Great time on the Greek Islands

This was a very active but very exciting trip. The islands were beautiful and the hotels were great. We traveled with a great group of people and our tour guide, Irene, is one of the best ever. We enjoyed every minute of this tour.

Greek Island Tour

Tour covers alot of ground. You need to be able to walk up hill alot and uneven steps. However, the tour is excellent. Plenty of sites to see. The optionals are excellent except for the wine tasting which is a waste of money. Going to Turkey on the extension is worth the money. Our guide Irene was magnificent. Our guide in Turkey was non-existant. Most of the sight seeing we did on our own. Overall I would recommend this tour. It is worth the money and a great experiance.

Wonderful Greek Islands Trip

This is a great itinerary, hotels lovely, cruise ship the Cristal was not a "luxury" ship but very adequate. Our guide Michael Zolotas was topnotch and made sure all our plans and individual needs were taken care of in a very prompt manner. He was great on keeping us informed of the schedule and how to be prepared for each day. It would have only been better if we could have had a direct flight from JFK to Athens (which is possible) rather than a stop each way.

Better than Calgon, You Really Take Me Away

This was our third Go Ahead tour and as always, you make it so effortless for us. We depend on Go Ahead to take care of all details that use to take us days to accomplish. We relax knowing that the hotels will be nice and well located, transportation will be convenient, easy and included in the price of the tour, we won't miss any of the important sights, and a knowlegeable guide will tell us what we need to know to make the places we visit interesting and memorable. Our tour Director this trip, Michael, was absolutely awesome! Thanks Go Ahead, we'll see you next time!

Good trip

Great tour guide, most hotels and ship were clean and acceptable. Trip is VERY challenging. Lots of walking on uneven steep walks and steps at most island stops. Enjoyed the trip, but was not prepaired for all the walking.

Great Location and Tour Director But......

The Islands were absolutely enchanting, Athens was exciting and interesting to be in in October of this year, and the tour director was tops. The weather was, at times, cold and rainy, as befits this time of year. My major problem with the tour was that, coming at the end of the tourist season, our group was very small (11 people total), which meant that optionals were sometimes cancelled due to insufficient group size for the side-trip (losing Delphi was a particular disappointment); also, due to group size, there was SITUATIONAL pressure to take part in other side-trips even if one had not planned to go on them. Another big problem came at the beginning of the tour when no one seemed to know which gate our flight was departing from (Air Canada apparently does not have a big presence in Atlanta). A final gripe that I personally have, being a non-drinker, is that I apparently paid for the included alcoholic beverages but was not usually offered an alternative.

back to the homeland

I am a retired 62 year young teacher of Greek descent. When I was 20, I hitchhiked through Europe and visited over 15 countries including my grandparents' birthplace in Greece. I vowed I would return again soon, but then life happened. - two husbands and 4 kids. I got back to London and Italy, but never to Greece. This 15 day tour to Athens and the islands with an extension to Istanbul was the perfect trip for me. I got to stay on islands that I had not visited before and and see the historic sites that I had missed years ago. There was enough free time to interact with the locals and practice my Greek. I had a wonderful time.

Group too Small

We only had 11 people in our group. As a result, 3 of 6 optional excursions did not run. The extension to Istanbul had only 8 people. No optionals were available. If the extension was permitted, then optionals with all participating should have taken place. Our tour director in Istanbul paid very little attention to our group. We did not see him after the second day! We had to call him to find out details regarding our transfer to the airport for our flights home. Overall, very disappointing and far below the value we expect from GoAhead.

Disappointed with this tour

We just returned from this tour yesterday. Our itinerary was adjusted a couple of times because of strikes in Greece, so we were unable to stay in Mykonos or visit Delos, and stayed two extra days in Santorini instead. We had several days of rain and chilly weather, so that made some of the touring less enjoyable. The big disappointment, however, was the cruise. The ship was huge, and our group competed with about 1200 other passengers for dining room space. Also, the shore excursions to Ephesus, Mykonos and others were not included in the tour price, so the additional cost for excursions was about another $200 per person. I reviewed all the literature sent to me by GoAhead, and didn't see anything indicating that the cost of these excursions was extra, so it was an unpleasant surprise. The best part of the tour for us was an extra days in Santorini and the add-on to Istanbul. Our guide, Roberto, was excellent and handled all the last minute itinerary changes well and kept us informed.

Greek Islands Tour

In general, i enjoyed this tour. The first port where I left the ship, Kusadasi .was pretty much of a waste of time. We went to the shopping areas of Kusadasi since we already visited Ephesus on another tour of Turkey...we just got hassled by all of the street vendors here. Enjoyed the visit to St. John Monastery on Patmos..I would recommend taking this tour. The visit to Lindos on Rhodes was only okay (the path to the fortress there was too narrow with too many people). The visit to the Palace of Knososs was also only okay on Crete. I really enjoyed the visit to the archeological museum in Heraklion, Crete. Santorini was a nice stop. Its a beautiful island and the hotel there was excellant. There was a noise problem at the hotel on Mykonos and we had to change rooms several times.The archeological museum on Crete, visiting Santorini, and St John Monastery on Patmos are probably what I will remember most on this tour. Also, the people on this tour were a nice group although it would have been better with a smaller number