I'm trying to book our Naxos - Santorini ferry, but the classes are confusing. I'm booking the Blue Star high speed ferry. I wouldn't bother to book in advance but it's the only high speed ferry listed for that day (Oct. 7). The online listing service has already said that business class is filled. Now it looks like my options are Economy Class, Economy Super, and things like AK5 - AIR SEATS LOUNG1, AK5 - AIR SEATS LOUNG2, etc. Could someone please explain what the last one is? Thanks in advance!

As far as I know there's no Blue Star highspeed ferry between Naxos and Santorini. In fact there are 5 different departure times listed, all for car ferries, for October 7 on www.gtp.gr, beginning with the earliest at 04:55 and ending with the latest departing at 23:00. I'm not sure where you got your information, but check this link:

http://www.gtp.gr/RoutesResults.asp?...GRSKY22,3125,6

Also, you don't really need to worry about seating when it's such a short trip.

Thanks! I'm pretty sure it's a Blue Star Ferry; it's this one:
http://tinyurl.com/zp55z

Sunny16, the ship in your link is Blue Star Paros, which isn't a highspeed (it's a modern ship and faster than the older conventional ferries, though), so Brotherleelove is correct. The ship is a large car carrying ferry, and therefore highly unlikely to be full on Oct 7th.

I have used Blue Star Paros between Pireaus and Paros, and was content with an ordinary economy class ticket. Personally I wouldn't bother booking in advance, but if your travel plans are firm, and it puts you at ease, go ahead.

Thanks for the help, guys! I have given up on trying to book this ticket in advance. Booking on the Danae website was a pain - I got to the screen where you enter your credit card number and somehow I got bounced back two screens, and then it told me that business class was full. I'll deal with it whenwe get there. Our plans are firm, but someone's bound to have space for us on our travel day.

Sunny16, the Blue Star Paros has a passenger capacity of 1,440, so somehow I think they will find space for you. If you are interested, go to http://www.bluestarferries.com/ENGLISH/defaultmain.htm, and click on "Our Fleet" in the top left-hand corner.

Thanks!

I too wasn't planning on booking ferry tickets from Crete to Santorini on the Flying Cat (Hellenic Seaways) for my mid-October dates.

But I just got an email from my hotel saying that tickets would be selling out for ferries and that I should book now. Is this true?

If so, where should I book my tickets online? This website has a form which I filled out but haven't heard back....
http://www.greekislands.gr/hfd/

Thanks in advance for any help!

butter924-

If you plan to be in Athens for any length of time before going to Crete, or any other island, for that matter, you can go into any travel agency and book your ticket. You can also go to the port at Piraeus to book at the Hellenic Seaways office there.

butter924, I find it hard to believe that the ferries willbe sold out in mid-Oct, but maybe they know something I don't know. The website for online booking is http://www.hellenicseaways.gr/index.asp?a_id=209.

brotherleelove and heimdall,

thanks for your response!
I agree, there is no way I thought mid-october would be sold out and wasn't worrying about it at all.

Heimdall, I went to the Hellenic website and tried booking the Heraklion to Thira one-way on Monday, october 23. It says there is nothing available that day. Can this be true? We had planned our trip around the Monday ferry b/c we were told they definitely do run on Mondays in october....am getting worried now....

Any suggestions at this point? Travel agencies aren't being very responsive as I am only asking about ferries

I've noticed that the ferry company websites sometimes show fully booked ships when in fact others report that that wasn't the case at all. Of course there's no real way to know unless they answer your emails, but I can tell you that www.gtp.gr shows a 9:45 AM departure from Heraklio, Crete to Santorini on Octobetr 23. You might want to try your luck at booking on the www.danae.gr ferry booking website to see if it works for you. Good luck.

First of all, brotherleelove is the Santorini expert on this board, but I try to help when I can.

Is it possible that the reason there are no seats available on the Flying Cat 4 is that it stopped running for the season on 1 Oct? Looking at the timetable in http://tinyurl.com/hs9hw, that appears to be the case, but maybe I'm just reading it wrong. Scroll down and use the zoom control to see it better.

We took the high speed ferry from Crete to Paros in mid-September. We went to get our tickets 3 days in advance and all economy class was sold out. We got business class and the day we left it was completely filled up. Most of the people where we stayed during our trip said this Fall has been a very busy season and many small hotels were booked well into October.

Hi everyone,
Thanks for your help. I just got an email from http://www.greekislands.gr/hfd/
and they booked tickets for me. No other sites were responsive or helpful so I'm glad it worked out.
Thanks again!