Naxos to Piraeus early September, trying to book Blue Star Ferries direct with an operator. Initially I tried to book the airplane type seat for 5 euro more, but the booking engine would not let me choose my seats.. It appears, they randomly assign you seats.. If that's the case, is economy general admission tickets good enough? or will there be overcrowded issue that seat reservation is an absolute necessity?? I am not sure how busy this route get in early September.. The ferry time is in Monday AM. 2 travelers.. any advise would be appreciated. thank you.. This is on BlueStar1 ferry.
Posted by
France Southwest - Occitanie
4020 posts
Yes, the system assigns the seat(s) if you book an 'Airplane Seat'; you cannot choose your seat location like you would on a plane. If there are several of you, you must book all the Airplane Seats in the same reservation to get contiguous seats.
That said, the Blue Star 1 only makes one stop in Paros 45 minutes after departing Naxos. Once it has passed Paros, you can sit in any unoccupied seat in the Airplane Seat lounges, no one will come to check if you are in the seat assigned to you.
If you book an Economy ticket, you can sit wherever you like on all the economy lounges & decks, both indoors and outdoors, so you can change seats as often as you want. The indoor seats are comfortable, and the outdoor seats are garden-chair style that you can move around more or less as you please.
To give you an idea, the video below shows the Blue Star 2, which is similar to the Blue Star 1. The first 5 minutes show the Airplane and Business seat lounges, and from 8:15 on, it shows the Economy lounges and decks.
https://youtu.be/xaGXT1QQjV0](https://youtu.be/xaGXT1QQjV0
As is repeated constantly here, in September, unless you want to get a cabin, it is not necessary to book in advance. It's just a convenience that has been possible for a few years now, since booking online became available. You can just as easily buy your tickets 2 or 3 days before the trip at an agency in Naxos or via the Blue Star website.
Posted by
Philadelphia, PA, USA
3799 posts
It may have changed, but in the past, if you booked an "airline type seat" or a Blue Star Ferry in person, with a ticket agency on an island, or near your hotel in Athens, you were able to choose seat location in general. Specifically, I was able to ask for a seat in one of the smaller SIDE compartments (by the windows) rather than in the very large central compartment (which is like a large movie theater, hundreds of seats, 2 aisles).
As has been noted on other threads, this assigned seating sections are not that full, outside 0f High Season, and also "rush days" ootbound from Athens on Friday and back to Athens on a Sunday. Thus, if one buys an "economy ticket" one can get an outdoor plastic chair, or a bench seat on a first-come, first-serve basis, as well as seating in a cafe (no obligation to buy food), or seating along the corridors. AND -- once the ferry is underway, one can wander around, assess the situation, and simply "take" one of the vacant airplane-type seats. You would not be asked to show a ticket unless someone arrived showing a ticket for that specific seat.... and if so, you could simply move on, to another.