Viking Cruise Istanbul to Athens 12/2025

Viking Mediterranean Cruise Christmas 2025 Istanbul to Athens

Due to a terrible experience on a Viking Elbe river trip in July 2025, we had a voucher that would cover some of the cost of a new cruise. We chose the Istanbul to Athens sea cruise over Christmas. Probably because of the timing,the cruise was very cheap and our voucher covered most of the cost. Otherwise, we were done with Viking. We received free airfare and free gratuities. In addition they upgraded us to Penthouse Junior suite which is one of the top rooms.

This was our first large ship cruise. Previously we had only been on river cruises with Viking. We tried to go with open minds. We were told upfront that the cruise would not stop in Crete on December 25, it would just sail, due to the Christmas holiday and everything being closed on the island. 

We left a day early to Istanbul. We flew to Brussels (United)and Brussels to Istanbul(Turkish Air). The Turkish Air flight was was very nice with decent food and good service.

Istanbul airport is very large and we passed through customs without issue. Turkey has its own money, the Lira. The airport is almost an hour by car from Istanbul as there is very heavy traffic especially as you get close to the city center. We found a taxi stand at the airport and they wanted a 11% surcharge for a credit card so we took money from an ATM, with hig fees and paid the taxi with cash; totaled about $80.

We had booked the JW Marriott in Istanbul.https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/istjb-jw-marriott-istanbul-bosphorus/overview/?scid=f2ae0541-1279-4f24-b197-a979c79310b0 The hotel was very close to where the ship was docked, the Galataport. The hotel was in an old refurbished building and was wonderful. The rooms overlooked an atrium. However the top 2 floors were an excellent restaurant and a roof top bar, both with dazzling views of the Bosphorus. The hotel was reasonably priced and in a great neighborhood. We were an easy walk to main tram into the old city and and short walk to the ship.

The Galataport is new mall/cruise ship port. Security was everywhere and we went through metal detectors to get into the hotel and the mall. The street the hotel's front door was on has many high end shops and cafes, all for tourists. The mall has many American chain restaurants and high end stores, all for tourists and cruise passengers. However the rear entrance to the hotel led to several streets fillled with restaurants with locals eating out. The prices were less1/3 of the prices on the tourist street. There were many bakery/candy shops in Turkey. The tourist shops had a piece of Baklava for $6 while the more local shops charged $1. 

We ate in the hotel's restaurant with the views of the Bosphorus. It has a Michelin listing, which is not a positive for me these days. However the food and the service were very good. We had a seafood couscous and calimari. My wife had a glass of a Turkish Chardonnay which was good.

Calimari

Views from the hotel.

The ship from the hotel.

Rooftop bar.

Christmas in a muslim country. Actually except for all of the mosques, we never really encountered religious issues. Alcohol was available in restaurants and mosques were very accommodating to tourists.

Local street food is a fish wrap with local mackeral. Looked good but did not get a chance to try it.

Back entrance to the hotel.

Vierw from hotel breakfast room. on a top floor. Stunning views.

Christmas market in Galataport.

Local neighborhood shops.

 

Waterfront across the street from the hotel.

We took the tram to the old city. The tram eccepts credit cards at the turnstyles . The Grand Bazaar was a huge indoor mall of long corridors with jewelry shops. All for tourists.

Crowds shopping in areras around the Grand Bazaar.

The Spice BAzaar is another market with corridors filled with spice and candy shops selling Turkish Delight , saffron and other candies and spices. Turkish Delight is many varieties of fruit jelly with nuts cuts into different shapes.

Inside a mosque. You take off your shoes to enter a mosque. There is a big carpeted area inside.

Vendors selling corn on the cob and chestnuts. The street food in Istanbul was great.

Tram stop.

We visited the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace.

Magnolia Bakery straight from NYC in the Galataport.

Christmas market.

Blue Mosque.

Topkapi Palace.

Galataport at night.

Modern museum at Galataport. The cruise port section is underground and that is where you go through security and enter the ship. Ther eis underground parking for lots of busses so when you leave the cruise ship for tours, getting to busses is easy.

