My adult daughters and I sailed on Splendor of the Seas on Aug. 11. Our port calls were Mykonos, Athens, Katakolon, Corfu and Split. My younger daughter recently graduated from college and wanted to go to Greece. Cruising was an excellent way to see Greece, especially in August. First of all it was HOT. There are probably better months to cruise to Greece, but we didn't have a lot of choice. It was great to be able to unpack and come and go from the ship. It was especially great to have adjustable A/C! The ship was in very good condition. Usually we cruise on newer ships and we found it hard to believe that this one is 11 years old. The food was much better than we had previously had on Grandeur of the Seas. Our waitstaff was excellent. The rooms were pretty standard ocean view cabins - nothing special but nothing wrong. Our cabin steward was better than most. We especially enjoyed the champagne bar in the Centrum and spent most evenings there with our table mates. The two bartenders, Dimi and Dejan, were great!

The port calls were lovely and we felt like we had enough time in each port. Possibly Mykonos could have been a bit of a longer stay. We hired a driver in Athens and were able to see far more than anyone who took ships tours. In the 9 hours that we had with our private driver we everything we could have wanted to see, plus some! Katakolon was our least favorite port and while we enjoyed the drive to Olympia, we didn't particularly enjoy that site. I don't think I'd be in a hurry to go back. The town was fine, but very touristy and most shops had the same merchandise. Corfu was awesome. We took the ship's tour that included a wine tasting. The drive was scenic and the boat trip to the caves was really fun. Our only complaint was that the tour bus took us back to the ship and then we had to shuttle to the downtown area. We had been told by the shopping expert that Corfu was the least touristy place on the schedule but we found the opposite to be true. In fact, August is holiday month in Europe and Corfu was slammed with European tourists. Trying to shop was a mob scene and we ended up returning to the ship after about an hour. Split, Croatia was a nice surprise. Though they don't use the Euro, and we had to exchange money, the prices were very reasonable and the town was lovely.

I would highly recommend this cruise on Splendor of the Seas. The ship is in excellent condition and the entire crew seems to go about their jobs happily. Seeing Greece on a cruise ship gave us a nice overview, while still having the comforts that we appreciate.