Louis Cruise Lines

[dougnewmanatsea]

Thanks David for confirming my suspicions.

 

I'm not surprised that the old magic is gone but as you know the itinerary itself is still wonderful and any ship is better than no ship.

 

I think SERENADE looks like a fascinating vessel, one I'd really like to try.

[hermanstadt]

I was aboard the Louis Cruise Line MV Sapphire from April 23 to May 1, 2005 and thoroughly enjoyed the cruise. There were 28 Americans and 600+ French, Italian, Slovene, and Dutch passengers. The crew spoke fluent English and seemed very pleased to have us. All passengers were very cordial. The ship is old but clean. If you are a person who likes to complain there would be plenty to find to complain about. This cruise line is not for everyone but for us it was a real adventure and European enrichment. The highlight was a visit to Libya where the ruins at Leptis Magna were spectacular. The Libyan people made us feel extremely welcome. I have been on 11 cruises..(9) cruise lines and I would compare this to Royal Olympia….we had sailed with the Voyager in the past. We have also taken the Splendor Med cruise from Barcelona. The entertainment was mostly in French but very professional. My wife and I enjoyed the food but some others complained. There is a small casino. We took the train from Civitavecchia to Rome and back instead of the ship’s tour and visited the Catacombs. I have been monitoring Cruise Critic for several years and could find very little about Louis Cruise Lines. That’s why I am submitting this info. We took a chance and had one of the best cruise vacations ever. Again it is not the Ritz and not for everyone but in my opinion a good value and wonderful itinerary. We booked through the agent in Texas whom I discovered on the internet.

 

Hi,

i have red your comments about sapphire and i would like to hear from you what do you have to say about the enterteinment on the ship, especially about the shows, the music, stage etc, and also about the disco. Where are the musicians from and did you enjoy their performances?

thank you very much,

hermanstadt

no_frontiers2004@yahoo.com

[neen]

I have just completed my first ever cruise and unfortunately I was on the Coral. :(

I did not have high expectations, however these expectations were alas, too high.

The locations are fantastic it was just a shame that the boat let down some wonderful holiday destinations.

I would definately recommend the locations but would NEVER recommend this cruise line on the basis of the ship (the Coral). More apt would have been if the boat was sunk and rested with the real coral at the bottom of the sea.

 

I will be surprised if this post makes it due to my comments above, but I hope they stand by their integrity enough to show that not all is well with their cruise line.

 

The rumour I heard on the boat was that it was getting refitted for Sprinkler eqpt to meet safety standards. I am not surprised, but the time spent to do a total refit would be more appropriate.

 

I can only hope that other tourists get a better ship.

[tampadee]

Anyone been on Louis' ship Serenade? My husband and I are considering a trip for 11/06.

[mm]

We just returned from the 7 day cruise from Athens on the Serenade. I'm sorry to say it was not the best experience we've had. It was a lovely old ship, but not maintained too well. The temperature controls for the cabins were in the ceilng, and neither my husband or I were tall enough to reach them! In addition we had nothing but lukewarm water the entire trip, even though we had the "plumber" in several time. We were told to just let the water run 15 or 20 minutes before we wanted to use it. It didn't work and we soon stopped wasting water! The elevators only hold 4 people so there was often a wait. My husband need to use it as his arthritic knees don't do stairs to well. Food service was so-so. There were often long lines for coffee/tea.

We booked a superior outside cabin and unfortunately drew a cabin on one of the lower decks, which we were not expecting. Apparently most of the cabins are considered superior outside, so you could be on any of 4 decks. Incidentally, we were told in an e-mail before we left home that we would be on the Coral. When we arrived in Athens and picked up our voucher we found out we were on the Coral!

We missed Crete because of a snafu between the Turkish and Greek immigration officials. Each blamed it on the other, of course. The good news was that we had 8 hours in Santorini instead of 4!

It seemed that all of the other Louis ships were in each port the same time we were. I guess they also act as a ferry and people were going and coming from ship to ship all through the cruise.

For some reason the purser's office had a third person listed for our cabin, and we even received a preliminary bill for that person showing the required 7 Euro tip per day! Their organization leaves a lot to be desired to say the least!

All that being said, the people were friendly and helpful, we enjoyed the ports and endured the inconveniences. As long as you don't have expectations of what you get on the larger cruise ships and can "roll with the waves" you should do fine. Bon Voyage1

[mm]

There was an obvious error in the previous post. We did end up on the Serenade!

