pdmlynek

I agree with @carlmm, @WESTEAST, and @bennybear, and would like to add the following: Mykonos is a very popular tourist destination, including celebrities. It is overrun with tourists. There are about 60 beaches, including the organized beaches on the western half of the southern coast. You'll need to be comfortable figuring out the bus schedules on how to get to the beaches or rent a car; taxis as pretty non-existent. Santorini is also a small island, and also extremely touristy as Mykonos. The towns of Fira and Oia on the cliffs above the caldera are one of the most photographed sites in Europe. Personally, though, I like the Ionic Islands, of the WEST coast of Greek mainland, including Corfu and Kefalonia (listed as "Argostoli" on itineraries). If you are beach connoisseur, you'll likely find the beaches even more picturesque than in the Aegean. The weather is also not as hot. And the scenery is also nicer. But that is just my view.

NCL (and I suspect other cruise lines as well) advises passengers not to walk up or down the "donkey path". I suspect that NCL does not want to be held liable if someone gets hurt on the path, by slipping or getting kicked by a donkey. But also, I suspect that NCL does not want passengers walking down the path, stepping accidently into donkey poop or donkey pee, and tracking it all over the ships. And I agree with the time. The path can be walked down easily in 25-30 minutes, even with stops to take sunset pictures. About 15 minutes, if you walk purposefully and don't have mobility problems.

Good post from @John Bull, as always. A minor point, or rather, a question, on the above snippet. Does the period of the last tender to departure time depend on the time of day? The reason why suspect that it does is that late evening departure passengers do not need to be herded as strenuously on board as for a midafternoon departures. I imagine that many passengers would think of the tendering like this: For a midafternoon (say 16:00) departure: "we'll need to hurry to see the island, and we'll just make the very last tender." For a late evening (say 22:00) departure: "we'll see the island during the day, then take a tender back late afternoon, shower, get dressed for dinner, and by 22:00 we'll be enjoying a show." In order for the NCL crew to obviate clearing hundreds of people close to the departure time, NCL tells pax that the last tender is 60 min prior to the departure time. They know that it will take 20 to 30 extra minutes to load up everyone. So I am interested: dear reader, when was your departure time, and when was the last tender?

My point is that the draw of Santorini lies almost exclusively in the towns overlooking the caldera. This is what people think of when they hear the words "Santorini" or "Thera". Yes, there are additional sights in Santorini, such as, as you mentioned, ancient ruins and beaches, but honestly, you can find similar sights on other Greek Islands as well. If you were to ignore the towns overlooking the caldera, Santorini would be simply one of dozens beautiful Greek Islands. The reason why this matters is to answer the type of questions that @zitsky posed: "is Santorini a must do island"? My view is that if a traveler is tired of sightseeing all the beautiful Greek islands, the traveler should at least visit the town(s) overlooking the caldera for an hour or so, and skip the rest of the island. Neither you nor I would ever do that, but a person who is burned out should not feel guilty about skipping the rest of the island.

Sure, there are a lot of hikes to do on Santorini. The climb up the 600 stairs is a good warm up. There are trail all over the island, particularly along the rim. The best hike is supposedly between Fira and Oia; you can take the 9 km walk one way and take a bus the other way.

Well, Santorini is one of the most popular destination in Europe, let alone in Greece. The sugar-cube-like white houses on the cliffs above the caldera is a spectacular sight. It really is beautiful. Although I would consider it do not miss island, as @chemmo, @Texed, @PelicanLvr, and others have posted, Santorini may live up to the expectations to some people. Firstly, Santorini is overrun with tourists; this may be a turn off for some people. Secondly, aside from the picturesque white houses on the cliffs, given to the high bar set by other Greek Islands, there is not much there to do and see. Taking a tender to Santorini, going up to the rim, walking about Fira for an hour before getting back to the ship, may be a very reasonable use of your time. Making it a sea day with a short trip ashore sound good to man people.

