Aegean Odyyessy - Review

[rugbypopsie]

I thought I would place the review here as we had a sizeable number of Aussies onboard. Of 304 passengers we had 71 repeat cruisers and 36 Aussies the rest were US about 96 and Brits and assorteds. Vogages to Antiquity just won an award for best specialist cruise.

 

This could be called a special interest cruise as it focuses on the historical aspects of the places we visited...but it is just as interesting if you are purely going for the ports, the cruise and the scenery.

 

During the 16 days we had two precruise days in Instanbul, then Greek Islands, Croatia, Italy and finishing with an overnight in Venice. The overnights were included in the cruise cost and the hotel in Venice (Conrad) was spectacular. The cruise could have been taken as fly/stay/cruise but we opted to use the FFP points and include a week canal boating in Wales together with a weekend in London, a few days in Rome and currently I am in Hong Kong.

 

The ship is a little beauty..I had booked an outside cabin but got a last minute offer of a balcony on Bridge Deck for a few more dollars and took the option. The cabin was about the same size as a mini suite on the larger ships and included a full bath and large bathroom. The best feature of the ship I thought was the amount of public space to passenger ratio...if you check out my photos you would think the ship was deserted..plenty of nice options even if you had an inside..lots of deck lounges, no chair hogs either. The food was good with plenty of variety and eating outside on the open terrace for any meal was a delightful option.

 

We were met by staff at the hotel and given the program of included tours for Instanbul. All tours in all ports are included in the cost...the buses were new and never more than half full as we were separated into small groups..no crowding at all and every bus has a staff member and a local guide. Whisper headsets allowed you to look around and take photographs without having to be close to the guides all the time.

 

On boarding we were greeting with a long stemmed rose and champagne and canapes in our stateroom...lovely start. This really felt like a high end luxury cruise but at a very reasonable cost when you added up all the extras you didn't have to pay for like drinks with your evening meal...the wine was quite good and flowed freely. The included tours were excellent and very well organised. The ports were delightful...no having to pay for a ship shuttle, tours etc. etc. and being a small ship we were able to sail right into many of the ports...no being stuck in a container port. We saw ancient towns and often were the only ship in port as well as some of the more visited ports like Dubrovnik and Corfu.

 

What stood out for me was the attention to detail, the quiet (no announcements, no ships photographers, the excellence of the staff).

 

Why would you do this cruise line (they are coming to Asia from November as well as their usual haunts in the Med)...If you like to cruise for the cruise and the ports...there is no casino, no shows (well some musical entertainment and we had the well known actress Maureen Lipman do some shows) no bingo, we had extensive tours every day..by the evening a few wines with dinner and we were all in bed..ready for the next day, there is an older crowd..50's and 60' generally well travelled and interesting people, very small single supplements so quite a few singles onboard as well. No set times or tables for dinner you could please yourself, no formal nights.

 

Mark and I loved this cruise and can see us repeating the experience.

If you would like to follow what we did and where we went you can click on the link to see photos etc.

 

https://www.facebook.com/suzanne.mannion.3

 

 

[babyz]

Looksamazing...yes i did just Facebook stalk you to check out your trip... wish i went!

Maybe repostthison Australia and new Zealand cruises forum not p&o because there is a wider audience there :-)

I'm gladyouhad fun xo

[rugbypopsie]

I meant to put it into the Australian and NZ cruisers forum.. Administrators can you move it please.

 

Sue

[Sandielle]

Sounds like pure bliss, Sue. :):):)

[rugbypopsie]

It was lovely...but not for the crowd who want to party all night.

 

Sue

[MMDown Under]

Thanks for your review, Sue. Nice to hear that you had a good time. Certainly sounds like my kind of ship.

 

Unfortunately, I can't see your photos, as I'm not a member of Facebook.

 

Is this the line which has changed ship?

 

I think you would enjoy Fred.Olsen also.

[rugbypopsie]

Thanks for your review, Sue. Nice to hear that you had a good time. Certainly sounds like my kind of ship.

 

Unfortunately, I can't see your photos, as I'm not a member of Facebook.

 

Is this the line which has changed ship?

 

I think you would enjoy Fred.Olsen also.

 

Voyages to Antiquity only has the one ship, Aegean Odyssey.....friends have been on the Fred Olsen they enjoyed it too...I am interested to hear about the Ocean Princess after your trip I have a month booked on her for March.

 

 

Sue

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review!