Ryndam

7 Night Cruise sailing from Athens roundtrip aboard Ryndam.

Grandly proportioned and recently enhanced, ms Ryndam offers an onboard experience defined by spacious comfort, and the latest Signature of Excellence features and amenities. Upgrades begin with new fixtures and soft goods in staterooms and bathrooms. Staterooms offer a generous amount of personal space and many feature commanding ocean views with private verandahs.

Recent enhancements include remodeled public spaces, updated lounges and an exciting new entertainment destination called Mix featuring three distinctly themed bars. Together they provide the ultimate place to socialize and be entertained.

With a Dutch worldwide exploration theme, the decor of ms Ryndam features art and artifacts from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. At the heart of ms Ryndam a three-story atrium features a monumental fountain created by sculptor Gilbert Lebigre in Pietrasanta, Italy. Guests aboard this spacious ship encounter elegance at every turn - from a string quartet serenade in the splendid Rotterdam Dining Room to the two-deck Vermeer Show Lounge. Luxuriously appointed and uniquely refined, Holland America Line's ms Ryndam ensures you the ultimate onboard experience with her graceful combination of classic cruise ship features, state-of-the-art amenities, and sophisticated ambiance.

Highlights of this cruise:

Athens
There's no escaping the Parthenon. The temple to Athena looms over Athens from its perch atop the Acropolis, and it looms across the Western imagination as an icon of art and civilization. You may as well give in and start your cruise visit there. And why not? Completed in 438 B.C., the temple still astounds as the flowering of Greek art and architecture. When you come down off the hill, be sure to visit the Ancient Agora, Syntagma Square, the National Archaeological Museum, and the city's infinite impromptu byways. As you sample some souvlaki or a frappe, take a glance back up the hill from time to time and give the goddess her due.

Istanbul
Cross the Galata Bridge to the old city, past the Süleymaniye Mosque, whose 174-foot dome was once the highest in the Ottoman Empire. Pass the ancient city walls, built by Constantine, and beneath the epic Roman aqueduct. You've come for spice; for the scent of curry, saffron, and myrrh; for a taste of something ancient. A cruise to Istanbul (nee Constantinople nee Byzantium) with Holland America Line takes you to the world's only two-continent metropolis, thick with nearly 10 millennia of history.

Kusadasi
Ephesus is a beautiful ghost. In the first century B.C., the city was one of the largest cites in the world. It's amphitheater sat 24,000 people. Its Temple of Artemis was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The Library of Celsus was perhaps the finest in creation. Today, the amphitheater is a ruin, the temple is gone, and the library is a shell, open to the sky. Still, your cruise excursion will reveal glory in the old stones. Ephesus has one of the largest collections of ruins in the eastern Mediterranean. Prime among them is the library, whose two-story façade still stands, and the house said to be the last residence of Mary, mother of Jesus.

Mykonos
Informality rules on this sunny isle where pleasure-seekers from around the world come to play. Ramble along narrow streets past white-washed houses and blue-domed churches, bouganvillea-covered walls and thread-like, step-laden footpaths leading everywhere.

Iraklion
If something seems familiar about the place, it may be because Crete's capital city is nearing its 10th millennia of human habitation and seems to always have been with us. If, on your cruise, something seems more than familiar, it may be because those names you already know -- Knossos, minotaur, labyrinth, Theseus, Ariadne, Daedalus -- draw from places deep in our archetypal well. Empires come and go, but the city abides, all alleyways, blue sea, and sunshine. Come take a walk down streets you know, even if you've never been.