Disembarkation Time

[Fairydust312]

Hello. We will be on the Wind Star soon. The itinerary states that the "arrival" time at the home port (Piraeus) on the last day is 7:00 am and the "departure" time is 8:00. Does that mean all guests have to be off by 8:00? I was hoping for a leisurely breakfast on our last day, but it looks like that might not be the case. Other lines we have been on have differed. Some boot you off early and others let you stay on until 10:00 or so. Sometimes it depends on the port authority. 

 

This is our first Windstar cruise. We have been on some big boats, but more recently veered smaller (SeaDream, Crystal Esprit). We are hoping the Wind Star won't be too small to be a big boat and also too big to be a small boat.  We are looking forward to a great trip!

[Strenz]

Hi, If the ship docks at 7 after the ship  goes through customs.  Around 7:30 you can start to leave. Generally speaking they like all people off by 9. I have been on 25 cruises with WS and have never experienced anything different. Happy Sailing. 

[Fairydust312]

Thanks! 9:00 is better than 8:00 to us. 

[milepig]

Piraeus is wild crazy busy and we once waiting in line for well over an hour before we got our clearance to come in to dock. Best to have departure plans that are flexible. 

[Fairydust312]

Thanks for the heads up. We've departed from that port before, but didn't return there. Our flight isn't until 2:15, so we have plenty of time. We were hoping to spend a little more time on board than in the airport. Alternatively, we need to figure out what to do with our luggage while we hang out in Athens for a while. 

[milepig]

We prebooked a taxi out or Piraeus once. The deal was a few hours around Athens before taking us to the airport. We packed our luggage with stuff we didn’t really care about - mostly dirty laundry - and kept are valuables with us, but all turned out fine. The driver would take us to a spot around town and agree to be there at a certain time, then on to the next one until it was time to go to the airport. Everything turned out fine but we choose a well reviewed service. It was much cheaper that the WS transfer, although they usually have a tour/airport option you may wish to look into. 

 

An Athens tip for those staying over. Have your hotel book the taxi to the airport. They will give you a taxi number to look for and negotiate the cost. When we did this at the IC the staff got us to the right taxi and repeated the charge to the driver in front of us so we all had the same understanding. Apparently ripping off people going to the airport is standard in Athens. 

[Redtravel]

Do not assume all disembarkation are early. Disembarked in May in Amsterdam later than on most cruises. We woke up and were still sailing.   We docked and got off about 10 am. Glad that we did not precook a transfer. Also, lucky for us that we were staying in Amsterdam.  Our flight home left next morning at 11am.  Had we tried to fly home the day we disembarked, we would have missed the plane. 

[Strenz]

Poor people that missed their flights. I have never heard of that with WS. Must have had trouble at sea or something. My experience they really keep to  their schedule. You never know! Happy Sailing

[ridethetide]

15 hours ago, Strenz said:

Poor people that missed their flights. I have never heard of that with WS. Must have had trouble at sea or something. My experience they really keep to  their schedule. You never know! Happy Sailing

We arrived over a day late to Bermuda on a repositioning cruise from Colon several years ago on the Wind Star.  We had 14-foot seas for most of the sailing, and the Wind Star just couldn't keep up with the planned speed.

[Strenz]

That must have been some crossing. For someone who lives with terrible weather, New England, I have great weather and sea karma when traveling. Hope you do not get sea sick. Happy Sailing. 

[ducklite]

I just pulled my paperwork for disembarkation in Pireaus and it states that arrival was at 7:00 am.  Breakfast was served until 8:30.  I know we were still sailing into port while we were eating breakfast.  It said we could begin to disembark at 8:00 am, but I don't think we were in port until 8:30, and actually started to get off closer to 9:00.

[Fairydust312]

5 hours ago, ducklite said:

I just pulled my paperwork for disembarkation in Pireaus ...

Thank you, Ducklite! That is very helpful!