Greek Islands

[donaldsc]

Has anyone done any of the Greek Island cruises?  If so how were they?  We were thinking of doing the Southern and Northern Cyclades followed by the Sicily & Greece cruise in October 2023.

 

DON

[mapsd]

We did the N Cyclades & really loved it.  

Our cruise did a stop in Turkey to visit Ephesus and we really enjoyed that as well.

Small ship allows visiting some islands the big cruise ships could never access.

 

Winds prevented us from visiting Mykonos, but we simply stopped at a different island & still had a great time. 

[donaldsc]

On 11/21/2021 at 10:16 AM, mapsd said:

We did the N Cyclades & really loved it.  

Our cruise did a stop in Turkey to visit Ephesus and we really enjoyed that as well.

Small ship allows visiting some islands the big cruise ships could never access.

 

Winds prevented us from visiting Mykonos, but we simply stopped at a different island & still had a great time. 

 

Did you do most of your cruising under sail or under power.  Is there anything special I should know about life on the ship.  We have booked a B2B2B starting at Athens and ending in Malta for October 2022.

 

There aren't a lot of posts on CC from people who have cruised on Clipper so I am looking for any interesting tidbits that I can find.

 

DON

Edited December 7, 2021 by donaldsc

[mapsd]

On 12/7/2021 at 5:36 PM, donaldsc said:

 

Did you do most of your cruising under sail or under power.  Is there anything special I should know about life on the ship.  We have booked a B2B2B starting at Athens and ending in Malta for October 2022.

 

There aren't a lot of posts on CC from people who have cruised on Clipper so I am looking for any interesting tidbits that I can find.

 

DON

Mostly under sail!  Spent a lot of time on the top deck watching the crew raise/adjust the sails.

Even saw dolphins surfing the wake in the front of the ship a few times!

 

Great food/service.  Narrow passages/steep stairs/small bathrooms, but a great experience that we are booked to do again in 2023!

[cluso]

We are booked on Star Flyer, Malta to Athens, 13 nights on 24 April 2022 (fingers crossed, this was delayed a year due to Covid). A lot of Greece ports--cross check itinerary.  Staying in Malta for 3 nights pre-cruise.  I will post info when we return.  We used to live in LV in the 80's (both in the AF at Nellis).  Kids and grandkids live in Henderson and Boulder City.

[djr7961]

We are on the same Malta to Athens Star Flyer Itinerary Cluso. Looking forward to our pre Malta stay as well. This will be my 4th Star Clipper trip. Love the vibe and the passengers that choose this method of travel. Seem more adventurous.  I am sure we will run into each other 

[cluso]

Hi djr7961

I think this will be our 12th or 13th Clipper cruise.  Really looking forward to it, but not looking forward to the 3 flights getting there.  The last flight is Air France operated by Air Malta out of CDG.  It says "confirmed" on the booking but we can't get seats yet.  As of now , SC says we have to have a PCR test within 72 hours of sailing--so that will have to be on Malta somewhere. Hopefully, after that, smooth sailing.  Where are you coming from?  

[djr7961]

On 3/31/2022 at 7:06 PM, cluso said:

Hi djr7961

I think this will be our 12th or 13th Clipper cruise.  Really looking forward to it, but not looking forward to the 3 flights getting there.  The last flight is Air France operated by Air Malta out of CDG.  It says "confirmed" on the booking but we can't get seats yet.  As of now , SC says we have to have a PCR test within 72 hours of sailing--so that will have to be on Malta somewhere. Hopefully, after that, smooth sailing.  Where are you coming from?  

 

[djr7961]

Will be my 4th, love to meet fellow sail enthusiasts. I am troubled by the need for testing in Malta myself but I have been advised it can be done at the airport when we arrive. I hope that is true. We may be on the same flight from CDG to Malta, ours is on the 21st. We are coming from JFK to CDG then to Malta. Greg and Diane, from Pennsylvania. I pleaded with Delta over the phone ( code share with Airfrance) to book our seats ahead. and with $$ I was able to do so. we have a non stop home and so I was trying to upgrade, but no luck there. 

[cluso]

2 hours ago, djr7961 said:

 I pleaded with Delta over the phone ( code share with Airfrance) to book our seats ahead. and with $$ I was able to do so. we have a non stop home and so I was trying to upgrade, but no luck there. 

