Echoes Of Antiquity

12 nights - 27 Jul 2025
Mediterranean

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CRUISE ONLY WAS £2583 pp £2453 PP
FLY CRUISE WAS £3673 pp £3489 PP
Prices based on 2 people sharing. Cruise only price does not include flights. Fly-cruise price may vary by chosen UK airport.

Where solo or family pricing is not available please call for more details.

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CRUISE ONLY WAS £2799 pp £2659 PP
FLY CRUISE WAS £3889 pp £3694 PP
Prices based on 2 people sharing. Cruise only price does not include flights. Fly-cruise price may vary by chosen UK airport.

Where solo or family pricing is not available please call for more details.

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CRUISE ONLY WAS £4122 pp £3915 PP
FLY CRUISE WAS £5212 pp £4951 PP
Prices based on 2 people sharing. Cruise only price does not include flights. Fly-cruise price may vary by chosen UK airport.

Where solo or family pricing is not available please call for more details.

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CRUISE ONLY WAS £5589 pp £5309 PP
FLY CRUISE WAS £6679 pp £6345 PP
Prices based on 2 people sharing. Cruise only price does not include flights. Fly-cruise price may vary by chosen UK airport.

Where solo or family pricing is not available please call for more details.

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Want to add a hotel stay or change your flights?

Just call our team of cruise specialists to help build your dream cruise holiday today!

CRUISE ONLY £6888
FLY CRUISE Call
Prices based on 3 people sharing. Cruise only price does not include flights. Fly-cruise price may vary by chosen UK airport.

Where solo or family pricing is not available please call for more details.

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CRUISE ONLY £7464
FLY CRUISE Call
Prices based on 3 people sharing. Cruise only price does not include flights. Fly-cruise price may vary by chosen UK airport.

Where solo or family pricing is not available please call for more details.

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CRUISE ONLY £10992
FLY CRUISE Call
Prices based on 3 people sharing. Cruise only price does not include flights. Fly-cruise price may vary by chosen UK airport.

Where solo or family pricing is not available please call for more details.

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CRUISE ONLY £14904
FLY CRUISE Call
Prices based on 3 people sharing. Cruise only price does not include flights. Fly-cruise price may vary by chosen UK airport.

Where solo or family pricing is not available please call for more details.

Image featured for illustrative purposes only

Want to add a hotel stay or change your flights?

Just call our team of cruise specialists to help build your dream cruise holiday today!

CRUISE ONLY £8610
FLY CRUISE Call
Prices based on 4 people sharing. Cruise only price does not include flights. Fly-cruise price may vary by chosen UK airport.

Where solo or family pricing is not available please call for more details.

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CRUISE ONLY £9330
FLY CRUISE Call
Prices based on 4 people sharing. Cruise only price does not include flights. Fly-cruise price may vary by chosen UK airport.

Where solo or family pricing is not available please call for more details.

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CRUISE ONLY £13740
FLY CRUISE Call
Prices based on 4 people sharing. Cruise only price does not include flights. Fly-cruise price may vary by chosen UK airport.

Where solo or family pricing is not available please call for more details.

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CRUISE ONLY £18630
FLY CRUISE Call
Prices based on 4 people sharing. Cruise only price does not include flights. Fly-cruise price may vary by chosen UK airport.

Where solo or family pricing is not available please call for more details.

Image featured for illustrative purposes only

Want to add a hotel stay or change your flights?

Just call our team of cruise specialists to help build your dream cruise holiday today!

(Prices correct as of today’s date, are updated daily, are subject to change and represent genuine availability at time of update).

Cruise only holidays are financially protected by ABTA. Fly cruise holidays are financially protected by Oceania Cruises under ATOL number 10527

Please click here to check the essential travel requirements before booking this cruise.

Our sister brand SixStarCruises specialise in luxury and ultra luxury cruise holidays. Click here to view this itinerary in full and speak to one of our specialist cruise concierge today. Our team are here to help you plan your perfect cruise holiday and guide you with first hand experience with more time on board than any other UK luxury travel agent.

