Greece excursions

[mercksa]

We are going to the Greek isles on August 6. Would you recommend booking excursions with an outside company? If so, how can I find excursions at the ports? We are going to Mykanos, Corfu, Santorini, and Olympia.

 

Thanks,

Stephanie

[Mooder]

We are going to the Greek isles on August 6. Would you recommend booking excursions with an outside company? If so, how can I find excursions at the ports? We are going to Mykanos, Corfu, Santorini, and Olympia.

 

Thanks,

Stephanie

 

Hi, Stephanie! You are going to have a great cruise! You will have more luck finding information about these ports on the port-specific threads - here is a link to the Greece forums: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=594

 

I went to the Greek Isles last year and used several local companies. You can find my thread reviewing my cruise here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1202311&highlight=santorini

 

The only port you mention that I didn't hit is Olympia and I will be going in November. We have hired a driver for the day at a very reasonable price, but I can't review him yet obviously. ;)

 

Good luck with your research!!

[cruiser willy]

Are you flying into Athens? If so, I recommend at tour of Delphi. It's a couple of hours north west of Athens. Well worth the time and price of the tour! Lot's of good tours in Santorini as well, depending on the length of your time in port and what you like to do. We declined the donkey ride and chose to WALK from the tender port to the top (we try to walk off the cruise calories when possible). VERY exhausting trek! The view from the top is AMAZING. You could spend your whole stay there poking around the shops and enjoying the breathtaking view! I don't recommend spending time at beaches here. There's so much more to this island than beaches. If time permits, there are very good tours of the volcano and ruins. Santorini and Mykonos are ports that should include overnight stays. The night life on both are incredible. On what ship will you be sailing?

[canpass]

We are going to the Greek isles on August 6. Would you recommend booking excursions with an outside company? If so, how can I find excursions at the ports? We are going to Mykanos, Corfu, Santorini, and Olympia.

 

Thanks,

Stephanie

 

Look at the Greece portion of this web site there will be lots of great tips on excursions there. You will save a great deal of money if you work with an outside company. Also make sure that you are registered on your roll call as you will find all kinds of people looking to create private excursions. On our cruise last year we worked with http://www.privategreecetours.com. They do tours in most of the ports. We will be using them again next year when we go again. If you are putting together a private tour or joining another group make sure you are aware of the expectations of the group. Some groups get more interested in shopping and eating than seeing the sites, which is fine if that is what you want to do but doesn't work if you are the type that wants to keep moving and see as much as you can during your port stay.

[Who knew?]

Hi, Stephanie! You will have more luck finding information about these ports on the port-specific threads - here is a link to the Greece forums: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=594

 

I'm confused. Isn't that the board she posted on? That link took me to the same one I've been browsing for the last couple of hours? Am I missing something?:confused:

[suzski]

I'm confused. Isn't that the board she posted on? That link took me to the same one I've been browsing for the last couple of hours? Am I missing something?:confused:

 

The OP's post might have been moved to the Greece Forum. You're in the right spot!

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Hi Stephanie- We were in Greece in late July/ Early August and it is peak season. On the day we arrived in Santorini there were four ships there and the port was so crowded. So, I would highly recommend taking a tour the day you go to Santorini. This will get you off the ship first and make it less stressful. Santorini is gorgeous. I really enjoyed Thira (or Fira) and we didn't go to Oia but from what I have read its worth going there.

[suzski]

I went to the Greek Isles last year and used several local companies. You can find my thread reviewing my cruise here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1202311&highlight=santorini

 

Mooder, thanks for sharing the link to your wonderful review! As we don't cruise NCL I missed it, but you hit many of the same ports we'll be on our cruise in September. It definitely takes a lot of time to plan out the excursions, but I totally agree that you can't judge a port by the mile long area around the port....you gotta get out and explore it!

[Mooder]

I'm confused. Isn't that the board she posted on? That link took me to the same one I've been browsing for the last couple of hours? Am I missing something?:confused:

 

The OP's post might have been moved to the Greece Forum. You're in the right spot!

 

 

Suzki is correct. When I posted that link, the thread was on the general NCL forum. Sorry for the confusion - when they move a thread, they should probably delete references like that. :cool:

[Mooder]

Mooder, thanks for sharing the link to your wonderful review! As we don't cruise NCL I missed it, but you hit many of the same ports we'll be on our cruise in September. It definitely takes a lot of time to plan out the excursions, but I totally agree that you can't judge a port by the mile long area around the port....you gotta get out and explore it!

 

I'm so glad you found it helpful. I know you will have a wonderful cruise!!!!

