I took the first Greek itinerary for the Easycruise (.com) boat that regularly circulates among 11 islands at great discount. IT IS NOTHING LIKE A TRADITIONAL CRUISE, so don't send me to to that topic area. Life isn't centered on your boat, rather totally onshore where you are parked for 20 out of every 24 hours at a new island every day you wake up.

I can answer questions about it, like is it noisy due to teens partying. I didn't find it so, since the cabin areas are austere and any gathering tends to be away at the stern where there is a bar and hottub. This itinerary seemed to have a mix of young and old vs the very young which they seemed to market to on the earlier iteneraries.

I was surprised to find their arranged excursions quite worthwhile, because the ship was small and only a handful would join any particular excursion rather than mobs. But normally you would check out the port town, then decide to visit inland towns or remote beaches by cheap local bus.

If you sign up, be aware they don't leave from Pireaus central, rather a yacht harbor (Zea) a km or 3 to the east. Also I found Athens to be about as crime ridden as anyplace I have seen. Passengers were robbed of wallets (from front packets!) on the Athens-Pireaus train and I found a cleaned out wallet where I was sitting down (only ID left). I walked by a bank that just had it's ATM blown up - shattered windows all over the sidewalk. Also attacked by loose dogs roaming the city twice (as well as flies and mosquitos). But the islands seemed safe and friendly, aside from the lack of shade and sometimes WC's.

Hi

Thanks for the info. I've seen this and often wondered what they're like. Can I ask:
1. Are the cabins clean? Double cabins? Do they have portholes? Own bathroom?
2. Do you pay extra for meals? If so what do you get, what's the food like and what is the cost?
3. What's the bar prices like?
4. General facilities on board.

Thanks for your help.

I just posted a reply on another thread but I'll post it here too. Could you please give us a trip report of the many Greek islands you saw? Your opinions on what you saw and did would be greatly appreciated!

1) Cabins: I can only speak for the 4 luxury suites on the top level of the ship. Well, I did stay in a normal cabin before the recent upgrade the ship went thru and can guess for that. All have a standard efficent bathroom module which looks similar to what the easyhotel web site showed for their hotels.

The normal cabins didn't used to have portholes, but now I believe the great majority have them according to their web page. They may still lack a single piece of furniture besides a (double? queen?) bed too low to comfortably sit on. It is simply a crash pad with privacy, not a place to while away time. Remember the focus is totally onshore for almost every waking/eating moment, and sea travel is just a brief part of the day that many sleep entirely thru.

Except the suites, where you have a room 16 feet on a side (5m) with equally long private balcony with lots of deck furniture and an extra couch/bed inside. Porthole and sliding doors give a vast panorama which can be unbelievably picturesque when you are nestled into port. Also the door gives you some options to counter a/c settings which may not be to your liking. These can be quite cheap back when I made possibly the first reservation hours after announcement, but may be higher now that popularity seems to be setting in.

Oh, you asked about clean - it depends on you. Cleaning is a substantial extra charge option, which I didn't use since I avoided dirtying anything even over 2 weeks. It starts off clean, and even if you aren't as careful as I was the cabin could be cleaned with a towel in a 90 seconds due to its stark efficient construction.

2) Meals: An earlier config of this ship had a self service cafe that I would use, but now they just have a pricey waiter service thing that did not tempt me although the menu looked reasonably varied. Anyway you are almost always just steps away from a dozen portside restaurants with lots of local color, as well as supermarkets that can provide you a picnic with special delicacies - that seems the point of traveling rather then the banality of tourboat fare.

3) Bar prices - Dunno since almost never drink alcohol. Scanned their menu looking for a breakfast smoothie which would have been nice, but I think they just had the most common booze at moderately high price. They were working on having visiting bazouki (sp?) bands visit to encourage traffic, and they sometimes make the bar free for 15 minutes in early evening to get folks started.

4) General facilities: not really the focus, but there is a sun deck on top level which also has step machines and the like (absurd to me, since you will be wearing you legs out ashore on the steps and hilly terrain). The next level down has a deck all around with bar and jacuzzi and I guess an inside sauna. Oh, there is a massage station with some spa treatments. And the restaurant, with a few nice outside tables. An unofficial attraction is the front facing deck when the ship is moving. Usually only about 5 people awake and sober to watch the wildly scenic transit of islands and passing boats each a.m..

