I am overwhelmed by the abundance of excursion options and flyers for my impending Greek cruise and wondered if someone has the perfect options chosen for my itenarary before I make the wrong choices. I am traveling with 3 couples and they are looking to me to pick the right excusions!!GULP!
I am cruising out of Athens with stops in Kusadasi,Delos,Mykanos,Santorini, Crete,Sarande,Kotor, Dubrovnik and ending in Venice. I have been to Venice and stopped in Dubrovik in the past for a day and walked the wall. What's the best way to see these places? Do these countries have hop on hop off buses? The tour options are all around $90 pp and up.I hate to spend a bunch of money and 5 hours on a bus with a load of people if its not the wise thing to do.Do the countries have cabbie options that make more sense? is it better to take off on foot in some of these places? Can someone assist me with suggestions?

Mykonos:

you do not have to do a tour. Great little island just to wander the narrow streets and take neat photos; lots of jewellry shops; make your way over to the windmills at "Little Venice". Unless you're up for it, I'd advise taking the shuttle bus in to town and back as it's a 20min power walk. I walked back to the port at dusk and it was dark halfway. There are almost no street lamps so t'was a bit dangerous.

Santorini: nice just to wander the streets & try to catch the sunset. I walked up the many many many steps into town instead of taking the tram but it was FULL of horse s**t and navigation got tricky. You can also take a horse & carriage up.

Kusadasi: The excursion to see the ruins of Ephesus is an abolute must...check out this link for great info and photos of each section. Do a guided tour!

www.ephesus.us

Word of caution....if you're on one of the smaller cruise boats (i.e. not Princess cruise or something) you are more likely to feel the waves and be susceptible to motion sickness so have some Bonamine with you etc.

Thanks so much, I really appreciate your input...and thanks for the sea sick tips.... I get verrrry woozy

In all the ports, you can pretty much walk to see the sights and absorb the local atomsphere.

If you really want to take excursions, as you have your own little group, you could ask your travel agent to arrange private customized tours for you in each of the ports. This way you wouldn't have to deal with buses, etc. It might be a little more costly, but the tours would reflect what your group wants to do and see. They could probably be pre-paid via credit card.

Local cabs are another option, but you would still have to do the research to see what you want to see, and you would be dealing with multiple cabs...and you would need local currency.

Hope this helps

Wassy - You've got 3 couples with you which makes a great group to split the cost of private tours in some of these ports. We were just in Athens, Kusadasi, Delos, Mykonos, Santorini, Kotor, Dubrovnik, and Venice on our cruise in 9/06.


Kudasai - Ephesus is a must. You cannot walk there from the port. I highly recommend a tour. We used Ekol Travel and if you look at their website www.ekoltravel.com you'll see to get your own mini-van/bus for a group of 8 is very reasonable. We did the 4 or 5 hour tour which included the House of the Virgin Mary and other sites.

Delos - Don't need a tour. You can buy a ticket at the ticket booth and walk around on your own. There is literally nothing on the island but for the ruins, a small museum, and the gatekeeper's house. Usually a day trip for people from Mykonos.

Mykonos - agree completely with tennis woman. Our ship had a shuttle so you could avoid the walk along the road to town, but the town itself and walking up to the famous windmills is a piece of cake.

Santorini - another perfect spot for a private tour. Six of us split the cost of this one and went all over the island, to Oai, Black Beach area, had lunch (not included in tour cost), hit a small winery and had a blast.

Kotor - they are just now opening up to tourism - new government formed in 8/06. We took a ship's tour and got out in the countryside, but you can also just walk around the city and enjoy yourself too.

Dubrovnik - you already know this one.

Venice - easy to get around here too as you probably know via water taxis or the vaporatti (sp?).

We ate out in every town. Loved it.

Any more questions, feel free to contact me.

What cruiseline are you taking, Wassy? We're looking for a similar itinerary for next year.

Thanks again everyone. Great information. Re Arizona 07 question We are taking an Oceana Cruise. First time with them... (I hope that's not the one that sank yesterday...have not had time to check!! We have been spoiled with Seabourn, but the cost of this cruise was reaaly reasonable. I will let you know how it went...we leave from our home in Las Vegas in days (who's counting?)

we are in a similar position first time new zealander cruisers on po princess line doing med holy land tour leaves athens calls at santorini patnos eupheus nazareth jerusulem cairo alexandria capri rome would we be able to take local tours in these areas as well? very interested in your replys good tip re sea sick pills have a great trip

wassy - we were on Oceania too for our cruise. You should enjoy the line - we did.

Enjoy your trip

I am going on than Oceania Cruise June 5th from Athens ending in Istanbul. Enjoy your cruise and let me know after any suggestions. For the first time ever, I am going alone with my husband. Would appreciate any other suggestions on tours and ship information. I understand there are no formal evenings.

We are taking a similar cruise on Oceania on July 14 (Istanbul-Venice) with stops in the Greek Islands and Ephesus. Hope you had a good time. How did you enjoy the cruise and did you end up taking private tours or any of Oceania's excursions/ Would love to hear your report.Thanks