I posted this once and it was deleted, so I hope this one does not!!1

My friend returned from her one week cruise on the Royal Olympic Explorer departing from Athens. She is in the travel industry so she is extremely hard to please.

Well, she loved the cruise. The cabins are spacious, the food is quite good, not gourmet, but that's ok, the excursions were well run and worth the money. She had no complaints. Granted, it is not one of the ships that have 2,500 people on board and glitsy - this was more low key and you were able to enjoy meeting people from different cultures. I will be taking the exact cruise in September and looking forward to it.

Anitafla,
I'm also taking this cruise in Sept. Leaving from Venice. It's great to hear someone who loved it. Do you think your friend could post a trip report? Are you doing your own shore excursions? We're leaving Sept. 14th, when are you leaving?

Purplesage,

I will be on the same cruise as you, except I am departing Athens on September 12. My friend took all of the excursions except for Venice and Olympia. I know that I will definitely take the Istanbul excursion, but I am not sure about the rest. What about you? Will you be taking the shore excursions?

Just think we will be on the ship at the same time!!!

Anitafla,

We (DH and I & his 2 sisters) are planning on booking a private tour for Istanbul and doing the rest on our own. We are using Matt Barrets web page on The Greek Isles for ideas on what to do in Athens and the other Greek Islands.
I can't believe it will only be a few short months now!!! I think this cruise will be amazing as I've always dreamed of seeing all of these places but never thought I could do it all at once. What deck are you on?

purlesage,

I know what you mean about this trip. It is so exciting. I don't know yet what deck - I know it is a TA category. What about you?
Who will you be using as a private guide in Istanbul? I would rather do that than use the cruiseline because theirs is 7 hours and I think I could see more with using a private guide. Please let me know what company you are using for the guide. I don't know if I will do Corfu and Dubrovnik with the ship, because I think I could do it on my own and I have been to Venice, so I certainly do not need an excursion - same with Mykonos.

Let's keep in touch, exchange ideas and maybe we can meet on the ship and have drinks to toast our cruise.

It's less than 3 months away and believe me when I say I am counting the weeks.
Take care.

Anitafla,

We are on the Helio? deck. I heard about the tour guide in Istanbul from Paul Therault? who used to post here, the tour is a 41/2 hour tour and sounds great. We would love to meet for drinks. You can email me at [email protected] and I will give you the email of the tour guide. Maybe you can give us some pointers on Mykonos. We also think we can do the rest of the places by ourselves. I printed out Matt BArrets walking tour of Athens and am excited! Hope we can keep in touch!!