Itinerary


Take a look at the shore excursions available for this itinerary.

1

Istanbul

The only city in the world that can lay claim to straddling two continents, Istanbul—once known as Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine and then the Ottoman Empire—has for centuries been a bustling metropolis with one foot in Europe and the other in Asia. Istanbul embraces this enviable position with both a certain chaos and inventiveness, ever evolving as one of the world’s most cosmopolitan crossroads. It’s often said that Istanbul is the meeting point of East and West, but visitors to this city built over the former capital of two great empires are likely to be just as impressed by the juxtaposition of old and new. Office towers creep up behind historic palaces, women in chic designer outfits pass others wearing long skirts and head coverings, peddlers’ pushcarts vie with battered old Fiats and shiny BMWs for dominance of the noisy, narrow streets, and the Grand Bazaar competes with modern shopping malls. At dawn, when the muezzin's call to prayer resounds from ancient minarets, there are inevitably a few hearty revelers still making their way home from nightclubs and bars. Most visitors to this sprawling city of more than 14 million will first set foot in the relatively compact Old City, where the legacy of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires can be seen in monumental works of architecture like the brilliant Aya Sofya and the beautifully proportioned mosques built by the great architect Sinan. Though it would be easy to spend days, if not weeks, exploring the wealth of attractions in the historical peninsula, visitors should make sure also to venture elsewhere in order to experience the vibrancy of contemporary Istanbul. With a lively nightlife propelled by its young population and an exciting arts scene that’s increasingly on the international radar—thanks in part to its stint as the European Capital of Culture in 2010—Istanbul is truly a city that never sleeps. It’s also a place where visitors will feel welcome: Istanbul may be on the Bosphorus, but at heart it’s a Mediterranean city, whose friendly inhabitants are effusively social and eager to share what they love most about it.

27 July 2025
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Istanbul
2

Dikili

28 July 2025
Dikili
3

Izmir

Composed of nine metropolitan districts, Izmir is the third largest city in Turkey and the country’s second largest port after Istanbul.

29 July 2025
Izmir
4

Samos

30 July 2025
5

Bodrum

31 July 2025
Bodrum
6

Rhodes

Early travelers described Rhodes as a town of two parts: a castle or high town (Collachium) and a lower city. Today Rhodes town—sometimes referred to as Ródos town—is still a city of two parts: the Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage site that incorporates the high town and lower city, and the modern metropolis, or New Town, spreading away from the walls that encircle the Old Town. The narrow streets of the Old Town are for the most part closed to cars and are lined with Orthodox and Catholic churches, Turkish houses (some of which follow the ancient orthogonal plan), and medieval public buildings with exterior staircases and facades elegantly constructed of well-cut limestone from Lindos. Careful reconstruction in recent years has enhanced the harmonious effect.

01 August 2025
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Rhodes
7

Antalya

As the largest Turkish city on the western Mediterranean coast, Antalya is a mix of antiquity and modernity. It is popular with tourist all year round for its warm climate and sandy white beaches.

02 August 2025
Antalya
8

Alanya

03 August 2025
Alanya
9

Limassol

A major commercial port, cruise ship port of call, and wine-making center on the south coast, Limassol, 75 km (47 miles) from Nicosia, is a bustling, cosmopolitan town, with some of the liveliest nightlife on the island. Luxury hotels, apartments, and guesthouses stretch along 12 km (7 miles) of seafront, with the most luxurious ones just to the north of town. In the center, the elegant, modern shops of Makarios Avenue (where you'll mainly find clothes and shoes) contrast with those of pedestrian-only Agiou Andreou in the old part of town, where local handicrafts such as lace, embroidery, and basketware prevail; make sure you avoid shopping on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, when many shops close at 2 pm. A luxurious marina that will hold 650 yachts as well as house apartments, shops, and restaurants should further boost the town's lively appeal.

