Cruise review: Louis Cruise - Aquamarine

[T. Advisor King]

I just posted the following 6000-word review to the "Reviews" section, but am posting it here as well because (a) reviews for the Aquamarine are not indexed properly and (b) members don't typically peruse the reviews like they do the message boards.

 

I've used easy-to-find headings in case you're primarily interested in one aspect of the review (e.g., "cabins" or "beverages" or a particular port).

 

I'm more than happy to respond to any questions you have about Louis or the Aquamarine.

 

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We are a family of four and were on Louis Cruise’s Aquamarine for its four-day itinerary through the Greek islands. We thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend Louis to other passengers, as long as they understand that Louis operates smaller ships that don’t have all the frills and glitz of larger, mass-market North American-style cruise ships.

Booking

 

Last summer, we began contemplating a trip to Europe for this summer. Initially, I had tried to work a Mediterranean cruise into our plans, but found that the costs were out-of-proportion to the value. In addition, once we started looking at it, we concluded that a cruise didn’t seem like a great way to see major cities like Barcelona, Rome or Athens (i.e., not enough time in each city).

But then we just happened to come across a posting for the Aquamarine while searching the internet. The four-night itinerary fit perfectly with our schedule. It gave us a chance to go on a cruise and see some of the Greek Islands, but didn’t interfere with our plans to visit key Mediterranean cities on our own schedule.

I didn’t know much (or anything) about Louis before that point. Nearly 80% of my cruise experience (dating from 1991) is with larger, mass-market cruise lines (particularly Carnival). I began reading the Cruise Critic boards and the typical postings about Louis and the Aquamarine (e.g., it is little more than a ferry). Even though the reviews were mixed, we decided to go ahead and book. A key element of that decision was the Louis program that allows kids to cruise for free. This meant that we had to fit the four of us (including a 12 and 15 year old) into one cabin, but we were happy to handle that for four nights.

We chose a category XD-Premium outside cabin and booked directly via the Louis Cruise website (http://www.louiscruises.com). It was, I think, the largest room in that rate category. The total charge for our cabin was US$1,860. The price and dates were amazing considering the relatively short window of time we had to work with (i.e., given our other vacation plans).

Because of the information I had found on Cruise Critic, my expectations for the cruise were low, but the experience far exceeded what I expected.

The reviews of Louis in general were that its fleet consisted of older ships. They didn’t typically have the same amenities as the larger, mass-market cruise lines. However, when it comes to the on-board experience versus the “at port” experience, I’ve generally put a higher value on visiting the destinations than enjoying the ships. It’s not that I don’t like the cruise ship experience, but there is a lot about the typical on-board facilities, amenities and entertainment that I could take or leave.

So when it came to the reviews, I wasn’t too worried. Common complaints from other posters were that the décor was “dated”, that the food wasn’t as “first class” as on larger cruise ships and that the entertainment was amateurish. None of those comments concerned me because they are generally things we don’t care too much about.

The fact that a couple Louis ships were involved in fatal accidents (a rogue wave and a separate sinking) didn’t bother me, but I chose to keep that info to myself rather than sharing it with the family.

Arrival and departure

We arrived in Athens on Saturday for our Monday morning departure. We had planned to simply take the metro/subway/train (“green line”) to the port (which is about a 30-minute drive away). However, when we arrived at the subway station Monday morning, the subway line was closed.

The workers there directed us to a long line of waiting city busses on the street above. We went to the first bus in the line and asked the driver whether it went to the port. He said it did, but suggested we check with the motor coach parked further in front of it. We asked that driver if his bus went to the port and he directed us to store our luggage in the side storage compartments.

To make a long story short, we were on that bus, in Athens for almost an hour, circling around hotels and picking up passengers. At some point, we began to suspect that something was wrong and it wasn’t until we were a few miles from the port when a Spanish speaking tour guide asked us for our bus tickets. We had gotten on the wrong bus, which happened to be a bus full of Aquamarine passengers who were all part of the same tour.

When we arrived at the port, I shrugged my shoulders at the bus driver. He shrugged his and that was the end of that.

Checking in at the port seemed a little haphazard, but ultimately was quick and smooth. We were greeted by a Louis employee who formed us into a line in the parking lot. We filled out a form to say that none of us was sick or had any flu-like symptoms (and I think you would have been crazy to sign anything saying you were sick even if you actually were).

