jas283a

Yes it was the Jade. We enjoyed it, it’s a mid-sized ship, so plenty of restaurants and lounges, but not too big and not too many bells and whistles. Good entertainment (when we did go). However, you don’t need the bells and whistles like onboard skydiving or go carts or tons of people onboard, because the port stops are the main draw, like Alaska (other cruise itineraries the ship is the main draw). It’s a very good ship, but mostly as you said, a floating hotel to transport you from port to port in Greece. Our favorite was Corfu and if you go to Crete, I would find an itinerary that goes to Heraklion, the main city. More history/culture things to see there.

Lol, already thinking ahead. If you’re a go go go family, it might be different, but I know for my wife and I (in our 40’s), the every day port stops were a lot, without a sea day to break it up. So I think if there’s 1-2 ports that aren’t prime destinations, that’s OK as it can almost be a more relaxing day. Ours didn’t to Thessaloniki (did Olympia though), I think I realize now that’s pretty rare for “Greek only”.

We did a Greek round trip 7 day from Athens on NCL last summer. It was nice because it was all Greece (plus technical stop in Turkey where we didn’t get off). NCL may not be your cup of tea but worked for us. I can’t help but thinking that was largely a Covid related itinerary though. I agree with the previous poster, it depends on if you want the bigger islands/destinations or smaller islands/destinations. Ours was a mid ship and went to several “main” ports. And I know Princess hasn’t put out many 2024 cruises, so I would wait and see. 2 other things to consider. We had 0 sea days on our cruise, which I think is fairly typical. That means you are very busy the whole time and probably see much less of the ship. The other is if, for example, it’s an Athens round trip, you’ll need days pre and/or post cruise to actually see and enjoy Athens. Just things to keep in mind.

We didn't try to get a taxi in port, but it seemed like there were plenty of taxis available, I didn't think it would be a problem. Granted, we were there in the summer of 2021, so things were probably less crowded (though still plenty of people), so our experience might be different.

Sorry I haven't answered. We went to the Achillion Palace, that was pretty fun, though I've heard it might be closed for renovations, so you may want to check. We also did an excursion with a lunch and dancing where we had a blast, it was in a small village, but I know that will be cruise line dependent. But where we had the most fun was just in the main city, wandering the streets, cafes, shopping. It has a very Venetian, Italian feel (which made sense as they explained the history). We didn't have time to go to the old fortress, but I would have loved to have time to go to that, it looked really fun. And there's a much bigger England influence there, so it was a different flavor than the rest of Greece.