04 August 2025
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Limassol
10

Kos

05 August 2025
11

Heraklion (Iraklion), Crete

Having been controlled by Arabic, Venetian and Ottoman empires over the years - it's no surprise that Heraklion is a diverse patchwork of exotic cultures and historical treasures. Celebrated as the birthplace of the Spanish Renaissance artist, El Greco, you can visit to explore the storied ruins of the Minoan empire's capital, and unearth the rich cultural treasures that Crete’s bustling modern capital has to offer.

06 August 2025
Heraklion (Iraklion), Crete
12

Santorini

Undoubtedly the most extraordinary island in the Aegean, crescent-shape Santorini remains a mandatory stop on the Cycladic tourist route—even if it's necessary to enjoy the sensational sunsets from Ia, the fascinating excavations, and the dazzling white towns with a million other travelers. Called Kállisti (the "Loveliest") when first settled, the island has now reverted to its subsequent name of Thira, after the 9th-century-BC Dorian colonizer Thiras. The place is better known, however, these days as Santorini, a name derived from its patroness, St. Irene of Thessaloniki, the Byzantine empress who restored icons to Orthodoxy and died in 802. You can fly conveniently to Santorini, but to enjoy a true Santorini rite of passage, opt instead for the boat trip here, which provides a spectacular introduction. After the boat sails between Sikinos and Ios, your deck-side perch approaches two close islands with a passage between them. The bigger one on the left is Santorini, and the smaller on the right is Thirassia. Passing between them, you see the village of Ia adorning Santorini's northernmost cliff like a white geometric beehive. You are in the caldera (volcanic crater), one of the world's truly breathtaking sights: a demilune of cliffs rising 1,100 feet, with the white clusters of the towns of Fira and Ia perched along the top. The bay, once the high center of the island, is 1,300 feet in some places, so deep that when boats dock in Santorini's shabby little port of Athinios, they do not drop anchor. The encircling cliffs are the ancient rim of a still-active volcano, and you are sailing east across its flooded caldera. On your right are the Burnt isles, the White isle, and other volcanic remnants, all lined up as if some outsize display in a geology museum. Hephaestus's subterranean fires smolder still—the volcano erupted in 198 BC, about 735, and there was an earthquake in 1956. Indeed, Santorini and its four neighboring islets are the fragmentary remains of a larger landmass that exploded about 1600 BC: the volcano's core blew sky high, and the sea rushed into the abyss to create the great bay, which measures 10 km by 7 km (6 mi by 4½ mi) and is 1,292 feet deep. The other pieces of the rim, which broke off in later eruptions, are Thirassia, where a few hundred people live, and deserted little Aspronissi ("White isle"). In the center of the bay, black and uninhabited, two cones, the Burnt Isles of Palea Kameni and Nea Kameni, appeared between 1573 and 1925. There has been too much speculation about the identification of Santorini with the mythical Atlantis, mentioned in Egyptian papyri and by Plato (who says it's in the Atlantic), but myths are hard to pin down. This is not true of old arguments about whether tidal waves from Santorini's cataclysmic explosion destroyed Minoan civilization on Crete, 113 km (70 mi) away. The latest carbon-dating evidence, which points to a few years before 1600 BC for the eruption, clearly indicates that the Minoans outlasted the eruption by a couple of hundred years, but most probably in a weakened state. In fact, the island still endures hardships: since antiquity, Santorini has depended on rain collected in cisterns for drinking and irrigating—the well water is often brackish—and the serious shortage is alleviated by the importation of water. However, the volcanic soil also yields riches: small, intense tomatoes with tough skins used for tomato paste (good restaurants here serve them); the famous Santorini fava beans, which have a light, fresh taste; barley; wheat; and white-skin eggplants.