Next they sent my wife with our passports to the check-in desk and sent me with my children and our luggage to the X-ray machines. Unlike American ports, there is no having to deal with baggage porters (i.e., people who expect a tip for taking your bags 20 feet and who will try to intimidate you if you just want to do it yourself).

Once through the X-ray machines, the bags remained on the same conveyor belt and were delivered to the ship. Our luggage arrived on board as soon as we got to our cabin (and were still standing there surveying the layout), but more on that later.

Louis takes your passports (and holds them during the cruise). This is normal. They issue your ID cards and room keys (which are actual keys).

Once we were all back together in the terminal, we boarded a bus with other passengers and were driven to the ship. We boarded immediately with no more than a few-second delay for the boarding photo. Overall, this boarding process was much quicker and seemed more efficient than what I’m used to on Carnival. While it is true that the ships I’m used to are larger with more passengers, I don’t really consider that an excuse for a slow and tedious boarding process compared to a smaller ship. Ultimately, it comes down not so much to the number of passengers to be processed, but rather to the proportion of cruise line workers to passengers. Obviously Louis Cruises takes a lot of pride in this part of their customer service and has enough dock-side staff to make the process run quickly and smoothly.

Cabins

 

Once on board, we found our cabin relatively easily. Again, it was refreshing to be able to go to our room immediately, rather than having to wait until some pre-set time in the afternoon, like we usually have to do in the US.

The cabin was a little larger than we had expected. The beds were adequate. The double bed seemed small, but was probably the size of a standard North American double. The bathroom seemed about the same size as a typical cruise ship bathroom. The shower was small (barely enough room to turn around in), but the water was hotter than I would ever need it and the pressure was very strong. Our cabin had plenty of storage space – two (smallish) sets of drawers, and perhaps 10 feet of clothes racks with plenty of hangers.

The room had one, double electrical outlet of the standard North-American variety. There was also a standard European outlet, which is what the TV was plugged into. I’m not sure what the Europeans do, or whether they know to bring socket-adapters (or just unplug the TV and live with one outlet).

Just after we entered the cabin and were still standing there, assessing the layout and figuring who would sleep where, there was a knock on our door and we opened it to find two of our suitcases. The other two arrived 10 or 15 minutes later.

The cabins had small TVs (18 inch?) and no refrigerator. We never turned the TV on, so I don’t know what kind of programming or reception it received.

Ship

 

The Aquamarine was a lot nicer than I had expected, but my expectations had been set at a very low level based on what I had read on Cruise Critic. The ship is obviously much smaller than the ship we sailed on most recently (Carnival Conquest). I’m not sure I’d say it was less “fancy” or “opulent” (I’m not sure I’d describe a Carnival ship as “opulent”), but it was somewhat more basic and less elaborate. There are fewer “things” (bars, food stations, shops, etc.). However, what I like most about being on a cruise are the destinations and simply sitting poolside with my family. I don’t gamble on cruise ships. I’m not interested in the art auction or getting a massage, going to the piano bar, smoking room, shopping, etc. As a result, the things that might be “missing” compared to a larger, mass-market cruise ship are largely irrelevant for me. That may sound like I prefer smaller ships, which isn’t really the case. But I could do without certain things that come on larger ships.

So generally, the ship was very clean. It was fairly basic (e.g., no “grand entranceway” or multi-floor atrium with glass elevators). The Aquamarine is an older ship and while it does look and feel older, it does not feel “old”. It has one pool area. The pool is small, but there seemed to be plenty of deck/lounge chairs for the passengers. Occasionally I would notice a passenger struggling to locate a vacant chair, but that was rare.

We had calm to medium-calm seas our entire trip. When calm, you could barely feel the ship move. In the heavier seas, it had a discernable rocking motion, but nothing that would knock you off your feet.

There were generally three places to eat (dining room, indoor buffet and pool-side buffet). The food was very good with a reasonable selection. I think I’d read that the food selection was “limited” or “basic”, which may be true, but I’m a bit of a “meat and potatoes” kind of guy, so I don’t need to have ten specialty dishes to choose from at each meal.

 

Service

I found the service to be generally very good on the Aquamarine. I didn’t have the same feeling of being waited on hand-and-foot (as with US-based cruises); but to me, that was a positive. I really don’t like having staff following me around, continuously asking me if I need anything and calling me “sir”. The staff were generally there when you needed them, but they didn’t overdo it. If I have one complaint, it was that it sometimes took longer than I would have liked to order a drink. See my comments on the drink plans and prices below.

