Tips Needed for Greece Ports: Santorini, Mykonos, Athens, & Split Croatia

[Dawn2duskb]

Hello. This is my first cruise to Europe & First Time to Greece.  We welcome tips on which excursions to do, where to sightsee, where to shop & dine. 

We are a casual family of 5 looking for some culture and utilizing the time on each port to see the best it has to offer.  Not looking for fancy restaurants but seeing the best of each port. 

Travelers: Me & hubby (40's) + 2 sons (13,14) + my mom (78).  

We are thinking a cultural tour of Athens & its hisorty.   Not sure what to do on the other ports, all place of interest welcome! Thanks! 

Link to our Cruise: (you can view detailed information about the port cities)

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruises/itinerary/7-night-greek-isles-from-ravenna-venice-on-explorer/EX07BLQ-2504783051?sail-date=2024-05-18&currency=USD&country=USA&search=startDate:2024-04-01~2024-04-30,2024-05-01~2024-05-31,2024-06-01~2024-06-30,2024-07-01~2024-07-31,2024-08-01~2024-08-31,2024-09-01~2024-09-30#step=1

 

1                     8/10- Ravenna, Italy / Departs 5pm.

2                     8/11- Cruising Day at Sea

3                     8/12- Santorini, Greece / 2pm-11pm (9hrs at port)

4                     8/13- Mykonos, Greece / 8am-6pm. (10 hrs at port)

5                     8/14- Athens (Piraeus) Greece / 7am-7pm (12 hrs at port)

6                     8/15- Cruising Day at Sea

7                     8/16- Split, Croatia / 9am-5pm (8 hrs at port)

8                     8/17- Ravenna, Italy / Arrives 6am.

[CruiserBruce]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

Take a look down the board. There are MANY threads/discussions on each port you are asking about.

 

Split is covered here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/149-other-mediterranean-ports/

[edinburgher]

Will you be using Ravenna as a starting point for sightseeing or staying in Venice pre or post cruise?

 

And your link indicates a choice of May sailing or August.  Which did you book?

 

If you booked August, be aware that August is the hottest month of the year so you might want to keep your sightseeing plans fairly flexible and low key and not overly ambitious as the heat could get to you all.

 

And as  August is the busiest vacation month in Europe with millions on the move for their annual vacation,  if planning beach days, expect them to be crowded from very early morning 7/7

 

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by edinburgher

[mapleleaves]

Learn about the ports in order to determine what YOU want to see and do. Some people want to see ruins, others want beach time or a sailing adventure.  There are travel books specific to Mediterranean cruises, ie Rick Steves "Mediterranean Cruise Ports".  The books provide information on sights, activities, excursions, restaurants, and DIY options. Borrow from your library or order from Amazon.

 

Santorini can be a mess due to the cable car fiasco.  And if your trip is in August, you will want to avoid waiting an hour or 2 in the blazing sun.  Read the Santorini thread at the top of the Greece Forum for details. This is a port where the ships excursion can be very helpful in that you will avoid the cable car going up, but sadly still have to deal with it going down.  (Google to find out how many ships are in port with you; their arrival/departure times and # pax. Tha info will help you determine a less busy time for the return trip.) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[edinburgher]

On 12/11/2023 at 12:27 AM, Dawn2duskb said:

This is my first cruise to Europe & First Time to Greece

My apologies.  I only belatedly noticed that you did in fact quote travel dates for the August itinerary, tI think in part as many non-Americans, including myself,  use a different format when writing dates, and I didn't immediately notice that 8/10/8/11 etc referred to Aug 10 and Aug 11etc

 

Whatever, advice about heat and beaches is now totally relevant.

Edited December 12, 2023 by edinburgher

[Lisa&Neb]

On 12/10/2023 at 7:27 PM, Dawn2duskb said:

Hello. This is my first cruise to Europe & First Time to Greece.  We welcome tips on which excursions to do, where to sightsee, where to shop & dine. 

We are a casual family of 5 looking for some culture and utilizing the time on each port to see the best it has to offer.  Not looking for fancy restaurants but seeing the best of each port. 

Travelers: Me & hubby (40's) + 2 sons (13,14) + my mom (78).  

We are thinking a cultural tour of Athens & its hisorty.   Not sure what to do on the other ports, all place of interest welcome! Thanks! 

Link to our Cruise: (you can view detailed information about the port cities)

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruises/itinerary/7-night-greek-isles-from-ravenna-venice-on-explorer/EX07BLQ-2504783051?sail-date=2024-05-18&currency=USD&country=USA&search=startDate:2024-04-01~2024-04-30,2024-05-01~2024-05-31,2024-06-01~2024-06-30,2024-07-01~2024-07-31,2024-08-01~2024-08-31,2024-09-01~2024-09-30#step=1

 

1                     8/10- Ravenna, Italy / Departs 5pm.

2                     8/11- Cruising Day at Sea

3                     8/12- Santorini, Greece / 2pm-11pm (9hrs at port)

4                     8/13- Mykonos, Greece / 8am-6pm. (10 hrs at port)

5                     8/14- Athens (Piraeus) Greece / 7am-7pm (12 hrs at port)

6                     8/15- Cruising Day at Sea

7                     8/16- Split, Croatia / 9am-5pm (8 hrs at port)

8                     8/17- Ravenna, Italy / Arrives 6am.

we are thinking of booking this exact cruise - sailing will be us (mid 40's), daughter (17) and son (15)

[Labanos]

Made some notes while traveling this summer on some of the ports you will be visiting. Perhaps it's helpful.

