Greece - Excursion Advice

[Big Foot]

Hello,　

 

DH & I are undertaking a 19 night Greek cruise in September this year.　

 

Our ports include Malaga, Messina Strait, Mykonos, Athens. Santorini & Katakolon.　

 

I have had a quick look at the 'general excursions' but appreciate that ours won't be known / finalised for another few months.　

 

We are considering the HOHO bus in Malaga & Messina, but would be grateful for any recommendations as to what to do in the other ports.　

 

I am a 'plain eater' & therefore am avoiding any tours that include lunch, however, am tempted by the catamaran trip with BBQ in Santorini & would love to hear from anyone who has done this tour. How much was it, was it worth it etc?　

 

 

Thank you.

[blueboo]

 

If you do anything in Athens please do the Parthenon...amazing if you like history.  Also you can get dropped in central Athens for shopping and yummy souvlaki and it is a nice place to wander around.

[awmartin]

We did this cruise in 2016 on Azura and as stated the Parthenon is a must, it is a very nice tour. Also the small ports, Mykonos,Katakolon are very pretty, did not do any tours but walked around the town very near the port. Santorini is a special place to see but did not like the Donkeys trudging up and down the path to the top, the cable car is cheap and easy. It was very hot in September but they do have strong winds around the islands at this time of year.

Have a great cruise.

Edited January 15, 2019 by awmartin
Edit date.

[delgirl]

when we went to katakolon in 2016 we did the olympia tour, it was very good. Can't remember price but was on queen victoria so there tours are usually more expensive than p and o. In santorini we did the winery and oia tour. When you do a tour in santorini the price of the cable car is included. mykonos we just walked about and went inside the windmills.

[marylizcat]

I would recommend that you skip Messina and book a trip to Taormina from there. Taormina is lovely whereas Messina is not particularly!

[Presto2]

7 hours ago, Big Foot said:

Hello,　

 

DH & I are undertaking a 19 night Greek cruise in September this year.　

 

Our ports include Malaga, Messina Strait, Mykonos, Athens. Santorini & Katakolon.　

 

I have had a quick look at the 'general excursions' but appreciate that ours won't be known / finalised for another few months.　

 

We are considering the HOHO bus in Malaga & Messina, but would be grateful for any recommendations as to what to do in the other ports.　

 

I am a 'plain eater' & therefore am avoiding any tours that include lunch, however, am tempted by the catamaran trip with BBQ in Santorini & would love to hear from anyone who has done this tour. How much was it, was it worth it etc?　

 

 

Thank you.

 

Messina - we have done Taormina on Your Own and Taormina and Mt Etna. Loved both and think Taormina and the theatre is great to do alone. The scenery is stunning

 

Athens - if you haven't been before and are able to walk up hill you have to see the Acropolis. The tours will show you the other sites of the city. A must do. Personally we wouldn't do one that went to the Plaka. We have stayed there before and really did not like it.

 

Alternatively, if you like ancient history P&O do a tour called Ancient Corinth and the Corinth Canal. A BRILLIANT day and an amazing lunch in a hotel in one of the most beautiful locations we have ever seen. The food was amazing too. One of our favourite tours ever. If you don't want lunch just do the Corinth Canal - brilliant.

 

Mykonos. We did the Mykonos Town and Wine Tasting. The tour of the town was good but the wine tasting was brilliant (and we have done a number of these before -- ha ha). A lovely vineyard in the middle of the island and the food we had with the wine was lovely - the location too. Another one of our favourite tours ever. If you don't want lunch then just take yourself in to town and have a wander around yourself. It is just fun getting lost :-)

 

Santorini - we have done the ancient sites and then Fira for free time. We had a lovely lunch in Santorini and it wasn't too expensive. We too want to do one that has a catamaran in Aug 2019 on another cruise line ! Last year we did a tour that took us to Oia and then back to Fira. Oia town was simply stunning and I would pick this over the catamaran if you have never been to Santorini before. Oh dear, we have to say one of our favourites again -- ha ha

 

Katakolon

You stop right beside the town and there are endless people there to sell you excursions. We have done Olympia and a Beach Transfer with P&O and we loved it. A great mix of site seeing and relaxing. A lovely beach.

There is also a small train that takes you to a few locations and works like a Ho Ho bus. We are planning to do that this coming August. The small town of Katakolon is really nice - lots of nice shops and if you walk far enough to the right of the ship there is a public beach.