The cabin service was excellent. Our room was always clean and the pool towels replaced when we needed them. We are a low-maintenance family and did not need to make any special requests. The cabin staff visited the room twice a day. That is at least once more per day than I think is necessary, but that seems to be standard for cruise line service.

Beverages

Not long after arrival, the staff set up a couple desks on the main deck. One desk deals with the unlimited drink plans. Another is for dining room reservations. I wish we'd found the dining room reservation table earlier so we could have reserved a table by a window.

Louis offers unlimited drink plans for 28 Euros per day (alcohol included) or 15 Euros per day (non-alcoholic only). They also have family plans, although those options do not appear on the drink plan price list. I thought it was interesting that they would show us the price of the family plans, but would not give us anything in print to take away. The family plan (unlimited drinks including alcohol for the adults) for our family of four cost 68 Euros per day.

Initially, I thought we would be better off declining the drink plans. I generally like to consider a cruise to be as much “all-inclusive” as possible. On a Carnival cruise, I will bring on my allotment of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and may not buy a drink on board for the entire cruise. However, before deciding on the drink plans, we went to the bar to check the drink prices. A glass of soda was 2.75 Euros and a “large” beer was, I think, 4.35 Euros. The soda cups were very small. Ignoring the ice, it took four cups to fill a jumbo size McDonald’s cup. However, taking the ice into account, it would probably have taken 6 or 7 cups (i.e., at a cost of 17-19 Euros) to fill that same McDonald’s cup. Their mixed drinks were the same size. The large beers were a reasonable sized glass, perhaps 10-12 oz.

Given that the only other option was water, it seemed to us that just to stay hydrated we would drink our money’s worth. We opted for the family plan drink packages (2 unlimited alcoholic and 2 unlimited non-alcoholic) for a total of 68 Euros per day. We drank about 90 euros worth in the first day (a significant majority of which was soft drinks). According to our cabin account statement, we ordered a total of 127 drinks. The statement doesn’t break them down between alcoholic and non-alcoholic. But even if they were all non-alcoholic, we still came out well ahead.

There were a couple problems with the drink plan in particular and ordering drinks in general. When ordering drinks, it was important to ask whether a particular drink was included in the drink plan. Some drinks (beer, basic mixed drinks like screwdrivers) were included. Other drinks (e.g., pina colada) incurred a 1.25 Euro surcharge. It was not clear what drinks were included and which ones weren’t. No list was posted, but I didn’t ask for one either.

It was also important to remind the server that you were purchasing under the drink plan. Under the plan, you could only get one cup of soda at a time. If the waitress brought you a can of soda, you would be charged a premium for it.

It sometimes took a while to get the attention of a drink server. This was the case both on deck and in the dining room. You could walk to the bar, but the bartender would not dispense a drink under the drink plan without turning over the transaction to a server. Now I’ll be the first to complain if I’m hassled by servers constantly plying drinks on me when I don’t want them. But it seemed to me that Louis’ approach was way too far in the other direction.

Also, as a pet peeve, whenever we ordered a drink, the server would have to write the order out on an order sheet, get you to sign it and leave you with a copy of the order. It was hard to understand why this was necessary, but I have a large pile of yellow drink sheets as a souvenir of the trip.

There were few options other than to buy drinks from Louis (either under the plan, or on a drink-by-drink basis). At breakfast, they would offer micro-cups of juice. In the dining room, you would get only one small glass. At the buffet, you could take more than one if you wanted. But the glasses were perhaps 100mL each. Tea and coffee were available at the buffets. But for cold drinks, the only “free” option was water (and sometimes it was hard to notice the water dispenser, not that I was looking for it).

It appeared that you might be able to bring in your own alcohol. Somewhere we read a policy that indicated that you couldn’t consume personal alcohol in any of the public areas. On check-in they did a quick x-ray of both the luggage and carry-ons. But it seemed more like they were looking for weapons or other dangerous articles, rather than confiscating alcohol.

I’m not sure if many/any passengers “smuggled” beverages on board. Having no experience with Louis and being in a foreign, non-English speaking country, it seemed like it would be more hassle than it was worth, just to save a few dollars. In addition, there were no ice dispensers that we ever saw, and no refrigerators in the rooms, so you’d be out of luck trying to keep drinks cold.

In all the times returning from port, I only recall seeing the entry staff check anyone’s bag once. Our backpack was never searched coming back.

