After three years of planning, ship cancellations, re-booking, canceling again and re-booking, we made it on board! We recently sailed with the San Francisco Wine School from Istanbul to Athens on the beautiful Oceania Cruises Nautica. This ship holds a special place in my heart as it was the first ship that I worked on when I worked for Oceania Cruises as Food and Beverage Director in 2013.
We enjoyed Istanbul, Turkey for 2 days before the cruise. In Istanbul, we enjoyed incredible views, great Turkish wines, fabulous food and incredible service on the rooftop at Roof Mezze 360 which I highly recommend. We also experienced the Istanbul subway, which was clean, modern with Wi-Fi and USB ports.
We enjoyed a Pre-Cruise Turkish wine dinner, hosted by Suvla wines at Kanyon Suvla, in the Levent area of Istanbul in a beautiful modern shopping mall. We enjoyed an adventure on the Istanbul underground last night to get to our restaurant in the Levant District of Istanbul, which hosts a luxury mall, residences, and hotels.
We boarded the Oceania Nautica in Istanbul at their brand-new cruise terminal, which is beautiful. What a fantastic welcome on board we received on the Oceania Cruises Nautica.
We enjoyed champagne, surf and turf (lobster & filet) sandwiches to start the voyage at the pool grill, one of my favorite dishes on board for a casual meal.
The ship organized a sail away party for us which was a nice way for us to meet other cruisers we may not have met before.
Our stateroom was beautiful. We had a veranda category room. The ship has been recently renovated and the colors are bright and lovely. The room is spacious with lots of storage.
Oceania is known for its great quality of food on board. This ship has 2 specialty restaurants, Polo (Steak House) and Toscana (Italian). There is also the Grand Dining Room, Terrace Café, Baristas and 24-hour room service to enjoy.
We did a couple of private wine tours with the San Francisco Wine School. One of them was at Santos Winery in Santorini with stunning views and the other was at Manousakis Winery in Chania, Crete.
A fabulous cruise was enjoyed by all!
