Small Ship Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Accommodations Review

Rooms were nice. Shower was decently big and water was hot.

Meals Review

Food was overall very good. Lunch portions could be smaller.  Don’t necessarily need 3 courses (including dessert) for lunch.

Itinerary Review

Safari boat ride in Opuzen to restaurant was a pleasant and fun surprise. Mostar bridge was awesome to see. Trpanj and Matusko wine tasting was fun. Didn’t really have any places I didn’t like. Some people complained about the end of the trip having basically 2 days in Split but wasn’t a huge deal to me.

Transportation Review

Transport to and from the airport was on time and safe.

Crew & Guides Review

Ziggi our main guide was excellent. Very personable and informative. He had a great sense of humor and kept the trip fun. Andro the second guide was also very good. He had a lot of knowledge on the areas we visited and was very active with us in all the excursions. He made a point to make sure no one felt left out. Together they were a very strong guide team and one of our favorite things about the cruise. The local guide in Korcula was especially funny and informative too.

Fellow Passengers Review

This was one of the best groups of people. Everyone meshed really well. At least half of the passengers were repeat Intrepid travelers. I think that speaks well for their business model. 

AdventureSmith Explorations Review

Kevin Marshall did a great job keeping us informed and answering any and all questions promptly.

Traveler Advice

Pack plenty of active clothes and prepare for hot humid conditions if they go in August.

Accommodations Review

Room was, as expected, tight quarters. It's an old ship, after all. The public areas are great. The upper deck is a beautiful place for cocktails, or just relaxing. Seeing the Sea Cloud under sail is a real treat.

Meals Review

Food was excellent. I think I probably gained weight, but that's my fault. I preferred the buffet dinners to the served ones. Variety was excellent. Lot's of great salads. Good seafood and fresh fish.

Crew & Guides Review

All of the people leading the expedition are true professionals. They know their stuff. One of the regular speakers has her PHD in archeology and is a real expert on the region and Greek history.  I was really impressed with all of them. The two regular guides are Greek and have many years experience in the areas we visited. One of our Lindblad guides, a native Greek, was much too insistent on trying to tell us all about the Greek Orthodox religion. As a non-Christian, I found it a little off-putting. She knew her stuff, but seemed anxious to proselytize...

AdventureSmith Explorations Review

Between AdventureSmith and Lindblad, we were well prepared. We made our own flight arrangements, but AS was very helpful. I cannot say enough good about our experience both with AdventureSmith and with Lindblad.

Accommodations Review

I loved our cabin and was very glad we upgraded. There was a musty or dank smell in the bathroom occassionally. Also the noise level in the dining room made conversation with anyone very difficult and frustrating.

Meals Review

I thought the food was great - fresh and varied- and was very appreciative of the staff's kind accomodation to my vegetarian preference.

Crew & Guides Review

Anna was the least satisfactory part of my time on the Futura. Although she did seem to respond to individual requests, I didn't need anything specific. But she did not "lead" our trip in the sense of giving us a sense of time and place - she left that to the local guides, some of whom were good, others not. Schedules were not posted until the morning. She seemed a bit ditzy and almost ephemeral - sweet and young that is not what I look for in a trip leader.

Traveler Advice

The only suggestion I have is that I didn't know that British pounds are rarely used in Croatia - better to bring kuna only.

Crew & Guides Review

The driver who picked us up at the boat and took us on a 3-hour tour before our flight back to Paris was very good. Also see comments above on Kimon and Kostos.

Meals Review

My dietary needs were taken care of without hesitation.

AdventureSmith Explorations Review

Very good materials sent before the trip about what to bring in the way of clothes, etc. Also good material about each port-of-call.

Traveler Advice

Go toward the end of the season when there are very few tourists.

Accommodations Review

Harmony V was very comfortable. The cabins are great and well looked after by the staff.

Meals Review

The food was very good and the variety excellent. It is a great idea to have a meal ashore each day either lunch or dinner to get an idea of local food, and culture. It was a great experience. We had an the best experience on Mykonos. It was a fun night, very inexpensive and top food.

Crew & Guides Review

Stella was our principle leader. She was terrific, and could not do enough for us. She was always bright and happy and full of information. We were able to leave our luggage on board until about midday when Stella ordered a taxi for us to go to the airport. The other guides on our optional excursions were also very good.

AdventureSmith Explorations Review

We certainly would recommend AdventureSmith Explorations to friends and family. We would most likely do another trip with them sometime in the future. The material sent out before we left home explained every thing we need to know. 

Traveler Advice

Go by small boat to see more and go to places where big ships can not go.

Accommodations Review

They were clean and well maintained.  But this isn’t a Class A boat with 5 star accommodations, so “excellent” doesn’t enter into the description.

Meals Review

Glad we were able to have a lunch or dinner on shore. This allowed us time to truly enjoy each place we visited. Breakfast buffets were very good. Lunch’s good. The “Greek night” dinner was very good, but the 2 others were just average.

Itinerary Review

We loved Folegandros & Paros. Both provided a more laid-back experience. Beautiful places with excellent shopping & restaurants. We loved the adjustment’s the captain made to allow us more time to swim and snorkel. This pleased everyone on the ship. We also loved the diversity of the people on the ship and the fact that everyone enjoyed everyone. The fact that this was a small ship allowed us to meet and become friends with everyone on the boat. Truly a great experience.

[We least enjoyed] Santorini & Mykonos. You can leave these 2 famous places for the large number of cruise ships that frequent the shores. Very crowded and not much fun...though we imagine they might be very nice when not overflowing with people. But we’re equally sure there are a lot more islands in the Cyclades that would be even more enjoyable to visit.

Crew & Guides Review

The cruise director, Viki, was very nice and professional. But sometimes our communication wasn’t great. The captain was a very nice man and seemed to go out of his way to accommodate the desires of the guests on his ship. We’d rate him as excellent and would definitely sail with him again. Local guides: we only did 1 on-shore guided tour on Santorini. We didn’t enjoy it, so chose to not do any others. Other fellow travelers felt the same, although those that did choose to do the guided tour of the heritage site of Delo’s found it very interesting and informative.

AdventureSmith Explorations Review

All information was great. The only item we weren’t expecting was the high temps (mid 90’s) of August. This was a last minute trip for us. We feel fortunate that everything worked as planned.

Traveler Advice

If possible, avoid traveling to this area in August. Very crowded and hot...We learned that August is not the time to do this trip. Way to many cruise ships. Way too hot this time of year (mid 90’s with high humidity). These 2 items did affect the overall enjoyment of the trip.