Food

There were generally three places to eat: the dining room, the (indoor) “Bistro” buffet and the outdoor poolside buffet. The food selection was more limited than you would expect on a larger cruise ship. In addition, the menu didn’t cater solely to North American diets, so there were some food items that I either didn’t recognize, or wouldn’t consider eating at that particular meal (e.g., cucumber slices for breakfast).

At lunch, the buffets always had hot dogs and hamburgers, as well as a pasta, pizza slices and two or three hot dishes. It also had cold-cuts, various salads, fruits and vegetables. In both buffets, the food and line-ups weren’t particularly well laid out. It resulted in bottle-necks and delays. If someone at the finishing end of the food line was waiting for a dish to be refilled, it would bring the entire line to a halt, because no one could move. This was particularly frustrating if you only wanted one or two items.

One thing we noticed was that passengers tended to take less food on their plates compared to U.S. based cruises. I’ve been appalled at the amount of food some people take from buffets. Perhaps it is a tendency to over-eat. Or maybe Europeans are more likely to take only what they will eat, which I have to say is the way I approach my buffet meals.

The dinner menus were also a little narrower than those found on larger ships. There were typically three main entrees to choose from. I never had a problem finding something that appealed to me. The food was excellent and always met my standards. While I will often try something new or unusual, I generally stick to “meat and potatoes”, so this menu was right up my alley.

The cruise is very port-intensive, so we were often in port at a normal meal-time. They typically adjusted the meal times or seating styles to accommodate the itinerary.

Breakfast was available from early (6:00) until 10:00 (although the dining room would close earlier); lunch from perhaps noon until 2:00 and snacks (which they called “tea”) around 4:00 (which was good for the days with a late afternoon arrival in port). There was also a midnight snack available at 11:30.

The dining room was more casual than I’ve been used to on Carnival, which was more to my liking (although still at a somewhat higher level of service than I would think was necessary).

The first night is “come as you are”. The second night was still relatively casual (with bonus points for wearing white and blue – the colors of Greece). The third night they “suggest” dressing in “elegant” attire. During the early seating, we saw one man in a suit. I saw two others in jackets without ties. Everyone else I saw was wearing more casual wear (ranging from button-up shirts and slacks to t-shirts and shorts).

Ports

 

On any cruise, I’m a big fan of the ports. Generally, I prefer to go out on my own rather than take a ship-sponsored “excursion” and I avoid the contrived excursions like the plague.

 

 

Mykonos

 

We arrived in the late afternoon and paid the 8 Euro fare for the bus that takes you from the dock to the town. I had read that they don’t check the tickets, so you can slip on and off without paying. They didn’t check our tickets on the way out, but did on the way back. Knowing that, and being a family of four, I would have been inclined to take the bus out and take a cab back. The road is about 1.5 miles, so I’m sure a one-way cab ride would have been less than 32 Euros.

We just walked around town, took pictures and watched the sunset out by the windmills. There are excursions available, but we preferred to do our own thing. The town is vibrant and buzzing in the evening.

Kusadasi

This port in Turkey was much more modern than I had expected and in that respect, constituted the biggest surprise of the cruise for me. I had anticipated a scene from an old movie with dirt roads, people dressed in traditional garb, and perhaps even a snake charmer. Instead, the city looked pretty much like any other one on the itinerary. They even used the same alphabet as English (I had assumed that everything would be written in some sort of Arabic script).

We paid 61Euros each (41 for our 12 year-old) for the tour of Ephesus. They took us with a tour guide by luxury motor coach (I had almost expected a rickety old bus held together with tape and wire).

The site of the ruins is only a few miles from the city. We could easily have done this tour by taxi. There were plenty of taxis waiting at the site’s exit to take people back to the port. I imagine the four of us could have got there and back for a total of 10 or 15 Euros each way.

The bus returned us to the port where we were escorted into a school for carpet making. I had read that we should avoid this part of the tour. By this point, we only had about two hours before re-boarding the ship and I didn’t want to spend my only two free hours of my life in Asia trying to be coerced into buying a rug. We skipped out on the carpet-making tour and spent the rest of the time in the Bazaar (which was really just an area of tourist shops).

Patmos

 

Initially, we had decided to skip the tours and just wander around the town. However, just outside the port enclosure (i.e., about 50 yards from the ship), a town bus arrived and the driver announced that the fare was only 1.50 Euros to go to the monastery at the top of the hill (actually, I thought he said 50 cents, but it was still cheap).

