Greek Isles Cruise

[GetToLivin]

I have a girlfriend who wants to do a Greece trip next year so I've started researching, looking at Sept/Oct 2025. I have a couple of questions for those who have taken similar itineraries.

 

Did you have a preference for flying into Athens or Venice? Is one "easier" than the other? I have global entry if that makes any kind of difference.

 

My friend wants to see Athens so I think we could arrive a couple of days early and explore more versus just a port day (plus time to time-zone adjust). But I think it's a longer flight haul from what I'm seeing so I'm weighing that as well.

 

This brings me to another question, did you use Air2Sea or independently book your flight? The most I've flown recently is around 5-ish hours to Puerto Rico for a Southern Caribbean cruise so I'm adjusting to the thought of this flight haul 🫣

[gumshoe958]

Global Entry means nothing outside the US (except in a handful of airports with pre-clearance for flights back to the US).

 

Athens has a handful of direct flights from the east coast. Venice does not so you’d have to connect somewhere in Europe.

 

Also bear in mind Royal doesn’t sail from Venice itself but from Ravenna, a 2 hour drive away. Bologna is actually the closest airport so only fly into Venice if you want to visit the city first. I’d choose Athens though.

 

 

[firefly333]

I'm doing the voyager TA in may, and the 2nd leg which goes to 2 ports in greece. The 3rd leg ends in athens. Leaves from PC.

 

I'm just doing 2 legs. I waited until air2sea had prices and called to see what they wanted from rome to orlando. $1510 was the cheapest one way. Round trip to your port might be less, prices are coming down I've heard. But prepare yourself for a shock, the flight costs more than my solo fare in a balcony for 13 days .. though the other legs do cost more. But still to me that's a expensive flight. And that's the starting fare, up from there. 

 

I decided not to fly to orlando, just flying to miami and getting home on brightline from miami. Depends on your airport too if it's a international hub. 

[little britain]

1 hour ago, GetToLivin said:

I have a girlfriend who wants to do a Greece trip next year so I've started researching, looking at Sept/Oct 2025. I have a couple of questions for those who have taken similar itineraries.

 

Did you have a preference for flying into Athens or Venice? Is one "easier" than the other? I have global entry if that makes any kind of difference.

 

My friend wants to see Athens so I think we could arrive a couple of days early and explore more versus just a port day (plus time to time-zone adjust). But I think it's a longer flight haul from what I'm seeing so I'm weighing that as well.

 

This brings me to another question, did you use Air2Sea or independently book your flight? The most I've flown recently is around 5-ish hours to Puerto Rico for a Southern Caribbean cruise so I'm adjusting to the thought of this flight haul 🫣

Voyager in October 2025 may be cancelled as they may reroute her around Africa so don’t count on those itineraries going ahead. 
Athens is probably an hour further than Venice, do not really an impact on flight duration 

Cruises leave from Ravenna which is 2hrs south of Venice so you will need to factor in that travel time/cost. 
Piraeus is only a €25 drive from

Athens. 
Global Entry only applies in the USA 

Edited Wednesday at 09:27 PM by little britain

[c-leg5]

Air2sea generally has historically had better prices for one-way tickets. Unfortunately their website became very user unfriendly for one-way tickets, necessitating that you research the flights you require in advance and then phone to get a price as opposed to checking out multiple variations online first. 
 

However sounds like you will just require round trip tickets so probably best to just book independently. 
 

Global Entry is for entry into US.

 

My trip to the area was canceled. 

Edited Wednesday at 09:16 PM by c-leg5

[Billy Baltic]

Maybe consider sailing on Odyssey out of Rome. It’s more accessible than Athens or Venice (Ravenna) and it’s a nicer ship. It does longer sailings in Sept and Oct 2025 which include Athens. Also, Odyssey will be in Europe for the full season and doesn’t have the same risk of cancellation.