 

Love this port

 

Any more questions just ask --- we love the places you are visiting. If you have never been before you are in for a real treat.

 

:-)

Edited January 15, 2019 by Presto2

[jeanlyon]

You can take the cable car up at Santorini and miss the donkeys.  They are so badly treated with no water etc.

 

If you stay in Messina, you can do the HOHO or the little train.  Don't miss the 12 noon clock in the square.  It's fascinating.

[Wiltonian]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

You can take the cable car up at Santorini and miss the donkeys.  They are so badly treated with no water etc.

 

If you stay in Messina, you can do the HOHO or the little train.  Don't miss the 12 noon clock in the square.  It's fascinating.

Or you can buy online a package of boat to Oia and then bus back to Fira, which avoids queues for cable car.

Edited January 15, 2019 by Wiltonian
Typo

[jh1809]

4 hours ago, marylizcat said:

I would recommend that you skip Messina and book a trip to Taormina from there. Taormina is lovely whereas Messina is not particularly!

 

I agree that Taormina is a lovely place. The ancient Greek amphitheatre is a highlight, with fantastic views out across the coast.

[Big Foot]

Thank you everyone who has replied, it’s been very useful.

 

We have never visited any of these ports before so want to make the most of our time there.  It’s useful to know that it might be worthwhile going to what I would describe as ‘another place’ e.g. Taormina.

 

We most certainly won’t be going anywhere near the donkeys in Santorini that’s for sure.

 

Thankfully, despite both turning 50 this year (DH turns 50 on the 2nd day of the cruise) we are both active & mobile (well we hope to be at the start of the cruise anyway!) so walking shouldn’t be too much of an issue for us.

 

Joan

[kruzseeka]

Definitely agree with all the recommendations for Taormina.  We found Messina very quiet with little open in the afternoon except the Cathedral so we were very pleased to have gone to Taormina for a larger part of the day.  

 

The Parthenon is definitely a must see but take a sunhat, water and wear shoes/sandals with a good grip as the marble slabs are quite slippery.  We usually do the Athens on Your Own transfer and go there first before it gets too hot and busy.  Then the Acropolis Museum is very good too.  It's very reasonably priced and there's a nice outdoor cafe on the roof with great views (and good loos there too!)

 

We find there's enough in Mykonos to just explore on its own.  The new dock is a step out of town and there is a shuttle bus which drops you on the edge of the old town which is a bit of a walk into the harbour but there is an alternative of a water taxi between the harbour and the dock.  Little Venice is a nice area to have a drink.  

 

Santorini for a first visit I think Oia is the place to make for.  If you're happy to DiY either get the ferry from the base of the cable car to Ammoudi - here is an extract I found from a travel site describing how it works:

We stopped in Santorini during a cruise of the Eastern Med. and only wanted to visit Oia during our 8 hour stop. We did some research and could not find definitive info about a ferry shuttle service to Oia. To our delight, there were two tour operators offering the same service just where we got off the tender. Shuttle ferry from Fira Old Port to Oia Ammoudi port, bus service to bring us up to the village of Oia and return bus scheduled for 11h-12h-13h back to Fira including lift tickets to get back down to Fira Old Port all for 20E per person, a real steal. Oia was the highlight of our visit, we were in Oia very early in the morning and had the place to ourselves, so quiet and beautiful. We were back in Fira by 13h00 and shopped with throngs of people, couldn't get away back to the ship fast enough. Use this service if you want a leisurely day in Oia.

 

Alternatively, get off the ship as early as you can (it's a tender port) to get the cable car up to Fira (queues can get quite long later in the morning depending on the number of ships in) and then catch the local bus to Oia spend a few hours there then return to Fira to look around there before getting the cable car back to the tender.

 

I've not done the catamaran trip - it may be very good but I really think you need to see the iconic and distinctive towns of Oia and Fira - I'm not sure what the catamaran trip offers but your ship will sail into the Caldera and give you the views from the water.  I'd be tempted to save that for another time and experience Santorini itself for your first time there.

 

Some lovely ports of call and such varietyntoo.  I'm sure you'll fall in love with the area. Enjoy,

 

 

Edited January 15, 2019 by kruzseeka

[Big Foot]

Thank you; it seems Taormina is definitely the place to go, so thank you everyone who has recommended that.

 

Oia and Fira are also highly recommended so again I will look into those.

 

I'm so glad I asked this question as I may well have picked some tours & been disappointed that I missed out on some of the better places to visit.

