Island Cruising

One of my cousins loves to enter contests. And, as these things go, someone must win. She won a 3 day island cruise with Louis Cruises. And she took me along. Greek islands – great. Cruising – great. Free –really great! So off we went…

The route took us over 3 days to Mykonos, Kusadasi (Turkey), Patmos, Crete and Santorini. The destinations were super. Very different flavours, with a little taste of each along the way. At each destination, there were organized excursions one could do (for an extra fee) – visiting places like Ephesus, Oia, Knossos, etc. Or you could simply go ashore and explore on your own.

Life onboard the ship was nice. These ships are not the giant cruise ships that we normally think of – we were told that the capacity was around 1500 people, spread across 9 decks. The ship had 2 swimming pools, several bars, 3 restaurants, a ‘performance’ theatre, a casino and even a nightclub. How can you go wrong?

The passengers were from all over the place – North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Australia – and lots of Greeks as well. There were lots of families, older couples, young people, and even a Contiki tour group. The crew and staff were also from everywhere – speaking every language imaginable. This was a different mix of people than I expected – really nice.

Food onboard was not bad. The nightly entertainment (‘the show’) onboard was even bearable. I wouldn’t call it a luxury cruise, I wouldn’t call it the trip of a lifetime. But I would certainly call it a great way to see a lot in a short time. A perfect solution for travelers who want to ‘island-hop’ without worrying about hotels and flights and ferries. People seemed to really enjoy themselves. Judging by the constant clicking of cameras and smartphones and ipads, everyone loved everything they were seeing.

Cruising the Greek islands – add it to the list of ‘maybes’ for a short summer break.

And since I can’t really argue with ‘free’ - I’ve decided to start entering contests. All of them.

Until next week,

Jack
 

In this weekly space, keep up with ‘Jack’ as he navigates daily life in Athens… Anecdotes, stories, hits & misses, the good, the bad and, well, the rest…