What's the earliest we can safely fly out of Athens post-cruise?

[lisa6191]

We are scheduled to arrive at 7 am in Pireaus. What is the earliest flight we can realistically make? We are flying to Santorini so there are lots of choices, but there is a jump in price between the 10:10 am and 11:10 am departures. Is the 10:10 too early? We are on Seabourn so it's only 600 passengers.

[benzygirl]

Bump...same question.   Wondering about a 12:00 back to USA.   Coming off of Regent

 

[marazul]

On 12/9/2019 at 1:05 PM, lisa6191 said:

We are scheduled to arrive at 7 am in Pireaus. What is the earliest flight we can realistically make? We are flying to Santorini so there are lots of choices, but there is a jump in price between the 10:10 am and 11:10 am departures. Is the 10:10 too early? We are on Seabourn so it's only 600 passengers.

Lisa,

you will be off the ship by 8 the latest and possibly by 7:30.  Disembarkation is seamless in SB.  You just walk off the ship. The taxi takes 40-45 minutes.  You should arrange to have a car waiting for you like George's Taxi (taxigreece.com).  Santorini is a domestic flight so boarding is simpler.  Yes, 10:10 is possible.  Why don't you email George's Taxi and ask for their opinion?  They have picked us up several times at Athens after a SB cruise. 

 

On 12/16/2019 at 4:13 PM, benzygirl said:

Bump...same question.   Wondering about a 12:00 back to USA.   Coming off of Regent

 

I answered you in another thread.  Yes, noon is ok, but don't do it any earlier than that.

[Nado44]

We are on a August 2021 cruise that arrives into Piraeus at 5:00 am.

 

Is it possible to be the first ones off the ship and at Athens (ATH) airport by 7:20-730 am? We are eyeing a 8:20 am intraEurope flight.

[Hlitner]

Just be careful in watching possible COVID testing requirements.   Depending where you are flying you might need a current (within 3 days) PCR or possibly Antigen (if flying to the USA).  Countries have been constantly changing these kind of requirements which is an issue of some concern to those of us who still travel.  I have no clue as to what Seabourn will be able to do (testing wise) onboard and I have not seen much information on their web site.  

 

I would not want to chance getting to ATH at 7:30 for an 8:20 flight.  Too tight for my blood as any kind of traffic delay or long line at ATH would have you missing your flight.   We are also eyeing some of those Seabourn cruises and thinking about spending some post cruise time in a couple of Greek Isles.  Of course there are still the questions about whether Greece will even be open (despite what their Tourist Minister says the country has a big COVID problem and is currently locked down pretty tight).  One fear we have is going to Greece only to find that most restaurants and shops are still closed.  

 

Hank

[Lois R]

I booked a cruise today and my flight home leaves Athens at 11:30am.  The ship I will be on also only has 600 guests.  Hoping it will all go smoothly.  I booked my flights through the cruise line and was told that would time will be fine. I am sailing Silversea and they are going to have testing on board the ship!

[VMax1700]

On 4/15/2021 at 1:57 PM, Nado44 said:

We are on a August 2021 cruise that arrives into Piraeus at 5:00 am.

 

Is it possible to be the first ones off the ship and at Athens (ATH) airport by 7:20-730 am? We are eyeing a 8:20 am intraEurope flight.

Just a couple of things to ponder.....

5.00am is the scheduled arrival time (not guaranteed) and it could be up to an hour later that first pax are permitted to disembark.

If travelling with check in luggage then confim the latest check in time at the airport.  Pre covid many airlines closed check in 40 minutes prior to scheduled boarding time.

As to being 'first off' you would need to check the policy of the individual cruise line.

[CruiserBruce]

15 hours ago, Lois R said:

I booked a cruise today and my flight home leaves Athens at 11:30am.  The ship I will be on also only has 600 guests.  Hoping it will all go smoothly.  I booked my flights through the cruise line and was told that would time will be fine. I am sailing Silversea and they are going to have testing on board the ship!

I wouldn't count on the flights. Many airlines are using "placeholder" schedules, that reflect the way it was before Covid, but then, 2-3 months prior, they trim the schedule to match demand and local Covid conditions. United, for example, has a EWR-ATH flight in July (we were booked on it in June 2021, until our cruise was canceled), but they haven't actually flown the flight since 2019, due to Covid (it was a seasonal flight). Hopefully this will change if/as Greece opens up, but I would be prepared for flight schedule changes.

[marazul]

We just booked a Seabourn cruise mid-September and plan to visit friends on the islands before or after.  As of now, no US flights are allowed into Greece and no definite date has been set for opening them.  The cruise line is not booking flights yet.  Our cruise can be canceled without penalty so I am not worried about it.  We will roll the reservation to another cruise some other time.

 

Here is what the US Embassy in Greece website says:

 

Are U.S. citizens permitted to enter? No

• Greece will currently only allow EU citizens, EU residents, and residents of certain other specific countries to enter. The United States is not one of those countries.  U.S. citizens traveling to Greece will not be permitted to enter unless they meet one of only a few narrow exceptions detailed in the Greek Embassy’s information on entrance into the European Union/Schengen Area.  There is no projected date when entry will be permitted.  A long visit in a third country will not help you get around EU restrictions.
• The Embassy is aware that high-level officials have spoken of intentions to facilitate summer 2021 tourism to Greece.  However, there is no projected date when entry will be permitted for residents of the United States.  The U.S. Embassy in Athens cannot give you any assurance regarding whether or when residents of the United States may be allowed to enter Greece.

https://gr.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/

[Lois R]

2 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

I wouldn't count on the flights. Many airlines are using "placeholder" schedules, that reflect the way it was before Covid, but then, 2-3 months prior, they trim the schedule to match demand and local Covid conditions. United, for example, has a EWR-ATH flight in July (we were booked on it in June 2021, until our cruise was canceled), but they haven't actually flown the flight since 2019, due to Covid (it was a seasonal flight). Hopefully this will change if/as Greece opens up, but I would be prepared for flight schedule changes.

