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Franlovestravel - thank you so much for pointing out the Turkish Air flight from DFW to Thessaloniki. Our airport of choice is also DFW so I'll have to look into this. BTW - I fell in love with Athens. Yes, it is a bit ragged around the edges but stunning nonetheless. History absolutely everywhere. Tons of rooftop bars with amazing views and I absolutely loved my walk up to Mount Lycabettus. You can also take a cable car up to reach the top. Several cafes/restaurants (yes, overpriced and touristy but still great views).

terrilynn - I need to disclose upfront that I don't really do cruises and prefer land tours so I am a bit biased. I took the A&K Greece land tour as a solo traveller in October 2024 and really thought it had a lot of pros. Unfortunately, that same tour has increased quite a lot in price and A&K doesn't do triples so I'm excited about the Tauck tour and the possibility of traveling with the entire family. The biggest pro I can see with a Greek land tour vs. cruise/sail is that you're not a 'daytripper.' This is a particular advantage in crowded places such as Santorini. Too many cruises during central hours means too many people - a huge issue in Santorini and other popular spots! You almost can't walk along the walkways in Santorini when the cruises arrive. Once the passengers get back on the boat, a much calmer vibe falls over the small island. On a land tour you also have the advantage of an authentic dinner with a view ---- and it seems everywhere in Greece has amazing views (and food). We stayed at some amazing hotels all over Greece and I can't imagine having missed that opportunity. So many rooftop bars with great views! You also get the advantage of getting to see the sunrises and sunsets while staying at a lovely hotel along the coast. Hope this is helpful.

A recent tour director told me that tour directors are payed a good wage, he never expects tips and says if you don’t like missing out on tips, find another job.

** If you include the tips as part of the salary and part of the cost of the trip the incentive for an over the top performance and experience has been removed**

I respectfully disagree. There are many ways to incentivize performance that have nothing to do with tips. As long as expectations are set, metrics established, recognition rewarded, employees will perform well. My only tour guide experience other than Tauck is with Rick Steves. Tipping is not allowed. He pays his guides well, rewards performance. His guides are uniformly excellent. He has a very high employee retention rate, customer satisfaction, and thousands of repeat tour members.

The tour ending in Athens is what I was hoping for too. I’m still holding a reservation for the May 1st trip, but I’m wondering that too. I doubt Id make another trip to see Athens-those days are sadly over.

Has anyone had experience with Turkish Air? They have one flight a day out of DFW to Thessaloniki.

A recent tour director told me that tour directors are paid a good wage, he never expects tips and says if you don’t like missing out on tips, find another job.

I find that hard to believe. The total amount of tips on a regular tour adds up to a lot of money. No rational person is going to be indifferent to that amount of money.
For 40 people on a 14 day tour at $12/day, that amounts to $6,720. I would have to make a LOT of money in salary to be indifferent to that.

[Correction: the number of work days in a year is about 260. 40 people at $12/day would project to an annual income of $144,000.]

Yes, I believe it's only river cruises which makes sense given the logistics like props, hotel staff to help with the party, and that it's an all Tauck guest composition.