Looking to book a special family cruise in July to celebrate 2 graduations - one child from high school & one from college. Ideally want a ship with 200-800 passangers. Would love to hear all suggestions/comments!

Hello lb and welcome to cruise-chat;
first, congratulations on the graduations; what a wonderful way to celebrate.
I could only find two ships in lines that I am familiar with, and neither fit all your criteria. Both have July sailings and both are under 800 pax, but neither is specifically a "Greek Island" cruise: Holland America's Prinsendam and Princess' Royal Princess.
I think you will have to look to Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn, or SeaDream to find the cruise you want.
Best of luck, and again, congratulations.

Windstar would be another small ship. If your children are independent and can entertain themselves Windstar or any of the lines f-mattox suggest will work.

Thanks for your suggestions! Can you also recommend Costa or one of the other European cruise lines or best to stay with the others?

I can't speak from experience but you might want to read some of the reviews of Costa; they are mixed at best.
As for other European lines, I have no insights.

Thanks, f-mattox. I just checked out the reviews on Costa & think I'll stick with the earlier suggestions. Many thanks for your help!

Hi,
in Europe there are several smaller ships that fit your figures. But most are quite old by American Standards. All are based on Piraeus:

Monarch Classic Cruises (http://www.mccruises.gr) offer the epitomy of a Greek Islands cruise: The "Golden Fleece" Itinerary (7day), for which Royal Olymic Cruises, and before that Epirotiki Cruises was known for, which includes also Istanbul. Also they offer 3- and 4-day Greek Islands cruises. They took over many employees from these older firms.

Golden Star Cruises (www.goldenstarcruises.com) offer 3-night and four night cruises on the former Adriatica liner AUSONIA now named AEGEAN II. This ship is more for the classic liner lover.

These itineraries can also be had from Louis Cruises, the biggest competitor in this field. (http://www.louiscruises.com/cruises_from_greece/cruises_from_greece_home.html)

It might be tricky to book them in the US. Probably they even have a North American Sales representative or GSA. Hope that helps.

Michael Hipler
http://liners.gmxhome.de

But be aware: These ships, by virtue of the size (under 20.000 t) are a far cry from the facility-filled destination-like mega ships of the Caribbean! They offer a classic cruise experience, destination oriented (as it should be in the Greek Islands).

Michael Hipler

Oceania is the best at sea. It is more expensive than most but truly worth every penny. You won't be sorry. 684 pax, amazing cuisine, and after having been around the world many times, on land and sea (including walking on Antarctica) I have not found a better line. Enjoy.

Check out MSC cruises. We just got back and it was a great ship and a great itinary.
Venice (should stay a couple of days...magical place)
Bari..interesting
Santorini..must see
Mykinos..great taverna called Niko's.
Athens..must go to acropolis. But, we got our own taxi from Piraus and it was a hassle to get a good price. Go on a tour in Athens.
Corfu...I didn't know anything about it, but it was the best of all.
Dubrovnik..very pretty old city. But I'd already lost my heart to the Greek Isles.

Hi Royal Olympic have only smaller Ships now, any Cruise that takes in Santorini is good. Kalo Taxidi

Steve,

Royal Olympic is out of business. Do you probably mean Epirotiki?

P@O high quality but stuffy for Americans (I am British)
Avoid British lines like Thomson and Island although Fred Olsen excellent (but very British)
If I were American I would avoid European lines and play safe with Princess or RCI (both of which I have used and enjoyed)
Big certainly but higher quality than some of the small alternatives which can be truly dreadful-enjoy

Thats news to me the web site is still up, they did have some problems some time ago based around the over spend on the voyager and her sister ship, the last line to go under in europe to my knowledge was the german company that chartered the Mona Lisa, ps I was interesed in the video someone had posted it was the Royal Olympic Voyager, which was the fastest cruise ship of its period, its first cruise was to the Amazon which needed great skill in navigating the Master was Pantelis Papagorgio a good captain Kalo Taxidi

quote:

Originally posted by Raoul Fiebig:
Steve,

Royal Olympic is out of business. Do you probably mean Epirotiki?