Diary of Cruise with Chris to Greek Isles

 

Virtual Cruise with Chris

12-Night Mediterranean

& Greek Isles Cruise

Star Princess

May 30 - June 11, 2011

Our 12-Night Mediterranean & Greek Isles Cruise began in Rome, Italy with a two night pre-cruise stay.  We then took a train to Civitavecchia, Italy, where we boarded Princess Cruises' Star Princess for our cruise throughout the region.   The cruise concluded with an overnight stay in Venice, Italy.   The next morning we departed Venice for Rome via train for another day exploring the eternal city before heading home the next morning.   Click on the Blog Posts and FB Photo Albums to virtually journey with us on our trip.

	Port	Blog Posts	Photo Albums
1	Pre-Cruise Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy	Our Rome Adventure Begins Day 1 Pre-cruise in Rome Exploring Palatine Hill and Roman Forum When in Rome Relaxing at Trevi Fountain Visiting Vatican Museum St. Peter's Basilica - Vatican Special Vatican Exhibit Pope John Paul II Walking Tour of Rome from Vatican As Night Falls in Rome Rome to Civitavecchia by Train Sail Away From Civitavecchia	Rome - Colosseum Album Palatine Hill - Roman Forum Trevi Fountain Vatican Museum Line Vatican Museum Part 2 St. Peter's Vatican Pope John Paul II Exhibit Walking from Vatican Piazza Navona  Rome at Night
	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Cruising to Monte Carlo Monaco Monaco Grand Prix Track Excursion to Eze	Monte Carlo Off the Beaten Path - Eze
3	Florence/Pisa (Livorno), Italy	Off the Beaten Path Lucca Italy	Lucca - Walking Tour  Lucca - Church of San Michele in Foro  Lucca Duomo (Cathedral of St Martin )
4	Naples/Capri, Italy	Naples/Capri, Italy Amalfi Coastal Cruise Exploring A Lost City From Ancient Ruins to Shells in Napoli	Naples/Capri Arrival Drive to Salerno Amalfi Coastal Cruise Exploring Amalfi Drive to Pompeii / Lunch Exploring Pompeii Cameo Factory
5	At Sea	Star Princess Main Dining Room	Star Princess Food
6	Santorini, Greece	SantoWines Santorini Greece Village of Oia, Santorini Greece Continuing Santorini Exploration in Fira Sunset on Santorini	Santo Winery - Santorini Drive to Oia - Santorini Village of Oia Village of Fira Santorini Sunset
7	Mykonos, Greece	Images of Mykonos Kalafati Beach in Mykonos Panagia Tourliani Monastery Mykonos Windmills and Little Venice Mykonos Town Walking Tour Meet Petros - Mascot of Mykonos A Man and His Donkey	Kalafati Beach Panagia Tourliani Monastery Returning to Port of Mykonos Mykonos Countryside Mykonos Walking Tour
8	Athens (Piraeus), Greece	The Acropolis a Journey Into Antiquity Plaka The Neighborhood of the Gods Lunch at Metropolitan Hotel Athens Athens City of Contrasts Along The Attica Coast Temple of Poseidon Overlooks Aegean Sea	The Acropolis The Plaka Lunch Buffet - Athens Central Athens Scenic Attica Coast  Temple of Poseidon
9	Katakolon (Olympia), Greece	Step Back in Time to Ancient Olympia	Ancient Olympia Archeological Site
10	Corfu, Greece	Achilleion Palace Corfu	Achilleion Palace Corfu Town
11	Split, Croatia	Off the Beaten Path Krka National Park	KRKA National Park & Waterfalls Adriatic Coastal Drive to Krka
12	Venice, Italy	Concordia Disaster Rekindles Venice Restrictions Venice in Spring and Winter Sailing Into Venice by Cruise Ship	Arriving in Venice by Cruise Ship Venice Walking Tour Part 1 Venice Walking tour - Part 2
13	Venice, Italy to Rome, Italy Post-Cruise	Coming Soon	Coming Soon

As you can see from the itinerary, this was a very port intensive cruise vacation.  As usual, when we travel "over the pond" to Europe, we like to arrive a couple days early so that we can extend our time there while getting accustomed to the time change.  In order to obtain round-trip airline tickets, it was necessary to return to Rome, Italy from Venice following the cruise.   This allowed us to spend another day in Rome and also made the trip a lot less stressful since we didn't have to worry about missing our flight home.

We hope that you enjoy your virtual journey with us to the Greek Isles.   As you can see, we haven't completed all the ports of call yet, so be sure to visit again for the updates.  Even better, "Like" us on Facebook so that you'll be notified as we post more pictures and stories.