Emerald Cruises in Kusadasi: 2027 Yacht Calls and an Ephesus Day Your Way

Emerald Cruises sails small ocean yachts, and in 2027 two of them bring Kusadasi into their Aegean voyages: Emerald Azzurra, 110 m long with 100 guests, and Emerald Raiya, 120 m with 128 guests and new in 2027. When you arrive with so few fellow passengers, you may want the same unhurried feel on land, and this page helps you plan for it.

On which dates are the Emerald yachts in Kusadasi?

The dates come from CruiseMapper’s Kusadasi schedule, which lists these calls without arrival or departure times; cruisetimetables.com does not list them. Both were checked on 28 September 2026. At least four of the calls fall on Day 4 of Emerald’s eight-day Greek Islands & Turkish Coastlines round trip from Athens (Piraeus), which leaves on 19 June, 7 July, 17 July and 28 August 2027. August is the busiest month, with four calls, and Raiya alone is in port on 18, 23 and 31 August. Your booking tells you which voyage you are on.

What does Emerald already include ashore?

A good deal. Emerald’s yacht itineraries promise “shore excursions, EmeraldPLUS cultural experiences, and the EmeraldACTIVE program all included”, and the inclusions on the Greek Islands & Turkish Coastlines page name an included excursion and EmeraldACTIVE experience with a local guide, an included EmeraldPLUS experience, and the services of an Emerald Cruises Shore Excursion Manager.

The itinerary does not set out the Kusadasi program day by day; it describes the town as the gateway to the ancient city of Ephesus, and your cruise documents are the place to check what the included outing covers. Its advantage is real: it is part of your fare, organized by the yacht’s own excursion team and shared with people you already know from on board. If it gives you what you hoped for, enjoy it, and keep this page for another voyage.

Why would a yacht guest add a private day?

A yacht of 100 or 128 guests feels personal, and a private day carries that feeling ashore: your own licensed guide, your own car and a route set by what you care about. It suits guests who:

• want the rest of the story. If Emerald’s outing covers the ancient city, our Selcuk Old Town tour (4–6 hours) adds St. John’s Basilica, Isa Bey Mosque, the Ephesus Museum and the Temple of Artemis without entering Ephesus again, with every ticket and lunch included.
• travel with family or friends and would like one guide and one vehicle for the whole party.
• hope to see a particular place, such as the Terrace Houses, the Ephesus Museum or the village of Sirince, that a set program may leave out.
• prefer another language. Our guides also work in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian, Italian and German.

How do we plan a day when no port times are published?

1. Find your two times. Your Emerald cruise documents show when the yacht arrives and when you need to be back on board. Those two times frame the whole day.
2. Write to us. Send the yacht, the date, both times and what you would like to see. A licensed local guide replies within 24 hours; you book by form or email, with no prepayment.
3. Shape the route together. A Create Your Own day is drafted backward from your all-aboard time, and we adjust it with you by email until it fits.
4. Step ashore. Your guide waits at the terminal exit with your name on a sign, and Ephesus is 20–30 minutes away by car, up to 45 on the busiest port days.
5. Walk the site. All ten calls fall in the summer season (roughly April to September): Ephesus opens at 08:00, the lower gate stays open until about 19:00 with tickets until about 18:45, and the upper-gate ticket office closes at 18:00. The walk from the Upper Gate down to the Harbor is about 1.5 km and takes two to three hours.

Which Ephesus day fits the time you have ashore?

Tour pages: Best of Ephesus, Selcuk Old Town and Create Your Own. For Ephesus itself we reserve skip-the-line tickets in advance at the Ministry’s gate price, without mark-up, and you settle them apart from the tour: EUR 40 per adult in 2026, EUR 15 extra for the Terrace Houses, nothing for children aged 7 and under. The ticket line is skipped; the security check is not. Full details are on the entrance fee page.

How do you get from the yacht to your guide?

Kusadasi is a pier port: ships come alongside at Ege Port and guests leave through the terminal, at the exit where the pier meets the town. By length, both yachts are far below the limit of the port’s shortest berth pair, berths 3–4 at 253 m (Emerald Azzurra is 110 m, Emerald Raiya 120 m). Emerald does not publish where its yachts come ashore here, and the port assigns its berths daily, so we confirm the meeting point with you before the day; at the pier it is the terminal exit.