Piraeus terminal question

[cbb]

Does anyone know what specific port Oceania tends to use at Piraeus? We're guessing in the E11 area but are unsure. We have been able to find where some of the cruise lines dock but not Oceania. We have used the search feature of CC (which I love) to answer most of our questions but have been unable to find this one. (And yes, we are avid GPS users; always helps us find our way back "home"...even if it is to a tour bus or ship!) Thanks for your help! First time Oceania cruisers and can't wait for our April 21st Med cruise.

[StanandJim]

Does anyone know what specific port Oceania tends to use at Piraeus? We're guessing in the E11 area but are unsure. We have been able to find where some of the cruise lines dock but not Oceania. We have used the search feature of CC (which I love) to answer most of our questions but have been unable to find this one. (And yes, we are avid GPS users; always helps us find our way back "home"...even if it is to a tour bus or ship!) Thanks for your help! First time Oceania cruisers and can't wait for our April 21st Med cruise.

 

Cbb-

 

They use berth 7 (the main terminal)

 

This is the Nautica berthed there in '07

 

Funny, we had just finished our research on this as you posted your question..... :D

 

Happy Cruise!

[cbb]

StanandJim....you are awesome. I've always thought I was a good researcher but couldn't find the answer to the port question anywhere. We will be in Athens on May 3 and will be doing/seeing everything on our own so we wanted an idea of where we would be docked so we would know if we would walk to the metro or take a cab. Probably not the cab and I'm not sure if the cruise port bus runs to the Oceania dock. Thanks again...you're the best!

[StanandJim]

so we would know if we would walk to the metro or take a cab.

 

The concierge at our Athens hotel tells us that some clients have insisted on walking from Central Athens to the Piraeus terminal to catch the Nautica :eek:

Are we the only ones who still bring too much luggage for anything like that :confused:

 

P.S. The Piraeus port is very intimate, there is no bus. The entrance to the dock is directly on the public street, about 100 yards to the ship (or, should we say it in meters?)

 

Thanks for the kind words-

[cbb]

No, you are not alone in the luggage thing. We are doing a B2B so our luggage will remain safely aboard while we do our thing. We will take the metro everywhere having downloaded the maps, stops and waypoints on the trusty GPS. We did a Globus Monogram to Budapest, Vienna, and

Prague by train and absolutely loved it but the GPS certainly came in handy. (We then boarded an Avalon Budapest to Amsterdam cruise and didn't get lost once!) "Getting lost" is great fun but truly getting lost can be a little frightening! We have a 3 ring binder filled with info so we won't miss a thing.....and of course, we will. Thanks again for your help.

[CintiPam]

We docked around E11 (7 on StanandJims' map) on Nautica in September, about 180 degrees from the metro (so about a 20 minute walk). BTW, here is a post made today on sister website tripadvisor by an Athens resident regarding buses to the metro from the cruise port:

 

there is a FREE port shuttle that runs INSIDE the port that will get you very close to the metro,you will see the stop as you exit the ship or ask around and they will tell you where it is.

There are also regular city buses that do the same thing on the street outside the port

from gate E9 buses 826/832/833/875

from gate E12 buses 827/828/831/843/859...

so there are PLENTY of buses to choose from...:)

 

Hope this helps!

[cbb]

cintipam,

thanks for the info. I saw that post in tripadvisor which prompted my research into the berth used by Oceania in Piraeus. We had the map of the port but couldn't tell if the shuttle ran on the E11 side or if it was just on the "other" side. Thanks so much for the confirmation. I hope you had a great cruise! BTW, my husband is also a "buckeye."

[CintiPam]

cbb, our September Istanbul to Athens cruise, our first on Oceania and our first ever, was fantastic. Our next cruise will be the same as yours, only reverse order, the June 5 Athens to Rome (on which we will get to meet StanandJim). The itinerary simply is fantastic. We were planning a fall land trip to Italy but could not resist this itinerary when Oceania sent me an email regarding the January sale.

 

If you have any interest, I never miss an opportunity to mention the link to my review of our September cruise, which covers several of the same Greek island ports you will have:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=48450.

