Fly or Ferry from Santorini to Crete?
 

Hi All - I am booking my final travel details this morning and am trying to decide if I should fly SkyExpress or take the FlyingCat 4 from Santorini to Crete.

Money is a factor, but the price difference isn't all that great between flying and ferry, so I want to go with the most reliable and comfortable option


My main questions are:

- is the ferry from Santorini to Crete reliable or does it get cancelled often?

- is it inevitable that most people get seasick on this trip?

- I was reading some previous posts from someone who got claustraphobic on this ferry?? I can't imagine it would be that small, but I do have a bit of claustrophobia myself, so not sure where this person was coming from when they were saying that...

- Last but not least, I am not taking any other ferries while in Greece (flying from Mykonos to Santorini but only because it was a big time saver due to schedules) - is a ferry just something you "have" to experience while in Greece??

Here are my choices:

There is a FlyingCat4 ferry which leaves Santorini at 5:45PM and arrives in Heraklion at 7:25 - business class is 49E, economy is 32.50E.

There is also a SkyExpress plane leaving Santorini at 10PM arriving in Heraklion at 10:25PM.

What do you think??

Forgot to mention, SkyExpress flight is 79E/pp

Imavolio,

The ferries are very reliable, but sometimes get delayed or cancelled due to high winds. Of course it's impossible to predict the weather for the day that you're sailing.

When we took the FlyingCat from Crete to Santorini,we had no problems at all. And frankly, I'd much rather take the boat than SkyExpress, which at the time of our trip two summers ago, was using really tiny planes between the islands.

To answer your question about seasickness, if you're prone to it, I'd suggest taking a remedy that you know works for you before you get on the boat. Non-drowsy dramamine works well for me.

As for claustrophobia, if you're really worried, you could buy a business class ticket, which is on the upper berth of the boat. There's a little more room between seats, but it's more money and may not be worth it to you.

Regarding claustrophobia: FlyingCat 4 holds 440 passengers; the Sky Express Jetstreams each hold 19 passengers. Which would make you more claustrophobic?

Reliability: the flying cats are probably cancelled due to weather a few times each summer. You would be unlucky if it happened to you.

Seasickness: when I rode its sister ship, FlyingCat 3, last summer, the ride was so smooth I hardly knew we were moving. Catamarans can cause motion sickness in rough weather, but so can small aircraft.

Thanks!! I feel the same way about the claustraphobia thing - I am not that bad anyway and I have been on a little 10 seater prop plane in Africa with no problem, so I am not too worried about that. But I saw that comment from someone else and wondered what they were talking about??

Anyway, that settles it, I am taking the ferry and saving some $$. Thanks!!