asalemo

I've been doing some research on Duoro cruises but they seem to include all three meals, The thing I liked about our small ship cruise in Croatia and Greece is that we disembarked in the overnight ports and ate locally.  Loved meeting the locals and having different types of local food as opposed to being at the mercy of the cruise.  Anyone have any ideas on this?  I hate to pay for "all inclusive" and then get of the ship and pay to eat....

Anyone tried Blue Lagoon Cruises out of Fiji? Small like the cruises in Croatia on this thread. Reasonably priced but super expensive to get there.

Hi all,

I did my review of Unforgettable Greece but thought I'd give you a link to see the blog I put together of the trip:

https://findpenguins.com/2023greece/trip/2023-greece?sort=ASC&s=d4c1e54704f084a0b59d52129ca50157d4e0cf8b

Just returned from Greece earlier this week - we sailed on the Elysium with Unforgettable Greece. There were 40 passengers on board. Unforgettable Travel contracts the ship and crew of the Elysium but provides their own cruise director and other staff. We had the same cruise director from our Unforgettable Croatia cruise in May. His name is Darko and is absolutely amazing.  We traveled with three other couples, all of whom had never cruised before.

When we arrived in Greece, we were concerned because there were huge storms north on the mainland and also down south in Crete.  The day we boarded, the captain and cruise director revised the entire itinerary so we missed the rain. We had sun every day. There were definitely white caps on most of the days – we weren’t bothered by it and only a few passengers seemed to be impacted by it. Because of significant winds, our itinerary was changed on the fly. Their communication of these changes were timely and detailed.  We loved the transparency of the crew. If Croatia waves impacted you, you would want to do more research on whether the winds are "normal" for Greece - I got the impression that they are.

Here was our final itinerary:

Day 1-free transfer from hotel/airport, board in Lavrio (different port than big cruises), welcome cocktails, introductions/port talk, depart to Kythnos/anchor, plated dinner, overnight travel to Sifnos

Day 2 –breakfast, pilates, port talk, explore Sifnos, lunch, Kimolos-explore on your own or tour Chora (old town), dinner on your own.

Day 3-depart to Polkyaigos for swim stop, breakfast, pilates, port talk, lunch, Greek dance lesson, Milos-explore or tour, dinner on own, overnight to Ios

Day 4-breakfast, pilates, Magganari beach (Ios), port talk, Greek cooking lesson, lunch, Santorini-tour/wine tasting, dinner on your own, late: Name that Tune, overnight to Naxos

Day 5-breakfast, St Ana Beach time, lunch, port talk, Naxos (dock)-tour and dinner on your own

Day 6-breakfast, Delos-on your own, pilates, lunch, port talk, Mykonos

Note:  we were supposed to have a tour, however, the white caps prevented us from being able to tender for safety reasons. We ended up heading to Syros for sheltered port

Day 7-breakfast, pilates, port talk/schedule change info, Syros on your own, farewell lunch, due to waves ended up having dinner on board as well, overnight to Lavrio

Day 8-departure, free transfer to Airbnb/hotel

Here are the negatives compared to cruising Croatia (which I've done twice on Unforgettable Croatia):

• Definitely windier
• Ship showed some wear and tear, minor plumbing issues
• Throw toilet paper in bin (this is EVERYWHERE in Greece which was a pain) but they emptied the bins at least twice daily
• Daily swimming is off the side of the ship (instead of off the back) or were tendered to beach
• Less docking, more tendering at ports
• Less storage than cabins in Croatia
• No balconies (but we never used our balcony in Croatia anyway)

Positives:

• Crew was amazing. Best service I've ever had-I've cruised on Seabourn all the way down to Carnival on virtually every cruise line). Our cruise director and Unforgettable staff were also incredible.
• Authentic Greek Food on board – buffet lunch daily.  Unbelievable!
• Better beaches and swim stops than Croatia
• Comfy beds
• Stylish furnishings throughout
• Great hottub on top deck
• Really comfortable large sun loungers on top deck
• Free daily pilates/yoga
• Included free excursions/tours
• Spa services (extra)
• Laundry services (extra)
• Spacious lounge, separate from indoor dining, for everyone to sit and relax – more than enough for everyone
• Better stocked bar
• Outside dining (inside dining when too windy)
• No other small ships out there except personal megayacht

Because of the ship layout, this is not for people with walking/mobility issues.  The gangplank to get to the tenders and swimming was steep. The crew was terrific with the people who had mobiity issues but I certainly wouldn't recommend it.

I LOVE that Unforgettable really fosters camraderie for those who want to participate.  As I said in my previous post, you can isolate if you prefer. It is very casual and nonplussed. You really feel like you get to know other travelers but also the crew really well.

The other thing that I love about small ship cruising is that you typically get to eat more meals in port - this to me is so much better than the restaurants on the ship. I feel like it is more immersive.

I would recommend this small ship experience!

New_cruiser, the company is called Unforgettable Travel. They do land and cruise trips. Highly recommended! We board Elysium tomorrow in Lavrio tomorrow.  

Hi all, I have been on Unforgettable Croatia, once in October '21 and then again May '23 - Split to Dubrovnik and reverse.  One was the last cruise of the season and the other was the first cruise of the season. The ship was MV Memories with a max of 35 passengers.  Absolutely loved it for the following reasons: went to ports that are lesser known but still hit the highlights (Hvar, Split, Dubrovnik), all former Yugoslavian staff (Croatian, Serbian, etc), three course lunches that were regional cuisine, beautiful swim stops, inexpensive drinks, casual not fussy feel, excellent service, comfortable cabins, included transfers at beginning/end, history/culture talks, and included excursions. All of this at an incredibly reasonable price!  You really got to know the other passengers and crew if you wanted to or you could keep to yourself. No pressure. When you left Croatia, you felt like you really knew the country and its history. 

We are taking Unforgettable Greece starting on September 2nd.  Will post what I think when I return.