Louis Cruises Greek Islands

[astoriagreek]

Has anyone ever cruised the Greek Islands on Louis cruises?

[T. Advisor King]

Yes. Summer of 2010. Absolutely loved it! Would go back in a heartbeat.

 

While we tend to sail mostly on the larger mass-market cruise ships (just due to location and availability), I really liked the laid-back atmosphere of Louis. The ships were smaller but weren't lacking in anything that was important to me.

 

The Louis cruise we took was very port-intensive (there were two days where we visited two ports on the same day). It was a much more diverse mix of passengers than on a typical North American mass market cruise. And I liked that they didn't play to one audience. All announcements were in at least three languages. I've read complaints about this (mostly from North Americans) who somehow feel they're being inconvenienced by having to listen to the other peoples' languages rather than being catered to in their own.

 

I also found the cruise was less about the constant up-sell. Nor was it about the cruise director trying to be funny or clever on a big screen TV. It was about us, the passengers, enjoying the cruise in whatever manner we wanted. The food was excellent. The staff/crew were great. The one ship's excursion we took was excellent. In the other five ports, we just did our own thing (it's the Greek Isles, how can you go wrong?).

 

Despite having been on giant ships both in the Med and Caribbean, I still view our Louis cruise as my best ever.

[astoriagreek]

Thank you for this honest review. We're currently planning a Sept. trip to Greece and my travel agent/friend is suggesting this type of trip. I was there in 2006, but we stayed in Santorini for 4 days/took a fast boat to Crete for another 5 days and flew to Athens for a week of touring on our own. We're travelling with another couple who has not been to Greece. I wasn't sure how I felt about cruising to a different island every day and I had never heard of Louis cruises. This helps.:)

[T. Advisor King]

I went looking for my review in the "reviews" section, but it seems to have disappeared. Luckily, I posted it on this board as well. Here is the link.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1263305

[retiring soon]

Hi all!

 

T. Advisor King ~ nice review!:DAfter doing the Louis Cristal cruise around Cuba I was thinking of trying them in the Greek Islands. That ship sounds very similar to Cristal which we really loved.

 

~ Jo ~ :)

[T. Advisor King]

Astoria - We were away for a month and hit Barcelona, Athens/cruise, Rome, Paris and London. So we we were trying to fit a lot in and, in that sense, the cruise was perfect. I would have loved to have been able to have stayed a few nights (or more) on some of those islands. In that sense, a 4 night, 6 port cruise might seem rushed. But it is always what you make of it. As I said, we only had one formal excursion booked and otherwise, we just stepped off the ship (or the tender) and did our own thing (other than Crete, where we had a distinct plan and almost ended up stranded with no ID, a family of four and a total of 14 euros). Just because the ship stops at 6 ports doesn't mean you need to have each day jam-packed with pre-organized activities.

 

retiring - we really loved the idea of the My Cuba Cruise and when I realized that it was a Louis ship, I looked up the sailing dates as soon as I heard about it. I figured that if it was a Louis ship, it would likely have a lot of the Louis staff and they may set things up like the Louis Cruise, which I thought was great. Unfortunately, the dates didn't work for us. The Cristal and the Aquamarine (now MV Ocean Star Pacific) are about the same size, within 10-20% in terms of size and even closer in passenger capacity.

[retiring soon]

Hi all!

 

T. Advisor King ~ Louis Cristal is doing the Cuba cruise again from Dec 2014 to sometime in March 2015. I hope to be going on it again maybe in the same cabin. I already have my excursions in my mind.;)

 

~ Jo ~ :)

[T. Advisor King]

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll be able to take time off at spring break next year, so this is now "Plan A". My daughter will be in 3rd year and won't be able to miss class, so the only question is whether we take my son or leave him at home.

[DUNKINDONUT]

Just completed a 3 night Louis Greek Island Cruise (Louis Olympia) from ATH and have nothing but praise for the schedule, crew, food and experience.

 

Louis Olympia was originally part of the Royal Caribbean Fleet (Song of America) and is certainly not a modern day Cruise Ship Palace however, the size of the ship, charm of the crew and overall experience of Island hopping around the Greek Islands is fantastic.

 

The quality of food is much better than many of today's cruise lines including RCI and NCL!!

 

Evening entertainment is also first rate with a fantastic Greek Night Celebration!!

 

The ship departs Athens-Mykonos-Kusedasi(Turkey)-Patmos-Heraklion-Santorini-Athens.

 

We sailed Fri-Mon, the schedule Mon-Fri is as per the above with an additional stop on the Island of Rhodes in the Eastern Med.

 

The Cruise Director and her Team work very hard, actively seen around the ship and very friendly to all guests. To be honest, far more activities on board than RCI and many "Fun" activities too.

 

I would have no hesitation is sailing with Louis Olympia again.

 

DUNKINDONUT

[h-sar]

I recently returned from a 3 night cruise on the Louis Olympia with a group of 11 of my jr high students from Canada. This was part of a 10 day trip. Having sailed 7x on newer Princess ships and once on Oasis over the past 8 yrs, I was more than a bit of a cruise ship snob when I heard we were to be on a Louis ship. Frankly, I was dreading it. I couldn't have been more wrong! The inside cabins were quite similar to Princess insides (not sure if they had any balconies). The food was excellent. We were to have been on a 4 nighter, but a minor issue with the ship reduced it to a 3 nighter the day before embarkation. Passengers were reimbursed 250 $$ and received accommodation and food $$.

 

As a result of the change in itinerary, capacity was at 50% at around 700 passengers. I think because of this, the dining room served only buffet style for all three dinners. The food was more Greek style and truly exceptional. Is this a ship I would take for a relaxing Caribbean vacation? Absolutely not - it's missing too many of the bells and whistles and the glitz of the bigger lines. But would I take it again in the Med for a very port intensive cruise? If it was cheaper than the mainstream lines? You bet. We did 4 ports in two days and hardly spent any down time on the ship. The time we did spend was very pleasant. Many people compare the Louis ships to simply ferries that transport you from island to island. They're wrong - in fact, I found the Olympia to be a nicer experience than the Carnival Dream (my one and only Carnival experience, never to be repeated - no flaming!)

 

Warning : you will find many school groups, esp from North America, particularly around spring break on these Greek isle Louis cruises. Got to be a bit of a minor issue with late night noise in some cabin areas. But on the whole, the kids were well behaved and all the early ports meant fairly early curfews for them.

 

***In the spirit of full disclosure: I have been posting under a different user name the last two years. The previous user name had my full last name in it, so I've gone to this current one as I wish to regain some semblance of anonymity in the cyber world! Hope I haven't broken any CC laws with the change.

Edited April 21, 2014 by h-sar

[crusm2sm]

My husband and I were married on the NCL Leeward (now Louis Cristal) and are thinking about taking a Greek 7 day cruise on it in either 2015 or 2016 for our 20th Anniv. We loved the size of the Leeward and it was the first cruise for both of us. (We got married late in life(51/43) - first marriage for both of us though).

 

Has anyone done the Greek cruise on the Cristal.

[retiring soon]

HI all!

 

crusm2sm ~ sorry I haven't done the Greek Island cruise on Cristal only the Cuba one which we're doing again in Feb 2015.

 

This sounds like a lovely way for you to celebrate your anniversary on the ship you got married on.:D

 

Don't know if you saw this about the ship from USA Today:

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2014/10/08/cruise-ship-tours-louis-cristal/16898873/

 

I love the Cristal but then I also thought Carnival Dream was great too although I liked Breeze better.

 

~ Jo ~ :)