| Unexpected Cruises To and From Greece | |
Looking for a bargain, unusual ports, and a great time on a cruise? A repositioning cruise from Greece-based Royal Olympic Cruises may be just the ticket for you.
Royal Olympic, which offers wintertime cruising in the Caribbean and along the coasts of South America and Africa, needs to move its ships around for that season. Thus, the need for repositioning cruises after the prime season in the Aegean ends. While they keep a few ships plying the routes between the Greek islands, most of the vessels take to warmer seas.
Repositioning cruises are different itineraries designed primarily to get a ship from one sea to another. Because of this, they often have different starting and ending ports, and since they are financially necessary for the company to do, the passenger prices are often substantially less than normal. Most repositioning cruises are fairly long - usually about three weeks - but in general, you'll end up paying much less than an average two-week cruise.
Downside? Some cruise lines will short you on interesting ports in the desire to get you to the ultimate destination. Royal Olympic has largely avoided this pitfall and offers an interesting string of destinations on most of its repositioning cruises. They get their ship moved, you get an unusual cruise at a discounted price - a classic win-win situation.
One caveat: Given the distances involved, a few days spent entirely "at sea" are usually unavoidable. Royal Olympic's ships, while new and comfortable, are not the massive shopping-mall-on-the-waves size. If the thought of actually learning where the ship's library is located disturbs you, a long cruise with several days entirely at sea may not be for you.
Since these cruises are mainly traveling to or from Greece, the actual Greek portion of the trip is minimal. But it's a great opportunity to combine a cruise with a land tour that will explore Greece in depth. Royal Olympic also offers a selection of their own add-on tours.
Prices vary, but at the low end, they can be less than USD 80 per day per person, and top out at less than USD 300 per day per person for a deluxe oceanview suite - including all meals.
These cruises don't include free air, but low-cost air add-ons are available.
18-Day Exotica
Start at Athens, Greece and end at Port Canaveral, Florida. In between, Italy, France, Spain, the mouth of the Amazon in Brazil, the Bahamas, and several other ports. Departs November 7th, 2002, and arrives in Florida on November 23rd, 2002. USD 1,907-5,972 per person, double occupancy.
12-Day Transatlantic West
From Piraeus to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, this cruise is evenly split between port days and days spent at sea. USD 1,226-4,166 per person, double occupancy. This cruise leaves Piraeus on December 9th and arrives in Ft. Lauderdale on December 21st.
Piraeus to Durban 22-Day
This cruise drops through the Suez Canal and offers several Egyptian stops, stops in the Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar, and ends in South Africa. USD 1681-5476 per person, double occupancy. Sails November 8th and disembarks in Durban on November 30th, 2002.
Piraeus to Durban 29-Day with Eclipse
See a total solar eclipse on this tour - identical to the one above - with a special extension to catch the sun show. USD 2926-7931 per person, double occupancy. Sails November 8th and disembarks on December 7th, 2002.
Durban to Piraeus
Here's the flip side of the tour above (minus the eclipse) - heading from South Africa to Greece. Prices start as low as USD 1,681 per person for an admittedly less than premium cabin, but check the numbers - that's less than US 80 per day! The top price for an early booking on a deluxe oceanview suite is USD 5,476 - still a great deal about USD 240 a day including all your meals. Departs April 13th, 2003, and arrives in Greece at a great time - May 5th, in time for terrific weather while prices and crowds are still light.
