Booking Greece Ferry Tickets online
 

Hi everyone!

I am heading to the Greek islands in a little over 2 weeks. I want to book my ferry tickets online now to make sure I have a space reserved because I'm on a pretty tight schedule.

What is the best site to use to book online? And what is the easiest way to pick up the tickets? Can I pick them up right at the port?

Here's what I'm doing:

June 30: Piraeus to Syros
July 3: Syros to Naxos
July 5: Naxos to Santorini

Thanks so much for your help!

For ferry schedules: http://www.gtp.gr
For booking tickets: http://www.danae.gr

You can pick up your tickets at the various port ticket offices.

Awesome! Thank you

You can also book your tickets through :
www.greekjourney.com this is the B2C website of Amphitrion Holidays, you can pick up your tickets from their airport office upon your arrival.
The airport office is open 24/7
Danae Travel is suing them too for the delivery of their tickets, by adding a much higher service fee. :)

For the sake of convenience, if you want to pick up the tickets all at the same place book through the greekjourney.com website and pick up your tickets at the Amphitrion Holidays airport office. I've never booked online myself, but have bought tickets from Amphitrion many times. You will pay an extra €2 per ticket service charge.

Frankly, you don't need to prebook tickets at all that time of year, but I can understand why you want to have everything arranged in advance. Were it me, though, I would prebook the Piraeus - Syros ticket and buy the others on the islands.

You do realise the only ferries from Piraeus to Syros depart at 07:25 and 07:35?

Thank you all!

Heimdall- That's a good idea. I will try to just book the Piraeus ticket. And yes, I know the ferries leave early in the morning. I'm arriving in Athens on June 29 in the evening and staying in Piraeus near the port so I can get to the boats bright and early!

A related question maybe you guys can answer. I've never taken a ferry in Europe and I notice on most of these sites it asks you to choose a seat type.I've never heard of reserved seats on ferries- what kind do I want? If I get an "on deck" seat does that mean I can't go inside?

The basic deck class tickets give you access to the first-come-first-served areas of the ship, including some outside areas (unless it's an enclosed highspeed catamaran). For just a few euro more you can purchase a ticket for a reserved, aircraft-style reclining seat in one of the indoor lounges, and then beyond that are business or VIP class tickets and sleeping cabins. If you do buy a basic economy ticket you can of course still go inside to one of the designated lounges where you can relax and buy food.

On busy days the non-reserved inside seating gets snapped up quickly, including the seating around snack bars. As brotherleelove suggested, for only a few euros more you can have a reserved air seat, which you can leave to go to the restroom, restaurants, and outside deck knowing it will be there for you when you return. That said, the trip from Piraeus to Syros is fairly short, and if you are taking Blue Star you may wish to stay on the outside deck for the scenery along the Attica coast and islands. If you smoke, that is where you will have to go.

All the seating on the Hellenic Seaways highspeeds is inside, non-smoking, and reserved. On either vessel you can choose to go business class, which is a little quieter with more comfortable seating. :-)

About read to book ferry tickets on Hellenic Seaways from Paros to Santorini then Santorini to Mykonos. Options to pick up the tickets are ticket agent or courier. Is the Pireaus (?sp) ticket agent right at the dock? It seems the site implies there are a way to get e-tickets but I can't seem to crack the code. Help! Please!

Hi yntbom,

There is no need to prebook tickets for Paros to Santorini, and it will be cheaper and better to use Blue Star rather than Hellenic Seaways. More people get off Blue Star at Paros than board, and it usually has spare seats when leaving Piraeus anyway. With Blue Star you get a spectacular view from the outside deck when entering the Santorini caldera — with Hellenic Seaways catamarans you sit in an inside seat, and may not even be near the salt encrusted windows.

For Santorini to Mykonos it's usually not necessary to prebook tickets either, but without knowing when you are travelling it's impossible to give you a definitive answer. Suffice it to say I never prebook ferry tickets, even in high season. I just buy them when I get to the islands.

Now for your question about e-tickets: there is no such thing as ferry e-tickets in the same sense as airline e-tickets. When you prebook ferry tickets you are given a reference number which you bring to an agency where the actual tickets are printed out. The only way you could avoid this is to have the tickets couriered to you, which is expensive, unnecessary, and risky — if they were lost or delayed in the mail you would be out of luck.

I don't really understand your question: "Is the Pireaus (?sp) ticket agent right at the dock?" Yes, but you didn't indicate you are taking a ferry from Piraeus. If so, you can buy the tickets from the same agency you will use if you prebook. If you aren't travelling by ferry from Piraeus there is no need to go there at all.

www.viva.gr

Thats the one i use when i want to book online. You can collect the real ticket at the counter of the port. Or you can sent them to your hotel and collect them upon your arrival

Never heard of viva.gr before, which makes me wonder if the above post is advertising. Best place to book ferry tickets online is from the ferry company's own website rather than a third party agency. That way you don't pay a service charge, and can use their many agents throughout Greece and the islands if you need to change tickets.
www.bluestarferries.com
www.hellenicseaways.gr
http://www.seajets.gr/en/