Which websites did you buy ferry tickets from? Itinerary included.

I used http://www.openseas.gr/openseas/en/ to see what was available on my travel route for that day, and then after choosing a boat and time I clicked on a link which transferred me to the specific ferry company booking website, e.g. SuperFast ferries. At the end of booking on SuperFast Ferries I received a confirmation email which I later used as a voucher to pick up my ticket at the ticket office (maybe 100 yards) from the ferry entrance ramp. We arrived about 90 mins before departure, partly because we didn't have tickets in hand and didn't know what it would be like, and there was a minimal line at the ticket office. I had intended to pick up the tickets the day before in the ferry office in Chania, but didn't realize the office closed at 16:00. I'm not an experienced Greek ferry traveler so perhaps others have better advice for you.

I found Matt Barett's website about ferry travel helpful: https://www.athensguide.com/ferries.html After reading this we booked a lux cabin; it was spacious and clean and still less expensive than the alternative night in a hotel and two plane tickets. BTW at least in our case, it was possible for us to sleep an hour longer in our cabin, rather than leaving the vessel when it docked around 6:00 AM in Piraeus. If interested, just ask about that at the 'hotel' desk when you're checking into your cabin on the ferry.

I hope you have a great trip!

Mike, I know your anxiety problem, have dealt with it at length in your previous threads. You do not want to order from different ferry companies .... or to order from an online service that requires you to do all the work yourself -- put in all kinds of information on a form. You do not want a website like Ferryhopper that sends you an e=voucher that you must take to your pier at Pireaus to exchange for your ticket, right before you sail. And you don't want an agency that delivers tickets to your hotel -- one more thing to worry about (what if the tickets don't arrive? etc etc).

No, what you want is an agency where you can just e-mail to and say what you want, i.e. "On October 5, I want the overnight ferry from Piraeus to Heraklion, and I want a (type of accommodation). On October 9 I want the overnight ferry fom Chania to Piraeus. I want a (type of accommodation). When u send me the information, I will give you my credit card information for the purchase. I want to pick up the tickets at your office on my arrival in Athens on September 30. " And theyll do the rest.

For your peace of mind, i suggest that you send an E-mail to DOLPHIN-HELLAS one of the best-known best-reviewed travel agencies that SPECIALIZES in helping Americans & Canadians online. If you need reassurance, just google "Dolphin-Hellas reviews" and you will see how pleased people ar Here is their Website: https://www.greecetravel.com/dolphinhellas/ They have a ferry-reservation page https://www.greecetravel.com/dolphinhellas/dolphin_ticket.html but do not fret yourself with using it. Just e-mail them directly-- [email protected] -- and they'll do everything for y ou. And they'll write you back & take care of it, and have your tickets ready to put right into your hands... you can look to be sure they are precisely what you want, and if you want a change, it can be handled On the Spot. Then put them in your "safe-stash" (money belt) and you're DONE. Their address is VERY central, 16 Syngrou Ave, just South of the Temple of Zeus (see map-- click & it gets huuge, use side bars to navigate.) http://www.orangesmile.com/destinations/img/athens-map-big.jpg click to enlarge.

Mike,

Another option you might consider is to use one of the Greek travel agencies to set-up all tickets and transfers (and hotels if you want). I've used that method and it worked extremely well. As I recall, I used Fantasy Travel but there are others mentioned on Matt Barrett's website that was listed here in an earlier reply.

Ken, I already suggested that with Dolphin-Hellas, the other online agency that is so often mentioned ... the reason I didn't recommend Fantasy this time is that recently a worried newbie posted that Fantasy kept making suggestions counter to her expressed requests... there may well have been some elements we don't know about in her situation, but it did make me pause. Mike L is already so anxiety-ridden I didn't want him to have any other reason to fret.

It is true that I don’t want to risk having my mother be right in her idea that planning a solo trip instead of traveling as part of a whole-trip group tour, is mind boggling, risky, and worse, but this isn’t the same as being anxious about traveling. Maybe I don’t want to risk finding out that I did someting “wrong” but I obviously don’t have my mother’s gut level anxiety, due to genetic accident; anxious people don’t travel; my mother doesn’t travel. I took 3 major solo trips so far - that is not evidence of anxiety.

I am a librarian. Logically, I know how to figure out how to do research. I was my own travel agent on my other trips. The effort to figure out which travel agent to contact is not easier; by the time I learn what I want and how to find it so I can tell the agent what to buy for me, I might as well just buy it without the agent. I already figured out that Minoan Lines has the best boat from Pireus to Heraklion. It is the one that is the longest in length, that holds up to 2,500 people. Minoan Lines has a small building with a big sign on it reading “Minoan Lines” next to a parking lot, in Pireus. Knowing which boat I want, and knowing that the cabin I want costs about €65 to €70, I just need to look for the webiste of Minoan Lines, or some English language website or agency selling this ticket. If a ticket offered for sale on this boat is quoted as €46, that is not what I want, it is a ticket just for a chair on the deck.

I do not have a travel-specific anxiety problem. This thread was probably unnecessary. I bought my ferry tickets, online, without the assistance of an agent. l will have to find the Minoan Lines building at Pireus and pick them up more than an hour before the boat leaves. l would be a fool if I paid an agent to buy me tickets; it was easier than expected to do my own research and then buy them myself. When the ferry website asks for your phone number, you have to enter the number the way they would dial it from their phone in Greece; for examply l live in the USA, so the number l had to enter to get past that page and pay for my tickets is thirteen digits: two zeros, one, then the ten digit number, no spaces, parenthesis, or dashes.