Just returned from a great trip to Turkey and Greece. First of all, thanks to everyone here for their great advice. The whole trip went off without a hitch.
About a year ago, my husband's business partner said he would really like to go on a cruise to the Greek islands. Since I am known as the travel planner among our friends, my husband suggested I plan a trip for our family and his partner and his partner's wife (who is also one of my best friends). So this has been over a year in the making.
We flew from Tulsa to Chicago then on to London Heathrow on American. My husband and I had upgraded to business class with miles as he refuses to fly in coach. Imagine my surprise and delight at Chicago when they told us we were to be upgraded again--to first class!!-- to London. It was a wonderful flight. Not something I would actually pay money for over business class, but the double upgrade was great, especially since the tickets only cost $650 to begin with.
We arrived in London right on time at about 10 AM. Since our flight to Istanbul didn't leave till 5 PM, we took a taxi to Kew Gardens and walked around. It is beautiful, huge, and a great antidote for jet lag. We took a taxi that you call for back to the airport. It was about half as much as a regular taxi--the only reason I didn't do it going out to the gardens was that I was worried about meeting up with the driver at Heathrow. So our trip to the Gardens cost about 25 pounds going and about 16 returning to the airport. Kind of expensive, but better that staying in the airport all day. And keep in mind this is for 4 people. You could also take the subway to get there, but it would take more time.
We flew from London to Istanbul on British Airways. I had never flown with them before and it was fine. Husband and I were in Club Europe--very good service and nice lounges.
At Istanbul, we stayed at the Swissotel. Absolutely wonderful. Very nice room at a good rate that I got on the Internet. Breakfast was a huge buffet with everything you can imagine, including a salad bar, and was included in the price. I would stay there again in an instant. Good security as well.
We went on a tour of the main sites of Istanbul with Kanan of Argeus Tours. It was outstanding. He is a great guide and gave us good recommendations for dinner that night as well. Also gave us his personal cell phone number if we had any problems.
The next day we went to the Grand Bazaar (I wasn't impressed--wouldn't go again) then walked around the area near Taksim Square and ate lunch at a little tea shop there. The thing that surprised me most about Turkey is how clean it is. Not a lot of trash in the streets. All the restrooms I went in were spotless. Also the people are very friendly and welcoming toward Americans. More than once we were told how happy they were to have us in their country and to please tell other Americans to come (They don't like Arabs at all and make it very clear that, while most Turkish people are Muslim, they are not at all anti-American and believe in freedom of religion).
The next day we boarded our ship, the Radisson Diamond, for a wonderful cruise which included Pergamum, Ephesus, Rhodes, Mykonos, Santorini, Naphlion, and finally Athens.
All the ports had interesting things to do--If anyone has questions, I will be glad to answer. I was disappointed in Santorini, as everyone had told me how great it was. It is certainly beautiful to look at--but that is it. It is mostly just shops and really narrow streets. We tried to hike from the top of the tram to Oia, but lost the trail about half way there, so gave up.
The ferry trip from Mykonos to Delos to see the ruins there is certainly worthwhile.
We finally disembarked at Athens. I had hired Dennis, son of George the taxi driver, to take us around Athens for the day. He did a great job--took us to all the sites. No way is Athens going to be ready for the Olympics in 2 month. My husband said, "the Olympics in August, is this August 2004?" I would agree. Still very much is only half finished, if that.
We flew back from Athens to London on British Airways, spent the night in London at the Crowne Plaza which is near the airport (excellent rooms at a good price with good breakfast included), then back to the US on American (alas, in business class this time).

Any questions, I will try to answer. Thanks to everyone who made this trip a huge success. My husband can't believe I really trust the people I meet on this board--he thinks everyone is out to steal money from us, but he is coming around.

Rachel thanks so much for posting your report. My husband and I just booked that same Radisson Diamond cruise in the fall. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it... and lucky you on the upgrade to first. I don't think it happens that often anymore.

You may be sorry about your offer to answer questions - I've got a bunch..
What was your favorite port? We are most looking forward to Istanbul - we chose this cruise because it leaves from Istanbul rather than just stopping there for the day and we wanted more time to see the city. Any thoughts on whether staying in the old part of the city by the Blue Mosque or in Taksim is preferable?

Did you use a guide in Ephesus? And if so, would you recommend it? We are usually disinclined to hire guides but I've seen some comments that you miss a lot at Ephesus without one.

How did you get around the ports? Did you take a ship excursion to Delos or the local ferry?

What did you think of Naphlion? I've not gotten very far into my research on this stop. (And all the different spellings don't help in my searches).

Did you try to learn any Turkish or Greek before the trip? I went to the bookstore to look at the language guides, but I have to say the Greek looks daunting. Can we get by with learning a couple of key phrases of Greek? I'm determined to learn a bit of Turkish since we'll be there for a couple of days and anticipate that we may want to go back for a longer land trip to Turkey in the future.

Finally, of course, how was the Diamond? What was the passenger mix like - mostly American or a mix of nationalities? Any predominant age group? Was there much to do after dinner or is the ship pretty quiet in the evenings?

I guess that about covers it for now. Look forward to hearing what you think.

Maddy

How disappointing, you have to fly business class yet stay at ultra mediocre properties. I can't stand people who don't get their priorities right - if you're going to fly business, then you stay at top properties - not the other way round. And as for cruises.... don't start me on that one. I thought people on this forum were too intelligent for those - if I remember correctly someone had a post about that very subject!

