Firstly, the primary thing you must remember when sailing on this ship is that it is not a luxury cruise liner... think of it more as a Motel6 that floats. And costs about the same. If you are expecting a luxurious, pampered, experience, you will positively not like your trip. If you are looking at your cruise as a fantastically cheap way to experience things you could not afford otherwise, you will be thrilled.

My wife and I sailed in late February on their "Classical Greece" itinerary. This is a tour tailored to the off-season, so you will not be sailing to sandy beaches, or experiencing the hottest clubs in the Med. Instead, you will be sailing to ports (mostly quaint seaside towns) that provide convenient access to historical sites.

Now, on to the meat of the review: (interspersed with helpful advice)

Getting to the Ship and Checkin
As you should have noticed on the easyCruise website, transfers to the ship are not arranged by the cruise line. Instead, you will have to find your own way there from the airport. We took the subway to the Pireaus Metro station. (10 Euro for a two person ticket, one way.) From there, cross the Plaza next to the station and catch the 904 Bus across the street. Before boarding the bus, get bus tickets from one of the kiosks. (.50 Euro each) Get off the bus when you see the ship out the right-hand window. (Don't look for the Maritime Museum easyCruise talks about... it is completely hidden underground, with no signage, unless I'm just blind.) It's a bit of a walk to the ship from the street, so wear comfy shoes.

Checkin was a bit of a zoo, as there was only one person that appeared to know how to use the computer. (We took the first cruise of the '08 season.) However, we had nowhere else to be, so this was not as bad as it sounds.

One warning: easyCruise puts a hold of 50 Euro per person, per day, on a credit card to cover incidentals. Putting on a hold to cover incidentals is not a unique practice in the travel industry. While this wasn't a problem for us, this was not disclosed during the reservation process, and caught some people by surprise. They are supposed to be fixing that now...

The Cabin and On-ship Accommodations:
The standard twin cabins are tiny. They make no bones about this on their website, but you may be surprised, nonetheless. It makes even a small cruise ship cabin look spacious. (They do have a limited number of larger cabins available.) Our cabin consisted of: two twin mattresses with no space between them on a platform about 2' off the floor, a small space in front of the bed to stand, and for two drawers to open, a hallway leading to the bathroom and cabin door. The bathroom itself was a pretty typical cruise-ship bathroom. (Another random tip: Bring a squeegee. The floor of the shower was not tilted towards the drain properly, so it puddled. We heard about this before leaving and having the squeegee was nice.) (Yet Another Random Tip: Bring washcloths. They are not provided. This is not easyCruise being cheap; it is some strange UK (or European?) custom, as we encountered the same thing when we visited London.)

The restaurant onboard the ship should be regarded as a convenience only. The prices are quite high, as you would expect them to be for a fare so cheap. The only meals we ate there were breakfasts. The ship docks at such wonderful, scenic, ports, there is no reason to eat lunch or dinner on board the ship at all. For this reason, there is no reason to buy the meal plan. Also, during our particular cruise there were also some issues with the speed of service at the restaurant, but I expect that is fixed by the time you read this.

The ship also has a small deck with a few low-end fitness machines. Next to the outdoor bar is a decent-size hot tub.

The Itinerary
We took the "Classical Greece" itinerary, which concentrates on ports near historical sites. (i.e. no trips to the "resort" islands.) The ports chosen were all nice seaside towns or small cities. The two islands we visited were Ithaca and Aegina. I have no complaints whatsoever about the ports. The people were universally friendly, there were always adequate restaurants available (even at the end of February, which is about as off-season as you can get).

The shore excursion package was well worth it. The Classical Greece coordinator, Kelly, is delightful and she accompanies most of the tours. She can answer pretty much any question about the sites, Greek history, Greek mythology, etc. I did feel a little rushed at some of the sites, but since it was the off-season, many of them closed early.

Summary
EasyCruise is not like any other cruise line I have traveled on. Unlike most cruise ships, it is not a floating self-contained resort where you will be pampered, wined, dined, and entertained 24hrs a day. Instead, it is more like a traditional land tour that happens to float instead of checking you into a new hotel every evening.

If you approach it with the right frame of mind, and remember how little they are charging, you will almost certainly have a wonderful vacation.

Recommended: Yes

Best Suited For: Couples