[Wanttoknow]

I also was on The Serenade for a 7 day cruise of the Greek Islands and Turkey departing Sept. 23/05. I must say that I did enjoy the cruise and yes I agree it is a very old worn ship. We were in a outside what they called a superior cabin on the third deck #324. It was nothing fancy by any means but I did sleep like a baby and that meant alot to me as I was very worried about feeling closed in, in a small cabin. We had no problem with the food and thought it was very good except I did find that the beef was tough.

 

If I hadn't of researched these cruise ships before hand I would have been very disappointed. I was prepared for an older ship with smaller cabins but I think I had pictured the furnishing in the cabins to be a little nicer than they were, they were well used.

 

Don't get me wrong we did have a good time and we did enjoy ourselves but I know there were alot of disappointed people on the cruise who were not satisfied at all.

 

Message for MM I left my name and cabin # at the purser's desk as Suzanne also did but we didn't hear from you. I met Suzanne just after we boarded the ship. We were having a drink on one of the upper outside decks and she just happened to sit down beside us, what a small world.

[mm]

I'm sorry we didn't make connections. I checked the purser's office several times but was told there were no messages. Perhaps they were tired of me as I was there often about the hot water and the mysterious 3rd person in our cabin! In spite of everything, we did enjoy ourselves. However anyone planning on sailing Loius cruises should be aware of the conditions.

[BostonTourist1]

I just got back from a 5-day Istanbul-to-Athens cruise on the Serenade.

 

Have traveled a lot overland but my 1st cruise ever. The passengers fell into 2 camps: about 80% who complained bitterly and 20% who were disappointed but tried to make the best of it (I was in 2nd camp). Experienced cruise passengers assured me that this was very below normal standards. Many problems:

1. Only 2 tiny elevators. Many elderly people on the ship were forced to use stairs and clearly struggled.

2. Mediocre food: chicken items were as dry as toast. Coffee was Nescafe! You had to pay for the real thing. Not a lot of variety from day to day, but some meals were okay.

3. Very disorganized: contradictory public announcements about disembarking and activities, staff never seemed to know what was going on and gave conflicting info about meals, meal times, seating, etc. Usual response at the reception desk was "I'm sorry, but we can't do anything about that," but once in awhile they were helpful.

4. Many things didn't work: no movies shown in the small theater (and no info about why), no English books in library (most passengers were American), no games to lend out, satellite TV didn't work, no internet/email connection.

5. We kept showing up in the same ports w/ the 3 other Louis Hellenic ships, and they usually got to dock while we tendered. Tendering took a long time; experienced passengers said bigger ships moved people on and off faster. Louis Hellenic claims that though their ships don't have all the amenities of bigger, fancier, newer ships, they're able to dock at small Greek ports which big ships can't do. NOT TRUE: there were some huge ships docked at ports where we had to tender, and at Patmos, for example, everyone has to tender.

6. Ship was pretty clean, but just a notch above dilapidated; every knob, appliance, piece of furniture and decor seemed worn out. Bar was smelly, dining room was loud, lunch room couldn't seat everyone if outside weather was bad. Things weren't always clean: I got used to eating on table cloths others had stained and tried not to think about it. I'm told other cruise ships have an "elegant" appearance. This one didn't even try.

7. Dinner service was mediocre: I finally decided to go to the waiter station and get my own water since requesting it never worked. Maybe we just had a bad waiter. The staff at breakfast and lunch was always very helpful.

8. Grouchy excursion staff: some were helpful, some were downright rude and unpleasant. Prices were excessive; some people skipped excursions and rented taxis and had better experiences.

9. A couple of over-crammed days: they combined Patmos and Kusadasi, which made a very rushed day. Ditto Crete and Santorini. I wouldn't have spent a full day in Patmos but would have liked more time in the other places.

10. Shows were low-quality by all accounts, though I didn't see any myself.

 

The good point was:

1. Itinerary: I got to see a lot of the Aegean: Mykonos, Patmos, Kusadasi/Ephesus, Rhodes, Heraklion, Santorini. Each island had its own personality and I really enjoyed all I saw.

 

I don't really expect to be pampered on a cruise, but for the money I paid, I'd never go on one of these ships again. Many were saying by the end of our cruise that we should have T-shirts with "I survived the Serenade."