Yes, I think we are on the same Malta flight. They do charge for upgraded seats as I read on their website.  I tried calling AF a few times but the recording stated the wait times and then they say try later and disconnect.  I've read they do the rapid antigen test at the airport, not sure about the PCR.

We will be burnt out by arrival and head directly to our hotel.

[cluso]

On 4/6/2022 at 4:33 AM, djr7961 said:

Will be my 4th, love to meet fellow sail enthusiasts. I am troubled by the need for testing in Malta myself but I have been advised it can be done at the airport when we arrive. I hope that is true. 

 

From what I have researched, it does not appear the airport does PCR tests.  The closest place to the St Julian's area is St James Hospital, and it cost 140 euros per person on weekdays.  😳

[cluso]

On 4/6/2022 at 4:33 AM, djr7961 said:

 I am troubled by the need for testing in Malta myself but I have been advised it can be done at the airport when we arrive. 

Woohoo!  Just got the Travel Docs.  Effective 23 April  RT-PCR tests are no longer needed, just a negative antigen test!  😁🌞😎

[PurleyKing]

Just heading to Egypt today to join the Suez Canal to Athens cruise on 20th April.

 

Yes, we had to have the PCR test - another 3 days and that would not have been required! Thankfully our results were negative.

 

I think this will be our particular ship(Star Clipper)'s first passenger-carrying voyage in two years, so it will be interesting to see how quickly the staff become a well-oiled machine again. We were wait-listed until a couple of months ago, so we are anticipating a fairly full ship.

[cluso]

PurleyKing

Hope you have a great trip!  Since all 3 ships will be in the Med, maybe we will race you or the Royal (did that in the Caribbean a few times).  Our days in Athens are 30 April and 7 May.

[PurleyKing]

Back home now after the Suez Canal to Athens Star Clipper trip (20 - 30 April).

 

Whilst the experience fell short of Star Clippers at its best, it was simply a delight to be back on board at last and visiting new places. The ship was pretty well full - with 95% repeaters!

 

We anticipated that things might not be as good as normal on the ship, given that this was its first passenger-carrying voyage in two years....and so it transpired. During the last two years, most of the crew were sent home and had only just returned to the ship; many of them were on a Star Clippers ship for the first time (and literally being shown the ropes!). There was much maintenance going on around the ship, and most of the woodwork needed varnishing and most of the white paintwork was rust-marked. Several sails were out of action, awaiting repair or replacement. The main swimming pool had sprung a leak and was out of action for the first week whilst being repaired. The interior of the ship was, pleasingly, in good decorative condition.

 

The ship had been resupplied (I assume in Egypt) and some essentials were missing - most noticeably gin! A supply of gin arrived four days into the voyage. But we were denied the usual range of bread and pastries as the pastry chef tested positive when he came to rejoin the ship and couldn't get back onboard until we docked in Alexandria following his negative test. Breakfast and lunch were generally pretty good but evening meals generally did not reach previous heights often, and most people found the meat poor though the fish choices were considerably better.

 

As seems to be the case on the other SC ships, in these Covid times you are now assigned a table in the restaurant and are supposed to sit at it for all meals. It is hard to understand the logic of this given that we are mixing freely everywhere else on the ship. We were occasionally asked to wear masks whilst inside the ship, but only about 20% of people adhered to that. 

 

Sailing was severely limited by the fact that we were heading north for much of the cruise and there was a strong wind from that direction most of the time. Not much SC could do about that. The north wind was cool, so you needed to be well wrapped up to be in the Tropical Bar for the evening entertainment - accordingly, the entertainment wasn't always well-attended as people 'sheltered' in the Piano Bar.

 

In summary, we had a really good holiday despite the limitations. Perhaps, however, SC should accept that all was not up to the usual standard and consider some sort of compensation by way of a future cruise credit? Doubtless by our next booked trip, all will be back to normal on the ship (Covid permitting!).

[donaldsc]

We are booked for late September.  That gives them some time to get things sorted out - we hope.  This will be our first Star Clipper cruise.