I am out of my depth to say much about the islands, since I didn't have enough time or ambition to cover much and anyway my Lonely Planet and Greek Island Hopper guidebooks seemed to steer me wrong half the time. But I will try an overview since now they seem to be marketing the 2 week cruise in 3 portions that folks will want to choose among.

In general they visit islands south of Athens and dock or sometimes moor at the islands main port. The port town may not be too thrilling and it's beaches may be a bit polluted, so most will look for a way to get to a pretty inland hill town or a remote beach. Oh, time of year may change things; I went at a time where busy places were quiet and quiet places were dead.

Cruise 1: Mykonos - surprised to really like the port town, it's varied food and energy. Try to petition the ship to arrive a half hour early so you can catch the last boat excursion to nearby Delos island... sort of a Greek Pompeii. Paros - surprised to not find this popular place to my liking. Sifnos - had a serendipitous time at remote beach. Drive by of the main hill town didn't look too promising,

Cruise 2: Poros and Spetses - quite a lot of interest within walking distance of the port, but especially Poros is close to Athens and doesn't have that "away from it all" feel.

Cruise 3: Milos - nice hill town and archeology. Ios - great hill town and beach resorts, maybe because not mobbed yet. Amorgos - stillborne. Naxos - coast overdeveloped for mass tourism but still of interest. Folegandros - quiet with charming hill town. Serifos - ok variety.

The dock area near Athens may be a place you kill a little time. Marina Kea is the place rather than Pireaus proper, and it is right near the pretty interesting Maritime Museum. Also an archeology museum which is closed but with outside displays in sight. The main public square between Pireaus and Marina Kea seems to have thursday 9pm free concerts just hours before easycruiseone leaves.

Thanks!

As for the food and bar, I guess they post their menus on the web site. Wish they would also post the other extras like towel change prices, etc. Understandable given the low cruise prices, but a surprise. The excursion prices were not too high though. On tip for ashore is to try sorbet when it is available - world class sparkling taste vs. pretty unexceptional ice cream.

Hey Viking, thanks for all the info. I'm going to be taking the 14 day Easy Cruise to the Greek Isles next month and I appreciate any help I can get !

What do you (or anyone)think about taking the bus or Metro to a destination as close as possible to Zea and then a taxi from there to the ship?

Are there things to do just walking off the ship at the islands ?

We've taken the Easy Cruise before twice, from Barbados and from St. Martin if I can help anyone with that.

ttt

Doesn't look like they will repeat the Caribbean soon, or I would be interested. As for Zea transport, there is said to be a public bus from the main port, but I always walked. You can do the first third of the walk alongside the Pireaus harbor then pick a cross street to Zea. Some include pedestrian only areas or museums, etc.

Landing at an island: You may have to line up ahead of time to get out, esp if they use shuttle boats. It's important to get out soon because with noon arrival you are close to siesta shutdown. Most little museums probably close for the day within an hour. Shops, grocery, etc may close 14:30-17:30. At least get a quick feel for if the port town is enough or whether you want to travel further. At the smaller islands such as on the last portion of the cruise, the port towns are not too interesting and it's the hill town or remote beaches reached via that town that are the main attraction.

Worth it to try the island buses. Seem to make special unscheduled runs when EZcruise arrives, maybe so the normal runs don't leave grannies or schoolkids stranded due to full bus. Surprisingly the drivers always seem to have change - the fare is usually about 1.20 . Some hill towns have a long stairway you can use to walk back down to port.

Hey Viking,
Thanks again. You rock !
Hope you get to take EC to Caribbean soon !

Easycruise should be called Sleazycruise. Sounds like a Contiki tour with blue-hair hoppers and teen alcoholics.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

The Great and Powerful Thingorjus

I guess a short stop might cause someone to think that the Naxos coast is "overdeveloped for mass tourism" but that's tremendously misleading given the huge amount of "coast" on the Cyclades' largest island.

Naxos has miles and miles of rural areas and beaches. It's one of the few well-known islands that has an economy that's diversified enough that it doesn't cater to "mass" tourism.

Although hearing that Easycruise is pouring its hold into Naxos town will cause me to check the boat schedule to avoid that zoo.

As for crime in Athens, it doesn't match my experience. We had a team of more than 50 in and all around the city for three weeks in 2006 and had no theft/pickpocket incidents.