Louis Cristal - Just returned November 2011

[blindrid]

I'm hoping to find some time soon to review my 7 day trip on the Louis Cristal. Before then (knowing they are finished for the year) if anyone has any questions, let me know.

[MMDown Under]

I'm hoping to find some time soon to review my 7 day trip on the Louis Cristal. Before then (knowing they are finished for the year) if anyone has any questions, let me know.

 

I look forward to reading your review.

[ikesyd]

Will keep eye open for your review as we are booked for July next year. Would like to know what you did when in port? How long did it take to disembark in Athens as we hope to do a tour after leaving the ship.

[blindrid]

We did the week long starting in Athens. Disembark was a piece of cake as it started at 6:00 AM and since we had a 9:30 AM flight we were first in line, getting off right at 6:00, carrying off our own luggage.

 

Depending on the port, we normally did our own thing as our rule was if the tourists went left, we went right. We hired a private guide in Istanbul and Kusadasi. Hopefully my review will get written........

[T. Advisor King]

Still waiting for that review (or did you post it in the reviews section?). I'm very interested in your commentary on the "feel" of Louis as a cruise line, particularly compared to mass market cruise ships. I've sailed more Carnival than anything else, but that is partly due to price and proximity. But I've never enjoyed the "feel" of a cruise more than I did on my last Greek Isles cruise on Louis. There was just something so low key about it. There wasn't so much "sell, sell, sell" and I never thought the crew was more worried about "appearing" to be providing good service than simply doing a good job. In many ways, my experience on the mass market cruise lines is that they try to make it all about themselves rather than leaving it to you as a passenger to make it about yourself.

[JLseagull]

Did you do the excursion to Oia Village in Santorini? We did it on our cruise 31 Oct to 4 Nov 2011 and felt really ripped off because the whole excursion was in full darkness and we couldn't see anything. The guide actually abandoned the tour at Oia, just pointing us to the tourist shops. At least he was apologetic about it. Apparently, Louis Cruises just keeps running the tour late into the year without adjusting for earlier nightfall and daylight saving ending. The problem is that all their advertising is for stunning views of the crater at sunset. So we feel they just took our money and ripped us off. Others on the same excursion as us felt even more angry. Anyone else have this experience? What could we do about it? We asked for a refund but got told very nicely to push off. (This was my parents retirement trip of a lifetime and we only went on Louis Cruises because it included Santorini.)

[T. Advisor King]

Not sure if your question was directed at me or the OP. We were on the Louis Aquamarine in August 2010, so we were at Crete in the morning, then Santorini in the late afternoon of the same day. Since it was only 4 hours or something, we didn't pay for an excursion. We just rode the donkeys up the cliff, walked around, took tons of photos, bought a few souvenirs and took the cable car down. We were back on the ship and in the dining room when the sun set (I think I got up from the table to get my camera to get some pictures of the sunset).

 

Your experience sounds incredibly disappointing and while some might think you could have figured out the timing of sunset, etc., I think most passengers would assume that they've got that worked out and that they aren't going to take your money and do exactly what they are apparently doing. I haven't heard many bad things about Louis, but if that was my only experience with them, it would leave a very sour taste in my mouth.

 

We had a beautiful sunny day and like I said, we just walked around and enjoyed it. We weren't even there long enough for a meal. But it was so stunningly picturesque and I'd go back in a second!

[blindrid]

Did you do the excursion to Oia Village in Santorini? We did it on our cruise 31 Oct to 4 Nov 2011 and felt really ripped off because the whole excursion was in full darkness and we couldn't see anything. The guide actually abandoned the tour at Oia, just pointing us to the tourist shops. At least he was apologetic about it. Apparently, Louis Cruises just keeps running the tour late into the year without adjusting for earlier nightfall and daylight saving ending. The problem is that all their advertising is for stunning views of the crater at sunset. So we feel they just took our money and ripped us off. Others on the same excursion as us felt even more angry. Anyone else have this experience? What could we do about it? We asked for a refund but got told very nicely to push off. (This was my parents retirement trip of a lifetime and we only went on Louis Cruises because it included Santorini.)

 

We did not take an excursion in Santorini. Louis adjusted the Cristal's schedule the week before and I recognized that it would be near dark when we arrived due to the change in Daylight Savings Time. It was plenty dark by the time we got tendered and on the island.

 

I'm still planning on the review - I promise.