 

 

[Scubadoobie2]

A MUST VIEW VIDEO BEFORE YOU PLAN A SANTORINI VIST -- Before you decide what to do when you visit Santorini do yourself a HUGE FAVOR and watch at Youtube a video entitled, "Santorini cruise port HELL!!"  From watching that video you will learn what you definitely should NOT do.  And, it will likely give you some idea of what you might want to do. I'm glad I stumbled upon it before I visit Santorini next May.  Here's a link to that video:  

 

[mtempelaar]

On 12/28/2023 at 10:10 AM, Scubadoobie2 said:

A MUST VIEW VIDEO BEFORE YOU PLAN A SANTORINI VIST -- Before you decide what to do when you visit Santorini do yourself a HUGE FAVOR and watch at Youtube a video entitled, "Santorini cruise port HELL!!"  From watching that video you will learn what you definitely should NOT do.  And, it will likely give you some idea of what you might want to do. I'm glad I stumbled upon it before I visit Santorini next May.  Here's a link to that video:  

 

I posted something on Cruise Critic about Santorini a few years ago about the cable cars and the donkey trail being hell.  I got blasted so bad (hell I felt shamed) that I stoppped coming to Cruise Critic website completely for a long time.  This video was expessing the exact same thing. 🤷‍♀️

 

Santorini is trying and failing to manage crowds, their ability to get people up and down to Fira is insufficient for the number of cruise ships and that donkey trail truly can be hell depending on timing, number of ships, time of day and general circumstances.  Only time to go there, based on my multiple trips, is November, but then most of the stores and restaurants are closed.

 

To the original poster - you are going at a time when it will be hot and a lot of crowds.  I looked and it appears there are 3 major, and 2 minor cruise ships in port that day.  I would recommend looking for shore excursions that do NOT mention returning to the ship with the cable car (if possible).  Oia might be a better option for you but even those shore excursion need to be read carefully.  Sometimes you return by boat, other times returned by bus to Fira and you have to make your own way down.    If you do end up at the top of Fira and need to get down, allow for 3 hours for the cable car and be prepared to walk down the path if lines are too long.  Do NOT wear sandals, only good quality sneakers and go slow.  People break or sprain ankles all the time on that path.  Don't do the donkeys, and don't step in donkey doo doo. 

 

As for Mykonos - I highly recommend a Delos shore excursion for your first time there.  I have been to Mykonos 4 times now.  We just wander around and find nice restaurants to relax, eat and drink but Delos is very interesting 🙂

 

Athens - Just got back from there.  For a shore excursion, you cannot go wrong with Acropolis, Agora, surrounding ampitheatres.  If you want to wander on your own instead, the Plaka is fantastic.  Beware of theives and scammers in the streets that make up the Plaka, secure your wallets and IDs (it's worse than Italy), but enjoy the stores and restaurants.  If you want to go further away, go to Delphi on a shore excursion.

 

I have no guidance on Split specifically (went to Dubrovnik instead), but I will say that Croatia does have surprisingly good Croatian wine and gelato.

 

Have a wonderful time!

 

 

[edinburgher]

On 12/17/2023 at 7:36 PM, Lisa&Neb said:

We are thinking of booking this exact cruise - sailing will be us (mid 40's), daughter (17) and son (15)

Split is very easy to explore independently as ships dock only around a 10 minute walk from the town and promenade.  Here are some past threads some of which you could choose to read for ideas and info but there will be lots more to be found on eg tripadvisor, YouTube and others.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=split&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=149

 

 

 

Edited January 18 by edinburgher

[Lisa&Neb]

On 1/17/2024 at 4:56 PM, mtempelaar said:

To the original poster - you are going at a time when it will be hot and a lot of crowds.  I looked and it appears there are 3 major, and 2 minor cruise ships in port that day.  I would recommend looking for shore excursions that do NOT mention returning to the ship with the cable car (if possible).  Oia might be a better option for you but even those shore excursion need to be read carefully.  Sometimes you return by boat, other times returned by bus to Fira and you have to make your own way down.    If you do end up at the top of Fira and need to get down, allow for 3 hours for the cable car and be prepared to walk down the path if lines are too long.  Do NOT wear sandals, only good quality sneakers and go slow.  People break or sprain ankles all the time on that path.  Don't do the donkeys, and don't step in donkey doo doo. 

 

 

 

I'm not sure where you found the ships in port on the day the original poster is going to be in Santorini - we are also booked on the same cruise and found only 3 ships total - 1 small, 1 small/medium, 1 medium/large and no mega ships. Looks to be less than 8000 people from all 3 ships.

Edited January 20 by Lisa&Neb
posted in wrong area of the reply

[mapleleaves]

35 minutes ago, Lisa&Neb said:

Looks to be less than 8000 people from all 3 ships.

 

Keep in mind that the cable cars only carry 36 pax per run, so 8,000 people can still create a long line.  Note the arrival and departure times of the other ships to help with your planning.