Excursions - Greek Islands
 

We are taking a cruise which visits Dubrovnik, Corfu, Athens, Mykonos, Rhodes, Kusadasi and Santorini. Can any one advise if there is a need to take the cruise line tours or can they all be done independently and what are the must see sights? We are both fit and confident visitors.
Many thanks.

We've been to Athens Mykonos, Kusadasi and Santorini. If you haven't been there before, you can get off the ship and explore the main towns of Mykonos and Santorini on your own. In fact you would miss a lot if you didn't do this. Both are easily accessable. There is a cable car st Santorini that you can take from the harbor to the town. The line is intimadating, but moves rapidly.
You need help in Kusadasi ( Ephesus) and Athens. I would recommend you do some research and find a private tour if you can. Our ships tour in Athens was a disaster. Our tour - from the ship - at Ephesus was ok, but as usual the guide was in a hurry to get us to the souvenier stands and a rug shop. We ducked out of the rug shop, but lost an hour of tour. Otherwise Kusadasi is pleasant and if you have left over time there is a lot within an easy walk of the dock.
Also eat a meal in Mykonos and Santorini. There are lots of really appealing restaurants.

We were in Kusadasi in oct. last yr. Highly recommend a priavter company called "Hello ephesus." Google them and check their tours to see what you would like. We were very pleased with our tour and if you choose them ask for the guide Oya Oran. She is a gem. :-)

I would suggest you sign up with cruisecritic.com and enroll in the "roll call" for your trip. We went to the Med and that is what we did and we met up with seasoned Med travelers who were putting together private tours. Kudasi we did a full day and went to Ephesas it is not to me missed. It was one of the highlights of our trip. We did a half day tour on Santorin. It takes you to a winery then to the end of island. the other islands you can do on your own, not a lot to see. Athens you will need to be on a tour. We didn't take one ships tour. Just get to know fellow passengers through the roll call. It was the best thing I ever did. You will save tons of money.

Always save an do fine hiring locals from each port
usually with another couple or 2.
Saves me a lot of money greekislands.com good info oneach island.

We found Dubrovnik (loved walkiing the city walls with the audio guide), Corfu, Mykonos, Rhodes, and Santorini easy to tour on our own. Usually, I complie a self-guided historical walking tour from guidebooks and websites.

In Athens, we hired Spiros from www.athenstaxi.net to pick us up at the ship, takes us on a dy tour and drop us at our hotel--it was a wonderful day.

Many thanks for all your help certainly looking forward to it.

In Kusadasi, we have had exceptional tours with Samelyi Travel. If you book with them, ask for Levant to take you to Ephesus. BTW, Ephesus is hot at any time in the summer, and we found the sun reflective umbrellas from coolibar to be exceptionally comforting. OTOH, if you are willing to go out in the afternoon sun, you will find the site much less crowded, as the ship's tours are almost always completed by 2:00 p.m.

oooh ahhhh.. what a great holiday! We combined some of everything on our Med cruise, but admittedly we had been to Athens and Corfu on another vacay. Dubrovnik is easy to wander through on your own; on Corfu we rented a scooter and took in the countryside independently; Athens, we met a credentialed guide at the Acropolis, maybe just good luck but she was excellent for what we wanted - a more in depth tour there, then did our own thing, all within walking distance of the port; I didn't even get off the ship at Mykonos, was "port-ed" out that day (no regrets either, I needed a break, DH went for a run on the island & was also very satisfied); no experience in Rhodes; Kusadasi/Ephesus is fantastic, imo no matter what tour it will not be long enough for the port time limitations, we took the ship's tour and really enjoyed the rug shop because we were shopping for one; Santorini is a delight - I will admit it, I took the donkey/mule ride up (DH walked it), wandered over that side of the island while DH went SCUBA diving - he was thrilled - we took the gondola back down, all in all great memories. From all that I would say it can work to do both private & ship tours, or even skip one altogether if it suits you. Bon voyage!

out_and_about, do you have the name of the scuba diving site on Santorini?

Getting near to our greek cruise. We still not sure about going on an Athens ship tour or going independently. Will we miss out by doing it ourselves. Is there headsets given at the Acropolis with information or will we have to rely on guide books.
Got rest of cruise sorted.
Many Thanks