[whereintheworld]

I was there late September and we didn't dock until 5pm but the light lasted quite a while so I do have some beautiful photos of Oia. I was disappointed that we drove back to Thora just on sunset, so missed the opportunity to take photos of that, but the passengers who stayed in Thora said it was very cloudy just then, so not that good anyway. I have got a magnificent photo of the moon above the white washed buildings which I took in Thora as we walked back to the chairlift from where the bus deposited us.

[patseacruiser]

Since we're still waiting for your review - can you just give us a general thumb's up or down for it and then we'll await your review.

[ikesyd]

Blindrid did you purchase the drinks package, if you remember what would be the price for a beer or glass/bottle of wine? We are stopping at Izmir did you do the tour to Ephesus?How did you spend your time in Rhodes? What deck were you on, we have booked for deck 6 in an outside deluxe room. How formal was captains dinner, as our cruise is at the end of our 6 weeks in Europe so will help decide what to pack.Thanks for any info.

[T. Advisor King]

I know you were asking the OP, but since I just loved my Louis Greek Islands cruise, I'll tell you that when we stopped in Rhodes for the day (this was our one port where we had a full day), we spend the morning walking through the old walled city (self guided, no tour), then went back to the ship for lunch (which we never do on a cruise, but we'd seen the city and wanted to pick up our beach stuff). In the afternoon, we went to the beach that is at the very north tip of the city of Rhodes. It was quite busy/bustling, which appealed to us. While Mykonos and Santorini were, in many ways, the highlights and Patmos was a quiet, serene jewel, I thought Rhodes was an unexpected pleasure. I wasn't expecting much (not sure why), but loved the combination of half a day surrounding ourselves in the ancient and half a day just hangin' on the beach.

 

We also went to Ephesus from Kusedasi, which I would recommend. Not sure of the logistics from Izmir.

[blindrid]

I'm getting closer as it seems like there is no time in the day.

 

We had a great time but we chalk that up to a lot of wonderful friends and not necessarily Louis Cruise Lines. I would place the cruise line as "OK" but different from the more larger, traditional cruise lines. I would put the food acceptable but coming from the NCL's of the world of cruising, it was again, different as food was not always available like the large cruise lines.

 

We did do the drink package and it worked well for us as we didn't need to worry about running up a tab. The only beer that was included in the package was Lowenbrau (I didn't even know that was still around til then). I have the bar list at home so I'll check on that and revise this post tonight.

 

To be quite honest, I got confused between Turkish Lira, Euros, USD and Pounds in London so I apologize that I need to check the bar prices as I think they were in Euros.

 

If one doesn't know this, the drink package is discounted if you buy it a few days before you leave.

 

The schedule was a bit hectic and I don't recall a formal "Captain's Dinner". We dressed relatively casual at dinner and the guys normally wore Dockers / slacks with casual shirt, women did slacks, nice blouse; things like that. There were very few ties and jackets. It was cool there in November so we also wore a lot of jackets (for example, I wore my leather sport coat a lot).

 

I hired a private tour guide for Istanbul and Ephesus and we really enjoyed that. I was surprised that I would probably put Istanbul on top of my list and Ephesus was pretty impressive also. Since we were with friends, we did a lot of wandering around on our own, finding restaurants off the beaten path and tried to get away from the touristy places. Be prepared to see literally hundreds of T-shirt shops over the trip at the various markets.

 

Anyway, I'll get my stuff out and provide more detailed info. Overall, I'm glad we did it and Louis worked for us. I was not impressed overall with the service and the food but there were highlights. A server named Derrick was the highlight of the trip as he was absolutely marvelous and made it fun - we always made it a point to find his area to sit. I think he also had fun taking are of us which made it enjoyable for all. Lisa came in a close second though.

 

This was the smallest ship I'd been on and I enjoyed that but if I would do over again, I would consider some of the other lines as the food was OK, service spotty and the general attitude of the ship's employees was iffy. The good thing that if anyone complained in our group, the rest of the group would verbally assault them back into line to remind everyone we were there for a good time, regardless :).

[blindrid]

here we go,

 

Wed.

 

Left Denver on a red eye on BA. After layover in London, arrived in Athens and our hotel about 3:00 am, Sat AM. Went to the Acropolis, various places and to port at about 1. I happened to find out by accident that the ship's schedule changed leaving early - more on that later.

