Jewels of the Cyclades Cruise from Athens; Round-Trip 7nts

Board at Marina Zea between 2pm and 3pm for a welcome drink with the crew. The ship sails for Poros, a short call of about three hours at a green island with an attractive harbour and hillside mansions, then continues overnight towards Poliegos.

Poliegos is uninhabited and has some of the clearest water in the Aegean, so the morning is given over to swimming and a barbecue on deck. The afternoon sail is to Folegandros, one of the least known of the larger islands, where the Upper City and its tavernas fill the evening.

Cruise to Santorini, occasionally reached at anchor rather than alongside, and take the day as you please, whether that is Fira along the caldera rim or an optional excursion to the prehistoric excavations at Akrotiri and on to Oia for the view down the cliff. The ship stays overnight, which means you can wait out the sunset crowds.

Leave Santorini in the morning and stop to swim in a bay off Antiparos before the short crossing to Paros around noon. An optional excursion visits the Ekatontapiliani church at Parikia, the folklore museum at Marpissa and the fishing village of Naoussa. A Greek Night is held on board in the evening.

An optional morning tour explores Delos, the sacred island at the centre of the Cyclades. The ship then stops in one of the Mykonos bays for swimming before entering the port, leaving the evening free for the town at your own pace.

A relaxed sail to Syros, the capital of the Cyclades and once a busier port than Piraeus. The neoclassical mansions and the marble squares are a different Greece from the island villages, and dinner is at a small family taverna in town. Overnight in port.

Morning at Kythnos with a swim in Kolones Bay, then the run back to Athens past Cape Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon on its headland. Arrive in the late afternoon for the Captain's Farewell Dinner and an overnight alongside at Marina Zea.

Breakfast on board, then disembark between 8.30am and 9.00am.