 

Joan

[bee-ess]

14 hours ago, kruzseeka said:

 

 

Santorini for a first visit I think Oia is the place to make for.  If you're happy to DiY either get the ferry from the base of the cable car to Ammoudi - here is an extract I found from a travel site describing how it works:

We stopped in Santorini during a cruise of the Eastern Med. and only wanted to visit Oia during our 8 hour stop. We did some research and could not find definitive info about a ferry shuttle service to Oia. To our delight, there were two tour operators offering the same service just where we got off the tender. Shuttle ferry from Fira Old Port to Oia Ammoudi port, bus service to bring us up to the village of Oia and return bus scheduled for 11h-12h-13h back to Fira including lift tickets to get back down to Fira Old Port all for 20E per person, a real steal. Oia was the highlight of our visit, we were in Oia very early in the morning and had the place to ourselves, so quiet and beautiful. We were back in Fira by 13h00 and shopped with throngs of people, couldn't get away back to the ship fast enough. Use this service if you want a leisurely day in Oia.

 

We have done this Boat Trip to OIa from the Tender drop off point twice and it is excellent value, also you get to see Oia and it's port Ammoundi from the Sea which is great for photos. You do need to get the cable car back down from Fira afterwards but you can get a boat ticket that includes the Cable Car as well.

 

 

 

 

 

[kruzseeka]

1 hour ago, bee-ess said:

We have done this Boat Trip to OIa from the Tender drop off point twice and it is excellent value, also you get to see Oia and it's port Ammoundi from the Sea which is great for photos. You do need to get the cable car back down from Fira afterwards but you can get a boat ticket that includes the Cable Car as well.

 

Good to hear your first hand experience bee-ess.  We had intended to do this last time we went to Santorini but chickened out at the last minute because we weren't sure how the timings would work so we just went up the cable car (we were early so no queues) and went to Oia by local bus.  Do you know if it was possible to spend a little time at Ammoudi before the transfer into Oia?  We once stayed on Santorini and walked down the steps to Ammoudi (wobbly legs at the bottom - it's harder work going down than I imagined and a long way!) and enjoyed having a drink on the harbourside - the cafe owner phoned for a taxi for us to get up to Oia but we were doing it under our own steam on that occasion. I suppose after the ferry transfer, everyone is transported together up to Oia the way you did it.  I like the idea of different bus times back to Fira though and the views from the water give a different perspective altogether.  I think should we go back, this is the way we'll tackle it.

[bee-ess]

10 minutes ago, kruzseeka said:

Good to hear your first hand experience bee-ess.  We had intended to do this last time we went to Santorini but chickened out at the last minute because we weren't sure how the timings would work so we just went up the cable car (we were early so no queues) and went to Oia by local bus.  Do you know if it was possible to spend a little time at Ammoudi before the transfer into Oia?  We once stayed on Santorini and walked down the steps to Ammoudi (wobbly legs at the bottom - it's harder work going down than I imagined and a long way!) and enjoyed having a drink on the harbourside - the cafe owner phoned for a taxi for us to get up to Oia but we were doing it under our own steam on that occasion. I suppose after the ferry transfer, everyone is transported together up to Oia the way you did it.  I like the idea of different bus times back to Fira though and the views from the water give a different perspective altogether.  I think should we go back, this is the way we'll tackle it.

 

Not sure about the bus transfer up to Oia, we just got straight on the bus. I guess you could wait for the next boat and tag onto the back of that party. I seem to remember the buses back to Fira being later than the times mentioned earlier, something like 1300,1400,1500, but I guess they schedule the times depending on what times the ships leave. 

[kruzseeka]

3 hours ago, bee-ess said:

 

Not sure about the bus transfer up to Oia, we just got straight on the bus. I guess you could wait for the next boat and tag onto the back of that party. I seem to remember the buses back to Fira being later than the times mentioned earlier, something like 1300,1400,1500, but I guess they schedule the times depending on what times the ships leave. 

Thanks.  It's definitely a good deal when you consider the cost of the cable car plus local bus.  It really wouldn't be a problem not staying for a while in Ammoudi so rather than wait for the next ferry load of passengers arriving we'd just go up with everyone else.  We'll give it a whirl on another trip. 

[patonleeward]

Off topic but a question for BlueBoo.  You posted a photo of what appeared to be coffee service in cabin on Celebrity Eclipse. I LOVE my coffee in the morning.  My husband usually goes to the lido and brings back a tray but it gets cold.  Is there way to get  a hot pot?