 

Embarkation was easy and quick - no issues. our cabin was on the 3rd deck and seemed a bit smaller than the CCL, NCL and Princess lines I've been on. The pool area has a roof that was closed since it was pretty cool and windy outside. I saw some of the various cabins and to be quite honest there really isn't a lot of difference with the exception of the cheapest inside that are bunks only. Since this was a destination based cruise, the cabin worked fine. One quirk that bothered the ladies more than the guys was that you were not allowed to flush the toilet paper instead putting it in a covered can. As it turned out that was the case on every island as well.

 

Sat PM - Arrived in Istanbula earlier than expected (see early departure). Our plans were to head on our own to the palace. We walked over the bridge into the City. One thing tha t was really cool that a Muslim Call For Prayer occurred when we were in front of a large mosque.

 

We ended up shopping, drinking, eating with the locals and we got to within a block of the palace and since it was getting late and cold, we opted to walk back to the ship. Great afternoon enjoying the City, the people and our friends. The ladies ended up with "personal shopper" and she "helped" them shop (and gaining a commission from the various shop owners. She Made their shopping fun, guys got to drink beer and was entertained by the locals.

 

The next day (sunday) we had a private guide arranged but we had to change our appointment earlier as the ship was leaving earlier than the original itinerary (see early departure again). You can do the Blue Mosque and area on your own but the guide gets you past the lines and was well worth it as we also enjoyed a Muslim's take on religion, customs and the US in general.

 

We spent 4 hours with him, ending up with a carpet sales pitch, drinking tea and their version of ouzo. The great part of the sales pitches encountered over our stay in Istanbul, once someone said "no" they thanked us and we left - I must admit I have never seen a silk, $42,000 rug before. We went to the spice market and it was interesting but not high on our list. We then headed back to the ship for drinks, naps and prepare for dinner.

 

Dinner service was OK, not real personable, but adequate - this was my first lesson that the chef's tendency to overlook the food but it worked. We then headed back to the pool area for drinks and a early bedtime to prepare for tomorrow. Didn't hit the casino, just a few drinks (all inclusive drink package) and we were reminded by Derrick to get some bottled water alas our drink package doesn't kick in until 10:00 AM. Weird, but that is the rule.

 

So far the ship was normal, buffet opens at 7, closes at 9. Lunch hits at 11:30 and again, normal buffet "stuff"

 

Next Part II..........

[T. Advisor King]

Thanks for the post. I'm looking forward to the remainder. I won't try to hijack the thread, but I just have to say that even though I first sailed Carnival in '91 and have sailed mainly the mass-market lines, my favourite cruise of all time was the Louis Aquamarine through the Greek Isles in sumemr 2010. As you mention above, the purpose of the Greek Isles cruise is the destination, not the cabin, piano bar, shows or the fancy dinners. I really thought Louis had a much more down-to-earth product. It didn't try to pretend to be fancy. The staff were concerned with doing their jobs -- more like the clerks or housekeeping staff at a hotel. I find the crew on the mass-market lines are so fixated on customer ratings that they think they need to be part of the experience, rather than slipping quietly but efficiently into the background. That's not a snooty class-vs-class perspective. I would just rather have a conversation with a crew member that is sincere, rather than one that is motivated by ratings or tips. And I really enjoyed the international nature of Louis. They don't assume everyone is an American (mainly because Americans are in the minority), nor can you assume all passengers and crew will speak English (because they all don't).

[blindrid]

Part II:

 

Monday: Buffet hours: Coffee at 6:00 AM, breakfast from 7:00 to 9:30. Lunch from Noon to 2:00 PM. Same buffet with a lot of veggies, eggs, bacon, etc. Beside the buffet, lunch was also served outside by the pool doing a pasta dish prepared on the spot - I thought mine was pretty tasty.

 

One in our party found the first of Louis trying to nickel and dime the passenger. To get a to go cup to take coffee to his bride in bed cost him $2 USD - it wasn't fancy, upgraded coffee, just coffee. I told him he should just go get a tray, a few cups of coffee and go but not a big deal. Of course, if it was after 10:00 AM, our all inclusive drink package wold have covered it. So we had our first cocktail at 10:01 AM as we need to get our money's worth of the all inclusive.

 

We spent the day, laying outside even though a bit cool and real windy. Ended up next to the pool taking advantage of our all inclusive drink package - Derrick and company were great. We also met a few Greece born, live in Australia that were fun to be around. They attempted to teach me the Greek language but we opted to give up and have a few drinks. Good people - good day.