07 August 2025
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Santorini
13

Piraeus

It's no wonder that all roads lead to the fascinating and maddening metropolis of Athens. Lift your eyes 200 feet above the city to the Parthenon, its honey-color marble columns rising from a massive limestone base, and you behold architectural perfection that has not been surpassed in 2,500 years. But, today, this shrine of classical form dominates a 21st-century boomtown. To experience Athens—Athína in Greek—fully is to understand the essence of Greece: ancient monuments surviving in a sea of cement, startling beauty amid the squalor, tradition juxtaposed with modernity. Locals depend on humor and flexibility to deal with the chaos; you should do the same. The rewards are immense. Although Athens covers a huge area, the major landmarks of the ancient Greek, Roman, and Byzantine periods are close to the modern city center. You can easily walk from the Acropolis to many other key sites, taking time to browse in shops and relax in cafés and tavernas along the way. From many quarters of the city you can glimpse "the glory that was Greece" in the form of the Acropolis looming above the horizon, but only by actually climbing that rocky precipice can you feel the impact of the ancient settlement. The Acropolis and Filopappou, two craggy hills sitting side by side; the ancient Agora (marketplace); and Kerameikos, the first cemetery, form the core of ancient and Roman Athens. Along the Unification of Archaeological Sites promenade, you can follow stone-paved, tree-lined walkways from site to site, undisturbed by traffic. Cars have also been banned or reduced in other streets in the historical center. In the National Archaeological Museum, vast numbers of artifacts illustrate the many millennia of Greek civilization; smaller museums such as the Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art Museum and the Byzantine and Christian Museum illuminate the history of particular regions or periods. Athens may seem like one huge city, but it is really a conglomeration of neighborhoods with distinctive characters. The Eastern influences that prevailed during the 400-year rule of the Ottoman Empire are still evident in Monastiraki, the bazaar area near the foot of the Acropolis. On the northern slope of the Acropolis, stroll through Plaka (if possible by moonlight), an area of tranquil streets lined with renovated mansions, to get the flavor of the 19th-century's gracious lifestyle. The narrow lanes of Anafiotika, a section of Plaka, thread past tiny churches and small, color-washed houses with wooden upper stories, recalling a Cycladic island village. In this maze of winding streets, vestiges of the older city are everywhere: crumbling stairways lined with festive tavernas; dank cellars filled with wine vats; occasionally a court or diminutive garden, enclosed within high walls and filled with magnolia trees and the flaming trumpet-shaped flowers of hibiscus bushes. Formerly run-down old quarters, such as Thission, Gazi and Psirri, popular nightlife areas filled with bars and mezedopoleia (similar to tapas bars), are now in the process of gentrification, although they still retain much of their original charm, as does the colorful produce and meat market on Athinas. The area around Syntagma Square, the tourist hub, and Omonia Square, the commercial heart of the city about 1 km (½ mi) northwest, is distinctly European, having been designed by the court architects of King Otho, a Bavarian, in the 19th century. The chic shops and bistros of ritzy Kolonaki nestle at the foot of Mt. Lycabettus, Athens's highest hill (909 feet). Each of Athens's outlying suburbs has a distinctive character: in the north is wealthy, tree-lined Kifissia, once a summer resort for aristocratic Athenians, and in the south and southeast lie Glyfada, Voula, and Vouliagmeni, with their sandy beaches, seaside bars, and lively summer nightlife. Just beyond the city's southern fringes is Piraeus, a bustling port city of waterside fish tavernas and Saronic Gulf views.

08 August 2025
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Piraeus

*This holiday is generally suitable for persons with reduced mobility. For customers with reduced mobility or any medical condition that may require special assistance or arrangements to be made, please notify your Cruise Concierge at the time of your enquiry, so that we can provide specific information as to the suitability of the holiday, as well as make suitable arrangements with the Holiday Provider on your behalf.

Map


What's Included with Oceania Cruises


Accommodation
Return flights included from a choice of UK airports (fly cruise bookings only)
24-hour room service
Unlimited soft drinks, bottled water and selected hot drinks
Butler service in Penthouse Suites and above
Entertainment throughout the day and evening
WiFi included on-board
Shuttle service to and from ports and airport where available
Complimentary in-suite bar in selected suites
1:1.6 staff to guest ratio

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