[T. Advisor King]

When asking for help, it would be useful to mention how long you're in port. We cruised the Louis Aquamarine last summer and it hit 6 ports in 4 days. For most of the ports, we were only on land 3-4 hours. As a result, the advice we would give would be much different than the advice we'd give for a full day's stop in the same port.

 

Hi Stephanie- We were in Greece in late July/ Early August and it is peak season. On the day we arrived in Santorini there were four ships there and the port was so crowded. So, I would highly recommend taking a tour the day you go to Santorini. This will get you off the ship first and make it less stressful. Santorini is gorgeous. I really enjoyed Thira (or Fira) and we didn't go to Oia but from what I have read its worth going there.

 

Before rushing off to book a tour, just to save yourselves the line-up, go to one of the "cruise ships in port" websites and find out not only what other ships (if any) are arriving in your ports on the same day, but when they are arriving and departing. If there is a lot of traffic, I agree that booking a ship's excursion is the lesser of two evils, which will get you into town soonest. But if you're the only ship arriving within that hour, I would consider other options.

[4774Papa]

We are going to the Greek isles on August 6. Would you recommend booking excursions with an outside company? If so, how can I find excursions at the ports? We are going to Mykanos, Corfu, Santorini, and Olympia.

 

Thanks,

Stephanie

 

Prior to our Norwegian Gem cruise last July, I researched all our ports, sought out prices for our family group of 8-12 persons.

I found that at some ports, it made good sense to just do your own thing with no tour or excursion. We did Athens and Mykonos on our own and saved a bundle. The Athens Metro is 20minutes from the port. Mykonos is a great place to do your own.

 

For Corfu, Crete and Santorini, we took the ship's tour. All the private tours that I found (on cc and elsewhere) wanted more $$$ than the ship's excursion that we wanted. In Crete we wanted to go to Knossos, and with only five hours in port, it made even more sense to do NCL.

 

Santorini was a great example of do it your self vs. NCL. My Wife and I took the Oia and Winery tour while the rest of the family did their own thing. We were on one of the first tender boats, they had to wait. They all had to wait for the line at the cable car/donkeys and lost valuable time. They had trouble finding taxis and the busses were full, so they stayed in Fira, while we had a great tour of the entire island, drank some great wine, visited Oia and Fira.

 

Corfu we took the excursion to the monastery on the NW side of the island. The excursion was great. I had found a private tour for 12 that was close to the NCL price, but still more expensive. Our NCL tour was great.

 

Sometimes the ship's tour is the best choice, sometimes not. Do your research.

[4774Papa]

We are going to the Greek isles on August 6. Would you recommend booking excursions with an outside company? If so, how can I find excursions at the ports? We are going to Mykanos, Corfu, Santorini, and Olympia.

 

Thanks,

Stephanie

 

Prior to our Norwegian Gem cruise last July, I researched all our ports, sought out prices for our family group of 8-12 persons.

I found that at some ports, it made good sense to just do your own thing with no tour or excursion. We did Athens and Mykonos on our own and saved a bundle. The Athens Metro is 20minutes from the port. Mykonos is a great place to do your own.

 

For Corfu, Crete and Santorini, we took the ship's tour. All the private tours that I found (on cc and elsewhere) wanted more $$$ than the ship's excursion that we wanted. In Crete we wanted to go to Knossos, and with only five hours in port, it made even more sense to do NCL.

 

Santorini was a great example of do it your self vs. NCL. My Wife and I took the Oia and Winery tour while the rest of the family did their own thing. We were on one of the first tender boats, they had to wait. They all had to wait for the line at the cable car/donkeys and lost valuable time. They had trouble finding taxis and the busses were full, so they stayed in Fira, while we had a great tour of the entire island, drank some great wine, visited Oia and Fira.

 

Corfu we took the excursion to the monastery on the NW side of the island. The excursion was great. I had found a private tour for 12 that was close to the NCL price, but still more expensive. Our NCL tour was great.

 

Sometimes the ship's tour is the best choice, sometimes not. Do your research.

[suzski]

Planning for our Med cruise, I have found that group tours are most cost-effective when there are at least 6 participants. If you haven't already done so, I'd encourage you to get on the roll call for your cruise and see if others are interested in similar tours. Our roll call has booked several tours independently at quite a discount, based on the fact that there are frequently 8-15 of us. However, sometimes you can get a great deal with just 4 people. For example, we are doing an excursion to ancient Olympia from Katakolon. A somewhat comparative tour (albeit, four hours shorter) on Princess costs $99. However, we're getting additional things (trip to a winery, etc.) and our tour is 55e pp. Granted, with the crappy exchange rate it is close to the price of the ship tour. However, as there are only 4 of us, we will get a (longer) much more personalized tour and be able tailor it more to the four of us.