 

Mykonos arrival at 6:30 PM due to a "technical stop" in Lavrion at 11:30 AM to disembark and embark a large number of passengers - no one else allowed to get off. NOW I see the reason for the total makeover of the schedule - we are on a glorified bus that needs to make different stops based on who is where and why.

 

We decided to do Mykonos on our own since it was pretty dark by the time we got there. Hit the tourist part with a boatload of shops, ending up in a restaurant on the waterfront. Don't ask me the name and it was family owned with only one of the family almost speaking English. A lot of the group had pizza with a couple of us having grilled squid - I would certainly do that one again. Several pitchers of wine later, we walked back to the shuttle bus taking us back to the Cristal. It was a good evening - I think it would have been more fun during daylight hours but maybe for another day :). On of our birthday girls got a cute wine pitcher given to her as a birthday gift.

 

Back at the Cristal, we opted for a night cap at the bar at the back of the ship. Horrible service as the bartender and server was sitting around ignoring us even though we were the only ones out there. We have now found the best of service thanks to Derrick and Lisa and now the worst.

 

After a few, some opted to go to the entertainment of "Latin Fever" Showtime. We went to bed. The report on the entertainment was that it was good, not special, not like the mainstream lines' entertainment but was worth going to.

 

Of by the way, the drink prices if paying for them was about 4-5 euros for drinks and house wine without the drink package. Bottles of red cost from 23-37 Euros. I almost bought a all inclusive for me and a non-alcoholic drink package for my wife but at the time of ordering it, I noticed it was not much more for the all inclusive and am glad I did. (22E vs 12E a day). They had 1.5L bottles of water that was good to take onshore.

 

IMHO, you should by at least the non-alcohol drink package but to each their own. You will get charged virtually for everything to drink (outside of the buffet times) and they do not have all hour drink stations in the buffet area like the mainstream lines - you know the lemonade and stuff. I think one could break even just getting bottled water to take with you on excursions.

 

Anyway, Part III with Tuesday and Kusadasi and Patmos coming.

[blindrid]

Tuesday: Arrive at Kusadasi at 7:00 AM all aboard at 11:30 AM

 

First of all Breakfast buffet from 5:45 AM to 9:30 AM. Same buffet.

 

We hired a private guide to take us to Ephesus to the House of the Virgin Mary and surrounding temples, etc. A definite gotta go to if you enjoy a bit of religion and history. The guide was great, receiving his PHD from the Univ of Florida and works supervising the textile schools.

 

We opted for lunch on board and few drinks (missed my nap though) - remember all inclusive drink card and Derrick to entertain us.

 

Patmos - arrive at 4:00 last tender from shore to ship at 8:15 PM.

 

Our goal was to grab a cab and go the the monastery of St. John. All they had were small cabs, probably seating 3 for $30E each cab. We decided the road trip was not worth it so we ended up walking and finding a place to drink wine and have dinner. Accordingly, dinner and shopping and we were back to the ship by about 8:00 PM. Again, darkness set in early and would have been more enjoyable if we were there during daylight hours. Again, see "change of itinerary" - is that getting a bit old to you? It certainly did with us as the majority of the changes caused us some "night-time" issues.

 

We opted to go to the bar on the back of the ship for drinks, and you guessed it - same worthless server and bartender. We ended upstairs (and inside) for drinks and happened to see the "boss" of the servers, bartenders watching soccer (football, whatever). We got a chance to mention the back employees and the manager seemed to act truly concerned suggesting that we would have no more problems at the back ship bar.

 

Anyway, a late night was had and the day was good and the ship was relatively uneventful which can be considered good as well. Server reminded us to buy the 1.5l bottles of water for tomorrow.

 

Next: Wed - Rhodes, temps to be about 68 degrees F tomorrow.

[T. Advisor King]

Thanks for the posting. I'm looking forward to the rest. As the Louis cruises tend to be quite port intensive (often 2 ports per day), I can see how this might work less well during the winter hours when there is much less daylight. Of course, being on a cruise in the Greek isles in winter is a whole lot better than being in the snow in Denver or the rain/mushy snow where I am!

[blindrid]

T.: you are correct. A "cool" 60 degrees, sun with some wind sure beat 40 degree anytime. Actually, we missed our first blizzard of the year while we were in Greece.

