Devine Delos excursion

[Hoya2112]

Anyone have experience if this excursion is a guided tour or are we on our own in Delos?  The VV description isn’t clear and customer service didn’t know.

[2018cruisefun]

14 hours ago, FRMinBG said:

Anyone have experience if this excursion is a guided tour or are we on our own in Delos?  The VV description isn’t clear and customer service didn’t know.

Haven’t cruised yet, but booked this independently for our upcoming cruise. I think the VV shore thing is exactly the same. You take a ferry over with everyone and there are then guides on the island - here’s the description I received -

“at Delos The guide distributes the entry tickets to the archaeological site, to the group members and after the ticket control, the group is gathered at the
Agora of the Competaliasts.
Guided Tour Exceptional mosaics, well preserved marble columns and amazing wall
paintings are just a few of the featured highlights of a rich man's house. A few meters further away we admire the beautiful statue of Cleopatra, decorating the entranco of her residence. After a short stop at the house with the Trident, we reach the Theatre of Delos and the public cistern of the city. This is the and of the route in the urban part of the city, which then follows the main street to return to the market and the Sanctuary zone. The Stoa of Philip, the donations of ancient colobri ties, The Propylaia, the Colossus of the Naxians and The Tomples of Apollo are the monuments we admire before our last stop in front of the Sacred Lake and the eternal Naxian Lions.
Free Time
From this point on, our visitors continue individually for about 30 with the
options of either visiting the archaeological museum, the museum shop.
the cafe or further discovering the site through the tracked paths.”

[neverendingcruising]

We did this, met tour guide after getting of ship and took us to the ferry. Upon arriving at Delos it was chaos but eventually made it in to the ruins and followed our guide. Overall was an underwhelming experience. One of the ferry's was out of service so the trip there and back was unpleasant to say the least. Our tour guide was OK but the island was overwhelmed with people. Cool history but definitely would not repeat. 

[aimee0715]

On 6/25/2023 at 10:53 AM, FRMinBG said:

Anyone have experience if this excursion is a guided tour or are we on our own in Delos?  The VV description isn’t clear and customer service didn’t know.

We had a guide. She took us around Delos and explained a lot of the sites. Then we had about 30-45 minutes of free time.  I really enjoyed it.  Our guide was very knowledgeable.  We had already been to the museums in Athens and learned a lot about that various sites around Greece.  I think that contributed to our enjoyment of seeing Delos. 

[cantgetin]

We did this tour....it was not well timed for us. There was nothing wrong with the tour other than the most boring guide in the world (I still remember his name!). Our problem was that this was toward the end of B2B med cruises that made different stops.  We'd seen enough ruins to last a long time--we'd been to Ephesus (excellent), Pompeii, Mynkanos, Athens, etc.  

[LibratPDX]

I did this VV Shore Thing.  While I enjoyed seeing the ruins and hearing what I COULD about the island history, it was very crowded.  There were numerous tour guides and groups and there was generally no regard for personal space.  Our tour guide did her best to respect other tour guides if they were already in a specific location, but other tour guides did not seem to do the same in return.  As we were leaving a specific location, they would stream into the area before we could get out instead of waiting until we were clear.  Now this might not seem like a big deal but the terrain was very uneven and narrow at many points, and we were trying to stay together as a group.  It wasn't as bad once we cleared the main housing structures.  

 

The ferry ride was ridiculously packed, nowhere to sit if you were late.  There was a bar where you could purchase food and drink, but if you didn't have a place to sit it was pointless IMO.  On the return trip I made sure to get back early to get a seat.  This was in May so it was a bit chilly; I would take a jacket if you're not sure.  There are no stores on the island, take anything you think you might need, especially water.

 

If I *ever* visited Delos again I would definitely do it on my own instead of with a group.  I definitely felt trapped and couldn't get pics of a lot of great things because there were so many people.