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Travel agent versus self planning to Greece

We are planning on visiting Greece in mid October. Should we work with a travel agency in Greece, or try booking everything ourselves? It is a mother, daughter trip. I am worried about the ferries that time of the year. We will fly into Athens, and go to Mykonos, Santorini, and Naxos.

Posted by
3115 posts

If you plan to be there in late October, to get from Santorini or Naxos to Mykonos, or from Mykonos to Naxos or Santorini, will mean a return to Athens. Once the demand slows down, sometime in September, the highspeed ferry that runs between Mykonos and Santorini stops running. This year it's scheduled to stop on October 11.

http://www.ferries.gr/hfd

Before then you won't have any problems with the ferries. And from all 3 of these islands there are year-round ferry services back to Athens. The ferries don't just exist for tourists.

http://www.openseas.gr/OPENSEAS/index_en.vm

Use 'Piraeus' for Athens. Schedules for October might not be complete yet so keep checking.

Posted by
17 posts

I would probably fly, but my daughter has a fear of flying even in large jets. She said, "Mom, please lets just take ferries, don't make me fly in a small plane." It is still an option, but not a good one. Thanks, for the info.

Posted by
194 posts

Hi Mary,

My husband and I went on our honeymoonin Greece in September 2006. We planned everything through a U.S.-based travel agent, Fox World Travel. We decided to to it this way since it was our honeymoon and we wanted to make everything as easy as possible. She booked everything for us: flight, hotels in Athens and three islands (including Mykonons and Santorini) and all the ferry trips and flights we needed to island hop. If we did it again, I'd probably book it myself, but it was nice having her do it all for us.

Posted by
17 posts

Thanks for your replies. I will check the websites for the ferries, and also Fox world travel.

Posted by
473 posts

Be forewarned that some of the islands start shutting down in late September or early October. So you may want to check on hotel availability before making plans to go to a particular island.

Posted by
655 posts

We did our own planning but there are two agencies in Athens that enjoy good reports on this forum: Dolphin-Hellas, and Fantasy Travel.

Have you considered flying? Athens - Santorini is a nice, short flight and gets you a fast start on the islands. Check the Aegean Airlines website. If this appeals you can book online very easily. We enjoyed our morning flight. We took the ferry back, stopping at Naxos.

Posted by
253 posts

Mary -

Have you seen the safety records for Greek ferries? Not that I am suggesting you NOT take them, but the safety reoords are atrocious.

Posted by
2119 posts

If this is your first trip to Greece, you might consider booking a "tour". An island hopping "tour" means they will book all the hotels and ferries, and provide transfers to & from ferries & hotels in Athens and on each island. Once you're in your hotel, you're on your own until the taxi comes to get you two or three days later to take you to the port -- and hand you your next ferry tickets. You get off the ferry and someone is waiting to take you to your next hotel. It's really simple. And if weather causes a ferry delay, they make all the phone calls and re-arrangements.

We did this for our first Greek Island trip, and it worked out really well. All we had to do was show up in Athens -- everything else was taken care of.

Fantasy Travel has a Mykonos-Naxos-Santorini program for 8 nights -- http://www.fantasytravelofgreece.com/ih_mykonos_naxos_santorini.html -- 635 or 880 euros per person, including the hotels & ferries & transfers, which sounds pretty reasonable for those islands. Other agencies offer these tours as well.

Have fun!

Posted by
3115 posts

John, please provide more information. Where did you see the ferry system safetey records? If you have a website link please provide it. I'm curious to know what it is you saw and for which ferry companies.

Posted by
191 posts

We used Fantasy Travel a couple of years ago and I cannot speak highly enough of them. It was fantastic and hassle-free, I would definitely recommend them.

Posted by
253 posts

Lee -

It was not from a web-site, but an article I read in the paper a few years back. I confirmed its accuracy with a Greek friend of mine who was familiar with the ferries over there. According to her, they had very lax safety systems in place and the ferries were poorly maintained. A while back they had a series of accidents and sinkings, so maybe they got their act together since.

Posted by
3115 posts

Louis Lines has had one sinking and one crash into a dock in the last few years but that's a Greek cruise line company, not a ferry company. I've been using the Greek ferries since 1985 and have never experienced any serious problems. Recently a couple of old ferries were finally decommissioned after being kept in service well past their mandatiory 'retirement' date. Hopefully these were the ones that tarnished the reputation of the ferry system.

Posted by
253 posts

Lee -

Yes, I know about the Louis line problems, but this is what I was talking about regarding the Greek ferries.

http://www.greekislandhopping.com/Updates/updatepages/u_disaster.html

And a few days later, this one.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/oct2000/gre-o02.shtml

Both crew negligence and very poor maintennance made both of these disasters worse then they ended up being. I believe the Greek ferry line had to do a major overhaul after these occurred. Some of the old ferries did not even have upgraded navigation systems installed.

These happened around 2000.

Posted by
3115 posts

Obviously safety on the ferries is of primary importance, but I'm not sure how 9 year old articles about ships that are no longer in use is relevant. Do you have any current information or safety and performance statistics?

Posted by
120 posts

More on the safety record of Greek ferries - I too read articles from some years back about the abysmal safety record of the ferries. Apparently there was one that sank, with loss of life and that sparked an investigation and huge changes to safety standards, etc. Now they are considered some of the safest in the world.

Posted by
3115 posts

Yes, the articles linked above refer to those problems, but again, this happened 9 years ago. I'd still like to know what the current performance records are if there is any information available. All the ferries I've seen and/or taken during my last 3 trips to Greece have been new-ish and modern, and as I mentioned some of the older ferries still operating were finally decommissioned this year. This at least implies a more focused concern for passenger safety than was previously demonstrated.

Posted by
17 posts

We have our final plans made for Greece. We will fly into Athens, and take a slow ferry to Santorini the next day. I think it is a 9 hour trip. I have to do some more checking to see what is offered on the ferry, such as food. I would think they have some sort of snacks and drinks. We booked through Fantasy travel in Athens, and I think we have a wonderful trip planned. Thank you all for all your great information.

Posted by
536 posts

Mary - Forget about the fear tactic that John suggests concerning Greek Ferries - One of the safest modes of transportation in all of Europe - Do they ever have an accident - Sure - But % wise very safe and on time.
Cruise ships sink once in a blue moon, airplanes crash once in a million times, but the odds are definitely in your favor.

Walking across the street you can get hit but don't allow John's comments to scare you - please.
Lee. from Global is accurate and I have been using the Greek Ferry system for about 30 years with zero problems!!!

Posted by
3115 posts

No problem with the food. There are snack bars selling all sorts of goodies.

Posted by
17 posts

We went with Fantasy travel in Greece. We just returned from our two week trip, and everything went 99% perfect. We had all our transfers, to and from airport, hotel to and from ferry, and it was so easy. We had a great time and our hotels, car rental, and transfers were top notch. We were so happy we went when we did, 12 Oct thru 26 Oct. Our first trip to Greece and it was beautiful.