 

Keep in mind this was our first, non-sun, sand and beach cruise as I'm always partial to the Caribbean :). So anything less than 80 degrees was cold (cruise-wise, anyway).

[blindrid]

Wed. November 2nd Rhodes from 7:00 AM to 5:30 PM.

 

We decided to take a leisurely morning and sleep in (I forgot to tell you one of my tendencies of getting up way early so I was still waiting for the coffee and 5:45 AM, reading by the pool).

 

We had no planned excursions and we took out on our own at about 9:00 AM. The port is directly across from Rhodes Town which consists of mostly shopping area surrounded by a large stone wall. We wondered through there, not finding much and it was too early to drink beer at the local joints even though the local "hawks" thought otherwise.

 

In the port area there were a couple of ancient forts and other interesting architecturally interesting sites, lighthouse, etc. After wondering around for a few hours, we headed for our search for lunch.

 

We ended up in an outdoor eatery having local sandwiches, Mythos beer and then headed out. We found a local tourist info place and found they had a little red train that took you around the area for a few Euros and since they allowed us to take beer on board, we quickly grabbed a couple of beers from a sidewalk stand and off we went.

 

We saw some areas of historical significance, a old stadium, drove by the beach areas where all of the casinos are and in general, just a good little ride for an hour seeing the coastlines and quality scenery.

 

We went back to the Town and found a sunny rooftop to drink a beer before we wandered back to the ship. The beer was sold in 500ml, 1L and 2L boot mugs with a map of Greece on the front. We wanted to but one but once they told us 50E's it was obvious they didn't want to sell them.

 

Back to the ship, we found Derrick and our reserved spot next to the pool and commiserated about having to get dressed for dinner as it was "Elegant Night". There was a Captain's Cocktail party and the vote by our group was to "pass". By gauging the people on board and their tendencies, I figured that "Elegant" wasn't going to be "Elegant". DW wore a pant suit and I wore a turtleneck, Dockers and my leather coat - it worked fine and everyone else was pretty much dressed casual.

 

By now I have figured out that everything comes out overcooked, so my meal was fine as I selected Chicken Kiev as it's kind of hard to overcook and dry out something stuffed with butter. It was actually good.

 

We then ended up at our reserved spot by the pool to figure out what our game plan was, utilizing our all-inclusive card all the while. Some ended up at the night's entertainment "Night at the Movies" with some impersonator, singing, dancing thing. I ended up at the Sports Bar (soccer overload) and ended up in the Casino playing blackjack and after a couple of hours, I cashed out winning 5 E's, I guess better than losing :rolleyes:. I did see someone hit a jackpot on a slot so someone left ahead.

 

Back to the Sports Bar, checking it in about 1:00 AM - of course picking up water before I left.

 

Uneventful day but still a good day. Not looking for a 7:00 AM departure in the morning as we have two stops tomorrow: Nicolaos from 7:00 to 11:15 and Santorini from 5:00 PM to 8:15 PM (again a change from original plan).

[glittergal1]

Can you drink the tap water? could you fill bottles up with water at breakfast time?

[Raven4817]

Hi,

 

Thanks for your post. A couple of questions:

 

1. Approximately what did you pay for the private tours?

2. For a husband and wife travel traveling together, do you need a drink package for each, or could one use the card to buy 2 drinks? $28/day for the alcohol package is more than one of us could handle.

3. I read one review where they said the were allowed to bring a bottle of wine on board. Do you know if this is permissible?

[blindrid]

Sorry for the delay in getting back and good afternoon.

 

The tap water is drinkable. Problem may be the water dispenser is a piddly little thing (like a juice dispenser) so I'm not sure filling it up there would work. You may be able to have an bar employee fill it if you bribe him/her or as great as our server/friend was I'm sure Derrick would have done it unless there was some rule against it.

 

As to the private tours, I believe we paid roughly $50-$60 USD each (one was cheaper than the other). It included transportation in a pretty nice van and any admissions. We also tipped the driver a few bucks each and the guide about $5 each. It was well worth it but I'm not a bus tour type of guy.

 

As to the drink cards, you can only buy one drink at a time with the card and one one drink in front of you at one time - they are pretty strict on that rule. One option is that you can buy one non-all inclusive (no alcohol) and one all inclusive. I considered that for wife as she is on a diet but for the minimal amount of difference, I figured even if she had a glass of wine or two w/dinner it was a wash.