Thanks for the input. I have nothing to lose really. If the cruise cannot go I will just have a large credit for a future cruise.  And since my cruise is in early July, I will know for sure soon enough.  The flights are booked through the cruise line.  If the airlines tell the cruise line they can't fly? Then I will find out I can't go.  I am not going to stress over it that is for sure. Stressing won't make things happen any quicker🙂

[CruiserBruce]

On 4/16/2021 at 11:32 AM, Lois R said:

Thanks for the input. I have nothing to lose really. If the cruise cannot go I will just have a large credit for a future cruise.  And since my cruise is in early July, I will know for sure soon enough.  The flights are booked through the cruise line.  If the airlines tell the cruise line they can't fly? Then I will find out I can't go.  I am not going to stress over it that is for sure. Stressing won't make things happen any quicker🙂

I see United just added a seasonal Dulles to Athens flight in anticipation of the increasing cruising possibilities out of Greece. Better news for you. I would think the Newark-Athens flight will go as well.

[Hlitner]

I think this thread is due for an update.  Airlines (including a few major US airlines) have been adding flights (and in some cases larger aircraft) to both direct flights and even some indirect flights to Greece.  The country is reopening as we type this post, and booking on the various Greek Islands seem to be getting quite heavy.  In fact a couple of the places we tried to book on Naxos and Paros (for August) were fully booked and we even had to scramble to reserve rental cars.  

 

We also had booked a Seabourn cruise (out of Pireaus) but also plan to spend some independent island hopping time.  When we looked at flight options we were able to find a better Business Class deal on our own then through the cruise line :).  A warning for folks is that many of the routes to Athens involve changing planes in various airport such as Frankfurt and Munich.  But many European airports require transit passengers to still have a current PCR test (within 3 days of their flight) which can add about $200 per person onto one's expenses.  A few airport such as CDG (Paris) and Istanbul do not currently require testing for transit passengers.  Before booking your air it pays to check the latest info for this kind of issue.

 

Hank

[Donald]

I transited through CDG last weekend.

They required my PCR Test results before I was allowed to go to my gate to board for Rome.

[Hlitner]

6 hours ago, Donald said:

I transited through CDG last weekend.

They required my PCR Test results before I was allowed to go to my gate to board for Rome.

It is not just CDG where there are restrictions on transiting.  It is one reason why I have warned folks (here on CC) that when planning a trip you need to check the requirements of every country you touch.  When we were booking our air from the USA to Athens we could not get a decent deal on Biz Class and schedules if we had booked one of the few non-stop flights.  But we were able to fly through Istanbul where they have no restrictions (no testing required) for transit passengers.  At the time many of the cruise lines were routing Greek cruise passengers through CDG and FRA, both of which required recent RT-PCR tests.  Not only is that a royal pain, but those tests can often cost about $200 per person.  Greece does not require any testing for fully vaccinated Americans.

 

Hank

[aSiAnRiCk]

We'll be on the Norwegian Jade scheduled to return to Piraeus at 6 am and currently looking at return flights to Miami.  I'm looking at Turkish Airlines leaving at 10:20 AM.  Is this too early?

 

Oh yeah, as of this date, you don't need negative PCR to transit via Germany, Netherlands, Spain and France.

 

Safe travels!

 

[marazul]

Only if you are certain you can be on a taxi by 7 am.  I  would be happier with an 11:30 flight. 

On 8/1/2021 at 8:22 AM, aSiAnRiCk said:

We'll be on the Norwegian Jade scheduled to return to Piraeus at 6 am and currently looking at return flights to Miami.  I'm looking at Turkish Airlines leaving at 10:20 AM.  Is this too early?

 

Oh yeah, as of this date, you don't need negative PCR to transit via Germany, Netherlands, Spain and France.

 

Safe travels!

 

 

[willetstravel]

Read through this thread - wondering if anyone had any recent experience at the terminal with flights?  We are on a cruise that states arrival time as 6am (unsure when that means we will actually be able to disembark? - newbie here).  Our flight back to US just got changed to 12:25pm.  Planning on having transportion lined up, but not through cruise line as they state they are "unable."  Do you think we will have enough time?  I hate to have the stress of worrying about it, but there are no later flights apparently now that don't arrive in the US the following day, which won't work for us.  TIA!!

[marazul]

5 hours ago, willetstravel said:

Read through this thread - wondering if anyone had any recent experience at the terminal with flights?  We are on a cruise that states arrival time as 6am (unsure when that means we will actually be able to disembark? - newbie here).  Our flight back to US just got changed to 12:25pm.  Planning on having transportion lined up, but not through cruise line as they state they are "unable."  Do you think we will have enough time?  I hate to have the stress of worrying about it, but there are no later flights apparently now that don't arrive in the US the following day, which won't work for us.  TIA!!

You have plenty of time. No problem.

 

My comfort zone in Athens is not less than 4 hours after docking. You have a nice cushion of time.

 

[willetstravel]

16 hours ago, marazul said:

You have plenty of time. No problem.

 

My comfort zone in Athens is not less than 4 hours after docking. You have a nice cushion of time.

 

Thank you so much for your response!  I feel much better now. 🙂