ZAKYNTHOS - Find tours at tender drop off?

[sbnuggie]

Howdy,

 

Will be on the NCL Pearl 9 day from Athens-Trieste in late august.  ONe of the stops is Zakynthos, limited ship excursions which we dont like to do anyway.  This stop will be after the absolute madhouse of Santorini and Mykonos (according to cruise mapper will have 4-6 ships in each port with over 12k passengers each stop).  That being said, we would like to sleep in for Zak get up and maybe find a guided boat tour up to shipwreck beach (i know they cant land anymore) and the caves, thinking from 1100 - 1500.  Our ship is in port with one other and our hours will be 0930 - 1700 and tendered so likely all aboard time will be about 1600 I'm sure.  Ive even heard you can rent boats yourself, I own a boat so not adverse to that but thinking a guide would be better. 

 

Anyone have any thoughts.

[CruiserBruce]

Finding tours at the dock is not "a thing" in Europe. 

[edinburgher]

14 hours ago, sbnuggie said:

maybe find a guided boat tour up to shipwreck beach (i know they cant land anymore) and the caves,

I would not expect you to find such a boat tour next to the dock on the day, so advise instead that you pre-arrange one before you travel.

 

Google will be your best friend for this, and should you need others to share with you, you could ask on your Roll Call, or check it to see if any of your fellow passengers has already arranged one and is looking for others like yourselves to share.

[sbnuggie]

12 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Finding tours at the dock is not "a thing" in Europe. 

Ahhh... good to know, used to mexico and caribean cruising where it is a thing.  I was born and raised in Petaluma... small world.

 

1 hour ago, edinburgher said:

I would not expect you to find such a boat tour next to the dock on the day, so advise instead that you pre-arrange one before you travel.

 

Google will be your best friend for this, and should you need others to share with you, you could ask on your Roll Call, or check it to see if any of your fellow passengers has already arranged one and is looking for others like yourselves to share.

Thanks, shore excursions group doesn't even list excursions and viator has some that we are considering but its one of those we'd like to make it a leisurely day if possible.  Thanks

[niknot]

As of today (April 27) one can indeed book excursions when getting off the tender. I walked through a small group of vendors selling boat cruises to Shipwreck Cove €50 and boat trips to harass loggerhead turtles €40. Once you leave the dock area, head to the left where there are a large number of tour agencies selling similar trips. 
 

You may wish to research costs before you leave so you have an idea of costs. I saw some signs in some of the shops with multiple prices. Probably depends on which ship is in port for the day.

 

I was told that the official tour season doesn’t start until May so there will undoubtedly be more options when you arrive.