[passaporta]

We were on a 7 day Greece/Turkey Cruise, had a terrific time. Our group was 4 couples, all good friends.

 

We met Joan (Wanttoknow) & Alex while enjoying our first drink on the aft deck. Funny, the first person I spoke to was the friend I met on this forum. We both left messages for Peggy but maybe we should have addressed the to mm. Sorry we couldn't get together.

 

The Serenade, she served us well. Would I go on her again? not really. The crew did their best to try & keep the rust from showing, but the paint isn't doing the trick.

 

The food was OK, the dining room was hot & noisy. We ate on the aft deck every chance we got.

We didn't miss the theater, games, library etc. The itinerary was our attraction, we knew the ship wouldn't have these amenities.

 

We were only tendered twice, in Santorini & Patmos, this proved not much of a problem, people on excursions went first, then everyone else.

Our cabin was quiet, cool, the beds were comfortable & there was always lots of hot water for showers.

 

The crew was helpful & friendly for the most part. It's hard to please all of the people all of the time.

 

We knew at the getgo the Serenade wasn't a mega cruise ship with all the bells & whistles but maybe she should go to that 'great shipyard in the sky'.

 

Joan, hope you & Alex got home OK? Did you had a good Thanksgiving? Drop me a line

swalduda@hotmail.com if you get a chance.

[goldenrescue]

I want to reinterate everything that was said above about Louis Cruise Lines Serenade. We cruised on Serenade early in October and even though we did not have high expectations about this ship, nothing could have prepared us for the reality. This was a tired, dirty and poorly-staffed ship. Our cabin was a disgrace. The bedspreads were stained and the mattresses had plastic things sticking through the sheets. We were particularly dismayed because we were bumped from the Calypso at the last minute and the room we had on Serenade was not the upgraded room we had paid for on Calypso. The food was very poor and eating on dirty linen everyday was rather disgusting. There were safety issues (metal umbrella poles on deck just sticking up from floor, debris on decks, a winch (to lower liftboats?) on another deck) which made me uncomfortable. Thank goodness for the wonderful destinations, albeit not enough time in many places (1-1/ hours in Santorini). Bottom line, find some other way to see these spectacular islands.

[neen]

I have been researching itineraries for a possible family trip to Greece. I am intrigued with the idea of the hop on-hop off of this cruise. How does it work? I am also hoping for better news on Perla. I took the same itinerary with ROC's Odysseues in '96 and loved it! I was hoping to take my step kids on it again when I found out they went bankrupt.

 

I disagree with the other quote from the travel agent saying that the rooms were nice etc. Awful would be my version. I really don't think that there could be much worse sailing around, and my expectations were not high to begin with.

[AgentC7]

We had booked on the Perla for October 10 sailing. On the 4th of October we were advised that we were moved to the Aegean One. What a dump!

The members of our group found that the ship was dirty....they don't change table linens, the public bathrooms were disgusting, the purser was rude and nasty. The group was totally disappointed with the experience. The food was reheated. The ship had to tender at every port making it difficult to get on and off and time consuming. When we complained we were told that our feelings were unusual as they had positive comments from other guests.:mad: From talking to others we learned that while the Perla is nicer than the Aagean One..... that's not much of an endorsement for the Perla...it too has problems, smells bad, and the staff is cranky.

[JJ Jacqueline]

Could anyone have new comments on Louis Cruise Line? Thanks.

JJ

[suziern]

I was also wondering if there was any new news on Louis? We're supposed to be going on the Perla in May...

[DroopySails]

These reviews are very disconcerting, given that most companies offering land-cruise tours of Greece seem to use Louis for the island-hopping portion of their itineraries. Is there no competition for this? Any other small ships doing the Greek islands that y'all can recommend?

[theduffys]

DroopySails,

We are going to Greece this summer with Overseas Adventure Travel (part of Grand Circle). We have a week of land travel and a week of Island hopping aboard the Motor Yacht Panorama. It only has 25 cabins and looks really great. We thought the prices were very reasonable. You might want to look into it.

[erandhawa]

I am heading to greece in July for my honeymoon, we really wanted to do an island cruise and i've been scared by the posts about the perla, by reading it seems like its getting better slowly but still skeptical if i should book or find another cruise line.

