We took the EasyCruise "Classical Greece by Sea" trip in March '08. The cabin was compact, indeed-- to say the least-- but I've never been on another cruise ship so what do I know.
At Ithaki (Ithaca) we took the optional excusion to the island's mountainous interior and LOVED it--but our fellow cruisers who chose to stay in town were bored out of their skulls.
What surprised me most about Greece was how sparsely populated it is. I thought it would be full of houses like New Jersey but it is actually more like Wyoming with orange and olive trees.

Posted By Vfrance on August 21, 2008, 4:12 PM

A large port on the northern tip of the Peloponnese Peninsula, Patras's annual pre-Lent party is attended by more than 300,000 revelers with events including The Bourboulia (carnival ball), a treasure hunt, and various parades and fireworks. What's neat about easyCruise is that they don't tend to sail until six or seven a.m., which leaves plenty of time to experience nightlife.

Posted By Cruise Answers on August 22, 2008, 5:22 AM

Hmm, you seem to be recycling the press release on this post, since the mandatory "upgrades" are simply an easy way to raise prices.

I've had my eye on easyCruise since I spotted a 105 euro pp in shared double fare for their 7-day cruise this spring. This fall I can still find Classical Greece for 123 euro pp. Searching all new itineraries and even subtracting 30%, I can't find the $349 cruise you cite above.

Though I couldn't find anyone to go with me on that spring cruise, I did read up on the line. Everyone recommended skipping the food entirely -- and despite the new meal plan, I have a hard time believing that many passengers are going to cut their sightseeing/nightlife short in order to come back to the boat for dinner! As I understood it, the point of the long shore stays was to enjoy the local scene and avoid eating onboard. The ship offered very little in the way of entertainment, acting much more like a floating hotel than a pleasure island unto itself.

Not all of the cruises have such late sailing times, and not all cruisers are going to appreciate having to wait till noon to get off the boat! That cuts into sightseeing time quite dramatically.

All in all, I'm not sure this is the good news you're touting it to be . . .

Posted By poetloverrebelspy on August 22, 2008, 5:42 PM

Thanks for your comment, Hilary. You raise a few valid points. The upgrades are indeed mandatory, and easyCruise claims that the meal plan was instituted by popular demand. Judging by how no-frills the boat is, I can imagine travelers who are used to traditional cruises where food is ubiquitous might want options. But who knows if it's what people wanted? I neglected to mention that travelers can substitute the buffet dinner for lunch, if they are going to be out in the evenings.

Departure times really depend on the itinerary. But the way I understood it, easyCruise is different from other lines in that it doesn't always leave at night, so you don't have to be back every evening at 5 or 6 p.m. like you might on a regular cruise. That said, it's not for everybody. Early risers might hate not being able to get off the boat before noon...

You say you couldn't find the starting price when you looked at a few itineraries at the easyCruise site. I'm sorry to hear that you were frustrated. I'd note that the section where I mentioned the lowest price came before I talked about Greece tours specifically. It was a statement about the starting price for a Mediterranean itinerary. I've put in a call to the publicist to see if we can give some examples of specific itineraries where the lowest price quoted is often available. Keep your eye on this space for an update!

Thanks again for the comment.
--Emily

Posted By Emily Haile on August 25, 2008, 12:32 PM

I have an update! The publicity team for easyCruise and my own research finds that, in low season (October), the seven-night "Greek Islands & Turkey" cruises start at $661 per compact cabin, which is around $330 per person. Note that easyCruise lists its prices in British pounds.
Hope that helps!

Posted By Emily Haile on August 26, 2008, 12:20 PM

My husband and I went on an Easy Cruise trip at the end of May (Greek Islands & Turkey). Unfortunately we were severely disappointed. All I can tell people is to remember that you get what you pay for. Cheap means cheap--period. The cabins were extremely small and the service was frustrating to say the least.

There was too much disappointment for me to go into here, but I will comment about the port stops. I'm not sure if this is common on other cruises (we haven't cruised much) but be aware, at most of the island stops, the ship actually anchors out from shore and you must take a tether to and from the shore. And these tethers only hold 30-40 people so you could be waiting for the tether to take a group to shore and then come back... a few times. So that noon arrival time doesn't mean you'll be ON ISLAND at noon--most days it was 1-2 or 3 hours later than the printed arrival time. This was extremely frustrating for us as the whole point was to get off the boat and explore the island... so we felt trapped on the boat most days. Exception: Bodrum is a port city and we docked at a pier close to downtown Bodrum so were were able to come and go easily. At Mykonos we docked at a pier about a couple of miles from downtown Mykonos and then had to pay for a bus ride to/from downtown. So unless you wanted to pay for extra bus or taxi rides, the boat was just as inaccessible as anchoring.