Based on my experience, the last "official tender" leaves 30 minutes prior to the departure time. This is in line with what @SummmerInKefalonia and @MeHeartCruising wrote. A couple of notes: (1) In my experience, the last official tender leaves about a minute late. Not 5 minutes, mind you, but if you are 45 to 60 seconds late, you are still fine. (2) At the Santorini stop this June, an NCL crew member(s) who loaded up the last official tender does not return to the ship until the security personnel relayed the accounting of the passengers. After that, the crew member took a small tender to Jade. The small tender had room for about dozen pax, which included some of my family members. 😒 The small tender left about 10 minutes after the last official tender, or about 20 min before departure time. I have no idea if waiting until the last passenger is on board before the crew member is returned by a small tender is a standard procedure, but to me such a procedure would make sense.

You are right, of course. Thanks for the correction. Back in 1989 we were backpacking through the Greek islands, taking ferries, sleeping in hostels and on the beaches, etc. We were planning on getting off at Patmos, but by the time we got to the door to get off the ferry, the ferry already left Patmos -- ferry stops are just a few minutes long. The crew were incredulous at our insistence to visit Patmos. "Meh, don't worry about it, just get off at the next island, they are pretty much all the same." Hence, we visited Leros, even though we did not plan on it. 🙂

To get away from the heat, and be by the water, I'd go to one of the Ionian Islands. The temperatures are somewhat cooler than in the Aegean islands. We also liked Corfu, another Ionian Island. It is slightly smaller than Kefalonia (611 km2 vs 771 km2), has more people (102K vs 36K), is better known to tourists, and is a bit more developed. It also has some of the top beaches in Greece, as well as castles, ruins, great food, etc. During our cruise stop at Corfu, we drove out from Corfu Town to Palaiokastritsa, a beach town about 30 min west on the opposite coast. We rented two speedboats and explored a few of the 17 close-by beaches and a dozen sea caves around Palaiokastritsa. I highly recommend spending a day on the Adriatic. Bring watershoes and snorkeling gear. (No boating license needed for boats under about 6 people; we are not boaters, and we had no issues). Good luck!

To get away from the heat, and be by the water, I'd go to one of the Ionian Islands. The temperatures are somewhat cooler than in the Aegean islands. Kefalonia was our favorite Greek island. It has hundreds of beaches, some of which are the best in Greece (Myrtos, Antisamos, Xi), several dozen of which are "organized". The island has many historical ruins and castles (pre-ancient Greek, Venetian), dozens of small villages with great restaurants, etc. It has tourist infrastructure, so you'll find people who speak English, but it is not a popular tourist destination -- you'll likely not see too many tourists. I'd be a happy man if I could spend several weeks or months on Kefalonia.

If you want to do 3 nights someplace that would allow time on the water in Greece, flying to one of the Greek islands, as @marazul recommended, makes the most sense. There are about 23 Greek islands that have airports: - Crete (HER, CHQ); - Dodecanese Islands: Kos (KGS) and Rhodes (RHO); - Ionian Islands: Corfu (CFU), Kefalonia (EFL), Zakynthos (ZTH), Lefkada (PVK); - Northern Aegean: Lemnos (LXS), Lesbos (MJT), Samos (SMI), Chios (JKH), Ikaria (JIK); - South Aegean: Astypalaia (JTY), Kalymnos (JKL), Karpathos (AOK), Milos (MLO), Mykonos (JMK), Naxos (JNX), Paros (PAS), Santorini (JTR), Syros (JSY), Kasos (KSJ), Kastelorizo (KZS), and Leros (LRS). Given that you will likely stop at Mykonos, Rhodes, and Santorini, that narrows the list down to 20. Depending on your travel style, you may want to stick to the smaller islands, where you'll get to know pretty much the whole island well, such as, Kos (290 km2, 17th largest Greek island), Paros (196 km2, 20th), Milos (161 km2, 23rd), Kalymnos (135 km2, 25th), Astypalaia (114 km2, 29th), Syros (102 km2, 31st), Leros (74 km2, 38th), Kasos (44, 52nd),Iraklia (18 km2, 66th), or Kastellorizo (12 km2, 73rd). For 3 days, I'd prefer a larger island and explore it with a car, but that is just me.