Any suggestions, i haven't been able to find any large cruise lines out there, if anyone knows of an alternative or if the conditions of perla have improved it would be helpful

[Pewit]

I am trying to organise a group to go on a cruise of the greek islands and Turkey (Athens - Istanbul - Kusadasi - Rhodes - Santorini - Mykanos - Athens) from 1-8th September and have been informed in the promotional literature that the ship is the Calypso.

 

However, the Louis Cruise Lines website shows the Calypso in Scandinavia at that time and the Perla doing the Mediterannian cruises.

 

Does anyone have any better informaiton because I would like to avoid the Perla if possible.

 

Paul

[MCOjerry]

A friend and I are booked on a tour with Gate 1 Travel this April (3rd - 14th). The end of the tour (starting the 10th, I think) is a Greek Island cruise.

 

We were originally supposed to be on the Perla, but the website now mentions a new ship (The Sea Diamond). Based on what I am hearing, I really hope this ship is better. Has anyone been on it yet?

 

I really didn't have super high expectations, since I new these were older ships, but I have allergies, so a dirty ship would be a REAL bummer.

 

Is anyone here going to be on this same cruise??

 

I look forward to any information anyone has :)

[fredfighter]

I'm booked on the MV Perla for a cruise from March 27 to April 4. So if you embark April 3, it had better not be on the MV Perla!

 

We have been told that the Perla was refurbished over the winter.

Has anyone reading this been on her since and care to comment?

 

After reading the previous reviews my traveling companion is on

the verge of canceling.

[meadow]

We are going on a 4 day land tour and 4 night Louis Line Cruise from 3/30/06 to 4/8/06 and we were supposed to go on the Perla, but they told us yesterday we will be on a newer ship called the Emerald. Has anyone heard of that ship? Supposed to be new to the Louis Line ships.

Thank you.

[dougnewmanatsea]

they told us yesterday we will be on a newer ship called the Emerald. Has anyone heard of that ship? Supposed to be new to the Louis Line ships.

Technically, she is not a new ship, but rather an older one... However she was completely rebuilt in the early 1990s so she probably seems much newer than PERLA which was built in the 1970s and has not changed much since.

 

Louis have owned her since the late 1990s, so she is not new to them, but during the summer season she has always been marketed to the British tour operator Thomson. Sometimes during the spring or fall (immediately before or after her annual winter lay-up) Louis will use her for cruises under her own name. That is the case this spring.

 

Since she is usually associated with the Thomson, not Louis name, I suggest you do a web search for Thomson Emerald (no quotes) and you will probably get a lot of good information on this ship.

 

She has a very good reputation in the UK and while not new or glitzy should be a very nice and comfortable ship in which to sail... I think you are lucky to have her instead of one of the other ships like PERLA or SERENADE.

 

If you click here you will go to another thread where we have a post from a member who just returned from THE EMERALD and had a great time.

 

I wish you bon voyage, and please don't forget to report back with your impressions when you return!

[fredfighter]

After reading reviews here we emailed Louis about the status

of MV Perla and received the following from Mr Konstantina Skoura,

posted with his permission:

 

quote

 

The ship has undergone a refurbishment before entering

service. The upgrade works were completed in Piraeus

during a three months dry-dock/repair period.

 

Improvements included: improvements in AC system in

various areas (new installation in Casino Area), installation

of new equipment and other improvements in the main

galley and bars, new panelling in public spaces, various

steel works/repairs on open decks, improvemenst in the

plumbing and ventilation systems in Pax accomodation

areas, new tiling in bathrooms, new carpets in the corridors,

installation of new laundry machines, improvements

in lighting and other interior enhancements such as a

new flooring in the Lido Cafe, upgrade of the buffet area

and re-upholstery of the Casino area.

 

With these enhancements we have significantly improved

passenger services and comfort.

 

unquote

 

In a few days, I'll get to check this out for myself.

 

--

 

FF

[BevieJune]

Hi Sherry,

Hope you have some good news for me about the Perla of the Louis Cruise Lines. My friend and I will be taking a cruise on it about the 15th of June 2006

What I have been reading, it sure sounds terrible. Did you end up taking the cruise after all, or did you change your mind? Also, if you did go, do they dress up very much for the formal night? And what about the "Blue and White" (the colors of Greece)dress up night that our travel documents told us? What did you do for that? Was the ship really as terrible as what everyone has been writing? We will be traveling with "Grand Circle Travel." Think I'll give them a call tomorrow and tell them what I have been reading. Hope you, or others that have sailed on the Perla this year will write back.