NYJoe

Thank you, J&MSails - sounds fantastic!

Thanks, Swixpat - that sounds totally like our thing!

Thank you so much, MNGardens - much appreciated!

Thank you, Host Jazzbeau and Strenz - this is incredibly helpful! We definitely want to do our own thing and so this is exactly the kind of knowledge that I'd hoped for! Yes, I had some fears about the crowds in Mykonos and Santorini, so we will seek out a guide / taxi for both. Besides Santorini, Ephesus, and Mykonos (per your responses), do you know if there are regular tenders from the ship to Nafplio and Patmos? And does the dinner at Ephesus negate the need to go there on an excursion / tour? Any other tips or advice about the islands? Thank you again. Joe

Hi everyone, I have done some searches and have learned a lot from this forum, but have a few questions about a Greek Isles cruise on the Wind Star I have booked for July on a bit of whim. I'll be traveling with my partner, and we know little about cruising, but I had always wanted to be on a ship of this size, and we had both always wanted to visit the Greek Islands. So, I now know what tendering is, for example, but have some questions: -- Will the Wind Star tender at places on the Greek Isles cruise (itinerary here: https://www.windstarcruises.com/cruise/overview/greece/athens-greece-to-athens-greece/treasures-of-the-greek-isles/?pkgid=330827) that will allow us to explore on our own, or will we be arriving with the larger cruise ships and have to compete with them? (This seems like a big issue at Mykonos and Santorini from what i have read) -- Does Windstar provide local transportation from those tendering ports to other places (such as a town) if one is NOT on a Windstar shore excursion? -- If we are to explore a place on our own, can we choose to return to the ship at any time, or are tenders limited to certain hours timed with the excursions? We are not early risers, for example, and will not want to be on a 9am tender if we can avoid it 🙂 -- Is it possible to take a packed lunch from the ship to go hiking, for example, on our own? We're not anti social, but really want to move at our own pace, and hate being rushed. Any suggestions about how to tackle Mykonos and Santorini for a few hours on our own would be appreciated as well. I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions, but I thought I'd start small... Thank you! Joe