Louis Cruise Lines

[lkb125]

We were on this ship in April as part of our greek tour, the ship is nice it is an older boat but it is just fine. We enjoyed our trip. Lorelle

[mm]

We will be leaving from Pireaus on Sept. 23. Can you tell me anything about the shore excursions? Did you book any private guides anywhere?

Are there security checks when you return from shore?

Thanks for any info!

[Wanttoknow]

My husband and I are also leaving Sept. 23 on a 7 day cruise with Louis. I must admit I am concerned about the conditions on the ship after reading various reviews on Louis. We are flying out of Toronto on Sept. 15 with a week on a tour of Rome and the Tuscan region of Italy. We then fly to Athens and start our cruise.

 

Message for MM, I wonder if we are on the same ship.

[mm]

We probably are on the same ship...the Calypso. I have read that it is one of the better of the Louis lins ships. Let's hope so.

We will be in Athens for 5 days before the cruise. I am trying to line up private guides for some of the ports, especually Rhodes and Istanbul. If you are interested we can exchange some information and see what works out.

mm

[Wanttoknow]

For mm

 

At this point we don't know what ship we are on at first I thought it might be The Calypso then on the Louis website it had that the ship The Coral was doing that intinerary. Hopefully when we receive our tickets which should be in a week or two we will know. I have been in contact with people who have been on both those ships and they said everything was just fine. Of course nothing like the big mega cruise ships but they really enjoyed there time on their cruise of the Greek Islands. I can tell you I sure wondered what had I got into after reading some of the very negative comments on the internet about some of the ships in the Louis fleet.

 

We have book a private tour when we get back to Athens for Oct. 1 with George the Greek Taxi driver. I read some good reviews about his services. Who knows for sure I guess we will find out. This is our first trip to Greece so it will be an experience, we have only been overseas once before and that was to Portugal a few years ago.

 

Where are you located? We are located in Ontario Canada.

[mm]

Not even our favorite travel agent has had much luck with definite information from Louis. I have a feeling they are swamped from taking over so much business from Royal Olympia, which went bankrupt. I also have read that either ship is OK, though.

We are in Riverside, California, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. My husband is a native and I came by way of Boston many years ago. We are seniors and have travelled a lot in the last several years. Most trips on bigger cruiss ships and a few river cruises. These ships seem to be somewhere in between in size. Anyway, we are up for an adventure.

We will be in Athens for 5 days before the cruise and have also booked "George" for 2 days of touring. We had booked him last year at about the same time, but had to cancel the trip due to a heart condition discovered in my husband which required surgery just before we were to leave. He is fine now and we are anxious to be off again. On many of our trips I have booked guides found throught the Internet and have ben pleased with all of them. We get around well, but usually more slowly than others, so it is great to be able to go at our own pace. Also, we don't care for the time wasted waiting to load and unload the buses used on ship excursions. I am in the final planning stages for guides for the days in Istanbul and Rhodes. If you might be interested in sharing, let me know.

[Wanttoknow]

mm

 

I better find out what ship we are on first as it may not be the same one as you are on.

 

Do you not worry about not getting back to the ship on time when you go off on a private tour. I believe our TA told me re shore excursions that if you use the tours from the ship they wait if you are late returning as they don't if you are on one that you book yourself. I would think that a private tour would be better as far as getting places faster etc. You mentioned that you were in Athens 5 days before your cruise. We fly out of Toronto on Sept. 15 on Alitalia Airlines to Rome and we are there for 7 days doing a tour of the Tuscan region then we fly to Athens on the 23 and get on the cruise ship for 7 days after the cruise we have 2 nights in Athens. We leave on Oct 2 from Athens to Milan and then Milan to Toronto, that will be a long day getting home.

 

From what I have read regarding these ships you don't have to worry about getting all dressed up to dine even their so called formal night, but that's alright with me. I do hate packing I take far to much and wish I knew how to pack lighter.

[passaporta]

Our cruise leaves on the 23rd of Sept. I have been told we will be sailing on the Coral but I wouldn't be surprised if that changes.

 

 

We have booked a private tour guide in Istanbul & Kusadasi.

