Athens?

[powerplate]

Has anyone booked for a tour in Athens? We looked on the ship brochuers & found that one is either dropped off in the city & need to find their own way back to ship or take very pricey tours!

Appreciate any ideas - as this is truly one place we wish to see. Thanks

cjchism@cox.net - known as powerplate:confused:

[Crystal 15]

When you leave ship at piraeus walk about 100 yds and there's 2 open top bus tours that will take you to Athens , the yellow one is only 18 euros and is a hop on hop off so you can get off at the acropolis etc . We did this bus recently from the silhouette cruise and it was so convenenient and very cheap

[Orator]

If you decide to take a tour by cab be careful. You'll find drivers who negotiate with you. Part of their pitch is to show you their license. When you are about to enter the cab a second driver takes over. My DW demanded to see his papers before we entered the cab and he didn't have them. The man with the papers said this was his son and he was okay. DW demanded that the father serve as our guide. He agreed and was wonderful.Turned out he was a Union Officer. Always negotiate firmly with cab drivers and establish the tour and rates before you go. Seems obvious, but....

[cruise kitty]

Here's what we did, had a very relaxing, enjoyable day, spent a minimum of money, & sampled quite a bit of the local food & beer:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1510979&highlight=athens

 

If you're healthy enough to do a bit of walking it's very DIY able.

[paul929207]

Getting around athens is pretty easy. Take the metro from Pireaus to town and see the Acropolis, National Archeological Museum, temple, Agora, Plaka, etc. You just need to figure out which sites you want to see and plan your day so you are not doubling back all the time.

[eetonaee]

We just returned from an Equinox cruise and a group of us who met on our Roll Call took a tour of Athens with Nikos of privategreecetours.com

 

While I agree that the main sites of Athens are accessible with public transport, you have a limited amount of time and so much to see. An experienced guide will get you to each site quickly and will also give you commentary on the way.

 

The other couple at our dinner table who took the ship tour were surprised at how much more we saw for less money.

 

Our cost was about 35 Euro each plus admissions for the 12 of us. Luckily we were in Athens on one of the holidays when museums are free.

 

Like most private tour companies , privategreecetours.com was very responsive to questions and flexible with special requests.

 

Check out your roll call to see if a tour has been put together or if there is interest in starting one.

[account4fun]

We booked with Nikos at Privategreecetours. He was fantastic to deal with. The full day was 400 euro for up to 10 people (we had 8). We hooked up with people from our roll call and had a great day. We hired a guide for an extra 200 euro which was ABSOLUTELY worth it! He really brought everything we were seeing to life. At the end of the day we only paid 75 euro pp for an entire day of sighseeing with a guide. Not bad IMO.