Grand Circle Small Ships Cruise/Tour

[webfoot]

I know that this forum is for river cruises but wondered if anyone has taken one of the GCT small ships tours. We were looking for our next cruise and found that there is a tour covering Greece and Croatia. We are trying to avoid the big cruise hips. Thanks for any help you can give me!

[beverlyjack]

Pat,

 

We have taken 1 small ship cruise with Grand Circle, but it is one that they no longer offer. It was on the Royal Clipper a large (220 passenger) sailing ship from Rome(Citavechia) to Venice, including the Dalmaition Coast, which was woderful, operated by Star Clippers. The ship was not operated by Grand Circle, but they had a program director and about 40 passengers on board. It was a fantastic trip, and we received much better service ashore than those just with passage on the ship. Most of the small ship cruises, except for the river cruises were previously under Overseas Adventure Travel, Grand Circle's sister company, but they have now been merged with the river cruises under Grand Circle Cruise Lines. I think that this makes logistical sense, with the management of that division being oriented to managing a fleet of ships. We have taken 13 GCT/OAT trips including the Royal Clipper cruise and 6 river cruises. They have been uniformly excellent and cost competitive. I have recently started blogging my trips, including going back to previous trips and merging our recollections, text only trip reports, and many photos into blogs. If you want to see it, I have an index linking to the other blogs. It is http://jackthetravelingman-index.blogspot.com. We completed a cruise on the Seine with them in April and the Yangtze on 2007, that are in the blog. As time allows, I am going to try to go back to all my trips and add them.

 

If you have any questions, we would be glad to try to answer them either on this forum or by Email.

 

Grand Circle also has a forum. Here is a link to a thread on this cruise http://www.oattravel.com/Community/Travel-Forum.aspx?g=posts&m=13991#post13991

 

Jack

[webfoot]

Thanks for the info! I read some reviews on the GCT website and got mixed reviews. I will keep on doing my research before we book a trip!

[Barrheadlass]

We took their Winter Adriatic cruise in Jan. '11, which was absolutely terrific.

49 passengers, 2 cruise directors, and lots of fun. Loved the ship, very comfortable, great food, excellent cruise director (ours was Alan). We would definitely travel with GC again. At that time, this trip was an OAT trip, they've moved it to GC. There were folks on our tour that had travelled with OAT/GC 27 times! Also many other repeat cruisers...

[webfoot]

This is what I love about CruiseCritic ... There is always someone (or two) who have wonderful insights.

 

What about motion sickness? I guess i will need my Bonine if we take tjis trip!

[Ozjohnno]

Tauck have a number of small ship cruises but unless we win Lotto, everyones wish, I can't see us being able to afford them.

[webfoot]

The GCT trips are more expensive than most of the river cruises ... I have looked at Tauck and Vantage and find them equally expensive.

 

I keep saying that 'when I win the lottery' but I guess I need to buy a ticket to win.

[donaldsc]

I know that this forum is for river cruises but wondered if anyone has taken one of the GCT small ships tours. We were looking for our next cruise and found that there is a tour covering Greece and Croatia. We are trying to avoid the big cruise hips. Thanks for any help you can give me!

 

One thing that you need to do on anything from GCT is to read the itinerary very carefully and then try to read between and around the lines. We did a GCT Greece and Greek Islands tour a few years back. The itinerary was poorly planned with a lot of wasted time, too much free time, and a poorly planned itinerary.

 

Also, you need to check to see what is not included in the cost of the tour and factor in the cost of the "optional" tours that everyone takes.

 

The GCT Greece tour was the last GCT that we have done.

 

DON

[Neliska]

Hi Webfoot

 

We are going on a small ship cruise around the islands on the Adriatic Pearl from Dubrovnik for 7 nights at the end of this month. It is a new small ship (36 passengers) that only did her first trip in May.

If you are interested I can let you know what we thought.

 

Cheers

[webfoot]

I would be happy to hear about your trip.

 

I must admit that i am a little cautious in looking at GCT. Reviews are mixed at best. We have friends who just got back from the GCT Moscow to St. Petersburg trip and they loved the trip.

 

My husband keeps asking me what others say about these small ship cruises and that is why I am posting this.

 

Thanks for your insights. We are still unsure what to do.

[LHT28]

Just curious

Does GC own the ships you speak of or to they just have a specific number of cabins on that cruise line??

Maybe they carter the ship for a specific cruise???

 

Lyn

[webfoot]

The ship has 25 cabins total. I assume that GCT owns the ship. They have 2 such vessels that they use for the Greek Islands, but i will check into it further. Thanks!

[beverlyjack]

In general Grand Circle owns their own ships. In the past they chartered some others and maybe still do. On some of the larger ships, they have bought cabins in the past, but had their own program director aboard to lead the trip. This was what they did on the Yangtze.

[webfoot]

The information on their website says that they will have 2 cruise directors on the ship.

[beverlyjack]

This depends on the size of the ships. The river cruises have have 3 or 4. In general the "small ships" have 1 trip leader per each 15 - 25 passengers of capacity. larger river cruise ships have 1 per 40 passengers of capacity. This is spelled out in the description of the trip.

[webfoot]

I have looked at the deck plan and see that there are just the 25 cabins and the description says 2 cruise directors.

 

I had hoped to find a trip that would stop in Santorini but no luck yet. Perhaps others who have taken small ship cruises could guide me towards another cruise company that includes Santorini.

 

Thanks to all for your replies!

[LHT28]

Do you only want really small ship or would you consider one of the lines with ships under 700 passengers?

 

I think Windstar or Star clippers may have stops in Santorini

Seadream, Regent & others may fit the bill

[webfoot]

I would love to do ships under 700 passengers and will take a look at your suggestions. I just don't want to be on a ship with 2500 folks or more.

 

Thanks!

[LHT28]

I would love to do ships under 700 passengers and will take a look at your suggestions. I just don't want to be on a ship with 2500 folks or more.

 

Thanks!

Me either ;)

Our cruise line of choice is Oceania they have 2 sizes of ship 684 pax & 1250 pax they do the Greek Islands

But there are more luxury lines if you prefer that Seabourn, Silversea

 

I am sure you will find one that suits your needs /wants

Santorini is beautiful

 

Sorry we dragged this thread so far off topic ;)

lyn

[webfoot]

Lyn, this is just what I was hoping for. I love to get suggestions from others who have toured areas that we want to ... thanks!

[LHT28]

Lyn, this is just what I was hoping for. I love to get suggestions from others who have toured areas that we want to ... thanks!

Hope you find a cruise that works for you

We loved the Greek Islands:D

 

Lyn

[webfoot]

Thanks! I have found one or two cruises that may fit the bill ... now to look over them and decide if it is the Greek Isles next year ... or France ... or Russia.