Eurail discounts on an unactivated pass?

You would need to activate your pass to take advantage of any deals since the "deal" is essentially pass travel (reduced or covered fare). Given that and the fact that the train is limited and cheap, and discounts on already cheap ferries are only 30% at the most...it makes no sense to use a pass in Greece. Pay as you go in Greece and save your pass for Italy; except maybe the pass does not make much sense in Italy either. Basically, figure out what your travel cost is over the length of the trip, then the cost with the pass.

Thanks. For all the reasons you listed, I am not using the pass in Greece, as I mentioned. Thus my question. I'm wondering A) What the official rule is and B) How is the rule enforced? Is the person at the port/agency/website who sells me my ferry ticket going to look closely enough at my pass to discern its status, or will a quick glance or providing the # suffice? I don't know how the reciprocal business arrangement works...and yes, I realize this is Greece and standard rules of business logic may not apply. I think I'll try it and report back to the board.

So, really, Jason, what you are asking is how to deceive the ferry provider? How to steal?

Since most of the ferry discounts require you to have Greece listed on your pass, you must be looking at the discount on Minoan for domestic ferry routes: "30% discount off the official published prices for all Eurail Pass holders, on condition that you already made an Adriatic crossing with Minoan Lines International. You can claim your discount upon presentation of the Pass before ticket purchase and embarkation." Note that it says "pass holders". If you haven't activated your pass, you aren't a "pass holder", any more than someone whose pass has expired. And you can prerry well count on them checking the dates on your pass.

Thank you, Sasha. Your comment about trying to use an expired pass helped me to put the situation in context. And for the record, Nigel, I am not trying to "deceive" or "steal" from anyone, just asking for help in understanding how the reciprocal situation between Eurail and the ferry operators works. If I deem my to be actions unethical, I will desist. I don't believe that they are [INVALID] I've already paid for the pass, so presumably the ferry operator still gets their funds (or whatever they get). In short, why is it OK to utilize the discount on Wednesday, but on Tuesday it's stealing?