buchhalm

It sounds like a major pain in the butt. Apart from a quick flight from Athens to Mykonos, there are many ferries from Piraeus to the island. Anything from relatively slow large car ferried to high speed ferries. A cheap and quick taxi ride from the pier to the ferry terminal (or a bit of a walk, depending from where you dock) is all it takes. Time-wise it will probably be much the same. ATH airport is quite some distance away.

Over the years, we have taken cruise company tours and private tours, split pretty evenly. Where private tours most often come into play is during repeat visits to the same port. If you do a few Mediterranean cruises, you are likely to be offered the same cookie cutter highlights tours by (any) cruise line. In such cases we rent a car, do the private organised tour or use public transport. Missing the boat on most Med cruises - especially those up and down the coast of Italy - would not be much more than an annoyance. The ports are SO close together, you nearly coukd ride a bicycle and still can sit on the pier waiting for the ship to come into the next port. As for the famous "pier runners ", this must become a rare event. I haven't seen any "new" clips on YouTube for a long time. 😉

We booked an Australia - New Zealand cruise for January 2023. It is under this "always included " package, so tips (sorry, "gratuities") are covered. HOWEVER, if we want to slip certain people a bit extra here and there, what currency would you use? We are Sydney based, so for us a stack of Australian $ is of course easiest. Or should we get USD from the bank? A hassle, but at least we could get a stack of $1 notes for small tips. Our smallest note here is a fiver....