Landing In Athens in the AM - What to do Day 1 ?

[Bunny620]

We are booked on the Empires of the Mediterranean cruise in late October.  Going from Athens to Venice.  We didn't book and pre-cruise travel, so I am struggling with what to do Day 1.  Our plane lands like 8 :30 AM, but we can't board the ship until 2 PM.   We have an overnight in Athens on the ship, so there are excursions for Day 2.  But I don't want to just sit around all morning waiting to board the ship.  Also I am not familiar with Athens, so not sure how long it takes to get from "downtown" back to the port ( Piraeus).   What can we / should we do with luggage? Has anyone done this before?

Any suggestions?

[Hanoj]

Embarkation begins at 11:00 AM and your stateroom will be available at 2 PM. Seems timing is about right to go direct from the airport to the cruise port. Grab some lunch, get familiar with the ship, and access your cabin perhaps early. Drive time by taxi is between 35 minutes and 1 hour typically from airport to Piraeus.

[millybess]

12 minutes ago, Bunny620 said:

Our plane lands like 8 :30 AM, but we can't board the ship until 2 PM.  

I think you can board the ship at 11:00am.  Possibly your stateroom isn't ready until 2:00pm.

 

We board at 11:00am and head straight to the Pool Grill for lunch, which we then take to the Aquavit Terrace.  The Pool Grill opens at 11:30am.

[Bunny620]

I didn't realize we can board at 11 AM !  That's great news...   and yes timing is perfect to just get on board and have lunch.  Viking seems to make such a big deal over class of cabin and timing...  Thanks for your replies!

[formernuke]

The 2pm is the Latest time your cabin is supposed to be ready. As others have said boarding is generally available at 11 and rooms often (not always) available some time before the stated time. 

[ohiojohn]

The following may help you getting from the airport to the port.  I copied and pasted from another contributor on this site.  I also will be in Athens early Oct for a Viking cruise and will use the below site.

 

If you decide to make your own private transfer, try Welcome Pickups (www.welcomepickups.com). They are my new go-to for transfers. They are in most major cities in Europe and the Americas, as well as some in Asia. They meet you inside the airport or right outside the cruise port with your name on a sign. 

Edited June 27 by ohiojohn

[kctwinmommy]

We also used Welcome Pickups in Barcelona to get to the airport, they were great. Glad someone suggested them!

 

 

[Peregrina651]

9 hours ago, Bunny620 said:

We are booked on the Empires of the Mediterranean cruise in late October.  Going from Athens to Venice.  We didn't book and pre-cruise travel, so I am struggling with what to do Day 1.  Our plane lands like 8 :30 AM, but we can't board the ship until 2 PM.   We have an overnight in Athens on the ship, so there are excursions for Day 2.  But I don't want to just sit around all morning waiting to board the ship.  Also I am not familiar with Athens, so not sure how long it takes to get from "downtown" back to the port ( Piraeus).   What can we / should we do with luggage? Has anyone done this before?

Any suggestions?

 

If you bought your flights through Viking, they include transfers from the airport to the ship.

 

If you bought your own flights, you can purchase Viking transfers.

 

Figuring an hour in the airport (gate to Viking rep (or private car) -- de-plane, walk to border control, lines at border patrol, wait for luggage plus wait for everyone else who was on the plane with you) and then another hour on the bus (car) to the port.

 

By the time you get there, even if you have made your own arrangements, Viking will have begun boarding guests. In general, Viking does not like to keep folks sitting around in the terminal and they will start boarding guests as soon as departing guests have cleared the ship (mostly it is a foot traffic problem; traffic on the gangway is one-way at a time). Boarding is first-come-first-served regardless of which cabin class you have chosen.

 

No matter what cabin you are in, the first thing to do, once you have finished with all of the boarding formalities including the life-jacket demo, is to see if your cabin is ready for occupancy; it is better than having to drag your bags around with you. Your invoice may say 2pm, but the housekeeping staff prides itself on having all cabins ready by that time. On our last cruise our DV cabin was ready for occupancy when we got there at 11am. BTW, Viking makes only one announcement about the cabins and that is when all cabins are ready for occupancy.

 

 

 

[Nemo2005]

How easy or hard is it to locate the Viking ship on arrival to Piraeus?  Do they give good address for us to give taxi driver?

[CDR2001]

The address of the ship will be in your final E- documents, sent by email a few weeks prior to sailing. I believe the taxi driver will know how to get to the Piraeus port terminal…it is very large. From our experience last year, upon arrival at the port, Viking representatives will guide you to check in and security. Enjoy Athens and your cruise. 

[Mich3554]

51 minutes ago, Nemo2005 said:

How easy or hard is it to locate the Viking ship on arrival to Piraeus?  Do they give good address for us to give taxi driver?

You really can’t miss it.  There are Viking signs everywhere at the port.  The taxi driver knows where to go, and the address is at the bottom of the first page of your e documents you should receive about 2 weeks before you leave.  There will be a multipage pdf in this file that has your entire cruise.  

[Reaniel]

13 hours ago, Nemo2005 said:

How easy or hard is it to locate the Viking ship on arrival to Piraeus?  Do they give good address for us to give taxi driver?

 

How easy it is?  We took a public bus at a bus stop 5 minutes walking distance from our hotel, and walked about 10 minutes after getting off the bus to the ship.  That's how close and easy it is to get there.

[anaky1229]

We did this last March. It was easy to find with the info we were given (we also had a great taxi driver). Nobody else happened to be getting there at the same time so about 5 Viking reps immediately came over, took our bags, put our luggage tags on (we hadn't yet), showed us to the entry, easy peasy.

 

[longterm]

On 6/26/2024 at 2:26 PM, Bunny620 said:

We are booked on the Empires of the Mediterranean cruise in late October.  Going from Athens to Venice.  We didn't book and pre-cruise travel, so I am struggling with what to do Day 1.  Our plane lands like 8 :30 AM, but we can't board the ship until 2 PM.   We have an overnight in Athens on the ship, so there are excursions for Day 2.  But I don't want to just sit around all morning waiting to board the ship.  Also I am not familiar with Athens, so not sure how long it takes to get from "downtown" back to the port ( Piraeus).   What can we / should we do with luggage? Has anyone done this before?

Any suggestions?

If you're arriving on the day of the cruise, and your flights were booked with Viking, they'll meet you at the airport and take care of your bags. Even if you can't board the ship right away, your bags will be in your stateroom when you enter. 

Meanwhile, if Viking did meet you at the airport, they're going to transport you to the ship. Alternatively, leave your bags with them, take a cab or Uber to one of the great sites, like the Acropolis or the Acropolis Museum, then you'll need to transport yourselves to the ship, which is something like 45 minutes away, if memory serves.
 

[FetaCheese]

On 6/26/2024 at 3:26 PM, Bunny620 said:

We are booked on the Empires of the Mediterranean cruise in late October.  Going from Athens to Venice.  We didn't book and pre-cruise travel, so I am struggling with what to do Day 1.  Our plane lands like 8 :30 AM, but we can't board the ship until 2 PM.   We have an overnight in Athens on the ship, so there are excursions for Day 2.  But I don't want to just sit around all morning waiting to board the ship.  Also I am not familiar with Athens, so not sure how long it takes to get from "downtown" back to the port ( Piraeus).   What can we / should we do with luggage? Has anyone done this before?

Any suggestions?

Not sure V still does this.  We were on a V cruise with overnight in Athens.  Cruise departure was on Day 2.  On Day 1, V provided a comp shuttle from Pireus term to downtown, Hadrian's Gate, Plaka district.  It ran hourly.  Shuttle also on Day 2.