Sources report that there is still considerable resistance to cruises to and from Athens, and the cruise lines that were committed to a full season of sailings appear to be the most affected. Princess Cruises is the only line that has cancelled its summer cruises to/from Athens altogether, and is sailing from Naples instead. However, the line is retaining as much of its Greek Islands’ itinerary as possible, and plans to return to Athens next year.

Ocean Cruise Line, which originally had cancelled all of its sailings, will return to Athens in September. Other cruise lines, including Chandris, Cycladic, Epirotiki, Hellenic, Heritage, P&O, Royal Cruise Line, Sea Goddess, and Sun Lines, have maintained their Athens itineraries. Most of the lines also are offering special incentives to stimulate bookings.

For all of the cruise lines, however, the 1985 Mediterranean season is reportedly becoming much less of a banner year than they expected it to be at the beginning of the summer.