[cbb]

cintipam,

what a wonderful review! Thank you for directing me to it. You're right...we are going to some of the same places and after reading your comments I am, if possible, even more excited about our trip. Less than 2 weeks to go! We are about the same age and have also traveled independently most places but feel we need to take a few of the ship's excursions this trip, most certainly the one to Delos since we are only there 4 hrs and do not want miss the ship by relying on the ferry. We are avid amateur photographers (I have the better eye, he is much better with the technical aspects; together we make one good junior photographer!!) and can't wait to visit these wonderful places. Thanks again to you and Stan and Jim. I love this site; such smart and generous people. My thoughts today are with the people of Italy.

[StanandJim]

most certainly the one to Delos since we are only there 4 hrs and do not want miss the ship by relying on the ferry.

If your cruise (like ours in June) stops in the morning at Delos and then spends the afternoon in Mykonos, please, dont spend any money on a tour of Delos.

 

It is disgraceful that Oceania even offers a tour there. All you need to do is take the tender ashore, and you will get the exact same experience as the tour.

 

The entire island of Delos, you see, is now a National Park. There are (English speaking) park rangers who will guide you around the outside ruins. Private guides are not even permitted. So, why pay for a tour?

 

Inside the museum, you will also find many state employed tour guides and docents who will take you around, gratis.

 

In retrospect, the Delos tour listed on the Oceania site is probably intended for those cruises which stop at Mykonos, but not Delos.

 

In that case, you're paying for them to transport you TO Delos, not for anything that they do for you ON Delos.

[cbb]

StanandJim,

I thought that on Mondays the only way one could visit Delos was through an organized group. If this is not true, then seeing Delos independently is indeed the way to go. Once again, thanks for the info; you are terrific!

[CintiPam]

Only two weeks to go! Have a wonderful trip.

 

Thanks for your kind comments regarding my review; I truly believe that our miss of Delos/Mykonos in September is one of the major reasons my spouse considered this second cruise so fast (plus the stop at Malta, so important to Mr. Military History) rather than our original plan of a land trip to Italy this year.

[cbb]

cintipam,

Yes, we are very excited about our upcoming trip. We have researched this trip for months and last night I declared "enough." (My husband, however, tells me that in the engineering world there is a saying "the enemy of 'better' is 'good enough.'") I was driving myself, and him, crazy with trying to know as much as possible before we left. Besides, we all know Plan B always kicks in no matter how well prepared we are! I guess I'm afraid I"ll miss something and kick myself when I get home. We are both early retirees and have the time now to travel (and research!) so we've had some wonderful trips. I'm a retired history teacher and my husband is a huge military history person also so we're especially looking forward to this trip, although most of our interest is in the WWII era rather than the BCE. Have a wonderful, safe trip and good luck with Delos this time!

[suec12]

Well I think I have decided to take the bus from the Athens airport to Piraeus - but I can't decide how easy / doable the walk would then be from where the bus leaves us to the ship. In my cruise documents (that I now have) is there info on what dock the ship will be at - some folks here mention 7 and others say 11? And there is a bus that runs inside the port? We stopped at Piraeus port several years ago on a Celebrity cruise - I disembarked and was going to walk to the metro entrance - call me a wuss but I was overwhelmed and returned to the ship. It was very hot! not a good thing for me, there were swarms of embarking passengers and aggressive taxi drivers and a very busy street with no sign of an entrance to a metro station. I did not see any buses in the port area. Taking the bus from the airport to the port sounds easy enough but the final walk / transit from the exit of the bus station to the ship has me a bit concerned. I am thinking we wil have one medium bag and one large bag.

[drwong]

The Metro station is in the upper right corner of the photo, opposite dock #4. As you can see from the aerial, it's a healthy walk from the pier, especially if you're toting two weeks worth of clothing in your suitcases. There is a shuttle bus, along with the regular city bus, that you can take between the cruise ship terminal and the Metro. You can also take a cab, but the driver will be pretty upset when he finds out he won't be taking you all the way downtown! :D

[sarahj1972]

Stan and Jim--wow looks like we are on the same cruise. My family of 5 will be sailing for our first cruise ever June 5th. Good tip on Delos, got any others?? I work for Delta Air Lines so we have traveled a lot in the last 16 yrs but never cruised so this is a little foreign to me. The whole getting on and off the ship thing and the excursions....I would keel over to pay those ridiculous prices! We plan to be "independent" types but it's hard to know what to arrange in advance.

