We departed from Mykenos and in the three days on the ship, we visited Kusadasi, Turkey, Patmos, Rhodes, and Crete. We disembarked at Santorini. We took excursions at Kusadasi and on Crete, and found them to be well-organized, albeit quite pricey.

This was the third cruise we took as a family of four (10- and 17-year olds) and by far this was the least satisfying of the three. First, some general thoughts. 1) Other than our cabin steward, the crew always looked and acted as if they were utterly miserable. That air of unhappiness in infectious. It was a rather stunning contrast to the other cruises we've taken. 2) The cruise line nickel and dimes you to an extreme. 12 euro for a key for the safe in your cabin? Really? 6 euro for an hour of Wi-Fi. It offers a unlimited drink plan, but when I went to buy it for one day for alcoholic drinks, I was informed that my wife and kids had to sign up for the non-alcoholic drink plan, which all together came out to about 70 euro for one day. 3) The food was generally dreadful, though the tea-time cookies and other treats were quite tasty. If you wanted something slightly nicer, like shrimp or steak, it was 15 euros extra and up. 4) The entertainment was subpar at best.

On that last point, the first of two specifics: A part of one evening's entertainment, the New Amsterdam Singers, were a well-meaning group of 70 New Yorkers all 50-years and up. Were it Christmas time, and were the audience the same age as the singers, they may have been an apt choice. But that wasn't the case, and I'd say 30% of the audience took a walk. My daughter sings choir, so I soldiered on. Their song choices included Christian hymns which didn't bother me at all as I am Christian, but I could certainly see that bothering others in the audience. At one point, the octogenarian troupe leader announced one of the songs as a traditional "negro working song" which, again, was an accurate description of the song, but overly sensitive people could easily have been offended. Just not a good choice by Bruno the cruise director and his staff. Read more