Looking for Athens to Greek Isle Only Cruise

[tcdcruiser]

I'm looking for a cruise departing from Athens (Piraeus) that would include Rhodes, Mykonos, Santorini and others Greek islands (not Turkey, Italy, etc.). Any suggestions? None of the big lines focus just on the islands so this excludes Princess, RC, HA, and the other big guys. Maybe a Greek operator? Thanks in advance.

[tom_uk]

Here are a couple of possibilities:-

 

a) easyCruise: http://www.easycruise.com/

 

b) Louis Cruises: http://www.louiscruises.com/

 

Note that both of these do include a call at a Turkish port, however - this seems to be pretty inevitable.

 

easyCruise especially can be very low-cost, but you need to read up on their style! - there are few facilities on the ships (there didn't used to be a restaurant). Their assumption is that passengers will prefer to make their own arrangements ashore for eating & entertainment, and to enable this they typically stay in port overnight (or at least until the early hours) then cruise on to the next port during the morning. This is the exact opposite of a normal cruise.

 

Louis do things more traditionally, typically in older ships with fewer (and more basic) facilities. They did make a significant effort last year to move forward and acquired a more modern ship which they put into service as the Sea Diamond. Sadly she sank at Santorini on about the fourth or fifth cruise with them....

[Keith1010]

I would recommend speaking with a TA about your cruising options. As you correctly say most of the major cruise lines do not provide a complete Greek Isles cruise. The reason I say speak with a TA is that while we have been in various ports in Greece we have seen some cruise ships that appear to be ones that I would want to avoid even though they appeared to be filled with cruise passengers.

 

Keith

[Steamboatin]

Here are a couple of possibilities:-

 

a) easyCruise: http://www.easycruise.com/

 

b) Louis Cruises: http://www.louiscruises.com/

 

Note that both of these do include a call at a Turkish port, however - this seems to be pretty inevitable.

 

easyCruise especially can be very low-cost, but you need to read up on their style! - there are few facilities on the ships (there didn't used to be a restaurant). Their assumption is that passengers will prefer to make their own arrangements ashore for eating & entertainment, and to enable this they typically stay in port overnight (or at least until the early hours) then cruise on to the next port during the morning. This is the exact opposite of a normal cruise.

 

Louis do things more traditionally, typically in older ships with fewer (and more basic) facilities. They did make a significant effort last year to move forward and acquired a more modern ship which they put into service as the Sea Diamond. Sadly she sank at Santorini on about the fourth or fifth cruise with them....

 

We sailed with Louis Cruise Line last August on a 4 day cruise. We were on the Cristal which replaced the sunken Sea Diamond. The Cristal is a clean ship, nice crew, very small "Lido" type food area, nice dinning rooms and food was OK.

 

Two negatives about the Cristal was that in the 100 degree plus heat in August the air conditioning did not cool the cabin down very well. A little on the warm side of cool. MAIN negative was the bathroom shower drain system. When you used the shower you literally flooded the bathroom as their was nothing at floor level to retain the shower water in the shower area as the bathroom floor was all one level floor.

 

On the 4 day cruise we basically were at one port in the morning and a second port in the afternoon. Excursions were good.

 

Louis Cruises can be reached at louiscruises.com

 

Consider it a nice ferry between the islands and not a cruise liner by US standards and you will be OK. It is OK for a one time cruise of the Greek Islands and a stop or 2 in Turkey. You will be on the vessel only at night and during the noon to 2pm time frame when traveling between islands. The Greek islands more than make up for any short comings of the ship. Glad we took the cruise as we really enjoyed the islands. Wished we had more than a limited few hours in some ports.

[tcdcruiser]

Thanks to Everyone for the thoughtful advice

[MartyinGA]

MSC Cruises...

 

All the stops as well. I am on the Musica, a new ship. I hear it is different from what I have gotten on Carnival, with reviews ranging from Great to horrid.

 

Kids sail free.

[Mexfolkart]

We just took the ferries..there is a Greek ferry Line I am sure you cana Google and find it. The ferries leave from Piraeus and you can plot your

route and take a ferry from place to place..there are the regular ferries that take cars, the cats that just take people and are fast..great way to get around the islands fairly fast. We did end up flying from Santorini to Rhodes due to the ferry schedule and it was a holiday weekend..we had no reservations ahead of time..just checked the next destination when we arrived. You can also get hotels once you arrive as there are "sales" people at each dock..we normally travel on nice ships and are older so this is something anyone can do..have fun..!

[webecruzin2]

We are seasoned cruisers in our late 40's/early 50's and have been all over the world on mostly major cruise lines but we've always wanted to cruise the Greek islands. Easy cruise has gotten very good reviews from past cruisers who know what to expect. This year they purchased a ship that is currently being renovated. It will be called Easy Cruise Life. It will start sailing out of Athens in April 08 and do 4/7/10 day sailings ( You can tailor your itinerary to how many days you like). We are doing the 7 day from Athens and booked their best cabin called a Panoramic suite. The fare does not include daily housekeeping but it does include clean towels and you can request housekeeping for an extra charge.(which we already did). The ship will sail only for a few hours in the very early morning so you spend most days and nights at each port. Take a look at their website you'll be surprised at how inexpensive it will be. If you just want to see the islands and aren't too picky about the amenities on your ship this might be the way to go. We're very excited about it and we're also glad that we won't have to pack all those formal clothes. Just one carryon each for us this time!

We'll post a review when we return after May 10 '08.

Hope this helps. Eileen and Tom