Alternatively, you may also rent a car for those 3 days, and head out west. Here is an itinerary that might suit you: Day 1: Fly in, rent a car at the ATH airport, drive to Nafplion (2 hrs from ATH), spend time on the beach, overnight in Nafplion. Day 2: see the Mycenae archeological sight early in the morning, before it gets hot and overrun by tourists; optionally, Tiryns or Epidavros; drive to Olympia during the afternoon heat; overnight in Olympia. Day 3: see the Olympia archeological sight early in the morning, before it gets hot and overrun by tourists; drive to Delphi during the afternoon heat, overnight in Delphi. Day 4: See the Delphi archeological sight early in the morning, before it gets hot and overrun by tourists; drive to Athens during the afternoon heat, return the car; overnight in Athens. We did the above (except that we added an extra day to go to Meteora), and it was wonderful. We don't care for hot, sticky Greek weather either, but sightseeing early morning was the way to go. Good luck.

I think that 2 nights in Athens is just way too short. That is just one, maybe one & half days devoted to Athens. You may consider just staying in Athens for the entire 5 days to see Athens well. This won't keep you cool, but you'd make most of your time.

Yes, me too. It just seems to elitist, so classist. I am never comfortable with it.

😄 The original poster wrote about sleeping _IN_, not just sleeping.

OK, thanks. I thought that it is something like that. 🙂

Uh, just what NCL ship are you taking that you'd expect it to dock in Berlin? Do you really expect an ocean-going vessel to go up Spree? 😲

Wow, that is incredible! People who put objects like these in the toilet system should be made to pay for repairs, and clean up other cabins. This is simply an unacceptable behavior.

The bus station in the Old Port is right next to the pier where MOST tenders will drop you off. A few points: (1) The bus station is at about 37.4510N 25.3286E. (2) There is another bus station is Mykonos town, the Fabrika bus station, about 1.5 km south. Just FYI, as you don't get them confused if you read up about buses in Mykonos. (3) Make sure that your ship tenders. Some ships dock at the New Port pier instead of tendering. Although there is a schedule which ship docks and which tenders, this occasionally gets changed. (4) If you do tender, assure that you know which pier at the Old Port you tender to. Some tenders actually drop off passengers at the pier from which boats go to Delos, at the southwestern part of the Old Port, 37.448N 25.3266E. From that pier it is a mere 750 m, or about a 10 minute walk to the bus station.

Well, it is Greece, after all. Don't expect things to run smoothly nor on time. Yeah, you may need to wait an hour to fill up the boat or to order in a restaurant. The leisurely pace and laid back attitude is just the part of charm of traveling in Greece. Although things have progressed so much that Greece of the 2022 is a smooth-working fast machine compared to 30 years when schedules were ignored, things are still not as one might expect in northern Europe.

Well, we are in late 50s, not athletic by any means, and we found it an easy stroll up. But to each his own.

it is unfortunate that the ship that we were on did not serve any Greek food; just the same food that the ship serves regardless where it is. Given that Santorini, Corfu, and Mykonos are extremely touristy places, and you'll have limited time on each, maybe you may want to arrive a day or two earlier and hit some of the restaurants in Athens that serve mostly the locals. Good luck!

Unless you are mobility challenged, I wouldn't worry about the cable car. It is an easy walk up the stairs (just 600 stairs), and even easier and faster down. As far as stepping in donkey poop goes, that is just normal part of being outdoors. It happens. Just stomp it off when you get to the bottom so that you don't track it onto the ship.

If this is your first cruise, to be honest, there is not much of a difference between the cruise lines or cruise ships. Everything will be new to you, different than you are used to, so I really wouldn't stress about picking the perfect ship. Once you have several cruises under your belt, and you know what you like and don't like, then you will be in a better position to choose more suitable lines and ships. Good luck!

Plaka. Definitely Plaka. Two nights will give you enough time to do a day and a half of sightseeing in downtown Athens. There is enough stuff to do a week within a mile of Plaka, so you do not need to take transportation anywhere; everything is walkable. You can catch an Express bus to the ship from Syntagma Square, or for about 15-20 EUR you can catch a taxi. For Plaka <-> airport, use either a bus or the metro. Good luck!