We took the bus up, knowing that we wouldn’t actually be able to enter the monastery (it has a dress code and my wife and daughter had nothing to cover their shoulders and we were all wearing shorts). But we enjoyed walking around the area at the top of the hill and I particularly enjoyed trying to find an unobstructed view to take a photo of the monastery.

The busses ran every 30 minutes, so when we were ready, we just returned to the bus stop for the return trip (which circled the back of this part of the island before returning to the port). The total cost for us was 4.50 Euros each way (our 12 year-old was free)

Rhodes

The dock is just outside the walls of the old city. We spent the morning walking through the old town for what was a combination self-guided cultural tour and souvenir (window-) shopping excursion. I had expected the “old town” to be just that, but it was mostly a tourist area with souvenir shops and restaurants (whose staff would stand in the street and try to entice you into their property).

After getting lunch back at the ship, we took a cab to nearby Elli Beach (my notes say it was 10 Euros return, but it might have been 10 Euros each way). This is a very busy beach filled with tourists. It is a typical European beach, so beware that some of the women will be topless.

There are some excursions available in Rhodes. But what we really wanted to do was wander through the old town and go to the beach. As a result, our total cost at this port was two cab rides, a couple cokes and some ice cream.

Crete

For whatever reason, this was the port of call that I enjoyed the least. The dock area is quite industrial and it was hard not to view the whole town (Heraklion) in the same light.

We made the mistake of being pretty slow off the mark. The ship docked at 7:00 am and was scheduled to sail at 11:00 am. On leaving the port, we attempted to negotiate with the cab drivers. We simply wanted transportation to and from the Palace of Knossos (the most significant archeological site in the area), which was about 12 km from the dock. But the drivers all seemed intent on holding out for 60 Euros for an island tour.

I had read that the Palace was easily reached by city bus. So we walked up the roadway and found a bus station. But it was not obvious how to get a city bus (if that was even the right place), so we opted to take one of the cabs parked in the lot. It cost us 10 Euros for the 20-or so minute drive to Knossos.

When we arrived at the Palace site, there were dozens of cabs waiting in the parking lot and we were comfortable that we would have little trouble getting a ride back. At this point, it was about 9:30.

We knew this didn’t leave us much time to tour the grounds, and at around 10:15 we started looking for a ride back to the ship. However, by this point, most of the taxis had left and all the ones that remained had been reserved by other cruise passengers who had booked them for the day (there was also another cruise ship in town that day).

We quickly found the bus stop and, after missing one bus because we had to buy the tickets from the nearest kiosk, got the next bus at about 10:25. The ride back to town only took 20-25 minutes, but it seemed much longer and we were watching the clock the whole way. We arrived at the port at about 10:50 to find a long line of passengers waiting to gain entry to the dock. We actually set foot on the gangway at 11:01 and counted ourselves lucky that we did not miss our ship. As it turned out, the ship stayed for more than 25 more minutes and there was a steady stream of “late” passengers during this time. Later, we would realize that if we’d missed the ship, we would have been stuck on Crete with no ID, no credit cards and only 45 Euros.

Santorini

It is hard to pick a favourite port, but Santorini would be in the running. This was the only port where we tendered rather than docked. The tender brings you to a small dock at the base of a cliff. I had understood that there were two ways up the cliff (cable car, or via the long and steep switchback walkway). However, I had not appreciated that there is little more than the dock at the bottom and so the only thing to do is pick a route and make your way to the top of the cliff.

My wife was keen on taking the donkey ride up the switchback walkway, so we paid 5 Euros each for the pleasure. This ride is not without its challenges. Once you mount a horse (they refer to them as “donkeys”, but really …), it is sent on its way with you on top, clutching on to whatever you happen to have in your hands at the time (in my case a camera in one and video camera in the other). The horses are not “guided” up the path, they are sent on their own. They run into each other. They rub up against the cliff’s stone walls (with your leg between the horse and the wall). Periodically, they stop for no apparent reason. I suppose it was fun in retrospect, but at the time, I was just happy to get to the top with my camera equipment in one piece.

Theoretically, you have the option of walking up (and down) this path. But even as an athlete and marathon runner, I wouldn’t want to try that trail by foot. Other writers point out that the road is treacherous because it is heavily soiled with donkey droppings (which is true). But the real problem is dealing with the horse traffic. There are dozens (perhaps hundreds) of these horses on this trail. They are large and not under anyone’s control. I can only imagine that walking this path leads to many instances of “man vs. horse” in which the horse always wins.

