We traveled with Norwegian Cruise Line in May of 2025 – this was our first time with the company, but not our first time on a cruise! Our 9 day cruise itinerary on the Norwegian Viva included port stops in Istanbul, Kushadasi, Mykonos, Rhodes, Santorini and Alexandria.

What We Booked Through the Cruise Line

This trip was booked in August of 2024 and we had until January 2025 to make our final payment. At time of booking, Norwegian was running a special that included airfare for the second person completely free as well as a discounted cruise fare rate.

I chose to go a day early in order to see Istanbul before leaving the port and booked our hotel through the cruise line as well. We stayed at the Conrad Istanbul Bosphorus, a five star hotel and it was exceptional! Breakfast was included and was one of the best hotel breakfasts I’ve ever seen.

This included a transfer from the airport to the hotel and the hotel to the cruise port.

How was the Ship?

Before cruising with Norwegian, I had previously sailed with Princess on a Caribbean cruise, a British Isles cruise and an Alaskan cruise. The Norwegian Viva was a much larger ship than any of the Princess ships, but as far as overall layout, it was very similar.

Our stateroom was great! I booked an interior, so no window but the bathroom was much larger than what I’m accustomed to and the bed was comfortable. They had great storage spaces for luggage and even an iron in some rooms. The lights in the room were controlled by your ship key card, so you had to put it in a slot when you were “home” for the lights to come on.

Norwegian seems to be very environmental friendly and is doing quite a bit to recycle, leave less waste behind and reduce the carbon footprint of their ships.

There were three dry slides on the ship, including “The Drop” which was super fun! You are strapped in to a mat inside a tube, laying on your back and the floor drops out from underneath you, sending you down the slide. I had a blast with that one.

The Viva also has a water slide too, which was unique and a fun alternative to just hanging out in the pool or hot tub. There are pools on the upper decks as well as mid-ship and that really helps spread people out on at sea days. The infinity pools were almost always in use, as were the hot tubs. There is also a special kids splash area and some private pool areas for elite members.

Food Options on the Norwegian Viva

So many food options on the Norwegian Viva! There are two buffets on the pool deck, which did frequently change their offerings throughout the cruise. The German themed lunch was the best food the buffet had during our cruise, but at any time you can find something for everyone.

Indulge Food Hall was our go-to for most meals. The unique concept of several different types of cuisines in tapas style really appealed to us and I ordered Indian food the most and they have their own ovens to make naan! At times the ordering tablet was glitchy, but there are servers who bring food and check to make sure that’s working, so we always had someone that was able to fix that issue if it came up.

The Local Bar & Grill was also a great option that was part of your cruise fare. Burgers, pasta, wings and lots of really good appetizers as well. They are open very late, so with the exception of a few hours, you can almost get food there at any time of the day. The wait to be seated was long at times, so unfortunately we only ate there a couple times, but everything we had was great.

Two of the fancier dinning rooms have menu items that are included with cruise fare and don’t require reservations. There are also some entrees that can be ordered for an extra charge. We found these to have more seafood leaning dishes, which isn’t really my favorite, so we only ate there once.

There are also many other restaurants on the ship that are extra and not included with the cruise fare dining, plus a Starbucks on board.

You can see a full ship tour in my vlog where I take you through many of the restaurant options!

Excursions

All excursions were booked through Norwegian Cruise Line. Since time in port is limited, I wasn’t comfortable booking anything with outside tour groups – if for some reason your tour is late and goes past all aboard time, Norwegian will wait if you booked through their reservation system. They will not if it’s on your own and I didn’t want to take that risk!

For the most part, there’s a pretty good selection of things to do at all different price points, so no matter your budget, they will have something that fits! Overall, our excursions were excellent with very knowledgeable guides. The only skip for me would have been our day in Mykonos because the island is so small, you don’t need a guide for the main city area.

For our excursions around Alexandria and Cairo, we had armed guards and a police escort for extra safety measures. Our passports were also collected at the beginning of the cruise and given back the day before we docked in Egypt. We had to show that stamp to customs agents when leaving the ship. That was new for me and made me nervous that my passport was not in my possession for several days, but all went well.

Overall, this was a great cruise option! The itinerary was fantastic, the ship was a lot of fun and great dining options on board as well. Any questions for me? Let me know in a comment and I’m happy to answer!