The Greek Islands

This trip was one of the best vacations I have ever taken! Our tour guide Kostas was exceptional!!!! He was more than happy to go out of his way to make our experience memorable and enjoyable. I highly reccomend this tour to anyone who would like an amazing Greek experience.

Great Trip

Overall, the trip was a great experience! The itinerary and all of the excursions/tours were outstanding, and the individual city guides were super. We saw all of the sites which were meaningful to us. Our Go Ahead Tours guide, Gloria, was absolutely the best! She was extremely knowledgeable, personable, and experienced. She ensured that we got the most from every free moment. When weather prevented the ferry from taking us from Santorini to Mykonos (I would recommend going earlier than October, as we did.) Gloria scrambled to provide us things to do on our extended stay on Santorini, and booked flights back to Athens, at no additional charge to us. All of the hotels were modern, first class, and excellent. The food was delicious- especially the huge, included breakfast buffets- and the staffs were friendly and helpful. Though most hotels were not near the historic sites and didn't have very attractive views, transportation was either provided, or was nearby and easy to access. The one exception was the cruise ship. Louis Cruise Lines bumped the whole tour to the Calypso instead of the Aquamarine. Go Ahead Tours had no control over this, and they were not informed about the change until the day the tour began. The air conditioning didn't work; the upgraded room we paid for on the Aquamarine, turned into a basic room which opened to a walkway on the Calypso- so we couldn't even open the curtains; the amenities and meal times were greatly decreased. Even if we arrived at an island first, we had to wait for the Aquamarine passengers to disembark and begin their excursion tour before us. I would never want to cruise with Louis Lines again. That being said, the food, staff, shore trips, and tour guides were excellent. We were allowed to spend most of the day on the islands, instead of the few hours offered by many cruises. If I had to choose between an excellent cruise ship and great shore trips, I would definitely choose the latter. We booked the tour because of the itineray, and not the cruise, so that wasn't as big a disappointment to us as it was to some of the group. It was still a great experience, and we would book it all over again!

Greek Islands

This is the second time that I've sent in a review. The trip was overall very good. The weak part was the ship part of the trip. The Sapphire was dirty and obviously in need of some routine maintainance and refurbishing. The furniture in the lounge was threadbare. We had not been aware of all the options that became available and some people were not prepared financially to take advantage of them. The pace of the activities was not too hectic, but the going on and off ships with luggage was a challenge for many single older females.

good trip

to many extra expenses

Greece and Istanbul

The guides wer very knowledgable and the tour guide for the overall tour was excellent. The greek cruise ship we were on "The Calyposo" left a lot to be desired. It was old, small, the pool was the size of a large hot tub and the food was mediore. The hotel on Crete was excellent and the other hotels were good. If there was a problem (i.e. put in a smoking room or put in a small single room even though upgrade was paid for) Gloria went out of her way to try to please everyone. Our guide Cem in Istanbul was knowledgable and offered tips on local cuisine and also took us at our request to The Bastille Cistern even though it was not part of the tour itineray

inconsistent tour

Louis line, worse cruise line ever been on-food terrible and cold for the most part. Ship Sapphire so old it should be packed in mothballs. Should have been spelled out that the trips to ephasus, Patmos and Rhodes were optional tours operated by the cruise line-big surprise. Some included meals were inconsistent-good at one place and bad at others. Accommodations were very nice and the guides, bus drivers and tour directors were very knowledgable and helpful. Very good itinerary.

good trip

good trip would use use go ahead again.

Dream Trip

Greece and The Islands were at their best. The moderate temperatures, the variation of experiences, from exploring Athens, visiting their new Acropolis museum, sailing from island to island on the blue waters, and finally being able to stay for a few days on shore on the islands made for a wonderful tour. Our guides and the group itself were outstanding.

Too many Optional Tours

I rated the overall tour "Average" because without the optional tours, we would have seen very little Greek History and relics. I liked the Island hopping, but the Cruise ship was the worse ship I have ever been on. In addition, the 3 optional tours from the boat cost over $215,00 each person. Without the optional tours the ship would have been a nightmare, and they charged the tip to our credit card-- you had to write a letter to lower the tip. I had some bad things to say about the "Air France" cabin crew on the trip over, however, the return trip cabin crew was great.

Greek Islands

Whereas the ancient ruins were amazing, the time allowed to view them was, in most cases, insufficient. There were 38 people in our group, which was too many. The people were wonderful, but that was too large a group. The cruise portion of the trip was extremely disappointing. The ship was dirty, the staff was overworked, stressed and not helpful. The food was adequate, at best.