Excursions worth it??

[Stubby829]

My husband and I are doing the Around the Ionian cruise starting June 4th. We were thinking of booking the package of 5 excursions... just curious is anyone had experience with them and what they thought of them (they seem a bit expensive)... are they worth it? What time do the tours typically end? Will we still have time leftover to explore things on our own if we missed something we wanted to see?

[valutree]

I just got back from the ionian trip (which was amazing) and the excersions are not worth it. Every town has a reasonably good bus system that is easy to find and navigate and good taxi's. The excursions do not go anywhere the buses do not go.

[superdrews]

That depends, when I went they excursions were far more than worth it for the simple fact that the Easycruise Guide (there were always three, a local one, the organizer and an archeologist) was a Phd from Cambridge that did a fantastic job really allowing you to experience the sites and bring you into what life was like back then and I found that way more than worth the very low cost of the tours. You may be able to save a few bucks doing it on your own, but you might miss out.

[Hantsman1205]

That depends, when I went they excursions were far more than worth it for the simple fact that the Easycruise Guide (there were always three, a local one, the organizer and an archeologist) was a Phd from Cambridge that did a fantastic job really allowing you to experience the sites and bring you into what life was like back then and I found that way more than worth the very low cost of the tours. You may be able to save a few bucks doing it on your own, but you might miss out.

I have not been yet, but people have said they are good, but you get the 50% discount of them if you bought as you book yr cruise. maybe the special greek cruise/tours with EC give better value

[superdrews]

I did book them off of a special 50% off email. I believe it was E140 for the tours per person for classical greece on EC1.

[Stubby829]

Thanks for the advice. I saw that they give a discount if you book the excursion package at the time of booking the cruise, but it wasn't available when we booked (back in November). I posted about this in the help section on their website... we'll see what they say.

[Hantsman1205]

Thanks for the advice. I saw that they give a discount if you book the excursion package at the time of booking the cruise, but it wasn't available when we booked (back in November). I posted about this in the help section on their website... we'll see what they say.

Yes it was 50% now its 30% .............I think you may be able to swing at least 30% as it was not available at the time of booking! :rolleyes: but go for 50%

[Hantsman1205]

I just got back from the ionian trip (which was amazing) and the excersions are not worth it. Every town has a reasonably good bus system that is easy to find and navigate and good taxi's. The excursions do not go anywhere the buses do not go.

Hi, what did you think of the food and drink on EC1? we are off on the 17th June to the boat, i must admit i thought the menu was a tadge over priced :eek: ( but I know they need to make their money) I dont intend to use it much, well maybe for drinks :D ..........did they have any happy hours deals ect? Anybody any feed back?

Cheers

Neil

[Hantsman1205]

Anybody any 1st hand info? Im on EC1, looks like the last year for the boat! :rolleyes:

[SaylorGirl]

They do run happy hour specials every night on the ship. Your are right it appears that this will be the last year for Easy Cruise I which is the original ship in the Easy Cruise group.

[Hantsman1205]

They do run happy hour specials every night on the ship. Your are right it appears that this will be the last year for Easy Cruise I which is the original ship in the Easy Cruise group.


Cheers for reply, :D as least i made one trip on EC1! Shame I never made the other non greek cruises I guess they were a trial/one off, to see what work

[bschne1909]

We signed up for the package tours because they were cheap and we did not know what to expect on the various islands. In retrospect this was a mistake. On the days we did not have tours we rented a car and 4 of us toured on our own. This was cheaper (about 10 -15 Euros each) and we saw a lot more than the tours. The tours quit at 4, we went until dark.
None of our tours had anything other than the standard tour guide and most places the signs told as much info as the guide.
In Albania or Turkey renting a car might be questionable but at the other stops it was easy.