Golden Sun Cruises

MV Aegean I

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Operator: Golden Sun Cruises
Year Built / Last Refurbished: 1971 /1996
Length / Tonnage: 461 / 11,563
Number of Cabins / Passengers: 288 / 576
Officers / Crew: Greek / Ukrainian
Operating Area: Greek Islands Turkey

Note: Before reading the rest of this review please check out our comments at the bottom of this page under "Heavy Word".

She has come a long way since the Romanian shipyard Santieru Naval at Galatz delivered as the NARCIS her to one of Zim Line's subsidiary companies. Nothing about her supposed an eventual life as a cruise ship, a rather well fitted one, at that…yet that's what she became after Greek owned Dolphin Hellas Shipping bought her in 1985. Renamed AEGEAN DOLPHIN during the following year, 1988 saw her at a yard near Piraeus, and she emerged as a dandy little cruise ship, a cut down, scaled down "poor man's EUROPA"… indeed, that magnificent German cruiseliner, now Star Cruises SUPSERSTAR ARIES, WAS the inspiration for the AEGEAN DOLPHIN. The similarities don't stop with the house atop the Greek vessel…the structure housing the "Panoramic Lounge" and an outdoor bar…it's copied directly from the design of the bigger German vessel…so taken with the EUROPA was the Angellopoulos family that they employed blue and orange as funnel colors…making the AEGEAN DOLPHIN look like the EUROPA's little step sister…Besides working for her owners, this pert little cruise ship has done quite a bit of charter work and has visited places far from the Aegean…Miami's Renaissance Cruises chartered this smart Greek cruise liner in 1996 and for that work the ship was renamed AEGEAN 1, a name that has so far stuck. In mid November 1999 the AEGEAN 1 departed from Piraeus for a cruise around the world, a 120 day jaunt under charter to the now nearly defunct World Cruise Company of Toronto…This ship has been almost everywhere, and it's possible that the winter of 2001 may see her traipse around South America…maybe with us on board!

The AEGEAN 1 doesn't win stars in the looks department, she looks like the hybrid that she is… smallish and rather high density for her size…we will say that she feels a lot bigger than she is…the conversion from freighter to cruise ship was brilliantly executed...She has lots of public rooms…the full range of on board facilities…and great deck space…both open and covered and she is one of the only ships we can think of where passengers can walk in FRONT of the wheelhouse… even when she is full she has enough deck space and public rooms for everyone. She never feels crowded. We have many friends who work in her and little keeps her from joining our list of favorite ships, but she just might make yours, and if she does, we'll bet you that it's her Master, that ebullient charmer Captain Michailis Terzakis and some of his officers, staff and crew who will be the reasons why.

If you take a cruise with them in this ship we bet you will come away with the feeling that you had a very enjoyable cruise and you'll be certain to remember the ports, the ship and most of all, Captain Michailis, Cruise Director Carolina Mützenmacher (you'd think she'd be German with a name like that, but she's not, she is a knockout of a Frenchwoman, tall, blue-eyed and red-headed, a brilliant young lady who graduated university at 16 and went on to study law)…Chief Steward Makis Kontouris…a dragon tamer of a man who knows how to put a smile on even the crankiest of faces…Maitre d'Hotel Nikos Delakavias, whose years at sea include stints with Royal Cruise Line and he is a man who KNOWS how to make a dining room run like clockwork. You'll come into contact with the First Purser, Kyriakos..who came to Golden Sun from…you guessed it…the STELLA SOLARIS…then there is his boss, Chief Purser Spiros Laskaris...we won't tell you too much about him, but with over thirty years' experience as a Purser, this man is a professional…and to tell the truth…Goldberg first met him in the late 60s and when we boarded for a couple of cruises including the Opera Cruise of June 2, 2000, was thrilled to find him working in the AEGEAN 1. But beyond senior officers and department heads, the AEGEAN 1 counts some pretty special crew members and they are the ones you will likely have more contact with…look for Headwaiter Kostas Vournas…a man of broad experience with passengers of many nationalities and like so many others a veteran of Royal Cruise Line and the STELLA SOLARIS…we once saw him as waiter to the creepiest couple alive, demanding, rude, arrogant, arriviste…people who ordered things like six plates of smoked salmon and seven salads…and that couple left the ship with the comment that he was the best crew member on the ship…the guy can charm snakes! Let me not forget Cruise Staff Hostess Olga, an Argentine who speaks fluent English and Greek as well as Spanish and Host Peter Piper, a Dutch speaking South African lad…they want you to have a great time and work hard to assure your pleasure…Depend on Sergei at the Reception Desk…bright and industrious, this young Ukrainian will work his way into your hearts, too. If you take a cabin on Bridge Deck or Sun Deck, you will be very lucky, you will have your cabin tended to by stewardess Despina on Bridge or steward Kosta on Sun Deck…long serving in Greek cruise ships, people just love these two…and so do we!!! Of the many others, cocktail waitresses come and go, but our favorite is a small Ukrainian doll who goes by the name of Tatiana…and in the Dining Room, bouzouki-playing Panagiotis is a great waiter… We guess you get the point by now…we like a lot of this ship's crew!