Tips?

 

Sarah

[StanandJim]

Sarah-

 

We'll chat with you over at the roll call ;)

 

Stan & Jim

[meow!]

If you take a taxi from the cruise terminal to central Athens, it should cost about 30 euros, but you would find the taxi driver trying very hard to charge you 60 euros. He will claim that the traffic is bad, he will try to take you on the scenic route, whatever the reason to run the fare meter high. Or he will turn round and round within the city or even persuade you to do some sight seeing with him. Just imagine, he might have lined up for half an hour at the cruise terminal before it is his turn to pick a passenger (you) up, and he likely isn't going to just charge the minimal distance fare of 30 euros!

[wripro]

Meow is right. Athens taxi drivers a re notorious for trying to jack up the rate. INSIST before getting in the taxi what the fare will be to central Athens. There are signs posted at the pier of what fares should be and you can use them as a guide.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I agree with the other posters about cabbies--I would never trust my day's touring to finding a decent honest cab driver at Piraeus to take me into Athens or the airport. The only time we did it was coming back from an island trip, so we were over at the ferry dock instead of the cruise dock, but they are very close. We finally found a driver would offered to take us into the city if we didn't mind sharing, for a set fee--it turned out that most locals had cabs pre-arranged, or took the subway. The trip was okay, but the cabbie and his passenger, who turned out to be friends, smoked the entire trip and played awful loud music. Ugh.

[CintiPam]

Wow, Wendy the Wanderer, I find that first sentence of your post harsh, bordering on offensive. There indeed are "decent honest cab driver"s all over the world, including Athens.

 

BTW, the cab fare into town is posted right on the cement piers outside the cruise terminal. Somewhere around 17 Euros, I believe, but it is difficult to find a driver who will accept that sum! We actually were happy to get to our central Athens hotel last September for a negotiated 24 Euros (cannot remember exactly).

 

Simply negotiate and agree on your fare amount before you and your luggage get in the taxi!

[drwong]

Wow, Wendy the Wanderer, I find that first sentence of your post harsh, bordering on offensive. There indeed are "decent honest cab driver"s all over the world, including Athens.

 

BTW, the cab fare into town is posted right on the cement piers outside the cruise terminal. Somewhere around 17 Euros, I believe, but it is difficult to find a driver who will accept that sum! We actually were happy to get to our central Athens hotel last September for a negotiated 24 Euros (cannot remember exactly).

 

Simply negotiate and agree on your fare amount before you and your luggage get in the taxi!

 

When we landed in Piraeus, we knew we were going to take the Metro into Athens. As we walked from the pier, cabbies began hailing us from the street ("Whadda we look like - tourists?!?"). Prices pierside started at 50 Euros, and miraculously diminished the further and further we got from the ship. By the time we got to the Metro, I think the last cabbie offered to take us into town for 20 Euros. But compared to the 1 Euro fare for a one-way trip or the 3 Euro cost for a all-day Metro pass, we willingly turned him down. :)

[CintiPam]

When we landed in Piraeus, we knew we were going to take the Metro into Athens. As we walked from the pier, cabbies began hailing us from the street ("Whadda we look like - tourists?!?"). Prices pierside started at 50 Euros, and miraculously diminished the further and further we got from the ship. By the time we got to the Metro, I think the last cabbie offered to take us into town for 20 Euros. But compared to the 1 Euro fare for a one-way trip or the 3 Euro cost for a all-day Metro pass, we willingly turned him down. :)

 

We also took the metro on our first day in Piraeus; we had an overnight on board before disembarkation at the end of our cruise and took the excellent metro for the smooth 25 minute ride to Victorias, the stop near the National Archaelogical Museum.

 

However, the second day, after disembarkation, we had all of our luggage with us, and it simply was way too far to drag all our luggage to the metro, which is a good 20-minute walk from the cruise terminal. We just got in the taxi line and negotiated our fare, as described above, and were whisked right to our hotel with no problem.

[meow!]

You folks can walk to the metro terminal and then onward to your hotel because you are strong and fit. For those of us who are not, and with luggage, we don't have much choice even though we know we are being cheated .. meow!