 

 

On previous cruises our bags & purses have put through a security scanner like the ones at the airport when you reboard the ship.

[mm]

We have seen folks left behind when the ship was ready to sail. That's why I only am looking for guides in portst where we will spend the whole day. We alwasy leave a couple of hours free in case of delays, etc.

We will have 1 night in Athens upon return. The one daily flight to New York leaves at mid-day, and with customs, securuty and so on, I felt it was too tight a time frame.

I don't mind dressy night, but my husband hates them. So I guess this trip that won't be a problem...casual seems to be the word.

I hope we receive the documants this week. We leave on Sept. 17...a litle over 3 weeks away. Whatever ship it is, I think we will be on the same one, as I doubt they have 2 seven day cruises going at the same time, but who knows!

mm

[mm]

Would you list the names of the guide you booked in Istanbul? I have corresponded with several and am not sure which to select. As I mentioned in another post I am a little afraid of going on our own on short port stops, although I know most guides know the problem and try very hard to get everyone back on time.

I was just wondering if the smaller cruise lines were as strict security-wise as the other. I guess it's a good thing if they are!

mm

[Wanttoknow]

I see you are located in Burlington, ON, we are located in Cobourg, ON not to far from you. Where did you look regarding booking a private tour in Istanbul?

Maybe we will cross paths on the cruise. Let's hope that it is a wonderful trip. I think we are also on The Coral. We should be receiving our tickets soon as we leave on Sept. 15 first stop Italy for a week.

[Greece05]

Just got back from a cruise aboard "Perla". Would not recommend at all! The food was terrible. The ship was old and outdated. There was no control over the room's temperature. The shower switched from cold to hot for no reason. The only good thing was the excursions at the different ports.

[mm]

I thought you would lke this information. I have corresponded via e-mail with a person from the iexploregreece website. I wrote to her yesterday asking when we would receive documents. She replied this morning that we would receive documents when the representative picks us up at the airport in Athens. That person would go over all the materils with us and give us the vouchers, etc.

I much prefr to have all that in my possession before we leave home, but I guess that is the way they do business. I am going to write to her today and ask if she can at least tell us what ship we will be on. I'll post her reply and any other information

mm

[passaporta]

Hi there, we are travelling with 3 other couples, 2 are from Newmarket, the other from St Catherines. We have booked this tour guide

 

"Kagan Kosagan" kosagan@hotmail.com

 

for our time in Istanbull & also Kusadasi.

 

We could plan to meet on the ship, by leaving a message at the Purser's Desk.

 

We are really looking forward to getting away. There has been quite a mix of negative & positive feedback, this will be an adventure, it's only a week on the ship, all I care about is a good night's sleep, to be ready for the next day.

 

This is a fabulous site for Rome. We have spent quite a bit of time in Rome & Tuscany & we good our Vatican tickets through them. A tour of the Scavi (actual tomb of St Peter) is a must. They only let 15 people in at a time,

 

http://www.santasusanna.org/popeVatican/museums.html

 

Just some info sharing. You will love it!!!

[passaporta]

This is a great site for info on Turkey.

 

http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/index.html

[passaporta]

We received our tickets today. The tickets say

TRITON / CALYPSO. I'm not really sure what that means.

[Wanttoknow]

I would think by that you still don't know what ship for sure you are on one or the other I guess.

 

Our travel agent phoned last week and said our tickets should be in Monday or Tuesday. Maybe ours will say the same thing regarding the ship. When I get the tickets I will post what it states on ours. It looks like they use both ships for that intinerary.

[LHT28]

We received our tickets today. The tickets say

TRITON / CALYPSO. I'm not really sure what that means.

 

You are probably on the Triton on first part of trip then if you have a land package in between you may have the Calypso.

 

Or they are just not sure what ship they will put you on.

Interested to see your review when you return.

 

Enjoy

[dougnewmanatsea]

Louis seem to have inherited indecisiveness about ship choices from Epirotiki/Royal Olympic who were famous for this. I have no answer as to why they do this, but they just do. This is particularly ironic as in a fleet like Louis' each ship is entirely different from the next. If Carnival switched from one FANTASY-class ship to another a lot of people would probably never even notice but there is a big difference between the various Louis ships, much more variation than one would find in any major US cruise line's fleet for example.