The first thing you'll notice about the public spaces of the AEGEAN 1 is that they're quite pretty! Mostly decorated in cruise ship modern, lounges here are attractive and though the furniture isn't the kind you sink into, there are plenty of places and rooms where you can sit, read a book, have a drink, chat with friends. Designed in the ampitheatre tradition is the Main Lounge, forward on Allegro Deck. Shows and dances, briefings about excursions and ports of call, Captain's cocktail parties take place in here. Midships is the Rendezvous Lounge while aft on that deck is an ensemble of public rooms…a library tucked into a corner on starboard, a casino on the opposite side…we like the location of this gaming room, one of the least "in-your-face" casinos at sea…it's there if YOU want it, but not so predominant that you can't avoid it…then there's the Lido Lounge…a multi-purpose area that serves as an eatery for breakfast and lunch buffets, a cocktail lounge before lunch or dinner, a nightclub and disco...Despite its name, it does not give out onto a pool, rather it gives access to covered and open deck aft. One deck below and one deck above are covered deck areas furnished with tables and chairs…great spots for quiet enjoyment of passing scenery or the beautiful sea. Two decks above Allegro Deck is Sun Deck with a wide open area aft where a bar and buffet complete with barbecue host hundreds for lunch during certain days…a pool midships and above, a bar and the beautiful Panoramic Lounge within. Below on C Deck is the Dining Room…and one deck further down is the Gym, Sauna and Beauty Salon…

In her Dining Room, the AEGEAN 1 serves her passengers at two sittings...and like the dining rooms throughout the fleet, it's an all "No Smoking" Dining Room. Because these Golden Sun ships are so heavily booked by Europeans, South Americans and even Turks who eat later than we Yankees, dinner sittings begin a few minutes later than many U.S. based cruise lines...so if you don't like getting your main course served to you after 9:30 at night, you may find second sitting...which starts at 8:45, 9:00 or even 9:30 and once in a great while at 9:45PM! It might be a little too late for you. If you are reading this in English, you will probably want first sitting, because with a 7:00PM start up time, you will get your main course around 7:45, and that's generally late enough for most of us, whether we are from the U.S., the U.K. or Canada. Because of this, first sitting attracts a larger quotient of English speakers, and second sitting will undoubtedly be the choice of all Latin Americans, Spaniards, Portuguese and most Italians on board, with the French, Dutch, Germans and Scandinavians divided on eating time preferences.

