Shore Excursions for Greek Isles

[rhloew]

Booked on the NCL Jade for April/May 2015 Med Cruise. Ports are Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos and Olympia. Shore trips via NCL seem high as always. Are there plenty of local type tours in port as there normally are on other NCL cruises? In other words, best bang for the buck-local or via NCL.

[Clay Clayton]

Be sure to check out the Port of Call forums for up to date info but when we did our eastern med trip, we did all of them DIY. In Santourni and Oylimpia we rented cars and really enjoyed going where we wanted, when we wanted. In Corfu We just wandered around town. In Mykonos, we grabbed a taxi to the beach and then the same back yo town for a delicious 50th birthday lunch of grilled octopous and whole fish.

[LEtue]

Yes, there are lots of options and if you visit TripAdvisor you can see reviews of others. Most have websites where you can view itineraries and pricing.

 

Enjoy Greece!

[California Traveler]

We used Cruisexcursionsdotcom for a lot of tours on our 14 day Med on the Jade in May 2015. They have smaller goups on their tours, and seem to have good reviews.

 

Did you join the Jade Roll Call?

 

CT

[KeithJenner]

Of those ports, your biggest problems are likely to be Santorini and Olympia. In Santorini, if you want to go to Ola (I think that's what it's called) then you need to get there. We didn't bother, but from the brief research we did it looked like quite a few people had trouble with private operators, so I think we would have gone with NCL if we did it.

 

With Olympia, you again need transport if you want to get there. We hired a car which worked well, but if you don't fancy driving then you will need a transfer or the train. There were lots of people at the port offering tours, and someone we met on the ship had a taxi guide for the day and said it was great.

 

Mykonos is easy to wander around on your own, so unless you specifically want to go somewhere outside of town I'd consider doing that yourself.

 

Corfu is similarly easy to do by yourself as long as you are happy in the main town. We walked, but there are shuttles. I don't recall seeing many tours, but wasn't looking.

[umpy10]

We did this last year and we did everything DIY, a 12 Day Grand Med. Barcelona to Venice and then a 7 Day Greek Isle.

For Santorini, Do Not take the cable car ride up to Fira at the dock when you get off the tender. Instead purchase a ticket (20 Euros ea.) @ the dock area for a "speed boat" ride ( about 15 min. ride) up to the dock just below Oia.

You'll be given a ride via shuttle to the top where you can then tour Oia at your leisure and when done, take a bus ride back to Fira. This ride is included in the ticket you purchased for the boat ride.

 

We were in Santorini from 1:30 - 10:00 pm and decided to have dinner in Fira, the view of the Caldera with the Jade anchored and the sunset were spectacular and the ride down on the Cable Car was easy with no line up.

 

For Kataklon (Olympia) there are a number of companies that will bus you to the Olympic Site and back for a reasonable fee.

Just a note for the Olympic site, when you get there it's a down hill walk to the actual site. It's not a bad walk, all paved roads and a sidewalk, but the way back is a killer, esp. if you're there in the summer heat.

You should be fine when you go, but if it's hot, there's a gentleman that charges 1 euro pp for a ride back up on a wagon pulled by a couple of donkeys.

We didn't notice him till we were half way up and he passed us a few times but was full each time.

 

Mykonos is a lovely village with lots of open air Tavernas right on the beach where you can have a great meal or snack or whatever you want.

While there, if you're into archeological sites and ruins don't miss out on Delos Island. Fantastic island with a museum and self guided tour that can be done in 3 hours at a very slow relaxing pace. But and there's always a but.... it can be very windy there and the seas can get rough on the ride to Delos Island so beware. The ticket office ( right there beside the tender dock) will have signs posted if the ferry there is going.

Our ride there was on a smaller ferry and it was just fine, some swells but no big deal. However our ride back which happened to be on a larger ferry was an experience to say the least.

 

This ferry had a canteen where you could purchase beer, alcohol, snacks, ice cream, etc. Lets just say that those who took advantage of those offerings did not have a pleasant ride back. The seas were much rougher, about 4-6 foot swells with the odd 8-9 footer. Some were brave enough to sit outside but soon found out what happens when you sit out there in high seas, they got very, very wet. Inside there lots of green faces and some were talking on the Big White Phone a lot lol. We were just fine tho, we drank a lot of water. ;)

 

Use "TripAdvisor" and Google for tour companies there and you'll do just fine. Enjoy your cruise, esp. Santorini what a place ! ! !

 

 

cheers...the Ump...:D

 

p.s. Corfu is easy as all get out to get to the main area by local bus. 3 euros for 2 ( 1.5 ea.) It's right there at the main gate for the dock area.

Edited December 4, 2014 by umpy10

[fabnfortysomething]

Booked on the NCL Jade for April/May 2015 Med Cruise. Ports are Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos and Olympia. Shore trips via NCL seem high as always. Are there plenty of local type tours in port as there normally are on other NCL cruises? In other words, best bang for the buck-local or via NCL.

 

we did this itinery this year and pre arranged taxi tours as you cant rely on tours available when you arrive in port[unless you are prepared to jump in a taxi at the port and theres no guarantee as to English speaking:D

 

Corfu we booked corfutaxitours which cost 200euro for a 5 hour tour-could accommodate 4 people

 

Santorini we booked Kostas with santorini-private-guide.com-270 euros for a mini van could seat 7

We had to get to top of caldera to meet him-cable car/walk/donkey

however this port where you get off the tender there are signs for motor boats which take you by sea to Oia and return by bus

 

Mykonos-no tour required unless you want to visit island of Delos

it's a maze of footpaths

 

Katakolon for Olimpia we booked katakolon taxi-4 hour tour for 140euro

[Reebster]

When we were on the Jade a few weeks ago we used Katakolon Express to get to Olympia. The price was reasonable and the bus had wi-fi so that we could post some photos for friends back home. After two hours at Olympia, they took us to a place where we could watch olive oil being pressed. You probably don't need to book anything in advance, though. There were plenty of shuttle drivers at the pier offering group transport for folks who hadn't made reservations.

 

 

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[sgcass123]

Our family is going on the 14 day cruise out of Venice to Greece in June. Great thread!

[deora24]

Bump...interested in all these comments.

[Ewoodspark]

So what was the point in posting nothing just to get the posts "up the ladder" again.?:confused: All that stuff was read 2 months ago

[Froggitt]

When we were on the Jade a few weeks ago we used Katakolon Express to get to Olympia. The price was reasonable and the bus had wi-fi so that we could post some photos for friends back home. After two hours at Olympia, they took us to a place where we could watch olive oil being pressed. You probably don't need to book anything in advance, though. There were plenty of shuttle drivers at the pier offering group transport for folks who hadn't made reservations.

 

 

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+1 for KE. About €25 pp including a guide, plus €9 for entry.

 

Outside the port, there are no end of hustlers doing a €10 bus to Olympia. No idea if that included the return journey.