 

As to bringing wine on, I would suspect on could do that as they really don't do a search as with the more mainstream lines. Now taking it into a restaurant may be another question.

[blindrid]

Sooner or later, I'll get this done:

 

Thursday, November 3rd

 

Nicolaos (Crete)

Arrive at 7:00 AM All Aboard 11:15 AM

 

Breakfast - same thing starting at 6:00AM

 

It seemed like there was a bit of a cold passed between our group, starting with congestion, etc. no big deal just an inconvenience. The water was pretty rough overnight and DW did not sleep well with the waves crashing into the ship making a pretty good noise (remember we're only on the 3rd deck). Long story short, we punted going on shore and she slept in. I joined our crew for breakfast and they went ahead without us.

 

Upon their return, we met for a drink (after 10:00 AM - yippee!). They just went on their own and their opinion is while it was pretty, it wasn't a big deal one way or another.

 

Aboard the ship, they served stir fry veggies poolside for lunch in addition to the buffet. It was pretty good and thankfully I got mine as a long line formed while we were eating. The food was prepared while one waited and some people seemed to go out of their way to make something simple, difficult. We just hung out during the afternoon having drinks and enjoying each other's company. I met a few people originally from Greece, living in Australia - they were a joy to chat and added to the afternoon experience waiting on Santorini.

 

Santorini

Arrive: 5:00 PM All Aboard: 8:15PM

 

I was truly looking forward to this port. I've always envisioned pulling into the port seeing the beautiful blue roofed buildings like we always see in pictures. What I was concerned with came true: when we came into the port, it was pretty dark (as I've seen some of the pic's maybe dusk would be a better term) due to the time change and the lateness due to the itinerary change. I was disappointed but on a trip it's always best to make do with what you've got

 

We tendered on and opted to pay a few Euros to take the tram versus a donkey ride in the dark. We opted no excursions or tours and went off on our own. The first thing we saw was a beautiful church we had to see - up the stairs we went. It was worth seeing and we went on our way. A lot of the shops were closed for the season but there were plenty of t-shirt shops so we were off to grab something to eat and drink. We accomplished that and the evening was pretty uneventful so I won't bore you with details. The bad thing was that one of our "group" was staying in a B&B for a few days there so it was like saying goodbye to a long lost friend as we have had so much fun together.

 

In leaving, the tender was pretty cold and windy so there wasn't a lot of fun to be had on the tender, just looking forward to a warm ship and a drink. Some opted to go to the passenger talent show and the staff doing "Mama Mia" at 10:00 PM. The morning after report said it was fun as we opted for taking care of last minute things i.e. picking up our passports, packing and getting some sleep as we need to be the first ones off at 6:00 AM to catch our flight.

 

We caught our flight and the trip home was uneventful but long. Just remember that the Athens airport security is pretty picky on allowing fluids through as some of the other locals that traveled with us lost Uzo, perfumes, etc - so remember to pack them in your checked luggage and not your carry on. If you survive the Athens security check, the one we went through in London was much stricter so again, play by the rules (whatever they may be) and it's pretty hassle free.

 

All in all, I would do this trip again. Would I pick Louis as my carrier? I'm not sure. It did seem that they chased the money like other cruise lines but more so. With Derrick being one of the best servers/staff I've had on a cruise ship certainly helped. Too bad some of the other staff members could have done 1/2 the job he did.

 

The food overall was acceptable, some good, some bad but that's pretty objective so I would ignore others that said it was all bad. Overall, I would rate this ship in the lower third of ships I've been on. It was the smallest one also so that may have been a factor. I ended up donating only about 100 Euros to the blackjack dealer in their super small casino but that's part of the fun also.

 

One thing I did like about Louis (and others would fit this as well) was the variety of people on board. Let's face it, I'm not a world traveler by any means as I prefer spending my time in the Caribbean and Mexico for sun and sand. It was a pleasure to see how others live. Whether it is stories about some of the shop owners in Istanbul, some of the most beautiful sites in the world or just restaurant owners that treated us like family - I would change nothing about the trip.

 

Just prepare to be flexible as some people seem to go out of their way to complain - if you are one of those, stay home. If you are able to overlook small things, go and have fun.

[jensenbeachbob]

Hi, We're taking the trip (Athens>Istanbul>islands) in late Sept. So I hope you will review soon after your trip. Did you reserve excursions ahead of time? Thanks. Bob