Also note, if you think you might want to take a scooter on any of the islands, or possibly rent a car, you will need an international drivers license. We found out the hard way and were turned down at a few places. And since the cruise line TAKES YOUR PASSPORT when you arrive, you are without that for the entire trip, too. We would have been allowed to rent a car at one place if we'd had our passport. But instead we were stuck.

By the next to last day, we'd had enough and "jumped ship." We packed our bags, demanded our passports, and hopped a ferry back to Athens which was extremely easy to do.

I will say that Greece itself is absolutely beautiful and is not to be missed... I just don't recommend this method. There are high speed ferries to/from most islands and B&Bs or inexpensive hotels everywhere. You will pay a little bit more to do things this way, but it's WELL worth the extra cost. The adventure of doing things your way is much more fun than being cooped up and herded around. (But maybe that's just us.)

Posted By Cori on August 26, 2008, 3:51 PM

We took the 7-day Greek Island EasyCruise in July, and had a fabulous time. You have to treat the boat as a floating budget hotel, not a luxury cruise!

The room may not be luxurious, but it was 10 times nicer than the NEL ferry room we stayed in on one overnight trip from Athens-Chios, and the ferry ticket cost as much as our entire 7 day cruise. We booked a package (through Gate1, although there were other companies offering similar options), and our cruise ended up costing $340 per person, INCLUDING a meal plan! I believe that the deal was $400 off each plane ticket if you booked the cruise and the flight together.

The food was not exciting, but we did use the meal plan every day for breakfast, and often for an early dinner (we would rent a scooter for the day, come back to the ship to shower, eat a free meal, then head back out on the town). Since the locals didn't eat until 10:30 or 11pm, we were able to order a couple of appetizers instead of needing a full meal - that way we were able to enjoy the local cuisine and nightlife without breaking the bank.

We really enjoyed the EasyCruise trip - it is unmatched for price!

Posted By Leah on August 26, 2008, 8:26 PM

The price was very right for a floating hotel.
I question the ability of the under staffed boat to feed everyone in a timely manner. It was definitely impossible on our May cruise, although it was only the second trip for the new staff.
One thing to add about port arrivals is that they maybe to late to set up independent tours. On Sundays most towns are almost closed down, museums included. Yet the boat sponsored tours got private showings.
Some of the ports offer little in the way of things to due outside of beaching.
Crete and Turkey are the best places to visit. Most of their Greek island destinations are more of the same.

Posted By Tom on August 28, 2008, 1:35 PM

My husband and I just took the EasyCruise Life August 8th, 2008 - Greek Islands & Turkey.
We had a wonderful time. I do not recommend the food. No variety. And if you missed breakfast, lunch or dinner, all they will sell you is a cold chicken baguette. You have to purchase all your drinks. A glass of Water was free but the bottled water also tasted like a handful of pennies...yack.
For lunch and dinner it was mainly the same food, you had three or four options. Pasta (Spaghetti), Chicken Chunks (seasoned with oregano) along with fries. Almost everything was served with fries.
Staff are super friendly. Great service!! Another thing I did not like was everything was in Greek first then English. But, who am I to judge how they should run their ship. But, they are a Greek cruise line and mainly serve their people.
Anyways, rooms are small. My husband and I slept in separate bed because they were full to capacity and couldn't get a room for the honeymooners lol
That bed arrangement bothered me extremely. But, I went knowingly and agreed thinking of better luck in changing. So I cant really complain about that.
The only thing I did like about the port stops where the hours we would dock in and out. We got to enjoy each stop we made to the maximum. We would arrive at 10am and leave the following day between 3-6am.
If you have cruised before this cruise line may be a shocker. But, if you are opened minded and really don't care about food and the rooms on board then GO FOR IT.
But, I wouldn't go back on it...even if it were on sale for 5 bucks a night.
Good luck for the curious one who do like variety of food, comfortable big rooms and not to be hurdled around from stop to stop.
Only thing I do suggest everyone who has not visited the Greek Islands and Turkey to do so. It is an amazing experience and scenery of a lifetime!

Posted By belle on September 2, 2008, 5:04 PM