Pleased you enjoyed yourself, but how pretensious dear.

That was mean-spirited. You chose to think the worst. Shame on you m_kingdom2

Maddy, I am happy to answer your questions. (m kingdom2, get the chip off your shoulder, the reason we went on a cruise was to efficiently move from place to place in the time we had available).
Maddy,
We loved Istanbul. Where you stay depends probably on what you want as far as accomodation, but the location isn't really that important as taxis are readily available and really inexpensive. I think probably the most we paid other than the trip from the airport was $5. The area near the Blue Mosque has lots of small hotels that looked very nice. I actually picked the Swissotel because of recommendations on this forum, and it lived up to all of them.
In Ephesus, we hired a private guide through the ship as there were six of us--it actually worked out the same cost as one of the ships tours, but with a much smaller group. For me, it was worth it, but it is possible to get a taxi at the pier to take you to Ephesus then hire a guide there. I'm not sure it would be any cheaper though. Without a guide or a really good guide book at Ephesus, you aren't going to know what you're looking at as things aren't really labeled.
At Mykonos, the ship has a shuttle bus (no extra charge) to the center of town. The ferry to Delos is right there, and there are several places to buy tickets. You don't need to do it ahead of time. But you do need to go in the morning as the last ferry to the island leaves at noon. Last ferry back to Mykonos is at 3:00. You have to return on the same one you went to the island on.
I didn't have much info on Naphlion ahead of time either. It is a very upscale sort of town with lots of sidewalk cafes along the pier. We decided to rent a car there (Avis is right by the pier) and just drive around. We ended up in a little town eating lunch at a restaurant that we picked because it was crowded with locals. They didn't have a menu--just brought us out a lot of Greek food which was delicious.
I did try to learn a little Turkish. My husband took 3 years of Greek so we were ok there--even though his was ancient Greek most of the words are the same. But really we did ok with English mostly. In Turkey, everywhere we went, we encountered school kids who, when they realized we were
Americans, wanted to practice their English on us. And we felt very welcomed everywhere.
As far as the Diamond goes, it was very nice. Most passengers were Americans, but there were some people from Italy, a few French, and some British. Age range was mostly 40 and above with lots of retirees. But there were a couple of honeymoon couples. There were probably 10 teenagers on board, counting our two. No kids younger than teenagers with the exception of one baby about 6 months old who everyone wanted to play with. They had lots of special activities for the teens (scavenger hunts, play station tournaments, etc) and all were very well behaved. My boys usually disappeared after dinner.
After dinner, there is a show every night--there is a 4 person song and dance group who are great. We really became good friends with Tiffani, one of the girls in the group, and she ate dinner with us one night. There is a classical pianist and a jazz/showtune type performer. My husband liked the casino, but I was usually so tired I just went to sleep after the shows. Definitely go to Don Vito's for dinner one night--it is entertainment as well as great Italian food. You will need to make your reservation as soon as you get on the ship.

Have a great trip!

Rachel thanks very much for taking the time to answer my many questions. As I mentioned, we just booked so I still have a lot of research to do. We're really looking forward to this trip. The itinerary is wonderful and Istanbul has been on my list of must-sees for a while now. Thanks again for your help.

Maddy,
My husband and I stayed in the old part of the city just down the hill from the Blue Mosque. We stayed in one of the small hotels,The Sari Konak, which was family owned. The room was small ,but very clean. The hotel had a roof top garden for afternoon cocktails and the view was wonderful of the Bosphorous on one side and the Blue Mosque above us on the hill. We were within 5-10 minute walking distance of the Aya Sofia,Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace. The breakfast buffet was wonderful every morning.
If you go to Topkapi Palace hire a guide,they really do explain things you might otherwise miss. You can hire them right by the ticket booth ,make sure they are licensed professionals.
As to your question on Ephesus (Efes) I highly recommend a guide. We would have been lost without ours. His name is Sircan and he is with BEF Tours based in Izmir. He was so knowledgable and had a great sense of humor.

Have a super time. Turkey is one of our favorite places to visit.

kbob thanks for your info. I will do a search on the Sari Konak - sounds like a wonderful location.

Rachel,
Thanks for your report. My husband and I were originally scheduled on that same cruise but switched to another line because it was a longer cruise with more sea days. Unfortunately our itinerary was changed and we did not go to Turkey, much to our disappointment. We also selected this itinerary because we loved Santorini and wanted to return. The sheer beauty was enough for us but this time we did a tour of the island, visiting the excavation site at Akritori(?lost city of Atlantis), and Oia. We were there until late so we were able to eat dinner in Fira and watch the sunset.
Maddy, I highly recommend the company who arranged our tour, www.santorinidaytours.com. Anna was most helpful and responded promptly to all my questions. Christina was our guide.
Carol

I am thinking of trying a cruise for the first time, so am interested in all this information. Just wanted to top this strand. Thank you for the wealth of detail.

Hi smroan,
I am not normally a "cruise person" whatever that is. But in this case, it seemed the most efficient and sensible way to visit several islands in a short time. I would have preferred myself to experience more of the local food, etc., though the food on the ship was outstanding. We did make an effort to eat lunch off the ship every day--which cost more but was worth it for us.