7night Greek Isles

[broccoli]

Has anyone been on the Splendour of the Seas 7 night Greek Isles that includes Athens and Mykonos and if so, what were some excursions you would recommend? Would you recommend ship's excursions in all the ports?

[swatts1]

My daughters and I sailed Splendor of the Seas on Aug. 11 and we did the route you are inquiring about. It was a great cruise and the ship was in excellent condition. Our favorite hangout was the Centrum Bar.

 

We did ship tours in Katakolon and Corfu. The tour in Katakalon was to Ancient Olympia and the drive through the countryside was lovely, but the tour was boring to us. Maybe that is because we'd already seen all the ruins in Athens the day before. The tour we did in Corfu was the one that including a wine tasting and it was a great tour. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We didn't do a tour in Mykonos or Split - it really wasn't necessary - you just go into town and explore on your own. In Athens we had hired a driver from George the Famous Taxi Driver of Athens and we saw EVERYTHING. Our driver met us at 7:45am and we were entering the Acropolis just after 8. He drove us around in an airconditioned vehicle and we saw a lot more than we would have seen on any ship's tour. He was with us for 9 hours and it cost 250Euro. It was more expensive, but for 3 of us not that much more than one of the pricier ship's tours. If I never get back to Athens I feel like I've seen everything I could have ever wanted to see there.

 

Our biggest problem on our cruise was the heat. August was our optimal time because my daughters had been in Europe all summer, but it was extremely hot and not very good sightseeing weather. Otherwise the trip was excellent and I can highly recommend it.

[DMorris]

My daughters and I sailed Splendor of the Seas on Aug. 11 and we did the route you are inquiring about. It was a great cruise and the ship was in excellent condition. Our favorite hangout was the Centrum Bar.

 

We did ship tours in Katakolon and Corfu. The tour in Katakalon was to Ancient Olympia and the drive through the countryside was lovely, but the tour was boring to us. Maybe that is because we'd already seen all the ruins in Athens the day before. The tour we did in Corfu was the one that including a wine tasting and it was a great tour. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We didn't do a tour in Mykonos or Split - it really wasn't necessary - you just go into town and explore on your own. In Athens we had hired a driver from George the Famous Taxi Driver of Athens and we saw EVERYTHING. Our driver met us at 7:45am and we were entering the Acropolis just after 8. He drove us around in an airconditioned vehicle and we saw a lot more than we would have seen on any ship's tour. He was with us for 9 hours and it cost 250Euro. It was more expensive, but for 3 of us not that much more than one of the pricier ship's tours. If I never get back to Athens I feel like I've seen everything I could have ever wanted to see there.

 

Our biggest problem on our cruise was the heat. August was our optimal time because my daughters had been in Europe all summer, but it was extremely hot and not very good sightseeing weather. Otherwise the trip was excellent and I can highly recommend it.

 

Swatts1.... How did you find your driver in Athens? Do they reserve ahead of time?

[swatts1]

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post a link here but if you go to yahoo and type in: George the famous taxi driver of athens you will get a website that has a yellow mercedes taxi on the home page (greecetravel dot com). I contacted George and he sent me pricing info and checked my dates. I then faxed him my credit card info in case we were no shows. He asked me to email him a few days prior to sailing. We paid in cash so had to make sure we had enough Euros for the fee and a tip. Our driver was Simon who spoke very good English and was extremely knowledgeable. He told us that the company consists of George and his sons and Simon. I was completely satisfied with the experience. Another group on our cruise had 9 people and George's company also had a large vehicle for a group of that size.

[DMorris]

I found his web site... thank you so much.