer drawn out serviced meals.  For an 11-day sailing you truly do need that balance.  

Entertainment was a bit lacking. There was a show in the main lounge most nights and they were good but after the shows you were stuck with mostly a duo singing music in the Horizon Lounge and their sets were a bit sleepy until the end and once they would get people dancing it would be the end of their set.   But on the flip side of it, this was a busy itinerary and we really didn’t have the time or energy to stay up late each night and then get up and tour every day.   It’s hard when you want the best of both worlds. 

Service was excellent all around the ship.  Bars, dining rooms, cabin attendants - honestly, you never felt neglected or ignored.  

As I stated, we had a very ambitious itinerary and boy did we see some amazing ports of call.  Most of the tours that we took were provided by Shore Excursions Group, an outside tour company.   Here is a recap of our ports and what we did: 

Mykonos- I woke up earlier than I had planned and once I realized that I would not go back to sleep, I decided to go walk the deck and it was pretty cool to be outside walking when we arrived into Mykonos with an amazing sunrise.  I don’t see the sun rise very often.  We booked a small group tour, “Highlights of Mykonos” and our driver was Yanis and our guide was Andrea.  She was super fun and knowledgeable.  We made several stops around the island and saw some amazing sights including the lighthouse, the tallest vista point on the island, cobblestone streets that are different from other parts of Europe, white-washed buildings, blue domes and Little Venice which reminded me of Capitola and can’t forget the windmills.  It was a Magical day in Mykonos! 

Santorini- we tendered into port and took the cable car to the top of the mountaintop to the town of Fira where we met our guide Lilly, she was so good and our driver Tassos took us around safely for our “Intimate Santorini” tour.   We walked around Fira with Lilly and then met up with Tassos and we drove around the island with a few stops but ultimate destination Oia, which is the iconic Greece with the white hillsides and blue domes and it was magical. We had plenty of time in Oia to have  lunch and then on the way back to Fira, we stopped for wine tasting at a local winery.  When we got back to Fira, we decided to walk down the stairs - about 600 of them to the tender dock. It was a little sketchy at times but we made it down without any injuries.  And those who waited in line for the cable car down got to the ship after us because the line was crazy!  It was a great day in Spectacular Santorini!!

Heraklion- today we did the “Sights & Bites of Heraklion” walking tour.  We took a taxi from the port to meet up with our guides Rallou & Sofia.  We booked a small group tour, but our group of 10 was the group.  We started with a stop to try Bougatsa and Greek Coffee, then another stop to drink Raki with tapas.  It was a nice walk through the old town but I think we would have enjoyed our stop in Crete more if we could have gone to Chania.

Katakalon - today we had a Private Tour booked and it was lovely to walk off the ship to our guide waiting with a sign with my name on it.  Theodora was adorable and so knowledgeable about archeology.  Our driver Panatiotis was safe and friendly as well.  We drove to Olympia and toured the Ancient Olympic grounds.  It was a very impressive tour.  When we finished touring the grounds, we had some free time to walk around the Olympic village for some shopping and then we headed back to the ship and had time to shop in downtown Katakolon.  For those who don’t know, this port is located on the West Part of the Peloppanese Peninsula of Greece.

Gallipoli, Italy - we did not have a tour scheduled for this port of call and that was perfect.  It was a rainy morning, but we finally decided to head out around noon and walk around town.   We stopped at a place for  lunch and had amazing pizza, walked around a bit more and did some shopping and got back to our ship with time to relax before the evening festivities. 

Kotor, Montenegro - let’s just say that this port starts before you get there.  It takes about 2 hours moving slowly through the Bay of Kotor to get to the port and it is absolutely gorgeous.  It was also nice to have a relaxed morning.  Once we arrived at our tender spot, we took our tender and met up with our guide Andrea.  We had a small group tour and there were 10 of us,  8 went with the driver in the van and Bill & I went in the car with Andrea and she was great.  It was like a private tour for us.  We were driven to a lookout point for some photos and then taken to a home to learn about Olive Oil making and see an ancient mill.  We sat down and tasted the olive oil and had some snacks and wine before leaving the place we were given a tour of the gardens.  Then we stopped at a beautiful vista above the Bay.