Once at the top, we walked around, took many photos of white houses and blue domed roofs and bought some souvenirs. I wish we could have stayed longer, but after our near-miss earlier that day on Crete, we took the cable-car down (14 Euros, total) with plenty of time to spare.

Other observations

There was a lot to like about the cruise and not much to dislike. The itinerary is very port-intensive, so we found no need to seek out any shipboard entertainment. I have no idea what the night-time shows were like aboard the Aquamarine.

During the day, they had a singing duo, which I think consisted of an electric keyboard and a karaoke/percussion machine, run by two vocalists. They sang more of a variety than the typical Calypso/Reggae that is unavoidable on Caribbean destinations.

I enjoyed the lack of ongoing sales pitches being blared over the ship’s loudspeakers. That is one of my pet peeves of the Carnival-type cruises, where they seem to be continuously trying to sell you everything from spa treatments to art to another cruise. Louis seems to appreciate that you’ve made and important decision in choosing their ship and you’re there to enjoy the cruise, not to be an ongoing revenue stream.

As this was a European cruise, there was some toplessness among the female sunbathers. As far as I ever noticed, this was always confined to the deck overlooking the pool, rather than around the pool itself. But be warned if this is potentially an issue for your or your family.

The ship had passengers from all over the world. Most announcements were done in 3 or 4 different languages (including English). I don’t recall encountering a staff member who did not speak English, so I found the multi-lingual nature of the passenger population to be refreshing. I would guess that about 30% of the passengers spoke English as a first language. From my dealings with other passengers, I would guess that another 30-45% spoke English relatively fluently.

If I could find one thing to complain about, it is the charge for the safe. Each room has a small key-operated safe. However, to get the key, you had to pay 10 Euros. We chose not to pay for the key and just trusted that our belongings would be safe in our cabin.

Our cabin was charged auto-tips of 96 Euros (32 per adult, 16 per child). You have the option of increasing or reducing this, but we left it in place. We did not see the need or occasion to provide any additional tips. Our total cabin charges were 623.50 Euros, consisting of the drink package (272 E), the auto tips (96 E), the excursion to Ephesus (224 E), and the bus in Mykonos (30 E). We also had a bar charge of 1.50 E.

Disembarkation

The cruise line does not invite passengers to “self assist”, so all passengers are expected to place their luggage in the hall on the last night of the cruise. I didn’t notice anyone carrying their own luggage the next day, but I’m not sure how they could stop you if you really wanted to do it yourself.

The one problem with disembarkation (which unfortunately left a hint of a bad taste in the mouth at the end of the cruise) was how they managed the last morning’s breakfast.

We were required to be out of our rooms quite early, so we left our room empty and went to the dining room, each carrying our own backpack. The dining room staff insisted that passengers could not take any luggage (including backpacks) into the seating area. To deal with this, they had created an area where passengers were expected to leave their carry-ons. However, there was no way we were going to leave our backpacks (which, at this point, were now filled with our cameras and other valuables). This meant that among the four of us, we had to leave one person sitting with the luggage while the other three had breakfast. We attempted to rotate among us so that one person wasn’t stuck bag-watching the whole time. But it was very awkward and cumbersome and was an unfortunate way to end the cruise.

We were among the last to leave the ship and when we entered the terminal, our bags were clustered together, alone in the middle of a very large room. We took our bags and got a taxi into Athens, for which we paid 20 Euros.

At no point during our time in Athens or on the cruise did we notice any effects of Greece’s economic situation (with the possible exception of the subway line shutdown, if that was the reason for it). I had anticipated that facilities (including the port) might get shut down due to strike or just general unrest. But had we not known the country was having fiscal and monetary problems, we wouldn’t have guessed it from what we experienced.

From virtually every perspective, the cruise was a very enjoyable experience. My expectations had been set well into the “mediocre” level, so my cruise experience far exceeded those expectations.

It was an adventure (in the “fun and exciting” sense, not in some sort of “what will go wrong next” sense). I like most of my vacations to have a significant element of adventure, even if that adventure is staying in a city that I’ve never been to before. Mass market cruises are fun in their own way. But I don’t think it takes many of those cruises before the element of “adventure” gets pretty thin.

If you’re on a cruise primarily to relax in the lap of luxury, then this ship (and likely the whole Louis cruise line) is probably not for you. The time on board was very relaxing. But the ship had little in the way of art auctions, boutique shopping or five-storey atriums. It was very clean and it was very comfortable and in many ways was actually a more positive experience for me than the mass-market North American cruise ships.

