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Greek Cruise - Thoughts on plans so far

Posted by on

Hi all.

My husband and I are taking my niece ad her husband on a cruise in mid-September with stops in Messina, Zakinthos, Chanda (Souda), Santorini, Rhodes, Kasadasi (Ephesus) and Mykonos. We start in Barcelona and end in Athens. I’ve been doing a lot of research and checking out all kinds of forums and think we have a pretty good itinerary for the ports. That being said, I thought I’d run it by those who have gone before to make sure we aren’t missing anything or taking risks we shouldn’t. So here it goes:

Messina - hire car/cab to take us to Taormina. We are only in port from 8-4 so will only have about 3 hours there. We looked at taking the train, but that seemed dicey given the time constraints.

Zakynthos - Scheduled a private 5 hour boat tour to see the turtles (Marathonsi) and Keri caves. Should we have done shipwreck beach and blue caves instead?

Chania - no tour. Just plan to wander around old town and the harbor.

Santorini - this is the only tour we booked through the ship. Oia, local winery, Fira, etc.

Rhodes - another day of wandering. Is monastery by ferry doable? Recommended?

Ephesus - booked private tour (not through the ship) to see all the ruins

Mykonos - ferry to Delos and Mykonos town (no tour).

Any thoughts, additions or deletions are welcome! Just want to make sure we are on the right track. Also, my niece mentioned she might want to hit a beach. Best port for that (I think the boat trip in Zyknathos covers that for me)?

Thanks all!

Posted by
14 posts

We just did a Med cruise in May. I think you have good choices except I would do a private car tour of Santorini. With 4 it will be economical and far more pleasant and you’ll beat the crowd to Oia. I highly recommend Sicily with Sebastian for your Messina stop. I’m pretty sure I found him in an RS guide or on this forum. Enjoy…I wish I was going back!

Posted by
3230 posts

In Santorini I suggest skipping the winery and just going to Oia and Fira.

Posted by
1444 posts

Sounds like you have done your homework. Its a good plan. My thoughts on Greek portion of the trip.

Chania. There see in the old town and harbour area. You can easily believe you have stepped back into history in Chania. If you want a beach just find Theotokopoulou street just past the city walls and walk about a kilometer along a tree shaded street. The Neo Chora beach is a decent beach for an urban location.
Here is Chania
Return to Chania 2022 https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72177720299646015

Chania https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157632117917828

Santorini. Its gong to be crowded but the advantage of booking a ships tour is they tender you to the ferry port where buses pick you up and return to. Everyone else is tendered to the main dock at Fira. It is at the bottom of a cliff and you have to take the cable car or walk the stairs to get up to Fira. With the crowds all trying to get back to their ship long waits are to be expected. Not so with a ships tour.
Rhodes. You can easily spend your whole day wandering Rhodes town. Its a great destination. If your ship docked where ours did it was no more than a 2 minute walk to a city gate. You other option would be to take a bus or taxi to Lindos first thing then get back to Rhodes town for a wander in the afternoon. Personally I would choose to stay in Rhodes town.

Here are some images of our visits.
Lindos and Rhodes https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157634754696058/with/9344972603/

Ephesus is an amazing stop. So much history.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157661381950295

Mykonos. If you get to the ferry dock first thing you can take a boat to Delos and be back around lunch time. That gives you time to wander the old town and maybe take the bus to a beach for an hour or so.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157637922138466
Have a great time

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