We ate in this small doner shop. The basic sandwich is meat carved from a rotisserie. Meat can be beef or chicken and sandwich size is by weight. They use wraps or other types of bread. Some shops use sauce and other condimennts; some just basically meat. Most very good. 

The first stop on the cruise. after Istanbul was Cannakale which is the port for Troy. This horse was actually built for a movie and they let the town keep it.

The ruins of Troy arte very basic as it is still an acitve archeological site.

This is another horse at the site of  the ruins.

A Norwegian we had on the boat.

Next sop was Kusadasi, the port near Ephesus.

Ephesus was amazing. Apparently one of the great ancient ruins in the world. It  is an almost mile long street of ruins. It was a beautiful day in the 60's and it was not very crowded. In the summer it gets extremely hot and crowded which doesn't seem very appealing. 

The library. The biggest remnant. Using the original pieces it has been rebuilt.

The stadium It was huge for it's time. It holds concerts today although it is under construction,. 

Rhodes was the next stop. Not much going on in the winter. There were some nice beaches.

Swimming pool on the boat. The weather was so nice that they opened the roof.

Christmas on the boat. The staff participated in the festivities. Some had excellent voices.

Athens. Unfortunately Viking did not tell us until the night  before that December 26 is a National Holiday in Greece. All museums and historical sites were closed and many store and restaurants. Shops in the Plaka area, a tourist area, were open. Luckily we had been to Athens before and had been to the Acropolis and Parthenon. All we got this time was a photo from far away.

We had lunch in the Plaka area and it was awful. Again if this was my only visit to Athens I would not have a great opinion of the city.

The Acropolis museum, which is great, but it was closed as well.

Luckily we found a great wine shop and I bought this bottle from Domaine Sigalas in Santorini. A great white blend of mostly assyrtiko. A very good bottle that we had with dinner on the boat. Viking always you to bring your own wine on the boat. About 30 euros. It will be hard to find in the US although other Sigalas winens asre available.

Our room. King bed and a sitting room and a large veranda. Double sinks in the bathroom.

Overall it was an interesting trip. Istanbul was great. Turkey is very much like other places in Europe. The Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace were fascinating. 

The cruise was so-so. The first few days Istanbul and Ephesus were great. Rhodes and Athens were a waste of time. The food on the cruise was a mixed bag. The wines were terrible. We paid for the wine and spirits package. Viking advertises how they give you a local feel for the countries you visit. Not one Turkish or Greek wine on the ship. Greece makes some superb wines. The other wines on the list were drinkable but uninspiring. The specialty restaurants were weird. Chef's Table had a chinese menu and then an English menu. We cancelled both our reservations. Nothing like that local touch.

Manfredis was OK. We ate there twice. The second time the meal took over 2.5 hours and we both got sick. At least we drank the Greek wine that I had bought.

The crew was outstanding and our room was great but it was one of their top rooms. We even received free laundry.

Some excursions were good and some terrible. The Istanbul paid excursion to the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace was very good. The Rhodes paid excursion to a picturesque town was a waste. We saw the town from a distant parking lot. The bus stopped at an expensive pottery store factory to watch a person use a pottery wheel and to buy expensive plates and vases.

Usually Viking is very organized. The Athens arrangements were not good. Our flight left Athens at 5:15 pm. We had to be out of our room at 8:00 am. They let us stay on the ship uintil our Viking transfers were leaving at 12:30 PM. Hidden in the Viking info we received before departing I found a departure day excursion that no one at Viking knew about. Before the trip, I was told to ask about it when I got on the ship. I asked about it on the ship and at first they never heard of it. After some research, they told me we could book the excursion. 2 days later they called us and cancelled the excursion because no one had signed up. Yet the transfer bus to the airport had about 40 people and when I asked several people if they would have interested in the excursion, all said of course. Instead we sat on the boat for 4 hours and then arrived at the airport 3.5 hours early. Another wasted day.

I have a number of trips to catch up on in the next few weeks especially my Japan trip last April.