Delayed luggage

That has been my experience the one time this happened to me: I was on a different island from my arrival (this was in Malta), and my husband’s suitcase actually arrived by helicopter!
However, I would be monitoring the situation however I could. Do you use air tags? Did they provide tracking? I would bug them at least twice a day.

You can trust the airlines that you will get your bags.
We had exactly the same thing happen on our flight from Naxos to Athens last month. We were flying home to Canada the next day. Next morning we went to baggage claim area but our bags were not there yet. The airline representative told us that they would send the bags to our home in Canada as soon as the bags arrived from Naxos.
About a week later the bags arrived at our home.

Our experience at least can give you comfort that even if the bags did not make the return flight home you will get them soon.
It also shows us that you need to keep essentials with you on your carry on bags.

As strange as it sounds, we had the most positive experience with British Airways this past May, when one of our bags was delayed in London instead of arriving with us at the Frankfurt Airport. It took so long for us to get through EES that our car service left us at the airport as no-shows. The BA "missing luggage" staff went out of their way to help us arrange transportation to Stuttgart. They called a driver used by BA flight attendants, and walked us outside the terminal to show us where he would be waiting for us. They put a silver lining on what was otherwise a somewhat cloudy day.

The bag was delivered 2 days later.

I had a bag left in London because it missed the transfer to my flight to Rome. (British Airways) they promised it would be delivered to my hotel the next day day and it was. I always pack “must haves” and a change of clothes in my carryon so other than adding a bit of stress, it all worked out ok.

Has anyone had experience with this- they said they will call me and drive it to my hotel when it arrives?

This is what airlines typically do.

I’ve had my luggage lost 5 times. Four of the five times it was delivered to my hotel or home by the next day. Once it took 5 days. It looks like they have multiple flights each day from Naxos to Athens so hopefully you will get it tomorrow.

Updating to add incase it’s helpful for someone down the road. They delivered the bags the next day! Got a 5 hour window and it came after around 3 hours.

That’s good. I’ve only had this happen twice in many, many trips over the years, and both times the luggage was delivered to hotel quite soon, by British Airways in Paris and Lufthansa in Dubrovnik. One thing I learned from the latter is to be a bit careful about ambitious immediate onward travel plans that rely on timely arrival of a checked bag. No problem for me as I was staying in Dubrovnik, but I overheard other passengers dealing with the lost luggage desk, which was telling one couple who were going to nearby Montenegro that they couldn’t deliver baggage to another country, and to passengers who were going to Split, that yes the bags would be delivered there, but only after being flown from Dubrovnik to Zagreb and transferred there to another flight to Split, then picked up in Split to be delivered. Not sure how either of these worked out.

Glad this worked out!