A thoroughly enjoyable cruise with fascinating sites, good guides and fine hotels in Athens and Istanbul at beginning and end of cruise. There were a number of disappointing elements mostly related to the ship.

The air conditioning in the cabins is pretty primitive and extremely noisy and the ambassador lounge which is used for the lectures is unfit for purpose. The view of the screen is very poor.

We were promised that fresh local produce would be used but saw little evidence of this. We ate mostly in the Terrace cafe where lunch was quite good but evening meals were poor. The menu was unimaginative but the most disappointing feature was the poor quality of the ingredients. Fish (cod and perch, how Mediterranean!) was bland and tasteless and many of the main course meats, particularly the veal, were so tough as to be inedible. These cruises are not cheap and we expected much better. Desserts were gelatinous and unpleasant. Read more