 

DON

[PurleyKing]

I have friends on the Star Flyer at the moment, and they report that it is in excellent condition and that the food is as good as ever - it has been carrying passengers again for many weeks now, so I expect Star Clipper will similarly be back up to the expected standard in the not too distant future.

[cluso]

We just got off the Star Flyer today after a 13 day trip.  The Malta to Athens leg had about 96 people, the next cruise from Athens and return was about 60 people.  This included one or two couples who jumped ship from the Star Clipper to our ship at the last minute due to being unhappy on the Star Clipper run from the Suez.  They said the food loaded on that ship was bad from the start and crew were in training.  They were past SC cruisers, not new.  The Star Flyer was fine (our 10th SC cruise).  Masking was enforced throughout the cruise in all closed areas except when eating.  Masks were required when going through the food lines, and on all tender and excursion rides.

It was a great cruise.  We did have some chilly/windy days up to today, 8 May.  Layer your clothes. The first week the weather encouraged people to use the pools.

[donaldsc]

On 5/7/2022 at 10:10 AM, cluso said:

We just got off the Star Flyer today after a 13 day trip.  The Malta to Athens leg had about 96 people, the next cruise from Athens and return was about 60 people.  This included one or two couples who jumped ship from the Star Clipper to our ship at the last minute due to being unhappy on the Star Clipper run from the Suez.  They said the food loaded on that ship was bad from the start and crew were in training.  They were past SC cruisers, not new.  The Star Flyer was fine (our 10th SC cruise).  Masking was enforced throughout the cruise in all closed areas except when eating.  Masks were required when going through the food lines, and on all tender and excursion rides.

It was a great cruise.  We did have some chilly/windy days up to today, 8 May.  Layer your clothes. The first week the weather encouraged people to use the pools.

 

This is a more general question but you seem to be a Clipper line fanatic.  We will be doing a back-to-back Greek Islands cruise fall which will be our 1st Clipper cruise.  I am really looking forward to it.  We are doing the Northern and Southern Cyclades cruises.  I do have a few questions.

 

1) I am trying to set up some non ship tours but the arrival time at most ports is around 12:00 which makes it difficult.  Do you take Clipper tours at ports?  How are the Clipper tours?  How large are the group sizes?  Are they rushed or do you have time to see things?  Do you feel they are worth the money.

 

2) Do most of the passengers prebook private tours or do they book Clipper tours on board or do they just land and just enjoy themselves in port? I tend to be a structured type of person.

 

3) I would like to do tours from ToursbyLocals and other similar companies.  I usually list the tours on CC and generally there is enough action on the roll calls that I fill them up.  Not surprisingly my roll call posts for the 2 Star Flyer cruises I am doing are totally dead.  I was thinking of trying to fill them on board which I know is usually frowned upon by the ship people.  Will I get in trouble doing this and am I likely to be successful?

 

4) Is there anything special that I should be doing at my ports that I might not have thought of?

 

5) Most important.  What sort of wonderful things can I expect on my cruises?

 

Sorry to be a pest but I love sailboats and this will be my first large sailboat trip.

 

Thanks for helping.

 

DON

[leongcpa]

Hey Don,

 

I've done a short SC Greek Isles 4-night sailing roundtrip from Athens in 2016. The three ports we visited were Santorini, Mykonos, and Hydra. We did not take any Clipper tours, preferring to do our own thing. It helped that we had been to most of the ports of call before. In Santorini, we rented a car and drove around. Mykonos is easily done by foot, plus an early ferry ride to Delos. In Hydra, we booked our own private tour with Harriet's Horses in Hydra and did some walking ourselves independently afterwards. I probably would not try to organize things while onboard. There aren't that many passengers on the ship (fewer than 200, in these COVID times, I think it's likely you'll have fewer than 100 on your ship). In the past, I would generally try to plan my own days taking public transportation - in Greece, it's relatively easy to do, at least pre-COVID, with the help of the Greece CC ports of call boards. Nowadays, if I was going on SC, I would probably still try to do my own thing, but I would be open to taking Clipper tours, for places where I have not been before and where I don't feel taking public transportation. 

 

Hope you enjoy you SC sailing! The first time, waking up, being low on the water, entering the caldera below Fira/Santorini, is truly something special!

 

Cheers. 

Edited August 17, 2022 by leongcpa