5 New Cruise Itineraries You Have to Try in 2024

Sailing Through Greece from Kos aboard Island Windjammers’ Lyra

Lyra sailing ship (Photo: Island Windjammers)

Island Windjammers has been operating casual sailing cruises in the Caribbean since 2008. Its fleet includes the 101-foot-long Diamant, and the larger 156-foot Vela, both of which make their home offering a variety of six and 12-night Caribbean cruises.

In 2024, however, Island Windjammers is dramatically expanding its horizons by offering its first-ever season of sailing cruises from Greece.

A suite on the Lyra sailing ship (Photo: Island Windjammers)

Departing aboard the 98-foot, eight-passenger luxury sailing ketch Lyra, Island Windjammers’ new 10-night Greek Isles sailings are about as off the beaten path as you can get. Departing from Kos (which lies just south of Bodrum, Turkey), Lyra then bobs casually around the Greek Dodecanese Islands, going where the weather takes it during the day, and anchoring in sheltered bays and inlets at night.

The Monastery of St. John lies high atop the Greek village of Patmos. (Photo: Aaron Saunders)

On its 10-day voyages, Lyra will call on towns and locales. You may never have heard of, including Panteli, Arki, Patmos, Loipsi, Kalymnos, Levitha, Kefalos, Tilos and Nisyros. Of those, Patmos is arguably the most famous, with smaller cruise ships routinely tending passengers ashore to see the imposing Monastery of St. John the Theologian.

If you think you’ve seen Greece before, chances are good you’ve never seen it this way – or this relaxed. So grab a drink and head on up to Lyra's teak decking; the warm tradewinds of the Greek Islands are calling.