7-Day Aegean - what time should we expect to disembark upon return?

[sawston123]

Hey Cruizers!

 

We are scheduled for one of the June cruises and trying to make plans for rental car delivery upon our return to Athens. The schedule shows disembarkation begins at 9 AM, and embarkation for the next cruise begins at 2 that afternoon. What time will we actually be able to get off the ship?

 

Also, does anyone know if we actually dock at any of the Ports, or are they all tender? I know we tender at Milos and Santorini for sure, not sure about Mykonos, Heraklion, or Kusadasi.

 

Thanks for any help!

[Scoup]

I had a flight at 12:00 noon after the cruise and was told that is not enough time. The info I got was the ship docked at 9:00 am and customs would then come on the ship.  So who knows how long that takes?  We were then told that everyone must be off the ship by 11:00 am.  The airport is 1 hour away with moderate traffic.  Will stay another day in Athens post cruise.

 

[sawston123]

Thanks, guess I'll estimate we'll be off the ship between 10 and 11.

[sawston123]

So...we disembarked around 10:15.

[snirpville]

Did you enjoy your cruise? Any tips? Where did you end up tendering?

[sawston123]

We loved it! The ship tenders in Milos and Santorini, and docks at Mykonos, Eraklion, and Kusadasi. I understand some days it's not able to dock in Mykonos. Note that on Mykonos the ship provides a bus shuttle to/from the port/dock to the old town. We actually stayed overnight in Santorini to be able to do a 5-hour sunset catamaran cruise that night so we didn't do the ship excursion (you can get a hotel a few blocks back from the caldera rim for under 100 Euro in June). We did the excursions in Eraklion/Crete and Kusadasi/Ephesus and they were fine. Ephesus is an amazing site, but it was crowded and then the whole rug factory tour/sales pitch at the end was a bit over-the-top.

 

We also did our own thing on Mykonos (walked around the old town, shopped a little, took some pictures at the windmills, and then caught a bus for like 5 Euro round-trip to Paradise beach where we stayed for 4-5 hours eating/drinking/swimming and had a great time) and Milos (speedboat tour around the island with swimming/snorkeling).

 

The ship is perhaps slightly dated and smaller than most, but the itinerary is great and on the 7-day you have lots of time in port at Mykonos and Santorini. The pool is small, I think there's just 1 hot tub, and the buffets don't have a lot of variety day-to-day. The restaurants had a different menu each day and were fine.

Edited July 3, 2019 by sawston123
Updates

[snirpville]

Thanks so much! I'm so looking forward to this next year!