TinkBellaMom Posted July 28, 2015 #1 Share Posted July 28, 2015 (edited) We would like to visit the Olympia site and the Mecouri Winery, then back to Katakolon for shopping. The ships excursion is nearly $100 pp. I am looking for another option. Can anyone help? Edited July 28, 2015 by TinkBellaMom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TinkBellaMom Posted July 29, 2015 Author #2 Share Posted July 29, 2015 No ideas from anyone? I looked at Tripadvisor and located one highly rated one but it is private and we are really open to joining a group at this port. Maybe the ships option is the way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agabbymama Posted July 29, 2015 #3 Share Posted July 29, 2015 If you really want to do these two sites, I'd bite the bullet and do the ship's excursion. We usually limited our shore excursions to $100 pp. When we went to the Med in 2008, I had planned to take the train from Katakolon to Olympia independently. We arrived in Katakolon and walked to the train station only to find out the train was broken down, so no transport available to Olympia. We went back to the pier, but of course all the taxi's were gone, so we just shopped in town then went back to the ship for lunch. Disappointed that we missed seeing Olympia. Only you know how disappointed you would be to miss it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TinkBellaMom Posted July 30, 2015 Author #4 Share Posted July 30, 2015 If you really want to do these two sites, I'd bite the bullet and do the ship's excursion. We usually limited our shore excursions to $100 pp. When we went to the Med in 2008, I had planned to take the train from Katakolon to Olympia independently. We arrived in Katakolon and walked to the train station only to find out the train was broken down, so no transport available to Olympia. We went back to the pier, but of course all the taxi's were gone, so we just shopped in town then went back to the ship for lunch. Disappointed that we missed seeing Olympia. Only you know how disappointed you would be to miss it. I think you make some good points. We have managed to arrange excursions on our own for the other ports and save some money in the process. We have decided to go for the ships excursion. Thank you for your insight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachelfran Posted August 1, 2015 #5 Share Posted August 1, 2015 We rented a car there and the agent said that the winery would probably not be willing to give us a tour since they would be busy with tours from ships so if that's a priority consider that... We went to Olympia and then a gorgeous beach and were delighted with the freedom and ability to escape the ship crowds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travelling2Some Posted August 2, 2015 #6 Share Posted August 2, 2015 We rented a car there and the agent said that the winery would probably not be willing to give us a tour since they would be busy with tours from ships so if that's a priority consider that... We went to Olympia and then a gorgeous beach and were delighted with the freedom and ability to escape the ship crowds. Can you please tell me which beach you went to and how far from the port it was? We're planning to go to Olympia but it does not sound like we'd spend more than 2 or 3 hours there so a beach stop might be lovely. I'm told there are many buses (several different private companies) that meet the ships in port and charge 10 euros per person (round trip) for Olympia. I had just thought we'd do that but if there is a nice beach in the area that would be worth the car rental to us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachelfran Posted August 2, 2015 #7 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Can you please tell me which beach you went to and how far from the port it was? We're planning to go to Olympia but it does not sound like we'd spend more than 2 or 3 hours there so a beach stop might be lovely. I'm told there are many buses (several different private companies) that meet the ships in port and charge 10 euros per person (round trip) for Olympia. I had just thought we'd do that but if there is a nice beach in the area that would be worth the car rental to us. Check out this : http://www.katakolon.org/beaches.html We went to Kourouta Beach...it was great to have an umbrella for shade as it was very hot and sunny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Got2Cruise Posted August 2, 2015 #8 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Check out this :http://www.katakolon.org/beaches.html We went to Kourouta Beach...it was great to have an umbrella for shade as it was very hot and sunny. Were there any jellyfish in the water? At the beach close to the pier there were several jelly fish and the CD warned that they sting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borasue Posted August 2, 2015 #9 Share Posted August 2, 2015 No ideas from anyone? I looked at Tripadvisor and located one highly rated one but it is private and we are really open to joining a group at this port. Maybe the ships option is the way to go. If you want to do a group thing, check out: http://olympictraveller.com They offer semi-private tours, are very highly rated on TripAdvisor, and one of their associates, Niki Vlachou, regularly appears with Rick Steves on his shows about Greece. We're going next month and have booked 3 tours with them as follows: Katakolon 65 eu p/p - up to 25 people Athens 65 eu p/p - up to 25 people Santorini 58 eu p/p, up to 18 people, less a 15% discount on this one for booking multiple tours :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borasue Posted August 2, 2015 #10 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Correction to my previous post!! The discount for booking 3 tours with Olympic Traveller is 30%, not 15%!! :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travelling2Some Posted August 2, 2015 #11 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Thanks very much Rachelfran and Got2Cruise. That website says it all. Also agree with Borasue's recommendation. If we were looking for a group tour in Katakolo we would book with Niki Vlachou. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachelfran Posted August 3, 2015 #12 Share Posted August 3, 2015 Were there any jellyfish in the water? At the beach close to the pier there were several jelly fish and the CD warned that they sting. No jellyfish In fact, when we got back to our ship someone was talking about jellyfish at the beach and we had no idea what they were talking about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travelling2Some Posted August 3, 2015 #13 Share Posted August 3, 2015 Jellyfish are episodic/seasonal so the answer to "were there jellyfish there" will always depend on when the other person happened to visit. Same goes for sand flies and mosquitoes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rachelfran Posted August 4, 2015 #14 Share Posted August 4, 2015 Jellyfish are episodic/seasonal so the answer to "were there jellyfish there" will always depend on when the other person happened to visit. Same goes for sand flies and mosquitoes. I suppose it also depends on the beach because they were not at the beach I was at but they were at another that someone else on my ship visited on the same day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
echokat Posted August 7, 2015 #15 Share Posted August 7, 2015 If you want to do a group thing, check out: http://olympictraveller.com They offer semi-private tours, are very highly rated on TripAdvisor, and one of their associates, Niki Vlachou, regularly appears with Rick Steves on his shows about Greece. We're going next month and have booked 3 tours with them as follows:Katakolon 65 eu p/p - up to 25 people Athens 65 eu p/p - up to 25 people Santorini 58 eu p/p, up to 18 people, less a 15% discount on this one for booking multiple tours :) We have been looking at the same excursions for our Rhapsody of the Seas Cruise in October. I am curious to see what others think about this company. Echokat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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