Greek Ferry Tickets
 

Hello, I've been to Greece a million times, have taken the ferries about the same amount but, this time I'm helping and booking ferries for some friends. They have never been to Greece and I'm not going to be there to guide them. In the past I've always just booked tickets once I arrived but, I'm going to help them book ahead of time. I'm wondering what's best.

1. book them through the agency that is at the airport so that they can just pick all the ticket up once they arrive into Athens. The airport counter is open 24/7, correct? Is there an additional for booking through them compared to booking direct?

2. If I book online, either direct with a particular ferry company or on a general online site, will I get vouchers to print out that will be their tickets? Will they mail tickets? How does this work?

Thanks everyone!

If you book online with one of the 2 companies -- Amphitrion or Pacific Travel -- with desks at the airport, you will pay with your credit card, and they will send you confirmation e-mail. When you go to the desk, they will print out y our tickets on the spot, while you wait. If you would want the ticket in your hands before you reach greece (and why would one want that??) they would send it via DHL at huge cost. Yes, I believe there is a convenience fee for using the airport agency, it should be small. How do you find out how much it is? You e-mail and ask before you place the order. I would expect that a convenience fee -- 1 or 2€ would not be charged per ticket if the party was ordering tickets for 3 or 4 different sailings. Ask when you e-mail.

You can go to the Amphitrion Holidays website and make a trial booking. Before you have to actually pay you will see what the per-transaction service charge is. I believe it's €2. I can't confirm this from experience, but I think as long as you stick to one ferry company for a multi-leg purchase, there would only be one service charge for all the tickets involved. Yes, they're open 24/7. Their travel desk is in the Arrivals Hall between Exit/Entry Doors 2&3. Pacific Travel is probably close by.

I emailed Amphitrion earlier this year, and they confirmed the fee is €2. I didn't address the issue of multiple purchases, so can't answer that question. If the fee, in fact, is €2 per ticket, it could soon add up.

When you book online you are given a reference number which you bring to the agent for the actual tickets to be issued. Book with Amphitrion and it couldn't be handier — their airport office is in the hall just outside Arrivals, and you have to walk past them to get to taxis and buses. If you book directly with the ferry company, you can get your tickets at their booth right next to the departing ferry at Piraeus, or an agency near the port on each island. Book with one of the online agencies (OpenSeas, etc) and they provide a list of ticket agent to choose from. I've never like that idea.

Wug, you are a regular visitor to this forum, but haven't supplied the one vital piece of information we always ask for: when are your friends travelling? ;-) Unless late July or August, the best help you can give them will be to book the first set of tickets with Amphitrion Holidays, and let them book the others when they get to Greece. It won't take them long to get the hang of buying ferry tickets on their own.

The second biggest help you can give them is make a gift, or loan them your copy of Thomas Cook's <i>Greek Island Hopping</i>. The 2011 edition is in stock in Amazon, and it seems to be on sale right now. :-)

We booked ferry tickets direct from two different companies - ANEK and Seajets - and just picked up the tickets on each island. Each email confirmation had all the details of the sailing plus the name and address of which travel agent we could collect them from. It was quick and easy, we just showed a printout of the email.

One of the reasons we didn't book via one of the places mentioned above is we weren't travelling through Athens at all, which is a little unusual but may affect others as well (flew London to Santorini then ferries from there).

One thing I would tell your friends, is to double check the ferry times the day before. We had a very early departure scheduled once but found out the night before the ferry was delayed by 5 hours so were glad we didn't get up super early for nothing.

Kay

Hi friend, better to go with online one, but take care of the E-mail confirmations, the date and the timing of sailing etc., If your friend have time to collect the tickets from the counter you can book in person. all the best and happy sailing for to your friends

Ashley

We booked through Amphitrion and we couldn't recommend them highly enough. We had waited a bit too long to book for summer travel and found just a few options available to us. We called the Amphitrion office at Athens airport, the website showed sold out. We reached the same very helpful agent a couple of times (they required a fax of a CC agreement). In any event, they got us some of the last seats on the ferry that we wanted. Upon arrival in ATH we picked up the tkts which took about one minute, having time to thank them in person. Good luck.

Thanks everyone! I so appreciate all the help. You're right, Heimdall, I didn't mention when they are traveling. My bad! :) I guess because I know it's not an issue. They are traveling the first part of June. I know they can book themselves once they are there and there's really no reason to book ahead of time that time of year, however, they are arriving early evening into Athens and then will be leaving on an early morning ferry the next morning. I figure if they can pick up their tickets right at the airport, it's easiest for them.

Thanks again and happy island hopping to everyone!!

Hi Again, I'm trying to book the tickets on the Amphitrion site and it seems like it should be easier. Did everyone who has done this before have to register through the B2B link? The fact that it's B2B sounds like that's a link for other travel companies to book through, etc. Maybe it's also for individuals too though? Does anyone know? Thanks so much!

http://b2b.amphitrionholidays.com:80...ngine/Register

Clearly something has changed.

There doesn't even seem to be a ferry booking function on their website anymore, and nothing looks familiar. I suggest you contact them for an explanation. Perhaps they're just building a new website and it's not yet complete. Or maybe the demand for internet bookings was too much for them to handle.

email: [email protected]

Please let us know what they tell you. They are/were an important source for ticketing.

It might be necessary to book through another company such as www.danae.gr They can still opt to pick up the tickets at Amphitrion but the service charge is €12.

They can also book directly with the ferry company.

Thanks Brotherleelove, at least I now know I'm not going insane or a complete internet idiot. :-) I'll booking tickets for three people and several routes so the 12 euro charge isn't too bad. I think I'll just go through Danae.gr.

Thanks again

I've booked through danae.gr and have been very satisfied.

Did anybody try Pacific Travel??? Brotherleelove never seems to mention that one, so I have wondered whether he had a bad experience with them or something... I did buy some tickets from their central Athens office once & nothng untoward. Is there something we should know, BLL?

I've never tried them but because of the 'problem' with Amphitrion's website today I went to the Pacific website to see if they offer internet ferru booking. Apparently they don't. I also took my own advice and sent an email to Amphitrion askin what's going on and will be back here with their answer if and when I get it.

i emailed Amphitrion Holidays and they told me they are currently updating/changing their website..and the new one that includes ferry ticket purchase won't be up until May. They told me that I could still book tickets through them via email and still pick up at the airport, so I am considering doing that.
cheers,
CC

Thanks CC, I'm glad to hear that. I emailed them as well but never got a response.

Amphitrion never responded to my email. I'm glad they answered yours. It's good to know that they won't be lost as a convenient source for ferry tickets at the airport.

Of course...now that I have said that, I emailed them last week to book some tickets and have yet to hear back...so we will see I guess if this is truly an option or not!
cheers,
CC

They finally did respond, and gave me the same infor CC received, that their website is under re-construction and internet booking will not be available later, but they told me not until mid-June. In the meantime people can contact them by email to inquire about ferry tickets and pickup at the airport. CC, I suppose the delay might be caused by the volume of email requests they're receiving.