We really enjoyed our holiday as first timers and would consider cruising again. Though if you want to get to know a place the few hours you have in port are not enough except for small places like Katakolon. I think its worth doing your research about whats on board and go exploring early on.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Took us longer than others as they had to start again because they needed to put the credit card on first and then put us in
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We ate mainly in the Ligurian restaurant and had a really great time. The service was really good and the food was good with the occasional thing that we didn't like. Even the range of ice cream for dessert was good. We tried the buffet for breakfast, occasional lunch and late night snacks. The kids appreciated the early tea. The only thing we found problematic was the prepaid ice cream card as it was only for the plain ice cream and we were often off ship when the place was open.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
The pools were small and there was little shade. We really enjoyed the napkin folding class! Most of the activities were not ones we were interested in.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The shows were good - we saw the theatre act and a male vocal group. The Adele tribute was terribly upbeat considering the sad content of the songs . I think that's the difference from the real thing whose pain would be part of the performance but maybe she jokes and laughs in the middle of a breakup song too. They showed some films every day and we enjoyed them but would have liked at least one kid friendly every day.
Children's Programs
3 out of 5
The club looked ok but my kids prefer to do stuff with us and there were few opportunities to do that unless you were into sport.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Waiters excellent - nothing too much trouble. Room service was good. I think they could support first timers a bit more with practical things.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Very clean every where but looking a bit tired. Some of the public areas looking rough.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
Clean, small and looking old and tired. Some drawers broken, marks on things like the basin. Functional but nothing special. Tv offering was boring with hardly any channels. I think the room was over the footlights theatre and we could hear every rehearsal and show they had in it - we sang along. In the end we just went to the late night show because we could not sleep anyway it was so loud.
Ship tip
THe main restaurants were so good that when we tried the cafe jardin we didnt think it any better and so would not bother unless you really like the menu.
Once in Piraeus there were 3 hop on hop off bus companies operating from the same place just on the other side of the coach park. They have different prices - we took the cheapest and were very happy. They took us all the way to the acropolis and we changed there for the athens bus. We hardly waited more than 5 minutes for the bus and saw everything. They only tell you about one of the buses on the ship - there is also a metro (but you have to walk a bit) and a municipal bus which went straight into athens too. Once we got to athens there was a massive queue for the acropolis so we walked to the agora and came back in the afternoon - the queue was completely gone. But check online first as sometimes they close early.
this is the only down side of cruising
only around 6 hrs in each port so careful advanced planning focusing on what you want in each place is essential
But having said that i still love the cruise experiance
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