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Louis Cruises to friends or family, or to book again with Louis if I was ever considering a cruise in their region.

[YoungDubFan]

I'm glad that you enjoyed your cruise. I was on this cruise in May and agree with most of your comments. For those wondering about the evening entertainment, it was adequate. The entertainers are from Belarus and English is not their first language. They definitely worked hard and it wasn't bad.

[whereintheworld]

Thankyou T Advisor King for your lengthy review of your cruise on the Louis Line. I am sailing on the Louis Cristal on 19th September, and I guess it will be similar to the Aquamarine. I have only sailed with Cunard previously so I was certainly not expecting anything marvellous. Like you I am more interested in the Ports of Call rather than spas and shopping, but I do like good food so I may find that a bit different from the QE2. I am still deciding on a drinks card. Do you recall the price of a standard wine? Is it possible to get a cup of coffee or tea at any time and is cappaccino available on the drinks card? Do you recall what fellow pasengers said about the ship's tours. While I am not mad on being part of a large flock at a tourist site, with historical sites I do like to get all the history and info which is difficult on your own as guide books like Lonely Planet or Frommers only have a basic description.

Thanks again for taking the time to write such a great review

[YoungDubFan]

I was on the Aquamarine in May. There was a bar on the deck above the pool where you could get ice cream and specialty coffee drinks / cappuccino using the all you can drink card. I didn't pay attention to what wine went for but I know that you could get a house red, chardonnay, blush, or champagne with the card. I did not take any of the offered tours. We did Ephesus on our own through a private guide that I arranged before we left. We did the Palace of Knossos using a taxi driver who we hired right outside the port. In addition to driving us to the palace and waiting for us while we toured, he then drove us around the island for about 30 min and then took us back to the ship. In Patmos, a lot of people skipped the offered tour to the Monastery and again used taxis that were waiting right at the port.

 

I think the only time you really need to do a tour is if you want to go to Lindos on Rhodes and possibly on Santorini. Your time on Santorini will be very short and if you want to get up to the top and see the sunset, you need to be on a ship tour. I actually disembarked at Santorini, but we were on the last tenders to get off the ship. In Santorini, you have to use tenders to get ashore. The people on organized tours get off first, and then people who are doing their own thing. There was at least 1 hr between when the 1st passengers got off the ship and when I was able to get off.

 

For Rhodes, we just walked around the Old town in the morning, went back to the ship for lunch, and then explored some of the newer part of the city in the afternoon. If you take a ship tour, I don't know how much free time, if any that you have. Quite a few people used this day to go to a beach, as there was plenty of time. They either walked to the beach or used a taxi. Again, readily available at the port.

 

Hope this helps. I am more than happy to answer more questions.

[T. Advisor King]

Thanks for your comments, Where. I think YDF's reply pretty much took care of your question. As I alluded to in my review, I'm not drawn to gourmet food, so the meals available on a Louis ship were more than adequate for me. However, while I have never sailed Cunard, I can only imagine that their meals meet the highest standards possible. While it might be difficult to improve on the basic quality of the ingredients, I'm sure Cunard spends more time on the presentation and likely had a much wider array of options at each seating.

 

I'm afraid I don't recall the price of wine. It wasn't something I researched before deciding on the drink card (my mind was more on cold beverages at the time). So once it was done, I didn't give the price a second thought. I'll also defer to YDF's answer about coffee. I'll drink coffee socially, but not habitually, so I didn't go looking for it on board.

 

We did take the ship's tour at Ephesus. I agree with you that, when going to any sort of historical site, you are only getting half the experience if you don't have any information about what you're seeing. Our tour was fine, the guide was quite good, although I wouldn't say "great". She was a local and her English was very good. Still, they do that tour multiple times per day and use a much-rehearsed presentation. The jokes are funny, but you know she repeats them 2-3 more times every day. I almost felt like she was giving us too much detail with not enough general background. I happened to be looking up Ephesus on Wikipedia earlier this week and was struck by some key information in the summary that I didn't recall the tour guide mentioning when we were there.

 

I do agree that a general tour book will not provide much more than background information. But I have found that if you know where you're going, it is very easy to find sufficient information on line. For the Western Europe part of our vacation, I also used my web-enabled blackberry and routinely accessed Wikipedia to read information to my family about the things we were seeing. Typically I found that there was more detail available than they were interested in hearing. I'm still waiting to find out what my phone bill is, though!

