We did the 4-day pre-cruise extension in Athens and it was a great experience. They took us to Delphi one day and to Mycenae (and the Corinth canal) another day, then the other two days were in Athens (including a trip up the acropolis early in the morning on embarkation day, so the crowds weren’t bad yet).
I took the Viking cruise from Athens to Istanbul recently and while I generally liked the excursions I did have some beefs. In Kudasi we should have spent more time in Ephesus but instead they cut that time short to take us to a Persian rug store to sell us rugs. We should have rented a car to take us to Ephesus so that we could explore on our own. Second, in Troy they took us to the ancient city but instead of letting us see the nearby museum, they took us for a walk in the modern city to see one of the Trojan horses built for the Brad Pitt movie - it was lame and unnecessary. Despite these beefs, I LOVED the cruise - it was my first Viking cruise but it won’t be my last.
Those are good points. I will keep that in mind if I do that sailing. I wonder if there are other tours that focus more on those two areas? Viking has so many amazing itineraries, what would be your next cruise?
