Sir_Randy

I would recommend staying in Clearwater Beach. We like Barefoot Bay Resort & Marina because it is small and quaint (probably not for everyone, but we do not like large hotels) but next time we stay there, we will look at staying at Frenchy's Oasis Motel.

We love the Frenchy's Restaurants, there are 4 within walking distance, there is a nice marina and a long pier with nightly entertainment, and the beach is amazing! You can walk to everything, which is what we like.

Sounds like a dream job!

Review of Athens-Taxi.org

Date of excursion: Oct 28, 2011

Excursion pick up: NCL Jade Pier Katakolon

Excursion details: 15 passenger van with English speaking driver, refreshments on the van, transportation to Olympia, transportation to winery, transportation back to Katakolon

I am sure there are plenty of very good excursion companies in Greece, but from my experience with Athens-Taxi with John Arvanitakis, this is not one of them.

The whole day was ruined by what I can only describe as very unprofessional personnel, that are to the point of being dangerous.

Our excursion was to start at 8am, at the dock, but when we looked for our bus and driver, they were no where to be found. I asked one of the other tour companies drivers if they knew Athens-Taxi and they did and made a call and they arrived about 8:30. This would not be a big deal, but when it was a sign of bad things to follow.

We are a total of 13 cruisers that reserved a 15 passenger van with Athens-Taxi for 380eu. The rate given and stressed by John with Athens-Taxi was the rate was for the 15 passenger van, not per person. The driver and the "guide" were both very adamant that the tour was for 10, not 13 and became very upset. I tried to explain to them that the reservation was for 15 passengers, but they did not want to listen or did not understand English. While the driver drove us to Olympia he was making and receiving phone calls (I will let individuals decide for themselves the safety of your driver making calls while driving you) and by the tone of his voice, he was complaining that there were 13 people in his van not the 10 he expected. The "guide" was also making and receiving calls during the drive, and her voice was very vocal concerning whatever she was saying to whoever she was talking to. The reason I put quotation marks around the "guide" is what we got for a guide, was someone that read a script to us on the way to Olympia, in between phone calls. We did not have a guide after Katakolon.

We did not get to go to a winery which was part of the tour that we paid for and that we were all looking forward to since some in our group make thier own wine at home. We were told by George (Athens-Taxi Olympia representative) that the winery was closed due to it being a holiday, which we accepted at the time, however, when we got back on the ship, we talked to others that did the same tour and they were taken to another winery that was open. Their driver knew the scheduled winery was closed, but made arrangements for his passengers to visit another winery. If their driver was able to do this, why wasn't our driver (maybe because of his bad attitude?) or the Athens-Taxi representative George that met us in Olympia who told us that the winery was closed.

As for the trip back to Katakolon from Olympia, we were to have an English speaking driver or guide. The guide did not accompany us back to Katakolon but George told us that his driver spoke very good English and would be able to answer any questions we have. The driver did not speak English and John from Athens-Taxi confirmed this in his email response to me.

I have corresponded with John from Athens-Taxi several times and so have others on this excursion, trying to work out some kind of compensation/refund, but John has been unwilling to work with us even though he agrees that what we received was not what was promised and not up to Athens-Taxi standard.

There were no refreshments on the van.

If you are planning an excursion in Greece, in Katakolon or Olympia or anywhere else, I would highly recommend that you look to a more reputable company other than Athens-Taxi.

High tide during the second one