If you want to eat in the Dining Room, watch out when lunches or dinners are served in "open sitting"...get there early or you may face a long wait for a table...of course you could take your food from the buffet...but American passengers, in particular, fond of breakfast and lunch buffets as they are...seem to shy away from dinner buffets when they are offered. And when at Mykonos on Mondays, there is always a buffet in the Dining Room…but there is also one in the Lido Lounge, offering the same foods…Above, on Sun Deck, an awning shelter some diners from a sweltering midday sun but many like to eat under the rays of sunshine, deepening a tan and feeding at the same time. At lunch time, the main meal for many Greeks, Italians as well as many Latin Americans, expect to see both at the buffet and the dining room the full range of menu items you would expect for a major meal. But watch carefully, and you will see that Greeks and Italians rarely combine soup and pasta in the same meal...and pasta is not generally a main course in Italy or Greece. Typically, an Italian will begin his meal with a pasta, and will then have a meat or fish entree accompanied by a contorni...the accompaniments....which are vegetables and most often potato. Italian food is a good deal more than spaghetti and meatballs. Greek food is more than moussaka and the Greek Dinner served once per cruise features very tasty items from the traditional Greek kitchen…

In general the food is quite good though once in a while a particular menu will not spark the appetite…though I don't presume to suggest to tell you which dishes will please you most. If we have a complaint, it's that on these port intensive cruises the ship operates, breakfasts are EARLY…we don't think it would be a major problem to keep some croissants, breads, cheeses, sliced cold meats and jams along with coffee and tea available at the buffet off the Lido Lounge until, say 10:30 or 11:00AM…the 8:30 or 9:00 time to break down the buffet is simply TOO early for the late riser..

One word about tables for two in the AEGEAN 1's dining room…there aren't many..only two dedicated deuces are available in this ship's Dining Room. One of the few four tops may be given over to couples who "vant to be let alone" but the vast majority of tables here are round tables for six, eight or ten…go with it…you just might make some new friends..

The AEGEAN 1 pretends no great luxury...and her rates reflect this. She has 280 cabins, 2 of them comfortable suites with windows facing both forward and to the sides, 82 inside rooms have either 2 lower beds or a double and are furnished exactly like the 196 standard outside rooms… cabins also fitted with either two lower beds or with a double bed. Some rooms have one or two pullman uppers… The A Deck D grade inside rooms located right under the dance floor in the Lido Lounge as well as the Bridge Deck DA rooms above that space often bring occupants to Reception…noise from the Disco is the problem here…Slightly larger than most in the standard outside grades are 376, 377, 378 and 379…All of the AEGEAN 1's cabins are furnished with private facilities, phone, air conditioning, and have decent storage space, even for heavy packers like us. Kept clean by either Greek stewards or by Ukrainian stewardesses, they are all adequate for the usual 7 or 4 day cruises this ship spends most of her time operating.

The AEGEAN 1 attracts large numbers of value seeking vacationers and her Mediterranean cruises draw lots of passengers from all of Western Europe. A fair number of Americans have begun to discover that cruising Europe with European passengers is not only a highly logical plan, but has allowed them a distinct view of Europe not so readily apparent to shiploads of passengers limited to American and Canadian citizens.

For the 2000 "season" the AEGEAN 1 generally works a 7 day itinerary…from Piraeus at 5:00PM she sails for Istanbul where she arrives the following afternoon. After spending the night in port (which gives you a chance to sample a fine Turkish restaurant for dinner…our favorite is one of the eateries in Kempinski's Ciraghan Palace Hotel), she remains in port until about 3:00PM on Sunday at which time she sails for Mykonos. The only drawback to this arrangement is that the grand bazaar closes at 7:00PM on Saturdays, so you will probably miss out on that spectacle, but the ship also calls at the Turkish port of Kusadasi, and after your return from the shore excursion to Ephesus (a MUST!), you will be able to buy a rug there! The AEGEAN 1 also calls at Mykonos, Patmos, Rhodes, Herakleion and Santorini so a cruise in her gives you a pretty fair look at all the favorite spots in this part of the world. Like the AEGEAN SPIRIT, the AEGEAN 1 attracts tour groups from many countries and don't forget, hers is a port intensive itinerary and the ship, despite its wide range of facilities, is little more than a hotel and eatery for travelers visiting the places she calls.

Until recently this cruise line and ship provided a solid product at a very affordable price. Unfortunately, over the past few months (summer 2001) the quality of the product and operation of these ships has degraded to such an extent that we can no longer recommend anyone sail on these vessels.