 

That said, the on-line information tends to be more background or general than specific detail about individual elements. However, as I mentioned above, I do find the tour guides prefer to illustrate what you're seeing with stories that are more akin to anecdotes, rather than giving a more comprehensive overview. For some historical sites (although not on the cruise part of our vacation), we found audio tours that we downloaded from iTunes. It is also usually relatively easy to attach yourself to another tour. Sometimes we'll do that for a while, then go off on our own, then join the back of another tour.

 

With all that said, I don't recall specific feedback from other passengers about other tours.

 

I generally agree with YDF's comments on Patmos, Rhodes, Crete and Santorini. The only comment I'll add is that we seemed to be able to get off the ship and up the cliff faster in Santorini than YDF mentioned. The last photo I have from the deck of the ship while we were cruising in (i.e., before we had dropped anchor) was taken at 3:54 pm. My first photo from the top of the cliff is marked 5:12 pm. In addition, we were back on board and having dinner before the sun set, but I guess that's the difference between August and May.

 

Good luck and have fun on your cruise. Let me know if you have any other questions.

[whereintheworld]

Thankyou YDF and TAK for your prompt reply, it has been most helpful. As i leave tomorrow to go on an Insight Coach Tour of Turkey before the cruise I may not have time to check this site again. Still undecided about the drinks card. I guess I will wait and see if I get in with a drinking crowd while on the coach tour;)

[NYLady]

Thank you for this review! Very helpful.

[Ocean_Liner_Traveller]

T. Advisor King, many thanks for this wonderful review. I have recently returned from this cruise and I agree with most of what you say.

 

Reading some negative comments in this forum before cruising made me wary, but your reassuring review was eventually right and did much justice to the ship. It is in immaculate condition and the crew is taking good care of her.

 

Service, food and cabin were wonderful. The food included among others many Greek delicacies (and a Taverna plate), giving an opportunity to those who wanted to taste a bit this particular cuisine. The cabin had ample storage space and our only complaint was that the space between the two beds was a bit narrow. The ship's design generally compliments its Royal Caribbean origins.The entertainers did their best and deserved much praise.

 

This cruise is a great way to taste so many beautiful places in such a little time. Actually, neither in the Caribbean nor anywhere else in the world can one find this, as far as I know. Our timetable every day was full and it was much fun.

 

We were so satisfied that we are planning to return to Aquamarine next year, too.

[YoungDubFan]

If you are returning next year, you might want to ask for one of the cabins that has the beds in a L formation versus parallel to each other. Our cabin had the L format and it felt much bigger than the other format. We had a lot of floor space and there was a coffee table in the center of the room. We moved this over to the side and it really worked out well.

[Ocean_Liner_Traveller]

YoungDubFun, thank you for the nice advice. I have seen photos of Aquamarine cabins with L configuration and they look great.

 

I would book them without second thought. But we have the habit to book only guarantee cabins. Many times they are much cheaper than numbered ones. Moreover many times we have been given wonderful complimentary upgrades. ;)

 

For example, in this cruise we had booked the cheapest outside cabin category, XA guarantee with portholes. We were upgraded to an XD cabin two decks above with picture windows. On the other hand it is said that one has fewer possibilities to get upgraded with a numbered cabin.

 

Of course there is the risk that you may not like the cabin that the company will choose for you. But we are easy going people and we say we'll take our risks. :)

 

Let alone that it is so much fun to login every day to the cruise company site to see which cabin you will eventually be assigned to. :)

[YoungDubFan]

I would still think that you could ask for the L layout of the cabin, even if you are booking a category guarantee. It may be worth at least asking about.

[Ocean_Liner_Traveller]

I would still think that you could ask for the L layout of the cabin, even if you are booking a category guarantee. It may be worth at least asking about.

 

Sure, why not? But frankly this wasn't a serious problem by any means. Given proper pricing, I would gladly have a World Cruise in that cabin.

[T. Advisor King]

Great to hear you enjoyed your cruise. I personally think Louis is a bit of a hidden gem. But part of that is because I'm pretty low maintenance. I don't particularly want, nor do I want to pay for, many of the extravagances of the mass-market cruise lines.

 

The service is great and the food is great. But for me, it is all about the destinations. But I'll continue to caution readers that if they're looking for the glass elevators, six deck atriums, and wraparound balconies, they won't find it on Louis. Nor will they find an art auction or six piano-bars.