Athens alternate port

[cruise kitty]

Hi, we are scheduled to be in Athens on Thursday, October 27th.

 

My question is, does anyone have any experience as to what port would be an alternate in case the dock/port workers in Piraeus are striking? I'd like to make a back up plan just in case.

 

We are on the Celebrity Equinox if that helps.

[cruisemom42]

It will depend not just on your cruise line and ship but on your itinerary -- where are you before Athens, and where are you headed after?

 

My sister and BIL are on the Silhouette right now, and she told me before they left that another Celebrity cruise (not sure which ship) had stopped in Chania, Greece for the day as an alternative to Athens/Piraeus port.

[nick_arch]

Indeed. It depends. You can't know before hand.

 

Even when dock workers were on strike soe weeks ago, not all cruise ships had to change their itineraries, so it really depends. In fact half of them proceeded with no real problem except some delay on docking.

 

Chania on Crete or Nafplion on Argholis can be alternatives.

[SabreSailor]

Indeed. It depends. You can't know before hand.

 

Even when dock workers were on strike soe weeks ago, not all cruise ships had to change their itineraries, so it really depends. In fact half of them proceeded with no real problem except some delay on docking.

 

Chania on Crete or Nafplion on Argholis can be alternatives.

 

I suppose no one can know what's going to happen, but on October 5 and 19 the large strikes have been called - which are nationwide in Greece - so I suspect the Greek Islands wouldn't be open for business either....

[cruise kitty]

It will depend not just on your cruise line and ship but on your itinerary -- where are you before Athens, and where are you headed after?

 

My sister and BIL are on the Silhouette right now, and she told me before they left that another Celebrity cruise (not sure which ship) had stopped in Chania, Greece for the day as an alternative to Athens/Piraeus port.

 

Thanks everyone for the replies, here's a bit more info:

We are in Istanbul the day before, & in Santorini the day after:

 

Thu, Oct 20 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

Fri, Oct 21 At Sea

Sat, Oct 22 Mykonos, Greece

Sun, Oct 23 Ephesus (Kusadasi), Turkey

Mon, Oct 24 At Sea

Tue, Oct 25 Istanbul, Turkey

Wed, Oct 26 Istanbul,

Thu, Oct 27 Athens (Piraeus), Greece

Fri, Oct 28 Santorini, Greece

Sat, Oct 29 At Sea

Sun, Oct 30 Naples/Capri, Italy

Mon, Oct 31 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

[pilotdane]

I would be more concerned about strikes in Italy where you will embark and disembark. The cruise line has much less flexibility (almost none) in changing those stops so you will likely be stuck dealing with whatever happens.

 

Make sure you have backup plans to get to and from the airport, your hotel and ship. If staying in Rome your hotel may know a reliable driver that can get you where you need to go even if the taxis, trains and buses are on strike. Just pray there is no strike by the air traffic controllers.

 

Carry Euros with you or get some before you leave the airport. If you have to be flexible/creative to get around you will need cash in the local currency. Do not count on them to accept your funny money (keep in mind that US or Canadian dollars may be funny money to them).

[austinlw]

Cruise Kitty,

I'm on the same cruise. As I recall there was a Royal Caribbean ship that substituted Crete for Athens recently when the taxis were blockading the port in Piraeus. I would think that Crete might be too far south to reach from Istanbul in one night, although it's not far from Santorini. Hopefully we won't have a problem with Athens on the 27th.

Larry

[nick_arch]

Keep in mind that a "general strike" is not closing down business everywhere.

 

During general strikes, shops / restaurants / cafeterias remain open.

In Athens, in most of the ocassions, public transportation is running.

 

What's closing down?

 

Ancient sites and museum in them + public museums.

Private museums remain open.

 

For example, in Athens, New Acropolis Museum has always been open during a strike last three years it exists. It has never closed down due to a strike. Benaki Museum and Cycladic Museum remained open in most of the ocassions too.

 

So, even on a strike day you can have some substantially good time, having in mind that we didn't have a strike to put everything in halt for more than 30 years.

 

So, what's the problems with strikes?

Strikes can severely affect a shore excursion in two instances:

a) when public transportation + taxis are striking in the same day. It is extremely rare but it has happened once in last three years. Roads are a bit of a zoon these days at rush hour

b) Air traffic controller strike also can cause a severe disruption and chaos in the airports. Do they strike in general strikes? Not always. It's a sector that sometimes is not allowed to strike, because of the disruption this can make.

 

So, without considering this a rule, even on a "general strike" day, strike is not "general" actually. It affects many things but shopping and some museums are not affected, speaking at least about Athens. If you are in a neighbourhood in Athens you may not even get this is a strike day.

 

Go woth the flow, check local conditions ( Trip Advisor site is also a resource of information ) and plan accordingly.

 

If you are flying in / out of Athens then some extra caution ineeded to get informed about local conditions. Even on this cases though work arounds exist :)

 

It is a bit of hickup time for Greece, but please keep in mind, locals have a severely harder time, related to their survival. In most of the ocassions you won't even notice problems exist. Greeks have always been good hosts and manage to keep their hard times away from common eyes, so go with the flow, plan accordingly, enjoy this country and share one - two thought of sympathy for a country that is under an extremely hard time.

[Afrodite]

Hi,

 

I am a greek person, i love the cruises, i know exactly what is happening here.

The strikes are not effecting the tourists, exept the last year, for a week, or less.

Everything is working propoly,just you must to programme everything.

Fix your tour, if you have friends, you can have all together a private tour, that will cost you less money and you can enjoy as much more, is possible around Athens. When i am around to the center of Athens, i can tell you, i see around very happy people from the cruises ships.

That means, are having a lovely day.

 

Love and enjoy it

[cruise kitty]

Thanks everyone for the replies so far, especially Nick & Afrodite, I hope your lovely country is able to resolve some of it's financial difficulties!

 

Still not sure what they'd substitute if they choose to skip Athens, would love to have a third day in Istanbul, that would be lovely!

[Afrodite]

Thanks everyone for the replies so far, especially Nick & Afrodite, I hope your lovely country is able to resolve some of it's financial difficulties!

 

Still not sure what they'd substitute if they choose to skip Athens, would love to have a third day in Istanbul, that would be lovely!

27th october???

I dont think we will have strikes, maybe i am wrong, because on 28th is National bank hollyday....Big celebrations in Syntagma square!!!!

[Crusin6]

I suppose no one can know what's going to happen, but on October 5 and 19 the large strikes have been called - which are nationwide in Greece - so I suspect the Greek Islands wouldn't be open for business either....

I would venture to guess that the cruiselines altered their itins in order to miss greek ports on those days...

 

anything can be done if there is good management at the helm