Please help with a Greek Cruise
 

We're thinking of going on a Greek Cruise next September, thought we'd try the Ocean Princess since it's a smaller ship, we do not want to go on a ship that holds over 1,000 people. There are 2 itineraries we were looking at, don't know much about the Greek Islands except that they're beautiful. Could you please advise on the 2 itineraries below, which one is best for our first visit to Greece. We've only done one Mexican cruise before so we are newbies. We're in our late 50's but in good shape.



1
Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy
Saturday, September 6
6:00 PM
2
At Sea
Sunday, September 7

3
Itea, Greece (for Delphi)
Monday, September 8
10:00 AM 8:00 PM
4
Cephalonia (Argostoli), Greece
Tuesday, September 9
7:00 AM 2:00 PM
5
Santorini, Greece
Wednesday, September 10
9:00 AM 6:00 PM
6
Kusadasi, Turkey (for Ephesus)
Thursday, September 11
8:00 AM 5:00 PM
7
Crete (Aghios Nikolaos), Greece
Friday, September 12
8:00 AM 4:00 PM
8
Athens (Piraeus), Greece
Saturday, September 13
6:00 AM

OR



Depart

1
Athens (Piraeus), Greece
Saturday, September 13
8:00 PM
2
Mykonos, Greece
Sunday, September 14
7:00 AM 5:00 PM
3
Katakolon (Olympia), Greece
Monday, September 15
9:00 AM 6:00 PM
4
Corfu, Greece
Tuesday, September 16
7:00 AM 6:00 PM
5
Kotor, Montenegro
Wednesday, September 17
8:00 AM 5:00 PM
6
Split, Croatia
Thursday, September 18
7:00 AM 6:00 PM
7
At Sea
Friday, September 19

8
Venice, Italy
Saturday, September 20
4:00 AM

I would prefer the first. The ports seem more interesting to me. However if you have not been there before, either is OK. Split is not too interesting, and while Katakolon sounds nice, it is not all that interesting. Thus said, try to arrange private guides at most of these ports or you will end up in rug shops or t shirt stores for much of your tour. Mykonos is a diy stop.

You make it sound as if the Greek Islands are not worth visiting, it's really expensive, maybe I should rethink this. Down below is an another option, would that be a better bet for my money.

Venice, Italy | Dubrovnik, Croatia | Valletta, Malta | Tunis (La Goulette), Tunisia | Sorrento, Italy (for Capri & Pompeii) | Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy also a cruise out of Rome and it goes to

The Greek Islands are SOOOO worth visiting. It's just that large cruises don't really get to all of them but your first choice has the best introduction because you see Santorini (the Jewel), Kusadasi with Epheseus, and Athens. Then a few years later go for the other. I have been twice but we chose Louis Cruises who replaced Royal Olympic. They are a Greek lines and all they do is a 7 day cruise that includes many islands and Athens and Istanbul. BUT they are not as luxury as Princess. But we went 2011 in May and there were 700 on board. And I have also just been to Athens and gone out to the smaller island of Spetse. Best time to go is May to Oct. Islands are only open for business because of seas, weather. We opted for the cooler less traveled time. Good luck.

You may want to look at this trip report which included a few of your ports.
http://www.fodors.com/community/crui...rrek-isles.cfm

It's so easy to travel among the Greek islands by ferry.

The Princess cruise I was looking at only holds 650 passengers, it's not a big ship, I didn't want a big ship so having said that it's smaller that the Louis cruises.

if you are looking for cruises on smaller cruise ships havea look at these cruises here http://www.alphayachting.com/Cruises/greek-islands

I would choose something that included Rhodes.

September is a beautiful time for a cruise there, and I think the first option would be great, especially if you could add a couple of days at the beginning to tour Rome and a day or two at the end for Athens.
Ephesus, Santorini, Crete and Athens are enough to make it fantastic to see. Cephalonia is on my wish list of places to visit. Photos are gorgeous. Unfortunately, the one day there is a little short. The others are ok. It will be a lovely trip. I would absolutely do it.