 

For what it's worth, according to Louis' web site, this is their Greek Isles schedule for the rest of the year.

 

It looks to me as though those who will be on 3- and 4- day cruises could be on CALYPSO, CORAL, or PERLA, while those on 7-day cruises could be on any of those ships plus SERENADE.

 

If you know the departure date for your cruise, you should be able to find out what ship it will be on, if the Louis web site is accurate.

 

Personally as a ship nut I would be driven mad not knowing what ship I'm going to be on, especially as the real oldies (like SERENADE, built in 1957 - see more on her here) are of a lot of interest to me while the newer ships ("newer" being a relative term - I mean the '70s ships like CORAL and PERLA) do not hold much interest.

 

Regardless, all of you are headed to a great part of the world, that should be enjoyable even if your ship turns out to be a rowboat! Please do report back when you return as we continue to build up a sort of database of Louis information and experiences on this site. And thanks to all those who have returned and given their impressions, personally as a follower of the cruise industry I find all this very fascinating and it is also a great help to our members who are planning on taking Louis in the future.

[passaporta]

Thank you Doug for the insight. This explains a few things. I just want a sturdy reliable vessel to get us to these great places, maybe one category up from the row boat.

[passaporta]

Thank you Doug for the insight. This explains a few things. I just want a sturdy reliable vessel to get us to these great places, maybe one category up from the row boat.

[Wanttoknow]

:confused: We picked up our tickets today and it has the cruise ship as Triton/Ithaca (Triton now I understand renamed The Coral and Ithaca renamed Ausonia) as I have discovered via the internet and months of researching this trip. I then checked out the Louis website again and today it was showing that the Serenade is taking over The Coral's itinerary as of Sept. 23. I find this very confusing :eek: :confused: as I have only been on one other cruise and from the day we booked which was at least 7 months before we departed knew what ship and what cabin we were getting. I sometimes get very nervous about this holiday and my husband keeps trying to tell me to think positive but sometimes it's hard.

 

I will post my reviews when we return.

[dougnewmanatsea]

Wanttoknow - TRITON is indeed now called CORAL. ITHACA was what AUSONIA was supposed to be renamed for the 2005 Greek Isles season, however she has not been renamed and she was not transferred to the Greek fleet at all but continued to operate out of Cyprus. So it is not a matter of ITHACA being renamed AUSONIA but rather of AUSONIA never having been renamed ITHACA.

 

Now, your 23 September cruise... Is a bit of a mystery. This is because on Louis' web site it is listed as being on CORAL, however then there is of course that line you quoted about SERENADE taking over CORAL's schedule "from 23 September". However, while the 30 September departure and beyond are listed as being on SERENADE, in accordance with that disclaimer, the 23 September departure isn't.

 

My guess is that Louis meant to say that the 23 September cruise will be CORAL's last cruise before SERENADE takes over her schedule, not that SERENADE will take over her schedule from 23 September as they actually said.

 

Personally I would suggest that you contact Louis directly and see if they can clear this up. It seems to me that you will be on either CORAL or SERENADE - I really do not think that AUSONIA (aka ITHACA) enters into this at all despite what your tickets say - but between those two it is a toss-up. Perhaps Louis can clear this up further; I notice that nobody on this thread seems to have done any business whatsoever with Louis directly but from the experiences of friends I gather that they are generally cooperative even if their decisions may mystify us!

 

All that said, if you are not a ship nut like me it probably won't matter all that much what ship you get anyway... Frankly I think on an itinerary like this you will be so exhausted from seeing Greece and Turkey that you won't be doing much beyond eating and sleeping aboard ship anyway, and for those purposes any of Louis' vessels should be fine.

[passaporta]

Hi Doug & Wanttoknow, I sent an email to Louis Cruises this morning. It will be interesting to see what they say. Just hoping our ship isn't one renamed "Titanic".

[passaporta]

It is hard to be excited about a vacation when so many people are suffering in New Orleans. It is hard to imagine that the residents of this city are being referred to as refugees. Our prayers are with them. May God bless.