Naxos to Athens w Kids

Take a Blue Star Ferry, large. Avoid Sea Jets, smaller, rough ride.

When searching on the Blue Star Website, there is an option to take the Hellenic Seaways Highspeed 4, which takes less than four hours. Has anyone been on the Highspeed 4? Can you be outside for part of the trip? Thanks

No, you can't

Why not fly?

We are open to all options, including flying and high speed ferries. We will have at least two full days in Athens to end the trip.
We have heard more positive reviews with Blue Star, but these trips can take over five hours.
Thanks for your help and suggestions.

Your children will like exploring the decks of the Blue Star Ferry, and see how it loads up and have a nice lunch and rest.

Take a Blue Star Ferry, the kids will be delighted and the two extra hours are largely offset by the advantage of being on a conventional ferry.
It's the cheapest, it's half price for the kids (€25.50), and as a bonus it will allow you to discover the port of Piraeus

Take seats in Economy class, the lounges do not offer many advantages unless you want to be in a quiet lounge to sleep. You can purchase your tickets one or two days before the trip at a ticket sales office in Naxos, or on the Blue Star Ferry website, (avoid third-party websites). You will receive it with a QR code which will be scanned upon boarding.

Here is how the trip goes on a Blue Star (the same route between Naxos and Piraeus but in the other direction):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsL9OnWbURE

JoLui gives great info on Blue Star economy travel; however with young kids, several key factors mean you need to strategize (it would also help if you'd share whether you are coming straight from airport on arrival vs coming from Athens Hotel).

• the trip is 5.5 hours long; kids can get tired/cranky
• only 2 sailings per day: 7:25 AM and 5:45 pm -- AM better for Kids, but means EARLY start (if coming from hotel, get tix day before, and book taxi to arrive at pier 645 latest)
• Economy tickets entitle you to seat on outside area of top 2 decks, (best are benches w. backs, kids can lie down later). OR seats in indoor cafes, OR seats along inner corridors. Period. AND these cannot be reserved -- they are 1st come 1st served .. so it can be chaotic scramble to grab outside seats.... thus, arrive early to be near head of line.
• When line-gate opens, people RUN up ramp, so hustle a bit. On Vehicle deck you need to leave Biggie bags (perfectly safe) on shelving marked Naxos. Strategy: have one parent do this, have fastest parent and nimblest child scamper up escalator & steps to snag family seating, & other 2 follow to find them.
• If you know from experience that 1 child will melt-down, you might reserve ONE "reserve economy seat". These ticket-holders can use outdoor seating but if later wanting to rest, go inside & claim upholstered, lean-back "aircraft style" reserved seat (roomy, could fit 2 sleepy kids or parent & lap-child). If reserving, a tip: request side section -- middle section like huge theatre; brightly-lit & noisy.

I also chose Blue Star regular Ferry so that I could sit outdoors. I just went on that route in Sept and quite enjoyed it. I had an economy seat and was chose my seat. Those seats are larger than airine seats with good leg room, works well for napping. From there I wandered all over the ship with no trouble. Found a cafe indoors and out. Coffee was pretty good! I really enjoyed sitting outdoors, there are many decks and loads of seating.
From Naxos back to Athens there is one stop at Paros and might be interesting to watch the loading and unloading from the rear deck. The the scenery is fabulous for the entire trip.
The onboarding at Naxos was easy. I had no idea where to put my luggage, but figured it out later, as others have said, it's by the cars. Pick it up well before offboarding (20 minutes) so you don't get stuck in a line there. I remember taking a ferry as I kid (didn't live in Seattle then) and I loved it.

Thank you all for the replies and suggestions. We are eliminating the fast ferries because of the potential of getting motion sick.

We plan to either fly or take the long Blue Star Ferry.