Dubrovnik, Croatia - today was our only Oceania excursion and it was underwhelming.  We drove 45 minutes to see a working mill powered by water, had some snacks and then drove 45 minutes back to port. We did end up taking the shuttle into the old town and walked around a bit but it was crowded and hot and we had just had enough.  I will say though that the views by the old town were amazing and the waters were so clear!   I wish we would have done more here and I think Croatia is a place I want to return to at some point to visit more of this amazing country.

Sea Day- Yay- we finally had a sea day and it was lovely to enjoy the ship, we had some time by the pool with glorious weather, we took a walk around the deck to get our steps, we went wine tasting and then I had a much needed hair appointment. 

Valletta, Malta- this port was a bust for us.   The ferry from our ship to the dock took too long and we were going to be about 30 minutes late for our pre-arranged tour.    We decided to just get tickets on the Hop On/Hop Off bus and it was not that great.  The port was super busy with 3 ships in port (one of them being MSC World America with 6800 passengers) and it was just too much.  I can tell that I would have loved this island and it’s a shame that we only had about 4 hours in port and had to take a ferry to/from the ship which cut more into our day in port. 

Sorrento, Italy- AMAZING!   We had to tender in and then we had the option to walk up a switchback with some stairs or take the elevator for 2.20 Euros roundtrip.  Given we had a friend who needed to take the lift, we did the lift and then we walked around beautiful Sorrento.  We did some shopping and then had lunch at Ristorante O Parrucchiano Sorrento , which was a recommendation given to me by my lifelong friend Daniela.   This restaurant had amazing food and a beautiful ambiance with lemon groves and gardens.  We ended the excursion with a wild tender ride back to the ship- the waters were very rocky and it was a bit scary but gratefully we all got back OK. 

Rome, Italy. Our cruise ended in Rome and we had 2 nights to explore.  We had a private driver waiting for us in Civitavecchia Port to take us to our hotel, we stayed at the Sina Bernini Bristol Hotel, an Autograph Collection hotel.  We have been to Rome before so we let our friends dictate most of what we did.  On our first day, we walked to the Spanish Steps and then did some shopping, returned to our hotel and then had a great dinner on the rooftop restaurant B24, then met up with our Golf Cart Tour Guide, Nico.  We had a 2 hour tour around Rome and it was Amazing!! We had some great photo stops and doing this tour at night was perfect with less traffic, cooler temps and everything lit up! 

On our last day we slept in a bit, walked around, did some shopping, had a light lunch at Grand Caffe Tritone, and then met up with other friends for dinner at Fiaschetteria Beltramme  which lasted about 3 hours. An authentic Italian place with friendly servers and owners, we really enjoyed ourselves and then finished the evening with a nightcap at our rooftop bar with amazing Rome views and even a fireworks show.

Departing Rome was super easy- we had our driver pick us up at the hotel and about 45 minutes later we were at FCO for our United flights home.  There were no lines to check our bags, we breezed through security and the EES system was only about 20 minutes and moved very efficiently.  We had a bit of a walk to our gate which also required a quick bus transfer but all-in all, about an hour from being dropped off to get to our gate.  We flew United Premium Plus FCO-Denver - as I am typing this on the flight now, I can say that the service has been amazing and they are keeping us well fed.  Premium Plus is not so bad returning to the USA, you can nap if you want to comfortably but honestly your best bet in beating jet lag on the return home is to get on the regular schedule,  If you sleep on the flight, you won’t want to go to sleep at night when you get home.  I can say now that I’m finishing this review 3 months later, I had zero jetlag on the return from the trip.   I am now a firm believer that when you gain time on the way home, you should just power through and stay awake! 

This was an amazing trip and even now months later, just reading my written words from the plane trip home, brings a smile to my face with all the wonderful memories! 

To view MANY photos from this AMAZING trip of a lifetime- please see my Flick album here:  2026 OCEANIA NAUTICA